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on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 |
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Mount Eddy sunset before the storm, August 2008
Here in our Northern California tinder box, we are giving thanks this morning. Lightning was going off all around us last night, but no thunder, so the storm must have been too far away for sound. To tell the truth, there was mostly wind, but the rain clouds did drop a little moisture; the smell reminds me of a wet ashtray.
News on the web puts the storm track more to the south of us, moving northeast, but I could see strikes in the Northwest, so I’m hoping there’s no new fires lurking that have yet to be discovered.
Happy, to say, our air quality is good today, not because Unit # 93 says so, because the sky has real, rain-filled, honest-to-goodness clouds in it instead of smoke. Check out a sunrise pic of storm clouds over Mount Shasta that Chris took this morning. If it isn’t perfect for a custom sendoutcard, I don’t know what is.
But what of our friends in Beijing? You know, those ones trying to breathe. One picture of a masked U.S Olympian (compliments of the New York Times) is worth a thousand words, I figure. [Yves Herman/Reuters]
Actually, folks, this picture was, and still is, worth a gazillion words. Everyone, from the U.S.O.C. (United States Olympic Committee) to the Chinese government, has criticized the U.S. Cyclists for wearing masks that the U.S.O.C. gave them. According to these Olympic hopefuls, however, the lead U.S. exercise physiologist advised the whole team to put them on before they stepped off the plane.
(Oops, his bad.)
And how did our Olympic Cyclists react to all this hullabaloo? Answer: With sadness, disappointment and surprise. “They told us that the Chinese were mad and that this is a politically charged issue, but we didn’t mean to offend anybody,” Mike Friedman (Cyclist) said. “When they handed us these masks, they never said, ‘Here they are, but don’t wear them. Why we wore the masks is simple: pollution. When you train your whole life for something, dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s, why wouldn’t you be better safe than sorry?”
Friedman went on to say that he would have worn a mask in Los Angeles, too, but it was too late, the damage had been done—broadcast far and wide as a matter of fact.
The People’s Daily Online is strangely silent.
Laura, signing off
