Sunday, June 17, 2007

Moving On: A Graduation Poem

MOVING ON

Pause a moment from your travels,
Savor what your steps have won;
A milestone marks the journey,
Then commencement — Moving On.

[I wrote this poem in the 70's to honor my brother-in-law Mike Allen for having earned the Doctor of Education degree from the University of Maine, Orono.]

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Windows Live Writer Beta 2

About three weeks ago I posted a review of Windows Live Writer. Shortly thereafter, Beta Release 2 made its debut. Several of my concerns have been nicely addressed. To read about the new features I recommend "FINALLY! Writer Beta 2!," posted by Joe Cheng, a software developer on Microsoft's Windows Live Writer team. Even more can be found on Writer Zone, the official blog of the Live Writer team, especially from the post that announced Beta 2 availability.

[Update: For the most complete information go to Windows Live Writer Help.]

Friday, June 15, 2007

Should I Just Stop Trying? [Abstract]

The U.S. Open golf tournament started yesterday, and I intend to soak up as much of the TV coverage as my eyes will bear. I haven't played much golf in recent years and I miss it. I've noticed one odd thing about my game over the years. I usually begin a new season of golf — owing to weather here, Vermont's golf season lasts only about six months — playing better than I do at the end. Strangely, my skill seems to diminish the more I play. . . .

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Comics [Abstract]

For the past three days I've written about puzzles from Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Because I get my news from the Internet, I don't subscribe to a newspaper. To satisfy my yen for comics, I found links to most of my favorites plus a few new ones. Today, I'm sharing those links with you. I want to bring to your attention some comics that you may never have heard of. They are decidedly weird and off-center, though not as far out as what is available in the alternative press. . . .

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Bait and Switch [Abstract]

In my previous post we solved yesterday's puzzle from Ripley's Believe It of Not! At the end I added a little note expressing doubt about the answer; it wasn't the nice round number I had expected. This morning I checked the comics to learn the answer and was surprised by what I found. As a reminder, here is the puzzle: Nelson travels half the distance to a nearby town in an old biplane that goes 20 times faster than he can walk. Although he could move twice as fast on foot, he rides the other half in a farmer’s cart. . . .

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Got Data? [Abstract]

Just for fun, let’s deconstruct and solve another puzzle. Along the way we might just learn another life lesson. Here’s today’s puzzle from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Nelson travels half the distance to a nearby town in an old biplane that goes 20 times faster than he can walk. Although he could move twice as fast on foot, he rides the other half in a farmer’s cart. How much time would he have saved or lost by traveling the whole distance on foot? There doesn’t seem to be much to hang onto; the distance of the trip is not specified, and no actual amount of time is given. . . .

Monday, June 11, 2007

Asking a Better Question [Abstract]

Last Friday, this puzzle appeared in Ripley's Believe It or Not! After a day of shopping, your have $9.60 in change in your pocket. If the money consists of equal numbers of 25-cent, 10-cent and 5-cent pieces, how many of each would you have? Before tackling this problem, think for a moment about how you might solve it. Here is the same puzzle restated, with all the extraneous information removed. If one set of money (a quarter, dime and nickel) totals 40¢, how many sets will total $9.60? How would you solve it now? The purpose of a puzzle is to . . . .

Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Other Side of the Sun [Abstract]

Quite some time ago, I saw a B-list, sci-fi flick with an interesting premise. A space probe discovers a planet that is a twin of Earth and shares Earth's orbit, but which has remained undetected because it is on the far side of the sun. An expedition is mounted and humans are found. They seem to be like us in every respect, parallel selves in fact, but subtle and disturbing differences start to emerge. The eerie sound of a Theremin and knowing glances between expedition members foreshadow the drama that is to unfold. . . .

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Sun and Sleep [Abstract]

The summer solstice is upon us. At its peak, the sun rises at 5:07 AM and sets at 8:40 PM, giving this part of Vermont 15.6 hours of daylight. That contrasts with the scant 7.8 hours of daylight the winter solstice affords here. Summer's lingering twilight melts into soft evenings, unlike the cold, harsh intrusion of winter night. As someone with bipolar disorder, I celebrate the extended daylight because it helps my brain produce the happy-making neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. . . .

Friday, June 8, 2007

Inspirational Films [Abstract]

In April, I announced my desire to put An End to Violence in my life. I was writing about violence that comes wrapped as entertainment, and expressed my intention to stop voluntarily exposing myself to it. You will get an update on my progress on July 19th. In this post I tell you what I chose to replace violent films. One of the first things I did was to purge violence from my Netflix queue. Doing so created quite a void, so I replaced the majority of them with inspirational films, mostly centered on Christian literature, history and themes. . . .

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Games and Personality [Abstract]

I have a hunch, not quite strong enough to be a theory. I suspect that you can tell a lot about someone's personality by the games they choose to play. Here are the kinds of questions that might be answered: Does the player prefer safety or high stakes and high risk? Does the player prefer mental or physical challenges, or both? Does the player prefer games that are reality-based or derived from myth or fantasy? Does the player prefer "live" games or those played on computers? Does the . . .

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Today You Are a Man [Abstract]

I was walking home from the post office. Coming toward me were five junior high students, riding their bikes home from school. They jumped off the curb and jockeyed to be first, using the sidewalk I was walking on and most of the street. I caught this byplay between two of them: "No, we're men." "Men," the second one snorted, though it sounded like a question. "I've got a girlfriend. . . .

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Ground Under Repair [Abstract]

To get to the post office this noon, I chose an alternate route that takes me across the large parking behind the mini-mall where it is located. Paint marked the perimeter of potholes and smaller depressions in the pavement, where rain from a recent storm had puddled. The markings reminded me of those a greenskeeper uses to mark casual water — temporary pooling that is not part of a normal water hazard, like a pond — or ground under repair on a golf course. . . .

Monday, June 4, 2007

It Was Forty Years Ago Today

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the release of The Beatle's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I remember where I was when I listened to it for the first and second times. Rather than reading some inane testimonial from me, go listen to it again. Here is a link to Beatles-related National Public Radio broadcasts from the past few years. Click on the album cover to link to background on and sample clips from Sgt. Pepper's on the Beatle's website.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

This Is Not a Spam Blog...Whatever That Is [Abstract]

I feel like I'm under a blogger's version of house arrest. When I tried to save a draft of yesterday's post, a message appeared saying that my site was flagged as a possible spam blog, and that a human will have to review my posts to verify that it is not. Until then, I will be required to enter a displayed code before I can edit or publish a post. The code was formatted so that a machine can't read it, similar to this:

Until now, I had only associated spam with e-mail and spiced ham in a tin. . . .

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Hot and Soured in My Neighborhood [Abstract]

Don’t read this until you have read Friday’s post, Hot and Soured. I was surprised that such a thing could happen so nearby, and more surprised that I saw no clue . . .

Friday, June 1, 2007

Hot and Soured

Click on the picture to read the cover story, "Hot and Soured" from this week's Seven Days, "Vermont's Alternative Webweekly." The descriptive caption reads: "Slave wages and unsafe housing — exposing the unsavory side of cheap Chinese [food] in Vermont." This has gotten my attention because it is happening in my neighborhood. One boarding house described in the article is two doors down from where I live; the other is a block away.