Where Sokolovics (arrived 2004 CE) co-exist peacefully with stromatolite fossils (deposited ~400e6 BCE)
The snow wasn’t good for skiing this weekend, so Kath suggested a Sunday snowshoeing adventure at Highland Forest. A great time was had by all. It was also the first time I got to take the new birthday camera out for a spin, and I was very pleased with the results.
Daniel went on his first sleepover last week. It wasn’t really a big deal – we didn’t expect to get the “your kid is scared so come get him” call at 10pm – but still, it’s a first.
Thomas felt a little left out, so we had a sleepover of our own. We played Lego Star Wars and slept on the camping air mattress in the living room.
… over?
Yeah, we’re still here. Generally, weeknights or weekends are the times I would post something here. For a little taste of why I haven’t, here’s a quick overview of the last several days out here on the Manlius Formation – which, relative to DC, does not have as much snow right now as you might think.
Saturday: Gatebusters ski team at Toggenburg for Daniel, simultaneous ski lessons for Thomas, lots of shuttling between the two for John. I got in about two runs, but they were quality – hey, you take what you can get. Left the house at 8am and returned home at about 2:30pm. Too tired to do much else for rest of day.
Sunday: Gatebusters: kids vs. adults slalom race in the morning (Daniel beat me – I didn’t have to let him), family time mid-day, cringe during the incredibly uncomfortable Taylor Swift / Stevie Nicks duet at night.
Monday night: Swim lessons at Y for Daniel, cub scout den meeting for Thomas.
Tuesday night: Art lessons at Y for Daniel and Thomas. (OK, so Kath took care of that, but I came home and started dinner as soon as I arrived. And while it cooked I played a little Lego Star Wars – so sue me!)
Wednesday night: Karate for Thomas, cub scout den meeting for Daniel, followed by sledding behind the library with both boys and Daniel’s scout den. Word of caution to those over 30 – do NOT attempt snowboarding in the dark on an 8-year-old’s plastic snowboard. And if you try it, try it ONCE, not, like, ten times. Ouch.
Thursday: God, help us. God, help us all.
I suppose I could get with the in crowd and use Facebook more, but I guess I’m old fashioned.
I’ll try harder.
It’s been over three weeks since the last post, and with Thanksgiving travels and dad’s upcoming surgery, I likely won’t be posting again soon, so here are a few pictorial tidbits from the recent past:
Thomas finished his outdoor soccer season a few weeks ago (as did Daniel), and I got a few pics of him and his team:
Also, we had our new shed delivered, which means I can start parking the car in the garage – a must have for Syracuse winters:
Jules Verne saw a future where man would conquer the seas in submersible watercraft. We are navigating the seas of that future.
Arthur C. Clarke envisaged the use of space-based communication satellites. That reality is here (over).
William F. Nolan followed Logan as he tried to escape his Lastday execution. There is pending legislation in Congress to make Lastday a reality.[1]
We now bear witness to the frightening future of H.G. Wells’ Food of the Gods in all its massive glory.
Behold! A giant 5 year old attempts to wrest the Washington Monument free from its base:
Having no luck there, he tries to take the Lincoln Memorial home to use as a toy garage:
He eventually shrunk back to normal size and lived happily ever after.
The end.
Click through to the gallery for more photos of our most excellent trip to DC to visit with the Seidel and Barsky clans, and our subsequent visits to the Air and Space Museum and the National Mall.
My 9-mile, one-way commute to work today cost me about 90 cents in fuel costs alone.[1]
I paid 16 cents for a Central/South American banana at the supermarket this morning.
So it costs 6 times as much to transport me 9 miles – mostly downhill – than it costs to grow, pick, pack and ship a banana from South America to Syracuse.
[Editorial addition: At my weight (175 lbs), and assuming that the 1/3 of a pound banana traveled here from Ecuador (about 3000 miles) the dollars per pound per mile is about 3.5X higher for my one-way commute than for the banana's.]
John Sokolovic received notice today that he is the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics. This award was given for the extraordinary turnaround he has accomplished in the international community for the support of cold fusion research. While hasn’t actually achieved cold fusion yet, he has published papers and given speeches over the past nine months or so about how important it is.
The Nobel Prize Committee said that this award was given to Sokolovic primarily for the incredible potential he exhibits. However, the committee also praised him not only for who he is, but rather for who he is not; namely, his predecessor, an unpopular research scientist who thought his own lab’s theories were the only path to achieving cold fusion.
Sokolovic’s predecessor refused to enter into cooperative research efforts with other labs, and often criticized the primitive techniques of those other institutions, slowly eroding the credibility and financial health of his own lab.
As for Sokolovic, he started out as a rebellious physicist at community-based physics labs. He quickly gained leadership positions in larger and larger labs before bursting onto the international scene two years ago with his memoir, “Dreams of Mr. Johnston, My Physics Professor: A Story of Quarks and Neutrinos.”
Since that point Sokolovic hasn’t actually achieved any great gains in cold fusion, but still, the potential is there.
The question on everyone’s lips is: Can he live up to it?
I picked the last of the summer bounty today – about 1.5 lbs of carrots, which were promptly peeled and frozen for winter stew, and 4 servings of beans:
Also, we have about a yard of some really rich compost (on the upper right of the photo below), and we’ve started the new batch for next year (in the foreground).
All in all, it was a great experience. We had lots of veggies throughout the summer, and we still have pickled beets in the cupboard, along with beet greens, pole beans, carrots, and tomatoes in the freezer to enjoy this winter.
