May 15, 2012

Northeast Ohioan, and Proud of It

National Library Week

was during April 11-14. I didn't see a thing about it. The week before I was visiting a friend and he said that Libraries will gradually disappear. He works in consulting and research and has a different source of data and different usage patterns. Much of what he needs is gathered from large data bases with little need to leave his office or laptop.

He and too many others don't really see what Libraries do today for the general population. It costs almost $100 for me to replace the ink cartridges in my printer. Many can't afford that. It costs for at home high speed internet connections, software, virus protection and on and on. My friend and the TEA Party don't see that many of the unemployed can”t look for jobs these days without using their local Library.

Libraries have many programs for young children that generate a love of learning. With that thought, I recall that Henry Ford said that a neighbor's steam powered tractor was the seed of his youthful curiosity, fascination and engineering. The local Libraries have Adults' Book Clubs and reading programs and story hours for toddlers that get their minds rolling. My friend's database and the Internet can't do that as well as your Library, the Shrine of Knowledge.

Andrew Carnegie certainly knew the value of a Library's improvement of a Community. He would be pleased to see how the above Kent Free Library evolved to the level of service and benefit that we see today. Carnegie gave much of his fortune to establish Libraries across the United States.

I came upon the above Chess Players near Akron U. I was wary about asking for their picture because when a few people stopped by them to say hello, they joked, “Hey you're interrupting my train of thought!” The blue timer box monitors their quickness of thought, these are serious Players.

Our times call for people who can think their choices and decisions through and ahead. There are so many decisions that can affect us for a year or two, utilities, elections, lease or buy a car, and choosing a spouse. Its a complicated World that calls for thinking a few moves ahead. Once you're married and own a car, in addition to Checkmate, its Check on Mate and Check Engine Light.

Energy

There sure is a lot of talk these days about energy. GM is slowing production of its Volt because of sluggish sales.

TWO Zoning Staffers who once worried Suffield over US224 water quality quickly signed oil and gas leases in Suffield's most sensitive water supply near the Rivermoor water plant.

Fracking meetings are being held over the entire County.

The President appears to be tweaking energy policy in the “green” direction. The limited range of today's electric cars may require overnight stays while your batteries recharge.

Japan is abandoning nuclear generation of electricity, their last reactor will shut down in April or May. Japan will switch to using natural gas to generate electricity.

The March 1, 2012 Wall Street Journal reported that the US is looking to build at least 8 Natural Gas export terminals. The Chesapeake Bay watershed is raising concerns on this.

Japan was already the World's biggest importer of liquified natural gas before the March 11, 2011 earthquake.

The natural gas is liquified by pumping/pressurizing it into tanks on ocean going vessels. (Similar pressurizing is done with your grilling propane. You've seen it done at Mogadore Bait's dispenser.)

The hoped for lower prices for home heating will probably be short lived.

John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent is a very interesting book. It is a novel about a small town Grocer and life in a small town like ours and yours. It touches on local life, local politics and the mischief that people are drawn to. Every community has it. I encourage you to read it. It is a short book and a quick read.

Census.gov

Have you logged onto the latest Census information from www.census.gov ? A good place to start on the site is http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml

Copy/paste that into your browser. It is really difficult to separate Mogadore, zipcode 44260 from Suffield data. Being a database, you may have more luck if you ask for what you want in “reverse”. Ohio, then Portage County and then Suffield or Suffield Township. It is like a game of Solitaire – Statistical Solitaire. See if you can find the average age, number of people who are whatever you need to know.

Wikipedia.org

I use it quite a bit as an online encyclopedia. Its handy for logging onto for information about an old movie or music group, sports or ailments.

Each day has some featured article and long ago Ohio President Rutherford B. Hayes was the topic of the day. There were many links in the article and one about the Long Depression (Panic of 1873) was really good. The issues of that time were very similar to what we see as Headlines today.

The Weather Report

www.noaa.gov is a great source of weather related reports. They are advertisement free. All of the Weather Reports that you see elsewhere get their information from www.noaa.gov. I urge you to give it a try with your local weather tp your favorites.

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Mrs. & Mr. Ron Mishler

This website is paid for by Ron Mishler Suffield, Ohio 44260

©2012 Ron Mishler ronmishler.com