I was watching the NFL game tonight and heard someone say something that has had me thinking all night.
Amateurs practice until they get it right.
Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.
Month: September 2006
bookmark_borderDoc Visit
Went to the doc today for a checkup after the latest diagnosis. Oh boy, what fun.
First, it was the first time I had met my new doc.
Second, she’s way cool but she’s really into natural foods and stuff.
Third, did I mention she is into natural foods?
I am now on a high fiber diet. I am to try to get all of the fiber through foods vs some pill or drink. Damn. She wants me to cut out all “white” foods, meaning white bread, white pasta, etc. Damn. Instead, I am to eat whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat cereal, etc. I told her I’d get all my fiber through eating lots of peanut butter. She didn’t laugh. Damn.
Then we talked about my blood glucose levels. I am what they call “glucose intolerant” which is also referred to as “pre-diabetic”. I have days when I cannot eat enough. And I have days where I am not hungry at all. I have days where I “crash” and get the shakes, can’t think, can’t move.
I’ve told docs about those days before but none have really heard me. I mean, I got so much other stuff going on, who wants to look at yet another one? This doc will only be there for a year so is wanting to clean up everything. We went through a lot of my file and she deleted a bunch of stuff. Well, deleted it from the active section. She said it was still on the official record. But like the “active” section had, like, 20 or more active things I was undergoing treatment for. Such as an eye infection in 2003.
Anyway, she said that it all made sense, the starved/not-hungry days. She also said that my previous glucose testing also showed the right pattern. Goody.
So I spent the rest of the day in a funk. I am tired of diagnosises. I am tired of taking meds. I am tired of adjusting my life around medical stuff.
Bitch bitch bitch. Blah blah blah.
Anyway, that’s why there’s no writing today. Heck, I’m just now checking email for the day.
bookmark_borderGroaners
From CripHumor:
“Doctor, Doctor, You’ve got to help me – I just can’t stop my hands shaking!”
“Do you drink a lot?”
“Not really – I spill most of it!”
—
A miracle drug is one that has now the same price as last year.
—
Lady says to pharmacist: “Why does my prescription medication have 40 side effects?”
Pharmacist replies: “Cause that’s all we’ve documented so far.”
—
A man goes to the eye doctor. The receptionist asks him why he is there. The man complains, “I keep seeing spots in front of my eyes.” The receptionist asks, “Have you ever seen a doctor?” and the man replies, “No, just spots.”
—
What’s the difference between a general practitioner and a specialist?
One treats what he thinks you have, the other thinks you have what he treats.
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The ER resident began his examination by asking his patient what brought him to the hospital. The man replied, “An ambulance.”
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Psychiatrist to his nurse: “Just say we’re very busy. Don’t keep saying ‘It’s a madhouse.'”
—
A psychologist returned from a conference in Aspen lodge, where all the psychologists were permitted to ski for free.
Her husband asked her, “How did it go?”.
She replied, “Fine, but I’ve never seen so many Freudians slips.”
bookmark_borderCommunication
Just started a tough scene but I think I am on the right track.
Remember that Star Trek: Next Generation where Picard is taken from the Enterprise and put on this planet. His companion is the captain of another ship.
The problem is communication. These new people convey their message through mentioning another similar situation.
When the walls fell.
With sails unfurled.
I thought that was an interesting style of communication. And really, it’s not that unusual.
It is like when your sibling visits. Instead of going into a long spiel to set up the setting for a story, you can make each other laugh by saying a simple phrase. Like, the punch line to a joke. Instantly, you know the joke, you understand the humor, you remember how you felt when you first heard it.
“No, no, Daddy! Please don’t knock my teeth out again!”
You haven’t a clue what that means, but I do. Everyone in my immediate family knows. Say that sentence and we’ll all crack up.
We learn to understand our language based on how it was used before. We learn early on what NO means. After Sept. 11th, the phrase “Let’s Roll” took on a new meaning. Read the phrase on a bumper sticker and all sorts of emotions wash over you. Song lyrics are built around this concept. “These boots were made for walking”. If you know the song, you feel and remember what the song is about.
Anyway, that is basically the type of scene I am trying to do. Communication begins between two entities and their only link are the combined stimuli that makes a memory.
bookmark_borderFinding a Reason
Often, we need to find a reason for tragedies, such as the death of Steve Irwin.
Early this morning, Lorna awoke and I told her about his death. Like me, she was shocked. A few minutes later I told her of a thought I had. “Maybe God needed help with Jake.”
Lorna had a good laugh and several times I could hear her chuckling.
VS
bookmark_borderNational Coming Out Day
October 11th is National Coming Out Day, a well celebrated event since 1988.
The Human Rights Coalition has free brochures and information on how to “come out of the closet” as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered person.
While the HRC website is usually chock full o’ info, they’ve dropped the ball on this one. The link they provide to NCOD is for last year. Even their history section stops at 2004. Hey, HRC webmaster…turn your calendar over to ’06.
And while I am on the subject of GLBT folk, I just gotta mention the Million For Marriage effort. Sign the petition that will help lead to equality for all, not just some.
I do support the right of every American to marry, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples. I believe that marriage and other civil rights protections are essential to making all families safer and more secure.
By signing this petition, I agree to support efforts to make marriage equality a reality in our country, and to oppose any attempts to discriminate against GLBT couples and individuals.
bookmark_borderHero Gone
Steve Irwin, aka The Crocodile Hunter, has died.
Australian environmentalist and television personality Steve Irwin has died during a diving accident.
Mr Irwin, 44, was killed by a stingray barb to the chest while he was filming an underwater documentary in Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef.
Paramedics from the nearby city of Cairns rushed to treat him at the scene but were unable to save him.
Linkage:
Wikipedia:
Animal Planet’s Crododile Hunter page
Official Crocodile Hunter website (must be getting many hits and isn’t loading right now)
Sydney Morning Herald’s article
bookmark_borderProbe Smacks the Moon
The European Union’s probe, Smart 1, did a controlled collision with the moon. After doing some tests and stuff, they crashed it so that dust would fly into the air, giving earth telescopes the opportunity to study it.
While I think that is fairly cool and groovy on its own, it was another part of its mission that caught my interest.
From BBC News article Probe crashes into Moon’s surface:
Smart 1 was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket in September 2003 as a technology demonstrator.
It became Europe’s first space science mission to use an ion engine instead of chemical combustion to reach its destination.
The system drew power through the probe’s solar wings and then used this energy to propel the spacecraft forward by expelling charged particles of xenon. It was highly efficient, covering 100 million km in a series of looping orbits and using just 60 litres of “fuel”.
Down at the bottom of the article is this picture and explanation of the engine:
1. Xenon gas atoms are pumped into a cylindrical chamber, where they collide with electrons from the cathode. The electrons – which are negatively charged – knock electrons off the xenon atoms, creating xenon ions – which are positively charged.
2. Coils outside the chamber create a magnetic field, which causes electrons from the cathode to spiral and become trapped at the mouth of the chamber.
3. The build-up of negatively charged electrons at the mouth of the chamber attracts the positively charged ions, accelerating them out of the chamber.
4. The stream of accelerated ions leaving the chamber thrusts the spacecraft forward. Although the force is small, over time it creates great speed in the frictionless environment of space.
Now how cool is that? We live in a wonderful time, despite the US gov’t’s King George.
NOTE: Related linkage
- SMART-1 Prepares for Lunar Crash – Planetary News, The Planetary Society
- European Space Agency’s page for Smart 1 and another in their Science section
- Wikipedia – Smart-1
- Space.com – At the Moon Again!
bookmark_borderSF Thoughts
(I’ve already written this post once. Then hit the wrong button and poof! it were gone. [insert appropriate foul language here])
If you’ve read any science fiction (SF) and/or fantasy (F), you’ve probably read about evil spores or fungi or flora. Darkover had the flower spores that made everyone go into a mass orgy. Other novels have had fungi that gave consumers magic powers. I believe this theme is, like, way overdone.
So I’ve got this SF novel that I am working on. It’s the one with the sentient planet. I need a way for the planet to observe/feel/communicate with the critters, including the silly humans, that live on its skin. Since a planet has a large amount of skin, I feel there needs to be some other method for it to receive and respond to information.
The novel is about symbiosis vs parasitic. I am considering using critters, and perhaps plants, that have use electricity in some way such as for communication or to attract/catch prey. Since a planet has a magnetic field and, to some degree, an electric field, it would be not too large a leap for the planet to be able to speak and hear via that electricity. We humans are just “ugly bags of mostly water” and electric impulses. There are electric eels, electric rays, electric catfish, and, of course, the mundane lightning bug (aka firefly). Bats and some water mammals use sonar.
What do y’all think of this idea? Is it do-able?
I want the planet itself to be sentient, not some large mushroom spore. I want the planet to be aware of the critters that live on its skin.
Note:
I found a way cool site (via Wikipedia) for animalia research: Animal Diversity Web
bookmark_borderJakus deMilo
We let one of our dogs go today.
Jake was 14 yrs old. A dalmatian and deaf since birth. She was a great dog, up until a few years ago. Then she started biting us. Not just little nips, either. But gnawing away and showing no remorse. I have been bitten twice; my right hand was mauled and just a few months ago, she got my right foot. But she’s really ripped up Lorna. Jake bit Lorna’s hand, face, nose, arm, and wrist.
Deciding to “put her down” was a tough one. Being mentally ill is so invisible in dogs other than in erratic actions. Jake started standing in one place and staring at nothing until she’d fall down. She’d stand at the water bowl and drink it dry (it holds a gallon, I think), yet wouldn’t drink from it if it were more than a foot out of place. Her biting moods were unpredictable and we were afraid of our own dog in our own home.
Then the other day she took the tip of Zoe’s ear off. We are baby sitting Zoe and Emmitt while their parents our out of town. Zoe didn’t do anything other than walk by. Jake used to win in all the fights, and she’s started many over the years. But now, with her back legs being so weak, she’s been losing. And Joella, my service dog, was the one that was winning.
The fight with Zoe was the last straw. It brought home the fact that she’d hurt someone other than us. For the record, I wanted Jake gone a long time ago but Lorna just couldn’t do it. I understood her feelings, but it didn’t make our scars go away.
Afterwards, we both felt good. Not exactly relief, but more like we realized how bad Jake had become. As she was dying, her body relaxed and we once again saw our true Jake, the one that we had loved. This other Jake, the one that bit and fought and growled, wasn’t ours. It felt good seeing Jake look relaxed. We got to really pet her, the first I had touched her in years. Literally.
So now there are only 5. Maggie is 13, Sparky and Casey are 12, Popcorn is 8-10, and Joella just turned 6. Maggie will be next. Her health is not good. She may have a mass in her abdomen and we know what that means.