The August 27, 2013, Christian Science Monitor’s story headlined March on Washington anniversary to bring together three US presidents was accompanied by what we considered to be a disturbing photo.  It symbolically and visually erases the constitutional autonomy of each of the fifty states and replaces them with an emperor-like figure more characteristic of the Kim family  in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It is doubtful Dr. King envisioned this fifty years ago.

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Turn up the sound on your computer, then watch and listen to “Mary at the Fair!”

Video editing and audio mix by Rick Souza.

Enjoy!

Sunday, August 25, 2013, a Coeur d’Alene police officer was allegedly involved in a shooting in Coeur d’Alene.  The person the officer allegedly shot died.  The Idaho State Police is conducting the investigation into the shooting.

Beyond that, nearly everything that has been in the skewspapers so far has been speculation based on second-hand word-of-mouth exchanges.  (Note to readers:  Cops gossip and speculate, too.  Those who know won’t say, and those who say probably don’t know — at least not the complete story.  In any case, we’re not likely able to differentiate between the two.)

It will take days to weeks for the ISP to complete its investigation, collate its results into a report, and then forward it to the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney.  After reviewing the results of investigation, the Prosecutor will determine if criminal prosecution is warranted.

Between now and the time the Prosecutor announces his findings and actions, the local skewsmedia will be filling in the gaps with authoritative-sounding speculation and unsubstantiated comments.  By the time the Prosecutor’s report becomes public record and the case is closed (assuming there will be no prosecutions), the skewsmedia will have completely lost any interest in carefully studying it to prepare an accurate and complete news story or series.    Timely speculation trumps untimely accuracy in what passes for news these days.

On August 15, 2013, the Library of Congress’s Congressional Research Service released a 26-page report titled The Affordable Care Act and Small Business:  Economic Issues.

The report analyzes several Affordable Care Act provisions considered to be most relevant to small businesses.

Ytterbium Atomic Clock Standard (click to enlarge – hi-res image, large file)

If you use a cellular telephone or a GPS, you are using a piece of digital consumer electronics tied to the world’s most precise and stable time standards.   The current standard for precision is the NIST-F1 Cesium Fountain Clock.  This precision is important, because it helps make that digitized cellular telephone conversation intelligible, and it gives accuracy and consistency to the positioning of GPS receivers.

Now physicists at the National Institute of Science and Technology have developed the Ytterbium Atomic Clock (shown left). Its “ticks” are of almost the same duration; they are stable to within less than two parts in 1 quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeros).  Ytterbium is the 70th element in the periodic table of elements.

It is the ability to synchronize the various electronic clocks with the NIST time standard that enables your GPS to find that spot where you caught the big fish last week.

OpenCdA has learned that as a result of diligent reconciliation of Kootenai County financial records, an alert employee in the Kootenai County Clerk’s Office has found about $541,903.73 sitting in a District Court account.  It gets better.  (more…)

Now that the appropriate alphabet agencies have acknowledged the existence of Area 51, there have been rumors that the remains of all the space aliens allegedly hidden there have been moved to Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, and hidden in a submerged vault in the lake bed under the ARD floathouse near Bayview.

While OpenCdA doesn’t know where the alleged remains are, OpenCdA has been assured that they are not at Bayview.  That leaves open the possibility they could ultimately end up reposing in the tunnel to nowhere under 401 Front Avenue as part of Coeur d’Alene’s McEuen Field debacle.

Stay tuned.