Fighting fire with fire  Respond to an attack by using a similar method as one's attacker.  When we 'fight fire with fire' we are likely to employ more extreme methods than we would normally do.  That was what Shakespeare was referring to in King John, 1595: 

Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire;

Threaten the threatener and outface the brow 

Of bragging horror

The Bard may have been the first to put the notion on paper, but he didn't coin the phrase 'fight fire with fire', that came much later.  The source of this phrase was actual fire-fighting that was taken on by U.S. settlers in the 19th century.  They attempted to guard against grass or forest fires by deliberately raising small controllable fires, which they called 'back-fires', to remove any flammable material in advance of a larger fire and so deprive it of fuel.  This literal 'fighting fire with fire' was often successful, although the settlers' lack of effective fire control equipment meant that their own fires occasionally got out of control and made matters worse rather than better.  One such failure was recorded in Caroline Kirkland's novel, based on her experiences of frontier Michigan in the 1840s, A New Home - Who'll Follow?  Or, Glimpses of Western Life (written under the pseudonym of Mrs. Mary Clavers):  The more experienced of the neighbours declared there was nothing now but to make a "back-fire!"  So home-ward all ran, and set about kindling an opposing serpent which should "swallow up the rest;" but it proved too late.  The flames only reached our stable and haystacks the sooner.  The method has continued to be used however and foresters now routinely create roads or unplanted areas to act as fire-breaks in woodland that is at risk of fire.  http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fight-fire-with-fire.html

Reading the Clouds

There are four basic cloud classifications.  Their names are a little confusing to remember, but understanding what the different types of clouds portend is a necessary part of good seamanship. 
The highest altitude clouds, cirrus, are your long-range weather forecasters.  These clouds come in various shapes and sizes, including the "mare's tail" variety, but they are always thin because they are formed by a thin layer of ice crystals.  Getting familiar with cirrus formations is important in forecasting weather. Once you begin to notice and classify clouds, you'll notice that high-altitude cirrus is responsible for a blue sky gradually turning into a milky haze and thickening, or "lowering" weather.
Cirro-cumulus clouds are the "mackerel skies" which develop from cirrus clouds beginning to lower and clump together.  Due to their relatively high altitude, they have a dappled look, and a silvery sheen.
Cumulus clouds, or "fair-weather clouds," are the middle range of cloud which are characteristically white, fluffy, and lend themselves to imaginary shape-shifting.  These are the happy-go-lucky clouds of the trade winds and high-pressure systems.  If uncomplicated by further development, a parade of these simple cumulus against a true blue sky, absent any cirrus or cirro-cumulus background, is a good indicator of decent or calm weather ahead.
Cumulo-nimbus clouds result when cumulus build up into the shape of a blacksmith's anvil.  The heat of a summer day often causes morning's innocent cumulus fluff-balls to develop into towering anvils with very white tops and very dark lower edges (squall lines) by late afternoon.  The good news is that cumulo-nimbus developments (if uncomplicated) tend to be very localized, though potentially extremely powerful in their vicinity.  Because of their tremendous height from top to bottom, you can spot them a long way off on the water.
http://www.landfallnavigation.com/mares.html

A sun dog or sundog, scientific name parhelion (plural parhelia), meaning "beside the sun"; from παρά (para), meaning "beside", and ἥλιος (helios), meaning "sun", also called a mock sun or a phantom sun, is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.  Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice halos.  They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they are not always obvious or bright.  Sundogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when the sun is low.  See images including the so-called "Sun Dog Painting" (Vädersolstavlan) depicting Stockholm in 1535 at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog 

Norton Juster was born in 1929 in Brooklyn, New York, and spent his childhood there.  Juster, the son of an architect, went on to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.  After three years in the U.S. Navy, Juster began working as an architect in New York, where he opened his own firm.  Within a few years, Juster moved to Western Massachusetts where he practiced for many years, collaborating on the design of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, educational and cultural projects throughout New England, and buildings for Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.  He taught architecture and planning at Pratt Institute in New York and was Professor of Design at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts for more than 20 years.  Juster began writing while in the Navy.  His first book, The Phantom Tollbooth, was published in 1961 while Juster was living in Brooklyn.  The story of Milo — a young boy whose discovery of a mysterious tollbooth in his room leads to a grand adventure — is a classic that has delighted readers of all ages since it was published.  His Brooklyn neighbor, Jules Feiffer, did the memorable pen and ink illustrations.  Other books he has written include the 1963 story The Dot and the Line:  A Romance in Lower Mathematics — a love triangle between a line, a circle, and a squiggle — has been reissued for today's children to discover anew.  Animator Chuck Jones adapted The Dot and the Line into an animated short film that won the 1965 Academy Award.  http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/juster/

                                              
See list of Academy Awards For Best Short Animated Films, 1932- at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Animated_Short_Film

A spire set atop One World Trade Center on May 10, 2013 was greeted with cheers from workers high in the air and spectators from the street below.  The 408-foot spire, draped in an American flag, brought the New York City structure to a height of 1,776 feet, symbolic of the year the country declared independence, and topped off an 11-year effort to restore the city's skyline following the 9/11 terror attacks.  The 758-ton silver structure will serve as a broadcast antenna, a signal for aircraft, and for many, a resurrection of the World Trade Center.  The    spire is secured to a temporary platform with a more permanent installation to come.  Construction on the building, which began in 2006, is set for completion next year. 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-world-trade-center-spire-new-york-20130510,0,4691518.story   NOTE that there is some disagreement whether a separate antenna should be used in calculating the final height of a building.  

List of 100 tallest completed buildings in the world--and you may link to the 100 tallest buildings under construction in the world, listing World Trade Center as #6 at:  http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/List/Tallest-100-Buildings 

May 2, 2013   From Matt Novak:  A Twitter pal of mine sent me a link to Librarian 2.0  http://flavorwire.com/387224/25-vintage-photos-of-librarians-being-awesome/25 --a photo that appears to show a book lending machine or library directory from the 1950s.  But a few things about the photo struck me as odd.  First of all, “2.0″ didn’t really enter the lexicon as a shorthand for “next generation technology” until the late 1990s, so it seemed unlikely that, whatever this was, they had intended for “2.0″ to mean “next-gen librarian.”  Who knows how many doctored ahistorical images we see online on any given day?   See the doctored Librarian 2.0 picture at:  http://www.psmag.com/science/robot-librarians-photoshop-images-56569/ 

See the picture (for a robot cigarette machine ) used to create the phony librarian at:  http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/robot-tobacconist-high-res-stock-photography/HL5167-001?esource=linkconn&aid=39902&asid=94532&cid=4157&lid=12413

Bucky Katt twists phrases again  "with no respect due "  instead of "with all due respect"

Get Fuzzy comic strip  May 13, 2013