Here it comes again

The rain returned to the Pacific Northwest yesterday. It was so nice to see some grey clouds and moisture on the ground. The summer was an odd one for the garden. It was hot and dry. We got our plants in late and that resulted in a booming crop for the most part. The past few days have been getting really cold at night which has resulted in many of our heat loving plants giving up the season. The rain is bound to help many of our plants, though. Last night it rained hard enough to wake us up at 1AM. It was impressive, beautiful and it reminded me of one reason that I like this area so much. Yea, I'm one of the weird ones who like the rain. I also like clouds and fog. I also like to get up at 4AM. Weird. Time now for some quickies:

Nobel Prize for literature winner Naguib Mahfouz has died. I have not read a lot of his work, but what I did read, I enjoyed.

Keystone Kops: Security folks make man with Arabic script on his T-Shirt, change shirts before he boards a flight from NYC. KK2, The Private Sector: AT&T has data on some 19,000 customers stolen from hacked website.

What is it with corrupt, incompetent Bush administration officials and horses? First it was Brownie and now it's for head of PBS and current State Department official Kenneth Tomlinson. Tomlinson is accused of over billing the government and using State Department employees for personal business, including assisting said horse farm.

Some British companies want an open door policy for workers from EU states. The request is causing a debate as it is feared that such a move will lower wages and increase instability. Ernesto came to Florida on a guest worker visa, but was downgraded to a tropical storm. While we're talking about the environment, read how global warming and rising seas have destroyed an atoll in the South Pacific.

Kurdish rebels declare that they will turn Turkey into a living hell. "Our motto is: 'more actions, bigger blows'." Sounds like the byline for a porn film to me. Seriously, this was not started by the war in Iraq, but that action has certainly agitated it once again.

Ted Stevens is revealed as the Senator who put a secret hold on a bill that would make government funding more transparent. No surprise since he an Robert Byrd are the kings of pork.

Speaking of pork, the Government Accountability Office concluded that tax-payer money spent by the government to combat drug use was money wasted. That was $1.2 billion wasted.

DJBC has a new mash-up tribute for Katrina out featuring New Orleans jazz musicians and the Wu-Tang Clan. Link or torrent via Boing Boing.

Violet Blue has become the sex columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Congrats, Violet! Speaking of sex, a school teacher in Texas decided to take her fifth grade class on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. Parents signed off on the field trip, but later called to complain when they discovered their children had seen nude figures in the art. The teacher has been put on probation.

Above image available here as a refrigerator magnet.