Dodona Update

Zip Dobyns

After almost double our usual rain during last winter’s El Niño, the La Niña of the winter of 1998-9 has given San Diego considerably less than normal. Since “normal” annual rainfall is in the neighborhood of 10 inches, we have not had much. I was relieved to have my son, Rique, install two small automatic drip systems, so I no longer have to worry about my fruit trees not getting watered when I travel. One system covers part of the orchard on the hill; two avocados, three varieties of plums, and a nectarine. The other system covers the three avocados at the base of the hill. Avocados need regular water, so maybe now they will manage to produce for me.

Rique was also able to replace the power unit in my computer, which had developed the disconcerting habit of suddenly dying. The monitor would go black and there would be no response from the computer. I would have to just turn off the power. When I would try it again in a few hours or the next day, it would seem normal – until it died again. It now has a new lease on life, and on the same visit, Rique checked the computer for Y2K compliance and found all systems in good shape.

My son Bill has almost completed a new storeroom for my books and files from Los Angeles. The existing one when we moved here had lots of cracks so it was overrun with mice, wasps, and other little critters. The new one is larger and, hopefully, critter-proof. It will be wonderful to have my books and files organized and accessible, though lots of work to get to that goal.

Our most ambitious project for the astrology-psychology division of CCRS is still in the planning stage. Sara and Craig Ridgley are computer and Internet experts, and they have volunteered to set up a Web site which will eventually make available the whole set of back issues of The Mutable Dilemma and Asteroid-World. We began publishing The Mutable Dilemma in December 1977, and by December 1999, we hope to have our site functional, in time for the new millennium. Plans are still tentative, but we may offer to send future articles to interested people who have e-mail, trusting that they would send voluntary donations for the service. For subscribers who lack access to e-mail, we could sent a list of the articles posted on the Web site and e-mailed during the preceding 3 months, giving the subject and page count of each article. For the cost of photocopying and postage, subscribers could then order the articles they wanted. If this plan works, I would write articles whenever I had time and current events or interesting data warranted. They would be immediately posted on the Web site and e-mailed to those on the e-mail list. The notices of articles available in printed form would be sent to interested subscribers at 3 month intervals. Plans are still tentative, but I would enjoy being able to do frequent articles on timely topics and readers who opt for the paper form would be able to select just the topics which interest them. I expect to do a lot more articles if this plan works out. I always face a tough choice when I look at piles of interesting charts but a limited number of pages in the publications.

I would like to get reactions from readers on these ideas. Send mail to P. O. Box 1132; Jamul, CA 91935 or e-mail to zipd@mill.net.

Copyright © 1999 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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