Pomonkey History

I stopped by Van Scoder's today not to fill propane tanks but to check up on local history. Jon has a photo of a tavern run by my mother's father Will Blanchard in Pomonkey. He died in 1915 at age 33. I always wondered why. So, I checked with Van to see if he knew anything about an old tavern in the area. He referred me to the people at Pomonkey airport now known as Maryland Airport, I think.

So, I hunkered down with the old pilots there and noticed the sign "Old pilots day-care center" obviously put up to poke fun at the old codgers there. So, we talked about history a bit. One fellow was 88 and still licensed to fly which is very rare given the physical requirements. I'm going back with Jon's photo of the tavern to see if that evokes any remembrance. I think it was somewhere near there.

Save your Blog

I contribute to several blogs, and I am looking into different ways to save them.  Most importantly, I am interesting in keeping a copy of my baby photos blog, since I updated it much more often then my daughter's baby book.  Haven seems to have just had an accident with her blog, so I thought I would post here in case any of the rest of you are interested.

There are two sites that I have found that publish blog books, Blurb  and Blog2Print.    Its a nice idea for a completed blog, or you could order an edition once a year or so.  Blurb requires a download and it doesn't seem to work very well with my photo blog. Blog2Print is fully web based and does a better with the photos, but does not allow quite as much customization as I would like and, obviously, videos don't work out at all.  Bloggled should be coming out with a third blog to book service soon.  I really like the idea of a baby blog book, so I probably will order one.

The Real Blogger walks you through creating a mirror of your blog and with printing a copy.

You can sign up online with BlogBackupsOnline, a free account will backup your blog, but wont restore it.  BlogBackupr is still in beta, but its free.  Both back up at least once a day.

Google has provided instructions on downloading all of your blogger blog posts.

BlogBooker provides LiveJournal and WordPress users with a PDF file of their blogs, free.

Another option is to set up your blog to email you all of the posts and comments.

Horology

Today I took Jon for a CAT scan. Afterward we returned to the farm for a leisurely perusal of QST magazines, an ARC-5 transmitter and his Boiea plants. Jon has figured out how to easily make the Boieas clone themselves by simply peeling off a piece of "leaf" and placing it on the soil. I conjecture that wind in its native desert does the same thing. But on to other matters.

Jon built a grandfather clock using a fine quality mechanism and a homebuilt case. The important aspect of this clock is its wonderful timekeeping ability and why that is possible. The secret lies in the pendulum. It is made of seasoned wood. Wood is temperature stable in the longitudinal direction. Wood also has a low thermal diffusivity. The result is that the thing is surprisingly accurate over long time periods.

Jail time for using plastic bags

In Delhi, India, the use of a plastic bag can get you fined and 5 years in jail.  

America Populated 50,000 years ago

Here is a link to the Topper, SC excavations that have established a pre-Clovis site there with a layer below that which is radio-carbon dated to 50,000 before present. A peer reviewed article is in press and referred at the end of the linked page. All this is heresy according to standard archaeology.

Comments from our Maplewood, NJ archaeologist would be welcome.

Waiter, there's a fly in my Apple Butter

Salmonella in the peanut butter is bad - but what else are we eating in processed foods? The Food and Drug Administration has an illuminating little booklet that actually describes the allowable amounts of bug parts, rodent hairs, mammalian excreta, etc. in common foods. Here are some interesting threshold excerpts:

Apple butter - Insects - Average of 5 or more whole or equivalent insects (not counting mites, aphids, thrips, or scale insects) per 100 grams of apple butter

Oregano, whole plant - Mammalian excreta - Average of 1 mg or more mammalian excreta per pound

Popcorn - Rodent Filth - 1 or more rodent excreta pellets are found in 1 or more subsamples, and 1 or more rodent hairs are found in 2 or more other subsamples
OR
2 or more rodent hairs per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples
OR
20 or more gnawed grains per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples

If you take a look at the booklet, its a good idea to eat something first.

Review: moby dick's house of kabob

Have you been here? It is the best family owned chain resaurant I know of besides listrani's. It's not seafood,it's the best place for Kabobs, falafel and hummis (well I know one place better- sorrento grill). Moby dick's is not too shabby. The name comes from the original location in Tehran,Iran which was next to the then US embAssy. They wanted a name Americans would find familiar so Moby Dick's was chosen. Check out one of their many DC area locations.

Joined a cult

Brian and I joined a cult....we got Iphones (which I am blogging from right now!!!!). They are purty darn nifty. In other news, I have a cold or maybe the flu. My doctor says I will either get well or die.

Future Wealth

Is anyone following the efforts of our leaders to bail out the banks using the future wealth of an entire generation? I've read that the new initiative should be referred to as the 'Bad Asset Resolution Fund' or BARF for short. I believe this calls for tee-shirts for Linnea, Julia, Sofi and Sam that say "I spent a trillion on bad assets and all I got was this lousy tee shirt".
All solutions stink, but from what I'm reading the correct way to do this is to nationalize the insolvent banks so the taxpayers get something for their money. Remember, trying to save the shareholders is helping the same guys that gave themselves millions of bonuses with the last bailout money.
The gumment is saving the bailout details until after the stimulus bill passes so we (poor dopey public) won't won't have to focus on two things at once.
UPDATE: The Obama administration’s plan to stabilize the financial system no longer includes creating a "bad bank" but will still contain measures to encourage private firms to buy up toxic assets from financial institutions ...

Happy birthday, Frank Buckles

Our only WWI veteran turns 108 today.