G+ Migration Blog

Something vaguely sensible. Surprise. http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7295175/fad-diet-weight-loss http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7295175/fad-diet-weight-loss

Oh, politics. What a turkey. http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7280561/franksgiving-fdr-thanksgiving http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7280561/franksgiving-fdr-thanksgiving

You know what's more annoying than a teenager? New parents, for certain values of new parents; more specifically, an extremely narrowly defined set of new parents. I know this because even the teenager was complaining about them. Here's a hint. Try weaning yourselves down to one picture sent per day. Then try for every other day. Then try for put it in an album and just send the link. Once. Don't get me started on the video clips or or or. Just, don't. When you have a video of the baby chasing a laser pointer up a wall, you can just post that.

For purposes of distraction, things I can't afford but sure look pretty: https://www.etsy.com/listing/183349323/petrichor-custom-hand-mixed-strong?ref=shop_home_active_19

Still think the score of The Nightmare Before Christmas is just one of the great scores of music, ever. With a lot of credit to those who did the orchestration in addition to composer Danny Elfman.

Everytime I see Sanctuary listed on the television programming, I hear Charles Laughton's voice. I used to watch it all the time when I lived in Vancouver. I even went to see a production of Hamlet because Jonathon Young (Nikola Tesla) was in it. Doesn't matter. I see the word, and I hear Laughton.

So today I went for a run in the morning. Do not mock, please. I is bad at it but I goes anyway. Then I went and found a place where they make, wait for it, xiao long bao, by hand, from scratch! One of many things living in Vancouver left me with. I can have them at home, now. Yay! Then I went and found another little market where I had Laotian coffee and some kind of Burmese noodle dish from the Western part of Burma called Arakan. Both of which were very tasty and I would eat again.  XLPS (extra long post script): The Laotian coffee was very good, and I must determine if I can purchase the beans or whatnot for purposes of brewing at home. Besides, I must have it more if I am to attempt to describe it to you. I really don't have a hope of remembering the name of the noodle dish, although I remembered it is specific to a region of Burma named Arakan. Which I proceeded to look up, because I'm weird and find this stuff interesting and I know less than nothing about Burma/Myanmar....

I feel better about my thanksgiving, now.  http://theoatmeal.com/comics/thanksgiving http://theoatmeal.com/comics/thanksgiving

Saw Mockingjay. The people who wrote a specific section of music must have done some decent research on Appalachian music, because they did a good job of representing it. Unless there was an uncredited arranger who should get credit. The Lumineers are credited, and since they are supposed to be part of the latest reiteration of a folk revival, I suppose that's at least one obvious connection. Then again, they are from New Jersey, so kinda not. Anyway, it was well done and catchy and it's probably already sold like bonkers.

My sister and niece left this afternoon, and my parents went and did something themselves tonight. I went out and had dinner by myself tonight. Except that I would have liked to have people to hang out with, this is the most pleasant evening I could possibly have had. I wish the whole week had been this pleasant.

I think I almost burned a calorie. I gotta watch that. It's not like they grow on trees, or something.

You know what would be really creepy about the Sith? If they looked and acted exactly the same as everyone else. You know, so it was hard to tell who they were. What?

One of you already posted something like this somewhere, didn't you? https://www.etsy.com/listing/205841528/tea-towel-im-having-wine-for-dinner?ref=br_feed_19&br_feed_tlp=gifts https://www.etsy.com/listing/205841528/tea-towel-im-having-wine-for-dinner?ref=br_feed_19&br_feed_tlp=gifts

The marketers should just give up and start calling the days of the weekend of Thanksgiving: Thriftless Thursday, Fork Out Friday, Squanderer Saturday, and Monetized Monday. We'll pretend there are blue laws and Sunday gets a pass.

I...want to tell you that I know what happened Thursday. I mean, there's what I guess you could call an analysis. Not that it matters, because, seriously? There's an extrapolation for Wednesday. But none of it really matters, because [insert insane laughter here]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fn36l_z3WY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fn36l_z3WY

On the upside, I should note that I kind of like the Google turkey with the old fashioned football helmet, who clearly already has a head injury since he has an extraocular movement disorder.

I went to yoga this morning. The mantra was thanksgiving and gratefulness. I am having a very hard time with that just now.

Dinner didn't suck, but the company, well, I probably should stop there. Although I was informed after dinner that I should get out of the kitchen and not soil the apron. Apparently, doing what I normally do, which includes cleaning up, was insufficient to atone for my prior transgressions, Whatever the hell those were. I could have listened to the muttering, but it really wasn't informative. Vituperative, yes, but lacking somewhat in other content. This is just so fscking much fun. I hate holidays sooo much right now.

I like the little "all caught up" leaf pile thingy.

You know, Dad, sometimes you aren't funny. You reeeaaallly aren't.

And we already had mom throwing something at us in a public restaurant. Yep, Thanksgiving. One day down.

Fifth Element was on TV, prompting a number of random thoughts*, but primarily this one: the brief straight operatic singing is one of the rare examples of what opera is supposed to sound like. It is true, technically very well done bel canto technique. It also happens to be from a Bel Canto period opera, but that technique is universally applicable. None of this wibbly-wobbly, vibrato-y-otto-y stuff. Good luck hearing anyone sing like that in an opera house, though, at least any of the biggies.  *Such as, but not limited to: 1. I wonder why they call 750ml of hard liquor a fifth? 2. I want a fifth of good quality liquor, possibly bourbon.  3. Where is the Fifth Elephant? Why isn't it just a dwarf planet? 4. Schmaltz is probably pretty healthy, since it's a clarified fat. Etc. My brain is a confusing place, at times.

I think there is something wrong with me. I am actually upset that they cancelled the run tonight. There's some stupid holiday, or something.

And I dared to think we might have a day without precipitation.

It is amazing how much the attitude and expectations of people around you affect what you do.

So far this week I have been terrified by my check engine light, had to help fix the brand new dryer, and had people cancel three appts of various types on me. It's going well.

Maybe the Bills should have to move their game for a natural disaster every week. Props for the snow shoveling. And thank you, Detroit. #snowboob2014

In news that was rapidly pounced on and is now fading away, Gov Cuomo took another taste of his talus claiming that NOAA meteorologists failed to warn the government about the approaching storm. Not only did all the local meteorologists immediately produce proof of the well-publicized warnings, The Weather Channel and others produced video of their people publicly warning about it. So apparently the Entire Country was warned of severe lake effect storms, except the capitol of New York. I raise my brow at you, sir. P.S. What is with the government officials trying to blame the meteorologists? #snowboob2014   #precipigeddon

Some of these really are incredible. If nudity is nsfw, well, nsfw. #3, 5, and 7 are my favorites. http://mashable.com/2014/11/25/naked-parkour/ http://mashable.com/2014/11/25/naked-parkour

Old, but I cannot believe the second of the two cases they list as establishing broad police powers. Someone ran in and out of a store, so they're a criminal? What was the court thinking?! http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/current-law-gives-police-wide-latitude-to-use-deadly-force/2014/08/28/768090c4-2d64-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html?tid=trending_strip_5 http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/current-law-gives-police-wide-latitude-to-use-deadly-force/2014/08/28/768090c4-2d64-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html?tid=trending_strip_5

http://www.runnersworld.com/races/despite-setbacks-nations-oldest-race-will-go-on-in-buffalo #snowboob2014   #precipigeddon   http://www.runnersworld.com/races/despite-setbacks-nations-oldest-race-will-go-on-in-buffalo

Ion, we are getting flooding all over the place but not widespread and not severe. They've closed roads in places, and extended the warnings until tomorrow. Ironically, the winds have been so bad since yesterday that they've pushed the Lake out of its bed and there's flooding from that along the lakeshore. Whee! And it's snowing again, but not much. We've essentially had some form of precipitation every single day for almost two weeks.  #precipiggedon

Listening to slightly more rational talking on npr in the car, it seems that  there are some identifiable thought patterns out there. One of which is that this is a single isolated incident involving two isolated individuals. The other of which is that it is not isolated on any level, but representative of an infinitely repeated biased pattern of attitude, behavior, and action. And that, right there, is the crux of some awful and awfully long standing problems.

The news has been accumulating some thoughts, and most especially the 12 year old shot in Cleveland. You know, lots of kids had cap guns when I was little. They were practically ubiquitous. If it wasn't playing soldier, it was cowboys. Does this mean any kid playing with a gun shaped object now gets shot? We'd all have been injured or dead if that was the attitude then. What's different now? If the argument is that police should be able to protect themselves, I would like to know validated facts for how often police are shot, broken down for circumstance, location, and any demographic info. Just shot, not knives, punches, lead pipes, etc. (although I'm sure it would be informative to have detailed information about violence and injury toward the police, in general, as well). Because unlike when I was growing up, I don't believe them any more. I think a culture of fear has been fomented and is being used to justify itself. If someone convinced me that everyone was tr...

This is a seasonal present my mother has received. I feel I must share. Sadly, it does not play music.

Yikes. It really started blowing and raining about half an hour ago. #precipigeddon

On the lighter side, somebody photoshopped The Bumble into the storm, and somebody else sculpted away enough snow to show its true nature. Kind of meta.  #snowboob2014   #lookforthemicroscopicfrozensupercooledclouddropletlining  

TIL there are roaming gangs of shovel armed Amish in minivans. I have not heard where they drove in from, but it's pretty awesome to see the random possibility that not all of humanity needs to be scrapped. http://wivb.com/2014/11/24/100-amish-men-help-save-mobile-homes/ #snowboob2014   http://wivb.com/2014/11/24/100-amish-men-help-save-mobile-homes

And people wonder why I dislike the color pink so much. http://makezine.com/magazine/make-41-tinkering-toys/what-is-a-girl-toy/ http://makezine.com/magazine/make-41-tinkering-toys/what-is-a-girl-toy

This was the least awful link I could find for this, but it is still horrible. If it will not trigger, and I honestly cannot see how it would not, read the Rolling Stone article that finally got some action on this. It is horrible and will ruin everything. It is a blunt and extensive piece that should be required as the start of a discussion of the difference between violence and sex, and how, no, it is not just a kinky choice of consenting adults. It's a crime. http://www.businessinsider.com/uva-president-teresa-a-sullivan-suspends-all-campus-frats-2014-11 This has been going on lots of places and continues to go on. It is beyond belief that this continues to happen and continues to be treated essentially as a boys will be boys and girls are responsible for themselves piece of garbage (or that there is only heterosexual rape). And I wish I could say that I think anything will change. I don't. Big deal, one university is depriving its fraternities of their Christmas parties*. W...

This is our NOAA Hydrologic Services flood map, so far. We're doing the best of any of the areas, for now, in that we're well below flooding or predicted. We'll see how the next 12 hours goes. #precipigeddon

Only one creek above flood stage, so far.  #precipigeddon

Same s---, different day. Angry inducing; possible trigger re: unauthorized photos, threats and abuse online. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/11/19/365220051/marine-corps-finds-it-tough-to-shut-down-sexist-facebook-groups http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/11/19/365220051/marine-corps-finds-it-tough-to-shut-down-sexist-facebook-groups

And the world's tiniest monkey! World Meet NINITA. Our New Baby Pygmy Marmoset! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6ZM2Q-D0b8&list=UUbEspf6pvZUJD8whOurhvxQ&index=7

I need snowy pandas: http://mashable.com/2014/11/21/panda-snow-day/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss http://mashable.com/2014/11/21/panda-snow-day/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss

Ok. One more time. Remind me that the passive aggressive verbally abusive #!) % is just a manifestation of someone's emotional illness.  Edit for clarity: someone else's emotional illness

Our rambling on drugs prompted me to look this up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-meet-the-100-year-old-doctor-who-saved-america-from-thalidomide/article21696960/#video0id21696960 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-meet-the-100-year-old-doctor-who-saved-america-from-thalidomide/article21696960/#video0id21696960

Ion, my parents are acting like 2 year olds. Not in the cute way. That is all.

It is raining, although fortunately not a whole lot. That will help. They still have flood warnings out all over the area, but are mostly downgrading it to minor flooding potential, as opposed to "Where're my hip waders, Myrtle?" We're special, we still get moderate flooding potential. Go us! Er, wait .... It is pretty impressive how fast the snow melts, though, the minute the temps stay above freezing. Also, they must feel that people have been able to clear a great deal of the street drains, as that sort of blockage was one of the concerns. The other good news is, of course, unlike a Spring melt, none of the creeks or rivers themselves are frozen, thus the channels of flow are open, so long as the volume capacity is not exceeded at any given point in time. Most of the major roads are completely open, now, and teams of volunteers have been driving to the edge of, if not into, the worst areas and forming shovel brigades to help dig people out. The National Guard is st...

Meteorology lesson X in a series of Y. Snowmelt: why you won't need to decide between a mobile home and a house boat.  #snowboob2014   #precipigeddon

Huh. They gave away free tickets to the football game in Detroit tomorrow. Which is where the NFL moved the Bills vs. Jets game when the County Executive made it clear that it couldn't happen in Buffalo. I suppose I think giving the tickets away free was an intelligent thing to do, but I'm kind of surprised. #snowboob2014

Rumors are the snow cores NOAA checked showed upwards of 5 inches of water in the snow that is beginning to melt. Nah, that'll never flood.  #precipigeddon

Offs, enough about Ferguson, already; they haven't had the riot you're all hoping for.

You know what kills me, and it does, I'm writing this posthumously, the organic, hormone free, GMO free, antibiotic free heavy cream all has additives in it. Yes, that's right. Never read a label. I mean, I expected there to be stuff in a lot of the common, garden variety brands of heavy cream. Just go full pellet and be done with it, already.

Wow. And I thought I had become disappointed by what bagels had become. Best phrase: "...coelacanths of the culinary world..." http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2080346,00.html http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2080346,00.html

Storm fatigue has definitely set in across the area. People are still under travel bans and stuck in a number of areas, they have had at least one house fire where they couldn't find the fire hydrants nevermind dig them out, and now there is freezing rain. It's unoriginal, but I may retag this event as #snowpocalypse , or possibly #precipigeddon , as the flooding is inevitable.

Happy birthday Pat French! Does the Kermit dance of joy: Yaaaaaaay!!!

Happy birthday Peter Cimino!

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/tv/282929321.html http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/tv/282929321.html

Dear New York Times writer/editor: WTF?! No, really. Minnesota may be the most egregious, on several levels, but what is with choosing some chef's weird interpretation of what otherwise might have at least been a traditional local dish without the effete nonsense, whether or not it's actually associated with Thanksgiving? Frex, Gooey Butter Cake. Totally not Thanksgiving specific, and, apparently, the rest of Missouri can bugger off. On top of which, the recipe isn't even actual Gooey Butter Cake. And it's from Brooklyn! And how about pickled peaches (it's a sweet spice type) for North Carolina or another of the Southern states? Or Sweet Potato Pie? Where's the Deep Fried Turkey? I never saw anyone at home mix anything other than corn into their cornbread, not that I ate in every home in the state. I don't even know what to say about Colorado being summed up as the Land of Stoned Snackers. This should have been the I hang out with trust fund babies and snobb...

Thanksgiving is going to be horrible; I have to get my life in order. That is all.

Fun statistics: Semi-officially, over 7 feet of snowfall. SEVEN. The football stadium is estimated to currently contain 220,000 tons of snow. They've removed 32,000 tons of snow from just South Buffalo so far . Well over 600 pieces of heavy equipment have been brought to Western New York. Just under 400 members of the National Guard are helping in Western New York. Not only did mayors from all over New York State offer assistance, mayors from Southern Ontario offered assistance. #snowboob2014

Good News: 1. Thruway is open between Buffalo and Rochester. 2. You can get on it going from Buffalo south to Pennsylvania, but you cannot get off of it between Buffalo and Pennsylvania. 3. Almost all the other major highways are open. 4. This is important, because with no highways open, there was no way to truck in food for the grocery stores, or gas for the cars and snow removal equipment and generators, etc. Yes, some places were starting to run low. (Yeah, they removed all the refineries and terminals years ago. Which is why our gas is still well above $3/gal. The closest place we get it from is Akron, OH. Wtf, government. P.S. Good plan! That whole section of I-90 runs along the eastern side of Lake Erie. FYI, that would be the part where they get Lake Effect snow. All winter, every winter. Good strategic planning.) Bad News: 1. Roofs are collapsing all over the place. And we haven't gotten the melt and rain, yet. 2. A lot of communities are days away from being reached by the...

There are too many puns. This is hanging over us from our neighbor's house. #snowboob2014

We can hand out copies of the article with those flasks.  Here's the link to the article, followed by the blurb with the pertinent points.  http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/14_0329.htm CDC: Most people who drink to excess may not be alcoholics. "The New York Times (11/21, Parker-Pope) “Well” blog reports that according to a report released Nov. 20 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the CDC’s Preventing Chronic Disease journal, the majority of “people who drink to get drunk are not alcoholics.” The conclusions of “a government survey of 138,100 adults counters the conventional wisdom that every ‘falling-down drunk’” has an addiction to alcohol. Rather, “the results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that nine out of 10 people who drink too much are not addicts, and can change their behavior with a little – or perhaps a lot of – prompting.”         The Washington Post (11/21, ...

Dinner this evening - beef barley soup with mushrooms.

This afternoon - and the sun breaks through! That's looking toward Cheektowaga, if anyone's been bored enough to note that level of detail in the reporting. As in, we're on the town line of Cheektowaga. Yay for being on the right side of the line! (Sorry, Cheektowaga). Yes, that is still the snow wall you can see the top of. It's just slipping slowly southwards and away. #snowboob2014

Ah, the recriminations begin.  There's an emergency communication system to coordinate emergency responses in times of emergency in Erie County. It's called the DLAN. Enjoy. Anyway, it's possible something may not have been working quite right, because there is now back and forth between the various Towns, the major news stations (who are actually pretty awesome about trying to help out as well as cover the news), and the County Executive. You know: Use the system! We did use the system! No you didn't! Yes we did!  And then there's the minimal backpedaling from the Governor on the whole you broke the travel ban thing. Again, there are dozens of miles between places where you would see any of these signs, if you could see them in whiteout conditions, exits were blocked so you couldn't get off the Thruway, there were accidents blocking the Thruway itself, and there's a real question as to when the travel bans and Thruway closures were put in place. They were n...

Schneikes. That is some nasty thundersnow with lightning we are suddenly having. I think that "Lake Effect Snow at 11" warning may have been slightly off.  #snowboob2014

Meteorology lesson X in a series of Y. Snow Load: why your roof is going to collapse in a few days if you don't figure out a way to get all that snow off of it. #snowboob2014

I just looked. We officially have way more snow than the U.P. Dat's a dem big storm der! Uffda howdy! #onlyfunnyintheuppermidwest   #andpossiblynoteventhere

Liquor will be sold in B.C. grocery stores starting April 1, 2015 http://ow.ly/EyLmo http://ow.ly/EyLmo

A few photos plucked from the thousands that have been and will be posted. There's apparently an official tag now, #Snowvember . I'm still calling it #snowboob2014 .  

Wanna make $10/hr? Come shovel out the Buffalo Bills stadium! Of course, you'd have to violate several travel bans to get there...

Dear Governor Cuomo, You and Governor Christie may jump into the exact same lake. And that's the most polite thing I can think of to say. Additionally, I do not buy the kindly reporter's attempt to suggest you might have been "misinformed". You are not an idiot. Thanks for visiting and threatening the people trapped on the Thruway with legal action. Jerk. No love,  Western New York Shout outs to the Thruway director who said they should have closed the Thruway ahead of time, to the Erie County Executive who has helped coordinate a generally pretty impressive storm response and told the Governor uh, no with the ticketing and so forth; to the troopers, EMTs, nurses, volunteers, neighbors, and etc. for everything they are doing to help. And definite kudos to the reporters who immediately jumped all over the ridiculous statements the Governor made about people driving around gates to illegally get on the Thruway, and a few other choice comments. Some of those people have ...

There are some awesomely cool videos from the news folks of the storm as it picks up water from the lake and turns it into snow. You can see the lake effect snow forming. It is scary and cool. Still many people stranded on the Thruway - very bad - they have not been getting food, water, and fuel to most of them and seemingly have not been able to rescue them, either. They probably should just give up on projected snow fall totals through Thursday because they are at 8 feet and growing. At some point "a lot" and "really bad" are probably sufficient. But it's only falling at 1-2"/hr now, instead of 3-5"/hr. Yay? The projected weather beyond Thursday includes ... warming! But wait! It is supposed to go up into the 50's Sunday or Monday - and still be precipitating. So aaaalllll this snow will melt. And it will be raining. I hope you like floods. Sadly, there have been both fatalities and snowblower finger removals. Expected, but still sad. Not nearly...

Wow. I wish I had a good camera. I've never seen anything like this. There's this strip of dark sky way up, and then the huge wall of snow and cloud just like in the pictures I posted, but it's glowing. Like it was actively lit from inside. I know that is because it is reflecting the lights from the city inside/underneath it, but it's glowing white, not that sulfur orange you usually see. And it's the whole cloud wall. It's straight out of special effects. #magicclouds   #meteoroluminescence

The national guard is coming! For real. 5 miles, maybe, from our house there's already 4 feet of snow. It's been falling at a rate of inches/hour. If there's a highway, it's closed. We are in one of the small areas that doesn't have an outright travel ban. This thing is supposed to stick around until Thursday. It is drawing across almost the entire length of Lake Erie. The air temperature is some 20 degrees cooler than the lake. They claim the temperature of the lake dropped 3 degrees in the last 24 hours. That's insane. They are predicting a possible six feet of lake effect snowfall by then. This is not da UP, eh? I wish I had a panoramic thingie on my phone. I snuck out for a bit just around sunset and got this picture of some of the storm wall. You know how those pictures of huge sandstorms look? That's this, only snow. So we're having a snowboob, I guess, rather than a haboob. 

Anybody got a snowmobile? They are asking for them to help rescue people. Fortunately, we are just north of the worst of it, which is apparently pretty bad. Bets on whether the wind chill drops below zero F?

Thunder, lightning, snow! I guess the warning was right.

Huh. I guess they issue thundersnow warnings.

Running people are crazy. We're lucky we have two digits of temperature and they are having a Taco Trot run this Wed, a Turkey Trot the 27th, a Waffle run the 28th, and a 5k the 29th. In fact, there's one or two 5k races every weekend until Christmas, never mind the longer runs like the Trot 8k and the trail runs.

So, so sad. There is so much we just don't know how to fix. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/11/17/martin-salia-ebola-stricken-surgeon-from-sierra-leone-dies-in-nebraska-hospital/

Sure, we'd send in ground troops if they (not islamic not a state) had a nuclear weapon. Isn't that special. Random commentators are saying that the current risk is low. Does the President feel the need to prep us for sending in ground troops? Or, you know, manipulate the public by scaring us, just in case. I may be cynical. Besides, what are you going to do with ground troops? Is that going to make it more likely you can find where the weapon is, that you can take it away before they blow it up? Has that ever worked? Wouldn't it be better to try and figure out how you are going to prevent them from getting to the having a nuclear weapon stage? Not that I think that always works well. I am suspicious of presumably random, presumably off the cuff statements that come in pairs (or more, there's still time). First of all, Presidents shouldn't make random off the cuff statements. Second of all, I rarely believe that anything most Presidents say is off the cuff. So why a...

Stupid communication issues that make me want to punch people. Ok, possibly not completely independently associated with this one incident. My dad is sick, so my mom wants to get stuff he might be able to keep down. She makes a list and asks if I can get them. One of the items is "4 regular potatoes".  I have spent a whole life considering russets, aka baking, aka Idaho 'regular' potatoes. Also, when I was growing up you had those and the red skinned waxy boiling potatoes and 'sweet potatoes', which were interchangeably either a single variety of the orange sweet potato or yam. That was it. They came in some variation of size, but that's all. Red skinned was for potato salad or mashing. Russets were for baking or mashing (or sometimes pancakes). Oh, and sometimes we were given the russets to munch on raw with salt (they're quite crunchy - I liked them) or to use to make printing stamps (omg they let us carve with knives!). So I came back with 4 white r...

Here comes the snow, do do do do Here comes the snow, and I say It's all wet do do do do do do do do do do do do do do

I forgot to mention, when I did the 5K, I wore long undies and long running pants with some calf sleeves and wool socks. My feet and calves were completely warm. My butt got cold toward the end. I definitely wanted the neck buff thing to pull over my face most of the time, but it got a little warm on my neck toward the end. I can't quite figure out what I think of the top layers. I needed them until around the end of the 2nd mile. After that, I'd have liked to take off something, but I'm not sure what. Using the wool glove liners inside the gloves was key. It made it easy to take the heavier gloves off when my hands got warm, and then the thin wool was perfect by itself. I had a wool cap on, and that was a good idea in that cold. I mean, I'd have liked to get away with just a headband for my ears, but I know I would have had a horrible headache from the cold if I had not had the full cap. So thank you for all the gear suggestions. They worked really well. There's no...

I am going to see if I can pick up some of those special yaktrax for running. I will report back if I can find them and if I really use them. They are threatening horrible conditions Wednesday but there is this Taco Fun Run thing that evening where you bring canned food and stop along the route at the shelter to donate it. You end at a place called Cantina Loco. In this weather, that name is redundant. Also, if the weather is as predicted, visibility will be fascinating in the dark along downtown city streets. Nevermind trying to find parking. Why am I even thinking about this?

Interesting documentary about government and science in Canada. You can watch it on YouTube. http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2013-2014/the-silence-of-the-labs

Finished. Did whole thing. Under an hour, unexpected but yay. My body will eventually figure out what temperature it would like to be, it's still working it out. Finally, officially finished a race.

It might make it over freezing by race time. Otoh, there's a windchill that thinks that's really funny. What have I done?

Happy birthday Kenneth Cavness!

Did this a long time ago. Not translated into Quenya, Sindarin, or Salo, but it's in the spirit of the thing.

I am confused as to why a former special forces member of any service, let alone a SEAL, would talk about any of their missions. Certainly not publicly or officially. I mean, I thought that was kind of part of the deal; you just don't talk. I don't know that I have a personal opinion about it at the moment, just that I am very, very surprised.

They were talking about this on the radio today. One of the things I learned living in Vancouver is that the US is far from the only country in North America that has sanitized its history. I mean, the actual patented registered name of a major piece of industrial equipment used in a major industry from the early 1900's was the Iron Chink. That's some major league racism there. In any case, it is unsurprising and yet still sad to me that the British Empire did not consider people of color born within the empire worthy of citizenship. That they became angry and people died, well, that's a story that repeats itself over and over. As an aside, I am amused by the fact that although this Wikipedia entry is about an incident entirely and exclusively within the former British Empire and Canada, it somehow manages to mention the US at least twice. News flash: they did it doesn't make what you did less heinous. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komagata_Maru_incident

We're getting Lake Effect snow from Lake Huron . Really? We have two lakes of our own, thanks. You just go back to bothering Ontario with that, ok?

Oh, god. It's going to be in the 20's tomorrow morning.

I'm guessing some of these are pretty old, but still, LOL. http://www.tickld.com/x/actual-exchanges-between-pilots-and-control-towers http://www.tickld.com/x/actual-exchanges-between-pilots-and-control-towers

Ok, why is google plus now sending me a bunch of emails when a few people post certain kinds of posts? It's not even every time they post, but it is annoying.

For Kenneth Cavness, who reminded me to make coq au vin. Should you be interested ... I basically used the Julia Child recipe (unless there's more than one version, in which case I used a Julia Child recipe). I used a mix of chicken breasts and thighs, browned the onions and mushrooms separately first, used flour not beurre manie, did use cognac, did flame cognac. Oh, yeah. So, I've flamed cuisine before, but generally as a finishing thing. This happens early on, right after you brown things in tasty, tasty fat. Tasty, tasty, flammable fat. Good thing I always observe that keep the pan lid nearby when setting things on fire. Turns out cooking fat is particularly flammable when you add an accelerant like cognac. I used pearl onions, crimini mushrooms, and the non-traditional addition of those little carrot balls. For the red wine, I used this stuff that I get at Trader Joe's called Salice Salentino Epicuro. It is an awesome red wine for cooking (obviously also for drinking, ...

What is this "mentions" thing? Gah! Now g+ is stalking everyone!

Color me shocked, I tell you, Shocked! The first link is the New England Journal of Medicine article brief, the second is the CBS News summary of the story triggered by the NEJM. The third is a slightly better brief article from the NY Times. This is where I find the no regulation, free-range 'capitalists' and smack them upside their let the market decide greedy heads. Here's a newsflash. There is no part of the applicable market that is looking to have fewer choices and pay higher prices. Demand continues to be consistent, if not necessarily high. So justify your sudden and exorbitant price increases now. You fought FOR regulation to force the brand name drugs to allow you into the market place. You heavily pushed, and convinced others to do likewise, the AMAZING HEALTH CARE SAVINGS that only generic drugs could provide. You touted how your lack of research and development costs enabled you to charge a fraction of what the traditional drug companies charged.  Doxycycline w...

Well, they lied. The forecast, briefly projected to go into the 40s is now back to the 20s, maybe 30s. Funsies.

So, I'm gonna try a 5K this weekend. The weather forecast has increased the temperature from the 20's to the 30's and possibly even 40's, which may help, as it is not only along the water, it's actually through the harbor, which juts out into the lake (i.e., it's a nice little windswept pier with water on both sides). I'm hoping to finish.

This gettin' dark early thing is really buggin' me.

Yay!!!! http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/world/comet-landing-countdown/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/world/comet-landing-countdown/index.html

Thank you for waking me up, nightmare. 'Cuz I had nothing to be distressed about.

For Reasons I was in a mood this evening, so although I cooked some flounder (it was fresh so it was cook or freeze) with that honey-lemon-mustard sauce I used previously on salmon (it is an awesome sauce for fish - heh), I put it away and made some pierogi instead. Tasty, tasty comfort food pierogi. Potato pierogi and cheese pierogi. In butter, with onions. I feel a little better.

Today has been 'interesting'. Rather than asking if you want the good or the bad, I will just go with the good. [somewhat filtered] Dad had his appt with the oncologist today. His white count is down. It's down to around 20K, which is kind of in the range of a super bad infection, say, although it's a different balance of white cells than that would be. It was almost 100K when he was in hospice. His platelets are normal (they were low). All his other blood chemistries are normal. There's only one palpable lymph node, and it's down to the size of a pea. The doctor said he doesn't need any scans. My dad said one of the nurses greeted him with "Hi, miracle." What this all translates to is my dad is in the equivalent of what you could call a remission from the lymphoma. He still has leukemia (hence the 20K white count) and the secondary solid cancers that he had emergent surgery for last Monday, and will probably be getting chemo or more surgery for af...

The sunrise was beautiful. All gold and blue with those clouds that look like contrails. Which I know they are not because a) we do not live near an airport that is that insanely busy, and b) contrails dissipate (usually). I think the weather is messing with us as the oncoming doom of winter approaches.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day or Remembrance Day. This year is also the 100th anniversary of the year WW I started. I remember my grandfather always wore one of those fabric or paper poppies, but it wasn't until I was much older that I knew where that came from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields . Because it's the 100th anniversary of this devastating war, many things will be done over the next 4 years to commemorate it and its effects. Including installing ceramic poppies around the Tower of London. Quoting from one of the websites: 888,246 poppies have been installed, one for each British and Colonial fatality during the war. Presumably, that doesn't include any of the other combatants who died. It's a disturbing perspective on what we keep doing to ourselves and others with all these wars.

If the examples given here are true (I'm not saying they aren't, I just didn't independently verify them), there is something seriously wrong. It's all wrong, but in particular, as far as I know, forcibly performing any kind of surgery on someone without their consent is a felony. What further confuses me here is that you absolutely can sue for malpractice under such a circumstance. There is no law of which I know with which the government can compel you as a physician to do anything to anyone, and certainly none that protect you as a physician if you do something to someone without their consent. What exactly were the circumstances and who were these physicians? Because even in a situation with compelling medical evidence recommending a particular course of action, under every other possible circumstance, you have the legal right to refuse treatment. I repeat, NO ONE CAN FORCE YOU TO AGREE TO ANY COURSE OF TREATMENT. Unless, of course, somebody wholesale rewrote a whol...

Anybody want anything at Sephora? I have a 20% off thing that I will probably go see about using tomorrow. Let me know.

Happy birthday Matt Schaefer!

One more, possibly squicky insect talk warning (no pictures) in case that's an issue. This is about something that is no longer restricted to South America, but is now in North America. *Reuters Health Information Chagas Disease an Emerging, Overlooked Threat in Southern US By Megan Brooks November 06, 2014* NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Chagas disease is an emerging public health threat across a broad swath of the southern United States and is largely underdiagnosed and treated, according to a series of studies presented today in New Orleans at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual meeting. Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi transmitted by blood sucking triatomine insects, also known as "kissing" bugs for their habit of feeding on people's faces while they sleep. It can also spread through the blood supply. Since 2007, all potential blood donors in the U.S. a...

More fun infectious disease stuff that actually does affect the Western Hemisphere (Long Excerpt), also, there has reportedly been a case in Florida not imported from elsewhere: ... ... Clinicians should warn patients traveling to the Caribbean about the chikungunya outbreak there and should recommend that they take precautions to prevent mosquito bites, according to a news release issued November 6 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, clinicians should consider chikungunya for differential diagnosis in patients who have traveled recently. The CDC warns that travelers to the Caribbean and Central and South America will be at risk for chikungunya infection at least through the end of 2014, and possibly later. "The beginning of fall means that mosquito problems in the continental United States will be decreasing," Roger S. Nasci, PhD, chief of the CDC's Arboviral Diseases Branch, said in the release. "However, travelers to areas where t...

Per tonight's experiment in cookery, omg, Never using Thai Kitchen coconut milk again. Ugh. Was trying to find a brand without the preservatives, and all this had was guar gum, but a) it was like water (not buttah, wattah), and b) the texture was only describable by sounds I find difficult to transcribe. There was certainly an element of gluey in there, probably due to the guar gum. But this was supposed to be the full fat, not low fat stuff and Where's My Fat At? I live in fear that I may never find anything full fat without horrible chemicals. I haven't even begun to try to avoid cans lined with BPA! :`(

It's a Canadian Beever...

I think I may have found the most obnoxious christmas card, ever. It is an actual miniature horrible christmas sweater over the card that flashes the lights on the sweater and plays Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters performing Jingle Bells when you open it.  O.O