RenoVous

  This is a traditional Taoist and Buddhist celebration to honor ancestors and ensure their spirits rest easily. Families set out rice, fruit, and meat on altars for wandering souls. Joss paper is a special paper offering, known as ghost or spirit money.  Pieces are burned in a ritual to provide wealth for their loved ones in the afterlife.  Lotus lanterns are placed in the rivers to help guide spirits home. Traditional performances run throughout the lunar month, but today's Ghost Day is the peak.  Sets include Chinese street opera (wayang), puppet troupes (piyingxi), variety shows (getai), as well as dragon and lion dances. Front row seats are left empty for any ghost guests.

  On this day we look back at the Whiskey Rebellion, the first insurrection of the new United States. In 1791, Congress passed a tax on whiskey to pay off debts from the Revolution.  This was the first tax on a domestic product. Grain farmers resented this, and President Washington attempted to prosecute refusal to pay.  In 1794, 6,000 men gathered in a Pittsburgh field with fake guillotines. Washington issued a proclamation giving Alexander Hamilton the power to organize troops.  And on August 26th, he declared that the insurgents had to be subdued, fearing they would otherwise "shake the government to its foundation." In September, Washington led an army into Pennsylvania, the only time a sitting president has done so.  The rioters dispersed at the sight of federal troops.  Victory was had without bloodshed, but Thomas Jefferson felt the action had been a dire threat to the nation's ideals. Grown in the Monongahela Valley between Virginia and Pennsylvania...

 This photo is from August 10, when the Bug and Fred Fires were burning the backs of our valleys. It's pretty well contained now, but another fire started on Saturday. We were on the I-80 side of Peavine when it happened, and we could see the wind was pushing it up and over, so we went around to the 395 side. It was threatening the same valleys again, and did more damage. My sister was able to return home last night though. According to my Watch Duty app, this Hawk Fire is 15,000 acres and 27% contained. Definitely a bit hazy today.

  I've never watched the show, but the stars who are promoting it are the only Best Dressed this week. Madelyn Cline Carlacia Grant Madison Bailey And now for a Worst Dressed, or rather, Worst Shoed. If we can even call it a shoe. Absolutely not, Margaret Qualley - you should have slapped whomever at Chanel put these in front of you. Here's a better one just to clear your eyes.

  The Singhbhum Craton in India is one of Earth's oldest surviving blocks of continental crust. Researchers came across a carbonaceous layer sandwiched in ancient chert - the mineral form of silicon dioxide - and there they found fossilized remnants of microbial mats. Some of these traces of life have been dated to 3.5 billion years ago. The silica entombed the dead microbes, preserving them as thin layers of carbon that can survive even as the surrounding rock is transformed by heat and pressure. First they had to establish that the carbon was indigenous to the rock, and not introduced by some later geological event, and then they had to prove a biological origin. They used Raman spectroscopy to determine its structure, which in turn reveals formation and alteration history.

  We had a great spot for camping at Lahontan. The event was put on by Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Nevada State Parks, and the Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation. The day had some booths set up, but most people came out for the night - there was a band on that stage there, and all red lights only. Down the lakeside they had telescopes set up, but my night sight didn't catch that so well. The stars came out alright though. Tent View And the pups.