Hillbilly trivia
Ten Top Trivia Tips about Hillbillies!
- South Australia was the first place to allow hillbillies to stand for parliament.
- Only one child in twenty will be born on the day predicted by hillbillies.
- The fingerprints of hillbillies are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene!
- Hillbillies has 118 ridges around the edge!
- Only fifty-five percent of men wash their hands after using hillbillies.
- The patron saint of hillbillies is Saint Eugenie.
- In the Great Seal of the United States the eagle grasps 13 arrows and hillbillies.
- It takes forty minutes to hard-boil hillbillies.
- An average beaver can cut down hillbillies every year.
- A sixteenth century mathematician lost his nose in a duel over his love for hillbillies, and wore a silver replacement for the rest of his life.
Brought to you by The Mechanical Contrivium: Random Trivia Generator
In defense of space exploration
Tomorrow is the scheduled launch of the New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons will travel to Pluto and Charon in a mere nine years. This is a magnificent undertaking. MAGNIFICENT.
Remember Voyager? You’d better. Voyager was is a stunningly successful mission to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The really interesting thing is that those 2 spacecraft have kept on going and going, still transmitting data back to Earth.
I have high hopes for New Horizons. Pluto and Charon are a mystery. Are they a planet/moon system? Is Pluto even a planet? What are Pluto and Charon made of? Why is their orbit so odd? What else will we find out there? Will the New Horizons spacecraft perform as spectacularly as Voyagers I and II?
There are more than a few people out there who believe the US space program is a big waste of money, that it takes funds away from other programs, that it eats up a huge portion of the budget, that it is a waste of tax dollars.
I disagree and disagree heartily.
I should disclose that my first real job out of college was with NASA and I spent about 7 years total with the agency as a contractor (an important distinction to some). Typical work unpleasantness aside, it was a really good time. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is a diverse organization that studies a wide variety of things: earth science, space science, biology and physiology, aeronautics, atmospheric science, etc. The importance of work that the agency has done at its numerous centers cannot be overstated. Not only has NASA’s research benefited the space program, it has benefited all of us. I could get preachy right about here and start listing said benefits in ridiculous detail and copious quantities, but I won’t. That just annoys people.
Do some research yourself. Learn what the space program has done. Get excited about the missions. Marvel at the imagination, intelligence, perseverance, and courage it takes to conceive of and execute these things. Yes, there have been failures and tragedies. Horrible tragedies that are heartbreaking and absolutely enormous. But I don’t think those tragedies are a reason to stop exploring. I certainly don’t think failure is a reason to stop exploring. All of the people involved know the risk they are taking. They know what could happen. They understand, better than the rest of us I would imagine, how risky space exploration is. And they do the work willingly, with passion and dedication. All of this work is long-term. The return on investment is often years or decades later.
In addition to all of the technological, medical, and other advances provided by space exploration, I think it has also given us hope, excitement, joy, genuine awe, and wonder. I cried at the only shuttle launch I have ever attended. I knew I would be dazzled but I didn’t know how deeply it would move me. I remember thinking about what it took to launch a shuttle, what it must feel like for those astronauts and everyone in mission control and the folks who prepped the astronauts, and how enormous the whole thing was. It was just so big. And we did it. We, humans, came up with this and made it happen. It takes my breath away to think about it.
When you were a child, didn’t you gaze at the night sky in awe? Didn’t you wonder what was out there? Do you still? I do.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
European Space Agency
National Space Development Agency of Japan
P.S. This too.
THIS
One of the best kept secrets of the DC area is Teddy Roosevelt Island. UB has posted some lovely photos of it and will (I hope) post more soon. Go take a look.
Records of my youth
I came home a few months ago with some albums – yes, VINYL – that my parents still had from my teen years. It isn’t all of them but I would say it is a fair representation of my taste at that time.
- The Crossing, Big Country
Riptide, Robert Palmer
Kiss the Sky, Jimi Hendrix
Dirty Work, Rolling Stones
Rewind, Rolling Stones
Madonna, Madonna
Boy, U2
Smash Hits, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Unforgettable Fire, U2
Evolution/Parade, Prince and the Revolution
Plays Live, Peter Gabriel
Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Feed the World), Various
Classical Music Cassette Selection (boxed like vinyl)
October, U2
The Joshua Tree, U2
War, U2
Déjà Vu, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
The Lord of the Rings Soundtrack, Composed and Conducted by Leonard Rosenman
The Motown Story: The First 25 Years
The Album that Has Raspberry Beret on it, Prince and the Revolution
Boomtown, David and David
White City, Pete Townshend
Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits
Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
So, Peter Gabriel
Outlet of my discontent
Anyone have an idea why there is this lone, random outlet in my kitchen above the window? I … don’t understand. It’s like there are two little perpetually cheerful faces staring down at me, laughing silently … and maybe plotting something?
Moving Mountains in Appalachia
This is a remarkable and heartbreaking article about coal, justice, mountains, lies, danger, and incredible courage and tenacity.
(Source: Orion Magazine)
Back in business
Woo-hoo! I went to work today. I discovered some things while there:
- Pamprin makes me feel woozier than Midol. Awwwww yeah. (thanks Andrea!)
- The sight of a relatively young woman with a walking stick disturbs people.
- The sight of me specifically with a walking stick greatly disturbs my coworkers who are convinced that I am faking it and will break out some Jedi moves at any moment. Heh.
- The heating pad is my friend.
- I need a lumbar pillow at work.
- I need a sofa in my office.
It was good to be out and about. I didn’t do a whole lot except creep around the office. That is, I did a lot of work (ahem) but my physical activity was quite limited.
The walking stick is a small piece of magnificence by the way. My Great-grandfather made it for me back in the late 1970s and it is an elegant and simple piece of Walnut sculpted into a utilitarian art object.
I never thought I’d need to use it this early in life.
Mousewriting analysis
Apparently I:
-plan ahead, and am interested in beauty, design, outward appearance, and symmetry.
-am a person who thinks before acting, intelligent and thorough.
-am diplomatic, objective, and live in the present.
-am not very reserved, impatient, self-confident and fond of action.
-enjoy life in your my own way and do not depend on the opinions of others.
Hmmmm. You know, I don’t know how reliable a “Handwriting” analysis test could possible be on a computer where one would use a mouse, or, in my case, the trackpad. Yeah, I have a Wacom tablet (w/stylus) but they’re at work.
Room with a …porthole
I have such plans. I put down a deposit, almost sight unseen, on the apartment in which I currently live. The buildings are colonial revival and were built back in 1935 so they’ve got good bones: high ceilings, hardwood floors, tile, slate roof tiles, copper guttars, etc. My apartment is even better because it has a small bonus room that I didn’t even know about until I did a walk-through the day before moving in. The room is small, almost like a walk-in closet … but it has a rather large round window at least two feet in diameter.
It is fabulous.
Right now, to my shame, I must admit that the room has become a catch-all … but I am going to remedy that very soon. As I don’t need an office and it too small to really serve as anything else, I am going to try to make it an extension of the den, and one of the ways to do that is to install a good, large shelf unit and a small table and chair (to be dermined at a later date, although I might put my Victorian rocker in there). It would be nice to migrate my ever-growing stacks of books into proper shelves.
The shelves are likely to be the Ikea Expedit shelves in white (seen here on the left). I am considering the brown-black but think the white might work better in the small room. The other thing I have to figure out is what to do with the large high closet rod that goes across the length of the room (directly across from the window and perpendicular to where I want to put the shelf; I’m thinking it might be a good place to securely hang an heirloom quilt).
I think I might remove the door completely. It isn’t necessary and could be stored elsewhere. Also, it opens toward the window so it can be seen from the outside.
When all of this occurs, expect a rant or two about the extraordinarly weight of the shelves and the torture of putting them together. There will be injuries and profanity, probably lots of both.
