I knew a member of an "Old Italian family" (if you get my drift) whose forebears were instrumental in the running of the Balinese back in the "bad old days" when they had illegal bootleg liqour and slot machines and fancy ladies in there. When I dated him in the 80's, his family still had the slot machines that were taken out of there when the law descended on the place and shut it down. There was a fairly well known story that there was a big circular trapdoor in the kitchen of the Balinese, the cook used to sit in there in slow times and fish, and whatever he caught was cooked up as the fresh catch of teh day, but the door also had another use: when the law was on the way, all the illegal hootch and weapons went out of it into the ocean. They said it was possible to see the cops coming from the moment they stepped onto the boardwalk, and it took them so long to get out to the actual club that by the time they did, everything had been "sanitized". Interesting family. Interesting history. When I lived in Rockport, I can never remember any freezes. If they happened it was after we moved away in the late 70's. I have no family left there (or anywhere, for that matter, I am an orphan now) but my parents are both interred in the Rockport Fulton Cemetery. I grew some stuff as a kid there...my sister and I planted an agave and cactus garden, and we had a bottlebrush tree, and I planted polebeans. After my mom died in 1972 we planted all the potted funerary offerings in the front flowerbed. My dad let me piddle in the flowerbeds but we were pretty poor and there wasn;t a lot of $$ for spending on flowers. Some of my neighbors had really nice stuff though. I see that Houston is getting ICE! HD, is Galveston freezing as well??? I hope all your lovely things are okay! Bust out covers if you have to. It is so weird, it looks from the national weather map today that Florida and Hawaii are the only states that are not going to freeze (if they aren't or haven't already frozen). We have no prediction of even any 30's so far, but I am so feeling bad for everyone who has been hit by the weather system. No gloating here guys. Its just grace of god so to speak. We have usually already had some 20's by now here in Gainesville, its really weird that we have not.

Ajay, Well I can at least say that my Caimito did not lose any leaves at all! I guess that was the silver lining. Do you ever get growth bursts. Mine seems to just grow one leaf at a time. I think it is going to take forever at this rate. I guess that is fine considering I am still in an apartment and dont have tons of space right now. I have not made up my mind as to what mango i am going to buy yet, but I am going to add another condo type. The appeal of the ice cream for me is the slow growth. Hhausermann said it is very slow at growing. I would like to end up with either Ice cream or Nam Doc Mai, or Julie and the Lancetilla. I have a feeling the Lancetilla wont be ready till spring, or I wont be able to get it till spring. Thanks again, Andrew I will keep you posted to what I decide on.

Occasionally, the sky does fall...one piece at a time.... Earth-Hitting Asteroids: Katrina From Space By Leonard David National Space Society posted: 06 May 2006 11:22 am ET LOS ANGELES, California Natural events such as hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes rock this planet from time to time. But when the Earth gets stoned by an asteroid, consider it akin to a Katrina from outer space. When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the United States in August of last year, it became a deadly, destructive, and costly episodeone that has also become a metaphor for lack of government action, both pre- and post strike. At the current time there is no agency of the U.S. governmentnor of any government in the worldwith the explicit responsibility to develop and demonstrate the technology necessary to protect the planet from near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. The U.S. Congress needs to be encouraged to take a step in demonstrating the ability to deflect a menacing NEOs believes former NASA astronaut, Russell Schweickart, Chairman of the B612 Foundation. He presented an update today on dealing with troublesome asteroids here at the 25th International Space Development Conference. Key capabilities The goal of B612, a confab of scientists, technologists, astronomers, astronauts, and other specialists is to significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015. In detailing todays NEO situation, Schweickart said there are several givens: That the Earth is infrequently hit by asteroids which cross our orbit while circling the Sun; the consequence of such impacts ranges from the equivalent of a 15 megaton (TNT) explosion to a civilization ending gigaton event; and for the first time in the history of humankind we have the technology which, if we are properly prepared, we can use to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future. "Remember, were dealing here with a less frequent, but far more devastating Katrina a Katrina of the Cosmos," Schweickart reported. "NEOs happen so infrequently that even though they are orders of magnitude more devastating, people dont naturally make that match," he told SPACE.com, "but you dont want to be caught with your pants down." There are key capabilities, Schweickart said, which will enable humanity to avoid devastating cosmic collisions: Early warning; a demonstrated deflection capability; and an established international decision making process. While some progress is being made, there remains significant work ahead in all these areas, Schweickart emphasized. Sky-sweeping surveys Given sky-sweeping surveys and extrapolating into the future, by 2018 on the order of 10,000 NEOs with some risk of impact over the next 100 years are likely to be cataloged, Schweickart forecast - but there is better than an even chance that none of these 10,000 will actually hit the Earth in those 100 years. "The important fact however, is that a substantial number of them will appear as though they may be headed for impact," Schweickart advised. Today, of the 104 currently on impact listings, "two have an elevated risk and we are watching them closely," he said. At present, the two asteroids on that "keep an eye on them roster" are 2004 VD17 and Apophis, formerly listed as 2004 MN4. "Extrapolating to 2018 we may have as many as 200 in a similarly elevated attention category and of growing concern to the general public," Schweickart reported today. "Therefore, it is certainly possible, if not likely, that in the timeframe of the next 12 years wethe worldmay well be in a position where we need to take action to insure that we will be able to carry out a deflection mission if needed," he said. The U.S. Congress amended the Space Act in 2005 to charge NASA with responsibility to "detect, track, catalogue, and characterize" NEOs greater than some 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter. However, it has, thus far, come up short on actually assigning the responsibility to take action should one of these objects be discovered headed for a collision, Schweickart pointed out. There is a bit of good news forthcoming, Schweickart explained. The Congress did require NASA to provide by the end of 2006 an analysis of possible alternatives that could be employed to divert an object on a likely collision course with Earth. In response to this Congressional directive, NASA is about to announce a process for carrying out this mandate. Global threat global response Schweickart told the ISDC audience here, that a third leg of the triad for protecting the Earth from NEO impacts is probably the most challenging, albeit subtle. "It is complicated by two related facts," he said, that NEO impacts are a global threat, not a national one, and the only decision making body representing, essentially, the whole planet is the United Nationsa body not known for timely, crisp decision making, he added. Still, in this area, steps forward are being made. The Association of Space Explorers (ASE)the professional organization of astronauts and cosmonautshas formed a committee on NEOs which Schweickart chairs. Earlier this year, a technical presentation at a UN meeting in Vienna apprised them that this issue was coming at them. While the UN has been brought the problem, Schweickart said, the ASE is committed to bringing them a solution. This solution will take the form of a draft United Nations treatyor protocolformulated in a series of workshops over the next two years. "In these NEO Deflection Policy workshops we will gather together a dozen or so international experts in diplomacy, international law, insurance, and risk management, as well as space expertise to identify and wrestle with these difficult international issues," Schweickart noted. "Our goal is to return to the UN in 2009 with a draft NEO Deflection Decision Protocol and present it to them for their consideration and deliberation." Facing the challenge In wrapping up his ISDC talk, Schweickart said the NEO challenge, in a sense, "is an entry test for humankind to join the cosmic community." He reasons that, if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe "it is virtually certain that it has already faced this challenge to survival and passed it." "Our choice is to face this infrequent but substantial cosmic test or pass into history, not as an incapable species like the dinosaurs, but as a fractious and self serving creature with inadequate vision and commitment to continue its evolutionary development," Schweickart concluded.

I have white appliances (whirlpool) and am replacing my stove and fridge. I have decided to get a white stove (since I have a white over stove microwave) and I'm considering going with an all stainless (no black) fridge. We do have some stainless/black small appliances (toaster oven, coffee maker, etc) so I think the stainless might look nice with that, but I don't want to have to replace the dishwasher and microwave right now. Thanks to the pictures in this thread I can visualize that it wouldn't be so bad to mix them up!