I've just given myself nightmares...possibly for weeks. I stayed up late last night watching a show on the History Channel called "Last Days on Earth" -- wherein extremely smart scientists ponder the top threats to the planet and how the earth might end (and, of course, what happens to us when this occurs). Gamma radiation bursts, supervolcanos, asteroids, black holes -- all discussed by the likes of Stephen Hawkings, astrophysicist Neil De Grasse Tyson, and experts in vulcanology, geology, etc.
Sure, there have been disaster movies on SciFi for years about the giant asteroid heading towards earth, or a volcano erupting in Los Angeles or something. At the last moment, while the desperate people on earth watch in awe, the asteroid is destroyed, or the lava is rerouted, or most people excape the giant tsunami. It's a popular genre.
But the reality -- as this History Channel special explains with computer simulations and detailed scientific explanations of the predicted results -- is never so pretty. A massive eruption of the enormous caldera that sits under Yellowstone Park could drop ten feet of ash and sulfuric acid over the entire US and within weeks over most of the globe. The oceans would have the pH of battery acid and the darkness would kill off most of the plant life for many years. And we're about 30,000 years overdue for a massive eruption, if history is any predictor.
A black hole swinging close to our solar system (not as far fetched as it sounds) would give us decades of warning that the earth was going to be destroyed. And not a damn thing we could do about it.
Asteroids are a common movie villain, but the rosy outlook promised by the movie Armageddon isn't quite reality, according to the experts. An asteroid the size of Connecticut is currently plotted to come close enough to the earth in 2029 that it will actually pass beneath the orbit of some of our communication satellites -- and when it returns seven years later, no one knows whether it will hit us or not. If it does -- well, we know how the dinosaurs died off, and if anyone actually survived the firestorm in the atmosphere that would follow such an impact, it would be a short and painful existence. One of the interesting discussions in the show was of the movie-version of an asteroid hitting the earth: everyone standing outside, lookup up as the glowing rock leaves a shooting-star trail across the sky. Nope, according to science. THese things move at hundreds of miles per second, supersonic. We'd never hear it, and if we were anywhere within a thousand mile radius, the heat of the asteroid coming through the atmosphere would fry people instantly. No pretty glowing trails in the sky, just boom!
We can't actually waste much time worrying about this sort of thing, of course. These events are of such scope and impact that there isn't anything we can do to stop them -- and if they occur, there isn't any way for anyone to "fix" things. We can plan and we can have warning systems in place, but these would be world-ending events. Or at least, species-ending events for anything that needed to breathe and eat and drink. Nothing we do will avoid mile-high tides caused by a black hole, or the blasts of gamma radiation that quite literally shuts down our cells. We can't respond to this sort of thing, and the reality is that we shouldn't spend a whole lot of time trying to do it.
Not quite the nice end to the weekend that I envisioned!
Keep an eye out for the show on the History Channel -- or pick up the DVD here. It's interesting, even if it is enough to keep you up at night staring and the ceiling and wondering.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Uitwaaien!
Uitwaaien is Dutch for "walking in windy weather for fun" and boy, have we had windy weather for the last two days!
The house is making faint booming noises each time a wind gust hits, and even the closed and locked windows upstairs are whistling in the wind. The outer edge of a huge storm system is running through Colorado -- no rain, but hurricane winds!
It's died down a bit finally (only about 35 mph gusts, according to the Adorable Husband's weather center thingy) but yesterday evening would not have been a good time to fly a kite or walk a teeny little dog. Keep a hold of small children, too!
Here are a few of the recorded wind gusts:
Fun!
The house is making faint booming noises each time a wind gust hits, and even the closed and locked windows upstairs are whistling in the wind. The outer edge of a huge storm system is running through Colorado -- no rain, but hurricane winds!
It's died down a bit finally (only about 35 mph gusts, according to the Adorable Husband's weather center thingy) but yesterday evening would not have been a good time to fly a kite or walk a teeny little dog. Keep a hold of small children, too!
Here are a few of the recorded wind gusts:
Berthoud – 101 mph (north of us)
Boulder – 92 mph (just a wee bit east of us
Genesee – 74 mph
Louisville – 70 mph
Greeley – 58 mph
Estes Park – 53 mph
Fun!
We're all royalty
Strange things come up in my online conversations, and this is one of the oddest in a while. A lot of people who do geneaology are thrilled to find that they are related to some noble somewhere, descended from Earl This or Queen That -- and apparently there is statistical evidence that this is probably true for everyone. Apparently, we're all descended from Charlemagne. Or Confucious. Or some poor peasant schlepping about in northern Germany in 300 CE.
A fairly recent notion in biology and genetics is the concept of Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) ; that is, if you go back far enough, there is a common person in everyone's lineage. No, this is not a pitch for a "Genetic Eve" or any such nonesense, it's actually much simpler than that, and computer simulations have suggested that a common ancestor for ALL people of European descent is as recent as 1700 years ago.
Now, I'm the last person to try to explain statistics...they are mostly incomprehensible to me. But a statistician at Yale has apparently done a proof that points back to a common ancestor from about 800 CE. The logic goes something like this: everyone has two parents, four grandparents, 8 grandparents, 16...you get the picture. That number get really really big, really really fast. At some point, it surpasses the actual available population alive at the time everyones great-to-the-40th or whatever grandparents were alive. So, this means that people obviously shared ancestors. So far, so good.
At some point, the statistical count of people and relationships and time and DNA testing and whatever other magic mathematicians use converges on such a small group of people that everyone is somehow related to everyone else.
I get pretty fuzzy at this point. Lots of people have died, right? Not everyone has children, some people have more children than others, etc. But the math is sound, although even the statistician who did the paper admits that ht has probably overlooked a variable or two. But his conclusion? Everyone of European descent is related to Charlemagne -- a random choice of people living at the time that the MRCA existed, but a plausible choice, nonetheless.
Further study (by a gentleman named Mark Humphreys, a profressor a the Sschool of Computing at Dublin City University) has generated computer models that show that everyone in the world is eventually related to the Egyptian Royal house (1600 BCE), and other equally throught-provoking results.
I don't even claim to understand how they got to that conclusion, but if you want more information, here's the blog that I discovered this morning, and another explanation of how it's supposed to work.
A fairly recent notion in biology and genetics is the concept of Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) ; that is, if you go back far enough, there is a common person in everyone's lineage. No, this is not a pitch for a "Genetic Eve" or any such nonesense, it's actually much simpler than that, and computer simulations have suggested that a common ancestor for ALL people of European descent is as recent as 1700 years ago.
Now, I'm the last person to try to explain statistics...they are mostly incomprehensible to me. But a statistician at Yale has apparently done a proof that points back to a common ancestor from about 800 CE. The logic goes something like this: everyone has two parents, four grandparents, 8 grandparents, 16...you get the picture. That number get really really big, really really fast. At some point, it surpasses the actual available population alive at the time everyones great-to-the-40th or whatever grandparents were alive. So, this means that people obviously shared ancestors. So far, so good.
At some point, the statistical count of people and relationships and time and DNA testing and whatever other magic mathematicians use converges on such a small group of people that everyone is somehow related to everyone else.
I get pretty fuzzy at this point. Lots of people have died, right? Not everyone has children, some people have more children than others, etc. But the math is sound, although even the statistician who did the paper admits that ht has probably overlooked a variable or two. But his conclusion? Everyone of European descent is related to Charlemagne -- a random choice of people living at the time that the MRCA existed, but a plausible choice, nonetheless.
Further study (by a gentleman named Mark Humphreys, a profressor a the Sschool of Computing at Dublin City University) has generated computer models that show that everyone in the world is eventually related to the Egyptian Royal house (1600 BCE), and other equally throught-provoking results.
I don't even claim to understand how they got to that conclusion, but if you want more information, here's the blog that I discovered this morning, and another explanation of how it's supposed to work.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Booz2Go
Just what we need -- powdered alcoholic drinks! Woot!
Basically, a little package of drink mix, a little water, and voila! Alcoholic lime-ade! Powdered alcohol has been sold as a "flavoring" in the US for a few years, but it looks like this bunch of Dutch science students have figured out how to powder the stuff and actually reconstitute the alcohol content.
I'm a bit concerned that the targeted markets is "youth", because it's not technically illegal in the Netherlands to sell this sort of product to minors -- only alcohol in liquid form is covered under existing law. Of course, the legal drinking age in the Netherlands is already at a low 16 years old.
The whole "alcopop" set of products-- sweet, soda-like drinks with the same alocohol content as watery beer -- has been pretty popular in Europe, where drinking ages are lower and punishment for DUI are higher. Personally, the allure of a sweet, fizzy lime-ade-like drink is rather hard for me to figure out. Sounds kind of gross, actually.
Basically, a little package of drink mix, a little water, and voila! Alcoholic lime-ade! Powdered alcohol has been sold as a "flavoring" in the US for a few years, but it looks like this bunch of Dutch science students have figured out how to powder the stuff and actually reconstitute the alcohol content.
Top it up with water and you have a bubbly, lime-colored and -flavored drink with just 3 percent alcohol content.
"We are aiming for the youth market. They are really more into it because you can compare it with Bacardi-mixed drinks," 20-year-old Harm van Elderen told Reuters.
I'm a bit concerned that the targeted markets is "youth", because it's not technically illegal in the Netherlands to sell this sort of product to minors -- only alcohol in liquid form is covered under existing law. Of course, the legal drinking age in the Netherlands is already at a low 16 years old.
The whole "alcopop" set of products-- sweet, soda-like drinks with the same alocohol content as watery beer -- has been pretty popular in Europe, where drinking ages are lower and punishment for DUI are higher. Personally, the allure of a sweet, fizzy lime-ade-like drink is rather hard for me to figure out. Sounds kind of gross, actually.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Braaaaaiiiinnnss!
Right after we moved into the new house, the beasts had one of their extremely rare fights (this is the one where the Adorable Husband ended up with stitches because he tried to take an eye out on one of those tree-support poles). We didn't often give the dogs soft stuffed anumals, since Uulaq tends to get pretty possessive about them. Well, they had a serious fight over one of the fleecy gingerbreadman-shaped chew toys.
Uulaq loves them, and apparently Rukh went too close to it. Huge vet visit ensued (she bit him through his eyelid, among other things) and after we got everyone back to the house, we went out to search for the offending toy and get rid of it.
It had dissapeared.
We looked everywhere -- no signs of recently dug-up dirt, no holes in the "regular" places, no tucking it behind the bushes or under the porch. We combed the yard for over an hour looking for the thing. We coudln't find anywhere that it might be buried and finally gave up, figuring that one of us int he heat of the moment had probably tossed it, or it was somewhere outside the yard. It had quite simply vanished from existence.
Until yesterday.
Apparently bored with the fact that I sit in my office do not amuse her all day, coupled with guys digging holes in the yard for new trees -- Uulaq has unearthed the four-year-old, dirt and fungus-encrusted chewie man from his not-so-shallow grave under the oak tree. It's all digusting and zombified and lumpy with unspeakable grossness and she looooooves it.
I don't even want to touch the disgusting thing, but she is carefully guarding it's shallow resting place and tries to dig it up every few hours. I know it's unfair, and I should just dig the horrid thing up and throw it away (instead of telling her to 'leave it!' every time she tries to dig)...but it's sooooo gross. I will have to find some gloves and unearth the chewie-corpse and dispose of it. Perhaps by burning. Ugh.
The NEW chewie toys have been dropped completely in favor of Zombie Chewie. Dogs is weird.
Uulaq loves them, and apparently Rukh went too close to it. Huge vet visit ensued (she bit him through his eyelid, among other things) and after we got everyone back to the house, we went out to search for the offending toy and get rid of it.
It had dissapeared.
We looked everywhere -- no signs of recently dug-up dirt, no holes in the "regular" places, no tucking it behind the bushes or under the porch. We combed the yard for over an hour looking for the thing. We coudln't find anywhere that it might be buried and finally gave up, figuring that one of us int he heat of the moment had probably tossed it, or it was somewhere outside the yard. It had quite simply vanished from existence.
Until yesterday.
Apparently bored with the fact that I sit in my office do not amuse her all day, coupled with guys digging holes in the yard for new trees -- Uulaq has unearthed the four-year-old, dirt and fungus-encrusted chewie man from his not-so-shallow grave under the oak tree. It's all digusting and zombified and lumpy with unspeakable grossness and she looooooves it.
I don't even want to touch the disgusting thing, but she is carefully guarding it's shallow resting place and tries to dig it up every few hours. I know it's unfair, and I should just dig the horrid thing up and throw it away (instead of telling her to 'leave it!' every time she tries to dig)...but it's sooooo gross. I will have to find some gloves and unearth the chewie-corpse and dispose of it. Perhaps by burning. Ugh.
The NEW chewie toys have been dropped completely in favor of Zombie Chewie. Dogs is weird.
Monday, June 04, 2007
We just need another attack!
The new GOP chief in Arkansas, Dennis Milligan, is settling in to a state where Republicans were soundly beaten in the last election. He was elected as the new chair of the Arkansas Republican Party just two weeks ago, and predicts many changes for the GOP in his home state. I can't imagine that a statement like this one is going to help:
All we "nay-sayers" need is to have more people killed and we'll just realize how Fabulous and Special the boy king is? That we don't already understand the sacrifice of every man and woman who has died in this fiasco? Really? Is that a size twelve shoe you have in your mouth, there, Mr. Milligan? Or do you stand by this one?
Seriously, I have to imagine he's kicking himself for phrasing it that way. I sincerely hope he is.
I'm having a hard time believing that he actually wants another attack on the US, but his blithe assurance that it would get people to support the president is pretty off the wall. I know a few poeple who believe this sort of thing.He said he’s “150 percent” behind Bush on the war in Iraq.
“At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001 ], and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country,” Milligan said.
All we "nay-sayers" need is to have more people killed and we'll just realize how Fabulous and Special the boy king is? That we don't already understand the sacrifice of every man and woman who has died in this fiasco? Really? Is that a size twelve shoe you have in your mouth, there, Mr. Milligan? Or do you stand by this one?
Seriously, I have to imagine he's kicking himself for phrasing it that way. I sincerely hope he is.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Invisible Super-Fox
More neighbor stories -- can't help it; the weather is fabulous and we spend a lot of time lounging around on the porch drinking wine and talking to them. (Great neighbors!)Just outside our culdesac, in a house that was build by the same builder who did ours, a very nice older couple from (we think) California moved in. Great house, they spend a ton of time in the yard doing gardening and that sort of thing. They have a little white westie dog, Baxter (and, since we are terrible with people's names, they are "Baxter's People". (This is not unusual, actualy, when we lived in the old house, we used to know everyone on the block by their dogs -- Ginger's humans, 'the people who belong to Yodie', that sort of thing. We remembered every dog's name, but the people? Well, they better have nametags.)
So, Baxter's Mom (and I use that term guardedly, since I hate it when people refer to themselves as their dogs' "parents", but for the sake of brevity I'll use it here) is a very nice worman, but every single time I talk to her, she has a litany of complaints. There is always something wrong -- with the house, the garden, the weather, you name it, and she has a long, sad, rant about how things are not going properly.
About a month ago, the complaint du jour was that there was a "vicious, attack-cat" hanging around her front yard that was preventing her from leaving the house. OOOOkay. We all got a kick out of this, as the cat in question -- a big gray tomcat -- was fairly friendly.
Last night, K reported that Baxter's Mom had spent a lot of time on the neighborhood computer forum trying to figure out what sort of animal was now spraying on her back porch -- the stone pillars and the barbecue grill just REEKED, and she was at a loss as to what to do. Every night, and it was just awful. She didn't think it was cats, since she had put down Serious. Cat. Repellent and hadn't seen a cat in the yard for weeks, but she didn't know what it was and how to make it stop!
I asked what sort of cat repellent she had bought -- and discovered that she had found something called 'SHAKE-AWAY Cat Repellent Urine Granules' which contain ' (Coyote and Fox Powder) ' -- powdered urine granules from coyotes and fox, both of which we have in abundance around here. Can you see where this is heading?
Our theory is that by putting down the urine powder to keep cats out of her yard, she has actually ATTRACTED either the coyotes who have staked out Erie Village as part of their territory, or the red fox we've seen hanging around the neighborhood for the last few weeks. Probably the fox -- which would have no problem getting into their yard and are known to 'spray' to mark territory. 
So, Baxter's Mom basically set up her house as "belonging" to some extra-strong, unknown, and invisible super-fox -- so the poor fox has scented an interloper in his territory, found the "den" of the invisible super-fox, and is going to keep marking it over and over and over until the dastardly invisible creature either shows up to contest his marking, or disappears. And fox urine stinks. It's worse than a cat spraying.
No wonder we've seen the fox hanging around the house lately. We usually don't see them, but we've seen this one male fox loping about just behind the house at least twice in two days.
Not quite what Baxter's Humans had in mind, I'm sure.
And the stuff is nearly impossible to get rid of -- it's marketed as being weather resistant and long-lasting. Oops!
Friday, June 01, 2007
Primping Poodles
Late this afternoon, my neighbor called, "Are you home? I have to show you something!"
After warning her that I was still in sweats and looked dreadful, I said OK and went outside to meet her.
And what do I see? Her golden retriever puppy (well, not quite a puppy anymore, a year old) prancing up the driveway with a red bandanna with hearts on it around her neck, and two matching ribbons on her ears. And, to round out the ensemble, red painted toenails.
She had been to the groomer today.
I just about ruptured something laughing. K explained that she just laughed when she saw "nail polish" on the list of grooming options, and just had to check it. She thought it was hysterical.
Poor Maggie. She didn't really seem to care one way or the other about having red toenails, but she certainly didn't like every human who saw her bursting into slightly hysterical laughter.
People should NOT dress up their dogs in clothes, or dye them to match their purse, or paint their toenails. It's just wrong, people! Wrong! Next thing we know, K will have her in little legwarmers and a doggie sweater and we'll have to stage an intervention!
After warning her that I was still in sweats and looked dreadful, I said OK and went outside to meet her.
And what do I see? Her golden retriever puppy (well, not quite a puppy anymore, a year old) prancing up the driveway with a red bandanna with hearts on it around her neck, and two matching ribbons on her ears. And, to round out the ensemble, red painted toenails.
She had been to the groomer today.
I just about ruptured something laughing. K explained that she just laughed when she saw "nail polish" on the list of grooming options, and just had to check it. She thought it was hysterical.
Poor Maggie. She didn't really seem to care one way or the other about having red toenails, but she certainly didn't like every human who saw her bursting into slightly hysterical laughter.
People should NOT dress up their dogs in clothes, or dye them to match their purse, or paint their toenails. It's just wrong, people! Wrong! Next thing we know, K will have her in little legwarmers and a doggie sweater and we'll have to stage an intervention!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Scary? You decide
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist Wednesday, May 30, 2007
It's just one of those obscure little unreported-upon conspiracy theory-ready hunks of floating White House detritus, a couple of odd, sticky, foul-smelling documents no one really wants to touch and no one knows quite what to make of, probably means nothing, probably being misread anyway, all a bit overblown and strange and not all that important and not all that different than the way things are now.
Unless, you know, it's not. Unless the violent twinge of queasy paranoia crossed with that uncontrolled bout of colon-clenching sighing you experience is deadly accurate and your radar for all things sinister and Rovean is right on target as you read about the delightfully titled National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51 and the Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20, wherein it is calmly and furtively revealed that, in essence, George W. Bush owns your sorry ass.
Or, to put it another way, it looks like the Bumbling One just gave himself ever more power. Power to control and dictate the entire government, power to really spread the gospel of happy GOP incompetence, power to command the entire wobbly American universe should some sort of epic -- or not so epic, as the case may be -- calamity strike the homeland.
It goes something like this: Should any "decapitating event" occur in American that somehow incapacitates the D.C. power structure, should "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions" take place, well then, all power and decision making would devolve to the White House, which would then attempt to orchestrate our very survival and oversee all essential governmental functions with none other than the president himself as, well, Super-Mega Lord Decider. With extra crayons.
You know, a dictator.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Electronic birth control
Seriously. This is from a thread in an online forum that I often read. Parents recounting How to Make Your Parents Crazy.
I am laughing and snorting in a distinctly un-ladylike manner.
I am laughing and snorting in a distinctly un-ladylike manner.
Sauce for the Goose
Some teachers in the Albemarle School District in Virginia are rebelling against their managers' orders to hand out to students as young as kindergarten a promotion for a summer camp that advocates a non-theist worldview. The teachers are refusing to hand out the fliers, even though this is the same school district that hands out school-board sanctioned religiously-themed flyers.
This whole hoo-ha has previously resulted in a lawsuit that demanded the right to hand out specifically christian-themed information. Following a decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Maryland in response to the lawsuit, the school board must allow all non-profit organizations (Boy scouts, the YMCA, church groups, etc) to have their information sent home with children through the school. It's a convenient way to get info to kids and families.
But you know what? Now that a group wants to hand out flyers that the school board doesn't like, the same people are claiming that it's oppression and offense against Christians.
So, the teachers are not going to distribute this paricular flyer because they disagree with it. They didn't seem to worry much about offending anyone else's beliefs when they handed out christian flyers, did they? You can't have it both ways.
I have no problem with sending out either flyer. Churches have myriad community programs and information that is valuable. So do non-church groups. If the school is being used as a vehicle to send out "community info" then all groups should have fair access.
Sending these flyers home is a normal part of the school function, btw. Mostly they are for after-school programs, or scouts, or other community offerings -- including religious organizations. But apparently, people want a double-standard here. One standard for 'things we like and approve of" and another for "things we don't like and don't approve of". The school board has a responsbility to make sure that the flyers are from valid non-profit organizations in the community -- so no specious strawmen that 'so...you'd let KKK members hand out flyers?', please -- but they are specifically even-handed about it (based on a court decision!)
From Notes on the Culture war:
This whole hoo-ha has previously resulted in a lawsuit that demanded the right to hand out specifically christian-themed information. Following a decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Maryland in response to the lawsuit, the school board must allow all non-profit organizations (Boy scouts, the YMCA, church groups, etc) to have their information sent home with children through the school. It's a convenient way to get info to kids and families.
But you know what? Now that a group wants to hand out flyers that the school board doesn't like, the same people are claiming that it's oppression and offense against Christians.
"They do put a disclaimer there, that the school doesn't' support it, [as they do for all documents]" the representative said. "But we are expected to send this stuff home in childrens' backpacks. It's still coming from me and my classroom."
"I took a stand and did not send it home," the representative said. "Other teachers did the same thing."
So, the teachers are not going to distribute this paricular flyer because they disagree with it. They didn't seem to worry much about offending anyone else's beliefs when they handed out christian flyers, did they? You can't have it both ways.
I have no problem with sending out either flyer. Churches have myriad community programs and information that is valuable. So do non-church groups. If the school is being used as a vehicle to send out "community info" then all groups should have fair access.
Sending these flyers home is a normal part of the school function, btw. Mostly they are for after-school programs, or scouts, or other community offerings -- including religious organizations. But apparently, people want a double-standard here. One standard for 'things we like and approve of" and another for "things we don't like and don't approve of". The school board has a responsbility to make sure that the flyers are from valid non-profit organizations in the community -- so no specious strawmen that 'so...you'd let KKK members hand out flyers?', please -- but they are specifically even-handed about it (based on a court decision!)
From Notes on the Culture war:
Gee, do Christians object to handing our flyers promoting non-Christian events?
Funny, you weren't concerned about how handing out flyers for Christian camps might "violate the teachers' religious beliefs" if those teachers were Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, when that was the case, all the talk was about how unfair it was for them to refuse to hand out such flyers. Ain't it funny how the attitude changes when the shoe's on the other foot? When Christians do it, it's a brave fight for religious freedom; when non-Christians do the same thing, it's obviously anti-Christian oppression. Quite convenient, that.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Thank You.
To anyone who has served, thank you.
And to all those who have fallen, we remember your sacrifice. Thank you.
And to all those who have fallen, we remember your sacrifice. Thank you.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Bagging it
You how some days just get away from you and it's easier to just call it a day and not even try anymore? That's today. Seriously.
Both the PM and I are very frustrated with one of our clients -- for a variety of reasons I won't post here -- and our weekly status lunch turned into a generic bitch-bag session. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with two hour lunches, but when I got in my car and drove away, I realized that I'd hit 40 hours sometime on Thursday and I was just done. finis. over-and-out.
I went home and got re-immersed in my favorite computer game for about six hours. The Adorable Husband was stuck at work until almost 10pm, and I wasn't even aware that it was suddenly LATE. Definitely a completely engrossing game. If I haven't mentioned it before, the game is a PC role-playing game called Oblivion. We have it on the PC and downstairs on the xBox. It's quite nice on the big screen!
Both the PM and I are very frustrated with one of our clients -- for a variety of reasons I won't post here -- and our weekly status lunch turned into a generic bitch-bag session. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with two hour lunches, but when I got in my car and drove away, I realized that I'd hit 40 hours sometime on Thursday and I was just done. finis. over-and-out.
I went home and got re-immersed in my favorite computer game for about six hours. The Adorable Husband was stuck at work until almost 10pm, and I wasn't even aware that it was suddenly LATE. Definitely a completely engrossing game. If I haven't mentioned it before, the game is a PC role-playing game called Oblivion. We have it on the PC and downstairs on the xBox. It's quite nice on the big screen!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
He's still at large...
'cause we haven't caught him. Ooh. Please explain that to us again.
It's meaningless doublespeak.
"Why is the house on fire?"
"Well, the house is fire 'cause it's still burning, you see. You've got to understand that fire is hot, and the house is burning. And we know that the house is burning. So the house is on fire."
Why is he at large? 'Cause we haven't got him, yet, Jim. That's why. And he's hiding. And we're looking. And we will continue to look until we bring him to justice. We've brought a lot of his buddies to justice, but not him. That's why he's still at large." -- President Bush, at a press conference today, responding to a question about why Osama bin Laden has not yet been captured.Does anyone else feel like we're going in circles? Is that even an answer? Not in any sort of conversation I've ever had.
It's meaningless doublespeak.
"Why is the house on fire?"
"Well, the house is fire 'cause it's still burning, you see. You've got to understand that fire is hot, and the house is burning. And we know that the house is burning. So the house is on fire."
Not a good example
Not only is there a museum showing humans hunting dinosaurs and displaying how creationism is such an obvious and simple explanation for the world around us, religious schools have also joined the pack by showing a dangerous and deliberately ignorant application of "science". It's embarassing, really.
Sorry, kiddo, not even close. Every aspect of his "science" project is a sad, ignorant joke. What did he learn in science class? That he will will be rewarded for contorting, misrepresenting, and misapplying actual science as long as he supports a religious ideology.
And he won a PRIZE for it.
It could have been an interesting science project on how solids dissolve in water, how accretion works, or how water is transported via the paper towel via capillary action. Instead, he claims an easy victory over us poor evolutionists, and is fully supported by his school and the judges of the science fair.
I really do blame the school, btw. The kid's in eight grade. Some level of ignorance about scientific matters is to be expected. But the judges in the science fair? They obviously put their desire to support a specific religious agenda ahead of practicing actual science. Or even recognizing actual science when it walks up and smacks them on the ass. There were some great experiments described in the science fair; apparently they didn't deserve as much attention because they were so mundane.
(Btw, the references below to 'creationism' refer to the current press to teach the christian creation myth in schools as an alterate to actual science. 'creationists' don't seem to be suggesting that we teach the babylonian or incan myths, or any other version, so I'm sticking with the xian mythos.)
If you want to believe in the myths of creation as taught by christianity, go ahead. It's a pleasant story. But it's not science. The arguments for god-guided creation cannot be expressed as any sort of scientific pursuit. You believe it because you have faith. One of the things I hear all the time is that creation science/intelligent design are reasonable, and should be considered. "Reasonable" does not equal plausible. It does not even equal possible. If anyone has actually come up with valid evidence for the creation story, I'm sure the world would love to see it.
Creationists are attempting to play out the argument between evolution and the creationism/ID in the public forum -- public debates, creating museums, by "talking about it" extensively-- because it can't stand up to actual scientific inquiry. Convincing people to accept a simple story because it "sounds good" is not science. "You're wrong because I don't understand it" is not a valid argument.
People argue that we should "explore other theories" in an attempt to make creationism more palatable -- I'm all for exploring other theories, but creationism or even ID is NOT a scientific theory. It's not worthy of being considered. People proposing that it be taught as an alternate theory simply don't understand that a scientific theory is not just a nifty idea that might be possible. All the possible permutations of evolutionary theory are not bulletproof -- and I fully support teaching that there are still things that need to be investigated. There are things we don't understand, and the data is constantly evaluated and the details of the theory adjusted as we learn more. This does not make the theory "false" -- recognize that a scientific theory is not "proved true or false", the data either supports it or it doesn't.
If the data doesn't support it, the theory is re-evaluated to express the existing known facts and the new hypothesis is tested, over and over again. That's how science works. Unlike creationism, which comes up with the same result, no matter what the facts are.
Bah. Sorry for the rant.
Not only is Brian Benson wrong, he is sadly, laughably, shockingly wrong. Wrong facts, wrong interpretation, wrong conclusion. Wrong on all counts. It demonstrates not only an ignorance of biology and science, but a complete lack of ability to interpret facts and results. No, being able to make "stalactites" with a paper towel and epsom salts is NOT a correlation to the creation of stalactites in the natural world. Different material, wrong facts about stalactite growth, and absolutely wrong in thinking that this in any way even touches a part of evolutionary science by "proving" anything.Brian Benson, an eighth-grade student who won first place in the Life Science/Biology category for his project "Creation Wins!!!," says he disproved part of the theory of evolution. Using a rolled-up paper towel suspended between two glasses of water with Epsom Salts, the paper towel formed stalactites.
He states that the theory that they take millions of years to develop is incorrect. "Scientists say it takes millions of years to form stalactites," Benson said. "However, in only a couple of hours, I have formed stalactites just by using paper towel and Epsom Salts."
Sorry, kiddo, not even close. Every aspect of his "science" project is a sad, ignorant joke. What did he learn in science class? That he will will be rewarded for contorting, misrepresenting, and misapplying actual science as long as he supports a religious ideology.
And he won a PRIZE for it.
It could have been an interesting science project on how solids dissolve in water, how accretion works, or how water is transported via the paper towel via capillary action. Instead, he claims an easy victory over us poor evolutionists, and is fully supported by his school and the judges of the science fair.
I really do blame the school, btw. The kid's in eight grade. Some level of ignorance about scientific matters is to be expected. But the judges in the science fair? They obviously put their desire to support a specific religious agenda ahead of practicing actual science. Or even recognizing actual science when it walks up and smacks them on the ass. There were some great experiments described in the science fair; apparently they didn't deserve as much attention because they were so mundane.
(Btw, the references below to 'creationism' refer to the current press to teach the christian creation myth in schools as an alterate to actual science. 'creationists' don't seem to be suggesting that we teach the babylonian or incan myths, or any other version, so I'm sticking with the xian mythos.)
If you want to believe in the myths of creation as taught by christianity, go ahead. It's a pleasant story. But it's not science. The arguments for god-guided creation cannot be expressed as any sort of scientific pursuit. You believe it because you have faith. One of the things I hear all the time is that creation science/intelligent design are reasonable, and should be considered. "Reasonable" does not equal plausible. It does not even equal possible. If anyone has actually come up with valid evidence for the creation story, I'm sure the world would love to see it.
Creationists are attempting to play out the argument between evolution and the creationism/ID in the public forum -- public debates, creating museums, by "talking about it" extensively-- because it can't stand up to actual scientific inquiry. Convincing people to accept a simple story because it "sounds good" is not science. "You're wrong because I don't understand it" is not a valid argument.
People argue that we should "explore other theories" in an attempt to make creationism more palatable -- I'm all for exploring other theories, but creationism or even ID is NOT a scientific theory. It's not worthy of being considered. People proposing that it be taught as an alternate theory simply don't understand that a scientific theory is not just a nifty idea that might be possible. All the possible permutations of evolutionary theory are not bulletproof -- and I fully support teaching that there are still things that need to be investigated. There are things we don't understand, and the data is constantly evaluated and the details of the theory adjusted as we learn more. This does not make the theory "false" -- recognize that a scientific theory is not "proved true or false", the data either supports it or it doesn't.
If the data doesn't support it, the theory is re-evaluated to express the existing known facts and the new hypothesis is tested, over and over again. That's how science works. Unlike creationism, which comes up with the same result, no matter what the facts are.
Bah. Sorry for the rant.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Necessary?
No, this is not about the War on Terra. I just saw an ad on television for the Volvo S80 (actually, a series of ads -- why do they always seem to show three or four different ads for the same thing one right after the other?) that left me rolling my eyes so hard I think I hurt something.
The ad(s) are for the Volvo S80 Sedan, which has as its tagline "A luxury car that protects the luxury of life". Cue up a dark parking lot and a lone woman walking to her car. A hundred yards away, as a voice intones seriously that she is a "woman alone" she glances down at her key fob...which is blinking rhythmically. "And the S80, with the innovative heart-beat sensor, tells her that there is an intruder in her car." Relieved, she turns back to the light.....
Um, is this actually such a humungous problem that we need to have a heartbeat sensor in the car? I can't say I've ever really given much time over to panicking about whether someone has broken into my car and is lurking inthe back seat. I'm sure it happens -- but designing a sensor to try to detect it? I can see that being useful. I can't find any statistics regarding assaults by intruders lurking in parked cars, but really, you're going to check your keyfob every time you approach you car for a tell-tale blinking, or are you going to look into your car when you get there?
Or the 'accident predictor' feature that lets loose with a shrieking wail if you approach an object too quickly. The ad shows the driver smoothly and effortlessly swerving to avoid the slow-moving truck as the car whoops racously to warn him what he is about to have an accident. Of course, for most drivers, instead of warning them of the imminent threat, the klaxon just tells them "You've had an accident!" . Yeah, right. Oh, I thought -- look! It screams along with you as you have a crash!
The ad(s) are for the Volvo S80 Sedan, which has as its tagline "A luxury car that protects the luxury of life". Cue up a dark parking lot and a lone woman walking to her car. A hundred yards away, as a voice intones seriously that she is a "woman alone" she glances down at her key fob...which is blinking rhythmically. "And the S80, with the innovative heart-beat sensor, tells her that there is an intruder in her car." Relieved, she turns back to the light.....
Um, is this actually such a humungous problem that we need to have a heartbeat sensor in the car? I can't say I've ever really given much time over to panicking about whether someone has broken into my car and is lurking inthe back seat. I'm sure it happens -- but designing a sensor to try to detect it? I can see that being useful. I can't find any statistics regarding assaults by intruders lurking in parked cars, but really, you're going to check your keyfob every time you approach you car for a tell-tale blinking, or are you going to look into your car when you get there?
Or the 'accident predictor' feature that lets loose with a shrieking wail if you approach an object too quickly. The ad shows the driver smoothly and effortlessly swerving to avoid the slow-moving truck as the car whoops racously to warn him what he is about to have an accident. Of course, for most drivers, instead of warning them of the imminent threat, the klaxon just tells them "You've had an accident!" . Yeah, right. Oh, I thought -- look! It screams along with you as you have a crash!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Wake of the Plague
My reading list has expanded quite a bit in the last few weeks, with a couple of very interesting books. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, Einstein by Walter Isaacson, In the Wake of the Plague by Norman Cantor, most of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.
The last is sci-fi fluff, but I've been entirely drawn in by the book about the Black Death, In the Wake of the Plague. It's fascinating. It was recommended to me by a fellow air traveler as an interesting book on medieval life, more than a history book. It covers the basics of the bubonic plague outbreak in the 14th century (1347-1350 or so) and weaves it in with fascinating details about the way people lived and how the plague changed society.
Fir example, he whole "not bathing" thing was a result of churchmen deciding that bathing would "open the pores" to the miasma and make you susceptible to plague (it was thought that "bad air" was the cause of contagion). The tapestry industry in Bruge wa sa direct result of the idea that closing off the windows (again, to keep out "bad air") was necessary.
We rely on the descriptions of contemporary records to identify the "Black Death", and the common belief is that it was bubonic plague -- vivid descriptions of black welts and buboes (hence, bubonic plague) on the victims, who died a particularly gruesome death in a matter of a week or so left us with the clear idea that the pestilence that wiped out 20 million people in Europe in the 14th century was, indeed, a form of bubonic plague. But writers also described people who died without these symptoms, often within a few days.
Bubonic plague is spread by fleas, carried by specific species of rats. (For a really detailed description of how it affects the flea, check out Wikipedia. Ugh). But the plague spread too quicky, and in odd patterns, to be entirely dependent on this infested-rat idea. There are a few people who have hypothesized that the "plague" was not plague at all, but a form of anthrax spread by contact with (or ingestion of) diseased cattle -- a topic which also had much contemporary documentation.
In 1984, Graham Twigg argued that the climate made it nearly impossible for rats and fleas to have transmitted bubonic plague. His suggested alternative was anthrax. In 2001, scientists in Liverpool posited that the Black Death was more likely an ebola-like virus, since the human-to-human transmission rate was unsupportable in the fleas-on-the-rate model. Both of these alternative explainations are detailed at Wikipedia: Black Death.
One of the most interesting theories, however, relates to a genetic mutation and seeming immunity to HIV/AIDS in modern times. This got a half-page treatment in Cantor's book, but I happened upon a Science Channel show discussing this mutation -- CCR5 -- and how they had traced it back to people who had contracted the plague and survived. It is related in some way to people who have survived plague and possibly smallpox, and is a promising avenue of research into AIDS drugs or vaccines. Apparently about 15% of caucasians have this mutation, which showed up only a few hundred years ago.
Of course, it's all theory, and there are just as many scientists with alternate hypotheses. But it's fascinating reading, nonetheless. Considering that we we haven't wiped out bubonic and pneumonic plague (although we can treat them now), and the real risk of biological warfare, knowing about how earlier mass deaths occured is pretty critical. I strongly recommend the book -- not necessary for it's scientific accuracy, but for its interesting and engaging coverage of the period.
More info:
Black Death in Western Europe
Shifting Definitions of Plague
Encyclopedia of Death and Dying
About.com
The last is sci-fi fluff, but I've been entirely drawn in by the book about the Black Death, In the Wake of the Plague. It's fascinating. It was recommended to me by a fellow air traveler as an interesting book on medieval life, more than a history book. It covers the basics of the bubonic plague outbreak in the 14th century (1347-1350 or so) and weaves it in with fascinating details about the way people lived and how the plague changed society.
Fir example, he whole "not bathing" thing was a result of churchmen deciding that bathing would "open the pores" to the miasma and make you susceptible to plague (it was thought that "bad air" was the cause of contagion). The tapestry industry in Bruge wa sa direct result of the idea that closing off the windows (again, to keep out "bad air") was necessary.
We rely on the descriptions of contemporary records to identify the "Black Death", and the common belief is that it was bubonic plague -- vivid descriptions of black welts and buboes (hence, bubonic plague) on the victims, who died a particularly gruesome death in a matter of a week or so left us with the clear idea that the pestilence that wiped out 20 million people in Europe in the 14th century was, indeed, a form of bubonic plague. But writers also described people who died without these symptoms, often within a few days.
Bubonic plague is spread by fleas, carried by specific species of rats. (For a really detailed description of how it affects the flea, check out Wikipedia. Ugh). But the plague spread too quicky, and in odd patterns, to be entirely dependent on this infested-rat idea. There are a few people who have hypothesized that the "plague" was not plague at all, but a form of anthrax spread by contact with (or ingestion of) diseased cattle -- a topic which also had much contemporary documentation.
In 1984, Graham Twigg argued that the climate made it nearly impossible for rats and fleas to have transmitted bubonic plague. His suggested alternative was anthrax. In 2001, scientists in Liverpool posited that the Black Death was more likely an ebola-like virus, since the human-to-human transmission rate was unsupportable in the fleas-on-the-rate model. Both of these alternative explainations are detailed at Wikipedia: Black Death.
One of the most interesting theories, however, relates to a genetic mutation and seeming immunity to HIV/AIDS in modern times. This got a half-page treatment in Cantor's book, but I happened upon a Science Channel show discussing this mutation -- CCR5 -- and how they had traced it back to people who had contracted the plague and survived. It is related in some way to people who have survived plague and possibly smallpox, and is a promising avenue of research into AIDS drugs or vaccines. Apparently about 15% of caucasians have this mutation, which showed up only a few hundred years ago.
Of course, it's all theory, and there are just as many scientists with alternate hypotheses. But it's fascinating reading, nonetheless. Considering that we we haven't wiped out bubonic and pneumonic plague (although we can treat them now), and the real risk of biological warfare, knowing about how earlier mass deaths occured is pretty critical. I strongly recommend the book -- not necessary for it's scientific accuracy, but for its interesting and engaging coverage of the period.
More info:
Black Death in Western Europe
Shifting Definitions of Plague
Encyclopedia of Death and Dying
About.com
FISA Redux
Congress has proposed an amendment to the current FISA rules to prohibit illegal wiretapping.
If this wasn't so serious, it would be laughable. They're going to pass a bill to prohibit illegal wiretapping. So now, illegal wiretapping will be...you guessed it, illegal!
So the administration, which has engaged in some seriously questionable wiretapping in the War on Terra while it was simply "illegal", will now have to stop because illegal wiretapping is double-plus-really-really illegal.
Basically, they are reaffirming that the original wording of FISA must be adhered to, and efforts by the administration to "modernize" the law by clearing out legal oversights, will not be accepted or tolerated.
I find it interesting that congress is implicitly stating that they believe (know?) that the NSA has performed illegal wiretaps or is illegally monitoring communications they should not be listening in on...and yet all they can manage is to propose legislation to reinforce that it is already illegal. I suppose that every other effort to prevent it has failed, but this just seemed a little bit too 1984 to me. Ooh! Double-plusGood!
The American Civil Liberties Union today cheered an amendment to the House Intelligence Reauthorization Bill that would prevent illegal domestic wiretapping by the government.
The amendment, by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), will reaffirm the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as the only legal means of collecting electronic intelligence surveillance. The amendment was passed late last night by a vote of 245-178.
If this wasn't so serious, it would be laughable. They're going to pass a bill to prohibit illegal wiretapping. So now, illegal wiretapping will be...you guessed it, illegal!
So the administration, which has engaged in some seriously questionable wiretapping in the War on Terra while it was simply "illegal", will now have to stop because illegal wiretapping is double-plus-really-really illegal.
Basically, they are reaffirming that the original wording of FISA must be adhered to, and efforts by the administration to "modernize" the law by clearing out legal oversights, will not be accepted or tolerated.
I find it interesting that congress is implicitly stating that they believe (know?) that the NSA has performed illegal wiretaps or is illegally monitoring communications they should not be listening in on...and yet all they can manage is to propose legislation to reinforce that it is already illegal. I suppose that every other effort to prevent it has failed, but this just seemed a little bit too 1984 to me. Ooh! Double-plusGood!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Town Fair
A few years after we moved into Erie, the Chamber of Commerce sponsored a "Town Fair" -- those first few years, it was a sad affair with a few local businesses ponying up a little tent and a few brochures to hand out, and the one local restaurant doing a barbecue. The main street in town was blocked off and everyone wandered around for a couple of hours in the scorching heat.Since then, it's become quite the soiree. Local hospitals and other businesses set up big tents and have raffles, local craftspeople sell their stuff, live music and fireworks -- and a couple thousand people.
It's still scorching hot, of course, but it's definitely worth a stroll through main street to see everyone. This year, they had two days of balloon launches and after-dark concerts.
I don't usually go, to be honest. Even though the fair in the last few years was a far cry from the sad collection of tents that first year, it's not really that fascinating to me. The Adorable husband loves to go and see everyone, and watch the fire department dismantle a car and demonstrate rescues. Eat a little barbecue, watch the kids get pony rides, that sort of thing. So, I did go this year. We parked near our old house (which used to be a prime location for the fair -- we could easily walk to the festivities)...which left me feeling terribly depressed and sad about the whole day.
I had a really hard time selling our old house. I loved it -- and even realizing that we had no need to have a second house, no urge to be landlords, didn't make it any easier to sell. The buyer immediately started renting it out and it's been occupied for the last three years or do. I get really sad driving by and was just devastated when we parked on the corner and realized that the yard is COMPLETELY overgrown -- three and four foot weeds have taken over the entire yard, the hundred or so rosebushes that we had so carefuly planted and cared for and weeded every year were completely buried by the weeds, which in some cases were taller than the fence. No "regular" grass anywhere anymore...just crabgrass and weeds.
Outside the fence, they at least mowed down the weeds, but there isn't a spec of grass anywhere around the elm trees we planted. The flower beds are gone, even the mighty peony that impinged the door every year is buried under the flourishing weeds.
Sigh. I know it's not mine anymore. But if they can't be bothered to do the basics -- like MOW -- how can I assume that they are taking care of the inside of the house? Or doing the basic maintenance that is required to keep a 120 year old house standing year after year?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
TASLFWP
That would be "tiny-assed sorry little first world problem", btw.
That is, the woe and horror that currently making my perfectly comfortable and happy life annoying and difficult....which is so unbelievably trivial that it's embarassing to complain about. It's not like I don't have clean water, or food, or shelter, or the basic protection of human rights. No, my particular little first-world problem is exceedingly banal.
Not that that would stop me, of course. Sometimes we just need to whine and complain about the trivialities.
I can't find my favorite pens.
Seriously, they are impossible to find and it seems as if they are being phased out and replaced by roller-ball pens or gel-ink pens. I hate all of these. I spend so much time typing, that my handwriting has become crabbed and tiny and nearly impossible to read if I'm not very careful, and these new-fangled roller-balls and gel-ink pens are simply too smooth. (And, oh, isn't that a reason for woe and horror?). I end up writing in an illegible scrawl. I need a pen that has some resistance to it, more scratchy, heavier ink. Something.
So I have been using Pilot RazorPoint porous point pens (they are like regular felt-tip pens, but have a hard nib made of plastic, so they are fine-lined or extra-fine-lined). We stopped at every office supply place we could find. We finally found a box of 12 black pens and a packet of colored (oy! Pink! and Aqua!) pens but nothing else. Online, I could find them sold by-the-pen, with a whopping eight bucks for shipping, but that's about it.
I am quite unhappy. I bought all the boxes I could find on the assumption that they are going to disappear entirely quite soon and I'll be left with sparkly gel-pens in Fun! Colors! and super-needle-point rollerball pens that render my writing into chicken-scratches.
Woe is me. Oh, woe.
That is, the woe and horror that currently making my perfectly comfortable and happy life annoying and difficult....which is so unbelievably trivial that it's embarassing to complain about. It's not like I don't have clean water, or food, or shelter, or the basic protection of human rights. No, my particular little first-world problem is exceedingly banal.
Not that that would stop me, of course. Sometimes we just need to whine and complain about the trivialities.
I can't find my favorite pens.
Seriously, they are impossible to find and it seems as if they are being phased out and replaced by roller-ball pens or gel-ink pens. I hate all of these. I spend so much time typing, that my handwriting has become crabbed and tiny and nearly impossible to read if I'm not very careful, and these new-fangled roller-balls and gel-ink pens are simply too smooth. (And, oh, isn't that a reason for woe and horror?). I end up writing in an illegible scrawl. I need a pen that has some resistance to it, more scratchy, heavier ink. Something.
So I have been using Pilot RazorPoint porous point pens (they are like regular felt-tip pens, but have a hard nib made of plastic, so they are fine-lined or extra-fine-lined). We stopped at every office supply place we could find. We finally found a box of 12 black pens and a packet of colored (oy! Pink! and Aqua!) pens but nothing else. Online, I could find them sold by-the-pen, with a whopping eight bucks for shipping, but that's about it.
I am quite unhappy. I bought all the boxes I could find on the assumption that they are going to disappear entirely quite soon and I'll be left with sparkly gel-pens in Fun! Colors! and super-needle-point rollerball pens that render my writing into chicken-scratches.
Woe is me. Oh, woe.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
More Youtube fun
I know, I know, everyone searches youtube on their own, but sometimes I just have to pass on some of the funnier ones.
Hallelujah Nuns. Enjoy.
Hallelujah Nuns. Enjoy.
Technology Explained
Have you ever wondered how the cursor actually moves around your computer screen? It's really quite simple.
Super-magnified view of your cursor!
[Make sure to stop periodically, to see what happens.]
Super-magnified view of your cursor!
[Make sure to stop periodically, to see what happens.]
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
School days
I spend quite a lot of time in online forums (Salon's Tabletalk is a favorite) and after talking extensively about school and school projects, realized that if someone referred to going to school "at the U" -- they invariably meant the University of Minnesota. No one could think of another university that was referred to as "the U"...just the UofM.
Which only served to remind me that I don't sound Minnesotan anymore, unless I'm actually saying 'Minna-soh-t'n'. Sigh. I've always believed that we in the midwest have a pretty flat, almost non-existant 'accent' (which is wishful thinking, we all have accents), but I've apparently started sounding more 'western' than 'midwestern'.
I may have to adopt a Fargo accent just to reconnect with my roots! Ya, sure, you betcha!
Which only served to remind me that I don't sound Minnesotan anymore, unless I'm actually saying 'Minna-soh-t'n'. Sigh. I've always believed that we in the midwest have a pretty flat, almost non-existant 'accent' (which is wishful thinking, we all have accents), but I've apparently started sounding more 'western' than 'midwestern'.
I may have to adopt a Fargo accent just to reconnect with my roots! Ya, sure, you betcha!
Falwell
Dr. Jerry Falwell died yesterday. I'd like to be a better person and feel badly about this (and indeed, I feel great sympahty for his family and for their loss) -- but I found him to be a hateful, narrow-minded, bigoted, and hypocritical man. Most certainly, he was not representative of good Christian people that I know. He had a huge impact on evangelical christianity in the United States, there is no doubt of that, but you'd have to do a lot of explaining to make it a positive one, in my eyes.
And so I hope that the afterlife that he believed in is exactly what it should be for a false and arrogant prophet.
And so I hope that the afterlife that he believed in is exactly what it should be for a false and arrogant prophet.
21 "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' 23 Then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' (Matthew 7:21-23)
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Doh! Moment
My sister called this morning, just checking in and had to admit to her moment of complete and utter stupidity....have you ever had one of those moment where you say something, and just as it passes your lips, you realise it might just be the dumbest thing you've ever said? Or that anyone has every said? And you can't just sort of rewind and make it disappear?
So, she went out to breakfast on Saturday and when she got back, the power was out at her house. It was out for everyone on her side of the street, but the other side apparently worked fine. Work on the lines, or something, and the power company said the power would be back on by 2 or 2:30. Sure! No problem. They went out to see a movie and go grocery shopping and when they got back....still no power.
As it started getting dark, she looked over at the houses across the street, and said to all and sundry, "Well! They have power over there, maybe I should go and borrow a lamp."
It took a full ten seconds before she actually processed that this was a boneheaded sentence, while everyone in the room stared at her with gape-mouthed horror. Doh!
So, she went out to breakfast on Saturday and when she got back, the power was out at her house. It was out for everyone on her side of the street, but the other side apparently worked fine. Work on the lines, or something, and the power company said the power would be back on by 2 or 2:30. Sure! No problem. They went out to see a movie and go grocery shopping and when they got back....still no power.
As it started getting dark, she looked over at the houses across the street, and said to all and sundry, "Well! They have power over there, maybe I should go and borrow a lamp."
It took a full ten seconds before she actually processed that this was a boneheaded sentence, while everyone in the room stared at her with gape-mouthed horror. Doh!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
If Looks Could Kill
The Queen is visiting, as she has done about once a decade for the past fifty years. As would be expected for visiting royalty, she has been feted and treated like...well, royalty.
But the gaffes are flying thick. Not only did Bush give a starkly political speech at a social gathering, he apparently winked at the Queen. This is apparently Not. Done. (Although to be honest, I have no idea what possible offense this could be!)
What made me laugh about the whole thing was The Look that she shot him. That LOOK should have drilled him dead on the spot. Had the poor Shrub been British, he probably would have just exploded in a puff of smoke. You could hear the 'We are not AMUSED' behind that look, and it had me giggling madly.
But the gaffes are flying thick. Not only did Bush give a starkly political speech at a social gathering, he apparently winked at the Queen. This is apparently Not. Done. (Although to be honest, I have no idea what possible offense this could be!)
What made me laugh about the whole thing was The Look that she shot him. That LOOK should have drilled him dead on the spot. Had the poor Shrub been British, he probably would have just exploded in a puff of smoke. You could hear the 'We are not AMUSED' behind that look, and it had me giggling madly.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Project Woes
Let me say first that I love my current project -- it's interesting, challenging, and just stressful enough to be motivating.
That was yesterday.
Today, the other developer on the project announced that she's taking a leave of absence for the summer and will be leaving in two weeks. This, of course, after my company pulled her "temporarily" off the proejct to deal with fires at another client. By now, she should have been on my project for almost two months. In reality, by the time she leaves, she'll have worked on our project for less than three weeks.
I can't blame her -- I took a sabatical last year and it was the best thing I've done for my professional life in years. She's frustrating with previous and ongoing projects, and realized that she just wanted some time off. Good for her! Bad for us, of course, but we'll manage.
Sigh. So, it's just back to ME, alone, on the project doing the front-end development. The PM for the project is going to pitch in, and it might end up that she and I do this ourselves. Given the past history with the project, the person we get to "fill in" may be a) temporary or b) a novice and on this project that's going to be bad.
We'll just have to adjust the timeframe and deliverable dates. At least I don't have to be the one telling that to the client! I just have to put my head down and churn out a whole lot of code in the next few weeks! Wish me luck!
That was yesterday.
Today, the other developer on the project announced that she's taking a leave of absence for the summer and will be leaving in two weeks. This, of course, after my company pulled her "temporarily" off the proejct to deal with fires at another client. By now, she should have been on my project for almost two months. In reality, by the time she leaves, she'll have worked on our project for less than three weeks.
I can't blame her -- I took a sabatical last year and it was the best thing I've done for my professional life in years. She's frustrating with previous and ongoing projects, and realized that she just wanted some time off. Good for her! Bad for us, of course, but we'll manage.
Sigh. So, it's just back to ME, alone, on the project doing the front-end development. The PM for the project is going to pitch in, and it might end up that she and I do this ourselves. Given the past history with the project, the person we get to "fill in" may be a) temporary or b) a novice and on this project that's going to be bad.
We'll just have to adjust the timeframe and deliverable dates. At least I don't have to be the one telling that to the client! I just have to put my head down and churn out a whole lot of code in the next few weeks! Wish me luck!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
And they Napped
Have you ever had one of those weekends where you have a huge list of things to do, tons of errands to run, and somehow you end up doing absolutely nothing on the list? That was our weekend. Dragged ourselves out of bed late on Saturday, in time to run one small errand and meander about the house and nap most of the afternoon, and repeated the exercise on Sunday, except we managed to eat lunch before collapsing in drowsy heaps by 3pm.
So we napped all weekend. I think the Adorable Husband managed to mow the grass late tonight, but that's about it.
I can't tell if it's stress, if we're still depressed and just ignoring it, or what. But I'm awfully glad that we don't have kids around who need to be fed and monitored, and that no one is counting on us to do anything that requires more than the basics of effort!
Ullaq's doing much better -- although she definitely has attached herself to the Husband and is pretty much ignoring me. I can't tell if it's just because I'm home all day and she's bored with me, or what. He takes her for long walks (which might be a bit too long, considering that she's getting old and sleeps for HOURS after he brings her back inside) but otherwise we're both around. Maybe she's picked up on the fact that for a few days after we lost Rukh, I was irrationally angry at her -- that she wasn't the one who was sick, that she was still around. I'm not anymore, of course, but I'm still being snubbed.
So we napped all weekend. I think the Adorable Husband managed to mow the grass late tonight, but that's about it.
I can't tell if it's stress, if we're still depressed and just ignoring it, or what. But I'm awfully glad that we don't have kids around who need to be fed and monitored, and that no one is counting on us to do anything that requires more than the basics of effort!
Ullaq's doing much better -- although she definitely has attached herself to the Husband and is pretty much ignoring me. I can't tell if it's just because I'm home all day and she's bored with me, or what. He takes her for long walks (which might be a bit too long, considering that she's getting old and sleeps for HOURS after he brings her back inside) but otherwise we're both around. Maybe she's picked up on the fact that for a few days after we lost Rukh, I was irrationally angry at her -- that she wasn't the one who was sick, that she was still around. I'm not anymore, of course, but I'm still being snubbed.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Bombs away!
Hate pesky squirrels in your birdfeeder or terrorizing your cats? Well, someone took matters into their own hands.Ok, this video should not be viewed by anyone who loves small furry creatures. I'm pretty sure the squirrel comes out ok.
Pretty sure.
Incomprehensible
I was listening to NPR this week, regarding the House passing a bill extending the definition of hate crimes to include attacks based on gender and sexual orientation.
Apparently this is something that many people object to -- the religious televangelists and neo-conservative groups are trying to paint this as a religious freedom issue. There was a representative from Georgia (I think) who was objecting strenuously to the bill. He claimed that this would somehow stifle freedom of religion. He was going on and on about how passing this bill on national prayer day was in and of itself hateful against Christians.
The primary people against the bill? Mostly religious groups, the "social conservatives",
Apparently this is something that many people object to -- the religious televangelists and neo-conservative groups are trying to paint this as a religious freedom issue. There was a representative from Georgia (I think) who was objecting strenuously to the bill. He claimed that this would somehow stifle freedom of religion. He was going on and on about how passing this bill on national prayer day was in and of itself hateful against Christians.
The primary people against the bill? Mostly religious groups, the "social conservatives",
who say the bill threatens the right to express moral opposition to homosexuality and singles out groups of citizens for special protection.Umm. ooookay. Apparently these people don't quite get the concept of "hate crime".
According to the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), Congressional Democrats rammed through the hate crimes bill defeating all 25 Republican amendments, which [included those that] ...ensured Christians would not be prosecuted for expressing religious convictions opposed to homosexuality.
I really need someone to explain this to me. Classing attacks on homosexuals, and hate-speech aimed at gays and lesbians is somehow stifling religious speech? Are the fringe religious groups actually arguing that it is their right to bash gays because they have somehow twisted their scriptures to tell them to? This is somehow a christian behavior?
Maybe I'm missing the point.Thursday, May 03, 2007
Anybody Home?
Helloooo? Helllooo-oooo?
I know it's been about two weeks since I posted at all -- just haven't had the oomph to think about writing anything. I took a couple of days off, and I've travelled a bit for work. Nothing too fun. I didn't realize that I had completely ignored the blog until my sister called to see if we were all right, since nothing new had showed up for weeks.
The house is pretty quiet with just one beastie, and Uulaq is pretty damn depressed. She just mopes around the house, running to a window when someone drives by, and then just laying down when she realizes it isn't Rukh. I think she realizes that he's not coming back, but even so, we (the humans in the household) are not satisfactory replacements. She doesn't even want to play with the neighbor's dog, Maggie.
But, we're doing pretty well and life is slowly falling back into place. I'm still working from home, and loving my project (even spending a few days in Baltimore). Busy, and just stressed enough for it to be motivational, and not freaky.
Thanks to everyone who sent a nice card or note. We really appreciate your kind thoughts and wishes.
I know it's been about two weeks since I posted at all -- just haven't had the oomph to think about writing anything. I took a couple of days off, and I've travelled a bit for work. Nothing too fun. I didn't realize that I had completely ignored the blog until my sister called to see if we were all right, since nothing new had showed up for weeks.
The house is pretty quiet with just one beastie, and Uulaq is pretty damn depressed. She just mopes around the house, running to a window when someone drives by, and then just laying down when she realizes it isn't Rukh. I think she realizes that he's not coming back, but even so, we (the humans in the household) are not satisfactory replacements. She doesn't even want to play with the neighbor's dog, Maggie.
But, we're doing pretty well and life is slowly falling back into place. I'm still working from home, and loving my project (even spending a few days in Baltimore). Busy, and just stressed enough for it to be motivational, and not freaky.
Thanks to everyone who sent a nice card or note. We really appreciate your kind thoughts and wishes.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
#^#@^&^
Well, we got the xray results for Rukh yesterday -- much worse than we expected. We stopped all the meds earlier this week, because they were just making him nauseous, and we weren't too hopeful that they had been doing any good.
Not really. His xrays look awful. What was a dozen small spots and a few dime-to-nickel sized spots only a month ago is now dozens of tumors, some a few inches across. If the chemo did anything to slow it down, it wasn't much. It's just too aggressive.
He still seems to feel ok, but he's not getting up to eat and drink unless we prompt him, and even then he's having a hard time getting up on his own. I think he's just getting weaker, since he's not getting enough oxygen. That, and laying about all day just makes him stiff. But he still wags his tail, and still wants to go outside, although he's sleeping most of the time and even a short walk taxes him too much. He's working pretty hard to breathe, even just going out into the back yard.
He really deosn't have a whole lot of time left. The Adorable Husband thinks a week, maybe two, before he's having a hard eough time breathing that we aren't going continue. It's scary not to be able to catch your breath, and I won't do that to him.
Damn. Just...damn.
Not really. His xrays look awful. What was a dozen small spots and a few dime-to-nickel sized spots only a month ago is now dozens of tumors, some a few inches across. If the chemo did anything to slow it down, it wasn't much. It's just too aggressive.
He still seems to feel ok, but he's not getting up to eat and drink unless we prompt him, and even then he's having a hard time getting up on his own. I think he's just getting weaker, since he's not getting enough oxygen. That, and laying about all day just makes him stiff. But he still wags his tail, and still wants to go outside, although he's sleeping most of the time and even a short walk taxes him too much. He's working pretty hard to breathe, even just going out into the back yard.
He really deosn't have a whole lot of time left. The Adorable Husband thinks a week, maybe two, before he's having a hard eough time breathing that we aren't going continue. It's scary not to be able to catch your breath, and I won't do that to him.
Damn. Just...damn.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Snow Update
Remember the three-minute scrolling warning that we were going to have a Blizzard! Oh, no!
Not.
One.
Flake.
Not.
One.
Flake.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Killer Chickens
Using some very interesting new technology, scientists have been able to analyze the protein codes in the fossilized bones of a 68 million year old T-rex. DNA evaluation is usually impossible because the fossilization process simply doesn't preserve it well.
So, relationships between bones is usually done by other types of analysis -- shape, size, age, etc. Rather subjective, and very dependent on the amount of remains there are. Given that fossilization is (despite the popular belief from Jurrasic Park) a rare process. Most animals die and their bones rot and disappear. But this new technology can find molecular-level similarities in bones that clearly show how bones are related to one another.
There's a lot of detailed molecular biology involved in how they figured this out, but:
Or course, I have to admit that getting some level of confirmation of the theory that dinosaurs are the ancient ancestors of modern chickens actually makes me rethink just how scary a T-rex was -- and, having seen chickens in action, it actually ratcheted it up a notch. Chickens are not docile, friendly creatures, not at all! Imagine a huge T-rex with the personality of a chicken and dagger-sized teeth. Scares me.
So, relationships between bones is usually done by other types of analysis -- shape, size, age, etc. Rather subjective, and very dependent on the amount of remains there are. Given that fossilization is (despite the popular belief from Jurrasic Park) a rare process. Most animals die and their bones rot and disappear. But this new technology can find molecular-level similarities in bones that clearly show how bones are related to one another.
There's a lot of detailed molecular biology involved in how they figured this out, but:
The first results, described in today's issue of the journal Science, show that the collagen protein in T. rex bone is extraordinarily similar to that of the modern chicken, confirming current thinking that dinosaurs' nearest cousins are birds.I don't know what else they tested against, but as they continue to use this particular method of comparison, I'm sure the data store will expand and they'll have more and more samples to compare against. It's a neat start. I'll be curious to see how all this data pans out. The article here details how they are trying to use this new technology, adn how it's being tested.
Or course, I have to admit that getting some level of confirmation of the theory that dinosaurs are the ancient ancestors of modern chickens actually makes me rethink just how scary a T-rex was -- and, having seen chickens in action, it actually ratcheted it up a notch. Chickens are not docile, friendly creatures, not at all! Imagine a huge T-rex with the personality of a chicken and dagger-sized teeth. Scares me.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Warning Overkill
So, spring snow storm. No biggie. Except that this notice takes about three minutes to scroll over the top of the television screen for "the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for....
The scroll one of the channels was even longer.LARIMER COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY- OULDER AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES BELOW 6000 FEET/WEST BROOMFIELD COUNTY- NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES/EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY- ELBERT/CENTRAL AND EAST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET- NORTHEAST WELD COUNTY-CENTRAL AND SOUTH WELD COUNTY-MORGAN COUNTY- CENTRAL AND EAST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES- NORTH AND NORTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTH LINCOLN COUNTY- SOUTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY- LOGAN COUNTY- WASHINGTON COUNTY-SEDGWICK COUNTY- PHILLIPS COUNTY- INCLUDING...FORT COLLINS...HEREFORD...LOVELAND...NUNN... ARVADA...
BOULDER...GOLDEN... LAKEWOOD...LONGMONT...AURORA... BRIGHTON... CITY OF DENVER...DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...HIGHLANDS RANCH... LITTLETON...PARKER...CASTLE ROCK...ELBERT...FONDIS...KIOWA...
LARKSPUR...BRIGGSDALE...GROVER... PAWNEE BUTTES...RAYMER... STONEHAM... EATON...FORT LUPTON...GREELEY... ROGGEN...BRUSH... FORT MORGAN... GOODRICH...WIGGINS...BENNETT...BYERS... DEER TRAIL... LEADER...AGATE...HUGO... LIMON...MATHESON...FORDER...KARVAL... KUTCH...PUNKIN CENTER...CROOK... MERINO...STERLING...PEETZ... AKRON... COPE...LAST CHANCE...OTIS... JULESBURG...OVID...SEDGWICK... AMHERST...HAXTUN...HOLYOKE 430 PM MDT THU APR 12 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Faster! Faster!
Remember sitting down to a game of Monopoly with your family? Or Parcheesi? Or an hours-long game of Risk? Apparently we were a slower, better-focused group of people then.
Parents are lobbying game manufacturers to "shorten games" because, they claim, they take too long to play and kids aren't having fun.
So the game-makers are releasing "express" versions of the games. Some have nifty electronics to speed things up, others are just simplified to make the game move faster and be easier to play. There have always been "fast" games (Uno, Go Fish, Crazy 8s), but not everything has to be at light-speed!
Easier. Faster. Is this really a good thing? C'mon -- not everything in life is instantaneous and not everything should be "easy". This trend actually kind if disturbs me. Everyone has made up rules to a common game to get it over quickly if you really don't have time; but to demand games that are shorter because they take longer than 10 minutes to play? Seriously, do parents really want to teach their kids that a) everything can be done quckly and if it's not fast then it's not valuable and b) they should always be able to "win"? This is where I put on my child-free hat and criticize parenting: kids really do need to learn that they don't always win, that some things do need work and practice and attention to do properly. It's not enough to try. You have to succeed. The world really doesn't give a damn about your fragile self-esteem. [turn off harpy-mode]
Methinks that the demand for faster games has absolutely nothing to do with the kids' attention spans and abilty to play. It's the parents who think things take too long. (As evidenced by the opening paragraph of the article.) Kids can sit and do the most inane things for hours on end, they are perfectly capable of playing a game lasting an hour. Or at least, I certainly remember doing so. I remember playing cards with my dad for a couple hours (he taught me cribbage -- great for math!) and spending the afternoons playing Monopoly or Life with my friends. Scrabble should not be a 10 minute game. Well, maybe it can be, but that's an entirely different mode of leisure, in my book.
And books! If everyone is used to 10-15 minute bursts of entertainment, how on earth are we going to teach them to appreciate books? It takes most people a few days to finish a long novel...if their entire childhood is spend on fast-forward, will kids every learn to enjoy that?
I'm one of the highest-input-requiring people that I know -- I have to have something to read while sitting the carwash or waiting in line to get the mail. I read while I watch television (how's that for a bizarre twist?). I have a ton of hobbies that are tedious and time-consuming in a way that only a zen master can appreciate (a 24x36" cross stich piece on 36ct linen, anyone?). I multitask by default. I feel let down when movies are only an hour and a half long. I really don't get the weird "must be connected must be amused must be entertained" vibe that I get from alot of people. I really have a hard time being passively entertained. Sit in front of the tv and just watch? Not likely.
Apparently, I'm weird.
Parents are lobbying game manufacturers to "shorten games" because, they claim, they take too long to play and kids aren't having fun.
Michelle Hastings admits she's sometimes cheated to get through a game of Candy
Land with her 5-year-old daughter, Campbell. The board game can take just too long, she said. Disney Monopoly is another big offender."A game like that, it could literally take you days," said Hastings, of Holliston, Mass. "A lot of times, you don't play games because they take so long." Board game makers are heeding pleas of parents like Hastings and introducing games tailored to busy lives and shorter attention spans that take only about 20 minutes to play
So the game-makers are releasing "express" versions of the games. Some have nifty electronics to speed things up, others are just simplified to make the game move faster and be easier to play. There have always been "fast" games (Uno, Go Fish, Crazy 8s), but not everything has to be at light-speed!
Best of all for busy parents and kids, the games are brief and they're packaged differently so they can be taken along in the car."It's analogous to a kid picking up his Game Boy for 10 minutes," said Chris Byrne, an independent toy consultant based in New York. "Yet it involves the whole family."
Easier. Faster. Is this really a good thing? C'mon -- not everything in life is instantaneous and not everything should be "easy". This trend actually kind if disturbs me. Everyone has made up rules to a common game to get it over quickly if you really don't have time; but to demand games that are shorter because they take longer than 10 minutes to play? Seriously, do parents really want to teach their kids that a) everything can be done quckly and if it's not fast then it's not valuable and b) they should always be able to "win"? This is where I put on my child-free hat and criticize parenting: kids really do need to learn that they don't always win, that some things do need work and practice and attention to do properly. It's not enough to try. You have to succeed. The world really doesn't give a damn about your fragile self-esteem. [turn off harpy-mode]
Methinks that the demand for faster games has absolutely nothing to do with the kids' attention spans and abilty to play. It's the parents who think things take too long. (As evidenced by the opening paragraph of the article.) Kids can sit and do the most inane things for hours on end, they are perfectly capable of playing a game lasting an hour. Or at least, I certainly remember doing so. I remember playing cards with my dad for a couple hours (he taught me cribbage -- great for math!) and spending the afternoons playing Monopoly or Life with my friends. Scrabble should not be a 10 minute game. Well, maybe it can be, but that's an entirely different mode of leisure, in my book.
And books! If everyone is used to 10-15 minute bursts of entertainment, how on earth are we going to teach them to appreciate books? It takes most people a few days to finish a long novel...if their entire childhood is spend on fast-forward, will kids every learn to enjoy that?
I'm one of the highest-input-requiring people that I know -- I have to have something to read while sitting the carwash or waiting in line to get the mail. I read while I watch television (how's that for a bizarre twist?). I have a ton of hobbies that are tedious and time-consuming in a way that only a zen master can appreciate (a 24x36" cross stich piece on 36ct linen, anyone?). I multitask by default. I feel let down when movies are only an hour and a half long. I really don't get the weird "must be connected must be amused must be entertained" vibe that I get from alot of people. I really have a hard time being passively entertained. Sit in front of the tv and just watch? Not likely.
Apparently, I'm weird.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Catching up
Apparently, it's been a busy week. Or I've simply been too depressed to post. Either way, I haven't had much to say lately. For those who pop in to see what's going on at Chez Phouka, sorry about that.
So what's up? The wine cellar is in and trimmed up, and I've been feverishly entering all the wine into the Wine Curator software that I bought. Very nice. And then printing out labels to hang on all the bottle tags so we can identify things. Yes, appealing to my weird, OCD-organizational habits. I even found little images of grapes, red and white, to put on the labels.
We talked today about Rukh, and decided that we really don't want to keep him on the metronomic chemo that he's on. The combination of chemo, anti-inflammatory, and antiobotic seems to really make him feel crappy, and frankly, I'm not willing to make him feel crappy anymore. I'd rather have four weeks of happy-dog than six of not-so-happy. We're going in for x-rays on Saturday to see where things are, but we've stopped everything except the thyroid meds -- and even after only a day he actually seems perkier and his face looks better. Yeah, you, might think it's hard to discern much of an expression on a fuzzy face, but anyone who's met the beastie would notice a difference. I feel much more calm about the whole thing now. Now we just make him comfortable and spoil him rotten and wait. That's ok.
I expect that his xrays show rather aggressive growth of the tumors in his lungs -- I will be surprised if things haven't progressed much. Although even if they haven't, and things appear to have stalled, we're still going to stop treatment for the cancer itself (chemo, etc). It will give us an idea of how long we really have, though, and that's important.
So what's up? The wine cellar is in and trimmed up, and I've been feverishly entering all the wine into the Wine Curator software that I bought. Very nice. And then printing out labels to hang on all the bottle tags so we can identify things. Yes, appealing to my weird, OCD-organizational habits. I even found little images of grapes, red and white, to put on the labels.
We talked today about Rukh, and decided that we really don't want to keep him on the metronomic chemo that he's on. The combination of chemo, anti-inflammatory, and antiobotic seems to really make him feel crappy, and frankly, I'm not willing to make him feel crappy anymore. I'd rather have four weeks of happy-dog than six of not-so-happy. We're going in for x-rays on Saturday to see where things are, but we've stopped everything except the thyroid meds -- and even after only a day he actually seems perkier and his face looks better. Yeah, you, might think it's hard to discern much of an expression on a fuzzy face, but anyone who's met the beastie would notice a difference. I feel much more calm about the whole thing now. Now we just make him comfortable and spoil him rotten and wait. That's ok.
I expect that his xrays show rather aggressive growth of the tumors in his lungs -- I will be surprised if things haven't progressed much. Although even if they haven't, and things appear to have stalled, we're still going to stop treatment for the cancer itself (chemo, etc). It will give us an idea of how long we really have, though, and that's important.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Seeing in the Dark
As anyone in the technology industries know, the cock-eyed change to Daylight Savings Time early this year caused all sorts of computer distress: patch releases for Windows that boogered up other applications, database issues with timestamps, etc. All in the name of "saving energy".
I've always been skeptical that this has any effect on energy consumption. So what if using lights later in the evening...we're just using them earlier in the mornign to make up for it. We no longer have the luxury of changing our schedules to match the sunrise-sunset, we still have to get up in the morning for work at 6:00 am, for example, and if it's dark outside, we're turning on the lights and turning up the heat.
I feel quite vindicated.
I've always been skeptical that this has any effect on energy consumption. So what if using lights later in the evening...we're just using them earlier in the mornign to make up for it. We no longer have the luxury of changing our schedules to match the sunrise-sunset, we still have to get up in the morning for work at 6:00 am, for example, and if it's dark outside, we're turning on the lights and turning up the heat.
It's nice to have more hours in the evening that are light, and leave work in the daylight, but the whole "energy savings" things is a bust -- an opinion that most energy companies expressed last year when this whole thing was suggested.But other than forcing millions of drowsy American workers and school children into the dark, wintry weather three weeks early, the move appears to have had little impact on power usage.
"We haven't seen any measurable impact," said Jason Cuevas, spokesman for Southern Co., one of the nation's largest power companies, echoing comments from several large utilities.
I feel quite vindicated.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Internet Gateway
I have to admit that I get very annoyed at poor spelling and grammar on the 'net. Not that I am immune to typos or dangling participles, but the number of people who can't figure out the difference between your and you're and don't understandthat there, they're and their are different words. Or too and to. Its and it's. And the bizarre evolution of txtspk in IM and text messages has me confused.
I can't tell you how many emails I receive that have 'I really like you're website'. Or the misplaced apostrophes that show up all over in ads and webpages. We should have some sort of standard!
So, Defective Yeti blog has set up an Internet Gateway for users, testing just these things. Refresh the page a few times -- there are a number of different tests!
Monday, April 02, 2007
Wine Cellar
The Adorable Husband spent yesterday putting together the 19 boxes of wine racks that arrived last week. They come as an enormous jigsaw puzzle of side pieces and cross bars and molding and all that -- something the Adorable Husband loves to do.
He didn't have to buy new tools, but he did have to special order really long screws to secure things to the wall. We ended up adding another 2 1/2" of insulation to the outer concrete wall because we were actually having problems keeping the cellar WARM enough. It seems to be stabilizing now. At any rate, in order to secure the racks to the walls, he had to find 5" screws to get through the wallboard, insulation, and the bracing for the racks. And, since the Adorable Husband is a Handy-Fix-It-Scandinavian, they are solid. We could climb them. There is no way these things are moving.
It took him the better part of two days to get things together and attached and laid out properly but it looks so cool! I'll take some pictures and post them when he gets all the molding up. Soon, I promise!
He didn't have to buy new tools, but he did have to special order really long screws to secure things to the wall. We ended up adding another 2 1/2" of insulation to the outer concrete wall because we were actually having problems keeping the cellar WARM enough. It seems to be stabilizing now. At any rate, in order to secure the racks to the walls, he had to find 5" screws to get through the wallboard, insulation, and the bracing for the racks. And, since the Adorable Husband is a Handy-Fix-It-Scandinavian, they are solid. We could climb them. There is no way these things are moving.
It took him the better part of two days to get things together and attached and laid out properly but it looks so cool! I'll take some pictures and post them when he gets all the molding up. Soon, I promise!
More info on Dog Food
Ok, I'm not defending Menu Foods, I think their response to this tragedy is shameful. They are making decisions based on the bottom line, and trying desperately to cover their collective asses about this whole thing because it wil cost money to fix it.
However, even human food producers don't test every product they use. They don't test each load of ingredients, regardless of where they come from. THey might test samples now and then, but each new shipment is not checked before dumping the bag into the hopper of the machine. That doesn't happen. While I feel Menu Foods needs to step up and take responsbility for their actions, the tainted wheat was not something that would have normally been tested for, even if it was used in your wheaties.
Even if they did test, what do they test for? It doesn't seem reasonable to expect testing for "everything" -- our food producers rely on existing laws and regulations to ensure that the food they receive is "good". By choosing to import food from an unregulated country, Menu Foods made a huge mistake; but we import billions of dollars of foodstuffs from countries that do not follow our FDA rules. And even if they did follow those rules, only about 1.3% of the food imported into the US is ever inspected or tested at all. 1.3%. Scares the hell out of me, I tell you. Less than five percent of US beef is inspected. We risk eating contaminated food every time we eat something we didn't grow ourselves. And even then.
What I can't figure out is why Menu Foods and the related companies didn't approach this like the Tylenol case -- "Holy Crap! THis is awful! Something happened and we're going to get to the bottom of it. We were following the laws about food safety and apparently that wasn't enough. Here's what we're going to do...."
Instead, we get protestations that they don't really see a clear correlation, that it's someone else's fault, that they aren't liable because it was tainted when they bought it, etc. Shameful. I'm waiting for one of hte high-end dog foods (SD, Euk, etc) to start advertising that they are making food NOT at Menu Foods, even if they have to open their own plants to do so.
By the way, the shipper of the tainted wheat gluten is ChemNutra, sourcing from Xuzhour Anying. ChemNutra’s shipments commenced November 9, 2006 and ended March 8, 2007. [snip] ChemNutra shipped to supplies wheat gluten only to pet food manufacturers.
The total quantity of Xuzhou Anying wheat gluten shipped was 792 metric tons.
Wikipedia is keeping up with the story -- perhaps not as fast a breaking news, but they seem to be well fact-checked.
However, even human food producers don't test every product they use. They don't test each load of ingredients, regardless of where they come from. THey might test samples now and then, but each new shipment is not checked before dumping the bag into the hopper of the machine. That doesn't happen. While I feel Menu Foods needs to step up and take responsbility for their actions, the tainted wheat was not something that would have normally been tested for, even if it was used in your wheaties.
Even if they did test, what do they test for? It doesn't seem reasonable to expect testing for "everything" -- our food producers rely on existing laws and regulations to ensure that the food they receive is "good". By choosing to import food from an unregulated country, Menu Foods made a huge mistake; but we import billions of dollars of foodstuffs from countries that do not follow our FDA rules. And even if they did follow those rules, only about 1.3% of the food imported into the US is ever inspected or tested at all. 1.3%. Scares the hell out of me, I tell you. Less than five percent of US beef is inspected. We risk eating contaminated food every time we eat something we didn't grow ourselves. And even then.
What I can't figure out is why Menu Foods and the related companies didn't approach this like the Tylenol case -- "Holy Crap! THis is awful! Something happened and we're going to get to the bottom of it. We were following the laws about food safety and apparently that wasn't enough. Here's what we're going to do...."
Instead, we get protestations that they don't really see a clear correlation, that it's someone else's fault, that they aren't liable because it was tainted when they bought it, etc. Shameful. I'm waiting for one of hte high-end dog foods (SD, Euk, etc) to start advertising that they are making food NOT at Menu Foods, even if they have to open their own plants to do so.
By the way, the shipper of the tainted wheat gluten is ChemNutra, sourcing from Xuzhour Anying. ChemNutra’s shipments commenced November 9, 2006 and ended March 8, 2007. [snip] ChemNutra shipped to supplies wheat gluten only to pet food manufacturers.
The total quantity of Xuzhou Anying wheat gluten shipped was 792 metric tons.
Wikipedia is keeping up with the story -- perhaps not as fast a breaking news, but they seem to be well fact-checked.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Slower than Molasses in January
I never thought about the old saw, "Slower than Molasses in January", but I never would have thought it derived from an actual event.
In 1919, a huge molasses tank in Boston, owned by US Industrial Alcohol, exploded and flooded the town with a sixteen-foot-tall wall of molasses that killed 21 people, injured over a hundred, and took out several buildings. Two and a half million gallons of molasses (about 14,000 tons) leveled several city blocks. The molasses was for distillation purposes (for industrial alcohol and rum)-- and the accident precedes the start of Prohibition by one day.
More here, and a writeup on the accident here.
As I read through some of the articles, I discovered that this is not the only Molasses Flood. This happened in 1911 in New Orleans, as well.
And how fast is molasses in January? Well, estimates say that the molasses ran through the streets and through buildings at about 35 miles per hour.
In 1919, a huge molasses tank in Boston, owned by US Industrial Alcohol, exploded and flooded the town with a sixteen-foot-tall wall of molasses that killed 21 people, injured over a hundred, and took out several buildings. Two and a half million gallons of molasses (about 14,000 tons) leveled several city blocks. The molasses was for distillation purposes (for industrial alcohol and rum)-- and the accident precedes the start of Prohibition by one day.
More here, and a writeup on the accident here.
As I read through some of the articles, I discovered that this is not the only Molasses Flood. This happened in 1911 in New Orleans, as well.
And how fast is molasses in January? Well, estimates say that the molasses ran through the streets and through buildings at about 35 miles per hour.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Snow!
Woke up this morning to about six inches of SNOW.
Last weekend it was near 80 degrees. Yesterday was in the 70s and sunny and beautiful. Last night at 1am (when I finally staggered up to bed) it was clear as a bell.
This morning? SNOW. Lots of it.
Good news for us, since we've got family coming in today who want to go skiing over the weekend. Yeah!
Last weekend it was near 80 degrees. Yesterday was in the 70s and sunny and beautiful. Last night at 1am (when I finally staggered up to bed) it was clear as a bell.
This morning? SNOW. Lots of it.
Good news for us, since we've got family coming in today who want to go skiing over the weekend. Yeah!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Another Decider
Hypocrisy, thy name is Dobson.
James Dobson, from Focus on the Family, has self-righteously decided that HE is the arbiter of who is christian and who is not. According to Dobson, Fred Thompson (a former TN senator who may throw his hat in the ring for the 2008 election) is not a Christian. Dobson weighed in (apparently with the self-described role of judge) on the presidential hopefuls for 2008. Apparently, most of them aren't really Christian...at least according to the definition that Dobson made up.
Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."
"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. "Dr. Dobson wasn't expressing a personal opinion about his eaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to 'read the tea leaves' about such a
possibility."
So according to Dobson, to be a Christian you must “talk openly about your faith”. Non-evangelicals aren't Christian? Oh, really? Pulled that out of your ass, did you? Does it matter that you're directly contradicted by your own religious foundation?
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)
When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. (Matthew 6:5)
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think it’s up to somebody who consistently acts in opposition to the teachings of the Christ to decide who’s a Christian and who isn’t. I know a lot of good people who are christians, in act and deed every single day. They don't go around proclaiming how righteous they are, how much better they are -- they just do it. Every day. Dobson talks the talk but he certainly doesn't walk the walk.
Of course, the fabulous construct that he used: I don't know he's X because I've never seen him do Y, has no basis in logic, no basis in fact, and I think we should use the same idea to characterize everyone else, too. I don't know that Dobson isn't a child molester, because I've never seen him throw up when someone mentions it. I don't know that Newt Gingrich isn't addicted to crack because I haven't seen him refuse to buy some.
Hey, this is FUN! I can make up some cockamany definition of something and then hold everyone up to it, or accuse them of being horrible people. Don't eat popcorn? You're obviously a terrorist. Watch Friends on TV? You're definitely stealing from your employer. Drive a pickup truck? You're a shoplifter. See how easy this is?
Well, if you don't mind being a hypocrite.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Wichita
So far, the one and only travel requirement for my current client has been one day travelling to Wichita for a face-to-face meeting. Well, it ends up taking two days, since you can't get a direct flight except in the evening, but that's it. One day.
So I flew out with the project manager on Monday night and returned Tuesday night. It was a fun trip, to be honest. They took us out (all of the project team -- some 12 people) to a veeeeerrry nice steak dinner when we arrived, and then we spent a day in a meeting.
Sometimes those can be horrible -- people aren't prepared, the people in the room can't make decisions, all the worst behavior you find in business settings. We may have been bemoaning the fact that the client doesn't seem to have done large projects before, and that they don't quite understand the importance of the requirements and design phase of things....but they were absolutely on the ball for this meeting and it was tremendously productive. Wow.
Of course, my travel karma reared its ugly head, and our flight out was delayed 2 hours and the flight back by nearly an hour. Pretty tame, compared to my usual travel chaos.
I am SO looking forward to starting the development on the project!
So I flew out with the project manager on Monday night and returned Tuesday night. It was a fun trip, to be honest. They took us out (all of the project team -- some 12 people) to a veeeeerrry nice steak dinner when we arrived, and then we spent a day in a meeting.
Sometimes those can be horrible -- people aren't prepared, the people in the room can't make decisions, all the worst behavior you find in business settings. We may have been bemoaning the fact that the client doesn't seem to have done large projects before, and that they don't quite understand the importance of the requirements and design phase of things....but they were absolutely on the ball for this meeting and it was tremendously productive. Wow.
Of course, my travel karma reared its ugly head, and our flight out was delayed 2 hours and the flight back by nearly an hour. Pretty tame, compared to my usual travel chaos.
I am SO looking forward to starting the development on the project!
Friday, March 23, 2007
Manual vs Automatic
Both the Adorable Husband and I drive manual transmission cars -- we both prefer them, and have driven sticks since we started buying our own cars. But they're getting harder to find, as most new cars are build with advanced automatic transmissions (Triptronic, etc) and only a few car options on the very cheap end and the very expensive sports car range continue to offer manuals.
Not so in Europe, of course, were most cars are still manuals. But in the US, only 17% of the cars on the road are stick shifts. This came up recently because we're just starting to look for options for a next car for the Adorable Husband (in two years or so) and his current favorite -- the Passat -- is moving away from offering a manual transmission and opting for their Triptronic automatic in all their cars. You can apparently still order a manual, but it's now more expensive than the automatics. Instead of the surcharge for an automatic, which was the norm for many years, it's now a premium to have a stick.
What surprised me more was the percentage of people who are driving sticks and looking for cars with manual transmissions. From Product Design and Development,
I wonder what has prompted the change? Control? Manuals used to be cheaper? Flexbility? One of the suggestions about why over 80% of cars on the road are automatics is that people are doing so much more intheir cars -- cell phones, Starbucks coffee, etc. They don't have a hand free any longer to shift. Sounds reasonable to me.
Although I'm still looking for manuals when I buy my next car.
Not so in Europe, of course, were most cars are still manuals. But in the US, only 17% of the cars on the road are stick shifts. This came up recently because we're just starting to look for options for a next car for the Adorable Husband (in two years or so) and his current favorite -- the Passat -- is moving away from offering a manual transmission and opting for their Triptronic automatic in all their cars. You can apparently still order a manual, but it's now more expensive than the automatics. Instead of the surcharge for an automatic, which was the norm for many years, it's now a premium to have a stick.
What surprised me more was the percentage of people who are driving sticks and looking for cars with manual transmissions. From Product Design and Development,
...consider the findings of Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, which conducts extensive surveys at the retail end of the automotive business. He says that for the past three years, women, not men, have driven the manual transmission market.
In last year’s survey, 14.3 percent of women versus just 8.5 percent of men were shopping for a stick shift. In 1985, the numbers were dramatically reversed: 4.4 percent of women versus 52.8 percent of men.
I wonder what has prompted the change? Control? Manuals used to be cheaper? Flexbility? One of the suggestions about why over 80% of cars on the road are automatics is that people are doing so much more intheir cars -- cell phones, Starbucks coffee, etc. They don't have a hand free any longer to shift. Sounds reasonable to me.
Although I'm still looking for manuals when I buy my next car.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Beastie Update
Just an update on Rukh. He's doing pretty well, although we can tell that he's not feeling terrific. We're not sure if it's because of the new drugs he's on, or just feeling crappy in general. He's on a major antibiotic daily, Piroxicam (like Rimdayl) as an anti-inflammatory, and Cytoxin every other day as a low-dose chemo drug.
It's supposed to slow things down a bit, but we're not sure that it's worth it if the combination makes him queasy and unhappy. If he's only got a few weeks or months left, I'd rather they all be as happy as possible, you know? So, we're giving it a week and we'll see if he perks up or not.
We're also looking at putting him on thyroid meds to see if that also makes him feel a bit better. HE's always been on the low end of normal, which is low for an Akita. He wasn't symptomatic before, but with everything else that's going on, he seems to be now -- losing his fur, feeling lethargic, etc. It's hard to decide what to do; with so many drugs in his system, and so much happening in the last few weeks we can't tell what's causing the problems, so it's just shooting in the dark.
But, he's still happy to go for a short walk, get's excited about biscuits, and seems to be feeling ok, if not good at this point. He gets tired really quickly, and sleeps a lot, but that's to be expected. At the moment, he's racked out inthe living room, after having had pizza for lunch.
It's supposed to slow things down a bit, but we're not sure that it's worth it if the combination makes him queasy and unhappy. If he's only got a few weeks or months left, I'd rather they all be as happy as possible, you know? So, we're giving it a week and we'll see if he perks up or not.
We're also looking at putting him on thyroid meds to see if that also makes him feel a bit better. HE's always been on the low end of normal, which is low for an Akita. He wasn't symptomatic before, but with everything else that's going on, he seems to be now -- losing his fur, feeling lethargic, etc. It's hard to decide what to do; with so many drugs in his system, and so much happening in the last few weeks we can't tell what's causing the problems, so it's just shooting in the dark.
But, he's still happy to go for a short walk, get's excited about biscuits, and seems to be feeling ok, if not good at this point. He gets tired really quickly, and sleeps a lot, but that's to be expected. At the moment, he's racked out inthe living room, after having had pizza for lunch.
Dog Food Recall
By now, everyone knows about the Menu Foods pet food recall -- apparently the new info is that hte culprit is a chemical used as rat poison that contaminated the wheat-gluten that the company imports from China. The chemical is not illegal in China.
If you feed either canned food or those little foil packets of food from any of fifty three name brands, definitely check the list of recalled foods here.
Makes me wonder if it's worth paying a premium for Eukanuba when the same plant produces wall-mart brand goods, too. So far, this does not extend to dried kibble, but I have to wonder.
If you feed either canned food or those little foil packets of food from any of fifty three name brands, definitely check the list of recalled foods here.
Makes me wonder if it's worth paying a premium for Eukanuba when the same plant produces wall-mart brand goods, too. So far, this does not extend to dried kibble, but I have to wonder.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Buttons
I heard a perfectly common-sense theory on why women's clothing buttons "backwards" -- ie, left-handed with buttons on the right, and men's clothing buttons right-handed, with the buttons on the left. I never really thought about it, except to laugh a bit when one of my coats is "backwards" for me or I wear on of the Adorable Husband's shirts.The explanation? Buttons showed up on women's clothing in the mid-19th century, when the whole concept of "idle rich" was a real biggie. Women's buttons were backwards because the had to be right-handed for the maid. Men usually dressed themselves (although not always, I guess), and so they needed to have the buttons properly placed for a right-handed person to dress themself, while women had assistance and thus the buttons were placed for a right-handed person to dress someone else.
Kind of elegantly simple, don't you think?
There are, of course, many other theories (including some cockamamie idea that it forces women to use their inferior hand to remind them that they are inferior to men).
Someone else has spent a LOT of time thinking about the buttons quandary, and has written up a neat article on it.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Brilliant
Archaeologists have argued and puzzled about how the enormous stones of Stonehenge were moved and set upright, how the many-ton blocks of the pyramids were moved, how people without benefit of pulleys and complex machinery could move these enormous weights.
Well, the elegant and amazingly simple solution of a retired Flint, MI carpenter may be just the ticket. Wally Wallington has figured out how to move enormous stones by himself, how to tilt up the standing stones, he even moved his son-in-law's barn 300 feet by himself. He has a website explaining how he figures all of this out. Brilliant. You can watch the entire proces here.
Well, the elegant and amazingly simple solution of a retired Flint, MI carpenter may be just the ticket. Wally Wallington has figured out how to move enormous stones by himself, how to tilt up the standing stones, he even moved his son-in-law's barn 300 feet by himself. He has a website explaining how he figures all of this out. Brilliant. You can watch the entire proces here.Absolutely brilliant. A wooden crossbar, a few stones and one human. He raised, moved, and set a 10-ton stone by himself with tools available to neolithic builders. Wow.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Carpet Woes
Once again, I am VERY thankful that I bought a SpotBot -- the little carpet cleaning thing from Bissel that you set on the spot, push a button, and voila! clean carpet.We came home to a really stupendous spray of dog barf in my office. From experience, we know that these sorts of spots (mostly bile, I think) stain the carpet yellow. Seriously, after all the chemo and the rest of it, we're going to have to recarpet the house. But then again, what's a little urp and pee between friends, eh?
Anyway, this thing (the Spotbot) is amazing. Fill it with pet stain remover and some sort of Oxy-clean stuff and it pulls out even the worst stains with no effort at all. One of the best hundred bucks I've ever spent. I never anticipated using it this much, but I'm really glad that I bought it! No muss, no fuss, and it works like a charm. I don't often really recommend household appliances, but we've used this little carpet cleaner thingy more than anythign else in the house, including the vacuum.
Friday, March 16, 2007
No Pizza Delivery
How on earth do they get up here?Yes, it's a real house -- of many on the page of Weird Houses. I just thought it was rather fun. I like the Trout house, too.
Pretty amazing view, though, he?
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Crime in Erie
This was the FIRST item in the Police Blotter of our local newspaper. Obviously crime is a serious issue in our little town:
A man called Erie POlicy at about 8:30p.m., Wednesday, March 7, to report a suspicious peanut in his back yard.A suspicious peanut? I mean, can you imagine the poor officer having to respond to that without laughing hysterically? What could possibly be suspicious about a peanut? "Well, officer, it seemed to be....lurking."
The man told police he just wanted to document the incident at his home in the [local development].
No further information was available.
Further rant
I'm bit better this morning, and Rukh seems to be perky as ever. Well, it's gray and rainy outside, so he's lumping around and snoring blissfully, but you get the idea!
The vet says that this isn't going to be painful, he'll just get sicker and sicker and eventually will have a hard time getting a deep breath. DH and I are on the same page about "quality of life", so hopefully the beastie will do his part and let us know when he really feels like crap.
On the no-hair front, the vet also thinks that it might be thyroid related -- that all the chemo and stuff set his hormones out of whack and he's hypothyroid, so the hair isn't growing back/thinning. He's pretty pink all over now, because much of his undercoat is thinned. So we're going to see if the blood test confirms that and get him on synthroid to see if we can make him feel better, even if only for a few weeks. Low thyroid might explain the blahs, too, so hopefuly that will help.
All I could think yesterday was "why can't we be the people who love pugs and yorkies, they live about twenty years!"
And I hope this doesn't sound really, really cold-hearted, but we had a talk last night about searching for a new puppy. We can't replace Rukh, we woudln't try, but we know from experience taht we cannot be a one-dog household. Uulaq is going to be a neurotic mess when he goes.We will be, too. It takes a long time to search for a good breeder and find a puppy, etc. We had figured to wait until fall before talking to people, but our schedule got a lot shorter.
Probably the first time in my life that a puppy for my birthday isn't a good thing. I don't want a new puppy. I want to keep the OLD one around longer! Nine years is not enough. Damn.
The vet says that this isn't going to be painful, he'll just get sicker and sicker and eventually will have a hard time getting a deep breath. DH and I are on the same page about "quality of life", so hopefully the beastie will do his part and let us know when he really feels like crap.
On the no-hair front, the vet also thinks that it might be thyroid related -- that all the chemo and stuff set his hormones out of whack and he's hypothyroid, so the hair isn't growing back/thinning. He's pretty pink all over now, because much of his undercoat is thinned. So we're going to see if the blood test confirms that and get him on synthroid to see if we can make him feel better, even if only for a few weeks. Low thyroid might explain the blahs, too, so hopefuly that will help.
All I could think yesterday was "why can't we be the people who love pugs and yorkies, they live about twenty years!"
And I hope this doesn't sound really, really cold-hearted, but we had a talk last night about searching for a new puppy. We can't replace Rukh, we woudln't try, but we know from experience taht we cannot be a one-dog household. Uulaq is going to be a neurotic mess when he goes.We will be, too. It takes a long time to search for a good breeder and find a puppy, etc. We had figured to wait until fall before talking to people, but our schedule got a lot shorter.
Probably the first time in my life that a puppy for my birthday isn't a good thing. I don't want a new puppy. I want to keep the OLD one around longer! Nine years is not enough. Damn.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Today has been a truly shitty day.
No more chemo, I suppose that's good, but it's because the bone cancer has already metastazied into Rukh's lungs -- eight weeks ago, his chest xrays were clear. Today they show dime-size (+)tumors.
He'd been doing so well, too; he still seems to feel ok and has romped around the yard with Uulaq. Our vet said 2-4 months, tops. Maybe less. The fact that things grew so quickly doesn't bode well for more than a few months.
We expected this, of course -- but we thought we'd have a year or so.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Baad commercials
Working from home for me = having Discover Channel on all day. It's background noise, and I find that I'm actually more productive. Yeah, weird, I know, but it does seem to keep me focused.
(Unlike the Adorable Husband, who can't remember how to speak when the television is on)
But it does mean that I end up seeing a boatload of commercials during the day. When did advertising agencies adopt the theory that we're stupid and don't notice how awful the ads are? They're embarassing, or gross. I leap for the mute button when some of these show up.
There is currently an ad for colon cancer screening that actually involves a man making a colon-shaped gulley in a mound of mashed potatoes and dropping in a pea, all the while talkiing about polyps and how they can be removed...and then he eats the pea. Eeu.
A Healthy Choise talks about "adding flavor to taste" in the new ads for their food. What in the hell does that mean? Flavor to taste? Huh?
Dominos Pizza has the freaky facial-cgi guys.
Even Target has fallen into the trap. Their new "less" campaign has skinny models frolicking about while words emerge on the screen: fearLESS, endLESS, etc...and then marveLESS and fabuLESS. Huh? Marveless? Fabuless? Can they not spell? I wonder how many people noticed that one.
And those are ads for well-known, large corporations. The cheapo ads for fat-reduction pills, esurance, and Head-On are even worse.
(Unlike the Adorable Husband, who can't remember how to speak when the television is on)
But it does mean that I end up seeing a boatload of commercials during the day. When did advertising agencies adopt the theory that we're stupid and don't notice how awful the ads are? They're embarassing, or gross. I leap for the mute button when some of these show up.
There is currently an ad for colon cancer screening that actually involves a man making a colon-shaped gulley in a mound of mashed potatoes and dropping in a pea, all the while talkiing about polyps and how they can be removed...and then he eats the pea. Eeu.
A Healthy Choise talks about "adding flavor to taste" in the new ads for their food. What in the hell does that mean? Flavor to taste? Huh?
Dominos Pizza has the freaky facial-cgi guys.
Even Target has fallen into the trap. Their new "less" campaign has skinny models frolicking about while words emerge on the screen: fearLESS, endLESS, etc...and then marveLESS and fabuLESS. Huh? Marveless? Fabuless? Can they not spell? I wonder how many people noticed that one.
And those are ads for well-known, large corporations. The cheapo ads for fat-reduction pills, esurance, and Head-On are even worse.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Maps of Conquest
Someone spent a lot of time getting this right, and it's really cool -- a history of conquest in the middle east from 3000 BCE to today, as a 90-second flash movie. Egyptians, Macedonians, Mongols, British, and all the empires in between. Definitely worth a minute and a half of your time!
The Website, Maps of War, is an interesting browse. Cool!
Mistaken Identity
My dear friend Mark is buying a house. After years of renting, he found a really neat development and he closes on the new house next week. During the design phase of the housebuilding, he asked me to come along to the sessions to help him pick tile and carpet and flooring and all that "decorative" stuff. So I trundled along to the Design Center and helped him pick tile for the bathroom and laundry, countertops, bathroom fixtures, all that stuff.
It was kind of fun. We started referring to me as the "rental wife", since he doesn't have a woman in his life to give him a hand with all that.
Today was his final walkthrough prior to closing -- you know the drill, looking for things that need to be fixed, making sure tha l lthe doors and cabinets open and close, all the faucets work, that sort of thing. He asked me to come through and look for stuff.
So I arrive a bit early at the house, where the two representatives of the building company are waiting and introduce myself as the 'surrogate, rental wife'. They chuckled a bit, but Mark arrived shortly afterwards and Mark made the comment that I'd been really helpful, and that my husband was glad I wasn't doing it for our house.
"So, you're not married?" Chirpy walk-through woman says in surprise.
"Nope."
The look on her face was priceless. For just a second, before I could say that I was just giving Mark a hand with the aesthetics, you could tell that she was thinking...huh? What sort of weird sex triangle have I stumbled into? There's a husband somewhere?
We laughed like hyenas, which I imagine didn't help.
It was kind of fun. We started referring to me as the "rental wife", since he doesn't have a woman in his life to give him a hand with all that.
Today was his final walkthrough prior to closing -- you know the drill, looking for things that need to be fixed, making sure tha l lthe doors and cabinets open and close, all the faucets work, that sort of thing. He asked me to come through and look for stuff.
So I arrive a bit early at the house, where the two representatives of the building company are waiting and introduce myself as the 'surrogate, rental wife'. They chuckled a bit, but Mark arrived shortly afterwards and Mark made the comment that I'd been really helpful, and that my husband was glad I wasn't doing it for our house.
"So, you're not married?" Chirpy walk-through woman says in surprise.
"Nope."
The look on her face was priceless. For just a second, before I could say that I was just giving Mark a hand with the aesthetics, you could tell that she was thinking...huh? What sort of weird sex triangle have I stumbled into? There's a husband somewhere?
We laughed like hyenas, which I imagine didn't help.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Data Mining is Dangerous
Had a DUI? A misdemeanor charge from back in college? Don't plan on going to Canada any time soon. At least don't expect smooth sailing.
Because of a demand by the US Dept of Homeland Security to have criminal background infomration from Canadians, there is a new program in place to share data between the US system and the Canadian system. Pretty much anything in your criminal record -- from speeding tickets to possession of marijuana back in 1960 -- that can be seen by a state sheriff is now available to the border guards in Canada.
Travellers are being turned back at the border for transgressions that are thirty years old.
...ask the well-to-do East Bay couple who flew to British Columbia this month for an eight-day ski vacation at the famed Whistler Chateau, where rooms run to $500 a night. They'd made the trip many times, but were surprised at the border to be told that the husband would have to report to "secondary'' immigration.
There, in a room he estimates was filled with 60 other concerned travelers, he was told he was "a person who was inadmissible to Canada.'' The problem? A conviction for marijuana possession.
In 1975.
The rules haven't changed, of course; Canada has always had laws controlling immigration and entry to the country. But now Canada has records, shared real-time (apparently) from the US, that make the job a bit easier. Canada has always turned away those have criminal records -- crossing the border is entering another country, even though we have taken for granted that things go pretty smoothly between the US and Canada. But this new data mining is overkill.
I imagine this is the result of the us demanding all this information and Canada (quite rightly) demanded reciprocity. I, for one, am a bit annoyed that the DHS both demanded this info of other countries and has made our crinimal databases available. I know that the intent is to find and refuse entry to actual criminals, but a misdemeanor charge from 1975? This is relevant how?
And this is only the beginning. Canada is only the first country with which we are sharing data. I'm sure others will demand the same access. Eventually, the criminal records of every US citizen will be collated and shared, probably with other countries, as they also request the data in return for their own records.
Does Canada have this right? Of course they do, just as the US has a right to screen those it lets through our borders. I'm not arguing that at all. Foreign nations have every right to make their own laws and enforce them. We don't get special treatment, and while it's going to be problematic for some travellers, Canada hasn't done anything wrong here.
That's not what makes me twitch about this -- what makes me all freaked about this is the beaurocrats and politicians suddenly thinking they know about databases, data mining, and the sharing of information. Records from the municipal, state, and federal leveel are being gathered into a single database and made available. It contains everything, even minor infractions, and are being opened up to beaurocrats all over the world.
This is what I do for a living, and believe me, I have ZERO trust that a slew of cooperating government agencies understands the ramifications of making this data essentially public. It's only a matter of time before something that shouldn't be public, that shouldn't be shared, makes it into that matrix.
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