CSM - A downside to bird feeders

A downside to bird feeders (from Christian Science Monitor)

Backyard bird feeders have become almost as ubiquitous as garden hoses. One result: the northern cardinal's range has grown significantly since the early 1960s. Yet scientists know little about the long-term effect the explosion in feeders is having on bird populations.

So a group of biologists in Britain has pulled together a look at what is known. They find that most of the effects from supplemental feeding seem to be positive. But seed-laden feeders have the potential to trigger long-term changes in species' range and breeding patterns.

In reviewing studies from the past 30 years, the team finds that supplemental feeding led female birds to lay eggs significantly earlier than is typical for their species. For some birds, such as Florida scrub jays, this put the young out of sync with the natural food sources they needed at that stage of their development. For one species of flightless parrot in New Zealand, a feeding campaign to increase the birds' population actually led to the birds hatching more males over time than females.

The biologists add that some of the less desirable effects of supplemental feeding could be reduced if more people follow best-feeding practices, such as those outlined by Project Feeder Watch, led by researchers as Cornell University. The results appear in the current issue of Frontiers in Ecology.– Peter N. Spotts

Friendship 2.0

I'm very fortunate to be able to keep in touch with real friends via email, blogging, and Twitter.

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

Alabama 3 - Woke Up This Morning (remixes)

Their Remix Bonus CD includes several different flavors of their classic (also known as the theme from The Sopranos). 04/15/2008 03:08 PM

Garnet Rogers - Get a Witness (Live) Good tunes of being on the road too long, lots of different roads, including a strong cover of Brother Stan's Northwest Passage. "There's no Hank or Merle or Johnny, now. You can't hear them anymore. Just redneck clowns in stupid hats ..." 04/14/2008 10:37 AM

Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman FARK.com: Fark YouTube Player (3532587) Curtis Mayfield perforns "Pusherman" on the wildly unpopular show "Night Music" 04/13/2008 04:56 PM

YouTube - Al Green Tired of Being Alone Live Happy Birthday, Rev. Al. YouTube - Al Green Tired of Being Alone Live 04/13/2008 04:50 PM

Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness As powerful a love song as you'll find anywhere - YouTube - Try A Little Tenderness Live- Otis Redding It's easy when listening to the explosive vocal performance to miss the simple beauty of the rhythm section, the simple clicking of the drummer, the nifty loop of the base and guitar players (Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper?), and, of course, the Bar-Kay horn section. None better. 04/11/2008 10:53 AM

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

This album is pretty consistently #2 on my favorite Dylan album list. (Blood on the Tracks is always #1.) From the time I first heard it on an old record player at the camp (the album owned by my mother's college friend, Joe C.) until listening on my iPod on this morning's walk, the music always delights and challenges. Although most of the tunes rock out with an all-star band, the album's anchor is the acoustic Desolation Row. 04/1

Jacketless journey

The temperature is leaning on 60 so it was nice to go out without a jacket. Marley walked slowly today. I couldn't tell if he was tired or if his feet were sore. We finally found a pace that was good for the both of us as we walked to Worcester on this fine day.

Lots of people have been working hard on their yards, cleaning up the winter debris, spreading the lime and fresh grass seed, and laying in new plants. The tulips in our yard are showing their greenery, but no blooms yet.

Several people let their dogs off-leash, including one just around the corner. Marley and this beagle got into a brief tangle as the beagle took exception to Marley being anywhere near her property.

Marley is respectful of other dogs on their own property. When they bark to say, "This is my home," we won't even turn his head. Occasionally, they'll challenge him, saying, "This is my home and, if I wasn't tied up, I'd beat the kibbles out of you." In those cases, Marley wants to answer the call and I have to work hard to pull him along. There are a couple of small dogs who particularly aggressive. They look like bowls of spaghetti with legs and Marley would dispatch them with the same vigor that he would take care of the same amount of pasta. Their yard has one of those electronic fences, so the pasta pups run right up to the side of the driveway and stop, yelling their epithets as we walk away.

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We assume that this sign at the town line means that Holden cares in a good way. The sign in the background introduces the first of many rules for our fair town - no overnight parking on any streets any time of the year. The town is known for its fussiness on matters great and small.

Nerdful co-existence - An Engineer's Guide to Cats

This is making the rounds on the Intertubes, so you may have already seen it. If not, here's An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Man not best friend to black dogs

We've adopted three adult black labs over the years. It was shocking, then, to read this article:

Worcester Telegram & Gazette News: According to animal shelter officials, big, black dogs like Gozer have more trouble finding a happy home than do other dogs. Some shelters even have a name for it: “Big black dog syndrome.”

Spring. We haz it.

I babysat for Cassie for a couple of hours today while Lynn sang at a funeral. She wasn't too keen on seeing me at first, because it meant that her mother was going out. C. stayed in her room and watched a video (Jungle Book). By the end of the video, she wanted me to meet her new cat, Tigger. (I'd met the Tigster a couple of days ago, but C.'d forgotten that.) So, the three of us played outside in the sun. C. can grab Tiggs by the haunches and carry him around like a sack of cooked pasta. He doesn't mind a bit.

At one point, the Tiggman went under the snowmobile trailer. "Iso," she said, "I need some help here." I crawled under the trailer and brought him back into the sunshine.

When Lynn returned, she and Cassie went out to a lunch gathering along with mothers and other three-year-olds. I stayed at the house and worked on their computer, ridding it of a couple of nasty bits of spyware and a couple of rootkits. It took a long time to run the scans, so I was still there when Lynn and Cassie returned. At that point, C. didn't think that I belonged there anymore. "Please don't come to my house anymore," she said. She went to the door and held it open until I left.

RB-3, Home Network-2

We now have three computers connected to our home wireless network, one each of Win2k, XP, and Vista. For all the troubles that people have reported, the Vista system was the best behaved when it came to connecting to the new configuration. The Win2k system was the most trouble, starting with lack of support for the higher encryption services available on the router and for later operating systems.

One of the things about working in a corporate IT environment is that, for the most, 'things just work.' You connect a new system to the network and both the system and the network know what to do; in a matter of moments, you're working. At home, particularly when you get a message like this, it can be a long day.

Why people hate computer networks

One of the first rules of being a TV meteorologist is to look out the window before you go on the air. That way, you're less likely to say that it's a nice day if it's snowing outside.

There ought to be a similar rule for computer messages: look at the condition before saying what the condition is. In this case, I was trying to set up our laptop with our new modem/router. I had some trouble configuring the security settings. As a result, the system was telling that I was both already connected and not connected (the latter was true).

And, by the way, ...

Not only are some of us in the Boomer generation, but "Between the ages of 25 and 60, people's ability to use websites declines by 0.8% per year — mostly because they spend more time per page, but also because of navigation difficulties."

What generation are you?

You Belong in the Baby Boomer Generation

You fit in best with people born between 1943 and 1960. You are optimistic, rebellious, and even a little self centered. You still believe that you will change the world. You detest authority and rules. Deep down, you're a non conformist.

What Generation Do You Belong In?

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

B-52s - Funplex

Their first album in 15 or so years. While there's nothing that's terribly new in here (includes live versions of Planet Claire and Private Idaho), it's good, solid danceable music with their particular style of charming naughtiness. 04/08/2008 04:07 PM

U2 Pride (in the Name of Love) FARK.com: Fark YouTube Player (3514033) Free at last -- they took your life -- they could not take your pride 04/04/2008 05:01 PM

Richard Manuel - "I Shall Be Released"

FARK.com: Fark YouTube Player (3511656) Here is Richard Manuel singing "I Shall Be Released" with The Band. It's his birthday, and submitter and all of his fans hope that he finally was. Richard Manuel committed suicide in 1986. 04/03/2008 08:11 AM

Ten Commandments Weekend

Senators Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and Joe Lieberman (J-oementum) have introduced a bill in the Senate that would designate the first weekend in May 2008 as Ten Commandments Weekend. Nice idea, if we could agree on what the commandments are and, within that, how they should be observed.

There are two versions, in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, of the statements that we commonly regard as commandments. They aren't numbered. The specifics differ, depending on the translation and the sectarian history. Furthermore, even if we try to observe the fourth (or third) commandment, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, we can't agree on the day of the week that we should remember.

So, maybe we should think again about designating creating a holiday based on such uncertainty. Besides, when asked which commandment was the most important, Jesus replied:

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”

A great answer to a great question: accept the Lord our God is One, love Him, and worship Him to the best of your ability.

Jesus was not finished. He had more to teach. Obviously Jesus was teaching the man everything he needed to get into the Kingdom of God. Jesus added:

“…The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The Great Teacher further clarified:

“There is no commandment greater than these.”

Source: The Religion of Islam - Jesus’ Greatest Commandment

A year of traveling from the world of work

It's been a year since I left my job, a string of days that got us from there to here. There's no doubt in my mind (and reported by those around me) that I'm doing a lot better now. The improvements come from many channels - love and support of my family, aggressive medical treatments (ECT, meds, and a hospital stay), therapy, and lifestyle changes. The numbers tell an interesting story. As they tell you in business presentations, good charts move up and to the right. Up and to the right it goes, but with sharp peaks and valleys, each with a story.

What's ahead? Dunno. Living a day at a time is a wonderful way to live. Often, though, it narrows the focus to just that block of 24 hours, making it to envision life beyond the day. The Red Sox have their home opener tomorrow. The guy from Sears will be coming here to fix our refrigerator's freezer (again). That's plenty of future thinking for me for now.

About 10 years, I worked for a small group that had produced the company's new flagship product in a year. As we reviewed the year, the development director asked us to describe our major accomplishments. "We're still standing," I said.

Is that Forwarded Email Fact or Fiction?

I've used Snopes.com for a long time. It's one of the best reference sites on the Internet, particularly for determining if Uncle Louie's latest email that proclaims that reusing water bottles will give you a horrible disease. This page, Is that Forwarded Email Fact or Fiction?, from CyberNet, provides good guidance on how to use Snopes.

Video Games Versus Violence

Now, here's something that we wouldn't have expected. In the years that video games have become increasingly popular and, as most of us would think, delivering increasingly violent content, the incidence of violent crime has dropped(from Frostfirezoo.com). Here are the statistics from the Justice Department:
Bureau of Justice Statistics Violent Crime Rate Trends.

set mode=vulture

This coming weekend, you can take a bus tour with a local real estate agent to look at foreclosed properties in the Worcester area.

Dental Dept., redux

In the continuing discussion with friend eba regarding teeth, I discovered that one of my crowns has developed a fault line. I have a previously scheduled appointment with my dentist later this month; we'll decide at that point whether he'll be able to get the new navigation system on his boat this year or not.

The father of a friend of my father went to the dentist and learned that he'd need dentures. In order to get the denture, all of the guy's remaining teeth would have to be pulled. This was in the 1930s or so (as the story goes) and would have cost perhaps two hundred bucks. That seemed like a lot to the old Finn. So, he went home, got a bottle of whiskey, a pair of pliers, and a bucket. He'd take a swig of whiskey, pull a tooth, and spit the blood into the bucket. By the end of the day, he'd pulled all of his teeth.

This news story from the UK shows that DIY dentistry is still going on.

The Night James Brown Saved Boston

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago today. Because of the work of several courageous and clever people, Boston avoided most of the rioting that overwhelmed most major cities. Boston's only black city councilor, Tom Atkins, and Kevin White, mayor, arranged to have the April 5 James Brown concert broadcast on the city's public broadcasting station, Channel 2, WGBH. The streets were quiet that night as thousands stayed home to watch the show.

VH1 will broadcast a documentary about the events around and on that night. See Rock Docs : The Night James Brown Saved Boston for more info. WGBH's Greater Boston had a story about the movie and the night. VH1 will release the movie, along with WGHB's concert footage, on DVD.

No benefit in drinking eight glasses of water a day, scientists say - Telegraph

A key part of the weight-loss canon is that we should drink a half gallon/two liters of water per day to flush the system and make us feel full. It's interesting to learn, then that scientists have not determined the benefit in drinking eight glasses of water a day.

Why people hate computers and cell phones

I've been trying to transfer a couple of pictures from Sandra's phone to our home computer using Bluetooth. Following what I believe are the proper instructions, I received the following message:

Tooth Regeneration May Replace Drill-and-Fill

Friend eba has offered several reports about her and her husband's dental experiences of late. Thus far, dentists are still making their boat payments by using mechanical means for repairing teeth - drills, filling, crowns, and implants. Some new techniques, still in the research and testing phases, may allow our teeth to regenerate themselves. The new procedures still require intervention by dentists, so they'll still be able to afford their Rolex watches.

This, by the way, is one of my Pearly Gate questions: why don't human teeth automatically repair themselves? The teeth in some animals, such as chipmunks and squirrels, keep growing, so the animals must eat hard food to wear down their teeth. We humans, however, get two sets of teeth. The first jettisons itself fairly easily. The second, so-called permanent set, crumbles and fails over the next three or four score years, bringing us pain and an increasing reliance on soft foods. What evolutionary (or creation-scientific) advantage does this dental design bring?

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing (with a swing)

This one is always on any of my lists of best song/recording ever. 04/01/2008 04:18 PM

MilkandCookies - Peter Gabriel: In Your Eyes 04/01/2008 04:03 PM

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Nomathemba From the Long Walk to Freedom soundtrack. 03/30/2008 02:29 PM

Getting ready for the real start of the baseball season FARK.com: Fark YouTube Player (3493646) The King covers "Sweet Caroline." Complete with sweet dance moves 03/27/2008 05:16 PM

Gnarls Barkley - Who's gonna save my soul

Modern R&B with a classic Al Green feel. 03/27/2008 01:39 PM

Last lumps of winter

The woods still have big patches of snow and ice, but our yard has turn the corner to spring. According to the weather forecast, we might get some snow on Friday, but the ground is getting too warm to let the snow stay for very long.

Sandra and I have had a nickel bet for a month or so. I wagered that the pile of snow on our back deck would still be here on April 1st; she believed that it would be gone.

Had we closed the wager this morning, I would have won. A day of 60 degree weather, however, ate through the snow like Marley through his breakfast.

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This is Post #800. We're coming up on four years in a couple of weeks.

Vernal suburbia

A pair of robins have been hanging around on Holden Street, midway between Shrewsbury Street and the Worcester line, for more than a week. This weekend, we saw a robin in our yard, a half-mile north. The rest of the gang, the grackles and blackbirds and cardinals and mourning doves, are eating voraciously at our feeders. If I kept the feeders full, I bet they would go through 50 pounds in a week.

We're seeing the first noses of crocuses and poppies where the sun has warmed the earth. There are still patches of snow around the yard. The ponds are trying to melt by day, but the freezing temperatures overnight put a fresh, thin coating of ice on the open water. The ice is too thin to support the Canada geese, but the smaller ducks can sit comfortably, if you call sitting on ice comfortable.
So, we're ready for spring, ready to get going on the yard work and living outdoors and all that. Last night, I cooked (or, rather, undercooked) supper on the gas grill on the back deck. Today, March is going out like a lamb, if you call snow and cold wind lamb-like.

The state of the retail economy

This article, Penney’s Warning Adds to Retail Gloom, from yesterday's New York Times, is the latest in a relentless parade of news stories about our troubled economy. When we walk through midrange or upscale malls, the dispirited atmosphere is too much to take. If it was not for the teenagers, preening and parading, there'd be no energy at all in these joyless caverns.

The business articles have a lot to say about demographics, marketing programs, and earnings-per-share. What the articles don't say, however, is that, in store after store, pretty much all that they have to sell is crap. If you took down the signs over each doorway, I doubt that your typical shopper could tell which store you're in. The clothing and housewares in Penney's is nearly the same as in Sears. You've got three stores specializing in sneakers, but the department stores have sneakers, too. Chico's, Coldwater Creek, Express, and The Limited are, imo, indistinguishable. I believe that a third to a half of the stores could go under and few people would notice. We'd notice the empty storefronts, but we wouldn't feel pinched by reduced choices.

So, here's a tip for American retailers, sell good stuff at a decent price or close up shop and do something else.

You know, it used to be that we'd measure the health of the American economy by what we produced -first the Gross National Product, now called the Gross Domestic Product. Now, our excitement is about how much we can spend. What's the bellwether of the economy? Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, when we show the world how insane we are about our shopping. If we're not good shoppers, we'll all be sad when Baby Jesus comes on Christmas Day. I'm sure that Baby Jesus will be sad alright, but not for the reasons that we think.

What the Web brings to news

we were quite surprised to hear the radio news yesterday. The lead story was about the tractor-trailer that that flipped over in Chicopee (MassLive.com). It's rare to have a Boston station carry a story, let alone lead with one, that comes in from west of 128.

The newspapers and broadcast outlets got the basics just about the same - how this truck driver swerved to avoid a car that had stalled on the highway, how the gasoline and diesel fuel exploded, the heroics of a passer-by who helped the truck drive escape, the mixed safety record of the trucking company. Overall, it was a scary story that could have been even more tragic.

The worldwide web, in the meantime, finds additional, different ways of looking at tragedy. For example, there is a site called truckspills.com that focuses on the weird and varied stuff that trucks have spilled as the result of accidents.

Then, there's the granddaddy of them all, Bus Plunge.It's been around since the start of the decade and brings gripping and grim tales of buses going off of the sides of roads.It's what the web does best - bring you answers to questions that you didn't know you are too embarrassed to ask.

Families are wonderful, for most folks

Sometimes, a family is just too much:





















And, you can never trust those realetors.

What kind of thinker are you?

Your Thinking is Abstract and Random

You are flexible, adaptable, and creative. There's many ways that you can learn - and you're up for any of them. You relate well to other people, and you do well working in groups. You can help people communicate together and work with each other's strengths. You don't work well with people who are competitive or adversarial. You prefer to work toward a common goal... not toward conflicting goals.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

A walk through suburbia

It's not as serious as dodging sniper fire on the tarmac in Bosnia, but these suburban roadway present their own hazards. Many of the roads don't have sidewalks and can be quite narrow, particularly when SUVs in a hurry are taking up both lanes. Fortunately, the snow banks have melted away, so Marley and I can step into the safety of someone's muddy lawn.

Although most people associate Holden with the land of mega-houses, there are a lot of five-, four-, and even three-room houses nestled along the older side streets, houses built 50 to 75 years ago on a quarter-acre tucked into what had been woods. These houses don't always age well. They weren't built with the best of materials or by the best carpenters. Nevertheless, they were and are someone's home.

Yesterday, as Sandra, Marley, and I walked to the Worcester line, two large shadows passed over us, blocking the noon sun. Two hawks were flying low, looking for lunch.

T&G - Arrest made in church vandalism

Last week, someone painted anti-Christian and other not-nice graffiti on churches in Phillipston and Gardner. The suspect turned himself in yesterday. What I found most interesting in the story, Worcester Telegram & Gazette News: "Arrest made in church vandalism," is that the reporter used the suspect's MySpace info (NSFW).

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

• Electric Flag - Another Country (Tuesday, Mar 25 at 08:37 PM GMT)
  As with so many talented folks, Mike Bloomfield died too young, died of just too much of too much. He founded the Electric Flag after leaving the Butterfield band in 1968. The one album, A Long Time Comin', had rich talent - Nick Gravenites, Buddy Miles, Harvey Brooks - and laid out a rich set of complex tunes with amazing blues threads holding it all together. The sweetness of Easy Rider sits up there with Peter Green's Albatross in my blues licks hall of fame.
• Wormtown Underground Radio Network (Monday, Mar 24 at 07:29 PM GMT)Wormtown Underground Radio Network
  
  BTW: This was post #100 on the Playlist.
  
  
• 3 Mustaphas 3 - Soba Song (Monday, Mar 24 at 06:59 PM GMT)
  Let's see, we have a west Texas swing song extolling the virtues of a Japanese noodle soup, modulo some klezmer and middle Eastern woodwinds. It's like tuning into four or five radio stations at once.

A great big bucket of "It ain't fair!"

[Update 3/25/08: Smokey passed at home away this afternoon.]

M&L's cat, Smokey, has been losing weight for a while and has shown little interest in eating, even the good stuff. I brought him to the vet on Friday and today received the results of the blood tests. In brief, his body isn't producing any new red blood cells even as it destroys the ones that he has. It sounds like cancer in the bone marrow.

We concluded that the best thing to do is nothing, except to try to keep him comfortable. He doesn't seem to be in any pain. He's lethargic and, as mentioned, has little interest in eating. At yesterday's Easter gathering, he just wanted to sit on the carpet in the middle of everything. We'd move him out of the way and he'd come back to the same spot.

Smokester is the mellowest cat I've known, particularly for being an outdoor cat. He'll spend a day in the woods hunting and then come home to be carried around like towel in a family of six kids.

The real kicker is that Smokey and Tess are just about the same age, a few weeks apart. They got Smokey shortly after Tess was born. They've grown up together. Tess will have go on without him. Ouch.

TJL's letters

XP08B - Lebeaux, Thelma Jurva (c1925-?) née Hakkarainen, wife of Lincoln Lebeaux - Letters from Edward Glover to Thelma Lebeaux (ref. P08)

(Thanks to brother Mike for the tip.)

No late-night radio, eh?

I've had satellite radio (Sirius) in my car for the past couple of years and so don't listen to AM or FM much at all. Occasionally, I check the local news or traffic reports, but that's about it. Time was, however, when I'd listen to lots of different radio stations. One in particular, CBAM, the CBC Radio One station out of Moncton NB, delivered a powerful signal after dark. When commuting home during the winter months, I'd get to listen to the CBC news The World at Six and As It Happens.

CBAM-AM is going off the air in early April. The locals have a high-powered FM station, giving them a better signal all day long. And, the CBC national feed is available on Sirius.

One less AM station to bounce off of the night-time sky.

Easter for many, but not all, Christians

Bronislaus Kush wrote a very interesting and informative piece, Split in churches rises with Easter, about the differences between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Most notable today is that the western churches, including the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations, are observing Easter today. The eastern churches use a different calendar and different method for calculating the date of this movable feast; they will observe Easter in about five weeks.

There are also many profound differences between the east and west, divisions that stretch back through more than three-quarters of the Christian era. This includes the primacy of the bishop of Rome, the role of the national churches, and many details in the Mass itself.

Because most American Christians are affiliated with the western churches, today is our day for sunrise services, chocolate rabbits, and Peeps.

[Update: Here's some more info about how the Easter date is calculated (for the western churches) from God Plays Dice: Easter's early this year. Deal with it.

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Along the lines of the questions regarding the historical churches, I have a couple of questions that I hope some reader might be able to answer:

• Why do many Protestant churches (Anglican/Episcopal and Methodist notably) refer to various saints who were elevated before the Reformation?
• Have the Anglicans, or other churches, for that matter, elevated any new saints?
  

Ah, families

Sandra has been collecting genealogical information for her family for quite a while. She and her cousin, Jeanette, share information from a variety of sources. Sandra organizes the information using Family Tree Maker software. It's work that requires close attention because names are often reused and, well, as she observed, "It gets confusing when cousins marry." By one account, she's her own third or fourth cousin.

Sawzall and the sounds of spring

This is a noisy time of year. We're still a month and a half before the leaves have returned. The snow is mostly gone; what's left is hard-frozen or just plain ice. So, when the birds fill a tree or when Sandra gets out her Sawzall to cut up some scrap wood, the sound carries full volume a long way. The strong northwest winds that we've had for the past couple of days do shape the direction of the sounds, so we're hearing more from Main Street. When the winds let up, we can hear more from the stream behind the houses across the street.

We went for a walk through the woods that surround Alden Labs. Tree cutters have been busy, thinning the woods. Most of the big logs are gone so the fire road is littered with oak, pine, birch, and maple branches. The sawdust helps with traction over the ice, but it's work to keep your balance when climbing through the brush. We're expecting that the wood crews will return with chippers to take away the brush.

On the walk, we get to see neighbors whom we've not seen in a while. One neighbor proudly showed off the crocus buds that are just peeking above the ground. We shared news about this neighbor and that and heard the news of others.

We have a small front yard and so can use the excuse that, when we're outside, we're usually out back. That's true, but it's also true that we're shy. (Well, that I am.) Shyness begets shyness, even when we get a sunny day on this first weekend of spring.

Travels with Mr. Sniffy

One of our regular walks takes us to the Worcester line and back, about three miles round-trip. The intersection of Chapel, Shrewsbury, and Holden streets can be tricky, but we're not in a hurry.

I let Marley walk on the lawn side of the sidewalk. It makes for a slower walk, but, again, we're not in a hurry. The lawns, particularly this time of year, are giving up interesting smells. Marley will plant his nose in the ground like a hook anchor and sniff out all of the goodness that the dirt has to offer.

Several households leave their dogs outside, either in a pen or on a run. All of the dogs have something to say about Marley's proximity to their homesteads. Marley, knowing that he's the visitor, is quiet and generally looks straight ahead. If the roles are reversed and a dog passes in front of our house, he'd have much to say. Some dogs, such as the St. Bernard at the corner of our street, seem more playful than protective. In any case, we keep walking.

Mike and Lynn's cat, Smokey, is staying with us for a bit. The Smokester is staying in the apartment. There are two doors between him and Marley, enough thickness to keep Marley from being interested. At some time, no doubt, each will become aware of the other. We'll deal with that then. For now, Marley is much more interested in what I'm having for lunch and will I please share a bit of it with him.

Holy Week and A Prayer for an End to the Iraq War

RB Note: No one will confuse me with a Catholic, lapsed or otherwise. Nevertheless, in serious times, we draw from serious wells.
3/20/08 Update: Five protesters were arrested for praying this rosary outside the federal courthouse in Worcester. See Pie and Coffee » 5 arrested for praying the rosary in Worcester

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posted by Mike on March 18th, 2008

Editor’s note: This will be part of a Holy Week prayer service at the Federal Building in Worcester.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, under the inspiratrion of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, who gave his life to denounce an unjust war, on the fifth anniversary of the latest US escalation of its 17-year-long war on Iraq, we gather to beg Your forgiveness for the sin of this war and to ask for Your grace to end it now. We make these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

For the over 88,000 Iraqi citizens killed since 2003, we pray:
Lord, have mercy.

For the 4,100 US soldiers killed in Iraq since 1991, we pray:
Christ, have mercy.

For the 200,000 Iraqis killed in the first Gulf War, we pray:
Lord, have mercy.

For the 1.5 million Iraqis, including 800,000 children, killed by US-sponsored sanctions between 1991 and 2002, we pray:
Kyrie, eleison.

For the thousands of Iraqis killed by “no-fly zone” bombings between 1991 and 2002, we pray:
Christe, eleison.

For our failure to speak out more forcefully against the sin of this long war on Iraq, we pray:
Kyrie, eleison.

Recalling that Pope John Paul II called war on Iraq “useless slaughter” and “unjust, immoral, and illegal,” we pray the rosary to Mary, Queen of Peace, that the ears of all those in the federal government might finally be opened to attend to the plea of millions of Americans who want the war to end now.

Pray a rosary:

The First Sorrowful Mystery: Christ’s agony in the garden.
Help us to end the agony of the Iraqi people and to return all American soldiers safely home.

The Second Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus is scourged.
Help us to end the torture our nation continues to inflict on prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere.

The Third Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus is crowned with thorns.
Help us to never again drop cluster bombs, depleted uranium, and other weapons onto the heads of the Iraqi people.

The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus carries the Cross.
Help us to take up Christ’s cross of nonviolent love (even at the risk of criticism and jail) to end the Iraq War.

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus dies on the Cross.
Help us to love our enemies as profoundly as Christ did from his Cross and to reject this and all wars.

Close with the Salve Regina.

Doing business with a startup

A dozen years ago, I worked for a startup storage company for a couple of years. My primary job was documentation manager, but I also handled a number of tasks related to the web site and to customer service. One day, I received this message, sent to the company's general information account:















The product that the customer was waiting for was a 100GB file server. It was one of the fastest things on the market at the time and went for about $100K. Today, you'd have to work a bit to find a 100GB storage device; most are much larger. You can find a 1TB disk for $250-300. (A terabyte (TB) is 1000 GB.) The old system was a RAID-5 configuration, which provided redundancy in the case of disk errors. It was also limited to 10,000 files because of the limited memory for names. My desktop system now has more than 700,000 files and it's not even breathing hard.

Among smart and good people

One of the things that I liked about work was the chance to hang around with smart and really smart people. This ranged from people at IBM and Rational who get mentioned in articles such as Software that makes software better in The Economist to the somewhat lowly hardware engineer who did hexadecimal math in his head. I have several actual for-sale books in my bookcase written by friends and former co-workers.



Some don't write books, but contribute to the firehose that is Internet journalism.

So, even though I don't get to work with these folks, the 'net provides all sorts of ways of staying in touch.

Arlo, on being a security threat

I'm nowhere the threat I'd hoped to become.

Artists at work

Sandra and friend, Alicia, with Sandra's latest quilt creation:

Beware of success, eh?

Ken Olsen, then-CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation, in January of 1992:

"I tell people don't pray for good times. Just pray that the good times won't last so long so that when bad times come, it won't hurt you so terribly bad."

The bad times came. By June of 1992, Ken Olsen was out and Bob Palmer was in. By 1998, DEC was gone, sold to Compaq.

RIP, Arthur C. Clarke

From Indexed:















"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Putting winter to rest

The small pond at the end of our street has a fresh skim of ice on what had been open water for a few days. The ducks are taking it in stride (to the extent that ducks have a stride), walking on the ice when they need to, swimming in the cold water at other times. By tomorrow, I expect that the pond will be covered over in slush.

This hasn't been a hard winter. The temperature was rarely below zero. (We were below normal in the number of heating degree days.) We had more snow than in years past, but there were no big storms. The sheltered parts of the woods still have plenty of snow and the ice is nearly a couple of feet thick on some of larger lakes and ponds. No, the winter wasn't severe, just persistent. March is a hard month because we're ready for spring and, most years, spring doesn't come. We're still a month and a half to two months away from nights without freezing temperatures.

The sun is high and bright, but the wind is cold. Marley and I discovered this as we walked to the library in the center of town (a bit more than two miles each way). The snowbanks are gone and the dirt along the sidewalks have a lot of interesting smells (so Marley tells me). We enjoyed the feeling of almost being in spring as we looked at our town. We enjoyed the feeling because, tomorrow, the last day of winter, we'll take a step backward:

This week's RoasterBoy Playlist

• Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan (Tuesday, Mar 18 at 01:38 PM GMT)

  Back in the day, before iPods, I had small MP3 player that could hold four CDs. Most commonly, I'd put the playback on a loop and listen while trying sleep on the red-eye back from California. This was one of the albums, along with Jimi Hendrix's Blues, U2's Rattle and Hum, and Peter…

• WBCN-FM: March 15, 1968 - New England Music Scrapbook (Monday, Mar 17 at 08:00 PM GMT)

  Happy Belated Birthday, 'bcn. WBCN-FM: March 15, 1968 - New England Music Scrapbook I found the station late one night in April of '68. They played the long version of The Doors' Light My Fire, which caught my attention as I was spinning the FM dial. The next song, Paul Butterfield's…

• Van Morrison - Hymns to the Silence (Monday, Mar 17 at 10:24 AM GMT)

  Title track from one of The Belfast Cowboy's best albums.

• Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (Tuesday, Mar 11 at 09:05 PM GMT)

  The sound track to their concert film is a great collection of music for walking or other exercise. The rhythms are strong and the musical and lyrical hooks are great. For example, here's Life During Wartime.

Mission Accomplished, as long as you're not thirsty.

From a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross - Iraq: Millions struggle to cope with the impact of five years of war:

"The water supply has continued to deteriorate over the past year. Millions of people have been forced to rely on insufficient supplies of poor-quality water as water and sewage systems suffer from a lack of maintenance and a shortage of engineers."

I don't know about you, but I think that "typo's" is a typo.

This NPR story about a man traveling the country, fixing typo's, uses the word typo's a lot. Typo, in this context, is an abbreviate of typographical error. The plural form, imo, ought to typos; using the possessive form doesn't seem right.

A car ride is always a good idea

Last weekend, we spent quite a bit of time at Mike and Lynn's, including a couple of overnight stays. We came home two or three times each day to feed Marley, let him out, and give a few skritches. He was clearly lonely, but well-behaved. When we'd put our coats on, he'd go to his room and await a cookie. On Saturday, Sandra was readying to leave to take some errands around town and asked if he'd like to go for a ride. He gave out an audible and delighted "Yip," and headed for the door.

If it was 70 years ago, he might not get to ride inside the car:

Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK) - New York Times

As Tess was getting ready to leave the hospital yesterday, she was able to spend time online, using one of the computers in a lounge area. She and I chatted via instant messenger for a few minutes, both of us excited that she was coming home.

And, so, there it is: with IM, SMS, and cell phones, there's a whole new way to keep in touch with kids. Of course, if they don't want to communicate, they won't. With caller-id on all cell phones, they can see if one of the 'rents is calling and decide if they're gonna take the call.

Fortunately, the MSM (mainstream media) comes to rescue of the old and clueless. This past Sunday, the New York Times ran a helpful article, Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK), that provides some helpful insights into the world that the rest of us barely know. According to the article, by 2010, more than 80% of people between 5 and 24 will have cellphones, up from about half now.

And, when the kids are away from the computer, they can leave messages that can let you know where they are what they're doing: school, work, bbl.

BBL, indeed.

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

• Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' (Tuesday, Mar 11 at 03:56 PM GMT)

  Sleeps with Butterflies: Hear My Train A Comin'

• Rolling Stones - favorite albums (Monday, Mar 10 at 04:21 PM GMT)

  It's a coin-toss between Exile on Main Street and Beggar's Banquet. The former is a bit stronger musically, while the latter tells better stories.

• Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (Thursday, Mar 06 at 06:49 PM GMT)

  As with Curtis Mayfield around the time of Superfly, this song and album is a deep and unending ache for what's happening on the street corner. Gaye, however, not only looks at the drugs and gangs and violence, but also looks up and around to see the bigger issues of the environment and the…

• YouTube - Vampire Weekend- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Tuesday, Mar 04 at 08:11 PM GMT)

  Great guitar hook: YouTube - Vampire Weekend- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

The late sunrise of the forward sprung

The flock of red-winged blackbirds scattered when I opened the back door to let Marley outside. For the past couple of days, the flock has been dining on the bird seed that's been uncovered by the weekend's snow melt. Right now, they're sitting in the young oak tree in the corner of the yard, waiting for Marley to finish his inspection of the yard. All this takes place as the first sunlight reaches the top of the trees.

We're returning to normal, but are finding that normal isn't there, at least not as we'd accustomed ourselves to it. Our big hope for the day is that Tess can come home.

I'll go up to the hospital mid-day, but will try to stay out of the way. This is an important day of training for Mike, Lynn, and Tess as they become more familiar with the blood test/insulin processes. We were dismayed at lunch time yesterday when three members of the nursing staff didn't know how to read the glucometer. "The apply pie is calling my name," said Tess while the adults in the room tried to check her blood sugar and then administer the insulin. Eventually, pie and child were united.

Moving in the right direction

Tess moved out of the ICU and into the pediatrics ward today. It's sounding as though she may be going home sooner as well, although we're not setting our hopes on any specific day yet.

It's great to see her smiling again. She has an animated face that can tell stories with wonderful expressions. She's surrounded by loving family and nifty gifts - stuffed animals, a Hanna Montana blanket, and a balloon that sings "Don't Worry. Be Happy." Most of all, she has Mike and Lynn and a family, immediate and extended, and family friends who bring joy, hope, and wisdom.

Thanks, all.

A time for prayer

Our granddaughter, Tess, is in the ICU. She had been quite sick and
was rushed to the hospital yesterday as we learned that she has
diabetes. She'll be in the hospital for several days.

Tess is strong and vibrant and will be fine. We all have a big pile of
rocks to climb over, however, before we are walking on our new road.

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Drink from the well and yield your place to another. - Jose Ortega y Gasset

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

• Marvin Gaye - What's Going On ( Thursday, Mar 06 at 06:49 PM )

  As with Curtis Mayfield around the time of Superfly, this song and album is a deep and unending ache for what's happening on the street corner. Gaye, however, not only looks at the drugs and gangs and violence, but also looks up and around to see the bigger issues of the environment and the…

• YouTube - Vampire Weekend- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa ( Tuesday, Mar 04 at 08:11 PM )

  Great guitar hook: YouTube - Vampire Weekend- Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

• Van Halen - Dreams ( Monday, Mar 03 at 09:55 PM )

  Most of VH's best stuff, of course, comes from the David Lee Roth years, but Dreams is great showcase for Sammy Hagar, as well as Eddie on keyboards. (DLR's Jump also includes a good keyboard-as-rhythm-section.) Dreams came out about the same time as the Challenger explosion and I still…

• YouTube - Jonathan Richman- Roadrunner ( Monday, Mar 03 at 06:34 PM )

  Probably the only song that mentions Stop & Shop: YouTube - Jonathan Richman- Roadrunner

• YouTube - The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (live) ( Saturday, Mar 01 at 04:08 PM )

  Happy Birthday, Roger Daltry - YouTube - The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (live) Best rock 'n roll scream evar. OH, BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT PETE TOWNSHEND IS ALMOST DEAF?

• Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson ( Friday, Feb 29 at 10:04 PM )

  "I'm black. I'll never let them forget it." -- Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com Drink from the well and yield your place to another. - Jose Ortega y Gasset

• YouTube - U2 When Love Comes To Town live from Rotterdam,Lovetown 1990 ( Thursday, Feb 28 at 10:32 PM )

  With B.B. King: YouTube - U2 When Love Comes To Town live from Rotterdam,Lovetown 1990

Nothing but blue skies is all I see

After the wild weather of the last couple of days, a calm dome of cold air has settled atop of us. The contrails are like dusty chalk lines against the deep blue sky. When the upper air is calm, contrails can last for hours. If the jet stream is chugging along normally, the markings of the jets' passage are gone in minutes or even seconds.

The National Weather Service forecast says that we can expect more heavy rain tomorrow night into Saturday. The meteorologist calls the storm "an inside runner," meaning that it will go up the eastern seaboard, but the center of the low will stay over land, perhaps as far inland as the Appalachian chain. An inside runner brings us rain, while the far north and west gets ice or snow. Yesterday's storm cleared away snow from half of our back yard, but the ground is still hard frozen.

As I've mentioned before, I use some of the automated search tools in Google to keep track of news on various topics. The searches that I have set up for depression, as you might expect, pick up info about the mental illness, but also about troubled economic times. It turns out that economic advisers to the president have maintained a Misery Index since the 1960s. The index is simply the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate. The worst rating was in the latter party of the Carter administrator, while Ike scored the best. The current administration is in the middle of the pack, better than his father's, but worse than Bill Clinton's.

So, what can we expect from the future?

Letting go, without the claw marks

This article (and the more complete story from The New York Times) describes a common problem - when we try to keep too many options open, we wind up suffocating the good options with just too much noise. If you have seven good options for things to do, you really have none. You'll spend so much time keeping the options open that you'll not complete any of them.

One of the tangible ways that this problem surfaces is in the clutter that fills our lives. It's doubtful that I'll need even one six-foot, two-prong extension cord. I certainly don't need the seven or eight that are hanging on nails or tucked in the bureau in the cellar. At most, I need one USB hub, but which one of the three should I keep? I never wear slippers, but that pair in the closet is in pretty good shape and may have been my grandfather's. It used to cost $100 or more a year to get 100MB of online storage. Now, Google gives me 6GB for free, so I can watch my usage climb to nearly 400MB because it's so much easier not to delete messages. Do I really need that email about the frost warning in September 2004? No, I don't. Did I just delete it? Of course not.

A dozen dog years

The temperature dipped below zero this morning and it's still only five above at this writing. This froze the snow in the back yard, making it easier for Marley to chase the squirrels away from the bird feeder. He has never, to our knowledge, caught a squirrel, but the exercise is good for him. Not bad for a 12-year-old dog. Happy Birthday, Marley.

He enjoys being outside and, then, in turn, he'll settle down in front of the fire, using the brick hearth as a pillow:

No one escapes Google, sort of

I haven't spoken to one of my cousins in nearly 25 years. We just haven't had much to say and have done a good job not saying it.

With a bit of Googling, I was able to find out where she's living. The map from Google suggests, however, that she probably still doesn't have much to say.

This week's RoasterBoy playlist

• American Masters . Pete Seeger | PBS ( Thursday, Feb 28 at 12:56 AM )

  American Masters . Pete Seeger | PBS

• The Torture Playlist ( Tuesday, Feb 26 at 10:03 PM )

  Your defense dollars at work. Here's a sample of some of the music that is being played to disorient detainees. Via Mother Jones magazine: The Torture Playlist

• Jefferson Starship - Blows Against the Empire ( Tuesday, Feb 26 at 09:09 PM )

  Hijack a starship ("it ought to be ready by 1990") and escape to the new Eden in space. At once grand and supremely silly.

• YouTube - Christina Aguilera "It's A Man's World" @ The 49th Grammy's ( Monday, Feb 25 at 08:26 PM )

  Brother Mike sent a pointer to this version of the James Brown classic .

• Fleetwood Mac - Albatross ( Saturday, Feb 23 at 03:22 PM )

  This is one of the sweetest instrumentals in my collection. And, it's certainly not to be confused with Monty Python's "'Course you don't don't get bloody wafers with it." Albatross .

• Me and Bobby Mcgee ( Thursday, Feb 21 at 10:23 PM )

  At one point in the early 70s, you could find three versions of this song on the jukebox: Gordon Lightfoot's/a>. iirc, this was the first one released. Kris Kristofferson (the author). He sounds drunk on this version. Janis Joplin's , the one that most of us remember.

• YouTube - Ian Tyson Sylvia Fricker Judy Collins "Someday Soon" live ( Thursday, Feb 21 at 10:14 PM )

  Wanna feel old? These videos come from an Ian and Sylvia reunion 20 years ago. They look ok, but the other performers, Judy Collins, Gordon Lightfoot, and others, were already betraying high mileage. YouTube - Ian Tyson Sylvia Fricker Judy Collins "Someday Soon" live Early Morning…

The shortest distance between two points is impossible

Sandra has gone to Chicago for a few days to visit with her cousin who is recuperating from back surgery. Marley and I drove Sandra to the Manchester airport this morning. We encountered some light rain and snow en route, but not enough to slow us down. The path to Manchester, somewhat north of northeast, required a zig-zag of north and east and even a bit northwest. Using Google directions, we arrived in good order and with plenty of time to spare. Her flight even arrived in Chicago a few minutes ahead of schedule.

When we worked for Digital, Sandra and I would regularly travel to the Nashua facility on Spit Brook Road, the first exit over the Massachusetts border. On occasion, we'd also travel a bit further, to Merrimack, for meetings or training. Southern New Hampshire, particularly in and around Nashua, is filled with strip malls and low industrial buildings. When the New Hampshire primaries were going on, the nation was presented with images of quaint small towns with a white-steepled Congregational church on the common. Those images are there, but you have to make your way past malls such as this:




















Leaving the airport wasn't as easy as arriving. The maze of roads and odd directions befuddled me and soon I was on a plain road with high snow banks, as though I was on a bodsled run. They'd received a lot more snow in yesterday's storm and in the storms before. I passed old farms and new McMansions. There was, as expected, the usual paucity of street signs. With the low clouds, it was impossible to get a sense of direction. I kept driving until I reached a roadway that had some directions. I briefly passed through Milford (where my father was born) and then bent back southeast so that I could go southwest again.

What we learn from the bottom of the box

As I've mentioned before, one of our winter project is to clear out our study. We've lived in this house for more than 25 years. Stuff related to household business, books, computers, and cute stuff winds up here. Those readers who worked with me may remember the fake coffee-spill-on-a-floppy-disk that I had in my office for many years. That kind of stuff filled half a shelf.

Yesterday I found an American Express business card, cut in half, with my name and my former company, Longview Consulting. The card dates from 1995. I did a brief stint, probably two or three jobs, helping people get set up with web sites, teaching people how to use the very primitive web publishing tools that were available at the time.

I enjoyed the variety of tasks and customers that came from these consulting gigs. What I disliked and what got me out of the consulting business is that I am a lousy salesman. In order to sell, you basically have to be willing to walk up to people and say, "Will you be my friend?" and then not get too dejected when they turn you down. In the consulting world, the ability to sell yourself is much more important than your technical chops.

BTW, I chose the name Longview because, at the time, a family named Long lived across the street from us.

Family athletics

On Sunday, we took Krista to trapeze lessons:



Last weekend, we attended a regional swim meet where Lily's team was competing and Adam was a time-keeper:





































This photo of Joe driving to the basket appeared in last week's Landmark:

A foot of easy snow

About two months after our snowblower tried to eat a rock, it's back in good form. (Oh, there were two flat tires as well, but I think that we've got it so the air now stays mostly on the inside.)

As usual, Mike plowed the main part of our driveway. There's still plenty to do, about an hour's worth, clearing the back deck, opening paths to the neighbors' and to our wood pile, and general cleanup around the cars.

Marley likes to catch facefuls of snow coming off the blower. He isn't always much help because he barks when I'm not sending enough snow his way.

Double-dark sides of the moon

We were fortunate to have the sky clear last night, giving us a great view of the lunar eclipse. I suppose it would have been nicer if the eclipse had occurred during the day so that people wouldn't have to stay up late to see it.

How on earth can a business that offers a Bunny Face Tree Decor go bankrupt?

It's happened. Lillian Vernon has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

This week's Roaster Boy's playlist

• The Carter Family - Waitin' On The Far Side Banks Of Jordan ( Tuesday, Feb 19 at 01:34 AM )

  One of the saddest, most hopeful songs. Ever. And When I See You Coming I Will Rise Up With A Shout And Come Running Through The Shallow Water Reaching For Your Hand

• February 18th: On this Day in music ( Tuesday, Feb 19 at 12:34 AM )

  This day in Music , Brian Wilson recorded Good Vibrations

• YouTube - Magic Dick Whammer Jammer! ( Tuesday, Feb 19 at 12:27 AM )

  How it is done: YouTube - Magic Dick Whammer Jammer!

• Uncle Tupelo - No Depression ( Monday, Feb 18 at 07:34 PM )

  Geographic cure via YouTube video: Today's Music: "No Depression"

• YouTube - Lyle Lovett - If I Had a Boat ( Thursday, Feb 14 at 08:26 PM )

  Ridin' a pony on my boat: YouTube - Lyle Lovett - If I Had a Boat

Restarting winter or awaiting spring?

A snow squall came through overnight, leaving a half-inch of fresh powder, smoothing everything to a bright white. By mid-day, even though the temperatures are still in the teens, the sun has melted some of the snow. We're in that crossover time. The weather can still bring cold and snow, but the sun is getting high and strong. There is a lot of cold air banked up in Canada and more snow is in the forecast for a couple of days out.

Some readers have noted that I've not written much, that posts of late have been collections of links about depression or brief notes about music. Yup. The words are there and I'll get them going again. Thanks for your patience.

How evil are you?

How evil are you?