Going vampire

So, according to the Drudge Report,
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via DRUDGE REPORT 2010®

Meanwhile, in the far lower left of the page, we see this:

New Moon brought in $72 million in its first day. Divided by $10.50 (the price that the Worcester theaters charge for a regular ticket), that's more than 6.8 million people who went to see the vampire sequel.
Where's the country headed? You tell me.

One

The following equal 1.

• The probability that, if I lie down on the couch for a bit of a snooze, Marley will stick his nose in my face.
• The temperature, in Celsius, of Marley's nose at that time.
• The amount of time, in minutes, that Marley will stay outside on a rainy morning.
• The distance, in centimeters, that Marley will be from my leg while he's wet from the rain.
• Where, on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the highest score, Marley ranks.
  

More on fuel conservation

We'd found a pretty clever way to reduce the amount of heating oil that we use. Several weeks ago, we installed programmable thermostats for our upstairs and downstairs zones. These gadgets have settings that let you warm the house in the morning, let it cool while you're away at work, warm it up again in the late afternoon, and then cool down for the night. Some of the more expensive ones even give you the option to have different settings for different days of the week.
The installation process is easy. You remove the old thermostat and, taking care not to break the bulb full of mercury, set it aside.
The old one fits in the old spot, if you don't mind the fact that the old thermostat had a large, decorative plate around it and this new unit is small and rectangular. We left part of the old plate in place to cover the circle where the wallpaper wasn't. (One of us is good at patching wallpaper while the other of us is pretty good at making toast.)
If you carefully follow the wiring instructions, you won't know what you're doing.

via RTH111/RTH221 Installation Guide

We did and we didn't. As a result, with the thermostats carefully installed, we got no heat to those two zones of our house. We've been heating the whole house with the wood stove, almost if we'd planned it that way.
It took us a while to notice; the recent warm weather didn't require much heating in the house. After a couple mornings with the outside temperature in the 20s, though, it was time to get out my trusty d|i|g|i|t|a|l screwdriver and fix these things.

Yes, I turned the power off before working on the wiring.

Who'd've thunk that the white wire goes into the connector that has the red jumper on it, while the red wire goes on the other side?
Yes, I (finally remembered to) turn the power back on after I'd changed the wiring.
So, now we have heat throughout the house.
Next stop? Maybe an outdoor wood furnace?

via Heated Van You Say?

Focused morons

A bunch of years ago, I was working at a software company where we typically worked half-days for a year or more - 7 in the morning until 7 at night. Those were richer times, such that, while working the long hours, our management arranged for meals to be brought in for lunch and dinner. (Dinner was served at 7.) It wasn't all altruism for management; if meals came to us in the office, we didn't have to go out for lunch or home for dinner.
With each iteration came a new set of challenges and with the challenges came new opportunities for management to inspire us. At one point, we learned that we needed to bring a particular aspect of the release into clearer view. I don't recall just what it was. Probably, it was quality. We were, I guess that I remember, urged be focused more on quality.
The Quality Assurance manager and I agreed. There was always something and therefore, we'd always be Focused More-ons.

More on blogging

According to a number of folks who blog about blogging, it's our fault. "Bloggers have undermined the blogosphere."
Or, maybe, it's your fault - "You all are not clicking on the links like you used to."
In any event, it's changed.
For the worse?
"blogging has changed, but the blogging scene is in some ways in better shape than it was three years ago."
Want to know why? According to a poll conducted by smart people, Measuring Engagement of the Social Web: ‘07-’09 | PostRank Blog:

• you (we) are responding to more content later: 
  
• distribution of content is becoming truly distributed.
• the weak ties that everyone brings are helping the content to travel further and over longer periods of time

Further, we learn, "there has been a decline in hat tipping." We should be linking to other bloggers, calling out their good works, and building a spirit of community.
So, reflecting on all of that, I think I understand how this blogging thing is supposed to work:
First, I read a few local bloggers:

• Jeff at Wormtown Taxi writes today that The revenue hunting holiday Click It or Ticket campaign is kicking off now. He's cynical about the State Police's enforcement effort, regarding it as a revenue-generator more than a public safety program. 
• Nicole's post also notes that, because Massachusetts doesn't have a primary seat-belt law, police can't stop you just because you're not wearing a seat belt.

Then, I add my own notes:

• I support a primary seat belt law because I believe that seat belts are an important safety feature in all modern cars. 
• My experience has been that, while wearing a seat belt, I'm better able to avoid accidents. This has happened on several occasions, where I needed to swerve to avoid a collision. My seat belt kept me in my seat, such that I could keep control of the car.
  
• Of course, Massachusetts drivers, who wear their bad driving habits as badges of honor, insist on their right to put the rest of in danger because they want to do something stupid.
• [Disclaimer: my son is a sergeant in the Massachusetts State Police. My views do not necessarily reflect his or that of the State Police.]

Then, we add another link, Dee's Worcester Is MAJOR!™: Cellphone: Banned While Driving in MA! When?.
And, close with a quip:
The car in front of us was a Honda hybrid, the kind of car you'd expect to see while driving through Northampton. We followed this car for several miles, from one side of the city to other, until it finally turned off at a side road in Leeds. "That driver set a good example for saving energy," I said to my wife. "They conserved electricity by not using their directionals once."
And a link to a funny picture:

via There, I Fixed It: Epic Kludges + Jury Rigs Guess His Arm Got Tired Of Doing The “Go Around” Motion «

Fire in the sky

I wish that someone knowledgeable in paper composition would explain why printer/copier paper burns so poorly. I know that glossy paper, such as magazine stock, has clay mixed in and so more glows than burns. Regular printer/copier paper must have something mixed in that makes it less fire friendly.
We're dealing with this because we brought down another box of old receipts from the attic. This time, it's stuff from the late 80s and early 90s.

And, I need the fire because I've been standing outside watching the Leonid meteors.
Yup, they're there. But, these things play tricks on both the mind and the eye. We look at the sky and expect that things are stable. Is that Orion's Belt? Yep. Is that the North Star. Wait a minute, let me figure it out. Find the Big Dipper and then the Little Dipper and, wait, what was that? Oh, yeah, a meteor. That's why I'm out here. In the chill and the dark.
The dog looks at me from inside the house with that sweet, gentle look that says, "He's my human. I love him. But it's cold out there. I wish he'd spend the time getting the fire in the stove burning better."