27.Dec.2005
Last Post of 2005
Happy Xmas everyone! BKD and I enjoyed ours, particularly our version of the traditional full Scottish breakfast, which consisted of vegetarian haggis, vegetarian sausage (or "bangers"), hash browns, and fried eggs.
The Eve and Day were spent making cookies, which is what boys end up doing when they live with girls. It so happens that I have a natural ability for rolling cookie dough. Our cookies tasted better than they looked. I guess you could say the same for the breakfast.
We ran out of time on the 25th to climb Arthur's Seat (it's easy to forget that the afternoon ends at about 3), so we left it for Boxing Day. I was surprised to find out that Boxing Day has nothing to do with fist fights—almost as surprised as the guy I punched on the way up the hill. Just kidding.
This week everyone seems to take it real easy around here. Stores close early if they open at all, so it pays to have a good supply of food at home. This is the run-up to Edinburgh's Hogmanay, one of the the largest New Year's Eve celebrations in the world.
This will be the last entry for 2005. I think from now on I will post new entries on the main page and create a link for the archive. So, if you've got this page bookmarked or arrived here looking for the latest content, you should make sure you update your records. See you next year!
07.Dec.2005
Electric Kettle Land
[Update 24.Jan.2006: This entry has been updated. New data are included and statements about electricity generation efficiency are corrected.]
Many Americans think of the British as namby-pamby, hoity-toity tea drinkers. Well, they do like their tea here, but there is nothing namby-pamby about our 3 kilowatt electric tea kettle! BKD and I had to buy a tea kettle when we moved into our new flat, which did not include one in the furnishings (the old flat did). While I was originally a skeptic because of their sleek, plasticky modern-ness, I am now an electric kettle devotée. Besides, one is hard pressed to find a traditional stove-top kettle for sale in Edinburgh. (I should note that our electric kettle is used for making coffee as much as it is for tea.)
I recently read a Slate article comparing boil-times of various stove-top tea kettles to an electric, countertop model, where the author measured the amount of time it took to boil 4 cups of water in each. The stovetop kettles (on a gas range set to high) boiled the water in times ranging from 7:45 to 9:30, while the electric kettle that he tested (the Bodum Ibis, rated 1500 watts at 110 volts) only took 4:25.
This prompted me to try the same experiment with ours, which has a power rating of 3000W at 240V. The result: 4 cups of cold tap water boiled in 1:50! For comparison, I boiled 4 cups in a medium-sized, covered saucepan on an appropriately sized gas burner (the largest burner shoots the flames out around the pot instead of under it) and it took 7:45, which oddly enough ties the best time from the Slate article.
The reason why our kettle totally rocks is of course found in Ohm's law for power: Power equals Voltage times Current. The current-carrying capacity of the wiring in the UK is about the same as in the US, but the voltage is over twice as much; thus UK appliances have the benefit of more available power. (Hmm, I bet the blenders here could puree a frozen sea bass!)
According to the Whirlpool Range Capacity and Flexibility Buying Guide, the rate of thermal output of gas stove-top burners vary between 5000 and 12,500 BTUs per hour, with a medium-sized burner putting out 9000 BTU/h. Since 1 watt is about 3.413BTU/h, that's a range of 1465 to 3977 watts, with a medium burner at 2637W.
Based on observation, it is fairly easy to figure out why an electric kettle boils water faster than an old-school kettle on a gas burner. A lot of the heat from the burning gas just flows around the kettle (heating the handle as the author of the Slate article complains) while the heating element of the electric kettle is in direct contact with the water. This is particularly clear in the US, where a 1500W electric kettle boils water in 46-57% of the time it takes a gas burner—which may have twice the theoretical output—to do the same thing.
The Whirlpool guide says that a 6-inch electric stove-top coil has a rating of 1500W, while an 8-inch coil is 2600W. My Mom did a little data collection for me in the US: "On our Whirlpool electric, 7-inch diameter coil, Revere Ware teapot, 4 cups of cold water from the tap took 4:40 to the whistle blow." Let's assume the 7-inch coil is about 2000W. This setup nearly ties the time for the Bodum electric kettle, but it's using more power and taking a little more time. Some of this discrepancy may come from the fact that the electric kettle is plastic and therefore more insulative. Poor conductivity between the stove coil and the bottom of the kettle is most likely the greatest factor.
Of course, this all boils down to energy efficiency, not simply time savings. As you can see from the following table, the amount of energy (in watt hours, or Wh) required to boil the water is about the same for the two electric kettles, even though one took more than twice as long as the other. Using a gas stove to boil water requires over three times as much energy, much of which goes to heat the air in the kitchen instead of heating your tea water. (Watts are an expression of the rate of energy used over time; multiplying this rate by time yields the amount of energy used. The watt hour is the unit of energy that most people are familiar with, because most electricity bills are in terms of kilowatt hours, but scientists prefer joules. One watt equals one joule per second. One watt hour is equal to 3600 joules.)
| Method | Power (watts) | Time (hours) | Energy (Wh) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK electric kettle | 3000 | 0.031 | 92 |
| US electric kettle | 1500 | 0.074 | 110 |
| US 7-inch electric coil | 2000 | 0.077 | 154 |
| Med-sized gas burner | 2637 | 0.129 | 341 |
Just looking at these numbers might make you want to buy an electric kettle so you can stop wasting energy, but so far we have only looked at efficiency at the point of use. We need to step back and look at the whole picture. It might surprise you to learn that electricity generation is terribly inefficient (then again, if you've read this far then you are the sort of person who should know this). This is particularly true in thermal power plants (e.g. coal, gas, wood, and even nuclear), which use a fuel to raise steam to drive a steam turbine. A typical coal- or gas-fired power plant is only about 35% efficient, meaning that almost two-thirds of the energy in the fuel is lost as waste heat, with the remaining energy being converted to electricity. A modern combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant is about 50% efficient, because it recovers waste heat from a gas turbine and uses it to raise steam for a steam turbine.
There are also losses associated with the distribution of electricity. Transmission and distribution losses in the US in 1995 were 7.2%. It is about the same in the UK. So, even a CCGT power plant is less than half efficient at converting the energy in natural gas to electricity that you can use in your home. For comparison, natural gas distribution losses in the UK are under 10%.
So, the electric kettle is about 3 times more efficient than a kettle on a gas burner. But delivered electricity generally represents only a third of the energy contained in the primary energy source. Distribution losses are almost the same between the two. What to do?
In terms of environmental impact, the most important thing to consider is greenhouse gas emissions. If you have an electric stove, buy an electric kettle—it is more efficient no matter the fuel used to generate your electricity. (If you heat your tea water in the microwave one cup at a time you will be even more efficient, but some tea drinkers do not like the taste of microwaved water.) If you have a gas stove, there are several factors to consider. If you live in an area where most of your electricity comes from a coal-fired power plant, you will be responsible for fewer greenhouse gas emissions if you make your tea on a gas burner. If your electricity comes from sources like hydroelectric, nuclear, wind, or solar, which compared to coal and gas produce far less (but not zero) greenhouse gas emissions per unit of electricity delivered, then you would do better to use an electric kettle. If your electricity comes from a modern natural gas-fired CCGT power plant, you should go with the electric kettle, because the power plant uses the gas more efficiently than your stove-top kettle does.
The economic argument is fuzzy. According to the US Department of Energy's 2005 figures for representative average unit costs of energy, electricity is nearly two and a half times more expensive than natural gas. This works out to about a penny to boil the 4 cups of water using an electric kettle in the US, compared to about 1.3 cents using gas. If you make a lot of tea this could add up to a lot of money in a year, but cost does not seem to be much of a factor on a per-cup basis. However, if the recent hiccups in the gas supply from Russia are any indication of what is to come, it is possible that the cost difference could widen.
Final Thoughts
I should stress that this discussion only applies to kettles. Heating your house with electricity is almost always the worst thing you can do (especially if you try it with a microwave). Modern gas boilers for the home are pushing 90% efficiency. A well-designed wood stove (one that runs very hot and burns most of the flue gases before they are released) is also a great way to go. Passive solar heating is the best, but in many places it still requires a supplemental heat source.
You might want to get an electric kettle depending on your circumstances. If you have an electric stove instead of a gas one, and you like to make lots of tea, I highly recommend one of these both for the sake of convenience and for efficiency. Those with gas stoves might do better to have an electric kettle as well, though there are situations where this would be worse for the environment. The best thing to do from an environmental standpoint would be not to drink coffee or tea at all, but that would be unthinkable. On the other hand, some people drink hot beverages as a substitute for heating their house, which would use a lot more energy than boiling a few cups of water.
There are some improvements that I would like to see if I could build my own electric kettle (actually I could, but I don't feel like it). I would prefer that the vessel be made of stainless steel instead of plastic, which is icky. I would also like the whole thing to be insulated so the recently heated water doesn't cool down as quickly. A variable temperature control would be nice: there is no need for the water to come to a full boil when making coffee or tea, and in fact many afficionados prefer that it doesn't. Issues such as these, with respect to efficiency, are raised in a recent report on the kettle market prepared for the British government.
It is essential that you only boil as much water as you need, no matter how you boil it. This is why electric kettles with wide bottoms are bad: the minimum water content to keep the heating element from overheating is several cups, while many people only need one or two cups at a time.
There is yet another difficult subject to think about, but is probably best left for another time: peak electricity demand. Unlike natural gas, electricity is difficult to store. Electricity suppliers need to adjust their supply as demand fluctuates throughout the day. In the UK there are big jumps in demand in the morning and around tea time (probably more to do with electric lights coming on), and demand spikes as much as 2 gigawatts immediately after a football match as fans run for the electric kettle. This means that electric suppliers need to build enough generating capacity in order to handle the large spikes in demand, even though they may not need to operate at full capacity all the time. If a million people in New England decide to turn on their electric kettles at exactly the same time, the grid will see a 4.5 minute spike in demand of 1500 megawatts (more than the capacity of one typical nuclear power plant). This could cause a serious problem if the grid is not prepared to handle the sudden jump. The need for additional capacity to handle the extra demand is also an environtmental problem: building a power plant has serious environmental impacts, and coal and gas-fired plants sometimes need to keep turbines idling in anticipation of demand spikes.
30.Nov.2005
It's getting dark
Sunset today was 15:45 GMT, but yesterday I could still see well enough to operate a camera at 16:30. We'll only lose another 7 minutes of afternoon daylight between now and December 18. After that we can look forward to summer, when the sun goes to bed not long before I do (but gets up much earlier).
I will not link to the New York Times
I like the New York Times web site. I've probably purchased the paper version less than 20 times in my whole life, but I have to say that over the last few years, when I've had consistent web access, I would check the headlines and surf their online articles at least once a day. I haven't done it very often, but in instances in the past when I have linked to the Times, you will now find that only the first 50 words of the article are displayed. This is followed by an offer to buy access to the archived piece. I think this has been their policy for a while, even before they started their TimesSelect subscription service (behind which they hide their opinion columnists and high-profile articles). But now they call it the "TimesSelect Archive", and the shelf life of their free online content seems to have shortened to about a week, after which you have to pay $3.95 to read a single article. (Or, you can join the subscription service.)
My reason for not linking to the Times very frequently in the past was because one has to log in to a free account in order to see anything past the front page. This was not such a big deal, but an inconvenience to the reader if they don't have an account already. Now I don't see any point in linking to anything on the New York Times site if the content won't be there later if you don't want to pay for it. There I go again, feeling entitled to free stuff.
I certainly don't expect Deathbike.net to be around for a zillion years, but it is nice not to have link rot start within a matter of days. I'll still read the New York Times site (the paper copy here in Edinburgh is a day late and wicked expensive) and I'll probably quote them. Whether the New York Times will suffer or prosper under this new business model—well, these two articles (which should stay where I left them) discuss the issue much better than I can:
- In the Guardian: "Newspapers must choose between revenue and reach" by Emily Bell
- In Slate: "Will pay Web sites succeed like HBO? Why TimesSelect is not like cable TV" by Mickey Kaus
Meanwhile, if you didn't know already, you can get some of the TimesSelect opinion columns for free at truthout.org.
Firefox
According to my site statistics, about 71% of visitors to this site are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, while about 18% are using Firefox. This is encouraging; the last time I checked MSIE was in the high 80's. But it's not nearly good enough. If you are reading this and you're still using Explorer, please, for the love a cryin' out Pete's sake, please switch to Firefox right bloody now!
If 13 terribly funny reasons to switch to Firefox aren't enough for you, maybe a list of the nifty extensions you can choose and add all by yourself will help convince you.
The first extension I ever installed was ForecastFox, no doubt because I inherited my father's near-obsessive compulsive tendency to check the weather.
You know that weird feeling you get sometimes? When you just can't shake the need to know how Abe Vigoda is doing? Well, now you can always be sure of Abe Vigoda's status while you browse using Firefox.
It's really important to keep your mind open to other cultures, and learning another language is always a good way to do that. The Bork! Bork! Bork! Firefox extension allows you to view any page as if it were written by the Swedish Chef.
Okay, that's just silly. Everyone will have different preferences, but here are some of the extensions that I really put to good use, particularly when doing research for school:
Finally, now that they've released Firefox 1.5 some of the older extensions are incompatible. Here is a simple hack to make older extensions work in Firefox 1.5.
28.Nov.2005
Global Warming v. Terrorism
The following quote is from a November 14, 2005 article ("Gore makes sustainable investment his business") in the Australian newspaper The Age. The article is about Al Gore's new business venture, a British-based sustainable investing company called Generation Investment.
The refusal of the US and Australia to sign the Kyoto pact that Gore helped draft clearly annoys the former US vice-president. He draws parallels between those who dispute global warming, and its investment implications, with Neville Chamberlain and others who wanted to appease the Nazis before World War II.
Winston Churchill warned in the 1930s that a storm was gathering and democratic nations would be forced to "sip from the bitter cup" until they reasserted their moral authority.
"The time of half-measure has passed. We are entering a period of consequences," says Gore, quoting Churchill.
"What changed in the US with hurricane Katrina was a feeling that we have entered a period of consequences and that bitter cup will be offered to us again and again until we exert our moral authority and respond appropriately," he says. "I don't want to diminish the threat of terrorism at all, it is extremely serious, but on a long-term global basis, global warming is the most serious problem we are facing."
Emphasis has been added to that last statement because it has caused quite a furor. The freepers are foaming at the mouth, ever eager for another opportunity to bash the previous administration. The National Association of Manufacturers blog responds by saying that there are "plenty of folks that doubt the theory of global warming," citing the Association of British Drivers (whose myths/facts list is bereft of references) and JunkScience.com (industry flack Steven J. Milloy's soapbox). A political cartoon by Wayne Stayskal, titled "Al Gore Says 'Global Warming' More Serious Than Terrorists", depicts three bomb-strapped men preparing to leave their hideout when one of them stops and says, "Wait, I changed my mind… Let's do real damage! Let's rent cars and spew exhaust fumes into the atmosphere!"
Terrorism is a very emotional subject. In these times of heightened sensitivity, if one were to read Gore's statement quickly and rush to a judgement, it would be easy—especially for someone who already dislikes him—to become indignant. As one commentator suggested, Gore would have a hard time explaining himself if he were locked in a room full of family members of September 11 victims (or, indeed, those who have suffered from suicide bombings in Iraq).
Let us set aside the emotion of terrorism. Forget, if you can, politics. Overlook Gore's heavy-handed invocation of Churchill. Read his last statement again, carefully, and think about it. Because he is right. "Long-term". "Global".
Basics of Climate Change
A prerequisite here is that you believe in climate change, though you do not necessarily have to agree that it is caused by human activity. The Milankovitch theory states that the cyclical variations in Earth's orbit around the sun (resulting in variations in insolation, or incoming solar radiation) are responsible for the ice age/interglacial cycles that the planet goes through every 100,000 years or so. Fluctuations in global temperature coincide with the Milankovitch cycles, as do atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane. (See ice core data from Vostok, Antarctica; see also a comparison of CO2 concentrations and temperature data from Vostok.)
A problem is that the 100,000-year orbit fluctuation (causing variations in insolation) alone is not enough to explain the change in planetary temperature; there are positive feedback loops that link the planet's temperature to various atomospheric gas concentrations. One feedback loop is that increased insolation causes ice and snow to begin melting, which reduces the percentage of sunlight that is reflected (known as albedo) by the earth's surface. Reflected solar radiation passes back through the atmosphere almost as easily as it comes in, but solar energy that is absorbed by Earth's surface is emitted as terrestrial long-wave radiation that does not pass through the atmosphere so readily. This raises the global temperature some more, melting more snow and ice and perpetuating the feedback loop. It also starts other loops: melting snow and ice means more atmospheric water vapor as well as more methane escaping from previously buried decaying organic material. Water vapor and methane (along with carbon dioxide and other gases) are very effective at trapping terrestrial long-wave radiation, thus continuing to increase Earth's temperature.
This is the basic premise of the greenhouse effect: atmospheric gases prevent a portion of terrestrial radiation from escaping to outer space. There are no politics here. This is a scientific fact that keeps us all from freezing to death.
Equilibrium (constant average global temperature) is reached when the amount of energy from the sun that reaches Earth is equal to the amount that is radiated back into space. We have been in a relative state of equilibrium for around 10,000 years.
CO2 and Temperature: Recent Trends
According to ice core and direct measurement data, atmospheric CO2 held steady at around 275ppm since at least 1000 AD, began climbing in the late 1700's, and has been climbing steadily since then, most recently pushing 380ppm. (See a graph of carbon dioxide concentration, 1006–1978 based on ice core data from Law Dome, Antarctica, and a graph of monthly average carbon dioxide concentration since 1958, measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii.)
Temperatures did not vary wildly over the last 1000 years, but have taken a comparatively dramatic jump in the last century. (See a graph of global and hemispheric temperature anomalies, 1856–2004, and Global, hemispheric, and zonal temperature deviations derived from radiosonde records, both from Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.)
There is a lag here: global average temperature is not going to rise immediately with increasing greenhouse gases. Skeptics of climate change tend to bring this up as if to prove it is a myth. However, anyone with even a basic understanding of how the greenhouse effect works should realize that the large increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere must have consequences, even if they are not glaringly obvious for some time.
Latest Information
According to the Vostok ice core data, CO2 concentrations peaked at 298ppm about 325,000 years ago, the highest value in the last 420,000 years. Analysis of a new Antarctic ice core (EPICA Dome C) published in the November 25 issue of the journal Science and covered in a BBC News article ("CO2 'highest for 650,000 years'" by Richard Black) shows that carbon dioxide and methane concentrations never got as high as today's levels in the previous 650,000 years. From the BBC article:
"One of the most important things is we can put current levels of carbon dioxide and methane into a long-term context," said project leader Thomas Stocker from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
"We find that CO2 is about 30% higher than at any time, and methane 130% higher than at any time; and the rates of increase are absolutely exceptional: for CO2, 200 times faster than at any time in the last 650,000 years."
Future Implications
Whether humans are responsible for the sudden rise in greenhouse gas concentrations is only half relevant. The fact is that they are increasing at an alarming rate and scale. If human activity is responsible, it may be possible to reverse the trend. If these changes are natural, it is unlikely that anything can be done to counter them. Either way, we are witnessing the beginning of a climatic feedback loop from which we may not recover, the likes of which the planet has not seen in over half a million years.
As greenhouse gas concentrations increase, global temperature will rise due to the terrestrial long-wave radiation (heat) that is prevented from radiating to space. There is evidence that this could lead to an increased intensity of tropical storms like hurricane Katrina. Spread of insect-borne diseases such as Lyme disease and malaria will increase. Sea levels are rising and will continue to do so, threatening millions of people living in coastal areas. Some areas will lose arable land, leading to food shortages. The potential human—and financial—costs of climate change are staggering.
The threat is serious enough for the Pentagon to commission a report ("An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security" by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall) describing a worst-case climate scenario and its effect on geo-political stability.
Conclusions
Is Al Gore suggesting that we forget about terrorism and only focus on global warming? Probably not. However, in terms of potential widespread and sustained death and destruction, climate change is a far greater threat than terrorism (barring a successful nuclear attack, granted). Another way to look at it is that climate change could be yet another impetus for terrorism, or conflict in general (organized, state-sponsored violence is just as destructive as guerilla violence, if not more) due to shrinking regional resources and forced migrations. While it is likely that most damage will occur in the poorest parts of the world (which should not make it any less of a concern), recent events have shown that the US is not impervious either to the weather or to attacks from small groups of angry people, no matter their motivation.
Oil, terrorism, and climate change are inextricably linked. Like it or not, there is little doubt that the burning of fossil fuels over the last 150 years is responsible for the unprecedented level of CO2 in our atmosphere today. And while religion may be the vehicle, it is no secret that the West's involvement in the Middle East in the 20th and 21st centuries—the primary reason for which has always been oil—is the fuel for the particular brand of terrorism that is being exported from that part of the world.
There is no way to end terrorism by trying to prevent terrorist acts; the way to end it is to eliminate the cause. Climate change cannot be stopped at this point: temperatures would continue to rise for some time even if all greenhouse gas emissions ended today. However, its effects may be reduced. There is no question that it is important to be prepared for the symptoms of terrorism and climate change. The solution to both problems begins with ending dependence on petroleum.
Further Reading
- "Earth's Energy Imbalance: Confirmation and Implications", from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
- "Methane's Impacts on Climate Change May Be Twice Previous Estimates", from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
- Climate Forcing Data, from the NOAA Paleoclimatology Program
- "Greenhouse-gas levels highest for 650,000 years", from news@nature
05.Nov.2005
Crazy-ass British holiday number four hundred eighty-seven
For a few weeks now, stores in Edinburgh have been selling fireworks in preparation for Bonfire Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Night. Fawkes is famous for failing to blow up Parliament on 5 November, 1605 in an attempt to assassinate King James I. The night of 5 November is spent blowing up fireworks and lighting bonfires on which to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes and, sometimes, the Pope. It is difficult to tell whether people are celebrating the assassination attempt, its failure, or both.
Each of the past several nights have been punctuated by occasional explosions (practice, I guess). The fireworks they sell here are huge; I swear there are rockets the size of beer bottles with three foot long sticks, and mortars as big as salad bowls.
The effigy of Fawkes is known as "the Guy", and traditionally children will walk the streets with their dummy asking for "a penny for the Guy". They spend the money on fireworks and are on their way to a hell of an evening burning stuff and blowing things up.
Tonight there are explosions everywhere, the sound bouncing around the stone canyons that make up our neighborhood. We had a couple of scares during our run around the Meadows as errant rockets whizzed through the darkness. So far tonight I have not seen any bonfires or effigies, though I did see a burning car on the television as we jogged past a pub; presumably it was coverage of either the Paris riots or the Argentina protests.
31.Oct.2005
The night before Halloween
Last night BKD and I went with friends to see F.W. Murnau's classic silent film, Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens. This wasn't an ordinary screening: it was at Edinburgh's incredibly ornate Usher Hall, and the film was accompanied by a live performance on an enormous pipe organ.
The film was much funnier than I expected it to be, but I imagine it was pretty scary when it was originally released. Granted, the acting in silent films is almost always hokey by necessity. But some of the special effects in this film are hilarious, such as the sped-up frame rate used to simulate a supernaturally driven stagecoach, or the jerky stop-motion photography showing coffins and things moving by way of spooky telekinesis. The translation of the original German text into English made for a few laughs as well (would 19th-century Romanians say "creepy"?).
On the other hand, Murnau made excellent use of shadow at certain points in the film, and Max Schreck's rat-like vampire is probably the 'creepiest' ever.
As an aside, if you're interested in this film then you might also like to see Shadow of the Vampire, a 2000 movie starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalization of the filming of Nosferatu, where Dafoe's Max Schreck/Count Orlok is really a vampire and Malkovich's Murnau exploits his realism for the film (despite the mounting body count of crew members). Willem Dafoe is even scarier than usual in this role. Like the original, it's as darkly funny as it is spooky.
After the movie we all went back to our friends' place to carve pumpkins (BKD's and mine is below). Of course we roasted the seeds and ate them, along with some delicious (but spooky) cookies, while we watched a couple of episodes of Buffy.
The night before the night before Halloween
On the 29th BKD and I went to see Erin McKeown play live in Edinburgh. It's funny: I missed a couple of chances to see her play in New England this summer, and I was walking down the street last week and saw a poster for her show here. Sadly, not very many people were as enthusiastic about it as I was, as there were only about 30 or 40 people there, and Erin had to repeatedly ask people to move closer to the stage. She was really friendly and put on a great performance despite the small, shy crowd. She's an amazing talent and I highly recommend picking up her CD's (and seeing her play live if you can).
25.Oct.2005
Keeping the gods cool
I just finished this month's unit at school, which focused primarily on heat transfer and thermal comfort in buildings. During one of the seminars I learned an interesting tidbit about the columns on Greek temples. There is a study that suggests the scalloped cross section of the columns was included not only for aesthetics, but to also keep the gods cool. As wind blows between the columns and the inner part of the building the rough surfaces of the columns create turbulence. As we all know, turbulent airflow facilitates heat transfer; a breeze passing through the temple would therefore remove heat energy from the stone structure more rapidly with scalloped columns than with smooth columns.
Or maybe they do just look prettier that way.
Y'alright?
I've written about British/American language differences before. The latest I'd like to comment on is the greeting, "Y'alright?" (or just "Alright?"). It took me a while to figure out that this is the British version of "How you doin'?" (at first I thought I might have looked ill or something). I still haven't worked out how best to respond. I know that it's totally fine to reply with the same question, but I get the sense that here they care more about the answer than we do in the States (which is not at all). So, I think I need to train myself to reply, "Yeah, y'alright?" (translation: "I'm fine, thanks. How are you?").
La Favorita
At long last BKD and I have found good pizza in Edinburgh. Okay, considering that most of the pizza here is awful, calling the wood-fired pizza at La Favorita "good" doesn't do it justice. It was excellent; likely the best pizza in Britain. I should also mention that the service was top notch: they took our coats and umbrella when we got to our table and hung them up for us, then held them open for us to put them on when we left. The staff, mostly Italian, were appropriately attentive at the beginning and then left us alone to enjoy our wine and food in peace until we asked for the bill. La Favorita is informal yet classy, and the food is tasty and generous. Highly recommended.
04.Oct.2005
How do you pronounce 'Abergynolwyn'?
Sunday, 25 September, was wrapped up nicely with a pint of ale at a 16th century pub in Abergynolwyn, Wales. After school ended at 1:00 I spent the afternoon at the beach in Tywyn with Ben, Sarah, Scott, and Christian (two Brits, an Australian, and an incredibly tall Dane). Ben surfed, Sarah swam, Christian was in and out of the water, and Scott and I napped against the warm, dark stone jetty. On the way back to Machynlleth we stopped in Abergynolwyn to leave Scott and Christian at an idyllic camping spot next to a river, but we all popped into the pub for a drink before splitting up. Christian nearly had to double over to get through the wee door, and the small Welshman on the way out was struck dumb at the sight of him. We sat on benches and chairs around a table inside an enormous hearth while a very fat dog slept next to us, moving only to take advantage of scratching when it was offered. The barmaid greeted everyone as "my darling".
Quick Rewind
Alright, let's jump back a couple of weeks. After several days of slow going on the barn roof, Christian (the American one) and I developed a system that allowed us to install the remaining roof panels (over half remained) in one day—leaving Sunday the 11th for me to pack up before flying out of the country on Monday. I made a crude film of the roof-a-majig in action (as a still photographer I forgot that you shouldn't rotate a motion picture camera halfway through—sorry.)
Mom and Dad drove down to spend a day with me, then took me to Lebanon, New Hampshire so I could pick up my rental car; from there I drove to Boston and hopped an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin, then Edinburgh. My two suitcases each squeaked in at just under the limit of 70 pounds and I paid "extra baggage" fees of $70 each for my guitar and deathbike (the bike). I left the farm in Vermont at 10am on 12 September and my weary head hit my pillow in Edinburgh over 24 hours later. It was a moment to which I had been looking forward for months.
Travel Notes
Boston's Logan airport has rocking chairs in the international terminal! But you have to pay for wi-fi access. Why does an airport need to charge for wi-fi? People are stuck in an airport for a limited amount of time; why not provide free wireless access as a courtesy, like free toilets and water fountains? Speaking of toilets, there wasn't a single shelf in the restroom on which to put carry-on luggage. This meant that I had to put my bags down on the floor, which was wet from who knows what.
Dublin's airport was about the same, but there weren't even water fountains. In the stall in the restroom there was barely enough room for me and my bags. And again, a charge for wi-fi access. I can't really figure out why I feel wi-fi should be free in airports and coffee shops and such, I just do.
A Canadian family sat behind me on the short flight from Dublin to Edinburgh. I knew they were Canadian because the boy had a "Canada" hoodie on, the girl had a Tim Hortons shirt on, and all of them had gear from Mountain Equipment Co-op. The accent helped, too. As we approached Edinburgh airport we flew over the Firth of Forth, and through the window I could see a freight ship on the water. The girl apparently was looking out as well, because the boy asked "What do you see?" She said, "A boat." He said, "Aboat what?" She said, "A boat!" This repeated a couple of times until they all just started giggling. Bizarre people, Canadians.
Back to school
On 19 September I started my Master's program at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales. See Operation Soggy Kilt for background. I'll go into more detail in the future, but in short my first week was fantastic. Now I need to get to work on my first essay. Ugh.
Moving House
At the end of September BKD and I had to move from the old flat to a new one. It takes all of 4 minutes to walk from one to the other (unburdened) so we decided to make several trips on foot using the rolling luggage to move our stuff. We both agreed it would have been embarrassing to rent a car to move so few things such a short distance. We were able to move everything in 5 trips over a few hours (including packing and unpacking the same luggage for each trip).
The old flat was a first-floor modern one, while the new place is on the top (third) floor of a traditional tenenment. Most of our neighbors are old ladies, and there are several dogs in the building. Both of these are good for security: someone's always paying attention to peoples' comings and goings, and the dogs bark at the slightest activity in the stairwell. After BKD's flat was broken into while she was away this summer we are both a little touchy about security.
We both really love the new place, and the location at the eastern end of The Meadows is ideal. We have north and south windows, a shared garden (that's "yard" for you Yanks) out back, thick stone and brick walls, a gas fireplace, and a luxuriously large kitchen.
01.Sep.2005
I, too, have been touched by His noodly appendage
BKD alerted me to an article about creationism in The New York Times that begins with this:
In a finding that is likely to intensify the debate over what to teach students about the origins of life, a poll released yesterday found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools.
The poll found that 42 percent of respondents held strict creationist views, agreeing that "living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time."
Statistics like these never fail to frighten and annoy me. I can only take solace in two things: one, I am moving to a more enlightened country in 11 days (if only for a couple of years) and two, those of us in our liberal ivory tower will never fail to find funny and creative ways to mock religious zealots. I speak, of course, of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.
It is pointless to argue or reason with people who rely solely on blind faith to explain their world. That said, this article from The Guardian by Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne is a thorough argument against teaching intelligent design (creationism) alongside evolution in science classes. (Short version: intelligent design isn't science.)
24.Aug.2005
There I was, gone
The one single thing that has stressed me out the most over these past few weeks has been applying for my UK student visa. But yesterday I found out that it was approved, and I received it today. I am one relieved and happy boy. Operation: Soggy Kilt is in full swing—only two and a half weeks until I fly to Edinburgh!
Rafters Are Fun
We have nearly all of the rafters raised, and a good number of crate lids on the roof. The most dangerous part remains: placing the end rafters. Check out the barn project page for updated photos. My favorite so far is a view of the rafter tails. Notice how the ends of the rafters are perfectly in line? That's basic math at work, my friends.
21.Aug.2005
There It Was, Gone
I sold my Subaru a few days ago. No hassle, no haggling. A guy called, he and his wife came over to look at it, we took it for a test drive, and he whipped his checkbook out and asked if they could take it right away. I had to scramble to write up a bill of sale, pull out the title, take off the plates, and remove the remaining stuff from the trunk, glove box, and center console. I let them have the Chilton's manual, a millenium edition Rand-McNally road atlas, my jumper cables, some dry gas, and a quart of oil. I may have left about 57 cents in the change holder. Oh, and I threw in the two discs I burned from iTunes "party shuffle" after I packed away all of my CD's back at my parents' house. I may regret giving away the jumper cables, they were really nice. I got the full asking price and the proceeds from the sale will cover my travel expenses between Edinburgh and my school in Wales.
Now I am car-less, one step closer to becoming a European urbanite. I feel so unpatriotic. I also feel my range of travel shrinking quite a bit. But I look forward to having a primary means of transportation that only requires a handfull of tools to maintain and can be fueled by potatoes and coffee.
"Love" is a strong term to apply to a machine, but I really liked that car. It had been a part of my life for exactly nine years (I bought it in August 1996). It was only stopped by snow a few times, one of which was a day that the city of Syracuse was put in a state of emergency. It went to Wisconsin and back three times. It only broke down twice (defective sensor; worn-out alternator). It was my office and tool locker while I lived in a tent in the woods for five months. Funny thing though: I don't miss it one bit.
07.Aug.2005
Rock and Roll Scream
I have been doing lots of driving lately, which means I've been listening to lots of music. One recent favorite has been the New Bomb Turks' 1999 album "At Rope's End", and in particular the song "Defiled". Many of my musical choices are as much due to interesting lyrics, but that's not the case with the Turks. Granted their song titles like "Scapegoat Soup" and "Born Toulouse-Lautrec" are great. But with this band it's not what they say that I like, it's how they say it: all knobs on 11, furious rhythms, and a singer who, when I first heard him back in the 90's, I described as the hypothetical offspring of Glenn Danzig and Jello Biafra on crack. "Defiled" features one of the greatest rock and roll screams of all time, second only to Roger Daltrey's painful "yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" at the end of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". Oddly enough, in both songs the scream comes as a shocking exclamation point at the end of a long, subdued instrumental interlude. Both instances make the hair stand up on my neck, and I have been known to rewind both songs and listen to them again.
Photo Update
They aren't complete yet, but you may like to see what I've posted so far on my Edinburgh In Color and Rosslyn Chapel pages.
04.Aug.2005
The Skinny
Hey kids! Here's a quick rundown of what's happened since Edinburgh. The night before I flew out I took my sweetie to Edinburgh airport to fly off to New Zealand, and while we were sitting around we happened to see Sharon Osbourne walking by. Actually I saw her hair first, then her. The next day I got up early and dragged my ass back to the airport to fly home. I managed to smuggle a haggis—I did declare it on my customs form but the customs officer was too busy talking to her girlfriend to bother searching me. (Haggis is considered unfit for human consumption in the United States—something about the lungs.) I arrived in Burlington, Vermont on June 15 and was greeted by cool, wet weather, perfect for returning from 6 weeks in Scotland. I was worried I'd be hot.
I spent a week at my parents' house, then hit the road for chez Stromberg in southern Vermont to get started on the barn project. That is where I am now. We're close to the roof phase of the project, which is always tricky.
Last weekend I made a quick run for Rochester, and thanks to John (again) and his Mercury Mountaineer (again) I have all of my stuff in a free storage space here in Vermont. Thanks also to Christian and Sandra for giving me the space. I did have to clean the attic out: burlap sacks full of pine cones, empty car parts boxes from the 1950's, dust, bits of metal, etc. For the record, I've been paying for a storage unit since March 2002. Never again, I hope.
I am slowly working through the 11 rolls of film from Scotland, please be patient.
I am going to school in the UK starting this fall. I can't wait to get back over there. See Operation: Soggy Kilt for details.
Baby You Can Buy My Car (And Maybe I'll Love You)
I need to sell my 1996 Subaru Legacy by the end of August. C'mon, you know you want it! See the Buy My Subaru page for details. If you know anyone who may be interested in buying this car, please refer them here. [Update: It's been sold.]
02.Aug.2005
Teaser
This isn't the big update you've been looking for, but it's coming. I swear. For now, feast on some color slides of a sunset in Edinburgh.
12.Jun.2005
The Food: The Bad, and the Haggis
The general understanding among North Americans here is that the pizza in Scotland is, as they say, shite. But when you have a craving for pizza—and BKD did—you have to do the best you can no matter where you are. We read a review in the food guide for Mamma's American Pizza Company and decided to give it a try. Considered the best pizza in Edinburgh, how bad could it be? Well, it wasn't awful. But I am a little annoyed at their use of "American" in their name, as their fare is pale in comparison to even mediocre 'za in the States, though quite a bit more expensive. Note to the owners of Mamma's: Go to America and eat some pizza there, take some notes, and start over. (It is important to note that Papa John's, Pizza Hut and Domino's dot the Edinburgh streets, but we already know their pizza sucks and so need not try it here.)
In stark contrast to Mamma's was the Blue Moon Café, where we ate breakfast for lunch the next day. We both ordered the traditional Scottish breakfast, though I got the meat version and BKD chose the veggie version. The Blue Moon's breakfast has a baseline of an egg, 2 sausages, bacon, baked beans, toast, a potato scone, sauted mushrooms, and a hashbrown for £5.50—a bargain in these parts. Then you can add any or all of the extras: haggis, black pudding, and a few other things for 60 pence each. We both ordered haggis (veggie style for her) which was the real objective of this mission. Not only was the breakfast huge and delicious, but the service was prompt and friendly and the surroundings were bright and relaxing.
But oh, the haggis! I join Robert Burns in declaring it the "Great chieftain o' the puddin'-race!". I bravely dove in for my first ever bite of this mysterious food, and was a little surprised to find it very, very delicious. This was the breakfast preparation though, which is to say that the insides are broken up and pan fried, making it taste a lot like scrapple. I have yet to try it the normal way—steamed—but I'm confident I will like that as well. The veggie haggis is also quite tasty, but in my opinion not as good as the real thing. For the record, BKD took a bite of mine and deemed it edible.
09.Jun.2005
Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Smoking May Cause Health Problems Such As—Aw, Screw It…
03.Jun.2005
Quiz Night
A few days ago I was fortunate enough to participate in a traditional Scottish game that I believe pre-dates the caber toss and curling. I speak, of course, of Pub Quiz Night. BKD and I were the 2 Americans on our team, which also included 3 people from England, 1 Spaniard, and 1 Scot. The game has 5 rounds of around 10 questions each; the Quiz Master reads questions through a karaoke machine, and each team writes the answers on a slip of paper and turns it in to be scored at the end of each round. The winning team gets some sort of alcohol-based prize.
Our team, "Revenge of the Shit", totally rocked the house because of our diversity. I think we held the lead for the entire night, in fact. Question topics ranged from current world events, ancient events, American and British TV, cricket, golf, football (soccer), US Vice Presidents, music, movies, anagrams, and geography. While I was totally useless for many of the UK-specific questions, I often came in handy with my encyclopedic—and previously considered useless—knowledge of American pop culture. My superhuman skills in identifying songs from very short sound clips and associating various actors with obscure movies proved particularly valuable. But it is a team sport, and while I'm glad I was able to help out, I was awed by the skill of the rest of the team. Some of them probably could have come in the top 3 or 4 on their own.
Our prize was a gallon of beer—8 pints, that is. Not that any of us needed it by that point. Because bars close at an unusually early hour here, we only had about 20 minutes to enjoy the winnings. Luckily the cask-drawn ales go down easy; unfortunately the ales erased many of the details of the quiz so I can't get much more specific than I have already.
When Diplomacy Fails …
It was an overcast day; not in the mood for photography, I was moseying around the vicinity of Edinburgh Castle. At the point where Castlehill enters the Esplanade (the castle's car park) I happened upon a strange encounter between a French video crew (cameraman, soundman, and on-camera guy) and a security officer. As the cameraman was setting up his tripod, the guard approached saying, "You can't set up there." I had to agree, as he was standing right in the middle of the only way in or out of the Esplanade, which is about as wide as a horsecart. On-camera guy (who seemed to be the leader) asked where they could set up, and the guard gruffly directed them back down the hill away from the castle.
They inched their way down the hill … "How about here?" … "No, keep going." … "Here?" … "No." … "Is there any place we can set up?" … "Yeah, way down there."
Neither party was being very polite—the guard wasn't offering any helpful advice, and the French guys were, well, being French. Finally, as the crew appeared ready to head off to find another backdrop, on-camera guy walked back up to the guard and said, in a voice that would make Peter Sellers proud, "I do not care about your castle, anyway." He then smiled, turned on his heel, and stomped down the cobblestones with the crew in tow.
Sidewalk Chicken
I'm a polite guy: I hold the door for people, let cars merge ahead of me in traffic, say "thanks" when a waiter fills my water glass. On the sidewalks of Edinburgh, being polite could get you killed. I don't know if this is specific to Edinburgh, or to Scotland, or to Britain, but my experience so far has been that people simply do not give you an inch when coming the other way on the sidewalk. Several times now I have been forced to step into the street (and there's not much buffer between the sidewalk and the bus lanes) as teen girls, old ladies, and regular blokes refuse to give me so much as a shoulder dip when passing in the other direction. People will be walking three abreast towards me, and while you would normally expect one of them to break rank and fall behind to make room for you, it almost never happens to me. I have found that I need to take my hands out of my pockets, lean forward, make eye contact, and put on my best I'm going to run your ass over, twerp face in order to get some room. One of these days I'm going to get mad and body-check some old lady out in front of a bus. (I should mention that otherwise the people here are generally very friendly, polite and helpful.)
456 Years Before Thomas Jefferson …
"For we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, but for Freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life." Excerpt from the Declaration of Arbroath, 1320, written in support of Robert the Bruce's fight for Scottish independence from England. (Translated from the original Latin.)
More Good Design: Coin Purse
Britain's currency is literally coin-heavy; I wasn't here long before I found my pants sagging with change. There are one-penny coins, two-penny coins, 5p, 10p, 20p, and 50p coins. There are also 1-pound and 2-pound coins, and they weigh about that much. It gets cumbersome to sort through all of the denominations if you have a standard coin purse, and dumping them out in your hand will inevitably result in dropping some coins on the floor. Paying with paper bills instead of using exact or near-exact change only yields more heavy coins in return.
So, you can imagine my delight when I found this folding leather coin purse in a thrift shop. When you open it up, you can securely dump the contents from the pocket into what amounts to a tray on the other side, so all the coins are easy to see and pick through. When you're done, you just tilt it so the coins slide back in the pocket, then fold it up and put it away. I keep my 1 and 2-pound coins separated in the flap pocket for even easier access.
16.May.2005
Gastronomical Adventures
Morbid curiosity got the better of me, and during the last trip to the supermarket BKD and I brought home 100 grams of Billy Clown, the baloney that I mentioned in my last post. It's not bad, for cheap baloney anyway. I will not be buying it again. A few days ago I had a steak pie, and that was delicious. I also had my first pint of "bitter" (an ale that is pumped from a cask at cellar temperature), which knocked me for a good loop. Very, very yummy.
12.May.2005
It's the Little Differences
There are plenty of lists that translate terms from American to British English, but here are a couple of things I've learned myself so far. "Pants" are underwear. So are "knickers". Pretty much everything refers to underwear, including "suspenders". BKD learned the "pants" deal the hard way. Also, "parts" refers to body parts, while "bits" are the components of a bike or car, for example. I asked the used bike cooperative if they sell parts, and they laughed and asked if I would like an arm or a leg. So keep your parts in your pants, everyone. Nobody I've met says "thanks", they say "cheers" (pronounced with a hard "s", not "cheerz"). "Sorry" has taken the place of "excuse me". Someone who needs to get around you in the pub might say, "Sorry, cheers."
You can get baloney that has a smiley clown face on its cross section. They extrude different colored meats (turkey, pork, etc.) through a clown-shaped die that brings them all together into the creepiest lunch meat imaginable—creepier than olive loaf, even. Yes, you really can get a deep-fried candy bar just about anywhere that sells chips (French fries, that is). No, I haven't tried haggis yet, but I am inching closer with BKD's encouragement. She's a vegetarian, so she has to experience exotic meat dishes vicariously through me, the flexitarian.
A burrito costs £9, or $18. Having a key copied costs between £1.30 and £4, much more if it's a skeleton key. The price of Scotch is 72% tax, so it's much cheaper in other countries than here, sadly.
04.May.2005
Arriving in Edinburgh
I landed at 7:40AM local time on 2 May, breezed through customs, and BKD met me and dragged me and my luggage onto the airport bus. We were let off at Waverly Station and made the short walk through winding cobblestone streets to the flat. It didn't take me long to fall asleep, having stayed awake for the entire flight over. After a good hard nap I tried to adhere to the Stromberg method of overcoming jet lag, which is to simply ignore it. It seems to work so far. BKD made some smashing zucchini bread for my arrival, but my first real meal was chips and beer for dinner. Mmm, beer.
Highest Point
So, what do you do when you arrive in a new place and want to get your bearings? You climb the highest object you can find and take a look around. The photo above is an approximately 180 degree panoramic view over Edinburgh from just below Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park. On the left is BKD's lab; dead-center is our flat; just right of center is Edinburgh Castle; the water in the distance is the Firth of Forth; the hill on the right is Arthur's Seat, elevation 251 meters.
First Impressions
It's often chilly, even in the sun. It's sunny more than you would expect. Scotch is outrageously expensive. I wish I had Deathbike—it was made for Edinburgh. A slate shingle expert could be busy and well paid for several lifetimes here, as would a scaffolding contractor. Chips are very, very tasty. I love it, and I want to live here.
20.Apr.2005
After and Before
I recently picked up a new pair of Vasque Sundowner MX2 hiking boots to replace the ones I bought in 2001. The old ones are pretty spent; they have been to Turkey, New Orleans, Austin, Phoenix, Northern California, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and all over New York State. With that history I was not hesitant to pick up a new pair of the exact same model. There's a great shoe store just down the street from me that was able to order them with no obligation. The owner even gave me 10 percent off because I'm a repeat customer. I highly recommend that you support your local shoe store.
New Photography
My new photos from Charlotte, NY are up, and include shots of the Ontario Beach Pier as well as the Hojack Swing Bridge.
Birth of a Site
I'm pleased to announce that Mark Hoberecht successfully launched his new site, HarvestBuild.com. I built the site for him, though he is mostly responsible for the conceptual design and content.
Wrapping Up
Today's my last day with the cable modem. Almost all of my stuff is packed away in storage. Things I don't want or need are finding homes. The utitlies are scheduled to be turned off. My living room is a storm before the calm, littered with clothes and bags and gear. This will be my last update for a bit, but I'll try to post one before I fly to Scotland on 1 May.
18.Apr.2005
Working for Beans
Some of you may know that I've been working on a site for a coffee roaster in Bath, NY. There are a few minor details that need to be worked out, but the site is live now. So, I present the Bodhi Tree Coffee Company site, which I built in exchange for as much coffee as I can consume.
Gratitude
This weekend John and I went to Maryland to move my stored stuff from there to a storage space in Honeoye Falls. John was not only generous enough to offer the use of his Mountaineer as a towing vehicle, but he also drove the entire time (due to transmission quirks) and made loading and unloading much easier with his help. Not only that, but he got the thing tuned up beforehand so we were able to get 19 miles per gallon on the way down, and between 12 and 13 on the way back.
Jeff and Chris in Maryland supplied beer, food, and couches (in that order) on Saturday, and John had a good time playing with Ian (not quite 3) and his Thomas the Tank Engine train set. Jeff is very kindly going to remove a few remaining items from my storage space that need to be taken to the dump, something that we weren't able to do this weekend.
Someday when I have a permanent place of my own, I will throw a huge party for all of my friends who have generously supplied muscle, vehicles, and soft places to sleep along the way.
My cousin Chris and aunt Nancy came by to pick up a few things, the largest of which was an antique writing desk that has been in our family for at least 4 generations. I'm glad to have it out of my sphere of responsibility, since it really doesn't fit with my lifestyle and has been under-appreciated since I inherited it about 10 years ago.
Revenge of General Tso
We got to town a little after 6 yesterday, and I was back in my apartment by about 7:30 to find a bare cupboard. I was also exhausted, so I went next door for some take-out Chinese food. The restaurant owners live directly below me, a fact that is important if you want to understand the haiku I wrote at 5:30 this morning:
Can't sleep, up early
Chicken sits in my belly
Rumbling like a train
Try to be quiet
Neighbors below me sleeping
Irony's not lost
They cooked the chicken
Last night with sauce and spices
That now wake me up
09.Apr.2005
It Puts the "Lake" in "Lake Effect"
It struck me funny recently that I could spend over 6 months living in the environs of Rochester and never see Lake Ontario. A few days ago I took care of that little problem and visited the area around Ontario Beach Park. Technically inside the City of Rochester, the neighborhood is known as Charlotte. It is home to two large, controversial, metal objects: the fast ferry and the Hojack Swing Bridge.
04.Apr.2005
Addendum
I've added a detail to the razor photo in the last post. Today I found this article about shaving with old-school implements like double-edged razors and shaving brushes. Once again, I'm trendy and I don't even know it.
01.Apr.2005
Good Design
I started shaving my face regularly late last fall, a practice that began, strangely enough, around the time that I began dating BKD. I hadn't shaved regularly since…ever, so my Gillette Sensor cartridges (which fit the handle I bought over 10 years ago) started to go dull a lot more frequently than I was used to. The price they get for a pack of 5 blade cartridges is outrageous, simply outrageous. Not to mention the packaging. I recently had the opportunity to try an old Gillette safety razor, and not only did it easily remove 2 weeks of growth (BKD had been gone about that long) but I didn't get cut at all. (I'm always cutting myself with modern razors.) Don't let the name or my good results fool you though—these things are sort of dangerous and only deserve the name "safety razor" in comparison with straight razors. I decided to try to find one of these myself, and in the first antique store I checked I found this gold-plated one. Not only are replacement blades cheap, but I have never had a closer shave. I love the system's simplicity: it has four parts (including the blade), the blade is sandwiched between the two head pieces, and you take it apart by unscrewing the handle.
In the same store that I found the razor was the travel pack of my dreams: an MEI convertible travel pack. It has a full internal-frame backpack suspension system that can be hidden with a zippered panel (to protect the straps from airport conveyor belts). It was made in the US, and apparently before convertible travel packs started to suck. I got it for a whopping $38. It has some zippers that I assume used to attach a daypack to the main compartment, but I think those pack systems are silly and don't mind that it is missing. MEI seems to be a defunct company, but I understand that these were once quite sought after. I can see why. I don't know the specified volume, but it seems to hold about as much stuff as the 80 liter camping backpack that I used on the train across the country.
31.Mar.2005
Fast Rewind
Gee, sorry about that huge lapse in updates. Let me bring you up to speed. The girl in this story left for Edinburgh at the beginning of March—much of the end of February was spent helping her get ready to go. It was during that time that I was really glad not to have a job, because I could really help a lot and we could spend a good amount of time together. Weather was on my side as her flight was delayed a day.
The week after she left I scrambled about trying to stay busy: luckily I had a bunch of paid web site design work to do. Later in March I packed my tools and headed for Vermont, where I spent some time working for the Stromberg clan. I feel like I did some good work, but you can judge by the pictures. Somehow I picked up a nasty cold upon my return to Honeoye Falls last week, and I am still recovering. I rarely get this much snot coming out of my head—I suppose I'll spare you the details. I did make a nice chicken soup, and I've used this as an excuse to eat lots of ice cream.
Fast Forward
My flight for Edinburgh leaves May 1, and I fly back to the States on June 15. Between now and the end of April I have some things to do. First order of business is to get over this stupid cold. It's wasting my time. I need to do my taxes, forward my mail, cancel my utilities, secure a storage unit, do various sewing projects, and write some more lists. I plan to bring my stored stuff up from Maryland to Honeoye Falls (I know, just in time to leave it behind again). Some of the furniture will go to relatives in the area, and I may sell some stuff. The rest will get mixed in with the things I already have here, to be dealt with later this summer. I really do want to stop paying for my stuff to sit on concrete in a metal box. I can hear the ghost of George Carlin in my head. Oh right, he's not dead yet. The last week in April I will drive to Vermont to do some more work, then skedaddle to the airport and fly away to Scotland. Keep an eye on Operation: Soggy Kilt for more information about that.
Adventures in Peeing
While I was in Vermont I traveled a back road several days in a row, and at one spot there was a lane closed while some tree work was being done on the side. I got used to looking out for the flag man, who had his own car with a flashing light bar on top. One day, I saw the car but didn't see the guy right away—until I looked farther to the right to see him standing between his car and the woods, his lower half hidden by an open car door. His arms were down in the unmistakeable male peeing posture. Not one to shirk his duty, he managed to free one hand and wave me around.
Later, at a rest stop on the New York State Thruway, I couldn't help but be transfixed by a man who walked into the men's room with a cell phone in one hand. He had a headset on, and he was loudly arranging some sort of business deal. Without skipping a beat, he walked up to a urinal, and still with the phone in one hand went about his business as he went about his business. I didn't stick around to see how he washed his hands.
Flaming Idiots
A few days ago, while I was walking back from the store with a supply of orange juice, ginger ale, and ice cream, I happened upon a wooden planter that had smoke coming out of it. This was right in front of an office entryway not 100 yards from the building that burned last November. Someone had thrown a cigar butt in among the dry wood chips, and a nice, hot little smoulder was going by the time I got there. I grabbed a snowball and mushed it into the smoking mass, averting what could have been another disaster.
08.Feb.2005
OSK
I have added a link to a new page, Operation: Soggy Kilt, in the navigation menu. You will also find a link to POOP, which didn't have a permanent link until now.
Vile and Viler
Recently I started taking flax seed oil to increase my intake of omega-3 fatty acid. Not knowing what it tasted like, I took my first dose as a simple spoonful. Boy, did I regret that. Perhaps the only liquid I have tasted that was worse than this is fish sauce, an essential flavoring for Thai food. Granted, you only use a drop of fish sauce for a wok-full of food. Don't get me started on fish sauce. Pure, concentrated, bottled Evil. Anyway, the next day I tried mixing the flax oil in oatmeal, but found that this is just a good way to ruin a bowl of oatmeal. They recommend putting it on salad, but I'm not having it. I have decided to go back to the spoon, but I keep a chaser of water nearby and I hold my nose as I choke the oil down.
Honeoye Falls Photos
At last, I have a gallery of photos from Honeoye Falls. That is, there are photos of the falls, and there are others of the town. The falls are really cool when they are frozen over, and there's a really neat shot of them at night.
23.Jan.2005
New Photo Overview
The following galleries have been created or updated recently. The first four are black and white film, while the last three are digital.
- New York City
- Japanese Timber Frame at the 2004 Natural Building Colloquium—East
- Additional photos from the 2004 Natural Building Colloquium—East
- Manelbaum/Kahn straw-bale house (Series 1)
- Manelbaum/Kahn straw-bale house (Series 2)
- Manelbaum/Kahn straw-bale house follow-up
- Macro lens experimentation in an office
Inauguration
These photos from the inaugural protests remind me of the ones I took at the same event four years ago: full-frontal riot cops, signs with "Bush" jokes, black-suited kids and all. This Associated Press photo from the Black Tie and Boots Ball brings it all home, though. It's going to be another ugly four years.
Flogging Molly
BKD loaned me her Flogging Molly CD, "Drunken Lullabies", and I love it. I saw this Celt-punk band play when I was in Austin; when you combine two styles like sappy Irish folk tunes and punk rock, you just can't lose. I have started to learn to play and sing the first two songs, which have only three or four chords each. Some favorite lyrics:
Then the rosary beads count them one, two, three
Fell apart as they hit the floor.
In our garb of black we must pay respect
To the color we're born to mourn.
Walk away me boy, walk away me boy
And by mornin' we'll be free
Wipe the golden tear from your mother dear
And raise what's left of the flag for me.
Oh, hurt me. Makem and Clancy couldn't have done better. My neck hair is standing up, and I want to jump into a huge vat of Guinness.
17.Jan.2005
Cast Irony
John, ever the astute Deathbike reader, discovered that the principal author of The Great International Paper Airplane Book also wrote Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. I was not aware of that fact when I wrote about the airplane book in my last post. The author's name is easy to remember: Jerry Mander. I remember hearing Jello Biafra mention him, but I never made the connection.
New Old Photos
For some reason unknown I have avoided processing the photos I took this summer. Well, no more: here is a page of photos from my visit to the finished Manelbaum/Kahn straw-bale house. Stay tuned for more stuff from last year.
New New Photos
BKD let me play with her new Canon G6 digital camera while she worked, so I did a macro study of her office. It was so much fun that now I have an itch to get a macro lens for my own camera. But I probably won't, because I've got to save my money for silly things like food.
Tool Box Woes
Am I the only person in the world who is concerned about the sorry state of tool boxes today? The hinge on my 10-year old, molded resin Craftsman box finally gave out under my abuse (I put heavy things in the open lid—a bad habit), and I am having a terrible time finding a replacement. Sears doesn't sell the same model anymore, and what they do sell is utter crap. Even their "Professional" line is flimsy and overpriced. Metal boxes are out: they dent, scratch and get scratched, rust, and are heavy. I like the heavy resin tool boxes, but all I can find locally have ridiculous features and make poor use of space. I have two Contico 26-inch toolboxes that I really like—they're basic black, bomb-proof, made in the US, and they sport a cup holder in the lid. I would buy a third if I could find one here; a matched set of 3 would be sweet because they stack nicely on each other. I got them for about $20 at Lowe's in Plattsburgh but the Rochester store does not carry them. Chase-Pitkin, Home Depot, and Sears were all a bust, too. There is no shortage of shitty, shoddy, and expensive products from Stanley, Husky, and Stack-on, if that's what you're after.
11.Jan.2005
New Photos from the Big Apple
Happy new year, everybody. I have posted a new photo gallery from one cold-ass day in New York City. Journey with me from the Empire State Building, by the New York Public Library, through Central Park, to Saint John The Divine.
Desire
I was reading an old copy of Wired Magazine when I came across this line in an article by Virginia Postrel: "Desire is the true source of economic value." I like that. It's a good article, give it a look.
Books
I am reading several books right now, but the one that I feel I should recommend to everyone is Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage (ISBN: 0060166037). This book is fundamentally shifting my view of recycling, biodegradable products, landfills, diapers, etc. I am not quite done yet, so I'll post more when I'm finished. Don't forget to check out POOP.
Something that every child should have is The Great International Paper Airplane Book (ISBN: 0671211293). I wore out my copy as a kid, and I found a used one a few years ago. Your child will never look at a television again if they have this book and a stack of scrap paper.