Flag Day

Growing up, we always put out the flag for U.S. holidays, so long as it wasn't raining. (Flag etiquette is against leaving a flag in the rain. [Especially when your flag is cotton and its flagpole wood.])

I've continued that custom, with the same U.S. flag from my childhood.

Flag day is special, because it is only about the flag. Nothing else. 

Elegant in its simplicity.

trying to remember 'croutons'

 but my brain keeps presenting 'coupons'

may doggerel

Roses are rose-colored.

Zebras are violet.

These verses won't rhyme -

No, I won't even try it.

YIL

Yesterday I learned that all cars have a built-in alarm to let your neighbors know when you have sat on your keys.

Passover Thoughts, Thursday Afternoon

Beer.

Pizza.

Dunkin' Donuts.

20 years, done & dusted

Does anyone throw a party to celebrate the end of term for a Term Life Insurance Policy? 

Or do we just say, "Congratulations on losing the bet you are most happy to have lost."

I think at least a cake, or a pie, or perhaps a healthy celebratory hike.

Twenty years went by, and I didn't die.

Raise your glass to the sky for the guy who didn't die!

talkin' 'bout my generation

When the William Tell Overture comes on the radio, it must be blasted, especially if there are others in the house who are sleeping too late.

In my brain, the Beatles are the original rock group.

When I was a small child I thought I'd be taking casual trips to the moon when I grew up.

I knew what a googol was long before there was a Google. (Mrs Bloom taught us in elementary school.)

The word "ansible" makes makes me think first of Ursula K LeGuin, and possibly of 'tesseract'. After that I think of ansible software, which must be very cool to be deserving of such a name.

My fear of nuclear catastrophe was replaced by fear of catastrophic global-warming. There may have been a bit of a break in between.

Washington National Airport already had a President's name; why add Reagan's?

When we studied U.S. History in school, we were taught to admire politicians who made compromises.

I used to think Apple was on our side.

I use my index fingers to text.

Software Testing Paradigm Shift!

In today's email:

Software Testing from the End User Perspective – A Paradigm Shift."

What will you learn?

• Redefining Quality: Explore the multifaceted concept beyond traditional metrics.
• End User Adoption: Understand the crucial link between testing success and user satisfaction.
• New Testing Approaches: Learn how a paradigm shift can enhance user experiences.

My thoughts:

• Redefining Quality: Explore the multifaceted concept beyond traditional metrics.   <== how about: "It's good enough." 
• End User Adoption: Understand the crucial link between testing success and user satisfaction. <== If the thing breaks, the user is not happy. 
• New Testing Approaches: Learn how a paradigm shift can enhance user experiences. <== Paradigm shifts enhance everyone's experiences!! 

  Should this have gone on my Tech blog?

Love

The thing about love is: they don't have to do anything. They just have to be.

Of course, you want them to do, lots of stuff. Yet love is not conditional, never conditional. 

That's love.

2023 November

November 1st: The problem is that it's hard to hear Billie Holiday without thinking of David Sedaris.

======================================

November 2nd: crochet scraps

• Yoko Ono blindfolded? as she crochets in a video of John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band performing Instant Karma

• This morning, my spouse sang to me "Voulez vous crochet avec moi, ce soir" and it ran through my head for too long, along with a next verse saying, "If so, there's a group that meets at the library first Monday of the month at 6pm"

======================================

November 14th:  Yes. I can recognize the sound of the Mail Delivery truck when it goes up the street, stops at our mailbox, then shifts to drive up to the next mailbox.

Rural points for this? Work-from-home points for this? Sad lonely creature points?

======================================

from Sourcery by Terry Pratchett:

              EVIL WIZARD

     They shall have their chance,
     when hell freezes over.

              DEATH

     No. I am not allowed to 
     enlighten you, even by 
     default, as to the current
     temperatures in the next
     world.

======================================

November 15th: Smoker's cough without the benefit? pleasure? of smoking first.

=======================================

"Let there be light" is two words in Hebrew.

=======================================

November 30th: Facebook? I don't care to open a website to see a jumbled mess--I got that in my house already. 

=======================================

Buying lottery tickets, not in hopes of winning, but as a personal declaration of unhappiness.

=======================================

2023-10-24 OK I broke down and bought a burr grinder

It was on sale.

I couldn't get the Aeropress to impress me. So maybe a burr grinder would elevate my coffee experience. Everyone said it made a big big difference.

I had good Peet's coffee, though it was dark roast, which used to be my favorite but the coffee experts pshaw at dark roast.

I did use a lower temperature for the dark roast, like the coffee experts said to do.

25 October: First day with 1zepresso J Manual Grinder.

I tried using the Aeropress spoon to measure beans but then I added more than would fit in spoon,

Grinding took a long time. Coffee came out too fine. The hot water wouldn't go through filter, even after poured the unhappy mixture into my regular filter that fits over a measuring cup. (OK, it's a standard paper filter that would fit a Mister Coffee, and that fits on top of a frozen-soup container into which I punched many holes long long ago. It did make decent drip coffee.)

I looked at 1zeropress website again. The first step is to find zero. I think I found zero, then moved the grind adjuster 42 clicks at least.

I'll see how it goes next time: but use fewer beans in Aeropress spoon.

On last small small container* of coffee too.

No I'm not going to buy a scale. Not yet. Maybe the one we have will work. It needs a battery.

*(To keep coffee from going bad in the long time it takes me to use it up, I have started to portion the contents of each newly purchased bag into a number of small plastic containers, which I put in the freezer. That way, I'm not opening the same container of frozen coffee numerous times.)

October 2023: foraging in the oranges

 Mason Pearson pocket brushes: 

• $120 - nylon-boar mix
• $140 - all boar

which is better to brush my hair?

2023-09-21: Ogden Nash's missing watch

an Ogden Nash poem I couldn't find on the Internet - not Bing, not Google, not Quack

goes something like:

my shiny new watch 

goes tickety ticket

whenever?/after? I wind it

it sounds like a cricket

...

da da da da da

da da da da da da

...

'til shaken by baby

then pretty watch stops.

The poem was in a book in the bookcase when I was growing up.

2023-09-20: From "Birches" by Bill Morrissey

She thought of heat.

She thought of time.

She called it an even trade.

 

reaching out with genuine enthusiasm

cleaning out inbox, smiling at spam:

Hello,

I trust this message finds you in good health and high spirits. I am reaching out with genuine enthusiasm, recognizing the potential for meaningful collaboration that can emerge from the convergence of our diverse areas of expertise.

 It's fascinating how our diverse fields of expertise can intersect and create opportunities for mutual growth. As a reputable sales representative specializing in both crude and refined Petroleum Products, I've come to appreciate the significance of a robust network in attracting buyers. I'm reaching out to connect with professionals in the oil and gas markets, in hopes of exploring potential collaborations in marketing refined petroleum products. Let's come together for a prosperous future!

In my role as a seasoned sales representative, specializing in both crude and refined Petroleum Products, I have had the privilege of representing major refineries with substantial inventories in the Rotterdam, Belgium, and Europe region. These inventories encompass high-demand commodities like Aviation Fuel, Diesels En590, and crude oil, all readily available for Spot Deals.

 I am more than willing to engage in discussions to address any inquiries or ideas you may have.

Thank you for dedicating your time to this matter, and I eagerly anticipate the prospect of a mutually beneficial collaboration.

Best Regards,

ADS Trading BV
Mr. Cornelis | Sales Director

October 2023

It feels odd to act out your normal life

When there's so much carnage

A few electrons away.

Sibelius to Gunnar

Forget gladness
Forgo regret
Wage the unwinnable war

And die a nameless death.

That's the true end of the hero's quest

Don't ache for the island of the blessed.

from Snöfrid Opus 29 by Jean Sibelius, 1900

heard on replay of BBC Prom of July 14, 2023 

How to make 6 ounces of coffee in 20 minutes

 Using the Aeropress GO:

1. Grind the coffee beans

Since I don't have a burr grinder, I use the hack from a James Coffeeperson video:

• Put strainer into a bowl that fits it.
• Put coffee beans in grinder. Press once or twice.
• Pour out coffee into strainer.
• Pour coffee that didn't fall into the bowl back into the coffee grinder.
• Repeat the grind & strain cycle until there is not enough left in the coffee grinder to grind.

2. Heat the water.

Fortunately we have an electric teakettle in which I can select temperature.

James Coffeeperson says to use lower temperature for darker roasts.

For dark roast Peet's coffee, I use the 180 degrees F / white tea setting. 

You may want to turn on the kettle before or during step 1. 

I haven't yet figured out the optimum way to get the kettle and coffee-filled Aeropress to be ready at the same time, though this would be ideal timing.

3. Coffee into Aeropress:

Put filter on Aeropress filter cap and attach it to its cylinder.

Pour the ground coffee into the cylinder on top of the filter.

I pour the remaining big chunks from the grinder into the cylinder because what else am I going to do with them? If I save them for next time then they won't be fresh.

4. Add the hot water to the Aeropress.

This is where it would be good to have the taller Aeropress instead of the "Go".

We want the coffee to stay in the cylinder for it to brew in the hot water.

As soon as you pour in the water, some falls through the filter. To minimize loss, put the plunger into the cylinder as soon as you can, and then lift it slightly. This creates a vacuum so that the water stops falling through the filter.

Start swirling the coffee around. This I also learned from a James Coffeeperson video.

Set a timer for 1 minute. I find that I do not estimate 1 minute very realistically, so it is good to set a timer.

Swirl the coffee as a substitute for stirring it with the included stirrer. That works fine.

Then set it down until the minute is up. Turn off the timer.

5. Press the plunger through.

Gently. The coffee ground to the width of sieve holes doesn't create any problem with this step.

Early on, I was following the Aeropress instructions to grind for at least one minute if you're using a blade grinder. That led to near expresso powder and sour coffee.

Try to press the plunger so it goes down as much as possible.
(This isn't for the sake of the coffee so much as to have a nice puck to dump into the compost bin.)

6. Cleanup

Unscrew the filter cap, rinse it, then push the plunger the rest of the way through to eject the coffee grounds puck into your compost bin.

The guy who invented the Aeropress has a video where he says you don't need to pull out the plunger to rinse it separately from the cylinder. That doesn't feel right to me. I pull out the plunger and rinse both.

7. Dilute

Taste a little bit of the coffee to judge how much hot water to add.

Even though I hate "coffee Americano", i.e. espresso that has been diluted with water, I find that it is fine to add hot water to the Aeropress coffee. You will probably want to add a bit too.

8. Drink

If you had the larger Aeropress, you would probably have more coffee.

Enjoy your coffee. Share with the family. You don't have to worry about an overdose.

Kermit Roosevelt III - The Nation That Never Was

The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story by Kermit Roosevelt III
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First, it's hard to resist a book written by a third-generation Kermit. He narrates the audiobook himself and does it well. He uses historical events ranging from ancient Rome to 2022 to lay out his argument.

Kermit introduces a different way for a patriotic American to think about U.S. History: a new Story to replace The Standard Story.

In clear sweet prose, he explains why it could be helpful if we think of the Gettysburg Address and the post-Civil War Constitution as better founding documents than the Declaration of Independence and the original U.S. Constitution. He talks about how the U.S. Founders sacrificed justice for the sake of Unity. He admits that the political situation may not have given these original founders much choice, but their failure to plan an end to slavery resulted in, well, a lot more slavery, capped off by our Nation's bloodiest war.

The Reconstruction Congress nobly sacrificed Unity in favor of Justice, but this didn't last. Federal troops were withdrawn from the former Confederacy, leaving the country to suffer decades of injustice, oppression, lynching, and systemic racism.

Kermit ends with a rallying cry for well-meaning Americans to strive for justice.

View all my reviews

Twitter's not X

It's interesting how necessary that cute little bird icon was for getting me to click to open.

Once the X icon replaced it, I recoiled, then immediately uninstalled the app from my phone.