04 Jul 2011
How I Spent July 3, 2011

Front of the Garage Before New Roof
Front of the Garage on July 2nd

Back of the Garage Before New Roof
Back of the Garage on July 2nd

Front of the Garage After New Roof
Front of the Garage on July 3nd

Back of the Garage After New Roof
Back of the Garage on July 3nd

08:51 /Home | 2 comments | permanent link

02 Jul 2011
Double Rainbow Over Dover

Double Rainbow over Dover

Taken yesterday morning about 6:30 AM, looking west off our back porch. It's rare enough to see a rainbow at dawn, let alone a double. And believe me, the photo doesn't do it justice by a long shot.

08:36 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

28 Jun 2011
The Rise and Fall of Pseudonyms

Lot's of folks have pointed out how email destroyed the art of letter writing, but this is the first time I've considered that the venerable pseudonym may have seen it's better days. Ubiquity strikes again...

Thanks partly to the Internet, pseudonymity is decidedly less dramatic these days. Fake names are more popular than ever, yet the pseudonym as it once existed is just about dead. In the 19th century, when the practice reached its height, or even in the early 20th century, authorial disguise often carried considerable psychological investment and a genuine need for secrecy. Today, privacy has become less desirable and less possible. An IP address is easy to trace. Many bloggers use an array of noms de plume, but often as a means of generating publicity or branding a “persona.” It’s self-promotion under the pretense of hiding.

(link) [New York Times]

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21 Jun 2011
A Glad Midsummer!

Well, today is Midsummer, and the Wheel of the Year has cycled once again. There's been so much going on that I hardly know where to start. So let's start with the best: I've got a new job! I'm still writing code, but I'm no longer in consumer electronics. It's all system level stuff in Linux, and so far it's all in C++. Python is promised on the horizon, and some of the older control software is written in Delphi. My new co-workers were very interested to hear about Lazarus...

This meant a healthy raise, and my timing was perfect. My old employer had decided to return the money they'd withheld over the course of the past year just before I handed in my notice, so I got what amounted to a nice bonus check on my last day. But the real bonus is my new employer: it's the best place I've ever worked, and I've worked a lot of places. I was able to hold my oath, the systems are well designed and documented, and even some of the manufacturing is still done on site. Most of my new colleagues are around my age, with about the same level of experience. "Geezer geeks" is my own term for the likes of us - techno-curmudgeons. It makes for interesting conversations, that's for sure!

On the farm front, shearing was complete by the end of May with very little trouble. Even Mild Thing lived up to her name!

Given that we had a little spending money, we engaged in what our daughters refer to as "retail therapy", and Lorraine is in her chair next to me reading on her new Nook Color. She loves it - and I must say that it lives up to it's good reviews. I helped her load up on classics from Project Gutenberg, and I think she's started on War and Peace...

We picked the Nook over it's competition for it's web capabilities - and we have not been disappointed. It's my first real exposure to an Android device, and I must say I've been impressed. The only dumb design issue is the use of a specialized USB cable, which I assume was for easier (and faster?) recharging. But that's a small thing for such a nice tablet. Yeah, I called it a tablet, because it's certainly a lot more than just an ebook reader.

I've got a big backlog of items in my "to be posted" folder - with any luck at all I'll start working my way through them (as well as new stuff that pops up) and my lengthy stays away from blogging with be a thing of the past. But blogging is a habit, and I'm going to have to work somewhat to reacquire it, so no promises!

19:49 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

12 May 2011
Placebos work, even when patients are in the know

Crème de la Strange...

In what researchers call a novel 'mind-body' therapy, most patients in a study suffering from irritable bowel syndrome reported relief after receiving pills they were told contained no real medicine.

(link) [Los Angles Times]

20:32 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link

10 May 2011
Another Hiatus

Well, I'm still alive. And so is MacRaven, even if it's activity level has slowed again. Believe me, that's about the only activity level that's abated around here in the past couple of months. Lots going on, too much to go into in one post, that's for sure. But I'll be back when I've regained a handle on things, and with any luck, that won't be too long.

20:20 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

05 Apr 2011
Brittany's Lambs

Brittany's triplets

As promised, pics of the triplets, all ewe lambs. And Brittany is proving to be a fine mom, this time around.

18:07 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

30 Mar 2011
Lambing 2011

is in full swing - Brittany gave birth yesterday to the first set of triplets in the Dor Galen flock. And she's actually doing a good job as momma sheep this time - unlike her last lambing, which earned her name (after the pop diva who was the faux "mother of the year").

We also have three bottle baby visitors. Our good friends Tim and Jackie had a down ewe with triplets as well, and we volunteered to lamb-sit until he goes on spring break next week. You can see a picture of their arrival over at Dances With Ewes. I'll try to get some more photos posted here soon.

19:25 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

22 Mar 2011
For a Copy of Theocritus

O singer of the field and fold,
Theocritus! Pan's pipe was thine, --
Thine was the happier Age of Gold.

For thee the scent of new-turned mould,
The bee-hives, and the murmuring pine,
O Singer of the field and fold!

Thou sang'st the simple feasts of old, --
The beechen bowl made glad with wine ...
Thine was the happier Age of Gold.

Thou bad'st the rustic loves be told, --
Thou bad'st the tuneful reeds combine,
O Singer of the field and fold!

And round thee, ever-laughing, rolled
The blithe and blue Sicilian brine
Thine was the happier Age of Gold.

Alas for us! Our songs are cold;
Our Northern suns too sadly shine: --
O singer of the field and fold,
Thine was the happier Age of Gold.

Austin Dobson

21:03 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

21 Mar 2011
First of 2011

Nemo?

Here's the little fellow we fished out of the stock tank last night - fine looking ram lamb.

17:45 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Sheared Sheep

Chunky Buns Sheared

Here's Chunky Buns yesterday afternoon - it seems she went first last year, too! Once again, her fleece is pre-sold. This year, however, she's very pregnant - and due any day.

17:41 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Interval

Sorry for the recent absence, but so much has been happening as to make blogging nearly impossible. To make a long story very short, Mom's health issues have flared again and she'd now safely ensconced in a nursing home. Layoffs are continuing and the future of my career in my present position doesn't look too rosy. It's shearing season, as well as the run up to the fiber event(s) over the summer. And finally, spring has sprung, and with it lambs! The first one was born last night, a little ram lamb from our Dor Galen flock, and momma dropped him in the water tank! Luckily, Lorraine had felt the need to check the barn before we went to bed, so we found him and fished him out around midnight, and got mom and baby bedded down in the center aisle. With only a bucket for water, and no tank to fall in!

I'll try to catch up over the next few days.

07:12 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

03 Mar 2011
Oh for a poet!

Oh for a poet - for a beacon bright
To rift this changeless glimmer of dead gray;
To spirit back the Muses, long astray,
And flush Parnassus with a newer light;
To put these little sonnet-men to flight
Who fashion, in a shrewd mechanic way,
Songs without souls, that flicker for a day,
To vanish in irrevocable night.

What does it mean, this barren age of ours?
Here are the men, the women, and the flowers,
The seasons, and the sunset, as before.
What does it mean? Shall there not one arise
To wrench one banner from the western skies,
And mark it with his name forevermore?

Edwin Arlington Robinson, Collected Poems. 1921.

21:30 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

05 Feb 2011
American Anxiety

Is the end result of modern existence stress? Yep.

Students are becoming more anxious because, for many years now, we've all been growing more anxious. This isn't just a campus issue. It's an American issue.

(link) [Slate]

22:31 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

02 Feb 2011
Supersized Storm Seen from Space

US Winter Storm 2011-01-31

NOAA and NASA have released several satellite images of the ongoing storm - click on the photo to see more or check out higher resolutions here.

08:48 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

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