North Island, South Island, All Around the Town
This thing about what they ought to call the two primary islands of New Zealand —
I think they ought to call them "Ralph" and "Alice"
ref: BBC article "Confusion over NZ islands' names"
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8011846.stm)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Shop-Vac
The other day my wife was using the Shop-Vac and turned it off and then immediagtely back on. It fried the switch, so I'll be replacing that right away. I looked up parts on the Shop-Vac web site and found that the schmucks will not sell the switch. They will sell you a whole new "power head", motor and all, for about $70. Stupid. Very stupid.
The other day my wife was using the Shop-Vac and turned it off and then immediagtely back on. It fried the switch, so I'll be replacing that right away. I looked up parts on the Shop-Vac web site and found that the schmucks will not sell the switch. They will sell you a whole new "power head", motor and all, for about $70. Stupid. Very stupid.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
My Sudoku Method
I have a three-part marking system. It's all based on positional notation; any mark relevant to the presence or absence of a '1', for instance, is in the upper-left corner of the cell. Similarly, the other digits are in a grid, thusly:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
If there are only two possible places for a '1', that corner will have a small circle.
If there are three, there will be a slash. If four or more, a dot.
If the numeral cannot be there, it's an x.
If there's nothing, I haven't gotten to that stage het.
I first scan for the obvious and fill those in. Then I go over the whole puzzle grid once for each numeral. Sometimes I just do the twosies (the little circles) first. Sometimes the twosies and threesies together. And sometimes I do the full monty, putting dots in the multifarious places.
The reason these marks evolved is that one can easily upgrade a dot to a slash, or a slash to a circle (a little messy but readable). And an X can always be placed over anything else.
Might write more later, maybe even with pictures.
I have a three-part marking system. It's all based on positional notation; any mark relevant to the presence or absence of a '1', for instance, is in the upper-left corner of the cell. Similarly, the other digits are in a grid, thusly:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
If there are only two possible places for a '1', that corner will have a small circle.
If there are three, there will be a slash. If four or more, a dot.
If the numeral cannot be there, it's an x.
If there's nothing, I haven't gotten to that stage het.
I first scan for the obvious and fill those in. Then I go over the whole puzzle grid once for each numeral. Sometimes I just do the twosies (the little circles) first. Sometimes the twosies and threesies together. And sometimes I do the full monty, putting dots in the multifarious places.
The reason these marks evolved is that one can easily upgrade a dot to a slash, or a slash to a circle (a little messy but readable). And an X can always be placed over anything else.
Might write more later, maybe even with pictures.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Those Damned Address Labels
I have vowed to not give money to any organization that sends me any more of those damned address labels. I have composed a form letter that I enclose with the return of their solicitation; it begins with "This is a sad day for all of us ... "
Yesterday I got some of thos Damned Labels from Amnesty International. You have to draw the line somewhere, sometime, and I drew it, and they crossed it. They get the letter. I hope they get the point. I encourage others to do the same thing.
I have vowed to not give money to any organization that sends me any more of those damned address labels. I have composed a form letter that I enclose with the return of their solicitation; it begins with "This is a sad day for all of us ... "
Yesterday I got some of thos Damned Labels from Amnesty International. You have to draw the line somewhere, sometime, and I drew it, and they crossed it. They get the letter. I hope they get the point. I encourage others to do the same thing.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Understanding China
Thou Shalt Not Understand China.
Unless maybe you wanna think in Chinese ... then you have a chance.
With my Keen Sense of the Obvious, I can tell that they don't think in English. No matter how good their English is, and while sometimes it's pretty good on paper, a lot of them think they are speaking Actual English while the Average Joe, plumber or otherwise, cannot understand more than one word out of maybe like ten. I shudder to think what I might do to their language, if I had time to study it. I almost signed up for a class a couple of weeks ago, but about a half an hour before it started I had to go to a fire. An act of God? I dunno.
Thou Shalt Not Understand China.
Unless maybe you wanna think in Chinese ... then you have a chance.
With my Keen Sense of the Obvious, I can tell that they don't think in English. No matter how good their English is, and while sometimes it's pretty good on paper, a lot of them think they are speaking Actual English while the Average Joe, plumber or otherwise, cannot understand more than one word out of maybe like ten. I shudder to think what I might do to their language, if I had time to study it. I almost signed up for a class a couple of weeks ago, but about a half an hour before it started I had to go to a fire. An act of God? I dunno.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Henry and Robert
... Henry Kissinger and Robert Mugabe ... they have something in common — they were both corporals in the army when their innate leadership abilities were recognized, and they were plucked out of the hoi polloi and groomed for bigger and badder things.
I consider both to be criminals.
But Henry is more of a high-class criminal. He was in a classroom when he was discovered. Robert, however, was engaged in looting.
... Henry Kissinger and Robert Mugabe ... they have something in common — they were both corporals in the army when their innate leadership abilities were recognized, and they were plucked out of the hoi polloi and groomed for bigger and badder things.
I consider both to be criminals.
But Henry is more of a high-class criminal. He was in a classroom when he was discovered. Robert, however, was engaged in looting.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
This is kind of a nice template that I selected but I had to tweak the text parameters because it started out with that modren eyestrain light gray text which I totally Hate.
I can't for the life of me figure out why this fad has come about -- gray text on a slightly different gray background. It sucks big time. Just say no!!!
I can't for the life of me figure out why this fad has come about -- gray text on a slightly different gray background. It sucks big time. Just say no!!!
That story about GPS —
thanks for reminding me.
Some friends were living in the middle of Santa Fe about a block from the Capitol, on a dinky, dead-end, block-long dirt road, and had some relatives coming to visit. The relatives said "don't give us directions, we'll use the GPS!" Ha! They ended up on a long lonely road out in the boonies at a locked gate bearing the inscription "YOUR GPS IS WRONG".
So there, Mister Garmin, Mister Armchair Navigator.
thanks for reminding me.
Some friends were living in the middle of Santa Fe about a block from the Capitol, on a dinky, dead-end, block-long dirt road, and had some relatives coming to visit. The relatives said "don't give us directions, we'll use the GPS!" Ha! They ended up on a long lonely road out in the boonies at a locked gate bearing the inscription "YOUR GPS IS WRONG".
So there, Mister Garmin, Mister Armchair Navigator.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Driving with a Banana in your Ear
as in a cell phone or an MP3 player or whatever
There's been plenty of discussion about this being a hazard. Some people insist it's not. Sorry, but they are just being stupid.
There are two different kinds of things happening when you're driving with a phone in your hand: distraction and impairment. You can be dangerously distracted by the phone conversation even if you have a headset or hands-free speakerphone. Distraction can happen for other reasons, including havine a good time with friends in your car, daydreaming, absorption with music, and (God forbid!) watching television while driving.
And of course now there's this GPS business. Trying to find an address intently such that you can't find the road. Remind me to tell you a story about GPS.
Impairment is the other thing, and it is not insignificant. If you have ice cream in your hand, you are impaired. If you have a phone in your hand, you are impaired. But there's more than that. If you have a phone held up to your ear, you are doubly impaired. That seemingly simple thing takes a lot of your brain off the road.
I have not had a cell phone myself for several years but when I had one I was one of those "early adopters" of the headset. Not because anybody told me I should, but because it was almost instantly obvious that when I was on the phone, I was a hazard on the road, for several reasons. The thing that really caught me up was recognizing the 'hand-ear' impairment.
The headset thing was so easy, and the benefit was so obvious, that I'm incredulous how many people don't think they need to do this. Including the ditzy chick who driving into the plaza the wrong way one day recently, and heading right for me ... But then 85 percent of drivers think they are better than average.
It was a big load off my mind when I switched. Either way you can pull over when you need to make a call, and if you are trying to dial while driving I hope you get busted. But you can't control when incoming calls come at you, and just letting them all go to voice mail is just kinda not what's happening. What I did was to put the phone on automatic answer, count to five when it rang, and say hello.
It works. Try it.
as in a cell phone or an MP3 player or whatever
There's been plenty of discussion about this being a hazard. Some people insist it's not. Sorry, but they are just being stupid.
There are two different kinds of things happening when you're driving with a phone in your hand: distraction and impairment. You can be dangerously distracted by the phone conversation even if you have a headset or hands-free speakerphone. Distraction can happen for other reasons, including havine a good time with friends in your car, daydreaming, absorption with music, and (God forbid!) watching television while driving.
And of course now there's this GPS business. Trying to find an address intently such that you can't find the road. Remind me to tell you a story about GPS.
Impairment is the other thing, and it is not insignificant. If you have ice cream in your hand, you are impaired. If you have a phone in your hand, you are impaired. But there's more than that. If you have a phone held up to your ear, you are doubly impaired. That seemingly simple thing takes a lot of your brain off the road.
I have not had a cell phone myself for several years but when I had one I was one of those "early adopters" of the headset. Not because anybody told me I should, but because it was almost instantly obvious that when I was on the phone, I was a hazard on the road, for several reasons. The thing that really caught me up was recognizing the 'hand-ear' impairment.
The headset thing was so easy, and the benefit was so obvious, that I'm incredulous how many people don't think they need to do this. Including the ditzy chick who driving into the plaza the wrong way one day recently, and heading right for me ... But then 85 percent of drivers think they are better than average.
It was a big load off my mind when I switched. Either way you can pull over when you need to make a call, and if you are trying to dial while driving I hope you get busted. But you can't control when incoming calls come at you, and just letting them all go to voice mail is just kinda not what's happening. What I did was to put the phone on automatic answer, count to five when it rang, and say hello.
It works. Try it.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Moderately Successful
Would you believe Successfully Moderate
My bedtime is in one minute but maybe I can dash off something here — I don't seem to get much blogging done any other time, so this is probably the best time to do it. But I got up at 5 AM so since it's 10 PM, I'm outta here. Except for the mention of my invention. (Haven't actually made one yet, but Real Soon Now ... )
OK, the invention: the iPatch — a thingie for putting over the throbbing light on the edge of the MacBook so I can sleep.
Would you believe Successfully Moderate
My bedtime is in one minute but maybe I can dash off something here — I don't seem to get much blogging done any other time, so this is probably the best time to do it. But I got up at 5 AM so since it's 10 PM, I'm outta here. Except for the mention of my invention. (Haven't actually made one yet, but Real Soon Now ... )
OK, the invention: the iPatch — a thingie for putting over the throbbing light on the edge of the MacBook so I can sleep.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Electoral Dysfunction?
It's not the Electoral College that's the problem. We have plenty of problems to go around. The system at its core, except in Cambridge and a couple other places, is not merely undemocratic, it's antidemocratic.
Lets' make up, for example, an election: The candidates are Shrub, Nerf, and Bogontz. With numbers off the top of my head. If 50 percent of the people thought Nerf was the best choice but 4/5 of them (40 percent of the total) were convinced by the media that he didn't have a chance and so voted for Bogontz, they thereby voted against Nerf. Likewise, the other 1/5 (10 percent of the total) voted for Nerf anyway, damn the torpedoes, and they thereby voted against Bogontz. None of them wanted Shrub. There were another 3 percent who did want Bogontz. His total is 43. Shrub got 45 percent. The majority didn't want him. He won.
Is this democratic? Duh!
In a few places, and it should be everywhere, you ought to be able to indicate:
1. Your first choice
2. Your second choice
3. If it is so, the fact that none of the people on the ballot are acceptable for the particular office.
This is not real easy to tabulate if you have to do it by hand, but it's important enough that in a few places they have been doing it anyway for a very long time. (Maybe not the last one, generally called "binding none of the above") In these modern times with computers, it's a snap.
Now we come to the machine problems. Very simple: use open-source software. Total transparency. As Eric S. Raymond has pointed out, with enough eyes, all bugs are shallow.
It's not the Electoral College that's the problem. We have plenty of problems to go around. The system at its core, except in Cambridge and a couple other places, is not merely undemocratic, it's antidemocratic.
Lets' make up, for example, an election: The candidates are Shrub, Nerf, and Bogontz. With numbers off the top of my head. If 50 percent of the people thought Nerf was the best choice but 4/5 of them (40 percent of the total) were convinced by the media that he didn't have a chance and so voted for Bogontz, they thereby voted against Nerf. Likewise, the other 1/5 (10 percent of the total) voted for Nerf anyway, damn the torpedoes, and they thereby voted against Bogontz. None of them wanted Shrub. There were another 3 percent who did want Bogontz. His total is 43. Shrub got 45 percent. The majority didn't want him. He won.
Is this democratic? Duh!
In a few places, and it should be everywhere, you ought to be able to indicate:
1. Your first choice
2. Your second choice
3. If it is so, the fact that none of the people on the ballot are acceptable for the particular office.
This is not real easy to tabulate if you have to do it by hand, but it's important enough that in a few places they have been doing it anyway for a very long time. (Maybe not the last one, generally called "binding none of the above") In these modern times with computers, it's a snap.
Now we come to the machine problems. Very simple: use open-source software. Total transparency. As Eric S. Raymond has pointed out, with enough eyes, all bugs are shallow.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Lions and Tigers and Guns, Oh My!
Suddenly, at least in Albuquerque, there's an upsurge in gun buying. Fear that they might soon become unavailable. Naah. Private enterprise will rush in to fill any void. Personally I'm not into guns but I can shoot. I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to be able to get angry, get a pistol, and get even in the space of twenty minutes. The ID check is one possibility; a blood pressure check might be a good way to weed out the hotheads. Just a thought.
Suddenly, at least in Albuquerque, there's an upsurge in gun buying. Fear that they might soon become unavailable. Naah. Private enterprise will rush in to fill any void. Personally I'm not into guns but I can shoot. I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to be able to get angry, get a pistol, and get even in the space of twenty minutes. The ID check is one possibility; a blood pressure check might be a good way to weed out the hotheads. Just a thought.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Debate, my bippy!! (Department of Redundancy Department)
Check out this gem:
http://www.236.com/video/2008/watch_synchronized_presidentia_9857.php
Check out this gem:
http://www.236.com/video/2008/watch_synchronized_presidentia_9857.php
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Friday, January 28, 2005
Culinary Commentary
Last night I did a “lamb” shank (isn’t it really mutton?) sort of winging it, and did things like poking slits in it and stuffing garlic cloves therein, and surrounding the shank with onions in the baking dish, and when it was in the oven THEN I pulled out a cookbook and looked in the lamb area -- well, how about that -- they suggest doing the things I was doing. I must be getting the hang of cooking.
So I guess what I wanna say (in case anyone ever reads this) is that what I’ve been doing is not measuring anything, or consulting recipes, but instead going with the vibes -- letting the right brain rule, I guess. And it’s working. I’m actually getting good at it. Call this “cooking on the right side of the brain”.
Some years ago I had a cookbook by a lady named Verta Mae entitled “Vibration Cooking”. I got the book after hearing her on a radio program, or possibly seeing her on TV but we historically have been voluntarily deprived of television for lo, these many years. The main thing I remember from the book is the line “If you don’t make a mess in the kitchen, you probably ain’t makin’ nothin’ fit to eat!”
So I guess what I wanna say (in case anyone ever reads this) is that what I’ve been doing is not measuring anything, or consulting recipes, but instead going with the vibes -- letting the right brain rule, I guess. And it’s working. I’m actually getting good at it. Call this “cooking on the right side of the brain”.
Some years ago I had a cookbook by a lady named Verta Mae entitled “Vibration Cooking”. I got the book after hearing her on a radio program, or possibly seeing her on TV but we historically have been voluntarily deprived of television for lo, these many years. The main thing I remember from the book is the line “If you don’t make a mess in the kitchen, you probably ain’t makin’ nothin’ fit to eat!”
Chocoloholics Anonymous
I need a meeting. I gotta have some chocolate.I hope somebody comes over with a six pack to talk me out of it.
One day long ago (had to be about 1976) I was in a conversation with some people, a brother and sister appropriately with the family name of Sweet, and the sister was speaking up for chocolate, as I was. She asked me “Hey, did you ever drink Hershey’s syrup straight out of the can in one hand and a beer in the other?” So of course I said “of course”, and she said to her brother “see, I’m not the only one in the world” ... but are we the only two?
One day long ago (had to be about 1976) I was in a conversation with some people, a brother and sister appropriately with the family name of Sweet, and the sister was speaking up for chocolate, as I was. She asked me “Hey, did you ever drink Hershey’s syrup straight out of the can in one hand and a beer in the other?” So of course I said “of course”, and she said to her brother “see, I’m not the only one in the world” ... but are we the only two?
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