So .. I understand that Puxatawny Phil came out and saw his shadow.. six more weeks of winter. Actually.. in vermont.. it’s 6 months more winter shadow or no shadow. But I like the idea of looking for minor portents like this to guide our lives. The Romans saw thing ins the entrails of chickens .. A sa  kid I remember measuring the bands on caterpillars to gauge the length of winter.. .. and I grew up in a place that had no winter.   Supposedly animals can predict a coming earthquake.. or a change in the weather. Some say they can sense death coming.
   I just had dinner with my friend Perry who told me that the country/city of Singapore has a school of fish that live in their municipal water supply.. when the fish start acting funny, it’s time to change to Perrier.   He even told me thta some company is building chips that place trainde paramicium (single cell animals) in little cells and electrically measure their cilia (the moving threads they have) to measure contents of the water.. I don’t know about that.. I want my paramecium to be ‘free range’
   The idea of predicting the future based on a shadow is really not so odd to me.. I’ve been seeing signs like that since I was a kid.. I could not go home after seeing 3 piddidles (one eyed cars).. I once drove around for hours looking for a fourth. A phone call that was begun on an uneven minute would never go well. The number 911 (yes 911) meant good luck, 411 meant not so good luck.. , 511 meant company.. 709 was dangerous.. though I think that was because that was the course number of a  difficult  but very good linear systems class I took in grad school.
    I think I just saw my shadow.. That means time for bed..

Gnite all. nite Sam
-me