The Pacific Northwest

Dallas is a rooster. He lives in Dufur, a town in Oregon with only 600 humans. Dallas was brought to Dufur from Portland by a five-year-old girl. Now here is where the trouble starts: Dufur, a rural town, has an ordinance that bans roosters. Yes, a rural town does not like the sound of roosters. Yes, a rooster came all the way from a big city only to find that he is not wanted in the very place he belongs: a rural town. “It’s B.S.,” a rural Oregonian said. “Anyone who lives here that doesn’t expect it to sound like a rural farming town probably ought not to live here.” Amen.
(Oregonian)

After the war, the peace. The former defense secretary of the United States, Robert Gates, lives in Skagit County. He is far from the center of global power. He has a study that's filled with lots and lots of books. The dead eyes of an elk watches him read and remember the days when he briefed this or that president about this or that crisis in this or that country. The memories slowly float around his head. He looks out the window and sees the low clouds over the valley. "The study is both rustic and well-appointed, much like Robert Gates himself, sitting in an armchair in his casual plaid shirt and blue jeans." After the war, the peace.
(Seattle Times)

The average consumer debt of a Vancouver BC resident climbed from $38,357 in 2012 to $41,077 in 2013. The average for a resident of Montreal, a poorer city, is currently $18,563, down from $19,651 in 2012.
(Vancouver Sun)


The United States

The lead singer of the Christian metal band As I Lay Dying has pleaded guilty to the crime of hiring a person (who turned out to be an undercover agent) to kill his wife. May God have mercy on this soul.
(HuffPo)


The World

Reuters, a major news agency based in the UK, has dramatically dropped its coverage of climate change, a real global crisis. Why? Because its current deputy editor-in-chief Paul Ingrassia is a "climate change sceptic."
(Media Matters)

What does Capitalism have to say about the situation in Ukraine? "Ukraine's currency, the hryvnia, has fallen to a new low of 10 to the US dollar."
(BBC)

Predictably, the unity between between Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecit has began to crumble. He is no longer saying nice and positive things about her. Why? Because she is pretty safe here in the US and he is facing prison in Italy. Both were recently found guilty for the murder of Knox's former roommate Meredith Kercher. All of this does not sound good for the innocence mission.
(CNN)

So much trouble in the world...


The Universe

This is a big story: "A billion-ton asteroid may have recently plunged into a pulsar (a rapidly spinning core of a dead star) 37,000 light-years from Earth. The collision interrupted the pulsar’s rhythmic beacon...." Pulsars, to use the lyrical language of Carl Sagan, are the lighthouses of the universe.
(Science News)

Vela Pulsar
  • NASA
  • Vela Pulsar