A Curious Statistical Anomaly

A bit late as usual but here’s the October coffee cup. This month I chose a sunflower cup. Somehow, even though I found this cup on sale around June or July, it just seems to shout FALL to me. The leaves around here are starting to turn (well some of them are). The temps are going down into the 50s at night and not higher than 70s during the warm days. The garden is still putting out green tomatoes and some lettuce. But, I know it’s the beginning of the end of summer here.

We brought our Meyer Lemon Tree in off the deck for the winter. He was already not particularly liking the cooler night time temps. He dropped a bunch of leaves in protest. So, now he sits on the rug in front of the sliding glass doors and seems to be all perky and happy. (Okay, so I anthropomorphise my plants — scientific studies have shown that plants like to be talked to and giving them gender and names — this one is Meyer, variety and name, I never said I was original — makes it easier to talk to them.)

This month is going to be very busy. Next weekend, Hyperion and I will be at Bouchercon which is a mystery convention. I’ve never been before so it should be lots of fun. We’re going to be covering the convention for Gumshoe Review. Our usual method is to blog about the convention daily with some photos. Then we do a major upload of photographs to the Gumshoe Review Flickr account, and a general overview of the convention for Gumshoe with a pointer to the daily, more detail blog reports.

We’ll also be attending Capclave. Capclave is the science fiction convention sponsored by WSFA (Washington Science Fiction Association) — tagline is: where reading is not extinct (hence the dodo mascot). Hyperion and I are members of WSFA and have been attending for a few years now. We’ll be covering this convention for SFRevu — with the same method of daily blog articles and the full blown report in SFRevu. Check out the convention website and if you’re in the area please come to the convention. The guests of honor this year are James Morrow and Michael Dirda. It’s small about 300-400 people. The ratio of writers, publishers, reviews, and SF professionals to fans is fairly high. There’s some really interesting program items. There are also some workshops that, if you are an aspiring or beginning writer, you’ll find very helpful. There’s no extra charge over the membership fee for the workshops. So, if you’re in the area drop in and check it out.

Well, I just watched the Vice-Presidential debate. As far as I’m concerned this debate goes to Biden. (And I don’t he like him as a candidate — and you know that if you’ve read my earlier political rants.)

While Palin did much better than I expected after the disastrous interview with Katie Couric — at least she was coherent. Palin consistently didn’t answer the question that was asked. She gave pretty standard blah-blah-great to be an American-blah-blah answers that were obviously prepared and rehearsed. How do I know that? Because when she got thrown by a question she pretty much just threw out the usual catch phrases or turned and did more on energy.

Biden on the other hand, consistently countered with “facts” — you know those things that can be check. He listed what the Obama/Biden ticket planned to do on each of the major issues. He continually corrected misinformation delivered by Palin that has been corrected over and over and over and yet still the Republicans keep throwing it out there. (Check the Facts on CNN on statements made.)

Biden also made it clear that a vote for McCain/Palin is a vote to continue the Bush policies that have gotten this country in so many problems for another four years. Biden also continually set the record straight on the “fact” that McCain, as much as he wants to play himself as a maverick, has consistently supported and voted for Bush’s policies. That is not a maverick — that’s a team player. Voting for McCain is a vote to continue doing what we’ve been doing for the last 8 years. I don’t think there’s an American alive that thinks they’re better off now than they were eight years ago — unless they’re rich and/or own a big corporation.

Biden also, and to my mind finally, stood up and explained how McCain’s $5,000 health tax credit and taxing of the health benefit paid by your employer — is going to be a huge tax increase for the lower and middle class that have health benefits. This has been needed to be said for quite a while and I think he did it clearly and concisely. I’m hoping people got it this time.

Overall, Biden dealt with facts, plans, and specifics. Palin simply said those things that make us feel good. She’s the Republican cheerleader. This country doesn’t need to feel good. It needs to get the work done to bring up back up to the the strong nation that we once were.

In case no one is paying attention, let me point out something I’ve noticed over my lifetime. Every time we have a Republican President our economy takes a nose dive (usually not as drastic as the current one) and the deficit rises alarmingly. Then we change to a Democratic President and the economy stabilizes and usually starts getting stronger. Then people go back to the Republican’s who promise that if we take off oversight and reduce regulation then everything will be even better and those darn Democrats only want to give things away and tax people. So, the parties change again and down we go on the economic slide.

This nation can’t afford four more years of these policies that are destroying this nation. We need a change. I think that Obama/Biden are our best chance to regain some of the ground we’ve lost. They are the party of change. Don’t listen to the feel good speeches of the Republicans, look around you, look at what they want to do, check with the CNN fact check area, check other independent and non-biased fact checking sites on the web (you’ll be surprised at what you find).

This is going to be the most important election we’ve ever had because if we don’t act to fix our problems and have a president who will actually make the hard decision so that this country can move forward, we’re going to go down into economic chaos and ignominy. I want my country back. I want to live in the America that was a beacon — and continuing the current administrations polices is NOT going to get us there.

Why is the image of the DVD cover for Canadian Bacon? If you haven’t seen the film, it’s a hilarious (and very scary film). The basic plot is the cold war is over. Jobs in the military sector are being lost and the economy is having problems. So, to fix the problem — the President and his cabinet decide they need to have an enemy to get people’s fear levels up and fuel the military sector and the economy. The Russians refuse to be the bad guys so they decide on Canada. Check it out. It used to be just funny — now, with the current administration’s perchance to raising the population’s fear levels — it’s kind of scary (and a bit predictive). Watch it, it’s a good film with lots of great actors (most of them Canadian).

I just love it when science finds that not only is eating chocolate okay — it’s even good for you. Of course, not for all of us — a friend of mine gets migraines if she has too much chocolate, or even a bit of it. But then for the rest of the chocoholics of the world — go for it.

It seems that half a bar of dark chocolate per week is good for your heart. Believe me I’m not looking this gift horse in the mouth (which is why I didn’t even try to find the original research paper), but the article in PhyOrg.com says:

“We started from the hypothesis- says Romina di Giuseppe, 33, lead author of the study- that high amounts of antioxidants contained in the cocoa seeds, in particular flavonoids and other kinds of poly-phenols, might have beneficial effects on the inflammatory state. Our results have been absolutely encouraging: people having moderate amounts of dark chocolate regularly have significantly lower levels of C-reactive protein in their blood. In other words, their inflammatory state is considerably reduced.” The 17% average reduction observed may appear quite small, but it is enough to decrease the risk of cardio-vascular disease for one third in women and one fourth in men. It is undoubtedly a remarkable outcome”.

The most amazing thing is it works better in women than in men. And since chocolate also seems to lock to the same receptors in the brain that get stimulated with sex — hey, this is a really good thing on lonely nights. But I think we actually may need more than half a bar per week.

Actually, I’m really so-so on the chocolate thing but my husband is a chocoholic — big time. So, this is right up his nutritional menu plan. However, when I do have chocolate, it’s the dark chocolate that I like. I’m especially fond of bittersweet dark chocolate bits or bars. I loved the Chantico drinking chocolate that you used to be able to get at Starbucks — a bit too sweet for my taste but boy did it pack a caffeine wallop. Six ounces and you buzzed for hours. They don’t have it anymore in the winter — wonder if it’s because of the buzz.

Anyway, take another look at your milk chocolate stash and when it’s gone replace it with dark, rich, dark, chunks, of dark chocolate. Afterall, science is on our side.

I was reading some techie sites today and they mentioned the LHC Rap had more hits than the Astrobiology Rap. So naturally, I had to check this out.

Jonathan Chase loves rap and has melded it with his love of science. Even his rapper name, Oort Kuiper, is a nod to his passion for science. Anyway, according to several articles that I read (here and here), he was commissioned by NASA to develop an Astrobiology Rap for the latest edition of NASA’s Astrobiology Magazine European Edition. Luckily for us, the Astrobiology Rap is now on YouTube.

It’s rather nice to see that scientists and those who understand science are reaching out to the younger audience to hopefully get them interested in the wonders and beauty and the big questions that make science so fascinating.

Are we the only sentient race in the universe? I don’t think so — the universe is just so big there has to be another spark of life out there somewhere. The trick is to find it and to recognize it. If what we do on earth is any indication of how we’d treat sentient lifeforms — we just redefine life so that the newly found one doesn’t qualify. We constantly do that here on earth. Don’t believe me? Think about how the definition of sentient life has changed as we discovered some animals use tools, that when taught a language we can understand (American sign language), we decided that just because they made up words out of what they already knew for new items and that people could read their signing it wasn’t “real” language. Evidently, when we’re threatened with not being unique we move the bar and make it harder for anyone/any species other than ourselves to qualify.

Anyway, enjoy the rap. Normally, I don’t care for rap (who wants to be sworn at for 3 minutes), but this one is rhythmic and and has a story to tell.

Normally, I don’t pass these things on because I don’t really know where they came from. This one is different, it’s from the daughter of friend. My friend rewrote it so it could be posted and sent to others. Read and ponder, and if you can do something to help, please do so. Evidently, FEMA didn’t learn from the aftermath of Katrina and now Houston is in the same fix.

My daughter Jennifer lives in Houston outside the outer beltway. Three days ago, her electricity came back on. Since the hurricane, services that we take for granted are a hardship, even for the people who are lucky enough to have power. At the grocery store, people are allowed into the store accompanied by store employees. Only 20 people are allowed in at a time. They can get a limited selection of groceries – milk, eggs and bread being very precious and hard to get. They are then checked out using cash. The lines are long and Jenny has waited upwards to a couple hours for food. Gas lines are the same. This is still happening on a daily basis for her. Of course, she considers herself one of the lucky ones – she had emergency cash on hand and has non-perishable food to last several weeks. Now, magnify Jenny’s plight by millions. Not hundreds, not thousands, MILLIONS. 1.2 million people are still without power in and around Houston. These people are running out of cash, are having difficulty getting around to get groceries because they need gas for their cars, and are doing the best they can to survive. Neighbors and family are helping each other. But there are poeple there without that family or friend network.

Since she’s capable of caring for herself, Jenny decided to volunteer in some way to help the people who’ve lost everything, including their homes. Because the news is filled with headlines about the latest political campaign, Houston’s massive cleanup and rebuilding its infrastructure have passed from the public’s eye.

Jenny has been volunteering at a Red Cross shelter for the past 3 days. The shelter is an old big box store that was closed down. The Red Cross has set up cots, handed out blankets, and given each person a small bag of travel-size personal toiletries. Port-A-Potties and the trailer showers have been set up outside for hygienic purposes. Hand sanitizer is scattered throughout the shelter to help people keep clean. Each day, more buses arrive with more people. An entire group of mentally disabled people is now housed in this shelter. Their own facility is gone. The website says that only people who are being bussed back are in this shelter. However, Jenny says there are several people there who claim they were homeless before the hurricane. There are about 1000 people at this place. So far. There are 40 Red Cross volunteers – 2 groups are from Taiwan and Mexico’s version of Red Cross. One individual is the “mental health officer.” In trying to handle the crisis, the Red Cross volunteers have been at the shelter from 6 AM to 10 PM – without breaks. Many have had nothing to eat all day. Anyone who appears to possess food is descended upon by the clients and there’s simply no way to share with everyone. So because the Red Cross workers can’t take a break, they are simply not eating. There is no way to cook food. The Red Cross is handing out self-heating MREs (Meals-Ready-To-Eat). Tonight, Verizon donated 100 pizzas and 43 sandwiches to this shelter. Jenny said the “clients” fell on the food like starving wolves. Many of them have had little to eat for days.

The volunteers are there to help the people fill out forms to get aid, try to get them whatever they need as far as personal stuff (some only came with the clothes on their backs) and generally help people get settled with a cot and corner to call their own until FEMA and other emergency measures can be taken. From what I understand, FEMA has been so overwhelmed that the supply line is backed up and people are not getting the resources they need. The newspapers paint a rosier picture, but the reality is, thousands and thousands of people have lost not only their homes, but their livelihoods.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/21houston.html?em

Many of the clients come up to the Red Cross personnel and ask if they can help find a job. They understand the predicament they’re in, and are desperate for work to help themselves. Sadly, there aren’t any jobs available and even if there were, the Red Cross can’t give them one.

Up close and personal – Jenny says the biggest issue is FOOD. These people, including the workers, are going hungry. At different times during the day, she says even the Red Cross workers have broken down over the misery of not being able to alleviate the hunger. Sure, the clients are getting at least one meal a day, which is better than nothing, but for bodies used to 3 meals a day, its hard. One Red Cross worker hid under a desk so no one could see her crying. Then she wiped her tears, dusted off her hands and went back to work.

I am asking each of you to go to the Red Cross website and donate money or your time. If you can go down there to volunteer, please go give the aid workers help if its possible. If you can, take a busload of people with you – maybe your church group or your cheerleading squad or your boy scout troup. I realize school is in session and this is probably unlikely. But you could ask your schools and work to do a fund-raising drive for the Red Cross.

I realize a lot of folk were not happy with the Red Cross a few years ago due to issues that made the news. But that has changed. Jenny has volunteered to man a TV hotline for aid, a FEMA POD center and the Red Cross shelter she’s now at. She says the Red Cross, BY FAR, is the most organized, most helpful and most reliable at getting the goods and services out there. But they are being slowly overwhelmed by the magnitude of Houston’s dire straits. Here’s the link for Houston’s Red Cross:

http://www.houstonredcross.org/

Please, if you can help, donate.

Thank you!

P.S. You have my permission to send this email to anyone as you see fit.

Time. Time has always been relative. Remember when you were young and summer was just this long season of lazy days filled with nothing to do but enjoy the time off from school? Remember when you wished every day that you were older so you could do whatever it is that you needed to be older for? Then you get older and you wish you could live those earlier times or ages again and appreciate every second of that time you wasted wishing to be in a different time.

Most of us are never in the now. Of course, we live in the now in reality, but in our minds, we either are replaying the past or fantasizing about the future. We think of those comebacks and things we should have done. We plan for the things that we hope to do and we ignore what is going on around us now. However, now is all we actually do have. We can, to some degree, plan our future.  But to get there we have to live each second as it comes. We are always in the now, which becomes the past as we move to the future. But to truly live, it must be now, today, this minute, this second.

We should try to pay attention to what is happening around us; to not put off what we can do now. Live fully each second. Or, as I like to say, Carpe Diem.

So, if you’re wondering what got me thinking about time and its effects on our lives, it’s because I heard about the The Corpus Clock & Chronophage. Here’s the YouTube video.

I totally love the idea of a bug that eats time. Once that time is gone it can’t come back — at least not until and unless we learn to master that fourth dimension and that’s not going to be anytime soon. So, make every second of your life count. Don’t waste time — and just for the record, watching a gorgeous sunrise or sunset, or looking at the shapes in clouds, star gazing, spending time with a friend, comforting someone in pain — are not time wasters. Life is what happens while you wait for something else — that’s wasting time. Be in the now and enjoy your life. Don’t miss it waiting for something else.

So, we stopped in to Starbucks this past weekend for coffee (me) and hot chocolate (Hyperion) and picked up issue No. 001 September 11-17, 2008. This issue is Carbon Emissions: A Field Guide to American’s Favorite Greenhouse Gas. It’s one sheet folded in a manga size (height x width) not thickness. An advertisement for Hybrids, some sayings, and some facts and charts about carbon emissions and our good friend CO₂.

There was poster in the shop that said that this free news sheet would be out every Thursday. I’m thinking I might have to look up issue No. 002. The fact that there’s some zeros in that number indicates they plan to give it a decent run. Each week the sheet should cover a hot election topic. Not in depth certainly, but a quick over view of the topic will give a lot of people some nodding acquaintance with some of the issues. This link to a Motley Fool article goes into a bit more detail. Even the NY Times has an article (this one about issue No. 002 so guess I missed one, or so.

You can read issue No. 001 online at the Starbucks site. Take a look and check for the second issue, or is it the third, that will be out this week — I seem to have lost count. Must be lack of coffee.

Whatever the schedule or which issue is out now, it’s a great idea. You know that awkward point when your out with someone and you don’t know what to talk about next? Hey, it happens even with a partner, spouse, or significant other — you know each other so well that after awhile something like this is a great aid in helping to start a real conversation about something other then the house, the chores, the job, the weather. It’s a great conversation starter even for people who know each other very well.

I get spam.  I get lots of spam.  Spam, spam, not beautiful spam.  And it’s too bad because the real spam, the kind that comes in a can, isn’t bad.  When I was a poor struggling student, I ate spam a lot (and not the script for the play either).  I had spam sandwiches, spam and eggs, spam disguised as ham with cloves in it, fried spam, and scrambled spam.  It was cheap, filled you up, and with enough spice and imagination tasted pretty good considering the alternative was mac & cheese again.  So, email spam gives spam a bad connotation.  I get lots of spam and after awhile, when you’re scanning through the Junk folder before deleting — you occasionally notice trends.

Does anyone actually buy into the belief that their email address won them money in a lottery they never entered? Really, if it sounds to good to be true it probably is.
• Come on really, if you want me to click on you to find out how much trouble I’m in for sending a Western Union money order for several thousands of dollars to an organization that Homeland Security has flagged as a “bad group” and now I need to turn myself in or click on this link, shouldn’t you also know that I don’t have thousands of dollars to send to anyone? If it was a buck fifty maybe but more than that — give me a break. I might give to a valid charity but to some nameless organization — no way. No click. And, a good chuckle. Nice try in this day and age of heightened paranoia. Wonder how many will click before they remember they’ve never used Western Union to send money.
• Does any really believe the IRS would send you email — for anything? I mean this is the organization that charges you to file electronically, in order to save them money. Yeah, it saves them money because you pay extra to file that way — bonus time.
• Like I would trust anyone who sends me unsolicited email asking them to help me get out of debt. If I had a problem with debt, I’d start by talking to my bank, credit union, or a financial adviser and NOT some organization who sends spam.
• I’ve noticed that I’m still getting hundreds of spam a day letting me know that they can help me be more of a man and get my many-euphemism-to-get-past-spam-filters-tool bigger, harder, and better. Too bad, I’m a woman and your targeted email is to a totally inappropriate demographic.
• Along the same lines of getting bigger, harder, etc., etc., and so forth. What’s with all the references to violence? Do men really thing women are impressed by men who treat them as sex toys and that all women want to be abused? Hint: That’s a big NO. Excepting a very, very, very, small minority who may be into BDSM, no one wants to be hurt — ever, no way. If you’re a man that believes these ads, please get help. If you learn to respect women you might actually find it works better than these spam ads.
• I have to wonder about congress — they keep turning down legislation to create a Can Spam that works like the Do Not Call list. Are they really clueless enough to believe that anyone wants this garbage delivered to their inbox. We should have to Opt In, not Opt Out guys. Get a clue, please.
• And enough with the watches and designer thingies. If I wanted this stuff, I’d buy it from those carts on the side of the streets in the cities. I won’t buy it from spam. Sorry but if you send me spam, you’re obviously not a company, person, or service that I want to deal with.

Maybe some day, I’ll open my email and find only letters from people, companies, and services, that I’ve opted to receive email from. Won’t that be nice?