old-fashioned values

MYS is going off to los alamos national lab, and there is so much secret stuff there the potential for abuse is large. i recently saw, in fact, where an ex-employee has been charged with narious deeds. i grew up believing in integrity and i've seen during my many years that a certain portion of the population does not. that is truly unfortunate. i feel blessed that our kids adhere to our values and believe in honor, integrity, kindness, and doing your best.

foot comfort

i love haflinger's shoes. they fit my foot perfectly, i can wear them all day, and they're beyond comfortable. the only drawback is that they're so hard to find online. zappos doesn't carry them and neither does planet shoes, both sites of which do carry brands i consider. the one fairly reliable source i've found is dodds shoe company in laramie wyoming. yeah, i know, who'd have thought. but they carry a number of sought-after brands and if you're searching through zappos and planet shoes, remember to also check out www.doddsshoe.com. especially if you're looking for haflinger!

a good example

MYS posted a video which is think is pretty great, especially since it's for a city government. it's for the city of toronto and whoever decided to do it like this, made an excellent decision! do any of our cities have something this entertaining and effective? probably not -- too afraid of some kind of lawsuit maybe. either that or absolutely no imagination.

oh yummy!

do you like peppermint candy? i prefer the kind which is soft and just sorta melts in your mouth. you can get a big jar of it here. it's actually the perfect peppermint stick and a jar of it can last you a long while if you can control your rapaciousness. not an easy task, especially with this stuff, but you can either have it all now or have a little bit for a loooooong while.

on schedule

the girlfriend and i are planning another get-away this year. in fact, we'll be getting away at the end of this month. we'll do a little shopping, a little exploring, a little walking along the beach, a little reading, and plenty of talking. it'll be fun!

be prepared

i bring you a public service message:  September is National Preparedness Month. go to Ready.gov  to see how to put together a plan in case of disaster.

glad i'm not rich

i occasionally get some catalogs which are for the upper crust. by that i mean the clothes are fairly expensive. i recently got a new catalog which i've never heard of -- maus&hoffman.

while i looked through the women's section (8 pages as opposed to 52 for the men), i saw some of the ugliest fashions i've ever seen. and they weren't cheap. there were some god-awful blouses for $150, other blouses for $298, a belt for $425, an ugly blazer for $528, a god-awful business jacket for $1,448, a short coat for $898, and a mini-scarf for $75. finally -- something i could afford. although, who'd want to?  ugly, ugly, ugly!

undecided

i just read where a woman had twin boys at age 60. i'm not sure how i feel about that.

friends

i saw a friend last week, or rather we (five of us from work and one ex-worker) saw a friend and her mother. my friend was one of my work-mates a couple of years ago until she got a job in north dakota in a different branch. she and her mom came out here to go on a cruise to alaska.  they really enjoyed it, and it sounded like a great trip.

i hadn't met her mom before and she seemed like a really nice gal, quiet and maybe a little shy. it was soooo good to see M once again. she looked excellent and was happy and i know she loves her present job. she talked about future possibilities, but for now it seems all is very good.

getting together now and then is good for the spirit!

groovin' right along

well, it's time once again to plug my favorite internet music station. it's GROOVERA.COM and i've loved it forever. it used to be called FrostByte Groove Lounge and then they decided to change their name. sad, but so it goes.

they have three types of chilled music for your enjoyment: Low Mercury (my fav) with laid-back sounds, Jet City Lounge which is more upbeat, and Audio Popsicle which has some vocals.

even though Low Mercury out-distances the others by miles and miles in my opinion, it does occasionally play some pieces I. Can. Not. Stand. for example, i hate cj weaver, cyberia, dj cam, fat jon the ample soul physician, j boogie's dubtronic science, kruder & dorfmeister, lemongrass, manoloco, miguel graca, patchworks, rithma, tripglitch, and visit venus. i mean, yuck! patooey! gawk! ohmygod, get them off this world!

on the other hand, i loooooove a lot of creators on this station: alexander chereshnev, all india radio, b-tribe, carmen rizzo, chilled c-quence, chris coco, conjure one, delerium, digital analog band, digital moodz, electrix, enrico riva, francis rimbert, george chatzis, gROUSe, houie d, ibizarre, indra, isan, jeff woodall, joey fehrenbach, jon hopkins, kaya project, kukan dub lagan, maneesh de moor, michael e, moshang, mo-shic, nalepa, n. bar, nexion-project, riot act, rue du soleil, side liner, suntwins, tones on tail, ulrich schnauss, urban myth club, vargo, ypey, and zero cult.

now, admittedly, this second group can have some stinkers, but by-and-large these people just touch my soul. i completely go into another world when one of their pieces is on.

but to get back to the subject, the next time you're online, plug into the best sounds on the web and for the ultimate experience, click on Low Mercury ..... heaven.

@#$!%^&*#$

"On the Internet, when I send my ones and zeros somewhere, they shouldn't have to wait in line behind the ones and zeros of wealthier people or corporations. That's the way the Net was designed, and it's central to a concept called "net neutrality," which ensures that Internet service providers can't pick favorites."

that's the beginning of an article i thought i better read. i totally agree that the 'net should be equal to all, regardless of the almighty dollar.

but as i read i could feel my stomach getting sick so i had to stop. big business bastards are going to fuck everything up for the little guys and i just couldn't read about it. (my passionate nature will be the end of me.) is that defeatist? probably. but i've lived long enough to know that repub, er, business interests can get almost anything they want and there's no sense in torturing myself as it's happening. oh, if only i were king.

the long and short of it

i've always known that older women either wear their hair cut short, or, if they have to leave it long, they braid it and wind it around on top of their head.

now i find out that hilary is starting a trend which does away with that old wisdom. she is showing that longer hair on older women is okay. the article says your cut should be based on your personality, no matter what age.

i've thought about going back to longer hair a couple of times in the last few years, but everytime i've tried letting it grow out a bit, it looks terrible. it pulls down my aura and is really depressing. so for me, shorter seems to be better. my hair has always been ultra fine and a little wavy; as i age it's getting finer but thinner, and a little wayward. the waves have given way to kinky straightness; it's just really hard to describe. and harder to subdue into a style.

oh, well. the aging process shows us all kinds of new mysteries, and fashion demands change. so be it.

remember the alamo! er ... uh ..

MYS headed south and had his final interviews for his new post. he expects to move down there mid-october or so.

oh man, i totally forgot to ask him if anyone had called him Dr. MYS! how could i have forgotten that??!!

anyhow, he's in love with the area and feels really positive about the place. now we need to focus on sending aimee lots of energy and memory cells so she can pass her final hurdle next week, i think it is. once she's done that, she'll be in a position to join MYS at the end of the year!

yay, aimee!!! go, kid, go!!! you can do it!!!

foggy bloggy

i went to my first blog, for the first time in many months, and could see that some changes had been made. i didn't see nearly as many ads as had been on there before (and having no control over the ads being displayed was one of the reasons i changed away from them). the whole thing had been cleaned up quite a bit.

almost makes me want to go back to it. first love, and all that ....

keeping the balls in the air

this from my washington post feed:

"The Commerce Department says new home sales fell 12.4 percent in July from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 276,000, the slowest on record dating to 1963.

The numbers are the latest sign that the economic recovery is fading."

depending on which side of the fence you're on, that's either good or bad. but you know, since about 1973 or 1975 house prices have soared. and the rule is that whatever goes up, must come down. i'm just glad we aren't desparately needing to sell ours.

jumpstart the economy

since the computers were off, i was forced to read. while looking through the hammacher schlemmer catalog, i noticed you can now buy a two-person submarine. wow! cool! oh ... two million dollars.

ahem. well, if you don't want one of those, you can buy a pedal boat ... three thousand eight hundred.

or, you can get a cotton candy maker ... sixty-nine ninety-five.

816 ... 876? no, 816 ... what?

i'm not all that crazy about gene weingarten, but this was pretty good. and i have, actually, heard guys do that.

all across the country

particulars about our trip:
the radisson at seatac was an excellent place to stay and leave our car while we were gone -- highly recommended, especially since we just walked across the street and into the terminal.
the country inn & suites on east henrietta was a big disappointment -- not recommended.
u.s. airways (to philly) was an excellent experience -- i wonder if it was only because we were in first class. we enjoyed our breakfast and juice/pop. we particularly enjoyed it when the ticket taker turned back a young gal trying to board when they called first class. when she finally did board, she was at the tail-end. slacker.
the philly airport was not at the top of our list of pleasant airports; outside temps in the 90s.
u.s. air/republic (to rochester) was pleasant.
the rochester airport was hesitant to take my nexus card -- didn't see many of those, they said.
the american eagle flight (rochester to o'hare) was dumb -- they lost points.
american air (o'hare to seatac) wasn't a good as u.s. air, but they kept serving us food.
i think it's safe to say i don't ever want to fly anywhere again unless it's in first class.

then and now

oh man, the last three weeks have been something else. we moved into our new building, but there were all kinds of problems with that and i didn't have a functioning computer. but i got through that week.

then we flew to see MYS do his defense of his thesis. wow -- that was soooooo cool!! i had a link so you could look at his talk (slides) but i can't find it now. i'll keep looking. and yes, he now has his Ph.D.! the rest of the week was great -- drove through the countryside, visited places, it was all very excellent!

then we flew back home to two computers which didn't work. :( it took the rest of the week for the comcast tech to come out and tell us it was our modem which the husband tried to bring in earlier when he called and they told him no. despicable monopoly.

and the situation at work hadn't improved. everything still up in a heaval and i didn't get a working computer until late yesterday. good grief. hopefully things will start to smooth out. i find if i don't have any expectations, it works better (mentally).

i'll have to see if any of the pictures i took back east turned out decent. if so, i'll post.

new digs

i'm moving into a new office sometime this week, but i don't know my new phone number yet. if you need it, send me an e-mail and i'll reply when i have it.

a different kind of bad guy

telemarketers -- they take the cake.

well, it's this way. well, no, this way. well,

so how do you feel about bp? my thoughts can't be put out there, but i do want to share the tidbit i found this morning. pretty clever! and mst 3000 is right in there!

let's move

where should you raise your kids? there are always a number of factors to consider, but if health and well-being are number one with you, move to new hampshire.

yep, new hampshire is first, minnesota second and vermont third. nebraska is 9th, washington state 11th, south dakota 26th, okahoma 44th, and new mexico 46th.

how can kansas be 13th, texas be 34th, and oklahoma be 44th?

doesn't necessarily make sense, but interesting anyhow. and i always thought new hampshire looked like it'd be a neat place to live.

old world beauty

i love looking at this website at pictures of scotland. some of them are curious, some are artistic, some are beautiful (well, not the fly), and some are intriguing, but they almost always make me very very happy.

oh good grief

it's a beautiful day outside, the temps are in the low 70s, there's a 2 mph whisper of air drifting by.

in spite of all that goodness, i'm dismayed/disgusted/perturbed to read about the bad guys who lurk/pounce/attack any way they can. to wit:
1) be alert to older friends who seem to become dependent on someone they met online.
2) don't pay for charges on your credit card that you didn't make, even if it's only 20 cents, because someone somewhere is living high.
3) be careful about work-at-home online jobs.
4) pay your credit card bill completely every month and keep the late fees to yourself.
5) be careful about unsolicited phone calls.
6) know that revenge against you may be ignored.

bastards. all of them.

don't let the bed bugs b-.... ouch!

bed bugs, known to us all by the good-night ditty, apparently exist and are becoming more common. who thinks about bed bugs? i haven't ever thought about them and have never known anyone who's been bothered by them.

but they're becoming a real problem in this country, it seems. ohio and new york city sound like places to stay away from, as well as expensive hotels. if we didn't already have our plane tickets, i would be sorely tempted to stay home. no ... we're not staying in an expensive hotel, but still ...

bugs. yuck!

up, up, and away .... or down.

i've always been interested in airplanes, leading me to believe i must have been an angel in my former life.

or not.

at any rate, i usually like reading about airplanes. and since our upcoming trip is going to be the first time we've ever flown first class, i'm almost excited about the flight.

then i read this article. hmmmm, just about everyone in first class was killed.

it will be just my luck .....

and this article is actually pretty good at telling you how to be the best prepared you can be on a flight. for example, don't cross your ankles.

oh, look -- a wha ....

no, this picture isn't photoshopped. the whale took out the mast and swam away. the two boaters somehow limped back to shore and they were unharmed, but could have been killed if they'd been closer to the wrecked part of the boat. a near-by tourist took the pix. pretty amazing all around!

get out the ark

this is an interesting map -- it shows, or purports to show, the extent of rising water the world over. and it's curious how some places would get soaked and others wouldn't be much bothered. check out sacramento, for example. and at 14m, the olympics are on their way to becoming their own island. intriguing.

how many?

this is interesting, and i got the right answer, but i knew what was going to happen. is it realistic to think people are always going to notice everything?

commercials

funny

thoughtful

beautiful

best expression

light-hearted

silly

cool

dramatic

interesting

one of my all-time favs

Ph.D. time!

MYS has finally gotten a date to defend his thesis: august 10. i'm not real clear on the difference between a thesis and dissertation in his field; maybe it doesn't matter. regardless, he's nearing the end of the tunnel.

we'll be attending his defense and i'm excited to see if i can understand anything he says. i've been able to follow along, over the years, as he has explained things to me, but still, since neither physics nor astronomy were ever a big part of my education, it could be a little foggy.

regardless, one huge CONGRATULATIONS to him on seeing a payoff for all his hard work -- may i present the-soon-to-be Dr. Yirak!

crooks

remember -- if you get an urgent e-mail from a friend who says they need an immediate infusion of cash, talk with them and get the real story. i mean, after all, what friend is going to be asking you for money anyway?!

death

and now i understand that cremation has disadvantages. i suppose it's only a matter of time before any good concept falls into dispute. at least, that's how it seems to go.

at any rate, there are apparently alternatives to cremation, assuming you don't want the traditional burial. something called resomation is available in minnesota and florida, and maybe california before long.

and then there's cryogenic cremation -- which a company in england is trying to perfect.

seems like there's always something you need to think about ....

tough!

did you see the article about having some extra weight probably isn't a bad thing? and it reiterated what i've always known -- if i diet, my body thinks i'm dying and does everything it can to save me. and genetics plays a part -- i look like my grandmother and my aunts .... big-hipped women who lived well into their 80s and my grandmother (still living in her own home and taking care of herself) died when she was 92. i've finally decided as long as i make a reason attempt to eat the right foods (vegetables/fruit/cheese, grains with some meat) and get a reasonable amount of exercise, the industries who want to give me advice can go to hell.

status quo

our weather has been interesting the last 7 or 8 months. it's been mainly 57* that whole time. sure, there has been variation -- down to 31*, up to 72* -- but it's been surprising how much the temperature has stayed the same. i haven't minded it, although i like to have a couple of really cold days. the heat though, meh ... not so much.

if global warming is influencing our weather, does that mean it's going to get hotter farther north? or that it's going to start making everything cooler. i'm confused about that making-things-colder part.

waiting list

richard clarke is worried that this country isn't taking potential Cyber War seriously. it wouldn't surprise me if that were true; some of our leaders are beyond out of touch with reality. at any rate, i put myself on the list for his book at our local library. i'm number 13.

oh, the memories...

remember fireflies? i haven't seen fireflies in decades. i don't know if it's living in a certain part of the country, or not spending much time outside in the dark, or what.

so i am interested in this company called humble earth. they make fireflies. once we get our yard (or garden) landscaped, i might invest in some of these little things.

our landscaper calls her projects 'gardens'. i like her and i think she has wonderful ideas and lots of knowledge. but a really complete garden takes a lot of money. our budget is pretty small, so we have kind of a skeletal thing starting to happen, but i'm going to see what i can do to fill things out a bit.

regardless, once the garden is put in place, we may be spending a lot more time outside, hence the fireflies. we'll see.

how much is the bed?

did you read about hotels that are starting to nickle-and-dime you to pieces? apparently they're taking a page from the airline book.

a european hotel chain has started charging for maid service, a fresh towel, a tv. and american hotels are watching the situation to see if anyone blinks an eye.

i don't think i have a problem with charging a reasonable amount for goods and services, but if you just want to increase prices because you can, and it gives the ceo a 7-figure salary, screw you.

we can stay home. we can use a camp ground. we can sleep in the car. back in the 40s it wasn't unusual for traveling people to sleep on benches in the city parks.

read the article so you are at least aware you might be charged for something.

security?

back in the cold-war era it wasn't unusual for families to stock their basements with provisions or even dig a well-insulated bunker in case the bomb got dropped.

i just saw where a company in california is promising a place in a nuke-proof bunker in the mojave desert -- for a price. you better hurry if you want in, though. there are 132 spaces and half are already gone.

apparently $50,000 will get you a bunk in a 4-person room. whoa. pricey. but the company hasn't started getting the place ready yet. sounds almost like a shyster deal.

religion

i read a recent article about muslim culture which led to several thoughts. first i should say that i know very little about muslims and, with my very full life, don't have much time to devote to or interest in increasing my knowledge of them. i should also say i was brought up to be accepting of differences in cultures and religions.

that said, my first thought in reading the article was if france wants to ban the burqa and that bothers you, maybe you should live somewhere else.

my second thought was disgust about this statement, "when the taliban ruled in afghanistan, women were not allowed to wear high-heeled shoes since 'the sound of women's footsteps could excite men.'" ANY group that contrives rules because something a woman does might make men lose control is a very sick group lacking in responsibility and maturity.

it's like the whole adam and eve thing, where everything you can think of is all eve's fault. just grow up for pete's sake. honestly, there are so many problems with and because of religions.

a concern

i'm in future shock. apparently nowadays kids expect to be able to have cell phones at school. and to use them, even in the middle of class.

personally, i think that's disgusting and evidence of our society being on the decline, i.e. if something is taking the place of education, we are at risk as a nation.

there's a school in maryland that is having to fight to have cell phones banned from class. apparently parents "appreciate being able to contact their children during the day." to me those parents are disGUSTing! and it seems this is something which is happening across the country.

if i were a parent, i would be looking around to see which schools had high test scores, which ones had firm policies on cell phone use, and then if there were any jobs in the area. i wonder if it works any better (the old-fashioned way) in small-town america.

it's a dragon ... no, a boat ... no, a castle ...

do you like looking at clouds? i do, and i miss seeing some of the wonderful formations which are created in the midwest. check out this site, though, for some excellent shots of cloud formations seen from space. it's a neat way of looking at them.

all sorts of problems

today, class, we are going to discuss 'how to have sex in outer space.' this activity brings new challenges in space, so we'll start by opening our books to page 8. remember that lab practice is tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

what about food poisoning?

today, class, we are going to talk about 'how to go to the bathroom in outer space.' this skill will require finesse and practice so be sure to follow our instructional video carefully.

different cultures

babies. there's a new movie, that i believe was just released, about babies. the film maker followed four babies from different parts of the world during their first year. i imagine there are some cute parts, and some icky parts, and some things which will make me wonder how humans have survived. i'd like to see it on the big screen.

culture shift

it's interesting how getting older not only gives me wrinkles, but it subtly affects my perception. i saw a headline this morning -- A 'Legit' Pirate Bay Makes Sense In Theory, If Not Practice.

i visualized a white-sand, turquoise-water, curved, private beach and wondered if someone was going to do a pirate-themed area with hotels, ship rides, walking-the-plank things, and so on. what a cute idea, i thought.

it's actually about peer-to-peer internet file sharing of music, movies, software, etc.

*sigh*

eat a little bit of everything

i'll bet most people do not realize how good cinnamon is for them. the husband showed me an article in aarp magazine which talks about a number of spices, but i like cinnamon and garlic so i'll go with them first.

> cinnamon helps you stay focused; eat a teaspoon on your oatmeal at breakfast.
> garlic is good for your heart but may also protect against brain cancer; put garlic in your tomato sauce.
> ginger helps keep migraines away; grate 3 teaspoons in a cup of boiling water, wait 10 minutes, strain and drink.
> saffron helps combat mild depression; add 1/2 teaspoon to the water when you cook 2 cups rice.
> turmeric might protect against alzheimer's; add curry powder to your chicken salad.

i still have an article the husband e-mailed me in 2006 which stressed the importance of eating a mixture of honey and cinnamon. the article makes simply outrageous claims, but whether they work or not, they're harmless. and as fast-food, tv dinners, and take-out has become so ubiquitous, a lot of old-fashioned eating-smart dogma has gone by the wayside. maybe it would be good to try some of the old ways.

pull up those bootstraps...

i've always thought one of things america does best is figuring out practical solutions. sometimes the little guy has an excellent solution, sometimes a cowboy, sometimes a bigwig, and sometimes great ideas never get heard and no one benefits.

i just read where the government is giving inventors and idea people a chance to show what they've got. Strategy for American Innovation encourages government agencies to use prizes and challenges for people to come up with excellent solutions. solutions though, not ideas as how to do something. the solution must work and it's up to you to design and create it and prove it can do what you say it can. apparently nasa has been using this approach and has had results.

it's an interesting article, whether you're an innovator or not. if you're good with ideas, read it.

gahkk!

everyone has been so taken with facebook. when it first started, i thought i'd give it a try. i didn't really see anything about it i thought was earth-shaking, and i did not like the fact you had to give your name and birthdate, but i stayed with it. since then soooooo many people have gotten on the train.

i don't spend time with facebook. i never got into it especially since the whole paradigm is so invasive. at my age, privacy is a core concept. and it seems like every time i turn around there's another news article about losing privacy in facebook.

the most recent thing i saw mentioned how facebook's ceo doesn't believe in privacy. wait ... what? i'm sitting here picturing a distinguished, grey-haired, tall, 65-yr old saying he doesn't believe in privacy. foolishness.

i finally saw a picture of mark zuckerberg. the kid is 26. no wonder he doesn't believe in privacy. he didn't grow up with all the concerns my generation had. and have you looked at a facebook page lately? i looked at mine for the first time in a long time -- no one cares about privacy. there's no concern. none. they're all ... i went here, and i like this, and i did that.

so what's keeping me from just closing down and pulling out? well, it's the only way i have to connect with or see what a number of people are currently doing. that proves one of the rationales for facebook, but still ....

just do it

it's interesting, the disparate information you can get in the news. for example california is worried about whether or not to insist men wear rubbers when performing in an adult movie. and now health experts have decided being outdoors can increase your mental health. at the same time, that huge mess down in the Gulf is noted as a 'grave scenario' (do they notice the play on words?).

disparate and yet .... no brainers. i mean, come on. use some common sense, get pro-active, and do what you need to do without fussing.

let's keep the focus

so .... a radical u.s. muslim group obliquely threatens to murder a couple of tv producers for making religious references the group doesn't like and the network backs off? cuts the 'offensive' material?

what country are we in, again? did they change something recently, like, you can have free speech as long as you don't insult muslims?

i don't watch this show and have always felt i would be offended by it. but a group saying the show should not say what it's going to say or they will come to a bad end? nah -- i can't go along with that. and the network caving in just gives them power. bad precedent.

a temper-tantrum is one thing, but threats of murder is terrorism. terrorism is unacceptable and if these people don't like the way we do things in this country, guess what.

just don't breathe ...

there seems to be a really bad fungus on the loose in oregon. in this section of the world, it appears to have started on vancouver island, then spread to washington and oregon. the recent strain has killed 25% of its victims. there's no vaccine for it and it can take years of treatment to cure you once you get it. people can get it as well as animals. the supposition is that global warming has contributed to its appearance. just yuck!

yes!!

oh. my. god. THIS is so cool! i'd like to have one or two or six, and the view i'd like to see is the northern lights!

we can't really know

mel gibson. i mean i've always enjoyed his films -- i haven't seen his recent ones though. but, really, what is he doing? he's catholic and had a sturdy relationship with his wife of x-years and they had seven kids, then he splits and holes up with a pianist and they have a child. you just have to wonder what people are thinking sometimes. and this picture, which makes him look tired and worn out, was taken when he was 54, i believe. i know, i know, a person shouldn't be judgemental, so okay, i won't say anymore.

surely the sky is falling ...

we're going to have ads on our cell phones? oh gees, tell me that's not true.

apparently we are going to be able to sign up for ads (ohmygod, how times have changed). and one of the tricks is to make the ads in such a way that they don't appear to be ads (clever bastards).

currently, the evil perpetrator of this scheme is alcatel lucent. their marketing director says, "On a global scale, our research showed that end users were interested in a service like this -- especially if it is based around their interests and they can edit their profiles, then they are willing to participate."

they've been successful in europe with this plan. but i just have to shake my head and wonder what the world is coming to. it's just sick. i mean, i can remember in the past there have been some cute ads, like ..... well, no i can't remember any, but i think there were some. but gees, to ask to voluntarily have ads come at you. makes me wonder if, at some point, we will become people incapable of original thought.

uh, oh ....

and speaking of tornadoes .... i had a dream a number of nights ago about tornadoes.

i was in the living room of a house against a hill, with a couple of people, and we heard a loud, long-lasting siren going off outside. i asked what it was and someone casually said it was a tornado alert. no one seemed concerned and i asked if we shouldn't take cover. they talked about going into various closets and i said i was probably going to go down in the basement. i decided to look outside and saw a HUGE rotating cloud, on the ground, just a little ways away. it was like a gigantic round barn and had to have been two miles across. i was fascinated and wondered where my camera was. then i remembered i could take a picture with my cell phone, even if i could never get the picture off the phone. so i opened the glass door of the glassed-in porch i was standing in and leaned out with my phone to take the pix. right about that time a house came flying out of the sky and slammed to the ground, sliding right down the street. i thought maybe it was time for me to take cover, so as i turned to close the glass door and get back into the room-with-three-walls-of-glass (which was standing by itself in a flat, quasi-business area), i saw a second tornado about 2 blocks away headed straight in my direction. fortunately for me, the fourth wall of the room had a closet with sliding doors, so i got in the closet, stopping only to pull the dresser against my side of the closet, and closed the door. then i scrunched down and woke up.

tornadoes

i read a little blurb about storm chasers, a subject i thought was entertainingly done in Twister. this blurb was entertaining, too, the paragraphs being entitled 'get in its path', 'unpimp your ride', and 'try not to die'. :)

heading on out ...

life just keeps bouncing right along. the grandson is four months old now. the grandaughter is two and a half years old. MYS is probably going to defend his thesis in july and we will be going to observe and cheer.MOS is going to start flying again, one of these days, for a job they're certifying. i just can't remember what state it's in. the husband keeps coming up with innovative and helpful ideas at his volunteer job (is he excellent or what). and my job continues to be challenging and full of new things.

no stasis here. and sometimes there's not much down-time. but keeping busy and active keeps your brain dusted and that's always a good thing.

wheeee

personal rapid transit -- that sounds like a great concept! and, in fact, it's an actuality in morgantown west virginia! and, in fact, it was put together in the 70's! that is so cool!

doesn't disneyland have this kind of thing, too? but not too many other places in the u.s. have put something like this together.

i wonder if seattle looked into it at any point along the way of spending millions of dollars on their transit woes.

indianapolis has an overhead rail system which goes from the medical center downtown at Purdue and connects to a hospital a mile or so away. i wanted to check it out when i was there last year, but i was sick the whole time. (!) if you look on google maps you can see there are a huge bunch of hospitals, cancer facilities, and medical centers within an eight square block area of the university. gees, if i get really sick, take me there!

but back to transit, this is the concept i really like -- small and personal. let's do it!!

blast-off! sometime.

i knew there was going to be a space port built down in southern new mexico, but i hadn't heard about the one by el paso. the Blue Origin people seem to want to keep everything a secret, too.

they have their home base in kent wa, but the space port is in texas. kinda far away, but then, it's not all that flat around seattle. i wonder why they didn't try to put something together in the middle of the state -- central and eastern wa is pretty darned flat.

maybe it's cheaper in texas. at any rate, it will be interesting to see things develop since nasa is having to downsize its dreams.

the people in kent are looking for young, enthusiastic, talented people, so if you feel the urge to look to the skies, send in your resume.

blast-off! sort of.

going to mars sound way cool, but it's not easy. it would take more than a year and a half to fly to mars, spend a month, then fly back.

could you do it? live in a tiny space without going outside for a walk, unable to open a window, not really able to get away from everyone else?

when you think about it, i'm not sure i could do it. i mean, i've always imagined myself the big adventurer, come on, let's find some aliens and take a ride, but .... if you have to be practical, i'm not sure i've got the right stuff.

six people are going to simulate that trip, to see what kinds of hardships show up. and americans don't seem to be invited. it will be russians, chinese, and europeans.

oh well. i guess my thought is they need to hang lots of mirrors to make the space seem expanded.

to be in nature...

doesn't this look like the northern black hills? that's what we thought too, but it's the jemez mountains in northern new mexico. i was shocked. it's pretty high altitude down there -- around 7,000 to 10,000 feet.

i found the picture on WunderPhotos and it was taken by srlee who does a nice job of taking pix.

the bad guys

*ahem* just in case there's the possibility you have not invested in computer protection, you may want to read this. we've had norton for x-years and have been real happy with the protection. renewing the yearly contract has been interesting at times, but i don't know any reason to discard norton for another.

the bad guys are getting more creative every day, so suit up and stay ahead of things the best you can.

i want one, but

have you seen the info about nissan's land glider? it's pretty interesting. check out both videos on that page. i was all set to see about ordering one when i read they aren't in production. and might never be. but they may be farther along than nissan's pivo 2 which i would order without hesitation.

and then there's the smart fort wo which is already ... what? oh. there's the smart for two which is already out. one of the guy's at work has one and i think they're totally cool.

still, that pivo 2 would be majorly cool. and the land glider? awwwwesome!

gongkk ... uhnook .... mmmiperff !

don't you always wonder about people from long ago? if i see a pretty sunset or if the weather is terrible or if there's something going on to trigger it, i start thinking about what the people were like back 5,000 years ago. and 10,000. and 30,000.

i don't have enough imagination to come up with any thoughts about life back then. were the people just as jolly, hateful, loving, greedy, curious, jealous, artistic, worrying, clever, or superstitious as they can be today? did they work together better? were old people taken care of? and how old was 'old'?

we have to assume from the findings we make, but all too often our suppositions need to be corrected or updated at a point on down the road, as this article shows. boy oh boy, i just wish i had that invisible bubble .....

the world at your fingertips

this study, that study .... it seems there's always some tidbit out there on the internet.

it's adviseable to eat a little bit of dark chocolate every day. we knew that.

it's adviseable to not kiss your kids on the mouth so you won't give them cavities. oh, the horror...

i've never been quite happy with facebook and i keep reading where they keep tweaking their stuff. i don't have time to check in again and again to make sure i've got my info safe-guarded, so i'm this close *ll* to just closing up shop. yes, it has allowed me to get e-mails from relatives and friends, but, no. i'm just not impressed with facebook. must be an age-related thing. and their options if you die? good grief!

i left my heart ....

this is amazing. it took years for this guy to make this toothpick sculpture. it is very cool!

let's see ....

i don't really try to keep up with news -- i don't watch tv and don't listen to the radio. i get a quick daily review of top headlines online, but don't read all of their stories. i get the really important stuff from the husband.

what i DO like to do is look at picture gallerys. there's a scottish one i think is really neat -- great pictures taken by the public. first go here, then scroll down and click on Your Pictures. when that page comes up, scroll down to the right-hand side-bar and select which week you want to look at. some of the pictures are whimsical, but others are stunningly beautiful.

yesterday i discovered this gallery of pictures from outer space. i'll let you enjoy looking through them. my favorites were number 1, 13, and 18. particularly number 1. and number 13. and number 18.

enjoy.

not 'flight of the dragons'

have you heard about the new movie, 'how to train your dragon'? it looks pretty cute. go here to read about it and watch a clip.

hoo hoo, loo loo ....

from 40,000 years ago back to between 800,000 and 900,000 years ago a new breed of people migrated from africa to the siberian area. apparently this breed has not been typed before.

it's really interesting they can come up with information from a piece of a child's finger bone. but all that info aside, what i really wonder about is what was it like to live back then? did they live together in groups? did they have some kind of language? did they have humor? artistry? concepts? traditions? empathy?

that's when i wish i could go back in an invisible time-machine bubble so i could observe. i'll bet there were an awful lot of things which would make me cringe. i just wonder what would make me smile.

done in china

remember last september when i posted about an experience i had when i clicked on a website which had not received the green checkmark of approval from google?

i read this article today which seemed to be the same type of thing and it's called scareware. it's an interesting article. and it looks like the scam may have originated in china. now, google knows all about scammers and hackers from china, and i'm thinking 'why should i support anything which has to do with china'? their government tries to use us and our technologies. why would anyone want to do business there??

i've been watching and trying to not buy things made in china, no matter who the parent company is. and now i'm going to try harder.

not a movie

mexico seems to be running amok. it would never be one of my destinations since i don't care for hot weather, but lately there seems to have been an increase in mayhem. in fact, a whole bunch of high-level people are going down there to discuss things, including clinton, napolitano, and gates. i can't imagine they will make any headway with things, but i wish them luck, especially since i have friends who enjoy goin' south. read about the high-powered trip, here.

snip, snip

i got my hair cut today. the significance of that statement is that it's been about 17 years since someone besides myself has cut my hair. have i let it grow long? have i had training cutting hair? am i good at cutting hair? no, no, and no. but, i'd gotten fed up with trying to find someone who could cut it well, so i'd taken to doing it myself.

for a number of years it looked okay, sometimes even good. but lately no matter what i try to do to it, it just hasn't looked right. so i took a chance and went to a gal who's the manager of a beauty academy nearby. she's also the sister of a gal i work with and i've heard a lot about her and seen her work.

i like the cut i got. it's not exactly the way i'd have done it if it'd had the same know-how, but it's a good cut and i can work with it. it'll be interesting to see how long it is before i get to thinking i should do it myself again. let's hope that doesn't happen.

eat, drink, and be sick

well, if it's not one thing, it's another. i just got an e-mail from a friend who told me about the latest salmonella scare.

it seems that food items which contain 'hvp' made by 'basic food flavors' have been recalled because of possible salmonella contamination. there are about 10,000 products affected by this recall.

here are a sampling of items to not eat: McCormick French Onion & Vegetable Dip Mix, Reser's soup and dip mixes, T. Marzetti soup and dip mixes, Trader Joe's Organic Creamy Ranch Dressing & Dip, Durkee spaghetti & Marinade Mix, Tim's Cascade Hawaiian style snacks, Pringles Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger & Family Faves, Quaker Baked Cheddar Snack Mix, Chicken Quesadillas, Jose Ole Taquitos, Redskin Potato Salad, McCormick Corn Bread Stuffing.

there are more names and in the interest of your health, you may want to read the information. it's dated today, march 16, 2010.

and the next trouble is .....

we humans seem destined to go from one calamity to another. i was just reading about ug99 and its predicted ability to cause world-wide famine. a loaf of bread could become a true luxury.

that is just hard for me to imagine. i mean, i hate paying $4.85 for a loaf of bread, but at least i have bread. this new disease could make bread a sweet memory.

humans are tenacious, however, and hopefully we can come up with a decent plan to resist or eradicate this menace. good luck to us!

young home weekend

the husband and i went down to MOS's house yesterday. they were celebrating MOS's and his wife's birthdays -- they're one day apart. her parents joined in, along with her sister, and we all had a party!

the grandchildren are growing and growing -- grandaughter is a 2 1/2 yr old pretty little sweetie and grandson is a 3-month old handsome lad. the grandaughter is somewhat stubborn and *ahem* i don't know where she gets that. i'm sure she'll grow up to be beautiful and smart-as-a-whip. and the grandson seems to be laid-back, yet he can hold his own. i'm going to love watching them grow up!

the in-laws and sister are warm and enjoyable people, and i feel so lucky about that. considering all the people i've ever known and/or worked with, there are some real wackos out there.

we are truly blessed.

oldies but goodies

a friend sent an e-mail the other day. one of those 'do this and pass it on' kind of things. but it was a good one for the way-back machine, so i decided to include some of it here.

the following is a list of some shows which were on in the 50s and 60s, and most of them were ones i liked.

flash gordon, the prisoner, sugarfoot, i married joan, superman (steve reeves), hopalong cassidy, what's my line, queen for a day, gunsmoke, have gun will travel, howdy doody, the lone ranger, american bandstand, gene autry, wagon train, sing along with mitch, roy rogers, perry mason, my favorite martian, jackie gleason, red skeleton, mr. peepers, batman, leave it to beaver, 77 sunset strip, dobie gillis, i love lucy, sky king, mighty mouse, the steve allen show, the loretta young show, private secretary, the millionaire, rawhide, the little rascals, dragnet, flipper, my three sons, the ed sullivan show, captain kangaroo.

ahhh, the memories .....

no detente yet

how would you feel and/or what would you do if you saw a group of people:
1) consistently run stop lights/signs in your town,
2) consistently ignore speed limit signs,
3) consistently stay in the right-hand lane of the interstate and not move over when someone was trying to get on the highway, but
4) consistently stay in the left-hand lane the rest of the time even if no one else was around,
5) keep up a high rate of speed (70 +) when approaching a border crossing where the posted speed limit was 25 and the road traversed a state park where families with little kids expected to cross three supposedly slow lanes of traffic at their leisure.

nope, there's nothing we can do to/about them. got any advice?

the highway isn't for dancing

ever notice how you can be cruising down the interstate, just minding your own business and driving at the speed limit and everything is going just fine. you'll be passing people and people will pass you and traffic is smooth and the sky is blue. then you'll gain on a couple of cars and pass all but the last one at which point, when you get just off the rear bumper of the last one, all of a sudden the guy is pacing you. stays just ahead or even pulls away a little. so you get back in the right lane and the son of a bitch slows down. so you cruise for a bit, decide he's going to stay slow, then pull out to slowly pass him. at which point he speeds up again. and if you decide 'oh for pete's sake' and speed up enough to pass the guy and gain a little, the jerk speeds up and passes you. at that point i drop back a little and if it's obvious he's going to stay right with me, i pull off at the next rest stop and take a bathroom break. good grief! what is your problem?!

make it quick

when i first read about this website for 'starving artists' i thought, cool!

but after checking it out, i'm not so enthusiastic. probably because i didn't see anything which piqued my interest. they have very little time to grab me before i move on.

there's a reason i'm paranoid

i haven't heard this before ... if you have windows xp or 2000 and you are cruising the web, if you land someplace where they tell you to press your F1 key, DO NOT DO IT!!!

it will be an attempt to get malicious code on your computer. read this and keep your fingers on or below the qwerty line.

no, this isn't one of those "send this to all your friends within 5 days or your toes will fall off" things, it happens to be true. i know, i know, they all say that.

i like to double-check claims which come to me by going to snopes.com and seeing what they have to say. they're usually the last word in internet rumors.

take care out there.

what do you mean we just passed it?

i've been through some small nebraska towns, but i don't believe i've been through monowi.

a parallel world of fahrenheit 451?

i'm pretty sure the new world of books on your computer is not for me. i wonder what guy montag would think?

i like holding a book and letting my weighty bookmark swing while i read. i like pencil-correcting grammatical errors i find as i read along. i like having a book with me if i'd stuck in traffic or at a long red light. i like sitting in my rocking chair and rocking as i read.

what? kindle lets you do those last two? hmmm, i haven't seen the thing in person so i can't say how i'd react to it. they'd have to have all the titles i'd want before i'd be interested. and how are you charged for the compooks (computer books)? and how do you get them? and do they have half-price stores for used compooks that you can get cheaply?

the present system works for me.

Dude!

our young friend also e-mailed this picture to me ....

me, me, me...

a young friend of ours told us about this shoplifting scam artist -- check it out!

a beginning...

the daughter-in-law has written a book! and it is good -- very very good! she asked me to read through it and see if there were inconsistencies or problems, so i'm doing that now. but i keep forgetting to proof because i keep getting drawn back into the story.

if she's got more of this stuff in her, she could really go somewhere with it!

what's the buzz, tell me what's a-happenin' ....

do you do facebook? do you do twitter? well, here comes buzz.

i have a facebook page, although i rarely spend time with it. and i have a twitter account although i've never ever used it.

i don't know if i want to bother with buzz. i'm curious about it, but don't have time to deal with what i currently have, let alone take on something new. but this article made me wonder about it. the biggest problem i see is that it would keep grabbing your attention, especially if everyone starting chipping in. and that takes time.

let me know if you have tried it and what you think.

did you hear the one .....

"hey, have you ever dated a robot before? I used to date a vacuum cleaner. it sucked!"

if that makes you curious, go here to read about robotic bartenders. sadly, the one i thought was most interesting-looking didn't even get talked about. maybe it was only the waitress.

one-stop shopping

i didn't know about this website! either there are too many things to know in this world, or i am sadly out of the loop. probably too many things .....

anyhow, there's a dearth of navy shoes out there. they're just not readily available. but with this newly-discovered website, i can search by color and voila! there are 494 pages (12 per page) of blue shoes!!! admittedly, a lot of them are astonishingly horrible ... i mean ... godawful ugly, uh ... i mean, uh ... mmmm ... interestingly fashionable, so it's really a kick just to look through them. but by the 65th page i had seen two pair that i wanted to look at closer.

and, let's be real, i pass over the ones for $595 (as well as the ones for $20) but it's helpful to see them all.

i''m going to put this on my favorites!!

ppphhthttttt ..... phmmmbm

YES!!!!

remember those tubes, well, no -- i suppose most of you are waaaaaay too young to have ever seen those pneumatic tubes in action, but they used to have them in banks and department stores and government offices.

they were so cool! you'd put something inside and zip!!! off they went to be quickly deposited on someone's desk. and there have been a number of times in the last x-months when i and my colleagues have mentioned we wish we still had a system like that at work.

well! look at this! there are people out there who know the value of this system! it just makes an old heart glad *tear on cheek*. yay, retro!

a split-second difference

i think the death of the young luge athlete is sad. here you are, doing this sport that your dad and uncle have done and taught you about, that you have prepared for, and because of one miscalculation, or a poorly engineered run, or those low walls, while in sight of the finish line, your life is suddenly cut short.

i watched the video. i don't consider myself one of those people who has to slow down and look at a gruesome accident, but i am one of those people who needs to know what happened. and how it happened. and what caused it. so i watched the video. and would have watched it in slow motion but the capability wasn't there. it wasn't bloody. it was curious. he was too high, then was tossed to the other side, then swooped off the edge and his trajectory led him to connect with a steel support beam. something flew off to the right, and his faceplate bounced back onto and down the track. he hit that beam really hard. it looked like he probably connected from his neck to his tailbone, probably shattering those bones, and his internal organs, at that speed, probably ruptured. i don't know medical stuff. but it helps me, having a mental image of what happened.

don't ask me why; i've always needed to know.

youtube has apparently pulled their videos of it. i'm not sure i agree with that philosophy. the video isn't grisly, bloody, scary, dirty, or any negative. it's just real and it's sad. the video on nbc's olympics site is still there. and the new york times had a good presentation of what happened.

this isn't hollywood or tv or made-up. life is fragile...use it wisely.

geography

well .... that was interesting. i got a score of 88 in 405 seconds with an average error of 22 miles.

here -- try it! thanks, max!!

danger, will robinson ....

okay. so we need to drive less because we emit harmful gasses. so ... we do drive less, or we get cars which get better mileage, and what happens? the powers that be find out they are getting less gas-tax money and need to come up with another plan.

now they're thinking about charging us for how many miles we drive. good grief. that might not be a problem for delaware or rhode island, where you can just about walk from one side of the state to the other in an afternoon. but, hello ..... texas? montana? oregon?

i don't know, but it just doesn't sit right. you can read more about it here.

giger counter culture

and here, for your prurient leanings, is an interesting selection of pictures; don't miss number 7. the older people may not recognize this guy's stuff, unless they are a fan of Alien. the younger people will have seen it before. i simply cannot imagine what it's like to be this guy and have these things in my head. i wonder if the scientific explanation is that he is channeling bits of an alien civilization (term used loosely) which, hopefully, lies far far away from ours. i say 'hopefully' because, really, there seems to be such a feeling of evil which touches, slimes, and imbues so much of his work. still .... it's a lot like a car accident. you just HAVE to look.

bah humbug

here it is, 6:30 on a weekend morning and i, a night person, have gotten up early specifically so i can go out and see the space station as it zooms by overhead. however ....

it is raining.

life!

in spite of the fact that i never seem to have any free time anymore, i chanced upon several very neat videos recently.

i wonder what this cat is thinking.
i love this although i suppose everyone has seen it already except for me.
do not watch this if you are a prude. i thought it was very clever, but some people ....
pure joy!!
i think i already posted this one, but i don't remember and it's too cool to not add.

take a left ....

just a quick note -- it was a couple of decades ago that mapmakers decided to not include everything on their maps anymore. little streets, small country roads, they left off things like that. pissed me off.

i just discovered a new wiki site which is trying to map the world and to make the result free to anyone. these maps will probably include everything. since it seems to still be in the beginning stages (staggered stages, though) i'm sure there are places which .... well, wait. i just looked at different places (africa, new zealand, scotland, siberia, china) and there's already quite a bit there. except for siberia and china.

i suppose a person would want to compare one of these new maps with google if you were going to use it -- human error and all that, but for the most part, the new map should turn out to be very informative and accurate. unless a bad guy has been making entries bent on mischief.

hotel service

i saw this article the other day about having people warm up your sheets. with themselves. come on, holiday inn, how much are you paying the person who thought this up?

yeah, yeah, i know. the person is supposed to be clean and all covered up, but all i can think is, GROSS. if i want a person to warm my sheets, i'll find him myself.

just make them all and let me choose

apparently, according to something i saw, this spring's colors are supposed to be strong-yellow, turquoise-green, tomato-red, chalky-violet, and medium-blue. plus some other blah colors.

that's just depressing.