These words I don’t write
Maybe tomorrow I will
Should really blog moar

Its been well documented that the the problems with the US Postal Service stem from the out of control pension system as well as the congressional mandate to provide service to every single household is what’s causing the problem. Also, the fact they USPS is trying to deliver packages is ridiculous.

If the US Postal Service thinks that a higher volume of mail would save them from disaster, they’d be crazy. Volume of mail (income) is going down, while costs are going up. Anybody with a business background would tell you that’s a recipe for disaster. Even if you marginally increase your income, you still need to reduce your costs.

My grandfather is a retired postal inspector. He retired in his 50′s… he’s nearing 90 years old now… retired for 30+ years. Last I heard his government pension was about $80,000/year. Yes, you heard me right, $80,000/year. Must be nice… but it sure as hell isn’t sustainable for the USPS to keep paying pensions like that.

This whole debacle reminds me of other industries failing to adapt. The RIAA and MPAA have fought tooth and nail to avoid the digital era… instead of adjusting their business model, they cling to the old and dig their hole deeper by attacking people. Remember when they fought VCRs? Now they’re delaying movie rentals longer in hopes of people giving up and buying the movie instead of waiting, therefore making them more money.

In the end, the US Postal Service using the argument that the internet is killing them is just ridiculous. The USPS has been around for a long time… in one way or another before it was officially run by the United States Government. I wonder if anybody ever argued that other forms of communication like phone lines would kill them? Before any electronic communication, letters were the only way to communicate across distance. Did the mail volume go down with the advent of a phone in every house? I bet it did. Its much easier to pick up the phone and call your friend.

Stop blaming the internet for your failing business model.

About 2 years later, near fall of 2008 I set up my site again. Just to get something going I started from scratch and never imported the content. There were some bad memories with some of the old content. I wanted to move on.

Over the past 6 months or so I had toyed with re-importing the content. I had the backup. The last version I had run with the old site was 2.0.4. Today I decided to pull the trigger and import the old content.

I’ve imported 439 posts into this site. Now I have archives back to 2004. In September it will be 8 years I’ve been using WordPress– since version 1.2. It truly is an awesome publishing platform.

It’s something I’ve thought about on and off for a while now. The other week I stumbled across this post from Ian Stewart regarding tweeting vs blogging. It was the inspiration for a code muse last weekend. The result of that was shouldiwritethisontwitter.com as well as some more thinking about the subject in general. (Code from that site inspired by Aaron Jorbin’s Scotch is for Shippers site).

After looking at my personal blog and seeing how few times I’ve written a blog post in the past year and then looking at my business blog and seeing the blog entry dated May 17, 2011 I decided things need to change.

I’m going to try and write here on things more personal where pretty much anything is fair game. I’ll continue to keep my blog over at Fusionized Technology WordPress related and more technical. Hopefully when I think about tweeting something and realize it’s blog material I’ll generate a few posts per week.

The last thing I want is someone setting up a site like this: When did Nacin last blog?

Original latin:

Suspendisse bibendum magna sit amet lectus molestie faucibus. Sed semper blandit tortor. Etiam cursus.

English Translation:

Mr WordPress on your bed is great here. But you are always more. An accident.

I’ve made various recipes over the years yet this one was hands down voted the best by every family member that had some.

The recipe is actually a combination of two separate recipes. I took the brine portion from one, and instead of continuing and cooking it as-is, I picked up another recipe to finish things off. The combination of flavors in the end, along with the moisture retained by brining results in an always moist and very delicious turkey for Thanksgiving. On top of that, its a fairly easy recipe to prepare. So without further adieu…

Brine

• 1 1/2 gal water
• 1 1/2c real maple syrup
• 1c Morton Kosher salt
• 3/4c brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a brining bag. You may need to use a food grade bucket based on the size of your turkey. Brine the turkey overnight in the refrigerator or in a cooler filled with ice. 

Some recommend boiling everything to help dissolve all ingredients but I don’t bother. If you do boil as your normal brining routine, make sure to cool to room temperature and chill in the refrigerator before adding the turkey to the brine. I usually end up making 2-3 batches of brine to completely cover the turkey in the bucket. 

Turkey

• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp pepper
• 1 onion – quartered
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 Granny Smith apple – quartered
• 1c butter – at room temperature
• 2Tbsp rosemary leaves – fresh and chopped
• 2Tbsp thyme leaves – fresh and chopped
• 6 sprigs rosemary
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 3c apple juice
• 1c water

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Remove giblets from turkey cavity, rinse turkey and pat dry.
3. Place turkey on roasting rack in roasting pan, breast side up.
4. Salt and pepper inside and outside of the turkey.
5. In a small bowl, combine butter with 2Tbsp of rosemary and 2Tbsp of thyme.
6. Spread the butter mixture between the skin and the meat going as far up the breast as possible. Coat the outside of the skin with any leftover butter mixture.
7. Place quartered apple, onion, garlic, rosemary and thyme sprigs in the cavity of the turkey.
8. Tie the legs together using kitchen twine
9. Pour the apple juice and water into the roasting pan and place the turkey in the oven.
10. Cook the turkey until done (180°F in deepest part of the thigh), basting as needed. Don’t over-baste because opening the door frequently lengthens roasting time.
11. If the turkey browns too quickly, cover with a loose aluminum foil tent.
12. When the turkey is done, allow it to rest for 20 minutes before carving.

The comment:

I guess Mr Paul who claims to know the Constitution forgot the oath he took to protect and defend against enemies foreign or domestic. Anwar al-Awlaki was an enemy of the United States unless Paul can prove otherwise.

The oath:

Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: So help you God?

Obviously the commenter fails to understand that the oath was to defend “The Constitution” from enemies, both foreign and domestic… and not to defend the United States from enemies, both foreign and domestic.

If you can find somewhere (anywhere?) in the Constitution that says that elected officials have a duty to protect the United States, regardless of what’s right or wrong, please… by all means correct me because I can’t find it.

.Near term /until 6 pm this evening/…

0.7 inches of snowfall has been reported by the co-op observer at Laurel Summit this morning…. with an accumulation of 1.2 inches at Philipsburg. This marks the earliest date in the cool season that measurable snow has been recorded at these sites. Co-operative weather observations have been taken at both Laurel Summit and Philipsburg since April and December of 1997 respectively. Both KJST (Johnstown-Cambria County Airport) and KBFD (Bradford Regional Airport) have been snowing since 10-11z (6-7am EST)… with the snow falling heavy at times at KJST around 12z (8am EST). Temps at 34°F mean little accumulation in most places… but Mesonet observations showed some of the ridge top locations at 30-32°F around daybreak.

Regional web cams show a coating of snow even on roadways coating with snow at elevations above 1700 feet… such as Route 22 from Gallitzin through Ebensburg… to Chickory Mountain… where much of this road stretch is between 1800-2200 feet.

If you notice, some are similar shots but were taken a few hours apart. There’s a lot that’s changed in the past few hours. The Susquehanna river has gone from around 20-21 feet to almost 24 feet. Its expected to crest near 28.5 feet.