A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Here in the United States it’s Thanksgiving Day. This is a day to gives thanks for all the wonders and joys in our lives. Families get together and spend time together, though if you watch the commercials you’d believe it’s to watch football and not talk and then to finish it all up by shopping.

My son is here for the holiday, he came in on Tuesday and flies out again tomorrow. We haven’t seen him since July (He lives in Rhode Island). So, that makes today and this holiday extra special since he doesn’t make it down for Christmas. Paul (aka Hyperion) has had these days off and so we’ve been able to spend time together mostly joking around and talking.

I came across this version of Amazing Grace, and it is one of my favorite songs. I love most versions and thought this one was most appropriate for today.

Even if it is not a special day of thanksgiving for you, enjoy the video, and be especially nice to all the people who add joy, love, and laughter to your life.

I’ve been knitting again. Feels good to get back to the needles. Over the last week, I’ve managed to knit the back, front, two arms and one and a bit legs. Actually, I finished the second leg just now but I’d already taken to the picture so I’ll do a revised one tomorrow after I sew up the seams.

I’ve made this bear several times. It’s the Whidbey Bear pattern from Bear Brain Enterprises. I’ve made the bear from all kinds of different yarns. This time I’m using one strand of Lion Brand Jiffy in dark grey and one strand in light grey. I’m also using one strand of Lion Brand Fun Fur in multicolors (grey, black, white). So it makes the bear sort of fuzzy but totally washable. Depending on what yarn you use the size of the bear changes from very small and petite to quite large. The resulting bears make great gifts for nieces and nephew, charities, and the babies of friends.

The pattern is well written with no errors that I have found — well, a few user-errors but that’s my problem, not theirs. Of course every bear you make is different because you have to sculpt the faces and add the nose and eyes. I’m hoping to document the making of this bear this time and thought I’d put it up here just in case someone else was interested.

What you see is the pieces just lying on a floor. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll get a chance to sew the different parts up so it looks like a body, arms and legs. We’ll see if tomorrow goes as planned.

As more and more data comes back from our research vehicles on and about Mars, we learn that maybe Mars was once very much like home — Earth.

Recently, scientists have learned from the data that Mars periodically has some of its existing atmosphere ripped away by solar winds. Mars’ magnetic field isn’t a bubble that surrounds the planet like ours here on Earth. Mars has magnetic umbrellas. These umbrellas seem to help the solar winds rip out gouts of atmosphere from the planet.

Scientists will need more data to determine the exact mechanism as to how this happens and how often. Hopefully, as more research and data gathering vehicles are sent to Mars the data will be collected that will tell us more.

I’m curious as to how these magnetic umbrellas and the solar winds work to strip the atmosphere. Does this stripping takes place on a schedule or randomly? Why does Mars still have any atmosphere left? How long, at estimated loss due to this ripping of the atmosphere will it take to lose what’s left? And if it should all be gone already — where is the atmosphere coming from? And most importantly of all, could it happen here? Are we just lucky that Earth has a bubble and not umbrellas? Do other planets have bubbles or umbrella? Is a bubble a criteria for life?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I’m a sucker for a good love story and this sounded like that’s what it would be, with the added benefit of the ghost being in love and, since usually ghost are ephemeral, the love would probably be unrequited. What I got was a rip roaring adventure in love, metaphysics, and morality.

Ben Gould and German Landis met and fell in love. It seems life couldn’t get any better. They complimented each other — one strong where the other was weak. They even decided to get a dog. On the way home from the shelter with the dog, Ben slipped and hit is head on the curb. Ben should have died. An angel was dispatched to take care of any business Ben had left to deal with. But Ben didn’t die. That’s the point when their lives began to unravel.

Ben was having weird side effects of the blow to his head. He thought he was going insane and he withdrew from German. She felt like he was shutting her out of his life and she issued an ultimatum and then moved out. When the story starts they are sharing custody of the dog. German comes to pick the dog up. Ben is depressed and German worries.

Ben decides he is going to tell German what’s been happening to him. Will she believe? Will she listen? Would anyone if they heard his story? At his point when Ben talks to German and tries to tell her why he withdrew and that he wants her back, well, it sound like he’s insane. Then he offers to prove it.

It’s by such twisty little points in the story that Carroll plays with the reader. Normally, once you’re into a story by a few chapters you may not know where it’s going or how it will all turn out but you have good idea of the shape of the narrative and the road it will travel on. With Ghosts in Love, every time you think you know where you are and what will come next, Carroll twists the tropes a bit and sets off in another direction. The beauty is that at every point it’s perfectly logical that we veer off in these new directions.

Keeping the reader unsettled, but entertained enough to keep reading, means that the reader can’t relax and go along for the ride. All the while, the reader has to take care to read the story that is there without presupposing that it is going in any particular direction. What you end up with is a story that raises many issues about life, death, love, friendship, responsibility, and morality.

When I finished the book, I had many questions to ask myself about my own life — its direction and the people I travel with. Any book that makes you think, not just about the story, but about those deeper issues that drove it beyond the closing of the covers is a book that is one that stays in the memory as a experience beyond just the reading. Ghost in Love is such a book.

Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan caught me by surprise. My first exposure to Shawn Tan’s work was his graphic story The Arrival which had no words. The story was conveyed by the drawings. In Tales From Outer Suburbia there are plenty of drawings and, if you’ve seen Shaun Tan’s work, you’ll recognize the style immediately. However, this collection of short stories is one that will leave you spellbound, slightly off-center, and entertained.

Each story is a bit surreal. They begin with a strange event or happening and while seeming perfectly normal, take you in a direction that you didn’t realize you were going until you get there. The entire book is a bit different, the table of contents is a page of postage stamps. Each stamp is the title of one of the stories and the postage is the page number. The image on the stamp is a bit of one of the illustrations for that story. The signal is the journey you’re about to take when reading these stories.

One of my favorite stories was “Grampa’s Story”. Grampa is telling his grandchildren about his wedding. The story is an adventure that the grandchildren are not sure is real and after hearing the story they go to Grandma for verification. While the tale of their wedding is a wonderful light tale it is also more — a roadmap for all marriages or directions for maintaining a happy marriage. Wonderful illustrations highlight their wedding day journey.

“Eric” is the story of an exchange student and his exchange family. Eric doesn’t talk much and studies hard. The family doesn’t know what to make of him or even how to tell if he’s happy with them. They do their best to entertain and befriend Eric. When he leaves they’re not sure how they did or how he’ll remember them. Off beat and with clues to the true nature of friendship and understanding.

Two children have a terrible time with one of the neighbors destroying their toys if they stray over to her yarn in “Broken Toys”. When wandering the town they come upon a strange sight and a stranger that doesn’t seem to understand them. They believe they have the perfect trick to play but it backfires in a very surprising way. Again the drawings are surreal as is the underlying nature of the story.

“Make Your Own Pet” is a quirky set of instructions to follow to make your own special pet out of discarded trash. It’s a two page spread that is reminiscent of those huge foldout instructional sheets. I’d seen this one in an art show a few years back and I like it then and liked it now even more.

If you like the off-beat, surreal, and strange — especially when it is also entertaining, enjoyable and beautifully illustrated, find a copy of Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shawn Tan. I’m sure you’ll find it to be a bit different.

Today, I was leafing through a magazine and imagine my surprise to see that a Tylenol ad was actually informative and helpful. Not that I’m saying such ads are never either of these. But, usually they just say something on the order of “if you’re in pain or ill use our product”.

So, what was different? This time the ad said “Increasing the font size on your computer screen can help prevent eye strain and headaches”. Then it listed how to increase the font size depending on whether you used a PC or a MAC.

PC — CTRL, SHIFT, +

Mac– COMMAND, SHIFT, +

Wow, advice on alleviating the pain by eliminating the problem — squinting and straining the eyes. Then suggesting you take their product only for pain you can’t avoid.

I think I like this new advertising campaign. I’m far more likely to remember a company that gives helpful advice that might reduce you reliance on their product and use it when necessary.

I guess my truth in advertising would be that I do use Tylenol extra-strength when I can’t take the pain anymore. It doesn’t help much, but sometimes it takes the edge off enough so I can keep on keeping on without whining. But like any medication — over-the-counter or not — it’s much better to eliminate what’s causing the problem then covering up the symptoms with medication.

So, if you think your headaches are from eye strain, make the font size larger. If it helps then maybe it’s time to get your eyes tested.

Today is November 14th, and it’s my birthday. Not a great event in the scheme of things but it is a time when I usually reflect on what I’ve done over the past year and think about what I plan to do in the coming year. To me birthdays are more like new beginnings than New Years Eve.

Looking over the past year, I’ve done a lot. The acupuncture has helped in reducing my pain so that I can function almost normally. I still have trouble concentrating at time and I certainly couldn’t do a standard nine to five in an office. I need breaks, lots of them and working from home fits that bill admirably. The problem of working at home is motivation. I’ve tried various methods of staying on track and keep refining and tweaking and hopefully will get even more focused and efficient over the coming year.

I’ve fallen behind on the NaNoWriMo word count. Don’t know if I can make up the difference by the end of the month. However, I have learned that if I push myself I can keep from fiddling with what I’ve already written. I hope to push through on this book even if I don’t make the end of the month word count. It’s been a good experience so far and I may do it again next year.

I’ve a lot to be thankful for. I’ve made some great friends over the past several years. One of my failings is in not expressing just how much people mean to me and how precious they are. My goal is to be much better at keeping in touch and following up with friends and family.

I’ve got unfinished projects all over the house: three pairs of socks, two sweaters, three spinning projects. I’ve somehow got to manage to schedule time for these. Lately, I’ve been working on one of the pairs of socks while watching movies. I did manage to start these socks on circular needles knitting both socks at the same time. I’m feeling pretty chuffed about that. When I’m done I’ll be done with that pair at least. But I still have a ways to go to get to the heel (toe up by the way).

So another year older, maybe wiser, maybe not — but working on acquiring knowledge — knowledge of myself, the world (its people and cultures), and just about everything else that strikes my fancy.

Here it is days after the elections and I’m still wondering….why? Why do so many people want to take away a fundamental right from others? I’ve heard that allowing same-sex marriages takes away from the sanctity of marriage. I’ve truly pondered that one for a long, long time and I don’t get it. What does anyone else’s marriage have to do with mine? Sorry, but what other people do in their marriage hasn’t got anything to do with me. My marriage is strong enough to take the fact that half the marriages in the U.S. end in divorce — we’re still okay.

So, when I got a link to Keith Olbermann speaking about Prop 8 in California. I listened and I realized that he’s asking the same questions that I’ve been asking since the issue became a major one several years ago. Only Mr. Olbermann is far more eloquent than I’ve been.

Please listen and think about what he’s saying. And if anyone can tell me why gays marrying in any way can effect their marriage I’d like to know — because I still don’t get it.