It's beginning to look a lot like Xmas

I'm sure some of you have been saying, "Oh sure, Steve, but what do your decorations look like this year?"

So here is as wide a shot as I can get. You can just barely see the large ornaments hanging from the tree.

And here is just the deer on the righthand side.

Then there is the side yard display. Note the new wreath hanging on the storage barn in back.

And here is a closer shot of the front of the house. Most of these lights are new, as is the garland around the doors (I've really been wanting to do that for years - this isn't really what I wanted to do, but it's what I could afford this year, and it doesn't look much different from the street).

And then there is a partial view of my neighbors lawn (he's added more things since this shot, and well as several inflatables to the right, and a few to the left). My neighbor feels we're in some kind of competition with each other. Which led me to almost get the 12' inflatable Santa. Just because that would be my trump card this week. But I refrained.

So there's a few new things this year. I also have garland wrap around the mailbox (so it looks good during the day). I've relamped 2 of the deer this year with LEDs (warm whites, which are a nice addition as they only look slightly different from the others, unlike the deer I relamped in cool whites, which look blueish).

There's plenty I wanted to get, but the cost was a little too high. We'll check out the after Xmas sales (depending on other factors going on).

Linkee-poo knows it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n roll

Stick a fork in it, the intertubules have been won. (Grokked from everywhere)

We all have our million dollar ideas. Here's Dan's. I have to admit that I'm often puzzled by what these car stickers mean (yes, I know they're country codes from the EU, but that's not how we use them here in the US). At least these I'll understand. Plus, Dan's looking for feedback while he's in the testing phase. Any ones he should include, ideas for his commercial site, whatever?

I hate it when Hollywood does fairy tales. Why? Because they intentionally fuck it up. Jack and the Bean Stalk is not the same Jack in Jack the Giant Killer. Sure, they have the same first name, but then I have the same first name with Stephen Hawking. And I doubt anyone would confuse the two of us. Jack is an all purpose name for "everyman hero" in the fairy tales of the British Isles.

Oh Noes! Another Ghost Rider movie. Look, I saw the first one really, really wanting it to be cool. I mean, come on; motorcycle, flaming skull, demonic fighting with a flaming chain, Nic Cage, Peter Fonda, and Sam Elliot… it should have been damn awesome. How can you screw up such a thing? But screw up they did. It was one of those movies that you end up continuing to watch just to see how bad it would suck, and it even failed that test. Okay, I admit, I was really tired when I watched it. Like, "Oh, the remote is all the way on the other side of the couch, I'll never turn the channel again," tired. But still, blech.

Kelly Swails shares a holiday greeting. As she says, "It's Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in case you're wondering."

"Into the kitchen rushes a Lubavitch SWAT team of three rabbis and an intern." An article on making the White House Kitchen Kosher for the Holidays (and you know which ones I'm talking about). "During the tumult, Rabbi Baron reviews a Hebrew passage from Shulchan Aruch, the venerable code of Jewish law. He finds it on his iPad." (that last is a personal note to me to rewrite "Grace" to send out). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The newsworthy events of 2011 in Lego. I wonder if the OWS will become a commercial set? (Grokked from Jim Hines)

So, just who are the job creators? (Hint: No, it ain't the rich). No need to worry, that banging sound is someone trying to shatter of world views of the GOP (they're particularly hard headed). And here I'll just point out that I hope you're all noticing that the GOP isn't for tax breaks for everybody (like the payroll tax holiday that affects all working people), they're just for tax breaks for the rich (those of you in the other 9% of the top 10% just get the benefit of being close, but the GOP isn't looking out for you either). (Pointed to by Sheila)

Oh, hell no. Those anti-immigration laws can't be about just brown people. So, besides driving Alabama's agricultural industry into the ground, it's also affecting all those industries that Alabama lured in to increase their tax base. But I'm sure they're not looking to revise their law just because some non-brown people were "inconvenienced." No, I'm sure they have some better reason to rethink their idiotic, racist, Jim Crow wannabe crap law. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Ta-Nehisi Coates with and interesting squib on cultural and our inherited baggage. I've also experienced the same thing he did and had been wondering about it. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart:
@seriouslyemily: The correct algorithm to find the serving size of Doritos is your height divided by your sad.

Synchronicity

Saw Captain America for the first time last night (yeah, I know, but I've been really busy). The one thing I want to comment about, thought, is I'm now in love with Steve Viola. He's the designer behind the end title sequence. They used vintage propaganda posters to develop the titles and, I'll admit, left me in total designer squee mode. So that's why it's sad to hear that Joe Simon passed on the day before I saw the modern movie based on his creation.

Linkee-poo decking the halls with boughs of holly

Oh, to be back in the days of the innocence of yore. 1561 should be good for some clean, wholesome, entertainment. Yeah. Right. Mmm, sexting through the use of Chaucer. And next, kiddies, we'll dissect some of my favorite Shakespeare, who also never wrote about sex. wink (Grokked from Jay Lake)

What was Kurt Vonnegut like as a teacher? Yeah, that's one of the reasons I like him.

Comet Lovejoy's suicide may become visible with the naked eye. The comet will be grazing the sun at such a close distance it will most probably be destroyed. As it does so, its magnitude of brightness is growing greater than predicted. If things work out right, you might be able to see the comet next to the sun in broad daylight.

Augmented reality hits the toy shelves. New tech tends to have two routes into the world, porn or toys (okay, well, military/space is another one). It's interesting to see this, I'm not so sure the Cars tie-in will workout (driving or manipulating a physical toy that has to be in close contact with the gaming screen isn't much different that just playing the game, IMHO, kinect is more AR, but in reverse is you see what I mean). And the Skylander's aren't so much augmented reality as platform agnostic game info storage devices. However, I see the Skylander's tech as more viable. Imagine if you had these for your RPG characters? You could merge video game play (online and solo) with table-top RPG experiences. You could reorder how gaming conventions are run (as in, real game changer). As a side note, AR has been in toys for about four years now. There's a stuffed toy you can buy that comes with a code to allows you to unlock an online experience, also there have been AR readers (show icon to camera, see animated 3d model on screen) in games for at least two years. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Ah, well, good thing somebody is getting nice raises these days. Too bad it's the same 1% that's been getting all the raises for the past three decades. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Punks arrested in Jakarta and given "re-education." Long-haired hippy-freaks need not apply. (Pointed to by John)

And what comes as a surprise to nobody, the DoJ investigation into Sheriff Joe Arpaio finds extreme ethnic bias in his policing practices. Cue the diner signers to another chorus of, "but they commit all the crimes."

If Money=Political Speech, only 58 of us are doing 80% of the speaking through SuperPACs. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Priebus's Army? Like Dumbledore's Army, but less competent and more angry.

For Jim, because

We know how much Jim Wright loves this song. (Grokked from ticia42)

Linkee-poo knows it's all run by a big eastern syndicate

Spent the morning at the courthouse, only to have the judge dismiss one count, and the state drop their prosecution of the other count. So, thanks Universe. I think that was meant to be a good thing.

George Takei, broker of intergalactic peace. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tor is sending Tobias Buckell on the road for his new book, Arctic Rising. So happy for my friend, you just wouldn't believe. Ah, I think I've found the Christmas Spirit early. Oh, wait, that's just the hard cider. All the events are on the other coast. (Congrats, Tobias.)

How doctors die. Having watched too many people go through a rough end of life, there is something to be said for Hospice (although, please note, not everyone there goes gently into the night either). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Sure, you've seen the cats playing with the Friskee's app, but can they play a real video game like this bearded dragon? I think not. (Pointed to by John)

When the "free market" goes too far. Amazon once again shows the dark side of the force. Now, I'll admit, I've made purchases through Amazon after seeing something in a brick-and-mortar store. I've even made the comment to my wife, "I bet I could get a good deal on-line for (whatever see's looking at)." So I'm guilty. However, that's the consumer doing price shopping (and here I'll also say that I've gone the other way saying, "I could probably save a buck buying this online/outside my local shops", but then realizing what I'd save I would spend in doing that runaround, just purchased the item - there's several scenarios around this). This app is industrial espionage at an exceptionally course level. If Amazon went out and gathered this info (more difficult than just walking into a store with a pen and paper - see stories from Best Buy about doing that), and then set its price accordingly, I'm okay with that. But enlisting the consumer to do the dirty work? There's a line back there that we crossed. (Grokked from John Scalzi)

Paul Allen goes for the full Howard Hughes. Okay, well, launching rockets after taking them close to orbit by another means (aircraft, ballon) isn't a new idea. The old space launch company he funded (now Virgin Galactic) did the same thing with White Knight and SpaceShip One.

You know how climate scientists talk about "tipping points." Well we might have just passed one. It's already been seen that the melting permafrost in Alaska has been releasing methane, but this is a whole different scale. You know how we all get worried about CO2 releases? Yeah, methane is about 20x worse. Of course, the other side is all pictures or it didn't happen. Unfortunately, I can't find that the AGU has released the papers presented, yet. Considering this scientist has been talking about this for 5 years (that I can remember) and has more scientific cred that the deniers, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. But measurements would be nice (as I remember, though, methane research isn't what he's doing, these are just incidental sightings). (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Lies, damnable lies, and infographics. Serious face palm going on over at Fox News. Really, dudes, when it's only drawing grid lines to show how much you faked the chart, you're not even trying. And yes, I've been asked to make charts like that in previous positions, there are better ways of doing this work which don't intentionally show the lie (like how the chart goes from 8.0 to 10.0, which flattens out the line). Oh. Wait. I get it. This is the "Help, I'm being held prisoner in a fortune cookie factory" message. (Grokked from Phiala)

Another Tennessee house burns as firefighter watch. I'm of two minds about this, being Chairman of Safety (for only a few more weeks). It's damn expensive to run a fire department (you wouldn't believe the cost of equipment and the training necessary). So I understand the thinking behind the "the fire service is for our municipality, if you want it outside of that line, you need to buy into the service." $75 is chicken feed, btw, for such insurance. But I also understand there are people for whom $75 is a hardship. The way to settle this is property tax in the form of a levy to buy into the local municipality's fire service (we have two such arrangements, while the millage is the same, because of the increased value of property inside the village, we still pay they lion's share, not to mention tossing in extra income tax dollars). If you don't believe in taxes, then you have to go to fee for service. But then you have these types of things. And, yes, the firefighters will watch the blaze (not welcomely, they'd rather fight it) to make sure it doesn't spread to other properties that have paid the fee (or for which they could get reimbursed by federal agencies, like preventing a forest fire). (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

I hope you'v all be working out, keeping this calluses in good shape, because this election year is going to be a doozy of a face palm season. Not to mention a rehash of the has-beens of the last election. I might want to stock up on the pepto bismol. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

When Rick Perry's campaign started off with his Day of Prayer, I worried a little. Then when it was exposed that the people behind his Day of Prayer were the New Apostolic Reformation, I got concerned. Then with his video, "Strong" Rick Perry proved he was a tool. Dear Texans, if you have the recall, I'd start doing it now. No, really, Rick has jumped the shark. The whole, "Obama's war on Christianity"? That takes some serious reality disconnect to get to. Rick shouldn't be allowed to operate a motor vehicle while taking such strong stuff, let alone being handed keys of power. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart
@God_Damn_Batman: The holidays are the most stressful time of year. What with all the shopping and armies of penguins with tiny missiles on their back.

Late breaking heads

So, the last month on Council just can't be an easy one, can it? Thanks, Universe, for more heartbreak on the way out.

Well, we had one officer resign (which I already knew about). So I need to hire another this month (almost solved). I mean, they couldn't wait another month?

But then there's more health problems around Council. If you happen to think that there's all this giving away of the house by the government when it comes to health care, think again. Because of the regulations instituted by Congress attempting to cut their liability, one of our own is suffering more than necessary. They need a necessary procedure, but unfortunately are just outside the approved level to be helped. So, instead, we have a few more expensive hospital visits instead of fixing the problem. Saving a few pennies to spend a few dollars. Great.

Then someone goes through a stop sign and takes out the sibling of another of our workers. Funeral was yesterday (so I missed all of it).

Then there's our State Attorney General who feels that pursuing a former employee for overpayments which had already been discovered and "approved" by the elected board members (different body) 6 years ago is now worth pursuing to bring money in for the state. Dollar amount is below $500, the clerk had already been disciplined, the error was caught and corrected before the audit, the elected members of the board absolved the debt. In an attempted to drive revenues, the AG isn't hearing any of it and required response immediately. Six years ago. So our choice was to force the former employee (who is facing medical and financial problems of their own) to repay, force the Clerk to pay, or tap our Bond (which at least will increase our costs, might lead to loosing it). And we had to decide tonight, or let the AG make the choice. Have we talked about how the OAG is also looking at getting welfare recipients to repay government overpayments from up to 25 years ago? Can we pick a swell bunch in this state or what.

Also, I have jury duty tomorrow. Freaking fantastic. Every other year I've been called for duty, but haven't had to serve (dismissed the night before). Hey, thanks a load.

Dear Universe, I don't know what I did to piss you off, but you can stop it now.

Scenes from a Morning Commute

And if you're wondering how the week back is going, do this give you a clue?

Never let them tell you that designers don't do math (that's just from this afternoon, this morning's figures took up a whole page and are in the trash now).

Linkee-poo is sold by volume, not by weight

The Greater Cleveland Aquarium opening January 21, 2012. It's been a long, damnable wait. And $22 for an 1.5 experience?

Catherine Schaff-Stump shares what she learned this NaNaWriMo. Also demonstrating that just because you write one way one day, doesn't mean you can't mix it up the next. Heck, you may have to.

MiB3. 'nough said.

Nathan would like to share with you some of the lesser known heros of the "War on Christmas". At least I now know where my annual desire to eat potato knishes comes from.

And open letter from (some of) the truck drivers affected by OWS's shutdown yesterday. "We love being behind the wheel. We are proud of the work we do… But we feel humiliated when we receive paychecks that suggest we work part time at a fast-food counter. Especially when we work an average of 60 or more hours a week…" Just simple justice. Also, a nice essay on what happens when you deregulate and allow "the market" to set the terms. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Siri fails at family planning. It's one thing to have a missing piece of data, it's a different thing to have specific black holes of information, while providing in-depth information for topics just adjacent (ie. if you know Viagra, you should know Plan B). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Vince shares a video that might upset some of you. NSFW (explicative laden), you are warned. I don't agree totally with it (extenuating circumstances), but from the angle the ranter is coming from, yes.

The epidemic of autism. The the article reports, it's mostly an epidemic of diagnosis. "Indeed, some parents pursue it doggedly… because it can open the door to publicly funded services." It also can create distinct advantages, especially for students. With the mainstreaming of students who used to be relegated to special ed, general ed make allowances for them: special tutoring, longer times to take tests, readers, etc. That second part, longer time frames for test taking, has been extremely attractive to parents (and students). There are a lot of people out there diagnosed with "developmental disabilities" who really don't have them, but their parents bullied doctors into making the diagnosis so they could get those benefits. That's why ADD diagnosis's spiked in the 80s and 90s, and now autism is the flavor of choice. (that is not to say all the increase is because of this, or even a majority of the increase is because of this, but there are some percentage points that fall into the "give my kid a better chance" category). "… cases were concentrated in places where parents were highly educated and had easy access to treatment." You could also link this spike to the same factors that made Lyme disease the horror of the 80s. Basically it was at that time doctors finally realized, "Hey, this might actually be a disease." Some of you might remember that before then, people complaining of Lyme disease were often dismissed with, "It's all in your head." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

As a side note, the true silent epidemic in this country is Hepatitis C.

A graphical representation of the effect of Newt Gingrich's tax plan (or, if you want the data from the Tax Policy Center). Good thing he doesn't believe in redistributing wealth, because then we'd all have to watch our wallets. Welcome to what a regressive tax policy looks like. Not to mention, it'll add $850B to the deficit in the first year (where as Perry's plan would only add $570B). Remember when conservatives were about ending deficit spending? Well, that doesn't count when you can give your friends a few hundred thousand more a year, does it now. (Grokked from Morgan Locke)

And just in case you think I don't want Newt to win, think again. I want Newt for the same reason I wanted Cain. Boy howdy would my side win. "Please, Brair Fox, don't throw me in that briar patch." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Because sunlight is the best disinfectant for political bullshit (Grokked from Jay Lake). Your liberal media at work. Sometimes I just don't understand Log Cabin Republicans. Yes, I know a few personally. They're all about smaller government, lower taxes, etc, all the things the Republicans say they're about. But they've missed that the social conservatives have hijacked the party and flung it deep into ultra-wacky-right-land. And those social conservatives aren't about those things (although they'll mouth the words), they're about the hate for others. They're tired of the world showing them they're wrong, and so they will fight to their last breath denying all of reality. So, to my Log Cabin friends, that party has abandoned you, too. It's time to wake up and smell the closet that the social conservatives just want your money and they don't give a flying fig about you. You might think you've won the war on this issue (also grokked from Jay Lake). Really? How's Roe v. Wade doing these days? This is the conservative theme. They never admit defeat and will keep fighting to make the world they way they perceive it should be, and there's no room in that warped reality for you.

Micro in the bag

Tonight was the finals, and because of being out of state last week, I had to do both the Lab and Lecture final. Since we were both there early, I took the Lab first and scored 21/20 (22 total possible points). There were a few questions that it took me a while to get the correct answer, and one I totally pulled out of ass (what is albumin's role in plasma - it's to regulate osmotic pressure in case you're wondering). On the Lecture test I scored an 83%. My lowest score of the semester. Considering I missed 2 out of the 3 lectures that covered the material, I think I did okay. There were a few that I changed my answer to the incorrect answer (none that went the other way, that is, I didn't change any to the correct answer), one that I marked the wrong box, and a few that I debated between two answers and chose the wrong one.

If I've done my math correctly, even with the automatic 10 point deduction for missing class last week, I think I still made an A. Not my highest A, in fact I think this is my poorest performance to date. But it's an A. The GPA doesn't care if I blew out the top end or barely scrapped by.

Small Aggravations

Okay, so, for exotoxins of microbes (the toxins the microbes create and shed, as compared to the toxins formed within the microbe that are released as the microbe is lysed - destroyed - which are endotoxins), there can be a two part system referred to as A-B. They're two different toxins (proteins), but here the B helps the A into the cell. The B has the receptors to attach to the cell wall, which then causes phagocytosis - the cell "eats" it. The A part attaches to the B part, so when the B gets eaten, so does the A. Now, in most cases, the B doesn't do much of anything else. It's the A protein that causes the problems (acts as the toxin).

With me so far?

Clostridium difficile (C. diff), has two enterotoxins (toxins that work in your GI tract) called A and B.

Sigh. Really? REALLY? We couldn't call them C and D (you know, for C. diff)? One of the reasons this shit is so hard. Don't even get me started on "di-" versus "bis-" prefixes.

Linkee-poo jangles your jingle bells

Kim Wright expounds on the "just" parts of axioms. In this world, you never "just" have to do something. You have to do all the other parts. Same goes for writing and publishing. As someone once said, "I have two hobbies. The first one is writing. The second is submitting." And here I'll reiterate a widely dispersed theme, don't be a dick about marketing (ie. if all you have to say is, "buy my book" people will tune you out and turn you off).

A gift list for the writers in your life. And also, just like Jay Lake, wants.

Edward Gorey and things you're not (officially) allowed to do on envelopes anymore. From back in the glory days when people processed the mail.

Iceland, apparently, isn't fooling around. Instead of allowing bonuses to be paid, they've arrested executives of failed banks. Although, it appears, the Icelanders have direct evidence of corrupt practices (stock purchases for loans and bad investments). (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

NPR goes on a hunt to find those millionaire job creators who would suffer from the surtax. After checking in with the Republican Congressional Offices to get someone to talk to, and then the lobbyists working against the surtax and coming up with bumpkiss, they turn to Facebook. There they get a few nibbles, all of whom who say the tax rates don't even come into their decisions to hire or not hire. Republicans trot out the line that they could have gotten the millionaires that would be affected to talk, but they didn't wanna. Say, remember the "Estate/Death Tax" debate about how all these family farms would be hurt if it wasn't repealed? Remember how, when pressed, Republican's couldn't produce a single family farm that was affected by the estate tax? What do you call people who consistently can't tell the truth? (Grokked from Jay Lake)