Search Results For : “Tag : blog_jr” (rss)
Thoughts about creating a community site
Aug 30, 2009 Update: This is a mish-mash of thoughts from a couple e-mails. It will take me a while to expand and organize this info, so I see no point in reading this now.
More>>updated by jr on Dec 22, 2009 comments: 1 link
tags: technology forums socialmedia hyperlocal blog_jr
Purple Martin movement along the lake shore
Adult male Purple Martin
On Saturday morning, Aug 22, 2009, I observed nearly 2000 Purple Martins in 15 minutes, moving east to west along the lake shore while I was on the Magee Marsh beach trail at the end of the causeway.
While viewing a few Black Saddlebags dragonflies hanging from the bushes on the Magee Marsh beach, I noticed swallows swooping by. Then I realized they were martins. I looked up and toward the east-southeast, and I saw martins moving by me at tree-top height and even lower at times. The low-flying martins mainly flew on the south side of the tree line at the beach, but some moved directly over me and close too. Occasionally, one would make martin chirping noises as it flew by.
I began counting in blocks of 10, and I marked an X in my notebook for each 100 I tallied. Between 8:55 and 9:10 a.m. I recored 19 Xs. I needed to leave, and as I drove away at 9:15 a.m., the martin numbers had decreased, but they were still coming from the east.
It could have just been a lull in the movement when I was leaving. When I watched them on the beach, it wasn't a solid line of martins. They mainly flew by intermittently in groups numbering 5 to 20 martins, but occasionally, a group of 50 to 100 would pass through. At one point when the movement slowed while I was on the beach, I saw a big group over the lake but near shore, angling toward me that eventually passed overhead.
And even though most of the martins flew low where I was on the beach, which was over 100 yards east of the entrance, the martins quickly gained altitude. When I got back to my car, I saw martins high up over the nearby grassy field and the east end of the boardwalk parking lot.
I wish I knew how early they started their movement, and how long it continued after I left. And why were they flying low and then quickly moving up? And where were they going?
More>>updated by jr on Aug 30, 2009 comments: 0 link
tags: environment nature birds blog_jr
Ah, the nifty 'Top-Whatever' press releases. "Unpaid placements masquerading as actual articles."
That's how they're described by the book :
It's Not News It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap as News.
But we cannot look away. We must absorb them.
Ohio is off to a good start for the month of July 2009:
More>>updated by jr on Aug 30, 2009 comments: 3 link
tags: humor moronism blog_jr
Clarian Technologies - Jellyfish Wind Appliance and Wind Snorkel Concept
I found this earlier this year. Not sure if these are jokes or legit projects.
http://www.clariantechnologies.com/
Excerpts from an October 2008 post titled Jellyfish Wind Appliance :
More>>updated by jr on Aug 30, 2009 comments: 0 link
tags: environment alternativeenergy wind blog_jr
Bad idea proposed by Teamwork Toledo
Teamwork Toledo wants Lucas County residents to pay for the managing of Toledo City parks.
The Metroparks of the Toledo area should denounce this idea immediately if they haven't already. Residents in other communities in Lucas County should express public outrage to this idea.
The Metroparks system in Lucas County is funded by county-wide property taxes along with memberships. Why would residents in Berkey, Whitehouse, Oregon, etc. or residents outside Lucas County want a portion of their property taxes or membership dues go toward managing Toledo city parks that are supposed to be funded by taxes from Toledo residents? Why penalize other communities for Toledo's failures? Answer: because it's the Toledo-way.
2008 Metroparks budget info [pdf file]. I suppose it could be open to interpretation, but managing Toledo city parks seems to violate the guiding principles of the metropark system.
More>>updated by jr on Aug 30, 2009 comments: 0 link
tags: politics toledo moronism blog_jr
Spring 2009 Important Toledo City Council Votes
Spring has turned into Summer and these issues may linger into the Fall.
April 23, 2009
Toledo Blade - City council facing votes to increase city revenue
"The money is intended to help bridge a budget deficit projected at $20.7 million."
Next week's votes by council could lead to more city decay, the continual Detroitification of Toledo:
- Finkbeiner administration proposal to begin billing homeowner insurance policies $500 to $1,000 for responding to a structure fire.
- Council could also vote next week to collect more income taxes from Toledoans who work outside the city
- raise the city's monthly refuse fee from $7 to $10 for people who do not recycle and from $2 to $7 for those who do.
updated by jr on Oct 07, 2009 comments: 0 link
tags: toledo politics blog_jr
"The objective is to teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees, and enjoy what he understands."
- by Aldo Leopold in the essay The River of the Mother of God
A Sand County Almanac is a 1949 non-fiction book written by American ecologist and environmentalist Aldo Leopold. Describing the land around Leopold's home in Sauk County, Wisconsin and his thoughts on developing a "land ethic."
The collection of essays is considered to be a landmark book in the American conservation movement. The book has had over two million copies printed and has been translated into nine languages. It has informed and changed the environmental movement and stimulated a widespread interest in ecology as a science.
"We can place this book on the shelf that holds the writings of Thoreau and John Muir." - San Francisco Chronicle
"A notable book of discovery, a book whose beginning is fashioned for naturalists and artists, and whose conclusion is a far-seeing challenge to statesmen and philosophers." - The Land
More>>updated by jr on Jul 31, 2009 comments: 0 link
tags: environment education blog_jr
Backyard photos from July 16 and 18, 2008
updated by jr on Jul 20, 2008 comments: 1 link
tags: blog_jr
One of my favorite local photos is this one taken outside the Cricket West Beaner's Coffee Shop on August 28, 2005 after a Meet the Candidates Forum.
updated by jr on Jul 01, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: toledo politics blog_jr
Common Redpolls at our feeders Winter-Spring 2008
The Winter of 2007-2008 was a big invasion year in Ohio for the sub-arctic finch the Common Redpoll. Normally, a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in January or February is required to see the Common Redpoll. Some years, like Winter 2006-2007, the Common Redpoll does not make it as far south as the U.P. If food is plentiful, the Common Redpoll will remain north of the border.
Something happened to its food source in the summer or fall of 2007 that caused many Common Redpolls to move further south than normal for the winter. At least half of Ohio's 88 counties reported Common Redpoll sightings at some point during the winter season of 2007-2008.
updated by jr on Jun 26, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: birds blog_jr
Rossford Island View Park in the fall
Rossford Island View Park main article.
updated by jr on Jun 26, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: blog_jr
Heavy rain and the usual street flooding - June 2008
After a period of torrential rain, the usual roads flooded near our home in West Toledo. Photos were taken approximately between 7:40 p.m. and 8:40 p.m., June 25, 2008.
updated by jr on Jun 26, 2008 comments: 9 link
tags: weather storm blog_jr
Lake Erie West Farmers Markets
This is NOT a list of single-owner produce stands or market stores that are open four to seven days a week and have their own building.
updated by jr on Jun 30, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: farmersmarket buylocal lakeeriewest blog_jr
American Robins and spring time
The American Robins in the photo were near the nature center at Maumee Bay State Park in late January 2007. Because December 2006 and January 2007 had little snow, robins were easily found around the Toledo area. Once the snow and cold came in February 2007, the robins retreated to more forested areas.
updated by jr on Jun 30, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: environment birds blog_jr
Signs indicate Toledo prefers Clinton
The answer to who Toledo "supports" can be found at an intersection in Elmore, Ohio.
updated by jr on Jun 30, 2008 comments: 5 link
tags: blog_jr
UT Art on the Mall 2007 photos
Over 100 artists exhibited their work on Sun, Jul 29, 2007 on the Centennial Mall grounds at the University of Toledo main campus. A bonus for me was seeing three, low-flying Peregrine Falcons. A pair nested this year on the clock tower.
updated by jr on Jun 24, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: art blog_jr
Maybe the best location in Toledo for a walkable area
It's not the Warehouse District nor Uptown. It's not or won't be the Student Village area nor the Marina District. Those are or will be good walkable spots, but I'm talking about the best possible walkable area in Toledo.
In my opinion, the best area in Toledo that could one day be somewhat like downtown Ann Arbor or Bowling Green or even like downtown Perrysburg or Maumee would be a street appropriately named Main Street, which is located in East Toledo.
The specific walkable area I'm referring to would include Main St between Front St. and Starr Ave, and then Starr Ave going east to Parker Ave. This several block area is mostly lined with small to mid-sized buildings. It looks like the downtown of a small town. Unfortunately, many of these east side buildings are empty.
updated by jr on May 02, 2009 comments: 4 link
tags: toledo reurbanism blog_jr
My favorite Toledo street sign
You'll see this sign when driving south on Tremainsville as you approach the intersection of Tremainsville, Sylvania, and Jackman.
This sign could also describe the scrambled-brain thinking of most Toledo public officials.
More>>updated by jr on Jun 30, 2008 comments: 2 link
tags: blog_jr
Pics and video taken early in the morning of March 6, 2007. Rain five days earlier caused the the smooth ice on the river to bust up, but a cold snap has stalled the thaw. Temp on this morning was 10 F.
updated by jr on Jun 24, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: photo video blog_jr
Swan Creek Explorer Tour Boat Ride
Some pics from an August 2006 boat ride, which was a $5 pontoon boat ride up and down Swan Creek in the Warehouse District and then out into the Maumee River from the MLK bridge to the Anthony Wayne bridge and then back to the Erie Street Market. ( 40 smaller photos inside )
updated by jr on Jun 24, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: photo blog_jr
Although it was a gray sky, the morning temps were a comfortable 60 degrees, which is pretty good for October 31. And now that the fall-back time period is in place, the mornings get bright earlier. So I enjoyed an opportunity to sit outside in our backyard driveway for a while and soak in the fall colors in and around our yard while reading a book, listening to the radio, and watching one of our indoor-only cats enjoy the wilds.
Red, yellow, orange, burgundy, green, brown, and the dark gray trunks of the oak trees.
updated by jr on Jun 23, 2008 comments: 0 link
tags: photo blog_jr