The Royce Files

A trifecta of Johnny Cash on Blog Action Day and throw in a reference to Jesus, too. I was pondering how much of Jesus' ministry involved water. Let's list a few: Baptized Performed water into wine miracle Frequented boats Walked on water Claimed to be living water Spoke of springs of living water coming out of people Asks for a drink of water from a woman at a well Taught about blessing of giving a cup of water in his name Washed disciples feet with water Wouldn't it be great if Jesus performed a miracle of turning poor water into clean water? Well he is actually doing that these days through his followers. Samaritans Purse is doing just that with their water projects . I will also plug Wine To Water efforts to get clean accessible water to One Billion People. They currently are working on getting water filters to Pakistan where flood have plagued that region recently. In Israel and most of the Middle East, the main water source is precipitation which can be ...

  Johnny Cash once again sings for Blog Action Day 2010.  And here we  talk about floods. I've lived through a few. Nashville flooded too. I blogged that.  In this case water proves to be the threaten-er. People and property are harmed by rising waters. There were no flood fatalities in Fargo with caveat that 2 people died due to exertion during flood prevention. Millions in damage was accounted. Flash floods appear to be killing more people that tornadoes as of late. Urbanization appears to be one of the culprits as water run-off has no place to pool up but on roads and in neighborhoods. Floods also have the potential to contaminate water sources as run-off cannot be controlled as easily in a flood situation. Sewage systems could be overloaded and intermingle with water sources.  Long term flooding in the Devil's Lake basin of North Dakota has been hotly debated. Even Canada is concerned because a potential outlet would send water into the Red River Basin an...

In the film Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix portraying Johnny Cash in the scene of the concert at Folsom Prison takes a glass of murky water and throws it to the ground before breaking in Cocaine Blues. In reality the scene did not happen that way. It seems that Cash did do a comic bit about the water at Folsom Prison in both morning and afternoon shows. I don't think he broke a glass like Joaquin did in the film but he made the a comment to the effect that the water looked like it ran off his guitar player's boots. Either scene made the water quality at the prison appear rather poor. In the video above Johnny does another water bit during the San Quentin concert. Whether the water quality at Folsom Prison was as poor as Johnny Cash suggests, I can find no evidence. However, Folsom Prison is not without its water issues. Back in 2002 there was a sewage spill at the prison which may have contaminated water in the adjacent American River. Tests were made but none proved conclusi...

This water related story comes out of my alma mater, UMM. Michael Eble, an UMM studio art professor, got to spend some time alone in a cabin along the St. Croix River this August. He was awarded the Artist at Pine Needles residency. So for three weeks he resided in a rustic cabin thanks to the St. Croix Watershed Research Station . His task: create a project related to the environment. The result: a series of 8 abstract paintings of the St. Croix watershed region. Eble has previously painted aerial landscapes of coastal Louisiana which highlighted coastal erosion. So what's the take away on this water related issue? I believe it is awareness and specifically awareness how interconnected the watershed is with the land. Artist representation aids in making the citizenry aware. The St. Croix River watershed cover portions of Eastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin including such towns as Stillwater, Hinckley, Cable, Spooner, Hayward, New Ri...

This year I will be participating in Blog Action Day . Topic of concern this year: water. It is actually something I care about since I drink a lot of it and use it for recreation. Most of my blogging on water has been about flooding but I am not sure how to work that into this blog action day. I guess flooding has potential to contaminate clean water supplies. Water is one of those essentials for having a healthy life and sadly many places around the globe don't have access to clean water. Samaritan's Purse helps provide clean water to many communities. But I'll write more about this and have photos for water. The photo today is from the Sheyenne Grasslands at a windmill that pumps water into the large trough. Numerous troughs are located in the grasslands as it is a rather dry area. The water must be filtered or treated for human consumption. The cattle just drink it as it is. The Sheyenne River runs through the western part of the grasslands.

As expected, the debate started on the topic of the economy. Both Obama and McCain reiterated the superiority of their plan. I checked out to do a little research on each candidate's stance on poverty. They both agreed combating HIV/AIDS worldwide should receive more government attention. Obama specifically wants to double annual funding of such projects. McCain supports the President's Plan for AIDS Relief program. So what's the connection of HIV/AIDS to poverty? To answer I will take a quote from an United Nations document. Globally, the highest HIV prevalence rates are found in poor countries, but within regions such as Africa, it is not necessarily the poorest countries that have the highest prevalence rates. Nevertheless, poverty increases vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and exacerbates the devastation of the epidemic. Poverty deprives individuals of the means to cope with HIV/AIDS. The poor often lack the knowledge and awareness that would enable them to protect themselves ...

A really well designed website, www.buyameter.org , concerned about getting access to clean water to some residents in Hale County, Alabama. The people who did some of the design of the site spent some time down in the area. The photographs are stark, yet stunning. I appreciate clean water and I'm sure there are some there who would be very glad to have it. You would think this would be a problem in the States, but it still is. I suspect this kind of relates back to last year's topic, the environment, because pollution and heavy chemical have made some water sources unfavorable for human use.

Today is Blog Action Day. I hope to get a few posts up about this year's issue: poverty . The wiki entry states that about 1/2 of the world lives in that condition. The symptoms include malnutrion, lack of shelter...or in other words a laundry list of basic necessities. I think access to education also fits in there, too, as education may allow more informed decisions to be made. Looking at the "backside" if the wiki poverty article (a.k.a. the talk page ), I get the general sense that poverty is not a simple condition to alleviate by just restributing resources or managing resources better. Numerous POVs were being debated while trying to create a neutralish article. While complex, I don't think that it is too complex a problem to do something. So who is doing something? I'm going to give props to an organization called Rosa Loves . They have been around for only 2 years (they marked 2 years yesterday) and don't intend to be famous or rich but like what they...

My 2nd foray into Blog Action Day is coming up. My entry for last year was tripe. Not very compelling commentary on the environment. But what can you do when you don't do the research? I guess you just make up things or as journalists might label it- spin it. Well my apologies to those who read it. Of course, Phil won't care. He's not that type of guy as I found out earlier today. But really, my contributions to help us become more sustainable are probably worthy to recount. So far I've been biking to work and almost everywhere in town. It cut down on the carbon as well as saves me money. Another factor in there could be that it keeps me healthier and doesn't tax the health care system. I enjoy biking too. Does been greener have to suck? Over the last year I have been cutting down on my plastic bag use by using a re-usable bag or recycling those darn plastic bags at the market. I wish they could extract oil from them bags to make some type of fuel. Finally, I re-us...

I am pondering taking part in this blog action day thingie. This year's theme is the environment and I've got a few things to say about it. Or maybe I could start my BWCA narrative beginning with the "free beer" story. It actually has to do with the Nature Conservatory . Or perhaps propound on Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize (and an Oscar) for his formidable climate change actions. The Nobel Prize for economics comes out today, could there be a worthy debate between economic growth and increased environmental problems? Roycefiles might be the premiere sight for Intramural Glory commentary, but I have hardly tauted environmental concerns. Perhaps there is a way to combine the two. Maybe I could find out if Cougar has started a fund to save endangered cougars or Kyle has been investing in carbon offsets since becoming incapacitated. Or perhaps expose Boima's litter addiction. Well, the fact is, Intramural Glory news has been near flat the last few weeks ex...