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WEEK 14 2007

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Saturday 7 April 2007

Saturday - On Friday I broke my low chloresterol diet by having a big chili cheeseburger from Toms. Big mistake. I was feeling nauseous late into Friday night and most of today. Bah. It seems like this has happened before - and I've only been there once or twice.

On the good side, it gave me an excuse to lay about and watch a lot of stuff on the TIVO.



Amazing Facts about Fred Thompson:
  1. Fred Thompson has on multiple occasions pronounced "nuclear" correctly.
  2. Fred Thompson has blasted more people in the face with a shotgun than even Dick Cheney.
  3. The masked executioner of Saddam Hussein: Fred Thompson.
  4. Not only does Fred Thompson cut taxes, he cuts tax collectors.
  5. The reason Fred Thompson didn't want to stay in the Senate for long is because all the extra scrutiny kept him from doing his favorite hobby: Prowling the streets at night killing drug dealers.
  6. Every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson.
  7. Fred Thompson's gaze can kill small animals.
  8. Fred Thompson once ended a filibuster by ripping out a Senator's heart and showing it to him before he died.
[via IMAO]

Amazing facts about Chuck Norris:

  1. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
  2. Chuck Norris counted to infinity—twice.
  3. The chief export of Chuck Norris is Pain.
  4. Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
  5. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
  6. Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.
  7. When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
[via Martial Development]

Amazing facts about Leonhard Euler:

  1. Euler never runs out of numbers. Numbers run out of Euler.
  2. Euler didn't have to prove the Basel problem. He stared it down and it proved itself.
  3. Euler can write out all the digits of e. And pi. At the same time. He can also write out the digits of i, it just takes a little longer.
  4. Euler has walked the Königsberg bridges without crossing the same bridge twice.
  5. Chuck Norris can divide by zero. Euler can divide zero by zero.

[via SecondBreakfast ] 

Friday 6 April 2007

Friday - not a lot to say, keeping busy.

Someone gave loaned me a beer making kit. I think perhaps his wife didn't care for the hobby, though he claimed to be working on producing ethanol for the families car.

Anyway, I need to get it out of my cars trunk, read the directions, and try it out. There is even a little bran grain, or mash, whatever they call it. Unfortunately some mice got into the grain, so we're not sure it's usable. He lives in Wrightwood and since mice in the California mountains often have bubonic plague we're thinking discretion might be the better part of valor.

It does, however, give me a nice name for my first batch: Black Death. ( Guess it'll have to be a dark beer... )

Update: There is a Black Death Stout already.

Thursday 5 April  2007

Thursday - working in the hangar a lot, getting ready for a test. It is a nice change from working at the keyboard.

A bit more on the Antikythera Mechanism, with lots of pictures, diagrams and links. Interesting. There is also a link at the page to a book that discusses the history of the N-body problem, though the Amazon reviewers are not particularly kind to it (the book). [via Impearls]

Wednesday 4 April 2007

Wednesday - back to work.

Funny thing. You'll read one book , then notice a connecting reference. For example:

Tuesday 3 April 2007

Tuesday - not a lot to say. I stayed rather late in the afternoon, and didn't get into Lancaster until late. Not a bad drive though.

Book #25, on the drive down, was Thomas Jefferson, by Joyce Appleby. It is another in the American Presidents Series.

I didn't care for it much. For one thing it was essentially about his Presidency, rather than Jefferson's entire career and life. For another it was fawned over the Republicans ( not the Republican party of today, but the opposition to the Federalists ) and demonized the Federalists. Thirdly it belabored, endlessly, that Jefferson only saw white men as deserving of the entire citizens franchise, not blacks, women, Indians, etc. (We got the idea the first ten times you mentioned it, Joyce.)  And finally it whitewashed, or completely ignored, many of Jefferson's very real faults, faults that had a direct bearing on his presidency.

On the other hand I was unaware that J had gone through periods when he was not considered a great president. The Jefferson memorial in Washington D.C. was only built in the early 1900's, for example.

Anyway, not recommended.

 Monday 2 April 2007

Monday - Got up late, took the dog for a walk, and generally lazed about.

Sunday 1 April 2006

Sunday - Up at Dads. I went sailing with my brother, on the Sacramento river.

It's different - unlike SF Bay there is a continual change in the wind, both in direction and intensity, due to the Carquinez Straits to the west, and the bluffs along the SE aspect. It was a great sail - we headed upriver with the slackening flood tide and came back down with the beginning of the ebb. One is always tacking or gybing on the river, none of the ten minute straight line sailing that the bay offered up. The wind was brisk - we took down the jib on the way home, had a reef in the main - and were still occasionally heeled over to 20 degrees. All in all a very nice day!

Picture of the Week
Apple Blossom and Bee's Posterior

Photo Notes: Apple Blossoms and Bee.

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