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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
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| Friday, June 27th, 2008 | | 11:06 pm |
Moving sucks
On the bright side, we have closed on our house!
On the not so-bright side, we now have to move. Fortunately, we have a month to do it, since our lease goes to the end of July.
Here's how it's gone so far:
Last week: reserved a small truck from Budget. Why Budget? Because U-haul almost killed me last time, and the Budget place is a couple of miles away.
Yesterday: Get call from Budget, they don't have my truck in local place, I need to pick it up in Port Orchard - only 6 miles away!
No, it's not. It's about 12 miles each way, since they don't rent amphibious vehicles. Which translates to about an extra hour and a half, since the route goes by the shipyard, and I wanted to pick it up on my way home from work.
Today: Took ferry over to Port Orchard and walked over a mile to Budget. Got there 5 minutes after only employee goes to lunch. Half hour later, we start the long checkout process. Eventually, the truck is at home, and I'm back at work.
Tonight. Loaded almost all the book boxes, bunch of other stuff. Tomorrow we cart it all into the new place.
Next weekend: We do the "real move", and bring the furniture over. Any volunteers to help? | | Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 | | 10:33 pm |
Turns out that ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) travellingtim is in Seattle. (Guess I should pay more attention to my email.) So we hung out this weekend, and chatted a lot. Too bad he lives on the wrong side of the country. | | Monday, May 5th, 2008 | | 9:36 pm |
Belt Test
I am now a green belt - for the fourth time, I think. Fifth if you count the belt "renumbering" when 3rd kyu was shifted from low brown to high green.
The first half of the test was straightforward - all the new material for this belt, plus some basics.
The second half was Kumite. I haven't sparred in over a year, since my bike accident. It did not help that my opponent is a fast-like-a-freak 16-year-old presenting a very small target area. So it was mostly an exercise in gasping for breath and brutally assaulting my opponent's foot with my ribs.
Followed by sparring with sensei. It is most certainly time for vitamin M. | | Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 | | 8:11 am |
Looks like Penguicon was interesting this year. So, will this catch on and sweep SF fandom? Probably not - I think it will be a flash in the pan, and will burn out within a year due to the creepy guys hearing about it and showing up in droves to the next MI convention. I suspect the concoms will require that such activities be restricted to private rooms, much like the S&M "guidelines". Possibly there will be a wanding boob party (being chased by the pirate party, of course), but groping in the halls is a passing fad. There's my prediction. | | Saturday, April 5th, 2008 | | 11:47 pm |
It's Guess The Cliche night on SciFi! Oh, right - that's EVERY night.
However, the current stream of bad disaster movies tonight goes to extremes, and disbelief is being suspended from a great height with a frayed shoelace.
I mean, seriously, don't the writers have at least a 6th grade education? I'm tempted to blame it on the Writer's Strike - either the product of scab writers, or the revenge of digruntled union members who aren't satisfied with the new contract. | | Monday, March 17th, 2008 | | 10:48 pm |
For the engineering geeks out there
I've got an idea that seems too good to be true, so can anyone out there find the flaw?
Given - Every home in northern climes has some kind of heating system. Many (probably most) of these burn a fuel (gas, fuel oil, wood or even coal) to produce heat.
The heat is transferred from the flame to the household air by a heat exchanger, the sole purpose of which is to safely transfer the heat to the household air while sealing out he combustion products.
So, why not power a stirling engine off the heat differential, and run a generator? You can dump the waste heat to the household air, and use the electricity to help power the household electrical load (all of which eventually contributes to heating the house, with the exception of outdoor loads)
It's "free", in that you are generating the heat anyway - might as well cut down on your electric bill. A 50K Btu/Hr furnace would produce about 3KW at 20% efficiency - the only major problem I see is that the furnace cycles a lot, and that's a design choice, not a fundamental engineering requirement.
The stirling engine isn't free, but it's a one-time expense, and it recovers 20-30% of the energy used to heat the building in a usable form.
Where is the downside? | | Saturday, March 8th, 2008 | | 11:48 am |
The week in reveiw Just got back from a software development conference, sat through many sessions and pretty much learned the following: My wife is right about everyhing she says about software testing. Refactoring is your friend, except when it's not. And a whole bunch of various techniques for testing and development. As a bonus, I was waiting for my flight at the airport, and said to myself "This plane just came from Seattle, maybe I should watch the passengers coming off." And about 30 seconds later, vixyish and tfabris came in the door. So I said hi, and chatted with them a bit while they walked to security. Then it was back to the gate to hop on the plane. It was weird - they were bringing in passengers from the rear centerline door as well as the front. I've never seen passengers brought in that way on a big plane. | | Saturday, March 1st, 2008 | | 7:38 pm |
Santa Clara, CA
I'll be down in Santa Clara for the next week. Unfortunately, I will be coming home the night the filk con starts. | | 10:05 am |
Industrial Hemp
Aside from the general ineptness of "The War on Drugs", I've been thinking about industrial hemp, and come to the following conclusion. (This is based on my general recollections of plant genetics, not any specific knowledge of pot-growing.)
Industrial hemp is a fast way to reduce the illicit sale of marajuana for recreation.
My reasoning follows two threads:
First, industrial hemp will cover large areas of agricultural land, and make it difficult for illicit pot growers to maintain their strains. If Joe Grower has a patch of weed next to a field of industrial hemp, many of his seeds from his first crop will be "half-breed". Depending on winds, possibly all of them -the much larger industrial fields will produce more pollen than the illicit fields, ans polination is all about averages. So the next crop may be "half-potent", or it may be "fully potent", depending on the gene expression. However, the next generation has a large number of "not-potent" plants, that inheirit the industrial hemp THC genes from both sides. Now roughly half his crop is filler. And he has to figure out which plants are which! Maybe appearance will give it away, but probably not - plants with "recreational" appearance may have no THC, while plants with "industrial" appearance may be loaded with it. And every crop that he grows near this hemp field gives him more problems than the last. To control pollination, he has to spend a lot more time in the field, or he has to buy seeds from outside, and trust that his supplier isn't having the same problem. On the supply side, suddenly you just can't grow good pot anymore....
The reverse is not an issue. The fraction of industrial hemp that will produce THC in large quantities is small, and it's all being mixed together in processing. It's not practical to search through dozens of plants in hopes that you will find one you can get a buzz off of.
Secondly, industrial hemp will provide a ready source of "bogus" pot. Every time Jimmy Pothead goes to his dealer, he may be getting the good stuff - or he may be getting screwed. The dealer doesn't know if it just looks good, or is good. If he's got a way to chemically test it, he has to check every bag, and he may still be getting screwed if his test is spoofed for a false positive. And any punk can sell "bogus" without worrying about a drug arrest, as long as he's careful to make sure it's all industrial. On the consumer level, suddenly you just can't find good pot anymore.... | | Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 | | 6:32 am |
Yet another LJ quiz Stolen from isolde_deely
curious as to how well people know me Seriously... It's all about ME. Okay, this one is different - this is funny. YOU fill in the blanks about ME. Be honest. Feel free to copy/paste into your own LJ and see what people know about you. Where did we meet: Take a stab at my middle name: Do I smoke: Color of my eyes: Do I have any siblings: What's one of my favorite things to do: What's my favorite type of music: Am I shy or outgoing: Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules: Any special talents: How many children do I have: If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring: | | Friday, February 22nd, 2008 | | 7:52 am |
Housefilk tomorrow
For those in the Puget Sound area, we are having a housefilk tomorrow, Feb 23rd. Directions available on request. | | Saturday, February 16th, 2008 | | 10:41 pm |
In 2001, they did a remake of South Pacific. By great good fortune, we did not know of this until tonight, when an unfortunate channel-surfing incident brought it to our attention.
Bad. BAD. BAAAAAD. And that's packed into the 60 seconds we watched. God knows what other horrors they perpetrated in the rest of it. | | Thursday, January 24th, 2008 | | 1:12 pm |
| | Sunday, January 6th, 2008 | | 8:52 am |
| | Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 | | 9:23 pm |
Privilege meme
The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.
To participate in this blog game, copy and paste the list below into your blog/journal, and bold the items that are true for you.
Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers -
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like you were portrayed positively
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family | | Tuesday, December 25th, 2007 | | 8:52 am |
Merry Christmas to all!
Good God! It's SNOWING! That's not supposed to happen here on Christmas! | | 8:52 am |
Merry Christmas to all! I'd also like to wish Merry Hanukkah to the Ayatollah Kohmeni, a Joyous Kwanzaa to Ron Paul, a belated Splendid Solstice to the Pope, and, of course, an all inclusive Happy Holidays to Bill O'Reilly. Our holiday weekend has gone pretty well. On Saturday, we went to a filk concert by vixyish and tfabris. Sunday we had a holiday dinner at the home of riverheart and charlesks, where we were also joined by cflute and others. A good time was had by all, the best part was swapping amusing tech stories, thought mostly I listened rather than contributed. Monday spent some time at the mall, but bought very little. Came home and hung around with the lovely wife. She is doing another crochet project, I spent much of the day fiddling with parts for the cat-feeder. I may have the major design kinks worked out, I made significant progress on the microcontroller software, so I'm that much closer to finishing. Today we plan to goof off, and have a simple dinner for two. | | 8:52 am |
Christmas shows
We've been watching sappy christmas shows, more from a morbid sense of curiosity than any other reason.
Once/Twice upon a Christmas:
Starring Kathy Ireland, these are the entertainment equivalent of being buried in molten sugar. With a saccharine homily every 2 minutes, I find myself rooting for the Cruella D'Eville clone. | | Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 | | 8:52 pm |
Lots o' H2O
All is fine here in Bremerton, on our street at least. We are fortunate to live well away from any floodplains, and did not have any serious issues with our commute.
It looks like there are a lot of people who are not so lucky down in Centralia. | | Sunday, November 25th, 2007 | | 8:52 am |
Vacation report
Just got back from vacation, here's what happened:
Saturday:
Miracle of miracles, no flight delays. Got on the airporter at 8 am, got to Albany about 11 pm eastern. Dinner @ Denny's then to a hotel.
Sunday:
A stop at Borders, then a drive to the parents house. The rugrats are cute, but have loads of energy. Off to the sister's house to sleep. (much quieter there)
Monday - Friday:
Chopped wood for fun. Dinner with the parents again. Drove to Berkshires. Visited relatives & old friends. Chatted with a bunch of professors who are still on campus - and one who hasn't taught there in decades, but was on campus that day. Helped aunt fix computer problem.
Saturday:
Return to Washington. Left about noon, got to home to Bremerton @ midnight. Really tired - need a vacation. |
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