Tim's Bloglet

I'm ready for this storm to break...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:05:37 -0600

I'm ready for this storm to break. It's been gray and dank all day, with the wind coming from the wrong direction.
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What's next?

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:27:52 -0600

What's next?
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Obama parked here! We need a...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:25:27 -0600

Obama parked here! We need a plaque!
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Carbon black: I am inexplicably fascinated...

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:51:05 -0600

Carbon black: I am inexplicably fascinated by the manufacture of Carbon black: basically, powdered carbon, for use in inks, dyes, tires, and maybe a couple other things. I became aware of them because they were one of Huey Long's (many) enemies. I'm a bit fuzzy, but it seems they opposed bringing natural gas into New Orleans, because it would drive up their material costs, and also possibly because the same companies also made artificial gas (propane). Also, apparently there are some people attempting to add carbon black manufacturing to natural gas power plants, to reduce the carbon dioxide produced. Part of my interest is that there are entire industries of which I am completely unaware
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I propose that we call those who shuffle along to...

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:59:17 -0600

I propose that we call those who shuffle along to work in the morning with their cellphones glued to their ears be called telewalkers. As in, I had to ring my bell twice at a wrong-lane telewalker this morning. I passed three consecutive ones by Thornton field today. I find it pretty to think that they all have jawaches, rather than cellphones. During the morning commute I think it gets as high as 15% of the foot traffic.

Also, 10:15 joggers are an entirely seperate species from 7am joggers. Sort of the way the different sets of 17 year cicadas never meet.
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Is it because I cannot see you that you feel so...

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:12:40 -0600

Is it because I cannot see you that you feel so free to steal my excess baggage full of darkness and despair?

There is an Over the Rhine retrospective out that includes Within Without! One less reason to ever use my tape deck!
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Granted, I'm only just getting into his later...

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:29:10 -0600

Granted, I'm only just getting into his later career, but at this point, I totally would have voted for Huey Long. Also, I now understand why some people hear the word populist completely differently from the way I hear it. I was only really aware of the George Wallace end of things, and I hadn't understood that there was a shocking lack of Whiggery in the South, of the political ramifications of a plantation culture. Huey Long was what he was, but he was also the only way a progressive voice was going to be heard in that culture.

Which brings me to the half-baked idea: Huey Long and Sarah Palin have a lot of similarities, and I mean that in kind of good way. I'm still somewhat underinformed about Palin, but it they both came out of a completely broken political culture, and survived through a hard-nosedness that borders on abuse of power. The first word people reach for in both cases is colorful. Both terrify the establishment, and are gleefully Not Our Sort Of People. Both have problems with their siblings and extended family. (Sarah Palin's Mother-in-law is quite something) Unfortunately, she seems to lack his vision, or his profound understanding of the dangers to religious sectarianism. Which is all to say, I don't find Sarah Palin ridiculous, or silly. I find her somewhat frightening.
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I admit to being somewhat excited about Google's...

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:16:46 -0600

I admit to being somewhat excited about Google's browser. But I'm kind of thrown by them naming it after William Gibson's Chrome.
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I've now lost 10% of my mass using the...

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:14:56 -0600

I've now lost 10% of my mass using the WeightWatchers online thingum in about 5 months, and have, for the first time since high school, an officially sanctioned BMI. I'd never managed calorie counting before. (It isn't exactly calorie counting: it penalizes high fat foods and rewards fiber and exercise, but more or less). What it's done is just make me aware of the differences between foods, which I was only vaguely aware of. In a lot of ways, I am now less guilt-ridden about food than I used to be. Now, when I'm keeping track, like this evening, I know that I need to eat more. Dessert becomes a responsibility, not a transgression. At least for me, if I keep track, I eat less, automatically. My problem with food is that I will overeat absent-mindedly, in ignorance, not that I am actually too hungry, or that I'll just forget to eat for a day or two and then feast. I have very poor lines of communication with my stomach. So once I know where I am, it's not hard. The hard part is being organized enough to keep track, and so having a web-app to keep track with a decent database of foods, and reducing everything to small integers, to stop me getting hung up on false precision, it really does make things easier. So does the guilt of seeing the monthly charges. So I'm not endorsing the underlying nutritional principles, and I'm certainly not endorsing the aesthetic or the recipes, but I must admit that its seems to have worked. For someone who doesn't have my accountant's soul, and compulsive need to win computer games, it wouldn't be as helpful.
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The difference in the press coverage of Gustav and...

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:31:05 -0600

The difference in the press coverage of Gustav and Katrina at the same point is noticable. I am a slight meteorological geek, and read hurricane blogs in season, something I consider slightly disreputable. I'm not sure people in general really crave destruction, but hurricane blog commenters definitely do. I wonder how many years this heightened sensitivity will last. Would Bush have stayed home if it if had been Miami or Brownsville, instead of New Orleans again? The trouble is that it's one of those unsolvable problems. Evacuations are expensive, difficult and dangerous, and there's no good way to know when they'll be necessary and when they won't.
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I listened to various speeches on NPR last...

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:23:50 -0600

I listened to various speeches on NPR last night. Clinton was very listenable. Kerry still bugs me, but he had some good jokes. (Erika didn't know who he was, but still got irritated with him) I was very impressed with Tammy Duckworth, just on the radio, she had so much more gravity than most of these professional windbags. The Biden's just went in one ear and out the other. Blah blah blah Scranton blah blah bloody nose blah blah. (You'd think I'd have more sympathy with him, since I too was born in Scranton yet claim to be welsh, if not actually Neil Kinnock (whose wife is the only other person I know with my mothers name)). Words cannot express how happy I am it's Obama/Biden, and not Biden/Obama.

I'm getting heartily sick of McCain = Bush. There may be some truth to it, but it's also utterly transparent political engineering. I much prefer it when they actually criticize him or his policies, rather than just rely on guilt by association.
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Light reflecting off of your neighbors windows,...

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:20:00 -0600

Light reflecting off of your neighbors windows, should they be slightly concave, can melt vinyl siding.
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Obama/Biden: An Idea Bomb ...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:24:56 -0600

Obama/Biden: An Idea Bomb

Obama/Biden: Mania Do ebb

Barack Obama / Joe Biden: Join Bad Ameoba Backer
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Prose, which is almost certainly the best place I...

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:06:47 -0600

Prose, which is almost certainly the best place I have ever eaten, where I have had the majority of the unforgettable meals of my life (there were 2 in Santa Fe, and a handful of others), is apparently having difficulty making the rent. (today was wonderful tender octopus with potatoes and walnut sauce, vegetarian pasta with assorted radishes, a sauce that tasted vaguely like peanut sauce, but without peanuts, and not as sweet, and these translucent japanese yam noodles, along with mysterious savory things that may or may not have been mushrooms, and this light, fluffy mocha-chocolate roulade). I really don't understand people. The majority of people who go out for dinner seem to want servants, not food. I mean, I understand McDonalds, I really do. What I don't understand is the white-tablecloth mediocrities, with their conspicious-consumption ingredients made into dull, incoherent, forgettable sustinence. The food at Prose fills me with joy and happiness. I feel aglow and at peace. The notion of it closing, on the other hand, fills me with a profound unease.
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A new household euphemism: "thinking...

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:39:22 -0600

A new household euphemism: "thinking about linux" for dozing off. Erika was asleep, yet, on being woken, claimed she was just thinking about Linux. We just bought one of the little Eee's, and she has been trying to domesticate it.
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I am enjoying watching Olympic Badminton.

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:08:29 -0600

I am enjoying watching Olympic Badminton.
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Not the weather for it, but I just got my...

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:17:26 -0600

Not the weather for it, but I just got my inflatable kayak's sailing exoskeleton attached, and my is it beautiful. From the weather forecast it looks like I'll be able to go sailing tomorrow morning! Fwhee! Hopefully sailing won't consist entirely of capsizing a few times, paddling home and ordering the optional outriggers.
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Not the weather for it, but I just got my...

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:10:22 -0600

Not the weather for it, but I just got my inflatable kayak's sailing exoskeleton attached, and my is it beautiful.
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.flickr-photo { border: ridge 2px #000000;...

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:04:20 -0600

The suspicious fish are suspicious.
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.flickr-photo { border: ridge 2px #000000;...

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:03:07 -0600

I've finally found a good place to park near the corner store.I'm rather taken with the contrast between the plants.
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.flickr-photo { border: ridge 2px #000000;...

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:02:08 -0600

This is a couple years old, only just noticed it.
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Internet is back. Still haven't vacuumed.

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:56:54 -0600

Internet is back. Still haven't vacuumed.
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Internet is gone. Blogging from kindle...

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:01:00 -0600

Internet is gone. Blogging from kindle. 6 days without internet1 probably good for sou. Also vacuuming.
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New fish! 3 silver dollars and 2 burmese...

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:44:48 -0600

New fish! 3 silver dollars and 2 burmese border loaches.
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Did other people know about this Press 'n Seal...

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:06:08 -0600

Did other people know about this Press 'n Seal stuff? This is amazing. This will change my life.
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.flickr-photo { border: ridge 2px #000000;...

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:18:51 -0600

a railway bridge over the Ipswich river.Steel is awesome and awful stuff, engineeringwise. (and steel reinforced concrete even more so) We gained the ability to make massive spaces, but it took the subtlety out of the problem of bridging a river.
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.flickr-photo { border: ridge 2px #000000;...

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:10:57 -0600

A fragment of an old canal
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.flickr-photo { border: ridge 2px #000000;...

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:12:33 -0600

We went paddling down the ipswich river yesterday. There was plenty of water. These cardinal flowers were everywhere.
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I've got one of those finger-safe fans. The...

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:42:15 -0600

I've got one of those finger-safe fans. The cat just tried to get past it to the window, and it clipped his whiskers. So, he of course clipped it back. Twice. I have a cat who fights with small electrical appliances.
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I have 9 weekends in a row, starting right now...

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:28:50 -0600

I have 9 weekends in a row, starting right now. I also have far, far more than the correct number of ants. They seem to like both baked beans and cake flavored ice cream. We have much in common.
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