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Featured Editorials

The Weekly Watch

Dog Days of Summer

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You might have heard the hottest days of summer referred to as the dog days of summer … but where did this term come from? It turns out they come from an ancient belief about a star – the brightest star in the sky – Sirius in the constellation Canis Major. Sirius is also called the Dog Star. And the ancient Egyptians believed that when Sirius rose at the same time as the sun, the double whammy of Sirius and the sun caused the hot weather. Voila. Dog days!
According to the National Weather Service:
The “dog days of summer” is a phrase used to describe the hot and humid days of summer. It can be traced back thousands of years to the days of the Roman Empire. It refers to the dates from July 3 through August 11, which is 20 days prior and 20 days after the star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction [sharing the same spot in our sky] with the sun. Sirius was known as the “Dog Star,” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).

Screenshot 2026-07-25 at 08-37-08 Dog days of summer Hottest in July and August.png

News and more below the fold...

Album of the Week 7-25-26

Afternoon folks!

It's gonna be a bluesy weekend, and starting off we've got an album from blues harmonica player and singer Junior Parker and organist Jimmy McGriff, followed by an album of soul blues from Little Johnny Taylor. After that we've got some rollicking blues from The Siegel-Schwall Band, followed by two of Chicago's finest and perhaps most underrated guitarists Jimmy Rogers and Hip Linkchain sitting down for an album of acoustic guitar blues. We finish up this week in the prog rock department with an album from Uriah Heep.

Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!

Friday Night Photos County Fair Edition pt4

Happy Friday everyone. Welcome to Friday Night Photos your once a week escape from the day to day insanity of the world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music or whatever else you find of interest that helps tune out the madness.

The summer heat finally arrived. Temps have been in the mid 90s all week. The forecast is for more of the same all next week. During the MOU euphoria the price of gas dropped from $5.79 down to $5.19. Now that the MOU is dead prices have started to climb again. So far only 10¢ but I expect it to go much higher.

One of the regular features of the fair is the garden railroad. Every year the layout of the track and theme changes. This years theme was fairytale and cartoon characters.

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Open Thread - 07-24-26 - One More Time to Live

It's happening, all around the world. People have had enough and they're standing against authority. You wont hear much about it in the main stream media, but it's happening none the less. People are waking up about out of control governments that ignore its constituencies and focuses on its own continuity.

Long gone are the ideals of governmental subservience to the people, in its place we have self serving lackeys whose only concern is how to better the world in their favor by compromising their souls and furthering their careers by selling out to the monied class, with reelection as their singular goal.

People are fed up and taking to the streets in protest.

Open Thread - 23 July 2026 - Just Shoot 'Em...

Just Shoot 'Em...
That'll bring the salmon back! Yea!

So, over the 4th of July weekend, a seal pup was brought to an animal rescue known as SR3 SR3 (Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research). The pup was 3 weeks old. It had been shot in the head. It's the third seal shooting that has happened this year.

Unfortunately, bb/bullet fragments were found in the pup's brain. And, therefore, it was euthanized as it would never be able to survive in the wild with those fragments in its brain, and it was thought it would suffer for a long time before dying in the wild.


The little cutie that was shot: from the Bellingham Herald article linked above.

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