Things learned in August, plus a little of July

Aug 31

• There is a book called how to read a French fry.
• Loading people onto a plane at random works better than loading by blocks. (link: http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=739022568&ids=0TczsScj8VcPsIc3oNdjcOejcTb3wUcj0McjwUdyMTcPoUcPoVcPsIe3oRcz8MejcT&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod-b-ttle-4)
• I had a pinhole leak in one of my pipes in the downstairs shower. (Fixed now, but I have to do something about the hole in the ceiling and the water damaged drywall.)

Aug 30

• One of the arguments for cutting Pell Grants is that they just encourage colleges to raise tuition.
• Viking cues (my 1st cue was a Viking, sadly lost) went out of business for a while but has reopened.
• Algae that live on coral produce a chemical that effectively works as sunscreen for the coral.

Aug 29

• I seem to have a slow leak above the basement shower. Need to call a plumber.
• Jim Morrison’s dad commanded an aircraft carrier.
• There is a Shiraz restaurant right at Hourstbourne & Shelbyville.

Aug 28

• I can still brake and run an 8-ball rack.
• An emperor penguin washed up in New Zeland, which is very rare last happening 44 years ago. (Said penguin is on his way back to antartica after recovering surgery to remove 3 lbs of sand from his stomach.
• A school superintendentLarry Powel gave back his 267K/year salary to have more money to use for school projects.

Aug 27

• DiOrio’s pizzia is tasty. (Good cheese, really liked the sauce, crust on the thin side, in between thin crust and hand tossed.)
• Testor’s company was once the world leader in balsa wood use. (I bought some model paints of theirs today.)
• Rafa has a book out. (My mom is already reading it.)

Aug 26

• Japanese PM Naoto Kan is stepping down after 15 months on the job.
• Huricane Irene may hit the Jersey Shore, among other places. (And the MTV show Jersey Shore is being called Macaroni Rascals in Japan, which has nothing to do with a hurricane.)
• A bomb was detonated in the Nigerian UN building today.

Aug 25

• Steve Jobs stepping down at Apple.
• Object which is most probably a Jupiter mass chunk of diamond orbiting a pulsar.
• Warren Buffet investing in BofA.

Aug 24

• Why quilts matter should start airing on KET2 on 9/5.
• Samsung Cites Kubrick's '2001' Film as Prior Art Defense Against Apple's Injunction Request. (I’m not even sure what that’s about, but I like the headline.)
• Banks create money when they issue loans in a fractional reserve system. (I already knew that, but now I understand it again.)

Aug 23

• Lybian rebels took control of Quadafi’s compound today.
• KBR wants an employee who sued over rape to pay their $2 million court bill.
• Homemade goat cheese doesn’t really taste like feta.

Aug 22

• There really is head shaving organized on St. Patrick’s day under the name of St. Baldrick’s day. (I thought my nieces were making things up.)
• There is also a St. Balderic who founded any abby in France in 7th century.
• The method for loading by Explicit ID changed between ParAccel version 2.5 and 3.1. (Set the seed to zero, load by explicit_id, and PA will set the new seed value appropriately.)

Aug 21

• There is a product known as: Castelll Morella Spanish ash coated hand poured goat cheese. (Not sure about the ash, but the rest sounds good.)
• http://www.coldbacon.com/cheese.html is a repository of cheese information.
• Lybian rebels have entered Tripoli.

Aug 20

• Cowboys and Aliens has been a disappointment at the box office, but I enjoyed it.
• Lucy Lawless got the role of Xena pretty much by accident.
• There was a mathmetician, David Hilbert, whose claim to fame was leaving the 20th century a list of 23 difficult to solve problems. (Some were solved quickly, some are still worked on today.)

Aug 19

• The British consul building in Kabal was attacked by gunmen.
• High frequency trading requires supercomputers to look for inconsistencies in the market and exploit them. (The inconsistencies may only last for a few seconds.)
• Estonia has the highest per capita wealth of the former Soviet republics.

Aug 18

• A bus carrying Israelis to a resort city was attacked by gunmen today.
• Nevin Shapirio claims he funneled cash, cars, and hookers to Miami college football players. (He is currently in jail for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme.)
• Shawn Johnson is recovering from major knee surgery.

Aug 17

• Rick Perry also does not believe in human caused climate change. (This guy is not going to be one of my favorites.)
• Two guys in England got 4 years in jail for suggesting a place for people to go riot even though no one (except the police) showed up.
• Monkey Picked Oolong tea tastes a lot like Iron Buddah Oolong.

Aug 16

• Rick Perry called the quantitative easing policy treasonous.
• China’s population now eats about 110 lbs of meat per person a year, about half of what the US population eats per person.
• My parents were among the last 28000 houses to have power restored.

Aug 15

• 128,000 houses out of power at the worst point after the storm.
• Time Warner wants to buy Insight.
• There is a restaurant that serves an escargot lollipop.

Aug 14

• Taggart’s Ice Cream parlor in Canton OH makes a milkshake (The Bittner) with ¾ pound of vanilla ice cream.
• The guy from Hootie & The Blowfish (Darrious something) is now a country singer.
• The alert siren in Hikes Point got blown down in the storm.

Aug 13

• I don’t have enough flashlights.
• Chatanooga billiards club is a good place to play pool.
• There are over 400 Firehouse Subs locations now.

Aug 12

• fg %[job #] pulls a job back into the forgeground. (The % is the key.)
• Birmingham is England’s second largest city. (About 500,000 larger than Manchester.)
• There is a book dedicated to competitive scrabble players. (http://www.amazon.com/Word-Freak-Heartbreak-Competitive-ScrabblePlayers/dp/0142002267)

Aug 11

• The IRS is going to start collecting cost basis information from mutual fund managers.
• The beginnings of trench warfare began in the US civil war.
• There is a really long live version of The Chambers Brothers Time Has Come Today (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuHfB63ln1Ig&h=mAQCmOrK1AQA-7-PN7B1tnug6aDSfXPUUcQ7fTJo3KKyoEQ) on uTube.

Aug 10

• Sarcophagus is Greek for flesh eating stone.
• Myoglobin is similar to hemoglobin, but is found in the muscles. (It’s not good if found in the blood.)
• Some HIV positive people have started getting tatoos (like the biohazard symbol) to advertise this fact.

Aug 9

• The Fed is going to keep interest rates low for about two years.
• London has brought in 10,000 police to try to prevent rioting tonight.
• Swearing will allow you to keep your hand in a bucket of ice cold water than would otherwise be possible. (However, the more often you swear on a daily basis reduces this effect.)

Aug 8

• The stock market had one of it’s worst days in history. (5.6 on the Dow Jones)
• London is experiencing it’s worst riots in 25 years
• CRPG Adict made a new post on 8/6.

Aug 7

• Ip Man was a Wing Chun martial artist and instructor of Bruce Lee. (Also a very entertaining movie.)
• An executor does things like cancel credit cards and collect any monies owed to the deceesed along with dividing up possesions according to the will.
• The last of my barbs died while I was away this weekend.

Aug 6

• There is a concoction known as stain paint.
• There is a purple people bridge connecting Cincinnati to Newport.
• There is a new provost at Xavier.

Aug 5

• There was a celebrated sniper called California Joe during the Civil War. (Although he may have been all or mostly hype. He was discharged for poor vision and senility about a year after enlisting.)
• The Mid Ohio Business Objects Users Group (MOBOUG) meets quarterly.
• Teachers and Professors tend to do better with large cash gifts (better = saving instead of spending) than do most other professions.

Aug 4

• About 3.5 million millionaires in the US.
• Mike Tyson and Snookie rumored to be DWTS contestants.
• Asian tiger mosquito probably made its way to the US in used tires.

Aug 3

• Dwarf Fortress got a write up in the New York Times.
• A woman in Sydney had a device removed from around her neck which may or may not have been a bomb.
• HMU means Hit Me Up; texting lingo for “call me”.

Aug 2

• Derby winner Ferdinand was slaughtered in Japan after failing as a stud horse.
• Tesla Motors is selling a luxury EV for about 50K.
• Under pressure (behind) soccer goalies tend to dive right.

Aug 1

• MTV went on the air (err, cable?) on this day 30 years ago.
• Fall River Manufacturing will make items out of anything from plastic, to carbon steel.
• There is an awesome video of 2 chess pieces being milled on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXUHZxweBcw&feature=related

July 31

• APA anual dues are now $25 a year instead of 20.
• The local NPR station airs a program from Radio Netherlands Worldwide called Earth Beat on Sunday nights. (I thought they just pulled from BBC broadcasts.)
• BBC’s Nut Brown Ale is pretty tasty.

July 30

• Chip was invited to Sarah & Richard’s wedding during the time I lent him my copy of The Watchmen. (Graphic novel)
• Buckheads at the Gardner Lane shopping center seems to use a custom video/audio program for the restaurant. (Mostly Queen and AC/DC while we ate there today.)
• The Thundercats reboot has received good reviews by friends and family.

July 29

• Amy Winehouse may have died after going cold turkey.
• Boehner’s debt bill got out of the house today.
• Mauritian noodles look a lot like Ramen.

July 28

• The Durbin ammendment of the Frank Dodd financial reform act goes into effect Oct 1 modifying the way credit card fees are charged.
• There is a severe drought in the horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya), the worst in 60 years.
• Glen Beck compared the Norwegian Youth Labor Party camp to the Hitler youth. (While sponsoring vacation liberty schools this summer for US children.)