NYC BLIZZARD WEB CAM ATTEMPT! - 8AM

It's just after 8pm and has been snowing for almost five hours. There's still not much of an accumulation yet. The snow is wet and the thermometer outside my window says it's 38 degrees. Too warm for the snow to really stay around. The weather people here say it will be snowing it's hardest between 7am and noon. That's when I will attempt to broadcast from the great Blizzard of '06.

Tomorrow morning I will hook up my camera to the new computer and try to show you the snow. I have a spot, dangling from my top floor fire escape, that should give us a good look at the storm. The only way I know how to do that is through instant message systems. I will use AIM (AOL Instant Message). {Or windows messenger} If you don't know my screen name I will post it tomorrow morning. I have a pretty good shot from the fire escape but if it is windy and I can't block the snow from my camera I may only be able to have the camera on for a short while. But, if the early attempt works, and I get a good shot from inside then I will broadcast more during the day.

When you wake up come here. If I wake earlier I may start before 8.

Just after 5 now and the snow has picked up. They are small flakes and blowing sideways in the 15 mph winds. None of it has stuck on the ground yet but it is a light if steady sowfall. It's still bright enough to look all the way down the road and it sure looks cool with the Empire State Building way down the road.

First Flurries

3:45 and the first flurries have started. I am back from the stores with all the supplies (hot chocolate, cookies, sandwich stuff, tv dinners, water, vodka, tonic, limes, advil...... Let's hope the hype is lived up to. I've never been in a blizzard so I am ready!

live NYC radar

Weekend In

Well things are good right now. I actually got a full night's sleep for the first time in weeks,I have the whole weekend off and a big snow storm is on the way. Also, my new computer is almost all set up and ready to go (It didn't come with Microsoft Word! What the Hell).

One of the great things about getting a new computer is that I will finally be able to stop using "Blogger". This is very convienient but constrains the creative possibilities. Soon I will be back to my old, Florida, format.

Time to shop and stock up on supplies for the storm. Lots of snack and comfort food.

Check back for updates all weekend long.

Here it comes

My new computer has arrived! I will spend the rest of the day setting it up. Big (real big) snowfall expected this weekend. You know I'll keep you posted!

Whats new(s)?

My other web site Priority News! has plenty of important stories today. Be sure to check it out.

Also if YOU have a nose for news send me an e mail. [ MQA@MQAblog.com ] I am looking for contributors to post stories on Priority News! It's easy, fun and emotionally satisfying.

By the way, look for The Meek Voice to return soon. I am sharing a computer now and running 3 web sites and all my work and personal stuff has overloaded the thing. I have ordered a new computer and it should be here in a week or so. Once I load all my stuff on the new (more powerful) machine The Meek Voice will return.

Coretta Scott King Funeral

Wasn't it nice to see President Bush have to face an audience that was not full of hand picked supporters? video He certainly got an earful. Of course the Republicans are whining about it now. The party that "swift boats" opponents without hesitation can't stand to have any dissent directed at them. A fellow blogger named Cheese Whiz has raised some strong counter argument to make as we begin to experience the "swift boating" of Jimmy Carter, Rev. Lowry and others who did not praise their King George.

Why do Republicans think they can tell the King family how to run their funeral?

Why do Republicans think they can tell black people how to conduct Mrs. King's service?

When a life is about activism, shouldn't its memorial be about activism as well?

For the most part Republican are just talking to their base and this familiar tactic is just to keep their mind closed and focused. But you never know when a young or influential person hears them and may not take the time to consider the hollowness of their outrage. So if you hear any Reds parrot the "swift boating" of those who spoke at the funeral., just ask them these questions. If nothing else it will cause them to pause and maybe, just maybe, crack open their mind just a little bit. It is also my hope that President Bush had his mind opened as well. all Presidents are isolated to some extent but Bush seems to embrace it. At least he knows now that many (if not most people) hold him responsible for the Katrina aftermath and do not appreciate illegal secret spying. A President has to be in touch with reality. Yesterday, George W. Bush, had a brief introduction to it.

Extortionist Gone Wild!

I saw this story today - the first I heard of it. The creator of those Girls Gone Wild videos was held at gunpoint recently in an extortion attempt. I recently saw a news story on him and was surprised to find that he has become filthy rich from these videos. He has mansions, a private jet and a big bank account. I guess he's a modern day Hugh Hefner. He also needs a better security system.

A man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to robbing ''Girls Gone Wild'' creator Joe Francis and forcing him at gunpoint to pose for a demeaning videotape as part of an extortion attempt.
Darnell Riley, 28, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to robbery and attempted extortion as part of a deal with prosecutors who agreed to drop burglary, carjacking and kidnapping for ransom charges.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Kellogg sentenced him to 10 years and 8 months in state prison.
Francis testified during a preliminary hearing in December that Riley broke into his home Jan. 22, 2004, pulled a gun and bound and gagged him.
He said Riley forced him to partially disrobe and make sexually humiliating comments about himself. Francis also testified that Riley threatened to distribute the video unless Francis paid him $300,000 to $500,000.

The Red Defense

This is really something. Yesterday Alberto Gonzales testified (is it considered 'testimony' if they refused to swear him in?) about the secret spying. As a long time Bush crony who's professional future is dependent on the continued 'brown nosing' of W, defend it he did. Unfortunately I couldn't watch the hearings or even catch any more than a few clips of it. What I have seen was Gonzales SAYING everything was legal and our freedoms are in tact. The word of a Republican is good enough for some, but not most.

One particular defense he gave though struck me as simplistic, even for the GOP. Senator Joe Biden was trying to determine how the fact that the program was exposed in the press hurt National Security. You will remember the whining out of the White House when the revelations broke, that it damaged our National Security. But how? The Attorney General enlightened us to their logic.

BIDEN: Thank you very much. General, how has this revelation damaged the program?I'm almost confused by it but, I mean, it seems to presuppose that these very sophisticated Al Qaida folks didn't think we were intercepting their phone calls.
GONZALES: Well, Senator, I would first refer to the experts in the Intel Committee who are making that statement, first of all. I'm just the lawyer. And so, when the director of the CIA says this should really damage our intel capabilities, I would defer to that statement. I think, based on my experience, it is true - you would assume that the enemy is presuming that we are engaged in some kind of surveillance. But if they're not reminded about it all the time in the newspapers and in stories, they
sometimes forget.

Conservatves Protest against USA story

The Super Bowl not shown on Live TV!

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