today’s pet peeve

I just rode my bike to run some errands: to the library to exchange some books, to the grocery for supplies for the school, and to the bank. Not far, 2 ½ miles tops.

Last errand of the trip, I roll up to the ATM, do my business, and as I’m mounting the bike, a guy drives up with his A/C on, gets out of the car with the engine still running and the A/C still blowing, to do his banking.

I’m not riding to save the earth or anything, just to get some exercise, but that still annoys me. I never did that in Atlanta, after all, and it’s a damn sight hotter there than it ever gets here. They have hotter nights than we have summer days.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen it, but the fact I was on the bike made it just a little more galling.

the provenance of books

I checked out “Sailing Fundamentals” [ISBN 0 671 60598 4] from the library and noticed inside, partly covered by a piece of paper, a dedication:

“from the woman in the treehouse
to the man living out on a limb

/signed/ S

17-i-95”

From there, the book went to the Seattle Sailing Club, and then on to the library.

What would induce someone to part with a book inscribed to them? Perhaps they forgot or parted on bad terms . . . .

See a scan of the flyleaf.
Continue reading “the provenance of books”

still too hot

yes, I know I lived in the humid and sticky southeast for most of my life, where 90º temperatures ran from May to September. For the most part, one looks out the window at it, pausing to wipe the condensation off now and then.

Here, air conditioning is a rarity, so days of 80-90º and up are tough to deal with. I’m used to brown lawns in the summer now, but this is hot by any standard.

On the plus side, my tomato plants are loving it, as are my salad greens. If I had counted on this, it wouldn’t have happened, not in this inconstant region . . . .

if it seems too easy, it’s probably wrong

as much as I struggle to get my mind around C/C++ stuff, it makes me nervous when things work the first time.

But I can relax: I just sent some sample output to the instructor and I’m sure he’ll tell me what I miss.

Especially frightening that this problem simulates a credit accounting system, an area I could never pretend to understand.

R.I.P. World Birthday Web

salon :: :: col :: leon :: R.I.P. World Birthday Web, By Andrew Leonard :: Page 1

Are human beings really that lame?

I guess I missed the fact that I didn’t get any felicitations on my birthday this year (perhaps the fact that I have attained 40 years of excellence had something to do with it), but it never dawned on me that the world birthday web was defunct.

The time-wasters of the world — spammers, direct marketers, and telephone solicitors — have claimed another victim. Remember the B Ark from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? That’s where they’ll be seated.

how to ruin a good thing

Luzianne Smoothies

according to their nutritional panel, these things have 18 g of sugar in a 2 Tbsp serving. I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt: after all, fruit has sugar and perhaps it’s all from the fruit they use.

Alas, I read further down, and it’s not so good:

Sugar, Fructose, Soy protein, Banana powder, Citric acid, Natural flavors, Coconut oil, Calcium Silicate (prevents caking), Corn syrup solids, Strawberry solids, natural gums (Guar gum, Xanthan Gum, Maltodextrin, Carrageenan), Strawberry seeds, sodium Caseinate (a milk derivative), Mono&Diglycerides, Dipotassium Phosphate, Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), red 40, Sodium silicialuminate (prevents caking), Blue 1.

Sugar, fructose, maltodextrin, corn syrup solids: all added sugars. There’s already some banana and strawberry in there: why do you need the rest of that junk?

via John

interview today

Interviewed today at a startup doing some interesting and very complicated work. Lots of opportunities for process automation and monitoring/system health stuff so that would be fun.

Can’t say a lot more now, but I hope there’ll be more later.

the joys of wireless

it’s so %&*)(*(^( hot, I am sitting outside in the deepening dusk . . . first time I have tried networking outside the house, and how sweet it is.

83º at Boeing Field (so says gkrellmweather) and about that in the house. If we have too many summer days like this, I may have to get that attic fan installed. Air conditioning would be silly, but some way to cool things down would be fine.