Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

This was on regretsy... but I think it's actually rather awesome. Anybody with me?

Yesterday, I finally made dentist (haven't been to one in a few years) and ophthalmologist/contact lens fitting (haven't been to one in about a year) appointments. Apparently, having heard that they might soon be replaced, no more than an hour later, my eyeglasses broke... so today I brought them over to the optical shop at Mass. Eye and Ear where I had purchased them. They're going to repair them under warranty, which is awesome, but it's going to take a few days (have to order a part), which is a little less awesome - so now I'm wearing my distinctly wrong prescription but not useless last pair of glasses. Hopefully the repair will be done before the weekend.

At my final follow-up visit with my eye surgeon a year ago, he diagnosed me with irregular astigmatism - which means that (particularly in the left eye) I have astigmatism (irregular shape of the cornea) that cannot be fully corrected by eyeglasses. He suggested that I try rigid gas permeable contact lenses - that I might not be able to tolerate them, but that if I could they would probably correct my vision better than glasses do - so now I'm finally going to try them. Hopefully it will go better than my last attempt at contact lenses, which I believe was more than a decade ago. Since I'm no longer cross-eyed, at least my eyes won't turn in all the time and try to squish the lenses.

I have just 4 weeks of work remaining before I leave for Australia - this week and next, about a day and a half at the beginning of Thanksgiving week, and the first two weeks of December. I'll then be there through January 4. I can hardly wait!

Male camels have a portion of the dewlap (soft palate) that they can flip inside-out, fill with air, and dangle out of the mouth. This is used, in combination with excessive drooling, as a courtship display. Apparently the lady camels dig it.

I am just home from seeing the Big Broadcast of October 30, 1938 and I can report that it was awesome. Those of you in the vicinity of Davis Square who haven't yet seen it, if you're looking for something to do this evening, get yourselves down to the Somerville Theatre. To all of you reading this who were in any way associated with the production, you rock. Also, a big thank you to chanaleh for saving me such an excellent seat :)

[I dedicate this post to seventorches because she has a very special cockle for the Brandeis University bursar buried deep in her steely little heart]

I was pondering whether the words "bursar" (an officer of an institution who handles money), "bourse" (a stock market), and "bursa" (the fluid-filled sac where a tendon connects to a bone which sometimes becomes inflamed, a malady known as bursitis) were etymologically related. Well, they are. They all derive from the Latin "bursa" which means bag or purse.

From Engadget comes news of OnStar-equipped vehicles in which the engine can be remotely (partially) disabled. I find this incredibly chilling. In fact, I will not knowingly buy a vehicle that, as equipped from the factory, someone can either remotely download telemetry from or remotely modify the behavior of. Frankly, I think we need a law requiring that any vehicle so equipped contain a note on the sales sticker and in the owner's manual disclosing that this feature exists... because I fear manufacturers may institute such features surreptitiously. Who's with me?

Ever been in a relationship that was harmful to you but you couldn't quit it because of the good sex, or at least sex? Yeah, me too. Well, the relationship between Americans and their health insurance providers is like that. Specifically, I claim that, though we have a number of fundamental problems with our healthcare system, the worst among them is that insurers have a sort of oligopsony[1] power that causes all of us and particularly those of us who don't have insurance to get screwed. Moreover, since insurance stands between people and their healthcare (for people who have it, anyways), it tends to remove the immediate incentive for people to care about the value they receive for their expenditure. I mean, do you even know what your insurer paid your doctor for your last office visit? I will admit that I don't, and I think few people do. Right now, a lot of intellectual and political energy is being expended debating (usually acrimoniously) what we're going to do and who will pay. Sadly but unsurprisingly, I hear much less being said about how much will be paid and how the system can be restored to a state of efficiency.
( I would really like for all of you to read this, but I'm cutting it for the benefit of your friends view. It's a little long... )

Tennessee and Missouri are tied for "(US) state that borders the most other states", each with eight:

Tennessee: Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri

Missouri: Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska

...this item from Cake Wrecks. Immediately. I'm serious. Go. Now.

Current Mood: giggly

I should make a couple of posts, one being an update on my life and another being a treatise on healthcare reform, but this is going to be neither of those. If you like trains, you owe it to yourself to check out Danny Harmon's YouTube page. He's a television professional by day and it shows in the quality of his videos, particularly the narration. Highly recommended!

Really, I do. One of the finest singer/songwriters (emphasis on the songwriter part) to have ever graced the earth with his presence... but even Homer nods once in a while and there is no excuse for "Lay, Lady, Lay."

There's a relatively new series on Science Channel called Catch It Keep It and sometimes I watch it because it's sort of engaging. However, tonight, the show's "technical expert", Mike Senese, made two technical gaffes for which I must call him out:

- He said that thermite is made from iron and aluminum oxide. That's wrong, it's iron oxide and aluminum.

- He said, of thermite, "this is the stuff they use to weld railroad ties together." Railroad ties are the things that are made of wood or concrete and run perpendicular to the rails and support them. One doesn't weld railroad ties at all. One welds the rails themselves (to each other, end to end, producing long lengths of what is in effect a continuous rail with no joints)... and though it's true that thermite is used for this purpose, in industrialized nations it's usually now done by electric resistance welding since that gives better results.

Current Mood: pedantic

Tonight, my date and I attended Theatre@First's Festival@First 6: Tables Turned and we both enjoyed it very much. Those of you reading this who are in the Boston area who haven't already seen it (and aren't performing in it :) ) should go! Last two shows are Friday (7/31) and Saturday (8/1) at 8pm.

The piece that surrealestate directed was great. As for you, my dear cthulhia, you were awesome. AWESOME. srsly. So good.

Current Mood: happy

Sputnik ate through the power cord for my cable modem. Damn you, Sputnik, you win this time.

In general, I don't really talk about my day job here because ethics and my agreements with my employer prohibit me from talking about most of it and further I fear that a lot of you would find it boring. Today, however, I am making an exception.

Sonos has now released its second-generation handheld controller, the CR200. I have had a large hand in the design and implementation of this device, especially its touch screen, and I must say that I'm rather proud... so check it out.

Iceland just applied for membership in the EU. While that's not as much like hell freezing over as if Switzerland had applied, I didn't expect it - and before Iceland's financial meltdown I would have said it was inconceivable.

Current Mood: surprised

There is a new SpongeBob SquarePants album, "SpongeBob's Greatest Hits." It features an original contribution from Pink called "We've Got Scurvy." It is, in fact, rather catchy.

Current Mood: Let's get this scurvy started

The All Star Sandwich Bar Jack Burger:

Beef patty? Yup.
Pepper jack cheese? Check.
BBQ sauce? Yes.
Bacon? Hell yeah!
Onion strings? Affirmative.

with lettuce and tomato (so you know it's healthy!) on a grilled brioche roll. I'm so full.

The "Baked Gloucester Scrod" at Henrietta's Table last night was equal to the best haddock that I have had in my life. It was impeccably fresh, perfectly cooked, and had a modest quantity of buttery crumbs on top. Highly recommended if, as I sometimes do, you like a very plain dish that has been made essentially as well as possible. The roasted potatoes that I got to go with it were also good.

Sure is stormy here again, after three days of lovely weather. I hope the weather on Thursday is reasonable.

For some reason, I have music from the musical "1776" stuck in my head today[1]

[1] I believe that William Daniels[2] played John Adams in the original Broadway cast
[2] You know, the guy who played Dr. Craig on St. Elsewhere... and provided the voice for KITT on Knight Rider.

Current Mood: For God Sakes, John, Sit Down!