You know what bugs me? Well, a lot of things bug me, but this post is about something that’s bugged me for a long time. It also concerns a lesson learned about things that bug me. And it’s about why this post is being written in the first place.
Let me start with that last one. (Because it just now happened again!) I have notebooks, Post-It Note collages and scribbled note collections of blog post ideas. But new ones pop up constantly (like the idea I thought of while writing this paragraph). Some of the new ones are so demanding, they shove the patiently waiting ones aside. The backlog is building, yet my time is short. Very aggravating.
Which brings me to the post’s point: my aggravation about counting change.
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25 Comments | tags: amount tendered, bills, cashiers, coins, insanity, mangoes | posted in Life, Rant
Did you feel it? The Earth swung past a certain point in space; there was a little spacetime “bump” as we ran over the notch. Didn’t you feel it?
It’s kind of an important point in the cycle. Lots of people stay up to watch it happen. (Although, I grant you, the whole thing is about 10 days late. Problem is, back in the day it took them a while to recognize what had happened.)
To commemorate the occasion, some will look back and some will look forward. And some will riff on how this is an arbitrary moment in time that doesn’t mean anything at all, really.
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27 Comments | tags: 2013, be excellent, beauty, Bill and Ted, Chillaxmas, goals, looking back, paths, roads | posted in Life
Just about all of 2012 is in my rear-view mirror now. It joins well over 50 others, most of them so far back they are lost in the mist and fog of life. My car moves forward at its full legal pace: 24 Hours Per Day, just like the markers say. (You do not want to be pulled over by the causality cops for violating the reality limit. The fines are truly Lovecraftian.)
Up ahead I see the border markers for 2013. Less than six hours away, so there’s no need for more stops. It’s an easy drive, and there’s something very poignant about watching the last mile markers roll past. This is country passed through once, never visited again.
It’s a time to look back in my mirror for some last glimpses of the path traveled.
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12 Comments | tags: 2012, bridges, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Little Big Town, looking back, paths, rear-view mirror, roads, Tornado | posted in Life, Music
I’m of an age to have seen the arrival of 1984 and 2001 as an adult. Those years are significant due, respectively, to the famous George Orwell book and to the famous Stanley Kubrick movie (authored by Arthur Clarke). Because of those stories, those years were mileposts in future imaginings. Would the world turn out per the dystopic 1984 vision? Or would space travel come along per the 2001 vision?
Fortunately and sadly (respectively), the answer was, “Nope.”
This evening 1984 came to mind due to thinking about 2001, and that came to mind due to thinking about this post. My 201st blog post. A small milestone for long-time bloggers, but a milestone, nevertheless.
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12 Comments | tags: 1984, 200, 2001, 2013, BOOL, Chillaxmas, Freshly Pressed, Spock, stats, WordPress | posted in Life
Yes, it’s that time of year again. I don’t mean Christmas or New Year’s. I don’t even mean Winter Solstice (the actual, true & proper, physics-based holiday of the season). I don’t even mean Chillaxmas. I mean that the friggin’ Ants have once again invaded my demesne.
They have come every winter, except for the very mild one last year. I believe they come seeking water. Even Ants cannot live for more than a few days without water. My theory is: fuel prices being what they are these days, the poor Ants cannot afford to keep their tiny furnaces running. This leaves them unable to melt ice or snow, and so they come seeking liquid water.
This, then, is a tale of species war! One man’s fight against thousands of alien invaders!
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26 Comments | tags: ant poison, ants, Formicidae, Hexapoda, humor, Hymenoptera, Them! | posted in Life, Rant
It seems fitting to take this opportunity to write a Sideband post the way I had originally intended when I began them. That intent goes back to the beginning; the first Sideband post was my second post here. For better or worse, the original intent didn’t last long.
In fact, it’s hard to see much difference between the Sideband posts and the other posts. That probably reflects a lack of focus on the main topics. Sidebands were intended for stuff that was off topic. But I’ve been so all over the map on topic that at least one blogger asked if I had a short attention span. [insert here one of the short attention span jokes you’ve heard before]
That’s not going to change. I’m eclectic; so is my blog. Sidebands will evolve. For now, here’s a Sideband on yesterday’s post, just like Blogger originally intended.
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5 Comments | tags: chaos, chaos theory, fractals, Mandelbrot | posted in Math, Physics, Sideband
I had thought, on this third day of Chillaxmas, that to entertain and terrify you, I would post a true tale of alien invasion and species murder. I know you’re expecting the punchline to be that I would if I could, but I don’t have such a tale, so I can’t, ha, ha. Well, I do have just such a tale, and I could, I’m just not.
Not today, anyway. It’s all queued up for tomorrow, and it’s just as well. This will give me a chance to issue a little advance warning. I have pictures of the aliens! War is never for the faint of heart; it’s all the worse with an exoskeleton-wearing alien enemy!
Today, very much like Dug, I was distracted by some virtual philosophical squirrels.
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11 Comments | tags: alien vistors, Chillaxmas, David Gray, Dug, Lucinda Williams, salt, storytelling, tertiary, theatre, three | posted in Life, Science
At this point it seems safe to say the Earth continues to orbit the Sun, and that life on the planet also continues. Either the Mayans were wrong, or all those people thousands of years later, working off little (or no) knowledge of the situation, were not correctly interpreting the situation.
Ya think? 😁
In any event, it sounds like a good excuse to throw a party! Let’s make it a good one!! We’ll decorate extensively (I’m thinking a red and white color scheme), and maybe there should be some gift-giving.
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6 Comments | tags: asteroid, cats, Chillaxmas, Christmas, eating alone, elephants, Mayan Calendar, Mayans, New Year's Eve, Tunguska | posted in Life
The cow just jumped over the Moon; I saw it!
Of course, by ‘cow’ I mean International Space Station (ISS), and by ‘jumped’ I mean swung smoothly over a period of several seconds. And by ‘Moon’ I mean — you know — the Moon.
For a space geek (and I should think, really, for any oxygen-breather), it was kind of thrill and a nice cap to Christmas. (I’m indebted to my friend, Jeff, who called moments before to let me know! It was way worth standing out in the 12-degree chill!)
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8 Comments | tags: blog, blogging, Chillaxmas, cow, Freshly Pressed, funny poetry, International Space Station, ISS, Night Before Christmas, poems, poetry, Santa | posted in Life
Christmas to me in a word: Lefse!
Merry Christmas! The day our inner child has been awaiting is finally here. It’s Christmas Day, the first of The Twelve Days of Christmas! I have a series of 12 intensely Christmas-y posts planned for the next 12 days. Each post keys off its respective line in that immortal song.
I’m sure you will enjoy my essays on the political ramifications of Leaping Lords, and I have a shocking Dairy & Hotel industry exposé concerning certain Milking Maids. Earlier in the series, you may enjoy the article about the bizarre biology and genetics of so-called “Turtle Doves.” There’s also a travel article; we’re going to France to see some Hens.
Yes, of course I’m kidding. This is a lazy Christmas Day post of random (sometimes silly) thoughts and memories of Christmas Passed.
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23 Comments | tags: Christmas, Christmas Day, cinnamon sugar, cod, cold, cookies, lefse, lutefisk, White Christmas, winter | posted in Life
Logos con carne 