headline of the day
coming out of sleep
The Chevy Macbeth.
A Thanksgiving Rick & Teel Story
My friends Rick and Teel Sale were in Rabat, Morocco, several decades ago, and while there they visited the gardens of Fort Chellah. The place is vast, and one may wander about in it, among Roman ruins, for a long time without seeing other people. But they came to the edge of a pond and found several naked young women sitting at its edge. There were many broken eggshells floating on the water. Teel stepped forward and asked a woman about the pond and the eggshells. The young beauty told her that she and her friends would be married soon, and the eggs were offerings to the eels–to ensure fertility.
Last night
I dreamed I was on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” After the show, I directed a movie. Its title: “Brain Damage.”
A Non-scientist’s Conjecture about Anomalous Decay Rates
I’m sure one of our scientist readers can put this to rest quickly, but here’s the deal. I made a post back in August about this article that was circulating then, concerning observed changes in radioactive decay rates that were definitely not supposed to ever change:
When probing the deepest reaches of the Cosmos or magnifying our understanding of the quantum world, a whole host of mysteries present themselves. This is to be expected when pushing our knowledge of the Universe to the limit.
But what if a well-known — and apparently constant — characteristic of matter starts behaving mysteriously?
This is exactly what has been noticed in recent years; the decay rates of radioactive elements are changing. This is especially mysterious as we are talking about elements with “constant” decay rates — these values aren’t supposed to change. School textbooks teach us this from an early age.
This is the conclusion that researchers from Stanford and Purdue University have arrived at, but the only explanation they have is even weirder than the phenomenon itself: The sun might be emitting a previously unknown particle that is meddling with the decay rates of matter. Or, at the very least, we are seeing some new physics.
Last night I was wondering if the particle explanation might not be right: perhaps what is being measured is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves. We have been trying to detect them in various ways for some time now, but with no success. My thought is that perhaps the decay rates are remaining constant–and spacetime is being stretched by a gravitational wave in a way that we aren’t aware of because our perception remains constant (as it would within time dilation effects–in this case applied to a whole region of space). But–I don’t really have the math to work on or fully understand such things, and I may be just talking like a person who believes he has invented a perpetual motion machine.
All I see in this picture is my shadow
(Sigh)
Sarah Palin went on Glenn Beck’s radio show to discuss the current situation on the Korean peninsula:
CO-HOST: How would you handle a situation like the one that just developed in North Korea? [...]
PALIN: But obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies. We’re bound to by treaty –
CO-HOST: South Korean.
PALIN: Eh, Yeah. And we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes.
Italics mine.
(via)
Susan Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish
Every year since 1971, NPR’s Susan Stamberg has read her mother-in-law’s cranberry relish recipe on-air. I was first introduced to it by our friend Rachael, who has a nose for these sorts of things:
Here, with Stamberg’s footnotes, npr.org offers two recipes –- the on-air classic, and another dish that Stamberg confesses is her “truly favorite cranberry side dish.”
Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish
2 cups whole raw cranberries, washed
1 small onion
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons horseradish from a jar (“red is a bit milder than white”)
Grind the raw berries and onion together. (“I use an old-fashioned meat grinder,” says Stamberg. “I’m sure there’s a setting on the food processor that will give you a chunky grind — not a puree.”)
Add everything else and mix.
Put in a plastic container and freeze.
Early Thanksgiving morning, move it from freezer to refrigerator compartment to thaw. (“It should still have some little icy slivers left.”)
The relish will be thick, creamy, and shocking pink. (“OK, Pepto Bismol pink. It has a tangy taste that cuts through and perks up the turkey and gravy. It’s also good on next-day turkey sandwiches, and with roast beef.”)
Makes 1-1/2 pints.
Stamberg also provides a cranberry chutney recipe that I’ve been meaning to try, but it contains ginger and I’ve always thought ginger to be a bit fussy.
Carving Starling
Since most of y’all clusterflockers are nesting to eat bird (give thanks), here’s my coup du jour (at the risk of appetites lost).
Giving Thanks
Keeping in the spirit of the season, Freedomworks reminds their increasingly Randian cohorts about the true meaning of Thanksgiving:
Sadly, few Americans know the real story of the early colonists. For evidence of the failures of communism, we do not need to look to disastrous experiments in foreign lands. In fact, the Plymouth Plantation is one of the most apparent examples of the failures of collectivism.
Centuries before the Communist Manifesto was even published, the Pilgrims set up an economic system that looked similar to the “utopia” advocated by Karl Marx. In the early plantation, there was no such thing as private property or division of labor. It was even forbidden for an individual to produce their own food. All food and supplies were held in common. Plantation officials were supposed to equally distribute goods to all. Plymouth County Governor William Bradford wrote, “the taking away of property, and bringing in community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing.” Needless to say, the colonists didn’t live happily ever after.
(Palm to face) Remind me never to start a settlement with these folks.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
(via)
I never knew Charlie Brown was a barber’s son.
That’s a wrap.
Just wrapped the short film Buttons in the Ground. We shot on the Red camera. We made a lot of forts.
Tap Tap – 100,000 Thoughts
dear clusterflock
Thanksgiving plans.
Ice and Hills Don’t Mix
From the snow and ice storm in Seattle on Monday. Watch until at least around 3 minutes in.
It sold for $666.66 and was available until it was discontinued in 1977.
The Apple I, one of only 200 such models ever made, was sold Tuesday afternoon at Christie’s auction house in central London for 133,250 pounds (about $210,000.) It came with its original packaging and a signed sales letter from Steve Jobs, one of Apple Computer’s co-founders and the current CEO of Apple Inc.
The 3rd I
Wafaa Bilal, a visual artist widely recognized for his interactive and performance pieces, had a small digital camera implanted in the back of his head.
Bilal said Tuesday that he underwent the procedure for an art project that was commissioned by a new museum in Doha, Qatar, in the Arab Gulf.
Titled “The 3rd I,” it is one of 23 contemporary works commissioned for the opening of the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art on Dec. 30. The exhibition is entitled “Told/Untold/Retold.”
“I am going about my daily life as I did before the procedure,” the Iraqi-born artist said in a statement.
from the comments
Along these lines, I just filled out a lengthy review form for a textbook published by a big publisher of university-level textbooks. The experience left me with the distinct impression that the publisher has not realized the doom that awaits their aims. But–perhaps they asked for opinions because they do see what lies ahead. It’s the students who have changed. They now always occupy several time phases at once and won’t sit still in the way that some books ask them to. In my view the future of publishing lies in youtube and books made as book art artifacts. I’m still a lover of paper, though, and I imagine I will go out that way.
from the moderated comments
three crosses (x3), beast’s head (x2), a snake, a house, a scorpio, skull and bones, 6270 (?), kaballistic matrix (x3), zodiac simbols (a lot of them)… so misterious.
Speaking of self-similar flocking formations…
from the spam
I never saw her laugh like that, it is evil to see.
my turducken thanksgiving dreams have been bested
quote out of context
The United States military can be cured of homosexuality once and for all if it allows lesbians to serve but forbids gay men to do so, according to one elderly man who has extensive experience showering with dozens of other dudes.
If The English Did Rap.
publishing history
John B. Thompson on the history and state of publishing:
The publishing industry is in trouble—but not just because of the digital revolution. The real trouble for the publishing industry, in my view, has more to do with the gradual unfolding of this economic transformation that led to this structure of publishing, where we now have five large corporate groups and a small number of retail chains dominating the industry. These corporations have to achieve growth year on year, and when that top line revenue begins to fall, as it did when the 2008 economic recession suddenly tipped the narrow profit margins into the red, it has devastating impact throughout and the only way that they can preserve the profit at the bottom line is to push people out, and to reduce their overheads and costs dramatically.
Richard Nash called it “the only history of publishing we’ll need.”
