Cooler but no rain

Here we are near the end of October and while it's been cooler for a few days no more significant rain has come.  The drought is still ongoing.
At the Occupy Austin site there have been arrests made. By Patrick George and Andrea Ball | Sunday, October 30, 2011, 01:40 AM
Update, 5:17 a.m.
Additional arrests were made shortly after 2 a.m., bringing the total number to 38. Police Chief Art Acevedo, who arrived at City Hall around 4 a.m. to talk to remaining occupiers, said that most were charged with criminal trespass and would likely be released soon.
“No one got hurt and that’s what’s important,” he said.

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Police officials confirmed that about 20 members of the ongoing Occupy Austin demonstration were arrested outside City Hall earlier this morning and charged with criminal trespass.
Demonstrators who were present during the arrests say that around 12:30 a.m., officers attempted to shut down a table that was used to distribute food. When the demonstrators refused, they were taken into custody. The names of those arrested were not immediately available early Sunday morning.
Officers originally warned the demonstrators around 9:45 p.m. that a city ordinance prevented food from being distributed at City Hall after 10 p.m., said Brian Overman, who witnessed the arrests. He said officers also removed other parts of the camp, including blankets and sleeping bags.
Another demonstrator, Zachary Hill, said that demonstrators locked arms and sat on food to prevent officers from taking it away.
“The only resistance on this side was passive,” Hill said.
While I understand some of the frustration that has led to these demonstrations I really don't know what the end game is. At what point will those demonstrating say we've done what we came to do and got the results we wanted. Corporate greed is not going away and neither are the rich who like the poor are always with us. Most of us are stuck somewhere in the middle and plod along making ends meet and just living our lives the best we can. I'm feeling very apathetic these days because I no longer believe in change of any kind. People are who they are and things are what they are. The winners so far out of this Occupy deal are the area credit unions. People are closing bank accounts and moving to credit unions in good numbers and I guess now we'll see if the CU change the way they operate with all this influx of cash.
On a lighter note the picture below was taken from our bedroom window. The little blue jay comes often and hangs out on the window sill. Sometimes he's very noisy but he's always very cute. We get other birds too but they don't pose for photos like he does.

The Longhorns won a game making them 5-2 (I think) for the season which means they don't suck as bad as they did last year when they won...hum...if my memory serves, just three games.

Occupy movement still moving in Austin

It's a sunny and cool Saturday morning in Austin and there will be lots of people on the city streets. The Occupy Austin group, see live here, and the LiveStrong 5K are both downtown today. The Longhorns are playing the OK State Cowboys which brings in lots of people to add to the chaos. Tomorrow the Austin Walk for Aids group will be on the streets. So far everything has been orderly and peaceful which speaks well for the folks around here.
It was  50 degrees when I woke up this morning. Very nice but we still could use some more rain and rain would have made it a perfect weather day.

Thunder and Lightning

Woke up to thunder and lightning this morning and rain! Yay! Just raises my mood immeasurably. Also our daughter and granddaughter that live in San Angelo are coming for a short visit. That merits another Yay!
Oh and I did get to order my Game of Thrones book. If you just put in the title of the book the set comes up, if you search science fiction and fantasy books then all the single novels and sets come up. Guess it's a glitch in the search engine of B&N that does that. Anyway all's well that ends well.
I've just thought of another good thing too. The Dallas Cowboys can't lose a game today because it's a bi-week for them. ;-)

Updates done on a muggy Saturday afternoon.

We got some rain showers this morning. Downpours for 30 to 40 seconds but 3 or 4 of them so far. All of it is most welcome.
The Occupy Austin is still going. They did march as a group to the nearest Bank of America and those who had accounts there proceeded (in an orderly fashion) to cancel them.  The group here is organized with child care for those who want to participate in the protest but not have their children there and other groups supply water and food for the demonstrators. You can check out the videos and article here.
Sadly the Longhorns got slaughtered. I could not stand to watch it so I tried to download the second book in the Game of Thrones series.  Alas Barnes and Noble only has the first four book set for the Nook App so that means I'd have two editions of the first novel which would be lame. I didn't know you could run out of an ebook edition! Amazon has it so I might get it there but I have a gift card at B&N and really wanted to use it. Sometimes the tiny things in life can be very complicated. :0\

Occupy Austin

We got a bit of rain this morning and hoping for more over the weekend. The temperatures are still high (it's 93 at the moment) but no triple digits for now.
On my morning walk I ambled over to City Hall and talked to a couple of Occupy Austin demonstrators and took some photos. Most of them are young and either college students, blue collar workers, musicians, and artists.

There was not a big crowd this morning but it was over a thousand last night and as the day wears on and people get off work and out of classes they expect more. The two young men I talked to said they were hoping to make the people pay attention to the devastating effects of corporate greed. Greed in and of itself is not the problem it's when it's pervasive and gone wrong. They specifically talked about   the Bernie Madoff debacle, the Bank of America recent announcement of the $5.00 debit card fee. I gathered from their statements that these companies making  obcenely large profits on the backs of the middle classes is the reason the economy is in the tank. They believe that the workers who make the companies grow are being lied to and cheated. The two young men (pictured) seemed sincere enough and one was a college student and one worked downtown. I didn't ask them for any personal information but I did ask them for permission to post their photo on my blog. They were happy for me to help them spread the word. I really don't see any clear cut cause (in the 50s we had Ban the Bomb, the 60s we had the anti-war dissidents) but I'm hoping that the organizers get their act together and establish a real strategy to make their case more cohesive and clear. They have the growing man-power and I hope they use it in a positive and productive way.
On my way back across the river I saw a large number of police gathering in the park. I think at the time I was there the police outnumbered the protesters. I just saw on the news that the number of protesters has grown but the tone of the demonstrators is still peaceful.

Our daughter texted the picture below. It appeared on our grandsons doorway. We have no idea what it means. Perhaps someone looking at the blog might have some idea as to what it could mean.