UnSpace

Funeral cards…

The viewing room for Jeff (PghGuy) at the funeral home was packed. I only know Jeff from our blogs, e-mail, and from the get-together we had in Shadyside. There weren't even any other bloggers that I recognized. I signed the book and picked up a funeral card. Had Jeff and I gotten to know each other a little longer, we would have found that we shared birth dates, though over a decade apart.

Jeff lay there in the casket, looking like Jeff but with none of his energy. Rather than a suit, Jeff was dressed with a t-shirt covered by a regular shirt; he would have appreciated that touch. There were flowers around the room, photos, and other reminders of Jeff's time with the people who obviously loved him so much.

Jeff's mother stood there, and the numerous visitors attempted to comfort her. The massive sudden stroke took her son from her, and now she had to endure a loss every parent fears. Jeff's sister was nearby, explaining the meaning of the various photos on a poster about Jeff. They didn't know that Jeff had a blog, nor that he had organized small blogger get-togethers. I told them of Jeff's ability to get people together and the energy he brought to those gatherings. She laughed to hear that we had all hoped that Jeff would find that special someone, just as she had hoped. Jeff's family now knows that numerous bloggers, from Pittsburgh and elsewhere, had them in their hearts and were sharing her loss. His sister apologized for the death notice getting out so late, but she was reassured that there was no need to apologize. Everyone understood how difficult, confusing, and painful this time was.

Jeff's dad stepped out. I never got a chance to speak with him. I may have identified the wrong person as Jeff's father, I'm not sure.

If you go to the death notice at the Tribune-Review, there's a guest book. If you read Jeff's blogs or met him in person, please stop by and leave a kind note for the people he left behind.

Jeff, you were a fascinating fellow. I wish I'd gotten to know you even better.

A friend sent me a link that took me to:

Jeffrey R. Pencosky
Regent Square
Formerly of South Park

Jeffrey R. Pencosky, 34, of Regent Square, formerly of South Park, died suddenly on Wednesday, June 28, 2006. Loving son of Joe and Marie (Broccolo) Pencosky. Cherished brother of Stacy (Lou) Broccoli. Devoted grandson of Frank and the late Rita Broccolo and the late Joseph and Frances Pencosky. Dearest nephew of Richard Golebiewski, Patty (John) Feeney, Frances Block, Nancy (Chuck) Sullivan and Kathy, Edward (Candy) and Tony (Norina) Broccolo. Cousin of Shawn, Johnny, Bryan, Kaelyn, Trevor, Brittny, Christine, Sandy, Sharon and Michelle. Visitation will be from 1 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the JEFFERSON MEMORIAL FUNERAL HOME INC., 301 Curry Hollow Road, Pleasant Hills, where services will be at noon Saturday. Interment in Jefferson Memorial Park.

I don't know what to say. Please pray for his friends and family.

I had no idea what was wrong with the man behind me in the grocery store checkout line. I also had no idea how to deal with him.

I joke about being a weirdness magnet, and I can turn a lot of the incidents into humorous stories, but having bizarre things happen to you requires a level of resignation. Checkouts at the grocery store are a great example. Whatever line I'm in is the wrong one. Switching lines does not help. The only way to deal with what's coming is to become passive. I look forward to whatever absurd chaos chooses to make it's appearance. If nothing goes wrong, I'm disappointed. Fortunately, that rarely happens.

In my sole attempt to beat fate, if there's more than one person in front of me, I will warn the person in back of me that they are in the wrong line. Persons so warned wave at me, still standing in line, as they leave the grocery store. Maybe I shouldn't, but the heartfelt "thanks" I get now and then brighten my day.

No, I'm not kidding or exaggerating. This is my life. I'm used to it.

Yesterday, the checkout lines were fairly bad. I picked the line with only two people. The person directly in front of me even had a relatively small load in the shopping cart. I expect the worst, but I don't seek it out. The person in front of her checked out fairly quickly. There I was, with only one person in front of me and none in back.

You'll notice, at this point, the "warn the person in back of me" rule no longer applies.

The checkout lady was one of my favorites, competent with most of the fruit and vegetable PLUs memorized. The checkout belt cleared quickly, and I began loading up my own groceries.

At this point, two things happened. One, the bag of charcoal under the shopping cart in front of me got stuck. That was nice. I'd never seen this particular failure mode before, and it was entertaining as people tried to free the charcoal bag without tearing it and spreading charcoal all over the floor. Two, a father (I'm guessing mid-70s) and his son (about my age) got in line in back of me. I found out their relationship from snippets of their whispered conversation I happen to catch.

The son started ramming the cart into me. He was good at it. He'd strike me enough that I had to notice it, but not enough that I'd want to do something about it. The pace was random, creating a Chinese Shopping Cart Torture.

I had no idea what to do. I'm a Christian, so I turn the other cheek. I have a concealed-carry permit, which means that even though I didn't have my hunk of metal and exothermic chemicals on me, I've gotten in the habit of taking crap — you never, ever want to have to use that thing.¹ I'm a paramedic, so I do nothing because I'll have to treat any trauma I create.

Of course, I forgot my latex gloves, CPR mask, and cell phone. I worked hard at not thinking about all the potential improvised weapons around me. Grocery stores are feature-rich. Jackie Chan should do a fight scene in a grocery store.

I wouldn't turn and look, so I couldn't see the frail old man, but I heard him as he whispered to his son, "Be careful! You're hitting the man in front of us."

The father's warning merely increased the force and frequency of the blows with the shopping cart. Now, I've got two further reasons for not doing anything. I've gone too long without saying anything to say anything now, and the son has some mental problems. When I say "mental problems," I'm not talking about something nice like depression or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I'm talking "this guy's got a violent streak I do not want to test." He may be carrying. He may be better than I am at improvising weapons and using them. He may not care about the level of damage he has to take.

The father did not share my fears. "Give me the cart and get out of the way!" Everyone in a 40 ft. radius turned to look. The frail old man pushed the son out of the way. The son's eyes hardened and focused on me. He wasn't carrying. If he were, I would not be typing this post.

The rest of the checkout went quickly. Several baggers came over to help pack my stuff: I bet they all played football in high school and could get better-paying jobs working at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic's Dec as bouncers.

I paid, thanked the checkout woman and the bouncers, took my groceries, and got the heck out of there.

1. If you have a carry permit and don't understand what I've just written, I would recommend to you the writings of Massad Ayoob. Even better, I'd recommend one of his courses. [back]

Gravity holds stars together; nuclear fusion holds them up. Without all that heat to keep them inflated, the stars would collapse in on themselves. At the end of their lives, some do just that, forming neutron stars or black holes. Neutron stars squeeze their matter with an immense amount of gravity. Electrons and protons of normal matter (the same stuff you're made of) are crushed by this gravity until they merge, turning all the matter into a blob of neutrons. This matter is called "degenerate," even though it doesn't surf bad places on the Internet. Theorists have described several types of "blobs" of neutrons. Detailed observations of a neutron star, EXO 0748-676 show some remarkable details that include what kind of neutrons. Probably.

See, there's a trick. Black holes form if there's too much mass in too little volume. A black hole is so called because the escape velocity for it's "event horizon" is the speed of light. Even a "photon rocket" (were such a thing possible) can't escape. The formula for the radius of the event horizon is very simple mathematically. By a strange coincidence, the General Relativity version of the equation is exactly what you'd get if you used Newton's equations to calculate the formula for something with an escape velocity of the speed of light!

r=2*G*m/c²,

where:

• G = the gravitational constant, 6.67300 × 10^-11m³kg^-1s^-2
• c = the speed of light, 2.99 x10⁸m/s
• m = the mass of the black hole
• r the radius of the black hole.

Simplified, you can write it as:

r=1.49×10^-28*m* (meters/kilogram)

It's a simple equation, and I've included it for a reason. Notice that, if you know the mass of the object, you can solve for a radius. If you have the mass and radius, you can always answer the question "Is it a black hole?" When I say "you," I mean "you." If you put the mass in kilograms, you'll get a radius in meters to compare to the radius you're examining. The equation's simple and I simplified it even further. Let me show you: I'm close to 90 kilograms. If I were to magically turn into a black hole, I'd be 1.34×10^-26 meters in radius. In comparison, an hydrogen atom is 2.5×10^-11. I'd be 16 orders of magnitude smaller than an hydrogen atom!¹ As a black hole, I'd almost instantly evaporate in a burst of energy. Figuring out how much energy² is an exercise left for the reader!

So here's the thing with neutron stars. Scientists predict that all sorts of weird things might just happen with those glops of neutrons that make up neutron stars. Neutrons are made up of three quarks each, held together by gluons.³ What if the neutrons squeeze so tightly together that they cease to be individual neutrons? They might form a "Bose-Einstein Condensate" where they all lose their individual identities and become one "super" neutron that would coincidentally be a superconductor. Or, they might lose their boundaries, creating a "quark soup" with gluons for the broth. The trick is, either of these options is denser than just regular old glops of neutrons.

Scientists found that wonderful neutron star and gave it the focus-group tested ⁴ name "EXO 0748-676."⁵ The neutron star, it turns out, is the only one where we can get an accurate measurement of both the radius and the mass. The mass is 2.1 times that of our sun, and the radius is 13.8 kilometers. The thing is tiny: you'd have no trouble driving the circumference of this neutron star, which just happens to be a smidge under 87 kilometers. Well, you could drive around it if the gravity wouldn't smash you into neutrons.

EXO 0748-676 is strange, though! For neutron stars, it's pretty fat. Most of them are only a bit heavier than our sun. If you crunch the numbers using that little equation⁶, you get about 622 meters. If the neutron star were a black hole, it would be 622 meters in radius. It's actually 13.8 kilometers, considerably bigger! So we know our neutron star isn't a black hole, which is probably why we keep calling it a "neutron star" and haven't been calling it a "black hole."⁷ See, science isn't so hard!⁸

Now, it turns out that if any of that weird stuff with quark soup or neutrons losing their identity were actually happening, the neutron star would be denser. This particular neutron star would have collapsed into a black hole! It didn't, and so obviously the weird stuff doesn't happen.

Or does it? If you look at the error bars on the mass of that neutron star, it just might be 1.8 solar masses. That's just small enough that if only a little bit of the neutron star turned into quark soup or a Bose-Einstein Condensate, it wouldn't turn into a black hole. In other words, the weird stuff hasn't completely been ruled out.

This is good for Ph.D. students working on quark soups or Bose-Einstein Condensates in neutron stars. They need to finish their Ph.D.s quickly and get out of Dodge before all their research condenses down to an academic black hole and they never escape with their advanced degree.⁹

1. No, "an hydrogen atom" doesn't sound right, but then neither does "a hydrogen atom." Sigh. [back]
2. E=mc², with m and c having the same meaning as the last equation. [back]
3. Yes, physicists name particles when they're drunk. [back]
4. Yes, the hyphen goes there, and yes, I'm reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." [back]
5. It just sort of rolls off the tongue! Rumor has it Britney Spears had planned on naming her next child "EXO 0748-677," but decided not to after this neutron star became so popular. [back]
6. O.k., so you have to figure out how many kilograms our sun is and multiply that by 2.1. No problem! Type "mass of the sun" into Google (try it!) and you get 1.98892 × 10³⁰. [back]
7. I hope you're noticing how small neutron stars and black holes are. The next time some black hole sucks a spacecraft across light-years on a science fiction show, you can look all superior and turn to the person next to you and say "That's bad astronomy." [back]
8. All that advanced partial differential equations and numerical methods classes I took, and you'll notice I've yet to use anything beyond 8th grade algebra. Honestly, to all you scientists in training out there, skip a couple math classes and take some technical writing courses instead. Maybe you won't wind up sitting around trying to figure out how to monetize a blog some day. [back]
9. We'll all notice I'm writing this post and not the one on demonstrating the presence of the three persons of the Trinity in both the Old and New Testaments, an article I'd need as a prelude to discussing the recent Presbyterian search for the Nine Billion Names of the Triune God. Is there any question which one's more fun for me? I'm, like, having to learn whether words are feminine or masculine in Hebrew, and I don't speak Hebrew. I speak German, and I never learned whether words are masculine, feminine, or neuter. Ok, so that explains a lot about my German grades, but still … [back]

I love the way the Presbyterian News Service article started off:

Gee, imagine that: people attempting to misinterpret what happened at the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly. You'd never expect that, would you?¹

A local Pittsburgh blogger, one whom I consider a fellow Christian, did exactly that.

So I'm publishing the pastoral letter in it's entirity on my blog.²

Here's the true story behind what happened at the General Assembly, where the representatives of the Presbyterian Church gathered to seek God's guidance through the Holy Spirit.

Office of the General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

June 25, 2006

To Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Lectionary Psalm for today is Psalm 133: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!"

As the 217th General Assembly met together in Birmingham, it was remarkable to see Presbyterians from north, south, east, and west gathered together to discern the mind of Christ for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We witnessed the work of the Spirit in and through the assembly, giving us a glimpse of our visible oneness in Jesus Christ. We give thanks that the assembly theme, "So Great a Cloud of Witnesses" (Heb. 12:1) permeated the community of faith within the convention center.

In this meeting, we saw commissioners and advisory delegates living out in word and deed their deep commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, their passion to be living expressions of Christ's love to the world, and their eagerness to be a part of the future God intends for the PC(USA). We experienced the Presbyterian process of doing things at its best. We observed people working fairly and treating each other graciously.

This assembly dealt with hundreds of items, and a few made headlines across the country. Most likely, you have read or will read about the assembly's actions from a number of sources over the next many days and weeks, but we want you to hear about this important gathering directly from the General Assembly. That is why we are writing this letter to you.

We know of three particular decisions that made immediate headlines. Here is what the assembly did with each of them:

–Israel/Palestine issues: This General Assembly acknowledged that the actions of the 2004 assembly caused hurt and misunderstanding among some Presbyterians and our Jewish neighbors. However, this assembly did not rescind the previous action on divestment. Divestment is still an option, but not the goal. Instead, this assembly broadened the focus to corporate engagement to ensure that the church's financial investments do not support violence of any kind in the region.

–Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church: With the approval of this report, the assembly did not alter our historic standards for ordination. However, it did make clear that more responsibility is to be exercised by sessions and presbyteries regarding the examination of candidates for ordination. By an overwhelming majority, the assembly also affirmed our covenantal partnership, our common theological roots, and the need for prayer in Christian communities as we make decisions.

–The Trinity: The assembly received a paper that affirms "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" as the church's primary language for the Trinity. The paper also lifts up other biblical images of the Trinity for study and use in worship.

We hope, over the months ahead, you will hear about the other items that did not make headlines — new church development, Christian education, evangelism, older adult ministries, homelessness, globalization, international mission, multicultural issues, disability awareness, and military chaplains, to name a few.

It was obvious to us that this assembly, like the church, had deep differences on a number of issues. But, the longer we were together, the more we realized how much we have in common in Jesus Christ–and the more we realized we need one another.

The unity we seek for the church — and the unity we experienced at the assembly — is not just about coming to an agreement. It is also about being with each other in the healthy struggle to discern God's will. It was that healthy struggle we witnessed at the assembly, and in that struggle we were blessed. God's Spirit was with us. Not everyone will like what the commissioners did, but the spirit coming out of the assembly was something we think will be a blessing to the whole church.

Indeed, we are convinced that God has a future for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We invite you to join us as we move with renewed enthusiasm to doing God's work in the world.

Yours in Christ,

The Reverend Joan S. Gray
Moderator of the 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

The Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Update: Some formatting (bold, dashes that copied as asterisks) had to be corrected once I saw this on the blog. Sorry for the errors.

1. For those not familiar with the Presbyterian Church (USA), there have been factions of many persuasions that were active when I was a child and continue to attempt to put everything in the worst possible light for the church and the best possible light for themselves. If it weren't the church, it would be great entertainment, in a vile sort of way. Some of the issues (racial relations in the church, for example) have gone quiet but not away, while others (gays and lesbians in the church) have become more contentious. We're talking "usual suspects" and their spiritual decendants. [back]
2. Yes, I do think of things other than superheroes. Statistically, things come in clumps — uniform distribution is statistically improbable. [back]

If you have Apple iTunes, go to the music store. Find "Movie Trailers" and select "Sony." You can click on "Spider-Man 3″ and find the teaser trailer in small, medium and large.

If you don't want any spoilers about the 2007 release of the third in the Spider-Man series, skip both the trailer and the rest of this post.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette invited readers to send in their own reviews of the Superman movies. The entire project is interesting, especially since I sat down last night and wrote a third review of the movie and sent it in. They appear to be adding them chronologically, so I'm third from the bottom.

I think I pushed the limit with how large my review could be. I still need to work on being concise and quick at the same time … or even just concise. I think they published the reviews "as is," which makes sneaking a semicolon into a newspaper web site just a little less thrilling. I like semicolons and Oxford commas. Most editors don't.

Go take a look. I'm having fun seeing what the other people say about the movie, and you will, too.

I read a lot of blogs. My reading speed is pretty good, so I can cover a lot of blogs in a very short time … especially using Firefox's tab abilities. I began to suspect something about blogs. I got to thinking I should try an experiment to see if I'm right. Will bloggers only tackle things that make "their side" look good?

A while ago, when Patrick Kennedy did some adventures in impaired driving in Washington D.C., I checked to see how the liberal bloggers would respond. I even goaded a few, just to make sure they didn't miss the story.

Then I waited for a Conservative Screw-Up. When the announcement came that Rush Limbaugh got caught with an improper prescription for Viagra, I tried the equvalent experiment.

Am I the only one who's not surprised that the Right and Left are the exact same? Each protects its own. Both liberals and conservatives refuse to do to their side what they wouldn't hesitate to do to the other side. They'll make excuses, whether it's rainy weather or "Viagra is used for pulmonary hypertension" ignoring that it wasn't raining and the pulmonary hypertension treatment is only in pediatric patients — there's better drugs for adults that don't have the side effects.

When you read blogs, remember that they will only tell the story they want you to hear. Blogs are one-sided, and in our polarized, extremist society, they're even more so. The funniest complaint is when bloggers complain about "bias in the media." Name a mainstream outlet that's supposedly biased: New York Tims, Fox News, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, whatever. They are guaranteed far less biased than we bloggers are.

Some political bloggers will attempt to be more even-handed. They attempt. They fail, although you have to admire the attempt.

Even I fail. UnSpace tends to conform to my political bias. My politics happen to be all over the map, so it might look like I side with conservatives one day, liberals the next. I'm siding with me. I've tried to be "fair and balanced" and I've failed. I don't have the enthusiasm to tackle a side I don't believe. If I could do as good a job presenting my opponent's position as I do my own, I'd be a better writer.

I'm not there yet. I wish I were.

So take blogs for what they are: individual sources of information that tend to be highly biased according to their author's political leanings. Reading a fair number on a variety of sides will help balance the scales, but there's no substitute for the traditional media.

I covered the basics about the movie "Superman Returns" in my review without spoilers. If you don't want spoilers, read that review. I'd suggest you read it before you read this review, too. I'm trying to write this as fast as I can and I don't feel like repeating myself.

You were warned.

Read the rest of this entry »

The title does double duty: Superman the movie franchise returns to the theaters in this sequel to Superman II, and he returns to the world of Lois Lane and the Daily Planet after five years in space checking to see if Krypton really was destroyed.

In our world, twenty-five years have passed; in theirs, five. Director Bryan Singer (of X-Men, X2 fame) acknowledges that both universes have changed since Superman disappeared after Superman II. Pretending Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace never happened may confuse some people, but I honestly believe it was the best move. The new movie not only has much better special effects than the previous movies, but the plot is more complex and mature. Still, throughout the movie, there are references (some subtle, some not so) to the original two movies.

Clark (Brandon Routh, whom I only know from an episode of Will and Grace and from Cold Case, who adds a little Tom Welling to his Superman, but occasionally also looks like Christopher Reeve, in a nice touch) gets his job back at the Daily Planet, only to find out that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth, who was cute but tough blonde surfer girl in "Blue Crush" and who turns in a compelling performance that is both softer and harder than Margo Kidder's Lois from the original movies) is a single mom and engaged to the Chief's nephew, Richard White (James Marsden, who does a much better job in this movie than in the three X-Men movies). Lois received a Pulitzer Prize for her editorial "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." The Man of Steel disappeared suddenly, with no explanation, and Lois has had it with Superman. She's moved on.

Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey, whom I loved in "Pay It Forward" and who does a good job here with a slightly weak part) has and hasn't moved on. Because Superman was not there to testify at an appeal, Luthor was released from his double life-sentences. Prison hardened him even further. Luthor obviously did what he had to do to survive in prison. In an amazing touch early in the movie, we see the ultimate portrayal of Lex Luthors: this is a man who would have an extensive library on his yacht — and a pool table. Luthor surrounds himself with inferiors once more, but this time, the inferiors are both stupid and vicious. Parker Posey (whom I just watched in "Blade: Trinity" in preparation for the "Blade" Tv series) did what she could with the part of Kitty Kowalski, but you keep waiting for Lex to scream "Miss Teschmacher!"

The musical score will bring back a wave of nostalgia to anyone who remembers the original movies. The theme is the same, though often modified and displayed in new ways. After the first time you hear the original theme, the music for the movie fit with the film without making you think "that's movie music they're playing!"

There are numerous "Christ-figure" references that I am sure will get the bloggers buzzing. Unlike Spider-Man and Spider-Man II, where Peter Parker's web-spinning activities can be interpreted as someone attempting to follow Christ, these parallels are explicit: Jor-El sends his only son to Earth to give them a savior and light the way. It's worth remembering Christ-figures abound in Western literature, from Simon in Golding's "Lord of the Flies" to the eponimous "Billy Budd" from Melville. Despite what the Wikipedia article says, Aslan doesn't count. He's not a Christ figure, He's Christ.

There's a joke I'm very tempted to make right now in reference to another movie, but I'll have to save it for the spoiler review.

There are numerous touches for comic book fans, including some photos supposedly taken with a camera phone that directly recreate some famous scenes from historic Superman comics. Apparently in the Superman universe, camera phones have 10 megapixels and better control over F-stops than I can ever manage. Some fans might complain that there is less action and more character development. Comics are growing up and leaving those people behind, and so are the movies.

My one criticism of the movie is I'm sick of Lex Luthor, even though Kevin Spacey did a great job. I'm sick of hearing about "beachfront property." Had Lex been mauled to death by a ravenous dog early in this movie, I'd have cheered. I have no idea who should have been the villian instead, and I read Superman. I'm just sick of Lex. At least in Batman, they were smart enough to kill off the Joker.

This movie is rated PG-13, and it earns the rating; they didn't just throw in a few expletives to bump up the rating. In fact, though I wasn't looking for it, I don't remember any profanity. The PG-13 was for violence. While it was cartoon violence with (in one instance) an improbable lack of blood, the violence was disturbing. Still, the movie was quite enjoyable. At 2 hours 34 minutes, the movie runs long. Pace drinking that large soda, if you don't want to leave in the middle for a quick trip to the rest room.

After I post this, I'll post the review of this movie with all the spoilers. People seem to like that. I didn't see "Click" because I'm pretty sure I could write that movie script without trying. "Superman Returns" held some true surprises. Really, you might want to skip my spoiler review and see it, first.

Special thanks to the Internet Movie DataBase (IMDb), the authoritative site for information on which actors were in what movie or TV show. If there are any mistakes, it's my doing, not theirs.

Science is everywhere, especially in the Carr household. Beign who I am, I can't help but notice things every day. I haven't made any scientific breakthroughs, but I've had some fun! Here are a few examples:

• Times Of Parrot Speech

  Cirrus the African grey practices her human language at about 9 a.m. every day, but only as long as we are not visible. She says "What does that birdie want?" with a variety of vocal inflections. She tries out new words — often I cannot make out what she is saying or attempting to say. She will go on for 15-20 minutes with this practice, throwing in whistles and house noises, but not making standard parrot vocalizations.

  This is obviously telling me something, but I don't know what. Is this the time to try to train her to speak? Does this say something about how parrots view communication? If she says something during this time I wish to encourage, what is the best response on my part, especially given that my entrance into the room stops the serenade?

• The Difference Between Water and Other Liquids

  Nancy goes through a tremendous number of candles in making her Ukrainian Easter Eggs. I've gotten into making candles. I'm still struggling to find the ideal wick — most wicks for the larger candles do not cause the wax to melt all the way to the outside of the candle. Needless to say, this means I've been making a lot of candles with recycled wax. It's been weeks since I used new wax!

  I'm still fascinated by wax melting. If you have a container of molten wax (always heated in a water bath, never directly placed on a heating eliment) and you place a piece of solid wax into it, the solid wax sinks.

  As I know from chemistry, water/ice is the oddball liquid/solid combination. Most objects condense when you cool them. Almost all solids will sink in their melted form because density decreases with heating. Water, due to the shapes of the electron orbitals and the hydrogen bonding between atoms, reaches its greatest density at 4 degrees Celsius. Frozen water actually expands, which means ice floats in water, life is possible on Earth, and frozen pipes burst.

  There's an additional problem with candles. The volume increase when wax melts is significant. Poured into a candle mold, the wax shrinks, creating a divot in the bottom of the candle. (The candle molds I have are such that the top of the candle is at the bottom of the mold.) This often requires a second pouring, but the additional wax never quite bonds correctly to the first. I suspect candle makers simply make their molds longer and cut the candle flat at the right length, obviating the problem I'm having. Pouring the wax as cool as possible does seem to help, although it goes against my male nature.

• Ice Formation

  We have a compartment in the freezer for the ice trays. Ice that forms in the bottom tray, which is in contact with the metal freezer compartment, shatters when it's released from the tray. Ice in the tray above it does not shatter — it forms nice ice cubes. I reversed the order of the trays several times to confirm it wasn't something wrong with one of the trays. Next, I will try placing insulation under the bottom tray to see if this eliminates the problem.

  I suspect that what happens is the top tray freezes slower, forming a different form of ice, as opposed to the bottom tray, which (being in contact with the metal compartment) freezes faster in a more brittle form.

• Mixing Artificial Sweetners Improves Taste

  Small amounts of artificial sweetner taste better than large amounts. At higher concentrations, the aftertaste becomes more evident. If you notice, many diet drinks are sweetened with two or three artificial sweetners now. Nutrasweet (aspartame) breaks down with heat, and so it's not good for cooking.

  I bought a box of Acesulfame K and gave it to my dear Mother-In-Law, who makes special deserts for me for every party. Have I said recently how wonderful my Mother-In-Law is? She made a small peach pie for me using half of the Sucralose she would normally use, and making up for it using Acesulfame K. The resulting pie was her best ever. My Father-In-Law, who hates all things diet, did not get a chance to taste this pie.

  It didn't last long enough for him to test.

• Diffusion Through Air

  I'm working at the computer, in a room down the hall from the kitchen. Nancy is doing Ukrainian Easter eggs in the kitchen. The hall house fan (big thing, sucks air into the attic) is on. Despite the air flow up into the fan, when Nancy blows out a candle, I can smell it, even if the window in the computer room is open. The rate of diffusion of the smoke from the candle is apparently far faster than the air flow caused by the fan. I didn't expect that. I should sit down and work out the average speed of air molecules at 73 degrees F.

Nancy and I are going to see the "Superman Returns" preview tonight.

I will turn the two items above into links at that time. I'm guessing I'll have the reviews done by 11 p.m. or so.

We have two mitred conures, Clint and Kessie. They're both wild-caught, which means their age is probably about the same as their expected lifespans. A while back, Clint appeared to have a stroke. He recovered, although there were still some deficits. Last night, though, he appeared to have some severe trouble climbing.

Clint and Kessie love each other. They try to make babies, but the eggs are never fertile. We're not sure if Clint is so old that he's no longer fertile, or if he simply doesn't know how to have sex. Their attempts at mating have been awkward at best.

About a year ago, maybe a bit more, Clint had a stroke (or some other cerebrovascular accident with similar appearance — one does not MRI or CT a parrot). The vet prescribed him steroids, which were "interesting" to administer. He recovered, although he wound up cocking his head to one side ever after. In humans, strokes on one side of the brain make you give up, on the other, humans often fail to recognize that there is anything wrong. Clint had the stroke on the avian "There's nothing wrong with me" side, which I believe was a blessing.

While we watch TV, we open up their cage and let them roam around the outside of their cage and on the floor. Chauncey and Peanut are on the hanging perch, and Cirrus and Holmes are free of their cages. Clint doesn't fly since the stroke, but he does his little waddling march around the room, making sure the African greys stay out of what he considers his territory. His territory is anywhere near where he is, but fortunately near his cage. Kessie will occasionally herd Clint back toward their cage. I would swear she knows there's something not quite right about Clint, and she helps him when she can.

We rarely have to interrupt a fight among the birds. They avoid each other.

Last night, though, I saw Clint dragging his left foot as he tried to return to their cage. The foot was out in the "stretch" position and unusable. He was caught and clearly at risk for becoming tangled in the bars of the cage. I had to move quickly, which meant I never got a chance to put on gloves. I picked him up and put him in the nest box in the cage. In the process, Clint nailed me repeatedly with his beak.

I can "turn off" any part of my body except for my head and send the pain "someplace else." The bites, though not nearly as deep as the ones Chauncey has inflicted, were severe enough that I had trouble turning off my right hand. Today, the hand is swollen, though I don't need stitches. I think it might hurt pretty bad, but I'm not ready to turn the hand back on to find out. I just know it doesn't feel "right." I can type, so I don't need medical treatment.

Clint is back to normal, more or less. I wonder if he had a focal seizure, where only a small portion of his brain was affected. Alternatively, he may have had a Transient Ischemic Attack, which at least in humans is prodromal to another stroke.

Clint is obviously reaching the end of his life. Whether that's days, months, or years, I don't know…or at least don't want to admit. We moved the nest box to the bottom of the cage, as well as the perches. Before, there was a 2-foot drop; now just a few inches. As long as he's not in pain and can feed himself (or Kessie will feed him — we suspect she's been assisting his feeding), we'll support him the best we can.

Clint is not tame. Force-feeding might be an option for a tame bird, if there was a chance of recovery. Force-feeding Clint would almost certainly kill him; I don't have to ask myself how much damage to my hands I would willingly take. The bites I got last night were on the palm and knuckle. Force-feeding would require exposing finger-tips, which Clint might be able to amputate.

We've only had to end the life of one other bird, a 'tiel that had a skull fracture and was dying. Usually, the time between a fatal medical turn and death in birds is minutes. I feel ingnorant in saying I hope that, when the time comes, Clint simply has a massive and instantly fatal stroke. We will do what is best for Clint, but I am already beginning to dread it.

I am, of course, also remembering my mother, who had multiple strokes over the years. I am sorry for what Clint must go through, but I can't help but remember my Mom's experiences as well.

Everyone seems to be getting on Rush Limbaugh's case because Limbaugh got caught with a bottle of Viagra with the doctor's name on it.

Now, I'll grant you, that's stupid. If you have medical conditions, you make sure all your labels are in order and match the medications you take, because you will have to go through a few checkpoints and your ducks need to be in a row.

But why does Rush need Viagra? He's been divorced three times, and he's not currently married. Look, I'm reasonable (read "flaming liberal"), so I'd just shrug my shoulders if he were engaged. I wouldn't have bothered with this post if he were just in a serious relationship. I would chalk it up to a "guy" thing if he were taking the Viagra to simply masturbate occasionally.

We all know that's not why he had the Viagra.

Gays and lesbians aren't the threat to marriage. It's the Conservatives who are the threat. The "Moral Majority" supported Ronald Reagan (who was divorced) against Jimmy Carter, who upheld the Biblical standard of marriage. Look at the list of 2008 presidential candidates: how many of them are divorced? Aren't they all adulterers by the Biblical standard?

Do I really need to make a list of the conservative political pundits who have made a mockery of marriage? They're the ones who are destroying marriage. They are so quick to criticize the bit of dust in someone else's eye, when they have a telephone pole in their own.

Rush Limbaugh is a slut and should be ashamed of the example he is setting for the youth of our nation. He flaunts his immoral sexual lifestyle and pretends to proclaim what's "correct."

MSNBC has a test to see if you know what you'd need to become a naturalized citizen. Thanks to my wonderful high school teachers and some general inquisitiveness, I got a 95%, which MSNBC says means:

Are they serious? Most Americans have trouble with this test? I always want to believe that people on Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" are either a) severely drunk, b) suffering from hero worship, c) suffering from stage fright, or d) deliberately acting stupid to get on TV.

Nancy would remind me that the average IQ is 100. They're not "acting" stupid.

I found every question trivial, except for the one I missed. Ok, someone who wishes to become a naturalized citizen needs to know the answer to that one, but I'll only know it now because trivia like that tends to stay with me after it causes me to miss a perfect on a quiz like this.

I'll give you a clue — it is the more logical answer, if you know how to play "multiple question game theory." I should have gotten it.

I still think I would have passed with an 80% if it had not been multiple choice: I'm not sure I'd have remembered the full name of the Chief Justice because I'm bad on names. The date of the Constitution might have given me trouble although I'd have been within about 2 years. I probably would have blanked on an original 13 colony name, although maybe not. Still, I'd have gotten 80%, which is Boris.¹

Go see how you do on the quiz!

1. Gudenov [back]

Local rural Chinese officials compelled women, against their will, to have abortions and sterilizations as part of China's "One Child" policy. Chen Guangcheng reported this abuse to the central government, and when there was no response, made the information available to the international community.Chen was arrested in September, provided inadequate food, and his lawyers kept from being able to adequately represent him.

According to Chen's lawyer, the police told him:

"In detention it is easy for people to die. Someone died the other day. If you won’t confess you won’t come out alive. And don’t put your hopes on those Beijing lawyers because they are already locked up."

It seems to me that both Pro-Life and Pro-Choice groups would be interested in protesting Chen's treatment. Both would be horrified at women forced to abort their children or sterilized against their will.

If you Google "Chinese Consulate," you can find the nearest consulate to your location. Let them know what you think of the treatment Chen Guangcheng is receiving. A letter to your U.S. House and Senate representatives, letting them know you are concerned about this abuse of human rights by the Chinese government will also put pressure on the people incarcerating Chen — especially if you happen to mention that in your message to the consulate.

By the way, Amnesty International, the same organization that complains about the treatment of prisoners captured by the United States in the "War on Terror," has been working on Chen Guangcheng's case for some time now.

MSNBC has a list of upcoming summer movies. As I get ready to see the Superman Returns preview, here's my list of whether I'm interested in any of the movies on the MSNBC list. For the record, if I get a chance at free preview tickets, I will see almost any movie here. All my movie reviews have been positive, so I need to do "There goes an hour and a half I'll never get back" review.

Anyway, here's my take on the Summer Movies:

• Little Man: Little chance.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest: We have to rent the first film so we can see this one. Nancy's not too fond of skeletons, but even she's willing to make an exception for these two. She keeps mumbling something about Johnny Depp, even with the eye shadow.
• A Scanner Darkly: I've got a preview ticket for this. I saw the trailer on-line. I love the realistic animation, and as an SF fan, I have to check out any movie based on a Phillip K. Dick story. Ok, so I don't like "Blade Runner." What can I say?
• Edmond: I'd think not…but it's got William Macey (the Shoveller from "Mystery Men" so I just might. Probably not, but it will get some consideration.
• Once in a Lifetime: So that's what was with all those Cosmos posters in the dorms…. Still, once in a lifetime might be once too many. I like soccer, but a soccer movie?
• You, Me and Dupree: I would put an "Oxford comma" in this movie. This movie might put me in an Oxford coma. I don't think so.
• The Groomsmen: I had a great batchelor party. My Dad was the closest thing to an embarassment. I'm not going to some party for someone I don't even know.
• Pulse: Just maybe. I've always wondered: if magic worked, what would happen if you programmed a computer to cast the spells? Ok, so I'm weird. It does have Kristen Bell from "Veronica Mars" in it, which is a plus.
• The Oh in Ohio: Sex is fun, but it's not something I think of as a spectator sport. You know how Nancy and I play "profiler" with the crime shows? She also received some training in sex therapisy when she was studying to be a psychologist, so if we see this, it will be on a rented DVD where we can kibitz about what the sex therapist is doing wrong and how we would suggest treatment for the patients.
• Lady in the Water: I might see this; Nancy's not as into this kind of movie.
• Clerks II: No II this one.
• My Super Ex-Girlfriend: You so know I want to see this, except I'll be complaining that he really ought to find some way to be friends with her. Obviously, I never dated anyone like Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction."
• Monster House: If we're not sick of movies by this point, this one sounds like fun. The preview was pretty good that we saw.
• Little Miss Sunshine: Big miss, if I have anything to say about it.
• Miami Vice: I remember the original. Half the time, I had no idea what was going on, and I have no trouble following time travel stories. All reports are this is a stinking disaster of a movie. With any luck, I'll never get a chance to confirm or refute that. On the other hand, I should post my "Miami Vice" photo of me and my brother-in-law.
• The Ant Bully: It will make the list of movies I wish I'd seen but never got around to.
• Scoop: This is a story about an older man who marries his adopted daughter, by Woody Allen, who (at one time in his life) was an amateur magician who helped a woman solve a crime. Or do I have that backwards? You know what? It doesn't matter, because I don't care.
• John Tucker Must Die: The only way I will ever see it is if someone makes them change the title to "John Tucker Must Die(t)." I actually liked "The Pope Must Die(t)" which had a wonderful, happy ending. I'd love to see a "Pope Joan."
• In My Father’s Den: Probably not.
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby: I only watch the highlights of drag racing competitions. You think I've got the patience for a NASCAR movie?
• The Night Listener: Another movie I'd love to see that I simply won't get around to seeing, I bet.
• Jet Li’s Fearless: Not likely.
• The Descent: Tough women is a plus, but crawling in tight spaces isn't my idea of fun. What if you get stuck?
• The Science of Sleep: Interesting concept, but I doubt I'll get around to this one. Maybe I'll catch it on cable.
• Quinceañera: They call it life-affirming. I might just need a feel-good movie. And what's more cheerful than a movie about a 15 year old girl who gets knocked up?
• World Trade Center: Nah.
• Accepted: Unacceptable.
• Step Up: No step.
• Snakes on a Plane: I can't wait to see this one, although I will be rooting for the snakes.
• In the Land of Women: I already live there. Why see the movie?
• The Illusionist: This might be one of those movies where I can have a popular blog post that explains what's going on. As an amateur magician, I might find this one fun.
• Trust The Man: Nancy's going to want to go to see David Duchovny, so I might as well go to see Julianne Moore. Honestly, while we'll say we want to see it, how much you want to bet we don't get around to it?
• 10th and Wolf: Homey don't do mob.
• Idlewild: Not my cup of tea.
• DOA: Dead or Alive: I'm betting "Dead." It's a video game movie. You know how those turn out.
• How to Eat Fried Worms: Poor worms. If we had kids, we might see this one. We don't, and don't need the reminder.
• Invincible: I already saw "Paper Tiger."
• Material Girls: Even Jack Bauer would not be so cruel as to torture me with this movie.
• The Quiet: Elisha Cuthbert coincidentally played Jack's "dumb blonde daughter" Kim on "24." I will only see this movie if she gets eaten by a mountain lion.

It's been known for a while that the more older brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay. A new study shows conclusively that this effect is not due to social or environmental effects.

If a man has older step-brothers, the older step-brothers do not increase the likelyhood of the man being gay. Older brothers raised by someone else still increase the rate of homosexuality. The number of female siblings does not appear to be a determinant.

One proposed mechanism is that the mother's immune system recognizes "male" as foreign on some level. With each succeeding pregnancy, the mother's system produces a stronger response, increasing the chance of having gay males. If you think of Rh factors, only with a milder response, you get the idea.

If this is true, it might be possible to prevent this effect from occurring, just as there are now treatments to eliminate Rh problems.

The quoted study lists the rate of homosexuality in the general population at 3%, far below the common estimates given by the Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgendered (GLBT) community. If family size is, in fact, a determinant, then one would expect the rate of homosexuality to decrease as family size decreases in advanced countries. Conversely, in environments where large families are encouraged, the rate of homosexuality would be much higher.

Abortion has been raised as a possibile way to prevent homosexuality, if homosexuality were genetic. Many people opposed to homosexuality are also opposed to abort