hi folks

so the first thing I should tell you is that I finally heard back from Google, and although everything is not yet completely straightened out I was very glad to get an answer from a human AND I have a phone number I can call and my feathers are pretty much completely unruffled so thanks Google

suffice it to say that overautomation is a big pet peeve for me.

my father has always told me, computers are stupid, and I wholly agree. They are excellent tools when you use them correctly, but they really are very stupid and you must be strict with them and not let them get into bad behavior loops.

So the Dalai Lama was visiting a school in DC today and a young man asked him why folks in DC have no congressional representation, and His Holiness more or less responded, Why indeed?

here is a bit of the article, from AFP via Yahoo -

The 70-year-old leader pondered for a while and shot back the same question to Bernard Igbedian, a 17-year-old pupil of Booker T. Washington Public Charter School for Technical Arts.

When Igbedian said he saw no reason for the denial of voting rights, the Dalai Lama, himself battling Chinese authorities for greater autonomy for Tibetans, said the people should speak up and find out why.

"Then you should find out. If there are sufficient reasons, we have to think more carefully, but if there is no reason, then shout," the maroon-robed leader told the student, drawing laughter among the 200 odd students and visitors.

Let me see, what else. I am hoping to get some time to research Hoge Mine this winter, take some pictures of the memorial and so forth. I do not know when this mine stopped running but I read an account that indicates that men were still picking coal out of there as late as the 1930s. There is some coal up at Traces in Floyd, it comes from the Hoge Mine area.

wow it sure got cold fast last night.

have a great day, hope you all are well.

--Suzy