UnSpace

Once again, I've got too many tabs open on my browser window. So here's a bunch of links to things I find interesting and/or ignored that shouldn't be. I think you'll have fun, as the list ranges from Mars to Pakistan and from Republican family values to what you shouldn't feed your dog if you want your dog to live:

• Keith Olberman received a threatening letter, and the New York Post (owned by Rupert Murdoch) mocked him for responding appropriately — and also risked damaging the FBI investigation. Shame on Murdoch.
• Both Terri and Steve Irwin felt he would die early. She believed he would die falling from a tree. If you've ever seen Steve climb trees to become friends with a primate, you know why she felt this way. He befriended the primates because they knew a) he posed no threats climbing trees and b) they felt sorry for a creature so handicapped that still tried hard to be arboreal. Steve felt he would die in an MVA, not unreasonable given where he was often driven and even how the people driving him sometimes drove.
• We're quite possibly one degree Celcius from environmental disaster.
• Bush said that the leaked excerpt of the National Intelligence Estimate did not give an accurate view of the situation. So Bush declassified portions of the report, a report that normally soft-pedals how serious things are. What he released shows that the growth in terrorism thanks to Bush's adventure in Iraq is far worse than the leaked portion indicated. If this is the watered-down version, I wonder what the Intelligence Community is really thinking.
• The Opportunity rover is at the Victoria Crater's rim. This may be the most interesting feature the Rovers have looked at. Honestly, there's nothing else within driving distance. When it comes time to decide whether to send the robot into the crater, I believe they will decide to do so, expecting it to eventually die there.
• Did they really expect the Rovers to last over an order of magnitude longer than their 90 day warranty? No. They expected both rovers to be dead, so they used an extra transponder from the Spirit Rover build in the Mars Reconnaissance Observer. The frequency of the transponders is hardwired. No problem! Spirit will be long gone, no longer transmitting, when the MRO is ready to send images. Except the MRO is up and running, and so is Spirit. Oops.
• By the way, the MRO photos are incredible. Here's the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's web site. Add "reconnaissance" to the list of words I have trouble spelling.
• Rep. Foley quit, and the Republicans are getting nailed to the wall for knowing this guy was thretening the safety of high school students by attempting to proposition them sexually. This was the same guy who deplored Clinton for consensual sex with another adult, albeit someone under his employ. Sure, Foley and the Republicans deserve everything they're getting — is this really Republican "family values?" But you know what? Had it been reversed, the situation would have played out the exact same, with just the names changed. If you're a Democrat gloating over Foley's fall, think about that. And if you're a Republican claiming too much is being made of this incident, you need to get your head examined, too.
• The same thing goes for this Republican official who was murdered by her husband. What the article doesn't say is that succinylcholine paralyzes the muscles, stopping breathing. It doesn't knock you out. Death is by suffocation; the victim knows it but can't do anything. Is this really what they mean by "family values?"
• Speaking of family values, read this article and think about "abstinence only" education as well as the other side pushing the concept that humans are animals that cannot control their sexuality. Everyone's insane, if you ask me. Even me.
• Bush is opposed to states that sponsor terrorism, as long as they're not supporting us in the war on terror. PaKistan and India both have nuclear weapon capability, by the way.
• I waited a while before posting this one. I wanted to give Powerball of Powerblog! a chance to post it. Had it been any church but the Catholic church, he'd have talked about this incident. But the new meme is to only hold those you consider your enemies accountable. Your own people get a free pass. Once again, realize that I don't think those on the Liberal side would do much better.
• For all the fuss about the Abramoff scandal, and for the White House trying desperately to minimize the connections to the man (which every new revelation makes look far worse as a result), there's something else fascinating in that linked article: Abramoff wasn't even that good at peddling influence. In a lot of cases, giving the dude the money to pimp your cause was money down the drain!
• So they're going to use hormones to change the sex of fish. As a fishkeeper who's had to put up with that show-quality (yes, they have betta splendins shows, just like dog shows) Siamese Fighting Fish female that spawned turning into a so-so male (also capable of spawning), sex change in fish is no big deal. I keep telling folks that sex is not as fundamental a concept as everyone thinks it is, and I can't define "male" and "female" scientifically in a way that would last 10 seconds. But even worse: what happens when the humans eat these fish and get these hormones? Especially pregnant mothers? Already, we know that the hormones given cows promote bearing twins in human women who drink milk. As ambiguous as human sexuality can be at times, this will only make it worse.
• Do not feed your dog xylitol, a naturally occurring artificial sweetner. "Naturally occurring artificial sweetner." Isn't that an oxymoron? Raspberries, plums, corn, and wood contain xylitol, not that you probably eat much wood. Anyway, xylitol is implicated in the liver destruction and/or deaths of several dogs. Xylitol doesn't seem to kill humans, but heaven help you if you eat too much of it. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohols are known for causing such fun as explosive diarrhea with flatulance. Anyway, until further notice, don't feed this stuff to your pet — dog, cat, parakeet, guinea pig, or rat. Actually, the rat's probably pretty safe. I'm guessing, here, but I bet when they tested xylitol to see if it was safe for humans, they used rats. But unless your rat is 10 lbs. and in major need of a diet, why would you feed it xylitol anyway?
• Speaking of rodents, "Snakes on a Plane" aren't nearly as dangerous, apparently as "Hamsters on a Plane." Snakes don't chew important wires that keep the plane flying.
• Am I the only African-American blogger in Pittsburgh? If you've met me, then you know how sad that state of affairs is. Yet no one has been willing to tackle the very issue brought up in the Post Gazette article "Race sensitive issue at Duquesne Univ.". Think about it: when you heard that there was a shooting at Duquesne University, what color did you picture the shooters? When you heard that the victims were all on the basketball team, what color did you picture the victims? Yet the Association of Black Students doesn't want to talk about it. I suppose we shouldn't blame them. They're only children. [Insert Monty Python and the Holy Grail routine about the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.]
• Proof I am a complete rotter. I told Nancy about the development for a new geometry of fuel pellet for nuclear reactors — the reactor can use more of the nuclear fuel and run at a cooler temperature. I was watching her face to see if she'd have microexpressions that would reveal that this was what she was working on back when she was designing these things for nuclear reactors. Of course, she realized exactly what I was doing, and responded in a way that makes me think she'd be great at poker. I understand she used the same deadpan expression on clients when she was a therapist. Anyhow, I realized that it couldn't have been — the geometry change is too radical, and would have required a new reactor, something the Navy probably wouldn't have been too excited about. Anyway, the new geometry means that reactors built with this type of fuel pellet are less likely to have an "oopsie!," since they run at less than half the temperature of a normal reactor (700C vs. 1800C). Since they make better use of the fuel, there's less to bury when you're done. As an environmentalist, I see nuclear power as one of our only ways out of the global warming problem, but it's a near-faustian bargain. Finding ways to make it safer is a must.

Once again, it's Friday Feast! Join in on your blog by answering these questions and posting that you did so at Friday Feast!

Appetizer
What is your favorite herb or spice?

This is a tough one. I love hot pepper in things, but Nancy grew some lemon basil in the yard this year and it's quite good. Bergamot (bee balm, not the fruit) is a little too limited. I'll have to go with hot pepper.

Soup
Name a song you like but haven't heard in a long time.

"I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family.

Salad
If you were to take just one minute to write down as many things as you can think of that you need (not want) to do, approximately how many things would there be?

I can type about 60 wpm, figure I can write about 80 wpm, though not very legibly. Assuming each task was 8 letters, that would be 10 tasks. If I really worked at it, I bet I could write 12. It's not like there aren't a lot of things to get done — thinking of all of them would be trivial!

Update: I tried. I managed to get 15 items in 1 minute. One of them's a little debatable, but the rest are legit.

Main Course
Tell something interesting about one of your family members (nothing scandalous, please, just something unique).

Holmes the African Grey imitates Chauncey the Moluccan Cockatoo screaming, trying to get Chauncey in trouble. If Chauncey gets yelled at for Holmes screaming, Holmes laughs.

Dessert
What's the latest you've ever stayed awake?

Not very long — only about 36 hours. I was trying to get something done for school; I don't remember much more about it. The worst thing was, when I finally was permitted to go to sleep, I couldn't. I was too wired and just laid there for a while.

Day Moon.

Not day Moon.

Last Friday Feast, I was inspired to get some equipment to attach my camera to the telescope. Well, it came, it attached, and I learned why people say "Screw it" and just by a subscription to "Astronomy" and "Sky and Telescope."

Last night, right after youth group, I saw the Moon hanging near the horizon, grabbed the scope, and tried for some photographs.

Looking through the viewfinder, I saw beautiful images of the Moon. Looking at the photographs, I don't see what I saw through the camera viewfinder. The resolution is far less than it should be. Photographing cars down the street, I ran into the same problem.

I'm doing something wrong. The folks at Telescopes.com are very helpful. Right now, I'm stumped.

If anyone who reads this happens to be an expert astrophotographer (defined as anyone who knows more than I do, which at this moment might just be anyone) and has some ideas to help, I'd be grateful.

On the other hand, I have a mystery that's bugging me. I might have needed that. Strange the things that cheer me up.

δs/δt>0

I'm just sayin…

In the post "Needed Words," I cheated to the point that I feel I need to explain that I cheated.

To the best that anyone knows, a human (or even a cat) cannot be caught in a Schroedinger box. Proving this depends on which interpretation you take of Quantum Mechanics, and was actually the point Schroedinger was trying to make.

Schroedinger shouldn't have chosen a cat. A cat is intelligent enough that, if the "observer causes the wave function to collapse" interpretation is correct, then the cat can collapse the wave function. Hence, you don't wind up with any "half dead cats." If you pick something stupid enough to not collapse the wave function, like an individual cell, well, so what? Half the time in biology, I can't figure out if something's alive or dead. You don't need quantum mechanics for that! A human would clearly collapse the wave function, counting as an observer.

Figuring out how God (if He or She exists) doesn't collapse the wave function by observing is an exercise left to the reader. Y'know, no one ever discusses Thermo, Information dynamics, or Quantum Mechanics when talking about religion. Ever notice that?

If, on the other hand, you take the more modern "decoherence" interpretation, then eventually either thermal action or simple size causes the wave function to collapse. In theory, one could drop a human's temperature to near absolute zero (we're talking one of those funny numbers with lots of zeroes to the right of the decimal point) and thus eliminate enough thermal action to get into the whole "superposition of states" setup. The problem is, and contrary to what all those Cryonics places are telling people, thawing someone and restoring them to life is a nightmare problem: you never get to the alive/dead paradox because you killed the person freezing them.

Now, if the person is in a spacecraft going past you at some absurd fraction of the speed of light, time slows. Time slows means the temperature in the spacecraft drops from your perspective — temperature is motion, and if time slows, motion slows. So, you can effectively drop someone's temperature to near absolute zero without freezing them. Instead, they're rocketing off into space at speeds where the relative mass of an electron might be a lethal hit to the spacecraft. But, if you could set up a Schroedinger's box situation in the spacecraft, triggered as the craft went by, you might be able to get a superposition of states in your perspective. On the other hand, either the superposition of states would be for such a short space of time it would not be noticable in the frame of reference of the spacecraft or you'd have to have some way to have a non-superposition of states in one reference frame and a superposition in the "at rest" reference frame.

I should be able to calculate an order-of-magnitude for the speed of the craft, using the mass of the human and figuring out the quantum indeterminancy time for that. Once, I figured out how to get a human to diffract while walking through a door. It may actually be the same problem. Again, thermal effects were significant. If you're cold enough and (strangely) slow enough, you will diffract if you walk through a door. Trust me, you don't need to worry about it.

Probably.

This, by the way, isn't even the worst part of trying to combine relativity and quantum mechanics.

The Discovery Channel is holding a parody contest. You send in a video parody of one of their shows.

Ok, so Meerkat Manor is on Animal Planet.

Yesterday, kdiddy mentioned "saudade," the Portuguese word for that feeling of loss tinged with the faint hope that some day the loss might end. Her cat has taken off, and is gone…now long gone. Yet it might come back.

The word seems to originate from the time of the Portuguese explorers. The women and children would remain behind with their sense of loss, perhaps never learning the fate of their loved one, perhaps finally being rewarded for waiting after years and years. Nancy says they must have taught me this word in Portuguese 1. Instead, I remember "Where's the bathroom?" and "How much?" I need to brush up.

We in the sciences might need new words. Here are a few situations that would require new words to describe complex emotions:

• While hunting a T. Rex back in time, I stepped on a butterfly and suddenly George Bush is President.
• I had to stop one of my two best friends from saving the woman I loved.
• Why is that guy dragging those giant eyeballs onto the lunar surface in a wheelbarrow? They're going to get killed!
• Someone just told the elder races to "Get the hell out of our galaxy" and they did…and now we're on our own with no one to save us except ourselves.
• Please, can we forget the whole "clones" thing?
• I wish I was one of the People, with cool powers and following the Power, the Presence, and the Name, but I'm just a human.
• You mean you didn't know who he was because he wore glasses and combed his hair differently?
• Fed Ex arrived today with the adapter that will connect my camera to my telescope. So guess what Pittsburgh skies are doing tonight?
• Sam never returns home.
• Isn't it nice that those aliens are so dedicated to serving man?
• I know they renewed "Tru Calling." Where is it? Somebody help me!
• The story has a very, very happy ending. And that's why it's so sad.
• Humans are cowards at the core.
• Last week it was kemmer, this week pon-far, and next week it's rishathra. This is getting a little too weird, even for me.
• In the past, we met next week after travelling to the future, but now, since we changed yesterday, you and I won't meet until now, unless we…wait. I'm confused. Let me start over…
• The love of my life is in a Schroedinger's box; right now my love is half alive and half dead. If I open the box, my love might be all alive or all dead. So I sit here and do nothing.
• I missed a decimal point. I really didn't think that experiment would result in the destruction of the universe. Do I get partial credit?
• I took both the blue and red pills.
• Two little robots do their work in the garden.
• I'm getting transferred to Eureka!
• I tell everyone everything on my blog except the one thing that's tearing my heart out.

An award-winning Texas art teacher who was reprimanded after one of her fifth-grade students saw a nude sculpture during a trip to a museum has lost her job.

The bad news: I doubt the authorities will take the children away from the parents who complained about the field trip.

A preview of your children's future.
Graph courtesy NASA

Children today are becoming more and more concerned with global warming. Many parents are searching for ways of explaining global warming to their children that will help them understand why the world will soon be the warmest it's been in one million years.

Children need to be comforted. Approaching the topic the right way will help your children process this information and be able to go on with your lives. Here are some talking points that might help you calm your child's fears:

• You were an accident and ruined our carefree lives. This is our revenge.
• Mommy and Daddy decided to spend your inheritance on ourselves.
• You're adopted. It's not like you're really our child.
• Don't worry! The Snow Fairy will come and make everything better when you're older.
• Do you remember how you didn't pick up your toys? This is your punishment.
• We wanted a good child. We got you and thought "Why bother?"
• It's a matter of priorities. Company profits are more important than you are. That's the way the real world works.
• We didn't want to be inconvenicenced.
• Don't worry. You'll die in an oil war long before global warming gets too painful.

In a surprising announcement on Friday, Jerry Falwell announced his support of Lucifer (aka Satan, Prince of Darkness, the Serpent in the Garden, the Father of Lies, and the Adversary) for President of the United States in 2008.

Insiders report it was Lucifer's decision to announce his opposition to abortion, especially in cases when the mother's life is in danger, that made the difference for the well-known preacher. In the past, Lucifer had opposed Plan B because, he claims, "Plan B is an abortificent, it prevents implantation and causes miscarriages even in people 50 miles away from the person taking the drug." Lucifer was unable to provide scientific documentation on this.

Most of the other positions Lucifer has taken in the past — against the poor, in favor of the rich, the need to destroy the environment for profit, pro-war, pro-torture, pro-ignorance, stripping away of freedoms, and promoting Jesus as a reason to do whatever you want to do (especially when it's the exact opposite of what Jesus actually said), already fit in nicely with the Extreme Conservative Republican ideology.

Lucifer is not yet sure if he will accept the Republican nomination:

To finalize the deal, they want me to go hunting with Dick Cheney. Anyone could see how that would go. Cheney will get drunked up again, shoot another lawyer friend in the face, and I'll get blamed. I get blamed for a lot of stuff I never had anything to do with. Honestly? I've been in retirement for the last 1,977 years, licking my wounds after getting smacked around by You-Know-Who. All the evil in the world since has been by you humans. I'm not really sure I want to get back in the game. Do you know how humiliating it was to find out I wasn't needed?

A recent Ziggy pole puts Lucifer as the clear front-runner in a race against Hillary Rodham Clinton by 15 points, with surprising across-the-board support. When asked about this, Lucifer pointed out:

Look, all "Stone Cold" Hillary has to do is divorce Mr. Can't Keep His Pants Zipped. By simply breaking her vows to the man, she'd clobber me — or anyone else. Fortunately, she (and even that husband of hers, who's a real basket case) keep trying to get their marriage to work because You-Know-Who said they should. The Christians can't stand someone who isn't in favor of divorce, which would be my advantage. Look how many of the Republicans are divorced or adulterers. It's too much pressure on the everyday Christians. The rank and file don't like having to live up to the uncomforatble aspects of Christianity. Christianity's nice, but there's some things you're just not supposed to take too seriously.

Currently, Lucifer is self-employed as a small businessman, selling chotchkies like "Support Our Troops" magnetic stickers for SUVs, American flags that fasten to cars and get shredded and tattered almost immediately, and things like that. "My biggest sellers," says Lucifer, "are the 'God Bless America' bumper stickers."

In describing it's [his movie, Apocalypto] portrait of a civilization in decline, Gibson said, "The precursors to a civilization that's going under are the same, time and time again," drawing parallels between the Mayan civilization on the brink of collapse and America's present situation.

"What's human sacrifice," he asked, "if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?"

When he's sober, he makes sense.

My neice on her birthday!

Time carries on;
I guess it always will,
But deep inside my heart
Time stands still.

Years ago, as I would be leaving church, my neice would ask "Would you come over to our house, Uncle Rob?" I was working Medic 1 at the time. When the shift was night turn, I was sleep deprived; 3-11 wasn't much better, and staying would mean a mad dash home to get ready for work. Yet when my neice asked, I almost never said "no."

Stay for awhile.
Well, it's good to see your smile,
And I love your company.
Stay for awhile.
And remember the days gone by;
For a moment it can seem
Just the way it used to be.

I knew that time would pass and that little girl would someday be a young woman on her own, and I'd best be there for her, her sister, and brother for as many of those Sundays as I possibly could. Today, she was not a little girl, but a grown woman with a life, love, and career in another city. She was back in Pittsburgh for all too brief a time.

Time takes its toll,
And time alters our view.
It would be nice to
Spend some time with you.

Happy birthday, kid. We miss you. Thank you for stopping to visit us this Saturday. Know that, though you are normally so far away, you are also in our hearts. We're proud of you (and your siblings). Watching you build your future is amazing, even if you did become an editor, that mortal enemy of us writers everywhere!

Oh, stay for awhile.
Well, it's good to see your smile,
And I love your company.
(Oohhh) Stay for awhile.
And remember the days gone by;
For a moment it can seem
Just the way it used to be.

God bless,

Uncle Rob

Lyrics are from the song "Stay Awhile" by Amy Grant

Today would be busy. At noon, a birthday party was scheduled for a neice at my In-Laws. There'd be other relatives there, we needed to bring drinks, Nikki the camera, a thumb drive with photos, and Nancy's Pysanky eggs for everyone to see. Another Sunday party!

For some reason, neither the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette nor Tribune Review Sunday papers were in the driveway. I was fairly sure I was paid up on both; the P-G has me on auto-renewal. Driving up to church, I wondered what had happened to all the other cars.

Would you believe it was Saturday?

Oops.

Three Rivers Heritage Trail end of Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge (South Side).
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Eliza Furnace Trail end of Hot Metal
Pedestrian Bridge (South Oakland).
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Closeup of South Oakland end of bridge.
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

View from Hot Metal Bridge.
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Eliza Trail preparation for
Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge.
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Today, while driving home along Second Avenue in South Oakland¹, I spotted construction at the Hot Metal Bridge. The Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge construction has started, as you can see in these photographs. The bridge will provide a pedestrian route to cross the Monongahela at that point (the Hot Metal Bridge is vehicular only because it is so narrow) as well as linking the Eliza Trail² and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail³ for walkers, runners, and cyclists.

In addition to the trail, there will be two small belvederes — platforms for sightseers. While I was taking the second photograph, I got a chance to talk with one of the supervisors working on the project. He was taking photographs as well, to provide a record of what they were doing. He explained that the two men on our end of the bridge were installing safety wires as a part of worker safety for the project. He explained that he himself had been out on the bridge earlier today. "The view of the Mon [the Monongahela river — Rob] and downtown was spectacular from up there!" he said. He believes the bridge will be completed "…in 14 months…sometime in the fall of 2007."

As you can see in the first picture, the bridge is not level when it reaches the South Side. The supervisor explained that there would be "…a switchback ramp, about the same size as the one by Heinz…" that crosses the channel from Washington's Landing.

On the South Oakland side, activity seems to be in full swing. In the second photo, you can see the construction equipment, vehicles, and the fresh-laid gravel at the construction entrance. The fourth photograph was taken while I was stuck in traffic on the Hot Metal Bridge. The second, third, and last photos were taken from the Eliza Trail. Because of the position of the fence, I had to "point and hope" on photos 2 and 3. This was the construction I spoke about in the post Walk on Through the Eliza Trail and why the graffiti was being painted over. As you can see in the last photograph, there is some construction equipment. The trail has been modified so that it will remain open during construction. The second orange sign (not readable) says "Trail Narrows."

While on the Eliza Trail, heading back to my car from taking photographs, I chanced to talk with a 64 year-old African-American gentleman who was out for his exercise. In 1997, he had a mutiple bypass operation on his heart and "I decided to listen to my doctor." He spoke of how the Eliza and Three Rivers Heritage Trails provided him a place to exercise. He told me that, when he was really ambitious and had a free Saturday, he would walk the complete length and back of the Three Rivers heritage Trail. "I'll go home, have a sandwich, and then fall right to sleep." Excitedly, he explained to me that the eventual plan was to link up these trails to a trail that would go all the way to Washington D.C., and there, it would link up to a trail that went to Atlanta, Georgia.

"You could get a bike and go all the way to Georgia" he said.

"I think my butt would be sore if I did that!" I replied.

He cracked up and then said "More than your butt would be sore!" I agreed with him, thinking of my last 50 mile bike ride and how my legs (more used to running and walking) screamed the next day. A cycling trip like that might be a vacation for Lance Armstrong, but not me! Still, knowing that the trails will wind there way across all that distance reminded us both that all along, they would give encouragement to people to exercise.

He was enthusicastic about the benefits of exercise, especially for heart disease. When I happened to mention I was a diabetic, he became even more pointed in making sure I would walk. Usually, I'm the one making that speech, but I relaxed and heard his version of it.

I'm getting slapped upside the head today, aren't I?

He explained all the things he'd seen walking the trails: the wildlife, the plants, and the young ladies. Clearly, he enjoyed these trails. He explained that he walked every day for a year, but only lost a pound. His doctor told him that it still did him good. The exercise helped his heart and based on his waist size, while he hadn't lost much weight, the weight he had was more muscle and less fat.

As we parted, I wished him the best and said I hope he was out on the trails walking for another twenty to thirty years — and then I hoped he got serious about his exercise! He roared with laughter, and with a handshake, we parted. He honked as we both drove out of the parking lot at the trail head.

How much you want to bet he crosses the pedestrian bridge the first day it's open? God willing, I'll be there, too!

1. The Hot Metal Bridge is part of the dividing line between South Oakland and Hazelwood, and from this map, it appears clear that the Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge is technically in South Oakland. By the way, whatever happened to Soho? It looks like part of it became the Bluff and part West Oakland. [back]
2. The Eliza Trail goes from Downtown to Panther Hollow [back]
3. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail goes from 3rd Street on the South Side to West Homestead.. [back]

"Walk on Through" by Gerard Tonti.
Click on the photograph for a larger version.
Warning: Very Large!

Near the Second Avenue head of the Eliza Trail, there's a mural titled "Walk on Through" by Gerard Tonti. While photographing some other things, I attempted to photograph this mural. The mural is large — 1200 square feet!

I took 8 photographs, each one centered on one individual. To create the above image, I merged three of the photographs. I did not correct for perspective — the mural is higher than the camera. If you look closely at the large version, you can see seams along the bottom of the city and the difference in lighting of the third segment is obvious. As I learn to work with various Corel Photopaint tools, I'll try to post a better version. Because I moved my position, the typical panorama-producing photograph tools do not work properly.

Maybe it's because I've walked this trail a number of times, but I love this mural. The graffiti artists have left it alone…so far. Due to construction,¹ graffiti in this area has been painted over with gray. They almost got one of the butterflies, but even the construction workers left this painting alone. Should something happen to it, I'd hope that at least my photographs will provide some record of this artwork.

Close-Up of Identification of Mural from Wall.

1. No, I have no idea why construction needs graffiti painted over. [back]

I decided to read an article on MSNBC titled "Insanity plea in case of boys tossed into S.F. Bay." I was curious as to why the insanity plea was tossed into the San Francisco Bay. Some judges do strange things, and this one sounded especially strange.

I was disappointed and a bit sickened to find out it wasn't the insanity plea that was tossed into the San Francisco Bay. The woman drowned her three sons there and plead insane at the court hearing.

I would have much rather read about some eccentric judge.

I was wrong.

I got chewed out by the associate pastor. He may not even know that he chewed me out. He was just explaining to me that the church will re-evaluate its approach to implementing this program. No law suits, no political threats, no calling in the ACLU, ACLJ, and NAACP. The goal would be to educate and change hearts. The approach would be Christian.

I can make excuses, of course. At that meeting, I was being told my community doesn't want me here, either. Once again, I was being reminded that I do not belong anywhere. I should have come to terms with that years ago. While I might think of myself as a "Lone Stranger," I'm not. There are people in my life that I trust more than myself. That will simply have to be sufficient.

So no excuses. I screwed up. Paul said to be angry but sin not.¹ I only got the anger part.

There's a story about one of the apostles. I forget which one. As I remember, the apostle wound up getting crucified for preaching about Jesus. As he's hanging there on the cross, he calls for hellfire to rain down on everyone. An angel appears to him in a vision and…well, you can write the story from there, especially since there's no record of some place getting nuked for crucifying an apostle. Same concept.

Approaching this problem from a Christian perspective is not be what I consider entertaining. Well, you know what? The world isn't here to entertain me. That it does with supernovas and volcanos and Rick Santorum acting like a slimeball and doing his best to lose the election is merely my good fortune. And honestly, I shouldn't even enjoy Santorum screwing up, but rather pray that he repent of his anti-Christ politics. I'm already working on being more mature on one topic; Santorum can wait.

I'm the guy who scares myself by taking a subtle approach to solving problems that borders on Machiavellian. A rant pointing out the most ridiculous of my opponent's complaints does nothing to get the Day Center approved. Sure, jamming the center down everyone's throats might bring a smile to my face, but more likely it just results in someone burning a cross on my front lawn and Driving While Rob being added to the other reason for getting pulled over on Route 51. And, as we all know, while I don't look it, DWR would actually be redundant.

I thought I'd calmed down when I wrote that post. That I felt the need to put such a large disclaimer at the end indicates that some part of me knew what calm was, and that I wasn't.

If anyone deserves to be ranted at, it would be me.

As if to drive the point home further, some Black Republicans are claiming Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. Even the other Republicans are horrified at their tactic and are calling for them to pull their advertisement. The reverend went out of his way to be apolitical, to not support individual candidates and parties. His approach was non-violent, trying to change people's hearts. His death unleashed the riots and the non-Christian way of solving the racial problems in our country, and that violence might well be part of the reason our racial problems in the USA are so severe. The Black Republicans are following in the footsteps of those who rioted. They have forgotten the very things the man they claim to admire preached.

Gee, that sounds familiar.

Like I said, I was wrong. If you think I'm embarassed about not having exercised in the last week, think how this one burns for me to admit.

Sorry about that. I'll try to do better.

1. Eph. 4:26 [back]

It's yet another Friday Feast! Follow the link and post your answers on your blog! Here are mine!

Appetizer
Measured in minutes or hours, how much exercise have you had in the last week?

Zero. Yeah, that's not good. Between a family crisis (BTW: the child is back with his mother!), planning commission meetings, sitting around fuming after said planning commission meeting, and the even more chaos than normal for us, I didn't get any exercise in. No, that's not good for me, a diabetic. You have no idea how much I hate to write "zero" but it's the honest answer. That simply has to change.

Soup
If you had to change your blog title to something else, what would it be?

The Lone Stranger.

Salad
Name one television show you watched when you were 9-12 years old.

The Prisoner. This may be my favorite TV show of all time. They never showed "Living in Harmony" in the United States (it was too pointed a comment on the Vietnam war) and I missed the final episode, "Fall Out." I only saw those years later, when Nancy and I rented the series from "Heads Together" in Squirrel Hill (after it stopped being a head shop and turned into a cultural mecca — I miss that store!).

I'd still love to own the complete DVD set. If you've never seen it, the TV series is supposedly about a secret agent who attempted to retire but was kidnapped and taken to the Village where some "powers that be" try to break him. The show is really an exploration about the prisons society makes for us: society and…but that would be telling!

So grab your penny-farthing bicycle, watch out for duplicitous women, and take a trip to Portmerion! You might ask who number One is, but the only answer you'll get is "You are number Six." Of course, Lynne Truss might have something to say about that.

Just watch out for Rover. Some beach balls aren't very friendly.

Main Course
If someone gave you $50 to spend with the one condition that it had to be educational, what would you purchase?

With a Zhumell Universal T-Adapter - 1.25 Inch Camera Adapter ($29.95) and a Zhumell T-Ring - Nikon ($16.95), I could connect my camera up to my telescope. With shipping, it will be a bit over $50, but I'd be quite happy to make up the difference. To me, there's no question that would be educational!

After I post this, I'm going to go grab my wallet and place an order! Update: It should arrive sometime next week!

Dessert
Do you tend to prefer dark colors, neutral shades, or lighter/pastel hues?

Does "lurid" count? A lot of my running gear (which I didn't use this week but should have) tends to be florescent, in the hopes I don't get crushed like a grape on the floor by some cellphone-using motorist. But for other clothing, my apparel tends to be dark, but with surprising splashes of color.

"Baruk hatoi Adonai Eluhenu melech halam bori perihafen." is how I remember the Bar Mitzvah boy saying it. My friend and I were the same age — 11? 12? — and he was determined to get drunk. I wasn't supposed to drink wine, so I didn't. On the other hand, watching him get drunk (and probably in trouble as a result) was quite entertaining. Quite a few of us youngsters had gathered with him to encourage his explorations.

There was a problem, though. Before he could drink the cup of wine, he had to say that prayer in Hebrew. The wine cups were smaller than shot glasses — they looked suspiciously like the communion cups the adults used at the Presbyterian church. The Bar Mitzvah boy eventually gave up his quest for intoxication, much to all the other boy's disappointment. I decided prayer and small cups was a great way to avoid or limit intoxication: at some point, you couldn't say the prayer, and you got shut off.

I was reminded of this incident as I read Monica's post on getting ready for Rosh Hashana. I also happened to get an idea for dinner tonight, yellow lentil soup. I got curious and looked up the prayer. It took a while; my spelling was phonetic and terribly slurred. Perhaps my memory has deteriorated over time. Perhaps the Bar Mitzvah boy got further than we all thought. Here's the proper transliteration:

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam Borei peri ha-gafen.
We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, Creator of the the fruit of the vine.

There's also a prayer for bread and for other things, many of the words similar. But there's one prayer in particular that caught my attention, one that I really like.

On seeing Lightning and other natural wonders

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam oseh ma'aseh vereshit.
We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, Source of creation and its wonders.

Lightning? Normally, lightning doesn't impress me. The last time I was out on a hilltop running when a severe lightning storm came up and I started running in the direction Nancy would come from since I called her to save my tucas, I would have used this prayer instead:

Upon recovery from serious illness or upon escape from danger

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shegemalani kol tov.
I praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, who bestows great goodness upon me.

No, the quote isn't quite "God, get me out of this!" but the psalmist wasn't adverse to nudging God in the right direction by speaking as if God had already done what was being asked for, so it would have done.

But somehow, I like the idea for a prayer for the awesome wonders of the universe. "We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, Source of creation and its wonders." There's an awe I feel when I see a photograph from the Cassini probe or just about anything from Hubble or Spitzer. There's the excitement of the CERN collider finally coming on line next year, with the knowledge that quantum black holes might be created (relax, they evaporate before they could eat the Earth!). It's what I'd say as I watch the last of the Monarchs in the next couple days as they migrate south.

Presbyterians don't have prayers for stuff like this, at least not that I've come across. Then again, we've never been adverse to borrowing useful bits from other religions. I might just borrow this prayer. I'd need to change it slightly, though. "I praise You, Eternal God, Soverign of the universes, Source of Creation and its wonders."

I wonder, is the Hebrew word for "universe" really in the Hebrew version, and if so, can you make "universe" plural in Hebrew?

For what it's worth, I'm posting these notices so I can see how the spam changes with time. It seems to be accelerating greatly, though none has ever made it through.