respublica

God bless all here and...

appy New Year!

February 2010

Last February brought tons of snow to our kids in the DC area.  One blizzard settled in and another came in on top of it.  The nation's capitol was shut down for 4 days, something which does not happen often. 

Dale and I went to Florida for a few days and we readied our gutted bathrooms for complete renovation.

Rural King opened in Collinsville.  Yay.

Other than that, St. Louis had its share of cold and snow, nothing like DC, but white ground.

Click to enlarge.

The collage maker wouldn't take this one, but it's just too cute to ignore, Riley in the DC snow.

New Year's Eve in Times Square

New York is expecting almost a million people in Times Square this evening, all to watch the crystal ball drop at midnight.

According to the news, the snow has been pretty much cleared out in the Times Square area.

And, many thousands of partiers will be coming hours ahead of midnight in order to get  good spot.  Problem is, once you get your spot you can't leave or you lose it.  There are also no public restrooms or port a potties nearby which makes having to go to the bathroom problematic. 

Those of us in the rest of the country tend to watch the NY new year's street party just to give thanks that we aren't standing shoulder to shoulder with a million others...out in the cold for hours.  Imagine trying to get home through that crowd afterward. 

If vendor are allowed to sell things, I'd bet someone will be selling those vuvuzela horns made popular during the World Cup.

A look back at January 2010

For the next few days I hope to post photo collages which best describe each month of 2010. 

January of last year was predominently cold.  Most of my photos from that month show snow, fog and cold.  However, last January was the start of the demolition of the old Collinsville WalMart to make way for Kohl's.  Our son in law was in France and Germany doing a two week MBA class. 

Also, Clayton began information meetings on the possibility of a dog park, the former mayor and his dog park co chairman are right smack in the middle of the collage.  A trip to the recyling separation plant in Earth City was the most exciting thing about last January.  And, Ferdie went to his first Seminary BB game.

But the month was mostly quiet and cold cold.

You can see things more clearly if you click to enlarge.

How to use a dining room

We have a dining room.  Actually 2 dining rooms.  But we rarely use either.

Well, that's not quite true.  We use the table for laying stuff on, stuff like mail, books, pens, laundry before it's taken upstairs, folders, gloves etc etc.

Eat there?  Maybe once a year.  It's pretty much a room with large pieces of furniture just taking up space.

Vern Yip, designer and HGTV personality, gives some advice on how to get more use out of that dining room.

Now that's digging out

Think New York City had a lot of snow to remove?

Look at this from Japan.  20 meters of snow.

What I learned on Twitter today

A study from University College in London (why do so many studies come out of the UK?) found that conservatives' brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other "primitive" emotions.

At the same time, conservatives' brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism.

If the study is confirmed, it could give us the first medical explanation for why conservatives tend to be more receptive to threats of terrorism, for example, than liberals. And it may help to explain why conservatives like to plan based on the worst-case scenario, while liberals tend towards rosier outlooks. 

So on Twitter #The Herminator said this:  "Study:  Liberals have larger 'gullibility center' in brain.  There.  Fixed that headline for them."

Words of the year 2010

Merriam Webster's annual "words of the year" list is out.  For 2010 the word Austerity is number one.  If you aren't sure what a word means, go to the link and click on the word.

Rounding out the list:

2.  Pragmatic

3.  Moratorium

4.  Socialism

5.  Bigot

6.  Doppelganger

7.  Shellacking

8.  Ebullient

9.  Dissident

10. Furtive

Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal has their own version of words of the year, much more fun than Merriam's, determined by how many times the word was used in WSJ articles over the past year.  Clicking into each little circle brings up a word, how many times it was used in 2010 and how many times it was used in 2009.  One of their words is 'jeggings' which are a combination jean/leggings type of pants made rather infamous by Conan O'Brien modeling them.

Garlic is good for your joints

Especially good for women. 

Researchers at King's College London and the University of East Anglia found that women who had a diet high in vegetables like garlic, onions and leeks have lower levels of hip osteoarthritis.

The study used women because women are more likely than men to develop osteoarthritis. 

Garlic is the big helper in this. 

Any chemistry geeks out there?

People in the chemistry department of the University of Nottingham have put together a video explanation of each element of the dreaded "Periodic Table of the Elements."

Click an individual symbol and a short video comes up with a smart person explaining that element in a way most of us can understand.

That chart used to give me hives, just looking at it brings back the peculiar smell common to most chemistry classrooms. 

But this makes things like Fe or Ni almost interesting.