Hi,

Tomorrow is Nepal’s National Unity Day, Morocco’s Independence Day, the US Surgeon declared cigarettes are a hazard (1964) and the designated hitter rule was adopted (1973).  author of The Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton (1755), Puerto Rican patriot Eugenio Maria Hostos (1839) an founder of National Woman’s Party Alice Paul (885).

Of 50 states, Pennsylvania is #5 for organic farms, behind California, Wisconsin, New York and Washington.  We are #1 for organic mushrooms, #2 for organic eggs, #3 for organic turkey production and #6 for organic Dairy production  Sarver Farms in Hempfield, Westmoreland County which started in 1979was credited as being organic in the 1990’s.  It produces 30 tons of organic vegetables on 20 acres.  Rondale Institute in Kutztown, Berks County was founded in 1972 on a 333 acre farm is widely recognized as as shepherding the modern organic farming movement.  Farmers from around the world look to the institutre for evidence-based data to advance their work.

There’s a new tiny house in Garfield and they are having an open house January 31 from 1pm until 4 pm at 200 block of North Atlantic Avenue.  It is a 350  sq foot house.

The Audubon Society has the web cam working on the eagle nest in Harmar.  This was quite the challenge, if the nest is where I believe it it.  It’s on a very steep and remote hillside.  They just got the web cam up and running and I was just there and seems to be no feed yet.

Speaking of birds, The National Aviary is rolling out their new free flight show featuring a palm nut vulture named Severus, a year old burrowing owl (so small and cute) named Attie and a seven year old noisy kookaburra from Australia.  I’m assuming these three new guys are in addition to the traditional raptors that star in the show.

The judge finally ruled in favor of the owner of the camera that Naruto sagged and took a selfie of himself. In case you missed it, a British tourist left his camera sitting around unattended and Naruto took a selfie of himself.  PETA has sued  claiming the macaque monkey owned the copy rights to the image.  It’s such a cute image.  Follow the link to see him.

I think we should have an open and frank discussion on immigration and gun control, not necessarily directly related subjects.  We don’t get anywhere clouding the facts with spin and emotions.  I was in a discussion with someone recntly about assault rifles and was told they just look like military automatic machine guns, they are in fact automatic machine guns.  See what Wikipedia has to say. There is no need for a machine gun to hunt deer in the woods and a hand gun works just fine in defending your home.  And extend ammunition clips are not needed for these purposes either.  How many innocent American citizens need to die before we act?  Sandy Hook is the one most prominent in my mind, if that nut case had to fire individual rounds, someone could have taken him down, before we lost all those kids.  With the increasing threat of homegrown terrorists, we need to get these tools of mass destruction off the streets.  And we need back ground checks, again Sandy Hook comes to mind with his history of mental illness.  If his mother’s not smart enough to keep weapons out of his reach, the back ground check should have done the job.  I like what France is proposing, expelling anyone with dual citizenship convicted of a terrorist crime.  An ISIS affiliated emigrant would have at least second thoughts if he/she knew not only were they risking their lives, but if they’re not killed, they would be returned to that hell hole Syria.  Yes, there was a number of people seeking asylum in Germany New Years Eve that took part in that disturbance in Cologne.  I say they should also face deportation, they’re not even citizens yet.  Again I bet they would think twice before acting as criminals.  I’m not condoning what occurred in Cologne, but where were the police?  We are a nation of laws and if you don’t like our laws, we’ll send you back to the impoverished failed states you have come from. Again, not minimizing what happened in Cologne, of 1.1 million refugees, 130 criminals does not warrant to me not accepting refugees.  Most are law abiding individuals, that are extremely grateful to their host country’s generosity.

The Parador hosted the Humane Society of Western Pa’‘s medium fund raiser last night.  Nice turn out and nice event!  All were happy, especially the spirits.  Da kidz were the hit pre-event (put them in the office so they weren’t a distraction during the event.

That’s it for today, have a great evening and keep warm,

ed