High On The Hog

Fat Wallet

2011-11-27T09:12:00.003-05:00

I have been using this site to get cash back on almost everything. I always thought stores like Land's End were for yuppies but they are probably about on par with an upscale Salvation Army once you take advatage of all the discounts. Fat Wallet will credit you a percentage back of your purchase if you click through from their site. They aggregate all the coupons and promotions in one place so I always start there to see if where I want to shop has a promotion or gives cash back. In a day or two the merchant reports the sale to Fat Wallet and after 90 days you can cash it out. I just got 30% off plus 3.5% cash back on the already clearance section of Land's End. I got a full ski wardrobe for two and a bunch of summer clothes for under $200 but I might lose my snooty credibility while I mill around the Swiss Chalet if I keep bragging about my bargains.

Scales, teeth, feathers, hair, rhino horn.

2011-11-11T23:17:00.004-05:00

Lynnis' post on the keratin in rhino horn brings to mind a little known but recently established fact that a sequence of evolutionary steps evolved fish scales into teeth (calcified scales that moved into the mouth), scales into feathers (dinos/birds), and feathers into hair (mammals). Of course the keratin in rhino horn is just consolidated hair. The roughly same gene system is known to behind all those evolutionary variants.

Unicorns Declared Extinct

2011-11-10T17:22:00.002-05:00

The western black rhinoceros has been declared extinct due to poaching. The javanese, white and black rhinos could follow soon. There is a tremendous demand for the horns in traditional Chinese medicine. I propose a measure to save these real life unicorns by altering the supply and demand for the horns. The horns are just keratin, and I think it could be pretty straight forward to grow rhino horns in labs if we can grow human ears on the back of mice. We could make rhino horn as plentiful as any other "pharmaceutical".

Berlin!

2011-09-03T10:10:00.012-04:00

Most of you are on Facebook and can see my pictures there (some are up already, some will be up soon) but I thought I'd put up some here, too...

Berliner Dom (main Lutheran church in Berlin) at night.

Alte Nationalgalerie (19th century art), which houses lots of German Romantics and other 19th century German artists as well as some French Impressionists.

Studying the map of Tiergarten, which is kind of like Central Park, only more woods-y. And slightly confusing. (photo courtesy of Erika)

The Tiergarten. Very pretty, and also about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the city because of all of the trees.

I'm staying with a host family here who lives in southern Berlin kind of near nothing...I'm still getting used to the buses and such because there are so many different lines that all have different start and stop times. Luckily the BVG website is very useful and easy to use. living with another family is very weird. The other housing option is studio apartments, which would also be strange because this is the first time in 16 years I have had my own room and I kind of am not sure what it would be like having a whole apartment (even if it was just a studio) to myself when I've barely had a room to myself.

We have a break from Oct 7-16 and a couple free weekends so my friends and I are trying to make some travel plans. We are also doing some cultural activities courtesy of our program (but not with the program) such as seeing a soccer game, a concert, and Swan Lake. and half of our program is going to Poland (the other half to Austria) at the beginning of November!

2011-08-09T11:23:00.002-04:00

Does anyone use Pinterest? I just discovered it today and it is going to revolutionize the way I bookmark things I love.

Pinterest is a combination of social and a cloud based bulletin board for stuff you like. You can follow taste makers, and you can be a taste maker. You install the "pin it" button to your bookmarks toolbar then when you find something you love, whether it's for sale or a recipe you love you pin it to your "board". It saves the picture, a description and price if you want, and makes a hotlink to the URL of the site then displays all the things you love together by category.

So no more "my pictures" folders full of random eyecandy or littered bookmarks.

The social element is appealing too. Say you know your buddy has amazing taste, so you "follow" her to see what pretty things she is posting on her board. You can make boards for different categories like "Home", "Fashion", "Baking"...ect..

I think it's neat.

On the Propagation of Constraints

2011-07-23T13:45:00.006-04:00

It is often amazing how propagation of constraints from one situation to another results in non obvious connections between various aspects of the human condition. A few minutes ago, and still now, my granddaughter Willow has been joyfully carrying around a little shopping bag in it with various items. She comes to me about once a minute to add or subtract something from her bag. She has discovered the utility of bags, and probably learned the concept from some older female in her family.

So, what has this to do with the propagation of constraints ? A woman depends, in part, upon her physical attractiveness to others for survival or simply to have a good life. That simple and controvertible fact leads to constraints on the clothes she wears. The clothes must be attractive and favorably display her figure. This leads to the subsequent constraint that women's clothes seldom have as many pockets as men's clothes. A notable example is that men's shirts usually have a breast pocket on the left side, usually absent on women's clothes.

Similarly pockets on women's skirts are usually inconveniently on the front instead of on the side where they would interfere with display of her womanly hips. The net result of this is that women carry purses for their item carrying needs. In men's clothes, the pockets are their "purses." A follow on example of the utility of carrying capacity is the ancient tradition of basket making especially used in hunter-gatherer societies.

And so it comes to pass that my female grandchild is having fun today having joyfully discovered the utility of carrying capacity of some sort, all constrained by her future need to be attractive with that need conveyed to her by the habits of some older woman.

Eat our peas ...

2011-07-13T18:17:00.003-04:00

Sometimes a President will coin a phrase that sticks in the memory. The notably verbal President Obama will be quoted for 10,000 years on "eat our peas".

Teddy Roosevelt did the same with "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

Then there is JFK "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what can you do for your country."

It is pleasant to recognize history in the making.

Long Time No blog

2011-07-08T05:46:00.005-04:00

It’s never too early to think about retirement. I am a responsiblish citizen and so I had been diligently contributing to my 401k until last year. Granted 2008 was a terrible year, but my portfolio in various investment bank managed mutual funds had lost about -17% since I joined the workforce in 2006 which really felt like a waste.

I felt like I could do much better. Anticipating my own unemployment, I finally consolidated all my mutual funds from my various 401Ks and rolled it into an IRA under my control. I only kept two small mutual fund holdings and put the rest in stocks I picked myself with the help of google’s stock screener because I favor stocks with high dividends, low price/earnings ratios, and general uptrend. Since October, this portfolio has returned over 22%. I’ve got another $6,000 towards my retirement even though I have not contributed a dime in a year. In the past, my out of paycheck contributions were about $4000 a year (before the -17% return) so I have no plans to contribute more anytime soon now that I’m doing so much better on my own accord.

Of the 9 stocks I selected, only one is a loser which was an impulse buy. It is obvious the average joe is a better investor than Lehman brothers or BlackRock…all you have to do is buy companies that actually make money instead of risking your shirt speculating on the next big thing! This is easy, just start by thinking of products you enjoy and take a minute to think about their business models noting those that stand out as “best in breed”. I start by following them for a little while to see where the price is going, and then I decide what I’m willing to pay and put in a limit order. The goal is to buy on the lower end of the stock’s usually range when the stock market is just having a bad day.

Two of my pastimes are hobby farming and collecting gems, so I bought stock in Tractor Supply and Tiffany & Co business I think they have the best business models in their sectors. In a few months these have returned 92% and 41% respectively in money I didn’t have to work for. These are my high performers and I believe they will split and I’ll have twice as many shares. Of the stocks I’ve made more modest returns on, I usually sell to collect my gains once they’ve hit about 14% return. I often will buy and sell a stock several times taking advantages of price fluctuations once I’ve made it my business to understand a company’s business.

Today I decided I need some new blood in my portfolio so I put in limits to sell my CMRG and PALL if they get a bit higher. These are the stocks I’m watching as new contenders: AXP, HWD, BAX, SCL, UL, SHW, JWN, HNZ, CAT. Some were selected based on my recent experiences in Tanzania that made me appreciate the global superiority of overlooked but iconic American brands such as Heinz ketchup and Catepillar generators.

To sum up:
· You do know better than investment bankers
· Stick to stocks where you truly understand how they make their money
· Always buy and sell using limit orders

Hue Test

2011-03-24T05:30:00.003-04:00

This is a fascinating quiz to test your color perception. Apparently all my issues are with blues/violets.

Take the hue test!

Cradle to Cradle and My Keepsakes

2011-03-19T08:11:00.008-04:00

Every since I read Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart I've looked at "things" a little differently. The book directly challenges the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world. It explains how we should model human industry on nature's processes in which materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms.
If we look at the example of a tree, we see that a tree produces thousands of blossoms in order to create another tree, yet we do not consider all the extra blossoms wasteful. Instead of waste, the extra blossoms are food. Products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new-either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "down-cycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are).
So now, when I am on the verge of acquiring new things, I tend to envision what the end of the thing's life would be. If I can imagine it languishing in a landfill not becomming food for anything it becomes a great deterrent to acquiring it in the first place.
In this spirit, when sent a questionnaire by my federal government employers about whether I wanted a "keepsake" to commemorate my years of service, I checked "no" on the form. We had a small staff meeting where my co-workers got keepsakes and people thought it odd that I had said I didn't want one. But the government works in strange ways. A couple of months after the keepsake distribution I got a call from someone affiliated with the keepsake distribution verifying my name. I corrected the spelling of my last name, which is officially hyphenated. A couple of months after that a box of Salisbury Pewter cups arrived with my name engraved on them with mylastnamerunalltogether with no hyphen and "10 years of service" on them. It seems that the wheels of a big bureaucracy can't be stopped. Does the government really know best after all? I was surprised to find myself liking my little cups and I think they will somehow avoid ending up in the landfill.

Melting of Arctic Ice predicted to accelerate warming.

2011-01-18T23:23:00.004-05:00

Here is an article that says that the melting of Arctic ice will enable twice the previously expected absorption of sunlight, and hence increased climate warming.

It is worth reading, but bear in mind that the same effect could cause increased clouds at mid-latitudes and increased reflectivity. Thus the overall effect is unknown.

Remembering Gramma Jo

2011-01-12T14:15:00.007-05:00

Today would have been my grandmother's 112th birthday. She was born in January of 1900 and almost lived out the century, making it until 1998. Gramma Jo was a liberated woman before they were invented. She was widowed in her early thirties and raised two children as a single mother. When she retired in 1965 she circumnavigated the globe, even beating the hippies to Nepal. I keep thinking I should retrace her steps when I retire but I am not sure I am gutsy enough. The childhood photo shows Gramma Jo with the younger members of her family. She is the youngest girl and there were also two older brothers who are not in the picture. The other picture is more like I remember her. She was so active in her senior years that whatever age she was, I ended up thinking that wasn't old, as in "sixty-five isn't old", "seventy-five isn't old", etc. At 90 she walked down at the Accokeek boardwalk with me. Finally at 95, she did start to seem a little old. Her core good humor was legendary and remained until the end.
She liked to cook and especially to make desserts. She was good at sewing and knitting. Her retirement hobby was woodcarving and she made the woodcarving below for me when she was around 80.

Gramma Jo worked at making her grandchildren into better people. I remember how she would not let us slack on a job like washing the dishes - it meant that not only did the dishes have to get washed but you needed to sponge off the counter, too! I'm grateful now for all her influences.

Arctic and Antarctic Ice Contrary Trends

2011-01-07T15:50:00.003-05:00

Arctic ice continues a slow decrease while Antarctic ice increases. Actually, none of the trends seem all that clear to me until the recent abnormalities of solar flux are clarified by further yearly data.

In any event, it seems possible to postpone the implications of the Arctic ice situation for national policy. It is clear that, for reasons of national energy security, that it is a good idea to proceed with electric cars , with natural gas power, with nuclear power and with solar power. All of these measures will help global CO2 emissions anyway. Hence further measures can be postponed. Wind energy is, in principle, a good idea, but natural gas energy resources are currently unexpectedly large and thereby undercut wind on a price basis. Solar panel prices have decreased a lot, and that too will be favorable for all concerned.

Runciple Spoon and Pumpernickel Fly Away

2011-01-04T11:37:00.003-05:00

Air travel is apparently a bit tough on the two tough little dachshunds. Here is the message from Lynnis and Bryan en route to distant parts via Amsterdam:

We've completed the short leg. Still a very long trip behind and ahead. Spoon was very antsy and fussy but pumpernickel was perfectly behaved. We were never so glad to be in the company of a fussy baby to overshadow the whines.

The change of the year

2010-12-29T01:14:00.006-05:00

Sears 4500 tractor

2010-12-26T23:08:00.002-05:00

Today I learned that the Sears lawn tractors are useless in the snow without wheel weights and also chains. So.... we went to Sears to buy both, but, it turned out that the chains will not be available until Tuesday. Scot put the weights on and I found that the chains really are needed also. When I tried to go up a tiny hill, the wheels spun. So until the chains become available, it is no go.

I needed the little tractor to go feed the neighbors horses despite the snow that ordinarily stops my perambulation. Fortunately, after I became exhausted from the tractor no-go, Lona volunteered to go do the job of feeding the horses.

Snow removal

2010-12-25T22:45:00.001-05:00

I bought a Sears model 4500 lawn tractor and snowblower attachment. It arrived too late for the attachment mounting process to be completed before the expected snowstorm. Later this week, Quick and I plan to take all parts to his garage where we hope to figure out the complexity and also to work in comfort. But it looks like we are going to be snowbound until then.

Domesticating bears, raccoons, pandas

2010-08-13T17:28:00.003-04:00

Wolves were domesticated long ago as dogs. Wolves, bears, raccoons and pandas are closely related evolutionarily. It therefore seems like an interesting experiment to try moving the dog domestication genes into related animals. A friendly panda would be very popular to be sure. Best of all, the foregoing are different sizes, so, specialized friendly brutes can be created for both useful purposes and for fun.

If anyone is wondering why I haven't been posting lately, it is because I'm working on some heavy duty physics stuff that is taking full time.

new blog

2010-06-30T19:15:00.002-04:00

...not like i need another one...

http://littlehousekitchen.blogspot.com/

The Barisol Guns

2010-06-27T17:47:00.006-04:00

In India along the coast there are sometime booming sounds of unknown origin called the Barisol guns. A similar sound occurs in North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia called the Seneca guns. Yesterday, in the afternoon and evening of 26 June 2010 both my wife and I heard the phenomenon in Accokeek, Maryland for many hours. It was not thunder due to lightning as no lightning was visible. The sky was totally clear, and of course, it was only a few days after the summer solstice. As it happens, it was also only shortly after a lunar eclipse.

I have long noticed various strange electrical phenomena a few days after the summer solstice. I attribute this to the solar wind dragging electrical charge into the North magnetosphere and out the South magnetosphere toward the outer reaches of the solar system. That the recently eclipsed moon would also have been directly away from the Earth from the Sun, also suggests that, in the case we heard yesterday, that the moon might have been the target of all that charge.

Although a humid atmosphere discharges local charge, it is a dry atmosphere that best for long distance charge transport. The reason for this is that water molecules adhere with electrons and consequently bind and slow them during transport. Consequently, it is a dry completely clear atmosphere that would best fast transport charge from the Earth's surface up to the magnetosphere, and, thence, to outer space.

It is fun to stay up at night after the summer solstice and and await the astronomical midnight. On most occasions there will be observed a phenomenon usually termed "heat lightning" in a completely clear sky. Astronomical midnight is when your local longitude is exactly away from the sun. Therefore in computing astronomical midnight you must both take into account both daylight savings time and your exact longitude within the longitudinal time zone. Here in Accokeek I seem to recall it occurs around 1:20 am daylight savings time. A more exact calculation is possible, but an exact calculation isn't necessary to observe the phenomenon since it occurs at a wide range around astronomical midnight. I attribute the midnight heat lightning to the same cause as the Seneca or Barisol guns. Notably, heat lighting shows no visible lighting stroke anywhere, the sky just flashes.

How a Sewing Machine Works | Dossier

2010-06-24T18:17:00.002-04:00

How a Sewing Machine Works | Dossier

Sunspots and the Climate

2010-06-16T18:59:00.002-04:00

There is increasing doubt that the current solar cycle will be normal. Instead many fewer sunspots are expected. It is also becoming increasingly clear that global warming was due to previously high solar activity. With low activity expected for this solar cycle, we might well see global cooling for a very prolonged period. Watch out for another cold snowy winter, especially in Europe.

I have added the link below which puts fake email addresses into spammers searching the web for email addresses.
Anti Spam Blocker - Help Fight Spam Email!

Legionnaire's Disease and Windshield washer fluid

2010-06-14T22:05:00.002-04:00

Recent research indicates that use of windshield wiper fluid (mostly methanol) prevents Legionnaire's Disease from breeding in your wiper fluid compartment. In other words, do not use ordinary water.

Reducing your oil use

2010-06-11T16:36:00.001-04:00

Here is a good article with tips to reduce your oil footprint:

Reducing your oil use � Always Well Within

Ruffled Feathers

2010-06-10T19:43:00.005-04:00

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My rooster with the famous tail was cornered in the garage and attacked by some vile creature. Amazingly enough he is fine. The funny thing is he shed his tail like a skink. I never would have imagined that tail might serve a functional purpose but it was enough of a subterfuge to allow him to escape. Feathers were going from the front to back of the garage in large clumps. If they hadn't left the feathers I would suspect a hatmaker.

Poor little man wanted to go to bed early. His tail used to touch the ground when he was on his perch.

I could make some really impressive hats or fishing flies.

pizza pizza pizza

2010-05-30T21:44:00.008-04:00

Tonight's dinner was: shaved asparagus pizza. With goat cheese and caramelized onions. And, of course, a more traditional pizza with chicken sausage and mushrooms. But the asparagus pizza was the highlight. Who would think to put asparagus on pizza? Not me! (although its definitely a better idea than ziti--what is the point of putting pasta on top of pizza?) I never would have thought to shave asparagus either. Apparently you can also shave eggplant and zucchini, and probably yellow summer squash, too.

We followed this recipe with a few changes. Mom made whole wheat pizza crust, and it was a larger pizza than 12". After shaving the asparagus, not only did I toss it in olive oil, salt, and pepper, but also a splash of lemon juice and some crushed red pepper. I used about 3 oz of mozzarella and 4 of goat cheese, along with some romano (maybe a little less than a quarter cup? I didn't really measure anything). The asparagus itself was yummy, I think I'm going to try making a salad with shaved asparagus and grape tomatoes sometime this summer.

Hopefully all you homemade-pizza-lovers will try this sometime!

To make and bring to a bbq tomorrow: deviled eggs (with avocado? depends if it magically ripens overnight!), blueberry cornmeal cupcakes, and something else TBD. Happy memorial day!

Going to the Amish grocery store

2010-05-13T11:52:00.003-04:00

Having heard from my brother about an Amish grocery store near Charlotte Hall, MD, I decided to visit and see what it was like. The prices were astonishingly low for many things. A loaf of bread was $1.29, a jar of raspberry jam was $0.85. Some other things like coconut were relatively expensive, but on the whole, it is a wonderful place to shop. I picked up a big jar of peanut-butter for $2.30 or so, but upon arriving home, immediately heard complaints that it contained "transfats". OK, so maybe not all is well, but they also had transfat free peanut butter for about $3.35 a jar according to Jon. I didn't read the labels so I didn't know or care. The best deal of all was a can of oyster stew for $0.85 cents.

After the visit, I read up on Amish culture and saw the following advice: no photographs, don't stare, allow them to keep their distance. It is advised to wear suspenders, a mono-color shirt, preferably black. Women preferably should wear long dresses with no ornamentation. The Amish regard ornamentation and bright colors as a lack of humility.

Hallie would enjoy visiting in order to practice her German. These days the Amish also speak English well.

Guten Abend!

2010-05-08T15:21:00.003-04:00

Ich bin mit meiner Mutter in Düsseldorf. Morgen gehen wir nach Köln.

Dienstag sind wir von New Jersey nach Amsterdam geflogen und Frietagmorgen sind wir von Amsterdam nach Köln geflogen. Dann sind wir mit dem Zug nach Düsseldorf gegangen (ich habe im Zug geschalfen!). Heute haben wir nach ein Museum gegangen. Auch sind wir nach einen Markt gegangen.

Morgen ist Mutterstag...Herzlich Mutterstag! Und heir in Deutschland die 13 Mai is Vaterstag...

-Hallie

I was just wandering through

2010-04-19T09:55:00.001-04:00

Hmm ....
Here is a good cartoon.

Free Beer

2010-04-16T22:07:00.002-04:00

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. “Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so -

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”

“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Startling new astronomical discoveries are expected

2010-04-10T20:20:00.004-04:00

Now about half way through its all sky survey is the WISE infrared telescope. It has already discovered near Earth asteroids that were otherwise difficult to discover because of their individual dark nature. Many more asteroid discoveries are expected when the project is complete.

Even more interesting are possible unknown planets, stars, or even black holes in the vicinity of our solar system. The planets might include some much closer than the nearest star, the Alpha Centauri triple system only 4.3 light years away, but well beyond Sedna and other recent discoveries of the Outer solar system. It has long been expected that a massive planet might be out there that is the cause of disturbing comet orbits. Long term 25 million year periods between catastrophes have been noted from the Earth's geological record of meteor hits, and that surmised, so far undiscovered, planet in a similar period orbit might be the cause. Its discovery would be a breakthrough. Some have called it "Nemesis" (if it exists).

Equally interesting, there could be a so called "brown dwarf" star out there doing the same thing. A brown dwarf was recently discovered only 10 light years distant.

We should start hearing news of all this from the WISE observations in less than a year or so.

Michael Jackson and Dr. Murray

2010-04-05T14:04:00.006-04:00

The long time readers of this blog will recall my previous post concerning the possibility that the desperately addicted Michael Jackson might have supplemented Dr. Murray's propofonol with an additional injection by himself (Jackson).

I wrote to the Texas legal team concerning this possibility. I don't know whether they paid attention or not to specifically me, but now there is a news report that Dr. Murray's legal team is considering using exactly the defense I proposed.

Be careful with your email.

2010-03-30T16:29:00.000-04:00

WRONG E-MAIL ADDRESS

This one is priceless...A lesson to be learned from
typing the wrong email address!!!!

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day.

The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston , a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a massive heart attack.

The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted.

The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I've Arrived
Date: February 16, 2010

I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in.

I've seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!!!! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P. S. Sure is freaking hot down here!!!!

Another good one from Nat

2010-03-29T21:30:00.001-04:00

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him,
resting on the seventh day. He inquired, "Where have you been?" God smiled
deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael.
Look what I've made." Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is
it?" "It's a planet," replied God, and I've put life on it. I'm going to
call it Earth and it's going to be a place to test Balance." "Balance?"
inquired Michael, "I'm still confused."

God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. "For example, northern
Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern
Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white
people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all
things..

God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely
hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice." The Archangel,
impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land area and said, "What's that
one?" "That's Virginia, the most glorious place on earth. There are
beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains.
The people from Virginia are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and
humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely
sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of
good things"

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about
balance, God? You said there would be balance..." God smiled, "Right next to
Virginia is Washington , DC . Wait till you see the idiots I put there."

Dismantling Machu Pigchu and growing potatoes

2010-03-26T21:35:00.008-04:00

The Hog of High on the Hog has chronic skin problems. In an effort to control disease I had to dismantle her life's work, what we refer to as "Machu Pigchu". She built Machu Pigchu with her hooves and bulldozer snout out of straw, leaves, sticks, detritus and extension cords. She is always rearranging and adding to it. She had it so tall she had to kneel to actually get through the door of her house.

After 4 or five full wheelbarrows this it what it was underneath:

I plan to use the ruins of Machu Pigchu to grow potatoes and yams. I take a piece of fencing and roll it up like a big tomato cage. It is even better if you can line the sides with newspaper. Use the materials you have, if you don't have fencing maybe you can stack old tires or drill holes in a trash can. Add a nice layer of organic matter. Add seed potatoes, these can be the eyes you were generous in cutting off in cooking. Each eye needs an inch of flesh to be viable. Cover with more organic matter and water. As the vines sprout through the top, repeatedly add more matter. By the end of summer you should be able to tip the hole thing over to collect your crop without digging. Plus you have great compost.

Craigslist / Ebay scam

2010-03-26T12:49:00.003-04:00

There is someone who uses Craigslist, purportedly a woman, but probably not, who advertizes bobcats skid loaders for an extremely cheap price as though it is local and easy to pick up. They respond to inquiry by saying that it is on ebay. Then then "open a ebay case" for you, soliciting information. They have a fake ebay site with a false IP address, but genuine "name" information on the email/website. It looks just like the ebay protection program.

They then offer to deliver it to your door. JUST SEND MONEY. (of course). I notified both craigslist and ebay about the scam, but that won't help since nothing actually goes through them except the initial suck-in ad on craigslist. I did not get taken but I wonder how many people have sent their money to a Russian or Nigerian bankaccount and received nothing.

Living bridge made of tree roots

2010-03-22T23:54:00.004-04:00

In Cherripunji, India the natives make bridges across streams with the roots of a variety of the ficus tree.

They simply string the roots across the ravine, allow them to grow and become stronger, then in about 15 years, they are strong enough to support people as traffic.

Cicero and the budget

2010-03-20T22:55:00.001-04:00

My friend Nat sent me this:

What have we learned in 2,064 years since the Roman Empire?

So here it is. What have we learned in 2,064 years?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled,
public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be
tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should
be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to
work, instead of living on public assistance."

- Cicero - 55 BC

you just don't get food like this on campus

2010-03-12T16:47:00.003-05:00

Today for lunch i made "fried rice" with leftover rice, chicken sausage, onion, apple, red pepper, and mushroom...yum. then I made vegan chocolate spice cupcakes, adapted from the kitchn. i put a chocolate glaze on them which was not vegan but could easily have been. they are more spice-y than chocolate-y...but that could be because i had to use "sipping cocoa" in place of some of the unsweetened cocoa.

Vegan Chocolate Spice Cupcakes
2 c white whole wheat flour
1 c white flour
2/3 c cocoa
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 c raw sugar
1 1/2 c brown sugar*
1/2 t cinnamon
dash chili powder
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t cardamom
1/4 t mace
1 T fresh grated ginger
3/4 oil**
1 3/4 water
4 T cider vinegar

mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another, then mix together. bake at 375 for 18 minutes. makes about 24 cupcakes.

glazes are really easily to make but i usually regret making them because i usually have trouble getting them to look pretty...

*this was supposed to be 2 c raw sugar but i didn't have that much
**theres probably a way to cut down this amount, e.g. with applesauce, but i wasn't that ambitious.

Torrential rains and floods predicted for East Coast

2010-03-12T15:42:00.002-05:00

This weekend's forecast predicts heavy rain and flooding. If the temperature were lower it would be another monumental snow storm. Most likely wind, rain and soggy soil implies a lot of trees blocking everything.

I prepared by buying a cordless chain saw. I have too much difficulty starting a fuel powered saw, so the lithium ion battery type seemed best. I had planned to buy a Makita brand for about $239 or so, but the unexpected nature of the storm mean a quick trip to Home Depot where only Ryobi brand was available for half the price. Ordinarily Home Depot carries Makita in other tools. The salesman kindly pointed out the need to also buy chain oil. Done.

The battery pack is charging now. Boy scout motto: Be prepared.

Florida Python mismanagement

2010-03-03T18:40:00.004-05:00

Well, the State of Florida regulators have wised up to the idea that it is a good idea to have hunters out there killing pythons. The stupid part of it though is that they are actually charging hunters $26 for a permit to do so. They should be paying the hunters to do it, or, failing that, at least allow them to hunt for free.

Maybe this is all just bureaucratic stupidity, but it is also possible that the regulators are constrained by laws passed by the legislature. If that latter possibility is the case, it is time for the Florida legislature to get on the ball and do the right thing.

Family Tradition gone mainstream

2010-03-01T10:19:00.002-05:00

I was just reading this NY Times article about how it really makes more sense to skip directly from 10th grade to community college and couldn't help think of what seems to be some sort of family tradition. I thought this might be a good forum for sharing. I have not actually finished the article, so hopefully it's not too weird:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28FOB-wwln-t.html

Mechanical Monsters

2010-02-25T21:28:00.004-05:00

Having been forbidden to purchase a walk-behind snow blower, my attentions turned to vehicles that can be ridden. A wheel steerable front-end loader would be nice, but they are quite expensive. So, my attention turned to skid-steer loaders. Buckets, snow-plows, cable-layers, roto-tiller, back-hoes and other attachments can be mounted on the things.

I'm thinking of an inexpensive end-of-lifetime used machine with at least a few hours left on it. A snowplow can also be attached, or alternatively an specialized snow-plow vehicle could be purchased. Since I would like to pay for the machine by doing local driveways, it seems like the skid-steer would be the basic all around option. A truck with snowplow would be too hard to turn in driveways.

"LOVE is worth seven points in scrabble."

2010-02-14T14:47:00.006-05:00

The New York Times invited their readers to define love. Most are posted in the comment section of the Weekend Competition.

Several humorous definitions were submitted:
"Love is something silly that women invented over thousands of years while men were out there building the world...Like women, it is undefinable."
"Love is how your dog looks at you (not too be confused with longing, which is how she looks at your sandwich)."

There are many that are plays off of famous sayings:
"If music be the food of love, what's for dessert?"
"For a polygamist, love is a many-splintered thing."

There are deeper definitions:
"That which makes life worth living, makes man worth knowing, and makes woman worth touching."
"Love itself never dies, and never goes away. True love never does, and it is never wasted."

And there are confessions:
"I don't know what love is. But I do know, unmistakably, when I feel it."
"I love a good cheeseburger and I love my wife and my children. On a really good day, like my birthday, I can have all of them at once. If I have to choose, I'll take the wife and the children over the cheeseburger, usually."

Shakespeare said:
"...Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,I never writ, nor no man ever loved"

And he also told us that "loving goes by haps".

But whatever the real definition of LOVE is, lots of it to the Carlson Clan. Happy Valentine's Day.

Herring Run on Mattawoman Creek

2010-02-10T17:06:00.005-05:00

Nowadays, the herring population is depleted, but I remember a fishing excursion in the late seventies when you could practically reach your hand in Mattawoman Creek and pull out a fish. Herring are anadromous fish, meaning they live in the ocean but come into freshwater creeks to spawn.
In those days, in the early spring you could tell when the herring were running by numerous cars parked on the side of the road where the highway crosses Mattawoman Creek. Gordon and I spotted this one day and decided to catch some fish. We rummaged in Gordon's barn for an old herring net that his grandfather had made. It was big, at least six feet tall and shaped like a fish. Two cedar branches were connected by their small ends at the fish nose and then bent around until they crossed to make a fish tail. A third branch also went from nose to tail, looping out, to give the net some depth. The whole thing was covered with rusty chicken wire. We picked up Gordon's mother, Hilda, and went down to the Creek.
There was a path along the shore that we had to follow until we got to a spot that hadn't been taken yet. The way I remember this trip, it was at night. There were a lot of campfires that we walked past and numerous jovial crowds with all kinds of nets. Some looked storebought, but most were very homemade looking. A popular type seemed to involve a Y shaped stick in the ground with a long stick with a net attached to it balanced in the crook of the Y. The people would use the stick like a lever dipping it again and again. Each time they brought it up there would be fish in it. There was so much excitement in the air - never was it so easy to live off the fat of the land! We dipped our net into the water, holding it by the tail. Immediately you could feel a bump in the net. Lifting it out, sure enough there was a fish! Hilda was beside herself with happiness. We dipped again and again, putting the caught fish in our bucket. After a while we made our way back down the dark path, all aglow with our success. In the years since, I have tried to recreate this experience a couple of times, but so far have never succeeded.
Despite my inability to recreate my old time fishing success, Mattawoman Creek remains the best fish nursery in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Mattawoman Creek is seriously threatened now by the Charles County Connector proposed highway. Find out more about how to help preserve this resouce at the Mattawoman Watershed Socity website at http://mattawomanwatershedsociety.org/
Gordon has posted instructions on how to make the net at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Herring-Fish-Net.

3.5th snow day

2010-02-10T12:34:00.004-05:00

The National Guard have been called in to clear streets here in DC.

According to NOAA the weather conditions are "life threatening."

Has anyone ventured outside today?

Update: a walkway between two buildings partially collapsed.

P.S. Everyone should like my FB status...its important.

Sunspots resume

2010-02-08T22:48:00.002-05:00

It looks like the solar cycle is finally cranking up after much delay. A big radio emitting spot is now on the sun with some other less active ones. It is too late for this to have much effect on the climate this year, but in 2011, if sunspots have an effect on climate as many suspect, then things might be a bit warmer than the so far bitterly cold 2009-2010. Overall though, some people are predicting 30 years of cold weather due to internal Earthly climate cycles.

In any event, the big sunspot now there will create auroras on Earth. Look in the sky tomorrow night and next for an aurora, particularly if you are located in a Northern latitude. Radio Hams are already reporting lots of static due to the big sunspot.

Beer and Bones

2010-02-08T04:46:00.002-05:00

There is a new finding that beer is a major source of silica in the American diet. Silica boosts the chances of having healthy bones.

Snow in Accokeek

2010-02-07T15:16:00.004-05:00

It looks like the driveway will be impassible for quite some time. Many of the holly trees caught a lot of snow and are broken and bent over.

Eww - Chewing gum is made from plastic

2010-02-07T13:50:00.001-05:00

Chewing on Plastic? Yum! | Fake Plastic Fish

Snowmageddon 2010

2010-02-06T19:52:00.003-05:00

We got about 26 inches in Greenbelt, the December 19th storm pales in comparison. We lost power for about 5 hours but fortunately the temperature inside stayed in the 60s.

Our Car - I thinkOur street
The backyard

Piles of snow easily exceeded Linnea's 32 inch height.

Budget Craziness

2010-02-04T10:23:00.000-05:00

This just in: The Treasury Department said Wednesday it expects to hit the government's debt ceiling by the end of February, putting pressure on Congress to raise the limit from its current level of $12.4 trillion. How much is that divided by the population of the country. Let’s see – a trillion is a 1 with 12 zeros after it. According to a census website the population of the US today is 308,616,606. So we can do the math of the debt divided by the population and get the per person total: $40179 for every man, woman and child in the country. WTF!!! Yikes! This is crazy! And even crazier is that no doubt congress will raise this ceiling so we soon will owe even more. In our bizarre political system – the largest part of the spending – so called “defense” spending – that includes thousand dollars a day contractors in war zones we have created, and pricy equipment only suitable for WW II type warfare - is not part of the spending freeze that the President is recommending. The new budget of $3.8 trillion in the current budget year assumes that we will borrow 40 cents for every dollar spent! Who thinks this will end well? At least House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that if we are looking for savings, military spending should be on the table with the rest of the budget. Since the US total military budget nearly equals what the whole wide rest of the world spends on its militaries in total — this spending should not only be on the chopping block, it should head the chopping block list. And we should look at a way to use diplomacy to deal with our enemies. The current strategy, while it is certainly enriching the military industrial complex, is bound to also be creating as many enemies as it destroys.

Lit 101

2010-02-03T18:30:00.005-05:00

In my college writing class, we have to read Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation, in which she visits all these sites related to the assassinations of U.S. Presidents. She visits Dr. Mudd's house. This amuses me, probably more than it should. Especially the part where she gets lost on the way there.

Post-polio syndrome

2010-02-03T00:11:00.004-05:00

Last year fewer than 1600 people got polio and most of those were concentrated in India and Nigeria. There is hope that the disease will be completely eradicated in about 2 years, maybe 3.

Few people in the Western world remember the ravages of the disease except the victims of it, most of them in their sixties and older. Subsequent to the active disease, many decades later, the neuron-muscle synapses wear out leaving the victims fatigued and often unable to use limbs or their breathing diaphragms. This is called post-polio syndrome.

Warm Springs, Ga was discovered by President FDR as a therapy center with mineral waters and he subsequently purchased it with his own funds for therapy of other polio survivors. Not everyone survived the initial disease.

Blind woman catches 214 pound catfish

2010-01-28T21:47:00.002-05:00

She is registered blind but has a little bit of sight and was in Spain along the Ebro river when this monster Wells catfish bit the hook.

National Geographic special

2010-01-23T20:02:00.001-05:00

Now we know why the Oregon police are mentally ill:

Nat Geo Channel : Sunday Jan 24th @ 8p: Airing in primetime: "Sasquatch, The Wild Man."

Details are on this link.

Income Tax made easier

2010-01-22T21:22:00.002-05:00

A reminder: About now, your income tax interest and earnings statements will be coming in. At tax time everything will be easier if you put all these statements in one place. So, keep an eye out on the mail this week.

Alarming incidence of mental illness among Oregon Police

2010-01-19T23:01:00.003-05:00

It seems that the Oregon police have an alarming incidence of mental illness. Everytime they report a bigfoot/sasquatch sighting on an official report form, they are sent to a shrink.

It also seems that an amazing number of ordinary Oregon citizens are having their driving licenses suspended for the same reason.

Disaster Rescue ships

2010-01-12T23:59:00.004-05:00

The recent earthquake disaster in Haiti deserves help and all should contribute what they can.

More generally, the world needs more disaster rescue ships. They should be of several types: hospital ships of multiple drafts for different harbors, emergency electrical power ships, communications ships in addition to whatever emergency communications might be standard on the other varieties of ships, emergency sanitation and shelter ships capable of deploying temporary sewerage and water systems and civil reconstruction vehicles such as bulldozers and cranes.

Rescue aircraft are also desirable, but they can do less because of the limited cargo capacity on devastated airfields. Most of the world's population is near the sea. Disaster aid by rail is also possible and it could be done by keeping modules ready for loading on flat-cars.

Kiwi Fruit Alcoholic Transformation

2010-01-08T22:17:00.004-05:00

A kiwi fruit had been sitting around the kitchen counter longer than it should, perhaps two weeks, when I found it in a bit of a flabby state but decided to eat it. It was distinctly alcoholic in a pleasant way. There was no fermentation taste whatsoever, it was just alcoholic.

It was a nice discovery and I can't explain it. Did some fermentation bacteria do it or did the fruit itself perform the transformation ? If bacteria did it there was no evidence that was obvious to sight or taste. To all appearances it looked like an ordinary kiwi fruit, just a bit flabby on the outside.

This could be the start of something BIG.

Silver lining in every dark cloud ?

2010-01-04T17:22:00.003-05:00

The intense cold this winter has extended into Florida. I wonder if this means that the pythons might be frozen ? Some of them might survive in the cities, but most are likely to wish they were back in Burma or Africa as the case might be.

H1N1 is worse when coinfected with Streptococcus pneumoniae

2010-01-02T09:30:00.002-05:00

It seems that severe morbidity from H1N1 is a result of simultaneous infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae . I don't know of any easy way to protect against Strep but such a means might exist. Alternatively, just get the H1N1 vaccine. The H1N1 is now widespread in only 4 states, including New Jersey and Virginia. The CDC says that another wave of flu is possible later in the year if it mutates.

GIF from Hell

2009-12-29T16:53:00.003-05:00

I am often amazed at the creativity and skill of people who make GIF images.

happy holidays!

2009-12-26T18:27:00.003-05:00

I guess its a little late to say Merry Christmas, but I'll say it anyway: Merry Christmas! and Happy Boxing Day! Happy New Year (2010!), too, a little early.
Hope everyone's holiday seasons are going well...I, for one, am feeling proud of myself for roasting a turkey (okay, a turkey breast, but still). And not going overboard on the holiday baking. Although I have a new cupcake cookbook...
Unfortunately we didn't get anymore snow for Christmas, and now its raining. But we're headed up to Montreal for a couple days so maybe we'll see some more snow then.
Happy holidays and all that fun stuff.

By the Grace of God

2009-12-23T11:28:00.005-05:00

Upon further investigation, it appears that my Beethoven Fidelio DVD was ordered on Dec. 16 and shipped the 17th thereby falling not on Dec 23 but instead in the middle of Chanukah 2009.

Still further investigation leads me to suspect that Seinfeld is an apostate and that Festivus is an alien holiday that all good men should abjure. My right arm thus invigorated and skilled, I, with all other men good and true, shall endeavor to smite the alien impediments to the restoration of the Tabernacle of God.

High on the Hog interim snow depth report

2009-12-19T13:20:00.001-05:00

As of 1 PM or so, our weather station in Ranson WV reports 15 inches, the Greenbelt station 11 7/8 inches, and the Southern Md station 12 inches.

More reports later. All stations report snow continuing to fall heavily.

Buy low, sell high

2009-12-07T16:47:00.002-05:00

There is a hot new investment on the Somali stock exchange. Be careful about investing though. You might need to walk the plank.

No Sunspots for 13 days

2009-12-06T21:24:00.003-05:00

Twice this year the Sun has made a feeble attempt to resume the solar cycle. Both times the sunspots fizzled. We now have had no sunspots for 13 days.

I predict we are going to have a cold, cold winter. This past October was said to have been one of the coldest on record. The recent snowfall in Louisiana is said to have been the season's earliest on record.

Buy some long underwear. Stock up on wood as a backup for your regular heat. Buy a generator in case an ice storm knocks out the power. Propane generators are best because of the storeability of the fuel. I have the generator, but haven't done the electrical hookup.

Jane Austen

2009-12-03T00:27:00.004-05:00

There is an interesting discussion on the web about speculations as to the cause of Jane Austen's death. Even more interesting is the following quote from her at the end of the article:

"Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken."

She certainly had an amazing capacity for discourse, the like of which is seldom encountered in our modern authors.

The Dalai Lama

2009-12-02T02:34:00.003-05:00

While surfing the net, I ran across an interesting set of quotes from the Dalai Lama:

“All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness ... the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.”

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”

Other philosophical traditions have similar ideas. Judaism has a tripartite concept of forgiveness:

1 mechilá, forgoing the other's indebtedness, the crime remains; only the debt is forgiven

2 selichá. It is an act of the heart. It is achieving an empathy for the troubledness of the other. Selicha, is simply reaching the conclusion that the offender, too, is human, frail, and deserving of sympathy.

3 kappará This is a total wiping away of all sinfulness. Kappara is the ultimate form of forgiveness, but it is only granted by God.

The terms and conditions for granting the first two forms forgiveness are a bit complex in that tradition but are entirely sensible.

Christianity's concept of forgiveness is embodied in several quotations of Jesus with a general emphasis on love, compassion and understanding toward failures of others.

All of these traditions have useful things to say.

The Pie Funnel

2009-11-25T22:08:00.003-05:00

Just when I thought I had heard of everything, something new pops up. It seems that to make the perfect pie crust, you need something called a pie funnel. Basically, it is a piece of ceramic that vents steam from the pie while cooking, and also supports the top crust.

In general, the web site on which this appears, Interesting Thing of the Day, has many good and interesting articles. Read the archives.

The Orderly Universe

2009-11-24T12:56:00.003-05:00

It is only natural that people like to make order out of their perceptions of the universe. It is this inborn trait of people that leads them to disbelieve things that are true but are strange. Sometimes true stories are falsely turned into mythical legends by those who want to make order of their universe. Such is the case of the legend of the alligators in New York sewers. It is actually true that it happened. Inevitably, the deniers started writing that it was an apocryphal legend. Eventually the alleged apocryphal legend turned into a "hoax" and "wholly false story" suitable for the gullible. As the link above shows, the legend is a true legend, not false.

There are other reasons for this strange human trait to refuse to examine the evidence. One of those reasons is that no one wants to be thought of as a fool. This is a consequence of possessing an ego. In order to not appear a fool, it is best to not believe the tall tales you hear.

On the other side of the coin, some people do indeed exaggerate or lie for the purpose of humor or monetary gain, so, disbelief also has a basis in human nature. In the end, there is no substitute for actually examining the evidence and making your own decision. In examining evidence, it is necessary not to rely on other peoples ridiculing opinions of the evidence. Only by a detailed examination of the evidence by yourself will do.

Brooklyn Adventures

2009-11-24T10:34:00.004-05:00

Megabus got into NYC about a half hour late, which isn't too bad. My bus back to DC was right on time, in fact, we got to Baltimore half and hour early (but I guess DC traffic slowed us down).
On Saturday I went with my friend Jen and some of her friends from Pratt to this Score Swap.. Basically you paid $3 and donated a couple things and then you could take whatever you want. The swap was hosted by Bust and Nylon magazines. There were people there taking pictures. We all got a bunch of stuff, mostly clothes, but Jen got some 45s and I found a Polaroid camera...now I just need to find some film for it!

Home Arthritis Cure

2009-11-22T17:22:00.002-05:00

Today I had some time on my hands so I decided to cure a persistant ache in my thumb joint. The picture shows the cure in progress and the medium of the cure is a bee sting. I have had great success with this on other body parts (knees, neck) and after about a week of trying to get relief with Capsaicin cream I decided to go for a better cure for my thumb problem. I got a jar and punched some holes in the lid. I drove over to Uncle Jon's and had a look at his bee hives. Bees are scarcer this time of year but I spotted a couple on the outside of the hive. I quickly put the jar over them and slid a piece of paper under the jar opening to lift it off, trapping 2 bees. Then I slipped out the paper after putting the lid in position. If you will want to keep the bees alive for a length of time, you should add a bit of wet paper towel to the jar. When I got home I numbed the area of my thumb with an ice cube, then grabbed bee number one with some tweezers, setting her bottom on the base of my thumb. I didn't have to command her to sting; bee instinct takes care of that. The stinger will keep pumping venom after initial contact so you can control the dose. I did the same with the second bee and now have only to await the cure. My hand is a little more swollen than expected, so I guess one bee would have been enough. One theory about how this works is that it works by stimulating the body's own immune system to localize in a problem area. You can see by the photo that that is what happened. I expect when the swelling goes down to have no more pain in my thumb. My father has also used this technique to get rid of warts.
Warning - Some people are severly allergic to bee stings and the safest way to do intentional stinging is to get a doctor's prescription for a Bee Sting kit to have on hand in case of a severe adverse reaction.
A side note - I've heard that there is a repetitive stress injury that young people are getting in their thumbs from too much texting that I imagine this would also be good for.

More on the Climate Debate

2009-11-21T00:22:00.002-05:00

This October is said to have been the third coldest October on record. I can't verify this, I just read it somewhere. Here is an interesting presentation:

Deconstructing Global Warming
Richard S. Lindzen Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CEI October 26, 2009

Megabus Adventures

2009-11-20T19:54:00.006-05:00

*$8 to New York City. yes!
*Free WiFi!
*Green lights
*Outlets!
*On time (only left 3 minutes late!)
*Double-decker

Lets hope I don't jinx the rest of the ride...

Edit: Things to do with free WiFi
*Blog
*Read historical tweets
*play sporcle
*of course, Facebook

The wit and wisdom of Jon V. Powell

2009-11-19T20:45:00.003-05:00

Doubt

Politicians, Lawyers, Talk show hosts,
works of some master poet ?
Rorschachs upon my arse-wipe,
to the lee I throw it.

D.I.Y. Why ?

Once inside my junkyard dreary
as I hammered weak and weary,
on many a dud munition of Days of Yore,
There came
water heater, your thermal embrace,
intimate calorie giver.
But your elements Fail. You jilt me now,
by thus & such I shiver,
but, cometh the plumber, with tradesman skill,
and so, our love renewed,
yet by him, not you, with Sum and Bill,
am I consumately screwed.

After writing these, Jon commented: I should cut back on my caffeine.

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to depression and heart disease

2009-11-17T09:31:00.001-05:00

Here is a comprehensive article on the importance of Vitamin D to mental health and cardiovascular health. This is well worth reading.

Vitamin D might prevent H1N1 flu

2009-11-13T18:25:00.002-05:00

There is evidence from a private physician in Georgia that high dose Vitamin D supplementation seems to prevent H1N1 swine flu. This makes sense since it has also been observed elsewhere that Mexicans seem to be more susceptible to the flu than light skinned Americans. Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin and lighter skin permits more synthesis of the vitamin. Nonetheless, because many light skinned people don't get enough sun, it probably makes sense for everyone to supplement.

How to remove shells from hardboiled eggs

2009-10-30T11:29:00.002-04:00

Sometimes WikiHow has some interesting tips. Some are useless, others pretty handy. Judge for yourself on this one on how to remove shells from hardboiled eggs.

Facts and Myths about swine flu

2009-10-29T20:13:00.003-04:00

Here is a very useful article in New Scientist about the swine flu. The bottom line is get the vaccine when available for your risk group.

The New Scientist is well worth bookmarking on your browser.

My excellent halloween costume

2009-10-28T23:41:00.004-04:00

It occurred to me as I was assembling this costume that the costume is at its best when considered abstractly. When considering how it looks in the real world, it loses some of its cachet, a lot of it in fact. I should have just left you with a mental image of my costume, and leave it at that.

Recall its components: bald wig, Bearcats shirt, Military intelligence patch, dress pants, barefoot running shoes, fingerless gloves. For the party, I also brought along some sweet and sour chicken and non alcoholic beer, with plastic silverware (not pictured).

As for the party itself, no one took one look at me and said "you oxymoron, you". Only upon explaining that the elements function independently of another, and not to try to figure out what kind of costume the ensemble looks like, did some people, not all, get it. Even after they figured out what I was, they didn't understand what I had on my head. I didn't go through the trouble of trying to make it look authentic by using putty to 'blend' it into my forehead, and so people thought I was wearing some sort of latex hat, not a bald wig.

I have actually tried the barefoot running shoes a couple of times. Once walking in the woods over some bumpy terrain, and once running on a treadmill. The jury is still out on that.

This concludes the blog. Thank you for your suggestions and to Lona for the fingerless gloves.

Roal

Massive Sewage Dump in Accokeek

2009-10-28T20:32:00.004-04:00

Beware people of Accokeek, the Prince George's County Water and Sanitary Sewer Commission has advised that there was an estimated 130,000 gallon discharge of untreated domestic sewage into Piscataway Creek this morning for about four hours. They are advising down river folks to refrain from the consumption of fish caught in the surrounding waters for four weeks.

Drones and Pirates

2009-10-25T09:59:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to the use of drones to combat Somali pirates. It is a good article, but fails to mention that a limited number of drones have also been deployed that are capable of accurately shooting the powerful .338 Lapua cartridge. These are typically shot by snipers for especially long range sniping, but putting them aboard a drone provides a significant capability not previously available.

It is sometimes claimed by the pirates that they are forced to take revenge for foreign fishing in their waters. That claim, believed only by gullible westerners, is both false and specious. The pirates are not the people harmed, the ransom money goes to wealthy patrons. Further, the foreign victims of piracy are innocent and are almost never fisherman nor dumpers of pollution. The entire claim is just an excuse for greed by the wealthy patrons. The low level pirates are indeed unemployed otherwise, but so are many people who don't engage in crime.

One tough fellow

2009-10-24T20:59:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to an article about Sam Carlson who I had to honor to meet at Quick's house a few years back. We all hope you come back safely from Afghanistan Sam.

Creepy Shoes Club Critique

2009-10-15T22:05:00.006-04:00

I got the exact same shoes in the mail today! How cool is that? After finding my size in the store I found some used vibram fivefingers classics on ebay for $50 with no signs of wear. I just got back from my first run in them and thought I'd share my review.

They remind me of rubber palmed work gloves for your feet and their construction is essentially the same with a bit more structure. So like gloves, they can be squished or rolled up which is a bonus when you want a light and compact shoe for packing. I ran a an 8:52min mile on the treadmill with them. What I liked about them is it was like running barefoot, which encourages you to keep off your heels. They felt springier than when I run in socks. I also have the problem with socks where the soles will get hot from friction against the treadmill belt. This was not a problem with the fivefingers which I suspect will save me blisters.

Now for the bad:
My first complaint is more of a personal problem. I am only 5'1" and thus my pants are often too long. I count on my shoes for the lift to keep my pants off the ground and dry. My pants were a soggy mess from walking in the wet parking lot though the shoes themselves stayed dry. My other complaint is after the run I noticed uncomfortable rubbing on my left inner heel cause by stitches. This would have become a blister had I worn them longer. There is a thread end I'll try to snip out or if that doesn't work, a fabric bandaid applied to the inner heel has always fixed this.

Other things to consider are the fit of the shoe. They literally need to fit like a glove. This is a minor issue for me since they don't make a size small enough to be snug on me in the bottom on the heel. Fivefingers must be tried on in person to find your size as their sizing does not reliably convert into your standard shoe size. Also abnormality in your toe shape can cause discomfort. Brian probably doesn't want me spreading this on the Internet, but two of his toes are webbed halfway up his foot. The shoe construction puts a lot of pressure on his mutant toe web.

All in all, I think it's a very exciting innovation in footwear which will no doubt lead to better foot health. I used to have to wear orthotics before I started barefoot running. I can remember having pain in my unusually high left arch ever since I learned to walk. Now I've beat my foot issues into submission by training on a treadmill. My hope is that these shoes will let me transfer that success into trail running.

My excellent Halloween costume

2009-10-14T23:05:00.005-04:00

Progress report:

I have finally made a financial commitment to this endeavor. Over the weekend, I bought a military intelligence patch and a University of Cincinnati Bearcat T shirt. It was over the internet, so they haven't arrived yet. Today I went to a real store to buy some Barefoot Running Shoes/Foot Gloves (this item is a twofer oxymoron), the vibram five finger shoes. I didn't realize it until I went to the store, but these things have quite a following. It made me more confident in my $85 investment. I chose a modest black pair. They do have some that were more outlandish looking, really looking like the foot equivalent of those "Mule" work gloves, gray with green trim. I thought that would make more of an impact on my Halloween costume, but I also figured that on November 1, I'd be happy to have the pair that I think look better.

I need to get the bald wig soon. The "dress pants" I have. Dottie suggested "fingerless gloves", I always associate them with the Fagin character in Oliver Twist, and I do think that is worth looking into. Sweet and sour chicken w plastic silverware, what else? I think the costume is complete enough that unless it's just too good to pass up, I will forego spending anything more than a nominal amount of money for anything else.

One more thing: the wearer of the cardboard belt. Did someone get that and I missed it? It was Zero Mostel, playing Max Bialystok in the original movie "The Producers" with Gene Wilder. Which brings me to another question, far afield now from clothes or oxymora: what was Gene Wilder's film debut?

Climate change

2009-10-12T01:25:00.003-04:00

Anyone who thinks there is a consensus on global warming should read this BBC article. Also interesting is that spaceweather.com says that on 78% of the days this year the sun has been free of sunspots. That is not exactly a resounding endorsement of a resumption of the standard solar cycle. As I've been saying all along: I don't know what is going to happen.

UV fluorescent ripe bananas

2009-10-09T13:38:00.003-04:00

It is often surprising how many easy-to-make observations there are that no one tried. The recent discovery that ripe bananas fluoresce blue under ultraviolet light is an example.

It is easy to do just by shining a UV light on them, but apparently no one who had tried, if there was anyone, had previously reported it.

My excellent Halloween costume #5

2009-10-08T17:46:00.002-04:00

I am aware of the dangers of overexposure, and I can't help but notice that the commenters chatter has died down. But I did want to get all my preliminary discussion out of the way, because this weekend, I will start to assemble this. Remember, the party is a whole week before Halloween.

I think I have it all now except for the accessories. When I think of accessories, I think of the cardboard belt (trolling for comments, new trivia: tell me 'who was that who wore a cardboard belt?')

Much as I would like it to be, I can't make that out to be an oxymoron. So what I have is:

This being a party, I should be bring some food, as previously suggested "sweet and sour chicken" served with plastic silverware. I was also considering wearing plastic sunglasses.

And my last thing is a play on the classic oxymoron "military intelligence". On the internet authentic military intelligence patches can be found, but usually they don't say that. I can find "Air Force Intelligence" as the next best thing.

So this weekend, I think I am going to try to find a place to buy some of those "barefoot running shoes". If I like them, I will buy them and use them. For most of the rest, I will start scoping out what's available online. I probably won't be buying sweet and sour chicken online, although I am sure it can be done.

Licorice

2009-10-06T23:03:00.002-04:00

A new finding just published indicates that a pregnant woman eating licorice in excess of 100 grams per day has an increased chance of bearing a child with low intelligence and also health problems.

An older finding is that adults who eat too much of it sometimes develop cardiovascular problems and high blood pressure. Too bad, I like the stuff, but I'm don't eat too much.

My excellent Halloween costume #4

2009-10-05T23:04:00.004-04:00

Shirt and pants

One of the cleverest oxymorons I came across, and so easy come by was "dress pants" - I preferred the idea of wearing that to wearing "tight slacks". Now it may not be so easy to recognize as an oxymoron, but certainly can be explained in two words.

What I really wanted for my top half was a sweatshirt or t-shirt for the Guilford College (or University of Pennsylvania, or some other schools) Fighting Quakers. I have yet to locate one that actually says "Fighting Quakers", and if I would just wear one that says "Guilford College" that would involve too much explanation.

So if I can't get one of those, a back up is a sweatshirt or t shirt of the University of Cincinnati BearKats. I haven't seen that on any sanctioned list of oxymora, but since a bear can't be a cat (or even a Kat ) it counts in my book.

So there is some room for alternatives to make the costume if anyone can think of any.

My plan is to have one more post on accessories before the week is out, and this weekend decide on a plan and then start acquiring these things

Thanks for all of your comments so far.

Excellent Halloween Costume 3

2009-10-04T22:38:00.004-04:00

Oxymoron Halloween costume

I was at the beach this weekend, so a couple of valuable days have gone by, and by now it's even too late for much of a post. Today's topic is headwear, and a discussion about "crisp"

I said previously that the oxymorons for the costume should be crisp, and here is what I was thinking. I am actually going to wear these for a party - that's the plan - and I could imagine this happening: me coming in with some random looking effects , and eventually people would discern the unifying theme. "You're an oxymoron". Anyway, having gone through that and having to explain the oxymora, one by one, multiplied by a dozen times, would pretty much suck all the enjoyment out of the party. So if the oxymoron is clever enough, one or two obscure ones would be OK, but you wouldn't want a whole ensemble like that.

So my headware choice is a very good exemplification of "crisp" A bald wig. It speaks for itself, there is nothing I can add to it. It's oxymoronic nature is crystal clear.

Now a bald wig doesn't preclude a hat of some sort, if you have any suggestions, please chime in.

I noticed my pictures didn't come through on my last post. I will try to fix that tomorrow.

Finally, I got a remark about these Vibram Five Finger shoes being actually comfortable and functional. If that is so, maybe I will get some. After Halloween I can wear them with my cooling vest.

Caturday News of the Adorable Update

2009-10-03T11:48:00.003-04:00

Mr. Bumble, a British Skunk has grown to an obese 14 lbs due to overindulgence in bacon. The tame skunk was turned over to the SPCA where he's been placed on a vegetarian diet.

In heart wrenching news, a lost Rottweiller gathers clues to find the family she was separated from in a car wreck. The story is worth reading here.

2009-10-01T21:58:00.003-04:00

My excellent Halloween costume -2 footwear

I was delighted to see that when I googled "Excellent Halloween Costume" Oxymoron, my entry came up first, which suggests I am on the right track, and am quickly establishing this blog as ground zero for excellent Halloween costumes about oxymora.

I said I would get to my footwear today, and I even got a couple of suggestions from the commentators. I recalled Lona's entry in this blog about running barefoot, and so the first idea I got was

something called "barefoot running shoes" that a company called Vibram has started to make now

They apparently don't really call them barefoot running shoes, but that's what they're for.

How do they stack up as costume material?

Pros: They certainly look odd enough so you could build a costume around them.

Cons: Since they don't really call them Barefoot running shoes, you have to explain what they are and what makes them an oxymoron. I'd prefer something a little more crisp.

Major con: They cost about $70

Candidate number two :Foot Gloves

Not to be confused with Toe Socks, this was a yoga product sold in Amazon dot com

They weren't exactly inexpensive, around $15, but since September 19, when I originally identified them, and now, they are no longer for sale at any price on Amazon.com. And no wonder. Only one star out of five.

So with neither of the first two candidates viable, I am pleased that my readership has already chipped in a couple of suggestions.

Lona suggested unshoes, which I need to look into. She says they look like you are wearing shoes, but you are really barefoot, confounding those "no shoes no service" people. But so far when I looked for unshoes on the internet, I found these

which don't fit the descriptions, so I need to do some more research. Tara suggested "Loud Sneakers" which was pretty cute, 'cept I originally thought she said "Loud speakers". Contemplating wearing those, I thought of this trivia question: Whose sandals were "herring boxes without topses"?

So the footwear category is wide open. So keep those suggestions coming in, and also think ahead to the next category, which will be HEADWARE.

Since when do books have trailers?

2009-10-01T14:54:00.000-04:00

My excellent Halloween Costume

2009-09-30T18:00:00.003-04:00

I always wanted to blog, but I thought you needed a reason!

I am invited to a Halloween party on October 24, so I need a costume. I have an idea for it, but assembling it is kind of a ‘process’ and something that I think will blog well. I am to go as an oxymoron. The idea is to collect and execute all the wearable oxymorons I can come up with.

I actually had this idea about six months ago. At the time, I went onto oxymoron.com, or some such site, and offered up my idea for comment and suggestions to the oxymoronic community. They totally let me down without a single comment, helpful or otherwise. Maybe Halloween was to far away at the time to get their attention, but they had their chance, and I will not be favoring those geeks with updates on my progress, or any further opportunity to comment. I will favor you , instead.

This did not stop me from trolling oxymoron sites for ideas. After satisfying myself that an oxymoron costume was doable, meaning at least one or two items for each of the basic categories, I will now enlist your help in making it the best it can be.

As I see it, the parts of the costume are: (1) footwear (2) headwear (3) clothes (4) accessories and (5) props. Props are not wearable in themselves, but if for example, if I thought carrying one of those invisible dog leashes would enhance an oxymoron costume, (and I don’t) it would be in the props category. In order to not run out of all my material at once my next entry will just focus on the footwear.

A couple of more items 1. this party is a full week before Halloween, so I need to keep this on a slightly accelerated schedule. 2. I have not set a budget for this costume (maybe I can talk about that later) but I am not opposed to spending a modest amount of money for this, particularly if it is for items I think I will have a use for later.

Sometimes my perceptions about what will be useful in the future are a little off. For example, last year, I was Donald Trump. I had to buy a wig of course, and I got a power suit at the thrift store at a reasonable price. However, I had to wear several layers of clothes to bulk up and I thought I would get hot. So I bought one of those cooling vests that those people who dress up in school mascot costumes wear for about $60. At the time I thought I would find no end of uses for it. Oh, well…

Finally, one interesting thing I did get from those sites was the fact that the word oxymoron itself is an oxymoron: from oxýmōros sharp-dull, equiv. to oxý(s) sharp + mōrós dull.

National Book Festival 2009

2009-09-27T10:59:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was the National Book Festival on the Mall. It was busy, and started raining pretty hard mid-afternoon. However, this did not deter people (me) from waiting in line to have authors (Lois Lowry) sign their books (Number the Stars). I also got Jeannette Walls to sign my copy of The Glass Castle, which we just read in my college writing class. Jodi Picoult and John Grisham I think won the prize for longest lines...

Tips for making your thrift store purchases look great

2009-09-23T11:37:00.005-04:00

WD40 removes tape sticky-ness

Grease pencil price marks can be removed with:

soap and water
a dry rag
WD40
Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (works on paper, plastic, wood, stainless steel, ceramics, vinyl baby doll feet)

Many clothing stains can be removed by washing and letting it dry in the sun. For stubborn stains, try adding a little lemon juice and leaving it in the sun. Those UV rays work great.

How to Govern

2009-09-21T15:16:00.006-04:00

With malice to none and charity to all, here are some opinions on how to govern.

First, delegate responsibility, both to spread the burden of decision and also to spread the burden of taking the heat from the governed. A corollary of this is that the delegated person must be given overall policies, and have the authority to make subsidiary decisions with little second guessing by the executive.

Second, humanity, for whatever reason, detests sudden change. The implication of this is that when great change is required, it should be undertaken incrementally.

Third, a cheerful positive outlook encourages all.