~FRIENDS ONLY~

** this journal is pretty much friends only .. comment to be added **

LONDON (AFP) – Notice anything exceptional about today's date? It's July 5, 2009 (05/07/09) -- and three consecutive odd numbers make up the date only five times in a century.

This nugget is pointed out by Californian high school maths teacher Ron Gordon, a self-confessed "mathemagician".

"This really is a day to celebrate. OK, it's true there will be another one in two years' time on September 7, 2011 (07/09/11), and one on November 9, 2013 (09/11/13) but then it won't happen again for 92 years. And I sure won't be around to see it."

( the rest here )

from AFP via Yahoo

Sometimes its the little things that make us scratch our heads and smile :)

HERE'S YOUR PRESENT A DAY EARLY!!!

Palin to Resign as Governor of Alaska

Vacation in Maine... lupine were all in full bloom, they were ALL OVER the place along the coast


( more photo goodies under the cut )

It's pretty unusual to see seals quite this close up in Maine, since lobster fishermen have a tendency to shoot at them. This is a pretty protected cove, though, and so near the park, I think they're insulated. The pod was HUGE, I'd guess over 30 harbor seals. We also spotted what I THINK were porpoises, they were jumping out of the water and just not acting like harbor seals. Well.. that and the fin were a dead giveaway.

Beewise- Victoria/RuPaul (new hive) is going strong, the queen has emerged and is laying. I didn't see her but there were eggs and young larvae. Elizabeth/Devine was acting calm and 'queened' but I went through the whole hive with Jeff (fellow beekeeper) and we could not spot the queen. There was some evidence of eggs/pupae but there were also two swarm cells. After asking several seasoned 'beeks', I opted to heed their advice and leave well enough alone and let the cells be. No honey this year though.. I just want the hive to be strong enough to live. I'm going to go put some sugar water on Elizabeth later this week, along with an entrance reducer to cut down on robbing.

Joanna the Mad/EddieIzzard remains empty for now.

My sister in law is in from Pisa and will be coming up over the weekend. I see cleaning bathrooms in my near future. Bah.

A LITTLE LESS RAIN WOULD BE NICE TOO it's been MONSOON season in Connecticut for the past three weeks. My beans have been slugged to death, no amount of beer and diatomaceous earth has made a difference. My tomatos have but ONE flower and I fear for my garlic. The quinoa experiment has been eaten away, only the stalk remains. Oddly, the lettuce seems to be doing okay.

ton of laundry

photos to follow

( cut for grossness tidbit )

apparently it rained ALOT and slugs have destroyed my beans. I went to buy beer to drown then but CT doesn't sell booze on Sundays. DAMN YOU SLUGS!

must 1. visit bees (not today, it's overcast and is supposed to rain; 2. see my sister in law (not somethign I really want to be doing, ever, but she's visiting from Italy so I dont have to see her THAT often)

Trouble at the hives

:(

more on this later

uh... wait I guess people wont be able to say stop the presses in the near future, but whatever..

I'm growing quinoa. The mid summer beets have been jettisoned. I may plant some in another part of the garden.

It was gorgeous yesterday, I was weeding


so today.. garlic mustard pasta and later next week.. Garlic Mustard Mashed Potatoes (same page, sans pork of course).

what better way to battle invasive plants than EAT THEM :)

xposted to gardening

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
WOW



I read this book on an overnight trip on Amtrak. I started it at 3am and DID NOT PUT IT DOWN until I left Union Station at the layover



Midway I thought I had the 'surprise' ending figured out but boy was I ever wrong.. plot twist at the very end just when I thought it was over



I loved the way the author wrote in the voices of the main characters, you really felt empathy for all people involved.



great book, heavy but quick read.



I look forward to reading more from this author.


View all my reviews.


( and a LOLCAT spoiler )

note to self : share Seattle Tilth site with jaynefury

to do 'family time'

I'm gonna miss my honey, husband is staying home :(

Steve, the guy who owns the 'outyard' (where the bees are located) got a new job, he has to go to Guadalajara next week..

I didn't ask if he's working as a drug mule

I hope not, his wife would be frightfully upset.

Obama was just sworn in





that is all

:)

January 1, 2009

The United States marked the five-year anniversary of the
war in Iraq. Over four million Iraqis had fled the country
or been internally displaced, and the total cost of the
war, currently about $650 billion, was expected to rise to
$2 trillion over the next five years. Oil rose above $147
a barrel, and Abu Dhabi bought New York City's Chrysler
Building for $800 million. Somali pirates stole a Saudi
supertanker. President George W. Bush announced that North
Korea was no longer a state sponsor of terrorism. The CIA
expanded its covert operations in Iran. Bozo the Clown
died, as did Jesse Helms, William F. Buckley Jr., Paul
Newman, Heath Ledger, Indonesian dictator Suharto,
comedian George Carlin, didgeridoo master Alan Dargin,
and, at age 110, Louis de Cazenave of the Fifth Senegalese
Rifles, one of the last two living French veterans of
World War I. "War," he once explained, "is something
absurd, useless, that nothing can justify." Ariel Sharon
was still alive, and Israel bombed Gaza in retaliation for
ongoing rocket attacks. Tom Jones insured his chest hair
for $7 million.

( Australian police tasered a ram. France banned TV shows for babies. )


Permanent URL for this column:
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/12/hbc-90004107

Go to aiuk_cards if you would like to send a card to someone in the world who has been unjustly imprisoned. Leave a comment there, and you will be given details of who to send your card to.

(via nyarbaggytep

you don't have to be in the UK to participate.

Send a little holiday spirit to someone in need.

Lang Lang plays the first few measures of Chopin's Op.10/5 'Black Keys' etude with an orange

*he's going to be performing at the opening ceremony at the Olympics*

I love it.



I have a bee seminar tomorrow (Fall Preparation). Fingers crossed for no rain

rainy weather = angry bees

Mötley Crüe is on Larry King

isn't that one of the signs of the Apocalypse?

that's a shock

:)

At an NRA convention inKentucky, Mike Huckabee made a joke after hearing a noise
off-stage. "That was Barack Obama," he said. "Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."

source here

I'm just not sure what to say about this.

Another thing that has left me speechless (from Media Matters) :
it's okay to refer to a woman, ANY WOMAN, as a (white) b*tch on a cable news station? And this comment (towards Clinton) by a MCCAIN ADVISOR?

and for Memorial Day :

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
for Afghanistan casualties, scroll down

Iraq (civilian) Body Count

There is no doubt about the status of this interval! It is unmistakably dissonant. In fact, it is usually considered the most dissonant of all the intervals. So much so that in the Middle Ages it was known as "the devil in music," and musicians were advised to avoid it.

we've all known an augmented fourth or two ...

damn, I love This American Life.

Source: Columbia University : Sonic Glossary

about the cutest friggin' thing I've seen all day :)

I recognise foley square and washington square.. the rest, I can't really place.

I also recognise lots of play doh

the Galerucella beetles are makin' babies (those are the beetles I'm raising in my backyard as biocontrol for the INVASIVE PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE!

( here's a closer look - a little blurry )

in RL they're TINY, just a fleck.

yes the black stuff on them is beetle poo (makes it less attractive to hungry predators - 'would you like some shit on those eggs?' Its a common deterrent among many insects.)

who said I have no maternal instincts.. haha

From Harpers:

A 68-year-old grandmother in England was the runner-up for
"txt laureate" for writing a love poem to her husband.

Her winning text :
"O hart tht sorz,
My luv adorz,
He mAks me liv,
He mAks me giv,
Myslf 2 him,
As my luv porz."

all I can say is
LOL ROTFL.

I can only imagine what the winner texted.