My biggest favoritest secret out for good

The Washington Post is running an interesting story on successful internet start-ups that features THREADLESS (currently and permanently in my Sweetshop), where I have been getting the hottest T-shirts known to man for the past four years.

If you don't know, Threadless runs a T-shirt contest every week, and members vote on the best designs. At the end of the week, the top three are chosen (like Defend the Kingdom above and another one of my person favorites, which I own, Pillow Fight) and printed in limited runs.

And remember moms and dads, Threadless now carries kid sizes!

Nasty Bad High Thing, needs Library Thing!

Spent a good part of the day today on librarything.com creating a searchable catalog of all the books I own. Perks included recommendations tailored to your tastes and chats with other members whose libraries match with yours. Its free for 200 volumes (after the great bulk of my "good" cook books, physics and astronomy books, writining guides and science fiction/fantasy books reached about 175). Perfect if you love books and secretly love lists.

Top 10 Things America Would Have if it was Actually a Democracy

Geek Army is generally a patented waste of time, but sometimes they come up with something clever. Check out their well thought out list of things the United States should be as the most touted modern, wealthy, and democratic nation in the world, but (un)surprisingly isn't. The map above corresponds to list item number nine (9) implementing Universal Health Care, by showing al the nations of the world, which have some sort of universal health care (Blue), are trying to (Green), and don't (Gray). By the way, in a recent poll, over 60% of Americans said they would be willing to support universal health care for Americans by paying more in taxes.

Top 10 Things America Would Have if it was Actually a Democracy

Digg this Map

I found this on Digg and I could not stop laughing. I think I will blow it up and hang it in my cubicle.

What is Digg you say? Digg is my new best way to waste time at work. Users submit interesting tidbits about News, Technology, Science, World and Business, Entertainment, Sports and Gaming. Other readers either thumb it up or thumb it down. Once a tidbit is popular it jumps to the Digg Homepage in its category. It's fun and random, much like Boing Boing, if Boing Boing were a democracy. What is Boing Boing you say? Well, that’s another post.

Virginia Again

How I miss the dappled, sun-lengths,
and the purple, lapping dusk,
the fire flame of dying trees,
the yellow, green, and rust
of wooded carpets, nestled quiet,
beneath the silver dust.

The rising stars of darkling eves,
spinning soundless in the arc,
of night descending, violet air,
foundling in the dark
with quiet fingers pressed a mark,
upon my heavy heart.

© 1992

A Capsized Canoe

This weekend I spent sometime with the in-laws at a lovely Lake House just inside the southern state line of Michigan. The house was surrounded by vineyards and backed right up to picturesque Singer Lake. The owner provided a paddle boat, row boat, and a spanking new canoe for the convenience of summer renters.

On my second day, setting thoughts of parameciums and swimming rhizopods aside (introduction to Biology kept me out of recreational lake activities for years) I gamely set out with a cousin to have a swim. The area around the dock was declared to "ooky" (ferny, lily pady, and generally slimy) for us two females to jump right in so we tied a long lead on the paddle boat, paddled out into the current and jumped in from there. Then we swam about for about an hour, as the sun gently set to the west. The lake was gorgeously situated and the current alternatingly sun-warmed and refreshingly cool. The paddle boat drifted back into the "ooky" area of the dock.

We contemplated our choices. Neither of us wanted to get all ferny retrieving the wayward paddleboat. We tread water until a young male cousin ventured down to the docks for a smoke. He gallantly agreed to bring the canoe out to us so we could climb in. Then the hijinks began. I'll never forget his face as I steadied the canoe while the other swimmer attempted to climb in. The canoe lifted and spilled him fully clothed into the water an expression of exquisite shock and horror registering across his features.

We eventually succeeded in flipping the canoe, then subsequently swamping the canoe, piloting the swamped canoe back to the docks, sucking in "ooky" water, climbing the dock, ripping at least two species of lily pads out of there homes, draining canoe, dry docking canoe and then later checking each other over for leeches.

Prevent your own lake hijinks (and possible paramecium ingestion) by reading these two articles on flipping canoes, and re-entering canoes in still water (get horizontal and get in the middle).

Single Canoe Self-Recovery updated link here

Boat over Boat Recovery (and re-entry)

Ice Cream Diaries

I used to be able to down a pint of Ben & Jerry's in one sweet half-hour sitting. Okay, I can still do it, but not with out blinding, calorie remorse and an upset stomach. Now I realize why my mother's pint of Haagen-Dazs's Rum Raisin lasted in the freezer so long.

Even though 26% of Americans prefer Vanilla ice cream as their top flavor, I recently read a few articles about local flavors of ice cream making a splash across the country. With summer heating up, some of them seem to be the perfect accompaniment to a languorous interview with a porch and alcoholic beverage of choice:

Black Licorice, would be perfect for a dark, sultry night after a Twenties party that involved a sluiced glass of absinthe. You can order it online at IceCreamSource.com

Honey Sunflower Vanilla is supposed to be all the rage in the Midwest, but the little selfish bastards don't export the salty, sweet, creamy stuff outside of the breadbasket. Make your own buy mixing Honey Ice Cream with chocolate covered sunflower seeds (Oprah recommends the ones at the Cocoa Room, but I find the ones at Sunflower Foods and Spice to be less expensive). A glass of Tej (Ethiopian, Honey wine) pilfered from one of the "Halal" markets on U Street will help if you can't find any Honey Ice Cream and have to settle for Vanilla. If your area is hard up for an Ethiopian population, the Wine Chateau.com carries inexpensive bottles Tej.

With a scoop of Lavender Ice Cream and a glass of chilled Lillet, I can pretend I'm in Provence, France. Of course, I am prone to pretending I am in Provence after a couple of glasses of Lillet anyway. "Out of a Flower - French Lavender" is available from the Ice Cream Source, but snap it up--it sells out quickly.

Green Chili Ice Cream is popular in Mumbai and Christina's Homemade Ice Cream in Cambridge, Mass is sometimes serves Ancho Chili Ice Cream to adventerous patrons. Interested in trying the "kick" of a little spice added to your cold creamy delight? iGourmet carries a Honey & Hot (Acacia Honey with Hot Pepper) topping perfect for Ice Cream (or cheese, for that matter) or if you still want to experience exotic spice without the heat, they also carry Casina Rossa Saffron and Acacia Honey, too. One might go the route of accompanying your zesty excursion with an ice cold glass of Vodka Peppar, but I think a Pimms Cup with slices of cucumber would be a perfect foil for the heat.

Time to see the Planets

As it has it, many of the planets are visible with the naked eye this month. I was in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania earlier this weekend a caught a baleful of what I thought was Venus, but the color was definitely yellowish. As it turns out, it was either Saturn or Jupiter (Probably the former since it was quite high), so I thought I would look around to see what else might be worth viewing.

To start, first try to find Venus; most newbies can do this. It is making an appearance as more than just an evening star. It will appear very white and very bright, the brightest thing in the sky except for the moon. Found it? Look for two fairly bright, matched stars near it. Those are Castor and Pollux (Castor's on top, the map above will be slightly tilted to the left when viewing in DC) the "heads" of the twins in the constellation of Gemini. Look a little while longer and you can see the "body" stars of Gemini, in the city they'll seem smudgy.

Mercury will be taking Venus's place as an evening star. Since it is so close to the sun it will only be visible just after sunset close to the horizon. Look left of and below Venus in Gemini before June 10th. After the 10th, it will be too close to the sun to easily discern.

Left and upwards of Gemini is a large backwards question mark. Hurray for Leo! With a little imagination you can image that curve is the mane of a lion. To the right of it is a large yellowish star. It's Saturn. If you got binoculars you can catch some rings.

Take an about face and around 8 or 9pm tonight you should see a very bright, large, yellowish star rising near the horizon. Jupiter! If it is quite dark or if you stare hard enough, you may be able to detect four faint smudges around it. Those are his largest moons. You can definitely pick them up with binoculars even, cheap ones. If you do, Jupiter will appear more ball like and you may be able to discern some stripes. Its quite cool to think that on a clear night you can see the moons of Jupiter. You can brag to your friends at work tomorrow. Hurray for Astronomy!

Light saber vs. Transporter

It's an age old question (seriously, older than Ninja vs. Pirate) that if one could have either a light saber, the technological object that fuels fans to Star Wars movies or a transporter, the down played gadget of life changing proportions from Star Trek, which would you choose?

Transporter you say? Sure it would make your commute a helluva lot shorter, but remember we are not talking about the power of teleportation, but the physical machine which you have to set coordinates and a timer to.

Before you make your decision (and tell me why in comments), read this charming article "Finding Refuge at the National Gallery" from the Washington Express, regarding how to deal with Tourists at the Smithsonian Institutions. And remember why no one cut in front of Darth Vader in a line at a public toilet.

La La

Coolest discovery since Netflix. If you, like me, have comptemplated the many art creations that could be crafted from your discarded jewel cases (take a look in the Sweetshop for Crafster.org, but that is an entirely different post). Trade your old CD's (obscure since you bought that Ipod and back-up hard drive) for new CD's in much the same way netflix sends you DVDs.

Welcome to Lala!

You Register, then list the CDs you want to get rid of on your "Have List". List the CDs you want on your "Want List". When someone wants one of your Cds, Lala provides you with envelopes, shipping paid. Everytime you send a CD (with or without album cover), you get a CD off your "Want List". I would tell you more about it, but I will be busy for the next few days brushing the dust of my CD cases and listing every living last one of my Cranberries CDs online.

Hepburn would have been proud

Nymph-like, erotic with a sixties bent, the paintings of Audrey Kawasaki are refreshingly stylized and faintly hypnotic. Plus they make bitchin' Wallpaper. Her painting Yuuwaku is a homage to the Naughty Librarian. I struggled with the above image as my new pin-up of the month, being as this weekend I am going to a Bryn Mawr Reunion in Philly. Owls and crossdressing probably striking a chord with Mawrters everywhere. Alas, she may still show up in November. Anassa Kata!

Learn more about Audrey Kawasaki at her website.

No Little Problem

Back in the day, I used to be mocked quite fiercely on the Middle School track team (no really, that's an entirely different post). I couldn't sprint worth a spit, but I ran a pretty decent 8-80 (read came in third a couple of times). One day, the track coach was out sick and her assistant coach made a roster with me on a sprint race. I told her flatly I couldn't/wouldn't do it and I told her who should be running in my place. The girl I suggested was relieved to switch places with me, saying, "At least you know you don't belong in a sprint."

I replied, "I'm not that unintelligent".

Cocking her head to one side, she rejoined, "You know, I never would have said that. I would have said, 'I'm not that stupid'."

Enter, Litotes (Pronounced Lay TOTE Tees) a rhetorical device I have been fond of since I was a wee sprout that emphasizes a word by negating its opposite. If you look it up in a dictionary you might find something like this:

that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary

Ugh. I can hardly read that. Just remember its mnemonic above. A litotes is no little problem.

Paper Gallery of SF Delight

Who wants hours of fun? I want hours of fun. I saw this link to the SF Movie Paper Craft Gallery on Boing Boing the other day, lauding the paper AT-AT from Star Wars . But I think the Veritech fighter in Angel configuration (above) is even cooler. Basically, you print out the PDF pages of your preference and build your own Sci-Fi Model. Here is the picture of the Borg Cube (and stand) I put together today at work. I used a color printer, office scissors, glue (the liquid kind used to seal envelopes), and a letter opener (to press the edges shut).

Cutting time: 8 min
Folding time: 8 minutes
Gluing time: 14 min
Basking in my own geeky glow: Eternal

The Violence Inherent in the System

Five Minutes of Fun

The rumor is this is an IQ test given to job applicants in Japan. Whatever.

Click on the blue circle to start.
The goal: Everybody has to cross the river

The rules are:
Only 2 persons can be on the raft at a time.
The father can not stay (on the bank or raft) with any of the daughters without the mother's presence.

The mother can not stay (on the bank or raft) with any of the sons without their father's presence.
The thief (striped shirt) can not on a stay (on the bank or raft) with any family member without the Policeman's presence.

Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft.

To move the people click on them.

To move the raft click on the pole on the opposite side of the river.

Ivory Tower has Dry Rot

This associated press article in the Washington Post explains how executives at the Smithsonian Institution requested changes to an exhibit on global warming in the Arctic in order to insure that material would not anger president Bush or Congress. This "rewrite" of the exhibit included omitting scientists interpretation of the data.

I always imagined the Smithsonian Institution as one of the few Bastions of pure knowledge. But if everything is a business, then I guess running an exhibit is just another form of marketing for the guys paying the bills. Stranger still is that I noticed the synopsis of the below article under the "Local" section in the express.

Smithsonian Accused of Altering Exhibit

Pictures from http://www.net.org/warming/stills.html