Lotsa Thoughts

First off: Don't Forget To Vote. Hubby and I voted absentee last night (it's a good way to avoid having to find and go to the polls on a specific day). I suspect that most people reading this are likely to vote anyway, but if you aren't, think about it. If you don't vote, you are leaving your fate in other people's hands... including MINE.

Ahem.

An item in the Seattle Times this morning caught my attention. It says that an 18-year-old girl was kidnapped a month ago in Swaziland, and has now been made the King's 10th wife. To be honest, I thought stuff like this only happened in stories. I really wonder what the girl, Zena Mahlangu, thinks of the whole thing. Is it a dream come true, or the start of a long nightmare? Link to article.

It's bad enough that Toyota put out a truck called the "Tacoma" after a city in our state, apparently Buick is about to put out a "Rainier" SUV. That's pronounced "ray-neer" by the way. The city of Tacoma is best known in these parts as a smelly place (there's a song about "The Aroma of Tacoma"). Mount Rainier is best known for sitting prettily on the horizon... wonder if that bodes evil for the SUV's reliability? Link to article.

Local Muslims were stunned to learn that the DC Sniper was a Muslim from around these parts, because they'd never heard of him. Turns out he's part of the Nation of Islam, which doesn't share the beliefs of the folk around here that are mainstream Islam. But that hasn't stopped the media from identifying him as simply "Muslim", which in turn makes the local community of Muslims look like they supported him or something. Link to article.

A girl had hit upon what she thought was a great fund-raising project in Salem Oregon. She would sell bottled water with a school logo on it at school events! Except... the school district has an exclusive deal with Pepsi. And Pepsi has made it clear that the fundraising idea is not cool with them. Go corporate America... smash youthful creativity! Makes me want to drive down to Salem and buy some bottled water from the girl. Link to article.

Also in Salem, a beekeeper has found a way to get rid of a deadly parasite that is wiping out beehives around the country. Basically, his device coats the bees in powered sugar, which doesn't harm the bees but makes the Varroa mites let go of the bees and fall away. It's safer for the bees than the various chemicals that have been tried over the last 15 years, and more effective than most of them, too. In the article in the Seattle Times, a beekeeper whose bees were treated in the machine had this to say: "It just bounced these sugar-coated bees out into a pile."

That's an image that's going to stay with me all day.