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Posts Tagged 'first contact'
Hello February! You are officially the month wherein I start complaining that winter has gone on too long.
January though, was fantastic! Vintage Science Fiction month was a rousing success as always, the quieter conversations were balanced out by a very fun watch-along of the 1984 movie of Dune, seen for the first time by many. Every January I also attend ConFusion, a fan run science fiction convention in the Detroit suburbs.
The promise I made to myself in the days before ConFusion were "you don't have to do it all. Do whatever you want, and not a bit more". I tend to exhaust myself at these events, going to too many panels in a row without eating, trying to meet all the people, suffering from fear of missing out if i don't make an appearance at every event, feeling socially awkward because I really don't know that many people and yadda yadda. So this year I hung out with my friends, worked some shifts at the Apex table in the vendor room, attended very few panels, ditched the hotel entirely on Friday night to visit my favorite sushi restaurant and have a drink at my friend's bar, didn't push myself to do to much, and had a fantastic time.
Here's the thing tho – I have a bunch of neat memories and they are all smushed together. I don't know what conversations happened with who, or what exactly was said in which panel, or what came together in my brain when to come up with what ideas. It's become a congealed memory blob.
In one of these panels – Disaster Response in Science Fiction, Philosophy in Science Fiction, and Game Boards in Scifi and Fantasy, there was a tiny aside about the 3 types of conflict:
Person vs another person
Person vs nature
Person vs themself
In that same panel, or perhaps a different one, I though about or maybe made mention that First Contact with aliens will challenge everything we think we know.
Thanks to the congealed memory blob in my brain, all of that combined to:
Won't first contact be the ultimate of "Person vs themselves"? Anyone involved with first contact would have to be able to separate themselves from everything they think they know, all of their assumptions, all their preconceived notions, all those easy "well, what *should* happen is. . . " thoughts. You've got to get past all those barriers within yourself before you can understand someone else. You've got to be willing to bare yourself, or communication will never happen. Wanna talk with aliens? You gotta defeat yourself first.
Noumenon, by Marina J. Lostetter
Posted October 3, 2017on:
Noumenon by Marina J. Lostetter
Published Aug 1 2017
where I got it: purchased new
Stories about generation ships are nothing new, we tend to see a good crop of them every year. The novel might focus on the disenchanted middle generation that didn't leave Earth, and won't see their destination, or perhaps deal with a mutiny, or a malfunction on the ship, or the fact that their destination planet can't support human life. What I'm saying is that for the most part, many of us have seen this story before.
In Noumenon, Marina J. Lostetter goes in a somewhat different direction, and succeeds through the magic of ultra-fast pacing. It sounds counterintuitive, right? Speed up the pace of a story, to tell the story better? In Noumenon it works, and creates a unique situation for what might have otherwise been a forgettable novel.
The first few chapters race by – an interstellar mission is funded, a subdimension drive is invented and tested and engines are built, an AI is designed around a common personal assistant program. In these early chapters you'll find yourself turning the pages faster than you realize. The prose is easy on the eyes, the characters are easy to get along with, we see everyone at their best, and we're science fiction fans so of course we're cheering for an interstellar mission! And before you know it, we're in spaaaaaace!
A few decades later, the implications of the twist start to hit. These aren't just any regular people on a colony ship. Don't think I'm spoiling things, because this is the least of the spoilers – the ship is crewed by genetic clones of the people who were chosen to go. When those clones age and "retire", new clones will be born. If "Bob" is a biologist (making that up as an example) then every Bob who is every born on the ship will always grow up to be a biologist. The colony ship will always have just as many pilots, communications experts, doctors, teachers, sanitation workers, and scientists as it needs. Only one "Bob" is ever alive at a time, but there's usually always a Bob walking around somewhere. Pretty interesting idea!
- In: Cixin Liu
- 8 Comments
I finally got around to reading Cixin Liu's The Dark Forest earlier this month. My better half read it a few months ago, and I nagged him into writing a joint review with me. Well, more a conversation than a joint review. Epic spoilers ahead! Or, as Better Half says "If you're on the no spoilers ship, better watch out, there's rocks ahead". He thinks he's forgotten most of this book. He's wrong. Here's what we thought of Cixin Liu's The Dark Forest.
Andrea: You and I are both drawn towards character driven narratives. The Dark Forest is even less character driven than The Three Body Problem. I had a tough time getting into the story, because it was hard for me to grab onto any of these characters. Did you have a tough time too?
Mike: Somewhat of a tough time, it was easier for me as I chose to read this as an historian viewing the book as 'future history'. Then, I could just follow the ebb and tide of historical forces as the story unfolded.
I liked the hope given to the Wallfacers, the unreality of the projects, and that one of them actually does save the Earth.
Andrea: What's that phrase? Necessity is the mother of invention? Humanity is desperate, so we're willing to put our faith in crazy things. All the other Wallfacers had these ridiculously complex ideas, and the one that saves the Earth seems so simple. Talk about playing the long game! Being given limitless money and told "Save the World", it was interesting to see what these people did with their funds and resources. Reminded me a little of the Selacao (how the hell do spell that?) from the anime Eden of the East. But the Wallfacers take advantage of their situation, they can spend money on silly stuff, and say "it's part of the plan". Many of the Wallfacers had a similar "ultimate plan". Were you surprised?
Mike: I also saw the Eden of the East connection, one of my favorite animes! The Wallfacers, with one exception, chose brute force methods to win a war, which is exactly what a war winner does not choose. Subtlety was only chosen by one facer, people scoffed, and he won.
The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
Posted May 27, 2015on:
- In: Cixin Liu | Ken Liu
- 8 Comments
The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
published in November 2014
Where I got it: purchased new
This review contains minor spoilers.
I had a very tough time getting into The Three Body Problem. In the first half of the novel, it's hard to tell what's going on, who or what is important to pay attention to. There are certainly interesting and important things that happen (and which are explained at the end), but I couldn't understand how any of the dots were connected.
The story starts during China's Cultural Revolution. Professors, scientists, academics, anyone who is seen to be under the influence of western thoughts are persecuted and often psychologically tortured to the point of suicide. Ye Wenjie watches as her physicist father is murdered by teenaged Red Guards. Guilty by association, Wenjie is sent to the frontier to be politically rehabilitated through manual labor. A talented scientist herself, she is recruited to be part of the secretive Red Coast Base. It will be years before anyone is allowed to talk about what happened at Red Coast.
The narrative jumps between Ye Wenjie's life at Red Coast and modern day China, where nanomaterials researcher Wang Miao is pulled into a military investigation where he could be the key to stopping a dangerous enemy. Except no one will tell him who the enemy is, or where they are. He's shown a list of scientists who recently committed suicide, and is exposed to a terrifying countdown that is counting down to, what exactly? Reluctantly, Wang becomes friends with Shi Qiang, the gruff police officer who had originally pulled him into the military meeting. A name on the list of dead scientists catches Wang's attention, Yang Dong. He's encouraged to visit Yang's elderly mother, who turns out to be Ye Wenjie.
The connection between Wang and Ye Wenjie is a point of no return. For Ye, everything she's worked towards is coming full circle. For Wang, he learns of a video game called Three Body, in which the goal of the game (or at least the first level of it) is to predict how long the next stable and chaotic eras will be in an environment in which the laws of orbital mechanics don't seem to make any sense. Players who understand what the game truly represents are invited to learn who made the game and why.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg
published in 1977
where I got it: purchased used
Raise your hand if you saw that blog post title and immediately heard five musical notes.
Novelizations are tricky beasts to review, because for the most part the author isn't in control of the plot or characters. It's hard to judge it as a story, because it's based on something that hadn't originally been meant to be presented as words on a page. Something that looks fan-freaking-tastic on the big screen might not translate so well to the page, you know? My attitude towards novelizations is do they add to my enjoyment of a movie? If it's a movie I've never seen, does reading the novelization make me want to see the movie? (That actually happened. Read a very enjoyable novelization in early 2014, liked it so much I bought a movie ticket. and the movie was awful!)
Reading the novelization of Close Encounters of The Third Kind was absolute pure nostalgic fun. The movie was a huge part of my child and young adulthood, and reading the novelization was a fun way to experience the movie in a different way. The book is a direct line for line, scene for scene novelization of the movie, but I was happily surprised by the deeper characterization and smoother pacing (I always felt the middle of the movie where Roy is figuring his shit out gets really slow and draggy). Or maybe I liked the pacing better in the book because I could control being able to linger in my favorite scenes, and zip through the less interesting ones. That's a nice thing about novelizations: the reader controls the pace.
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
published in 1953
where I got it: purchased new
There's going to be some spoilers, because I don't feel bad about spoiling a book that was published the year my Dad went into kindergarten.
The novel opens with a momentous event: the day the aliens come. Their giant ships hover over every major city, but they came in peace. Forced peace, actually. The Overlords announce they will be taking over all of Earth's governments, they will be stopping all wars, stopping hunger, disease and poverty, they will be making sure us Earthlings live peaceful lives. This is the first step towards Earth joining a galactic community, and the Overlords have been tasked with making sure we take this first step. The Overlords give us no choice in the matter, and any earthly warlords or take it upon themselves to violently disagree are shamed into submission. No choice at all, really.
But no one has ever seen an Overlord, and humans aren't known to be trustworthy of anything we can't see. The Overlord spokesperson, Karrelen, tells us that in fifty years they will show themselves to us, it will take that long for us to be ready. And they were right.
Contact, by Carl Sagan
Posted December 27, 2013on:
published in 1985
where I got it: paperback swap
Don't know who Carl Sagan is? the horror! Get thee to his wikipedia page, pronto! And then put Cosmos (the original. not the new ones they made off the old soundtrack) on your Netflix.
Contact was written in the 1980's, and the only thing that made it feel dated was that cell phones and e-mail never show up. Ellie has to drag a telefax machine around with her when she travels. It's all late 80s technology. And yet. We went to the moon on the computing power of a Commodore64, which means I can completely believe that all that's needed to translate an alien message is a radio telescope, a sliderule, and a fax machine. Time waits for no one, and aliens don't wait for the invention of the i-pad.
Eleanor Arroway always loved radios. She took them apart as a child, and as an adult became one of the only female radio telescope directors. Obsessed with SETI (The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), Director Arroway was able to ensure her "farfetched" sky scanning projects got the majority of the telescope time. This is of course, a novel about first contact, so it's not a spoiler to tell you that an alien message is received.
The message comes from Vega, and at first all we hear is a pattern of prime numbers. There's got to be more to it than someone shouting prime numbers, right? Of course there is.


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If you would have said that Avisail Garcia would be leading baseball well into the third week of the season this past winter, you would have been hard pressed to find anyone that would take you seriously. In fact, if you would have said that he would be leading even the White Sox in hitting at this point, you would have still found the same difficulty in finding another person to second your motion.
On July 30, 2013 the Chicago White Sox acquired the then 22-year old outfielder from the Detroit Tigers in a three team, six player trade that saw Jake Peavy head to the Boston Red Sox, and Jose Igleseas to the Tigers.
At the time Garcia was seen as the younger version of Miguel Cabrera, featuring some physical resemblance to the future hall of fame first-baseman. Unfortunately for the White Sox that never came to fruition in the years since that trade, and the White Sox fan-base, analysts, and even some front office members have grown tired of the Garcia experiment after a trio of disappointing campaigns marred by injuries, weight gain issues, shabby defense, and high strikeout rates.
Over his first three full seasons with the White Sox (2014-2016) Garcia hit an underwhelming .250 over the course of 314 games, with a slash line of .308/.380/.687 over that same span. A hitter that was supposed to be known for his power potential when he was acquired, was only able to amass 32 home runs and 139 RBI, and entered the season with a career oWar of 2.7.
This spring, like most other springs in recent years, we heard all about how Avisail Garcia was in the best shape of his life. While he did look lighter to the eye, it was a narrative that we had become all to familiar with, the idea that Garcia was going to stop being a strikeout machine because he shed 15 pounds; Or that the trimmer physique would somehow teach him how to stop rolling over on breaking balls in a manner so habitual that you could wager your salary on it happening on most days.
Well, I have no idea how much his weight loss has to do with it, but somehow to this point Garcia has actually been able to square up breaking balls and drive them. He has displayed the ability to take multiple walks in a game as opposed to strikeouts in previous seasons, and all-in-all looks like he is seeing the baseball better than anyone in baseball at this point.
Checking in with a league-leading .440 batting average to go along with a phenomenal slash line of .481/.680/1.161 through the first 13 games of the season. Garcia also has three home runs, a double, a triple, and 13 RBI to this point, but most importantly in regards to evidence to support a new found plate discipline, Garcia has walked five times while striking out only 12 times.
Before you look sideways at those BB/K numbers, consider this, Garcia's career high in walks is just a dismal 36, achieved over the course of 148 games during the 2015 season. So five free-passes in April is putting him on pace to surpass that number in just 81 games at the rate of five walks every thirteen games. Garcia is also on pace to hit 27 home runs this season if he gets 450 at-bats at his current pace, which is not an inconceivable pace of three home runs per every 50 at-bats to this point.
We know that he isn't going to hit .400 this season, but there is evidence to support the theory that Garcia has however finally found his potential and is capable of having a productive season at the plate.
The evidence is in his pitch selection, and the current sample size has been pretty good. In 2016 Garcia posted a K rate of 25.4 percent, this season he is at 22.2 percent. His batting average on balls in play is currently sitting at .543, up nearly .250 points from his 2016 BABIP of .309, and while that number will come down with his batting average, it should still remain significantly better if all the other metrics remain the same.
In 2016 his batting average was .64 points lower than his BABIP, so lets say his batting average comes all the way down to a healthy .300 at some point this season, his BABIP would still likely be well above .350, if not somewhere near the .375-.400 mark, considering last season when he struck out at a higher rate his BABIP was still .64 points higher than his batting average. That number would put him well above his career BABIP of .327.
In 2016 Garcia had an ISO rating (a formula designed to evaluate a hitters raw power) of .140, this season he is sitting at .240, like his BABIP Garcia is .110 points above his career ISO rating of .130. Garcia also boasts a weighted on-base percentage (wOBP) of .497, nearly double his career wOBP as well as his wOBP from 2016, which was slightly lower than his career numbers.
For those of us who aren't up to speed or trusting of the advanced statistics available to us nowadays, Avi gets a passing grade on the old fashioned eye test as well. Exhibit A: Tuesday night in New York, Garcia saw at least five sliders from Luis Severino in his fifth inning at-bat in which he struck out. In the seventh inning, Garcia was not going to be fooled again, and was waiting for the Severino slider on a 2-0 count. When he got it, he nailed it for a three-run home run.
In Wednesday night's game he came to the plate after watching hitters in front of him get pitches to hit, and instead of jumping in the box and sitting fastball and being lazy in his pitch selection (much like he has done his entire career), Garcia showed off his newfound plate discipline and drew a five-pitch walk. Garcia did the same thing in his second plate appearance as well, opting to take another walk rather than force something that wasn't being offered to him by Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka.
While I'm sure most of the White Sox fan-base, and the baseball world is still waiting for the other shoe to drop in regards to Garcia's production, and naturally it will, the evidence by both the metrics and the eye test most certainly suggest that while they will subside, they won't plummet to the depths of season priors.
As long as Avi can continue to see the ball well, and maintain his newly acquired patient approach at the plate, he will be on pace for the most productive season of his career in 2017.

subset: commoncrawl


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Commission Daily News, 26 August 2016
The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) 2015 annual report, published today, demonstrates the increased efficiency with which RASFF exchanges information on issues posing a serious health risk. The network thereby enables authorities to act swiftly on many food safety risks before they could become harmful to European consumers.
Last year, the European Commission received 3049 notifications of food or feed risks via this EU-wide alert system, 775 of which concerned a serious health risk. The response rate to such alerts increased by 23% to reach 4030 follow-up notifications. Among the most notified risks were mercury in fish, aflatoxins in nuts and Salmonella in fruits and vegetables. RASFF's round-the-clock information sharing service is a key tool to ensure quick cross-border reaction when risks to public health are detected in the food chain.
The system - which originated in 1979 - has evolved to keep pace with a growing and increasingly complex global market and changing consumer habits. New challenges such as global trade, food fraud, e-commerce and emerging risks require further enhancing cooperation between RASFF and other systems governing food safety and public health. Work on dealing with these challenges has already begun.
For more information on RASFF, the full report and the infographic, see the Commission page at: http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/rasff/reports_publications/index_en.htm.
A copy of the report is also available on this site. See RASFF 2015 Annual Report


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1 Min Read
May 7 (Reuters) - Balbec Capital LP:
* BALBEC CAPITAL LP CLOSES THIRD GLOBAL CREDIT FUND AT $727 MILLION Source text for Eikon:
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
© 2018 Reuters. All Rights Reserved.


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On Feb 17-19 I'll be in the Chicago suburbs (Fox Valley Church in Dundee) teaching all weekend on the Sermon on the Mount. I attended this great church 20 years ago and am looking forward to be back there.
Registration is required. Hope to see some of you there!Weekend in the Word Flier


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Pupils get a taste for life above the clouds
SCIENCE Week at Noremarsh Junior School in Royal Wootton Bassett provided excitement and interest for the children, led by Year 5 teacher Mrs Rowan Atack.
A glider from the Cotswold Gliding Club was brought to the school in its special transporter, and thrilled the pupils, who admired its impressive 50ft wing span.
They learned about its operational capabilities from Paul Lazenby, an instructor at the club, and Max Lazenby, a glider aerobatics pilot, and Lesley Waters, one of the lady members. Some children were lucky enough to sit in the cockpit, or to try on the weighty parachute pack that would be worn in flight.
The memorable Science Week also featured a visit by a hot air balloon, the Wiltshire Air Ambulance helicopter, a drone pilot and a representative of the REME Museum, who led a science workshop.
The activities certainly brought science to life for the pupils, who were fascinated to see exhibits at close range, and to have their many questions answered by the visitors.


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An air filter is a device which removes contaminants, often solid particulates, such as dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria from air. Air filters are used in application where air quality is important, notably in building ventilation systems and in engines, such as internal combustion engines, gas compressors, diving air compressors, gas turbines and others.
Two main types of air filters are used in automobiles: the combustion air filter, and the cabin air filter. The combustion air filter prevents abrasive particulate matter from entering the engine's cylinders, where it would cause mechanical wear and oil contamination.
Most modern, fuel-injected vehicles use a pleated paper filter element in the form of a flat panel. This filter is usually placed inside a plastic box connected to the throttle body with a large hose.
Older vehicles that use carburetors or throttle body fuel injection typically use a cylindrical air filter, usually a few inches high and between 6 and 16 inches in diameter. This is positioned above the carburetor or throttle body, usually in a metal or plastic container which may incorporate ducting to provide cool and/or warm inlet air, and secured with a metal or plastic lid.The cabin air filter is typically a pleated-paper filter that is placed in the outside-air intake for the vehicle's passenger compartment. Some of these filters are rectangular and similar in shape to the combustion air filter. Others are uniquely shaped to fit the available space of particular vehicles' outside-air intakes. Being a relatively recent addition to automobile equipment, this filter is often overlooked and clogged or dirty cabin air filters can significantly reduce airflow from the cabin vents, as well as introduce allergens into the cabin air stream.
Consists of wide range of designs and shapes with various types of elements varies from diameter 1″ up to 19″ and the height from 1″ up to 36″ which are made of various types of materials such as Steel, Plastic, PU, PVC, etc and comply with the high quality media to meet with the OEM / QES specifications. This range includes the General air element, Heavy-Duty Primary; (Outer) air element, Heavy-Duty Secondary; (Inner) Air Element and Radial Seal air element.
Our range covers most of the major passenger cars, commercial vehicles, heavy equipments, forklifts, marine, agricultural, Compressors, generators, Industrial and many other general applications. We also cater for tailor made to requirements.


text: Full_Name: ozone Version: HEAD OS: Linux URL: ftp://ftp.openldap.org/incoming/ozone-0933004.patch Submission from: (NULL) (22.214.171.124) this patch migrates all global configuration variables (*except ldap_syslog/ldap_syslog_level) into a single struct, which is currently referenced by frontendDB->be_private. ldap_syslog is used elsewhere; the impact of migrating it isn't clear. The attached modifications to OpenLDAP Software are subject to the following notice: Copyright 2004 Symas Corporation Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted only as authorized by the OpenLDAP Public License.


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CORPUS CHRISTI, TX --One of the younger residents of the Texas State Aquarium is the first shark to be born at the tourist-popular site.
Aquarium officials in Corpus Christi on Wednesday offered details on the female white spotted bamboo shark named Joy. Authorities say the shark was hatched in October and is the only shark ever born at the aquarium.
The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports Joy won't be put on public display until she's large enough to be placed in the shark touch tank exhibit.
The white spotted bamboo shark typically is found in the South Pacific and grows to a length of up to 4 feet. Aquarium officials say Joy currently is 18 inches long and weighs just under 3 pounds.
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We're looking at 1 John in Bible study at the moment. I'm writing the studies now that Uni is a bit quieter, which is great.
I started a new thing with this series which I hadn't tried or heard of being done. I thought we could use the opportunity of Bible study to read more of the Bible as this is something a few of our group struggle with. So, each week we read part of the Old Testament, a gospel and the study passage. We've started with Ezekiel and Mark, reading a chapter each week.
Do you do anything different or unusual in your groups?


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Marshall Mathers aka Eminem has never been one to mince words or stay away from the top of charts for too long so true to form the rap king is back with 'The Monster' hit ft Rihanna and its no suprise that its held the No 1 spot for the 3rd week running on the billboard singles chart keeping another duo Pitbull and Ke$ha' Timber at no 2.
In the video Eminem spits some tight and slick lyrics exploring the negative side effects of fame and his battle with those inner demons which I suppose lurk around in all of us to some extent.
On his choice of a collaboration with RiRi in making this explosive track he is quoted as commenting 'I thought it would be a good idea to have her on it because I think people look at us like we're both a little nuts'. Well Em's you said it and I suppose that kind of explains that snake on her head.
Anyway guys get the track now it's a monster and makes for much better listening on a late night than staying awake counting sheep in your head
Follow Eminem on Facebook
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Download 'The Monster' On iTunes
Rolling Stones Music 10 Suprising Answers From Eminem
Download Album 'Monster' at Amazon.com


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No new messages posted lately, but I have been training hard. Lots of changes for me this training cycle. The meet I am preparing for is the Twin Cities Open, September 19. Here are some highlights...
Probably the biggest change for me was training time. Business has picked up for me and I have been working early in the morning, I needed to start training during the day instead of at night. This meant not training with my long time training partner; Bench Press Champion Maura Shuttleworth. The good news is I had a lot more energy in the morning, bad news is training without Maura is lonely.
I have been getting some direct coaching from Matt Gary of Supreme Sports Performance and Training. Matt has me using the Conjugate Method. Mark Reifkind suggested this method way back when I first started messing around with powerlifting. I was simply overwhelmed, I didn't really "get" how the Conjugate Method worked. I needed someone to spell out exactly what I needed to do, and that is what Matt did. Training under the guidance of a coach is invaluable! I have learned more from the coaching I get powerlifting than I can express. I used pistols as one of my conjugate exercises. It's one of my "show off" moves, I eventually worked up to 28kg X 2/2.
Bench Press - Still a weak lift for me and challenge. Getting tight and staying tight is what I am trying to focus on.
Squat - Going well! I like this lift and Matt has me doing a much different volume/weight scheme. Here is a video for your viewing pleasure...
Deadlift - I will be deadlifting heavy for the last time before the meet on Monday. Deadlift is a hit and miss lift for me. My best pull is 315lbs, done in Tarman's basement. My best meet pull is 308lbs done at the ASF in March, I missed 319lbs. I had an extremely disappointing pull in June at the TPO meet. So, who knows, hopefully things go better this time.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
8 comments:
- Ellen Stein said...
Awesome stuff! as always YOU ROCK! Now just get your head out of your ass for this meet and you will be fine! I promise! and Matt is NEVER wrong!
- September 8, 2009 at 10:45 AM
- fawn said...
Thanks Ellen.
Did the last of my dead yesterday...
- September 9, 2009 at 4:55 AM
- Katie, KettlebellKate said...
I love it!!!! Very inspiring!! You are looking VERY strong and confident. Thanks for sharing those clips and for the update!
- September 9, 2009 at 8:38 AM
- Ellen Stein said...
and??? how'd it go? easy I'm sure...
- September 9, 2009 at 2:03 PM
- fawn said...
Thanks Katie!
Ellen, you got mail.
- September 10, 2009 at 4:50 AM
- Rapid Results Fitness - Betsy Collie said...
just checking in and saw your latest post! Wishing you huge success Fawn!!!
- September 17, 2009 at 9:51 PM
- Gabi said...
Wow, that's today... Good luck (not that you need it) and have a great time!!
- September 19, 2009 at 10:29 AM
I saw elsa!
- March 11, 2010 at 4:27 PM
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My Response to Your Response
I couldn't have known you would do this. So much mushroom dust on the
mantlepiece. So many razorbacks in the dustbin. I enjoyed the patio furniture, but
everything else was disgusting.
A tiny window of children's knickers teased at my own curious past and I
wondered why the tree trunk was scarred.
Surely, from this vantage, you can see you were wrong.
And Little Gregory wasn't guilty as charged, but guilty nonetheless. Like all of us.
Whence comes the galaxy we actually live in.
You'd be one sorry slicker if you never knew you goosed the chicken.
It wasn't very old and I wanted it to visit our luncheon.
We were sharing. We were expectant.
Rich Ives is the author of Tunneling to the Moon: A Psychological Gardener's Book of Days currently being published in serial @ Silenced Press everyday in 2014 and forthcoming in paperback. Begin from the beginning, catch up, read daily. Just refer to the Burrow Guide.


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Indemann by Maurer United Architects
Designed by Maurer United Architects
Location: Inden, Germany
Project Area: 860 sqm
Budget: € 2,500,000
Design Year: 2004-2008
Construction Year: 200
Website: www.maurerunited.com
"We started the Indemann project by writing a fairy tale that established the region's profile. In the fairy tale the people finally built a monument for a giant, the Indemann, who they have helped physically, but mainly strategically, in the story. The fact that this watchtower has now been completed shows that fairy tales can become reality." Continue for more after the jump:
Source | ArchDaily
Photo | Maurer United Architects


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Tennis team has good season
By Peter Tan
The MIT tennis team started the spring season with a tough but enjoyable trip out to sunny southern California.
After losing the first two matches to nationally-ranked University of California at San Diego and Pomona Pitzer College (5-4 and 6-3 respectively), the team rallied back to win the remaining three matches in California. MIT defeated Point Loma College (6-3), Redlands University (5-4), and the California Institute of Technology (9-0).
The most satisfying win on the road was the narrow win over Redlands. Traditionally, Redlands has been a team that has performed well in the national meets. The win was sweet revenge because MIT lost to them narrowly in last year's meeting.
Upon returning to New England, MIT has played five more matches and is unbeaten until now. MIT beat Bowdoin 8-1, University of Vermont 8-1, Tufts 8-1, and Trinity College 9-0.
A match away against Brandeis was stopped due to poor weather and will be resumed Monday. This will be a crucial match for the Engineers because MIT and Brandeis are in the running to compete in nationals.
The win over Tufts was also crucial because Tufts' midseason ranking was just below MIT. Such a sweeping victory justifies MIT's higher ranking.
The Engineers' overall record stands at 7-2, including seven straight wins. With three new freshmen, team morale is very high. The MIT squad is definitely aiming for nationals and will need to win their remaining matches to ensure themselves a berth.
(Peter Tan '89 is a member of the men's varsity tennis team.)


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Thanks (again) to Dollarama, I achieved both. I found the brown wood basket a week before the wedding and bought the black paint and sponge brushes at the Dollarama too. The basket was $1.25 and the brushes and bottle of paint were a $1 each.
I painted the basket and searched around the apartment to find the white ribbon that had tied a going-away gift I had received in Chicago before moving. I knew I had saved it, thinking: "Hmmm...I bet I could use this later for something with the wedding." And so it became part of the flower girl basket! :)
For the wedding, we filled the basket with red silk rose petals my mom got with a half-price coupon at a craft store- maybe $3 for a big box of them? So, all said and done, it was about $7, if I include the cost of the supplies and the big over half-full box of fabric rose petals that are re-useable for other projects.