RI EDC awards East Bay Energy Consortium $335K grant for Tiverton wind power

PBN Sept 29, 2010 PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Economic Development Corporation has awarded a grant and a loan totaling nearly a half-million dollars for two renewable energy projects, including one that involves nine Rhode Island municipalities and could lead to eight to 10 land-based wind turbines in Tiverton.A workshop has been scheduled for Monday Oct. 18 at Tiverton Town Hall to further discuss the project.http://tinyurl.com/288nwwo
http://eastbayri.com/detail/138476.html
Blogger note: Image above shows draft logo design for this group. The noted address and website are fictitious.

Backyard Chickens now legal in Providence

The law limits residents to one hen per 800 square feet of lot area and a maximum of six hens on any property. It prohibits roosters, the slaughtering of chickens on residential properties, and keeping chickens in the house.
It calls for chicken coops to be well-vented and predator-resistant, with enough room for at least two square feet per chicken. And it states that chicken waste must be composted and feed properly stored.
http://tinyurl.com/39kzdjf
http://www.ecori.org/chickens-come-home-to-roost/

Two from RI win Mac Arthur genius awards

Am proud to say that award winner, Newporter and surfer Nick Benson, 46, carved and installed both my parents gravestones. One in 1990, when he was age 26, and the other in 1995. Good to know that others recognize his high level of competence. Nick is a third generation stone letter carver/calligrapher.
http://tinyurl.com/33xtaxk

Mount Hope Farm: Public Welcome!

Mount Hope Farm is having a free Community Day on Sunday, October 17 from noon to 4 pm.
Come celebrate the Farm's heritage with a welcoming flag ceremony by the 2nd RI Regiment, Food in the "Barn Cafe", a Governor Bradford House Tour (where George Washington slept), Audubon live owl presentations, a Scavenger Hunt, Pumpkins and the Mount Hope High School Jazz Combo at Cove Cabin. There will be something for everyone - young and old. Families welcome! Please help spread the word. This is for all those people out there - especially Bristolians - who have always thought the Farm was private and off limits! (Click on poster once to enlarge.)

Street Painting Festival in PVD

Saturday, October 2, 2010 Providence Rotary is organizing the 11th ANNUAL
PROVIDENCE ROTARY STREET PAINTING FESTIVAL at the Bank of America Center in
downtown Providence. This is terrific family fun event with street artists,
great music, lots of great food, entertainment and antique cars. Access is
open to all.
http://providencerirotary.clubwizard.com/streetpaintingfestival.cfm

This event attracts almost 11,000 people in Providence, and all proceeds go
to support local charities.

Last Day to Register to Vote is Oct 2

DO IT! IMPORTANT message from our Bristol Town Clerk:
The last day to register to vote in the November 2, 2010 election is Saturday, October 2, 2010. Voter registrations must be received by the Bristol Board of Canvassers before 4 PM on October 2. The Board of Canvassers office in Town Hall will be open for special hours on Saturday October 2, 2010 from 1:00 until 4:00 PM. Please call 401-253-7000 with questions.

Louis P. Cirillo, CMC, Bristol Town Clerk

Tracy Kidder to speak at RWU Thursday 9/30/10

Tracy Kidder will speak at RWU on Thursday, September 30 at 7pm in the gym.
The talk is free but registration is required by calling 254 3210.
"My big struggle is how people can not care, erase, not remember." Dr. Paul Farmer.
Click on image with tiny text once to enlarge.

Community String Project Fall Programs

Ever wanted to learn to play a string instrument? Here is your chance!
This is a terrific program for kids and adults alike run mostly by Bob Arsenault.
Registration has been extended until October 1st.
As always, click on image once to enlarge image.

Old House Soul showing at Jane Pickens in Newport

Friday September 24th

4:00pm PRESERVATION
Old House Soul (50 minutes)and Q and A with filmmakers.

Don Manley and Michel Schtakleff's documentary examines the life and work of Steve Tyson Sr. (1942-2008), a Rhode Island preservationist whose company is responsible for restoring and preserving hundreds of historic buildings and houses across Rhode Island.

This info just in from his son: "The movie "Old House Soul" is being shown at the Jane Pickens on Friday at 4:00 pm with a short Q&A with the directors after. It runs about 50 minutes. It is being shown as part of Doris Duke Days. It premiered last month at the RI film festival for one showing. This is going to be the second showing. I think they are in the process of getting it on RI PBS. After that they may do some limited distribution. But this will probably be the last time to see it on the big screen."

Jane Pickens Theater and Event Center
49 Touro Street
Newport, Ri 02840
401-846-5252 showtimes
401-846-5474 office
www.janepickens.com

Striper Moon to close

Sadly, the store, Striper Moon, will be closing probably within the next few weeks.
As co-owner Susan O'Donnell stated, "We just couldn't get the numbers to work." Her other store, Sue Casa, will remain open. Striper Moon is selling everything at 50% and 75% off. Please try to stop by. They have lots of Patagonia inventory at great prices.

Halsey to be inducted into the Hall of Fame

AMERICA’S CUP HALL OF FAME TO INDUCT EXCEPTIONAL SLATE OF NOMINEES
(BRISTOL, RI) - The America's Cup Hall of Fame, located in Bristol Rhode Island, is pleased to announce the selection of Simon Daubney, Warwick Fleury, Murray Jones, Dean Phipps, Mike Drummond, and Halsey Herreshoff for induction on Saturday, September 18, 2010. It will be hosted at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court in Newport, Rhode Island, will be held in conjunction with the America’s Cup 12 Metre Era Reunion weekend.

Congratulations Halsey! This is such a great honor and one well deserved.
For more info go to:
http://herreshoff.org/news/index.html
Herreshoff Designs, Inc. will be showing two new boats at the Newport Boat Show this weekend.
Go to newportboatshow.com or call 800 582 7846 for details.

SHOP LOCAL - Buy a book

A "Novel Idea" Booksellers
Sue Woodman still has her bookstore in Bristol!
She has moved across the street to 54 State Street-
the old dog store-and is now OPEN!
Go visit Sue and check out the new cheery space.
Her phone number is still the same:
(401) 396-9360

Bristol Yoga Studio on Wood Street

Bristol Yoga Studio on Wood Street is H O T. The more yogi's in the world the better.
Click on the link for a schedule of classes and their 30 day wellness package that begins Sunday 19 September.
There are many slow and gentle classes for newcomers and beginners and for people with back problems and people who want to combine pilates with yoga and classes for pregnant Mom's! GIve it a try. You won't regret it.
http://www.bristolyogastudio.com/

Bristol Art Stroll this Sunday Sept 19; noon to 5pm

Click on image once to enlarge.

This Tuesday is voting day

Don't forget to vote in the primary on Tuesday, September 14.
You are choosing who will be on the ballot in the November election.
It's important to vote. Don't let others decide for you. In the 2006 Primary Election for Bristol/Warren's 68th District Rep seat, less than 1200 votes were cast and therefore just over 600 people decided the election results...not a good turnout for a District with a population of nearly 15,000 residents.
To view a sample ballot, go to the link below and type in your address and zip code to determine your voting district, your ballot and where you need to vote. (disregard the top box)
http://sos.ri.gov/vic/Photo shows a sample ballot for most of downtown Bristol. Click once to enlarge.
Blogger note: This just in from Town Clerk, Lou Cirillo: "There are 20 different ballots, two for each polling place (REP & DEM). The link brings up the appropriate ballot for the person..."

Osprey pays a house visit!

Ah - the joys of living near the water!
This osprey has definitely not left Bristol for South America yet. Photographs taken today, September 11, 2010 from a home over looking Bristol Harbor! Thank you for sending in!
Osprey mate for life, fly over 2000 miles to South America to winter and return to the same nesting places
year after year in the north. They usually return to Bristol in April.

Correction Sept 12, 2010: This is NOT an osprey. It's a juvenile Broad Tailed Hawk.

LNG Forum in Jamestown tomorrow 9.8.10

Click once to enlarge. Jonathan Stone, Save the Bay executive director, will be speaking as well as AG Patrick Lynch and Evan Smith, executive director of the Newport and Bristol County Visitors Bureau.

Late item blogger note: Senators Whitehouse and Reed both in attendance and spoke. Hess people were
in the audience and filming but were not on the agenda. Save Bristol Harbor passed out about 25 of their newly created and minted LNG DVD's to Senators and others.

G Mail accounts can make free phone calls

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/google-shakes-it-up-again-with-free-phone-calls/?ref=personaltechemail&nl=technology&emc=cta1

Small is Beautiful!

It’s possible we began thinking bigger was better when we decided bigger meant richer, more powerful, successful, cool.

Size meant status. (Please save me from becoming too graphic, ok?) Bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger tv’s, even bigger meals. And bigger bodies, and bigger med bills.

This problem of size is a modern living problem, I think. Pioneers didn’t build too big; they were naturally frugal. Who wants to chop extra logs to build or heat a cabin? And the windows were mercilessly tiny – good for security, no doubt, but who can live without BIG glass? And the Great Depression, World War II – they saved gum wrappers and built Victory Gardens. No wasters among them.

Then came the hippy generation, free love and rock n roll. Wearing blue jeans and peasant blouses, car-pooling in VW vans to Woodstock, the long hair generation knew all about earth living. You might say they were wasted, rarely wasteful. Every little seed pod was treated like a royal gem.

Then we blew it. About forty years ago, houses, cars, cities, meals, waistlines, you name it, everything just grew. And grew. And grew. Why? Only answer I got is: Because we could. Pretty damn lame in hindsight. It’s sort of the Wal-Mart philosophy, right? Save more by buying more. Actually might mean you spend more because everything is supersized. But those unit prices dropped to the basement. Wow, look what I got for xyz dollars. Smart, right?

Now it seems the bill is coming due. And the thing about size as a yardstick for life – someone always has something bigger!!

Why Small?

Here’s my theory.

We got too big. Doh!
We saw environmental limits – generally, smaller is greener.
Our keenest inventions are shrinking. 20th century - skyscrapers, highways, dams. 21st century – gaming, Iphones, nano-tech and bio-tech.
And then there’s this pesky never-ending down-for-the-third-count Recession that has put a strain on most everyone’s bank account. We must conserve.
In other words, small is cool. Big is ugly. Out with hummers, McMansions, and sprawl.

Now we want to be small. But… what’s small?

Small people? Really, I am very small human – five feet and under 100 pounds. In that big rocking chair, Lily Tomlin outdoes me. In other words, small is relative. Alice in Wonderland figured that out with those magic cookies. First that room fit; then it didn’t. Next to Shaq, everyone is small.

In other words, if we can play with size so readily, does small or big really matter?

Yes, it does. It matters because we got too big, consumed too much, and now we have to craft a strategy, an image of small that means beautiful. Small that we love, small that we identify with, small that ignites our dreams.

Is it possible to dream small and believe it’s big?

Please note: This was excerpted from the link below:
http://urbanverse.posterous.com/living-large-and-small-trading-hummers-for-pu

Raptor photo exhibition at Audubon

Peter Green has a wonderful show at Audubon on 1401 Hope Street, Bristol titled PROVIDENCE RAPTORS that will be up from September 5 to October 23. The photos were taken in downtown Providence at Burnside Park as well as out his PVD apartment window.
Click below for more info and photos: The show will be running concurrent with Audubon's Raptor Weekend on September 11 and 12. SEE IT! Peter will be giving a talk on his photos and discuss how he manages to get such amazing shots at 1:30pm on Saturday, Sept 11.
http://www.providenceraptors.com

Nacho Mamma's menu

Corner of State and Hope next to Dry Cleaners. Open to 11 most nights...They do TAKE OUT! Telephone: 401 396 9588 (Click on menu once to enlarge)

Good LNG news

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACTS: Senator Reed – Chip Unruh 202-224-4642
Friday, September 3, 2010 Senator Whitehouse –Seth Larson, 202-228-6293
Congressman Kennedy – Derek Pearce, 401-729-5600

Coast Guard Denies Weaver’s Cove LNG Appeal

PROVIDENCE, RI – The U.S. Coast Guard today announced that it has denied Weaver’s Cove Energy’s appeal and affirmed that the waterway is navigationally unsuitable for LNG shipments into a land-based Fall River facility. This ruling upholds previous Coast Guard decisions handed down in 2007 and 2008, effectively blocking a proposed Liquefied Natural Gas terminal. A separate proposal from the company is still under appeal for a proposed "offshore" berth in Mount Hope Bay.

U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and U.S. Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Langevin (D-RI), who have been working to block the siting of LNG marine terminals in urban communities that would require LNG tankers to pass by eleven Rhode Island towns and cities and more than 25 miles of densely populated coastline, applauded the Coast Guard’s decision.

“The Coast Guard's letter is another reminder that Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River are not appropriate places for an LNG terminal and associated vessel traffic,” said U.S. Senator Jack Reed. “From a safety, economic, and environmental standpoint, it is clear that Weaver’s Cove LNG proposal would place a burden on the Coast Guard, local law enforcement, taxpayers, and the resources of Mount Hope and Narragansett Bays. I will continue working with colleagues from Rhode Island and Massachusetts to oppose this project.”

“LNG tanker traffic would pose enormous risks to the vibrancy of Narragansett Bay and the safety of surrounding communities,” said U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “I’m committed to stopping this facility and glad that the Coast Guard reaffirmed that Weaver’s Cove is not the right place for an LNG terminal.”

“This decision from the Coast Guard reaffirms the concerns I have consistently heard from my constituents in opposition to the dangerous and ill-conceived Weaver’s Cove LNG proposal,” said Kennedy. “The people of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have made it abundantly clear that the burden represented by this project is one they are unwilling to bear.”

What happen to Earl?

We are grateful he fizzled out before arriving in RI.

"Last Night" concert at Independence Park Sunday Sept 5

"Last Night" An evening with the RI Philharmonic Orchastra at
Independence Park, Thames Street, Bristol
Sunday September 5
5:30 pm Avenue A
7:00 pm The RI Philharmonic Orchastra
The concert is free and is presented by Taco, The White Family Foundation and the Town of Bristol

Quick look EARL at 5:30pm Friday Sept 3

Thankfully it looks like we will not be getting as much wind as originally forecasted. Earl
downgraded to Category 1. How much rain? I guess we'll find out in the morning.
For up to date info go to:
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/quicklook/data/EARL.html

Kindle 3 vs the iPad: You decide

This is a three minute video with David Pogue.
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/?nl=technology&emc=ctb1

Scott MacKay RIEDC commentary

Scott MacKay, WRNI radio commentator, speaks out on the 75M loan guarantee to the Curt Schilling video game company and defends Bristol's Carbon Ocean Yachts and smaller business of RI. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrni/news.newsmain/article/7057/0/1694087/Politics/The.company.that.didn%27t.get.the.deal