U.S. EPA’s Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld has announced details of the Agency’s proposal to ban all sewage discharges from large cruise ships and most other large ocean-going ships to the marine waters along California’s entire coastline. This will establish the largest coastal ‘No Discharge Zone’ in the United States and is expected to eliminate millions of gallons of sewage that large ships discharge every year into local waters. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/035d6a7b195f40428525778a0048d0b1!OpenDocument

Clarification on "second moon" hoax
Lead-ins on television news programs and newspapers can be misleading. The "Top 5 Astronomy Hoaxes" article on the Mars second moon could have had a better title, something like "Mars as Large as the Moon". USA Today explains that for the seventh consecutive year, the "Mars Hoax" is making the rounds on the Internet. It all started with an e-mail declaring that on the night of Aug. 27, the planet Mars will come closer to Earth than it has in 60,000 years, thereby offering spectacular views of the Red Planet. The commentary even proclaims, with liberal use of exclamation marks, that Mars will appear as bright as (or as large as) the full moon. "Aug. 27" is actually Aug. 27, 2003. Mars made a historically close pass by Earth that night (34.6 million miles, or 55.7 million km). The Hubble Space Telescope used the opportunity to make some great images of Mars. But even then, to the naked eye Mars appeared as nothing more than an extremely bright yellowish-orange star, not at all like the full moon. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/08/-mars-hoax-goes-viral-on-the-internet/1

Quote A house without books is like a room without windows.
Heinrich Mann (1871-1950) German writer, elder brother of Thomas Mann http://archive.ifla.org/I/humour/subj.htm

Recent visit to Washington State
Maryhill: Maryhill Museum of Art--Auguste Rodin sculpture and drawings, Native People of North America collection, Lewis & Clark at Maryhill, special events--we were there during an art fair--located on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River. http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/visit.html
Thanks, muse reader David for recommending we visit the museum.

Walla Walla The old fur-trading Fort Walla Walla (Fort Nez Perce) was established downstream on the Columbia River at the site of modern-day Wallula in 1818. The mission of Marcus Whitman was built (1836) nearby modern Walla Walla. Wagon trains began bringing settlers in the 1840s, and Steptoeville (later Walla Walla) grew around the U.S. military Fort Walla Walla (est. 1856). The name was changed when the settlement became county seat in 1859. Walla Walla is a district headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is also the seat of Whitman College, Walla Walla Univ., and the state penitentiary. The Whitman mission nearby has been restored as a national historic site. http://www.answers.com/topic/walla-walla-washington

Approximately 40 growers cultivate creamy, yellow Walla Walla Sweet Onions on about 1,200 acres in the fertile soils of the Walla Walla Valley in southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. Walla Walla Sweets are planted in September and hand-harvested the following summer. http://www.onionworld.com/walla_walla_sweet.php

The Walla Walla Valley wine region is the most remote of all Washington State wine regions. Lying within the larger Columbia Valley Appellation, the Walla Walla wine region includes land in both Washington and Oregon--from the far southeast corner of Washington State to the northeast tip of Oregon. More than 100 wineries (October 2009) call the Walla Walla Valley Appellation home. http://winesnw.com/walla.html

Walla Walla Public Library http://www.wallawallapubliclibrary.org/

Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference Center http://www.marcuswhitmanhotel.com/
The hotel opened September 1, 1928 and served 1000 meals on that same day. The hotel has been beautifully restored, and on the second floor you may view 35 original oil paintings telling the story of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. In 1835, Whitman accepted a commission as a missionary to the Northwest Territory from a congregation in Wheeler, New York. In the spring of 1836, the Whitmans set out for the west. On August 29, 1838, Whitman built his first house of adobe bricks. On November 29, 1847, the Whitman family was massacred by Cayuse Indians.