Short History of the Ampersand

http://www.typography.com/ask/showBlog.php?blogID=98

This is great... the ampersand is really ancient, back to 79 A.D., possibly anyhow.

Leads to an explanation that "&c." for "etc." is a "Tironian note"... part of a Latin shorthand used for centuries.

...

Last 24 hours has been productive.

Eschaton sends me on a trip to Bizarro World!

Atrios takes me on a trip with his reference to George Clooney!

The Clooney article concludes with a comment explaining how the GOP is creating Bizaro World in Iraq.

Ok I thought I'd follow their link to Bizarro World since I've seen many references to it but never explored the concept...

Ok... it's a DC Comic thing.  Hmmmm.

It mentioned that Bizarro World's only sane inhabitant was the Bizarro Ambush Bug.

So the Wikipedia link to Ambush Bug takes me into the Metafiction world of Ambush Bug where he (?) mocks the whole DC Comics universe which starts with Superman and ends.... who knows where... Bizarro World?,  and in the process mocks the whole concepts of Comic Book.

That article ends with an exernal link to an article, Ambush Bug as Metafictional Hero.

The conclusion to that article (by "Dr Fury") is that

the idea of Ambush Bug as a metafictional avatar of the apocryphal, of the weirdness being squeezed out of the DCU in preparation for and in the aftermath of multiverse-smooshing Crisis on Infinite Earths became more and more a part of his character in various Superman-bedeviling appearances in Action Comics.

What a grand phrase.... "metafictional avatar of the apocryphal"! Surely this fits into the George W. GOP universe somewhere.

Then in the comments there's a link to info about Bruce Springsteen's Seeger tour and I went to look at that,  and then I decided to write this missive.

 

World Harvest Foods: Champaign and Urbana Illinois International, Gourmet, Ethnic Foods

http://www.worldharvestfoods.com/?page=aboutourstore

Great store... online orders too. This used to be "Hop N Shop" and
had a giant kangaroo on the front of the store! They have great
stuff.. fun things. Their about page is more informative than
linking directly to their "home" page (quotes because it's not really
a home page).

Cross posted to http://nocomputers.blogspot.com

Cooking... Savory Pankeggs (of Awesomeness)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hzdqLUJzhg

Thanks to zefrank... a you tube cooking experience!

Not what you would call healthy, but an interesting approach.

Latin is a Dead Language

Is that cryptic enough? Maybe some government agency will read this
and know what I'm talking about.

I'm really tired of it.

Why would I want to study Latin? At my age? How about Spanish? How
about Japanese? How about Chinese? (Ok, I know how tough Chinese
is, so I'll pass on that). Or even how about German?

A company I deal with changed their name to a Latin word. I don't
like it. It was good enough the way it was.

I'm tired of the Roman Empire. Maybe Jesus spoke Latin. Ha.

Love,
Me

Solfege - Ear Training in the Dance Lab

Ok ...this sort of breaks the no computers rule, but....

Solfege, an open source (musical) ear training program is now available for Mac OS X.

It took TWO FULL DAYS to install and compile all the stuff needed on my creaky old Blue & White Mac G3 I have in the Dance Lab,  That's 24 hours a day... running the compiler.

When I tried to run it,  I thought it wasn't going to work but after one patch it does!  The clue was to run the "man" command from the unix command line after the install,  and at the end of that was an explanation of what to do if it didn't work.  I did what it said, and it now works.

So now, hopefully, I can quit being a geek and start working on honing my skills.

But first must do taxes.  Ick.

   -  jeff -

Great Sound... Blues: Swiss Cheese Groove / Mikees Hammond Express

http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=84471

I like it ... happy sound ... no tears.

jeff

The Truth About Trinity United Church of Christ

http://www.truthabouttrinity.blogspot.com/

and lots of videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO

zefrank.com: colorwar 2008

http://www.zefrank.com/zesblog/archives/2008/03/colorwar_2008.html

Ze Frank explores creating new games for the internet....

  jeff

Education: Cringely: War of the Worlds

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080321_004574.html

Interesting article about technology and the future of education.

 jeff

Illinois Sustainable Living and Wellness Expo

http://ecologyactioncenter.org/islwe/

Environmentally sound living comes to the midlands.

a great guide to friends: A User’s Guide to Fabulous Friendships

http://zenhabits.net/2008/03/a-users-guide-to-fabulous-friendships/

for example...

In our teens and twenties, our friendships are everything. They define who we are, what we do and even what we buy. At the time, we assume it will always be this way. Then life races forward. Careers take off. People get married, have children. Others move away. We struggle to manage our time and responsibilities, and slowly our friends get pushed down the priority list.

This is not necessarily what we want. Few people would dispute the benefits of friendship. The problem seems to be how to fit our friends into an already overcrowded life. Friendship is like a marriage. It cannot be created once. It must be created over and over again. People and priorities change. What worked yesterday may not work today. We must nurture our friendships so they may flourish with us through our changing lives, and that's where this guide comes in.

Choose friends wisely. Focus your energy on people who make you feel good.
We all know the saying, "you can't choose your family". So, make sure you're smart and choose friends who are worthy of your valuable time and attention. It sounds harsh, but you cannot keep every friend you have ever made. No one has the time and energy for that. If you don't consciously choose which relationships to focus on, you'll spread yourself too thin and you'll have less to give to those who deserve it most.

that was on ZenHabits.net, a guest post from http://www.she-power.com

Truckers are puzzled by what happens to fuel spills along highways.

This is from a discussion I had two nights ago.

They were describing how they have again and again seen back hoes
digging up fuel spills along the road, loading the dirt into dump
trucks which promptly disappear. They are puzzled about why dirt
needs to be moved somewhere else. They said "what's the point of
just moving it from one place to another?"

I have ideas as to why which I kept to myself at the time because it
would have just started a pointless argument.

However... I'm going to do some internet research to the following
questions:

1. Why do they dig up the dirt.
2. Where do they take it.
3. Why is it important to do it.

So the next time I have a chance to discuss this with them I'll have
some solid knowledge of why and why.

- Jeff -

Can Sugar Substitutes Make You Fat? - TIME

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1711763,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

Short answer: Yes.

Researchers found:

When an animal eats a saccharin-flavored food with no calories, however — disrupting the sweetness and calorie link — the animal tends to eat more and gain more weight, the new study shows. The study was even able to document at the physiological level that animals given artificial sweeteners responded differently to their food than those eating high-calorie sweetened foods. The sugar-fed rats, for example, showed the expected uptick in core body temperature at mealtime, corresponding to their anticipation of a bolus of calories that they would need to start burning off — a sort of metabolic revving of the energy engines. The saccharin-fed animals, on the other hand, showed no such rise in temperature. "The animals that had the artificial sweetener appear to have a different anticipatory response," says Susan Swithers, a professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University and a co-author of the study. "They don't anticipate as many calories arriving." The net result is a more sluggish metabolism that stores, rather than burns, incoming excess calories.

Who is the woman who called Hillary Clinton a monster?

http://www.alternet.org/story/79019/

That would be a good place to start finding out.

"Labor Market Declines" -- What That Really Means

Via Atrios ( http://tinyurl.com/2lmucx ) and CNBC ( http://tinyurl.com/39l2jy ) :

Job losses were widespread. Some 52,000 jobs were lost in the manufacturing industries, the largest decline since July 2003 when 92,000 jobs were cut. Construction businesses eliminated another 39,000 jobs on top of 25,000 that were cut in January, a reflection of the housing industry's deepening woes.

The department said that since the housing boom peaked in September 2006, construction businesses have cut 331,000 jobs.

That means that 52 THOUSAND MORE PEOPLE are out of jobs just in the last month.  Where are they going to get dollars to pay the rent, buy food,  buy shoes for the kids, etc?

There are a lot (more) miserable people out there this month.

This is a human tragedy that is ongoing.  There are not enough McDonald's jobs to cover for everyone.

My long term solution at least to help is to turn every square foot of lawn into garden.  Including public right of way.  Anywhere that grass is mowed.

But that doesn't help the part of that 52,000 who have no where to turn for the next weeks.  No relatives to help.  No money stashed away.

How far can this nation be from breadlines?  I really wonder.

      jeff

Secret Pastafarian Video Exposed at Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

http://www.venganza.org/2008/03/05/secret-pastafarian-video-exposed.htm

I think this is a spoof of the famous Tom Cruise video...

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/41k-IJxPENc&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/41k-IJxPENc&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

GourmetSleuth - Fat Free Flour Tortillas

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/fatfreeflourtortillas.htm

also have the traditional corn tortilla recipe and illustrated instructions at this site

Great Picture, Interesting recipes: 5 Simple Ways to Eat Healthier | Life Learning Today

http://lifelearningtoday.com/2008/02/28/5-simple-ways-to-eat-healthier/

Always looking for interesting recipes. Needing to lose weight.

This site has some good suggestions.

- jeff -

includes visual Illusions: Predictably / Irrational » Demonstrations

http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?page_id=7

This is an interesting site. The illusions may be pretty standard,
but they are only a small part of what this gentleman does.

The site contains his personal musings about pain, irrationality,
and more.

- jeff -