Well, Alan, I certainly appreciated the article, especially the eloquent 198 word sentence, which made perfect sense to me and, in my view, deserves to be emulated.
Thanks, Alan. What a marvelous sentence! Beautifully constructed, flowing like a river, and soooooooooo true! What an inspiration.
And the Whitman snippet: That's exactly what Summer is all about. What kind of stupid kids would not recognize that and say "space cadet?" It's not only what Summer is all about, it's what being young in the Summer is all about. Are youngsters really so jaded nowadays? Through so much rushing about from part-time jobs to soccer to swimming to dancing to AP classes to this and that and here and there have they lost the ability just to be? Don't they sit in the grass pulling daisy petals saying "He loves me, he loves me not," or blowing dandelion fluff, or just lie on their backs in the grass, looking up at the endlessly blue summer sky? Are they unable even to grasp such simple, profound pleasures? Is that what the modern world has done to our children? If so, it is a terrible pity!
My database project is coming along nicely, constantly being refined, really a great learning experience. There was a hairy point the other evening when the system locked up and wouldn't save or close. I had to do a hard shutdown of the computer and open the project again. Fortunately, there was only minor damage to one section of the project, requiring time but not much real effort to repair. Things are going so well,in fact, that I'm beginning to wonder about the usefulness of the database itself. That is, the whole point is for it to be fully searchable, but I can't seem to find a comprehensive search function in MSAccess. However, that really is getting ahead of myself. No doubt further study will reveal what I need.
Entering the final stretch of the Global Challenge, Fun Trivia's multi-month tournament. I'm pooped but hanging in there and will finish more than a full division beyond last time. That is, last GC I finished barely 30% through Div. 8. I'll finish this GC more than 30% through Div. 9 and maybe as much as 40% through. So, as Listener would say, all good.
It looks like this storm won't give us much rain, and that only in the late evening. But we got a bit more gardening done in the morning. We transplanted a hibiscus that had been doing famously, and when we dug it up it was obvious why--the root ball was tremendous.
I made some more mexican chocolate this afternoon, and was moved to read up on methods of production. It turned out that the brand I purchased (in the USA only distributed in California and Texas) is actually pretty good quality (thirty percent pure ground cocoa). Reading the two links below (particularly the second one) makes me think I had better substitute a nice big cup of chocolate for coffee each morning!
detail of Zutphen Elderly Study [Click] Good heavens! The median cocoa intake in the highest consumption group was only 4.2 grams per day, and one of the Moctezuma brand tablets, which makes a stingy two cups of chocolate, contains twelve grams. Black tea (several cups per day) also helps, as does the occasional fatty fish such as mackerel.
Oh, pooh! The SpaceX launch was scrubbed; malfunctioning Air Force radar. Try again Monday.
On the way home from the hardware/garden store I passed by an apartment complex which usually does and did host muscovy and mallard ducks, and there were a lot of mudhens (AKA coots) there this time. Further on, at a ponding basin there were seagulls, mudhens, geese, and WHITE PELICANS! Pelicans stop off here on their ways to and from the prairie provinces. When I got home I got out the binoculars and inspected the river bottom below our house. No pelicans or geese (the latter typically arrive near sunset and leave in the morning); seagulls, mudhens and egrets, plus CORMORANTS. When I was cleaning up pulled weeds yesterday I noticed some fox poop near where we left some food out for the night critters. Our local foxes are about the size of a small to medium house cat.
San Joaquin Kit Fox [Click] Lots of photos in Google images, but none noticed that gave an indication of the size. Their tails are as long as their bodies.
I hope you have better luck with rain, Alan. Instead of 8-12" of snow we have been having freezing drizzle here today,,, a strange sort of textured drizzle, too. It stuck like glue to the windshield, such that we had to have the defroster on full blast at 76F to get at least 1/3 of the windshield to be clear enough to drive! As it was only 6F out at the time ( ! ), there must have been an inversion layer of warmer air a little above the surface.
I should think Gov. Dean would like this article from The Atlantic:
ReplyDeleteAmerican writers of the romantic age [Click] A sense of what we have lost with our constant distractions--some of us more than others.
--Alan
Well, Alan, I certainly appreciated the article, especially the eloquent 198 word sentence, which made perfect sense to me and, in my view, deserves to be emulated.
DeleteThanks, Alan. What a marvelous sentence! Beautifully constructed, flowing like a river, and soooooooooo true! What an inspiration.
DeleteAnd the Whitman snippet: That's exactly what Summer is all about. What kind of stupid kids would not recognize that and say "space cadet?" It's not only what Summer is all about, it's what being young in the Summer is all about. Are youngsters really so jaded nowadays? Through so much rushing about from part-time jobs to soccer to swimming to dancing to AP classes to this and that and here and there have they lost the ability just to be? Don't they sit in the grass pulling daisy petals saying "He loves me, he loves me not," or blowing dandelion fluff, or just lie on their backs in the grass, looking up at the endlessly blue summer sky? Are they unable even to grasp such simple, profound pleasures? Is that what the modern world has done to our children? If so, it is a terrible pity!
Nowadays they and many of their elders probably need a cell phone app for that!
Delete--Alan
Hi guys!
ReplyDeleteMy database project is coming along nicely, constantly being refined, really a great learning experience. There was a hairy point the other evening when the system locked up and wouldn't save or close. I had to do a hard shutdown of the computer and open the project again. Fortunately, there was only minor damage to one section of the project, requiring time but not much real effort to repair. Things are going so well,in fact, that I'm beginning to wonder about the usefulness of the database itself. That is, the whole point is for it to be fully searchable, but I can't seem to find a comprehensive search function in MSAccess. However, that really is getting ahead of myself. No doubt further study will reveal what I need.
ReplyDeleteEntering the final stretch of the Global Challenge, Fun Trivia's multi-month tournament. I'm pooped but hanging in there and will finish more than a full division beyond last time. That is, last GC I finished barely 30% through Div. 8. I'll finish this GC more than 30% through Div. 9 and maybe as much as 40% through. So, as Listener would say, all good.
It looks like this storm won't give us much rain, and that only in the late evening. But we got a bit more gardening done in the morning. We transplanted a hibiscus that had been doing famously, and when we dug it up it was obvious why--the root ball was tremendous.
ReplyDeleteI made some more mexican chocolate this afternoon, and was moved to read up on methods of production. It turned out that the brand I purchased (in the USA only distributed in California and Texas) is actually pretty good quality (thirty percent pure ground cocoa). Reading the two links below (particularly the second one) makes me think I had better substitute a nice big
cup of chocolate for coffee each morning!
Health benefits of cocoa consumption [Click]
Cocoa intake, blood pressure, and cardiovascular mortality [Click]
--Alan
detail of Zutphen Elderly Study [Click] Good heavens! The median cocoa intake in the highest consumption group was only 4.2 grams per day, and one of the Moctezuma brand tablets, which makes a stingy two cups of chocolate, contains twelve grams. Black tea (several cups per day) also helps, as does the occasional fatty fish such as mackerel.
ReplyDelete--Alan
Oh, pooh! The SpaceX launch was scrubbed; malfunctioning Air Force radar. Try again Monday.
ReplyDeleteOn the way home from the hardware/garden store I passed by an apartment complex which usually does and did host muscovy and mallard ducks, and there were a lot of mudhens (AKA coots) there this time. Further on, at a ponding basin there were seagulls, mudhens, geese, and WHITE PELICANS! Pelicans stop off here on their ways to and from the prairie provinces. When I got home I got out the binoculars and inspected the river bottom below our house. No pelicans or geese (the latter typically arrive near sunset and leave in the morning); seagulls, mudhens and egrets, plus CORMORANTS. When I was cleaning up pulled weeds yesterday I noticed some fox poop near where we left some food out for the night critters. Our local foxes are about the size of a small to medium house cat.
--Alan
Wow, your foxes wouldn't intimidate the locals here, but how cute they must be!
DeleteSan Joaquin Kit Fox [Click] Lots of photos in Google images, but none noticed that gave an indication of the size. Their tails are as long as their bodies.
Delete--Alan
I hope you have better luck with rain, Alan. Instead of 8-12" of snow we have been having freezing drizzle here today,,, a strange sort of textured drizzle, too. It stuck like glue to the windshield, such that we had to have the defroster on full blast at 76F to get at least 1/3 of the windshield to be clear enough to drive! As it was only 6F out at the time ( ! ), there must have been an inversion layer of warmer air a little above the surface.
ReplyDeleteBill:
ReplyDeleteAnarchosyndicalist banner sighting (2011) [Click] 6th photo down.
--Alan
Red and black, eh? I never knew the anarchosyndicalists had a banner. But if they're going to have one, those colors make sense.
Delete