Friday, January 18, 2013

Episode 145 (1-21-13): Winter Weather Preparedness (Repeat)



Due to Martin Luther King, Jr., Day on January 21, 2013, Virginia Water Radio is not able to record a new episode for this week.  Instead, to mark the January 17-18 winter storm that brought significant snowfall to much of Virginia, we repeat the recent “Winter Weather Preparedness” episode (Episode 139, week of 12-3-12).  Stay safe, and have a meaningful Martin Luther King holiday!



Please see below (after the transcript and show notes) for links to news and upcoming events.

TRANSCRIPT

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of December 3, 2012.



This week, we feature a series of mystery sounds.  Have a listen for about 25 seconds and see if you can guess what kind of weather preparedness activities these sounds represent.  And here’s a hint: if you’re experiencing some of Virginia’s mild temperatures this week, think the opposite!



SOUNDS.



If you guessed winter-storm preparedness, you’re right!  The sounds of winter winds, a hand-cranked radio, a smoke alarm-test, and water filling a container are reminders that this [Dec. 2-8, 2012] is winter-storm preparedness week in Virginia.  Here are some tips from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to help you stay safe from winter’s hazardous roads, low temperatures, power outages, and fire hazards.



*Get where you need to be before the weather gets bad.  You can get road conditions by phoning 511.



*Have a battery-powered or hand-cranked radio, especially one with a weather radio band that provides reports directly from the National Weather Service.



*Get fireplaces, wood stoves, and chimneys inspected and cleaned.



*Install a smoke detector in every bedroom and on every floor level, and check the batteries regularly.



*If you use space heaters, plug them into wall outlets, not into extension cords; keep heaters at least three feet from other objects, and turn them off before going to bed.

*Use flashlights, not candles, during power outages.



*And make a family emergency plan that includes a meeting place if your family cannot return home; an out-of-town emergency contact; and at least a three-day emergency supply of food, water, and medications.



More details on preparing for severe weather and other emergencies are available online at www.ReadyVirginia.gov.



For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463.  From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.



SHOW NOTES 

Photo from Virginia Department of Emergency’s Web site, http://www.vaemergency.gov/readyvirginia, 12/3/12.



Acknowledgments and Sources: The winter storm sound was from a recording make available for public use on Freesound.org (http://www.freesound.org; recording DMP013016 HEAVYSNOWSTORM.wav), accessed 12/3/12.  Other sounds were recorded by Virginia Water Radio.



The winter-preparedness tips were taken from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management’s Winter Preparedness Week public service announcement, “What Should You Do to Get Ready for Winter Weather?”, online at http://www.vaemergency.gov/readyvirginia/winter/winter-preparedness-week (accessed 12/3/12); and Governor McDonnell Proclaims December 2-8 Winter Preparedness Week in Commonwealth, Virginia Governor’s Office News Release, 11/28/12.



Road conditions are available in Virginia online at www.511Virginia.org.  A mobile-phone app is available, as well.



Additional sources of information for winter preparedness are the following:
American Red Cross, at http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/winter-storm, or contact your local Red Cross chapter;

Federal Emergency Management Agency, http://www.ready.gov/winter-weather.

Recent Virginia Water News
            For news relevant to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/.
Water Meetings and Other Events
            For events related to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Quick Guide to Virginia Water–related Conferences, Workshops, and Other Events, online at http://virginiawaterevents.wordpress.com/.  The site includes a list of Virginia government policy and regulatory meetings occurring in the coming week.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Episode 143 (1-7-13): Music for the Past and Present of the Virginia General Assembly

Click to listen to episode (2:30).

Please see below (after the transcript and show notes) for links to news and upcoming events.


TRANSCRIPT

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of January 7, 2013.

This week, we feature a musical selection that might have entertained Virginia colonists who gathered for a historic meeting in July 1619.  Have a listen for about 30 seconds.

MUSIC.


You’ve been listening to a lute selection performed by Paul O’Dette on the 2006 CD, “Daniel Bacheler: The Bachelar’s Delight,” from Harmonia Mundi.  Daniel Bacheler was an English lute player and composer who died in 1619.  So it’s possible that his music was heard by the colonists who gathered in Jamestown in 1619 for the first meeting of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the beginning of the Virginia General Assembly.  On January 9, 2013, today’s General Assembly convenes in Richmond, and water will be part of the agenda, just as it has been since the days of colonial sanitation laws.  The 2013 Assembly will consider dozens of bills on fisheries, sewers, and other water-related topics, with the state’s moratorium on uranium mining probably the most prominent natural-resource issue of this session.  You can be part of Virginia’s 395-year tradition of representative government by following the General Assembly’s work and by contacting your delegate or senator about issues of concern.

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463.  From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES
 

Cartoon by George Wills, Blacksburg, Va., http://www.etsy.com/people/BlacksburgArt.

Acknowledgments and information sources (all as of 1/7/13):
The excerpt played in this episode was from “Courante” (track #23), on the 2006 CD “Daniel Bacheler: The Bachelar’s Delight,” by Paul O’Dette on the Harmonia Mundi USA label (online at http://www.harmoniamundi.com/#!/search/k=Daniel%20Bacheler); used with permission.


Information about English lutenist/composer Daniel Bacheler (1574-1619) and about the music of the year 1619 was taken from “Harmonia Time Capsule: 1619,” on WFIU Public Radio’s (Bloomington, Indiana) “Harmonia Early Music” Web site, http://indianapublicmedia.org/harmonia/harmonia-time-capsule-1619/.

Information on the Virginia House of Burgesses was taken from “Encyclopedia Virginia,” from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Library of Virginia, online at http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/House_of_Burgesses; and from “History of Jamestown,” by Preservation Virginia, online at http://apva.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=6.

For information on Virginia’s 1610 sanitation law, please see the Virginia Department of Health Web site at http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/odw/AboutUs.htm; and “First Hand Accounts of Virginia 1575-1705,” at the University of Virginia’s “Virtual Jamestown” Web site, http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1056 (see Article 1.22).

For more information on the Virginia General Assembly (as of January 2013):

The Virginia General Assembly’s Web site, http://virginiageneralassembly.gov/), offers several useful features, including member lists, session calendars, live video of floor sessions, and information on legislative processes.  The Legislative Information System (LIS) Web site at http://lis.virginia.gov/lis.htm provides lists and summaries of all bills, searchable by topic, member, committee, etc.

During sessions, live streaming video is available: the House of Delegates live video stream Web site is http://virginia-house.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3;

The Senate live video steam Web site is http://virginia-senate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3.  Session videos are also posted on the Virginia General Assembly blog site of The Aisle News, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia, at http://theaislenews.com/category/va-media/.

To express an opinion on legislation, citizens are requested to contact their respective delegate of senator.  If you do not know your representatives or their contact information, you can use the online “Who’s My Legislator” service, available at http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform.  You can find members’ contact information at these links:


Senate: http://apps.lis.virginia.gov/sfb1/Senate/TelephoneList.aspx.

If you know the numbers of your legislative districts, you can also use the following code to identify your representatives’ Capitol phone numbers: for delegates, (804) 698-10 + district number (for example, 698-1003 for the District 3 delegate); for senators, (804) 698-75 + district number (for example, 698-7510 for the District 10 senator).

The Lobbyist-In-A-Box subscriber service also offers free tracking for up to five bills, and it offers tracking of more than five bills for a fee; visit http://lis.virginia.gov/h015.htm.  For assistance, phone Legislative Automated Systems at (804) 786-9631.

Beginning in late January, an inventory of water-related bills in the current Virginia General Assembly is posted on the Virginia Water Resources Research Center’s Web site at www.vwrrc.vt.edu/legislation.html.  Inventories for sessions back to 1998 are also available at this site.  The Center’s newsletter, Virginia Water Central, publishes a final inventory of water-related legislation in the first newsletter issue following the close of the General Assembly.

Also, the Virginia Water Central News Grouper posts links to online news articles about water-related legislation in the General Assembly.  The site is http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/; click on the “Categories” box on the right and look for “Virginia General Assembly” for the current year.


Recent Virginia Water News
            For news relevant to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/.

Water Meetings and Other Events
            For events related to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Quick Guide to Virginia Water–related Conferences, Workshops, and Other Events, online at http://virginiawaterevents.wordpress.com/.  The site includes a list of Virginia government policy and regulatory meetings occurring in the coming week.