Thursday, February 8, 2018

A cheery Good Morning to you! It’s Thursday, February 8, 2018. After a peachy spring Northwest day, we’re detouring to light rain, areas of impenetrable fog, and a high in the mid 50’s. The heavens are spooling out almost three minutes more daylight each day, with sunrise at 7:22 AM, and sunset at 5:27 PM. I always wave hello to my homeward-bound neighbors as I truck up and down our hills, and yesterday, when one waved back, her hand popped up from the top of the car. Sunroof open. Spring’s coming!

Gotta ask: have you noticed an unappealing chemically fragrance in the air, especially from Portland southward? Beaverton, Tigard, SW Portland, Tualatin…folks all over have been wincing at what they sniff in the wind. KGW traced it to the Grimms Fuel composting facility off Highway 99W outside Tualatin, on the way to Sherwood. Supposedly no hazard, unless you’re allergic to stuff.

#Timesup for State Sen. Jeff Kruse, is what some Republicans as well as Democrats are saying, after an independent report detailed how he’s taken a hands-on approach to the women in our state Capitol for years. In a move that leaves his southern Oregon constituents without a Senate voice during this legislative session, he’s going to stay away from the Capitol for the next two weeks, until they hold a hearing on his proclivities–which apparently have been no secret for quite some time. He hasn’t explicitly denied his touchy-feely nature, though he maintains it was never sexual (some grab recipients might disagree), and told the investigator, “When you have been doing something for 67 years, it’s not easy to change.”

The White House is down one senior staff member, who resigned (though he’s still there today) after the Washington Post reported that both of his ex-wives say they were treated abusively. This was known internally but not acted on until the public found out because, as Chief of Staff John Kelly explained, “he is a man a true integrity.”

Portland police watchdogs are seizing on a sergeant’s admission that he and other officers sometimes deliberately misrepresent the law in order to get protesters to stop videotaping police activity. The sergeant had told someone at a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline that they could be arrested for filming the cops–when, in fact, they can’t–and that it’s “a common practice” among officers to make that false threat. #Timesup for that one, too.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea will meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s sister in the highest level North-South meeting since 1953. North Korea, by the way, staged its annual huge military parade today, rolling missiles down the streets while thousands of soldiers strutted past the mandatorily assembled citizenry.

Former President George W. Bush says there’s “pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in the 2016 U.S. election. Speaking to a think tank summit in the United Arab Emirates, Bush added, “It’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results.”

This day in 1996, all of the Northwest was besieged by flood waters. It’s the day Portland Mayor Vera Katz put out a call for citizens to hammer up a plywood extension to the seawall at Waterfront Park. Citizens showed up with tools in hand, and the wall was built on this date in 1996. The river crested the next day, and as Dripster Mary Volm, who was the lead city spokeswoman at the time, remembers: “The Willamette River actually crested at the top of the existing sea wall. As we discovered later, Vera’s plywood wall wouldn’t have been able to withstand the force caused by the river.” Still, it symbolized a unity of civic involvement that one wonders if we could muster today.

A farmer called the police in Scotland because he thought a big cat had invaded his cow barn. Officers ended up in a 45-minute standoff with a stuffed tiger.

A lot of buzz about an interview that Quincy Jones gave to the ezine Vulture, in which one of the greatest record producers of all time said the Beatles were “the worst musicians in the world,” and that somebody who sings and plays just like Jimi Hendrix is none other than Paul Allen, the Blazers/Seahawks/Microsoft guy.

Number one song on this day 40 years ago was “Stayin’ Alive” by the BeeGees. Which is the recommended beat–100 per minute–for chest compressions during CPR. (Other songs that qualify: “Dancing Queen”…”Cecelia”…”I Will Survive”…and “Another One Bites the Dust.” Oops).

Confession time: I am having major connectivity issues with my home internet. The result is an abbreviated Daily Drip. Maybe not a bad thing. But we can’t leave without a few headlines that might lower the BP!

–“US Postal Service to unveil Mister Rogers stamp next month”

–“China is re-assigning 60,000 troops – to plant trees”

–“Meet Lucas Warren, the first Gerber baby with Down syndrome”

–“Parkinson’s disease symptoms improve with singing, study finds”

–“Doctors on a plane save woman’s life by constructing a makeshift medical ventilator in mid-air”

–“Woman Adopts New Kitten’s Sister After He Cries Nonstop”

Reminder: Dripstock II…April 13. That’s a Friday. 5 PM, I believe. Basically a happy hour social event. Details to come!