mulberry_lane's Friends

11:34AM - Natatorial

natatorial • \nay-tuh-TOR-ee-ul\ • adjective 1 : of or relating to swimming 2 : adapted to or characterized by swimming

The Summer Olympics are almost upon us so we’ve been unable to avoid seeing some of the run-up events. The more astute readers may have guessed I don’t care much for sports. I don’t, it’s true, but I was really just being snarky there. I do watch some sports. They’re usually bizarre and not on very often but when I run across them I don’t immediately turn the channel. I like sumo wrestling. I like the ritual surrounding the matches and I’m always amazed at how strong and quick these very large men are. I like curling. We were quite taken with curling during the last winter Olympics and I’ll look for it next time. If we ever start doing serious building in space, curlers are where we should look for construction workers. Those people really understand inertia. I like watching women’s team sports; not so much for the actual sport, but for the way the teams generally act. They’re competitive without the raging bull, testosterone acting-out so often seen in men’s sports. I strongly believe much of that is/was steroid fueled.

I’ve really enjoyed Sasuke, an insanely difficult obstacle course in Japan shown here on G4 as Ninja Warrior. It’s been held twice a year since 1997 and only 2 people have ever completed it. The top level competitors are some of the best athletes in the world and Makoto Nagano, one of the two winners, is, in my personal opinion, probably the sexiest man I’m not married to alive.

I hope the Olympics go well for the Chinese. I know there are many problems with China. I know there are serious human rights abuses and I agree that Tibet should be free. I think those are issues with the Chinese government though. The Olympics seem to be a source of great pride to the Chinese people and I wish the people well. I certainly hope the rest of the world can wish me well in spite of some of the things our government has done.

One of the run-up events to the Olympics that I have enjoyed immensely has been the diving competitions. I don’t generally watch the natatorial events. They’re hard to see since they mostly happen in the water, duh, and I don’t know enough about them to appreciate them. I can’t tell if a particular swimming technique is easy or hard and they’re all fast. Shaving 2 seconds off the world record is fantastic, I guess, but not the most visually exciting thing I’ve ever seen. The diving competition, on the other hand, happens mostly in the air and you don’t have to be knowledgeable about the finer points to appreciate watching someone leap off a springboard, make 2 summersaults and 3 ½ twists before slipping into the water with barely a splash. Particularly when they are in such superb physical condition and so barely dressed. But I just watch for the technique.

11:58PM - County Blah

Originally published at Enemy of Entropy. Please leave any comments there.

Why do we have a reverse-911 system, if the county won’t use it to tell us things like, “Hey, we had a water main break and you need to boil your water before using it.”

We’ve had so many water main breaks in the last year that I’m glad we don’t drink tap water, anyway (even with boiling, it tastes nasty to me). We do cook with it, though.

Oh–I guess since we don’t have (or want) a land line, they wouldn’t call us anyway, would they? It seems to me that cell phones should be included somehow, based on the address on the account or where you are when an alert goes out, or something. Since more and more people don’t bother with land lines, that’s a significant issue.

So, yeah, boiling water ’til Wednesday afternoon at the very least. I’m glad I looked at the local newspaper’s web site!

5:50AM - Animals at the zoo, again

This rather large (for New England) beetle came trundling in to the hospital garage a couple days ago.   Another similar-sized beetle was caught elsewhere in the zoo yesterday, and I want to go look at it and see if it can be identified.  They may be relatives of the reddish-brown stag beetle, a large beetle known to live in Boston.   If this is a stag beetle it's probably a female, judging by her relatively small mandibles.

5:44AM - Key to dipteran larvae?

Yet again I will prevaricate on the kindness of the entomologists reading this for the sake of two-winged (true) flies.  This time an anonymous commenter wants to know if there is a dichotomous key to dipteran larvae out there, and how to obtain it.

Thanks in advance!

3:09AM - Am I a hopeless klutz ??

Gods, I am talented !

People go play football with large burly men and get hurt. That is an obvious way to do it. I have a really special talent that allows me to break bones stepping on empty plastic bleach bottles and such. Now if I combine that talent with something that is thought to be an insignificant way to get in shape, I can really do some damage! Take my body, have it swim for an hour, putting stress on my arthritic knee in a way that defies sports medicine, then place it on the Wii fit balance board to do some lunges and rowing squats, and watch the fun ! A special kind of pain that begins only when you stop and grows worse by the minute, and blossoms into a non stop throbbing agony that feels better while sitting up, but agony no matter which way you lay. So here I sit at 3 am, unable to sleep, hoping the extra strength Tylenol and arnica compound will either kick in or something. This totally sucks !

Just once , if I must be injured as an adult, I would like to do it in some spectacular fashion that makes sense- in some way you would expect an injury. Like when I was younger. These stupid ways are not only painful, but really embarrassing!

2:02AM - from one of my travel guides

"Swiss mercenaries were a major export of Switzerland before they started making watches."

10:03PM - Twitterings

( twitty stuff I said today - cut for your pleasure (or not!) )

9:24PM - New Soylent Screen Up!

Hey movie fans!  I just posted a nasty review of Natural Born Killers over at soylent_screen!

If you likewise experienced hate, read it to commiserate! 
If you saw and liked the flick, head on by and see what made me sick! 
If you abstained and saved your money, just go over and read the funny! 
Maybe I'm dumb, or maybe just tired--maybe I just don't "get" satire. 
Maybe I liked it and just lied--tell you what, why don't you decide?

I promise the review itself does not rhyme.  Friend soylent_screen to read my reviews without poetry links.

9:09PM - very cool

Shayna Baszler, this chick I wrestled (and got knocked the fuck out by) at a tournament in Chicago a couple of years ago, has an MMA fight airing on CBS this Friday.

I'm going to need to locate a TV so I can watch it.

7:26PM - Screw biology. South Dakota says fetuses are self-sustaining individuals.

From Slate.com by William Saletan:

Fetal Separation

Starting this week, under orders from the state attorney general and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, medical providers in South Dakota must present a scripted statement to women who seek abortions. The script, dictated by the legislature three years ago, declares that any abortion "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being."

Until now, I wasn't aware that the fetus—a term that, according to the South Dakota law, includes "the implanted embryo"—was a whole, separate, living human being. I thought it was ... you know ... implanted. I mean, I'm just a guy, not really an expert or anything. But, um, placenta? Umbilical cord? Do those terms ring a bell? And that's not even getting to the tricky stuff, like the role of maternal RNA in directing embryonic growth or all the work done by the womb to facilitate the embryo's attachment and nourishment.

I have to say, it's a relief to learn that the embryo is so complete and independent. I mean, it solves the whole problem. Here's this woman who just wants to be separated from her embryo. And lo and behold, it's already separate! No need to agonize. Just detach it and let it grow. It's separate, it's whole, it's living. Cancel the abortion. Perform a separation instead.

Sure, some cranky district attorney might take you to court, claiming your separation was really an abortion. Make sure you countersue for legal costs, because you've got a slam-dunk case. The law under which you're being prosecuted doesn't just declare that embryos and fetuses are separate. It also defines abortion as "the use of any means to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with knowledge that the termination with those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the fetus."

How can South Dakota claim that you should know separation will kill the fetus, when South Dakota has insisted on informing you, prior to the procedure, that the fetus is already whole and separate?

Don't give me some medical-school mumbo jumbo about obstetrics. The legislature mooted all that blather when it superimposed its judgment. Fetuses are whole and separate. Therefore, being a law-abiding citizen, you have no reason to believe that separation will cause fetal death. Therefore, under the law's terms, separation is not abortion. No need to bother with the onerous paperwork and liability threats the legislature has assigned exclusively to abortion. You're not in the abortion business anymore.

Look, I don't like abortions. Fortunately, neither do the women who ask for them. Most abortions happen because women get pregnant when they're not ready. Prevent the pregnancy, and you prevent the abortion. So, here's a word of advice to legislators like those in South Dakota: Stop withholding birth control and stop lying to women about their bodies. You can't even keep your lies straight. That's how you ended up telling doctors to tell women that separation will kill a separate human being. See you in court.

Cite: http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/archive/2008/07/21/fetal-separation.aspx

6:14PM - Good News vis Higher Gas Prices

Overall, traffic deaths in the U.S. have gone down:

Traffic Deaths Fall as Gas Prices Climb

There's a map of the U.S. as part of the article, so most people can check to see if their state's stats have gone up or down. A few didn't have available data.

4:57PM - Score!

Thank you Professor Civ Pro!

Placement Lady was approached by a local attorney who has a research question that needs someone who has had Fed Courts and ISN'T drowning in preparing for taking the Bar. :) So, I'll make 8 hours or so worth of research time, plus make a contact. :) I've got to dig my Fed Courts, Conflicts of Law, and Civ Pro stuff out of storage tonight and see how it applies to the fact pattern this guy gave me. I'll meet with him tomorrow.

3:33PM - Hoarding or Storing

Essay by Sharon Astyk, Is This Hoarding? The Ethics of Storage

Not bad, and I liked Squrrl's comments - she just saved a lot of money on clothing for her kids, and considering how much new clothing can cost, not a bad deal -- especially if you aren't sure if you or your partner will be employed a year or so down the line (assuming one has a partner -- even harder on single parents).

Me, I have to space to save some things against the future, but not everyone does. Fortunately we don't have to worry about growing kids. And foodwise, I'm glad I can get food from local farmers, not only because I have no interest in raising/milking cows for instance, but because when one of our crops doesn't work out it's good to have back-up. Although the peas are going gangbusters so I've been enjoying eating those, and the lettuces are doing well too... but one patch of my cucumbers is pretty much failing from being attacked by insects, and the tomatoes are only just getting going with flowering because of all the rain. One type of summer squash is just now ready for picking. For sure, if we had to depend on just ourselves to put food on the table, life would be a bit on the grim side right now -- most of the garden won't be ready for harvesting for a few more weeks! So far this month we've had peas, raspberries, and a few blueberries -- although I guess if we were really hungry I could pull up the onions early :P Mighty, self-sustainable farmers we're not :D

It's been interesting reading in the news and essays like the above one, about people's thoughts on what is hoarding. Even though the just-in-time delivery system has been around for a little while, I grew up with storing foods in the cupboard, and except for one summer when things were pretty grim financially, I've always had around a month's worth of food stored. For many people today that seems to be a foreign idea -- mostly the younger folks I expect, but I don't know....

My mom was the major influence of course, as my dad's job during shopping was to drive us there and back, and hang out in the magazine/book aisle in-between. My mom grew up during the Great Depression and WWII. We mostly bought foods in quantity when they were on sale, aside from some staples. Then if we wanted to have X-dish we usually could do it, even if X-ingredient for that dish wasn't on sale that week.

I think our family probably had a few months' worth of food in the house at any given time, maybe more. My mom still does this now, of course. Having plenty of food in the house also means not having to go shopping every week (time and fuel savings), and her case also a definite plus for her health. Aside from picking up some fresh in-season foods or having one of her friends do that while they're out shopping, she's been able to stay in during the 100+F weather California's been having off and on this summer.

It was interesting that one of Sharon Astyk's sample questions on hoarding was

Question 4: If Gloria knows she is likely to lose her job soon, and takes her kids to the doctor, gets their teeth checked, and gets a 3 months supply of her allergy medication while insurance will still pay for it, is she hoarding medical care?

It was interesting to me that some people would think that was hoarding, but I suppose the pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies would prefer folks didn't do this. We've done it ourselves though, some years ago when L was a contractor and I was an office temp. Our health insurance was through my job and how much coverage we had in the current month depended on how many hours I'd worked the month previous.

Nowadays we have pretty good health coverage, except no dental. And I'm happy I can afford to buy fresh produce and other locally-made goods, but I don't take it for granted. I'm all too aware through reading the news and seeing how various folks I know have been doing in the past and now, that things can always change, and not always for the better. So, we have a bit of food on the shelves, brush our teeth like good doobies, and exercise. And hope that between us, our community, and our gov't, we can keep things manageable. (Oo, btw, my State Representative responded to my email about 4-day work week and said he thought it was a great idea and wrote the governor about it!).

1:48PM

My emotional state is hurt today. I feel like decorating for Yule.

3:13PM - Whoops....

Bar NEXT week. Not this week. I blame it on road fatigue.

Picked up my diploma today. Looks NICE!

Placement Lady told me that the Bar STILL hadn't made the next Bar Application into an electronic form. All they have to do is ask; most of the work is done already anyway.

I'm currently up to my ass in alligators writing up an After Action Report on my findings in $BigSkyState. I've got more data to crunch for two other assignments as well, plus I really ought to run the entirety of the Who Voted How for my local Supreme Court because I am just convinced that the processed data (which is the very definition of information) is *valuable* to SOMEBODY if I can just find them. It's like panning for gold, but having to find the right person to sell it to.

When I got home, my air conditioner was on full blast. Thing is, I was CERTAIN I turned it off before leaving for two weeks plus. I think the maintenance guys turned it on when they changed the air filter. Dammit! Now I've got to pay for that electricity. What can I do, though? Despite going to check TWICE to make sure everything was off, I can only be very confident, as opposed to knowing to a legal certainty that my AC was off. Ah, well. I'm moving out of there in a month anyway.

Moving to WHERE, though?

I looked at an old RV today. I liked it. It had personality, unlike the soulless slab-sided boxes with "RV4-RENT!" on the side. I'll need to work a few more plum assignments before I can afford it. Need to get an accountant STAT to keep my ass out of hack with the IRS. Again. NOT going to make that mistake again.

3:13PM - caustic

caustic: capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action : corrosive 2 : marked by incisive sarcasm

I’ve written before about our parrot, Trudy. She’s a yellow napped Amazon that we got as a chick about 15 years ago. She was still eating baby food through a squeeze bottle. We weaned her ourselves. Ignorance is bliss. I’d be terrified to do it now since I found out how easy it is to aspirate food into their lungs by doing that. Fortunately in a very short time she decided she wanted to eat on her own. She didn’t have any tail feathers and she couldn’t move around her cage very well so she mostly just stayed where you put her. She was pretty adorable, if you like birds.

She’s still pretty adorable. There was a rough patch when she was about 8 years old. She hit puberty, decided she and my husband should go have babies together and I should die but she’s given up on him now. After we lowered her cage so she’s never above my eye level I started looking pretty good to her. I should, I’m the one who feeds her, after all. Puberty’s over, she’s mellowed and only occasionally tries to persuade me to go behind the bookcase with her. By and large she’s reconciled to the fact that it ain’t a happening thing.

She’s not a morning bird. That’s almost unheard of. Most of them wake you up. Her cage is covered at night; she wants it that way and if we forget she yells at us until we come back and cover her up. She’s in no hurry to have her cover taken off in the morning either. Even after she’s uncovered she wants to be left alone for a while. Her attitude is “Keep the damn worm. I’m sleeping in.”

I keep calling Trudy “she” but the truth is we don’t know for sure. We’ve never had her sexed. Amazon males and females look alike so genetic testing is the only way to be sure. The person we got her from opined she was female and temperamentally she’s calmer than Amazon males are supposed to be. We aren’t going to breed her so we aren’t going to have her tested. We’ve decided she’s a girl. My brother is completely weirded out by that. He said he couldn’t stand not knowing. If she ever lays an egg we’ll know for sure but the vet thinks she won’t lay eggs if we don’t give her a nest box even if she is female. I guess they’re not like chickens.

You have to make adjustments if you have a bird. They are very sensitive to fumes. Non-stick cookware will kill her if it’s overheated so we don’t have any. Oven cleaners give off caustic fumes that are far more dangerous to her than they would be to a mammal. Paint, bug spray and a number of other things are problematic. As a consequence we only let the bug guy spray outside and we use ant traps and some sort of dry powder in a few other places. We have more spiders than normal. We generally co-exist. We’ve been watching a spider and her egg sack for a few weeks. She sealed herself inside a sort of cocoon on a wall and stayed there for probably a month. We could see her inside with her egg sack. As far as we could tell she wasn’t eating anything. We didn’t know what would happen. Was she going to be her children’s first meal? I thought she might be dead but a couple of days ago she came out and went away. We saw her come back a few times but now she seems to be gone for good. There are a few black speckles in there that I assume are baby spiders but they aren’t moving either. We’ll give it another few days then take it off the wall and throw it outside.

My mother used to tell me I was a very peculiar person. I guess she was right. Lucky for me I married another one.

2:34PM - Friends and Ethiopian food

chronarchy, rfunk, and I all met featherynscale and triadruid for lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant.

featherynscale and triadruid were passing through Columbus on their way back home from a week-long road trip (from Kansas City to Boston and back). They are way cool people, and I enjoyed meeting them muchly. :-)

The food was good, too. I was very hungry, and now I am very not hungry, but in the best way. Mmmmm....Ethiopian.

11:49AM - Oooh, Shiny!

I love Empire Magazine. Beneath that link you’ll find a shot-by-shot comparison of the Watchmen trailer and the graphic novel panels that inspired the imagery. Very nice.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

11:30AM - Saving fuel, electricity, and highway wear-and-tear

Interesting article on 10-hour, 4-day work week

Colorado's starting to look at switching state employees to 10-hour, 4-day weeks. Utah will be implementing this starting next month (17,000 of their 24,000 employees). The hope is to cut down on fuel people have to use to get to work, cut down on greenhouse gases, reduce wear-and-tear on the highways.

For some departments, it might even save some heating/cooling and electricity, since some offices would probably be closed one day per week. Other departments like DPW would need to have some staff working M-Th and others working Tu-F, or some other combination if they need to have weekend coverage.

One of my brothers-in-law is in the National Guard here in MA and they recently changed from the 4-day week to a 5-day week, and I know he's very glad he has a car that gets fairly good mileage, but many of his co-workers don't, and they're definitely feeling the pain at the pump. I know people should switch to vehicles with better mileage, but not everyone can afford to do things like that, or they need to have the larger vehicle for carting lots of stuff around. A 10-hour, 4-day week could make it easier for employees to get more done around the home too -- all those important improvements like insulating, for instance, or spending more time with family.

I wrote to my governor, state senator and state representative about this today, including the link to the news article. And perhaps if they take it seriously and go for it, Mass. National Guard will re-consider its change to a 5-day week and return to the 4-day week.

11:35AM - I Aten't Ded

On my way now. Not taking the computer with me after all, too much stuff already and I don't think I'll have time to use it.

If I have no internet access at Charterhouse then I will next be online sometime on 31st July or 1st August.

Wheee!