Getting back to nature

Caught this in my hometown paper this morning and I couldn't believe my eyes. Snip from near the beginning.


By night's end, another half-dozen recreational vehicles, sleek fifth-wheels, truck campers, converted vans and beater cars loaded to bursting will be settled in for a free night's stay.

To the concern of some campground owners nationwide, a growing number of RVers across the country roll into Wal-Marts every night for this no-cost, no-frills, no-hookup sleepover.

"It's becoming more and more popular," says Sarah Wyatt, editor of Lynnwood-based RV Life magazine, which devotes its September issue to "boondocking" -- parking without paying.

Wal-Mart can be a last-resort stop for weary road-trippers, or a first-resort destination for travelers who plan cross-country trips hopping store to store, making new friends and meeting up with old ones who have a Wal-Mart and a highway exit number for a rendezvous address.


Not exactly the great outdoors, but part of me imagines homeless hordes descending on Wal-Marts in the Pacific Northwest, lured by cheap sleeping locales and hoping for the kindness of strangers in RVs, who hopefully could hand the huddled masses a sandwich. I see whole tent cities in discount lots, camping in the back at night as they work in the megastore during the day, aspiring for health benefits and a legacy of assistant managership they can bequeath to their children. A new form of primogeniture.

In the markets continue their way south as they are now, I wouldn't be surprised to see families in campers behind my local Target or Home Depot...post-modern shanties in the back of DIY and furnishing warehouses.

Tasteless home supply joke here

Israel used a grenade to kill a mosquito (insert Monty Python skit here) by taking out a Hamas leader with an F-16. Problem was the strike happened in the dead of night...at an apartment complex...full of sleeping men, women and children. About 140 were injured, at least 15 killed. Story snip below.


About 300,000 people attended the funeral procession snaking through Gaza's streets.

A man held aloft the tiny body of a dead two-month-old baby wrapped in a flag, while masked men chanted: "Death to Israel! Death to America!"

After this crime, even Israelis in their homes will be the target of our operations

Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, Hamas official The BBC's James Reynolds reports from Gaza City that the mood there was very angry, with local residents accusing Israel of deliberately targeting children.

According to Israeli officials, the strike was a reaction to the death of dozens of Israelis in recent suicide attacks.

Hamas has warned it will retaliate for the death of Sheikh Salah Shahada, the founder of its military wing. He was reported to be number one on Israel's list of most wanted militants in Gaza.


And the beat goes on.

Life, don't talk to me about life

The downside of artificial intelligence. I understand. I've been there myself. Makes you want to give it a hug.

French Word of the Day

Abbe (ah bah): abbot; priest