And it's quite a recent picture, on our way home from the groomer about a month ago. He's a very good traveler...

Felix isn't scared of much of anything, but he seems to genuinely like the dog. Other cats, not so much...


Jack:

I never would have managed to catch him if I hadn't had help from one of the store employees and his wife who was there to pick him up. That little guy was determined not to be caught, but this couple was terrific, she had baskets and he had gloves. They were doing construction on the store and it was a dangerous place for a kitten and he'd already bitten one of the construction workers who had tried to catch him. It was just chance that I happened to stop at that store that night. His name is Felix and he's grown up into a really beautiful cat, IMHO. Good luck with this, I know how frustrating it can be...

Felix

An ungainly contraption that resembles a bicycle rack with tubing attached will become a common sight on cars around Europe over the coming months as a new way of measuring car pollution gains traction following the Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) scandal.

The Portable Emission Measurement System (PEMS) aims to supplement laboratory tests -- the flaws of which were laid bare by the VW experience -- with more realistic testing on roads.

But Europeans shouldn't expect to be breathing much cleaner air in the near future, experts and analysts say, because all the testing regimens in the world won't solve the problem until the European Union introduces much tougher pollution limits and finds a foolproof way to enforce them.

VW's use of a banned "defeat device" has led to the scrutiny of a system that has allowed nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions to reach up to seven times their European limits.

EU officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said that industry manipulation of the testing regime had been obvious for years. The European Commission failed to stop it, they said, because of the influence of the auto industry and because protecting a pillar of the economy was for many a higher priority than the environment


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-device-idUSKCN0WN18E


(More photos at link)

A worker attaches the flow tube to the back of a car to enable emissions testing to take place on the vehicle at 'Emissions Analytics' in west London.
REUTERS/HANNAH MCKAY

A group of more than 125 Minnesota physicians last week delivered a letter to legislators supporting the state’s efforts to prepare for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.

Formed in January, Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate called for continued meetings and planning by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for the federal legislation. The doctors were joined by several health organizations, the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, the American Lung Association in Minnesota, the Minnesota Public Health Association and others.

The letter comes at a time of contention for the Clean Power Plan, which imposes limits on greenhouse gas emissions in every state. The rule has been challenged by more than two dozen states, and the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay in February.

Minnesota is not among the states challenging the plan and has continued planning for implementation. Some Republican legislators have called for a halt to the MPCA’s continued planning, but Gov. Mark Dayton has rejected their demands.


Read more: http://midwestenergynews.com/2016/03/21/minnesota-physicians-organize-to-support-the-clean-power-plan/



The Sherburne County Generating Station near Becker, Minnesota.

My mother took me to some store to meet the Easter Bunny. I knew what a bunny was, but the bunny I met was not a bunny at all, but a full grown person wearing a head with bunny ears - and I could see the human head through the mesh where the eyes were when this strange and scary being picked me up! That experience was traumatic enough that I still remember it after all these years!