Report from a Delaware Polling Place

Karen and I headed out to vote this afternoon around one. Our polling place is the Ninth Grade Campus -- the old Lewes School -- on Savannah Road, in Lewes.

As we walked up, WBOC's "Chopper 16" was overhead, taking video of folks voting there, at Shields Elementary School next door, and at the Fire Hall, down the road. Another TV camera-person was just leaving.

Our incumbent state representative was out front greeting voters. I went over to say hello, though I voted for his opponent. He's a nice enough fellow, but I support his challenger.

I had spotted a bit of a crowd when I went by earlier in the day, but things were quieter this afternoon. We walked in and voted with no wait.

Because we live on Delaware, where Joe Biden is also running for reelection to the Senate, we had the rare pleasure of voting for him twice on one ballot. As usual, I didn't vote a straight ticket; I voted for at least one Republican and an Independent.

Afterwards, we went downtown and grabbed a coffee and a tea at the Lewes Coffee Roastery and Bakery. While we were there a couple came in and greeted some friends.

"What are you guys up to?"

"We just voted and now we are going home to celebrate."

"Well, good luck!"

"We are hoping...."

We found ourselves wondering how they voted and what they were hoping for. But we were too shy to ask.

Please Vote on Tuesday

It is terribly important that you vote in this year's election. It is always important, of course, but this year even more so. I won't pretend to be neutral; I hope you will vote for Barack Obama in the presidential election. I trust you won't be deterred by the many lies that are being spread around about him. If you are a Delawarean, please also vote for my friend Jack Markell; he's going to make a great Governor. (Not to mention Matt Denn. Vote for Matt too.)

Make sure that you have all the identification required to vote in your jurisdiction. Bring more than you need; don't be surprised at the polls.

Make sure you know where to vote. Google has deployed a Voter Info tool that uses Google Maps to geocode your address and relate it to your polling place. Don't trust this tool alone.

The image at right is Google's voter tool telling me that our polling place is the Department of Transportation building in Georgetown. It is not.

Our polling place is the old Lewes School building on Savannah Road, in Lewes. I know this because that is where we have voted in every election since we moved to this spot 14 years ago. I also know this because I checked the Polling Place Locator (at left) provided by the Delaware Commissioner of Elections office, which is a simple database look-up tool. It is not as cool and geo-techie as the Google tool, but it is accurate. I am a long-time geo-geek, but where-you-should-go-to-vote is too important to use only the cool Googly thing.

To their credit, Google is quite clear that you should always check with your local elections officials. And they have included a link to submit corrections. I did so, politely.

I will also note that I checked the Google tool using my parents' address in Maryland and it got their polling place right -- Bannockburn Elementary School. At least, that's where I went to vote in my first-ever election back in 1980, when I still lived at home. I assume Mom or Dad will correct me in the comments if I am wrong.

So make sure you know what is required to vote. Make sure you know where to vote. Make sure you vote for Barack Obama (and Jack Markell, if you can). Most importantly, please make sure that you vote.

Tenth Golf Game of 2008

Mike T., Sandy, and I took Tuesday afternoon off to try out the newly refurbished Garrison's Lake golf course just south of Smyrna, Delaware. We get to play together every once in a while and when we found ourselves all scheduled for the same morning-long meeting on a day with clear afternoon schedules, we decided to use a little of our vacation time, get some sun, and show how much fun poorly played golf can be.

In fairness to Sandy and Mike, I played poorly. They played pretty well. That's Sandy in the picture there in his Tiger Woods red shirt, about to drive on the back 9.

Garrison's Lake was built in the 1960s and is a mature course. It feel into disrepair a few years ago when the ownership closed it and sold it for housing development. After an outcry against that idea, the course was purchased by the state. After some outcry over that idea, the course has reopened as a public, non-profit course.

The course as been made a little longer than it was, and the trees have been trimmed back a bit. The greens are in great shape and fairly fast. The fairways are still recovering from encroaching crab-grass but have been kept quite short and play well. It is a challenging and fun course.

May game started well. I was hitting straight, if medium-length drives. My iron play was acceptable but my putting was not great. And, when my putting started to come around, I started pulling my approach shots badly. Several times I hit what were, for me, great drives, but wasted them with poor approach shots. Frankly, I'm not used to being within a short-iron of the green for my second shot on a par-4.

With a few "blow-up" holes, I ended my day with a 120. Pretty poor. But it was a lovely afternoon, and we had fun. That is always my test for a round of golf.

Sad News

I'm saddened this evening to read that Grace Pierce-Beck has died. I remember her as petite, quiet, polite, ridiculously intelligent, determined, and very effective. Grace Pierce-Beck was an environmental leader and leading light in Delaware and on the national stage. You may not have heard of her, if you have not been intimately involved in the environmental movement. She got a huge amount done very quietly and behind the scenes.

I was lucky enough to have met her in the early 1990s, when I was working for DNREC -- Delaware's environmental agency -- and got to interview her for a magazine story.

The News Journal story linked above includes a recent photo of her. It looks like she had been fighting an illness recently, but she still had that spark in her eye that I remember. It looks like it is from earlier this year, on the occasion of her induction into the Hall of Fame of Delaware Women.

Grace Pierce Beck was a wonderful person. I'm thankful to have known her.

Deployment Ceremony

There was a deployment ceremony today in downtown Dover for the 361st Signal Brigade, a unit of the Delaware National Guard. They are headed out for a period of training in Texas and then to Iraq. These ceremonies are not all that unusual, but this one was special in part because Delaware's Attorney General, Beau Biden, is a captain in the unit and his dad, Senator Joe Biden, was on hand.

I understand that our Governor, Senators and Congressman often attend these ceremonies, and address the troops. Senator Biden's status as VP-candidate, with the Secret Service complications that go along with that, made this one a little different. Streets were closed all around the site of the ceremony -- Legislative Mall in front of Legislative Hall. Access to the ceremony itself was strictly controlled, but we were able to watch from outside a guarded perimeter.

A colleague and I took a short break early in the day and checked out preparations. A crew was erecting a flag-draped ceremonial arch for the Brigade to march under. We spotted Captain Biden on the street in front of our office. We stopped for a quick chat and, why not, a photo. Beau Biden is a nice guy; friendly and charming. You can see his dad in him.

At eleven, the brigade marched a short way down Legislative Avenue, under that ceremonial arch, and onto the Mall. They were preceded by a group of police on motorcycles, a platoon of Harley-mounted Patriot Guard Riders, and a set of bag-pipers. The Patriot Guard group, by the way, included Delaware blogger Shirley Vandever, the Delaware Curmudgeon.

The ceremony itself featured short speeches by the leadership of the Delaware National Guard, the Governor, the Senators and a representative of our Congressman (who was back in Washington to vote on the bailout). We expected Senator Biden to avoid the election in his remarks and he seemed to do so; his was the shortest address. The CNN story has the heart of it:

"I've come here many times before as a Delawarean, as a United States senator," he told a crowd in Dover. "But today I come, as you prepare to deploy, as a father -- a father who had some sage advice from his son this morning: 'Dad, keep it short, we're in formation.' "

"My heart is full of love and pride. ... You are the best demonstration of both our nation's greatness and ... our people's goodness," he added.

I've long opposed the war in Iraq, but I couldn't help feeling a little choked up with pride and concern as I watched these men and women marching in my state's capitol. You can oppose the war and support the troops at the same time.

I also found myself watching some of the VFW guys who were in attendance in support of the younger troops today. I was standing a short way behind a Vietnam Vet. Did he get this sort of support? I hope so. In any case, we can still show him and his compatriots respect today.

Tearing Down the O'Brien Building

The Robert O'Brien Building in downtown Dover is being torn down to make room for an expansion of the Kent County Courthouse. This is just up the block from my office and is almost always on my lunchtime walk.

I've been collecting photos of the deconstruction process when I can. There's a pair of large yellow tracked things. One with a front-end loader on the front and the other with a high-powered pincer-claw that is used to grab steel I-beams and yank them out of the building. This after the exterior brick was shaved away and the internal stuff scraped-out.

At lunch today the building was about a third gone. Another big chuck was missing at closing time this afternoon. Stay tuned.

Sunday Morning with the Newspapers #132

In this morning's News Journal, I find an article (Georgetown DelTech to offer theater productions) that describes an effort by Delaware Technical and Community College to bring regular theater productions to the stage on their Georgetown campus.

The goal, said Vice President and Campus Director Ileana Smith, is to get area residents into a habitat of supporting the arts and to "think about this theater as a place to come."

Smith said campus leaders believe the time is right for a theater venue in central Sussex County. Many new residents in nearby Bridgeville, Millsboro and Lewes moved to Sussex County from larger communities with vibrant culture and arts scenes, Smith said.

While I applaud this idea -- I'm in favor of theater, after all -- I do have to point out that Georgetown already is home, and has been for many years, to the Possum Point Players and their Possum Hall theater. In fact, Possum Hall is less than two miles from DelTech (as the Google bot suggests that the crow drive).

I used to be closely involved with the Possums. In the days before kids, the Lovely Karen and I were both a part of that group. Our first date was dinner at Adriatico (when it was on First Street at Baltimore Avenue in Rehoboth) followed by a Possum performance of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

That performance was at (wait for it) Delaware Technical and Community College, in the theatre now proposed for the addition of theater programs.

In those days, before the refurbishing and expansion of Possum Hall, the Possums did their larger productions at Del Tech. And we were a part of many.

Karen, a talented flautist, was a member of the orchestra for almost all of the Possum musicals (back when they used real orchestras). I can act and can fake my way through a song as long as I'm in a "character part." And I used to help out backstage for shows that lacked a suitable "Mike part." I did props, or sound, or helped shove things around on-stage between acts.

Between us, we were involved in The Good Doctor, Wait Until Dark, the Sound of Music, Nunsense, The Crucible, Oklahoma, The 1940's Radio Hour, The Man of La Mancha, Big River, and I'm sure there are others that I am now forgetting.

The week before I proposed, in 1987, we helped out at a Possum Kid's production of The Emperor's New Clothes. It was the last show of that production, so we stayed behind to help tear down the set. I wasn't paying proper attention and put a foot down in the wrong spot. I twisted my ankle over so severely that I pulled the connector-thingy (tendon?) that connects shin to foot completely out of my foot. Technically, it was a bone break. So I proposed on crutches. Never underestimate the power of sympathy.

When the Possums did Nunsense, I was the props master and Karen, then large with Colleen, did sound effects and turned pages for the pianist. Nunsense is a show-within-a-show show. The idea is that a group of Nuns is putting on a performance, so anyone seen onstage should be wearing a Nun's habit. As the show started, the stage manager (our friend Nina) and I would be out on the stage, setting props for the Nun's "stage." At that point I had only a mustache, so I kept my back turned to the audience until the very last second, when I would spin around, face the audience just long enough for my facial hair to register, and then exit, stage left. Those were the easiest (and somehow most satisfying) laughs of my stage career.

We also have a photo of the two of us from that show-- both in Nun drag, Karen clearly quite pregnant, me mustachioed. We like to haul it out to scare the girl's friends when they visit.

So, when I see a story about how the fine folks at DelTech are going to rescue a culturally benighted Georgetown by bringing in theater, I bristle. Just a little. The fact is that Sussex County does not really lack culture. You just have to seek it out. You just have to support it in any way you can.

We have the Possums. We have the Sussex Ballet (where our efforts, and those of our children, now center). We have the Rehoboth Summer Children's Theatre, whose Board I served on for many years and whose web site I still manage. There is a new theater group working in the old Epworth Church building in Rehoboth Beach. There are good programs in the local high schools. And there is the Southern Delaware School of the Arts.

There are fine music programs all summer at the Bethany and Rehoboth bandstands. There is the Rehoboth jazz festival and the Rehoboth film festival. There is a music festival in Dewey Beach. There are weekly concerts in Stango Park all summer in Lewes.

We have culture. We just have to do a better job of supporting it.

A Bi-Partisan Yard

I found this mix of yard signs on a property in Lewes on a walk with the lovely Karen yesterday. It was nice to see a bipartisan mix of support in one yard:

• Joe Booth, (incumbent) Republican candidate for the local state House seat.
  
• Barack Obama, Democratic Presidential Nominee (and, I hope to God, our next President).
• Joan Deaver, Democratic candidate for the local County Council seat.
• Jack Markell, Democratic candidate for (and likely the next) Governor of Delaware.
• Gary Simpson, (incumbent) Republican candidate for the local state Senate seat.

I think this shows the power of incumbency in a small place. Of these five races, only two aren't "open" seats; these are the ones for which this property owner is supporting Republicans. As a side note, I think at least one of the Republican incumbents here is probably worthy of re-election.

Dig Me. I Voted.

I have sent in an absentee ballot for the Democratic primary election here in Delaware. I'll be away for the whole week that includes the primary. This is the first time I've ever submitted an absentee ballot.

I had only three races to vote on: Governor, Congressional Representative, and Insurance Commissioner.

I don't choose to tell you who I voted for; if you are also a Delaware voter you can make up your own mind.

Bragging: An Item for My Portfolio

I sold a photo to Delaware Today and they have used it as the cover of their fall Beach Guide. I am very pleased.

The picture itself was taken on Labor Day Weekend in 2005, on Sunday evening. It is a sunset view across the dunes and beach in North Bethany. This would have been after a family dinner at my parents' house.

We'd spent the day on the beach with my folks and my younger sister and her husband and kids. We showered and shared a leisurely meal, then wandered down to the beach to look at a quiet ocean and reflect on the passing of the day.

This has long been a common way to spend summer Saturdays or Sundays in our family. It is a tradition I love, but it is harder and harder to organize as all of our kids get older and more busy.

This, by the way, is my second photo in Delaware Today. I sold them a view of the Old State House in Dover for a Kent County Guide earlier this year.

I've slowed down my photography habit lately. But looking back over these shots, and the giddy pleasure of seeing them in print, makes me think I should head out with my camera again.

Seventh Golf Game of 2008

Andy, Rich and I played a storm-interrupted 18 holes at The Rookery Golf Club today.

We had to scamper off the course from the 13th hole when a huge thunderstorm that had been passing south of us paused and started drifting our way. It never hit the course full-on, but most of the golfers out there decided it was a good time for a short break; a beer and a hot dog.

Andy said, as we raced towards the clubhouse, "I have a rational fear of lightning."

I played badly, scoring an unacceptable 121. I want to apologize to golfers everywhere, to Ben Hogan, to the Calloway Golf Company and to the people of Scotland.

Golf is a mental game. You can destroy your swing by thinking about it too much. The first tee is the worst place, sometimes. You tee off in front of a "starter" who watches you, clipboard in hand, and seems to be thinking about just how much you are going to slow-down the flow of golfers. And there are usually a group of golfers behind you, waiting their turn, and watching every move you make. And so, you think about it. And thus you swing can be... rough.

So I flubbed my first drive and I tried too hard on the subsequent shots to make up for it. And I tried to be too fast, thinking about the group behind us. I started poorly on that first hole and never quite caught up over the next 17, though there were a few shots, here and there, to make me proud.

And yet I still had a very good time. I made small adjustments and fixed things a little. I had shots that felt and looked great. And I spent time with friends.

Delaware Candidates' Web Sites In Focus

The politics-watching blog Political Realm takes a look this week at the campaign web sites of Delaware Senator Joe Biden and his republican challenger, Christine O'Donnell.

The entry is part of the site's "Web Grades" series, which has been looking at campaign sites since spring of 2007 when they reviewed the sites of the many contenders in the presidential primaries. Interestingly, those reviews, more than a year ago, gave top marks to the web sites of John McCain on the republican side and John Edwards and Barack Obama on the democratic side. Maybe there's something to this internet thing after all?

When I started reading this entry I found myself worried that Ms. O'Donnell, demonstrably younger and therefore potentially more hip than Senator Biden, would take the prize for best campaign web site. But I was pleased to find that the Biden site took the prize with a grade of B to Ms. O'Donnell's D-minus.

Neither site includes a campaign blog, which the Political Realm folks called a disappointment. Both had multimedia content, though Sen. Biden's site was considered stronger and more complete. The Biden site also outshone the O'Donnell site in social-network features.

One might question the objectivity of the Political Realm reviewers; they do not claim to be a non-partisan site. However, despite the fact that I am proudly-partisan myself, I do think they take an even-handed approach to reviewing political web sites. They are reviewing the sites themselves and not the candidates. And the criteria do appear to have more to do with communication and interaction than with policy or position.

New Blog (and New Radio Station?) in Delaware

I just stumbled across a new Delaware blog -- WKNZ - Z88.7fm, Harrington, DE -- which will chronicle the effort of a group of local Christian folk to build and run a "25,000 watt HD Christian radio station."

The blog appeared June 10 after the group got its FCC construction permit. That alone took 10 years; the FCC is a slow beast. How long the next steps will take is uncertain, but the permit itself is a large step forward:

We are humbled, blown-away, and a little over whelmed, but after nearly 10 years, the FCC has finally given us the approval to begin building a very powerful Christian radio station on 88.7fm in Delaware. The tower will be in Harrington and the studios in Milton, DE (at least that was the plan 10 years ago!). We are currently in the process of dusting off those plans. Lots has changed in 10 years!

The blog-writers are Bill, Andy, and Elbert (with an "E"). I think Bill is likely Bill Sammons, who I used to know in conjunction with the Delmarva Poultry Industry and who I recall was leading an effort to found a Christian station some years back. I assume this is he and this will be that station, but I don't always pay as close attention as I should and so may be completely wrong.

There's a survey up now, looking for input on what sorts of things to program. I think I'll take it. I'm not particularly Christian, though the Lovely Karen is a woman of faith and we have friends among the Christians, but I applaud diversity on the airwaves. And I don't think we should automatically assume that a Christian radio station will automatically hew to the worst extremes of the "christian right."

The musical choices could be interesting. I'll make the argument, for example, in favor of playing some of the Grateful Dead catalogue. Seriously. One of the things that fascinates me about the Dead's music is the widespread use of the Bible as lyrical source material and inspiration. And their deep exploration into folk music and folk traditions included mining a vein of moral stories and cautionary tales that could fit in the new station's format.

That's my view, anyway.

Another Word Cloud

I wanted to try another of these wordle word-clouds. This one is a cloud of the tags I use in del.icio.us. A more practical and clickable version of this has long lived at the lowest left-hand spot on this blog, of course, but I think this gives an accurate picture of what my focus is when I browse the web and mark things for further use.

I search mostly for items of and about Delaware. Many of these I find in my work for state government; I track land-use issues among county and municipal governments. Many of these I mark for inclusion on various pages of my office's web site; we use items relating to land-use planning, about proposals reviewed under the PLUS Process, on the US Census, and about the use and sharing of geospatial data (GIS stuff). I've also used del.icio.us tags to supplement an aggregation of state GIS coordination RSS feeds that I help maintain for the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC).

I still want to take another crack at a family-tree wordle. The one I did the other night was just a selection from among the Mahaffies on my tree. I'm trying to figure out a way to extract all 1,700 of the people on my family tree and make a wordle from that last.

Seen Around Dover...

I took a brief walk around Dover this noon for my lunch hour. It was a pleasant day for a walk, with a carry-out Caesar salad from 33 West as my reward.

On Elm Terrace, I came upon a rose bush that has climbed up a neighboring tree. A group of pale pink blossoms were glowing in a shaft of sunlight at about second-story level.

I've mentioned before that Dover is a city of flowers. Delaware's Capitol City fills with tulips each spring. The city does a great job of maintaining flower beds and planters downtown. The residents do their bit too.

Later, over on Governor's Avenue, I spotted three young men running along in front of a Chrysler dealership. They appeared to be about high-school age. There were two out front; one carrying a soccer ball and one carrying a pair off cleats. The third fellow was carrying what looked like the goal and net. He was having a bit of trouble keeping up.

You never do know what you are going to see next.

What's (Not) Wrong With This Picture?

The News Journal had a story this morning on the possible effect of high gas prices on travel to Delaware's designated 20-something drinking and beach town Dewey Beach. The story ran in the 55-Hours week-end preview section. It was teased on the front page with the picture at left.

I find it troubling.

In Fueling the summer bar wars, Ryan Cormier writes about the possibility that upstate party folks will forgo the drive to Dewey, at four bucks a gallon, and do their drinking in upstate bars. Good news for the upstate bar owners, but bad news for the down-state bar owners.

But, as a down-state driver -- and as the father of a newly minted downstate driver -- I have to say that I'm thrilled to think that the young woman pictured here will not be driving around here.

Well Done, Dover Post?

Several of the newspapers that make up the Dover Post family of publications -- the Sussex Countian, the Milford Beacon, the Smyrna Clayton Sun Times and the Middletown Transcript -- have launched new news sites that are, at least after a quick tour, very nice. Ironically, the Dover Post site itself does not appear to have been updated yet (at least not as I write).

Update (5/29/08): The Dover Post site has made the change!

According to an editorial in today's Sussex Countian, the on-line make-overs came with the help of new parent company Gatehouse Media. It appears the writing was on the on-line wall:

... while we will certainly be printing the same paper we have since 1886 every Wednesday, there is little doubt that news-gathering and news distribution is moving in a digital direction.

These are very local weekly newspapers, and they have for a long time provided a close-focus look at their communities. But things are moving faster than the printing press can produce a tabloid-sized newspaper:

There are advantages and disadvantages to a weekly paper. On one hand, we get nearly a full week to work and develop stories that happen between Wednesday and Sunday. But then again, everything that happens between those days is, well-developed or not, old news by the time it gets to the paper.

I hope this means that these papers will continue their in-depth reporting, but will update on an interim basis. They have included lots of RSS feeds, so we can read along with them. And, when we do, we should take notice of their advertisers. That's how this business works, after all.

A Moment of Zen?

I went for a walk along the St. Jones River for lunch on Thursday. There were turtles and boys fishing and several Great Blue Herons. This one here was fishing at the foot of the Silver Lake dam. He was (rightly) annoyed with me for interrupting his angling. But watching him was so peaceful.

Do yourself a favor and turn down your volume before playing this (Assuming the video is showing up for you...). Not much happens, the Heron is just hanging out. But the water running over the dam behind me was load.

News Journal On-Line Makeover Disaster #4

The News Journal, Delaware's top daily newspaper, recently made-over its on-line offerings and I am not very happy with the result. It's still better than the other Delaware daily, which offers essentially no on-line content, but I find the new News Journal site hard to use and off-putting.

There's too much stuff on the News Journal web page, so it takes far too long to load. Some sections aren't well dated; it's hard to see what's actually new. And the site goes too far down the road to trying to be a social site, making things simply more confusing.

But none of those problems, as annoying as they are, is News Journal On-Line Makeover Disaster #4. No, today I want to talk to you about RSS feeds and how poorly they are implemented on the News Journal site.

RSS feeds can be a great way to organize and consume data; they are particularly useful for news and news-related content. Since I can't dependably find news content on the News Journal site, I have subscribed to three of their feeds: News, Politics, and Opinion.

The News feed seems pretty straightforward; it repeats the headlines from the main "News" section each morning. That's good. The Opinion feed doesn't appear to have been updated since May 16. That's bad. The Politics feed seems to be a special case. It updates every few hours and offers a broad spectrum of news headlines. Sometimes, there is even political news.

Here are the latest headlines from the News Journal Politics feed, as found in my reader:

• Sussex may trim money for open space, seniors (Seems political: Pass)
• Sallies-St. Andrew's lacrosse game moved to Tower Hill (Sports [unless someone political has a kid in the game]: Fail)
• Cape Henlopen fishing pier to reopen (Recreation: Fail)
• Pennsylvania midday lottery numbers (Numerology?: Fail)
• Pa. woman charged with throwing son, 4, on railroad tracks (Crime [unless she is elected somewhere?]: Fail)
• Merck agrees to $58 million settlement over Vioxx ad claims (Business: Fail)
• A day fit for the dogs — and birds (Cute photo of little white doggy behind someone's rain-speckled car window: Fail miserably)
• The Old 97's to do Dewey (Entertainment [unless Bill Lee is involved?]: Fail)
• Reaction to news of Sen. Kennedy's brain tumor (Major political news: Pass)
• Statement from Sen. Kennedy's doctors (Medical, but politics-related: Pass)

So, out of 10 "political" headlines, 3 are actually about politics. The rest seem to be "latest updates." Further, the politics feed has a tendency to repeat itself, and to repeat headlines found in the other feeds, particularly in the morning.

Am I being picky? Yes. But the News Journal is a business. It sells ads based on readers/viewers and I am one of those readers. My attention to the site -- my clicking through from my RSS reader -- is crucial to the business model of the News Journal site. If they make that progressively harder, they will lose readers and they will not be able to sell ads as well.

So, as a fairly polite fellow, I left a comment on the new site's readers' forum , in the section titled "Redesign Feedback." That was two weeks ago. I have had no response. I did send an e-mail to the on-line editor and got a polite, but not very helpful reply suggesting that I might be getting repeats in the RSS feeds if I've subscribed to both the "sports" feed and the "Phillies" feed. That might be an issue if they had an "Orioles" feed, but they don't.

So I decided to complain to you, and potentially, to everyone who searches the web for information on "News Journal RSS Feeds."

What is the Heart and Soul of Sussex County?

There's a new web site up to try to answer this question. The University of Delaware's Coastal Community Enhancement Initiative created the site to gather a wide range of descriptions and thoughts about what makes Sussex County, Delaware, special.

We believe that when a community takes the time to get to know itself, its Heart & Soul elements - it will gain a sense of identity and purpose that will empower its citizens to make strong enduring decisions and take right action to protect and strengthen who they are.

Only by going to, listening to, and learning from everyone - the influential and the forgotten, old timers and newcomers, young and old, rich and poor, business owners and workers, professionals and tradesmen, the noisy and the quiet, the caregivers and the gatekeepers - can shared purpose and identity live in and guide a community.

I thought I would try to help out and, after consulting with one of the Initiative members, I created a new flickr group to try to collect photographic input into this question. If you are a photographer, and have or would like to join flickr (it's free), please join Sussex County (DE) Heart & Soul and add some shots of what you think is special about this place.

I think this will be worth some of our time if only as an experiment in a crowd-sourced gazette of what a particular place means.