Positively Glorious!

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses came to my door today. After a discussion that lasted nearly an hour, they told me that “this has been a fascinating conversation. Would it be okay for us to come back and learn more about what you’re saying.” I said certainly, but I know they won’t come back. They’ve said that before, and they never return. Probably because by the time they say “fascinating conversation,” they are starting to question their beliefs and see that it may be possible to believe more than one truth, rather than only “The Truth.”

Or, maybe it’s just because they see someone with a strong, unshakable, and well-rounded spirituality as a less than likely convert. Either way, about the time I start explaining what it means to be god, they bugger off to greener pastures. It’s a shame really. Because I truly believe that fundamentalist religious adherents could learn a great deal by believing in other religions. Continue Reading »

My new t-shirt's front

Jessica bought me a small birthday present and just gave it to me. It’s a present that I honestly never would have thought she’d buy me.

It’s a t-shirt with a comic from one of my favorite comic writers, Sidney Harris.

I never would have expected her to buy it because there’s still the uneasy tension that this super-hot-super-popular-cheerleader-chic married…

Well, a geek.

When she met me, I had too other favorite t-shirts in my collection. Both were Sidney Harris comics. My favorite joke, to this day (forgiving the inability to properly time, or pronounce, a joke  when telling it in writing) is this:

What do you get when you cross and elephant and an eggplant?

Elephant Eggplant Sin(?).

No, seriously. It’s still about the funniest joke I’ve ever heard. And, if that’s not proof enough, I’ve been programming for approximately 25 years. Programming computers! Yes, I still love it! In fact, if it weren’t for the simultaneous success of both Matthew Broderick and Bill Gates– both whom, each in different ways, proved to people that geeks might possibly be something other than high school boxing practice mannequins– I’d still be getting beaten up on a daily basis.

Anyway, though not as widely appreciated as some comic writers– he’s not as well known as The Far Side or Calvin & Hobbes, for instance– I regard Sidney Harris as one of, if not the best comic artist ever.

I highly suggest you take a jaunt over to his homepage and peruse the collection. No, you don’t have to be a geek to appreciate it. In fact, you don’t have to know anything about science, mathematics, or ANY of that drivel. He writes for the general population.

Oh, and apparently, he has a new gallery of comics about the economy! Wow, that’s going to be a blast.

I have to admit to being somewhat embarrassed.

I don’t make it a habit of writing while drunk. Not that I make any judgements about Hemingway or anything, but I tend to take my own writing too seriously to do while drunk– or even mildly tipsy. So I stay away from it.

Now, first off, let me say that I’m not fooling myself. I write in a blog… that about 4 people read… only when they are bored at work… and have already read everything else. Just because I take it seriously doesn’t have to mean that I think I’m particularly good at it. I’m okay with who I am.

(or is it whom?) Continue Reading »

This is a story about a woman named Rebecca.

Actually, it’s a story about a woman named Kateri, but it’s told through my relationship with a woman named Rebecca.

Actually, that’s not right either. The truth is that it’s a story that’s told through my- as yet- complete non-relationship with a woman named Rebecca. Who’s the sister of a guy named Jason.

Is this confusing enough for you?

Let me explain: Continue Reading »

I love my job.

Not everything about it. Having my hours cut to 20/wk is hard on the finances. Working primarily in Excel is often enough to make me want to carve my eyes out with a fork. And I know that it’s likely that it’ll be gone in a year from now, since it’s a contract with The Army Corps.

Sure, there are downsides. But fundamentally, it’s a really good gig. My working conditions are ridiculously comfortable, my boss is a super nice guy, it’s enough to pay the bills, etc. I grew up in The Projects- yes, those Projects. Now, here I sit making enough to own a house and listening to whatever music I want. I feel pretty damn lucky. Continue Reading »

Tattoo with most fill done

This weekend was a busy one. For one, we did a ton of work on our lawn, including tilling it, pulling the old turf, re-shaping and re-seeding with turf-type tall fescue- a drought resistant grass that requires surprisingly little water.

But the most exciting part of the weekend for me was getting the preliminary fill done on my oddly dualistic salmon tattoo. Continue Reading »

Carboy bomb

Yesterday, I came home to a site that no brewer wants to see, but all brewers expect to happen.

A carboy bomb.

Now, brewers will know that preventing this type of occurence is the very reason why we use blow-off tubes for a primary fermentation. A small airlock can get filled with pulp and clogged. A tube into a bucket is relatively save.

Relatively.

Bad things can still happen when you have 10 lbs of fresh press pear juice and you see skins and large pieces floating in the carboy and think “Eh, what the hell, it’ll just drop to the bottom anyway.”

Sometimes, it doesn’t drop to the bottom. Sometimes it floats on a pillow of carbon dioxide and pear pulp, and is carried up into the neck. Sometimes it efficiently blocks the blow-off tube, preventing the carbon dioxide from escaping and eventually building up enough pressure to pop.

All things considered, this was relatively minor, and a quick clean-up session got us back on track. I consider myself lucky. I once had a carboy of mead blow and become a fountain of syrupy liquid that shot over my head, coating everything from ceiling to floor. You have no idea how difficult cleaning sugar water can be until you have to clean it off the ceiling. The ants bugged us for quite a while after that. I hope I never make THAT mistake again.

I saw an interesting quote today, ostensibly from the Dalai Lama, and I thought I’d post it as  “Two Commandments.”

1. Be kind whenever possible
2. It is always possible

I just thought that was a nice rule. Now let’s see if I can remember it when push comes to shove.

So, as a continuation of this series on azimuths¹ I offer the final question. In the original post, I mentioned that the entire purpose of my generating the rose diagrams was to visualize my data. I was exploring the averaging of angles and asking the question: “How does one do that?” and, more importantly: “Does the average mean anything?”

It turns out that the second question is no easier to answer with visualization. Continue Reading »

1. which, incidentally, was meant to be a post, but which keeps coming back– like a zombie looking for a tasty serving of brains much bigger than my own. [↩]

Last week, I created an algorithm to generate a pseudo-rose diagram using Python and the Google Chart API. The diagram gave a decent “rough view” of azimuth data so that I could see at a glance the realism of my given azimuth average. Because I’m working in Python 3.0, I couldn’t use the host of great plotting libraries out there, so I had to roll my own. It worked, but I needed to make it better. Continue Reading »