Just Us Family Here

He calls it "Movie Mimic". Combining his love of travel and love for motion pictures, he recreates famous photo shots. I’m going to have to watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (somewhere along the river), Bushwhacked, and Memoirs of a Geisha and see if I can locate scenes in Placerville and give it a try. Probably won’t be Indiana Jones though since it’s the white water scene after falling out of an airplane in a raft… I hear that American Grace has scenes fro the Ponderosa HighSchool parking lot in Shingle Springs, The Retrievers uses Main street Placerville, and Breakdown uses the river outside of Cool. Haven’t seen any of them, and I’m not sure that obscure scenes actually count.

I think this is another great idea – Tourists rewarded for delivering goods to non-profit ventures abroad. They list a couple of sites that help connect tourists, and I’m hoping this will really take off. I know there’s always postings on Craig’s list and other places for people looking to avoid the massive charges and often difficult delivery to non-profits around the world.

If we didn’t have the Brown’s, we’d be looking into dogvacay, a service that puts dog lovers together with people needing a place for their dog to stay while on vacation, or else-wise out-of-town. Also for those who can’t have a dog full-time, but would love a visitor.

There’s a lot of innovation out there in furniture design. Yi-Cong Lu’s Growing Cabinet, and his Light Boy are two that just work for me.

Using Pinterest to track things I’d like to have. No need to ask me what I’m into or what I need. Now you can just go to my Pinterest board and I’ll try to keep it updated. I never know what to say and all the family is always asking, so this is my
great idea…

According to Snopes, this email that keeps arriving in my in-box has really been getting around. It claims on May 15th there will be a one day boycott of gas, and it will force gas prices down at least 30 cents a gallon. Just like it did in 1997. As usual, it’s all a spoof that lots of people have fallen for and forwarded on. This one comes around almost every year now. Go pump your gas, nothing we do is going to effect prices in the global market.

If you’re disappointed that you can’t take part in a national boycott and not drive today, why not see if there’s a Beer Festival in your area instead? According to this calendar, there’s quite a few of them, and it sounds like a good non-driving thing to do.

May 15th does have some historical significance. In 1817 the first private mental health hospital in the United States opened, in 1862 the Department of Agriculture was founded, in 1905 Las Vegas was founded, in 1940 McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, in 1967 the idiotic governor of California (Reagan) closed People’s Park locking out war protestors, starting the riots known as bloody Thursday, and in 2008, California became the second state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Then there’s the May 15th Prophecy, a bit of totally whacko pseudo-religious nonsense that according to their mission statement is the day that God call Leon (2007) to revel the events that would began happening on the earth just before the glorious return of our Redeeming King. The site is Leon’s blog and has something to do with Afghanistan, but I can’t really decide what. Nothing to do with gas prices or beer that I can find.

I’ve got a new contract starting the 21st with Wellpoint through the end of the year. You may know them as Anthem. Going to be doing user experience and accessibility tasks, mostly on their portal, so I’m real comfortable with it. Will have some "contract overlap", which means not much posting here. You can always tell when I’m slammed and working weekends by the larger spans between posts. Dead giveaway. Didn’t even go to the El Dorado Hills Art Show on Mother’s Day this year, and we’d been 6 years in a row.

Next weekend is the celebration for Jackson turning 4. We won’t be attending, but will be visiting North Carolina in August to meet the next grandkid. Busily arranging Tes/House sitting since we’ve now got tickets in hand.

Vlad told us he’s also going to be a grandfather, first time (son Alex), sometime in October. He’s real excited.

Dad will be visiting here, starting the 24th. He’s always interested in the process behind the art, so we’re going to really explain the glass, hands on. Figured we’d teach him how to do a simple fused piece and he can take it home and he’ll know all about COE96, dichroic glass, frit, noodles, stringers, mica powders, etc. He’ll love being able to discuss the product/process knowledgeably when he goes to galleries and shows. Barbara’s really missing out this visit.

Tumbled/Lacquered Bronze and Copper

Mark cranked up the tumbler/polisher and ran the back-log of bronze and copper pieces through it. We’re using various sizes and shapes of mixed shot in it, and they are coming out fabulous. The patina stays in the low spots and the new jewelry lacquer is quick drying, self leveling and turns out lovely.

These are some of the completely finished pieces, wish I’d gotten a better picture though.

Spring flowers are done and early summer ones are blooming like crazy. Temperatures have jumped into the 80′s, and we’ve been working the garden, and prepping for the season. Pesto Season.

It’s become a tradition around here to make gallons of Pesto every year. We freeze it, we give it away, we eat it like mad, because we’re Pesto fanatics.

The boxes are full of one inch Basil plants, found a great buy on pine nuts, get the garlic fresh in a few weeks from the Farmer’s Market, and here’s this year’s quarter wheel of Parmigiano. We cut it into Pesto super batch sizes, and used my new vacuum sealer that David gave me for the winter holiday, this March.

shoe, meet other foot

I spend time at The Oatmeal couple times a month. Was contemplating the Tesla > Edison Shirt, when one of his posts led me to AtheistCartoons.com. Some interesting points of view that are funny, but they aren’t… and remind me of several people. Ones like: gotcha! and the other ground zero.

Pretty sure this video is one of the scariest things I’ve seen in a long time. Height of courage – men working on a sky-high tower. I was only able to watch a small portion of it, and bet not many people watch the entire thing. One of the commenters’ writes "the 30 pound tool bad is nothing compared to the sheer weight of that guys balls". Another comments: "he needs the large tool bag to hold his huge balls". Pretty sure they’re both correct, the dude must have two sets.

A rose by any other name? How about "sodomy based marriage" as a catch phrase? It’s a SuperPAC in Maine’s new campaign (truth pledge) to call same-sex marriage "what it is". Thinking this means I’ll need to sign a "truth pledge" to call them what they are; a Narcissistic Irreligious Hate PAC. Yeah – sometimes stooping to their level just feels good.

Ever wanted to have your own family coin? Well next time you’re having a huge family get-together spring for a hundred or more custom coins. AnyCoins.com will create a coin just for you. A family commemorative, a company coin for the trade shows, tokens for a concert – anything you can think of. Though in all honesty, never would have thought of it. They also do the Obama Hope Coin, which I’d be sure to check out their charities and confirm their not a rip-off. Note that I have not done due diligence on them, and presume it’s really like getting a commemorative plate – the only reason being you like it.!

Of course they aren’t trying to say it’s real currency (kinda-sorta, once-but=not-really) like the Liberty Dollar. If you haven’t followed any of the trials of Bernard von NotHaus, and the extreme paranoia this has created, you’re in for a surprise. It’s like a bad mystery/doomsday novel come to life – all around currency. Have become so fascinated, I get his occasional newsletter now.

When this post popped up in a tweet, followed, and was instantly fascinated, but more like glancing a bad crash fascinated. Guess it says something about me that I had no idea these existed, though I’m not sure what that says about me. It’s a lot easier (read that more comfortable) to peruse the post Male Real Dolls: Creepier Than Their Female Counterparts than to go to the web sites that makes these. Couldn’t force myself to go past the home page of one of the places that was listed as making them realdoll.com – the girl on the home page looked too spooky real and my mind refused to go any further. Close tab.

In 1970, November the 13th landed on a Friday, and I turned 13. Have always considered Friday the 13th to be a lucky day for me, and feel like smirking every time someone expresses fear of a date, and those dumb horror movies haven’t helped. There’s even a name for the condition, paraskevidekatriaphobia, a blinding fear of Friday the 13th. No Shit! Franklin D. Roosevelt had it bad.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia is a combination of Frigga, the Norse goddess Friday is named for, and triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number thirteen.

Apparently, 2012 is an unusual year with 3 Friday the thirteenths, all 13 weeks apart, so if you are one of the 21 million people with paraskevidekatriaphobia, this year is a real bad year for you.

With so many people suffering this condition, it has become a bad day for businesses. Tons of people won’t travel, go into work, shop, whatever today, causing an obvious dip in profits and productivity every time it occurs.

According to folklorists, (according to wikipedia), there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century, and the true origins are obscure. Some believe it’s a combination of unlucky number (13 follows 12, a complete number in numerology: 12 months, 12 hours, 12 apostles) and an unlucky day (The Canterbury Tales with the more recent Black Friday) —compounded. Some believe it comes from a Norse Legend "about a dinner in Valhalla, Norse heaven. Twelve gods were invited but a 13th crashed the affair and wreaked havoc, thus tarnishing the number 13th ever after" – though I don’t see a Friday in that. In the end, most experts (yes experts on Friday the 13th) agree that it’s a modern invention.

Apparently this fear causes increases in accidents (though others say the date, not the fear causes it), and a decrease in crime. Got to love those superstitious criminals.

Famous Friday the 13th thingys include: Templar arrests, Hurricane Charley, and the worst bushfire in Australian history, etc. Really enjoyed reading Snopes.com on Friday the 13th.

Because of this belief:

• Many airports skip the 13th gate.
• Most airplanes have no 13th aisle.
• Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
• Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
• On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
• Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue.
• In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.
• If you have 13 letters in your name, you may be evil . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names. (though this seems a stretch to me – what about middle names?)

After reading a ton of recipes online, came to realize that you can make these truffles with just about any dried fruit in the house, though Dates I consider to be the essential fruit. And for me, you can’t use the word Charoset without the words Red Wine, though several recipes left it out. So here’s a frame-work for making them the way you like them best – they’re almost impossible to ruin.

I’m using "parts" as a guideline, but you can change these too. My parts are about 1/2 a cup. One recipe I looked at increased the dried apricot parts because she really likes the way they tasted. Not my taste, but it could be yours.

Ingredients

• 2 parts dried dates (cut them up first for easier chopping)
• 1 part dried cherries ( or figs, apricots, etc.)
• 1 part dried cranberries (I used pomegranate flavored ones because pomegranates are a choice instead of nuts)
• 1-2 parts almonds (or other nut, or pomegranates or combos)
• 1-3 tbls of Red Wine
• 1/2-1 tbls honey
• 2/3 cup sugar (more or less)
• 3 tbls cinnamon (more or less)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Chop fruit and nuts together. If you have a good food processor, use it.
2. When it’s between a fine and medium coarse sticky mess, stir in wine and honey. If you want them dry, use less wine and skip the honey.
3. Prepare a plate with the sugar/cinnamon/salt mixed, for rolling your truffles in. You don’t have to use the sugar, or the salt
4. Get your hands wet and makes balls and toll them to coat however much you’d like
5. You don’t need to refrigerate them, they will keep in a sealed container on the counter for several days.

As my nod to Passover, going to attempt some date(not apple) based charoset truffles – we’ll see how they go.

Quick run down of family goin’-ons. Grabbed this picture from Facebook that Jenelle took as she saw Mason onto a plane headed to his father’s for spring break this morning.

Alan and Cassy are still in Gualala but I have heard from them- we didn’t see them in Tahoe all winter due to cases Alan was handling and singing Cassy was doing. Maybe late May. We might have to break down and meet them half-way somewhere.

Hear my dad may be out here sometime in the next few months. Could be a few weeks – hoping to hear when soon. Probably a good time to meet half-way with Alan!

Kay just celebrated the one year anniversary of her web site Green Energy Maine going live.

Sarah and Randall have returned safely from Germany and are now setting up housekeeping in Missouri where he’s now stationed.

Tes went the vets and had a lot of her lumps tested and they were all fatty with no worrying spots. We are incredibly relieved, and like always, she was a long-suffering-but-perfectly-still-well-behaved dog as they poked/prodded/stuck/cut her for quite a while.

Heartfelt thanks to Ann who I imposed on to help me figure a 1099 rate for a contract in the interview process. It helped me negotiate to a good submission rate. Will post more if it becomes a real contract. Have taken on another accessibility review for a non-profit. It’s a new program, an in-development web site by the Baltimore Jewish Abilities Alliance. They’re my first Jewish non-profit. I’ve done a few Christian, that one Hindu one and participated for a short time on an American Muslim one. All of them well researched of course.

Looks like Mark’s contract has been extended until October – will know if it’s October or December once he gets the paperwork. He likes the work at Eyefinity, knows they need his skills, which helps make a contract a good one.

David is in the beginnings of an interesting possibility to do with wine and TV. Keep good thoughts, and when it’s OK to talk and I know more myself, I’ll spill it all. He’s still the Wine Manager for the three diamond/five star Belvedere Restaurant at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel.

Looks like Barbara and maybe Dad are going to Pat’s for the weekend. Hoping they’ll be taking lots of pictures. Pat had a birthday this week, and Susanna will be 5 on the 30th, so I’m sure they’ll be visiting again if they don’t get enough pictures for us the first visit.

Was talking to Steve about his "in the works" band site and I wondered… discounting social sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Google+, Twitter, etc.) —how many times can I find my siblings through Google in the first couple of pages of results.

Started with Fox Vernon, because I’ve assisted minutely on several of his and knew he was out there. FoxVernon.com is his main site that talks about his career as a "Growth-Oriented Counselor & Psychotherapist". Giggled at his About page and the attempt to explain that his name really his Fox, not a self-assigned rapper title. He went into biz with Oksana and has a site for Dissertation Journey’s, which you might have guessed helps those struggling through their dissertations. No they aren’t writing them, it’s coaching and consultation services. Personally, I’m excited to hear that he’s doing music again. MadFoxMuse.com is where you can listen to bits of his music, which is quite good. In our younger years, felt that Fox was one of the best drummers I’d ever heard, and I went to a lot of concerts. These days it’s more guitar, but that’s alright too. Psychology Today came up near the top – he’s listed there as a "Pre-Licensed Professional in Alexandria with PHD. He also has a profile at NVACP (Northern Virginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists), along with various memberships and clinical listings that span more pages of Google. I was surprised that there weren’t any goo "chair" listings for Capella!

Steven Mann has his "in the works band site" BoomDaddy.net that has a cute trailer up for now. For his real job, he comes up in the A to Z Index for CSU Monterey Bay. Everything else is social networks, and yes, I’m including LinkedIn as one. I know he has a family photo site, but this didn’t come up.

Patrick Vernon came up on eBay! Current Auction for a Zoo Keepers CD and they even list a bio. The Zookeepers site still comes up even though he’s no longer running the band. Apparently having 2 little girls, being a department head and teaching don’t leave much time for music. I think he needs to talk to Steve and Fox… I really got a kick out of the images block in Google on the 1st page of results. Yeah – that’s an old picture, he’s got less hair now. Kenan Institute has a bio up, UNC has an old "launch", and a faculty listing.

Kay Mann may not have many listings, but she makes up for it with the size of her biz site Green Energy Maine, which is quite extensive and growing everyday with a long future release list. I’ll be working on some of them, but she’s doing a lot of it all herself. Google still has a bio listing in the results from Woodex where she worked over 10 years, but it’s now a redirect. There is an active listing for the PechaKucha Presentation she’s doing today on Green Energy, and several profiles like The Maine Wind Industry Initiative and Meet-Up.

I also have in-laws, but will save them for another day!

Hammered, heated, pickled, shaped, patinaed, steel-wooled — Copper & Silver bracelets.

• One.org: Can you imagine a world without kitten videos on YouTube? I can’t.
• Google Earth does old video game 8bit look (use the little square to right of any map)
• Mashable claims Conan O’Brien bought them out (see home page too)
• Think Geek offers Hungry Hippo for the iPad
• Google Adworks – click to Teleport
• Googles’ New Race Car
• Think Progress: Leaked Documents Reveal Flatland Institute Plan To Brainwash Toddlers With ‘Baby Inhofe’ Videos. UPDATE: My Mea Culpa
• NPR Source: Tweets Will Shrink To 133 Characters

• Think Progress: Romney Stuns With New Debt Plan: ‘I Sold My Soul To The Devil And Now Everything I Touch Turns To Gold’
• Are you ready for bacon-scented kitty litter?!
• The Poke – everything on their home page. (No Slip Bananas, Titanic the Sequel)
• Virgin: Richard Branson launches journeys to the centre of the Earth through Virgin Volcanic
• WestJet introduces child-free cabins
• Etsy Acquires City of Portland

The NQA (National Quilting Association) began National Quilting Day back in 1991 and that somehow bloomed into an entire national Month. Each year the National Quilting Association offers free quilt projects to celebrate National Quilting Day, this year it’s the 2012 Ohio star.

I used to love to quilt. Patchwork, crazy, traupunta, whatever. But quilting was grandma’s "thing", and Francis was always giving everyone fabulous quilts that she worked really hard on. So I stopped. We have her quilts on the beds, hanging over blanket frames, and one or two put away.

We also have this fabulous piece that Rachel had framed. It’s what you see when you walk in the back door. She did a great job on the presentation from an old quilt that was no longer usable. Should have gotten Mark to take the picture…

Been looking at the piles of scrap from all the past non-quilt projects, and looking at the patterns online. Maybe it’s time to start quilting again, and think of Grandma while I do

listening to the summer songs

Yellowman (Bennie Nelson) is now selling his paintings directly, since his association with Kiva Gallery has ended. This is a great chance to buy one of his paintings at a discount, direct from the artist. And they come with the story of the painting. We couldn’t resist and luckily he has some smaller ones, since we’re really short on room! This one is called "Listening to the Summer Songs".

If you’ve been to my house, you’ve seen his work, and will instantly recognize the focal image in his Ask Art Profile as a Dog Warrior, like in our large painting The Gathering. Sure wish they’d correct the spelling on his name at Ask Art.

You can read more about him and see his art on his Fine Art site, including current paintings available for sale and a great t-shirt – that some of you got for the winter holiday last year. Send him an email, if your interested, he’s very nice and easy to deal with.

For now, I’ve put my new Yellowman on my dresser. That’s right. He bumped the Dirk Smit! Enough said.

Nothing like being able to monitor a flight in the US air at FlightAware.com Live. Course you can also plan a flight and really see the path it takes. Want to fly to Oklahoma but don’t want to fly over Texas? Check out those flight paths.

Test your knowledge in the video quiz wiht Melissa Harris Perry – Who said it: Newt Gingrich or Kanye West?, who apparently are both Catholics, the only thing they have in common other than ego? Can you get them all correct?

Great infographic on the movie Inception that uses scripts on scrolling down the page to display the timeline.

First check out the YouTube video of the 2 year journey of mapping the Amazon. Then go to the Google Interactive Map of the Amazon. You can go down the river, through the jungle into villages and it’s truly awesome. Once you’re blown away by the Amazon, check out these other street views that include the newly launched Swiss Alps.

NVDA Screen Reader

One of the best tools for the blind (and people with other disabilities) is the free NVDA screen reader. I use it a lot in my testing for 508 compliancy, and recommend it to developers for testing. There isn’t another great free reader out there and competitors like JAWS cost from $895-1,095. Yet today, their team is crying for donations and no big corporation or organization is stepping up. So if you can spare a few bucks, drop by their Donation page and help a whole lot of people. They may be located in Australia, but they’re helping the world. $1.07US =@ $1AUS

Finally released documents are being opened in the investigation of that viral group NOM, and it doesn’t look good. The Truth Wins Out has a great post on the scary things their finding. Apparently their strategy was to use race baiting, and they apparently spelled it all out. Isn’t that sweet. No wonder they fought so hard to keep their damning documents private. No one is surprised. Think Progress in a short post, points out that their statements on race, also confirm what is said in their newly released documents on turning the tables – using people of color as spokespeople and using the language of "civil rights" as a catalyst for division. Shame on them.

A new drug has reached human safety testing that actually shrinks tumors for multiple types of cancers. Sciencemag.com has an article about the results on mice and where it goes from here. They’re stating that it is working on "every single human primary tumor that we tested… the antibody can either cure the tumor or slow its growth and prevent metastasis". Since Rachel’s company, PPD, does do this kind of testing as well as human trials, I’m betting they’re going to be involved. Rachel, unfortunately, will never confirm or deny it.

doonesbury day 2 final panel

Politics and the brain is what the new, left leaning book The Righteous Mind is focused on, and the concept is well explained in the NY Times review Why Won’t They Listen?. I hear that phrase a lot from my Democrat and Libertarian friends. My republican friends, I’ll point out, have a different take. Or "Why Don’t They Get It" or even "are they stupid". According to this review, no, they aren’t stupid or not getting it. They’re just like us, and respond to things through their "Moral Code" and then later the mind rationalizes a justification. It’s similar to the filter we all see our past through. It enables us to remember something completely different from someone else who was there, because it fits in with what we believe. He goes on to point out that there are some things liberals are better at, and some things that conservatives are better at, and why. An interesting read, even if I "don’t buy it all", I may buy the book.

This review of the book A Short History of Progress, has me intrigued with the concept of a tradition of human waste and pattern of ecological abuse that has toppled civilizations in the past, and ours is fast approaching. As an analyst/designer/developer, I use patterns every day in my work, and they fascinate me. Not sure about the tie ins to terrorism, and the review is over-the-top, but I’ll be looking for a digital copy at the library, since it’s been out a while.

If it was banned in your local paper, or you just missed it, The Banned Doonesbury Abortion Cartoon is running on line. Don’t read it just to see how he addresses the transvaginal probes, reading the comments associated with each post on readersupportednews.org is a fascinating window into a subject that ignites strong responses. This is a relevant slice of what America is becoming – read it and you’ll get a grasp of the anger, fears, emotions and righteousness tied into this.

Today it’s hard not to be bombarded with Christianity and their version of God. It’s on the news, in the political campaigns, in the House, on billboards, they seem to want everyone to be bombarded by their obnoxious marketing 24×7. So here is a nice quite Jewish definition of The Nature of G-d. Stumbled across it when in a discussion of how to write "God" on a web site, posted on Twitter, that sparked our own conversation among our diverse team.