Bilocation

I am imagining walking around Boston, as Phil is doing.

Like this house.

Or the bunny in Copley Square.

Along the Fenway.

Where we lived in Brookline.

The Dutch House.

The USS Constitution.

Harvard Square.

Around Boston Common.

Just along the path. Jaywalking.

Piano movers. By Deathwish.

Near the stadium.

Library Lion.

The old State House.

Maybe later, some photos from the archive.

Vaccine

Pouring rain, for a short while I expect. But we'd gone out for vegetables, and walked back in rain. Lovely. Remembering getting caught out in the North End of Boston during our first few months there, soaked through and with no clear idea of how far we had to walk to be home and dry. The wind made it shiveringly cold, and we were in t-shirts and shorts, no jacket nor umbrella, no break in sight. Taught us to be prepared, and not mind a bit of wet. I knew better, growing up in Michigan, but I'd grown complacent living here, where summer showers are short, the sun after very hot, and the skies are not, as the song goes, cloudy all day. Not in the summer, certainly.

So we enjoyed our short soak, and are now vigorously toweled off and rather cleaner than expected. D has milk, and all is right with the world. Egg drop soup for dinner.

I've been reading through the archives of Letters Of Note, a wonderful site full of snooping through other people's correspondence. Including Kurt Vonnegut's first letter home after his internment (who here mentioned Vonnegut to me? I can't find the comment.) And several by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Also came across a rant about Encyclopedia Brown. Fair, but not entirely to the point. Yes, the solution to the mystery is an obscure, often obsolete, bit of esoterica, but for me that was the reward, the jewel, of the story. I was reminded of another series of books, about a boy much like Young Mr. Brown, but not mysteries, a bit higher reading level, and a Grandfather lived with the family. Once, they'd brought back fireworks, the car caught on fire, and the whole lot went up in spectacular fashion. I can't for the life of me remember the second series of books, but I do conflate them with Encyclopedia B.

Got my flu shot Thursday, and have been, as expected, a bit peaky since, very tired, achy. Given that I tend to be very ill indeed if I do snag a virus, I am very much pro-vaccine, and consider this inflammatory phase a tiny price to pay for the potential protection it affords. Still very confused at trained nurses, who should understand better the mechanism, who think it "gives you the flu." Yes, a vaccine can cause an inflammatory response, that does feel a bit like the flu. And, yes, it is a best guess for what strain will predominate in a particular year, so it's never a guarantee. And some people just don't come down with them that often, or that badly - but they can be carriers, and nurses can easily come in contact with patients with lowered immune systems, and one particular strain might get them this year. I have learned to be silent and let the chips fall where they wilt.


Having lunch at the BBQ place today, I refreshed my realization that meals are a chore. Much as I do enjoy good food, it never balances out the effort put into shopping, cooking, cleaning up, nor even the effort of deciding what to get or make. My Aunt Alma used to say that some people live to eat, and others eat to live. She was the first sort, I am definitely the latter. If I could swallow the promised futuristic pill of nutrition, and everything would still work properly, that would be just fine. I remember Granny seemed to live on tea and toast, seemed perfectly sensible to me, even as a kid.

Out

Moby, do you want to go out?

"Meh, whatever."




"Yes of course, open the door."


"Oh, sun, good, finally."


"This grass is very dry."



"But this is acceptable."




Moby has some bald spots on the backs of his legs. We don't know why, but they are becoming more pronounced. It's certainly not because he lays on rough concrete all day. More like bed, sofa, blankets, robes, sheepskin, polartech. We presume it's just that he's getting cat-pattern baldness.


Some links today, but start at Neatorama, I stole them all from there.

The cake, a work of art in sugar.

The virtues of non-theism. None of which surprizes me, obviously.

And you may want to stay in your car if you are facing a tornado and there isn't a sturdy building very close by. No good link, so, just the citation here.


Tornado Safety - Cars Vs. Ditches: A Controversy. Dr. Greg Forbes from The Weather Channel takes a look at a growing debate: is it safer for commuters to ride out a tornado in their cars (with all the built-in safety equipment) or go into a nearby ditch: "About two weeks ago I came back to work after a rare day off and found a letter on my desk from the American Red Cross. It indicated that their organization was changing some of their tornado safety rules. Some of those changes are at odds with safety rules advocated by the National Weather Service (NWS), and that has created a controversy! Click here for the new American Red Cross tornado safety rules. Click here for the NWS tornado safety rules , found within this brochure. Part of the basis for the change in American Red Cross policy was studies by researcher Tom Schmidlin, who found that a relatively small percentage of vehicles are overturned, tossed, and demolished in tornadoes. The NWS recommends that if you are being overtaken in your car by a tornado, then you should get out of the car and into a nearby building or ditch. The new American Red Cross recommendation is that if no building is available, stay in the car - get out of the car and into a ditch only as a last resort. Crouch down with your seat belt on and your head below the windshield level.

What are the pros and cons? Here is a partial list.

Hazards of getting out of the car and into a ditch:
flying and tumbling debris may land on you, possibly even your vehicle
heavy rain may fill the ditch and threaten drowning, particularly if you are pinned down by debris
you may be pummeled by hail
you are at risk from lightning

No snow today. Should be more like spring this week to come. Now, just flooding to watch for.

Changes

Some days I just pray
for strong winds and heavy rain.
A cool, wet heaven.

OK

"Every human being is a koan, that is to say, an impossibility. There is no formula for getting along with a human being. I am impossible to get along with; so is each one of you; all our friends are impossible; the members of our families are impossible. How then shall we get along with them?
If you are seeking a real encounter, then you must confront the koan represented by the other person. The koan is an invitation to enter into reality."
- Bernard Phillips
Via Whiskey River.

Learn From My Fail.

Oddly Specific.

Neatorama.

OK GO
Another great video from a band I saw opening for They Might Be Giants, many years ago. They were impressive then, they have continued to be.

Routine

Every day, I read at certain sites. As I once read particular columns in a newspaper. Comics, features, puzzle, work my way forward to the local news, then the national news. Much the same idea, but with the larger sites, followed by the blogs where I leave a note in the afternoon when I'm more awake, usually.

First, usually is NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, or National Weather Service, for the local weather. Good to know if I will need an extra sweater, or boots.

Then, the comics. Doonesbury, Mutts, Rhymes with Orange, For Better or for Worse, and see if Daisy Owl has a new one. Not as long a list as I once had, because many of the old comics have either A. Stopped being any damn good/funny, or B. Are not available for free. A few others I read are too new and uneven to recommend.

Then the USGS for the U, find out if any interesting earthquakes have shaken the area.

Nothing to do with Abroath for a general run down on the weirdness.

Carolyn Hax for sanity.

Then, depending on updating status, Cats, Maru the Cat, Fails, Wins, bad ink, confusing images, & the dangerously clever. I may go to Pete's photo, since I can always comment later.

Mostly Images, easily digested by a sleep clogged brain, takes very little time.

Usually I read the news sites from work on break, the local rag, the Beeb, Washington Post, NYT, Christian Science Monitor, urls I can recall. And at least one trip to Wikipedia. Depending on the day, of course.

The WP has a good crossword online, nothing flashing at me, but has a Check and Reveal button, which I use only after I'm stuck.

Mental stimulation, connection to the world at large, stuff to talk about, a structure to hang my thoughts upon.

A good book trumps all.

Science!

One of the advantages of my degree is that occasionally I can help out my friends, with the right word, translation, a bit of practical advice. I used to give post-op instructions for a lot of shoulder surgeries. So when a fellow nurse had to schedule herself for a rotator cuff repair, I asked if she had a recliner at home. Because those were in my instructions - that a good Laz-e-boy would make life much more comfortable post-op. So she picked up a decent used one the week before, and was given the same instruction from the recovery room - when it would have been a little late to do much about it. She assures me the chair is wonderful, except that the lever to lift the foot is on the right, same as her repaired shoulder. Ah, well, next time. I wonder if there even are any left handed recliners.

I don't think I'm the only one with a little pocket of experience who is glad to share. I have a sneaking suspicion that wikipedia medical articles are written by med students and residents as a way to get their research into people's hands, just based on the level of quality I've seen so far. A great place to start researching, get the vocabulary. Doctors are still struggling with patients who speak the same language, if haltingly. Because it used to be a red flag that this one was either "hypochondriac" (a term, if not an idea, no longer used) or an addict looking for drugs. Still, I think it's good to challenge them, and I think some of the younger ones agree with this, because it is impossible to keep up with everything in every specialty.

This week, I reshuffled bookmarks to include a batch I've called Science! More puzzle pieces to put together The Reason for This Thusness. Jonah Lehrer over at The Frontal Cortex offers some wonderfully explained examples of human behavior, like why schizophrenics have such high rates of cigarette smoking, how trust works in this economy, and the danger of a particular online auction site.

Much in the same vein is Predictably Irrational, explaining why we so often make such bad choices, repeatedly, and why stupidity ain't going away anytime soon. Which goes right along with The Straight Dope "Fighting Ignorance since 1973. (It's taking longer than we thought.)" A more wide ranging and practical site, still thoughtful and inquisitive.

Then there are the creations of Evil Mad Scientists. Who just look at life a little differently. And Atlas Obscura for the traveler who wants real oddity.

My ongoing theme is one of, "Dunno, let's find out." I have always liked hanging out with people smarter than myself, and I find them all over the place.

Threes

So, some more people whose blogs I read whenever they post.

Pacian, over at Spacecat Rocket Ship, and his cat, Spacecat, have a cozy corner to themselves. He writes about cool stuff from space, computer games - that he also creates, an eclectic mix of erudite subjects, and a serialized scientifical fictional novel. All in all, one of those gee whiz guys that you wanted your own nerdy-teen-girl self to have found, or hope your favorite geeky-chick meets, because she'll adore him utterly. And his little cat too. I'm just happy he still comes to visit here.

Herhimnbryn, ah, another long time friend of great encouragement. She used to write more, but at least once in a while she shares a peek into her mosaic studio, and her Australian shepherd Bryn, her loving spouse and family visits, with a little poem or two. Now, if only I could take up her offer of a visit.

And now a newcomer, Tristan who seems to have a frighteningly named blog The New Emotional Blackmailer's Handbook, the title nearly scared me off, until the photos drew me in. I spent one afternoon going through the collection on the entire site of the old emotional blackmailer's handbook. Colorful and detailed, intense and varied, an excellent photoblog, well worth the exploration.

Treasures

We used to do this thing, we bloggers. Me least of all. To take a day, and praise those we read, and point others in their direction. Maybe it's like having a bunch of old friends, we just assume everyone knows everyone else. Those who drift in and out, welcome as they are, are not much mourned when they only come to one gathering, then drift off again.

But I feel the need to take a moment and make some formal introductions, say some reluctant good-byes, send out some invitations while expecting to be ignored. Today, just the praise and invitations.

And clean through my links at the same time.

The longest remaining reader here, among the first to visit once I started getting a regular score of visitors, is of course Dale. His Mole is full of poetry and insight and sly humorous sensuality, intellectual rigor and esoterica. His deep humanity draws me back over and over. And I remain moved by his gentle and unwavering loyalty. He's kept me writing long past my initial intentions, over many a hump of dismay. It's from his corner of the blogosphere that the idea of the (o) stone came. A token of presence, a way to remember the dead, a gift, a pebble of grace.

Pete of the Pohangina Valley, another long term friend here, is one of the few sites I visit first thing every morning. The Ruins of the Moment frames his amazing photos of his remote corner of the earth. Birds of character, water meeting shore with elegant grace, the land rolling out before us through his lens, all of it strangely familiarly strange.

The Crow has only flitted by recently, but her comments stand out and steal my attention. Her blog is much the same, a nest of glittering observations and ideas, photos and stories. Like most of us, a mish-mash of what's going through our heads, that she shares generously. Funny and lovely and curious.


That will do for today, more perhaps next week.

Smoot

Another roller derby last night, but not another until 6 June. Footage recorded, not looked at yet. Later.


Visited Shorpy this morning, where a photo of a Utahn named Smoot appeared. So I had to check if the Harvard Bridge Smoot is related, and found out that he'd gotten a plaque for his measurements this past October.

But the two families of Smoot are not closely related in this generation, as far as I can tell. In the same way that I am not related to any of you that come to read, but we wouldn't have to go back too many generations, and we certainly are.

D wanted no fuss today, but I'm taking the opportunity to tell him how glad I am that he was born. All day.

Specific

This is the Christian Science Monitor series onJill Carroll, abducted for 82 days in Baghdad*. In keeping with my thesis that the specific is universal, and informs the truth more than sweeping political doctrine. I likewise recommend the writings of Terry Waite, who I had the honor to hear talk, an enormously kind and genuine presence.

Thus ends my ranting on this forum.