how time flies

The Reenactor was at his alma mater the other day to help with a class, and while there went by to buy "green" from the guys who sell stuff on campus this time of year. If you don't know what green is, let me reassure you it is a thing you wear, not a thing you smoke. Nor is it something that has anything to do with an environmental issue. It has to do with Ireland and the patron saint of engineering. Anywhooo...he was telling me tonight that as he was "shopping" at the table full of green products he overheard the freshmen who were working the table discussing how they didn't realize what a big party this particular university has each year in March to celebrate the patron saint of engineering until they got on campus, and were so surprised by all the hoopla. The Reenactor jumped into the conversation and waxed historical about the first time he visited the campus and the "trees were full of snakes," "the grass looked like a bomb had gone off on it," and there were drunk people everywhere....celebrating, of course.

It then occurred to him that the reason these young men didn't know the "true" celebration that happened years ago is that the first time he was on campus for this event, they weren't even born yet. The event has toned down considerably in recent years, and isn't quite as colorful as it once was.

In other words, we have green sweatshirts in our closet older than these boys.

Yikes.

Everything's better...somewhere else

I'll start this post by apologizing to one of my friends who reads this blog and comments occasionally. She grew up in Texas, and although she thankfully escaped a few years ago and moved to The Commonwealth, and is now in warmer climes in Florida, the fact remains that she did grow up in Texas. So, forgive me for what I'm about to say.

I just read in the news that the state of Texas is the eighth largest contributor of carbon dioxide in the world. They are right behind Canada in how many metric tons (630 million to be exact in 2005--the year of this study) of CO2 they spew into the atmosphere. That's right. The entire country of Canada has nearly the same CO2 emissions as the state of Texas.

In the article I read about this there are multiple causes for this, namely the refineries and the beef industry. Here's an interesting tidbit from the article, the "production of just 1 kilogram of beef results in more CO2 emissions than going for a three-hour drive while leaving all the lights on at home."

In spite of this news, most people in Texas, deny that "man-made" global warming is real, and refuse to embrace any ideas to change their energy usage.

I've never been fond of Texas, even though all of my siblings have lived there at some point in their lives. None of them live there now, thankfully, and I can blast away. With the exception of my friend who is now in Florida the folks I've met from Texas are so arrogant about their state, and it's "virtues," that I can't tolerate their company. Texas gave us Shrub. Texas gave us Tom Delay. And now it turns out that Texas is destroying our planet.

Y'all should be real proud of yourselves.

eclipse

For those of you who had cloud cover tonight and didn't get to see it, the lunar eclipse was really beautiful. T1 had received a telescope from Santa, and that made it especially fun, in spite of the sub-zero temps on our deck.

This was taken with our Pentax SLR digital. Not bad for just using a long lens. I *think* the white dot in the lower left corner is Saturn. It appeared to the naked eye as a bright star in that area. If I'm wrong I'm sure one of you NASA wonks out there will let me know.

George and Abe

In honor of the two President's who gave us the day off today, and nary a word is mentioned about them on the major news networks websites this morning...I thought I would look up some quotes.

As I read through a list of G. Washington's quotes he sounds like a bit of a neo-con, but without the Rovian meanness. Now I'm inspired to go read more about him. I haven't read much about him since high school, and Lord knows that was tainted with myths and fables...cherry trees, anyone?

Here's a sampling:

Geo: Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.

Geo: Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

Geo: I know [patriotism] exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.

Geo: "Guard against the postures of pretended patriotism."

Abe of course was a great, and often funny, speaker. If you need to see evidence of just how great his ability to communicate in just a few words the anguish of the Civil War, go read a copy of the Gettysburg Address. Here are some quotes from him...

Abe: "Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

Abe: "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.

Abe: "A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me."

Abe: "Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure."

Abe: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

The Reenactor just came in and said this is his favorite Abe quote:

"In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong."

My advice....buy Krispie Kreme stock

At dinner tonight the topic of "what would you do if you were President?" came up. T2's platform is based entirely on donuts. He said he would start an "international donut day" and would make sure that everyone has a donut on every major holiday...donuts on Valentine's Day, donuts on St. Patrick's Day, etc. The Reenactor asked him how he would pay for all these donuts, and without hesitation T2 said he would make them all himself.

How would the world be different if once a month everyone got a donut? To the skeptic, a starving person in Africa or India would eat it and not care that it was a sugary confection...it is food, dammit, and they are starving. Conversely, there are people in this country struggling to maintain and/or reduce their weight, and a donut would be an unwelcome temptation to their struggle. But to this particular six-year-old kid donuts are a round slice of heaven on Earth.

In general...if you can think of the joy you get from eating a really excellent donut...whether Krispy Kreme is your poison, or a local donut shop ("Red's" is our own) then you can understand why T2 made International Donut Day his priority. If we all had that happy commaradarie that comes from sharing a dozen with friends, wouldn't we all feel better? Wouldn't the world be friendlier if a coffee and donut break were enforced?

I guess my point is that donuts make a great peace offering. If you are angry at someone, take them a dozen. If you are wanting to get to know someone better, donuts make a great "welcome" presentation.

For the record, I like the chocolate iced.

Failure is Not An Option

So if you're a NASA groupie like we are you'll understand the title. The Reenactor bought model rockets for himself and the kids for Christmas because...well....he IS a geek. A ChemE Geek, not an Aerospace Geek, but a Geek nevertheless.

They carefully assembled the rockets (one for each of them) but it has been too windy, too cold, too icy or to damn wet to launch. We had to go to his parent's place in the Bootheel for the big flat stretch of land necessary for launching these things. Today turned out to be a good day to do it.

T2's rocket was fired first...it arc'd a good half-mile into a tree line, but was successfully retrieved. T1's rocket...mid-sized of the group didn't go as far, but still made an impressive showing. The Reenactor's rocket was a three-stage bright-orange ensemble (remember, geek). After firing we quickly lost sight of it. It headed east toward the Mississippi, which is about 15 miles away, and we pretty much assumed it was heading back to Kentucky. The Reenactor headed out on his dad's ATV to search the huge field just east of his parent's place—owned by a friend of theirs—and after multiple passes back and forth, he found it. The rocket was intact but the two stages were toast, and were found in other locations.

This photo is of the second firing of his rocket, with much less fire power assigned than the first attempt. It went straight up, and came almost straight back down into his Dad's horse pasture, which pretty much alarmed and pissed off his dad's quarter horse.

I'm just impressed I actually got this photo!

owl

T1 was eating an apple the other day and moved some of the seeds around and decided it looked like an owl. Can you tell that cabin fever is setting in that I not only took a photo of it, but I'm posting it on my blog as well????????

ice, ice baby

scenes from the ice storm in the Commonwealth, Feb. 12, 2008

electile disfunction

I'm feeling entirely impotent in my ability to be part of the electoral process. I sit week by week watching the caucuses and primaries whiz by, voters in states all around me and all over the country deciding before I ever get a chance to vote who the nominees for the two major parties will be. The Commonwealth doesn't participate in this part of the process until May 20, which will no doubt by then be Ho-Hum Tuesday, rather than Super Duper Fat Tuesday, and will be deemed less important than whatever highjinks Brit is up to on that particular day.

When did the American voter become such a small part of this process? When did someone decided that people in Iowa and New Hampshire are more responsible voters than the rest of us, and they get to vote first?

I'm already steamed that my first choice has dropped out already because of lack of funds, which is due in part to the lack of coverage on the major networks. I don't want Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer to decide who the next president will be. Is this too much to ask?