the Fishmonger's Place

Rock Hound

2010-11-15T20:06:00.003-06:00

Our 4 year-old boy has been a fiend for rocks since he's been old enough to pick them up. A visit to the lakeshore invariably ends with his gallon ziploc filled with non-descript nuggets. On vacation in Vermont, we visited a granite quarry: he completely ignored the multi-ton slabs being lifted on cables from thousands of feet below, and spent his time examining the exotic (to him) crushed granite parking lot. In fact parking lot gravel and landscaping pebbles have always been his focus. They're just the right size for putting into pockets.

Pockets full of rocks make their way home from daycare with defeating regularity. Though this tailed off briefly with the beginning of K4, it soon ramped up again with his discovery of a magical word. "FOSSIL". He didn't really know what it meant, despite my best efforts, but every piece of gravel brought home had to be examined for "fossils". Every void, every nodule in a piece of gravel was evidence that this piece, too, was one of the magical items.

When I picked the boy up today, heinformed me that he'd found a fossil today. I envisioned another hour spent staring at fists full of gravel. But today, I got a surprise! Today, the boy actually found a fossil in the gravel! It's a horn-shaped rock about an inch long with some grooves along the sides. A little web-searching identified it as a fossilized horn coral. That a web pic of horn coral fossils at right. TheBoy's looks a lot like the one in the top left corner. How cool is that?

The best part is that I'd never heard of horn coral before, so I got to learn something new today, too! According to wiki, these little guys lived in the seas that blanketed this area 250 to 350 million years ago. They would have been attached to a solid surface at the small end with, possibly, a ring of poisoned tentacles surrounding the wide end. Poisoned tentacles score double points for K4 kids (and middle aged geeks, too), FYI. Now that I know what they are, I'm sure I'll be seeing them everywhere... and all thanks to my little rock hound!

Happy Other Day

2010-09-11T06:40:00.002-05:00

I'm getting really tired with all of the xenophobia around my land, lately. Apparently, anybody whose skin is a little darker than average is a problem in the eyes of much of America. And too much of it is centered around my birthhday, 9-11. And as I'm sure I've previously mentioned, it's pissing me off.

So, I'm instituting a new holiday today (sorry for the lack of advanced warning). It's a xenophilists dream holiday. I call it "Other Day". Other Day is a day to get out and experience 'The Other'. Take it slow this year. We can ramp up more next year when we've got more time to prepare.

Some ideas to celebrate:
= Go out to a foreign restaurant (are you comfortable with your choice? pick something different, then. Go morrocan instead of mexican, or vietnamese instead of chinese!)

= Watch a foreign film, or a film about some demographic with with you are unfamiliar (competetive pigeon racers? brazilians? transvestites? hindus?).

= Say Hello to a stranger (with a skin tone different from yours... or with clothing that is unfamiliar... or with an accent you don't recognize).

= If there's an group you are appalled by, spend some time looking up and reading the websites supporting their side of the question.

= Attend an interfaith meeting.

= Visit a business in that part of town that 'your people' never visit.

But stretch for it. Push yourself a little. We've all got blindspots. We've all got people we don't trust. Let's try to wear down that discomfort with those who differ from us with a little more experience of that Other. It might be good for us all.

And next year (or next week, if you find you've caught the bug), we can push it a little further. Eventually, this country may be an even better place to live!

2010-08-12T21:10:00.002-05:00

In recent days, New Glarus Brewing has been tantalizing me on their Facebook feed (and elsewhere) with talk of their new Abt beer. Apparently an Abt is some obscure Belgian style of beer that might also be called a Strong Belgian Dubbel. Who am I kidding? They had me at 'Belgian'. Well, they had me at 'New Glarus' and 'Belgian'. These guys know what they're doing!

As I walked in to Woodman's tonight, I was reminded that I wanted to try some. What reminded me? The case (as in six 4-paks at $9 per) set aside for someone at the front of the liquor department. That's quite a commitment - especially when you consider that it's really meant for laying down in your cellar rather than drinking now.

But who can wait a year, or two or more? Not me. So I cracked one open when I got home. First impression: wow that's a lot of malt! Second impression: wow that's a lot of alcohol! (9.6% ABV, a little more than double that of your MGD). As I sip this gigantic brew, I'm getting lots of fruity qualities (I see that the press release says raisiny. I'll agree). And it's damn good. (These guys say it better than me.)

But it's begging to be aged, so I'll oblige. The alcohol is punching me in the face right now. It needs some time to simmer down, just like that little blue bottle of Sam Adams did. So, I say goodbye to the Abt for now, and shuffle it to that special 6-pak holder in the back of the beer fridge to wait for time to pass... and wait... and wait... Maybe I'll crack one to celebrate TheGirl's high school graduation! (Class of 2016, represent!)

2010-08-07T10:58:00.003-05:00

I’ve decided to take this blog back to it’s origins: show and tell. So, what’s captured my interest this week? Dragonflies, for one thing. And how could they not, since a particularly large variety has been gathering in great numbers along the shores of Lake Michigan for the past few days. I take this as a good sign, given the even greater numbers of mosquitos that have gathered in the same areas this summer.

I first sighted the dragonflies out the window while I consumed my lunch. The breakroom at work is tiny, but two of the walls are floor-to ceiling windows. As you might imagine, this room can become a bit stuffy in the summer. It’s worth it, though, for the views. The ever shifting lake spreads out before me as I eat my daily leftovers. Some days, it’s colored with the foreboding grays and browns of a highland loch. Other days, it sings with turquoise and a near Bahamian blue, as if doing its best impression of those faraway waters. And other days, the waters are pale and misty, fading off before reaching any visible horizon into the equally pale and misty sky. On the clearest of days, the silhouettes of the Chicago skyline are just visible in the far distance. Other days, hawks or even turkey vultures soar by looking for their next meal. And a few days ago, the dragonflies arrived.

Dragonflies origins stretch back beyond those of the dinosaurs by 100 million years or more. Perhaps it is this ancient origin that gives them the aspect that frightens children. When a dragonfly flew by my 4-year old the other day, he screamed in fear that it would bite him. Every region seems to have tales about them: They’ll stitch shut your mouth if you swear, lie or curse. They’ll poke out or stitch shut your eyes. They’ll poke out your ear drums. Are you catching a theme here? Sometiems, it is believed that devils or hobgoblins use them, as steeds, as balance weights, even as awls. Perhaps strangest of all is the belief that they follow injured snakes and stitch up their wounds.

Looking out of the breakroom window, I watched their mesmerizing, chaotic dance. As far as I could look to the north and south, I could see them. They zipped around in a vast cloud that reached from the ground to a spot well above my 4th floor perch. In my imaginings, they took on the aspect of a vast (and poorly organized) helicopter air force. Perhaps they hoped to take back the land that they had lost to the vertebrates so long ago. Whatever their sinister plans, they didn’t seem interested in going after any of the oblivious people below. No mouths were stitched shut, no eyes poked out. For the time being, at least, we appear safe from these darting hordes.

Thanks to hisgett for use of the dragonfly photo!

A head scratcher

2010-03-06T07:32:00.004-06:00

I've been reading Astropixie off and on since before she was Dr. Astropixie, back when we were both just speedracers and Scientists United for the Global Advancement of Awesomeness (gimme some SUGAA!). Well, SUGAA has faded from view, and the speedracers are napping, but Astropixie is still going strong, frequently posting little bits of scientific awesomeness. A couple of weeks ago, she posted a painting by Nikola Bogdanov-Belsky (Counting in Their Heads, 1895, at right). It features a group of kids working through a math problem in their head.

Now I love doing mental calculations and estimations. I recall once mentally calculating with my roommate the number of silver dollars that would fit within the space occupied by the First Wisconsin Building (now the US Bank building, and soon to be the site of my fundraising climb to benefit the American Lung Association. Sponsor me here!) I don't remember the number we got, but I enjoyed the process... the mental calisthenics. So, when Astropixie challenged her readers to answer the chalkboard question themselves, I leapt at the challenge. Here's the calculation the kids are working:

I'm amazed to report that I actually got the correct answer - calculating in my head, and without taking notes! Given my poor memory, I never thought 'd make it. But the most amazing thing is the answer. I'll put it in the comments on the blog website. But give it a try first, see if you can do it.

The big question then: Is this an indicator of something? Or maybe of some other thing? I'm guessing not. Perhaps it's just a warning that not all beatufiul answers need be significant.

No Problem!

2010-02-19T21:09:00.004-06:00

What the hell. I'm going to do it. 43 stories, 1034 steps. Yep, I'm climbing to the top of the First Wisconsin building. (OK, technically, it's the US Bank Building now, but to me, it will always be the First Wisconsin.) Why would I do such a stupid thing? Let me, as Shakespeare says, count the ways:

1) to raise money for the American Lung Association. More about them here. We lost my father-in law to lung cancer a few years ago, so this one is near and dear.

2) to challenge myself. 1034 steps. Doesn't sound like much 'til you run 100 stairs. 1000 is a whole f-ing lot of stairs.

3) to motivate myself to get in a little better shape. Strike that - a LOT better shape. I've got a month. That means running stairs, riding the bike, and portion control. If I don't knock this body into some sort of reasonable cardiac fitness in the next month, I'll never make it to the top.

4) Kevin started a team. That's where the NO PROBLEM comes from. It's his team name. So far, he's the only one listed. I'd hate to make him climb alone. So, I'm going to climb too. Not that I think our times will be anything alike. But again... what the hell.

Points 2 and 3 are allo my own. But for point 1, I need some help. Help me out, friends, family and loyal reader. I've got a fundraising page up here. I'm targetting $200 as my first goal. If you could contribute a few bucks, I'd really appreciate the hell out of it!

(Thanks to the National Archives of the Netherlands for the use of the photo above.)

Hypochondria

2010-02-18T10:14:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure if I qualify under the official rules, but if I'm not a hypochondriac, then let's say I'm "suggestible" on health-related matters. This is why I never took the second semester of psych. It's why I stay away from medical newsletters, and why I only watch medical shows with exceedinly rare diseases (e.g. House). The problem with this suggestibility is manifesting right now. I'm in a lab alone. I smell a strange odor, reminiscent of fresh cut grass. I feel a little, very slightly lightheaded. Am I about to pass out from some mystery gas concocted on the upper levels of the building? Or, am I psyching myself into symptoms that I don't actually have. Heck, for all I know, there isn't even an odd smell. Maybe I smelled some hand lotion I put on earlier, or the acrid perfume of a hall-walking secretary (sorry, Administrative Assistane). It's all very much like the scene in that King Arthur movie, where Arthur is talking to Merlin about a cake that Guinevere has just given him. He suspects it may be spelled, and asks Merlin if he should eat it. Merlin tells him that the cake is like life - you can't be sure until you eat it. And then of course, it's too late. By sitting here, am following the same course Arthur did by eating the cake - a course that caused Merlin to mutter "Too late..."? Time will tell, I guess.

Six-word memoirs

2010-01-29T18:27:00.002-06:00

The thing I like most about using twitter is the brevity of it. Few of my ideas fit naturally into 140 characters. They need to be distilled, concentrated. I'm forced to pare away every extraneous shift in thought, to ask myself "What is it that I want to say". The end result of this process is not always beautiful. I sometimes find myself resorting to abbreviation, poor grammar, or other shortcuts. But in the best cases, I end with a pure thought inless than 141 characters.

Now that you know what I like about twitter, you might correctly guess that I 'm a huge fan of smithmag's six-word memoirs. Even more brief, and requiring a degree of concentration that's a bit frightening - an entire life distilled into six words. Of course not everyone tries to encapsulate a life. There are six-words discussing love affairs, New Year's resolutions, job loss and every other thing that might feel like a whole life in a given moment. But, in my opinion, the entries that actually attempt to encapsulate a life are the best. I'll list a few here for your perusal. Mine's the last one.

Not quite what I was planning.

Shy mother bewildered by self-confident daughter.

I do not snap: I flex.

Brought it to a boil, often . (This one by Mario Batali)

I am stronger than they think.

Found a few worth my time.

Colors of Winter

2010-01-03T18:07:00.004-06:00

Even on a January day where temperatures didn't break 15 deg F, the woods are filled with color... if you take the time to look. (I took all of these photos today in Johnson Park in Racine).

This being the start of a new year, I thought I'd share a few resolutions of mine. In addition to the traditional resolutions (lose weight, be more understanding, get out of debt, don't yell at the kids as much, stop shooting heroin, etc.), I'm doing some frequency resolutions. It's a way to help me remember to do the things that make me feel happier and more centered - good for me, and good for those around me.

Without further ado, my frequency resolutions:

1. Get out into nature every week. (Geocaching is my favorite tool for this. It gives me a destination.)

2. Create something every week (f'rinstance, a fimo sculpture, a fancy dinner, a chapter in a book, or... a photo collage!)

3. Dinner with friends every month (With family events, the kids school and sports, and projects around the house, I sometimes find that I haven't seen any of my friends from outside of work and family for a month or even two. It's completely unacceptable).

4. Volunteer somewhere every quarter (Ideally, I'd do this more often, but I've gotten completely out of the volunteering habit, and this is a baby step to get back into it.)

My latest purchase

2009-11-29T18:42:00.002-06:00

The pic below is of a piece of original comic art I recently ordered. I have to say, I think it kicks ass! It's the page inked by Scott Wegner from the Atomic Robo comic. Color and speech balloons were added later. The robot is Atomic Robo, an nigh invulnerable AI robot designed by Nikola Tesla in the 20's. The guy is Carl Sagan. He's holding a lightning gun, also designed by Tesla. The monster was once H.P. Lovecraft, but he's been taked over by what might be called an eldritch horror, and is now referred to as "The Lovecraftian Horror". Can you see why I love this comic? And now I have a piece of it of my very own. It's sandwiched between glass in my bedroom, where Sagan and Robo can use Tesladyne technologies to defend me while I sleep. Have I mentioned that I have a very understanding wife?

Trock On!

2009-11-20T07:30:00.005-06:00

I'm home with (maybe) the flu or (maybe) pneumonia or possibly dengue fever. I've had a fever of around 100F for over a week now. Today's the day I finally call the doctor. Not to be confused with The Doctor, which is what this post is really about.

While waiting for my doc's office to open, I've stumbled across a musical genre with which I was previously unfamiliar. It's called Trock. Short for Time Lord Rock. Basically, it's rock and roll about Doctor Who. Don't know who Doctor Who or Time Lords are? You prolly should. I mean, it's been on TV on and off since the early 60's! Turn on PBS or BBC America once in a while, Aina'? Better yet, go DVR a few eps, or check out some CDs from your local library and come back once you're caught up.

The currently biggest Trock band (and coiner of the term)is Chameleon Circuit. (For those who don't know, The Chameleon Circuit is that bit which allows a TARDIS [It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space... it's a time-travelling space ship thingie - seriously, why are you still reading this? Go! Watch!] to change its exterior appearance to blend in with the local landscape. The Doctor's chameleon circuit is usually broken, so his TARDIS almost always looks like a british police box, circa the 1950s - see at right) . A couple of videos may be appropriate at this point

Here's a vid of Chameleon Circuit's song "An Awful Lot of Running":

and another of their song "Exterminate Regenerate" about TheDoctor's ongoing battle with the Daleks [They're kind of cyborg killing machines on wheels (nice design, that)that go about shouting Exterminate! EXTERMINATE! The regenerate comes about because ... oh hell, just watch the show, why don't you?).

The band TheTimeLords has been doing Dr Who themed tunes for ages, but maybe a bit lacking on the originality?

The Maine Objection

2009-11-04T10:56:00.002-06:00

So, Maine has gone ahead and repealed its same-sex marriage law. Perhaps this is the time to stop and think about this, ask ourselves why people are so vehemently opposed to same-sex marriage in the first place. I think there’s an easy answer – religion. But maybe my meaning isn’t what you think.

I propose that most people, and especially those opposed to same-sex marriage, think of marriage as an essentially religious event. And they see the support of same-sex marriage as getting the government involved in their religion. They forsee government telling them who they have to allow to marry in their church, and it makes them crazy. And you know what? They’re right.

Marriage is a religious event masquerading as a civil event, or rather as a series of civil events. It’s a financial and legal joining of two households, a simple substitute for a will, medical power of attorney, financial power of attorney, a joint custody agreement (in case of children) and so on. I’m sure there’s a list somewhere online that details all of the things marriage represents in law. My point is: it shouldn’t.

Perhaps marriage should be left up to the churches. They could decide who can get married, how they can get married and whether the marriage is under any circumstances allowed to end before the end of time. But (and here’s the important part) it wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) have any force or meaning in civil law. Just as baptism/christening doesn’t (and shouldn’t) determine what your legal name is. Domestic partnerships would take up the legal end of things.

What is the possible objection? It provides freedom of religion without making anyone a second class citizen. Government still gets to push around the same people it was pushing around before, only religion doesn’t tie it’s hands. Religions get to set clear rules… or byzantine structures that can only be interpreted by the chosen initiates – as they wish. And we, the people, can get on with our lives, and stop butting into everyone elses. Pretty much the only people who will see this as a loss are those who think Christian Morality (read as /their/ morality) ought to have force of law for all people. And quite frankly, I’ve had about enough of their bullshit.

There’d be a lot of legal issues to get straight before it could be put in place of course. For instance, what if you get married in church, but do not put a domestic partnership in place to support it? How will existing marriages be handled? What if you have an existing state marriage, but object to the domestic partnership on philosophical or religious grounds? Do you have to accept it? I’ll leave all of that to the lawyers.

And for the future, I forsee arguments about multiple domestic partnerships, group domestic partnerships, and customized domestic partnerships (with prohibitions on certain behaviors (sex ouside of partnership, smoking, drug use)? financial restrictions? expiration dates? Lotsa fun. The lawyers should love it, too! See, everybody wins.

Czech Beers . Seeing the Light

2009-10-24T11:49:00.006-05:00

TheWife recently returned from a business trip to the Czech Republic. I made her promise that she'd birng me a couple of Czech beers, and she came through in spades! Today, I'll be chatting about the Pilseners she brought. Other beers and the herbal concoctions she brought back for me will have to wait.

Now, I know that Czech beer is rated quite highly in the world. After all, they invented the pilsener style. The pilsner style comes from Plzen, and Pilsner Urquell is, as the name says, the original beer from Plzen. And I'll bet it's damned good on tap. Unfortunately, they bottle it in green bottles. They do the same thing with the Budvar (the original Budweiser, no relation to Anheuser Busch's sex in a canoe beer). Green bottle storage means that Budvar tastes like... Special Ex. Yes, it's lightly hopped and, thanks to green bottles, lightly skunked. This is the reason I stopped buying imported beer. Inevitably, they package it in clear or green bottles, letting light hit the compounds extracted from the hops, and creating the scent and flavor of a skunks butt. Yum.

Please note that Pilsner Urquell is different from Budvar and Special Ex. Since it's more strongly hopped, it is more strongly skunked. The really sad part - I can tell the Urquell would be delicious if it had been kept from light. The head was goregous, tall, white and creamy. The beer itself felt creamy in the mouth, and there is a more than generous serving of hops in each sip. A lovely beer... if it hadn't been ruined.

Fortunately, we needn't suffer with beers damaged by substandard storage. There are a multitude of golden American beers with solid hop flavor, most of them packaged in brown bottles. I'd say that the bitterness of Pilsener Urquell clocks in a bit below Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. But Sierra Nevada puts their beer in amber bottles, preserving the 'Yum', and keeping the flavor of skunk rectum out of my mouth. Or for those who prefer an more local product (and who happen to live in Wisconsin, like me), I'd suggest Lakefront's Cream City Pale Ale. It's well-balanced, and came on the scene before the over-hopping that ruined many a beer really caught on.

So let's tally that up. Czech beers: 0 American beers: 2

Birthday Surprise!

2009-09-11T11:32:00.005-05:00

My Dear Wife and Sister-in-Law surprised me with these last night. It's a cupcake representation of the periodic table - well, the first 41 elements - in celebration of my 41st birthday. What a sweet thing to do. Made my day. Thanks!

I took them into work today and let me tell you, if you're ever in desperate need of a pick me up, just load 41 chocolate cupcakes into a car and drive around for an hour. I arrived at work in the best mood ever.

This geeky "birthday cake" was much appreciated by my co-workers, too. There was substantial curiosity over whether anyone would take the Arsenic cupcake. I'll end the suspense - Viola Zuppa did.

A 'conversation' with TheBoy

2009-09-04T20:09:00.004-05:00

TheBoy: Pine-apple, pine-apple, pineapple, pineapple, pineapple. Pine-apple, pine-apple. Pine. Apple. Pineapple, pineapple, pineapple.

TheFishmonger: What are you talking about?

TheBoy: [gesturing at the fruit on top of the microwave oven] That. Pineapple, pineapple, pineapple.

TheFishmonger: Those are pears.

TheBoy: [shaking his head in denial] No.

TheFishmonger: Yep. Those are pears.

TheBoy: [pauses for a moment,then: ]Pears, pears, pears. PEARS! Pears. Pears, pears, pears, pears, pears....

John Hughes (February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009)

2009-08-07T10:42:00.003-05:00

John Hughes made a ton of films. Some were good, some were bad, and some achieved timeless greatness. In my opinion, the short cut to finding the best of his work is to look for those he was most involved with. To wit: John hughes Wrote, Directed and Produced:

Sixteen Candles
Breakfast Club
Weird Science
Ferris Beuller's Day Off
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
She’s Having a Baby
UncleBuck
Curly Sue

OK, OK.. I never actually saw Curly Sue. I hardly remember seeing She’s Having A Baby. And I only remember a few bits from Uncle Buck. But to think that one man wrote, directed and produced Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Planes Trains and Automobiles?!? Pardon my french, but that’s fucking incredible! Five of my favorite movies written directed and produced by one man. Nobody else even comes close!

Well, actually, Harold Ramis got close, writing all or part of Animal House, Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters, and Groundhog Day and directing National Lampoon’s Vacation (though John Hughes wrote it) ,Caddyshack and Groundhog Day and also producing Groundhog Day. But - Ok, so that’s better than close. I’ll call that a draw. But somehow I’m more emotionally connected with Hughes’ movies. The guy knew how to tug a heartstring. Film Literature? No. Probably not. But the man really knew what he was doing. And even though I haven’t seen any genius level work from him since, say 1987, I’m sad to know that there’s no chance of another genius John Hughes film being created.

(NOTE to whoever owns the rights to JH’s films. NO! Don’t do it. We don’t need to see sequels to any of his films. There’s no need for 46 Candles, Lunch Club, Ferris Bueller’s Weekend in the Hamptons, or Wheelchairs, Walkers and Canes. The movies are great, but that’s it. No more, OK?)

Sauer Kraut or Kisele Kupus, as the case may be.

2009-08-05T18:33:00.003-05:00

I've just declared my first batch of sauerkraut complete! 'Kisele kupus' is my best guess at spelling what the serbian part of the family calls it. That's sour cabbage for those who 1) don't speak german 2) don't speak serbian, and 3) live under a rock. Actually, they usually just call it 'kupus' (meaning cabbage), just as I sometimes call it kraut. Plus, the serbs will frequently make it with unshredded heads of cabbage in big drums. They use the resulting leaves to make sarma.

This stuff is ridiculously easy to make. Simply shred a quantity of cabbage (it'll shrink a little, so be generous), then toss it with salt to get the juices flowing. Once sufficient juices have evolved (an hour or so), pack it into a clean jar or crock, and put a weight on top. The weight's job is to keep the cabbage bits under the surface of the liquid, which quickly becomes an acidic preservative due to the action of lactobacilis. Lactobacillus are used in the production of sauerkraut, yogurt/kefir, and some beers (lambic, anyone?). They are now officially my second favorite group of microorganisms (right after the yeasts, duh).

So as I was saying, the juices flow, the wild lactobacillus set up shop, ferment the sugars in the juices, and produce acids that keep nasty molds and such from setting up shop. They also produce lots of gas (they are eating cabbage after all), so you don't want to firmly cap the container. Otherwise, your sauerkraut reaction vessel will become a bomb. And I'd say you don't want to clean up the shrapnel from that blast.

So, you keep the vessel at room temp (around 75 degrees Farenheit) for at least a couple of days, preferable a couple of weeks or more. I'm impatient, so I've stopped after 11 days. Then, into the fridge. That's it. Oh, sure, you'll need to top off the liquid occassionally, since it will spill over the side when the bubbles grow in the cabbage. (NOTE: place your actively fermenting container into another container if it's remotely close to full. Fortunately, TheWife thought of that one before we started!)

I'm amazed at how good this stuff is. It's clearly related to the limp stuff you buy at the grocery store, but the difference is stark. It's supposed to be good for you, too: lots of vitamin c, plus it's probiotic (Probiotic - the official grocery industry buzzword for the first decade of the 21st century!), delicious, and according to one researcher, functions as an aphrodisiac!. I have to admit that my gut reacts a little more strongly to this stuff than it does to that sterilized stuff from the store. But heck, what are a few greenhouse gasses among friends?

PS: I'm a slacker and didn't take any pictures. I borrowed the one above from flickr. Thanks mtsofan!

2009-07-31T20:28:00.003-05:00

Our Racine County Fair Menu: corn dog on a stick, barbecued pork chop on a stick, mini donuts on a stick, deep fried twinkie on a stick, pickle on a stick, caramel apple on a stick, deep fried snickers bar on a stick... and a bunny drawing on a stick (what can I say? we were on a roll!)

NOTE: We shared all of these items. So, unhealthy? Yeah. But we'll probably live.

PS: TheBoy loved climbing all over the Case tractors and combines. And the tractor pulls were a huge hit! It's surprising how enjoyable those can be to watch, especially given how boring they look at first glance.

An Antectdote

2009-07-30T10:48:00.002-05:00

I was looking over some German chemical analytical methods today, looking for a buffer preparation. Even though I don’t speak German, this is usually pretty simple, since most chemical names don’t change much in the transition from German to English. The prep I was reading said:

“20 mMol Ammoniumformiat-Puffer mit Ameisensaure aug pH 2.5 eingestellt.” [The second ‘a' in Ameisensaure should be umlauted. Not sure how to do that. Sorry!]

“20 mMol Ammoniumformiat-Puffer” is obviously 20 mMol Ammonium Formate Buffer, and the pH is adjusted to 2.5 with something. But what is “Ameisensaure”? From the context, I guessed that ‘saure’ was 'sour' indicating acid. But then what is ‘Ameisen’? Dropping Ameisen into the Word Monkey widget on my iGoogle page gives me ‘Ants’. So Ameisensaure is ‘Ant Acid’ (not to be confused with antacid).

So, now I’ve got it! ‘Ant Acid’ must be Formic Acid, since Formic means Ant-derived. A google search and visit to german wikipedia confirmed this for me. Formic acid was initially discovered throught the distillation of ants. Presumably the ants were first killed, and vapors coming off of the little ant-y bodies (not to be confused with antibodies) were collected with a distillation column.

The etymology (not to be confused with entymology) of our English word ‘Ant’ is derived from the German word ‘Ameisen’ through the variant version 'Emmet' (not to be confused with Emmett, the famous hobo clown). Entymology means the study of insects, of course, so I was tempted to theorize that the “ent” might be related to ants yet again. It is, but only indirectly. It comes from the Greek ‘entemon’, meaning insect. I wa surprised to see that both words come from a similar root, meaning ‘cut’ - insects for the way their waist appears to ‘cut in’, and ants for the way they bite. And that wraps up the etymology of entymology, and this post!

2009-07-17T12:15:00.002-05:00

And excerpt from President Obama’s speech to the NAACP. I think this is the most important part:

We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades -- (applause) -- that's not a reason to cut class -- (applause) -- that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. (Applause.) No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands -- you cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses. (Applause.) No excuses.
You get that education, all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can. (Applause.)
To parents -- to parents, we can't tell our kids to do well in school and then fail to support them when they get home. (Applause.) You can't just contract out parenting. For our kids to excel, we have to accept our responsibility to help them learn. That means putting away the Xbox -- (applause) -- putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. (Applause.) It means attending those parent-teacher conferences and reading to our children and helping them with their homework. (Applause.)
And by the way, it means we need to be there for our neighbor's sons and daughters. (Applause.) We need to go back to the time, back to the day when we parents saw somebody, saw some kid fooling around and -- it wasn't your child, but they'll whup you anyway. (Laughter and applause.) Or at least they'll tell your parents -- the parents will. You know. (Laughter.) That's the meaning of community. That's how we can reclaim the strength and the determination and the hopefulness that helped us come so far; helped us make a way out of no way.
It also means pushing our children to set their sights a little bit higher. They might think they've got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can't all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. (Applause.) I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers -- (applause) -- doctors and teachers -- (applause) -- not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court Justice. (Applause.) I want them aspiring to be the President of the United States of America. (Applause.)
I want their horizons to be limitless. I don't -- don't tell them they can't do something. Don't feed our children with a sense of -- that somehow because of their race that they cannot achieve.
Yes, government must be a force for opportunity. Yes, government must be a force for equality. But ultimately, if we are to be true to our past, then we also have to seize our own future, each and every day.

I fervently hope that this message will be absorbed by the families of Racine Unified School district. We’ve got a HS grad rate hovering around 70% in RUSD, meaning that more than 1 kid in 4 isn’t graduating from high school. If the community can't fix this, we'll soon have no one left except the 30% that is OK with not even having a diploma in an age when degrees are nearly mandatory.

Vacation Review

2009-07-07T11:47:00.008-05:00

(Click the photo above to see all of our vacation photos on flickr!)

I know, I know.. no posts for ever. Well, we spent a week and a half on our summer driving vacation, then went right back to work afterwards. That meant that it took us a couple of weeks to get everything put back where it belonged, and to get the lawn cut and baled. Plus photos needed to be organized, a tailgate party needed to be attended, and then Independence Day arrived! It's been one thing after another, but I'm finally back to three-steps behind. (I may never get caught up, but so long as I'm no more than three steps behind, I can relax a little bit).

Anyway, as to the vacation... it was a blast! This is our third year driving cross-country for our summer vacation with the kids (now ages 2 and 10), and let me tell you, it's been a blast every time! We're playing car games, watching for weird roadside attractions, and hitting all of the best places of natural, historic and touristific wonder. Here's how it all broke down:

Day 1 (Sat): The Road to Kingston

In good Fishmonger family style, I was up at 3am, and everyone was loaded into the car and we were on the road by 4am. It was still dark when we left. And we made EXCELLENT time – no traffic through Chicago, no backup at the Sarnia border crossing. We were zooming. Until we were inexplicably routed off of the highway somewhere in Canada. Fortunately, our TrikTik had enough local roads that we were able to make it back to the highway and on to Kingston by night. By which I mean it was dark again when we arrived. Yawn.

Day 2 (Sun): Hemmingford, Lake Champlain Ferry, The Green Mountains at Night, Killington

With some distance under our belt, we slowed things down for this day. We stopped off at a Flea Market on the square in Kingston, bought way too much stuff, wandered around town. Kingston looks like a fun place to visit – we’ve put it on our ‘some day’ list. Then we were off to Quebec.
Hemmingford was our destination. After a bit of searching, we located the tombstone of TheWife’s Great Great Great Great Grandfather. And somebody asked me for directions in French. I was of no help to the guy. Why do people always think I know where I am? Is it because I look like I don’t know where I’m going? Is there some Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle subclause that I’m unaware of?
After Quebec, it was back to the US. Down through New York to take the Plattsburgh Ferry to Vermont. Except TheBoy thought we were saying Fairy. He was pretty obviously disappointed when we explained that Tinkerbell would NOT be flying our van across Lake Champlain. But he did enjoy the ferry. And he claimed to see Champ three times.

By the time we left the interstate toward Killington, it was coal black out. And raining. And mountainous. I spent most of the drive struggling to become at peace with my impending death. I highly recommend arriving at strange mountain resorts in the daylight. We were all relieved when we got there, but not impressed with the resort.

Day 3 (Mon): Maple Syrup, Covered Bridges, Long Trail Brewery
First thing in the morning, I opened the patio door, and was suddenly very impressed with the resort. A brook babbled down the hill from our unit, and mist-shrouded mountains were visible in the other direction. And a little daylight (and sleep) helped out opinion of the unit greatly.

We decided to kick off our first day in Vermont with a visit to the Maple Syrup Museum in Pittsford. As of 2009, admission is $2.50. The first couple of rooms are pretty cheesy. Life-size dioramas and paintings of maple sugaring through the ages. But then it got strangely cool. Loads of antique equipment, syrup themed professional artwork and, best of all, audio clips from some old guys who apparently made maple syrup in the stone age. These guys had the greatest voices, and really interesting stories about maple syrup production in the old days (even about fermenting it!). After the exhibits, there’s a little slide show, and the tasting room, featuring a display of decliing maple content in commercial syrups over the years. You can taste different grades of syrup, maple spreads, maple jellies, maple candy… I almost went into defib from all the sweetness! There is of course, a gift shop, it’s about the same size as the museum proper. But you really do get the feeling the museum was put together by some people who really love sugaring. It’s cheesy, but sincere. Is that possible?

The museum hands out little maps of local covered bridges, so we drove through some of them next. They’re cute and all but, really, what’s the point. The drive not unexpectedly ends up at the Marble quarry museum which cross promotes with this one. We opted out of that, and headed back toward the resort, and right on by. Long Trail Brewery was right down the road. They make some pretty tasty beers. They seem to do best with the more highly hopped specimens. And they serve some tasty lunch, too. I had a pork loin sandwich and onion rings that was the bee’s knees! There’s also a self-guided tour of- mostly their bottling line, which my machine-obsessed ~3-year old loved. I loved the beer can collection on the walls of the brew pub… even if they can’t tell Minneapolis from Milwaukee.

Day 4 (Tue): Apple Cider, Ben & Jerry’s, Rock of Ages, Spiderweb Farm

So you may wonder. Why did we pick Vermont as a summertime vacation destination? Vermont is usually visited in the fall (for the leaves) or the winter (for the skiing). Two words – ice cream. We’ve learned that any destination can be fun to visit, so we didn’t need any more reason than the presence of Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont to schedule a visit. So, up to Waterbury we went.

First stop – Cold Hollow Cider Mill. Like many Vermont attractions, this was a gift shop with a reason to exist tacked on behind it. Also like many Vermont attractions, the reason was actually fairly interesting! In this case the attraction was a big hydraulic cider press. Pulped apples are hosed onto sheets in layers, then pressed in this big hydraulic monstrosity. The cider pours off of the press. Defintely neat to see. They’ve also got a glass fronted bee hive. Both were very popular with TheBoy.

After the cider mill, we headed to Mecca – Ben & Jerry’s. We got the tour of the operation (no photography, please, and don’t remember anything secret that you see), followed by free samples (Cookies and Cream that day) and a couple of Lactaid tabs for me. It was amusing and light-hearted. The gift shop was full of nifty things and the Flavor Graveyard was everything TheGirl had hoped it would be. There was also a lovely playground that two weary parents greatly appreciated. On the way back to the car, we happened across an icecream stand, so we stopped and each got a scoop. What luck;)

After Ben and Jerry's, we headed to Rock of Ages to tour their operations.
These operations consist of granite quarries and monument (read: tombstone) manufacturing. Sounds boring, maybe a bit morbid? Well it was the grand surprise of the trip. There are a few quarrying operations you can visit in Vermont. I picked Rock of Ages because they had an additional activity there - for $15 you (or more likely, your kids) can pick out a pre-stencilled slab of granite the size of an index card and sand blast etch the design in yourself. Now that was cool (and the attendant was great with the kids. She knew just how to make my 3-year old feel like he was participating as I sand blasted the wolf he picked out, while not talking down to the 10-year old too much). The sand blasting was particularly cool after seeing the production floor - cranes and pulleys moved chunks of granite of various sizes, moving the various monuments in and out of various cutting, polishing and etching stations. The place was huge, say the size of 3 football fields side to side! But the most excellent thing was the quarry itself - 600+ feet deep with sheer sides so that people are lowered into the pit in a cage attached to a crane. Granite slabs weighing thousands of pounds (and also port-a-potties) are brought out the same way. In case of crane failure or other emergency, there was a system of ladders and stairs mounted on the sheer wall of the pit. Huge piles of massive chunks of junk granite were tucked away in every corner. We were all blown away. Probably the most amazing place we visited in Vermont, and that's not even considering the marble bowling lane they've built on the grounds!

Day 5 (Wed): Laundry, Geocaching, Swimming, Picnicking

After 5 straight days either on the road, or boucing from one tourist stop to another, we needed a break. Plus, we were running out of clean clothes. So, after an early morning trip to the laundromat, we enjoyed our surroundings on foot - picnicking along the brook at our resort, getting in a solid chunk of pool time that TheGirl had been asking for, and hitting a geocache at Kent Pond. Incidentally, Kent Pond was extraordinary. In addition to a fun geocache and pretty little series of waterfalls (featuring the laziest trout in the world, which let us approach within 5 feet before spooking!), the trail crossed the Appalachian Trail, adding Vermont to the list of states where we've done the Appalachian Trail (OK, OK, 'seen' may be the more appropriate verb - whatever).

Day 6 (Thu): The Road to Burlington (Rokeby, Magic Hat, World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet
The plan was to head for Burlington on Route 7, hitting tourist attractions along the way, then spend the night in Burlington. Good plan. In contrast to the route we used to initially arrive at Killington (Interstate blandness followed by late night mountain road driving terror), it was freaking brilliant. We got to see a bunch of interesting small towns, some oddities (statue of a gorilla holding a VW), and some amazing tourist attractions (World's Largest Filing Cabinet!). The high point was touring Rokeby farm. TheGirl is always interested in Underground Railroad info, and Rokeby had plenty of that, and more. It was a bit different from your typical UR stop, though. It turns out that the house was only opened as a museum a few years ago, and research on the family is ongoing. I'm always a sucker for old family history, and this family had a variety of interesting people in it (author, painter, illustrator, as well as the founding finger in every pie type farmer. But the really interesting thing is that there seemed to be little to no secrecy regarding the movement of escaped slaves through the property. Some of them worked on the property for months, earning money for a fresh start in Canada. One man in particular even exchanged letters with his legal owner in an unsuccessful attempt to buy his own freedom. I liked that they were still figuring things out, and willing to share their confusion. The site is owned by a private foundation, not a government agency, so if you wantto go, go now. In today's economy, there's no saying how long they'll be able to afford to keep staffing the place. Let's just say that money seems a bit tight.

We also visited Magic Hat Brewing on this leg of the trip. The visit was... oh, let's be honest, a complete CF. I still can't put my finger on what bugged me most about the place. The decor was reminiscent of Mad Planet in the 80's (lots of black, glow in the dark, and multiple piercings) - which should be a good thing. But there was a pervasive attitude that we visitors weren't really cool enough to take up the employees' time. I got a little fed up with that after a while. Maybe I wouldn't have if the tour had been good. But it sucked. A slide show with blown speakers, a rushed tour guide, a lecture on brewing that took place in a sweltering balcony overlooking the bottling line, whose roar made listening to the guide all but impossible. Free samples appeared to be unlimited which, again, ought to be a good thing. But how much beet beer (I kid you not) can a person stand? And shouldn't the beer at a brewery taste fresh? Even the beet free stuff had the whiff and gag of rarely cleaned tap lines. Not pleasant. I don't feel very positive about this place. And I no longer have any real desire to drink their beer. sorry guys.

PS: World's Tallest Filing cabinet. Imagine a field down a side street. It is grown tall with unmowed grass and weeds. In the midst of it stands a tower. A tower of filing cabinets stacked one atop another, welded each to its neighbor - over 30 drawers in all. All in their original colors, and rusting from their exposure to the elements. There is apparently no sign., no explanation, no owner. It's pointless. It's meaningless. It's joyful. I love it.

Day 7 (Fri): Burlington Strolling, Wildflower Farm, Shelburne Museum
Breakfast in Burlington was uneventful. As expected the 'square biscuits' they advertised were not the same as those ridiculously delicious ones we got at the Old Chicakahominy House (or whatever it was called) last year. But everything was still tasty. Especially the cob-smoked bacon. It's still bacon, but it's a different delicious. Highly recommended. I wonder if there's any place that does bacon tastings...
Anyway, after breakfast, we strolled Church St - one of those funky pedestrian shopping zones that some college towns are fortunate enough to have. It was a nice area, and we were able to let the boy burn off a little energy before the drive back to the resort. A trip to an antique store introduced us to an interesting character. When he learned that I worked at a pharmaceutical company, he wanted to know what I knew about Pfizer. I told him that TheWife had been laid off from Pfizer, but that they treated her well in the process. Turns out he owned some Pfizer stock, and wanted to make sure that they were behaving themselves. Total Burlington approach to life. Before hitting the road, we stopped of at Four Corners of the Earth cafe to pick up sandwiches for a picnic lunch. I'd read about the place on yelp.com, and it was everything they promised and more. This little subterranean sandwich shop makes incredibly delicious sandwiches in out of this world combinations. The owner/operator is another quirky Burlingtonian. They do no advertising, and their menu board just lists the sandwich names, not the ingredients. But ask him any of the 20 some odd sandwiches and he can rattle off the ingredients without thinking. I love this place. It's the kind of place I'd like to run once I give up on my job. I'll call it a Must Stop in Burlington.

The Wildflower farm was something of a disappointment, as the location is not the actual farm, and the large demo prarie/woods was mostly not in bloom. But the gift shop was kick ass, with all the coolest new gardening gizmos, and a boatload of wildflower seeds reasonably priced in small packs or big pouches. Worth a shopping visit, at least.

TheShelburne Museum on the other hand, is completely mind-blowing. If I ever end up with a week to kill in Burlington, I plan to spend it at this place. It's unbelievable. Dozens of buildings old and new scattered along pathways winding over dozens of acres, all of it beautifully landscaped. And inside each building? The wildest museum collections you've ever seen. For instance, there's the quilt building (filled with quilts), the stencilled house (whose walls were dramaticaly stencilled to distraction many years ago), the horseshoe barn (filled with dozens of sleighs, carriages and other horse-drawn conveyances). It goes on and on, and it's all orderly and pleasant to view. There's a heirloom garden, a lithographic print shop, a collection of old medical stuff (dental, optical, pharmaceutical, etc.). But coolest of all are the paddle boat and the steam train. You wouldn't believe it but to see it. You come around a turn in the path and there (miles from water) is a gigantic paddle boat, fully open for your inspection, from the captain's deck to the engine room. It's just so freaking cool I can't believe it! Then, once you've finished with that, and move further along the path, theres a steam train, and a collection of associated buildings from the same era. And you can walk through the train, see the various cabins and sitting rooms. Again, amazing! We had only a couple of hours to visit before closing, so we didn't even come close to seeing it all. I'm just glad they closed fairly early, or I'd have been driving home in the dark again.

Day 8 (Sat): Quechee Balloon Festival, Woodstock
If you ever attend a balloon festival/rally, be sure to plan your visit to coincide with the scheduled balloon lif-offs. We didn't. Without the balloons, a balloon fest looks an awful lot like a small town carnival. We did take a chance to go up in a tethered hot air balloon for $15 each, which was pretty cool and made me surprisingly uncomfortable, and convinced me that I did not want to soar free in a hot air balloon. So, we got our fill of that, TheBoy learned a valuable lesson about untying helium balloons from one's wrist, we checked our hand stamps and we headed to Woodstock, down the road. Meh. Nothing much special there. It's another small town that's been done up all quaint and cloying for the tourists. I can get that in Cedarburg. Next!

On the way back, we stopped at Simon Pearce, a crystal and pottery place. Their stuff is ridiculously expensive ($50 for a tumbler?!?), but if you go downstairs, you can see the glassblowers and potters at work. Plus, you can get a good look at their dam and associated electrical generator. Best of all, they have a table off on the side where clay is supplied so that you can make your own creations to take home or leave for others to see. Nice touch. Of course, at $50 a glass, I guess they can afford to give away some clay.

So we finally made it back to the balloon festival shortly before the first balloons started inflating. It was very cool. As a kid living close to country spaces, we'd occassionally see a single balloon drift by. It was pretty cool. At this event, we got to see over a dozen balloons proceed from the inital lay-out, to cold air inflation, to burn, and finally to lift off. The spectacle of a dozen or more balloons floating within view, even bumping playfully off of each other, or touching down briefly in the nearby river is not to be missed. Check out my flickr account for pics. Amazing! We've already started searching for ballon rallys closer to home. Who's with us?

Day 9: (Sun) New York to Ontario

Up early to head to Niagara. All in all, a rather uneventful day. We did learn that isolated gas stations in New York state often lack bathrooms, even if a newly potty trained nearly 3 year old really really needs one. Thank god for the portable potty we bought. TheBoy does not handle accidents well. As the long day of driving wrapped up, it looked like we'd make it to our hotel ont he Canadian side at a reasonable hour. No such luck. I recall two hours in line for the border crossing, thought it may have actually been less. I don't think we fed the kids dinner until around 9pm that night - Lebanese takeout from a strip mall. Tasty stuff, but as TheWife noted, we definitely blew our Responsible Parent awards that day. But the hotel was nice, clean, well maintained, and a view of the rapids that cut off just above the falls. Watching the weekend fireworks, eating tasty take-out, and super comfy beds were just what was called for by that point.

Day 10: (Mon): Niagara Falls (Cave of the Winds, Tesla, Maid of the Mist and Observation Deck, Aerocar, Lighting the Falls)

So after waiting ages in line to enter Canada the night before, what was the first thing we did? Of course, we headed back to the American side - Goat Island our destination. First stop, the Nikola Tesla monument. Given Teslas half-assed treatment by Edison-brainwashed americans over the years, I was happily surprised to see Tesla featured so prominently at Niagara. The whole area took every chance to give the man his due. Center of it all was a giant statue of the man reading and pondering. Much better than Smithsonian did years ago, when they placed an Edison Bust with a "Father of Electricity" banner adjacent to a model of Teslas AC generator, without even mentioning Tesla once. Good for you Niagara Falls!

But nobody goes to Niagara Falls to see statues of serbian-american inventors, however much their inventions changed the world. Nope. We came to see The Falls. We started at Cave of the Winds. In retrospect, we should have finished up there. It was heads and shoulders beyond anything else we did. There were, of course, disposable raincoats. And Teva style cheapo sandals. And once we got there, we saw why. The Cave of the Winds walkway is built on the theory of increasing wet. First you get the spray from the falls. Then you notice that the outflow is gurgling across the walkway. Finally, there's the Hurricane Deck, where you can actually walk under a tiny fragment of the Bridal Veil Falls. I was awestruck. The water crashed down, before us, pulling the air with it, and generating a substantial wind. We (The Girl and I) struggled up to the edge where the falls actually dropped onto the deck. The water poured crushingly over our heads, crashing down so hard that it was tough to remain standing. I was giddy. The sheer energy of it all.And then extrapolating that tiny fragment of the Bridal Veil to the entire American Falls. And then extrapolating that to add in the entire Horseshoe Falls. If you don't feel a sense of awe upon taking this in, well, then you're a soulless asshole.

We did do the other classic attractions, of course: Maid of the Mist, the American Observation Deck, the Spanish Aerocar over the whirlpool, and such tourist strip attractions as the Louis Trousseau's Wax Museum and the Ferris Wheel. But there's almost no point talking about them. Experiencing the Falls from the Cave of the Winds tour looms so large in my mind that I struggle a bit to recall the rest.

Day 11 (Tue): 150,000 and Home

We did eventually make it home. But by that point I was so wiped out, that I'm not sure about most of it. I remember a super old guy weaving between lanes in Michigan, s if he werehoping to kill us all. I remember the border guard asking me if I had any guns. I remember enjoying a Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich, but not the donuts. And I remember the odometer rolling over to 150,000 miles just as we pulled in to the Kenosha Perkins for dinner. But mostly I remember wanting to collapse in my bed when I walked in the door. I think we'd all agree it was a great vacation. And I think we'd all agree we love roadtrips. Now we just have to figure out how to do a road trip without the pain of coming home.

Movin' Right Along

2009-06-14T05:13:00.003-05:00

Boy oh! It's pretty near ridiculous to drive from the SE Wisconsin to Kingston, Ontario. Sure, it'd be crazier to attempt to drive to the Kingston in Jamaica, what with the crime, and drugs, and the fact it's on an island and we have a car, not a boat - but the one in Ontario isn't much more reasonable. Especially when one of the drivers hates to drive the mini-van, and the other hates to drive at night. Double especially when you've got an almost potty-trained almost-three year old with you ( I gotta go potty! Oh wait, I don't...). But we did it! Everything went amazingly smoothly. No traffic in Chicago, no trouble at the border, one small, unmarked detour (but the road was on our map). The drive was gray and gloomy, and occassionally rainy, sure. But it's over now, the sun is shining (already?!?) and it's time to find a Canadian grocery store and dig me some regional snack foods. (Hey, we all have our passions, no?)

My latest comic is complete!

2009-05-28T12:03:00.001-05:00

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #1145
Originally uploaded by Ape Lad

I may have mentioned I bought an unmade comic from ApeLad. Well, apparently, it's complete! Unless someone else asked for a comic of a penguin fighting an octopus... source of inspiration to be posted later.

Those Bicycle Building Norwegians

2009-05-20T22:05:00.006-05:00

So, there I am last week, surfing through google's book search, looking for stuff about the old Green Bay Trail. (I'm a bit obsessed about that old road, you may have noticed). Once I'd exhausted those hits, and being of a genealogical mindset, I started searching for info on my ancestors, among them the Huseby family. My Great Great Great Uncle Arne Huseby was a bicycle manufacturer in Milwauke in the late 1890s through early 19-teens. The company was called the Huseby Cycle Company. Innovative, no? They specialized in wooden frame bicycles, but also made some more unusual bikes like the bamboo-frame bike shown at right.

Searching google books, I got a hit on one of those old vanity publications they used to do all the time - the kind where you pay a fee, and they do a glowing writeup of your company and include it in their book along with a photo of your premises. Or, you don't pay a fee, and you get half a paragraph, and no photo... or you don't get mentioned at all. This book was an overview of Milwaukee manufacturing at the turn of the century. And there was the Huseby Cycle Company! The listing was very nice. It included a pic of the main building (shown at left), and gave a location. I've seen the location of the company described before, but it never helped me locate the building. Milwaukee changed a lot of street names, and most of the street numbers sometime in the 20s or 30s. An address was almost useless unless you have a map from before the names changed - which I don't. But this time, the building was listed as being on the corner of Lake and Ferry. And thanks to "the power of the internet", I was able to find a listing of street names before and after the switch. Lake and Ferry translated to "2nd and Pittsburgh".

A quick check of google maps showed what looked to be the building! Sadly, street view is not available for the streets in that area, so I'd have to visit in person to see what the building looked like now. Happily, I'd be a few blocks away over the weekend!

View Larger Map

And sure enough, it's the same building... or at least what's left of it. There's no trace of "Huseby" on the building. The name Laskin does appear in the stonework, indicating that, while the Husebys used the building, they weren't the original owners. Despite, the bricked up windows, awful paint job, and other atrocities inflicted upon the building, it was still pretty cool. I mean there I was, standing in the same spot that relatives of mine stood over 100 years ago!

So, photographic documentation of the exterior complete (see here for the full set of photos), I checked to see if I could get inside. It was a long shot, this being 9:15 on a Sunday morning and, sure enough, no luck. One entrance featured a sign for a theatrical supply company. Closed on weekends. The other entrance seemed to connect to a series of artists' studios/galleries. Glancing over the names I saw that I recognized one! James Hempel, a highly talented portrait painter has space inside the building where my long-gone relatives made bicycles out of inappropriate materials! Now, I've never met James, but I'm familiar with his work because a good friend of mine has known him for ages... went to school with him or some such. So, once I finish typing this up, I'll have to shoot an email to my friend. Perhaps there's some Huseby Cycle memorabilia floating around the building. I'd love to get a look at it if there is!

30 minutes and 20 feet later...

2009-05-20T16:39:00.002-05:00

Photo-0034.jpeg
Originally uploaded by ribarnica

T-Mobile

Traffic at a dead stop...

2009-05-20T16:02:00.002-05:00

Photo-0032.jpeg
Originally uploaded by ribarnica

T-Mobile

Puppies!

2009-05-13T11:10:00.000-05:00

Click the photo to go to the video of TheGirl playing with Little Bro's pommeranian puppies.

It's a trap!

2009-05-07T14:45:00.003-05:00

I saw the truck at above left on the way in to work. I'm guessing that this is yet another instance of Life Imitating Art. Witness the old Farside cartoon at right. Either that, or aliens have vastly underestimated the intelligence of humans... well, at least that of around 30% of us.

Earbuds

2009-04-30T11:28:00.004-05:00

I guess I'm a rather fortunate individual. Our management allows us to play music in the labs, or even to wear earphones while working at the bench. Since not everyone enjoys the music I do (although really, who doesn't like sea shanties, ukulele-driven pop music, and irish drinking songs?!!), I've tried several times to wear headphones at the bench.

It drives me batty. Maybe it's because my hearing isn't what it once was. Maybe it's just my nosy side. Either way, I can't stand being cut off from the sounds around me. It feels like something of a safety concern, as well. I mean, if someone drops a tank of phosgene, snapping off the valve and flooding the lab with poisonous gas, I want to at least have the advanced warning of hearing the bodies drop, so that I'll have time to collect myself for finding out what it REALLY smells like.

My solution has been to only use one earbud. Let me tell you, this is a sucky solution. That dangling bud acts as a counterweight, slowly tugging the active earbud from the ear. It also catches on things... ID badges... buttons.... flasks full of solutions made from highly expensive and difficult to synthesize compounds... that kind of thing. Really, it's a no-go.

Well, if you've had similar problems, let me tell you that help has arrived. It's the 1-Bud... A single earbud with a special jack configured to play both channels of the stereo into one ear. I've wanted one since I found them early this year. Unfortunately, messages on their site indicated that the existing version wouldn't work with my MP3 player. But a new version was being developed, so I waited.

And the wait was worth it! Nice sound, fits comfortably into my ear, and the perfect length! Sure, the styling is a little "Disco 76" (white with gold accents), but what the hell. And if you're not restricted by having a Creative brand MP3 player, you have a full range of options, including earcuff style, and colors including white, black and "if your skin is really this color, you should probably see a doctor" skin tone. It's $13 plus S&H.

There, now my public service for the month is done. Oh, in case you're interested, these things weren't developed for people like me (talk about your niche market!). They were developed for people with hearing loss in one ear who still want to hear both channels of their stereo. Without the internet, I'd never have learned of these, much less found a source for them. All hail, Mighty Web!

Physics Question

2009-04-21T12:00:00.002-05:00

Ok, so given that an electron and an anti-electron* will annihilate each other, resulting in a burst of energy, and that a proton and an anti-proton will annihilate each other, resulting in a (presumably bigger) burst of energy.... what happens if an anti-electron encounters a proton? There's something like an 1840x difference in masses, so they can't just annihilate each other, right? And if the anti-electron only combines with 1/1840th of a proton, what happens to the rest? We've got to be talking partially destroying a quark, right? Any partical physicists wanna help me understand what happens?

* OK, fine, positron. Damn geeks.

All day long

2009-04-09T11:28:00.003-05:00

Some friends will be visiting from North Carolina this weekend, passing through on the way to Minneapolis for Easter. This got me thinking about our recent driving vacations and one of the things I hate about driving south in the summer- the days get shorter!. Most of us realize that far northern areas have times when the sun doesn't set, but sometimes we don't make the logical step that in the summer (for instance at the summer solstice), the further south you go, the shorter the daylight becomes. I found a lovely chart at this website:

The chart is easier to read at the actual site. Sorry about that. You can visit the US Naval Observatory, too. They have a gizmo that will calc sunrise/sunset for you. The point, though is that at Summer Solstice, the day in Minneapolis (~44 deg N) is about 15 hours and 37 minutes, while in Charlotte, NC (35 deg N) the day is only 14 hours and 32 minutes long. More than an hour of additional daylight for the Twin Cities! Yes, that'll show those southern good-for-nothings! (Please ignore the fact that the longer your summer solstice day, the shorter your winter solstice day)

Here's some more cities, with day length at Summer solstice, in case you're interested:

Milwaukee 15:23, Houston 14:04, Key West 13:40, Anchorage 19:22, Seattle 16:00, Honolulu 13:26.

Oh, and to satisfy the sticklers, yes, actual daylight is longer than the difference between sunrise and sunset, as it includes twilight (which also increases and decreases in length along with the "day proper") and that calculated sunset and actual sunset can differ due to bending of light rays by the atmosphere, yada, yada, yada.

Always Use Protection

2009-04-07T11:06:00.007-05:00

I’ve developed a craving for Pocket Protectors. Actually, this craving is not that unusual for me. It has appeared intermittently throughout my laboratory working life. What is unusual is that this instance of the craving has not been triggered by the appearance of a large black stain on the pocket of my favorite shirt. Instead, I’ve fallen for its ease of collectibility. It turns out that pocket protectors were a frequent giveaway in the not too distant past. As such, they are easily available for purchase (for instance, on ebay) in the range of $1 to $5.

My current inspiration is the Pojman Pocket Protector Collection (selected items from the 800+ item collection are shown above). His collection spans the entire world of pocket protectors, from those made of ostrich leather to those made of plastic, from those bearing inscrutable industrial names to those bearing the names and images of household favorites. It's these I love. Mr. Peanut? Frito Bandito? obscure colas or bread companies? Yes, please! Best of all, these are eminently storeable collectibles!

But if you want a pocket protector today, you needen't fall back on history. This seller on etsy is offering a delightful "sparkle vinyl" protector, and can do custom designs. Or take a whack at it yourself - with this instructable, which gives step by step instructions for creating pocket protectors from the skins of vinyl-covered binders. Ah yes... this is going to be fun....

Finally, another wonders...

2009-04-03T20:41:00.004-05:00

Wondermark had a great cartoon today. It's about cavemen and crying babies. I've reproduced it here (click to read):

Since my daughter (TheGirl) was born, I have wondered a similar thing. More particularly, I've wondered how it is that mankind has survived this long when newborns are so very fragile and so very irritating. (Oh give me a break. Kids are great, but babies? They're fucking pains in the ass...) As infants, each of my kids has pushed me to within a hair of insanity. Certainly, caveman babies behaved similarly. And presumably, cavemen were even less restrained than I am. So why weren't all the babies killed back then?

All I can think of is that the real torture of screaming infants is staying there and dealing with them. Society insists that we not abandon our kids, even for a little while (say, long enough to get a good night's sleep). Maybe the cavemen just took off when they got crazy... headed out to the nearest proto-tavern, and ate fermented berries until the sun came up.

NO? OK, an alternte theroy... maybe babies were being dropped over cliffs, and that's the reason for the extreme population bottleneck that DNA analyses see signs of about 70,000 years ago. In this theory, we'd have to have been about to exterminate our species via infanticide when whatever is is that kept me from chucking the kids out into the wintry night developed for the first time in cavemen... and mankind blossomed.

[Ed. note - by "cavemen" I am referring to early humans, either anatomically modern, or nearly so. Yes, I know that the term technicaly refers to Neanderthals, and I know that there's no evidence surviving humans are related to Neanderthals. So give me a break, 'K?]

Restaurant Webpages

2009-04-02T11:14:00.003-05:00

Can anyone tell me why a restaurant wouldn't put up a web page? I can't conceive of a reason, but there must be one. Is it laziness? Technophobia? Secret desire to fail?

Just about every restaurant does ads in the yellowpages, but how many people are still using them? Whenever, and I mean WHENEVER, I consider going to a new restaurant or out to eat in a new area, I do a quick google search on them. A good web page will not only give me their location, their hours and their phone number, it give me a chance to see what their menu is like. And the menu is what can hook me.

Show me a good menu description (for instance cerca de cielo at Cempazuchi in Milwaukee - "Symbolic of the thirteen layers of the Mayan heavens, corn masa cakes are stacked with beans, spinach, squash, peppers and cheese on a roasted tomato salsa" [ed.- and oh my god, it's so good!]) and even if I don't hit your place this time, you'll stay in my mind for next time. If they're smart, it will also show me a map of their location, and maybe a shot of the front of the place.

It's just good business. There are a variety of operators that have frameworks ready to go - just dump in your info. And I can't see how a simple website with menu, hours and pictures, with a nice domain name would run you much. I'll bet you can lock it down for less than the cost of an inch of column space in the yellow pages. And not doing it because of the cost is self-defeating - you'll be at such a competetive disadvantage if you don't. So PLEASE! for the sake of my dining pleasure, put up a website for your restaurant. Don't be a dolt.

Boy oh!

2009-03-27T07:12:00.000-05:00

Man, I could suddenly want a burger. Oops! Little typo there. That should read, I want to BE a burger. And I must start watching Top Chef...

Photo-0013.jpeg

2009-03-21T18:33:00.001-05:00

Photo-0013.jpeg
Originally uploaded by ribarnica

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Here, bison bison bison...

2009-03-17T11:07:00.001-05:00

Maybe it's just my mood today, but I just think its hilarious that the scientific name for what most of us Americans call the buffalo is "bison bison bison". OK, technically, that's the plains buffalo subspecies. But this is the version that I think of when I think of buffalo... vast herds thundering across the plains... toward a little old lady with a can-opener and a tin of bison food, quietly muttering "here, bison bison bison...". Well, that's what I'll think of now, anyway.

I find this even more amusing than the day I learned that the scientific name for mountain gorillas was "gorilla gorilla". Heheh... I guess it's not just today. Must be some sort of brain damage or something.

Weekend goings on

2009-03-14T22:49:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was action packed! Among a multitude of other events, TheWife and I caught a show (three acts) at the Pabst Theater with some tickets I won from WUWM. Lenka and Missy Higgins were excellent. Opening act Lenka had a fun and quirky pop edge, and Missy kicked ass on the singer-songwriter front. The middle act was Justin Nokuza. His vibe was best described as soulless pretty boy. Uck. An additional bonus? Missy Higgins latest CD was available for $5 (as MP3s) on amazon.com. Bonus!

The most interesting thing for me was seeing the Pabst with only a 3 or 4 hundred people in it. There was lots of empty space, and this being a pop show, looking around was encouraged. What is it about a grand old theater, half empty, that is so enjoyable?

Before the show, we tried to go to Water Buffalo for dinner. Fortunately, they were a bit backed up, and we ended up going to Rustico, an italian pizza/sandwich place a couple of doors down. The salad and pizza we ordered were excellent (a crispy/chewy crust loaded with italian sausage porcini mushrooms)and , as were the libations - New Glarus's Alt really hit the spot (packed with flavor, the malt and hops perfectly balanced)!

More New Quarters!

2009-03-10T11:07:00.006-05:00

So with the end of 2008, the US Mint's 50 State Quarters program is complete. TheGirl is still missing a couple of quarters, but we should find them soon. But did you know what's on tap for 2009 and beyond?

First, it's the DC and US territories program. The DC coin is already out (Viola Zupa showed me one). It doesn't have the slogan asked for by the Mayor of DC ("Taxation without Representation" Go figure. Heh.), but I guess the slogan they used ("Justice for All") could be considered a compromise. Other quarters will be issued for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Brings to mind questions of Statehood, but that's another post.

After 2009, they'll be launching their new Quarter Program: "America's National Parks". There'll be 56 differet quarters issued (that's one for each state and territory, plus DC) , 5 per year, so this'll take us into 2021 or 2022. The selection process is apparently ongoing. According to the
website:

"National sites for consideration include any site under the supervision,
management, or conservancy of the National Park Service, the United States
Forest Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, or any similar
department or agency of the Federal government. "

So... I'm guessing that means the Apostle Island National Lakeshore for Wisconsin. Not that exciting, but at least we've got something distinctive! Not every state has Federal Site that is visually interesting enough to put on a coin. I mean, you can only have so many picture of forests and rivers before they all start to blur together. And poor Illinois only has the Lincoln Home National historic site. Another Lincoln coin... yawn. Worse yet, Connecticut has a farm, and Deleware doesn't seem to have anything at all! This should be an "interesting" decade for US Quarters.

Feeling Wasted

2009-03-09T11:53:00.004-05:00

Why, oh why, are we still doing daylight savings time? I mean, it runs from March to November now. That’s nine months out of the year. Why not just make it year round, and save us the trouble of adjusting to this twice each year? The whole thing is basically a trick, after all, designed to get us to spend more money. Apparently people spend more money if it is light out when they’re shopping. But if it’s good for 9 months of the year, why not go whole hog? Besides, I’ll bet a lot of people don’t even know if we just came OFF of DST,or just sent ON DST.

By shifting to 100% DST, we could avoid the annual loss of sleep. More importantly, it would allow the daylight to ebb and flow naturally. These sudden shifts are not good for our natural body rythms, and the nation (heck, the World) suffers for it. Check out this study regarding the increase in traffic accidents in the days following the time shift. Seventeen Percent! Think of the damaged vehicles! Think of the injured drivers! Think of the injured passengers, some of them likely children!

- Say, that gives me an idea. Maybe I can get MADD or AAA to start campaigning for this. They always claim to be about safety (though I’d say MADD is actually about a return to prohibition), they’d be perfect for the job! I envision a world where daylight ebbs and flows naturally, a world where I'm not exhausted each spring and depressive each autumn due to sudden shifts in my schedule. Is there really any reason we can't just go there?

A short dream:

2009-02-28T12:39:00.004-06:00

I dreamt that I ran into my old friend Matt Hensley (formerly of Neenah) while out and about. I hadn't seen him for years, and all of my efforts to locatehim had been fruitless. When he invited me over for dinner, I learned why. Sittingin the hot tub on Matt's deck was his girlfriend, Kirsten Dunst! Matt had apparently been dating her since shortly after I last saw him. I was kind of pissed, but more that he hadn't told me than that he was dating her. After all, I'd moved on, why shouldn't Kirsten? And if I thought Matt was a good guy, why shouldn't she?

Sadly, this is as far as the dream went, since my 2 year old elbowed me in the face at about this time. He woke up early this morning (4am) and since he's a bit under the weather this weekend, we let him crawl into bed with us rather than start our day at that ungodly hour. The really weird thing, though, is that Kirsten Dunst actually kind of gives me the creeps. Well, her face does, anyway. Why do I have to dream of her instead of Eliza Dushku, for instance? Lif just isn't fair.

An Apple You Grapple!

2009-02-26T11:35:00.000-06:00

February has been a drought on this blog - couple of tiny posts, then silence. A few of my readers have pointed this out, wondered when I’d start posting agin. I’ve been wondering that myself. Lately, I don’t seem to have anything to say. Looking back to what started going through my head around the time when posting tailed off, I see one topic popping up again and again. The Bail-out.

It seems like the Bail-out should be a mother-lode of material. And yet, I seem mined out. Well, that’s not really the case. I think the problem is, I’ve finally encountered an issue about which I can not make up my mind. Should our government spend an extra trillion dollars or two trillion dollars in an attempt to jump start the economy? I don’t know.

In general, I oppose government intervetion in the economy. And the amount of money involved here is staggering. If we end up spending around $2 trillion that’ll be roughly an extra $7,000 per US citizen. And that’s on top of the $11 trillion ($37,000 per US citizen) we alread owe. So my household’s share of the national debt is around $175,000. There’s only one way the US is ever going to pay this thing off: rampant inflation. So we’ve got that to look forward to sooner or later.

On the other hand, if we don’t do this, a lot of the top guys are predicting that the country slides deeper into a depression which may take a decade or more to climb out of. On the other, other hand, that may happen anyway… and it’s got to be better to have a depression where we’re $11 trillion in debt than one where we’re $13 trillion in debt. Not the either sounds very good.

So, if anyone has some insight into this situation that will blow everything else away and crystallize the situation for me, I’d appreciate hearing it. Until then, I’m vapor locked. It looks like I’m just going to have to accept this and move on. In any case, my lack of a firm opinion on the subject won’t keep things from happening.

My situation reminds me of a certain Underdog cartoon. As you may recall, Underdog was fond of rhyming as he aprehended the bad guys. In this particular episode, the bad guys realized that this was less a habit than it was a compulsion. So they stole a bunch of oranges. With no clear rhyme for orange, Underdog was stymied. Sure, he could have called it fruit, or used the latin name or whatever, but he froze up. Without a rhyme, he vapor locked. The bad guys then started stealing things colored orange… orange cars, orange fur coats, whatever. He didn’t even really need to rhyme with orange for these, but he was fixated on it by this point, unable to function. Finally, the badguy henchman made an error. Whilst passing a fruit stand, he grabbed an apple to munch on. Underdog, immediately himself again, leapt up full of vigor and pointing madly at the henchman, uttered “A ha! An apple you grapple!” and took the two off to jail. It didn’t make sense as a story, but it makes great sense to me.

Explosion in Oak Creek Power Plant!

2009-02-03T15:20:00.003-06:00

click title for details

Photo-0060.jpeg

2009-01-31T11:21:00.001-06:00

Photo-0060.jpeg
Originally uploaded by ribarnica

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Booze Rumors

2009-01-30T11:56:00.004-06:00

Rumor is that Milwaukee's own Great Lake's Distillery (producer of Rehorst Gin and Vodkas) will be coming out with a new product in March - absinthe! Of course, it'll be Milwaukee Absinthe, so the Green Fairy might be wearing a cheesehead, and have a golden 'g' painted on each cheek.... and maybe there'll be a hint of grilled bratwurst in the mix? Can't wait to find out. I hope the experience of GLD's absinthe is as interesting as the stuff I tried before! This one is definitely on the shopping list!

PS: GLD is doing tours!

Was this intentional?

2009-01-28T21:45:00.003-06:00

I heard Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the radio today. I wasn't sure I'd heard what I thought I had, so I dug up the quote off the net. Here's what she said:

"[W]e are moving the ship of state in a New Direction, in favor of the many, not the few."

Which is strangely reminiscent of a famous quote from Spock:

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few … or the one.”

So, is she quoting Spock, or is there some alternate source that they're both referencing? And if she's quoting Spock, how long will it be before she's opening her statements with the current stardate?

Curry Ketchup!

2009-01-25T11:26:00.004-06:00

This past Thursday, I was walking down the imported foods aisle at Woodman's grocery store, and there on the shelf was a bottle of german Curry Ketchup. I'd found a reference to this stuff a couple of years ago, and I've been wondering about it ever since. Would it be a tasty twist on regular ketchup? Or, would it be the condiment version of David Hasselhoff? Now I know. Or at least I know about the Burkhardt brand. The verdict? Not bad! There's a distinct curry powder flavor, but it isn't overpowering, and the ketchup flavor still shines through. So that's one quesion answered, and a new addition to my condiment zoo. I still wonder, though... why is curry ketchup german? British, I could understand, given the sheer number of curry shops there. But Germany?!? Not really a place I identify with Indian food. Go figure. Next target? Spaghetti ice cream!

Man, this eating meat thing is confusing.

2009-01-23T11:31:00.004-06:00

I’m the household menu planner. Since meat eating has returned to my life, it has also returned to the menus. I figured eating meat could easily become its own health issue for me. A diet alternating between beef and pork would probably not help me meet my goals for blood cholesterol. On the other hand, I want more variety in my meals than daily chicken can provide. So, I looked around for the best current guidance on what we should be eating on the meat front.

The answer, basically, is fish. Twice a week. And don’t eat too much meat. OK, we can do that. But which fish should we be eating.? Fish is a bit mysterious to me. Growing up, the only fish I recall eating at home was 1) poor man’s lobster (boiled whitefish with melted butter) and 2) whatever we’d recently caught on a fishing trip – scaled, floured and fried. Getting healthier by adding more butter and fried food to my diet seemed an unlikely prospect.

So other fish recipes needed to be found… and I found them! Malabar swordfish curry, halibut tacos, a not-quite cioppino with scallops and tilapia, serbian-style cod, gingered salmon. All of them – yum! I wanted more, so I checked out some cookbooks from the library. They were mostly more of the same, but also a warning… don’t eat swordfish more than once a month. Too much mercury.

Oh crap. What else is gonna be trouble? Well, let’s see… shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel are high in mercury; non-canned tuna, red snapper and orange roughy aren’t quite as bad. But, also make sure that at least one of the fish per week is a fatty fish (salmon, herring, halibut). And shrimp is high in cholestrol, but you don’t have to worry about it because it’s also high in omega 3 fatty acids. And that leaves out the issue of wild caught vs. farmed. Farmed fish tends to have lower Omega 3 fatty acids than the wild-caught version of the same fish. On the other hand, farmed fish tend to get sick more, and that disease can infect local wild fish. And if you’re raising fish in an area where they aren’t native, there’s also the issue of escapes, which can overrun already endangered native species, pushing them to the brink. Then again, many of the wild-caught fish are caught in irresposible manner, endangering stocks, or carrying larger loads of toxins. Cripes! I’m going to need a cheat sheet. By the time I research all of this stuff, I’m going to need a book of notes just to plan the menu!

On the drink machine in the lunchroom:

2009-01-20T10:23:00.003-06:00

After months of malfuntion, the following letter appeared on the office drinks machine this morning:

"Dear Pop Machine Guy or Gal,

It has probably occurred to you that the folks on this floor are a singularly unthirsty bunch. Let me assure you that this is most emphatically not the case. In facet, we’re actually pretty dehydrated. This condition is in part due to the dysfunctional state of this pop machine. It appears that the screw drives which are intended to propel bottles forward into the retrieval device (and ultimately in our waiting hands) are either disconnected or to weak to move an overweight housefly (never mind a 20 oz pop bottle).

While the condition of the machine has slowly deteriorated rendering fewer and fewer selections operative, some selections have never worked. We bet the bottles in those slots are pretty old and nasty by this point.

Please render whatever aid you are able to this machine. Or replace it. Or run it over with a snow plow. We really don’t care anymore."

isgeorgebushstillpresident.com

2009-01-20T08:03:00.001-06:00

Click the link to find out. As I post this, it's reading "Yes"

Got Green Goo?

2009-01-16T19:15:00.001-06:00

"Why, yes, I did know you made a batch of granny smith / pear / spinach juice with the new juicer you got for Christmas, but I honestly have no idea what happened to it"

An entertainment:

2009-01-16T06:59:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I passionately praised the glories of a frigid winter day. As is often the case with furious passion, that which burns fiercely burns out quickly. The long and short? I aint goin out in this shit again. So, TheFishmonger is taking the day off and staying home with the kids. I'm currently trying to figure out how to hook a spaceheater to my sweatpants. I'll let you know if I figure it out. In the meantime, here's a video to help pass your own frigid day (or if you don't live near me, it might be a mild day, or even a toasty day... bastard).

The vid is by fishrockit. It's entitled "Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it). Enjoy!

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Now this is gorgeous weather!

2009-01-15T06:45:00.000-06:00

Not comfortable weather, I'll agree, but absolutely gorgeous. That pic at right is the built-in from my mini-van on the drive in this morning. Frosty! The observant reader will note that the readout is displaying in degrees Celcius. True. this temp only corresponds to about -10 deg Farenheit. Unfortunatley, I don't have a pic of the temp when I hit the highway... -15 deg F! At my home, by contrast, it was a disappointing -8 deg F. It's the winter version of the lake effect - always a few degrees warmer at home because of the proximity of a Great Lake.

But I digress. My point was that this morning is beautiful. The sky shades from a denim blue westward of overhead to a gentle rose at the horizon (sunrise still being a few minutes away). The air is still , and quiet. Since schools are closed, many people are home from work with the kids, and the roads run free and easy (well, techinically not free, since the Illinois tollway authority extracts a buck from me each day to get to work, but again, I digress). Best of all is the snow. It's too cold for salt to do it's snow-melting magic, so the parking lots are covered with a layer of packed snow. And when you walk on it, it squeaks! It's my favorite sound of winter, the squeaky crunch of o'er frozen snow.

But that's not all! Frost builds up on the moustache after only a minute or so outside. Nose hairs also freeze together with the frost from exhales. It's a curious sensation, having one's hairs freezing together - a brief window into a different world. Further indication I'm a freak? Sure, but what the hell? It's the only weather I truly love!

Connections...

2009-01-14T11:03:00.005-06:00

With the current economic slowdown (is that euphemistic enough for you?), there's a lot of talk about economic connections. There are the very direct connections: For instance, if automakers close down or reduce production, then those companies won't be buying any/as much steel, autoparts, paint, etc. and their suppliers will suffer. Then there are the more subtle connections: For instance, if automakers layoff employees, those employees won't be buying homes, clothing, electronics, etc. and those industries will likewise suffer. But I hadn't considered that some connections are more hidden, like that between automakers and the pharmaceutical industries.

Pharmaceutical companies tend to use a LOT of acetonitrile (that's acetonitrile at left), probably because it was cheap. I say 'was' because that's all in the past now. A year ago, a 4 liter bottle of purified acetonitrile cost us about $15 a bottle (we were buying in bulk). Today, that bottle has recently cost us over $100, when it's available, and the rumor is that some companies are charging as much as $250 a bottle. So what's the connection?

Well, it turns out that the reason acetonitrile was so cheap is that it's a byproduct of the manufacture of certain types of plastics... like those used to make auto parts. No credit, and a tanking economy, means no car sales. No car sales means no car manufacturing, means less car part manufacturing, means less acetonitrile byproduct. The shortage drives up prices. It's basic economics.

OK, such is life. But what happens when there's just not enough to go around? I'm not sure. It's possible that someone will manage to make another acetonitril source profitable. I hope so. If this doesn't happen, I don't know what will. I'm pretty sure that pharmaceutical production won't be stopped. But I'm also sure that the FDA makes it a royal pain in the butt to change solvents... and probably rightly so. So, it's not like they can just switch over to methanol in a heartbeat.

It's an interesting problem, and I'm curious to see how it plays out. More to the point, it's very likely a problem that's playing out in different forms in a multitude of industries. Our global economy is as interconnected as the biosphere. Make more iPods and the price of eggs drops? Increase the cost of corn and the price of aluminum drops. Release leopards in NYC and the loan market opens up? Could be... who knows? Interesting times we've got here. And it'll be fascinating to watch how they play out. Looks like my generation will have some tales for the grandkids, after all.

A dream from earlier in the week…

2009-01-08T15:07:00.008-06:00

We’re moving into our new house. It’s a big old place with an overgrown yard. It’ll be a lot of work to fix the old place up. But once it’s done, it’ll be gorgeous... maybe not a mansion, but really nice. In it's currentstate, it’ll be spooky at night, but now it’s the middle of the day, in the middle of summer. It’s cool and shady inside, warm and sunny out. Just about a perfect day.

Or it would be, if not for the weird guy at the door. Actually, the weird guy at the door isn’t the whole problem. We’ve got a lot of friends and family over, helping us clean stuff up, move stuff in, and fix stuff up enough that we can stay the night. With the appearance of this strange guy from next door, everyone gathered in the front room to chat. Understandable, everyone wants to meet the neighbors. But I’m a bit disturbed by the guy. He’s a little too… charming. And everyone but me seems very charmed by him. As I repeatedly try to point out the menacing undertones to his chat, I’m repeatedly shushed. As you might expect, I don’t take well to that, and I storm out of the house in a childish fit of anger and frustration.

The sunlight floats over the yard. It really is a gorgeous damned day. I decide to trek down to the mailbox, see if anything has shown up for me yet. With the lawn chest-high in weeds and grasses, it’s fortunate that Dad mowed a few paths to key points through the yard. I amble down the one heading toward the mailbox. Unfortunately, this home is in the country, and we have a ditch in front . A small stream of water meanders down the ditch, but the water has backed up along this stretch and it’d be too difficult to hurdle it without risking a soaker. The path Dad mowed continues off along the ditch toward the driveway, so I turn.

As I turn, a floating stick in the ditch catches my eye. I don’t understand why at first. Then I notice, it’s moving faster than the sluggish water. What I notice next blows my mind. It’s being pulled toward a tiny dam. It looks like a beaver dam, but what’s pulling it is not beaver. The creature is about 9” long, and looks like a cross between a ginger root and a sea dragon. It’s obviously the root of a plant, with many dark lobes. Strangely, it seems to be holding the stick in its mouth.

It has a mouth. I’m transfixed. I watch this root-thing swim downstream to it’s small dam and add the stick to others blocking the flow of water. It all seems vaguely familiar. Didn’t I read about these on some website? I’m sure I remember seeing a picture of this very rare, ambulatory, aquatic plant. There was something about it extruding leaves when stationary, and dropping the leaves when it needed to move about. And I had one living in my yard! What luck! After I checked the mail, I was definitely going to look this one up. How incredibly cool!

I turned again to walk down the path to the driveway. After several steps, I froze. On a moss-covered stump or hummock to my right there were two other root-creatures! These were different – larger, and they seemed to be tumbling and playing like river otters. As I gaped at them, one of them suddenly turned and leapt without warming at me, wrapping itself around my arm. I panicked, flailing my arms and uttering the grunting gutteral cry I usually reserve for those times when I am attacked by squirrels.

As the beast flung loose from my arm, I turned and ran, following the curve of the path toward the driveway. After a few moments, I realized I was being stupid. I had only imagined that I was being attacked. I turned and looked back up the path. Nothing. I forced deep breaths to slow my gasping breathing. There, much better. Now, I – around the curve of the trail, came two multi-lobed creatures in a loping, but focussed run. Focussed on me. They didn’t look playful any more. Now they looked pissed. There was no growl of menace, no roar of anger, but their rage was somehow palpable and directed at me. I ran, screaming mindlessly, for help. As the weird monstrosities approached, I woke up.

So tell me people... what the hell is that supposed to mean? Do I have some twisted fear that, now I'm eating meat, soon the plants will be too?

(photos shamelessly stolen from the web)

Nemo Bested

2008-12-29T06:39:00.002-06:00

Now that's a bottle rocket war! The caption of the Reuters photo reads: "Rockets fly over bell tower of Ayios Marcos church during Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations on the eastern Aegean island of Chios in Greece late on April 26, 2008. Two rival parishes of Vrontados village fire thousands of rockets every Easter Saturday aiming at the opposing church's bell tower in a centuries-old tradition. (REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis) Looks like the perfect spring vacation destination for Nemo and friends! Failing that, maybe you guys could get a couple of the churches involved in the Knott Lane area? (Click the pic for the full sized view - it's gorgeous!)

Twiddling...

2008-12-25T06:30:00.002-06:00

It's 6:30 am Christmas morning, and I'm the only one out of bed. You might think this is because TheGirl is a bit too old, TheBoy a bit too young for Christmas morning excitement. Or you might think it's because we got home late last night, and the kids are still tuckered out. I doubt these explanations, since this year's slumber is a repeat of last year's and that of the year before. I'm not sure of the cause, myself. But I do know that there has never been a Christmas morning where I lingered so late in bed.

A pile of presents from Santa (family gifts will be given on Orthodox Christmas, in January) lies under the tree, awaiting frenzied unwrapping. The fireplace still lies open where Santa emerged to hastily consume a biscotti (no cookies handy at bedtime!) and glass of milk before depositing the loot beneath the tree. Still, no children emerge. I grind coffee, make a large pot. Still no kids; no wife either - she's smart enough to take advantage of our offspring's aberrant behavior.

A batch of scratch faux-cinnamon roll muffins is baking. Clanking bowls and muffin pans have not stirred the wee ones. Nor has the smell of cinnamon and fresh-brewed coffee dislodged a single reveller from their blankets. It's peculiar... perplexing... and so I wait. What else can I do? Although I have to say, those muffins are looking pretty tasty. I wonder if there'll be any left by the time the rest of my household emerges. If there are, it'll be a Christmas miracle!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T01:00:00.002-06:00

from our own little drummer boy!

Changes...

2008-12-19T20:38:00.002-06:00

I became a vegetarian in November of 1989, my senior year of college. I've told the story a million times, and I've really gotten rather tired of telling it. But for you, Internet, I'll tell it one more time. I was something of a lefty at the time. I'd voted for Jesse Jackson in the '88 presidential primaries. I was a member of Amnesty International (I still approve of much of their work). I wanted our nation's problems solved, and I hadn't yet realized that our government could never be trusted with the task. But that's another story. I tell you this to explain why I attended a "Human Rights Festival" on my campus. A couple of dozen organizations had set up booths. I was stuck late in chem lab, so I only got there just before the event closed down. I quickly made my way around the booths, picking up literature to look at while I ate my dinner.

It being close to Thanksgiving, dinner had a thanksgiving theme. This being a university cafeteria, dinner was poorly cooked. The mashed potatoes were gluey, the gravy - firm. The vegetables were overcooked, and the turkey undercooked. As I ate my undercooked turkey, I flipped through the literature I’d grabbed. Those who know me, will know that I have a penchant for selecting obviously inappropriate reading material. For example, when camping alone in the north woods, I decided to read The Shining. All night long, I'd been sure that animated malevolent bushes stalked my campsite. I believe they were especially dense in the zone between me and the outhouse. If there were a novel called “Betcha Can’t Stop me Before I Blow Up This Airplane, American Pig-dog”, I’d probably read it while passing through airport security. I'm an idiot that way. (Yeah, yeah, and other ways, too.) With that in mind, it’s easy to see how I’d end up reading animal rights propaganda from PETA while eating undercooked turkey. (The astute reader will note that PETA had no business being at a human rights rally. I suggest that the astute reader take it up with PETA and let me get on with it).

Now, the PETA propaganda was over the top. It was obvious to the casual reader that some things were being over-stated. Were there stories of brave chickens rescuing their owners who were trapped in combines? Truthfully, I don't recall. But as always, PETA pushed things further than good sense allowed. But I also sensed some truth in the propaganda. The undercooked turkey was all too clearly a slice of an animal, and there didn't seem to be a good reason for me to be eating it. I wasn’t convinced, and never have been, that eating meat was wrong, but maybe it was unnecessary. The next several days, I spent my spare time in the university library, looking up nutritional requirements, trying to determine if there was a need for humans to eat meat. There didn’t seem to be. B12 was the sticking point, but only for those who abstained from all animal proteins. I'd avoide the problem by eating eggs and dairy. The evidence pointed toward mankind’s digestive tract being well suited for an omnivorous diet. But with modern science, I could, perhaps, obtain what I needed without bringing death to my fellow creatures. I took the plunge. The last meat I ate was the bacon topping on a Perkins salad. November 2009 would mark twenty years since I last purposely ate meat.

Converting to vegetarianism was actually a lot of fun for me. It was like working on a big lateral thinking puzzle. (Yes, this is a thing I consider fun. Sue me.) First, there was deciding what I would and wouldn’t eat, based on health and ethics. Would I eat honey? dairy? eggs? What else followed logically from this stance? If I wasn’t eating meat, would I still wear leather? What about silk? Wool? What could I substitute for things I was eliminating? What hidden animal products were there in processed foods? How would I approach being around others who still ate meat? Would I continue working at the campus burger place? And how would I explain and defend my decision?

Over the coming months, I developed my own personal strain of vegetarianism. I wouldn’t eat gelatin, but I would eat dairy and eggs. I wouldn’t eat things that looked vegetarian (packaged rice mix, vegetable soup) if they contained things from animals (gelatin, chicken broth). But, if the issue was unclear (magnesium stearate? White sugar?), I’d stay on the more relaxed side of the street. I learned about the culture of vegetarianism, famous vegetarians in history, protein matching, and that PETA was a bunch of out of control dicks just looking to get some press. (But, don’t blame an idea for the person who holds it!)

Over the years, I became comfortable with my vegetarianism. It became second nature, with a monumental inertia all its own. I automatically checked labels in the grocery store. I avoided the likelier hidden meat in restaurants, didn't even consider eating the soup, or the gravy. I developed responses to counter those who felt a personal mission to get me to eat meat again. (Yes, I'd kill a bear that was attacking me... or try to. Yes, I’d eat meat if it was the only way to keep from starving. In fact, I'd eat _you_ if it were the only way to keep from starving!) And I coasted.

Years passed. Decades, even. I experimented with world cuisines, found all sorts of amazing food I’d never otherwise have tried. This energized my vegetarianism. I met a wonderful woman, a meat-eater who accepted my vegetarian ways. I met vegetarians who wouldn’t eat veggies cooked near meat. I met vegans. Their angst helped push me to stay relaxed. My family and friends helped a lot. Everyone really bent over backwards to be sure I'd have something to eat. But sometimes I felt like I was missing out. I ate veggie riblets while everyone else raved about the brisket. I had to grab a sandwich before heading to the wedding reception. I had to push up to the front of the crowd to grab a piece of the cheese pizza before it was gone. Every lunch meeting required an email. I was stuck eating only desserts at the potluck. These things bugged me a little, but I coped.

I’ve noticed lately , though, that the intensity of my feelings for vegetarianism are fading. My passion has cooled. I'm no longer feel that I'm really accomplishing anything by being vegetarian. I'm not even sure that there's anything to accomplish. I've always been apalled at people who subject their dogs and cats to vegetarian diets. I figure, if you don't want to kill animals to feed your pets, get pets that don't eat meat. It seemed unnatural to do otherwise. I knew that my diet was unnatural, too. My body is evolved to prefer a variety of meat and non-meat sustenance. I've never felt strongly that there was anything immoral about eating meat. Killing an animal for food merely seemed... unnecessary. Add to that the environmentally expense of meat-eating, and the constant calls for us to eat more plant-based foods, and it seemed I'd be better off just not messing with it.

The problem that has arisen is that, while eating animals still looks like a non-necessity, it's becoming more and more of a pain. I recently discovered that I was becoming lactose intolerant. If I have more than a slice or two of cheese I get stomach cramps and … well, you don’t want to know. This means that I’ve effectively become an ovo-vegetarian, rather than ovo-lacto. That's only a step away from vegan, and it’s a tough road to follow, perhaps a tougher road than I care to follow. A childish part of my brain also thinks it's more than a little unfair. I've given up every sort of meat, and now my body tells me that I have to give up cheese and ice cream, too?! And as I approached 40, I felt my body begin to fall apart. Persistent joint aches, slowed healing, colitis, tooth grinding. How much of this was due to age, stress and weight, how much due to subtle deficiencies due to my vegetarian diet?

I tried increasing my egg intake to keep my protein levels up, and saw my cholesterol skyrocket. And I noticed I was eating less and less healthily. I’d developed a habit of filling up on hors doeuvre at parties, in case I couldn’t eat the main dish. Soon I was filling up on them even if I knew I'd have enough to eat later. I also wondered how much of my overeating was due to unfulfilled cravings. After all, my favorite snack foods are those loaded with MSG, a concentrated source of the umami flavor also provided by meat.

And more and more, I felt like I was missing out. I didn’t try the fish at the roadside stand in Jamaica. I didn’t try the barbecue at Doumar’s in Virginia. I’ve never had a buffalo wing, foi gras, or escargot. I have to settle for a single menu option at many restaurants. I couldn't try something new off of a menu if I couldn't be certain it didn't contain meat (and my experience with wait staff is that they're usually guessing when they answer questions on the topic). I worried I wouldn't find ANYTHING to eat if we visited Prague... os Singapore... or anywhere else, it seemed. I was beginning to resent my vegetarianism. And that seemed like a stupid thing to do to myself. I'd become a vegetarian because I wanted to. No one had told me I had to. Why was I forcing it?

So. For the past few months, I’ve been re-evaluating my vegetarianism. It's been a part of my life for nearly 20 years, so this isn't something I'd change lightly. But, in the end, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s no longer for me. And if I'm honest with myself, a lot of that decision is just due to being fed up with it. I have immense respect anyone who follows a vegetarian diet (so long as they don't harrass people about it - hello PETA!). It’s clear that a vegetarian diet can be better for the environment, better for the animals, and is ethically on safer ground. But it’s not for me any more. I’ve decided that as of today, I will not call myself a vegetarian.

But it’s a little more complicated than just switching to meat and potatoes again tomorrow morning. Although I don't consider myself a vegetarian any longer, I will still eat a mostly vegetarian diet for the time being. I plan to ease into this, adding small amounts of meat to my diet here and there, as the opportunity presents. I'm targetting a diet with some meat in it, not a diet with mostly meat in it. Something along the lines of what most of the world eats on a daily basis. And my dietary habits may take a while to shift. I have to admit - I’m more than a bit nervous about this. The physical issues alone are frightening, much less the lifestyle adjustment to a total change in my diet. I wonder how my digestive system will react to suddenly having to cope with meat again. Will meat even taste good to me any more? I’m nervous about taking that first bite of a hamburger. Will it gross me out? Will I gag? (Will I go crazy, order 10 more, and scarf them all down in one sitting?) Time will tell. But for now, I’m not a vegetarian, I’m just a guy who doesn’t really eat much meat.

(My thanks go out to my wife and kids, and to the rest of my family, friends, and co-workers who have been so supportive of my dietary choices over the last 19+ years, and who have gone out of their way to make sure there was something I could eat. It has really touched me how willing to help people have been, and how many people have taken extra trouble to make sure the guy with the weird eating habits would be comfortable when it came time to eat. I'm sure I haven't thanked you all enough for all you've done, so thanks, and thanks again. Now... what's for dinner?)

Scott Meyer is very likely a genius.

2008-12-17T21:58:00.001-06:00

or so I must assume after flipping through the last few months of his web-comic: Basic Instructions by Scott Meyer: Your all-inclusive guide to a life well-lived. This guy is not only funny, he is funny while presenting disturbing truths about the universe that you've been trying to deny. For instance, the comic at right... it's all becoming so clear...

A Visit to the Mall Santa

2008-12-07T17:01:00.005-06:00

After a patient wait of 45 minutes TheBoy, two years old, reaches the front of the line and boldly strides up to Santa. Santa boosts him onto his lap. TheBoy suddenly not as brave, stares mutely at TheFishmonger, with a question in his eyes. TheFishmonger answers his gaze with a confident smile. TheBoy looks at Santa, and decides smiling is out of the question.

Santa: And what do you want me to bring you for Christmas?
TheBoy: [mumbles]
Santa: What's that?
TheBoy: [whispering] pamk-akes...
Santa (turning to TheFishmonger): What did he say?
TheFishmonger: pancakes
Santa: pancakes?
TheFishmonger: yep, pancakes.
Santa: we'll mark that as 'subject to change'...

It's strange scenes like this that make me love visiting Santa. Once the kids are both too old to visit him, I may have to start kidnapping strangers' kids, just so I have someone to take to see the old elf. Of course, if Santa thinks "pancakes" is a strange Christmas request, how will he react to "I just want to see my family again"? Not well, I'd guess. I may have to rethink this one.

Prohibition Genealogy

2008-12-07T07:54:00.003-06:00

I'll be the first to admit that it sometimes takes me longer to put 2 and 2 together than it takes the average person. But how did I miss making the connection that my grandparents were kids during prohibition? I knew they were kids throughout the depression (1929-1939), but somehow failed to realize that this meant they were kids during prohibition (1920-1933). I just looked it up in the family genealogy... Grandpa L was born in 1922, Grandma L in 1925, and Grandma F was born in 1916.

I asked Grandpa and Grandma L about it yesterday, and they both had memories of prohibition. Specifically, the had memories of how their families flouted the law. Let me refresh our collective memories. The 18th ammendment prohibited "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors", which was basically anything with ethanol in it, with a few exceptions which I haven't bothered looking up.

And how did my proud American ancestors react to this restriction of their ability to purchase beer, wine, brandy and schnaaps? Well, my Grandpa's family brewed their own beer in the basement. Grandpa didn't remember, but I'm guessing this involved malt syrup, water and bread yeast. Probably not the tastiest thing ever, but apparently palatable enough. Grandma's family took a different approach, possibly because they had a source a few doors down where they could buy the distilled stuff. I'd guess the difference was a cultural one, though. Grandpa's lineage is german, so beer was the object, with brandy and schnaaps viewed more as window dressing. Grandma comes from Polish stock, more oriented to vodka. Whatever bathtub hooch the guy down the street had must have fit the bill nicely.

I'll have to see if I can find out what Grandma F's family did during prohibition. They're Norwegian-descended, so their alcoholic heritage would have combined farmhouse brewing and flavored spirits. On the other hand, her granddad moonlighted as a lay preacher, so maybe illicit liquor wasn't an option. I'll let you know if I find out.

Happy 75th Anniversary of Repeal!

2008-12-05T14:49:00.003-06:00

On this day 75 years ago, alcohol prohibition was repealed. Most of us agree this was a good thing, and that our country is safer for it, and that life is better for it. So let's sit down with a glass of beer, or whiskey, or what the hell, a glass of each, and celebrate! And while we're at it let's think about the parallels between the violence brought by alcohol prohibition back then, and the violence spawned by drug prohibition now. Here's hoping for another repeal soon!

PS: Thanks to BA for the reminder of today's importance!

Non-canon Critters

2008-12-02T11:19:00.006-06:00

I guess this is a bit hard to read. Click on the image to go to Wondermark for the full-sized toon.

Shopping for the Food Bank

2008-11-29T16:06:00.003-06:00

There have been a lot of layoffs in the Racine area over the past year, on top of the many layoffs in the years before that. I've been thinking about how many families in the area must be struggling to make ends meet. For the first time since TheBoy was born, we're actually making progress against our debt, and not feeling more than a moderate crunch on our budget.

So, we decided to do some shopping for the food pantry. And it was actually a lot of fun! TheGirl was put in charge of selecting items within our $50 budget. The food pantry provides a list of items they need. By the time we were done, we had half a cart full of everything from salt, pepper, ketchup and mayo to chicken noodle soup, baked beans, peanut butter, and tuna. Twenty-four items in all, for a grand total of $50.18. On the way out, we emptied the whole cart into the collection bin at the exit. What a strange feeling to spend an hour grocery shopping and head out to the car empty-handed. But it was a nice feeling, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T12:31:00.002-06:00

(The classic Bloom County TG prayer. Use it in good health this turkey day!)

Thanksgiving for Gamers

2008-11-27T01:01:00.001-06:00

If you're looking for a way to make old-school paper-and-dice gamers happier than pigs in shit this Thanksgiving, why not take a shot at baking this icosahedral (that's the same shape as a d20) pecan pie. Full instructions, from building the pans, to baking the pie sections, are available here. The recipe isn't included int he instrucitons, but there are a variety to select from in the sidebar on the site.

Beat an 18 for your saving throw against gluttonous consumption!

Lolita wrap-up

2008-11-20T21:30:00.003-06:00

So, I finished reading Lolita. And, yeah, it was good. But I feel strangely let down by the ending. The conceit of the book somewhat muted the wrap up for me, in the same way the Cloverfield's conceit muted its ending. (There it is, people - the only truly unique thought I'll have in this lifetime... and I squandered it on a Cloverfield reference. This is what happens when I drink Irish whisky before blogging. sigh) There's just no way to end on a climax when the outcome has such a narrow space to operate in.

But again, I liked the book, and when your topic is pedophilia, getting so many people to enjoy your book has to give you a major ego boost. Good on you, Nabokov.

There is one thing that still bothers me about the book. Humbert Humbert is such a manipulative story teller, that I always half-wondered if he actually did kill his wife. And then, nearly at the end of the book, HH mentions some case that was in the newspapers where a guy killed his wife and tried to make it look like an auto accident. HH comments "I did better". What is that supposed to mean? Is it a tongue in cheek moment, or is HH telling us that he actually murdered his wife, and has been lying to us this whole time? If that's what's going on, its the only allusion to it that I noticed. Anyone have any input on this topic?

Incidentally, whenever I think of Humbert Humbert, I will think of him mentioning his "foot of engorged brawn". Sure HH, a foot, right. If you say so. That line more than anything else makes him seem pathetic to me. It cuts through the educated veneer he so desperately maintains, through all of his posturing and justifying. In the end, I'll forever see him as a loser obsessed over the size of his penis. Works for me.

The End Flickr Set

2008-11-18T11:41:00.006-06:00

Here's an interesting set of "TheEnd"s from various movies and TV shows. As always, I'm fascinated by this sort of collection. Click the pic to see the full set.

(Thanks to boingboing.net for putting me on to this, and thanks to DillPixels for putting up the set!)

Google Flu Trends

2008-11-12T11:27:00.001-06:00

This is pretty cool. It turns out that by aggregating daily search numbers for certain influenze-related terms, google can track regional flu activity about as well as the CDC (see chart below). It's all part of googles Predict and Prevent initiative. The coolest part, is that googles data is available essentially in real time, while the CDC data takes two weeks to gather and compile.

So, watch google flu trends to see when the flu hits your area. You'll be reading about it from the CDC about two weeks later.

NaNoReMo

2008-11-07T11:28:00.003-06:00

This year, defective yeti has selected Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov as the book for National Novel Readers' Month. I don't have a lot of time to sit down with a book lately, so I'm listening to it on tape (read by Jeremy Irons) as I drive to and from work. It's only been a couple of days and all I can say is OMFG. I understand why this book was banned. Which is not to say that I think this book should be banned. But it's certainly... mature. Except for Lolita, of course, who at twelve years old is certainly not mature. This is going to be a tough one to get through. Very disturbing subject material. Of course, the book also has an interesting style, quite conversational. Almost confessional, but a bragging style of confession, rather than a repentant one. I'll likely not give story updates, since the story is difficult for me to read, much less write. I will however (inthe style of defective yeti), list interesting words I've a) fallen for, b) had to look up, or c) something else.

So, to start that off:

midges - I hate midges. The word has strange undertones for me. In the flying insect spectrum the fall somewhere between mosquitos and gnats, but neither of these words sounds nearly as irritating. In fact I dislike midges so much that it makes me dislike the name Madge for its similarity.

potentate - Chief or ruler. I mention this one because it's been ruined for me. It should make me think of exotic chieftains. Instead, it makes me think of Hernia Movers, and their motto - "The Potentate of Movin' Freight". Curse them.

game of fives - I looked this one up. Basically a relative of handball. Seems there are a multitude of regional variations at different colleges.

ironical - So this word isn't made up? C'mon. Really? OK, if you say so Websters.

monquiere - well, that's what it sounded like he said. This is the problem with listening to the tape. If I encounter a new word, I don't know how it is spelled. That, plus I have to jot it down while driving, or risk losing it. So far, no accidents have resulted from this bad habit.

poltroon- Not, as you might expect, a barnyard fowl upon whom tobacco juice is spit. Rather, "a wretched coward". Oh, that's even better.

favonian - "of or pertaining to the west wind; mild or favorable; propitious"

heliotropic - turning or growing toward the light. Brings up the quesion - are heliotropes heliotropic?

incondite - I'd never heard of this word before. It means "crude, rough, unmannerly". I had heard of recondite before - "little known, obscure". The word meanings have no obvious connection. The "cond" root seems to mean "put together or assembled". I'm not understanding where that comes in.

gin and pineapple - Humbert Humbert's drink of choice. Picked up some pineapple so I can try it. Sounds interesting.

chiarascura - I love this word. It has excellent rythgm. The problem is, the rhythm of the word seems to conquer my mind, and I can't retain the definition. Something about light and shadow.

More to come!

Applebee's Veterans Day

2008-11-06T11:47:00.002-06:00

Free meals for US veterans on November 11th at participating Applebee's! Prove you're either a US vet or on active duty, and you get a free meal, your choice of: House Sirloin, Riblet Basket, Fiesta Lime Chicken, Quesadilla Burger or Oriental Chicken Salad. Details are here. A list of participating locations is here. Nice gesture, Applebee's!

(That's the Fishmonger's Pop at left)

Presidential Lists

2008-11-05T19:54:00.003-06:00

In honor of Barack Obama 's election to the US Presidency, I thought I'd share some Presidential trivia related to the man.

Obviously, Obama will be the first US President who is black. At one time, this nation revelled in the "one drop rule" - any black ancestors, and you are black. In this day and age, racial designation is somewhat more a matter of choice and of appearance. If you look black, and call yourself black, then you are. But, according to this website, we've had five or six other Presidents with some African ancestry:

Thomas Jefferson

Andrew Jackson

Abraham Lincoln

Warren Harding

Calvin Coolidge

Barack Obama

(some sites also add William Clinton to this list)

Another short list Obama appears on is US Presidents with parents born outside of US boundaries:

Andrew Jackson - mother and father were born in Ireland

James Buchanan - father was born in Ireland, County Donegal

Chester Arthur - father was born in Ireland, County Antrim

Thomas Jefferson - mother was born in London, England

Woodrow Wilson - mother was born in Carlisle, England

Herbert Hoover - mother born in Ontario Canada

Barack Obama - father born in Kenya

Finally, this wiki page lists many of the US presidents who were related. There are the obvious ones (the Bushes, the Adams, the Harrisons), but there are more distant relations, too. Just one example:

George H. W. Bush: fourth cousin five times removed of Millard Fillmore, fifth
cousin four times removed of Franklin Pierce, seventh cousin four times removed
of Abraham Lincoln, sixth cousin five times removed of Ulysses Grant, sixth
cousin three times removed of Rutherford Hayes, fourth cousin three times
removed of James Garfield, seventh cousin twice removed of Grover Cleveland,
seventh cousin three times removed of Theodore Roosevelt (also eighth cousin
twice removed of Eleanor Roosevelt, a niece of Theodore), sixth cousin three
times removed of William Taft, sixth cousin twice removed of Calvin Coolidge,
tenth cousin of Herbert Hoover, sixth cousin three times removed of Franklin
Roosevelt, ninth cousin four times removed of Richard Nixon, seventh cousin of
Gerald Ford. Note that these relationships then also apply to George W. Bush,
each an additional generation removed.

Interestingly, Obama has his own connection of this sort. Though he doesn't seem to be related to any previous US President, he is the eighth cousin of Dick Cheney, through his mother's line.

2008-11-04T11:21:00.003-06:00

Thought I'd pop up a video in celebration of this auspicious day. Yes, today is the 86th anniversary of the day Howard Carter discovered the entrance to the tomb of Tutankaman.
OK, OK, I know what you're saying - yes, today does have another significance, as well, something more, shall we say 'Presidential'? Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. So let's all get together and wish the Lincolns (Abe and Mary) a happy 166th wedding anniversary. Good going, guys!

A flickr meme

2008-10-30T21:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a neat little flickr meme: You type your answers to the questions below into Flickr's search engine and choose a picture from the first page of results to make an image board with. Copy the urls into mosaic maker and voilà, an instant blog post with very little thinking required! The result is presented at right.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you?
12. Your Flickr name?

Halloween Pumpkins - 2008

2008-10-30T21:18:00.002-05:00

From left to right, TheFishmonger's, TheWife's, TheBoy's, TheGirl's.

TheWife picked out an excellent warty pumpkin to carve. Sadly, it turned out to be virtually uncarveable,with a super hard shell which claimed the lives of two knives before she gave up. Who knew?

Oh, and TheBoy didn't actually carve his own pumpkin, but he did tell me where to put each facial feature, and what shape it should be. So we can say he designed it.

Chewing on it...

2008-10-29T22:05:00.003-05:00

All my life I've heard the phrase "chewed him down" and though nothing of it. For example, someone might say "Yeah, he wanted $50 for the used lawnmower, but I chewed him down to $35". It always carried overtones of gnawing away at the price, bringing it down bit by bit.

Today, I was shocked to learn that the more common version of the phrase is"jewed him down", alluding to the old-fashioned and bigotted notion that Jews are greedy and tight with money. And, it turns out, it's almost impossible to tell which version a person is saying. Whichever version you grew up with is likely the version you hear, regardless of what the speaker intends.

Well, shit. Not wanting to be perceived as a person who might use those sorts of phrases (like the neighbor kid did when I was younger), I guess I'll give it up. I'm sure I do, since the phrase "chewing him down" is so evocative for me. Maybe I can transition to "gnawed him down". Damn, damn, damn. This is more irritating than when I learned that gyp ("Aw, man, what a gyp.") was intended as a slur against gypsies (aka Romany); "Gee" was actually "G", short for God; and that a scumbag was really a used condom. Why do all of the flavorful phrases have secret poison in them?

Search Flickr by Color

2008-10-24T11:41:00.005-05:00

Here's a nifty little photo search engine. Just pick the colors you'd like in your photo, and get a selection of them presented for your approval. I found it strangely thrilling to be presented with a screen-ful of chromatically similar pics of various and differing scenes. I think it ties into my collector personality. I think that part of the reason I enjoy collecitng or seeing collections of things is that its a way of approaching the essence of something. We may not be able to buy a platonic* chair, but if we get enough chairs, we can at least experience the feeling of the platonic* chair. And with this, I get a similar experience, but with color. Sure, I could just look at the color on my computer screen. Somehow, though, seeing objects in those color schemes just makes it more real. OK, fine. I'm a weirdo. It's still a neat website.

* By platonic, I mean the ideal essence of something - the object that cast the shadow in plato's cave.

PS: I cheated on the pics above. They're not from the search engine, just a mosaic from edgeplot on flickr.

A progression:

2008-10-22T12:44:00.004-05:00

I've been thinking about how our entertainment influences our approach to life. It's something I've wondered about for years. Depending on when you were a child, your developmental years coincided with one of the following stages:

Stage 1: Live Broadcast Television:
I wasn’t home when my show aired, so I missed it.

Stage 2: Taped broadcast Television:
I wasn’t home when my show aired, so I missed it.
and I had to wait for it to come up in reruns.

Stage 3: Home storage of broadcast shows on magnetic media:
I wasn’t home when my show aired,
And I didn’t set my VCR to tape that episode of my show, so I missed it.
and I had to wait for it to come up in reruns, or buy a copy.

Stage 4: Home-storage of broadcast shows on electronic media:
I wasn’t home when my show aired,
And I didn’t set my VCR to tape that episode of my show,
And I didn’t set my DVR to save new episodes of my show, so I missed it.
and I had to wait for it to come up in reruns or buy a copy.

Stage 5:On-demand rebroadcast of shows (network website or on-demand):
I wasn’t home when my show aired,
And I didn’t set my VCR to tape that episode of my show,
And I didn’t set my DVR to save new episodes of my show,
And I didn’t get to the network website before they pulled the episode, so I missed it.
and I had to wait for it to come up in reruns

Stage 6:On-demand broadcast of shows:
I pulled up a show (any show) and watched it.

I grew up during stage 2. If I didn’t watch a show while it aired, there was only a slim chance I’d ever get to see it. This MUST have had a impact on my development as a child, though I'll leave it to professionals (and web surfers, which are almost like professionals) to figure that one out. We're now in Stage 5. How does it change a kid to be able to watch their favorite shows any time they want to? How will it change kids when any program they want can be shown to them at any time and location they desire? And the big question: will all of these effects we swamped out by the effect of living through a depression? Interesting times.

Racist Voting?

2008-10-21T13:57:00.002-05:00

The other day, I heard someone suggesting that blacks were voting for Obama solely because he is black. So, I did a little digging.

Harris Polls says that Obama has an 88 point lead over McCain among black voters. CNN’s exit polling after the 2004 election showed that Kerry had a 77% lead over Bush (88% vs. 11%) among black voters. Their exit polling after the 2000 election showed Gore with an 80% lead over Bush (90% vs. 10%) among black voters.

So around 75-80% of the lead can be attributed to blacks as a demographic preferring democratic candidates. What about the remaining 8-10%?

Well, lets not forget that the democratic candidate lost both the 2000 and 2004 elections. In 2000, he led in the overall popular vote by about 0.5%. In 2004, he trailed in the overall popular vote by about 1.5%. In contrast Harris says that Obama has about an 8% lead among all registered voters right now. So, Obama is doing about 8-10% better in the runup to this election than the previous democratic candidates were .

It all fits pretty neatly together… and without having to invoke any racist voting behavior on the part of African americans.

It's Alright, Ma, It's Only Music

2008-10-09T20:21:00.002-05:00

Why don't I listen to this show every week? It's Bob Reitman's show on UWM, and it's what radio should be. Bob plays what he likes every week - which means lots of Bob Dylan, and an eclectic range of other stuff, from the old familiar friends(Lou Reed, TheByrds, Joni Mitchell) to the more obscure (Gloria Mann, Robert Johnson) to the unknown (Defiance Ohio). The last band was played by his son, Bobby who seems to love music as much as Bob does, and has a segment on the show. I highly recommend tuning in. And I highly recommend clicking the link for Defiance, Ohio to check them out, and download some free tunes (I highly recommend Oh, Susquehanna!)

"It's Alright Ma, It's Only Music" airs on 89.7FM WUWM at 7pm on Thursdays, and rebroadcasts at 9pm on Sunday. Live streaming is available at the WUWM website.

I am a Constitution Voter

2008-10-07T11:12:00.008-05:00

Apparently, I'm a bit late to this, but I thought I'd share it anyway. The ACLU is hosting a petition drive that I quite like. By signing the petition, you agree to this pledge:

I believe that no one -- including the President -- is above the law.
I oppose warrantless spying.

I believe that government officials, no matter how high-ranking, should be held accountable for breaking the law and violating the Constitution.
I believe that the Constitution protects every person's rights equally -- no matter what they believe, how they live, where or if they worship, and whom they love.
I reject the notion that we have to tolerate violations of our most fundamental rights in the name of fighting terrorism.
I am deeply committed to the Constitution and expect our country's leaders to share and act on that commitment -- every day, without fail.

Now, these are very topical, and I like them all, but they are a bit... pointed, shall we say. I'd be happier if they added some more timeless ones. For instance,

I believe that, in accordance with the 10th Ammendment, the federal government's actions are restricted to those specifically listed in the Constitution, and that the interstate commerce clause does not give congress carte blanche to control everything goddamn thing it sees.

I believe that when the members of one branch (say, the legislative) attempt to delegate one of their powers (say, the power to declare war) to another branch (say, the executive), that their attempt should be struck down and a suitable punishment should be applied.

But, the list of points is a fine thing, as far as it goes, and I'm proud to sign on. Objections to any of the points are welcome in comments!

PS: Russ Feingold held hearings in September on essentially this same topic. He's calling it Restoring the Rule of Law. He pitched it as a means of generating a blueprint for the next President to restore executive respect for the Constitution and the law. I doubt he's be asking for veto on spending laws not authorized by the Constitution, but you take what you can get. A quote from Russ:

"As we celebrate the 221st anniversary of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, I want the next president – whoever that may be – to pledge his commitment to restoring the rule of law. It is a sad fact that for the past seven and a half years the Bush Administration has treated the Constitution and the rule of law with a disrespect never before seen in the history of our country. The years that follow this president’s shameful legacy will be the true test of the strength of our democracy."

Wouldn't it be cool if the right and the left both started hammering on each others' unconstitutional actions and we ended up with a federal government that operated within the bounds of the Constitution? And also if Santa brought me a pony this year?

Scary Movies of My Life

2008-10-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, these aren't really scary movies, for the most part. But these are the horror and moster movies of my life - the movie equivalent of the soundtrack of my life. Most of them aren't really scary, but they're all memorable. Of course, that doesn't mean my memory of them is accurate. I'm not looking any of these up - if the actual movie is different from my memory, I don't want to know.

The Amazing Colossal Man:
I saw this for the first time on the tiny black and white TV someone had brought to our Boy Scout troop house for our Christmas Tree sale. Late each autumn, our troop would tramp out to an alumnus' field, cut and tie a truckload of trees and sell them for a buck a foot in the yard outside our troophouse. The sale was staffed by the Scouts on weekends. We'd hold your tree, so you could look it over, carry it over to your car and tie it on top for you. In between sales, we hung out waiting for the thousand- year-old oil burning heater to warm up the 15 foot high ceiling of the troop house. While we waited, we drank hot chocolate spiked with instant coffee and watched broadcast movies on the aforementioned TV. The only one I remember from all those years was Tha Amazing Colassal Man. Since my buddy and I were older scouts (this may have been freshman year in high school?), on our joint shift, we were trusted there without adult supervision. So there was no one to object to our choice of movie. It was classic nuclear hysteria sci-fi crap: a solider is inadvertently exposed to a nuclear weapons test, whereupon he grows to incredible size, and goes stark raving (or rather, rampaging) mad. It's got all the best giant-related special effects: drinking beer from a barrel, munching cabbages by the handful, smashing puny buildings and a giant syringe filled with some cure-all that was hung from the bottom of a helicopter. I'll always love it.

Ssssss...
I must have been in middle schoolwhen I saw this movie. I recall it being one of those tedious Saturday afternoons in autumn. Everyone was busy doing something else, and I was flipping channels witing for the endless day to end. Sssssss came on. It's your classic 50's sci-fi setup - evil scientist and his beautiful innocent daughter, in conflict with the handsome young man who will either be consumed by, or defeat the evil... except it takes place in a circus side show. The evil is the fact that the father is turning people into snake-men. I distinctly remember the daughter figuring it out because she recognizes the Hero's eyes. Touching in a crappy gimmick sort of way. Looking back, I think it may be the first movie that I liked because of how much it sucked.

Magic
OK, I'll fess up. I don't recall ever having actually viewed this movie. But that doesn't mean the movie didn't affect me. After only watching the commercials, I was far too frightened to actually watch the movie. It changed me forever. Especially, in that I was no longer willing to be alone in a darkened room unless I had the covers pulled up over my head. I actually fantisized about creating a complicated pulley system so that I could turn off my ceilng fixture from the safety of my blankets. Why was the movie so terrifying? I dunno. Inanimate objects killing just freaks me out, ask Freud why (and yeah, I know that the dummy wasn't actually doing the killing. but when I saw the comercials, I didn't). For instance, to this day, I am unwilling to walk past a statue of a ferocious beast (such as a ceramic lion) in the dark, lest it attack me. Blame that one on sneaking Amityville Horror out of my Mom's book pile. Bad move. Fortunately, there aren't a lot of ventrilquist's dummies sitting around most homes.

Motel Hell
This one gave me nightmares. Our parents' friends had SelecTV, which was broadcasting a night of horror movies. We all decided to sleep over for a night of ghost stories, scary movies and junk food. The friends had older daughters, so I did my best not to seem affected by the movies, but this one in particular just shredded me. I don't know why - it was total cheeseball. Cow-cutouts in the road led people to stop their vehicles. When they had, Farmer Vincent grabbed them and planted them in his field. Eventually, they were made into sausages. "It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent Fritters!" I remember the burlap bags over the heads of the people in the fields, I remember the cow cutouts (I still expect to see them when driving back-country roads in the dark), but most of all, I remember the chain-saw fight. The scariest part was that Farmer Vincent wore a pig head over his head as they fought. Freaked the shit out of me. Nightmares all night. I remember laying in my sleeping bag in the dark, staring at the clock, wondering what time the sun would rise. Every minute was an eternity, a theme that recurred several times in my limited scary movie career. Maybe we should add this movie to the list of life events that led me to vegetarianism (along with butchering squab and working at a burger place).

Blair Witch

It was summer, maybe early autumn, and I'd been watching the viral marketting for blair witch for a little while, and was more than ready to see the movie. But I'm too much the chicken to see it alone, my wife won't see it with me, and none of my friends live especially nearby. I'd end up never seeing it.

Then, fortune turned my way - the building air conditioning died, and we were all sent home. Instead, a group of went to see Blair Witch. Score! The movie rocked - I loved it. Scary and moody and strangely realistic. Filled with the terror of being lost in the woods with strange and menacing sounds all about you. It hit me hard. By the time we got out of the theater, I was more than a bit spooked.

Unfortunately, my wife had some after-work event of her own to attend, and I was home alone with my then 1 year old daughter. I sat in our home, trying not to look out at the blackness of the cornfield behind our home. Eventually, I crawled into bed and hid under the covers. When TheWife got home, I told her all about the movie. Being spooked must have helped my story-telling because by the time I was done, she was spooked too. The next night, TheWife got home late again. Watching TV alone while the baby slept, I kept thinking about the movie, the darkness. Even after I went to bed, it took everything in me to think about something other than the movie. I was rattled to the bone but, eventually, I slept.

In the middle of the night (long after TheWife had returned home) I woke to the sound of a baby crying. The sound was eerily similar to sounds heard outside the tent in the movie, but I steeled my nerves, left the safety of the bedroom blankets and went to my daughter. Unbeknownst to me, TheWife also got up behind me. While I comforted TheGirl and checked her diaper, TheWife prepared a bottle for her. Unfortunately, I was not aware of this kindness until, wimpering baby in my arms, I turned to the bedroom door.

Silhouetted in the door a couple of feet from me was a silent and shadowy human form reaching toward me. I screamed. The creature screamed. The baby screamed. Mine was the kind of scream you expect to accompany the loss of bowel and bladder control. But in my terror, I didn't drop the now-screaming baby, didn't smash it into the mysterious night creature which was surely about to attack me. No, I wheeled away from the beast, wrapping myself around my child and protecting it with my body. I'm thankful for that instant response, for it left me with at least a tiny shred of my dignity - a valuable commodity for someone whose evening plans include the changing of dirty diapers.

Suspendered Campaign

2008-09-25T07:43:00.003-05:00

Cheap political ploy? Certainly. Isn't everything done by either candidate at this point a cheap political ploy? Successful political ploy - it seems not. And I understand why it seemed like it would be a good idea. But, I don't want a President who can't handle everything at once. And besides, you don't pull something like this without making SURE that the other side is on board. Shows a lapse of Prezidenshul Skillz. What do you guys think? Comments are open.

Finally! A real sunspot

2008-09-23T11:00:00.002-05:00

They've finally seen a real sunspot again this week! SOLARCYCLE 24.com has pics, including the one at right. That bright patch in the upper right quarter is the sunspot. Other filters show it as a dark spot. Last time we saw a real sunspot (not some anomally that can't be seen in the visual wavelengths, but that is being counted anyway) was June 23rd. Call it 92 days.

Of course the official number is much smaller, because of the Nothings they called a sunspot in July and early September. Either way, though, we don't beat the 95 day sunspot free stretch of 1913.

The interesting thing to be seen is what happens to the climate if this continues. The maunder minimum was a 70 year period with very few sunspots visible that just happened to be coincide with the Little Ice Age. Will we have another little ice age? Make a guess - in my opinion, it's unlikely that you'll do better or worse than most climatologists. I wonder if Al Gore has a slide show ready for the perils of glacial advance?

'Nuff said?

2008-09-18T15:24:00.001-05:00

Click the image for more details! Only 8 hours til the official start!

Oven-dried tomatoes

2008-09-16T21:13:00.003-05:00

We've had a bumper crop of roma tomatoes this year, though the recent cool temperatures seem to have put an end to that for the season. Last year, we tried to eat the romas fresh. Not so good. Romas tend toward the mealy side, their intrinsic tomato-i-ness obscured by their relatively dry flesh. Then we stumbled upon the idea of freezing the little bastards in small batches as they ripened and later simmering them down into a tasty sauce. And let me tell you - it was great. Concentrated fresh tomato goodness. We've used it on pasta, for soup, basically anywhere you could use tomato sauce. We're doing it again this year. We'll probably simmer them down during the winter, when filling the house with the smell of hot tomatoes seems like a great idea, instead of just a good idea. But this past weekend, I decided to try another tomato preservation method, sun-drying! Except late summer near Lake Michigan tends to be cool and damp. Not your optimal sun-drying weather. The weekend was no exception. Temps dipped into the 50's, and it rained pretty much constantly. So... oven-drying! Trim and halve the romas, then bake on a wire tray about 10 hours at 170 deg F. And the results? Well, the only thing I can say is that they're bloody delicious! I mean, just look at that picture. Quite frankly, I'm rather proud that I managed to freeze any of these, rather than just gobbling them down. They're chewy, sweet-tart, and loaded with tomato glory. I'm storing them in the freezer, since I'm not entirly convinced they're dry enough to store at room temp. And I can't wait until some blustery winter day when I stumble across them while rooting around for one more burger bun- a little bit of concentrated summer.

PS: I'm using this post as my late September entry to Grow Your Own. Chez Us is hosting this time around. Check out Andrea's Recipes for a list of who is hosting the next round!

When you care enough to hit send

2008-09-15T11:36:00.005-05:00

Finally a great new free e-card website! These are the e-cards you really want to send - not just the ones you'll settle for. For instance, view the card sent to me by MiddleBrother on my birthday (September 11th) , at right. Or the card I sent him, inspired by recent developments in the presidential race (below). OK, so maybe they're not appropriate for your 10-year old niece's birthday, but they're perfect for friends and (some) family (your mileage may vary).

This concludes my dump of websites I've recently learned about, and about which I am currently obsessing. We now return you to your regular incoherent and crotchety ranting about the sorry state of the universe. (Quarks!?! Why when I was a boy, we didn't have quarks. We had protons, and neutrons, and we liked it!)

youniverse

2008-09-15T11:27:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting twist on those endless personality test websites. You answer questions by clicking on one of a dozen pictures. They call the end result your Visual DNA. I think you may have to set up an account to do it. Then once you've completed a survey, they show you other people who have similar Visual DNA. Kinda cool. And they've got a load of different surveys - TV preferences, vacation preferences, etc., in addition to the basic personality test survey. And of course, you can grab your results for inclusion in your myspace page, or blog - if you're into that kind of thing. If you find personality tests horribly addictive, then don't click on this link, and call your 12-step sponsor immediately.

Thanks, to TheWife for showing this to me!

Sticky Note EepyBird

2008-09-15T11:17:00.004-05:00

Eepybird, they of the famous Diet Coke and Mentos performance, have released a new video based off of those sticky notes that are accordioned for use in dispensers. Very cool. Plus, it has that cute girl from Samurai Girl on the video. Bonus!

Thanks to Viola Zuppa for showing this to me!

Half-way?

2008-09-11T11:30:00.001-05:00

I turned 40 today. Looking around at the stats, I see that my remaining life expectancy is also about 40 years. So I'm about half-way. Does that mean I'm at the summit, and the rest is downhill. Or am I just half-way to the summit? I'd have thought the view would be better if this is the summit.

One of my favorite quotes...

2008-09-10T19:17:00.004-05:00

I've used a piece of this as my sig on some bulletin boards, but the full quote is way better. I find it incredibly hopeful and uplifting:

"We are a tough and resourceful lot, all things considered; our descendants
will have to be tougher and more resourceful still. The odds
are all against them. The stars are high, life is short, and the house always
takes a percentage. But Man himself is so unlikely that if he did not exist, his
possibility would not be worth discussing. Heinlein's money is on Man; and I
have a hunch that the next century will prove him right."

- Damon Knight , 1967
(from the introduction to Robert Heinlein's "The Past Through Tommorrow")

2008-09-08T11:18:00.003-05:00

This quote was on Friday’s page of my Schott’s Almanac calendar:

“It seems to me to indicate great weakness of mind, when a person permits his peace to be at the mercy of every anonymous scribbler who, actuated by envy or hatred (the invariable cause of such attacks), writes a libel on him. If a person so attacked would but reflect that few, if any, who have ever acquired celebrity, or who have been favoured by fortune, have ever escaped similar assaults, he would be disposed to consider them as the certain proofs of a merit, the general acknowledgement of which has excited the ire of the
envious, thus displayed by the only means within their reach - anonymous abuse.”

- The Countess of Blessington, Paris, 1841

Further evidence that people don’t change… and that trolls have been around since at least 1841.

PS: I haven’t ever had the honor of such an attack by an “anonymous scribbler”, but I’ve seen a few thoroughly enjoyable websites dissolve under the assault of their acid. It makes me sad.

Speeches

2008-09-04T12:16:00.003-05:00

Watched Lieberman's and Palin's speeches over lunch today. I don't quite understand the hubub about Lieberman's speech. It didn't seem particularly brutal, or anything. And Sarah Palin's speech was nothing special to my ear. A few rah, rah America moments, a few snide stabs at Obama - nothing out of the ordinary for a convention. But I’m quite a bit disturbed by one line in particular from Sarah Palin’s speech the other night. She was talking about how al Qaeda was waiting for an opportunity to harm Americans and snidely commented:

"and [Barak Obama]’s worried that someone won't read 'em their rights"

Oh my god. Yeah, that’s right, Palin. Guilty because you say so… that’s what makes America great. Gov. Palin, have you ever heard of civil liberties? No, didn’t think so. How about “guilty until proven innocent”? No? Well, it’s official. Bush’s brain has been put into the body of a woman. At least now we know his plans for staying in power.

PS: Time magazine reports that, as Mayor, Palin tried to get some books removed from the library, and threatened to fire the librarian when she refused. Nice.

Obama's speech

2008-08-28T22:03:00.002-05:00

Just caught the tail end of Obama's speech. It wasn't bad. Not his best work, but whatever. The part that was interesting for me was after the speech. See, I'd stumbled across the convention while channel surfing, and happened to be watching it on Fox. Wow. I've never heard Fox News commentators talk about Obama. They really hate this guy, don't they? I mean, slipping in his middle name (Hussein) ever chance they get? Subtle. And the barely restrained anger in the announcer's voice was kinda scary. I half expected him to start screaming "Get the N-! Lynch him! String him up!" It gave me the willies. I mean - vote for him or don't, but do anger and childish taunts have any place in a real news organization?

Burt's Place

2008-08-27T12:36:00.002-05:00

Slice, the pizza blog at Serious Eats has finally done a bit on Burt's Place in Morton Grove. I have to say it's probably the best pizza I've ever had. I was fortunate enough to work within walking distance of Burt's Place (also strangely sometimes referred to as Starback), and ate there several times during my two years working in the area. The article describes the place well - carmelized crust and veggies (some will say burnt, but burnt is the destruction of flavor, caramelized just enhances the flavor), coming together to maket he tastiest pizza in the world. If you're ever looking for lunch or dinner in Morton Grove, you'll want to get pizza at Burt's. And a word of advice - eat it there, even more than most pizzas, it doesn't really travel well.

Thanks to santheo for use of the pic!

Platypus Superhero T-shirt

2008-08-21T11:39:00.002-05:00

This t-shirt from Snorg Tees is so excellent that I want to make an animated superhero cartoon based on it. Can't you just imagine this group of animals - maybe they're in high school. These four (gator, beaver, snake and duck) all know each other, but kinda pretend they don't. You see, different kinds of animals don't really hang out together. It just isn't done.

But years ago when they were younger and living in the same neighborhood, they were friends. Back then, in their younger days, they encountered something (glowing meteorite, lost temple, radioactive human, whatever) that forever linked them and gave them the super powers when they unite. And gator and snake are all like, "Hey! Let's unite and fight crime!" But duck is like "Heh. I don't think so, you guys are reptiles. I'm not uniting with you." And gator is like "C'mon duck, don't be such a jerk. Don't you remember when we used to go swimming together? And how much fun we had?" And then snake gets sad because, he always had to sit on the bank while the rest of them went swimm-

Ummm... nevermind.

Milwaukee Memories

2008-08-19T11:29:00.001-05:00

Page after page of contributed Milwaukee Memories here. I remember a lot of these, and I've heard about a lot more. I guess that means I'm well on my way to being an old fart. Does anyone remember the soda with riddles in the bottom of the can? What was that? Graf's? No, I think it was JollyGood. Would make sense with the name anyway. As a further rambling aside, check out this site, for their pics of old soda cans, including conetops! Who knew that soda came in conetop cans? Not me.

Screaming Orphans

2008-08-18T11:44:00.006-05:00

Sunday, I made it to Irish Fest, as attested by my scorched forehead, my damaged hearing, and the craving for mead. Though the heat and a head cold kept me from indulging overly in the mead, I still had a very good time. The Screaming Orphans were my favorite show. Quite enjoyed what I saw. A partial set list from the Screaming Orphans show at Irish Fest:

Jolene (Dolly Parton cover)

Original Tune (sounded like Bangles with a Donegal county accent)

2 short Reels (don’t know the names, but they had nice stories with them)

Seven Nation Army (White Stripes cover)

Irish Traditional love song (can’t recall the name, but it was good)

Original Tune (sounded like a garage band GoGos with a Donegal county accent)

Ghost Riders in the Sky (western classic, frequently redone)

Kinda weird, but it actually worked. It helped that their original stuff had that “girl-garage band sound” that I enjoyed on the Bangles’ early tracks. And their harmonies were very nice in a pop-rock way, as well. The show ended up being about a third covers, a third traditional irish stuff, and a third original stuff. I think they did more Irish stuff than usual because it was irish fest. In any case, they managed to keep the Leinie stage about half full for their entire show – about double what most bands were doing on Sunday afternoon. Their CD is all original stuff. I may pick one up from CD Baby.

Flaring Grapes

2008-08-14T19:02:00.001-05:00

This is pretty cool. Slice a grape in half, but leave the last bit of skin intact, holding the halves together. Then, microwave it. When I tried it, I immediately got small flares (plasma?). The link in the title has pics of little plasma balls. How cool is this? And how many microwaves will be filled with cut grapes and nuked into oblivion? And (most importantly), why does this happen? Thoughts anyone?

YouTube is full of videos of this. Here's one (not mine):