Monday, February 18
focus shift
Noteworthy: if the recent poll taken in St. Petersburg is any indication, the true center of American Stupidity has shifted from Kansas to Florida. Ref: Faith trumps science
Saturday, February 16
e-cycling
Well, I got rid of 1.5 boots (BritSpeak for "trunk") worth of e-waste today. The City of Dallas was sponsoring a Quarterly Recycling Event at a nearby park, so .. I took advantage and got rid of all sorts of circuit boards and cables and .. stuff .. that I will never use again.
Turns out the City had contracted with BCD Electro ("Electronics Recycling – Surplus Electronics – Computer Recycling") to handle all the electronics waste, and -- despite the rain -- they were doing a reasonable amount of "business" when I was there.
I still have 2 CRT monitors that have been sitting in my garage; I'm reluctant to part with them because -- even though they probably have zero value -- they cost hundreds of dollars and still work (they just take up lots of space and use lots of amps).
Now, I simply have to avoid the same mistake - buying stuff that'll ever be obsolete. Where do I start?
Turns out the City had contracted with BCD Electro ("Electronics Recycling – Surplus Electronics – Computer Recycling") to handle all the electronics waste, and -- despite the rain -- they were doing a reasonable amount of "business" when I was there.
I still have 2 CRT monitors that have been sitting in my garage; I'm reluctant to part with them because -- even though they probably have zero value -- they cost hundreds of dollars and still work (they just take up lots of space and use lots of amps).
Now, I simply have to avoid the same mistake - buying stuff that'll ever be obsolete. Where do I start?
Saturday, February 9
random observations
Texas' primary election is March 4 .. about 30 days away.
observation #1: I personally believe that US Americans .. in the coming four weeks .. Mike Huckabee will pass John McCain to win the Texas Republic [sic] primary (he's behind 33-43 at the moment, but that will change). I also predict that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic primary (she's ahead 48-38 now), mainly due to the large number of both bigots and poorly-educated religious zealots that somehow got voter registration cards. I know the polls are currently showing McCain and Clinton to win, but with the right's current disgust with McCain, I predict Huckleberry will eke out the victory.
observation #2: I used to like Ben Stein .. when he had the "Win Ben Stein's Money" game show on Comedy Central, or his incredibly boring delivery in the ClearEyes commercials. I didn't even mind (so much) that he was one of Nixon's speechwriters. But, over the past few years I've come to see him for what he really is: a delusional right-wing sociopath. Latest example: Is Ben Stein the new face of Creationism? by Roger Moore, in the Orlando Sentinel.
observation #3: Being the Philip Seymour Hoffman fan that I am, I had to see The Savages (2007) .. which is a thoroughly depressing film about the effect of Alzheimer's on a family. Recommended, but don't screen it when you're feeling blue .. it may send you over the edge.
observation #1: I personally believe that US Americans .. in the coming four weeks .. Mike Huckabee will pass John McCain to win the Texas Republic [sic] primary (he's behind 33-43 at the moment, but that will change). I also predict that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic primary (she's ahead 48-38 now), mainly due to the large number of both bigots and poorly-educated religious zealots that somehow got voter registration cards. I know the polls are currently showing McCain and Clinton to win, but with the right's current disgust with McCain, I predict Huckleberry will eke out the victory.
observation #2: I used to like Ben Stein .. when he had the "Win Ben Stein's Money" game show on Comedy Central, or his incredibly boring delivery in the ClearEyes commercials. I didn't even mind (so much) that he was one of Nixon's speechwriters. But, over the past few years I've come to see him for what he really is: a delusional right-wing sociopath. Latest example: Is Ben Stein the new face of Creationism? by Roger Moore, in the Orlando Sentinel.
observation #3: Being the Philip Seymour Hoffman fan that I am, I had to see The Savages (2007) .. which is a thoroughly depressing film about the effect of Alzheimer's on a family. Recommended, but don't screen it when you're feeling blue .. it may send you over the edge.
Monday, February 4
got sign?
Tomorrow is Super (Duper) Tuesday, but you'd never know it in Texas. Our primary is March 4th, and I don't recall seeing any political yard signs (except for Ron Paul -- who inspires the crazies), which are the staple of campaigns here. I suspect most campaigns are waiting to see whether they're still viable after tomorrow.
Texas Governor PrettyHair (Rick Perry) endorsed Rudy Giuliani, who promptly dropped out of the race. Ever the opportunist (ala Hillary Clinton), PrettyHair then endorsed John McCain - probably because he's the Lead GOPher at the moment, and Perry's desperate to back a winner, to salvage his own political future.
A few days ago, I had the car radio on and heard a politician whose voice I didn't immediately recognize .. turns out it was Barack Obama, who's as articulate as any human I've known. Odds are that I'll endorse him by the time the Texas (open) primary rolls around, unless I feel the need to seriously mess with anything happening over on the Repugnican side (assuming Mitt Romney hasn't thrown in the towel by then).
Politics aside .. Judy-Bob wandered by yesterday afternoon and wanted to feed with Joe-Bob at Genghis Grill (what's more traditional than Mongolian BBQ during the Super Bowl?) .. but we arrived to find them closed (horrors!!). Plan B became Pei Wei, which was open to only a handful of customers - the staff easily outnumbered the customers. I sampled the Pad Thai which was quite acceptable, thank you very much.
Meanwhile, Miles (and his mom) are here for one more week - they're due to mosey back to Phoenix on Saturday, I think. Since Judy-Bob and Janice-Bob played "Thelma and Louise" last week, taking US-287 to I-40 (en route Albuquerque), Paula's thinking about taking that route home, for a change of pace from the I-20 to I-10 boredom.
Texas Governor PrettyHair (Rick Perry) endorsed Rudy Giuliani, who promptly dropped out of the race. Ever the opportunist (ala Hillary Clinton), PrettyHair then endorsed John McCain - probably because he's the Lead GOPher at the moment, and Perry's desperate to back a winner, to salvage his own political future.
A few days ago, I had the car radio on and heard a politician whose voice I didn't immediately recognize .. turns out it was Barack Obama, who's as articulate as any human I've known. Odds are that I'll endorse him by the time the Texas (open) primary rolls around, unless I feel the need to seriously mess with anything happening over on the Repugnican side (assuming Mitt Romney hasn't thrown in the towel by then).
Politics aside .. Judy-Bob wandered by yesterday afternoon and wanted to feed with Joe-Bob at Genghis Grill (what's more traditional than Mongolian BBQ during the Super Bowl?) .. but we arrived to find them closed (horrors!!). Plan B became Pei Wei, which was open to only a handful of customers - the staff easily outnumbered the customers. I sampled the Pad Thai which was quite acceptable, thank you very much.
Meanwhile, Miles (and his mom) are here for one more week - they're due to mosey back to Phoenix on Saturday, I think. Since Judy-Bob and Janice-Bob played "Thelma and Louise" last week, taking US-287 to I-40 (en route Albuquerque), Paula's thinking about taking that route home, for a change of pace from the I-20 to I-10 boredom.
Monday, January 21
Sherman Day Trip
Over the weekend, Judy-Bob and Janice-Bob and I moseyed up to Sherman, Texas. It seems that there's a chance that Judy-Bob may relocate in that direction, so .. after a sumptuous breakfast at the Driver's Travel Mart (Anna, Texas) we kept on going, almost (but not quite) reaching the Oklahoma state line.
Sherman residents are probably proud of their town (in Grayson County), but it's not a place I could live in without going blind .. it's just too far off the beaten track for my taste.
On the way back to civilization, we stopped in McKinney to sample a QSR that's rare in Texas: Culver's (there are now nine locations of this Wisconsin chain in Texas, three of which are within a half-hour drive). Their specialties are frozen custard and "ButterBurgers" .. I stuck with the Beef Pot Roast Sandwich, same as last time. Not half bad.
Sherman residents are probably proud of their town (in Grayson County), but it's not a place I could live in without going blind .. it's just too far off the beaten track for my taste.
One of my theories about Texas (and Dallas) is that Dallas isn't really in Texas - it's a bubble of pseudo-civilization surrounding by thousands of miles of nothing.While in Sherman, Janice-Bob and I wandered through the "Touch of Class Antique Mall" (former 3-story furniture store) on the downtown city square, across from the county courthouse. Antique malls are not among the places I frequent: the sellers all seem to think their possessions are worth a whole heckuva lot more than I do (although who doesn't have enough Elvis lamps in their double-wide?).
On the way back to civilization, we stopped in McKinney to sample a QSR that's rare in Texas: Culver's (there are now nine locations of this Wisconsin chain in Texas, three of which are within a half-hour drive). Their specialties are frozen custard and "ButterBurgers" .. I stuck with the Beef Pot Roast Sandwich, same as last time. Not half bad.
Monday, January 14
Jessica's Fault
Dallas Cowboys (American football) fans have, on average, the same number of brain cells afforded your legendary Big Haired Texas Wummun. Thus, today they're seeking a single source for their frustration at losing in the first round of the playoffs to a team (New York Giants) they'd already beaten twice this year.
That target is Jessica Simpson.
And thus, I am amused. You see, the Star Quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys - Tony Romo - was doing just fine thankyouverymuch until he and Jessica hooked up a few months ago. Then, his performance (onfield) started nose-diving. The local wimmin who would've been happy to Have His Baby weren't as fixated anymore. Now, the season is over and the city (well, not all of us) is in a state of complete, utter shock. We're talking catatonic stupor. I won't be surprised if there's no mail delivery, the stores all close at noon, and people start wearing black armbands until pre-season.
Rumor has is that the TSA folks at DFW airport have been given orders to turn back any plane with Jessica Simpson onboard. Her posters have been removed from the local stores, and parents who named their daughters "Jessica" are queued up -- blocks long -- at the courthouse, seeking NAME CHANGE PETITIONS.
Oh, the humanity.
That target is Jessica Simpson.
And thus, I am amused. You see, the Star Quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys - Tony Romo - was doing just fine thankyouverymuch until he and Jessica hooked up a few months ago. Then, his performance (onfield) started nose-diving. The local wimmin who would've been happy to Have His Baby weren't as fixated anymore. Now, the season is over and the city (well, not all of us) is in a state of complete, utter shock. We're talking catatonic stupor. I won't be surprised if there's no mail delivery, the stores all close at noon, and people start wearing black armbands until pre-season.
Rumor has is that the TSA folks at DFW airport have been given orders to turn back any plane with Jessica Simpson onboard. Her posters have been removed from the local stores, and parents who named their daughters "Jessica" are queued up -- blocks long -- at the courthouse, seeking NAME CHANGE PETITIONS.
Oh, the humanity.
Tuesday morning update: worth noting that the US Mail delivery was the latest I can ever remember: sometime after sunset, but before 8:30pm when I checked the mailbox "one last time". Coincidence? Not a chance.
Thursday, January 3
Revenge of the Gregorians
I don't recall ever meeting a Gregorian in person.
Many of us have spent our entire lives assuming that everyone in the world uses the same calendar -- not so. Turns out there are a LOT of calendars used worldwide. I probably learned about The Gregorian Calendar in first grade history class (!). The Jews use the Hebrew Calendar; Muslims use the Islamic (Hijri) Calendar; Iranians use the (modern) Persian calendar, and the Chinese use the Chinese Yin Calendar (not to be confused with the Chinese Yang Calendar).
I like using the ISO-8601 calendar for embedding into filenames, so that Untitled.txt becomes 2008-01-01-Untitled.txt -- that way, it's always obvious when the file was created, even if it's been emailed or copied. There's a nice Calendar Converter on Fourmilab which I used to generate this data.
Example: using this converter, I can see that Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 took place on Day 1, Fifth Month, Ji Si Year (Republic Dynasty). To me, it's still 4 June 1989.
Many of us have spent our entire lives assuming that everyone in the world uses the same calendar -- not so. Turns out there are a LOT of calendars used worldwide. I probably learned about The Gregorian Calendar in first grade history class (!). The Jews use the Hebrew Calendar; Muslims use the Islamic (Hijri) Calendar; Iranians use the (modern) Persian calendar, and the Chinese use the Chinese Yin Calendar (not to be confused with the Chinese Yang Calendar).
our New Year's Day
| day | month | year | calendar adopted in | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 23 | Eleventh | 4705 (rat) | |
| Gregorian | 1 | January | 2008 C.E. | 1752 CE |
| Hebrew | 23 | Tevet | 5768 A.M. | |
| Hindu | 78 CE | |||
| Islam | 22 | Dhu al-Hijjah | 1428 A.H. | |
| Persian | 11 | Dey | 1386 | 1925 CE |
For simplicity sake, I'm avoiding an explanation of the Chinese Lunar and Solar calendars, which are based on the ruling dynasty, among other things.
their New Year's Day (sorted chronologically)
| Gregorian | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Era 2008 | 1 January 2008 | ||
| Islam 1429 (Muharram) | 10 January 2008 | ||
| Chinese 4705 | 7 February 2008 | ||
| Persian 1386 (Norouz) | 21 March 2008 | ||
| Hindu 1929 (Ugadi) | 6 April 2008 | ||
| Hebrew 5769 (Rosh Hashanah) | 29 September 2008 | ||
I like using the ISO-8601 calendar for embedding into filenames, so that Untitled.txt becomes 2008-01-01-Untitled.txt -- that way, it's always obvious when the file was created, even if it's been emailed or copied. There's a nice Calendar Converter on Fourmilab which I used to generate this data.
Example: using this converter, I can see that Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 took place on Day 1, Fifth Month, Ji Si Year (Republic Dynasty). To me, it's still 4 June 1989.
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