California Leftovers

Kyla is arriving back in Connecticut via Chicago as I type this, so it's just us leftovers here.

No backseat driving on the gravy making operation allowed!

Shortly after we returned our previous visitor, we got another one, because Kyla was so disappointed to miss him. This little guy, Roo, is about 4-5 weeks old, lineage inderminate, but still high on the cuteness quotient. Here he is with Garrett, lineage fairly well determinate if you don't count Ned Boone.

A better look at Kyla and the puppy.

Florida Thanksgiving

We picked up Joe and spent Thanksgiving at Ken and Sharon's. Justin was there with wife Dina and kids. Elliott is three and a half and a real charmer. Her little brother, Jude, is 9 months. It took Sharon to point out that we had the oldest and the youngest living Callaways in our midst. Another photo-op that eluded me. Dinner was delicious and Dad lasted almost until dessert before deciding it was time to go home. We talked to Keith and Missy and others at the Virginia celebration, and thought of the California and Hawaii contingents. A lot to be thankful for this year.

Frozen Bozo Fashion

Did George Mallory just end up freezing his ass off after climbing Everest? A re-creation of the climb in the same clothing might help clear things up.

"The typical myth of Mallory was that he was under-equipped and amateurish," said Mary Rose, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Lancaster University in the UK, who was inspired by the discovery of Mallory's body to attempt a recreation of his wardrobe.

In fact, she said: "We've found that he understood his clothing probably better than modern climbers.

"It was quite an advanced system; the silk gave wind-proofing, and the silk and woollen layers moved off each other so it was quite easy to climb."

One of my favorite fictional frozen bozo books is Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica. The story centers around "adventure vacations" in which people recreate famous journeys -- Scott and Amundsen's trek to the pole, Shackleton's journey to South Georgia, etc. You wouldn't want to recreate Scott's journey too accurately, but it maybe something for Missy to look into.

Steve and Joe's Seating

The upside is that we would be protected from the sweet potato pie missiles. There's a bit of California-Florida family politics in Joan Ryan's column, too, if anyone is up for it.

Turkey Day

I have enjoyed Keith's stories about hunting wild turkey, so I thought he might enjoy this article about turkey Berkeley style. Kinda takes the fun out of the whole thing when you have to shoo them away. Of course, in politically correct Berkeley, people will name the turkeys and defend them before engaging in any population control.

Texting

Dara pointed me at this article, noting that she had tried to get Mom turned on to the text message thing but to no avail.

"The key factor in whether you like to do this is age," says Lewis Ward, an analyst for IDC, a worldwide market research company. "Teenagers and younger adults are more likely to do text messaging and IM (instant messaging)."

I used to think, "Who needs yet another way to communicate. I've got a phone, a cell phone, email, and instant messenger. I need another way to stay connected like I need a hole in the head." Still, I think we're finding text messaging to be more useful and less obtrusive than a cell phone call, so we're doing it quite a bit. After this article, I can feel young and trendy while I'm at it. These factors are not to be underestimated as I home in on the big five oh.

Fun and Games

I admit I was pissed after tha Tampa Bay Game, yesterday I spent a full day in the woods in a tree with temps around 20 and saw no horns, that was also frustrating. Today We are going to fed-ex field to see the skins play Oakland. Its not likely but even if they lose and I fell into some deep dark depression over my lack of sporting success over the last couple of weeks I can assure everyone I won't go under the knife. When things don't go my way in these matters I always quote Dad "Its just nice to be out there". When you think about it, win or lose it is nice to be there. My fantasy team is another story, if I slip one more spot on the standings I may at least shave or get a haircut. When you lose at that you can't even say you were there to enjoy it.

Sports Obsession

Via BoingBoing, I thought I'd pass along this story of an obsessed sports fan who castrated himself when his team won (you can watch an annoying ad to read the story without registering).

Geoffrey Huish, 31, performed the impromptu self-surgery in February when his beloved Wales beat world champions England.

After performing the deed, Mr Huish put his severed anatomy in a bag and took them to his local social club to show fellow fans.

After watching Tampa Bay beat the Redskins last weekend, I offer this as a warning to Keith.

Paranoia Explained

I bet Kyla's senior research project was not as fun as this study at MIT on the effectiveness of aluminum foil helmets in blocking radio signals. The conclusion was shocking, though:

The helmets amplify frequency bands that coincide with those allocated to the US government between 1.2 Ghz and 1.4 Ghz. According to the FCC, These bands are supposedly reserved for ''radio location'' (ie, GPS), and other communications with satellites (see, for example, [3]). The 2.6 Ghz band coincides with mobile phone technology. Though not affiliated by government, these bands are at the hands of multinational corporations.

It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC. We hope this report will encourage the paranoid community to develop improved helmet designs to avoid falling prey to these shortcomings.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

Home Sweet Home

We had a nice but brief visit in Naples. Plenty of hurricane blogging material there -- a veritable gold mine of stories about uprooted trees and damaged roofs all going to waste. Unfortunately, we didn't bring a camera, and I didn't see Mom or Missy armed with one either. Uncle Joe and I had a spirited discussion about -- gasp -- politics. Some people!!! I suppose you might find most of middle America somewhere between where we each stand on almost every issue, but we agreed that the lost art of talking about things was a loss to all. From there it was on to Atlanta for me. I gave a keynote at a conference. I would give myself a C or C-. The lesson is that you should only do keynotes on topics in which you really have deep knowledge or experience, and I was only about halfway there on this particular conference's theme. On to Raleigh from there to visit with the group I have there, which was the highlight of my trip. Then to NY for a bit of excruciating negotiation on a business deal. I stayed in the Hudson Hotel. So chic-chic that it does not have a sign outside, and the lobby and rooms are incredibly dimly lit. The room was 59 degrees when I arrived, which would have been bad enough if I didn't have to get some work done sitting in the metal chair that was just as cold. I had Internet connectivity, but the phone did not work, and there was a half inch gap between the double-hung windows letting the strong wind blow in. After a $30 hamburger via room service, the night came to a little over $500. New York, gotta love it!

Off to Naples

It will be yet another whirlwind tour, but it's off to Naples tomorrow with Dara. Garrett, that workin' man, will be holding down the fort and the visiting puppy. Dara heads back on Monday while I go to Atlanta, Raleigh, and probably NY. As Dad says, you can rest when you get home. Yeah, like that'll work.

Unclear on the Concept

In my ongoing rant regarding intelligent design, I thought I'd note that Kansas, in (re)approving their agenda to downplay evolution in favor of intelligent design, has decided to redefine science.

In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.

In the good news category, though, residents of AJ and Ursula's new home decided to eject all the existing school board members who voted in favor of including intelligent design in the curriculum.

Dalmation Plantation

Well, maybe not dalmations, but we sure have dogs!!! This one followed Dara and Garrett home from Pets In Need today for what is believed to be a week long stay before being put up for adoption. It's hard to see her coloring, but she looks a lot like an Australian shepherd with a full tail.

Election Day in Kahleefawnyah

Ahnold's approval ratings seem to be tracking W's lately. If you don't know, though, we have a "special election" coming up tomorrow. That's the same kind of special election that brought us Ahnold a while back. He didn't want to wait to a regular election to try to push through a set of propositions for his so-called reform agenda. Propositions are what we use out here so the legislature doesn't have to make any difficult decisions. My general philosophy is to vote NO on everything, but occasionally I will get sucked into one, such as the stem cell research that is currently undergoing legal challenges in a thinly disguised effort by the religious right to tie things up. Sigh. I figured I can violate the no politics rule when it's about a state that all of you consider to be looney anyway.

One interesting and annoying phenomenon this time around has been the number of recorded messages coming our way. So far we've heard from Ahnold himself, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. John McCain, a distraught mother whose daughter had an abortion without telling her and feels a spankin' new law is just the trick to fix things, and today... Warren Beatty. It's pretty sad when you listen to the news and find that Arnold Schwarzenegger, Warren Beatty, and Rob Reiner would be in a three way tie if an election was held today. Personally I'm holding out for Martin Sheen. Or maybe Alan Alda or Jimmy Smits or Geena Davis.

Fall Family Weekend

I mentioned we were going to participate in Fall Family Weekend at Dan's school RMA, so I thought a short report was in order. It started off with a parade and flag ceremony which we chose not to attend, we got in the picture just in time for the speeches and introductions by faculty and administrators. Then mercifully it moved on to reportcard distribution and a little time to praise or reprimand your kid whichever was in order, fortunately for us it was all praise. This was followed by parents taking on their kids schedules and attending each class for a sort of group conference with the teachers. You could tell it was a tight spot for the teachers as they seemed to apreciate the abreviated schedule. That part was interesting to me just to see and meet some of the other parents and observe some very tough questioning by parents and the diplomatic skills of the teachers most were quite good. A nice lunch was served at the upper school then 1 on 1 conferences with the teachers, this is Kirsti's area of expertise, she knows the right questions and I sort of stand back and take in the results with an occational question or comment. The overall picture there for Dan seemed quite positive he is barely clinging to a B average but his grip is steadily improving as time goes by. The classes are challenging for him and the skills neccesary to do well are mostly new and he appears to be rising to the occasion. We were very pleased that in every class his participation grade is at least 98%. He has a generaly good attitude twoard school and is showing a real effort in all areas. So far Kirsti and I consider RMA to be one of our best decisions and couldn't be more pleased with the whole thing. It is still relatively new to Dan and us but are hopes are high for continued success.

Adventure Cruise

In case you thought cruise ships were just about endless buffets and lounge acts -- certainly my preconception -- it seems you can spice it up a bit if you cruise the Somalian coast:

A cruise ship sailing off Somalia has beaten back gunmen in speedboats who opened fire on it in an apparent pirate attack which terrified passengers.

At least two boats closed in on the Seabourn Spirit, reportedly firing automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade.

But crew took evasive action, repelling the attackers without returning fire.

One crew member was lightly injured in the early-morning incident in waters notorious for pirate attacks.

There may be a whole new class of adventure cruises coming out of this.

Flying Spaghetti Monster in Harrisburg

Did anyone else notice that the cornerstone legal case regarding schools teaching intelligent design is happening in Harrisburg, Pennsyslvania, the future home of AJ and Ursula. As I discussed before, at least they are working according to plan:

Phase III. Once our research and writing have had time to mature, and the public prepared for the reception of design theory, we will move toward direct confrontation with the advocates of materialist science through challenge conferences in significant academic settings. We will also pursue possible legal assistance in response to resistance to the integration of design theory into public school science curricula. The attention, publicity, and influence of design theory should draw scientific materialists into open debate with design theorists, and we will be ready. With an added emphasis to the social sciences and humanities, we will begin to address the specific social consequences of materialism and the Darwinist theory that supports it in the sciences.

Expect a ruling on the case in Harrisburg in January.

Marking wildlife

Danny is now seriously into paintball, I know this because it is one of the first things he willingly spends his own money on. Where did that kid learn to be so tight? Anyway last night we went out for some target practice, it was fun and he was a pretty good shot also, we were not able to get close enough to the neighborhood deer for a shot but ther are a couple of well colered rabbits in the woods out front and some very nervous rats down in the barn.

ohmmm

I went to hear the Dali Lama speak this morning. He was at Stanford University and the students signed up for a lottery to be able to buy tickets. A friend of mine, David, a student who works with Kyla at the lab in the summer asked if I wanted to go as he had won two tickets. Turns out they gave the students the best seats on the floor and we were so close the security guy was blocking us sometimes. It was fascinating. He mainly emphasized knowledge and compassion as a way to inner peace. I also learned they are constantly reevaluating their truths and concepts as experience shows them if something they had believed turns out to be false. The most surprising thing was how funny and jovial he was. Who knew the Dali Lama was such a card!

Boney's Tooth

Does anyone else remember Uncle Howard's Napoleon obsession? I saw this article about one of Napoleon's teeth being up for auction:

A tooth believed to belong to Napoleon Bonaparte is expected to fetch up to £8,000 at a Wiltshire auction.

The tooth is thought to have been pulled in 1817 when he suffered from a mouth inflammation diagnosed as scurvy.

What I remembered was seeing a magnifier of some kind at Mary&Howard's house inside of which was reputed to be one of Napoleon's hairs. Weird.

More Research in Support of the Obvious

You have to hand it to Wal-Mart that they seem to be taking an open look at what the real effect is of their race-to-the-bottom approach to wages and benefits. I have a feeling that maybe their marketing department may now reconsider the honesty-is-the-best-policy approach, though:

One study concluded that Wal-Mart's giant grocery and general merchandise Supercenters brought little net gain for local communities in property taxes, sales taxes and employment; instead, the stores merely siphoned sales from existing businesses in the area.

David Neumark, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, found that "residents of a local labor market do indeed earn less following the opening of Wal-Mart stores."

Worse yet, he wrote, is Wal-Mart's influence in the South, where it has its greatest concentration of stores. There, Neumark and his coauthors found, Wal-Mart has decreased retail employment and total employment.

Michael Hicks of the Air Force Institute of Technology and Marshall University found that each employee of Wal-Mart caused "the average state to expend just under $900 a year in Medicaid benefits."

This is outrageous. Clearly the solution is to cut Medicaid benefits.

Baby Time

My former business partner, Hal, and his wife LuAnn just had a baby. Suffice it to say that it's been a long journey for them, so it is great to see such a lovely result. Three pounds, ten ounces, but her lungs are in good shape and all signs are positive. I suspect there will be some dissention on this blog regarding Hal's comment that their new baby is "the most beautiful baby that ever was". You can click this link if you want to see his blog post about her, but even his new baby posting isn't suitable for the no politics rule here.