July 8, 2015 | Andy Arthur.org

July 8, 2015 evening

Andy | July 8, 2015

Hundreds of fireflies fly above on this evening now that the heat has broken down to 69 degrees and the dewpoint dropped to 61. Rain showers tommorow but much cooler. The weekend will be pleasantly warm but with low humidity. The next time the dewpoint is expected over 60 is late Sunday afternoon. Crickets sign and a pickup truck rumbles in the distance.

Friday I plan to leave work at 1 p.m. and head up to Powley Place for some camping, relaxing, fishing and the Potholers. Should be a nice weekend. Weather-wise you certainly can not beat the weather for the hottest time of the summer. The Potholers should feel nice.

Cat Owners Turn A Blind Eye To Pets’ Violence.

Andy | July 8, 2015

Cat Owners Turn A Blind Eye To Pets’ Violence.

Dangerous criminals should be executed

Andy | July 8, 2015

If there is one thing that is clear, it’s that dangerous people should be put behind bars and ultimately executed. There are some that say we should release “dangerous” criminals after a while, but I have to disagree. If any person commits a felony, it should be a life-sentence and they go to prison and are eventually executed after full review of the crime.

The death penalty is underused in America – only reserved for the most serious crimes. Most criminals – even those convicted of heinous crimes – get a chance of release from prison after a certain period of time. But if somebody commits a crime, that is so serious that warrants a felony conviction and long-term imprisonment, the only punishment fitting is death.

The current form of releasing former criminals as non-citizens with limited rights is not only cruel, it’s dangerous. If a former criminal is not fit to own a firearm, to vote, or own a business, or live unrestricted, they should be killed. If we feel a person is unable to recover any disabilities caused by a past acts, then the only proper punishment should be death.

Persons unable to be responsible citizens should be executed rather then released back into the public as non-citizens.

Albany Pine Bush – 1893, 1940, 1956, 1984, 1994 Topo Maps and a 2013 Aerial Photo

Andy | July 8, 2015

I thought it would be interesting to get some of the same views of the Albany Pine Bush using a variety of old maps from 1893, 1940, 1956, 1984, and 1994, plus a contemporary aerial photo. The first two maps were drawn at the 1:62,500 scale while the later ones are 1:24,000.

For comparison sake, I have scaled them exactly the same — just the lower resolution maps may appear blocky or their features more crude. The latitude and longitude lines in the later maps appear to be slightly off due to a minor projection issue (most likely an incorrect earth model).