The current duo of half sisters, direct down the tree of the grand ol Wagner himself, are attempting to make the hard seated limited ticket ultra elite opera fest a bit more family friendly. This year they offered up a condensed and reworked version of Tannhäuser which was attend by 200 or so budding little Ring Cycleaholics.
“The story of “Tannhäuser†was adapted to make it more age-appropriate. As written, when Wagner’s opera opens, we see the minnesinger Tannhäuser enjoying round-the-clock Bacchanalian orgies in Venus’s enchanted realm. Part of him knows he should get out of there, but he cannot help himself.”
You can read more at the NYT  Music: ‘Tannhäuser’ for the Tenderhearted at Bayreuth Festival.
In 1978 then POTUS Jimmy Carter had a series of Solar Panels installed at the White House to heat the water.. At that installation he uttered this prediction… “In the year 2000 this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy…. A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.””
A few years latter Saint Regan dismantled the working solar heaters and the DoE’s Renewable Energy efforts with this stunning bit of tripe…”It hasn’t produced a quart of oil or a lump of coal or anything else in the line of energy.”
Ah yes, and how has that worked out for us Bonzo?
So where are those old Solar Panels? Glad you asked…..
Read more at Scientific American’s article  Where Did the Carter White House’s Solar Panels Go?.
Scientific American reports in  Transgenic Canola Plants Break Free of Farm…..
“Transgenic canola plants in North Dakota had received genes making them resistant to herbicides, such as the weed killer Roundup. Researchers collected and tested 406 canola plants along thousands of miles of state roads. They found 347 carrying at least one resistance gene. There were also indications that the inserted genes were being passed on to new generations, producing some plants in the wild with multiple transgenes. “
I wonder if Monsanto lawyers are working out a way to sue Nature for fees and damages…..
Pentagon Demands Wikileaks ‘Return’ All Classified Documents.
“The Defense Department demands that WikiLeaks return immediately to the U.S. government all versions of documents obtained directly or indirectly from the Department of Defense databases or records,†said spokesman Geoff Morrell, opening the Pentagon’s daily press briefing.”
Give us back our secrets? Hello Genie…back in the bottle……
“On Saturday, WikiLeaks published without comment a 1.4GB encrypted file named “insurance.†The file is more than 19 times the size of the Afghan war log.”
Yea, so about that getting back in the bottle thing….
Sure it is only a day or so away, but when news came out that the Official Update was available from an Official server for a manual update [1]  …. zoom zip and Bobs our uncle .. 2.2 on my little ol Droid 1. After that it was a few installs to get Flash and ChromeToPhone working as well as some housekeeping(mainly moving apps to the SD…that one feature alone is worth the update)…done. Flash is not bad even on the slow Droid 1. Would it be better on something with a faster cpu like say a Droid 2 or X…heck yeah but I have another year or so on my contract by which time they will be free or close to it. I am kicking myself for not rooting it before moving up, thats ok though as it will keep me from futzing with it overly much….well more than I already do.  Time will tell how well I like it and if I feel the need to root the thing.
[1] https://android.clients.google.com/updates/voles/signed-voles-FRG01B-from-ESE81.e48e48ff.zip
