The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind

I put one of my presents to good use this morning

2009-12-26T10:39:00.001-05:00

I got a 10-piece set of Farberware cookware for Christmas from my mother and grandmother. It has two skillets, two saucepans, a dutch oven, stainless steel with glass lids for everything except the small skillet, and a cookie sheet. Much better than the 1.5 quart saucepan I had to cook with. :) For so long I didn't have a working stove (I lived in an apartment where the landlord brought in ones that caught on fire and another apartment had one that put out a lot of carbon monoxide when I cooked). I got into the habit of just microwaving almost everything. I had one enameled pan the size of a dutch oven for years that had been given to me by someone (it had been in his family for quite some time) and it finally gave out last year when a hole formed. Nothing like a peeing pot to ruin your day. So the rare times I've made macaroni and cheese or similar things, I've had to use a tiny saucepan, which works, barely.

No more. I made some scrambled eggs for breakfast and was quite happy. But the best thing of all is with these, I can actually cook. I'm not a great one, but I have lots of cookbooks and can follow a recipe. So I'm excited.

I never really wrote about my visit home. It was kind of mixed. My stepfather was stressed over getting the house ready for Christmas the next day, so he left and went to his mom's while we ate fish and chips. My mom visited awhile and then he came to pick her up and they went home to clean. I visited with my grandmother for about four hours before they came to pick me up, which wasn't bad, but I would have liked to have spent some more time with my mother as well. I see her just a few times a year and she usually has to go to work or something like that. They could have cleaned after I left; I'd have even left earlier if it would have helped. So that was a little disappointing. I was only able to drop off gifts at the end, so I didn't get to see them opened. My mother did receive the cameo with mother and child that I'd ordered online and had worn it that day, quite pleased with it. I think I chose well. I'd given John a gift certificate to Best Buy and my mom a calendar just in case she didn't receive her gift, so she'd have something to unwrap. My grandmother was the sticky one. What do you give an 85-year-old woman who doesn't go out shopping a lot (hence gift cards are out) who has just about everything under the sun? I wound up giving her a gift set with cheese and mustard with a marble cheese cutter. I hope she likes it, but I wasn't particularly satisfied with that one. I thought about getting her a gift certificate to the grocery, since her medicines are costly, but that seemed a little too impersonal.

I don't know if my grandmother has really changed that much from Thanksgiving of if I were seeing her on an off day. Perhaps the knowledge of the cancer is colouring my impressions, but she seemed shrunken into herself and not feeling particularly well. But we had a nice visit, and she showed me exactly how to make creamed peas, one of my favourites. I knew in theory, but hadn't actually been shown. She did try to cook me a hamburger and I had to nix that (it's been 18 years since I've had beef, but she still feel obligated to offer me meat). But the peas were quite nice. Anyway, that was Christmas at the family's. Christmas is such a stressed time in the year, I'm surprised anyone can maintain the spirit. But I was laid back and just tried to go with the flow, and I had a pretty nice day.

Yesterday I overslept and so came in late to work (but they were pretty slow, so that was okay with my shift leader; she was just worried about me when she called). We were relatively steady. People expressed sympathy for us working on Christmas and were apologetic that they were taking advantage of it. Beer, milk, cigarettes, and batteries were the main purchases. We don't carry eggs or the like, so we sent them to Walgreens, the only other place I know of that was open, for those. Some people balked at the price of batteries or fruit. Well, the batteries were probably cheaper at Walgreens, but they don't carry fruit. I really don't understand how people can be surprised at convenient store prices when they obviously were the ones that didn't plan ahead when the other stores were open. And because we're right in front of Krogers, and people couldn't get anyone there to answer, they called us to see if they were open. No, they weren't, not even for a little while. Are you sure? I used to work for Kroger's. It's the only day of the year they shut down all day. Trust me, there's not a car in the lot. I dealt with a lot of incredulity that there weren't more places open on Christmas for their convenience. The only other place I saw open was the Chinese restaurant up the way from us, one of the only reasons in the past I've been able to eat on Christmas. As my Jewish friend puts it, Jews tend to eat Chinese on Christmas because they're the only restaurants open. :)

It was hard to remember to wish people a happy holiday (I'd had mine with my family the day before, after all, and 'Merry Christmas' doesn't come tripping easily off my tongue, although I will tell someone that if they tell me first, as they're obviously Christian in doing so. I wished others a good night or 'Happy Holdiday'.) But part of me wanted to say, don't feel bad, it's not my holiday, I'd rather the ones with little ones were home on Christmas, and I get double time. :) Needless to say, I didn't go there.

I was going to spend some time with a friend, so I left work an hour early (we were told we could if it were alright with the other person), but she wasn't feeling up to visiting after all, although she came and took me home and we talked for about an hour in the car. I think I helped her feel a little better, and I gave her a gift card from the store that she could use for gas or food, since she's had a difficult time since losing her job in May. She's been dealing with an illness, unemployment, and the loss of a four-year relationship for months now, and people keep telling her she needs to go on anti-depressants and just move on. People don't get it sometimes. People mourn in their own time, and although drugs might help (they've certainly helped me over the years), they don't solve every problem.

Last night I worked on notes and I'm going to finish up this morning. I won't have time to go to Walgreens and back as the bus runs every hour and I have to be at work at 2 (even though I went to bed at 10:30 last night, my body refused to wake up until 10 this morning). So I'm going to go do that now, and get my prescriptions on Monday, I guess.

If only there could really be peace on Earth...

2009-12-25T16:33:00.002-05:00

Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon (warning to the squeamish; there are very graphic images included of death and injury, which is part of the point...the EMI folks won't let you embed the video, but I found it very moving, and a good reminder for why we should work for peace. So in the stress of the holidays, as you're surrounded by loved ones and trying to put batteries into radio-controlled cars, remember those both far away and near for which this is an ordinary day of fear, of horror, of hunger, or isolation, and find a way to be part of the solution to the ills of the world.

Of course, there's also this (now) Christmas classic, which has done exactly that over the last 25 (25!) years:

Merry Christmas!

A Very Time Lord Christmas

2009-12-24T23:59:00.000-05:00

I have been celebrating Christmas Eve (such as I can, being a non-Christian) by watching some things I had on DVR from SciFi (or at least that's what it was until it changed it's name abominably) and BBCAmerica:

The Catherine Tate Christmas Special (in addition to being an excellent comedienne with a full range of believable characters, Catherine Tate also played Donna Noble on 'Doctor Who')

The 'Christmas Invasion' episode of 'Doctor Who' with David Tennant as the newly-regenerated 10th Doctor (looking better in pyjamas than in Christopher Eccleston's leather jacket, I must say, although that's perhaps because I'm used to his suit and coat)

I've also set the DVR for 'Doctor Who: the End of Time' (both parts, the first airing Saturday here in America, the second on January 2nd), and a new show called 'Demons', about the last of the Van Helsings. (If I have to explain that to you, then you've never read Bram Stoker or paid attention to the right kind of movies and television shows, now have you?) It looked mildly interesting and is premiering after the second instalment of the Doctor. It premiered last year in Britain and lasted for six episodes.

Gods, I should't read such stories that make me blubber

2009-12-24T21:49:00.000-05:00

but Danny Stanton, only 4, really *lived* and that's something to take in when you're 42 and still trying to figure it out.

Little boy's big legacy teaches others how to live: Danny Stanton, 4, died of a seizure 14 days before Christmas

The disarming smile of a 4-year-old boy with a buzz cut brightens an otherwise drab newspaper page, where whole lives are summed up in three inches of tiny newsprint.

Danny Stanton's death notice first makes you wonder how he died. But the eight haunting, final words make you want to know how he lived: "Please go and enjoy your life. Danny did."

Danny had a seizure disorder, always having them at night as he slept, a scary thing for any parent to deal with. But it was his personality that defined Danny, and not his illness. And for someone who was only on the planet four short years, he was a gifted young child who touched many people's lives and left them mourning but celebrating how he lived his life.

For Josh, my late lamented Call of Cthulhu character, killed by a shoggoth near the South Pole to save humanity

2009-12-24T21:30:00.000-05:00

'Shoggoths Away' by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

While on a flight one day I passed over the polar city
And curious zipped down to see what I could glean
Behold the nightmare pit that splashed with piping shapeless monsters
I packed them in the bay of my B-17

Shoggoths away
That's what I say
Shoggoths away
Hey, hey

Nobody wants my mindless iridescent protoplasms
They said to fly them out and drop them in the sea
I tried to sell them on their mimicking adaptive powers
"Why don't you get your oily tendrils offa me?"

Shoggoths away
Today's the day
Shoggoths away
Hey, hey

Yes they can form and unform countless limbs and sensing organs
Like a stomach turned inside out and salient
I picture countless plastic beasties falling from the sky and
Dropping like sacks of wet cement

Yes, this is a real song and a real band, named for a line in one of the first HP Lovecraft stories I ever read, 'The Tomb', and which does Lovecraftian-inspired music. The band is from British Columbia and has several albums available from Amazon, where you can preview their music, including the one above. Go to their official site for more.

A little late, but absolutely hilarious

2009-12-24T20:57:00.000-05:00

Thank you, David Rothman, who tweeted this:

How the Grinch Stole Chanukah by Mike Toomey (Dr Demento's Basement Tapes)

I'd never heard of Grooveshark. Here's another I found thanks to David (because he shared the Irish Rovers doing Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer):

Finnegan's Wake by the Irish Rovers

The favourite song of theirs of mine will always be The Unicorn (I loved it as a child), but the Irish part of me can't help but laugh at good old Finnegan's Wake. :)

A very geeky Christmas exercise

2009-12-24T20:13:00.000-05:00

that is fun nonetheless:

Web platform: Twitter controlled Christmas tree (from the people at Dangerous Prototypes [don't you love that name?])

Live video of the tree:
Webcam chat at Ustream

From the website, how to do it:

To choose the color of our tree, just send a color to @tweet_tree on Twitter.

@tweet_tree red, green, purple, green, p, g, r, b

@tweet_tree understands red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Send one color, or combination of colors to morph through. Separate multiple colors with a comma. Only the first letter of the color matters, r,o,y,g,b, & p, are acceptable color commands.

@tweet_tree red, *ff0000, green, *00ff00, blue, *0000ff

You can also blend custom colors using 24bit hexadecimal color codes. Here’s a color picking tool to help you choose values. Send the value as *rrggbb, where rr=red, gg=green, and bb=blue. We used the * designator because the more common # is already used for Twitter hash tags.

More on our tool-wielding cousins

2009-12-24T09:28:00.000-05:00

Chimps use cleavers and anvils as tools to chop food

But different tribes of chimps process food differently, some using tools, or different tools, and some not at all, indicating that tool use is culturally learnt. :) Nifty, eh?

Ho, ho, munch?

2009-12-24T09:23:00.000-05:00

YKWIA, do not go to this link: Spiders Decorate Webs with Ornaments. Not surprising, there are pictures of what some might term our eight-legged friends and you would term abominations. :)

Scientists have discovered that orb spiders will weave in bits of brightly-coloured or shimmering materials to draw prey into the web. They also use the petals, leaves, etc. as a means to hide better in the web.

There's another story on spiders, linked as a video on the page: 'The longer a male Australian redback spider woos the female, the better chance she won't eat him the first time they mate.'

I like that. It sounds like it could equally apply to men and women. Of course, I like spiders. I even seem to attract them, which is unfortunate, as I am surrounded by arachnophobes. :)

The presents are wrapped, I'm dressed and ready and it's almost time to go to Danville

2009-12-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

I'm even wearing both makeup AND pantyhose to be festive. :)

I tried to get a couple of refills for medications, but I need to bring in a hard copy for the Janumet (the other prescription had a refill, but the prescription had expired), and I don't necessarily want anyone to have to wait for the prescription to be filled, really, so I'll take it along just in case but if all else fails I'll get it filled Saturday, when I can get back out on the bus again (or depending on how late I get back today, I might be able to go then). We'll see. I've got a day and a half of medication left for that.

Okay, I may be Pagan

2009-12-24T04:47:00.000-05:00

but I can't resist this version of 'Silent Night' in Irish by Enya:

And for humour, there's always Graham, with whom I have some things in common, apparently:

It's not every day you see a flaming straw goat

2009-12-24T04:33:00.000-05:00

Swedish Christmas straw goat burnt

A giant straw goat - the traditional Scandinavian yuletide symbol - erected each Christmas in a Swedish town has been burned to the ground yet again.

The 13-metre (43-ft) high billy goat has been torched 24 times since it was first erected in Gavle in 1966.

The goat was set alight in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the city north of Stockholm.

City spokeswoman Anna Ostman said the incident, which is being treated as serious vandalism, was "sad".

"We had really hoped that he would survive Christmas and New Year's," she said.

The goat has survived the Christmas season just 10 times since 1966. I think the town should embrace the tradition--it has shades of a pagan sacrifice à la the Wicker Man. (And before you say, but it's Christmas, and Christian, let me just remind you that Yuletide greenery, Christmas trees, and Jolly Old Elves have nothing to do with Christianity, but are pagan remnants, as is the date of Christmas and the tradition of giving gifts. Without paganism, there would be no Christmas, or at least any Christmas fun.)

A long life lived after a mission to save people thwarted by politics

2009-12-24T04:17:00.001-05:00

In 1947, with scars from the Holocaust still raw and haunting, thousands of Jewish refugees attempted to reach Palestine to start a new life, despite British immigration rules that limited the number of Jews who could legally enter the area. The captain of one of the ships that made that trip has died in Israel.

Captain of famed Exodus refugee ship dies: 86-year-old remembered for heroic mission to save Holocaust survivors

The Exodus 1947 ship left France in July 1947 carrying more than 4,500 people — most of them Holocaust survivors and other displaced Jews — in a secret effort to reach Palestine. At the time, Britain controlled Palestine and was limiting the immigration of Jews.

The British navy seized the vessel off Palestine's shores, and after a battle on board that left three people dead, turned the ship and its passengers back to Europe, where the refugees were forced to disembark in Germany.

The ship's ordeal was widely reported worldwide, garnering sympathy for the refugees, especially because they were taken to Germany, where the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews during World War II originated.

Captain of Jewish immigrant ship the Exodus dies

From Wikipedia:

Documents released from the British archives show that after much soul-searching, the British concluded that the only place they could send the Jews was to the British-controlled zone of post-war Germany, where the Jews could be placed in camps and screened for extremists; decision to land the Jews in Germany had been made because it was the only suitable territory under British control that could handle so many people at short notice. The British diplomats and military officers knew perfectly well that sending Jews back to Germany and putting them in camps so soon after the Holocaust would set off a fire-storm of protest.

Yitzhak "Ike" Ahronovitch tried to save thousands of refugees from the Holocaust and his efforts brought sympathy for the founding of Israel as a homeland for Jews. His daughter described the attempt as a defining influence in his life. Despite the fact that the mission was illegal, it was certainly moral and an attempt to better the lives of so many who had suffered. It was the right thing to do, and Ahronovitch showed himself up to the task with his efforts on behalf of the refugees.

A potentially interesting read, especially given my interest in genocide studies

2009-12-24T03:53:00.000-05:00

The World's Bloodiest History - Massacres, Genocide, and the Scars They Left on Civilization by Joseph Cummins

(The link to the review at the World History Blog wasn't working when I posted, so I'm hoping they get the kinks out of things soon. In the meantime, there's always Amazon.) I'm hoping the Lexington Public Library either has or will get this. It includes incidents from ancient, mediaeval, and modern history.

What a wonderful programme

2009-12-24T03:47:00.000-05:00

War vets, shelter dogs heal together in program: Soldiers with PTSD find comfort, inspiration in needy pooches

With the war(s) and the oeconomy being what it is, there's been an increase in both veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and homeless animals. Pairing the two seems to help each in remarkable ways.

:)

2009-12-24T03:33:00.000-05:00

US military tracks Santa's Christmas Eve journey

This year children will have a range of hi-tech options when it comes to following the progress of Santa on Christmas Eve.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) has been tracking Santa for over 50 years.

Children can follow his progress via its website or on Twitter, Facebook or via Google Maps or Google Earth.

It is becoming the hi-tech equivalent of reading The Night Before Christmas to excited children on Christmas Eve.

Awful

2009-12-23T08:17:00.000-05:00

Slaying of drug war hero's family shocks Mexico

Assailants on Tuesday gunned down the mother, aunt and siblings of a marine killed in a raid that took out one of Mexico's most powerful cartel leaders — sending a chilling message to troops battling the drug war: You go after us, we wipe out your families.

Although the marines do not have identification on their uniforms and are generally not identified in the media, the government had been very open in this case, showing the body of the drug lord and releasing the name of the only marine killed. Unfortunately, the drug cartel's goons used that information to send a message to the government and its troops that their families are not safe if they participate in raids.

This is so senseless. I know there is crime here, and drugs, and the like, but at least I have some hope that my government will protect me or at least track someone down for the crime. We had an era of the War on Drugs here in the States; in Mexico it truly is a war, and a bitter one at that. My thoughts are with the marine's two small children, who have had so much of their family wiped out in the violence and who themselves are targets of the cartel and need protection.

Good morning!

2009-12-23T08:01:00.000-05:00

I got up at a ridiculous hour (7 am, which was great considering I went to bed after 2 am) so that I could get some things accomplished this morning, including taking a prescription to the pharmacy. So far I've showered, dressed, listened to a bit of BBCAmerica's international news, and set the DVR for both a Catherine Tate Christmas special and the first part of 'Doctor Who: End of Time', since I'll be working when they come on.

I have been a little too tired to blog lately, sorry

2009-12-23T01:02:00.000-05:00

Last night a friend cooked dinner for his husband and myself, which was really nice (I cooked for him on Chanukah, he cooked for me on the solstice, my holiday, so that worked out rather well). He is a wonderful cook. We visited for quite some time and I helped him with a few things, and I didn't get home until somewhere around 1 am.

Sunday I had only had about three hours of sleep because I'd been keyed up by upgrading to Windows 7 (my computer has half the memory needed for optimal performance and a graphics card that doesn't actually translate the Aero translucent windows effects, plus since I was going from XP straight to 7 I had to do a clean install, transferring my files and settings to an external hard drive and then letting it erase all the information on the internal one. So you can see I was a little concerned. But it all worked out, and things are going pretty well. I would like to upgrade my memory to 1 GB (I'm at 512 MB now) and upgrade my graphics card, too, but that is for another day. Actually, my stepfather might have some lying around; he builds computers for people, and usually has the latest thing in his own, so he's got a room full of parts. :) Anyway, I played the game, I had fun, but we played till almost 10:30 pm and I was wiped out afterwards.

So far it's been a pretty good week, though. I'm taking Thursday, Christmas Eve, off from the hospital so I can go visit my family (it was either that or New Year's Eve, and Christmas Eve there's a lot less traffic). I'm working 9 am to 4 pm on Christmas itself at the store, which is fine. It'll probably be really slow except for people looking for batteries. :) It usually is, anyway. Then I'm working Saturday night because the truck is delayed until then due to the holiday.

It looks like my mom's present might make it before Christmas after all. I've been tracking it and it's travelled from New York to Lexington, so it just needs to make the trip 45 minutes away to Stanford. Yay.

I paid bills tonight--cable, cell phone, and electric. Two of them were double bills, and I'll pay the rest tomorrow after I get paid. I got my pay statement today from the store (and other people got cheques, but they are dated for tomorrow, so theoretically they can't cash them until then). My direct deposit should go in tonight sometime, and I already know what it will be, so that's nice. That'll leave me about $100 to get through till New Year's, when I get paid at both places and pay my rent. It's nice to not be down to the wire, though. Granted, I need to be saving and paying down debt, but I really wanted to do a little more during the holidays than in past years because I'm in a better position to do so. I'll work on the other starting in January.

I've looked for work pants online and at several stores without success (who knew it would be this hard?) but Brenda, who's a seamstress/costumer, suggested that I look for the pants in the men's section, since I'm pretty much up and down in terms of my waist and hips. She said to try the bigger sizes in a relaxed fit. Those sorts of pants are common for men and cheaper, too. That's the plan, although I'm not sure when I'll have the opportunity to go looking next. Maybe Saturday morning or Monday afternoon? The buses don't run on Friday at all, and nothing's open but places like us and Walgreens. :)

We ordered Chinese tonight at work and I got Bean Curd (Tofu) Szechuan style and a couple of veggie egg rolls. Here is my fortune: 'Pick a path with heart.' The learn Chinese thing on the back is for potato, which is apparently 'ma ling shu'.

I've been putting a few things back on the computer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash Player, and some of my Real Arcade games. Two of my favourites have been retired, so there's no re-downloading for Real Arcade's new system--Get Medieval and Moon Tycoon. The ones I transferred won't open on their own, so I have apparently lost them, which is unfortunate. The others translated over, though. I might be able to find the retired ones online as stand-alone games somewhere, I don't know.

Okay, I've been starring news items to share, but I'll leave that for later. They found the Auschwitz sign, for example, cut into three pieces. It just made me cringe, but at least they recovered it.

I'll try to write more tomorrow and certainly Thursday night, when I'm off. Thanks for reading.

Success!

2009-12-20T01:51:00.000-05:00

We are now Windows 7 Ultimate +. Now--the question is, can I get my data back off my external drive to access my documents and settings?

2009-12-20T00:16:00.001-05:00

Putting Win 7 on an XP machine w/ 512 RAM and no Aveo capability yet. Am I crazy? Maybe. We'll see.

My grandmother has renal cancer

2009-12-19T18:48:00.001-05:00

My mother just called me to let me know. She's had a cyst on her kidney causing bleeding for awhile now, and they just about had to beg the doctor to send her for testing. She has more tests at the end of the month to determine if it is in the muscle. They'll no doubt take her kidney later on and treat her from there.

So that's another reason to get home for Christmas and see everyone. I just got home from shopping and I've got a little something for everyone but A, but I can get his on Monday. I also found a belt (it was $30!) that reverses between black and brown, but no luck on the work pants. I think I'll have to shop online. I found a pair of dress shoes with a heel to keep my podiatrist happy but I can still walk on them; that way I have something to wear to job interviews other than my boy's boots. :)

I saw someone I used to be friends with at the library, and another friend and his wife out at Lane Bryant. He had that 'trapped male' look you find with guys in a women's clothing shop. :)

I really haven't eaten much all day (I had a peanut butter sandwich this morning and a couple of pretzels for lunch). So I'm waiting for dinner to be delivered and get something more filling inside me.

I also got some fish food and a couple of aquarium plants that were in this gel and so they didn't need to be actually immersed in water. You just wash off the gel if it's going in an aquarium or keep the gel on if it's in a terrarium. Nifty!

In all, I went to Meijer's, Target, Barnes & Noble, PetSmart, Marshall's, Gordman's, Best Buy, and Half-Price Books. Mind you, these are not next together like in a mall. I had to traverse crowded parking lots full of people definitely not in the holiday spirit as a pedestrian over probably a square mile. Whew! Billy and Julia would have probably taken me home, but I was still on the hunt for those work pants. I halfway wish I'd had, but I did get two presents after that, so I guess it wasn't too bad going back to get the bus, etc., and I didn't have to wait for a half-hour or anything to catch the Richmond Road bus out like I thought I would, so it all worked out.

I came home to find a couple of friends had sent me an Amazon gift card, yay! I called them to thank them and acted surprised (one of them told me to; I'd helped him navigate Amazon's site to order them). :) It was actually a surprise in that they came very speedily.

Okay, there's stuff to do, and those plants should go on into the aquarium. Have a good night.

Got a late start today and have much to do

2009-12-19T11:25:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting for a bus at the library because they apparently only run every hour for Richmond Road on Saturdays (I forgot my bus schedules, or I'd know that...)

I fell asleep in the comfy chair till 2 am last night, blogged a little, and then went back to sleep. I've been trying to get going since 7 am, but without success. I worked on the computer awhile because I was trying to finish up notes, but it had some issues and needed some updates, so I'm going to have to finish this afternoon.

I know what I'm getting John, Brenda, and Margaret. That just leaves my grandmother to come up with a gift for. I have no idea what to get a 85-year-old woman with just about every knicknack one might need. I guess I could get her a gift certificate to Kroger, but that seems rather impersonal.

I don't know. I'll have to check things out. I also need to find pants for work now that our new shirts have arrived. They have to be belted and black (well, they can be khaki, but I don't really like khaki and they are prone to stains). This is apparently hard to find in my size, where most pants are elastic, but we'll see what I can find. And of course, I need a belt as well.

I've got my mom's present already but it won't be there until after Christmas, so I may get her something small to unwrap until then. That's the plan, anyway. I hope to be out there only 2-3 hours since the movie isn't playing. Wish me luck.

Phooey

2009-12-19T09:28:00.001-05:00

Today I trek to Hamburg Pavilion for much shopping and I thought I might catch The Lovely Bones at the theatre there, but it isn't playing, neither at Hamburg nor any other theatre in Lexington. :( I guess I'll have to wait until it comes to On Demand, which will at least give me a chance to read the book, which I own, but I haven't read.

What will you be doing on April 13, 2029?

2009-12-19T02:32:00.000-05:00

Well, assuming I'm alive (I'll just have turned 62, my mother's current age), I'll probably be monitoring the shave that the asteroid Apophis is due to make near our planet. Once thought to be fairly likely to hit the planet, it is now thought to have a 1 in 250,000 chance, much less, but still not (pardon the pun) astronomical. It is thought that it will pass as close as 18,300 miles above the Earth's surface, and this Wired.com story includes a video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Tracy's people) that animates what they think will happen:

It should be a wild ride in terms of world news updates that day.

Apophis is named for the monster of chaos and darkness in Aegyptian mythology that attacked Ra, the Sun, in His trip through the Underworld at night. It was seen as a snake or crocodile, and was sometimes known as the Serpent of the Nile. Apophis is the Greek term for the creature; the Aegyptian name has been reconstructed as Apep. Apophis was everything that opposed Ma'at, that which was orderly and good. In Aegyptian religion, like Judaism, chaos was seen as the ultimate evil and the bringing of order part of the very act of creation. How fitting that an asteroid of this name would be seen as Earth's opposer.