Fictional email from River View to 90hazelnut, 20091205

Dear 90hazelnut,

Today is Saturday, and I just returned from a few nights at the Capri on the El Camino. I went with the ying yang from Vermont, 'cause he had his check come in. He didn't leave the room for four days, other than to go to Pollo Loco and back. In the meanwhile, I drove to Mt. Hamilton, as December 2009 is Astronomy month, and I had not been up the mountain for quite a few years. I had a great day up there.

I left came back with the gas gauge on empty: that's a trip crossing 17, no less in my car! I made it. When we checked out of the motel, he was standing by the car. He really didn't say anything in the last four days. Uck him, he can take a bus back to wherever he goes. He wanted me to drive to Santa Barbara when this began, and I figured this would be a good test run, as he claims to be phobic in vehicles. Anyway, when I looked again, he had vanished, saying nothing. I gave it about 3 minutes, and left. That mind game seems to be one thing he does often - vanish without verbalizing - so be it.

I am back in Santa Cruz. I had intended to interview with a truck school in Fremont, but the distraction leaves me waiting until after the Holidays.

Maybe we can connect sometime. Hope you didn't eat too much turkey for Thanksgiving. It seems Santa Cruz is overwhelmed with persons with mental illness, and the visit to Santa Clara made me realize how much I miss being in Santa Clara. I thought of driving by, and figured it wasn't a good choice ... I didn't want to disrupt ... So I guess it's back to the nightly donut shop as usual.

P.S. Were you a good girl last year? Will Santa come to see you? You have been rather quiet over the past several months - and I hope your relationship is growing positively. 'Cause the children come first, Always. That's the compromise in having a family. Anyway, peace and love and all those greetings - and If I don't see you, hugs for all.

Much love and roses, River View Dave

This has been a fictional construct by Ribo Nuff. :-)

© 2009 (December 5) ribocat.blogspot.com, All Rights Reserved.

Linkin Park Leave out all the rest" lyrics

Linkin Park "Leave out all the rest" lyrics

I dreamed I was missing - You were so scared - But no one would listen - Cause no one else cared

After my dreaming - I woke with this fear - What am I leaving - When I'm done here

So if you're asking me, I want you to know

When my time comes, Forget the wrong that I've done. Help me leave behind some Reasons to be missed

And don't resent me - And when you're feeling empty - Keep me in your memory

Leave out all the rest - Leave out all the rest

Don't be afraid - I've taken my beating - I've shared what I made

I'm strong on the surface - Not all the way through - I've never been perfect - But neither have you

So if you're asking me, I want you to know

When my time comes, Forget the wrong that I've done. Help me leave behind some Reasons to be missed

Don't resent me - And when you're feeling empty, keep me in your memory

Leave out all the rest - Leave out all the rest


Forgetting - All the hurt inside - You've learned to hide so well

Pretending - Someone else can come and save me from myself - I can't be who you are

When my time comes, Forget the wrong that I've done. Help me leave behind some Reasons to be missed

Don't resent me - And when you're feeling empty, keep me in your memory

Leave out all the rest - Leave out all the rest

Forgetting - All the hurt inside - You've learned to hide so well

Pretending - Someone else can come and save me from myself - I can't be who you are - I can't be who you are

Email from a friend to a friend

Hi friend, thank you for the nice birthday greetings for K3 yesterday. Yes, she is fortunate to be a happy healthy middle class American child. :-) I think K3 had fun with her family birthday yesterday. Today she has piano lessons. I'm going to write myself notes NOT to work in the yard this afternoon, because I might forget piano lessons again if I get sucked out there ...

Thank you for saying I'm a good parent. I usually spend quite a bit of time thinking that I could be a much better parent ... I realize that's a less-than-positive way of thinking ... maybe I should at least be thankful for the skills and gifts of time that I am employing ...

I had sweatpants and a sweater on over my t-shirt and shorts when I went into the gym this morning. I think it made a difference in how long I stayed chilled this morning (only until 9). That was a little gift to self, or maybe some employment of common sense.

I LOL'ed and smiled repeatedly on your writing about women freaking out over cleaning being in our collective DNA. That made me determined in the past 24 hours not to worry too much about the cleaning (but to keep doing it, as I can), and to spend more time laughing with the kids. Yesterday afternoon I just had K1 and K2 because K3 was at play practice ("Wipe-out") from 3 to 5:30. I think I managed to be pleasant and cheerful around them. I was pleased, because the night before I had been crying to my spouse, and all the kids saw I was very upset - I wouldn't eat my spouse's nice manicotti dinner with the group. K3 kept asking Sunday evening in a low voice if I was okay, poor thing. I think they all saw me "recovering" (early part of day) and cheerful and funny (the second half of the day) Monday. Yesterday I was repeatedly sighing while doing my cleaning, because I felt bad about my crying behavior the night before, but today I am not sighing or feeling down on myself; I am smiling now and again, and feeling blessed. I also feel strong physically and mentally.

Yesterday my cohort told me that "anniversary phenomenon" can be quite real and significant ... or not ... I took that to mean I have some say in how much I wallow in the pain of the past. I then felt rather positive and redirected - not worrying too much about making dinner Tuesday, cleaning, etc., determined to enjoy the people around me and give them my attempt at my best ...

I am glad for you that you have your boys and your whole family to love. You are all "good people". I am so pleased to know you and to know of you.

Have a good day, friend, Love, 90hazelnut

This has been a fictional construct.

© 2009 (November 10) ribocat.blogspot.com and 90hazelnut.blogspot.com, All Rights Reserved.

Fictional email to 90hazelnut

Hi 90hazelnut, nice email; I liked reading all of it. A quick comment about the hair, though. You wouldn't have to color it on my account. Your gray hair would be just as beautiful as your colored dark hair, without the cost or chemicals.

I actually don't do 80 minutes of cardio all the time - just that day I was feeling really good. I didn't do any cardio today, but I got a haircut and then cut the grass after our workout, the kids came with me. There is a young girl at the local haircutting place that I enjoy getting a haircut from. She also does a good job on my hair. It's so relaxing. I was thinking of cutting it myself; my brother does his own, but I really enjoy getting to unwind in the chair - getting pampered. I asked my spouse if she would do it, but she refused. I pay $22 for the haircut. I get one about every 4 weeks. I still might start doing my own.

I did like hearing of all the good news of you and your spouse right now. That's nice that he welcomes me as your friend. I will always be here for you.

I have to run right now, but will talk to you later, Love, your friend.

©opyright 2009 (October 16) ribocat.blogspot.com All Rights Reserved.

Linkin Park "My Dsmbr" lyrics

I have been playing and replaying this song since September 11, 2009. It seems to represent part of my Zeitgeist.

Linkin Park "My Dsmbr" lyrics
Songwriters: Bennington, Chester Charl, Bourdon, Robert G., Delson, Brad, Hahn, Joseph, Shinoda, Mike

This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear

This is my December
This is my snow-covered home
This is my December
This is me alone

And I just wish that I didn't feel
like there was something I missed.
I take back all the things I said
to make you feel like that.

And I just wish that I didn't feel
like there was something I missed.
I take back all the things
I ever said to you.

And I'd give it all away,
just to have somewhere to go to -
give it all away
to have someone to come home to.

This is my December
These are my snow-covered trees.
This is me pretending
this is all I need.

And I just wish that I didn't feel
like there was something I missed.
I take back all the things I said
to make you feel like that.

And I just wish that I didn't feel
like there was something I missed.
I take back all the things
I ever said to you.

And I'd give it all away,
just to have somewhere to go to -
give it all away
to have someone to come home to.

This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear

Give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
to have someone to come home to

Give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
to have someone to come home to

© Linkin Park All Rights Reserved.
Comments: © 2009 (September 23) Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

Dans la Merco-Benz, by Benjamin Biolay

Today, I was in the mood to look up the lyrics to "Dans la Merco-Benz" by Benjamin Biolay - seeing as I had just played it two times in a row.

Here they are for you, courtesy of http://artists.letssingit.com/lyrics-bn84rnv.

Petite princesse, ma beauté, ma promesse
Ma petite faiblesse, ma plus belle histoire de fesses
Dans ma mercedes, c'est de l'espoir que je caresse
Souvenir suprême de mon plus beau problème
Dans ton abdomen, tout nouveau spécimen
Joue à la crème, c'est de l'espoir que je promène

Mon amour hélas, le temps passe, mon amour hélas, le temps passe
Mon amour hélas, le temps passe, mon amour hélas, le temps passe
Mon amour hélas

Petite princesse, c'est pas l'heure de la grand-messe
Charmante hôtesse, qu'as-tu fait de ta jeunesse ?
Dans la Merco Benz, c'est de l'espoir que je caresse
Petite connasse, pourquoi tu fais ta radasse ?
Petite pétasse qui montre rien en surface
Qui veut qu'on l'embrasse encore, l'embrasse encore

Mon amour hélas, le temps passe, mon amour hélas, le temps passe
Mon amour hélas, le temps passe, mon amour hélas, le temps passe
Le temps passe
Mon amour hélas, mon amour hélas, le temps passe
Dans la Merco Benz.

[~C'est pas grande chose, mais j'aimerais une jolie Merco-Benz~ -KickAssAnna]

© 2008 (September 16) Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

I admire Tim Lincecum

I very much admire Tim Lincecum.

He sure has The Right Stuff!

© 2008 (August 24) Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

Sole operator, soul proprietor - The School of Instant Pain

~As of July 29, 2008, I declare myself a complete and total Sole Operator! Though I live among you, I function as a semi-closed-system entity, while respecting society's rules, as much as possible.~

~Who could/would ever care for my concerns as much as I do? No one, no one, no one - it is obvious.~

~Then again, I Also recognize that each person bears complete responsibility for their own happiness and survival.~

~ Half a week ago, I did 30 minutes of underwater survival training, with myself only - kids nearby. I hope for an edge: that when near-certain death seems only seconds away, I might be able to wring a few more seconds out of my life by doing This. Or That. As one who doesn't spend much time around water these days, but who has been a competent swimmer until now, I thought about the mechanics of air- and water-flow through a hollow tube, and I think I figured out one useful thing I could do when my airway is filling with water and I'm starting to choke - if I have the presence of mind at the time.~

~I am glad I had some training crunching numbers on modeled laminar flow rates of Kilauean volcanism. It was a good student project, because Hawaiian volcanism seems to be nearly as "laminar" as mid-ocean ridge volcanism. That said, my possible drowning should be riddled with a turbulent element, and I've got to try to keep the fluid flow somewhat laminar, so I can eject the water for a few more seconds in the manner I've practiced -?!~

~I took my practice bout pretty far, but I'm fine - I didn't drown.~


"The School of Instant Pain" by Triumvirat, off their Spartacus album.

I'll be your guide, so join me and fight - to break down the walls that keep us in this misery. I'll be your friend, believe in the end, we built up a new and better land.

I've been trained to kill a man, with a sword, a spear, or with my hand. As nature built me big and strong - the gladiator's song.

We're kept like animals in a cage - they pay for it to see the rage. Their kicks have become stale and dry; they get excited when we die.

Our life, it is not meant to last - the arms so strong, the eyes so fast. We're putting on a special show and selling out the big front row.

There is no chance of getting free; it's good-bye for eternity, and death is near; it won't take long - the gladiator's song.

Get ready now, this is your next fight, Mensch - Don't think too much about yourself. Last night you told me that you can't go on - You have no choice, you go to hell.

You said, the moments. you enjoyed your life; they seemed to fade away so fast. And when you felt that you had found a friend, you knew for sure it wouldn't last.

I know these people in the audience, they want the show to be on time. Don't hesitate; I ring my special bell, and you know that's my starting sign.

So draw your knife, go out and take your chance, and show these folks your bravery. And if you manage to come back alive: Tomorrow's Big fight is at three!

© 1975 Triumvirat All Rights Reserved.
© 2008 (July 30) Ribonuff. All Rights Reserved.

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending July 25, 2008

Title: FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending July 25, 2008
Link: http://www.fbi.gov
Key words: Federal Bureau of Investigation

1. Baltimore: School Superintendent Found Guilty. Former Prince George’s County Public Schools Superintendent Andre Hornsby was found guilty of abusing his power for private financial gain.
2. Columbia: Mayor Indicted for Public Corruption. Union Mayor E. Bruce Morgan and Union Building and Zoning Director Jeffery Lawson were indicted for conspiring to extort bribes from contractors seeking business with the city.
3. Philadelphia: Television Anchor Charged. Lawrence Mendte, former employee of KYW-TV, was charged with illegally accessing a protected computer of a former colleague. ~it's polite to Ask first. If they say no, then screw them. Don't just screw first. It's a kindness to give the other person a hint of your character for a reality check of what the other person is up again.!
4. Boston: Eleven Gang Members and Associates Indicted. An extensive, coordinated investigation involving federal, state and local law enforcement resulted in the arrest of eleven violent gang members.
5. Miami: Operation Birdcage Leads to Indictment of Five Correctional Guards. As a result of Operation Birdcage, five State of Florida Correctional Officers were indicted for conspiring to smuggle drugs into the prison. ~Isn't it easier to just sell on the street? How lucrative could this be? (Favors for favors, perhaps.)~
6. Seattle: Female Member of "The Family" Sentenced. Jennifer L. Kolar, a member of a domestic terrorist group, was sentenced for her connection with the arson at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture. ~IMO, this was dumb, and a crime waiting to be prosecuted.~
7. Portland: Russian National Charged with Fraud. Amiran Aliyevich Abukov was charged with wire fraud, health care fraud and identity theft in a scheme to defraud Medicare.
8. New Haven: Jordanian Husband and Wife Sentenced. Fares Khraisat and his wife, Jumana Qutishat, were sentenced for immigration fraud and other charges. ~I know a person who is doing this, and I have tried to turn them into the FBI and other citizen-protective agencies, but no one seems to care. No one gets back to me, but neither do I want to go to the expense of hiring an A Priori lawyer. I'd rather she just drop dead of natural causes with the money still in her hot fist. I will $pry it out$ before Rigor sets in.~
9. Washington Field Office: Digital Currency Business Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering. E-Gold Ltd, an internet-based digital currency business, and its principle directors and owners pled guilty to criminal charges relating to an illegal money transmitting business.
10. Indianapolis: Swim Coach Pleads Guilty to Child Porn. Brian D. Hindson, former head coach of Kokomo High School swim team, pled guilty to secretly videotaping female teenage swimmers undressing in their locker rooms. ~How dumb can a person be? Geez. You shoulda just paid a little more attention to that aging spouse at home; she would have titillated you for the price of a smile and a kind word. Oh, that's not enough?! Well, I hope the guys in prison are to your liking.~

FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Federal Government, U.S. Department of Justice.

© 2008 (July 27) Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

The bodily death of Randy Pausch

Title: The bodily death of Randy Pausch
Link: http://www.google.com
Key words: crying, death, dream, father, Randy Pausch, Ribonuff, sex

Recommendations on crying, by Ribonuff, learned before, during and after the passing of Randy Pausch - and of Ribo's father a bit before then.

Try not to cry within a couple hours of bed time. After being horizontal since right after that (yes, that is a Germanism poking through) for 8 hours, your eyes will look bloodshot and puffy for at least half of the next day, until the lymph system has done its job removing edamatous accumulations. The lymph system can best do this with the bulk of the body in a vertical position; it's a gravity-aided process [Note to self: tell the people in space to try to cry not too close to the onset of their sleep cycle, today. They won't have had gravity to help them appear quasi-normal by the next interplanetary (!) video event].

Do you Want to look bad all the next day? I imagine not. One day is enuff - at a time, anyway.

I like to get my crying done by mid-afternoon, if possible. It's okay with me if I look bad for the rest of that day; I am typically in mourning for something or other, and may want to wear my mourning like a badge that day.

So, it was early today that I started crying for the repose of the soul of Randy Pausch, and for eventual comfort, healing and integration for the wide family he leaves behind.

Best wishes to Randy Pausch in heaven - whether or not he wants to be there, tee hee - Ribonuff

P.S. Randy Pausch and I overlapped at university by one year. Regretfully, I did not seek out the best and the brightest as soon as I arrived on campus, so I can't claim actually having known him. I only know of his good and loving and intelligent works.

© 2008 (July 25) Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

Ribonuff noticed the passing of Howard L. Bachrach, a chief Plum Island guy

Title: Ribonuff noticed the passing of Howard L. Bachrach, a chief Plum Island guy

Link: http://www.latimes.com

Key words: Bachrach, chief scientist, foot-and-mouth disease, Genentech, genetic engineering, Plum Island, Salk, Schwerdt, U.S. Department of Agriculture, vaccine, virologist

By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, July 17, 2008

"Howard L. Bachrach, the virologist who purified the polio and foot-and-mouth disease viruses and was the first to use genetic engineering to produce a vaccine, died June 26 in Atlantis, Fla. He was 88 and had been suffering from heart disease, according to his daughter, Eve."

"His work on purification of the polio virus made possible the development of the vaccine against the disease by Dr. Jonas Salk, according to virologist George Vande Woude, director of the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich. Isolation of the foot-and-mouth virus could have also led to a whole-virus vaccine, Vande Woude said, but the federal government chose not to pursue it at the time."

"The U.S. had suffered several devastating outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease early in the 20th century, the last one in 1929, before the virus was effectively eradicated here."

"After World War II, however, the disease reappeared in Mexico and was spreading rapidly."

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture began a crash program to protect the U.S. livestock industry against its reappearance."

"One of its actions was to send Bachrach, newly graduated with a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota, to Europe to spend a year in the agency's European Commission on Foot-and-Mouth Disease laboratories."

"Working there, in 1950, he isolated and purified the virus that causes the disease."

"Returning to the states that year, he accepted an appointment at the University of California's Virus Laboratory in Berkeley, where he worked with Nobel Laureate Wendell Meredith Stanley."

"At that time, researchers were trying to isolate the polio virus, which was responsible for widespread outbreaks of the debilitating disease. The polio virus is a picornavirus, like the foot-and-mouth disease virus, and Bachrach was able to apply the knowledge he had gained to the new problem."

"Until then, the purest sample of polio available was only 1% virus and 99% "gunk" from the cells used to grow it."

"Bachrach and virologist Carleton E. Schwerdt were able to grow the Type II, or Lansing, strain of the virus in the nerve tissues of rats and got the concentration up to about 10%."

"They isolated two types of particles, one about a millionth-of-an-inch wide and a second less than half that size. Injecting the particles into rats, they demonstrated that the larger particles were the virus."

"Bachrach used the electron microscope at Berkeley to take the first pictures of the virus."

"The purification procedures developed by Bachrach and Schwerdt were used to produce large mounts of virus for study and to produce vaccines that were free of side effects caused by contaminants."

"In 1953, Bachrach was offered an appointment to USDA's Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center in Greenport, N.Y., where he spent the rest of his career."

"One of his key discoveries there was that proteins from the surface of the foot-and-mouth disease virus, known as capsids, could produce an immune response in humans and animals even though the capsids are not infectious and do not produce disease."

"Working with researchers from Genentech Corp., he was able to use genetic engineering techniques to incorporate the capsid proteins into carrier molecules, producing the first effective vaccine made with genetic engineering techniques."

"For that work and other research, he was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1983."

"Bachrach was born May 21, 1920, in Faribault, Minn. After earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1942 from Minnesota, he joined the war effort by performing research on chemical explosives and, later, ways of preventing bread from going stale."

"After the war, he returned to the university and studied the virus that causes cholera in hogs, a disease that cost the swine industry millions of dollars each year. He demonstrated that the disease is caused not only by the virus but also by a protein that it produces."

"In 1961, he was made chief scientist at Plum Island."

"He formally retired in 1981 but continued working there and as a consultant until health problems made it impossible for him to continue."

"Bachrach is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Shirley F. Lichterman; his daughter, Eve, of Washington, D.C.; a son, Harrison, of Tempe, Ariz.; and a grandson."

~This news story wouldn't have made quite the impact that it did on me, were it not for the mental framework already in place, thanks to the repeated science writings of Thomas Maugh, my time at Brown University molecular biology graduate school, and thanks to having recently (in a geologic sense) digested and been horrified from what I learned in the book 'Lab 257' by Michael Christopher Carroll. I am grateful for the triumvirate of knowledge gained. Ribonuff, July 18, 2008.~

thomas.maugh@latimes.com
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
© 2008 (July 18) Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon, by Mellencamp the great

Title: Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon, by Mellencamp the great

Link: http://music.yahoo.com

Key words:

John Mellencamp "Jerry" lyrics, from the Mr. Happy Go Lucky CD

Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon
He's right outside my window
He acts like a madman from time to time
I hope he brings it to a crescendo soon
Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon
Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon

Jerry rides his skateboard down the street
He's 37 years old with 6 children
He sees the world through a 10 year old boy's eyes
He doesn't even notice it's raining outside

Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon
Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon

But sometimes he cries;
he wants me to console him
- but I know that he's lying
about everything he told me

Man in the moon
Man in the moon

Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon
Says he's prepared to suffer the consequences
What is his penalty for his immaturity?
Will he be cast into eternal darkness?

Jerry's yelling at the man in the moon (x8)
Man in the moon (x4)

© 2008 Gracenote
© 2008 Yahoo!


~Now there's a fine classic rock song, with some slight personal meaning for me. But I just like the sound of the music, too.~ Ribonuff, July 12, 2008.

© 20080712 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

Cherry pits that went through George Washington's sphincter may have been found, writes Ribonuff

Los Angeles Times Home > The Science Files

Remnants cannot tell a lie: George Washington's boyhood home found
Adrian Coakley / Associated Press/National Geographic

George Washington Foundation director of archaeology David Muraca, left, and GWF research fellow Philip Levy examine evidence of a fire that damaged the Washington family home in 1740.
There's no cherry tree stump, but context and a wealth of artifacts make archaeologists sure that they've excavated the site along the Rappahannock where the first president spent his formative years.
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, July 3, 2008.
After years of searching, archaeologists have identified and excavated the boyhood home of George Washington, site of such legendary -- if perhaps apocryphal -- events as chopping down the cherry tree and throwing a coin across the Rappahannock River. The find indicates that the Washington family lived in a spacious eight-room home -- a sign that the family was well-off for its day -- and provides new information about George's childhood, a period that has remained largely obscured in the mists of history.
New rendering of the house [Map]
"We all know that much of our character is formed in our early years, so to be able to have access to the very specific place and the material conditions of what life was like will help us sort out who this man Washington was," said Julia King, an anthropology professor at St. Mary's College of Maryland who was not involved in the excavation.
The house in Stafford County, Va., on a property now known as Ferry Farm, is on the banks of the Rappahannock across from Fredericksburg and is about 50 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.
Archaeologists uncovered the remains of two chimney bases, two stone-lined cellars and two root cellars, along with thousands of artifacts -- all of which convinced them they had found the Washington homestead. The size, characteristics and location of the structure were the deciding factors, the researchers said.
"This is it -- this is the site of the house where George Washington grew up," archaeologist David Muraca of the George Washington Foundation said at a news conference Wednesday.
"If George Washington did indeed chop down a cherry tree, as generations of Americans have believed, this is where it happened," added Philip Levy, a history professor at the University of South Florida and co-leader of the excavation.
Erased by time
George's father, Augustine, purchased the 600-acre parcel and moved his family there in 1738 so he could be closer to the Accokeek Creek iron furnace, which he managed. George inherited the farm at age 11 when his father died in 1743, and sold it after he moved to Mount Vernon.
Originally known as the Washington Farm, it became known as the Ferry Farm because of a ferry at the site that carried travelers across the Rappahannock.
During the Civil War, Union troops camped at the site, initially using the ruined farmhouse as their headquarters, then demolishing it for firewood. The land was also plowed in the 19th century, destroying many of the artifacts.
Over the years, development has encroached; there are now only about 113 acres preserved as a National Historic Landmark.
The team had initially identified five sites on the property as possibly being the Washington house. The first two they excavated proved to be an earlier farmhouse built on the property and a 19th century house. The third one proved to be the charm.
The house was 53 feet long and 37 feet wide. It apparently had eight rooms -- five on the first floor and three in the attic. The upper rooms, which most likely served as bedrooms, were unheated.
A kitchen and slave quarters were in detached buildings at the rear.
"This was a very elaborate house for this time and place," said architectural historian Mark Wenger of the architectural firm Mesick Cohen Wilson Baker. "You get this only at the very top echelon of Virginia society."
Many homes in the period, even among the more well-to-do, had only one or two rooms, he said.
Even Thomas Jefferson lived in a one-room home before moving into Monticello.
Clues to lifestyle
Excavation of the cellars yielded "bushels of plaster that came off the site," Wenger said. Most of it showed evidence of being applied to wooden lath that was nailed to walls and ceiling joists, indicating that the house was a wood-frame structure and not a brick one. Other remnants showed that it had wooden shingles on the roof.

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
©opyright 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved

Email to a friend

Hi friend, I'm midway through a big day. We attended our second kid's elementary school graduation ceremony, then my spouse took off for a bit-shortened day at work. I'm a little uncertain how our oldest kid will get home from school, since the younger kids and I are going to Raging Waters and she is not (she wants to be "fresh" for her graduation ceremony tonight - and she really, really loves being in the house alone, basking in the peace and quiet. I don't have to worry about the oldest kid getting into anything but it's just that I'm wondering if she'll be wandering downtown with her friends (which is basically okay, as it's a small downtown and there are parents all over and one of them would drive and "lurk"). I like for there to be few uncertainties, but I also want to give my kids the gift of some free time and some personal choices.

I woke up tired and a bit tired mentally, too, and am dragging a little bit through the day. But my mood is good and I'm smiling a lot, enjoying congratulating the other parents, and taking or making every opportunity to laugh. So it will be a good day, though a long one!

I always pray you have a nice day, too. I shoot tiny prayers on your behalf through the day, whatever pops into my head. "Lord, let work and family time go nicely for my friend today, and let there be few or no snafus", for example. So you are cared about by one more person.

Love, your friend Ribonuff

P.S. When I got home from the first graduation ceremony of today, a little while ago, I had to crank "An American in Paris" by George Gershwin and bang out this email to you! I'd be thrilled if you could listen to An American in Paris and also play it for your musical kid. It is a very fun and "big" piece. My middle school teacher played it for us and had us learn all about it, the story that was being told by the major passages, the mood the composer was setting up and the story evolution of the piece, and such. I still often think about that music teacher because although he was old and dour he really made music come alive for the good kids who would listen and not goof off in his class.

Random diary entry from March 2008

We are all well, except my spouse, who is back on the road to wellness.

Today it's our early dismissal day - after all last week of early dismissals due to teacher conferences - so I've got a lot of housework to get done in the morning slot.

At this moment I am typing along to the Monkees song "Sometime in the Morning". Check it out; it's sweet. The lyrics also charmed me as a love-struck preteen ;-) The lyrics still do it for me, I find.

I am hoping for iTunes song suggestions - perhaps when your schedule frees up. (Like, hopefully maybe by late summer! I can wait for the song picks.) But if I was given a recommendation, I might check out the 30 second clip - maybe look up the lyrics if they seemed promising - and possibly purchase the song.

I bought the "Best of the Monkees" album in February (after Davy Jones' "Your Personal Penguin" reminded me of a sweet little part of my former life) and I can say it gave me a lot of pleasures in the past month; it was worth its price to me. I'd be sitting in the car waiting for school pick-up and listening to it, while scanning the bibliography references of one of my Pandemic flu books.

What a feeling. It was like I was bathing in pure me - it was me time.

My spouse was dreadfully ill since arriving to parent conferences at the elementary school at midday Friday. Spouse kept up face during the conferences and even cracked some small smiles and laughs at appropriate moments, then collapsed in bed upon arriving home. Spouse is trying to go back to work today for the first time. He says he never in his life remembers having been this sick before. Gee!!! And he barely even coughed or complained of throat pain; he just laid in bed sweating and moaning and with the worst headaches in his life, and when he was feeling a little better with some more energy, he would grip his sides and curse and roll back and forth in a semi-fetal position. I was so sorry to see him goinig through all that. As a person who gets bad headaches and who anticipates having hot flashes in the not-geologically-distant future, I was so overwhelmed to see him in such misery.

And, I hope one of us doesn't get it next! Because, darn it, I'm enjoying my so-called freedom of running around the house picking up kid- and sick-detritus partly ignored while carrying close to our entire parental weekend work load, while sneaking in an email and listening to some music I enjoy. :-)

I am in a good and happy mood and I am Really hoping one of the rest of us doesn't get sick. But if we do, let us get over it before our Washington D.C. trip.

We are undergoing security checks and social security number clearances so we can take a tour of government buildings. We hope to be cleared for a State Department tour as one of the relatives works there.

I personally am looking forward to seeing the spy museum - it goes unsaid about the Air and Space museum. I will be there First; I haven't been there in a few years. But I hear the spy museum is really well done. I own a few spy cameras and I love to see examples of past technology. I also love to look at old Leica cameras like the one my dad had in the 1960s, incidentally.

Spring sports started for us, and the first real league game is this Friday March 21 2008. [Hi mom. See, I dated my writing properly! Are you pleased for me? Oh yeah, I forgot to write it's 102410 now.]

Check out the song "You Just May Be the One" by the Monkees. It's from after Monkees insisted on doing some of their own music and writing. The lyrics are sweet. Otherwise they totally rip off the Beatles, but that's okay by me; "The Monkees" tv show was a commercial Hollywood venture. What more healthy show to fixate on as a female prepubescent?

© 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved. Minden Jog Fenntartva.

RiboNuff's friend and daughter are moving away! Whah!

I found out today that one of my very few friends, Tina, is moving away very suddenly.
She accepts me for who I am, and appears to enjoy knowing me sometimes. How often can one claim that?
She is leaving her significant other and taking her eight year old back to their home state.
I will miss them very much.
(That written, I want to help drive them back to their home state. I have a few days coming up to me due to my "good behavior". So I just volunteered to do that.)
I hope to keep you posted. Wish Tina and Louise and the precocious dear miss good luck and good strength (bonne force).
© May 5, 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

The younger man dream, revisited

I had a version of the "younger man" dream again this morning. Good Lord, the things this dream reveal about me.

I was in university attending a molecular biology forum and party. I felt like a little bit of an imposter being there - though I had been invited by my thesis advisor - because I was not doing the type of research being discussed there. After a while I wandered off for a breather: food and drink was being given out while the discussions were progressing and I didn't feel I had a right to them.

I wandered into a class on lyric writing and music composition. Students were allowed to walk around and to interect - to get feedback on their particular musical piece and lyrics, for example - so I didn't look out of place. A former boyfriend was there, doing well as usual, even though music wasn't his known forte. I made it a point to steer clear of him because I felt he routinely outshined me, and I had nothing to contribute to this class in progress.

I saw a somewhat handsome, engaging young man who looked slightly dejected. I looked over his shoulder to glance at his notes: What exactly was the nature of his problem? Instead of being about music, the notes were regarding attempts he had made to interact with various girls who appealed to him. "Asked her about the assignment and if she wanted to discuss it over coffee, but she said no" - type thing. My heart went out to him. Another socially maladjusted person ( - like me?!). I felt somewhat accomplished and big-hearted at that particular moment, so I asked him, "Can I give you a hug?". He instantly came alive, but not without a look of extreme shock and surprise first. A female was addressing him first!

I hugged him, he liked it, and he became my puppy dog. I didn't mind, but was wondering if the ex-boyfriend would think I was hanging out with a loser - I wasn't sure. (I remember the odd looks that ex would give me when I showed up somewhere with someone new.) I walked the young guy to parts of campus that I didn't think the ex frequented. He seemed really stuck on me, like all of a sudden he was putting all his eggs in my basket. (I was a little concerned, because my basket was wobbly and threadbare.) I said, "You do realize that even though we are alike in several ways - like being at university while still technically younger than traditional age students, that I am older than you? I'm in ninth grade." He said it was not that big a deal, and that he was in eighth, not seventh. Somehow we both seemed relieved and the matter was dropped. (Okay, I don't understand how it was that I had an advanced degree in biology in the dream already. Hmm.)

We had a nice time walking around the campus, and I pointed out some notable areas he might not have discovered yet, like the map collection on the eighth floor of the Sciences library. The more experienced older woman showing the younger guy some of the ropes. He seemed glad to be introduced to everything I showed him, and the moods were good - friendly, cheerful, lighthearted, hopeful.

I eventually felt brave enough to ask if he wanted to spend the night in my room with me. I wanted the good feelings to continue. He about dropped dead from heart failure - the horrified scared look on his face was priceless - so I thought I should immediately soften my statement. I said, "Uh, not for ... we'd just be near each other for the comforting presence of another human being is all", and he said, "Oh, yeah, yeah, I know!" and seemed relieved. Then he said "First I have to stop by my room, though. You can come along if you want".

When we got to his room, things started to disintegrate. There was a sink there that I wanted to wash my hands at. He saw my intention and said, "Make sure you leave the sink completely tidy. That's the way we like it." I asked, "We?", and he said, "Yeah, me and my mom". Then he told me to mind where I put my stuff down so it wouldn't become either wet or get into his way.

I thought, uh oh!!! For one, every time someone reminds me about something I'm sure to do anyway, I quietly seethe inside. I am a vigilant and careful person on my own, after all, and I don't take kindly to being reminded to do things I always do anyway. I am particularly fastidious with bathroom etiquette - I always leave the bathroom cleaner than I found it. And I almost never leave possessions behind, so for example, I hate to be told not to forget my purse or sweater somewhere. And another thing, who ruled his life, he or his mother? And even if his mother didn't rule his life, I didn't need to take on a fastidious, meticulous person. I am fastidious in my own ways but I don't need the added burden of living by another prissy, overdemanding person's rules. It's enough of a burden to live inside my own self.

I asked, "Where is your mom, anyway?" He said, "Well, I don't think she's here, but she could be. She kind of skulks. So be on your guard."

Immediately I thought, how do I get myself out of this situation? He intends to shower, right? I'll ditch him while he's showering. Good thing he doesn't know exactly where my room is. He might be able to look it up in the directory - did he get my last name? - but by the time he finds out, I'll be mentally and physically prepared. I don't need a little boy. Let his mother comfort her boy. I hope I don't run into the mother as I flee this place!

My take-home message from this dream is that getting involved with a youngster might be more of a drag than it gives you in pleasure! And: eventually the fun ends, and the unfortunate personality traits of a given person make themselves known so as to make your time together a lot less fun, so that you want to flee.

© April 30, 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

In Europe one becomes desensitized

I have noticed such images many times before, but today one may also click on A Swiss news-site showing more than one typically sees in the USA - of human private parts.

Once on an airplane to Madrid, while quite impressionable yet, I noticed a businessman taking in the daily numbers while completely ignoring the giant "live nude" (as opposed to dead nude?!) spread in his newspaper. I was surprised but lost my surprise after observing him for 5 minutes: he couldn't care less, it seemed. He was completely bland and unmoved by the image. It was apparently commonplace or otherwise unnoteworthy.

Perhaps that is the way things should be. Americans can be so prissy about so many simple matters! Why should it matter whether one chooses to show "whatever", or not? One cannot force modesty on an entire people, or they will revolt, or dream of a freer life.

I choose not to display myself to the world at large. I wear baggy clothes every day, both for comfort and modesty. It also helps my exercise routine to keep "everything" short and largely unadorned. But if I wanted to adorn myself, I'd be glad if I felt free to do so. I more or less do feel free in my personal choices regarding my body.

Would I wear the veil, for example? (Regarding the book "Reading Lolita in Tehran", by Azar Nafisi). For religious or personal modesty - perhaps. But if it were forced upon me, and I had no choice in the matter, I would be much more likely to not want to wear it, and to take every other small personal liberty possible that I could, too!

Night shift work may lead to cancer

I read an interesting sleep research article today in the Los Angeles Times about how night shift work, and sleep deprivation in general, may adversely affect people.
There seem to be many such articles out these days. It's great that we can become more informed about the effects of tinkering with our natural sleep cycles. Long live scientific research and the peer review process in acquiring this new knowledge!
The article only hinted towards the psychological repercussions of sleep deviations, by mentioning the melatonin and cortisol systems, and the gastrointestinal effects (queasy stomach, nausea) through the purposeful overriding of body signals. I'm sure you could easily learn about these other consequences in wikipedia!
© March 24, 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

Killer bone marrow hope for leukemia treatment

Check out this BBC article detailing possible new hope in battling a common type of leukemia.
Let's hope continued research and testing bears out that these natural killer cells can/will be effective in battling this type of leukemia! :-)
© March 23, 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved. Happy Easter! And may those affected get another chance at healthy life.

Howard Jones lyrics What is Love?

I love you whether or not you love me
I love you even if you think that I don't.
Sometimes I find you doubt my love
for you but I don't mind.
Why should I mind? Why should I mind?
What is love anyway?
Does anybody love anybody anyway?
What is love anyway?
Does anybody love anybody anyway?
Can anybody love anyone so much
that they will never fear

Never worry
never be sad?
The answer is they cannot love this much
nobody can.
This is why I don't mind you doubting.

What is love anyway? . . .
And maybe love is letting people be
just what they want to be
The door always must be left unlocked.
To love when circumstance may
lead someone away from you
And not to spend the time just doubting.
What is love anyway? . . .
What is love anyway? . . .
What is love anyway? . . .


Answer from Ribonuff:Yes, some people are loved.
© March 14, 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

When I first started doing that thing I do, and why and where

I realized or remembered, while looking at living Sequoia bark, when I started retreating into small, perfect-seeming worlds.
When my mother was trying to leave my father, she would take me to motels or on day trips sometimes.
We went to Squantz pond in the Danbury, Connecticut area one time - more than one time.
We would have a determinedly pleasant picnic lunch (but a quiet one) at lakeside. Then she'd stay on the picnic blanket and read afterwards, while I arranged pebbles and twigs by the lake.
While mostly pleasant and often amusing, these trips and motel stays perturbed me, because they deviated from my regular schedule, and so did the feeling or mood.
The acting was different. Subtly, I thought. Our behavior seemed too nice. There were good snacks and the occasional fast food meal, too.
Why was mom being so pleasant and upbeat? At home she usually seemed crabby and short-tempered, always rushing me.
(Why was I being ginger and tentative back?)
[Hi Ginger, I love you. Hi Scott.]
I mentally escaped into the small world of grasses and rocks and twigs I was manipulating. I let that lilliputian creation become all-absorbing. For up to one hour, possibly, it was at the forefront of my mind, so it became "large" to me.
I liked thinking about the imaginary twig and pebble savannah and cliff dwellers going about their daily pretend chores under my direction and choreography. They were creatures for My amusement (here I remember also Arnie's World of Westport Connecticut, though my mother wouldn't let me go there).
I didn't have to try to make sense of a larger world when I was visiting my tiny pretend microcosm.
© February 28, 2008 90hazelnut All Rights Reserved.

Part of my 1-19-2008 diary entry, writes Ribonuff

I took an hour-long nap with K3 (kid three) this afternoon; it was blissful. K3 was behind on sleep due to American Idol having started this week. (I was tired from the new exercise schedule.) I think we might have to change how we watch that show. K1 wants to watch it when it's on so as to be "in the know" the next day at school. But it's too much for a real youngun.
I got into the trees Saturday afternoon again and the younger two helped me gather up branches, which was pleasant and useful. We had fun out there.
K2 led the basketball team to victory today with many, many baskets. They hadn't won the last two games so that was probably good for morale.
K1's math contest went from 10 to 6:30! Too long. K1 didn't win an award. We came and went all day. K1 didn't want us there because of the perceived pressure. We watched the awards; they gave out a lot of trophies, and it took a real long while before there was a white face on the stage. Virtually all the winners were of just one ethnic group. I told the spouse it would be good if there was an award for blonds; the spouse laughed. I didn't think the spouse would laugh over that, actually. Even K1 said something like, "Not to be prejudiced or anything, but I really felt like a minority in there". K1 was in a really demanding mood after the long day -and really hungry too, even though lunch had been provided. K1 and I and the other two watched the second half of the movie "Sisterhood of the traveling pants" and then K1 was calm and nice again; I enjoyed watching that with K1, and it reminded me of summer 2005 when I took K1 to the theater to see it - all the thoughts and feelings in my head back then, like about my dad's health. We rarely go to the theater.
The math contest won't be during K1's February break after all - I'm glad - I think K1 might be turned off on math contests after today (?). Many of the other students really trained seriously for it; K1 and classmates didn't. I don't want K1 necessarily to train for math contests unless K1 really has the motivation to do it for self. There's more to life than geek tricks - writes the geek.
I was reading a book last night called "Toxic Parents" and I cried over it - until 2 a.m.! I was so moved by what I read that I asked God to send me or guide me to some comfort, so I can get over some of my hurts and move on to be a better parent. Then I had a really great, really comforting dream this morning about feeling really loved and cared for (by some unknown person or entity). In the dream I felt that person (?) was always with me, wanting the best for me, even if sometimes in spirit only. It was so nice. When I woke up I said to myself, I'm going to try to slip back into that dream; I don't want to let it go yet - and I did manage that! It was so lovely. It was a great gift to get from Upstairs and I was so grateful ... Next I had to tell myself: This sounds like a line from a Smiths song - "Last night I dreamt ... that somebody loved me ..." and I smiled. I told myself not to dwell on that and instead somehow that song "I came to wish you an unhappy birthday" got stuck in my head for hours and I had fun singing it to myself. :-)
© January 19, 2008 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

When my architecture spark first became lit

I remember when I was 10 years old and in fifth grade, I had the opportunity to view and review the plans to a house my parents were buying/had bought.
I think that might have been the first time I saw architectural plans.
Suddenly a light in my head clicked on, as I quickly realized that these 2D drawings represented 3D entities, and I could make myself visualize them!
My new hobby became: to plan out our house, houses I liked, houses we used to live in, hypothetical houses with and without gardens, houses for animals. I planned and built the FRC the next summer (Fish Recreation Center) in the mud of Ordovician metamorphic lakeshore. I loved how the flat metamorphics held the mud back from the fish chambers, so that perfectly clear water could be achieved after a while, and maintained. I thought that someday a horizontal metamorphic or igneous element in my house would make me feel good.
I have achieved the horizontal (but wavy) rock element! ;-)

Monkees You just may be the one lyrics

Monkees You just may be the one lyrics
[as heard by Ribonuff]
All men must have someone, have someone
Who would never take advantage
Of the love bright as the sun.
Someone to understand them,
And you just may be the one.
All men must have someone, have someone
Who would never take for granted
All the pleasures and the fun.
Someone to stand beside them
And you just may be the one.
I saw when you walked by
The lovelight in your eye
And I knew I must try
To win you more than as a friend,
I'm starting near the end,
And here I go again.
All men must have someone, have someone
Who would never take advantage
Of a love bright as the sun.
Someone to stand beside them
And you just may be the one.
Someone to understand them,
And you just may be the one.
© 1966 or so The Monkees All Rights Reserved.
Today's new content ©reated by Ribonuff on February 9, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

A step closer to creating life out of chemical soup

Read about mycoplasma genitalium synthesis by man.
This is pretty interesting.
©reated by Ribonuff on January 27, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

United States approves animal clones as food

This is an interesting development.
Why shouldn't it be safe to eat a cloned animal? Self=self; if the original animal is free of disease, then its clone ought to be, too.
However, I don't see how it could be economical to create cloned animals for consumption, thus it is not likely to happen on a large scale.
©reated by Ribonuff on January 16, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Studies link autism to two genetic defects

I read this interesting account in the Los Angeles Times about genetic defects proposed to be responsible for autism. This account was written up by By Thomas H. Maugh II, L.A. Times staff writer.

"Researchers this week identified two separate genetic defects linked to autism, one that directly causes the disorder in about 1% of all cases and a second that may play a role in a much larger percentage of patients by increasing their susceptibility to environmental or other genetic influences."

Yes, I figured that at least Sometimes, environmental triggers had to play a role in the development of autism, seeing as so many different types of stressors may lead to the same brain outcome: autism.

"The findings offer hope that it may be possible to identify vulnerable children early in life and begin treatment to mitigate the effects of the disabling disorder, which is marked by poor language ability and strong social isolation. Autism now affects one in every 150 U.S. children."

That would be incredibly awesome.

"In the first study, headed by geneticist Mark J. Daly of Massachusetts General Hospital, a multi-center team called the Autism Consortium reported Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine that deletions or duplications of a specific small segment of chromosome 16 increases the risk of autism one-hundredfold."

Wow. That sounds like it means that it could happen somewhat commonly, as small genetic errors are common and do not always get fixed.

"The genetic defect was found in children with autism but not in their parents, indicating that it was a spontaneous mutation that occurred sometime after fertilization. The location, called 16p11.2, is what is known as a genetic "hot spot," meaning it is unusually susceptible to such mutations."

The sometime after fertilization being hopeful news to those parents who get "blamed" by critics in having done something wrong, lifestyle-wise or emotionally!

"The deletions or repetitions were found in 24 of 2,252 people in families with at least one autistic member but in only two out of 18,834 people without the disorder."

It sounds like that means there is some genetic predispositioning in the parents. But that the "hot spot" usually is left intact or repaired in most offspring?

"The team is now trying to identify the specific gene involved."
"The second defect was originally identified in 2006 in four Amish children. Three groups of researchers independently reported today in the American Journal of Human Genetics that they had identified the same defect in much larger groups of subjects."
"The gene they found is called contactin-associated protein-like 2,or CNTNAP2, which produces a protein that allows brain cells to communicate with one another."
" 'This gene not only may predispose children to autism,' said Dr. Daniel Geschwind of UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, who is one of the researchers involved, 'it may also influence the development of brain structures involved in language, providing a tangible link between genes, the brain and behavior.'"

Researchers know an increasing amount about brain cell communication - thank goodness. It is definitely key, writes this layperson. I like to read about neuroscience in a format I can understand, so I've read a tiny bit on neuronal activities. I don't really understand the electrical part that well, but I pretty much can wrap my mind around the chemical part.

"Although the mutated form could be inherited from either parent, children were about 20% more likely to develop autism if they inherited the gene from their mother."

Oh, oh, moms: you're not off the hook yet, if you have a mean-spirited, low-minded mother-in-law. Boo.

" 'We found a factor that is probably present in every autistic kid,' said geneticist Aravinda Chakravarti of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who led one of the studies. 'But while it may be necessary, it is not sufficient by itself to cause the disease.' "

Paraphrase: we have an idea as to the magnitude of the problem of studying autism, and we might have gotten a tiny key to unlock part of its solution.

©reated by Ribonuff on January 11, 2008 All Rights Reserved.

Chrysanthemum vignette

I am having unhappy thoughts about my mother and I haven't been sleeping well. I alternate between thinking I should try to reconcile with that poor old lady (I've been out of contact for nearly a year and a half after she purposely injured my child slightly) and be the "bigger" person - the mensch - and thinking that to spend more time captive to her way of viewing the world could well be fatal to me - or at least to any definition of "self" away from her and partial peace that I've managed to achieve.

Today I am thinking of my own death but I will not let it happen today if I can help it. I will be brave, even in the face of being totally alone. I know this sounds self-pitying, but in reality, being alone is my strength. I can only disappoint myself in predictable ways that I've learned to live with.

In the fall of the year I turned 12, it was her birthday. I wanted to get her a present. I didn't get an allowance or have easy opportunity to make money, and we lived 7 miles out of town. It would be a sacrifice to somehow plan and execute the giving of a present for her.

Somehow I possessed $5 - I forget how. I decided my only possibility was to walk to a nursery approximately a half-mile from our house and buy her a living plant. I did walk by there on the way home from my school bus stop, but on the afternoon I had the money in hand, they were closed. (Why?!)

There was a lovely display of chrysanthemums out front, with prices displayed. I really thought the proper thing was to wait for the business to be open, to go inside with my selected plant, and to pay properly. I figured my mother must like mums since we often had some near our front door during autumns. Mums maybe weren't her favorite, but they were nice fall flowers, I figured. Who could really take issue with the gift of living flowers, I wondered? I had to put a lot of thought into her gifts because she was usually quite critical of the family's gifts to her. I wished I had a mom who treasured a child's creations and only wanted that. This woman expected Tiffany's but got less. When she did get Tiffany's, she was unhappy with it, though, and let it be shown/known. This fall I did not have my father to help me with funds and transportation, because he was away on a business trip.

Some of the mums on display had been dyed to unnaturally bright colors. I knew she would not like those, would find their garish colors vulgar and offensive. So after battling with my conscience, I selected a yellow one, walked around the whole perimeter of the nursery property again, looking for someone to pay properly, but ended up leaving the money pinned under a rock central to the mum display area. I felt quite guilty and scared to do that, and I felt bad, but I thought, what choice did I have?

I managed to secret the mum home, and later, created a pretty bow and card to go with it. I also created a booklet of I.O.U. things I promised to gladly do for her, as I sometimes saw kids do on the sitcoms or read about in books. Such happiness and humor was portrayed when the kids gave their moms their coupon books, and the moms smiled and hugged them, and said, aww, that's sweet, honey. I thought the coupon book was a cute idea ("for someone else") but didn't know if it would go over with my mom, so I made the jobs I promised to do rather large, so she would know I seriously wanted to do something momentous for her.

When I gave the gifts to her, it was evening. She was in a pisser of a mood, as she so often was. I hoped the gifts would soften her and bring a little smile to her face, at least. Maybe she was upset my father was away on a business trip - not that she would have been pleasant even if he had been home.

I gave her the mums first. She asked where I got them from, in a somewhat menacing voice. (She knew I had no opportunity for transportation, and I was not allowed to walk into town.) Next she looked at the hand-lettered and -colored coupon book. She was clearly more unhappy now. She went back to the yellow mums. We were standing in the entryway. She said, "These are Shit!", and then dramatically opened the front door and tossed them out onto the flagstone, pot breaking, dirt scattering. "And as for the coupons: you should be doing all these things every day, without my asking you!" (Daily wash the wall of glass second story windows on a ladder?!) I went out into the night, to the cool of the flagstone on this late October night. I had some tears streaminig down my face, but would not, Would Not, let her see me crying or let her hear me make a noise. I started to brush together the dirt and the flowers; I felt bad that the flowers had been affronted and treated with a lack of respect. I wanted them to continue to live.

Then I suddenly stopped tidying. Let her find the mess of her creation - just like she sometimes now left some of my father's alcoholic debris for him to find and regret and have to deal with himself. I gathered my resolve and went back inside.

I was a lonely 12 year old with an incredibly annoying flipping digit clock (yes, I know this revelation dates me) next to my bedside that kept me awake at nights - way into the small hours - as my only companion.

Little was I to know that in just over 8 weeks, I'd be saving her life - scooping at least 50 partially decomposed valiums out of her mouth, clearing her airway, and restarting her breathing. Sometimes since that episode, I think it might have been easier if I had lost her then. After all, my brothers had already found her like that and abandoned her - for me to find after coming home from our church youth group New Year's party with a parent from the youth group.

That winter, I started writing down a lot of times in a notebook, compulsively and excessively. My mother and one brother used to snatch those notebooks from me and cruelly laugh and belittle me. Years later, she asked, "But Why did you write down random times compulsively? We never could understand that."

I answered, "The times were not random. I was simply noting down times I knew you to be alive, and could stop worrying about you for at least that minute." To her credit, one time in my twenties she hugged me and said she was sorry I lived through that anxiety, but other times, it was back to the earlier ridicules, often with that brother that shared some of her notable personality traits.

Anyway, during that school year, I started walking to school (5 miles away) and into town (7 miles). Sometimes during snowstorms. I'd even sometimes create little shelters against rock outcrops with leaves and branches. I just Had to get out of the house, away from the B-goddess, away from the notebooks. They'd be there when cold drove me back - how I hated my weakness of having no choice but to go back. In the next years I got myself onto the track team and onto the ski team through sheer willpower, not because of any natural athleticism. It was my found escape of my teenagerhood.

© 2007 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

It made my day to read of this advancement against sickle cell disease

"By reprogramming skin cells in the lab to become stem cells, the US team [sic] were able to treat mice with a human type of sickle cell anaemia, Science reports."

© December 10, 2007 Ribonuff All Rights Reserved.

Anything to get kids reading - I'm happy for Captain Underpants!

I find humor a great conjoiner of people and experiences.
I'm okay with it being potty humor, if it's toward a greater end. Mastering the skill of reading qualifies!
I am going to wander into my kid's room and sit a while with Captain Underpants, while I should be tidying ...
©reated by Ribonuff on December 5, 2007.

Feo en Argentina

Here is a funny piece on a guy calling for a tax on beauty in Argentina.
I enjoyed it, and smiled while reading it.
©reated by Ribonuff on December 4, 2007.

Four men arrested in murder of Sean Taylor

Mr. Sean Taylor and family and friends and colleagues:

I am so sorry for your loss of life. I wish this hadn't happened. This needn't have happened. I will pray for the repose of your soul.

Sometimes it seems as if most members of the human race are motivated by greed, at least some of the time.

I am glad the perps were caught.

©reated by Ribonuff on December 1, 2007.

Predictions on human relationships with robots in 2050

I enjoyed this L.A. Tiimes article and learned a lot - mostly about human behavior and desires.

What is love, anyway? It can be incredibly complicated to try to describe what love is.

I do love my cat in the way the article describes - nothing untoward! That beast has the run of the property and eats and sleeps better than I do. Also, I clean up its wastes and other detritus - my human love objects through time have not done that for me. ;-)

I don't know if I could "love" a robot, knowing it has been programmed to go through a certain set of actions. Then again, randomness can be programmed in. So maybe dealing with a robot could be quite similar to dealing with a human, with their repeating set of behaviors and apparent known repeating tricks for success.

When I am a very old lady I would like to have a robot sit with me and remind me what great pets I had, perhaps reading snippets from my diaries and prompting me with related questions.

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 27, 2007.

For oldsters who remember Jonestown with horror

I am old enough to remember the horror I felt when I heard about the events in Rymur (Jonestown), instigated by the charismatic Jim Jones.
I remember thinking, I think I cannot be brainwashed, but I probably can be. Others know techniques that I've never yet heard about.
This is one of my early memories after which I made it a point to start distancing myself from other people.
I also started making it a point to learn some special techniques for survival - I read "My Side of the Mountain" in seventh grade, and this book really got me thinking that I have to be able to quickly be able to acquire the knowledge and to prepare myself for any situation.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 20, 2007.

This sounds like something Ribo might attempt

Want to read weird things? Click on News of the WeirdTM, (c) 1999-2001, Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18, 2007
LEAD STORY
"Update: The man noted in News of the Weird in 1996 for keeping an almost unbelievably detailed personal diary died in October at age 89. For 25 years, Rev. Robert Shields of Dayton, Wash., had chronicled his life in five-minute segments of banalities, leaving 37 million words on paper filling 91 boxes. His self-described "uninhibited," "spontaneous" work was astonishing in its mundaneness. Examples: Aug. 13, 1995, 8:40 a.m. "I filled the humidifying basin mounted over the Futura baseboard heater." 8:45 a.m.: I shaved twice with the Gillette Sensor blade (and) shaved my neck behind both ears, and crossways of my cheeks, too." July 25, 1993, 7 a.m.: "I cleaned out the tub and scraped my feet with my fingernails to remove layers of dead skin." 7:05 a.m.: "Passed a large, firm stool, and a pint of urine. Used 5 sheets of paper." [The Times (London), 10-30-07]"

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 19, 2007. Happy birthday Lobo, you good dog you!

Ribo speaks out on turkey drippings

I believe the accepted practice for some 30+ years now is to prepare the stuffing on the side because it's more hygienic. The thought was that raw meat juices continuously dripped onto stuffing inside the turkey, for hours, and interior temperatures never got hot enough to kill the germs nesting in this warm wet place in the interior.
Detractors would say the stuffing never got the same rich flavor without the meat juices. The experts consider it a safe compromise to put the stuffing in the turkey interior near the end of the turkey baking process, when most of the juices no longer drip. You miss out on much meat dripping flavor but you get some of it.
(My mother would no longer allow early-stuffed turkey for us after a point - I think in the early to mid 1970s. She makes it a priority to be well-read on hygiene issues.)
I am sorry your dad had the similar end to my father's, that must have looked sad to others - choosing not nourishing himself because there was no point or hope for a meaningful life.
My dad kept asking for mercy killing in the end - he even asked my brothers to bring in a gun into his hospital room (yeah, right, dad, they said! We would never, could never!) in his last month - his best chance was a morphine drip when things looked terminal upon his doctor's discernment. That's the choice he ended up going with; that's why he went into an oncology unit his last week - probably so his doctor could administer a morphine drip more "easily".
A procedure in his near future that my father would have had to consent to, sooner rather than later, was the removal of his legs due to the onsetting of gangrene from diabetes - his legs were losing circulation, toes turning grey and feet turning blue - his legs were dying. A little Napoleon like my father who accomplished so much by his own sheer willpower would have never put up with the loss of his legs.
These days I no longer channel nice thoughts of anyone except of my kids. I feel all hope is lost for me, but I can still be a help to the up-and-coming generation for a while in not fighting against the keeping alive of my carcass a while longer.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 17, 2007. Happy birthday to the former Jennifer "Jenna" Brown of Norwalk, Connecticut, more recently of San Francisco, best friend of my early to middle childhood. I miss you, girl, and hope you are living a blessed life filled with much love and interesting things and people and perhaps also beloved pets and pet causes.

Powerful new strain of cold virus (adenovirus 14) kills 10, sickens hundreds

Aw, geez, Louise.
Another killer adenovirus on the loose.
Sometimes it's the most common type of virus that creates the most disrepair.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 16, 2007.

Macaque embryo reported cloned, 20071114

There was some incredibly significant news on the animal cloning front: Los Angeles Times
A primate embryo was reported cloned.

"Reproductive biologist Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University and his colleagues reported in the online version of the journal Nature that they had successfully cloned rhesus macaque embryos using DNA from skin cells taken from the ear of a 9-year-old male. The resulting stem cells grew into viable heart and nerve cells, among others."

When does nuclear DNA stop being unique? Organelle DNA?
One step closer to a race of women: hee hee hee! ;-)
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 15, 2007.

Ribo visits the San Jose airport, leaves shaken

I recently visited the San Jose airport while dropping someone off.
I was not traveling, and as such, was not loaded down with belongings.
I was able to act quickly when I saw a man's stack of belongings start to topple.
I caught some of them, and helped him pick up others of them.
The man was apparently touched by my gesture, and was grateful.
He took my face in his hands and said, "You are beautiful. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."
A comment from a random stranger, after a gesture from a random stranger.
I was profoundly moved by his comment and gesture - but at the same time I wryly thought that I must not be beautiful, ha ha, if he was pointing out that someone might tell me otherwise (?).
I drove home crying a little bit, and have cried a little off and on since then. They were happy cries touched also by melancholy.
[That's me - body like a melon, face like a collie. Well, maybe not exactly. I am just in a self-pitying mood.]
Gosh, it's been So (!) Long (!) since someone touched me and offered me kind words!!!
I would be doing random acts of kindness every second of every day (and I do always look for opportunities to do kind things, I believe) if it would get me kind words and the touch of a gentle hand on my face or arm.
Whah!!!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 14, 2007.

Sunday business proposition, as modified by Ribonuff

A guy wanted desperately to have sex with this really cute, really Hot girl in his office ... but she was dating someone else.
One day the guy got so frustrated that he said to her, "I 'll give you $100 if you let me have sex with you". The girl looked at him, then said, "NO."
The guy said, "I'll be really fast. I'll throw the money on the floor, you bend down, and I'll finish by the time you've picked it up."
She thought for a moment and said that she would consult with her boyfriend ... so she called him and explained the situation.
Her boyfriend said, "Ask him for $200, then pick up the money really fast. He won't even be able to get his pants down."
She agreed and accepted the proposal.
Over half an hour went by and the boyfriend was still waiting for his girlfriend's call. Finally, after 45 minutes the boyfriend called and asked, "What happened?!"
Still breathing hard, she managed to reply, "He had all quarters!"
Management lesson: Always consider a business proposition in its entirety before agreeing to it and getting screwed!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 11, 2007 (Happy Armistice day)

Kriss Costa speaks on West Nile virus

I was waiting for them to use me in the mapping of the West Nile threat.
I got on the various satellite image sites and looked at the dirty swimming pools.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 8, 2007.

Black holes source of high energy

I thought we knew this decades ago.
Maybe we only "knew" it.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 8, 2007.

A cheap way to get the drug GHB?

Apparently, GHB can be found in a children's toy.
Three children were sickened by ingesting the beads containing the drug.
Can someone explain how this is possible? Is GHB similar to something else with industrial applications?
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on November 7, 2007.

The one, true, catholic (in small letters) church - God's sacred chalice in the vestry

As a youth I attended Sunday school from grade 1 to 12 in an Ethnic church which served my immigrant community. I taught Sunday school to fifth graders for the last 4 years of my early Christian education.
We were Protestant. The other church of my ethnicity in town that served my community was The [Ethnic] Holy Roman Catholic Church.

They were better than us, they thought. They were of the One True Church. They sometimes felt sorry for us, going to Limbo or Hell, never having had the chance to claim the One True Faith, so sometimes they showed us some small kindnesses like letting us jump for the chance amongst ourselves for the privilege of their lunch left-overs. Usually they just slapped us on the head or across our faces, and said our mothers conceived us out of wedlock - outside of wedlock as defined as not having been sanctified by Their church, or worse.

We were the same, back at them, I believe. We probably acted holier than them [which is a venial sin? - if I overheard right?] with our thick woolen coats sent over from the old country; we didn't practice True Sacrifice like His Son our Lord the Lamb of God would have wanted us to practice. (Then again, the Catholics in my town had nothing left to give.)

Did They consummate their teenage affairs in their sacristies, then? - we might have said back at them - with their vessels annointed by the Lamb of God brimming with Catholics waiting to be born? (Ever heard of the extremely premature-yet-thriving first-born Catholic youth? Subsequent siblings didn't seem to share this fate. Small mercies might be granted in a time of transgression due to the fact that new Catholics will be brought into the world for the further glory of God.)

My parents were of two separate Ethnic Protestant types of the backgrounds of their youth. They later became agnostic. Before that, when still making a fine show in front of our adopted community by taking the kids to Sunday school and services while they were young and impressionable, they had slightly different, but complimentary, values.

My mother's side (Lutheran and Baptist -Lamb of God, how did the two denominations ever lay together?!) thought hard work as one's Offering was paramount. But you didn't have to undignify yourself in the process; it should be hard work appropriate to one's standing. The cleaning was done from sunbreak to darkness but only under cover of privacy - labor mostly accomplished by children, but closely supervised by the trainers. If one's family once had had maids, one could keep some of the manners of a bygone, prettier era and act graciously as much as possible.

My father's side (Calvinist) thought you had to give up things and be poorer than a church mouse - but my father could never quite buy that line. My father eventually became prosperous, after having stayed with his primary nuclear family until everyone younger was out of the house, learning the trade of his father, improving his father's business through his own clever ideas, so that when his father died during WW2 (of drink! not through the hardships of the captors as was widely promulgated by one branch of the family ...), he was able to take over seamlessly as a high-school youth and support his siblings and mother in a finer style than previously.

My father took his scholarship to a foreign college only at age 30 when the younger ones were fully raised and started off in life. He contacted the foreign university he had gotten a scholarship to at age 18 to ask if his unused scholarship might still be valid - then when notified that it wasn't, he charmed the university officer, through letter, into opening a new kind of scholarship for my father's benefit. Clever, the man that lives by his brains! The Calvinists are also willing to look the other way in a few minor matters if the sinner can be seen to be acting on some native intelligence which benefits himself, his family and his community.

My father said he pretended to still hold Calvinism dear while a teenager, because he had achieved an advanced position in the boy scounts, and a god-fearing disposition was good for business - and he may be able to get a scholarship to the private high school academy in the capital city if he keeps on this good road. But privately, his boy scout friend already at this school - as the son of a diplomat - is slipping my father the literature of the intelligentsia of the day, and of the glory days just passed - Camus, Goethe, Kafka, Sartre - what is a young man with some native intelligence to think?!

My father, much later, called my brother - the Born Again one - "the church mouse" - while he called me - the geologist with the first field research area of the Mojave desert - "the field mouse". I took that as his mark of approval, for my father was an accomplished field mouse himself. I don't mind being called mousy because I'm brown-haired wild-type with the penchant for fading into the walls.

My father's goal was to become a scientist. A prosperous one, too! He accomplished those goals. He seemed to be the kind of guy that you couldn't be quite sure Wouldn't wish he had spent more time in the office on his death bed.

So, decades after WW2 - after much, much digression on my part (!) - his daughter is in first grade learning the basic and most common prayers of her religion. This is in the 1970s in a blue collar seaside section of Fairfield county, Connecticut.

The girl notices that the 23rd Psalm sounds somewhat different than the one the Catholic kids say at school before lunch at the public school - those lesser-in-standing Catholic families that can't afford to send their children to a proper private Catholic school with proper aging nuns. [The nuns should not be too young or too pretty because this might "conceivably" direct young Catholic boys away from the most honorable profession, the priesthood.]

But what's this?!

This one prayer we Protestants are meant to use has this line near the end of it?!

" ... the one true catholic church ..."
[catholic in small letters]

Are we really part of the Catholic (catholic) religion after all?

(Do we, by the grace of God, maybe get a second chance, as not-properly-knowledgeable unborn-souls, to claim the One True Religion before we fall away from the glimpse of the pearly gates?)

(Was the joke on us?! But we get a second chance? Is that how I'm to understand the end of this prayer?)
[Or is the joke on the Catholics, because in the end we include them with our religion in one of our most-used prayers?]

What means this word, catholic?
I am still learning this English language, at age 6; that's why I act quiet and studious at school.

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 30, 2007.

The above has been a work of Fiction.

The flavor, color saturation, and tonality of my despair

I have had some experiences that to me, seem very synesthetic, after having read a few popular press books on the subject.
I am having a good day but am feeling mildly "depressed" in a physiological sense - slow to move, quiet. laying low - maybe almost Parkinsonian.
Intro to synesthesia
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 29, 2007.
Happy birthday to Olive Schmauss Montgomery even though she's dead. [Hey, it's the days of the dead!]

Hungarian bitches

I did a yahoo search on "Hungarian bitches" (there used to be a porn site by that name), and this was one of the matches.

I could have made this video myself! This is so much my type of humor. And, I Am a little old lady, tee hee!

I will soon put up some new videos at other of my sites. Sorry!

youtube

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 24, 2007.

Reporter returns home to nasty surprise, worse than my unfavorable surprise today

I am so sorry, Reporter Janet Wilson.

www.latimes.com

Way back when, I came back from my lune-de-miel wondering if a tornado had hit - it hit the trailer park 3 miles away instead.
[Incidentally, how does the tornado know to hit the trailer park?! It so frequently seems to hit one.]

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 24, 2007

Hi, how are you?

"Hello?"
"Hi Ribo, this is Linda".
"Hi Linda!"
"How are you, Ribo?"
"Very well, thanks; how are you?"
"I'm fine"
[Now onto the matter at hand ...]

How easy it is to just say "I'm fine, thanks" to the friendly acquaintance.
One wants to get on with the matter at hand, which in this case was, could she work for me tomorrow.
She does a little freelance work for me in her spare time - which is rare - one 7.5 hour work day every four to six weeks or so. She works through her lunch to get back to her bread-and-butter work faster - she is the manager there.
Still, I am grateful for her work, and I pay her well, I believe.
Still, I'll give her the real lowdown tomorrow - I think - seeing as things are going relatively well (?). I'm on this side of the soil-air interface.

For a little pick-me-up: www.flickr.com

I Am feeling well today - except for a big business disappointment. Nun, so ist das Leben.
I am getting a lot done, both around the house and on the computer, which always gives me a boost.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 24, 2007.

Neanderthal man may have spoken: mice squeak with different accent

While this research on human genes linked with speach is ground-breaking and provocative, it seems this field of study may still be largely conjectural.
Still, you have to start somewhere ... (?)

(I just want a voice filter, myself, suitable for perhaps a variety of purposes.)
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 21, 2007.

Regularization of English verbs

I came across another reference to language evolution in NZZ online:

www.nature.com
www.nzz.ch

Linguists devise "rules" or predictive (post-dictive?) equations on language evolution when numerous examples are evaluated.
Example: "Quantifying the evolutionary dynamics of language" by Lieberman, Michel, Jackson, Tang and Nowak.
I am not a paying subscriber to Nature, and thus could only read the abstract.
What I would like to know is: how close do these ad hoc equations fit?
(If x number of examples are added to or subtracted from the words actually in the study, is the equation still a good fit?)
[Can the data be massaged to fit the desired equation?]
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 21, 2007.

birthday note to the Queen

Dear Queen,

Happy birthday, and many more.

I am thinking of you on your birthday, and many times each day besides.

Thank you for the nice card and note you sent me for my birthday.

B, E, and K are visiting, and tonight we will go to a restaurant called "Transilvania". A is coming for "two-birthday week" - but it looks like B will be in Japan that week.

I hope you are having a pleasant time of things and I hope your knee feels better.

Love, Ribo

Allusions on a double Dimple

www.dimple.de

I don't care for the Dimple drink, but I Do care for the early German progressive rock band Triumvirat!
One of the first "rock" recordings I ever listened to was Triumvirat's Spartacus album - it's still woven into my fibers.
(Note that Triumvirat is not singing and rhyming in their native language - I can see some Germanisms poking through.)

To find a friend is not as easy as to pour a drink
But even harder is to separate the good from those that stink

To realize this you spent years a little scared, sometimes with tears
You will find out you're still the same, and all those left, the ones to blame

Old loves die hard, and I can't help it, but it's tearing me apart

So what is left for you is just to heal the scars of hate
It seems a waste to try to teach an old dog newer tricks

If love appears to be a crime, if hate is hip, to cheat is fine
Just let me know, 'cause I'll take off
I hate to hate, I want to love

Old loves die hard, and I can't help it, but it's tearing me apart

Old loves die hard; they're far from good, and they are only good from far

You create a mediocre heart-attack to find the clue for right and wrong
A single word sometimes has more effect to state a point of view
That could make your weakness strong

Old loves die hard and I can't help itbut it's tearing me apart
Old loves die hard; they're far from good, and they are only good from far
Don't hide your heart - New love will start

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 18, 2007.

My old addiction

www.davidwilcox.com

Unsung Swan Songfor Chet Baker
by David Wilcox

My old addiction changed the wiring in my brain
So that when it turns the switches then I am not the same

So like the flowers toward the Sun I will follow. stretch myself out thin
Like there's a part of me that's already buried that sends me out into this window

My old addiction is a flood upon the land
This tiny lifeboat can keep me dry
But my weight is all that it can stand

So when I try to lean just a little for just a splash to cool my face
Ahh that trickle turns out fickle fills my boat up five miles deep

My old addiction makes me crave only what is best
Like these just this morning song birds craving upward from the nest
These tiny birds outside my window take my hand to be their mom
These open mouths would trust and swallow anything that came along

Like my old addiction now the other side of day
As the springtime of my life's time turns the other way

If a swan can have a song I think I know that tune
But the page is only scrawled and I am gone this afternoon

But the page is only scrawled and I am gone this afternoon

Copyright © 1991 David Wilcox.

Cost Plus World Market

http://www.worldmarket.com

They do sell some marzipan at Cost Plus World Market.
I'm going to create an account so all my friendly acquaintances can see my wish list.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Note also the beautiful European Christmas tree ornaments - just like you might see in the old country.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 18, 2007.

I want, I want, I want: Mozart kugel

I crave some Mozart kugel today. It can be ordered at amazon, I see.

www.amazon.com

Just one piece would do - although perhaps money could be saved by buying the 10-pack bag at amazon.
If I can't mainline this sugar/almond/chocolate mixture quickly enuff, I will drive over to the CostPlus store near me and buy some brand x marzipan. The Christmas season is coming up so they should have a selection of European seasonal treats.
This is something of a low tech drug for self-soothing. I need such a drug after reading about thermobaric explosives. To soothe the palpitations of this hysterical high-strung do-gooder.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 18, 2007.

My hair stood on end as I read about thermobaric explosives

Of course we all know thermobaric explosives exist.
It's just that when you stumble across a site like globalsecurity dot org and start reading, some of the magnitude of the problem of global terrorism strikes you like shrapnel - really fast, viscerally; hitting you where you live!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 18, 2007.

Sex toy causes air security scare

This is old news, but "timeless" as we face a continuing problem.
By the way, how much privacy can we assume body cavities (during air travel) have?
"Best on board" - I didn't know the flight crew sometimes played a game of ranking the attraction of passengers.
I suppose that could help pass the time.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 18, 2007.

Musically, I am differently abled

When I hear music, it's almost a synesthetic experience for me.
As I hear it, I see a mathematical matrix in my mind, evolving instant by instant.
I sometimes play with these matrices, writing them down and transforming them.
I don't know how lyrics fit into this scenario; they are often heavily in my mind, too.
When I use my sound processing toys and speed up the music, sometimes the unspeeded-up lyrics fit quite nicely yet.
So what does time mean?
["The function of time is to keep everything from happening at once" - seen on a site.]
How does the axis of time relate to this two dimensional linear algebraic representation I see in my mind's eye?
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 17, 2007.

Evolution of a Full Professor

DIRECT EVOLUTION OF A FULL PROFESSOR (author unknown)

Abstract:

Success in academia is hypothesized to require specific phenotypes. In order to understand how such unusual traits arise, we used human clones to identify the molecular events that occur during the transition from a graduate student to professor. A pool of graduate student clones was subjected to several rounds of random mutagenesis followed by selection on minimal money media in the absence of dental insurance. Students surviving this selection were further screened for the ability to work long hours with vending machine snacks as a sole carbon source; clones satisfying these requirements were dubbed "post-docs". In order to identify assistant professors from amongst the post-docs, this pool was further mutagenized, and screened for the ability to turn esoteric results into a 50 minute seminar. Finally, these assistant professors were evaluated for their potential to become full professors in two ways: first, they were screened for overproduction and surface display of stress proteins such as Hsp70. Assistant professors that displayed such proteins (so-called "stressed-out" mutants) were then fused to the M13 coat protein, displayed on phages and passed over a friend and family members column, to identify those that were incapable of functional interactions. These were called full professors. Although these mutants arose independently, they shared striking phenotypes. These included the propensity to talk incessantly about their own research, the inability to accurately judge the time required to complete bench work, and the belief that all their ideas constituted good thesis projects. The linkage of all these traits suggests that these phenotypes are coordinately regulated. Preliminary
experiments have identified a putative global regulator. Studies are currently being conducted to determine if overexpression of this gene product in post-docs and grad students can speed up the grad student-full professor evolutionary process.

EDITORS COMMENTARY:
The present paper, titled "Direct Evolution of a Full Professor" is a fascinating document, well worth publication. However, the authors fail to note several topics sure to be of interest to the Journal's readers. For example, it is a well-documented phenomenon that transition to industry can occur at any point along the evolutionary pathway. The authors fail to comment on the possible mechanisms behind such versatility. Plasmid-borne resistance genes encoding a tropism for rich media have been postulated to fulfill this function. In support of this hypothesis, it may be noted that previous researchers who attempted to isolate this plasmid quickly underwent transition and never published their findings.

The single blade of the Swiss Navy knife functions as a tiny canoe paddle

I had a nice time at this site which supplies camping humor.
Some people are dumb; some people are dumber.
Sometime I should write up all the stupid stuff I've done while camping, yet lived - Nah!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 17, 2007.

No place like St. Jude for cutting edge research

I support the goals of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Check out their site - you might be moved to sign on as a helper.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 17, 2007.

Airport security better in some areas

Better air security is good news to me.
Then again, I have to say I didn't learn much from this article.
I guess it wasn't a learning-related article, just a reporting one.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 17, 2007.

Feeling politically incorrect today - so sue me

Jokes forwarded from my Texas friend.
I just wanted a few little laughs today.
Don't really sue me - I am up to my cheeks in litigation already - Ribonuff

10 Thoughts to Ponder
# 10 - Life is sexually transmitted.
# 9 - Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
# 8 - Men have two emotions - Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.
# 7 - Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.
# 6 - Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
# 5 - Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
# 4 - All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
# 3 - Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?
# 2 - In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal. Go Figure!

AND THE # 1 THOUGHT FOR 2007:
We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration?

Are you a Democrat, a Republican, or a Redneck?
Here is a little test that will help you decide.
You're walking down a deserted street with your spouse and two small children. Suddenly, a terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises his God, raises the knife, and charges at you.
You are carrying a Glock cal 40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.
What do you do?

Democrat's Answer
Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!
Does the man look poor! Or oppressed?
Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?
Could we run away?
What does my spouse think? What about the kids?

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 17, 2007.
P.S. I am a legal immigrant, now citizen.

Global warming: My dear, here's one for you

It points to Global Warming.
Blogal warming - ?!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 16, 2007.

Mud cores, my nightmare

It would be my nightmare to take mud cores in a northern climate in cold weather.
It was bad enough to take sediment cores out of Cape Cod waters in early March while 3 feet high in frigid water in a meandering estuarine channel.
6, I got bronchitis out of that one. Thank you, overling from 8!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 15, 2007.

Zero Population Growth is now known as Population Connection

Population Connection sounds more politically correct.
But: what is politically correct?! [to Homo s.s.? or out of respect for the planet?]
As a child of 8, I was already strongly in the camp of "zero population growth", or should I write even more aptly, Negative Human Population Growth.
(However, later my hormones and arrogance got in the way.)
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 15, 2007.

from Prometheus: Dude, it's called a vibrator

Funny!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 14, 2007

deutsch oder American Redneck humor

American Redneck or German humor

A Professor was giving a lecture on "Involuntary Muscular Contractions" to his first year medical students. Realizing that this was not the most riveting subject, the Professor decided to lighten the mood slightly. He pointed to a young woman in the front row and said, "Do you know what your asshole is doing while you're having an orgasm?"

She replied, "Probably deer hunting with his buddies."

The professor laughed so hard he could not continue with the class.

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 14, 2007.
I would like to credit the original author of the joke herein contained, but I fear this joke might have been in the public common consciousness for too long already. If anyone knows the source, I'd be grateful to hear from you.

Dog Wanted - non English puns

Wanted: a dog that neither barks nor bites, eats glass and shits diamonds.

I learned this expression as a youth, in a language that was not my first.
I don't know if this expression is truly from that language, or from French.
Anyway, this gave me (the young little cynic at the time) a quick laugh, and I got a boost that it was indeed worth the effort of acquiring a new language - if only even to view things through different lenses and filters.

Think about how many cultures seem to be preoccupied with the anus. Some more than others, obviously - like German.
The world-cultural icon of Freud (similar: die Freude = the joy) is born of the Germanic world.
Q.E.D.

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 13, 2007.

Experienced worm handler

I did a search on "humorous" while visiting the Los Angeles Times, and this article was one of the results.
It reminds me of a joke I knew.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 12, 2007.

Longest German words

I visit some language-learning sites several times a week.
I enjoy that little break from the daily grind.
Here are some funny, long words in German from a place I visit a fair amount: about dot com.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 12, 2007.

Zollikon Seminars

More apparent evidence that the Swiss do things well!
If you're a banking or business student, you could do worse than studying in Zurich.
If you're a humanitarian, Geneva is a good choice.
If you're a medical researcher, try Basel.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 12, 2007.

Autumn from space

Look how beautiful this is!
For me, autumn is always a time for falling in love.
(The new crop of students has just come in, and one is just getting to know them as real people, not just first-day greeting level.)
No, I'm not a lech - I simply once used to be a student, and sometimes fancy myself a lifelong learner.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 12, 2007.

Doris Lessing sounds like a fun iconoclast; I might enjoy her sarcasm

Pretty awesome prize. Every slightly sarcastic thing this lady says has some truth to it.
I got my laff of the day from her - I am laughing With her.
I love how dejected she appears to look when sitting on her stoop with reporters who met her there.
Clearly she isn't dejected; she's a comedic heroine!
Paraphrase: "You just can't get that excited over something after having heard about the possibility of it for more than 40 years."
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 11, 2007.
P.S. I've been well-known - for more than twenty years - by my circle of known associates - to have said:
"Yeah, I'll see you in Stockholm!" when someone utters a bright new idea to me.

Bovine spongiform encephalitis

"Feeding animal carcasses to other farm animals was halted seven years ago [publish date June 1, 2007] at the height of the UK's BSE crisis."

In BSE, the infecting agent resides in the brain and closely-associated structures, e.g. the spinal cord.

Grinding bone or feeding cattle pulverized meat from-near-the bone is thought to transmit the most BSE.

It was time to stop feeding herbivores dead parts of their "downer" species-mates - Ya Think?!

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 10, 2007.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

"In the psychology of Freud, the anal stage is said to follow the oral stage of infant/early-childhood development. This is a time when an infant's attention moves from oral stimulation to anal stimulation (including the bowels and bladder), usually synchronous with learning to control their excretory functions, a time of toilet training. Freud theorized that children who experience conflicts during this period of time may develop "anal" personality traits, namely those associated with a child's efforts at excretory control: orderliness, stubbornness, a compulsion for control.[1] Those whose anal characteristics continue into later life are said to be "anal retentive", or conversely, those who reject anal characteristics are said to have "anal expulsive" personality types. Some believe this to be a mild expression of obsessive-compulsive disorder or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
Although Freud's theories on early childhood have been influential to the psychological community, research suggests that the overall pattern of parental attitudes has a much more concrete effect on how an infant will grow up. There is no conclusive research linking anal stage conflicts with anal personality types."

That was actually part of a Wikipedia entry on "anal-retentive", which I found Site-ed in the Wikipedia entry for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
- Holy cow! *That* could be why I'm so 6ed up! I remember my mother had a great deal of anxiety during my "toilet learning", and maybe communicated some of that to me.
(Does my wish for an adult-sized pacifier mean part of me is still in the oral phase?)
- Maybe I should try also "wiping" before "flushing" - editing before posting - ha.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 10, 2007.

Atlanta new low fare hub

Atlanta is the new gateway to Europe - along with other distinctions.
'Nuff said.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 10, 2007.

Contact United States Veterans

My kid must contact, interview, photograph, and write up the experience of meeting a veteran of the United States Armed Forces.
This assignment must be completed well before Veteran's day (November 11), as veterans will be invited to a ceremony at the school, at around that time.
I have great respect for veterans and can't wait to be in on this process. I am proud to be able to meet a veteran.
I read the questions my child will pose, and some of them make me blush in their naiveté. They are questions posed by a child, after all.
"What was your favorite food when you were my age?"
(Uh, who can remember that long ago? Most of what is in our active memories is from the last major trauma, and experiences since then.)
But I must stifle my opinions, and hope that the gentleman we contacted will be charmed.
Besides, other of the questions my kid will ask have rather profound implications. How can so young of a person have thought them up? [Maybe there was some help from the teacher? Maybe not?] I suppose some struggles and hopes are universal, and cross all boundaries of age, ethnicity, social background, etc.
We no longer have living veterans in our immediate family, nearby, for my kid to interview.
Thus I trolled a local grocery store next to a retirement community I volunteer at, and when a friendly mature gentleman greeted me in line to pay, I pounced! :-)
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 9, 2007.

The last place I checked was Kusnacht, Switzerland

I found this nifty satellite site when checking on the weather in Dmanisi, Georgia.
Turns out, living in Dmanisi Georgia might not be such a hardship meteorologically.
Do you think Switzerland will get plentiful snow this year? If so, I might be there as soon as it snows significantly. I am a skiing fan. I also like the Christmas markets but those occur too early for there to be lots of new snow by then, typically.
I could be skiing in two months! Yay, yay! To me it's undecided whether I enjoy the lift conversations or the intense physical feeling of the skiing more.
Next skiing area to check out - an area of personal significance to me - the Harz mountains of Germany. It's a somewhat low region for skiers, but if the skiing is good and the memories pan out ...
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 8, 2007.

Dmanisi Georgie homonids

I like the cool image of Dmanisi homonids at the top of the page.
I wonder what it's like to work at Dmanisi.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 8, 2007.

The Family that couldn't sleep, by D.T. Max

My goodness: I just finished this powerhouse of a book reviewing the background and current history of prion diseases (if you want to call them that).
This book took me several weeks, because the kids, and then I, got sick and I couldn't properly concentrate.
It took me a while to go through the Acknowledgements and Notes in the level of detail I wanted to; I decided I definitely wanted to do this after reading the author's touching personal Afterword.

I am telling myself the next book I read should be the seeming escapist book that I picked up at Target yesterday, "The Right Attitude to Rain" by Alexander McCall Smith. My attention was first drawn by the cozy scene of a yellow cat sitting next to a lit reading lamp in a night window. Can the cat see the bugs attracted by the lamp - else, what could the cat be looking at when there is powerful side lighting? Then I noticed that the main character had a prename with personal meaning to me.

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 7, 2007.

Genesis "Afterglow" lyrics

Genesis "Afterglow" lyrics
[In which year did you first hear and notice this song?]

Like the dust that settles all around me,
I must find a new home.
The ways and holes that used to give me shelter,
Are all as one to me now.
But I, I would search everywhere
Just to hear your call,
and walk upon stranger roads than this one
In a world I used to know before.
I miss you more.

Then the sun reflecting off my pillow,
Bringing the warmth of new life.
And the sounds that echo all around me,
I caught a glimpse of in the night.
But now, now I've lost everything,
I give to you my soul.
The meaning of all that I believed before
escapes me in this world of none, no thing, no one.

And I would search everywhere
Just to hear your call,
And walk upon stranger roads than this one
In a world I used to know before.
For now I've lost everything,
I give to you my soul.
The meaning of all that I believed before
escapes me in this world of none,
I miss you more.


Sometimes lyrics and music from some old song will pop into my head, usually at the time the "collective unconscious" is rearing its head inside me (ha ha), whispering its platitudes and its calls to action all at the same time.
Sometimes the default is just to whisper lyrics from songs as an expression of one's inner feelings.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 7, 2007.
© Lyrics Freak 2007 as a courtesy.

Mental construct is wrong - basic assumptions were wrong

What would you do if your personal assumptions were made to have a seismic shift?
Your constructs were built on sand.
Oh, it sucks, and oh, for the rebuilding that needs to be done - on bedrock, this time, one can hope.
I don't feel strong enough or willing enough for the rebuild.
Maybe my kids can build on my cracked foundation and strengthen it for themselves.
Or they could just take their hermit crab shells and set up shop somewhere else, when the time comes.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 5, 2007.
P.S. Song picks for today: Extreme Ways by Moby, as usual; Come a Long Way by Simple Minds; Driven Out by the Fixx; I ain't even satisfied by Mellencamp the Great.

Privacy conference

I understand that "privacy" can no longer be assured to exist.
I submit all my data but at the same time I wish to remain invisible.
I only submit my data to protect myself and all of us as a group.
If someone misused my information (again) I am sure I would rethink this stand.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on October 4, 2007.

Every action is irreversible, especially if the dimension of time is included

Did you ever wish you could undo something you had done?
And once you realized that was not possible, did you wish you could make a similar counter-action - like making amends - to at least partially undo the effects of the first action?
Well, IMHO it's like trying to exactly retrace a random walk in the dark, while being drunk.
For one, no footstep can be undone simply because the footstep events are occurring at different times.
(What if there was x amount of snow during the first stepmaking process, and a different amount of precip on the ground when trying to recreate/undo the step? What if a butterfly is flapping his wings in Japan the second time?)
All the variables are never exactly the same.
I guess all I wish to say is, 6 me.

Zero gravity pathogens

Just think how much gravity limits, or directs, our "potentials".
Cool article; I actually used my brain for a few tens of seconds.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 25, 2007.

The right time has apparently arrived

NASA visits the asteroid belt.
Can we get a clean bomb up there to break up a bigger chunk, while we're there?
Always glad to see a mission like this; "am glad I'm not there".
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 25, 2007, reposted on October 7, 2007.

The Great One has written

Her Majesty has deigned to send me a birthday card.
After the canned message, she has added:

"My dearest Ribo,
Ungracious behaviour happened between us, the summer of 2006, while you and your family visited me in my home in CT.
We both have had lots of time to reflect on it, and I regret it.
I am hoping that you'll find it in your heart to forgive and forget, our absurd behaviour. I'll be the first to do so.
Life is fleeting, let's not nurture rancor.
You and I enjoyed happy years together, let's do that again.
I'd like to hear from you, and get all your good news.
With love"

Shall I write back that "behaviour" is nonstandard spelling for American English; it is the British spelling?
Just kidding; I was actually deeply touched.

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 25, 2007.

Anti-Doping

Does anyone think the appelation of anti-doping has gone too far?
A person can't get treated for a bee sting, even in this remote medieval town, without invoking the spectre of "anti-doping" and forfeiting the race?
What a shame.
All that training, then one just gets stung.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 24, 2007.
P.S. I used to be a camp counselor in Sarran, France.

I had the back-in-graduate-school dream again

I have a set of recurring dreams that haunt me because I feel they point to my culpability.
This morning, I had the back-in-graduate-school dream again.
You see, I abandoned two different Ph.D. programs and I feel guilt about that. I do have one completed grad degree under my belt, whee.
Can I help it if I have the nervous system of a cat, and the latest thing in front of my eyes distracts me from what I was doing?
I got interested in other things, and left two programs, after having completed all the necessary classes but before finishing or writing up much of my research.
I feel I used those programs, by being able to add to my fund of knowledge without much personal cost, and subconsciously or whatever, must go back and redeem myself.
I don't really want to go back to graduate school. I'm getting some enjoyment from what I'm doing now, and it's of benefit to more than just me, I feel.
I just feel I have wronged two degree programs, and should make restitution.
Yes, I've already made some donations to the schools involved.
Every time I wake up from such a dream, I feel relieved that I didn't really go back to school, that it was just a dream. I don't have that much sustained interest in what I was studying, anyway, perhaps, and wouldn't want to take the spot of a more worthy individual.
Why couldn't I just have a fun "hot" dream instead, or the flying or floating or jumping dreams. At least it wasn't the airplane crashing dream, though.

I am guilty of ... "prostate screenings"?! No, not quite

Funny site about the misuse of quotation marks.
It looks like people mainly overuse them to stress something, but many humorous examples were cited.
I am guilty of the overuse of quotation marks - thus misuse.
P.S. You don't even want to know what I was originally searching for ... drumroll ... Hungarian humor.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 23, 2007.

Yes, that was a good day for science

I am glad to see Ötzi back in the news on the 16th anniversary of his discovery.
I would like to see this fellow - or to be hiking in the area of his discovery.
Too bad the import of this find was not realized at the time the authorities arrived.
Yes, I imprinted on the hiking in "Sound of Music" as an impressionable youth, especially after having done some easy hiking already in southwestern Germany. I want to hike or walk in the Alps again! It's been a year!!!
Must have that scenery!
P.S. I am noted for walking to > 14,000 feet in only loafers. One only has to step right. I was lucky not to have needed much ankle support yet.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 23, 2007.

Do not mess with my national security

The actions of this aviator go against so many of the things I believe in, stand for.
How dare he compromise our security for his [petty?] desires.
Thank goodness for the FBI.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 23, 2007.

Punsters in space

I'll have to keep my ion ewe.
BTW, I figured out why the attraction between me and cats is so intense: it's ionic.
They are cations and I'm an anion!
(I believe I first used this one in the 1980s.)
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 22, 2007.

Shall we have a field day, taking this one apart, argument by argument?

There are so many fallacies presented in the linked site.
Should just one argument be debunked - some - or all of the faulty ones?
"Water is no barrier to most life forms" - Ribonuff, September 22, 2007.
I had a laff!
(Again, the vapors restored this hysterical female.)
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 22, 2007.

North Shore Animal League: Every 27 minutes, one life is saved

I link to here in honor of Beth Ward at the Humane Society of Silicon Valley.
Check out her site at http://www.hssv.org
Plus, I was rereading the book "Scarlett saves her family" by Jane Martin this morning, which reminded me of both the North Shore Animal League and of Beth Ward. :-)
Carry on, you blessed helpful souls, carry on!
This blog post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 22, 2007.

It is not difficult to synthesize since it has a low free energy of formation

You can read a little about ribose, if you like.
I was thinking about prions, actually, today, because I'm now reading the book "The family that couldn't sleep" by D.T. Max (© 2006).
I thought I'd look at the difference in protein synthesis (versus the synthesis of nucleic acid packages) on a thermodynamic basis because Obviously prions are not that voluminous (?!) an infectuous agent (?!) - actually I don't know this, but I think this could be true. I haven't gotten that far into Daniel Max's book yet, either. This will be only the second book I've read about prions, I believe.
So I thought I'd go back to the free energy of formation of RNA synthesis, step-by-step, then look at the bigger infectuous molecules in sequence - for whatever it's worth to me.
I wish I had known Gibbs, myself.
I'll settle for Leroy Jethro Gibbs, though! ;-) What a hunk of a television character.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 22, 2007.

Carbohydrates for glycobiology research

Wow, check out this nifty catalog of so many biochemicals!!!
I about passed out from hyperventilation.
I was made to take the vapors after being found in my stupor.
Then, I had tea With Honey!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 22, 2007.

Catch the pork as Ketchikan

Not totally sure how I feel about this.
I love the little community of Ketchikan. I have happy memories.
I wouldn't mind some more money pumped into the community, but I'm not for "pork" spending, either.
I am quite fiscally conservative - except when it comes to buying electronika CDs and forensics DVDs, ha ha.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 22, 2007.

What defines "data quality"?

From page 2:
"Member states shall provide that personal data must be: collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes … adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are collected … accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that data which are inaccurate or incomplete, having regard to the purposes for which they were collected or for which they are further processed, are erased or rectified … kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected ..."

First I wondered, how can transferred personal records be kept minimum for the specific need at hand, while not being "incomplete", but then I read on. Completeness is to encompass, as I understood it: adequate health information so as to not cause a misdiagnosis; adequate credit information so as to not deny a loan or such; and adequate job performance information so as to not cause a loss of potential empoloyement.

(I thought job performance was usually not disseminated by the major corporations, so as to avoid liability.)
This blog post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 22, 2007.

The illness I have was probably not caused by a bioterrorism agent, LOL - but just checking!

When one posts about bioterrorism, one tends to hear from the occasional nut.
(Okay, that nut is usually me responding to someone else.) ;-)
I was too sick to feel like posting all week - plus I kept having sick kids home, sequentially. Now they're all back in school and I'm catching up with CSI: Las Vegas episodes ;-) - body is still too sore to accomplish much housework - boy, will I have lots of laundry piled up.
I'm glad the soccer stuff is ready for the game tomorrow, at least.
This post ©reated by Ribocat on September 21, 2007.

You go, girl!

While I wish to cause no significant problem to the major airlines, this is a problem that needs to be addressed.
I was stuck on a runway at JFK last year for 5 hours myself (different airline).
Exactly where do the rights of the individual end?
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 17, 2007.

It's interesting when the power of the dominant player is limited

What will fall out?
Bravo, E.U. courts! ( I think)
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 17, 2007.

Thai jet crash

I am so sorry to read about the Thai jet crash!
It seems that weather was the major factor (?).
My aviation penpals, please respond with any new information!
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 17, 2007.

Some of the world's sexiest men IMHO

I had a United States Navy SEAL swimming in my swimming pool, once!
Was I lucky, or what?!
It happened almost by chance.
He was darned near the most handsome man I ever saw!
He let me take photos.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 17, 2007.

Je suis le champignon du monde!

Do you find these mushrooms as delicious as I do?
I can't wait until I have my next one.
How shall I best take it, cooked with fat or sautéed with various vegetables?
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 17, 2007

recurring architecture dream

I have a recurring group of similar architecture-based dreams that please me a lot when they visit me.
The one this morning was a nice one.
I found myself in a house that was suddenly, somehow, under my ownership or at least, access, and I wandered around thinking about the floor plan, thinking, "Yes, this is lovely - quite interesting! It suits me well." I find more and more interesting details as I walk, such as perhaps a built-in shelf that the cat may take the sun on, interesting angles playing with lighting, etc.
An anxiety-provoking part of this dream sometimes then follows, in which I suddenly realize that I have to gather up all my textbooks and numerous other belongings from the previous place in a very timely manner, for the new occupant. I set to this task, but the more I pack, the more I find, and I realize I can't possibly find and box everything up in the given time.
I realize I have to abandon those possessions and hope for the best, starting anew ...
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 17, 2007.

Do you have any advice (on writing) for me?

I feel compelled to write two books.
One would be about nurses - neonatal intensive care nurses - because I have always been impressed with the caring and professionalism that nurses dish out. I think such a thing, or close to it, has already been done, because I collect books about doctors and nurses, and I feel I could almost dream up the format and wording in my sleep, from what I've already read. It's just that I had very personal, emotional experiences with the neonatal intensive care nurses that helped my newborn, and I would like to draw more attention to these lovely people, even if it doesn't need to be. It's a personal journey.
The format I'd like to follow is: interview X number of nurses (how many?) from the local hospitals. If I establish rapport with some of them, perhaps they could allow me to contact other nurses they know at other institutions. After a while I think recurring themes will make themselves evident - I can almost guess some of the themes, from the books on nurses I've already read. Good and bad interactions with the families involved - blessed encounters, annoying noncompliances. Support and SNAFUs from management. What makes for good and bad interactions with doctors and other support staff. Yes, the nurse is the Goddess of Life Support and others merely support Her/His efforts. ;-)
(In fact, maybe I could fake all the supposed interviews and create just a work of fiction?! No, I think real stories would have more power and of course, the veracity of experience.)
The second book would be about a young man I saw once for a few hours when I was young. I was camping in Whitehorse, Yukon territory, at first in a public campground right in town. The next tent over, there was a handsome young man about my age. He looked very perturbed and even cried a little - whenever he would pull out and reread a letter he was carrying with him. I wanted to go up to him and simply hug him, without speaking, but I never worked up the courage. I also wanted to accord him his dignity in this personal experience.
This man lives on in my brain. I wrote a [melancholy then hopeful] song to this unknown stranger, and there is a movie that always makes me think of him. I can hardly look at my Yukon photos without thinking of him. I wish I had surreptitiously photographed him. Instead, I photographed spots all around him.
I would like the second book to have 3 different outcomes. Has such a thing ever been done? Would it be acceptable to the reader? The 3 outcomes would be progressively more hopeful, based on what was actually in the letter, and if I ended up talking to him (and comforting him, and us falling in love and moving to British Columbia together, ha ha).
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 16, 2007.

Painful memory

One of my remaining memories from early childhood is set in Düsseldorf. I don’t remember much about this period before age 4 other than the major highs and lows.

I had an older brother (brother 1) with “issues” who used to like to torture me whenever he could get away with it – i.e., when my mother was not at home. He used to tickle me to the point of my crying and screaming, with no hope for abatement, until my nicer brother (brother 2) took pity on me and interceded on my behalf. Brother 1 would proclaim himself the giant mosquito and make high-pitched buzzing sounds accompanied by pinching and tickling. I felt so completely helpless with this much bigger boy on top of me, pinning me down, bothering me, making himself deaf to my pleas.

One time, brother 1 held me upside-down out his second-story bedroom window because I spilled ink on brother 2’s pillow. He said this would be my interim punishment, until the police arrived and took me to jail. I remember screaming and feeling great terror. I remember the odd physical feeling, too.

The time I wish to write about now involves the digging of my premature grave (!). I had received a much-coveted pinwheel that I adored, as a reward from my mother for good behavior. I was allowed to pick out exactly which colors I wanted. I used to love to go out into the garden and look at it in action; she placed it among some of my favorite lavender flowers.

My brother (#1) waited until my mother went out. Then he said to me, “I phoned the police and they are coming to take you away and put you in jail, because you have been very, very bad”. By then I had heard that many times, and was no longer as fearful as I had been when I first heard it. This time he added, “I will dig your grave, because you have been so bad that you must die, and the pinwheel will be your grave marker”. That statement really got to me, and I ran all over the house, screaming in terror. Then he went outside and actually started digging with the big garden shovel. I realized I must become quiet, as it looked like it might be for real, and I hid behind the vacuum cleaner in the closet, making myself very small. I tried to stifle my occasional sobs of fear.

Many years later, my brothers and I, when together with our mother, would tell some of these stories of sibling-against-sibling, partly for the amusement, and partly for the shock value. There was one such story between my brothers in which a fist which was supposedly broken while reaching for a radio on the nightstand was revealed to have actually been broken while making contact with the other guy’s head (brother 2’s head, naturally).

This particular get-together, we told the grave-digging story, and the hanging-out-of-the-window-upside-down story. My mother shook her head in disbelief, and said, “How could those things have happened? Where was I?”

I replied, “That was exactly my point. Where were you?!”

This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 16, 2007.

You know this is the real reason I am posting about Kinshasa

The dreaded virus rears its subunits again.
This post ©reated by Ribocat on September 15, 2007.

How much does it cost without the California lifestyle?

This is a true story with some humor.
A professional man (engineer) wanted to rent an apartment in Silicon valley about 10 years ago (1997).
That guy was shocked by the price of $2000 per month for a 2 bedroom apartment in a nice gated community in San Jose.
He said to the rental lady, "Why are the apartments so terribly expensive?"
She hemmed and hawed, and said something like, "Well, you are paying in part for the California lifestyle."
The guy, a foreign speaker of English, says, "How much is it without the California lifestyle, please?"
This post ©reated by Ribocat on September 15, 2007.

You will not see me on airport security footage in Kinshasa

Even though I've wanted to see Kinshasa for a while, I don't dare to go there.
I am afraid.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 14, 2007.

John Mellencamp's "Emotional Love"

(Sally in the roses)
I woke up today, everything's on my shoulders, I never told her -such emotional love
I hear what you say, Yes I owe ya, but I don't know ya, and I smash soldiers with love
I'll come there today to your station, it's recreation, this passing notion of love
I hear what you say, it's demonstration, crossing oceans above, crossing oceans above
Hand on my shoulder like I told her, I control ya, crossing oceans above
Sally in the roses, What she knows is, such emotional love, such emotional love, such emotional love (repeat 3 more times)
Not for beginners or Sunday sinners, court disasters: O.J just killed his love
Who's on the left and right, lonely days and nights, who's your master when gods pass motions above
I hear what you play on your station, smashing Soldiers with love, crossing oceans above
Such emotional love such emotional love such emotional love such emotional love
I woke up today, everything's on my shoulders, I never told her, such emotional love
I hear what you say, Yes I know ya, but I don't owe ya and I smash soldiers with love
I'll come there today to your station, it's recreation
This passing notion of love is crossing oceans above
Such emotional love Such emotional love (repeat 7 more times)

Ribo's song pick of the day - no, of the first decade of 2k

"Extreme Ways" by Moby
Hey, I grew up in the town next to Moby.
As far as I can guess, we may have skiied against each other on our respective ski teams (?).
Maybe I'll see you while jumping over a skyscraper in Düsseldorf (Stuttgart?) ...
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 14, 2007; lyrics borrowed from Moby (but credited).

Teaching legal professionals how to do research

Sounds good to me - teach me how - I'm not a trained legal professional, aber i bin net teppat.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 14, 2007.

On your six, boss

It's what Tony DiNozzo tells his N.C.I.S. boss, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by the ever-talented and handsome Mark Harmon.
"I will cover your back."
This post ©reated by Ribocat on September 14, 2007.

Bad news for us dollar holders

I guess it's not the time to sell dollars (?).
Drat, and I was going to go to Germany next week.
Sub-prime problems in the United States had far-reaching consequences, apparently.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 13, 2007.

What if I don't want to watch the video of it?

A lot of times, I find it annoying that I'm made to watch a video, complete with ads beforehand, when I just want the basic facts.
Oh well, I guess that's how it goes nowadays.
I thought I might get a quick diversion from the story about the diapered man stalking the teen.
But: Eww!
I am sorry for the teen involved.
I'd take an adult-sized pacifier myself - I can use a lot of pacifying.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 13, 2007.

Bad news: plague in Arizona

Plague has hit Arizona again.
Did you ever think of your pet as a "flea bus"? That was mildly amusing to read, but I can't say there's anything lighthearted about the plague.
I can't stand fleas and mosquitos. I often lose sleep at night for worrying about the diseases they may transmit.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 13, 2007.

What is Zulu time?

Isn't Zulu a funny word?
Didn't Nathaniel Bowditch have far-reaching influence for a man of his time?
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 12, 2007.

southern Sumatra: largest earthquake of 2007

I'm sorry to read about such a large earthquake.
I like the United States Geological Survey site for detailed technical information.
The well-known news sites bring the story home in a more emotional and economic way.

Good luck bearing the screaming from the ear infection

This CDC information for parents has valid points about waiting out a childhood ear infection, so as to limit the generation of antibiotic-resistant biota - but it can be hard to accept and tolerate the pain and discomfort (and potential hearing loss?) of one's child on a continuing basis.

All things James Herriot

Enjoy James Herriot!
His stories of country vet life offer optimism, humor, and problem-solving.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 12, 2007.

One must not feed improperly cooked garbage to herd animals

There are at least 7 types of foot-and-mouth disease in cloven-hooved animals, and then subtypes.
It would be terrible if FMD made it to the United States again, after so many years of having been free of it, then kept reinfecting farm animals via the deer population.
A potential problem of incredible magnitude.
I wish animals to be consumed were fed only wholesome, safe foodstuffs. Ventilation and waste removal is another major contamination source.
Have you read the books of the vet writing under the name of James Herriot? They were some of my big favorites during childhood. I even reread them sometimes as an adult.
This post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 12, 2007.

More foot-and-mouth in Surrey

Bad news for United Kingdom farmers - no, for everyone.
It's a drag when a dangerous disease can be spread so easily.
Post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 12, 2007.

Eavesdrop away, so I can get to Frankfurt okay

I personally don't mind giving up some of my acquired and expected "freedoms" for the greater good.
This post ©reated by Ribocat on September 11, 2007.

Look what interesting reading the little missy stumbled across

I am trying to learn more about biometrics, so I directed myself to this site.
This post ©reated by Ribocat on September 11, 2007.

What a 6ing nut

Why must she keep doing these idiotic things?
Post ©reated by Ribocat on September 11, 2007.

short simple treatment of ribosome

I liked this short and simple description of what a ribosome is and does.
It would be a great introduction to subcellular biology for a kid, or for anyone.
Post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 10, 2007.

Fossett sought using satellite technology

I figured, before coming upon this report, that this would be a perfect opportunity to peruse satellite imagery - and such an easy area to scan, too, as man-made artifacts are fewer than in built-up areas (?). (Or am I uninformed?)
I use the free satellite images readily available when sleuthing for untreated swimming pools teeming with virus - so I wondered why no trace of Steve Fossett had turned up yet.
May Steve Fossett be quickly found.
Post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 10, 2007.

Had it been a biological spill, he might never have known

If your food doesn't taste right, don't keep eating it.
(Perhaps it would have been best if this batch of McDonald's burgers had been thrown away before selling, though.)
Post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 10, 2007.

Canadian Niagara falls

Have you been to Niagara Falls?
I hear it can be romantic.
Also the kids might enjoy seeing the falls.
This post ©reated by Ribocat on Septembe 9, 2007.

iCame, iSaw, iCaved

This is very "funny". Ha ha, it's a dry sardonic laugh.
Steve Jobs, while I'm generally a fan of yours: no one wants to be taken for a fool.
(Thus stop blogging, Ribo?! Heh heh.)
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Rabies in dogs could so easily come back at any minute

While this achievement (no rabies in American dogs) is wonderful, I feel it's largely thanks to incredible vigilance by those caring humans in contact with dogs.
One must never let the guard down against disease, because nature will always find a way.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

gap junction communication

This abstract seems pretty neat and tidy.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

hydroxyl radical responsible for cellular death

Well, this sure makes sense.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Check out the architecture of this student residence in Munich

A fine architectural photo image.
This architectural contest was sponsored by E.on Ruhrgas.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Molecular riboswitch design

Wow, this is exciting!
Who'd have thought in the old days that such things were even conceivable.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007

selected Novartis flavivirus papers

One of my favorite hobbies is reading about the flaviviruses, and one of my favorite pharmaceutical concerns is Novartis.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

What's the weather in your city?

I like this weather site, for a change from the weather services from the best-known news agencies.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

I'll take the one with the military electronics

Have you driven a Landrover, or visited their website?
You're in for a treat.
I won't buy one because I don't need such a big carbon footprint every day, but a Landrover sure is useful for special apps!
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007

Ribo's world-favorite hotel

I love the Dolder Waldhaus. I wish I was there right now!
I find it so peaceful to stay in the forest, while having an excellent view over Zurich, and quick transportation into the city.
The Dolder Bahn is enjoyable, although make sure not to put a foot up onto the seat in front of you - in the Germanic countries, they are stricter about improprieties than they are in the United States.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Biochemical Journal: Western diet causing fatty acid derangement

I am trying to change my Western diet.
I already empirically "decided" that my particular digestive anomalies were not wholly based on fat content, but rather the nature of that fat, and of the carbos tagging along for the ride.
As an aside, we are stealing from our bodies by eating ravaged, so-called white flour.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

The Martial art of scientific publication

I loved this article.
The author is so informative yet also cynical - a combination I usually relate to, a lot.
I learned a lot while reading it.
Plus, I like to visit the American Astronomical society site in general.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007

Hungarian search engines

If you are trying to find information related to Hungary, you could try searchenginecolossus dot com.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Hungarian death squad of one

This was a funny (ironic) search result I got when I did a search on "Hungarian death squad".
If you are thinking of abusing an elder, don't do it!
Someone beloved to me was killed by a Hungarian death squad of one.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Hungarian PCT patients

If you have a liver disease, it's best not to consume alcohol.
Alcohol places an additional burden on the liver.
Think of the excessive aldehyde production and dehydration that results.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Hungarian elder care

Sometimes people will kill themselves to get away from a mercenary caregiver, when a comfortable life no longer seems possible.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Do we really want mercenary hands rocking our cradles?

This actually seems to be a good and thoughtful, lovingly put-together site I'm referencing.
But still ... think about the ultimate goals of these workers.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Hungarian online resources

This site seems helpful in finding news about Hungary, particularly the less-everyday stuff that one might not quickly come across.
A Hungarian babyszitter could maybe be found through this site.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

fubar

Check out the leading IT encyclopedia and learning center.
Some mild amusement can be had here.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Is Biofuel Production from Farms Jeopardizing Our Food Security?

Corn may not be served at this lunch (?).
I would like to attend this.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Will Hungarian workers return home?

If Hungarians are being treated as second-class guests to the United States with respect to their visas, perhaps it's because so many "babyszitters" and technical people are seeking their continued fortunes in the U.S.A.
©reated by Ribocat on September 9, 2007.

Hasan Demirci of Brown University Molecular biology takes top prize

Bravo to this fine ribosomologist and crystallographer!
©reated by Ribocat on September 8, 2007.

Fresnel lenses in currency

See the latest changes to affect the dollar bill.
©reated by Ribocat on September 8, 2007.

Bilingual puns from What-I-Know-Is

As an imperfect speaker of several languages, with a slight familiarily with several more, I had a lot of fun at this site!
(I liked the Dutch one, hee hee.)
©reated by Ribocat on September 8, 2007.

German dictionary source

Here is a source for your German dictionary needs.
This blog post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 5, 2007.

Swiss embassy, Washington D.C.

Wow, the design of the Swiss embassy in Washington D.C. looks so kuhl!
(If I ever felt unsafe, I might head to Switzerland or one of its embassies.)
This blog post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 5, 2007.

Dublin airport

Were you wanting some basic information on the Dublin airport?
This blog post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 5, 2007.

Music etcetera from citydisc dot ch

I check out the citydisc dot ch site sometimes, because I am a fan of music from the Germanic world.
This blog post ©reated by Ribonuff on September 5, 2007.