Critters

This freaked me out more than a little bit. Apparently, the cane toads that are pushing deeper into the back-of-beyond tend to be bigger than that ones that lag behind (and evolve longer legs, too, as I understand it). But the thought of a two-plus-pound toad is just disturbing. Our middle cat weighs in at about six.

This, on the other hand, would be really cool. I mean, you read the stories of dewy-eyed morons who try to swim (illegally and completely irresponsibly) with dolphins. If you're lucky, you read about them on the Darwin Awards website because the gits in question were too biologically illiterate to know the difference between dolphins and sharks when they jumped into the water and started waving bait-fish around. Donning a wetsuit and jumping into frigid waters to hang with the belugas, on the other fin, takes some up-front cajones.

The head of the fish stinks first

Just a short post this time, to hand off this slice of spot-on goodness: http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/195969

'Nuff said.

Well, maybe not. Just to hammer the point home, may I simply point out the following: For Gonzales, Miers, Rove, and assorted hired goons to cower behind the Constitution that they gleefully rewrote in Krylon is one of the more staggering examples of hypocrisy I've seen from the Bush regime. But, then, they've had plenty of practice. Frankly, I'm not even certain that Nixon and Kissenger between them could pull that off.

Sort of gives a whole 'nuther meaning to the term "Bush league," doesn't it?

Another quirky quest

On Steely Dan's 1977 album--I'm old enough that they'll always be "albums" and not "CDs"--Aja are two songs that you probably never heard on the radio. One is the Homeric hat-tip "Home at Last," which includes the line "She serves the smooth retsina."

"Retsina"? Mind you, this was not the first time that the Dyspeptic Duo has sent me to the dictionary. Which, coming from the sequipedialian who sent at least two college profs. to the dictionary, is saying something.

So after about thirty seconds and two tasteless banner ads on Dictionary.com, I had my answer. Retsina, it seems, is a Greek wine flavored with pine resin. (The story is that wine was transported in amphorae sealed with pine pitch which helped to preserve the wine as well as flavor it.) The Mediterranean restaurant downtown (which has gone sadly and ironically downhill since relocating from its hole in the wall to grander surroundings) serves it. And I find that I like the astringency because it's not part of the wine itself.

So the question for this inveterate take-it-apart-to-see-how-it-works maven is: How can I approximate that with the wine kits that are currently on the market? I'm not an accomplished enough oenophile to be able to take a sip of retsina and think, "Oh, this tastes rather like a Gewurtztraminner." (And, in a way, I hope that I never become that much of a wine snob. ) In the quick search that I did, I came up with a list of Greek wine grape varieties (http://www.greekwinemakers.com/czone/varieties/redvar.shtml). So the next step in the process is more research to find a grape that will approximate one of those. (And if I can find Aleppan pine pitch, which allegedly was the original barrel-sealant, so much the better.)

John Backus, RIP

The founder of the FORTRAN programming language has passed away at a mere 82 years of age. I will confess that I have next to no exposure to the language, other than a textbook my mother brought home for me when I was nerding around in BASIC on the TRS-80s and Apple IIs at school. (Yes, I am THAT old...)

But you don't have to be a programmer, much less a FORTRAN alumnus to appreciate how different today's world would be without human-readable (i.e. English-like) source code. Suffice it to say that I would not be blogging now.

I regret that I missed noting the passing of Dr. Hopper back in the 90s, and more so that I didn't think to verify that she is buried at Arlington before I spent a day there last September. So I do want to make my hat tip to Backus for his contributions to my field of work, which (happily) is still one of my passions.

Tick and Tock

Sheesh--you'd think I'm still 18 or something. Spring Break ends on Sunday, and am I done with my homework? Do you think I'd feel as if I've accomplished much of anything this past week? Do I even consider myself that much the better for seven days' respite? No to all of the above. Sigh.

But I'm overstating the case. There are several ways in which I'm further ahead than I was last Friday. Among other things, I spent a few hours on the phone with my best friend (which I haven't done in a shamefully long time), made my last will and testament "official", went to my first LUG meeting in months, and made some traction on two long-range goals. But it certainly doesn't seem like a week's worth.

My most accomplished globe-trotting friend would be appalled at me for 'fessing this, but I'd dearly love to take a vacation that didn't involve leaving home. (Nobody rat me out, please: The poor guy just might swoon.) But, instead, I'm banking hours for the trip that my Dearest and I have been talking about for years and years. I'm also using it as a rationale for tightening my own purse strings. I find that it's bad for me when I can buy something without thinking about it, and without using it as a carrot for some accomplishment. Even small fritterings--a book here, a Murano glass pen there--add up. So it's good to remind myself of the prodigious thud that double air fair and two weeks of lodging will make when they hit the bottom line of the American Express statement several months hence. [wry expression]

Enough worry-warting. I started out this post complaining about being 18 again, and here I am fussing like a little old pensioner after mere paragraphs. Time to return to my regularly scheduled middle age. Happy weekend, all.

Uh-oh

It seems that the TB vaccines don't carry the same punch anymore, according to this article from The Toronto Star. This hit my radar because my partner and I (foolishly) bought a batch of finches from a friend-of-a-friend several years ago, and two birds died from TB. The only mercy was that the they did it pretty quickly, before infecting the rest of the flock. But my Dearest, being their primary handler, took the precaution of being tested, and came up clean.

I wonder if that means that we'll all have to be re-inoculated in a few years. I remember having my arm popped with the "gun" in kindergarten, which wasn't too bad. (I dread shots, although I do manage not to make quite the fuss of olden days when I have to grit my teeth through one.) All the same, it beats TB any day. I've been blessed with a decent arsenal of immunity so far in life, but I'd rather not double-dog-dare something that scary.

Short cross-post today

A big heartfelt hat-tip to fellow Blogspotter "jurassicpork" for his persistence in documentation--not to mention the fortitude to hold his nose long enough to pan the cesspool that is Fox Noise:

http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2007/03/fox-news-at-its-finest.html

It's times like these that I regret being an agnostic. Because otherwise I could comfort myself with the thought that there's a special place in Hell earmarked for Citizen Murdoch and his hired goons. Jon Stewart holds a special place in my heart, but Stephen Colbert is a sheer genius for his ability to mock these people so well and still keep a straight face.