Good tidings we bring to you and your kin

We're back in winter again. The other day, we took a walk in to the camp. The mild air was melting the ice on the tree branches, so it was though we were walking through a rain shower. Snowmobilers had packed down the snow and the walking was easy.

You can't get anywhere near the camp without thinking about Huck. He died at home last January. An ice storm had knocked out the power. He slipped away in the quiet darkness. His friend, Elden, remarked how Huck could walk silently like an Indian in the woods. Karl remembers learning (albeit not very well) how to guide a canoe silently without lifting the paddle from the water. Huck may have left us quietly, but he also left us the camp and stories upon stories.

The camp has been a great place for parties in all seasons as well as time for vacations and just hanging around. We spent vacation weeks in July (with Sandra's cousin, Phyllis) and September. In July, we celebrated Sandra's 60th birthday with a whitewater rafting trip down the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts. Sandra attended another 60th birthday party, in California with a friend she's known since childhood. Add to that trips to Prince Edward Island in April, May, and August and you can see that we had good times at home and away from home. (MuscleCam gives you an idea of the wild times that can be had on PEI.) In November, the MacGregor family gathered to celebrate Woody and Marian's 65th wedding anniversary.

Illness and change were also a part of our year. Karl left his job in April due to what his doctors called treatment-refractory depression. In November, he was classified as disabled and eligible for Social Security benefits; in effect, retired. Early retirement is mostly a good thing, but it feels like getting a new bike in winter, a new toy arriving in an unexpected season.

Our family continues to flourish. The grandchildren excel in sports (Michael Francis, tri-captain and MVP of his football team; Krista making the junior high varsity track team in shotput and cross-country, Lily winning ribbons for swimming), music, and dance. Mike's business sponsored a food relief program for needy folks in the area. Adam, who was promoted to Sergeant this year, led a gift drive for a military police division stationed in Iraq. Jennie started a new job at Baystate Medical Center.

We have a couple of family traditions to carry forward. When the grandchildren turn 13, we take them to see Blue Man Group in Boston. This year, it's Joe's turn. When a child turns 10, they get to fly to PEI with Sandra. Tess's turn is in May.

If we could get several days of hard cold and not too much snow, we might be able to get together at the camp (perhaps to celebrate Krista's 12th birthday) with skating, hot chocolate, and maybe even a sauna and a roll in the snow.

We wish you good tidings at Christmas and a Happy New Year.
With love from Karl and Sandra

Once more in the snow

I once had an old Saab, a three-banger (a three-cylinder, two stroke engine). The windshield wiper motor quit on me one winter and it took a while to find one in a junk yard. I could manually operate the
wipers by reaching under the dash and moving the levers, a bit tricky when driving a standard shift. But, if the windshield was cold, the snow would fly right over and so I didn't need to use the wipers.

Apple of the earth, we salute you

Not only is 2008 The International Year Of The Potato (via Presurfer), but two Peruvian potato researchers were given the Order of Merit of the Diplomatic Service of Peru (from the Potato Museum blog via the Journal of Improbable Research).

Update 1/2/08: according to the CBC, there will be an international potato technology conference in Charlottetown PEI in February.

Update: Make your own Potato Parade.

What's wrong with this picture?

I can hardly wait to get old(er). Property taxes are so high that towns are letting senior citizens work off their tax bills at minimum-wage jobs: Plan Would Let Seniors Work to Pay Taxes

Death takes the rest of the year off

From the Worcester Telegram and Gazette: http://www.telegram.com -

Business language that I missed

MSNBC is reporting the Best business buzzwords of 2007. I guess I have to believe them when they report that people are talking like that in the offices and in emails. I still read the Wall Street Journal, several business blogs, and Dilbert, but managed to miss these slushballs.

Every business has its jargon and the computer industry is probably the worst of 'em all. Nevertheless, the principle of creepy language seems to have taken hold in business in general. You don't call someone to invite them to join a project; you "reach out to them," as though you are scooping drunks and bringing them to the local mission. You don't take responsibility; you "step up," as though you're Casey at the bat. These words and phrases inject the appearance of value and strength, not unlike the way that broth is injected into a turkey to make it less dry and lifeless.

The AP asked the presidential candidates what they would most like to have if they were stranded on a desert island. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-BrickWall-Colorado) responded, "Boat."

Wake up and smell the coffee « Biosingularity

We don't often get good news from medical studies, so celebrate on this one. Not only are one or two cups per day are ok, but each additional cup reduces the risk of death by 4%. Does that mean we can achieve immortality with 25 cups per day?

Did I mention that this study was done in Finland? You might want to be a bit suspicious of the data.

Anglican war on Christmas

The Archbishop of Canterbury says there were no kings, asses, or oxen at the manger, that it didn't snow, and that it didn't happen in December. What next?Jesus wasn't in the manger?

Wood association games

A few months after IBM acquired Rational, in October of 2003, I attended IBM's Basic Blue manager program in Armonk, New York. It was an intense week of training in not only policies and procedures, but also in guidelines for best practices for managers. Prior to the program, the people who worked for me filled out questionnaires about my management style. I don't recall the details of the survey results. Let's just say there was plenty of opportunity for improvement. I'd done good work as an individual contributor and several people on the team valued my leadership, but, well, wouldn't mind a do-over or two.

A couple of months later, I learned that the group I was managing was being disbanded and I needed to find another job. After looking hard and wide, I wasn't able to find anything inside the company. I was laid off in the spring.

The management program had finished up mid-day on Friday so I arrived home in the late afternoon. We'd just had firewood delivered in the back yard, so I spent the hour or so before sunset stacking wood and thinking about what had gone on.

Since then, whenever I stack firewood at home or bring wood in from the back yard, I remember that afternoon in October when my career and I were parting company.

Send boxes of snow

In the 50s, we used to send boxes of clothing and food (always including cans of coffee) to our relatives in Finland. Europe struggled after WWII and consumer goods were often difficult to find at any price.

Now they need our help again. Southern Finland has barely enough snow to cover the ground. We in New England have enough snow to cover many grounds and could easily spare enough to bring a Hyvää Joulua to Helsinki.

By the way, this kind of stuff - heavy snow in North America, a cold winter in the southern hemisphere - puts torches and pitchforks in the hands of the global-warming deniers. We'll leave that discussion for another day.

Even web servers get the blues

File not found! Watch this page..

Latest salvo in war on Christmas launched by the Vatican. Wait, what?

The Vatican is moving the Baby Jesus out of the manger and into Joseph's carpenter shop to get away from "fanciful Nativity scenes."

FOXNews.com - Vatican Gives Nativity Scene a 'New Look'

Snow. We Has It. Weekend Edition.

We picked up another seven to eight inches of snow before the changeover to sleet. We'll probably have a layer of freezing rain before it's done.



We'll wait inside where it's warm until the freezing rain has stopped.



Mike's company Christmas party is scheduled for late this afternoon. Not only does he have to worry about people attending the party, but he also has customers who will be waiting to have their driveways plowed. Krista was born on the night of a big snowstorm. His customers called him and said, "Congratulations. And, oh, when will you get to my driveway?"

Christians' War Against Christmas

Even though Bill O'Reilly would have us believe that Christians have long supported Christmas in America and that Christmas is the ultimate American religious holiday, America's religious history is bit more complicated.

Does not auger well

The main auger on our snowblower is acting lazy, even in the fluffy snow. It took twice as long as it should have to make the path to the wood pile and the general cleanup. (Mike plowed the driveway.) The forecast calls for an evil mix of snow, ice, and glop late Saturday into Sunday. It'll be important to clean out quickly because near-zero weather will follow.

We had about nine inches of snow.

How to see cats

When Sandra and I stayed at The Red Lion Inn recently, their house cat, Simon, visited us in our room, staying a while for nap under the bed. Some years ago, we decided that we would add no more pets to our household, but Simon's visit has made us waver.

Neatorama reports on a Japanese rent-a-cat service where you can spend time with cats without the care, cleaning, and furniture repair that are required when you have a cat at home.

Lore has it that cats can see in the dark. With the magic of cloning, cats can be made fluorescent and so we can see back at them.

Panel hears songs against cosmetic pesticides. Wait. What?

Charlottetown, The Guardian: News | Panel hears songs against cosmetic pesticides

News from PEI: some headlines don't need a punch line

The FMLA Blog: Leave Due to "Depression" Insufficient Notice for FMLA Protections

The FMLA Blog: Leave Due to "Depression" Insufficient Notice for FMLA Protections: "the FMLA does not 'include depression in all of its forms.'"

Will there be a Christmas? Jesus action figure out of stock at Walmart

Trends: Talking Jesus Action Figure Sells Out At Walmart

Turning over a new leaf sometimes leaves it upside down

Google Maps Streetview hits Worcester « Daily Worcesteria

Google Maps Streetview hits Worcester « Daily Worcesteria

Google Blogoscoped: Monsters of the Programming World

Why it's better to be the grandparents

The author of this article used instructions for squirrel-proofing a house, changed the word squirrel to teen, and found domestic tranquility.

Living healthy with Google

So I thought it would be a good idea to find out more about organic fruits and vegetables for sale in this area. Google offers a handy package of applications for the Blackberry so that it's easy to download tools such as GMail, Picasa, Google Docs, Google Maps, and the venerable search page itself.

Freedom requires religion?

Massachusetts has a time-honored tradition of putting nut-job politicians on the national stage. Remember, this is Kennedy country. So, even though Mitt Romney was a one-term, undistinguished guvnuh, he showed good form in his speech on faith in America the other day. Without religion, he lectured us, we cannot see, appreciate, and apply the deep thoughts required to sustain freedom and thus are not strong enough to receive the gift of liberty.

Um, no.

Article VI:
... no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Continuing the search for the

Continuing the search for the lost hippies. This time, they've been sighted in N. Adams MA, where graybeards play the fiddle in coffee shops.

Bug-compatible

People who use any piece of software (or, perhaps, anything) long enough will become accustomed to its fault, regarding those misbehaviors as quirks of the system. Some of the quirks are interesting enough to be regarded as features.

Then, when it comes time for an upgrade, users will howl like three-year-olds fixes something that they've already adapted to. This story is a fine example of what we at a former company used to call a bug-compatible release.

On demographics

'Splain this. On the local Fox affiliate, before and during a rerun episode of the Simpsons, we see ads from the following:

• Hilary Clinton
• Mitt Romney
• Rudy Giuliani
  
• Olay Regenerist (a facial treatment, not a third-party candidate)

Venturing out

Sandra and I had a nice day while waiting for the storm to come. We first went to Bodies, the Exhibition. (The website has an annoying amount of Flash.) The exhibition shows detailed views of human bodies and organs, delicately preserved and well-presented. It's not for the squeamish, particularly the section on human embryos. It is for anyone who wants a good view of bone, muscle, skin, blood vessels, nerves, lungs, and naughty bits.

Afterwards, we wandered down the road to the newly renovated, upscale mall, Natick Collection. So, they have Nordstrom's, Neiman Marcus, Brooks Brothers, and lots of single-name boutiques. But, they also have a guy selling Black & Decker power tools in a kiosk. The mall wasn't very busy. As expected, the non-crowds were pretty much white - stylin' teens, young families and screaming kids, football widows, and a grandmotherly-type woman with long gray hair and a Bluetooth headset. We didn't buy anything except lunch. (Service at the Nordstrom Cafe was very strange, but they gave us a bowl of French onion soup and a bread pudding to compensate for our waiting a half hour for our meal.

It was a bid sad to look around at the clothes and other stuff that I might need if I was going to go to work. Nordstrom had some cool and colorful socks. Good for them. I have plenty of sock and can't bring myself to buy any more, at least not now.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. I can't let a day at a mall in December go by without saying, "I know that this has something to do with Jesus, but, darned if I can figure out what it is."

"many corporate names now have the ring of a collection of Dr. Seuss characters"

The following two articles showed up in my reading list today:

• Worcester Drug Company Gets Girlier Name
  
• How Do You Tell a Web Name From A Typo? - washingtonpost.com
  

Never get lost again, almost

The mobile version of Google Maps now has a built-in location finder, such that it can detect where you are, even if you don't have a GPS-enabled phone. On-screen, it shows your location, along with a disclaimer that says that you may or may not be exactly at that spot. (It'll depend on the proximity of the cell towers and other stuff.)

Eine kleine Blogmusik

A sidebar on this blog's home page includes a blurb about the music that I'm listening to or thinking about. Folks who subscribe to this blog via email or rss won't see the blurbs. If you'd like to receive the blurbs, you can sign up here.

One great song

Tina Turner's birthday was yesterday.

When River Deep, Mountain High came out in the late 60s, I'd load up the jukebox with nickels (yep, five cents a play) and punch its number over and over. There are a lot of great songs, but this one is worth your last nickel.

Here are a couple of videos from the early and later days (YouTube).

And, it goes to show you something. Two of the creepiest guys in the music business, Ike Turner and Phil Spector, collaborated to make this song into a great record. It's a reminder that, while we can't ignore the off-stage or out-of-studio behavior, that behavior can't wholly negate the talent that they brought to the recording. Republicans are stepping through this thicket as they embrace Rudy Giuliani's 9/11 performance while pretending not to notice that he looks like he's having a bit too much fun when wearing women's clothing.

That year-in-review letter

Euphemizing the year gone by:

What does a change change?

My application for Social Security disability benefits has been approved.

When I first read the letter, I was pleased, as though I'd achieved something of note. I guess that's true. With the help of family, doctors, friends, and others, I've been able to make a clear and truthful case that I'm unable to work. Clarity and truthfulness are important parts of the humility that supports a good life. So, there you have it. By way of federal paperwork (web- and paper-based), I've learned that, according to the rules of the SSA, I am disabled and unable to work because of treatment-refractory depression.

Knowing our limitations is a good thing, but that knowledge, by itself, is a death sentence.

Whether we're looking for a path out or just a path forward, we need to be able to see beyond our limitations. That ability to see beyond can come from many places. Some would call it a higher power. Others might call it reframing. Still others might find it on a long walk in a cold morning. The important thing to know is that any truth worth knowing is a truth that is in transition. A truth that doesn't change is a dead truth.

The disability benefits include a modest income, access to rehabilitation programs, and, in a couple of years, eligibility for Medicare. I'm permitted to work under some restrictions.

My life and my career(s) are filled with stuff that I didn't set out to do, most of which turned out to be better than I'd expected. Here's another one.

Make sure that you arrive at Baby Jesus' manger

Get what you need for a do-it-yourself oil change - oil and filter from Pep Boys

About teleworkers

Many large companies allow or even encourage people to work from home. It's been estimated, for example, that approximately one-third of IBM's workforce do not have a permanent office in an IBM facility. Some work from home most or all of the time. Others are work primarily at customer or partner sites.

As a result, IBM has taken steps to ensure that teleworkers have the same opportunities for healthy living as employees who work in traditional facilities. This article in last Sunday's Boston Globe describes some of the wellness programs available to remote employees.

AT&T, on the other hand, calls teleworkers back to cubicle life. (via Slashdot)

And Uncle Remus can't tell you and neither can Santa Claus

"I never knew it was gonna be this way
Why didn't they tell me the day I was born"
-- Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie

Yesterday, on the NPR show, Fresh Air, I heard an interview with Todd Haynes regarding his new movie, I'm Not There. In the movie, multiple actors play different personas of Bob Dylan.

I can remember the jolt at the rock and roll on Bringing It All Back Home and the country tunes on his post-motorcycle-accident John Wesley Harding. It was, as noted in a later Dilbert cartoon, paradigm shifting without a clutch. Dylan rarely bothered to try to make any connection between what went on before and what he is presenting now. If we wanted to try follow the threads, we were welcome to do so, but he wasn't going out of his way to help us. He was too busy with what's next.

Adam's 20th high school reunion is this weekend. Some months ago, he and I were talking about how difficult it is to make connections between who we were in high school and who we are now. There are pictures of teenagers that we hide from others and, often, even from ourselves. The chronology of events includes a bunch of sudden breakpoints where the energy jumps like a spark across the gap rather than moving in a steady flow. That's fine. The energy gets there; you just have to handle it a bit more carefully is all.

Why people hate the phone company

If you don't spend enough money on long distance calls, they'll charge you for it:

The death of e-mail. - By Chad Lorenz - Slate Magazine

Last week, Michael asked us to review his college application essay. He sent us the essay via email. He did a great job; Sandra found just one needed-correction. It was, IIRC, the first email exchange we've had with any of our grandchildren. We've exchanged IMs and SMSs, but email is something for the old folks.

The death of e-mail. - By Chad Lorenz - Slate Magazine

Where the hippies have gone

At a farmer's market, the guy selling organic carrots asked if I minded if they'd been gnawed on. Some mice had gotten into the bin and, well, ....

Before the guy could put the carrots on the scale, the guy's wife made him throw away the gnawed ones and some others that didn't look so good.

Anti-Simpsons programming

Most of the time, I watch the Simpsons at 7:30 in the evening. Tonight, though, I'd seen the episode several times recently and so decided to click around. On local channel 13, we've seen repeats of the local high school football games, including an outstanding game by Michael a few weeks ago.

Tonight, however, channel 13 showed the Pentagon Channel, primarily a set of reports on the goings-on in Iraq. They even included the weather forecast for Baghdad and cities in the north and south. I guess that if you want to tell your story, you might as well not rely on the liberal MSM (mainstream media) and just do it yourself.

Lapland's Elfing classes - Boing Boing

Because of my age and other circumstances, when I talk about returning to work, I hear a lot about reinventing myself. Well, as one from the "over-fed, long-haired, leaping gnome" generation, Lapland's Elfing classes might be just the ticket.

Neatorama » Blog Archive » Saddest Cubicle Contest

I don't know which is sadder: to win the Saddest Cubicle Contest or to have the second-saddest cubicle.

Meanwhile, management is on the case, ensuring that future workspaces will be bright and open:

About time and space

In the Sunday paper, Target has a 52-page insert just about toys. That doesn't include the coupon booklet inside. Jesus' day must surely be coming. (Expect to see heavy advertising and lots of markdowns as retailers combat an expected slump in holiday sales.)

We learned about this insert earlier than we'd expected. This is the start of Daylight Losing Time, aka standard time. Marley, not wearing a watch, saw the daylight and decided that it was time of his breakfast, even though it wasn't yet seven o'clock in people time.

These 25-hour days are nice, giving us extra time on a pleasant autumn Sunday. Of course, just having time isn't good enough for some. The New York Times included a large-format, glossy color brochure from Marquis Jet.

25 Hours
As little as $119,000

You can rent your own jet for that long for that much. (It's bit of twisted deja vu. Sandra and I watched Fever Pitch last night. Drew Barrymore played a character who was working with Marquis Jet.)

[Addendum: if your sleep cycle has been disrupted by the changing time, a Guide to Metric Time (or decimalized time might be just the thing to help you sleep.]

Then, again, geniuses aren't always whom we'd expect

Top 100 living geniuses - Telegraph

Riding the Rails--Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression

One of the cornerstones of my father's history is his experience riding the rails during the Depression. He traveled from Maine to the Pacific Northwest, looking for work and, no doubt, some fun. The stories he told were rich with danger, pain, and humor.

He wasn't alone on the road. There were lots of folks, young and old, searching for work, searching for a place to begin or restart their lives. This web page, Riding the Rails--Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression, tells the story of teenage drifters and includes some of their letters home.

As I've been cleaning out my father's papers, I've not found any letters to his parents. There are a few notes from his friends during the war, but nothing yet about the times as a hobo. Some of his stories are recorded in Carole Gariepy's A History of Queen Lake. I'll record some more here.

Nice mask

World Series night games

Nationally televised World Series night games have rendered the out-of-town newspapers useless, at least with regard to reporting on the game. Fox Sports has scheduled the night games to start at 8:30-ish Eastern. That means that a typical game will finish some time after 11PM, often later. The Boston Globe, New York Times, and others have to put their early editions to bed so that folks in the exurbs can have a morning paper. As a result, most of the content was written before the game started. We might, if we're lucky, get a partial score from the 5th inning.

Back in the day, a kid could get off of the school bus, hurry home, and watch the rest of a World Series game. You could watch Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run in the 1960 series before it was even time for supper.

Off in the hills when the ship comes in

As I've mentioned before, I still receive email notices about jobs in my field, even though I'm not able to work right now. This morning, I saw one that was close to an ideal match (documentation tools engineer). I probably should unsubscribe to these mailing lists until I'm ready to work again. I often underestimate how much I miss work.

Prenuptials we never read

Another link we didn't click

Happy Birthday, Earth

WorldNetDaily: Everything that is was created 6,010 years ago TODAY!

Some of you might be following a different calendar or might have a differing view of the age of life, the universe, and everything.

It's more than we can stand

It's a struggle that we'll probably lose, but still cannot walk away from the fight. The struggle, of course, is the struggle from sane grammatical usage. English speakers on both sides of pond have tried raise the alarm regarding improper use of apostrophes. There is a Facebook group called If You Can't Differentiate Between "Your" and "You're" You Deserve To Die. (Thanks to Nancy D.) I'm not sure that apostrophe abuse is a capital offense, but I know that I stop reading almost everything that has an it's where an its is the proper choice.

Even German writers are facing the enemy within. BTW, Google translates the phrase in the middle of the page, "Der größte anzunehmende Idiot," to be "The largest idiot who can be accepted".

The Book of SPAM: a SPAM-TASTIC Guide to Absolutely Everything Related to SPAM!

'Nuff said.

Neatorama » Blog Archive » The Book of SPAM: a SPAM-TASTIC Guide to Absolutely Everything Related to SPAM!

Penn researchers find emotional well-being has no influence on cancer survival

This article - Penn researchers find emotional well-being has no influence on cancer survival - runs counter to what we've wanted to believe, that improving our mood or attitude will help us get better faster. I still believe that, with a positive attitude, one can be a better patient, more willing to do the things necessary to get well. It's important for me to remember, however, that a good attitude is a support for, not a replacement for, good medicine.

A what from whose what?

There are a lot of questions that I didn't ask of my parents and, probably, an equal number of answers to which I did not pay attention.

I found this in a box of papers that we'd collected from my father's house. The box included my grandparents' citizenship papers, birth and marriage certificates, and passports.

The receipt is for the cost of administering ether as an anesthetic while my uncle was having a bullet removed from his arm.

Getting ready for Halloween

Basic Instructions: How to Deal with Trick-or-Treaters

What the cool morning brings

We have another frost this morning, a bit more widespread than Friday's. The bird bath has a skim coat of ice. As I lit the stove, I wondered when it was that we had to start buying book matches. Long after we quit smoking, we could still find free matches in hotels and restaurants. We still have a book from Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington DC, where we met after my mother's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. The wood, strike-anywhere matches, of course, are more fun. You can light them on your teeth (although hazardous if you have a droopy mustache), on your belt buckle, on the back of your pant leg (denim is best), and just about any coarse surface where you're sure to leave a mark.

I couldn't remember the Finnish word for matches and tried a couple of online dictionaries:

On the next site, I found a term, tulitikkulaatikko, which means a box of matches. The home page of this site shows a list of popular searches.

English-speakers are looking for Finnish equivalents of "i love you" and such.
Meanwhile, the Finns are looking for the English words for VoIP, booze, marry (or more colloquial descriptions of marital activities), and Happy Easter (!?).

Marley's unsettled by the gunshots from the hunters in a nearby pond. They're hunting geese, I suspect. Last week's police log had another report of gunshots in the area. It turned out that a farmer in the neighborhood was putting down some of the farm animals.

Dictionary

More than 10 years ago, the CEO of our small company asked to borrow my dictionary. I told him that I didn't have one, that I looked up definitions and spelling on the web. "That's crazy," he said. "A writer should have a dictionary on his desk."

In the meantime, the dictionary that I don't have on my desk keeps getting smaller: Webster's USB New World Dictionary - Gizmodo.

Goings-on in and around the family

• On Thursday, we celebrated Adam's promotion to Sergeant. The ceremony was held at the State Police Headquarters in Framingham, after which we went out to dinner. We were all very proud and very happy.
• Last weekend, we visited our friends, Pete and Mildred, in Maine. They have a flock of sheep - several ewes and one ram who's looking forward to mid-November when it will be time to frolic. (It's best when lambs are born in the spring.) We stayed overnight at their house and went to the Fryeburg Fair the next day.
• On Sunday, our friends, Dan and Gay, came to our house. Gay had been at a chaplains' conference in Boston. On Saturday, they climbed Mt. Katahdin. We went to Mike and Lynn's for the evening. After dinner, we listened to Michael and Krista play the piano and, then, Lynn and Jennie sang with Dan accompanying.
  
• Last night, we went to Mike's football game. The high school has a new football field with artificial turf. Mike's team lost.
• Sandra's parents will be returning from PEI this week. Their 65^th wedding anniversary is coming up in a month.
  
• This morning, we had our first frost, just a light coating on the back deck.
  

ConsumerReports.org - Is it really decaf?

Some of our friends have reported that, in order to avoid the unwanted buzz, they have to stay away from coffee altogether. They have noticed, and ConsumerReports has confirmed, that the stuff sold as decaf still has quite a bit of caffeine.

The Psychiatrist Sketch

Via At Last, the 1967 "At Last, the 1948 Show" Show

67% Geek

Free Online Dating from JustSayHi

Good luck, AJH

• So why do you think we have an appendix? | MetaFilter
• Appendix Isn't Useless At All: It's A Safe House For Good Bacteria

NEJM -- More on Thunderstorms and iPods

NEJM -- More on Thunderstorms and iPods

Playing a C on the world's tiniest violin

UMass student takes his C to federal court - The Boston Globe

Suffer Not the Trick-or-Treaters

Suffer Not the Trick-or-Treaters: "Did you ever wonder why Halloween seems to primarily feed off of a market of 3-13 year olds? This is a Satanic ploy for our children. I don't think that Christian children should completely abstain from the festivities of costumes and candy, because they can be a light through their alternative behavior. [I personally plan on dressing my children up in Biblical and God-honoring characters that will draw people to ask questions.]

Scientists prove that if money could buy happiness, you wouldn't know what to buy | Science Blog

Scientists prove that if money could buy happiness, you wouldn't know what to buy | Science Blog

Sleep: Reboot Your Brain with a Caffeine Nap - Lifehacker

Sleep: Reboot Your Brain with a Caffeine Nap - Lifehacker: "Scientists say that a successful midday nap depends on two things: timing and (no kidding) caffeine consumption."

News of the next generation

Last night, Matt had his movie debut in his uncle's movie, The Third Date:


The glory of stardom doesn't, as we know, confer immunity. This morning, Matt had surgery on his right hand. He broke his finger in a football game a couple of weeks ago and needed some help to heal properly. He'll be ok.

Lily is celebrating her 8^{th,/sup> birthday today with a swimming party. Lily is establishing herself as a formidable swimmer in local competitions. Happy Birthday, Lily.}

The iPod Death Clock

This site will give you an estimate of the amount of time your iPod has left: The iPod Death Clock - iPodMechanic.com

Mine has

Country’s Top 100: All-Time Best Songs

Lists such as Country’s Top 100: All-Time Best Songs make life interesting because you really have to exercise your imagination to understand what planet these people are coming from. Patsy Cline's cover of Willie Nelson's Crazy at number 34?! Come on.

If you can listen to Will the Circle Be Unbroken by the Carter Family with dry eyes, you'd better get some duct tape because there's a hole in your soul.

Google Turns 9

A special thanks to friend Patti , who, quite a few years ago, alerted me to Google. Patti and I had worked at DEC when AltaVista was the first great search engine. AltaVista was built pretty much a bunch of spaghetti code that showcased the power of DEC's hardware. Had DEC understood what it had in AltaVista, we'd probably still be working there and there would still be a there there.

We shouldn't be sad, though. Google turns 9 today. The rest is searchable history.

On the road again

Marley and I brought Sandra to Logan Airport this morning. She's flying to California for a friend's 60^th birthday; she and Sandra have been friends since they were three. It was my first time in a long time driving in rush-hour traffic. It hasn't changed much. If anything, it seems that the drivers were better behaved. With the Big Dig and Williams Tunnel complete, the ride to the airport is easy and quick. Even with traffic, it took us an hour and fifteen minutes.

So, the bachelors are back at home, looking at the wide-open day. The weather is steamy with clearing showers forecast for later today and tomorrow. Marley's found a place in the sunshine and is snoring quietly. There's plenty to do, fun and otherwise.

The recent news that Microsoft is trying to buy a piece of Facebook led me back to the social network for a closer look. There are 122 people in Facebook with my last name, only one of whom I know (grandson Mike). I'm not the only graybeard in the crowd, but, well, .... One of the offers in the Marketplace section is a bit dodgy: *** 120% unique gift for you and your friends***. You get to create a doll that looks like you.

I've also spent time on the web site for Mike and Matt's high school. The site offers a fairly sophisticated system for managing calendars for the various sports teams. In addition to seeing a calendar of upcoming games on the site, I can get email, SMS, and RSS updates. I've not been able to get the synchronization with Outlook working yet.

Escape from Cubicle Nation: 8 Strategies to get the most from painful or awkward life transitions

A friend used to tell me that I'd look forward to the hard times for what they'd have to teach me. I can't say that I always look forward to the hard times, but I usually manage to believe that I'll learn something important.

Escape from Cubicle Nation: 8 Strategies to get the most from painful or awkward life transitions

Y'see, this is what Eddie Van Halen is supposed to sound like

Complete with the wise-ass grin: FARK.com: Fark YouTube Player (3092347) Vintage Eddie Van Halen - "Eruption" guitar solo (live)

Exploration - Canada at Scale: Maps of our History - Exhibitions - Library and Archives Canada

This one, Exploration - Canada at Scale: Maps of our History - Exhibitions - Library and Archives Canada, is for the map nerds. It's a nifty collection of old maps of Canada, including a 1765 map of Prince Edward Island, known at the time as St. John's Island.

Hello, Rangoon!

It's probably not a bad idea to have a reference source such as Wikipedia or the CIA Factbook handy when watching the news. As we learn about the protests in Burma/Myanmar, we also learn that each media outlet has a policy regarding the name of that country. Using the name Myanmar implies that we believe that the junta in charge of the country has enough legitimacy to change the country's name. Naturally, the U.S., most of its allies, and many publications use Burma. In almost all cases, there's some qualification such as "The country formerly known as Burma" or "the country now known as Myanmar."

This is not all that uncommon, differing names for people and places. The capital of Finland, for example, is Helsinki, except in Swedish, where Helsingfors prevails. A few decades ago, China (once known as Cathay) changed the transliteration of many names, giving us Mao Zedong instead of Mao Tse-tung and Beijing instead of Peking. And, if then there's what's-his-name, the guy who heads up Libya.

So, now, Duane Ingalls Glasscock (RealAudio link) have to sign on with the cry, "Hello, Yangon!"

Ghoti

More commonly heard as fish:

gh as in enough
o as in women
ti as in vacation

"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge"
- Bertrand Russell, philosopher (1872-1970) via

Peace Day - September 21

Peace Day - September 21

RIP TJL

AskTog: How to Publish a Great User Manual

This is what I did/do/will do/have done for a living. Well, not necessarily write great user manuals, but you get the idea. This is a classic essay on what goes into good technical documentation - how you think about the user, not just an explanation of features.

AskTog: How to Publish a Great User Manual

hings Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age

A whole bunch of years ago, a friend remarked, "When Mozart was my age, he was dead for two years."

Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age

Links we did not click

In Gardner, you remember

As many of you know, I was born in Gardner, a city of about 20,000 people in north central Massachusetts. Once a major manufacturer of furniture, its nickname is the Chair City. (Here is an overview of the city's furniture history.) When I was in college, I wrote a column titled Chair City Journal and gave my senior honors thesis the same name. I worked for a short time in a furniture factory. I still have a scar on the back of my leg from the time when I walked off the edge of a loading platform.

Many of the furniture factories are closed now, the businesses moving to the American south in the 60s and 70s. Half of the stores in downtown are empty. The list of departed businesses is long - Goodnow-Pearson's department store (where you could preview 45s in a listening booth) , Robillard's pharmacy, Newberry's, the Orpheum theater, a Rexall drug store, the A&P grocery store.

In the 60s or early 70s, a strip mall opened on the south side of town. One of the anchors was Rich's, a discount department store. The chain went under and the Gardner store closed in 1997. Yesterday's Gardner News carried this front-page, above-the-fold picture.

Penn and Teller on Alternative Medicine (video, language NSFW)

MilkandCookies - Penn and Teller Bullshit: Alternative Medicine

Send this guy a Massachusetts driver's license

London Free Press - Local News - Cereal-eating driver cited in 3-car collision

via Fark

The return of 'oop time

The temperature found its way to the 30s last night and will again tonight. It's time to bring the wood hoop up from the cellar, place it in the family room, and fill it with firewood. Done, done, and done. Some parts of the state had a stab of frost, but we're not there yet.

So, it's 'oop time, as in wood hoop, not basketball. We're only in the second week of football season. Last night, we went to grandson Mike's football game. Because his high school's new athletic field is not yet finished, the team had to play a home game in Gardner. They won. Mike scored a touchdown, although the newspaper credited the score to his brother, Matt. (They spelled our last name correctly. Go figure.)

We sat in the stands and alternately watched the game and the other show around us. We'd forgotten that, for high school kids, going to a high school football game is so much less about the game and more about all the other kids. See and be seen. Parading to and from the snack bar. The girls were wearing sleek, tight, colorful jeans and jackets, looking stylish beyond their years. The boys bounced around in over-sized sweats, alabaster gangstas from the exoburbs.

Researchers are reporting that married couples who don't have children at home are less likely to be involved with family, friends, and community than their single counterparts. (The Roman church has been using this point for centuries in their justification for clerical celibacy.) We've lived in this neighborhood for more than 25 years. There are just a handful of neighbors, fewer than 10, who would recognize us or we them if we met some place away from our homes. It's not that we're not nice people. Rather, we keep to ourselves because we like each other's company.

To have us, then, out past 10 o'clock on a chilled, blustery Saturday night is remarkable indeed, a change as noteworthy as the change of season itself.

If you have a dog (and a job) ...

Today is Take Your Dog to Work Day

Blame Bullwinkle

Global Warming Fears: Norway's Moose Population in Trouble for Belching - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

I'm not looking for work right now, but ...

I'm not looking for work right now, but I continue to receive job listings. Chief Suitability Officer?

Special Projects Idea Generator

Need a name for your project? Need to add a couple of bullet points to your mission statement? Help is on the way with the Special Projects Idea Generator.

Via The Generator Blog.

Joint Astronomy Centre - Birthday Stars -

The light from what star began its journey on the day that you were born: Joint Astronomy Centre - Birthday Stars

Joe Gregorio | BitWorking |

Joe Gregorio | BitWorking | Nobody goes there anymore

http://bitworking.org/news/231/Nobody-goes-there-anymore

Good hearing starts with good listening

Last week, I met with an ENT doctor and then an audiologist to discuss hearing aids. (Feel free to post your jokes about hearing loss in the Comments section.) I've had hearing problems for 20-or-so years, primarily in my right ear, to the point of having surgery in the mid-90s. The surgery didn't improve my hearing; it seemed to slow the decline for a while. My hearing tests show a notch at 1kHz, just at the start of the range of the spoken voice. Conversations are important, so to stay on the right side of people, I have to stay on the right side of people.

In order to provide the power and signal processing that I need, the aid that I will need (we're planning for just one ear for now) is somewhat large, visible, and dorky. As if I should suddenly be concerned about looking dorky. This article shows that some manufacturers are trying to bring a sense of style to hearing aids.

Some of us, irrespective of our quality of hearing, are temperamentally inclined not to pay attention to what's going on around us. No hearing aid is going to fix that. Being hard of hearing isn't the problem; it's being hard of listening. A bunch of years ago, I was talking excitedly with a friend, a minister from another church, about a new insight I'd recently gained. Listening, I said, was more important than talking. I talked about this for about 10 minutes. It was only as I driving home that I realized that I hadn't asked her a single question.

The personality of a good worker

This article, from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, describes the way that employers use personality tests to screen job candidates. Now, it's a good idea for everyone if a candidate is a good fit for a job and for the organization. I've been in several situations where I had a job that was well-suited for my skills and interests, but where the management or other parts of the corporate culture had very different ways of working.

I also have a lot of skepticism about standardized tests. When I was a kid, my mother took me to Boston for a series of aptitude tests. I learned that I should be an accountant. I also learned that, even though I am right-handed, I have better dexterity with my left hand than with my right. My highest SAT score was in math. That would probably explain my first-semester A in college algebra; we can blame the second-semester F on the 60s.

In this morning's mail, I saw read about a couple of writing jobs with a former company. Of course I'm not ready to go back to work, but it's nice to think about. It's good to be able to read a job description and know what they're talking about it and know that I've done that work in the past. The underlying concepts of technical writing - topic-orientation, structured authoring, single sourcing, internationalization and localization, and concurrent development - haven't fundamentally changed in the last 20-25 years. We have new words, products, and methodologies, but we're still trying to solve the same problems - how do we describe complex products and tasks, do so quickly and well, meeting aggressive release schedules, and, while we're at it, make it easy to produce Korean and French versions at the same time.

Most folks don't get into trouble at jobs because they don't have the knowledge or skills to make it happen. In my experience as an employee and as a manager, troubles usually come from instincts in collision. Aspects of our personality makes us unwilling or unable to do the job that we have in front of us. It comes back to personality. Now, if there just was a way for us to know if our personalities are a good match for a job. Oh, yeah, right.

Cue "Ain't Misbehavin'"

Fats Waller - Aint Misbehavin'

Sandra's visiting her parents in PEI for a few days, celebrating her mother's birthday. She flew to Charlottetown yesterday, enjoying the non-stop flight from Boston. The weather at the Island is, as Sandra put it, "heavenly." Woody was cooking steaks on the grill for their supper.

Marley and I have had a quiet time, watching a bit of the Red Sox game on TV and turned in early. This afternoon, we'll go to the camp and spend the night. Mike and Adam and their families will be at the camp as well.

If the skies are clear tonight, we should be able to see the Perseid meteor showers. With luck, we might also catch a glimpse of the shuttle and International Space Station; both are expected to be visible around 9:40 PM (EDT). You can find out more about the shuttle, space station, and other stuff flying around the sky at this NASA web site.

YouTube - Dick Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire

YouTube - Dick Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire
(via)

If you lived here and had a degree in the library arts, here's what you'd make

DOL WHD: Minimum Wage Laws in the States

Why constant complaining about a bad job makes it worse

Top 10 reasons why constant complaining is so toxic in the workplace

Where the real infrastructure failings are

While holding great reverence for those who were killed or injured in the Minneapolis bridge collapse, let's not forget the many thousands who die each year because of the lack of preventative health care. Last year, during my annual physical, my doctor noticed a mole that looked suspicious. It turned out to be malignant melanoma. I had the malignancy removed and now have follow-up inspections twice yearly. Without a good health plan, it's doubtful that any of that could have happened in time.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Overheard in the Office | When Good Deeds Become Career-Limiting

Overheard in the Office | When Good Deeds Become Career-Limiting

Wet, wild, and wonderful

Here are the photos from our whitewater rafting trip in celebration of Sandra's birthday last Friday.

Great Googly Moogly

My Way News - Berlin Names Street After Frank Zappa

BTW, the title comes from one of FZ's tunes. See this article for more info.

Pope to world:i m n ur fone

Archdiocese Offers Daily Text Messages From The Pope - The Huffington Post

Monster to Cut 800 Jobs

As the folks at Fark.com noted, wouldn't it be nice if there was an online service where out-of-work people could post their resumes
Monster to Cut 800 Jobs; 2nd-Quarter Profit Drops.

In case you didn't know, ...

Howstuffworks "How Swearing Works"

Is there anything that the intertubes can't do?

I guess that it's a good idea that the Massachusetts house voted to outlaw Internet hunting (Mass. House Votes To Ban Internet Hunting - News Story - WCVB Boston), but I also have to give a tip of the hat to the folks who figured out how to do this. It's no small accomplishment that they'd be able to set up guns and cameras in places where people would find something to hunt, hook that apparatus to a web application, and let people hunt from the comfort of their own homes.

Note: I spent a few minutes looking around for a site that offered this service, but wasn't able to find one. It looks as though some of the sites that might be gateways are using IP filtering to block access from certain geographical regions. It's not worth the additional time to dig deeper.

MilkandCookies - George Carlin: Who owns you?

Those of you who didn't know friend Don - think George Carlin. Sometimes, he was really funny. Sometimes, he was really serious and even scary. And, one time, Don burned so hot that he burned himself up.

It's ok to be dorks, but do we have to bring our dogs into it?

Techie Diva's Guide to Gadgets : Transform Your Dog Into a Walking Jukebox

Dept. of Copy Editing. - Show me the way to go home

From the The Scout Report -- July 27, 2007, a part of the Internet Scout Project:

1. Open Architecture Network [Macromedia Flash Player, pdf]
http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/

The Open Architecture Network site starts things off with a bold and
passionate statement: “Le Corbusier had it all wrong”. It’s definitely a
good way to get visitors’ attention upon entering the site. The Network is
an online, open source community which seeks to improve living conditions
through innovative and sustainable design. On the site, visitors can share
their design ideas and plans, review and comment on posted designs, and also
collaborate with each other. Visitors will no doubt get exited about the
“Projects” section, which is both intellectually stimulating and well-
designed. Visitors can search the projects by status, region, location, or
theme, or they can also perform a keyword search as well. There are some
wonderful finds here, including a childcare school in Sri Lanka, a day
laborer shelter, and a “Doc-in-a-Box”, which is meant to serve as a mobile
health care center. [KMG]

Happy Birthday, Sandra

We hope you'll enjoy your day of whitewater rafting.

YouTube - Helsinki Complaints Choir

Eight-and-a-half minutes of complaints in Finnish. (But, they have subtitles.)

YouTube - Helsinki Complaints Choir

Project Cartoon: How Projects Really Work (version 1.5)

In case you wondered, ...
Project Cartoon: How Projects Really Work (version 1.5)

Careers: If Only You Could Work Here

Satchel Paige often said, "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." This Fast Company story, with the embedded video, pretty much fills up the rear-view mirror with a different way of looking at work.

Careers: If Only You Could Work Here

I wonder if the new edition of Framemaker will include a grammar checker

-from the Adobe Technical Communication blog

Aerosmith on PEI

54 arrested at P.E.I. concert featuring Aerosmith: "the concert could be the largest single-day event in the Island's history,"

152 - A Map of the Truelove River « strange maps

The course of true love is rarely direct and smooth, but the trials are well worth it.

152 - A Map of the Truelove River « strange maps

ScienceDaily: Architects Not Teachers Caused School Failures

Friend eba and I I have a quite a few discussions about architecture and its impact on people. Mostly, we've talked about information architecture - how to structure information about a product or service so that it can be most readily used by people who are trying to get something done. Those discussions have wandered into the area of physical architecture - how to create buildings and spaces that help people get done what they want to get done. A well-designed place can make a big difference in how well people work, socialize, learn, or play badminton.

This University of Manchester (UK) study, ScienceDaily: Architects Not Teachers Caused School Failures, points to some specific problems that result from design constraints that were imposed on architects of school buildings during World War II.

Dept. of Medications: a modest proposal

One of the hot topics around here is casino gambling. The Wampanoag tribe in southeastern Massachusetts, who recently received designation as an official Native American tribe by the federal government, is in negotiations with the town of Middleborough regarding the construction of a casino-resort complex in the town. According to the supporters, everybody wins - the tribe, the town, the state, vendors, job-seekers, hookers, everybody. We will, for the time being, set aside Mario Puzo's observation that the lights, the glamor, the fancy building in Las Vegas were purchased with losers' money.

The planned casino is a 100-or-so miles from two other casinos in Connecticut - Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. There's some concern that having three casinos so close to one another will just make smaller pieces of a fixed-sized pie. How much gambling, after all, can southern New England support?

Enter science. Recent television ads for Mirapex, a treatment for restless leg syndrome and Parkinson's, have noted some interesting side effects. The following clip comes from the manufacturer's web site:

MIRAPEX Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): "There have been reports of patients taking certain medications to treat Parkinson’s disease or RLS, including MIRAPEX, that have reported problems with gambling, compulsive eating, and increased sex drive. (Emphasis mine.) It is not possible to reliably estimate how often these behaviors occur to determine which factors may contribute to them. If you or your family members notice that you are developing unusual behaviors, talk to your doctor."

OK, all medications have side effects, ranging from seizures, increased suicide risks, and treatment-emergent insomnia, to hirstutism. Few drugs, however, have the potential to induce the kind of behaviors that would make a casino successful.

So, it seems like a good idea for the tribe or the town to set up a clinic in or near the casino, a clinic that would specialize in the 'treatment' of RLS. It might even be a good idea to distribute coupons in the region's newspapers for free samples.

YouTube - ethan zuckerman history of the internet

The history of the Internet in five minutes: YouTube - ethan zuckerman history of the internet. Even before the development of the World Wide Web or the Internet, people wanted to use computers to communicate with one another, via email, chat, games.

It's not all about him.

While watching President Bush's press conference, I was struck again by a couple of characteristics of his public speeches:

1. He uses the word "I" an awful lot. While it's good to know that he puts himself in the middle of the discussions and actions, rather than pointing to an amorphous government, it seems that he's personalized it too much. It's as though he's trying to convince us (or himself) that he is important, relevant.
   
2. He uses the phrase "hard work" an awful lot. "It's hard work." "This is hard work." It's not even used as an excuse, but as a statement that he is, in fact, working hard.
   

I don't care to psychoanalyze him too much, but this sounds like an employee pleading to a boss. "I worked hard on this TPS report. It may not look like much, but I worked hard. You've got to give me credit for that." It can also sound like a son who is trying to prove himself to his father. "I worked on this really hard."

And, while it should surprise no one that he would avoid answering difficult questions, I think that the President took it to a new level. His response to a question regarding Michael Chertoff's "gut" feeling about a terrorist attack this summer wandered further than Omar the Tentmaker riding a drunken camel.

One final thing. He was asked how it was that we wound up so ill-prepared for the post-Saddam challenges, he first said that he had asked Gen. Tommy Franks and others on the Joint Chiefs if they had sufficient soldiers and materiel. They all responded in the affirmative. We have since learned that they were gravely wrong. So, now, the President exhorts to trust the commanders in the field to tell us what's going on in Iraq and when it will be safe to leave. "Trust, but verify," Ronald Reagan used to say.

YouTube - DEC - Glimpse of the Future, 1994

This slideshow provides images of some of the web pages that were available in 1994. My first experience with the web was in the autumn of 1993 when someone posted information to our internal collaboration forum (Notes) about a browser (Mosaic) and server. As soon as my jaw returned from the floor, I began following links as quickly as I could find them.

YouTube - DEC - Glimpse of the Future, 1994

Let's hear it for mediocrity

We watched the Boston Pops Fourth of July hooptedoodle on TV. Liberty Mutual was one of the sponsors. Their tag line was, "Yes, there's an insurance company that's as responsible as you are."

Now, why would I ever want to do business with a company that is as responsible as I am? Ever! That's like saying I want to take singing lessons from someone who sings as well as I do. If a company can't do it better than I can (and how hard would that be?), then we'd both better just keep walking.

Commuting

I had to come into town for a medical appointment and so left the camp around 6:00. In years past, I would often leave the house at six and take my place among the sedans and SUVs for the march eastward to the high-tech centers along Routes I-495 and 128. This commute, however, put me in the middle of a caravan of pickup trucks, box trucks, and utility vans. Different people going to different places, the high-tech commuters barely aware that the other wave of commuters exists, the other wave that builds their houses, fixes their plumbing, exterminates their insects.

Aw, geez. What's he done

Aw, geez. What's he done now? Again with the Blackberry? Call it assistive technology or goofy, it's been the best way to track appts 'n tasks.

In spite of the gray beard, I'm Generation Y.

What generation are you part of, really? Take this test. » Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk

"And, remember, you'll save money."

The old Spag's buildings on Rt. 9 in Shrewsbury will likely be torn down and the property developed for residential and retail use.

In 2002, six years after Anthony "Spag" Borgatti's death, Building 19 bought the Spag's business. Jerry Ellis, owner of Building 19, said, “It just didn’t work; not everything does." Because the business was neither Spag's nor a true Building 19, both groups of customers stayed away in droves.

Spag's was, in marketing parlance, a destination. In the 80s, my father went on a canoing trip in northern Maine. When the guide saw the Massachusetts license plate, he asked my father, "You shop at Spag's?" The guide and his family would drive the 300 or so miles to Spag's a few times a year and load up their cars with camping gear, laundry supplies, and Cheetos.

It was nearly impossible to buy only the thing you came for. I'd go to Spag's to get Wolf's Head motor oil for my three-cylinder, two-stroke, mix-oil-with-the-gas Saab and return with the oil, writing pads, sneakers, a couple pounds of coffee, and a catnip mouse.

My favorite suspenders, the red paisley ones, cost me five bucks at Spag's.

While waiting for the papers

Our newspaper carriers are having a tough time. Here it is, whatever time it is, and the papers still aren't here. Weekdays, we get two papers and on the weekend, three. If I don't get to the papers first thing in the morning, the papers wind up on my reading stack, a pile of newspapers, magazines, and books. The bottom layer of my reading stack has turned to coal.

Friend Patti brought my attention to a charming time-sink called Twitter. In brief, Twitter is a cross between blogging and instant messaging. It asks the basic question, "What are you doing?" The widget on the left side of this page shows what I'm doing now. You can also send and receive text-message updates via your cell phone. I can already hear the cries of "Can't we ever get away from the Internet?" Um, no. Even the Amish have a web site.

There is no sky in Ann Coulter's world

Ann Coulter vs. Elizabeth Edwards: Sparks fly after Coulter remark on terrorist assassination of John Edwards - On Politics - USATODAY.com: "On Monday, on ABC's Good Morning America, Coulter said: 'I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.'"

Radio silence

In a protest against increased music royalty fees, a number of Internet radio broadcasts are observing a National Day of Silence by turning off their feeds today. A partial list of the participants is available at Kurt Hanson's Radio and Internet Newsletter site.

Radio, more than TV, newspapers, or other media, is about sounds from far away, often in the night. While listening to WKBW (Buffalo, New York) after dark in the wintertime in the 50s, I'd learn about lake-effect snow in towns such as Lackawanna, Cheektowaga, and North Tonawanda. For a while, I was more familiar with these names than with the names of Boston suburbs.

So, for several reasons, today would not be a good day to purchase a Tivoli Networks radio, either a table-top or portable that plays Internet broadcasts using a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.

• The aforementioned day of silence.
  
• The radio isn't for sale yet.
• We have too many radios already. We average slightly more than one radio per room at home, at the camp, and in our cars, not counting the shows and podcasts that I download to my iPod.
  

Of course, all of our radios are tuned to the left end of the FM band, 91.9 and lower, where the public, college, and other non-commercial stations hang out. I'll spare you my usual rant about the dreadful state of commercial radio and just ask that, if you know of a good radio station anywhere, please let me know. By good, I mean stations that treat listeners with a bit of respect, that are locally-owned or listener-sponsored, and who could mix Mozart, John Coltrane, Jefferson Airplane, and a few performers I've not heard before. Give the keys for all parts of the music library to the DJs and listen to what happens.

Office pilfering starts at the top

Obvious. Paging Capt. Obvious.

A recent study reports that 20% of employees admit to stealing office supplies from their companies. The study further concludes that 25% of people who bring home $75K or more admit to bring home stuff, more than twice the rate of pilfering among the lower paid workers.

More than a dozen years ago, Scott Adams published a book that pretty well summed up workers' relationships to the supply cabinet - Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies.

What color is the sky in Dick Cheney's world?

In response to a request from the National Archives (per an order signed by President Bush), Vice-President Dick Cheney refused to provide information because, according to the Federal Times, Cheney argued that “the Vice President’s Office is not an entity within the executive branch.” (Cheney is claiming that he is president of the Senate and, therefore, not a member of the executive branch.)

Article 2, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution says: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term..."

Sic transit gloria transitus

The summer solstice arrived at 18:06 GMT today, 2:06PM EDT. In Oulu, where my mother's family came from, the sun will be up for 22 hours. Meteorological summer began on June 1^st, but the start of astrological summer is still special. (The English-language version of the Helsinki newspaper is taking its summer vacation now until the end of July.) The kids in town had their last day of school yesterday. Even for those of us who hear but a faint echo of "No more pencils..." can still look up summer as a big, empty canvas that we can paint with the mud on our feet.

Tomorrow's a marker day for me as well. Even though I stopped working in April, tomorrow is the official end of my employment at my former company. I miss some of the people and some of the work, but am certain that leaving was the right thing to do. And, looking to the horizon. I don't yet have a schedule or even a plan for returning to work. Getting there, in large part, depends on how we define what or where there is.

In the meantime, we have plenty to do, particularly in the cleanup in and around Huck's house. Each thing, at the house and at the camp, seems to have a story or pose an interesting question. Among the things that I meant to ask him:

Why is there a 2lb. coffee can on the wall the broom closet in the camp, held in place with three hefty screws? It's a handy place to put stuff, but screwing coffee cans t the wall certainly isn't going to put California Closets into Chapter 11.

What color is the sky in John Bolton's world?

Speaking about the U.S. obligation to assist refugees of the Iraq war, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton said:

"Our obligation was to give them new institutions and provide security. We have fulfilled that obligation. I don't think we have an obligation to compensate for the hardships of war.'' -- Operation Freedom From Iraqis - New York Times

J.R. shot Tony Soprano?

Along with this week's coverage of the final Sopranos episode and last week's unjailing/rejailing of Paris Hilton, many media outlets, notable Greater Boston, have had good discussions about the newsworthiness of these events and the general topic of the media's coverage of popular culture.

In 1980, I was editing the Saturday edition of a small, suburban newspaper. I had the first and second pages filled with local stories and a few wire service pieces. I had deliberately left out the UPI story about "Who Shot J.R.?" from the previous night's Dallas show. If anyone care about it, I reasoned, they would have watched the show or taped in on their Betamax.

The executive editor, who doubled as the sports editor, stopped by with the Friday night local sports articles, looked at the layout, and went bonkers. "You're leaving out the biggest story of the year," he shouted.

So, knowing the importance of the weekly paycheck, I found the executive editor's reasoning persuasive and made room for the J.R. story. I should note that I was making about $4.00/hour, close to what I could have made at the neighboring McDonald's. Every day, however, I had my name in the paper every day, spelled correctly and not in the police log. I even had a my picture above my occasional editorial column.

I'd probably make the same first decision again. Although I am a fan and a student of pop culture, these stories don't need to be everywhere all of the time. If I want the latest in sleazy intrigue, I don't turn to Jim Lehrer or our local weekly, The Landmark. Fox News Channel will certainly get me all that I need and can stand.

From backhoes to Bach

It was a day to stand watch with amazement as threads from long ago loop through each other and stretch on to the future. The day had three simple chores at my father's house - meet with the folks who'd be installing propane tanks, meet with the engineer who'd be designing the new septic system, and taking a carload of sauna wood from the basement to the camp. - followed by an evening of music at the annual piano recital.

And, here's how it went:

• The guy who'd be installing the propane tanks (with his grandson doing most of the heavy lifting) went to trade school with my father in the 30s. He still thought my father lived on Pine Street in Gardner, at my grandparents' home. I explained how this house came to be and how my grandparents moved next door in the early 60s.
  
• The guy with the backhoe would be digging the test holes for the septic system. I recognized the last name. He was a few years younger than me, but I knew his older brothers.
  
• I didn't know the engineer, but he had a Grateful Dead sticker on his truck. A woman from the engineering company had married into a large family who shared a camp at Queen Lake. We often see her husband paddling his kayak around the lake.
• The fellow who is refinishing the floors in the house is a long-time friend of Mike's and, in the antediluvian era, was a debating opponent of mine when we were in high school.

I watched as the backhoe operator dug three big holes in the front yard, where the septic system has been. It may be too wet there. (For readers who don't own property in Massachusetts, this work is required to meet Title V requirements. Title V specifies how water and sewer systems must be built to ensure clean water in neighboring wells and in other water sources. When you sell a house, not only must the system pass inspection, but you must guarantee that it will work for one year.) Plan B led to three big holes in the woods behind the house. As I watched the operator dig three more holes, I studied the pine trees that I used to climb as a kid. The trees are taller now and the lower branches have fallen away, so climbing would be tough. The trees are tall enough to block some of the sunlight in the winter, sunlight that my father used to keep his house warm.

Lots of people who can load and unload a truck full of wood after a day's work; some will even cut and split the wood as well. So, loading and unloading a Subaruful of wood shouldn't be front page news, but, for me, it was the mark of a good day. The wood that I brought to the camp will likely give us saunas for the rest of this year. The wood is split small and very dry, so we'll get good, hot saunas quickly.

The piano recital was held in the Town Hall, a classic New England building in the center of town. There were a couple dozen performers, hosted by their teacher. Tess and Krista delighted us with pieces from Scott Joplin while Mike lit up the hall with Mozart's Fantasia in D Minor.

A long time ago, I took a music appreciation course. The teacher, a woman, said that because men do better at math than women, they're more inclined to like Bach. Take that as you will. The only Bach piece played at the recital was by a young boy.

It's said that the mark of a truly cultured person is the ability to listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger. So, as we listen to one of students play Dance of the Hours by Ponichelle, I heard the words to Allan Sherman's Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh.

Do we need a stopwatch or a calendar?

It keeps getting easier for small businesses to put ads on cable television. As a result, you can hear statements such as this, from an auto repair business in Worcester:

Guaranteed fast service, no matter how long it takes.

That turbulence in the water

Fish in Massachusetts are trembling. Sandra and I recently picked up our fishing licenses. They shall know us by our worms.

Or, we might use lures. Or, as the guy at the Phillipston chicken barbecue said, shiners.

The chicken barbecue on Saturday was a part of Phillipston's 50th country fair. We drove through frog-strangling downpours in Fitchburg on our way to the fair, arriving on the town common where not a drop of rain fell all day.

The flea market filled the gymnasium of the elementary school. There you could find Drydene machine lubricant, a rusty electric fence controller, and child car seats into which you could put a child you didn't like very much. There were several two-burner gas stovetops, scary contraptions capable of igniting a kitchen with just a crosswise glance. Still, there were plenty of fun and safe things as well. Most people found at least one thing worthy of purchase. One of the flea market coordinators had purchased and was wearing a beaded necklace that Sandra had contributed.


Mid-day, a pianist was happily playing ragtime tunes on an electric piano in the foyer of the church, the music filling the common from speakers on the front steps.

Inside the old church, quilters from the town and around hung samples of their work from the balcony railings. The quilts, nearly all hand-stitched, were bold and charming. Each had a story that described how and why the quilt was made.

The church had wooden pews, stained dark, with doors for each section. At one time, families would have their own reserved pews.

But, this was a story about fishing. I haven't been fishing in a very long time, since I was a kid and didn't need a license. Back then, the Gardner News published a chart that showed which days in the coming week would be good for fishing. It was about as accurate as an astrological chart, but it was easier to believe. I don't remember why I didn't continue fishing. The last that I remember was working on a horned pout that had swallowed the hook; I was stung a couple of times and fishing stopped being fun.

So, we'll try again. We'll have a family fishing derby this weekend in honor of Father's Day. We will have prizes for the most, least, largest, smallest, cutest, and ugliest fish caught. If we catch something edible, we'll figure how to eat it.

The Massachusetts Wildlife agency publishes a booklet to help us understand the fishing regulations and to know, in case we've forgotten, what a small-mouth bass or northern pike looks like. At the back of the booklet, they publish sunrise and sunset times for the year. (The one we received gave the times for Worcester along with offsets for different places in the state. Boston is about three minutes earlier and Pittsfield is about five minutes later.) For the next week, we'll have the earliest sunrises, about 5:10AM, EDT. The latest sunset, 8:28PM, occurs in late June into early July.