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Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (and a regular series) where you can hang out, talk about what is going on with you, listen to music, talk about the news and the goings on here and everywhere.
Maybe you have seen some news stories that you think are not receiving enough attention and you'd like to post links to them. Maybe you'd like to just chat among friends about your life, your health, your family or social circle, your pets, etc. You can also post links to your own writings here on dkos or elsewhere. Perhaps you want to share some pictures or music or links to other things. This is your kind of place to talk about what's happening.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. If that is what you want, find another place to do it. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact. This diary series is produced by the TeamDFH group but anyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is welcome.
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Out of the Rolling Ocean, the Crowd
--by Walt Whitman
1
OUT of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me,
Whispering, I love you, before long I die,
I have travel’d a long way, merely to look on you, to touch you,
For I could not die till I once look’d on you,
For I fear’d I might afterward lose you.
2
(Now we have met, we have look’d, we are safe;
Return in peace to the ocean, my love;
I too am part of that ocean, my love—we are not so much separated;
Behold the great rondure—the cohesion of all, how perfect!
But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us,
As for an hour, carrying us diverse—yet cannot carry us diverse for ever;
Be not impatient—a little space—Know you, I salute the air, the ocean and the
land,
Every day, at sundown, for your dear sake, my love.)
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/...
News
U.S. Solar Installations Rose 66% in First Quarter
The amount of solar energy capacity installed in the U.S. increased 66 percent in the first quarter as panel prices fell and developers took advantage of expiring government incentives, a trade group said.
[ snip ]
“Strong demand continues to make solar one of the fastest- growing industries in the United States,” Rhone Resch, SEIA’s president, said in a statement.
[ snip ]
First-quarter installation volume also increased after developers rushed to break ground on projects before the end of 2010 when a U.S. Treasury grant incentive program was set to expire. That program, which reimburses 30 percent of the costs of building solar systems, was extended in December until the end of 2011.
LED Lighting Prices to ‘Plummet’ By 2015
VantagePoint Capital Partners, the Silicon Valley investor that helped bring Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) public, expects prices for LEDs to “plummet” within three years as competition intensifies to satisfy surging demand for energy-efficient lights.
FOREX-Euro slumps vs Swissie, Greece concerns intensify
LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - The euro hit a lifetime low against the Swiss franc and fell against other major currencies on Thursday as investors rushed into safe-haven assets on concerns that Greece's debt problems were spiralling out of control.
Senators question Pentagon cuts amid doubts on NATO
WASHINGTON — Senate lawmakers on Wednesday questioned the wisdom of steep U.S. military budget cuts at a time when top Defense Department officials warn the NATO alliance is weakening due to spending cuts by several European allies.
[ snip ]
The U.S. defense budget is scheduled to grow another 4 percent during the next fiscal year. At the same time, war spending, which is added to the base defense budget, expected to fall. Gates projected that during the next fiscal year the U.S. would cuts its war spending by $40 billion; it's currently at $159 billion.
Kurds May Lead the Way for the Arab Spring: Meghan L. O’Sullivan
Difficulties in forging a new strategy for the fast- changing Middle East are compounded by the tendency of analysts to look at the world exclusively in terms of nation-states, rather than considering subnational and transnational forces. But if policy makers take a less traditional view, they might see an opportunity to empower one of the region’s more moderate, pro-American populations in a way that helps the Kurds, Western interests and freedom and prosperity in the Middle East.
Roadside bomb kills 4 in southern Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — A roadside bomb that struck a civilian farm tractor has killed four people in southern Afghanistan.
NATO’s future: Let Europe bear the cost of defending Europe
Of the 28 NATO members, Gates said, just five spend as much on defense each year — more than 2 percent of gross domestic product — as they agreed. Those five are America, Britain, France, Greece and Albania. Among the economic powers that don’t pass muster: Germany, Italy and Canada.
For years after World War II, this arrangement was defensible. Our European allies were vulnerable and economically devastated. We had spent much blood and treasure on two wars to preserve their freedom. Providing a deterrent to the Soviets, and a third war, made military and financial sense.
But even in those years, as Gates noted, the United States accounted for only about half of all NATO military spending. Now, well after the end of the Cold War ended, we pay more than 75 percent of the tab.
NATO raids pound Gaddafi compound
NATO has once again pounded the area near Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's compound, rattling windows in the heart of the capital, Tripoli.
A series of loud blasts rocked the city early on Thursday morning and smoke could be seen rising above the fortified compound of the embattled Libyan leader.
[ snip ]
NATO warplanes have repeatedly targeted the area in and around the Bab al-Aziziya compound, Gaddafi's command centre
[ snip ]
On Wednesday, Libyan rebels wrested two key villages in the western mountains from forces loyal to Gaddafi as they continued to push deeper into government-held territory south of Tripoli.
Turkey vows to keep border open as Syrians seek refuge
The Turkish government moved Wednesday to take control of a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis along its border with Syria, cutting off unofficial supply routes, holding crisis talks with a Syrian envoy and dispatching Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to visit frontier villages where more than 8,000 Syrian refugees — about half of them children — are housed in makeshift camps.
Lyrics:
Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley
-- Robert Palmer
Sneakin' Sally through the alley
Trying to keep her out of sight
Sneakin' Sally through the alley
When up pops the wife
I said, "I can't find nothing wrong with being friends
'Coz sometimes she lets me use the car"
She said,"If you can't find nothing wrong with your mind
You better, you better find something wrong with her, her"
So I began to try to explain
That it just wasn't, just wasn't what she thought
I'd better find something to do with my time
The fact is I've just been caught
Sneakin' Sally through the alley
Trying to get away clean
Sneakin' Sally through the alley
When up pops the queen
Trying to double talk, get myself in trouble talk
Catching myself in lies, catch myself in lies
Mama just looked at me as if I was crazy
She didn't even bat an eye
So I began to try to explain
That it just wasn't, just wasn't what she thought
I'd better find something to do with my time
The fact is just been caught, just been caught
Sneakin', sneakin', sneakin'
Sneakin' Sally through the alley
Sneakin' Sally through the alley
I'm trying to get away clean
Sneakin' through the alley with Sally
When up pops the queen
Sneakin' through the alley with Sally
Sneakin' Sally through the alley