Summer Vacation

My vacation started today and I didn't have to wait for the alarm to go off. Actually, I never have to wait for the alarm to go off because the dogs are always going off. Bernie, the Pomeranian, is often startled by things that flit by, or rather, through, his mind.
So, I'm up early to contemplate how much work remains to be done before the reception this Sunday. I suppose it would be more effective to stop contemplating, and blogging about contemplating, and just do the work.
Oh, work, that reminds me, I've cajoled a very nice, and very competent woman into running my route while I'm gone. What a pity for my customers that my vacation is only two weeks.

Extra, Don't Read All About It

I'm not saying we don't do yard work, what I'm saying is that when I started pulling out weeds in the front yard, I found six newspapers spread over the last two years and the lawn.  Oh, and a shoe. That's still there. I didn't want to get too close in case there was a paperboy next to it.

Leaving Money On The Table

According to Planet Money, Americans tip about 40 billion dollars a year. That's a lot of money that's not going to our oligarchs. It won't be long now before the new etiquette is to tip for bailouts.

"Putting The Chart Before The Course"

I love you Indexed, but I'm seeing someone else tonight.

Here's A Perfect Place For A Good Title; I Wish I'd Thought Of One. Of Course, I Am Sleepy

Sometimes falling asleep is like catching a bus. There's a moment when you could fall asleep, but the moment passes while you read or watch TV*, and then the moment's gone, and you have to wait for it to come around again. To ride this metaphor a little further, when the chance does come around, it might not be the express ride to morning you hoped for, but a local with a lot of stops along the way. And maybe a dog riding next to you that doesn't like to share the seat.

*Jim Gaffigan:It is amazing how much more amazing sleep is in the morning. You wake up and you're like... "I stayed up to do what?! Watch Growing Pains? What was I thinking!?"

A Tree Falls In The Forest And One Hand Claps

Popular Science magazine has an article this month that asks how we would transition from fossil fuels to clean sustainable energy if engineers made the decisions instead of politicians and businessmen. But is it science to talk about a fantasy world?

Baby (Einsteins) Got Back?

I listened to a Scientific American podcast explaining how the laws of physics impose physical limits on human intelligence. The talk involved neurons, axons and ion channels, mice and cows.  One way to increase intelligence, the speaker said, would be to have fatter axons, but that would require consuming more calories. If all it took to be smart was eating too much and having a fat axon, I should be a genius.
But, no. Do you remember a while ago we bought some tie-downs for dummies? We went to the dump again this week, and since we couldn't find them, we had to buy new tie-downs.

On This Date In History

We moved into our house on June 15th, 1981, 30 years ago today.

Not Exactly The Center For Science In The Public Interest

Neuro-marketers are using fMRI's to monitor brain's reactions as "patients" watch commercials in order to make ads that are completely irresistible. It's as if small pox went to medical school.
Last night there was a show on The Science Channel about quantum loops and what came before the big bang. Here's the weird part; it was a rerun.

Did You Hear The One About Elizabeth Taylor?

If so, you must have been standing in my head when I made it up this morning. I said she'd been married so many times they were telling her age by counting the rings. Although, I'm not sure I didn't hear it somewhere else first. And it might not have been about Elizabeth Taylor when I made it up, if I did make it up.

Feedback request

This blog was recently optimized for mobile devices. Did it make any difference? Do I have any mobile users, or does my readership skew older? How many of you still read it on your typewriter?

You Always Can't Get What You Want

My yard is starting to be like a banana, and not because it's an assimilated Asian (it hates being called Oriental) but because, as Charley Weaver said, once you peel a banana and throw away the bone, there's nothing left. So, I had professionals (well, lawn professionals, they weren't wearing lab coats and ties) come in and dethatch my lawn and treat it for weeds. Now the moss and dandelions are gone, all the flowers we planted were killed, and, it turns out, our lawn never did have any actual grass. I've never really understood T.S. Eliot, but man, I know a wasteland when I see one.

Nothing Daunted

No surprise, two Smith College girls tame the frontier and get rave reviews.

But as someone once said here, "Then again, it's not like we had a lot of competition, I mean, seriously, Mt. Holyoke, what a joke."

Oddly Enough

Does it strike you as odd that Mitt Romney can ignore the ignorant and irrational part of his party to believe in global warming while still believing the Book of Mormon? Or that he calls himself Mitt?

What Kind Of A Person

What kind of a person would complain about a volunteer reading a free audiobook that was obtained via a free app? I think we all know the answer to that. So, while acknowledging the pettiness of this, can I just say that I thought I was listening to one of those text-to-voice programs until it started yawning.

Report A Problem

I just went to Netflix to rate Harry Potter 7. There is an option to "Report A Problem". I'm tempted to tell them, "Yeah, there's a problem, the movie's nothing like the book!"

A Rose By Any Other Name Would Be As Dead

What's in a name? Well, looking over my yard full of dead flowers, I'm thinking it might have been a mistake to hire a company  called Just Lawns.

HP & The Deathly Hallows

I'm watching Harry Potter 7.1.
It makes The Lord of the Rings movie look like a transcript of the book.