In 1952, Carl Jung published “Synchronicity – An Acausal Connecting Principle”, which focused on his belief that events may be connected by causality; they are also connected by meaning. In recent weeks, we have had this theory tested in Cape Charles. The first event is cloaked in the skullduggery used force harbormaster Smitty Dize out of the harbor. Then, there was the mysterious proposal to try and sell the harbor, or at least lease it out to a ‘management company’. The major proponents of this strategy are also members of Bay Creek. Then, the Mirror received an anonymous response, here:
ZAHN: Country is run by people with no real work experience
As a “come here” I have met many of the smartest people on the Shore and I listened to the lessons they were teaching. (They didn’t know they were teaching!) It might have been in the car while being shown real estate by Herb Lassiter, Jack Mason, Jona Davis or over a beer by a man who quit school in 7th grade.
There are several brilliant people who would have made great congressman or filled other positions but I guess they were never interested. Many people on the Shore are not ambitious, not hard working and laid back as were many back in Ocean County, NJ. When a person breaks that mold the sky is the limit.
Letter: I almost moved there, but thank God I didn’t!
Dear Board of Supervisors of Northampton County, Virginia
RE: I almost moved there, but thank God I didn’t!
After following this re-zoning fiasco you people have going on down there, which, incidentally, thanks to the modern miracle of the internet, is not only national, but international news, as well, as people all over the world tune into the latest citizen broadcast as to the progress of the fiasco, all I can say is thank God that I didn’t.
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Has Cape Charles Reached the Tipping Point?
On my way to cover the Historic District Review Board meeting last month, Councilman Bannon, who was loading a cooler into his car, remarked, “You need to be careful about what you write. There is such a thing as Karma. I am Budhist, so I believe in Karma.”
“Yeah, I wonder what the ex-harbormaster thinks about Karma?” I responded. “You should probably worry about your own karma.”
Later, I began to think, “Here’s a person who was in favor of putting a prison out on seaside, who fought to take the school and basketball courts away from minority kids, giving it away to developers for $10. And he’s busting my chops about karma?”
The Alternative Table – Raw Milk: Fact and Fiction
Karen Gay’s Alternative Table
Earlier this year, I attended an agriculture subcommittee meeting in the Virginia General Assembly. I was astounded by the vehemence with which the Virginia Farm Bureau and a pediatrician with an undisclosed background in nutrition attacked the idea of allowing raw milk sales at our neighboring farms. I am learning that trotting out supposed experts to government committees is typical for those who oppose direct access to foods. Members of these committees, even if they do not receive contributions from large agricultural interests, are probably terrified of being blamed for any fallout from lightening regulations.
Fallout can and does occur which regulations are loosened. Anyone who has eaten a bad shrimp can attest that the results are really unpleasant and if one is immune-compromised death can be the result. Should we outlaw shrimp because some people will die? I know that many of my readers believe that more regulation will help save lives, but it also tends to stifle individual initiative and creativity having long-lasting impacts on our economy.
STURGIS: AFDs Essential to maintaining Open Space
I am appearing today to voice my opinion, favoring approval of those AFDs up for renewal. AFDs are essential to insure open space for Northampton County and are necessary in maintaining our county’s rural character. AFDs provide recharge areas for our fragile aquifer system, habitat for wildlife, clean air ( vegetation cleans the air), recreational opportunities for our citizens, beautiful scenic expanses and vistas for residents and tourists alike,and perhaps most importantly, the ability of landowners to offer reasonable land leases to farmers.
I do however, request that the Board of Supervisors review and update the criteria with which AFDs are approved, and maintained in order to receive the substantial tax breaks their owners are afforded. I also urge the county to renew the designations for 5 instead of the current 10 years , to allow for better oversight.
Editor’s Note: This letter was read into the record at the last County Board of Supervisors meeting.
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WHY COMMENT ON THE MIRROR?
It was announced this week, that the technology and science news site Motherboard would be dropping its comments section, opting to replace it with a “letters to the editor” section. This was followed by Reddit’s news site called Upvoted that also does not include a comments section.
Comment boxes have been a part of the web experience since we can remember. That said, as online audiences have grown, the task of moderating all these comments has become almost impossible. Social media, like Facebook and Twitter are the places now that seem to hold the most vibrant conversations on goings on. This year, Bloomberg, The Verge, The Daily Beast and now Motherboard have all dropped their comments feature.
At the Mirror, we think it is vital to still have comments. We think this is what differentiates us from traditional outlets—we empower the reader to become part of the discussion. Finding out what you think about topics or news, creating a dialog, building a community perspective, is an important part of thriving in this place. At the Mirror, we urge you to get involved, and great way to start is by not being shy and sharing your thoughts and ideas with us.
If you don’t want your name out there, that is why we have the anonymous section. If you have something that’s sticking in your craw, but don’t want to alienate yourself, just let it fly on anonymous.
As always, just send your comments to capecharlesmirror@gmail.com.
We can’t be everywhere, so if you have a topic or news story that you want us to cover, just send us a note and we’ll do our best to get out there: capecharlesmirror@gmail.com
Art Schwarzschild: Time to scrap zoning changes
TO: Chairman Rick Hubbard and the Northampton County Board of Supervisors
As you know from my previous comments (both written and oral), I have significant concerns with the zoning changes being proposed and the process by which these proposed changes have been developed. Please understand, this does not mean that I am against making changes to the zoning ordinance. In fact, I agree that the ordinance is overly long and complicated, and that it could benefit from some well researched and thoughtful modification. My main concerns have been with the lack of public input into this process, and the continually shifting nature of the proposed changes. For these reasons I once again urge you to scrap the current re-zoning proposal and begin the process again, this time with input from the general public and based on the best available economic and scientific studies.
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DUFTY: Rezoning County an ill-fated process
Chairman Hubbard and Northampton County Board of Supervisors;
I am writing in regard to the ongoing attempt by the Northampton County Board of Supervisors to rewrite and revise the 2009 Northampton County zoning ordinance, an effort that has been undertaken with no meaningful or substantive opportunity for citizens, civic groups, community organizations, or local governments to participate in this review and revision process. Additionally, the many changes to our current zoning ordinance that are embodied in the revised draft public document that will be the subject of a public hearing on November 2, 2015 were performed extant of an evidentiary basis and were arrived at with virtually no input from experts, independent analysts, or studies as required by code.
During the October 6, 2015 meeting of the Northampton County Planning Commission, several points were raised by the Chairman and at least one other member of the Commission that should serve to give pause in pursuing the current path to expedite a final decision in this ill-fated zoning process.
[Read more…]
Tips from the Math Man
Now that we have everyone back at school with all the items they need in their possession, with a great attitude and liking their teachers, paying attention and being in class every day it’s time to take a look at math.
Before we start just a word from Dr. Carson, a man who grew up in the ghetto of Detroit with a single mom and who made something of himself. He said education is your “ticket” to finding a good job and being successful. Another recent item in the news is the visit of the Pope and his going to a Catholic school in New York where most students are Hispanic and in poverty but 98% go on to college. Why is that school so successful when most in that neighborhood have high failure rates?
Discipline, the attitude of the students, and the absolute cooperation of the parents.
Math came about because people began to own things and needed a way to keep tabs on their things. This goes way back to no longer eating wild plants and what animals you get find. A simple stroke in the dirt would be a “1”. 2 strokes, then 3, 4 and maybe for “5” a slash through the 4 marks. People didn’t own much so they didn’t need to make many strokes. As they accumulated more wealth the system needed to grow and different civilizations had different “numeral” systems. “Numbers” are the idea of a quantity and “numerals” is how they are written down. The Romans had letters with V being 5 and probably was a hand with the thumb and forefinger forming a V. Ten is an X which is two V’s. 4 was written with 4 I’s and later written as IV. Likewise 6 became VI and 9 became! X. They have an L for 50 and can add or subtract an X so 40 is XL, then a C for 100, a D for 500 and an M for 1000. The Emperor, one of the Ceaser boys, felt that his tax collectors were cheating him, what else is new, and ordered a census of the entire Roman Empire. The count came back at more than one million so what to do? Write a thousand M’s?
They decided that a line on top of a numeral multiplied it by one thousand so an M with a line on top was a million. This was OK for counting and keeping track of things but horrible for arithmetic because they had no “lace value”.
Our system, the Hindu-Arabic Numeral system comes to the rescue! The Hindu’s invented the numerals 1 through 9 and the Arabs invented the Zero. Now we had “place value” with zero being a place holder if there were none of the values like 104; no tens’s. Zero is famed as one of the most important inventions of all time and across from the White House there is a Zero Monument.
Early on most people could not read and didn’t even know their numerals. The angles in a numeral could be counted and that was the value so it was written like a 7 and had one angle, a 2 had 2 angles, etc. up to 9 with 9 angles. Zero is a round numeral and has no angles and that’s its value.
In Colonial times very few people could read and if you received a letter or instructions you had to go to a “reader” to find out what it said. These people were so important that the government passed a Forgiveness Act where
a reader would be excused, not prosecuted, for committing one murder. Once we decided how to count, base 10 for ten fingers or some other base the arithmetic was locked in. So 5 + 4 is 9 and 6 X 3 is 18 and that’s how it is and no one can pass a law to change any of these “facts”. Base 12 is faster because you do more work in your head and must have been very popular at one time. Just go to the bakery or look at you watch or calendar to see TWELVE.
There are some things in math that are incorrectly verbalized and this leads to a lot of confusion over very simple truths. No one should ever say 3 into 6. We read left to right. The problem is 6 (division sign) 3 and is PROPERLY
read 6 divided by 3. It can be written in fraction form as 6 over 3 or as a ratio, 6:3. No matter it is worth 2. Another thing that is WRONG is to say 12 over 24 is REDUCED to one half. It was NOT REDUCED. It is as valuable as ever.
It is correct to say it was SIMPLIFIED. When working with fractions it is always best to simplify if possible because the numbers are smaller and easier to work with. This is your lesson for today. Hope you enjoyed,
The Math Man
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