Rowan Atkinson has revealed on twitter that he is returning for a final episode of the BBC One historical comedy alongside a number of the original cast members.

He wrote: ''One can share that there may be a blackadder reunion, what do you all think about that?''

In response to one fan who wrote ''amazing! On two conditions: 1. It has to be all of you. 2. It has to be funny!'' Rowan replied ''And funny it shall be!''

He later added: ''The return of Blackadder will be cunning and exquisite.

The first is the least crap photo I made on the day after, showing only trees losing small branches, but it is an indication that the streets were covered in the stuff:

By the next day, the roads were cleaned, but they only took away the thickest branches and the rest was just moved on the roadside, most of it staying there even on Friday:

Today I took a walk towards the Seven Chapels (where I made my seasons photo series), where the damage in the trees was the heaviest. On the shore of a creek, there were still broken trees not dealt with at all:

At the Seven Chapels, most of the broken trees and major branches have already been cut up and transported off, while the smaller stuff was in piles:

Well not all broken trees were dealt with:

Nor all broken branches (the monument in the background is for a battle of the 1848 Revolution):

Closer to the Danube, some bigger trees were felled by the storm, too. The thickst parts of the trunks were still left behind (I was standing atop another piece which lay across the road):

Small branches were everywhere, also on the shore of the creek:

As for political consequences for the chaos at the storm-terminated festival: forget it.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Under-interpreted political fact of the day. Bush, Cheney, McCain, Palin: all are not scheduled to speak at the Republican convention. Why?

My idea is to generate electricity with wind farms, supplemented by hydroelectric, as I understand is done in Germany and Switzerland. In West Virginia, there is a lot of potential for wind farms on mountain and hilltops. But, as I was constantly reminded by the Friends of Coal, wind is not consistent. I had read an article somewhere about Germany working with the Swiss to solve this problem by pumping water with the excess energy of peak output of wind to dams high in the Alps to be used to generate hydroelectric power when the wind is not enough.

If the workers were building access roads, turbine sites, reservoirs for captured runoff and pumped water, and hydroelectric generators, then they would remain employed, the mountains would remain relatively unspoiled, and a consistent source of energy would be available.

Does this sound like a reasonable idea worth pursuing? If West Virginia has one resource in abundance, it is steep hills and mountains.

And I include a photo for eye candy for those that are activists here, Dustin Steele and others locking themselves to a piece of equipment I took at the Hobet Mine:

The rest of the photos I posted of this occupation of the largest mountaintop removal mine site in the USA are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mentatmark/sets/72157630844833644/

Why drug lords are role models for us

Wind power

Seven dead in shooting at Wisconsin Sikh temple

A shooting during Sunday services at a Sikh temple left at least seven people dead, including a gunman, and at least three critically wounded, police and hospital officials said.

Four people were shot inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee and three outside, including a gunman killed by a police officer, said Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt.

"This is the best information we have, and this information may change," he told reporters outside the temple.

American judo player Nicholas Delpopolo has been expelled from the Olympic Games after testing positive for marijuana. Delpopolo, who had finished seventh in the 73kg judo event, accepted his expulsion, but said that the positive test had been caused by inadvertently eating food that he did not realise had been baked with the recreational drug. The athlete had eaten the food before leaving for the London Games, the International Olympic Committee's report said. In accepting his fate, Delpopolo apologised to his national Olympic committee, his teammates and his fans and indicated that he was embarrassed by the mistake. He waived the right for his case to be heard before the Disciplinary Commission.

Aw gee, Grandma baked me these nice cookies. How was I to guess?

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}