Gary's Passing

To those of you who know/knew my son Gary, I send this news out that he has graduated to a different plane of existence. He is now exploring the cosmic workings of where/when of a different reality. I am sure he is having a real fun time. He always enjoyed learning and where he is now he has more opportunity. He also can be/do anything/anywhere/anytime he wants. What fun he is having and laughing at all of our trivial stuff.

Mom has my site now.

Hello all you Gary Fans.
So now I have figured out how to do this. It will make things easier for me. I may not have the wonderful cool things to share as Gary did, but I will be able to keep the site going. We will always be able to read his cool stuff.
Some updates.
I(Brenda) will be moving to Eugene and Tanesha and I have decided to room together for awhile as we continue the process of reinventing how our lives are now. Gary's physical absence is sometimes overwhelming. So we will have each other to lean on for now. The future as always will take care of itself.
Gary was such a philosopher and wizard (in his own right) and his wit and wisdom I sorely miss. Please feel free to post comments or thoughts as I would love to have them to read later.
Thank you all for your support and kindness over the last several months.
Brenda (Gary's Mom)

Important Knowledge

Sometimes you just gotta know stuff. In the history of humans, only three people have ever been born in Antartica. That's amazing.

Science Update

Couple of things. One, naturally occuring nuclear reactors. Two, this cool article about 13 things humans are still baffled by. Pretty amazing stuff all around. I had no idea mother nature produced her own reactors here on earth two billion years ago. I thought it was a completely human endeavor.

And as for the 13 things, I think they should add Bush's reasoning for pulling funding for Amtrak. I mean, sure, life on Mars is intriguing and ensuring the Alpha constant is truly constant is important for science. But understanding why the goverment on the whole, since the 70s, has refused to fund trains as it does highways and airlines, well, I think solving that conundrum would help a lot of people out.

Rain

Sweet! It's raining. According to the almanac, we're about 8 inches behind on rain for the year. That's phenomenal. I really feel it too. It's made me a bit grouchy. I don't enjoy driving to eugene as much and I miss the snow in the mountains. So I am super happy that it's raining. Man. We need it.

Behind

I am falling behind lately because of all the little stuff going on in my life like work and wedding. Not a lot of time for me to blog, at any rate. But I found this jewel on the innernet. Seems like the reality of forest cruising robots that are antithetical to nature is coming closer to reality. The cool thing about this "tractor" is that it might cause less damage to the forest floor because it walks, not drives. Though I am not a scientist, nor do I play one on TV.

Old news but important

The global rich list tells you how rich you really are. It is pretty obvious that there is a dangerous gap growing. Just for kicks, I put in the Federal Poverty Level (about 12000) and it turns out that if you make that, you arein the top 13% world wide. Chew on that for a while.

The internet is amazing

Because I can write this post, which anyone in the world, anywhere, can read. And I can write this post while on the pooper. Which is how this post was written.

Did mankind ever dream such an amazing dream as being able to reach out to billions of people from the toilet? No. I assure you. And what other things are coming that we have no idea about, hmm?

Gamers at work

Slashdot says there's a new book out on how gamers are fundamentally different than non-gamers in the workplace. I didn't read the book. I read the posts about the book. But I am going to say something anyway.

While I agree that Games can teach a whole host of skills that can't easily be learned elsewhere, I don't necessarily believe that games automatically make you a better employee. I believe that the keys to being a good employee are the ability to communicate and the ability to remove one's ego from the work and view it objectively. Other things like skill, inventiveness, persistence, they all are very important indeed, but an inventive, skilled, persistent worker who can't really communicate is going to end up working by themselves. And someone who thinks their way is the only way will end up working by themselves. Out of all the people I've had to work with the ones that produce the best and the most are inevitably the ones who understand this. I've had the fortune of working briefly with people (some gamers) who don't. And when they've been let go, I've had the fortune of cleaning up after them. It's a good lesson. Takes a while, but it's a good lesson.

I work with a lot of gamers. Most of them understand this but some don't. What gamers really and truly understand is sleep deprivation. 10 hours of gaming until 3 am does it's damage.

Mucus Mumblings

It's 1am and I am awake. I should be asleep, but since I slept until 2 pm this afternoon, I can't seem to feel tired. The good news is that I am past all the bad stuff: the rib-cracking coughs, the migraines, the fever. Now I am simply a mucus production facility, which I can handle.

So here's some news. Seems like Mt. St. Helens also has a cough. She hacked out six miles worth of ash today. Not bad. I wonder what cold medicine she uses. Here's a few good shots. Click on the 'next' way off to the right to get some more.

ok. I am going to try and sleep now. Oh look, more mucus.

Radio Goodness

Ok. Another shameless plug for radioparadise. Check this playlist:

6:31 pm - Bering Strait - Porushka-Paranya
6:25 pm - Leftover Salmon & Cracker - Get Off This

---

6:23 pm - Sophie Zelmani - Yes I Am
6:19 pm - Sinead Lohan - No Mermaid
6:14 pm - Thievery Corporation - Lebanese Blonde

It just keeps flowing. The really great thing is you hear stuff that you wont hear anywhere else. Bering Strait is a russian band that just released an American album. The song is in russian. I doubt you'll hear it on any radio station except some basement college station where the DJs are only spinning records to get chicks wearing short black skirts to come visit them in their "booth."

yeah. Sure.

I am sick

I am sick,
a poem by modoquasi

I am thick
I am sick.
I have stick(y)
shit in my throat.
Being sick sucks
I suck on lozenges
but I hate lozenges.
I can't find a ryhme for lozenge.

My nose is a brick.
My brain is also a brick.
This makes my head also a brick.
This poem is sick and it
sucks
like my lozenge
and like my nose once did.

Airplane humor

Who here giggles when you hear the words 'aft lavatory'? Isn't that some kind of redundancy?

Sees Candies, the hidden agenda

Oh, you think it's just a simple chocolate shop. Oh, you think it's just a cure for the sweet tooth, a little dip into hedonistic milk chocolate love. But no. That black and white smocked nougat vendor conceals a dangerous agenda.

Think about it. They give their candy away. For free. They even force it on you, in that guilty way, in a way that would make you feel stupid for not excepting it. It is free chocolate, after all.

You see where I am going with this, don't you?

How does See’s survive in the dog eat dog world of low-volume, specialty confections? How can they keep paying rent in their high priced, curb-side downtown stores if they keep giving their product away? No sensible company would follow this model. No rational business would think this sound judgment.

So then, what is their business model? Well, let's look at some facts.

Fact: See’s gives away chocolate. Fact: Canadians give away health care. Fact: the original Mrs. See was a Canadian. Conclusion: The See’s corporation is a front for a Socialist Canadian invasion.
Don't believe me?

Upon entering a See’s, any See’s, you will be accosted by a disarmingly friendly clerk who will ask if you want a sample. A free sample. The best trained clerks--who are Royal Canadian Mountie trained--will be extraordinarily nice and will bring you an Almond Royal, or some Victoria Toffee without you even asking. (Notice within the names: Victoria; Royal. Keywords from the Socialist Fatherland.) You are not required to buy anything. No. Not a thing. This same procedure is used in Canadian Hospitals. A Canadian Red (red maple leaf equals red communist) can walk in to any hospital and claim to be sick and the hospital will simply give care. For free!

See’s gives away the chocolate; they expect nothing in return. Canadians give away healthcare, and education remember. That's socialism, my friends. And they are our neighbors.

Try it. Walk in to buy a few ounces of Divinity Puffs, and you will walk out with two Chelsea and a Key Lime Truffle AND the Divinity Puffs. You get more than you paid for.

Go ahead. Once you taste that rich, creamy chocolate, you'll see. Once you return to sample the peanut brittle, it will become apparent. And don't forget to go back for the truffles, no.

Then you'll know that they got you hooked. Hooked on Socialism!

Speaking of solar

I'm just going to rant here about this stuff. Austrailia has a cool new project using solar power. Wow. Very cool. I admit it seems a bit wasteful, but these kind of experiements need to be done so people know whether or not that line of thought is a good idea. I like that they're doing it. But here's what i really wonder: why isn't the U.S. really gung-ho about projects of this magnitude (maybe smaller in size, but broader in deployment such as home wind/solar or haha home nuclear). Why isn't there a strong push to make American Industry and American homes more resilient to any form of disruption, natural or man made. If I had a few small power plants in my house, say a solar panel or two, and a small WARP wind generator, and I was hooked up to the grid, I would save a bit of money and I would be less vulnerable to problems from either my power plants, or the grid.

And these new areas represent economic/industry sectors in which the U.S. is falling behind. We're stagnating in a vulnerable system designed in the, what, 40s? A power grid is great and all, but just like software design, like natural organism design, components in the system should be as independent as possible. An ant functions all on its own without a queen, or a nest. It can find its own food for energy. Other countries are booming ahead in these areas and I worry that we're losing jobs and advantages because of it.

Enh, anyway. It just tweaks me that we've got the smarts and the capability, but we just don't have the leadership. I guess people just don't like change.

Keep an eye on your neighbor

It seems that some people are taking the solar power thing a bit too far. The mad scientist who's images of the mirror death-ray here lives in Fox Island, Washington, up on Puget Sound. This makes him a threat to all of Seattle, and maybe even Portland. So I advise others to beware of similar neighbors. There may be a network of them out there preparing an attack.