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The thing I love about the way the late Canadian-born Robbie Robertson played guitar is the way that he could pluck one note out of the universe and let it sit there like an image of God. From "Who Do You Love" through "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat" and "This Wheel’s On Fire" to one of my personal favourites in "Ophelia", the man never wasted a note. And he wrote glorious songs. Such music is a wonderful medicine for much modern American social malaise (which is a state of robust health compared to some of Trudeau’s Canadian crap). Robertson himself said...

TS Ophelia is poised to make landfall along the NC Coast Saturday morning. Mash graphics to enlarge. All images and links are self-updatingNHC Public Advisories NHC Discussions Local Statements Tropical Tidbits

================================================================================================================ Researchers have re-examined data captured by the Voyager 2 spacecraft back in 1986, and think they've found evidence of two never-before-seen moons hidden in the rings of Uranus. Uranus, the third largest planet in our Solar System, already has 27 moons that we know of - but these two new ones appear to orbit the planet more closely than any of its other natural satellites, and are causing wavy patterns in its closest rings. Although Saturn is the most famous ringed planet orbiting our Sun, it's not the only one, with the three other gas giants - Jupiter, Uranus,...

The researchers report that they were studying the planet's rings, which are collectively called Eta, and discovered that they had an oddly shaped orbit -- not round or even circular. Instead, they describe it as sort of triangular. More study showed that the odd orbit of the rings was due to gravitational pull from Cressida -- one of the planet's moons. The gravitational impact is exaggerated, they note, due to the moon keeping pace with the orbit of the planet. The particles in the ring, on the other hand, move faster than the moon. This results in the moon tugging...

The remnants of Hurricane Ophelia battered Ireland on Monday, killing at least one person and causing widespread power outages as the storm headed for Britain. The first known victim was a woman who was driving near the Irish village of Aglish when a tree fell on her car, authorities said. Gusts of up to 80 mph were reported 30 years to the day after a weather event dubbed the "Great Storm of 1987" battered southern England and killed 18 people. Authorities in Ireland had ordered schools, courts and government buildings to remain closed before the storm's arrival. Bridges were shut...

NASHVILLE -- State Sen. Ophelia Ford -- already a YouTube star for her snarling "what you're saying ain't hittin' on nothin' with me" speech last year -- was back at it last week, berating regulators about new state fees on the funeral industry. Acknowledging that she's a licensed funeral director, Ford complained in a legislative hearing Aug. 13 that fees are going to "eat us up and put us out of business." She demanded regulators disclose who imposed a new $150 biannual registration fee on preneed funeral sales agents and what it's for. Turns out that Ford and her legislative...

Tenn. won't reinstate Ophelia Ford's expired funeral permit

NASHVILLE -- State Sen. Ophelia Ford answered the Senate's roll call Monday night for the first time since the General Assembly convened Jan. 8. The Memphis Democrat told her colleagues in a brief address upon her return to the Senate floor that she had suffered from a "bleeding ulcer" that took a long time to diagnose, but she's ready to return to work. She had been hospitalized with a previously undisclosed illness off and on since the legislature adjourned last June. Walking slowly with the aid of an aluminum cane, she arrived at her legislative office about an hour before...

NewsChannel 5 Investigates: Ophelia Ford Faces TennCare Investigation July 5, 2007 06:17 PM Ophelia Ford Faces TennCare Investigation She has quickly become one of Tennessee's most controversial state senators. Now, state Sen. Ophelia Ford finds herself at the center of another controversy. NewsChannel 5 has confirmed that the Memphis Democrat is the subject of an investigation that, depending upon what agents find, could lead to criminal charges. It's a NewsChannel 5 Investigates exclusive, uncovered by our chief investigative reporter Phil Williams. Sources tell Phil that the investigation centers on possible TennCare fraud and is being conducted by TennCare's inspector general....

State Sen. Ophelia Ford dialed 911 at 6:30 a.m. Sunday from her Mud Island apartment requesting medical help, according to a tape of the emergency call. "What's the problem ma'am? Tell me exactly what happened," the operator said. "I haven't eaten in about a week and I can't stop shaking," Ford said. "I think I got a blood infection." Sunday's call for help is the latest in a series of events that have raised concerns about the Memphis Democrat, including an off-topic outburst during a Senate committee meeting in Nashville, a hospital stint after reportedly falling off a hotel bar...

State Senator Ophelia Ford is refusing help from her family. Some of her family members went to Nashville to pick up the state senator. This comes after after several incidents including a fall off a bar stool and an accusation of assaulting a cab driver. Ford's brother, Shelby County Commissioner Joe Ford says she needs to go to rehab. Ford insists she doesn't have a drinking problem. Meanwhile, Senator Ford is involved in a suit that could cost you tens of thousands of dollars. She's suing the senate for ousting her following a special election where some dead voters had...

A federal judge says Tennessee Senators can vote to void Ophelia Ford’s election victory, but first they have to come up with a procedure to judge election disputes. The ruling was the news former District 29 candidate Terry Roland has been waiting for. “The senate can go ahead with what they need to do which void this election, because calling it tainted is just lightly,” says Roland. Judge Bernice Donald says the senate can vote to void Ophelia Ford's election win. In her ruling, Donald wrote, "This court does not have jurisdiction to decide an election dispute...as that issue is...

Wednesday, Sen. Ophelia Ford was in a federal courtroom in Memphis fighting to keep her State Senate seat, but even though only three senators were subpoena to be there, more than half of the State Senate showed up in Memphis. The judge said she would make a final decision by Wednesday of next week, and until then senators can not void the election of Sen. Ford. Senators were supposed to be debating an ethics bill on Wednesday, but all 17 senatos who voted to void the election went to support their colleagues in Memphis. 16 Republicans and one Democrat went...

NASHVILLE – A federal court judge in Memphis late Wednesday blocked a planned Senate vote Thursday to overturn the Senate District 29 election and expel Sen. Ophelia Ford. After a 50-minute hearing, U.S. Dist. Court Judge Bernice Donald issued a temporary restraining order barring the state Senate from taking any action to overturn the Sept. 15 special election that Ford won by 13 votes. She set a full hearing for Jan. 25. The Senate was all but certain to vote Thursday morning to void the election and remove Ford from the District 29 seat. Acting as a "committee of the...

WRIGHT PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) -- Just weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast region, Hurricane Ophelia threatened communities along the East Coast, forcing military bases to act fast. As of Sept. 14, 48 F-15E Strike Eagles, three KC-135 Stratotankers and 180 people had evacuated from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., to here. Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., sent four C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and 45 people. Aircraft and people began arriving Sept. 12. "(This base) provides a safe haven for other bases to protect their aircraft," said Col. Peter Oertel, 88th Operations Support...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2005 – The military will have a broader role in disaster response, based on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush said in a nationally televised address Sept. 15. "It was not a normal hurricane -- and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it," Bush said. "Many of the men and women of the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the United States military, the National Guard, Homeland Security, and state and local governments performed skillfully under the worst conditions." Today, Defense Department officials reported 61,719 active duty and National Guard personnel on...

WTUS81 KBOX 160937 CCA HLSBOX MAZ019-020>024-RIZ005-007-ANZ231>236-254-255-161600- HURRICANE OPHELIA LOCAL STATEMENT .. COR DATE.. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 533 AM EDT FRI SEP 16 2005 ...TROPICAL STORM OPHELIA CONTINUES TO BE OUTLOOKED SUCH THAT IT MAY AFFECT PORTIONS OF COASTAL SOUTHEAST NEW ENGLAND VERY LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY SATURDAY AFTERNOON WITH TROPICAL STORM FORCE CONDITIONS... ...AREAS AFFECTED... THIS STATEMENT RECOMMENDS ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN BY RESIDENTS IN COASTAL SECTIONS OF SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS...INCLUDING NANTUCKET...DUKES...BARNSTABLE AND PLYMOUTH COUNTIES AS WELL AS THE SOUTHEAST COASTAL RHODE ISLAND COUNTIES OF NEWPORT AND BRISTOL. ...WATCHES AND WARNINGS... AT 5 AM...THE TROPICAL STORM WATCH CONTINUES FOR...

ATLANTIC BEACH, North Carolina (CNN) -- A sluggish Hurricane Ophelia raked the Carolinas with high winds and heavy rain Thursday, threatening to punish the Outer Banks for hours. The northwest eyewall of the Category 1 storm was expected to remain over the Outer Banks for the next 24 hours, the National Hurricane Center said, and it may never make landfall. As of 8 a.m. ET, Ophelia's eye was located about 40 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, moving northeast at almost 6 mph. The storm could batter some areas for hours. (Watch Ophelia take out part of an ocean pier --...

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- Nineteen aircraft from Langley Air Force Base, Va., found shelter from the storm on the runway here Sept. 13. The 1st Fighter Wing jets, along with a crew of 90 support Airmen, arrived here midafternoon, evacuated from Virginia because of the expected arrival of Hurricane Ophelia. Providing shelter for the jets is a chance for the 46th Test Wing to be on the receiving end for a change, instead of evacuating its own aircraft -- a task that flying wings here are all too familiar with. Planes here fled the base three times...

SAN ANTONIO -- Air Force Reserve Command’s Hurricane Hunters are tracking Hurricane Ophelia as it bumps its way along the East Coast, packing 80 mph maximum sustained winds as of Sept. 14. Ophelia is no Katrina, but it still warrants coastal warning from the National Hurricane Center, which relies heavily on the Hurricane Hunters’ expertise. Using specially equipped WC-130J Hercules aircraft, members of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew into Ophelia Sept. 14 to try to determine the steering winds around the storm. “These winds will tell us where it is headed next,” said 1st Lt. Tina Young, an aerial...