You Are A Twin: July 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Memo

Subject: Urgent Request from Hordak
Date: Sunday, November 18, 2007, 8:45 PM

From: Hordak, Leader of the Horde, Planet Etheria, Fighters of She-Ra's Rebellion

To: All Horde subjects near and far

Re: Urgent Matter: Back-up Requested Immediately

This is your leader, Hordak, contacting you from the middle of a war with He-Man and urging you to send back-up immediately. We are out numbered and I have sustained heavy losses to my armor, my legs, and now, sadly, my pride (see picture for details).

Please send any bad guys from He-Man world or She-Ra's world that you have. This Friday would be a great time to bring them to help me and Mantenna fend off these rebel scum.

Yours in the Horde,

Hordak

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Either a brutal marketing for "Plus Size" women OR Cookies started carrying clothes for Sled Dogs

Tassajara 5

This cartoon depicts the historic attempt of 5 Zen monks who stayed behind to protect their Zen Monastery/Hot Springs, Tassajara, when Northern California's Basin Complex fire creeped into Carmel Valley and threatened to burn it to the ground.

As the fire encroached, the Monastery evacuated guests, then students, then most monks and when it became clear the fire was going to sweep through, the firemen and their trucks left.

My sister, who lived through it in Monterey, described the rescue to me...

"But 5 monks stayed behind, including the Abbot of San Francisco Zen Center (which operates Tassajara). Before the fire crews left, they coated the buildings in fireproof gel and wrapped them in special foil, as well as installing rooftop sprinklers on every building. The monks stayed at great personal risk to man the pumps and the hoses, and to watch over the zendo (temple).

Last week, the fire burned through Tassajara, and the five monks kept the monastery safe. They all survived without injury, and are now known as "The Tassajara Five". The zendo was saved and only a few outbuildings were lost. The fire approached from all 4 sides, and they kept watch night and day putting out spot fires. They were alone in the wilderness, but were able to keep in touch with the outside world via phone. Everyone here followed the story via a couple of blogs kept by monks who had evacuated and were keeping in touch with the Five.

The Monterey Herald headline the next day screamed in huge font "PRIESTS SURVIVE INFERNO!"

Anyway, it was all pretty incredible. Those zen monks, man. Intense."

TASSAJARA WEBSITE:
http://www.sfzc.org/tassajara/display.asp?catid=4&pageid=1237

Monday, July 28, 2008

Which begs the question...does that come with a side of eggs?

Buffy, batton down the hatches!

This is the front edge of the severe thunderstorm system that reeked havoc throughout New York, New Jersey and PA yesterday afternoon.

I took this as I ran from my cozy spot on the Southampton Beach, moments before powerful wind gusts and torrential downpours forced us off the beach, back into our car, and onto flooded roads (and what was the eventual 4 hour drive back into the city).

If you look carefully along the horizon, you can see one place where the clouds meet the water: that was a water spout (a water tornado). As we ran back to the car, I saw several funnel clouds forming over the parking lot.

Below is a listing of reported conditions from this storm in Nassau/Suffolk Counties by the Coast Guard and other local weatherstations' website:

-FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS

-EST 60 MPH WIND AT MONTAUK HARBOR

-EXIT 43 ON THE LIE CLOSED, CARS STRANDED

-RESCUES AT MERITTS RD AND HEMPSTEAD TNPK

-NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL

-IMPASSABLE FLOODING ON FLOYD ROAD

-TREES, FLAGPOLE, WIRES DOWN, WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES MONTAUK HWY AND WILLIAM FLOYD PARKWAY AREA

-POWER LINES DOWN MATTITUCK AVE AND BAYER RD

-PILOT REPORTED FUNNEL 2 MILES EAST OF FRG, REPUBLIC AIRPORT

-5 INJ LIGHTNING
(from what I gather, INJ is a measurement or scale from 1 to 5 that rates the power and energy, via wavelengths, of a single stroke of lightning and this storm produced the strongest bolt)