Blog Note

I misspelled "Ocracoke" on the last post so it flagged in the spell check. So I corrected it; and it still flagged. it wanted me to replace it with "karaoke" .

Winter Rain

If I were good at writing poems, I would write one about today here on Ocracoke. It is the type of day that deserves a poem.

We are having a winter rain. The chilly and damp air feels good after a couple of days that were too warm for winter. This morning, we all got up before 7 AM. We were able to see mist rising from the marshes. Beautiful site -- the cool mist dispersed among the warm golden glow of the winter marshes.

Geologic Change

I used to think that changes in the Earth took eons. Yet, we can see them easily within our lives. Sand drifting due to the wind. Mud washing away after a rain. Leaves rotting to make soil each year after they fall.

This area of beaches, the barrier islands, is constantly under going change due to the weather; even what most of us would consider typical storms.

Hmm...

It was not an emergency when the dishwasher stopped on Christmas Eve so we did not call the rental office until today. within 30 minutes a very nice gentleman showed up, looked at the dishwasher, tweaked a few things and said "Hmmmm."

He came back with another gentleman, they both got down on the floor with flashlights, etc. and then stood up and said "Hmmmm."

So we went to the grocery store and bought paper plates.

You Know You Are In Ocraoke When...

You know you are in Ocracoke when:

• ...your graduating class from high school has three people.
• ...the main food brand at the grocery store is Our Family.
• ...when you ask if the ground beef is fresh, the grocery man says that he ground it that morning.
• ...cheese packaged by the grocery store has no expiration date.
• ...only one restaurant is open in the winter.
• ...there is no McDonalds anywhere.
• ...any way off or onto the island is by ferry.
• ...when they do road work, the detour is for four-wheel drive vehicles only as it is onto the beach.
• ...the weather channel has the orange and blue graphics from ten years ago on the local forecast.
• ...every other local mailbox has some version of O'Neal or O'Neil or O'Niel.
• ...because of no zoning you can duck hunt off of your back porch.
• ...one of the local folk group's sings of the evils of computers.
• ...the only place open 365 1/4 days a year is for the "bubba type" surf fisherman.
• ...the power can go out at any time and it's not worth finding out for how long it will be out.

Toilet Seat Types

As I sat down on the toilet seat this morning, and felt the hard chilled surface motivating me to leave it behind soon, I thought...."I wonder how the rest of the family feels about toilet seat types. What who be people's favorite?"

So, what is your favorite type of toilet seat cover? They come in padded, painted wood, heated, even digital. clear plastic.....

Gravity's Night Before

Twas the night before leaving
and it was taking a long time
getting ready for two weeks is not sublime

The people were frazzled, nerves were flaring
We'd have to wait a day. The decision was glaring.

We finally left, wonderful trip
We had the kayaks and everything, nothing was left

We made it, Christmas tree too
But lo and behold the house had one; what to do?

We decided on two trees!, our is bigger
Tonight we do ornaments but not with glitter.

I suck at this poetry stuff, what can I do
Oh well, I tried, maybe I'll clean out the flu

We Made It!

After a 24 hour delay, we made it to Ocracoke. The trip down was a good one. And we got a surprise -- the house has a Christmas tree....and we brought one, too. So there is a lot of Christmas spirit here!

Tonight, we are watching the episodes from the first season of the TV show House. The show has very interesting medical cases. Tomorrow. one the the things we do will be to decorate the tree that we brought with us.

It is good to be here. It is warm, too warm; but the weather is bound to change.

Wish Bones

Do wish bones ever split right down the middle so the two parts are equal?

Ocracoke Here We Come!

All of us are ready to go to the beach. This fall has been hectic, hectic. During the break, Esh will need to do college applications and Gravity usually does some work for his clients, but salt air, the promise of kayaking, and the view of the marshes will be a special treat. We will miss the cats and dogs, but it will also be nice not having to care for them. And we will be able to walk through the nature trail without having to use Deet!

Ocracoke here we come!!!

Home Movies

The other day, as I remembered fondly the movie "Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation" I thought about Chevy Chase getting stuck in the attic and watching home movies to pass the time.

Then it hit me! We had not watched home videos in years. So we are gong through them in random style (Ian is 1 year old, then 7 years old, then 3 years old, etc.). I has been a great holiday experience!

So Wha' Da Ya Thenk?

This was part of a posting on Cosmic Variance blog (see links):

What is the arrow of time? http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/12/03/arrow-of-time-faq/

The past is different from the future. One of the most obvious features of the macroscopic world is irreversibility: heat doesn't flow spontaneously from cold objects to hot ones, we can turn eggs into omelets but not omelets into eggs, ice cubes melt in warm water but glasses of water don't spontaneously give rise to ice cubes. These irreversibilities are summarized by the Second law of thermodynamics: the entropy of a closed system will (practically) never decrease into the future.

What do you think?

Room Ideas

So our house is already a bit odd...with models of DNA, sucrose, graphite, and diamond, five skull reproductions showing the evolution of Man, compasses, abacuses, fossils, six mobiles hanging from the ceilings of various rooms, magnetic poetry on the walls of the downstairs bathroom, murals demonstrating the warping of space-time and the digits of Pi, 16 foot sculptures in the front yard....we are now going to top it all by making the master bedroom suite into a giant (the room is bigger than the family room) work room. It will have a computer desk area, an art studio area, and white boards for thinking! What a bonanza; and who needs to sleep anyway? [There will still be a small dressing area....every house needs a tiny bit of the conventional after all.]

Math Proof

Okay everybody, prove the following:

Theorem 4.3:

Given distinct points P and Q, a segment AB , and points R
and S such that R and S are on −! PQ , PR = AB , and PS = AB , then
R = S.

P 6= Q & R, S are on −! PQ & PR = AB & PS = AB ! R = S.

Just kidding! I stare at this stuff all day long.....no wonder I go nuts!

Twelfth Night

We went to a showing at UVA's Culbreth Theater of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

The play was really well done. The one disappointing thing (in general) is that it is
hard to find any Shakespeare play where the actor's dress from the time period.

This one was modernized in dress but not in language. They really did some neat things with
sound and lighting during scene changes.

Of course reading Shakespeare can be hard enough, hearing it can be even harder but I am glad it was the original language, even if it made it a bit hard to follow. (We went to one at a high school production a couple of years ago where they tried to do Shakespeare in modern southern language and southern dress-weird!)

The acting, sets, and sound were exceptionally well done-very professional. Wonderful theater.

So far we have seen (at UVA) The Pirates of Penzance done by the Music Department
and Twelfth Night done by the Drama Department.

Looking forward to more!

Hair

Well. I tried to grow hair on my head but it went to my cheeks. Wait. That's a beard.
I noticed that my right side beard hair grows faster than the left.

Does anyone else have this issue? Oh. Dumb me. You all don't grow beards (I hope).

Ignore this post

Brand New Stuff

What would you like to keep in brand new, never been used, condition? I know I would like to keep the spare tire on the Jeep that way! Also, the life insurance policies for the three members of our family as never been used.

Math Jokes

Gravity got these from somewhere. Bravo!

The ark lands after The Flood. Noah lets all the animals out. Says, "Go and multiply." Several months pass. Noah decides to check up on the animals. All are doing fine except a pair of snakes. "What's the problem?" says Noah. "Cut down some trees and let us live there", say the snakes. Noah follows their advice. Several more weeks pass. Noah checks on the snakes again. Lots of little snakes, everybody is happy. Noah asks, "Want to tell me how the trees helped?" "Certainly", say the snakes. "We're adders, and we need logs to multiply."
----------------
Theorem: All horses have an infinite number of legs.

Proof (by intimidation):

Everyone would agree that all horses have an even number of legs. It is also well-known that horses have forelegs in front and two legs in back. 4 + 2 = 6 legs, which is certainly an odd number of legs for a horse to have! Now the only number that is both even and odd is infinity; therefore all horses have an infinite number of legs.

However, suppose that there is a horse somewhere that does not have an infinite number of legs. Well, that would be a horse of a different color; and by the Lemma, it doesn't exist.
QED

Extreme Sports

The Today Show had a story about an extreme sport in England where people are strapped in a huge plastic ball and then rolled down hills! For other extrema sports you have bungee jumping, or space jumping or... I have skied down glaciers.

What extreme sports has everyone else tried?

Favorite Overstock Item

What purchase item do you overstock on the most? In other words, what item that you buy at the store would you want to definitely not want to run out of? Mine is toilet paper. I way overstock on toilet paper!

2007 Thanksgiving

Well, we have had a Nancy Drew Thanksgiving and Gravity's 46 birthday! Thanksgiving we played a Nancy Drew game, White Wolf of Icicle Creek, for hours and finished it Friday morning. Then late yesterday, we began the Nancy Drew game, Danger By Design. We played it again for a few hours tonight during Gravity's B-day celebration. These games are so much fun; and it adds to the game to do them as a family because of all of the discussion and jokes!

Food on Thanksgiving was courtesy of Ukrop's so it was so easy and yummy at the same time. It has been fabulous to not drive much of anywhere, too. Esh might try driving the trip to UVA next week for the first time.

Geometric Transformations

Esh found a really cool video on geometric transformations. An especially neat part of the video is the transformations on the surface of a sphere, which is something I have been investigating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX3VmDgiFnY

Enjoy!!

Senses

Of the five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell), how would you rank them going from most important to you as number one to least important as number 5?

Blessing and A Curse

On the Today Show there was a story about Internet safety where a girl commited suicide because of an Internet relationship that was never real. The girl's parents stressed that no one should use to Internet to establish relationships unless you know there is a real person on the other side.

My favorite blog is one where a mother with seven children uses wit to relay various occurrances in the household. I also have realized that it could all be fake and I take it as such. It is entertainment. It would never occur to me that I should form any kind of relationship with her ever. She is a stranger that lives hundreds of miles away.

Relationships are meant to be in person with real people. Unless someone has actually met the person and their children shown on a web site or blog so they know it is real, everyone on the Internet should assume that it is all smoke and mirrors. Photos can be easily obtained and a blog constructed. Only the very naive would assume that any kind of relationship is possible with strangers (and that is exactly who everyone is on the Web). I feel so sorry for the parents of the girl and it takes such courage to share their story with everyone so people will use caution with the web.

Besides, the FBI is EVERYWHERE and spying on all of us!!

WSJ Catch Up

I think I have stated before that I love the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). However, I read it in bulk; about one to two weeks at a time. So today was cathc-up day.

* Microcosmos: A new book is out that sound really interesting. It is primarily photos of things enormously enlarged. Like the nylon in women's stockings, or blood vessels, etc. Titled Microcosmos by Brandon Boll. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781554072378&itm=1

* China: Yes, China yet again. In China, they do brain surgery even for conditions such as depression! Bone chilling to me -- major yuck!

* Coral Reefs: As coral reefs are dwindling due to pollutants, and over harvesting, some locations are putting man-made concrete balls in the areas where the reefs used to be in order to encourage new reef growth. Hmmm....

* Lexus: Lexus has developed a new hybrid car. It sells for $100,000. Think I'll skip that one.

Parking (redux(redux))

So, when you spot severally equally likely parking spots. Would you tend to choose the one on the left or right?

Get in your Astin Martin and click Play as you park.


Ah. I love the mind. How it interprets questions. I left the question too open ended (by accident). So now there are two.

My original thought is the first image. But the new exciting one s are the second and third images.



What would your answer be for all three situations?

Occupation

This morning a guest on The Today Show said that her occupation was a blogger.

What am I missing here?

Leno's Headliners

Every Monday, Jay Leno has a joke session called '."Headliners". These are actual published "funnies".

• "Teach Engish As A Second Language"
• "The ABC's of Sucess"
• "Legless Meth Lab Suspect On The Run"
• "Homeless Man Under House Arrest"
• "Dead Man Remains Dead"
• "Scientists Predict Doom But Are Optimistic About It"
• "Two Men Sentenced Possessing Forearms"
• "Half Price Sale...You Save 25%"
• "House For Sale at 1.8 Million Dollars....Save $5 With This Ad"
• "Kallie's Helpful Hints...Hanging Yourself Can Be Painful So Get a Pro To Do It"
• "St. Patrick's Weekend Specials...Lobster Tail; Surf and Turd"
• "Air Force To Test Uniforms...New Camouflage Really Stands Out"
• City Council Runs Out of Time To Discuss Shorter Meetings"
• "Supreme Court Ponders Whether Innocent Person Can Be Executed"
• "Bryan Middle School reported the theft of an American flag...It can be described as red, white and blue."
• Maintenance Instructions for a light..."Light bulb Recommended"

Favorite Family Joke

A duck walked into a grocery store and went up to the counter.

"Do you have any duck food?" asked the duck.

"No. " answered the store employee.

The next day the duck went to the store again.

"Do you have any duck food?" again asked the duck.

"No" answered the store employee once again.

The following day, the duck returned to the grocery store.

"Do you have any duck food?'

"No." answered the employee with an annoyed tone. "And if you ask again, I'll nail your feet to the floor!"

The following day, the duck returned yet another time.

"Do you have any nails?"

"No." answered the employee.

"Do you have any duck food?"

What Is It About A Name

What is it about a name? Stacy and Lacy, both with a husband's name of Peterson? Coincidence or another distant relative like Barak O'Bama and VP Cheney? Hmmm. [This is when the Twilight Zone music cuts in.]

Disposal

After dropping a tiny tid bit of dog food down the disposal, I turned it and was greeted by a loud, sink vibrating grumble along with a what-was-that moment.

Names of Things

Where do some names come from? Like "honeydew". To me the taste has nothing to do with honey; and "dew"? Does anyone else have any "quandary" names they can think of?

Ring Tone

So everyone, what ring tome do you use on your cell phone?

Big Bang Or Not?

I read the following on http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/07-08/nov10.html.

The Big Bang theory of the origin of our universe is widely accepted by the physics community. The idea that our universe started out as some infinitesimally small point, which expanded out to what we see today, makes a lot of sense. Except for one small thing. That initial point, called a singularity by physicists, is a physical impossibility. According to the models we have today, the temperature of the universe at that first moment would have had to be infinite, which mathematically makes no sense. Also, the singularity doesn't do a good job of explaining where all the matter and energy we see today in the universe came from. So, physicists are increasingly starting to look at other branches of physics to see what they can do to replace the singularity with a more reasonable proposition, one which can actually be explained by existing science.

What do you think?

October Dream in November

So last night I dreamt that I was on a beach on the west coast. As I walked, I saw people dressed differently than our current time period and I began to wonder how I had time traveled. Had I traveled into the past or into the future?

As I walked farther up the beach, I began to see broken plastic furniture. I realized that I had gone into the future. I met some people that I knew (in the dream only) and they had a few its of broken plastic furniture. The one wooden chair they had was a prized possession. We walked away from the beach and came to a hotel with trees in front. The [people I was with oohed and aahed over the trees as there had been a terrible drought. When we went inside, it was sparsely decorated and in need of repair. When we went to our room, all of the sliding glass doors were off of their tracks and all were broken so there was no way to keep anyone out of the apartment.

When I started to look for the bathroom I realized it was probably time to wake up and go to the bathroom in the real world! Weird dream.

China

I found this on one of my favorite blogs. http://www.inthetrenchesofmotherhood.com/

"According to the article at CNN, just last month alone 69,000 toys made in China were recalled.

It’s enough to want to give your child a block of wood and tell them to whittle their own toys. "

I love it!

Living Blogs

As you can all probably tell, I am really getting into changing the look of the blog periodically. It is like gardening; you can just periodically change it for fun!

Commercial

Well, seeing as how we've been on this list binge, I figured, well, when in Rome, blog about lists. Recently, I've been thinking about good commercials, as in TV ads. What are your favorites, your "Top 5" for these advertisements. Mine are:

• The Nationwide commercial with the singing and dancing neighborhood, "Oh what a wonderful morning," etc, when a tree branch falls on the guy's car.
• The Geico commercial in which a duck takes his bill off to reveal one of diminished size, claiming he now has a "smaller bill."
• The commercial in which a father and son go to Norway to celebrate their heritage, going across the country. Eventually, the go to the national archives of Norway, and find out that they are Swedish.
• The old, old Fig Newtons commercial, where there's a guy singing "Ooey, gooey rich and chewy inside; tender, cakey golden flaky outside," etc.
• And last, but definitely not least, the commercial for Crispy M&Ms in which a guy is talking with the orange M&M character, who, after the guy mentions he's hungry, drops to the ground, proclaiming, "Can't eat a candy that fell on the floor."

Quality Products

In a drawer upstairs is a laptop that is probably 8 to 10 years old. It was my first one. The battery no longer holds a charge and it is slow. The capacity of the hard drive is very limited compared to current laptops; but, if I plug it in, it still works.

The laptop I got after that one lasted about two years. Then the keys began to malfunction, AOL stopped working and periodically the screen would slowly dim to black...for no reason.

So Esh and I got new laptops in September. They are not enormously powerful machines, but they are under five pounds so both can go together in a laptop case and be carried around campus by me (keep in mind I am 55 years old so arm strenght is... well.... not what it used to be).

So, we are only talking about two months old...actually less than to months old...and the hard drive has crashed. It will not go past the BIOS screen. No access to JAVA programs or Powerpoint presentations or various Word documents for Esh's school. And, keep in mind, the laptop is TWO months old.

Hmmmm. Another China conspiracy thing? Maybe lead in the microchips?

List of Lists

What is your favorite list? There are lists of tallest mountains, and lists of favorite recipes. How about the list of Best Movies or Best colleges. So what is you favorite list or the list that you watch the most closely? And why does this list interest you?

McGregor Silence Shattered

McGregor Reading room is a dark wood, old books kind of room with lots of comfy chairs and ottomans. It is a room of deep silence that envelopes everyone sitting within its walls. Whenever you hear "You've Got mail" in the background, even if it is quiet, it is jarring -- it is truly that quiet.

So this morning someone must have been drilling into the floor on the level above this room. It was SO loud that all of us instantly looked up and just stared at each other as if "Doesn't-that-person-who-is-doing-the-drilling-understand-that-this-wonderful-bastion-of-peace-and-quiet-is-down-here?" type of stare. Wow...such a shock...noise....life outside of this room.....

Only One Hour

What could the government possibly be thinking with moving the date of time change? What are the people on the other planets wondering about the nuts on the third rock from the sun? Our government is big and powerful but to mess with the time that the sun rises and sets is a bit much!

Dead End

Java

What is it about coffee that makes Gravity Well keep connecting it with clear thinking. I adore my cup of Jo every morning; but is it the steam, wafting around my face and clearing my sinuses. Or is it the warmth of the cup on my hands. Or is it truly the caffeine?

What is it about coffee that is so great in the morning?

Trick Or Treaters

This year has been a busy one at the front door! As our house is set back quite a distance from the road and most of the houses are far apart from each other, sometimes the kids do not want to go the distance to our door. Maybe it is the warm weather but we have had one prisoner, two witches (even one modern one), Darth Vader, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, a Nerd, two princesses, two run-aways, a salt and a pepper shaker, and a ninja so far. We are handing out Snickers, Skittles, Starbursts, and one Krackel (leftover after we ravaged one package of candy earlier). Our cat, Mark Twain, has been great. He is a big black cat and has been going up to the door, standing on his haunches, stretching full length to greet the visitors.

Dark Energy

One of the physicists on the Cosmic Variance blog is giving a talk on Halloween about Dark Energy at SLAC. In the write-up on the blog the author states: "...intended for a general audience with no particular knowledge of the contents of the Universe." Well, count me in. How much do we know about the Universe anyway? Our knowledge is constantly shifting and changing. The minute we think we know it all, that's when we discover something else, and we begin to realize that the more we know, the more we realize how much more there is to know!

Slow

It is so nice of society to tell people that slow children are in an area playing. I guess it is not a surprise that these children then grow up to be slow men and that they work. Nor is it much of a shock that these slow men drive slow trunks that enter roads. But why do they put it all on road signs?

Science Blog

I found a great science blog via an article in CalTech's magazine.

http://www.scienceblogs.com/channel/life-science/

The article also mentioned the following blog written by physicists.

http://cosmicvariance.com/

Isn't the blogosphere fun?

Simple Math

If people do not believe that mathematics is simple,it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.

JOHN VON NEUMAN

Plane Geometry

Let's give ourselves a simple problem. We have two lines on a plane and they never intersect. Are they parallel?

I'm not looking for a solution but here is my quandry. We first make the assumption that they are on a plane. The Plane is made up of parallel lines. How do we know that? In other words, isn't it a circular problem. Don't you have to have lines that are "nowhere" first. Prove the original problem and then use that to construct a plane, and then have problems that refer to a plane?

Because if I make the assumption I'm on a plane, I'm already making assumptions about lines.

Am I making any sense or have I just not drunk enough coffee yet?

(Note: I am not a geometer, don't play one on TV and did not sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.)

Favorite 888 things to do

2010

We are doing list and it is great fun!

So...five things you would like to do in your life before the year 2010!

The Future of Therapy

I can see it now. No receptionist, no chairs, not even making appointments. The future of therapy is in blogging. You can put all of your thoughts and feelings down when you want to, at any time of the day. You can even do it in complete privacy, like a locked diary, with only you getting access to the blog. You can read everything later to assess where you have been and use this to determine where you are going. You can even role-play as it is all on the Internet (but the FBI might be watching...). And it is all free of charge! The future of therapy.

Whacko Temps

Our lows are higher than our average highs. The highs are two months behind with no end in sight. And everything dry as a bone. At least the lows are not higher than the highs!

Favorite 5

What are your five favorite movies?

Esh's top five are: Lord of the Rings trilogy, original Star Wars trilogy, 2001, A Space Odyssey, House of Flying Daggers, and Being There.

October's favorite five: The Fifth Element, A River Runs Through It, Sneakers, Forrest Gump, and House of Flying Daggers.

Gravity's fave-five are : Das Boot, Terminator 2, A Bridge Too Far, Sneakers, and The Fifth Element.

Spinning Lady

This is cool. I see her spinning counter-clockwise. What do you see?

http://www.switched.com/2007/10/15/the-trippiest-optical-illusions-on-the-net/

Dimensions

If a point has no dimensions yet a line, one dimension, can contain an infinite number of points, then does zero + zero + zero.... = 1? And does it make sense that lines that are one-dimensional would intersect at a point that has no dimension?

Dream state

I had a dream (no! not Martin Luther King), and in my dream I dreamt that I dreamt that I had a certain dream before, which I had not.

So it was not a dream I had had before but a dream where I dreamt I had had a certain dream before.

That was a weird new one for me.

Anybody else? Again, not the same dream, but dreaming you had a certain dream as some other dream before; but you never the other dream before.

Sound confusing? You should be the one trying to explain it.

By the way does the number 42 sound familiar to anyone (odd question-I know)?

1984

Wednesday evening we all went to see a stage adaptation of George Orwell's book, 1984. It was at University of Richmond. Not a play for conservative people as one woman partially undresses (you see her naked back only), the acting, stage set, and sound effects were superb. Many of the actors were from various TV shows and movies and the play had been directed by Tim Robbins. Adapting the book to the stage meant a rather "stilted" script. Passages that read okay in the book lead to antiquated lines embedded in a contemporary play. It was an overall worthwhile experience. Interesting to see actors we had just seen in episodes of Monk and Heroes live on stage. We are planning on going back for MacBeth in November.

Favorite Tree

On the way to Charlottesville, while admiring the increasing yellows and oranges, I thought about my favorite tree. My favorite tree types are maples. I love the shape of the leaves and the variety of colors that they turn in the fall. Their overall pear-shape is very pleasing to me. Their trunks are smooth and a wonderful shape of warm gray. As a child, I would take the seed pods that they produce in the spring , separate the ends and attach it to the end of my nose. Yum to the syrup they give us for our pancakes and waffles and hot oatmeal! They make absolutely wonderful Bonsai.

What is your favorite tree? And then go find one of them and give it a hug!

Old TV Shows

Some years ago, we started to purchase old TV shows and watch them. I believe that it began with a British series called "The Prisoner" and lately, we have watched "The Muppet Show". The shows have survived the years and are now on DVD.

"The Prisoner" was a great early sci-fi show that was made at about the same time as "The Avengers". British spies are held captive in this village where everyone is assigned a number that matches their apartment number. Two things have stuck in my mind since I watched this show as a teenager. The first is that if any of the spies try to leave the village, a gigantic bubble floats out from somewhere(???) and swallows them up. They awake back in their assigned apartment. The other thing I remembered over the years is a life-size chess set. The prisoners are assigned chess piece positions. The two players sit in tall chairs (like they use in Wimbledon tennis matches for the primary judges) and tell the pieces where to move with each play.

"The Avengers" is an old black and white, and later color, British sci-fi show. The plots were usually extremely weird and the women could defend themselves with martial arts. The female star also wore cool black leather outfits!

"The Muppet Show" is absolutely delightful! With creatures that come in all different colors and species, Jim Henson's sense of humor is one of a kind. Some examples are: "Kermit, Kermit I have a wire for you." "Okay, hand it to me." And Fozie the bear hands Kermit the frog some wire. Hahahaha! "Kermit, Kermit. I have a letter for you." "Okay. Give it to me so I can read it." And Fozie hands Kermit a large green capital "R". Love it!

"Northern Exposure" is a show about a NY doctor who ends up living in a small Alaskan town right after graduating medical school. Rich characterization and culture clashes fill this show. We have enjoyed all six seasons completely. Wonderfully funny show.

We also have "The Best of Laugh-In" with an incredibly young Goldie Hawn in the cast. The first season of "Picket Fences" has been released and we have finished it. Set in a small Wisconsin town, the program deals with a variety of social issues often with great humor and staunch opinions. "Soap" is a humorous take-off on soap operas!

Old programs are great; and even our youngest family member, who is seeing them for the first time, enjoys discovering the various reasons why someone somewhere decided that the show was worth releasing on DVD.

The Internet

It is truly amazing how dependent we have become in our household on the Internet. I know because our DSL is having problems! We can log onto the DSL and usually onto the Internet only to be kicked off minutes later. At least we do not have the old modem sounds accompanying the experience...... "@#####$%$#@@@$^^&&*__))**^&^%*("

Squirrels Everywhere

As we left the nieghborhood yesterday, squirrels kept running out in the road. All of them made their trips safely but they were truly everywhere. Is it because of the drought? Or are they sensing a rough winter ahead?

Dust

Only a few hours after dusting there seems to be a layer on everything again. Do we have more dust than ages ago?

As I drive down the highway, you can see trees react every time a semi-truck goes by them. The trees sway in the wind created by the trucks. This has to create more dust in the air. Or how about the man in the yard with the leaf blower who is surrounded by a cloud of dust as he works? Air conditioning and central heat constantly stir the air so that dust remains suspended. Could it be that when we think we are getting the dusty layers up there is still tons more dust waiting in the air of our homes; waiting to settle on the stack of books or the mantle?

Then I think of horses cantering down the roads of yesterday and...maybe we have less dust. Anyway, I think I will sneeze at all of these thoughts of dust!

Smells

With the touch of fall in the air, it was time yesterday for autumnal foods to begin. I made pot roast. When GW came in from outside, he said, "You can smell the pot roast all the way outside! It smells great."

What is it about some smells? They can get your saliva flowing so that you can almost taste the food. For awhile, both GW and I lived in the same area of the city although we did not know each other at that time. There was both a Wonder Bread factory and an FFV cookie factory nearby. The smells would waft across the atmosphere, assail my nostrils and make me run out and buy Hostess cup cakes! Every time they baked anything, I would gain a pound. I think the smell of something with rich chocolatey goodness gets me the most!

Apples in Fall

Right now, I just can't wait to eat an apple. I don't know why, but I'm not the only person to have this craving right now, and we always get it in Fall. Why? What makes apples seem so delicious compared to anything else in Autumn? My personal theory is that apples are a lot like Fall itself. They are moist, yet crispy and refreshing, and cool you down. Any thoughts?

Why Fall Colors?

The change in the color of the leaves at the top of the trees along highway was more pronounced today. In particular, the maples are beginning to start their rainbow of change along the very tops of the trees. Seeing this annual alteration of of the foliage of my favorite plants made me remember back to the Botany class that I took about six years ago as to why the leaves change color.

When the leaves are created, not only chloroplasts filled with chlorophyll genersting mechanisms are formed, but chromoplasts are also formed. The chromoplasts range in color from gold to red with the extent of how much of each color exists being dependent on the species of plant. Chromoplasts exist at the same time that the chloroplasts keep begin producing chlorophyll, a bluish green substance. The two sets of "plasts" create the final leaf color seen during the summer. As chlorophyll needs to be produced by the leaves and is not automatically present, the early, new spring leaves are more of a yellow-green due to the chloroplasts being more prominent.

As winter approaches and the trees begin to become dormant, the leaves stop producing chlorophyll. The chlorophyll that is already in the leaf gets used up by photosynthesis. The green disappears and what is left are the chromoplasts giving the tree its brilliant autumnal colors.

Too Old? ROFL

The other day when my son and I saw a very funny ad on TV I said "OhEmGe. That was SO funny." I looked at my son and saw a shocked and troubled expression on his face.

"What's wrong?"
"You're too....old to say OMG," he said.

Too old? ROFL. I was five when I collected money for UNICEF. I was eight when I visited the UN building and did a report on LASERs. At sixteen, I took the SAT for the first time. As I got older I found out about the FBI, CIA and the KGB. At 22 I went to work at IBM. AT 28 I said TGIF once a week and had to have work reports finished ASAP so that we CYA'd. People invited me places and I had to RSVP. I have been JPEG files for years! LOL. Never too old.

AIUI, BTDTGTTSAWIO. YOYO. TTYL.

Dark

So what is it about the word Dark that makes it bad, evil or nefarious? Star Wars was on TV the other day and Obi Wan says "that was before the Dark times". Referring to being under the Dark Lord Darth Vader. In Harry Potter they refer to the days of Voldemort as very Dark Times. Voldemort is of course a Dark Wizard and master of the Dark arts. In Lord of the Rings a Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the Ring, and thus ensure the destruction of the Dark Lord Sauron.

We even talk about being in a dark place when depressed.

So what is it bewtween light and dark with good and bad?

Switching of the Magnetic Poles

Scientists have known for awhile that the magnetic poles move and that they periodically actually switch. The magnetic pole actually moves from being in the North to the South. Lately, there has been mounting evidence that the poles may be in the process of switching right now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_declination
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

Since childhood when I read about this phenomena in an issue of National Geographic, there have been many questions in my mind..

Will the reversal be slow or fast? Will the Earth's magnetic field disappear during the process?

How will the reversal affect life on earth such as bird migrations that rely on the poles for navigating? Most of our bodies are composed of water which is polar and responds mildly to a magnetic field. Without our current levels of technology would we still be able to detect the reversal when it occurs?

Could the past reversals be responsible for some of the mass extinctions? Could it be responsible for global warming and global freezes?

Autumnal Poems

A canopy of gold and orange,
Held by thick dark trunks.
These ancient trees admired by many,
Still presenting the show so tall.
These trees stand grand,
Majestic still, through hundreds of years of fall.
Children running, playing, jumping,
Colonial times till now.
These beauties have seen it all you see,
What secrets they may hold.
The myriad of colors together ,
A canvas to behold.
God has created this for us all to see,
Thankful our hearts should be.
My eyes just melt,as does my heart,
When seeing red, orange, and gold.
I wait all year for this great show,
Hoping to be able still , to see it when I'm old!!!!!

serenity patience
--------------------------------
Fresh air, crispness, colors flow
Calming silences. Hints of Cool breezes
Fires burn warming the soul

gravity well

Blood Diamond

Movie:
Some Background:
The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance the conflicts.

Set in the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1999, the film shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces.The film portrays many of the atrocities including rebels cutting off people's hands to stop them from voting in upcoming elections.

Powerful movie. Disturbing but eye opening. It even crept into my dreams during the night. I think many people should watch this (not kids) and then think twice before buying diamonds.

I cannot believe that this type of activity is solely for diamonds. Gold, oil, anything rare or finite in existence must have a similar story behind it.

A blood diamond (also called a conflict diamond, dirty diamond or a war diamond) is a diamond mined in a war zone and sold, usually clandestinely, in order to finance an insurgency, invading army's war efforts, or supporting a warlord's activity.

For more information visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamonds

Greenland Melting

Earlier today on the Today show, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20904180/, there was an article on the fact that Greenland is melting. This will make a huge difference to the entire world as the ice is fresh water that is melting into the salty oceans.

The show gave no reason ofr the melting. How much do you think humans are contributing to this global warming event?

EPGY OHS Clubs

Last night all of us sat around the TV while OHS had a general assembly focused on attendance policies, the student government, and the clubs they will be having this year.

The OHS clubs this year have enormous variety. They range from literary avenues such as the newsletter, yearbook and Literary Guild to various math and science clubs to philosophy club to music club where the students will play together using special software to a culinary club where recipes are shared and tried. The students and teachers sponsoring the clubs spoke. H in London spoke about the music club, culinary club, and several of the literary clubs. E in Taiwan spoke about the engineering club. M in Canada spoke about the student government and some of the literary clubs. H must have been up at midnight and E was talking to the group at 7 in the morning! Truly wonderful experience for all of us.

They also talked about inviting famous people to talk to the clubs such as philosophers and scientists. This will be possible as the clubs are online.

Esh is thinking of joining the engineering club, philosophy club, Google Earth club, and the astrophysics club. Esh is also going to try to start an RPG club and a language club. Should be fun with kids from around the world.

Democracy Question

So tonight, a question was posed by my DFRL (Democracy, Freedom and Rule of Law) teacher. First I'd like to give a bit of background on this class, the main point being that it is one of my EPGY Online High School classes. In this class, we essentially discuss important philosophical points tied to government. This particular discussion stemmed from some quotes the teacher provided to us.
Now, what you've been waiting for: the question. Essentially, it's, "Is it better for a person, as part of exercising their right and duty to vote, to vote in favor of their own personal interests or for what they believe to be the good of the people?" Just some food for thought (and debate).

Vote On Fonts

Blogger has sevral fonts available. Please vote on your favorite -- including GW and Esh.

1. There is this font - Arial.

2. There is this font - Courier.

3.There is this font - Georgia.

4. There is this font - Lucinda Grande

5. There is this font - Times

6. There is this font - Trebuchet

7. There is this font - Verdana

8. There is this font - Webdings

So please cast your vote in the comments section! Thanks for your help.

UVA Cafeteria

UVA has a cafeteria that I find interesting as it is very different from the one I had at college. In addition to the typical cafeteria hot selections, there are concessions like Pizza Hut and Chik Fillet. My favorite area has salads, yogurts, sandwiches and fresh fruits. I had a great yogurt drink today for the first time. It was very refreshing. There is also a literally huge area for drinks of all kinds -- chilled Starbucks drinks, soft drinks, bottled water, fruit drinks, and smoothies. Teachers and students both eat in the cafeteria; and there is seating both inside and outside.

We have made it through four of the Harry Potter books on tape already; and Ian's car that we got new in March already has 9200 miles on it! The trip along 64 and 288 is a truly beautiful one. The trees are just beginning to show signs of autumnal color. Esh and I talked about what it must have been like when the first Europeans landed on the shores of Virginia. Once they got inland and away from the mosquitoes, Virginia's verdancy must have seemes overwhelmingly beautiful. I love the Indians solution to mosquitoes -- bear fat all over their bodies!

Favorite Numbers

During this past summer's vacation, we had a discussion about favorite numbers. Mine is pi. I like it's shape -- sort of Stonehenge-ish. When I think of pi I think of roundness and harmony. I like thinking about curved surfaces. Two parallel lines can intersect on a curve. Triangles placed on a curve have more than 180 degrees when their angles are added together! Pi is great.

Gravity Well's favorite number is square root of two. It fascinates him that we can travel simply 1 unit (rational number) to the right, 1 unit up (rational number) but to go straight back to our starting point (Pythagorean theorem) we have to travel an irrational number of units 1.41421...

Which can be represented as,

....
Which is wonderfully similar to another favorite of Gravity Well's, PHI=1.618... (golden ratio)

Which can be represented as,

Also, approaches 2 if you keep going... And shows up a lot in Trigonometry.

....

Esh's favorite number is e. It describes many things in the mathematical world, from Euler's identity to continually compounded interest. And in calculus, the derivative of e^x is e^x, and the derivative of ln(x) is 1/x. So simple, but so elegant.

UVA Trips

UVA was a good idea. Esh has a classmate in his Linear Algebra class from the CTY Princeton session this summer; and he sees people he knows almost every day. today, we talked with a friend who graduated from Maggie Walker Governor's school last year.

The weather in Charlottesville was gorgeous today so I read outside. Ants...I think I still have a bunch on me. But I read some of my math class material and enjoyed the sun.

I just MapQuested our daily trip and it is 71+ miles one way. Wow. Already time for an oil change!

This is the first post on what will probably grow to be many. We are a chatty, creative family