Virginia Breeze

The Baseline Scenario is a very good, straightforward  blog about the current economic crisis.  I recommend it to anyone who has questions about what is happening in the world today.  In this post it talks about something I touched on briefly last week. . . . home mortgages.   This is where things got started in a big way and it is something that is hopefully going to be addressed in a meaningful way in the next few months.

http://baselinescenario.com/2008/10/23/bailing-out-homeowners-through-mortgage-restructuring/

We may look back someday as a society and wish we had done certain things.  I would wager that this one will be at the top of the list.   It’s not going to make much sense to have people on the street while there are empty houses beginning to rot  a few miles away.   In fact someday these houses may be turned into shelters of some sort as it becomes clear there is no place to put displaced persons.

How’s that for a Halloween scenario?

And speaking of Halloween I read something today in the paper that made the hair on my neck stand up.   In Virginia Beach a young woman was trying to administer medication to her pet python when it apparently wrapped itself around her and squeezed her to death.

She was found on the bedroom floor in her home next to an empty cage. Rescue personnel later located an extremely agitated thirteen foot snake in the area.

Can you imagine having a thirteen foot reticulated python in your home?  Apparently this type of tragic event happens every few years in America.   A large python can exert pressure of seven or eight pounds per square inch and this can shut of the flow of the blood to the brain causing death in a minute or so.

This woman apparently had a MySpace page that featured a photo of her holding the snake.

Too bad.  Very sad.  I think a nice furry dog makes a much better pet.  Treat him well and he will want to be your friend.   At the very least he will bite the snake when it tries to squeeze the living daylights out of you.

Longtime readers know that your faithful reporter resides in Richmond, Virginia and nearby our home the James River snakes its way through the city. We can practically see it from here and we can definitely hear the trains that run up and down its banks.

The University of Richmond is also nearby and we take walks over there. There are lots of photos from it in this blog. And this past week there was a strange person over there in a costume who shut the place down for several hours.

I was sitting here typing away when Beth came up with the news. “Guess what!”.

It’s hard to tell what is about to invade my consciousness when I hear that phrase. But I could hear the helicopters up there and so I had a feeling it was going to be pretty good.

“There’s a guy with a gun running around U of R”.

This is not what we want to hear here in Virginia. We have had more than our share of this sort of tragedy.

Fortunately in this case it was not a lethal situation. A 19 year old dishwasher is out on $10,000 bond after confessing to the crime.

Here is what reportedly happened. A library employee “told police that (a male in a fake beard and sheriff’s jacket) stated to her that he was a police officer and that he had heard that people were fornicating in the library and that he needed to spend the night.”

Police locked down the university after confirming that witnesses had seen the intruder with a gun which later proved to be a pellet gun.

This is so ridiculous. Can you imagine?

I wonder if there really is stuff happening in the library? Do you think they will let me take some photos in there?

http://davidnotes.com/2007/11/22/dedicated-to-my-readers/

A couple of months ago I wrote a post asking my readers a few questions so that I could get to know them. And it was a great success. One person who is known as Helena answered all of the questions and did quite a nice job of it. Helena lives in England and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to know somebody from there.

Another person said that he would like to answer all of the questions but he had to pack because he was leaving the country. I would tell you his name but I’m not sure I should do that.

So the post was a great success and I think we should do it again. And here are some more questions.

One. What is the earliest memory you have at this late date?

Two. When you sleep do you ever have conversations that you remember?

Three. If you could date another blogger who would you choose?

Four. If one train leaves from Boston to LA going sixty miles per hour and another train leaves from LA going to Boston at eighty miles per hour which one would you like to take ? And do you ever take the train?

Five. If you knew Jordin Sparks and you also remembered that I would like to go to dinner with her what would you do?

Six. Did you ever try to swim across a lake?

Seven. Did you ever kiss a snake, a frog or some other reptile? And you should not do it again because you can get sick.

Eight. If you could remember the names of every person you ever kissed passionately on the lips would you send them a Christmas greeting every year?

Nine. Can you lift one hundred pounds and carry it one hundred feet?

Ten. Who do you think is the biggest idiot in the world and you can’t say me.

Eleven. If someone would give you a million dollars if you went to a high school football game and ran out and caught a pass naked would you do it? If you dropped the pass or were gang tackled by five guys before you could snag one you would still get 500K. And you could wear socks and football cleats. Would you do it?

Twelve. Have you ever seen someone who looked just like you and wondered if you were leading a separate life somewhere else?