Halloween pictures, finally

Creepy benefits of leaving jack-o-lantern out for a few days at the mercy of biological decomposition and the neighborhood squirrels. Need to consider this for a plan next year. The gaping maw is due to the invasion of squirrels eating all of the teeth. Sorry, don't have before / after pictures (see note below about missing camera).




















JrGopher1 didn't want his picture taken with his head visible. Wall-E was a better visual success than a wear-able success. Cardboard U-Haul moving box + schedule 40 PVC piping + twine & cardboard & medical tape. Nope, didn't have duct tape - eee!





















Jr.Gopher2 wanted to be EVE as soon as he heard #1 wanted to be Wall-E. They really like the movie. This is a Target size 3 diaper box, and the handles from one of those pretty gift bags. The gun was borrowed from a friend.
















Our camera is broken, so there's a delay between photos & sharing (acutally, more like delay between Halloween & borrowing a camera for pictures yesterday).

Vaccinate my cat?

Maybe I should ask for Raven to get vaccinated against swine flu? Or just keep her out of school?

Who is it for?

While I'm not sure I want to see The Antichrist this month, when it's at the Lagoon, I am assuredly not offended by the picture used to advertize the film. Unlike 7 people in England, who are concerned children might see the ad.

The ASA is apparently like our MPAA, giving the film an 18 rating (NC-17). I found their criteria/comments regarding the ad interesting:

was "unlikely to cause sexual excitement"
in ... The Times and The Independent, which the ASA felt children were unlikely to see.
"If children did see the ad, it was not considered particularly explicit.
"unlikely to be seen as irresponsible or cause serious or widespread offence"
"cinema at its most extreme"

Intriguing that whether or not a child see it impacts where it's offensive.

Then, there was von Trier's comment:
The Danish director defended his work at Cannes, saying: "I don't think I owe anyone an explanation. I made it for myself."

Well, unless he's a lot richer than I'd guess, this is a bit disingenuous. He made it for his investors, not himself.

Toasted pumpkin seeds

From the Gopher Kitchen:

1. Remove seeds from pumpkin.
2. Wash & remove pumpkin bits/fibers.
3. Rinse.
4. Spread on towel to dry. (do not use paper towels-you'll get paper bits)
   
5. When mostly dry, spread on cookie sheet & let dry all the way. This might be a day or so, depending on how dry/warm your kitchen is.
6. Put a splash of oil on a cookie sheet. Swish the seeds around in it. Now, this is just a little bit of oil. We're not deep-frying it, just toasting.
7. Put in over @ 200-250F.
8. About every 10 min., use spatula & toss seeds to toast evenly.
9. Remove from oven after about 30 min., or to taste.
10. Let cool.
11. Store in air-tight container.

These are really yummy straight out of the oven, warm. Jr.Gopher#2, the total omnivore, likes them too.

Lego safety

Of course, you go looking for one thing on YouTube, you find zillions. This is totally awesome:

Who's who

In English - an explanation of who's who in the new Germany government.

Hey You! Election Day is Tuesday!!!

While not as immediately apparent in its importance as, say, last November, you

NEED TO GO VOTE!

Election Day here in Minneapolis is critical for two big reasons:

• The City Council is trying an end-run to consolidate power by eliminating the Park & Rec Board. Vote NO.
• The City Citizens will be able to use the Ranked-Choice (or Instant Run Off) Voting for the first time.

GO VOTE!

This method of voting requires a hand-count.

The fact there are no electronic machines involved means the election results won't be in until December. However, unlike the last election to-do here, this won't involve million-dollar law suits.

VOTE!

Here are video explanations of it from MPR. It's brilliant. Voting with Post-Its. Really good visualization.

If only one person gets to win: the Mayor



If more than one person can win: City Council


YOU STILL NEED TO GO VOTE!

If you're confused about how to vote, post your question here & I'll answer it. As long as it is before 10 p.m. Monday night. My civic duty doesn't superceede getting a good night sleep on this topic.

back to the grindstone

I can tell I'm spending more time doing school work (a.k.a. industrial hygiene), when I see something and think "that would be cool to share" - it's IH / safety / public health.

Some order, please!

Every one of you has certainly heard of the Periodic Table of the Elements. Or the Periodic Table. Or the Periodic Chart. Period. You have, no doubt, seen the "modern" or "standard" version:

















Then there are different methods to present the same information. These still demonstrate the periodicity of the atomic structure & therefore chemical properties, in different visual patterns. There were a couple others, but they wouldn't copy as easily as this:















Then again, there are some periodic tables which are apparently designed to refute information (while the top is amusing, the bottom part is the highlight):

Tickets, please

I can see the appeal of spending a few dollars having the Metro Cops spend a shift riding around checking tickets on the Light Rail. Price of a ticket for no ticket? $180. Figuring it costs $60/hour for 2 cops, if they manage to issue 1 ticket / 3 hours, they'll break even financially. And put the fear of god into riders to drive home the point that they do check. I think I had my pass/ID checked three times in the last academic year. Now? Twice in one week - which actually translates to once yesterday and once this evening. And the visit yesterday ...? Was 2 metro cops and 2 TSA. TSA? Well, I suppose the Light Rail does go through the airport. I haven't seen anyone get nailed without a ticket yet, though. I have heard, however, that they have a Zero tolerance policy about it.

The Powers of Peat

I want to make a psalter. I started ruminating on this quite a few years ago B.C. (Before Children.) I had been doing medieval calligraphy for quite a few years and wanted to branch out into a medieval, yet more personal, effort. Psalters - a collection of the psalms - were one of the few types of books which were common in the Middle Ages. Yes, this would be if you were wealthy to start off with. There are some doozies out there. The stupendously wealthy would have them custom made, in lieu of a Mazeratti to show off wealth. One of the most spectacular examples is from Jean Duc de Berry. I used to have a copy of excerpts. It is the most impressive example of late medieval illumination I've ever seen. The calligraphy I posted a few days ago was based upon this.

There are extant examples dating back to the 7th Century (in Ireland) from across Europe. The earlier stuff - Merovingian, Carolingian & early Irish - are really appealing to me. Convenient, since they are light on the illumination. A companion skill I never developed much beyond a rudimentary level. I worked with several skilled illuminators, so I didn't see any point in pursuing something I didn't really care for.

A couple years ago, a bulldozer operator in the middle of Ireland discovered a psalter while excavating peat in a bog. It is estimated to be from ~750 AD, apparently based upon the one visible page. As the director of the National Museum in Ireland stated, it is utterly astonishing that this thing managed to survive 1000 years or more. I can't wait to see what it looks like. The museum has a page about it here.

It's intriguing the limitations they have for conservation & restoration:
can't freeze it, or it will destroy the parchment;
can't use bio-cides or it will ruin the paints or inks;
don't want too much oxygen or it will actually start decomposing ...

The problem is that, having sat in a peat bog for 1000 years, the book is rather ... well .. rather wet. How to dry it out without destroying it? There will likely be quite a few dissertations addressing the many facets of this.

This link goes to a page, at the bottom of which is a .pdf file providing a summary of the conservation project. As both a scientist and an avid interest in the specific type of object, I was utterly enchanted. p. 9 has a before / after photograph of one of the first pages they've treated. Holy cow!

This is just soooooooooo coooooolll

DWI the Minnesota Way

DWI for what?

Duluth, Minn. (AP) — A northern Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized lounge chair while drunk.

A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left the Keyboard Lounge in Proctor on his customized La-Z-Boy after drinking eight or nine beers.

Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed the lounge chair into a parked vehicle in August 2008.

Proctor Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault says the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower and was equipped with a stereo and cup holders.

Did this thing get snow tires? What about the windchill up there in Duluth in January - does he have some sort of heater? And perhaps even more strangely ... is he in violation of the Clean Air Act for operating a vehicle which doesn't have a catalytic converter on it?

at the same time the Duluth News Tribune reports:
Number of deaths on Minnesota roads lowest in decades. I guess that's only because they're looking on the roads, and not the bar parking lots for moving violations.

running hot? or cold?

Warm September segues into Cold October: aiming for record-breaking? Not me.

October temperatures are also way below average. After a very warm September (+5.5 degrees) we are running 8.4 degrees below average for October. So in a month, we've gone from the 11th warmest September or record to what may be one of the top 10 coldest Octobers on record.

Though I am very thankful for the above-average precipitation this month. It's been too dry for too long here.

Impure Thinking leads to Treason

Interesting view of the "democratic process" regarding climate change / global warming policies. The author questions whether scientists can claim a moral high ground. Questioning global warming policy is, in some quarters, 'treason to the Earth' and her associated advocates. Pleasantly, a change from physical sciences to economics. A topic more scientists should be familiar with (beyond grant proposals).

"Less well-known pundits make similar points, suggesting that people with “incorrect” views on global warming should face Nuremburg-style trials or be tried for crimes against humanity. There is clearly a trend. The climate threat is so great – and democracies are doing so little about it – that people conclude that maybe democracy is part of the problem, and that perhaps people ought not to be allowed to express heterodox opinions on such an important topic.

... argue that if the science of climate change concludes that CO2 emissions are harmful, it follows that we should stop those harmful emissions ... since science tells us that speeding cars kill many people, we should cut speed limits to almost nothing."


.

This is just the best ...

Now, this is the kind of story which just warms the cockles of one's heart.

UnitedHealth Group, the nation's biggest health insurer [next door in Minnetonka], found itself in a touchy sideshow to the great health care debate Wednesday after a Colorado family came forward with a poignant story about how their 2-year-old daughter had been denied coverage.

Such decisions are not uncommon among insurers, but the case of Aislin Bates came with a twist -- she's healthy.

Now, if only we could shame the Health Insurance industry into doing something else, like universal coverage.

80 gallons of Legos

Really, this didn't start out being procrastination. I'm working on a class project that lead me to check popular media for some information. Of course, one thing led to another to another ... and this was the end of the procrastination trail of tears.

Mistranslations from German:

Schwanz ... or Schwanz ... ?

Visitors to a tourist attraction in Berlin have been making off with an unusual memento—the 30 cm long penis of a Lego giraffe.

The Lego phallus belongs to a six metre tall model that has stood outside the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Centre on Potsdamer Platz since 2007.

“It’s a popular souvenir,” a spokeswoman for the centre said Tuesday. “It’s been stolen four times now …”

The article (in its entirety) in Columbia Journalism Review covers several other mis-translations.
BTW: Schwanz is a tail. It's also a popular slang for penis.

Although, apparently in both translations, it was still €3,000.

$4,500 for 30-cm of Legos? That's only about 1-ft. Even if one assumes it was relatively round (the tail, not the reproductive appendage), how could it possibly be that much? The Lego store @ Mall of America sells Legos by the bucket; it's only $14 for a quart of Lego. Somehow, I don't see Legoland using a 80 gallons (305 L) of Legos to build a 1 foot (30 cm) tail.

The post concluded with: Relying on someone a few desks down in the newsroom, or on your memory from that year you went to Oktoberfest, is a sure-fire way to end up lost in translation.

71% chance

We had the nicest Summer I can remember in my entire adult life. Really.

I'm not entirely sure what constitutes a "mild Winter" here in the Northern Midwest. We're supposed to get one, I guess. And, based upon Sunday's visit to an orchard, the woolly bear caterpillars support NOAA's predictions. (A fact I pointed out as one was crawling up Jr.Gopher#2's arm, to the great distress of Jr.Gopher#1.)

The 10-day straight run of temperatures below 0°F ( -18°C) last January reinforced my need for long johns to survive waiting for the bus/train. It actually got to -25°F ( -32°C) one night; it was up to -22 at 7 a.m. Mind you, that's here in urban-warmed Minneapolis. Up in Ely & Embarrass, it was -36°F ( -38°C) with a wind-chill of -52°F ( -47°C).
The metric units are for Mr.Gopher & Dr.Nuke. Sorry, Joachim, I figure everyone ought to have goofy names, and The Nuclear Physicist takes too much time to type. If you'd rather something else, let me know.

Ug. I'm okay if the temps get to 0°F; they don't really need to go further to convince me it's Winter here.

Now, for those of you who get annoyed when older people - say, your parents or grandparents - say "it was colder in my day" ... well, it isn't really global warming. The method used to calculate windchill changed. Rather than measure wind speed at 10 feet above ground, they now calculate it at 5 feet. Less wind = less windchill.

At 0-10 mph, the old & new are about the same. By the time you get up to 100 mph, they're back to be the same again. So, if it's calm, or if you're in the middle of an F-5 tornado, you can tell Grandma that it's really the same as the last century.

bragging rights

This is one of the nicer pieces I did. Not as nice as I'd want, but I certainly wasn't embarrassed to present it to the SCA group. This is from the Great Book of the Middle Kingdom. It is a collection of all of the "official" ceremonies and the associated texts for each. These particular pages are the opening of the Crown Tournament. And, while not credited, I did the calligraphy on the opening page for the following section.

The calligraphy & capital letters are mine. The illumination is Pharamond's. In the course of my efforts, I did quite a bit of collaboration with him: me with a pen & him with a paint brush.

There are a few other pieces of mine I wish I had high-quality photographs of, rather than the photocopies sitting in my portfolio.

Calligraphic attraction

There is an International Exhibition of Calligraphy in Moscow. Barring the mediocre English on their website (by both the exhibit and contributors), it looks like there is actually something in Moscow I would like to see.There are a couple of pieces in their collection which are stunningly breathtaking. A couple contributors are German. Their brief essay (2-3 paragraphs) were in a spectrum of opinions as well as English competency. At least one of which I wish I could have read in German, because it didn't make a lot of sense in English.

Two of the pieces I particularly liked:


Truth, texts from Demokrit, Aristoteles, Leibniz, Feuerbach, Goethe, Schiller, Lichtenberg, La Mettrie, Hebel, Berger, by Joachim Propfe
If you look carefully at some of the dark & light shadowing is actually text.





Psalm 25:7, Remember not the sins of my youth, by Avraham-Hersh Borshevsky
this is one which took my breath away.

The Great American Novel

Cinda contemplated what constitutes great American literature. Not being a professional writer, or a devout classicist, my literary consumption has been mostly popular stuff. Anne Perry, Robert Ludlum, Lois McMaster Bujold, Patrick O'Brian. I have read a couple of her recommendations, especially To Kill a Mockingbird.

No two people being the same, of course I paused to consider what I would recommend, if offering American literature to a foreigner. Something which paints a picture of life in America. How we, as Americans see our self-identity as Americans. Murder mysteries are all well and good, but does one paint a picture of America that is uniquely American? Love stories are popular, but does one demonstrate our idea of romance? Do we even have a monopoly on one flavor of love?

L.A. Confidential is an amazing picture of Los Angeles in 1952. All the glories of Hollywood, police and political corruption, the image that American was trying to give itself after the end of the war. The language used is uniquely American and uniquely 1950s. People don't speak like that any more. Removing the rose colored glasses of the Leave It to Beaver Era.

The Autobiography of Malcom X is a rather interesting picture of a very interesting man. The American dream of going from a nobody in poverty to being important; embracing freedom of religion and then embracing religion in freedom; and, of course, getting killed for bucking the system. A picture of the civil rights movement more likely to make whites uncomfortable than King's.

Atlas Shrugged yields the quintessential self-perception of American Capitalism. This is, of course, not how we practice that economic theory - but it is how Americans idealize it.** The Marlboro Man of Business - this is why Republicans idealize capitalism with utterly no governmental regulation - they think they're Hank Rearden or they're monumentally ignorant and think they're Jimmy Taggart. I read this while in high school & loved it without realizing it was an economic philosophy treatise. [Even at 15 I realized the personal relationship choices of the heroine really left something to be desired.]

Laura Ingall-Wilder's stories surrounding Little House on the Prairie paint a little idylic image of American Imperialist Expansionism in the 19th Century. Being almost-contemporary and written from personal experience, it might be rose-colored, but at least provides a very personal image of how White Euro-Americans look at the westward expansion into the prairies. Leave-It-To-Beaver of the 19th Century. This should be required hand-in-hand with:

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee is non-fiction, so it doesn't qualify as a novel; however, there aren't too many novels written from the point of view of the Indians. This is simply offered as a tool to better appreicate how Wilder's novels reflect the American view at the time which, for the most part, continues today.



.
** since writing this, the government has totally fucked us, and, boy, I mean fucked us ... and we've screamed for more more more more ...in our socialist economic love-fest. Or that could be our communist love-fest, depending on how in love you are with government buy-outs. What fucktards are running our government? Oh, that's right, the same assholes who are benefiting from all this dumb-ass money distribution (upwards re-distribution, that is) ... but don't let me sound too bitter.
.