Nerds For Words
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
What the hell was that!!!
¶ 2:06 PM 0 comments
That was me grabbing your attention. I have been reading with interest sites like www.chrismartenson.com and trying to figure out where the heck society is going and how it will affect my wee little children. I have heard lots of belly aching and very few suggestions. I have decided to try and make my life and my home as sustainable as I possibly can. I'm even learning how to play the banjo because I figure if I get good and it qualifies as good entertainment, it will also be cheap, sustainable entertainment. It has become a stress reliever too. But I digress. The pictures are of my plumbing station that I installed which is fed by a solar hot water collector. I did it myself because in the world that people with bomb shelters are preparing for, you have to be able to turn a wrench, and I have a lot to learn if they are right. Take a minute and look at my poorly organized blog about my diy solar hot water experience. I think others might be interested in this kind of project too! Good luck.
Talk to your neighbors. Grow your own food. Ride your bike. Work from home. And never, ever think I'm telling you how to live, I'm just telling you how I am living and that I'm having fun!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Depression Highs
This quote comes from an article in today's WSJ:
"Economists also see nearly a one-in-six chance that the U.S. will fall into a depression, defined as a decline in per-person GDP or consumption by 10% or more."
I never knew what the meaning of the word "depression" was. I figured it would be something bleaker. I know unemployment is near record highs, and that's bad, but unemployment doesn't seem to factor directly into whether or not we're in a depression or just a recession.
There was an article in yesterday's NY Times about how it's chic to cut back. The article quoted several hip New Yorkers (what other kind of New Yorker is there, in the NY Times?) who all said they were somewhat ashamed of their consumption habits in recent years. They sounded almost monk-like as they vowed to pay down credit cards, only buy essentials, etc.
It seems like we could all shed 10% of our consumption without getting depressed. A cheesy play on words? Definitely. A great depression, hardly. Them's my two bits. ¶ 9:11 PM 0 comments
This quote comes from an article in today's WSJ:
"Economists also see nearly a one-in-six chance that the U.S. will fall into a depression, defined as a decline in per-person GDP or consumption by 10% or more."
I never knew what the meaning of the word "depression" was. I figured it would be something bleaker. I know unemployment is near record highs, and that's bad, but unemployment doesn't seem to factor directly into whether or not we're in a depression or just a recession.
There was an article in yesterday's NY Times about how it's chic to cut back. The article quoted several hip New Yorkers (what other kind of New Yorker is there, in the NY Times?) who all said they were somewhat ashamed of their consumption habits in recent years. They sounded almost monk-like as they vowed to pay down credit cards, only buy essentials, etc.
It seems like we could all shed 10% of our consumption without getting depressed. A cheesy play on words? Definitely. A great depression, hardly. Them's my two bits. ¶ 9:11 PM 0 comments
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Joe's Tomatoes
This one will have to be quick because Garrett is crying, but given that I haven't posted in 9 months, this is long given my recent trends.
So, Friday, I harvested 9.1 pounds of delicious tomatos from my organic garden. I figure that at $1.79/ pound, I had made a striking economic case for home gardening. The tomatoes were delicious, close to home, and had a market value of around $16.
"But what do you do with 9 pounds of tomatoes?" you might ask, as indeed I did. Well, they were nice, a labor of love, and all that, so spent an hour, and $3 worth of natural gas (total guess) to convert them into canned tomatoes. The damn shame of it all is that a quart of canned tomatoes (of which I now have 3) is only worth about $2.59. I had enough tomatoes to make 3 1/2 quarts, but you can't "can" half quarts, so I also am long a 1/2 quart of half processed tomatoes, which is worth almost as much as a Wendy's ketchup packet.
My home gardening adventure now has me long $7.91 of stored food, for a net value of $4.91 (remember the gas spent boiling 4 gallons of water for 90 minutes).
Not bad. The seeds were free, I love playing in the garden, I got 5 more pounds ready to harvest and I have all the fresh tomatoes I want to eat for at least 2 months of the year.
Seeds for sale, $0.99 a packet plus delivery. I guarantee that these are good tomatoes, since I got them from a little old lady in Bedford, PA who has been grwoing them for 50 years. She didnt' even know what kind they are, but astutely observed,
"They are ugly but really tasty."
And they are. You'll get lots of neighbors saying things like,
"Is that a cross between a pepper and a tomato?
To which you might reply,
"Yes, I feed them to a herd of wild jackalope that I keep for their milk" ¶ 7:22 PM 1 comments
So, Friday, I harvested 9.1 pounds of delicious tomatos from my organic garden. I figure that at $1.79/ pound, I had made a striking economic case for home gardening. The tomatoes were delicious, close to home, and had a market value of around $16.
"But what do you do with 9 pounds of tomatoes?" you might ask, as indeed I did. Well, they were nice, a labor of love, and all that, so spent an hour, and $3 worth of natural gas (total guess) to convert them into canned tomatoes. The damn shame of it all is that a quart of canned tomatoes (of which I now have 3) is only worth about $2.59. I had enough tomatoes to make 3 1/2 quarts, but you can't "can" half quarts, so I also am long a 1/2 quart of half processed tomatoes, which is worth almost as much as a Wendy's ketchup packet.
My home gardening adventure now has me long $7.91 of stored food, for a net value of $4.91 (remember the gas spent boiling 4 gallons of water for 90 minutes).
Not bad. The seeds were free, I love playing in the garden, I got 5 more pounds ready to harvest and I have all the fresh tomatoes I want to eat for at least 2 months of the year.
Seeds for sale, $0.99 a packet plus delivery. I guarantee that these are good tomatoes, since I got them from a little old lady in Bedford, PA who has been grwoing them for 50 years. She didnt' even know what kind they are, but astutely observed,
"They are ugly but really tasty."
And they are. You'll get lots of neighbors saying things like,
"Is that a cross between a pepper and a tomato?
To which you might reply,
"Yes, I feed them to a herd of wild jackalope that I keep for their milk" ¶ 7:22 PM 1 comments
Monday, June 02, 2008
Ponderings on Christianity
Was Jesus a Type-A person? Was He one of those people who always has His ducks in a row, shirt tucked in, house tidied up? I think not. The recollection I have, not being a biblical scholar in any sense, is of a person who never planned anything but just miraculously (literally, perhaps?) timed everything right and always showed up on cue.
This topic may seem random or irrelevant, but in fact has been recurring in my life recently.
I was pondering a business that I used to deal with at my old job, our IT consultant. He was a nice guy who'd thoughtfully dedicated his consulting business to Christ by naming it "For Him Consulting". Sure, why not? But it seems a little odd to me to pair up IT consulting with the ancient sandal-clad pre hippie.
On the other hand, there's a business on the outskirts of Houston that I drive past whenever we go to the beach. It's got a huge faded blue totem out front on the side of the freeway that proudly proclaims, "HIS Soils" and then subtitled "Landscaping Technologies". Underneath, it looks like it used to read, "JESUS IS LOVE." That one seems dead-on to me. If Jesus came back today, I could totally imagine him working in a landscaping business. Organic compost, drought-resistant ground covers, ladybugs instead of pesticides, etc. Not so much the Color Spot stuff, like super-bright petunias and gigantic roses that only bloom the year you plant them.
Or-- and this makes me think I might have possible slept through the second coming-- what about Bob Ross? There was something definitely other-worldly about that guy. And his show was captivating, yet somehow devoid of any real content. A little lacking in message, but he had the hair and the voice for sure. Alas, the old mystic has returned to His father, like the one before Him.
¶ 9:19 PM 0 comments
This topic may seem random or irrelevant, but in fact has been recurring in my life recently.
I was pondering a business that I used to deal with at my old job, our IT consultant. He was a nice guy who'd thoughtfully dedicated his consulting business to Christ by naming it "For Him Consulting". Sure, why not? But it seems a little odd to me to pair up IT consulting with the ancient sandal-clad pre hippie.
On the other hand, there's a business on the outskirts of Houston that I drive past whenever we go to the beach. It's got a huge faded blue totem out front on the side of the freeway that proudly proclaims, "HIS Soils" and then subtitled "Landscaping Technologies". Underneath, it looks like it used to read, "JESUS IS LOVE." That one seems dead-on to me. If Jesus came back today, I could totally imagine him working in a landscaping business. Organic compost, drought-resistant ground covers, ladybugs instead of pesticides, etc. Not so much the Color Spot stuff, like super-bright petunias and gigantic roses that only bloom the year you plant them.
Or-- and this makes me think I might have possible slept through the second coming-- what about Bob Ross? There was something definitely other-worldly about that guy. And his show was captivating, yet somehow devoid of any real content. A little lacking in message, but he had the hair and the voice for sure. Alas, the old mystic has returned to His father, like the one before Him.
¶ 9:19 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
My brother
"I'm proud to announce the Virginia Ko___ clan experienced a 10.48% reduction in electrical usage (kWh) in calendar year 2007. It is our expectation that this trend will continue in 2008 despite a record high January bill that can be attributed to someone letting the heat pump run when ambient temps fell below freezing. That member of the household has been spoken too and we have been assured that such transgressions will not occur again."
Something strange happens when you find "your voice." When you figure out what makes you tick, what you care about, what motivates you to action. As evidence I present this excerpt from my brother:
"I'm proud to announce the Virginia Ko___ clan experienced a 10.48% reduction in electrical usage (kWh) in calendar year 2007. It is our expectation that this trend will continue in 2008 despite a record high January bill that can be attributed to someone letting the heat pump run when ambient temps fell below freezing. That member of the household has been spoken too and we have been assured that such transgressions will not occur again."
Oh brother, what art thou!
¶ 8:55 AM 1 comments
Sunday, December 23, 2007
In the Spirit of Christmas
I had an idea for a new TV series. With the writers’ strike, I think it’s got a shot of getting sold. See what you think, and please feel free to contribute material.
I think you could do a reality tv series based on seminarians. It could be any of the reality formats—either the original list of seminarians would be eliminated one at a time (as ordained by a higher power?), two teams of holy men could face off in a string of weird concocted challenges, or you could just have a house full of potential men of the cloth bitching at each other.
My original thought was the first one—to have two teams of monks compete through a season of inane games and quests. I got a little stuck on what the challenges would be. Here’s my list so far:
1. Sermon composition, graded on number of souls saved/(lost) during the presentation
2. Sermon composition, graded on amount of tithes brought in (very different from the first challenge)
3. Ability to perform miracles on demand
4. Running a capital campaign, a vital necessity for the service of the Lord
5. Dance-off in full holy dress, which would be monks’ garb for the Franciscans, Holy Week robes for the Catholics, and a suit for the Prods. Prods would be at an immediate disadvantage in the costume department, but could quickly make up lost ground because they could incorporate women in this part of the competition.
6. The Great Debate: use scripture to attack or defend in topical issue in mainstream culture
7. ??
We need at least six more here, and I’m spent, baby. Help me out here. Some suggestions, please. This call goes out to you especially, Brother Jim. ¶ 12:08 PM 2 comments
I had an idea for a new TV series. With the writers’ strike, I think it’s got a shot of getting sold. See what you think, and please feel free to contribute material. I think you could do a reality tv series based on seminarians. It could be any of the reality formats—either the original list of seminarians would be eliminated one at a time (as ordained by a higher power?), two teams of holy men could face off in a string of weird concocted challenges, or you could just have a house full of potential men of the cloth bitching at each other.
My original thought was the first one—to have two teams of monks compete through a season of inane games and quests. I got a little stuck on what the challenges would be. Here’s my list so far:
1. Sermon composition, graded on number of souls saved/(lost) during the presentation2. Sermon composition, graded on amount of tithes brought in (very different from the first challenge)
3. Ability to perform miracles on demand
4. Running a capital campaign, a vital necessity for the service of the Lord
5. Dance-off in full holy dress, which would be monks’ garb for the Franciscans, Holy Week robes for the Catholics, and a suit for the Prods. Prods would be at an immediate disadvantage in the costume department, but could quickly make up lost ground because they could incorporate women in this part of the competition.
6. The Great Debate: use scripture to attack or defend in topical issue in mainstream culture
7. ??
We need at least six more here, and I’m spent, baby. Help me out here. Some suggestions, please. This call goes out to you especially, Brother Jim. ¶ 12:08 PM 2 comments
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Going "old school"
So, in an attempt to indulge my post-thanksgiving sweet tooth, I just finished mixing up a batch of molasses cookies. While the dough chills, I thought I'd blog it up, share the recipe and then make the first of 10 dozen or so sweet tooth indulging, sugar filled cookies.
Dilemma 1: The first thing that came to mind is that this is an old-school recipe, and when I think old school cooking, I mix the metaphor of the frontier northern tundra of Canada with the good old southern cooking. I don't think there were many African Americans in Quebec, and yet the image of apron-clad Aunt Jemima comes to mind.
Resolutions 1: A decidedly white guy like me can't really be putting Aunt Jemima on his blog without risking the appearance of racial bigotry. So old Betty Crocker gets the tap.
Dilemma 1: Betty Crocker sucked. She was always prim and proper, and had that pearly white 1950s "perfection" look to her. Not the kind of woman who makes molasses cookies.
Resolutions 2: This is her chance for salvation.
The Recipe:
3/4 cup dark molasses
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
3 T boiling water
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
3 Cups flour
Refrigerate the dough (for 1 hour)
Roll these witchies to 3/8" thick, cut into circles, cook at 450 F to 500 F for 7 - 8 minutes.
Watch out.. they burn like lighting, taste as good as sin, and will leave you wishing you had lived in my grandmaman's (pronounced in French Canadian) household .
¶ 2:12 PM 0 comments
Thursday, November 08, 2007
859th Symposium on Hurled Projectiles
Call for Papers
Call for Papers
Please submit an abstract if you wish to present a poster or be considered for one of the panels at this year's symposium on projectile systems. The focus of this year's conference will be new technology, with a heavy emphasis on getting members up to date on continuing education requirements. The conference was heavily attended last year, so we cannot guarantee that there will be space for everyone who submits but we will make every effort to accommodate each author.
Format
Please limit your submission to no more than three tablets (front and back), including attachments, references, and figures. Please have your submission delivered no later than 061, 2008 (March 1st Gregorian).
Topics
The following topics have been chosen for this year's panels:
- Biowarfare: ethical implications of animal projectiles
- Energy efficiency in boiling oil systems
- High-strength nanofibers for trebuchets and catapults
- Guidance systems: experience, luck, and providence
- Trebuchet finance under wartime procurement programs
Registration, regular 400.00
Registration, members 150.00
Registration, indentured apprentices 100.00
All fees in shekels. Please complete registration one fortnight in advance.
¶ 8:13 PM 0 comments
