The Mono

I am currently looking for a couple of things. Does anyone in the East Bay, who would be able to set up a fairly easy transfer, have:

- un-crushed two-liter bottles, with caps, or
- sheet styrofoam, enough to create an 9"x12"x1" layer (doubling up half-inch will do)?

I'm willing to wait for a bit, if you are in the process of collecting these things, or would need to fetch them from another location. :)

Thank you!

So, the project I'm working on is a small wind turbine for Burning Man, to power the RV's battery bank and supplement (or replace) the onboard gasoline generator.

( details... )

Negatives for yesterday:
- Woke up sick -- sore throat, achy. Developed a serious upper-sinus headache over the course of the day.

- Forgot to bring water and got rather dehydrated.

Positives for yesterday:
+ Apparent success in incorporating an elderly female cat into my young female cat's territory (my room). They were ignoring each other only a few feet apart. Yay! (Only slightly marred by the fact that once we moved Fuzzy's things in, it really started to sink in for Charlotte, and she got a little jealous -- but she's really not used to being mad at me, and it'll blow over pretty quickly.) Very quick adjustment period.

+ I went out to get a used car alternator, and right away I rediscovered McHugh's Dismantlers, which hadn't been in the list of places I pulled from the phone book. It's quirky, smells like cats, and the business itself runs like a relic of the 30's... but they're friendly and know what they have.

+ I selected an already-disconnected alternator from the shelf, no pull-fee... it has a standard power socket, sealed bearings on the backside, a lovely pulley wheel which will be easy to connect things to, and turns easily (but not too easily). Price: $25 plus tax. Time: 10 minutes.

+ I went into Berkeley for junk bicycle parts for the gearing system I'm building, and decided to hit Recycle Bicycle first. This is the bike shop I've been wanting for years. Their used-parts section is self-serve, a block of filing cabinets stuffed with serviceable detached bits, sorted by type (and an awesome "miscellaneous" bin with every small part imaginable). I got two hubs, a gear cartridge, and various loose gears for $15... and then they offered me the staff bathroom (with liquid Lava soap) to wash my hands in. WIN.

+ I went on to Urban Ore. I thought I had been there before... I was mistaken. I came out maybe two hours later, and counted myself lucky that I didn't get permanently assimilated by the most awesome incarnation of a thrift store EVAR. I got a tempered glass piece for my solar oven for $3 (normally $20), some square steel tubing for another $3, and knowledge of where I can get more 8" PVC pipe and a marble slab (for filleting fish) when I want them. Going back? Oh yes.

+ I had a very nice evening with eastbaygreg, at least until my cat got mad at me and demanded that I worship her exclusively for a while. (She would play with me, I would pet her, she would purr absently, and then she would look at me -- and her eyes would narrow as she remembered "oh, right, I'm mad at you" and she would stop purring. Lather, rinse, repeat.)



The sore throat is no worse today, and I think that illness is on its way out (pretty typical). My list for today is too long to complete, but I hope to rummage through McHugh's again for a pulley (I need a rotor to attach blades to) and do a bit of paperwork for school. I'm enjoying myself. :)

And yes, I will make another post about how I'm putting all these mechanical bits together.

mactavish was the first of my friends to put these on her LJ, and after hopeforyou sent me the site link for Science Scouts last night, I felt I should pick my own badges.

I have to say -- I find this far more satisfying than Girl Scouts ever was. :)



(Someone needs to make a little app to output the HTML for LJ -- I had to do this by hand.)

Edit: added the "Talking science" badge, as required. :)

If you haven't already seen this comic, you'll love it.

So. wrong.

I really am working -- I swear. I've got the article outline forming up.

I'm listening to AfterhoursDJs.org, though; I discovered today that DJ Ciacomix has a regular show Mondays from 13:00 to 15:30. I love this guy. His occasional comments, rather than being irritating (I really dislike people who interrupt my music) are entertaining enough that he makes me laugh. That's always a good thing.

It's fortunate I ran across him now, as I have a mix he did two years ago which I loved, but his accent is so thick (he's in Germany) that I couldn't make out who he was on that recording. Now I know his name, and I can get more of his really good European trance. In fact -- insert GEEK tag here -- I set up a cron job to run every Monday at 12:55 with a timed run of streamripper to catch the show. So long as I have disk space, I won't miss it. It reminds me of the old days of programming my VCR... ;)

I'm running this show through streamripper too, of course. Wonderful program. It has an option to retransmit the stream on a localhost port of your choice, so I pointed xmms to that to listen in while I record. (Oh, and I fixed xmms today as well, for extra bonus happiness. It just needed to be pointed to the correct sound output.)

I donated $50 to AHDJs last month, when I still had funds, and they sent me a t-shirt as a thank-you gift. Nice people. :)

Edit: Bah, it's 2:30 and he's signed off already, leaving me to listen to really dull canned music. I hope next week is better.

The Round Table fundraiser was yesterday. Sorry for the confusion.

Ponyo opens the week before my birthday. Wanna go wanna go wanna go...

I went to the eye doctor again this morning, to get the workup needed to ensure that I won't get glaucoma and go blind at 35. Or something.

I did the visual field test (I hate those things) and got the photographs done. Then I went to see Dr. Graham, who said the tests looked good, and the next thing was to retest the ocular pressure that was measured yesterday. I said, "Oh, this'll be fun." She asked why, and I reminded her that I had reacted to the anesthetic yesterday. Oh, yeah...

She decided not to put me through it two days in a row, and when she caught my comment that I request non-epi anesthetic at the dentist's office, she confirmed with me that I react to epinephrine as well. I admitted that it was just an anxiety reaction -- it spikes my blood pressure and gives me mild panic attacks -- but she said it was relevant because the dilating drops they use are basically pure epi. Oops.

She let me go, saying she'd like to see me back in a year. I suppose, since she's dealt with my dad, that she's not too concerned about my test results either, and feels that monitoring is sufficient. So... boo for being yet another special case (I feel another t-shirt coming on), yay for having a doctor who can cope with special cases.

I went to the eye doctor today. My insurance runs out July 1, so I figured I should get in quickly.

The doctor was quite pleasant, but brisk enough that I didn't ask what he was doing when he gave me drops and a dab to each eye (other than checking to make sure they weren't dilating drops, as I had to drive home). Two minutes after that, as he went to get something, I had a full-blown panic attack. Sure enough, he had given me an anesthetic, and I had the panic reaction I have to almost all topical anesthetics. (We discussed it, and he finally put "anesthetic" under my allergies list... it was the simplest notation we could think of.) The good news is that it was over in about five minutes, and he was able to do the glaucoma test.

I was borderline on the glaucoma test, and with my high prescription, he got very insistent that I get checked out. The result was no great surprise to me, because 1) my dad has the same result simply because he has thick corneas (and I suspect I got it from him), and 2) when has my body ever been standard? I'm not concerned, despite how much I use my eyes, as I suspect that even if I have high pressure, I doubt anything would develop from it for decades yet. But that's just my gut feeling, knowing how my body works.

So they crammed me in for another appointment tomorrow when I'll get the full workup. I also ordered lenses, which are insanely expensive there -- but I didn't like Costco when I went there, and Lenscrafters (which used to be my usual) cleans with 409 now. So I ended up shelling out over $500 for lenses, the insurance picked up the frames; I suspect the frames maxed out the coverage by themselves, so I'm left with the lens expense. There's a reason I don't get glasses more often than every four years or so. *sigh*

So I'm flagged as a patient at risk for glaucoma, unless something tomorrow clears me -- and I may react further to the drops etc. they're using. Wheeeeeeeeee....

Edit: Almost forgot about the first thing... while I was filling out forms, I noted that the release consent form referred to a sheet detailing their privacy practices which accompanied the form... but I could find no such document. I asked, and the receptionist handed me another copy of the office policies. When I asked for the privacy policy, she said, "oh, that's what you're signing." I begged to differ (there was nothing talking about what information they share, nor specifically with whom, nor what happens if they get a court order etc.), but all I could get out of her was "those papers, that you're signing, those are the privacy policy." She looked like she could get very irritated fairly quickly, so I dropped it, but I did find it amusing.

Friend Computer,

I'm ready for you to break out my next clone now. Battling the pinko commie mutant traitors has left this clone kind of rickety. A fresh one would be great.

Your loyal citizen,

--A

"Positive thinking's negative results: For some people, optimistic thoughts can do more harm than good."

Apparently, the advice from a whole load of self-help books -- to use positive thinking and affirmations to increase low self-esteem -- can actually drive down self-esteem levels in people who already have trouble thinking good things about themselves. It's a phenomenon I've observed before, but the explanation these people have for it makes a great deal of sense.

It still leaves me wondering "well, what should people do about increasing self-esteem, then?"... but I suspect that rather depends on the individual. I know what worked for me, and there are other things which work for others -- but just willing yourself to have a better self-image may actually backfire.

I decided that I've had sufficient luck with root beer that I should take a stab at ginger beer. I hate the stuff on store shelves, as it always has some nasty cloying taste associated with it. I tried a commercial extract, and discovered that the only flavoring in it was ester of pine resin -- it tasted, as you might expect, exactly like a pine board. eww.

So, since I wanted something that tastes like ginger, I took a hand of fresh ginger, some sugar, a little yeast, and water. I worried a little bit that the yeast might take exception to very fresh ginger (it's a pretty good antimicrobial) but apparently I needn't have worried. At all.

What follows is a tentative recipe for my trial batches of ginger beer. It is not alcoholic at all, but it has some heat to it. Do this only if you like ginger (a lot). :)

( Recipe! )

This makes a very clean, crisp ginger beer with enough heat to warm your belly afterward; it's a great way to settle an uneasy stomach. I may try foogod's advice of adding a touch of cardamom to the brew, but I like it plain just fine. Yum. :)

There are alcoholic versions out there, brewed like beer... CHOW makes a very traditional non-alcoholic ginger beer using a "bug", or starter. I like dry yeast because it's reliable, quick, and needs no maintenance, but I imagine a bug gives it more character.

Perhaps I'm a little bitter, but I'll call this therapy (with a dash of sanity-saving humor thrown in).

Would anyone else like one of these shirts? I'm going to open a cafepress store, and I can order many as easily as one. Sold at-cost.

( The design... sometimes the old jokes still work. )

Edit: Ordered. If you still want one, let me know, but we won't be able to share the ($5.25) shipping. Shirts are $21.99 plus tax and shipping.

Apparently, somehow, I missed this. I would expect it to be plastered across my Friends List, but it's lily that threw me the link. From Americablog, yet, that bastion of reasoned legal analysis.

Obama defends DOMA in excruciating, and sickening, detail.

What's more, his spokesman tries to spin it as "Oh, he still supports gay rights, he just can't deal with it himself; he needs Congress to do it." BZZZZZT.

I've pulled for Obama. I voted for him, cheered him on as a savvy, intelligent, reasonable statesman who seems to know what he's doing. He was oddly silent on the Defense of Marriage Act Don't Ask Don't Tell, but it could have been because he hadn't put it on the front burner yet (I'm not saying that's a good reason, but it's not an active betrayal). But this? This disgusts me.

Hell, I'm as straight as they come and I'm ready to go marching now. I can't be arrested for health reasons, but goddamn, I'd be cheering on the ones who could. Nonviolence, god I hope it prevails, but even Gandhi knew there was a time to throw sand in the gears and bring it all to a screeching halt.

I should make some calls. I don't think any force on this earth can change Feinstein's mind, but I should at least check in with Miller and Boxer. And figure out how to calm down a little before giving the White House a piece of my mind.

*seethe*

Edit: Email sent to all my legislators. The email I sent to the President is ( under the cut )

Oh, and Towleroad is reporting that HRC has finally spoken, joining with NGLTF, the ACLU, etc. to request that Obama repeal DOMA. Better late than never, HRC.

Thanks to lily, I was introduced to this little gem:

The Solution to the Big Dinosaur Paradox

Putting aside for a moment the fact that I was unaware of the presence of a Big Dinosaur Paradox, this site is wonderful. It seeks to use logical deduction and scientific evidence (no, real physics formulas and numbers) to find answers to the great puzzles of life, or at least what this author thinks are the great puzzles. It discards some of the weirder theories out in creationist-land because they don't hold up scientifically. And finally, at the end, the stream of logic and scientific thought comes to an irrefutable conclusion. (No, I won't tell you what it is. Though you might want to look up which materials have a density of 670 kg/m³.)

It is, without a doubt, one of the most entertaining sites I've seen in a while.

16 Round Table Pizza locations in Contra Costa County will donate 15% of the payment for your order on June 29th to the Contra Costa County arm of the UC Cooperative extension, if you bring in a copy of this flyer. This is at no additional cost to you, beyond the paper and ink needed to print the flyer. If you eat pizza and you can get to one of the locations on the back of the flyer between 11am and 10pm on June 29th, please make the effort.

For those unfamiliar with the Cooperative Extension, it brings you the Master Gardener Program, which provides volunteers for school gardening education projects, booths at most farmer's markets in the area, the Master Gardener helpline (which offers gardening help for anyone in the Bay Area), support for 4H, and more. As a Master Gardener myself, I can tell you this program does a lot more than most people think, and its funding has been completely cut as of June 30th. We've got some help to continue to at least December while we search for new funding sources, but we still need some operating expenses for the second half of this year, and the Round Table fundraiser could help a lot.

Check out the flyer and the participating locations, and help out if you can, even if it's only by spreading the word. Thank you!

I think I've just had a preview of what my post-grad-school nightmares will be like (much like the dreams about high school we all still have occasionally).

That's the worst night's sleep I've had in a long time.

I didn't expect anything from this year's event; I just went to bask in the geekiness. I came away happy.

I got to see the Crucible fire trucks again (so strange to think of such a thing as comforting). We discovered that if we want to see the naval battles, we need to grab tickets early on. The steampunk carnival was small and clever, complete with a woman who can play a theremin as accurately as a violin. We got good seats for Mousetrap this time, and a decent position for one of the Tesla coil demos. The Long Now project finally has a full-size piece of the ten-thousand-year clock built -- the chime assembly -- and it is, for lack of a better word, mesmerizing. I got complimented several times on my xkcd "Stand Back: Science" shirt, and saw many other people wearing that or other xkcd shirts. I hurt my brain again trying to figure out the chemistry behind walnut hull gasification. I bought a solar LED lantern kit which I hope I'll have time to assemble before Burning Man. And there were other cool things, familiar and unfamiliar: the giraffe, the Orb Swarm, the mechanical hand, so many others.

I went with a family friend (Beth), eastbaygreg, farmount, and a fellow grad student, Margaret. I ran into a co-worker, surprisingly; I had no idea that Yan would be manning the booth with the giant bacteriophage model. We also ran into hopeforyou and starry_sigh, whom we had hoped to see there; I saw the back of roadknight's head in the crowd. I had rather expected to recognize more people, but other than a couple of "oh, hey, you look familiar" encounters, that was it.

That's okay. What I love is plunging into a crowd of strangers and knowing that we all speak a common language. There is a group of people who are "my" people. I need to be reminded of that sometimes, as I while away the months in Davis: that there is a place where I belong, where I can go after all this is over. That's why I went today.

I spent 20 hours in bed today, which was not at all my intention... turns out I picked up a GI virus somewhere, and it struck last night. I was unconscious most of today, woozy from fever and knocked out by Tramadol, which is the only thing that even touches the inflammatory pain I get from the flu. Whee.

I'm feeling a bit better now, though I think my temperature is still a little high, and my head feels like every description of a hangover I've ever seen. I'm trying to drink as much as I can, because my near-coma today made it difficult to replace the fluids I was losing and I woke up with my kidneys screaming at me. They seem a little happier now. My blood pressure is a bit higher too, so I no longer feel like I'm going to pass out if I stand up for five minutes.

I expect to feel a bit better tomorrow, but it's a good thing that I didn't have any plans this weekend, as I expect I'll be rather worn out for the next couple of days. As it is, I'm not sure I can meet my own deadline at work anymore, since I missed today. Sigh.

I get a weekend off, and Murphy strikes again. FML.