Creek is still risi...
Friday, 31 July 2009
Monday, 27 July 2009
In the "The Political Prisoner" by Charles Coleman Finlay in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection edit by Gardner Dozois (first appeared in F&SF, August 2008), Finlay adds a corollary to a paraphrase of the familiar aphorism about history:"Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it"Finlay's extension is placed in the words of Max, the story title's political prisoner:"Those who do study history are doomed to see the repetition comi...
I actually bought my Prius with only 1 mile on it, so hitting 10001 is both symmetrical and significant because I put the 10000 miles on it.So far the car still drives well. I am not getting the vaunted 50mpg (more like 40mpg) that many claim for the car, probably because my commute doesn't even give the car time to warm up the gas engine and shut it off to let the electric do some work. I am getting twice the gas mileage of the last car. I also...
Friday, 24 July 2009
A recent article in the New York Times reports that the push for increased cancer screening may only have limited benefits. It talks especially about massive screening campaigns for rare cancers like thyroid cancer (kills only 1600/year in the US) and extending testing for breast cancer or prostate cancer to populations (younger people) where it occurs rarely or using tests that are poor screening tests.The most insightful statement from the article:Dr. Ned Calonge, the chairman of the United States Preventive Services Task Force said, “There...
Thursday, 23 July 2009
I can't wait to see what my spoon fighter jet model will look like when I put it together. I just have to detach all of the parts from the plastic frame first.Someone or some machine failed to detach these spoons from the frame after the injection molding was done. Do you remember the initial thrill of getting the parts ready for the plastic models we used to build when we were little? Mine never looked like the box because I wasn't allowed paint...
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
July 21, 1969 was the day when the world woke up to the headlines of man landing on the moon, though millions watched it live as it happened.NASA has many great photographs in their history write up of the Apollo 11 mission.Above is the iconic photo of Buzz Aldrin with Neil Armstrong and LM in reflection in Aldrin's visor. I have linked to Wikipedia's photo with black sky behind Aldrin made by extending this picture vertically, but the original...
Sunday, 19 July 2009
This first photo of man on the moon published in color was a supplement to the Philadelphia Inquirer 40 years ago.My parents saved this photo with the other newspapers from the moon landing forty years ago. It is too large to scan in, so I photographed it. Click on it for larger to read the text and see more detai, though the photo was not that detailed originally. Now NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Observer has photos of the landing sites 40 years...
I was told today that 40 years ago when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong was about to take his historic first step I was crawling around on the floor with my twin sister and my father during the broadcast. I suppose at six months old I was too young to remember the moon landing but my dad tells me I was there watching. My parents saved the newspapers from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Norristown Times Herald for July 21, 1969...
Saturday, 18 July 2009
These past weeks have seen the return of two of my favorite bird species to the Shellpot Creek.This short tailed hawk was in the front yard with its catch. The catch looked like a morning dove but it was hard to see. The photograph is from far away and I wish that I had video of it flying away instead of just the picture. We have seen hawks in the front yard before (one, two).As usual the white herons still like that one spot on the creek where...
I guess I have unrealistic expectations when it comes to ferns growing in wet shady areas like my backyard next to the creek. I wanted to have an explosion of various types by now but still have a only a few still adapting to the conditions. The key may be to realize that it is dryer in the back than I expected and so the ferns need some help in the high heat of the summer.Here is the best fern, an ostrich fern, that actually seems to be spreading...
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Howard points to Brad's argument - Battlestar's "Daybreak:" The worst ending in the history of on-screen science fiction. It is full of spoilers for the entire series so read it only if you have watched all of the Battlestar Galacta you want to before having the surprises taken away. Howard think the ending wasn't that great and we should just get over it, and my long comment on his post is worth repeating here as the commentary on the last episode of BSG that I never got around to writing. At least now I will have closure.I think that the plot...
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Last night I noticed these giant slugs climbing the pots on porch. I am not sure I am comfortable with them getting closer to my height by climbing things.Halfway up the pot.A picture with slime trail with my hand in there for size.This closeup also shows the slime trail, The ridges on the pot are nine to the inch so the length of this slug is about 3.2 inches not taking into account its curved posture (I guess it is not that big).I am sure these...
How do we know this is a 73 spitfire? I think license SPIT '73 says it all. I suspect though that this is one of the clunkers people have been talking about trading in and replacing. It looked like it was in good shape but from driving behind them, the exhaust stunk, which usually means extra emissions and inefficient fuel use.Or is there another explanati...
Monday, 13 July 2009
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Sometimes the most recent good stuff is over at Childhood Antics:A study of baby, monkey and primate laughter shows evolution of laughter seems to follow the evolution of primates.A study of name popularity indicates a correlation between unpopular names and juvenile delinquency. Do I wish I knew that before we named our s...
Friday, 10 July 2009
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Careful readers will realize that the author of this blog is a Phillies fan but also a Detroit Tigers fan. Today is the last day of the All Star Game 2009 Final Vote and I have been exhorting both Phillies fans and Detroit Tigers fans to vote online at MLB.com. I have asked the Detroit fans to add Phillie Shane Victorino on the National League side to their Tiger Brandon Inge American league Vote and asking Phillie fans to add Inge when they vote for Victorino.Right now Inge is leading the American League vote by 9 percentage points, but Victorino...
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
How addicted to Twitter are you?Created by The Oatmeal...which is to say not really addicted to Twitter. I like it because I have a few local people and news outlets that I follow, for following NASA, especially NASA Wallops and the moon probes, and for some national news that I follow. For my own tweets, I usually just post a link to the stuff here that I think people would be interested ...
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Hey Detroit Tigers fans, Please go vote for Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers to go to the All Star Game at MLB.com (ballot is first headline on righthand side) - he deserves it. Voting ends Thursday at 4pm.If you don't have a National League favorite, please stringly consider adding Shane Victorino of the Phillies on the National league side of your ballot....
This very traditional orange daylily finally bloomed after almost 3 years of us being at this house from a clump that is near the creek. I suppose they were either planted just before we got there and needed some time to grow to flowering stage. The other variable that changed in this uncontrolled experiment is that some of the trees on our side and on the other side of the creek that were shading this clump and others by the creek have fallen...
Saturday, 4 July 2009
We had to watch the Wilmington, Delaware fireworks from Porter reservoir this year because, as we tried to drive into Wilmington, they had Martin Luther King Blvd closed and thus removed all access to parking. With a baby asleep in the back of the car and a high barrier placed before us we retreated to a high location north of the city to try to catch a glimpse of the highest fireworks and call it a night. He are some shots looking south, the green...
Friday, 3 July 2009
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