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FreeRepublic ^ | Saturday, March 6, 2004 A.D. | SunkenCiv

[SunkenCiv]

	Saturday April 28 2007	A FReeper recently asked to be removed from the GGG list because he or she will be spending most online time over at Darwin Central. Thanks for the invitation to join there, but I don't believe I'd be welcome there (or enjoy going there) due to my fringe interests. I had visited DC a few times, either cold-calling or following a link sent by this or that FReeper. I did think this was funny -- "Darwin Central: Corrupting the World's Youth since 1859". Ernest Lawrence, a pure experimentalist... said, "Don't you worry about it -- the theorists will find a way to make them all the same." -- Alvarez by Luis Alvarez (page 184) I must reiterate my feeling that experimentalists always welcome the suggestions of the theorists. But the present situation is ridiculous... In my considered opinion the peer review system, in which proposals rather than proposers are reviewed, is the greatest disaster to be visited upon the scientific community in this century. No group of peers would have approved my building the 72-inch bubble chamber. Even Ernest Lawrence told me that he thought I was making a big mistake. He supported me because my track record was good. I believe U.S. science could recover from the stultifying effects of decades of misguided peer reviewing if we returned to the tried-and-true method of evaluating experimenters rather than experimental proposals. Many people will say that my ideas are elitist, and I certainly agree. The alternative is the egalitarianism that we now practice and that I've seen nearly kill basic science in the USSR and in the People's Republic of China. -- ibid (pp 200-201) Soon to be appearing, another book review. :')

[SunkenCiv]

	Thursday May 3 2007	Another FReeper has invited me to Darwin Central. Thanks again for the invitation to join, but I would not fit in over there. I suggest a visit to this: I haven't aligned with any candidate for president (although I should always be considered a candidate, regardless of the year). I do plan to vote for the eventual Republican nominee, regardless of who that is. I would be surprised if there isn't at least one substantial minor party candidate / ticket, along with the usual number of insubstantial ones. I won't vote for one. To reiterate: I do plan to vote for the eventual Republican nominee, regardless of who that is. Al Gore will run on the Green Party ticket, and he'll have some other talentless drone for a running mate (Tipper, for example). I doubt that Bloomberg will run. Lieberman is certainly well positioned to run as an independent, however, I think he would siphon off the MOR voters who (despite claims to the contrary) are essential for a Pubbie victory. For that matter, they are essential for a Dhimmicrat victory, but Lieberman isn't likely to draw many likely Dhimmicrat voters to his candidacy. If the economy is doing well, the MSM will always claim that it is doing poorly, that it's in a downturn, etc -- if there is a Republican president. The economy is doing well, other than here in Michigan, despite the failure of crude prices to come down. Hey! I thought we'd gone to war for oil! Seriously folks, we didn't go to war for oil, we went to war to defend the US and liberate Afghanistan and Iraq. People who can't see that are morons, regardless of their political affiliations (make that, "alleged political affiliations"). To reiterate: I do plan to vote for the eventual Republican nominee, regardless of who that is. The liberation of Iran is coming, sooner rather than later. The more the Sunni tribes turn on al-Qaeda and obliterate it in Iraq, the shorter the time the US will spend in Iraq. The result of the 2006 election was that the Dhimmicrats have been shown to the world as cowards, unable even to successfully confront a supposedly unpopular and weakened President -- unable in fact to do anything but run their big, stupid mouths. This (and perhaps the appointment of Petraus) has transformed the war, and over the months since November, there have been large, well-publicized, but isolated terror attacks, with slow, steady progress. Saddam was hanged by a Shi'ite-head, who subsequently fled to his masters in Iran. The Iraqis (even many Iraqi Shi'ites) have been galvanized by this event. Saddam's hanging was welcomed throughout Iraq, and his permanent removal has eliminated a standard around which his old guard could rally. Al-Qaeda has suffered one reverse after another, and even the MSM -- filled to the brim with its partisan media shills -- can't cover up that fact. I'm thankful we have a President who doesn't govern by opinion polls gleaned from tiny fractions of the population. Veto the DemonRats -- Vote Republican.

[SunkenCiv]

	Sunday May 6 2007	Corrected a typo in the April 28 entry, and removed a link to an ex-FReeper.

[SunkenCiv]

	Monday May 7 2007	Added my usual Search link to this page from my bookmarks file here.

[SunkenCiv]

	Thursday May 10 2007	I just bttt'ed the Gardening 'blog as it is the most wonderful time of the year once again. Once upon a time I came up with a very nice (mostly canned) Gardening and Cooking ping list logo, but as far as I know there is no Gardening and Cooking ping list. Nor do I know of anyone (most especially myself) who has any interest in starting one. Bummer.

[SunkenCiv]

	Friday May 11 2007	Here's my list of ongoing 'blog topics: Politics: Election 2006, Election 2008 (add reply), Enemies List (add reply), and (Stop) Hillary Clinton for President in 2008, (add reply); Sidebars: Garbage on Television (add reply), and Keywords for nations (add reply); History, Astronomy, Physics, etc: Catastrophism (add reply), Cold Fusion -- The Sun in a bottle (add reply), Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order) (add reply), String Theory 'blog (add reply), and X-Planets (add reply); Hobbies: Books, Magazines, Movies, Music, (add reply), Detroit Lions 'blog (add reply), Gardening 'blog (add reply), Gardening (with pics) (add reply), and Macintosh / Apple blog (add reply); Fringe: Barsoom, the Face, Structures on Mars (add reply) , and ZetaTalk: Whiplash (add reply)

[SunkenCiv]

	Friday May 18 2007	I've planted flowers, a Brandywine tomato plant, a butternut squash plant, a buttercup squash plant, and replanted the potato plants which come up every year in the same old garden spot. That was Tuesday. I've managed to get quite a bit more done than usual (still isn't much) which is the main reason I've not been on FR as much this week. Obama Condemns Big and Fast Gas Guzzlers, But Drives Hemi V8 Sedan

[SunkenCiv]

	Tuesday May 22 2007	I've begun to suspect that the best way to spot the casual user of FR is to visit their profile. Nothin' there? Check their links page. Nothin' there? Check their "in forum", which shows everything they've posted (not all on one page). I've got my forum prefs set to 250 messages a page. If listing 250 messages contains stuff from at least two different years, the FReeper is practically a lurker. Active users, on the other hand, have bookmarks out the wazoo, including duplicates (because they'd never checked back on their own links page, or had "discovered" the same topic twice), old-style topics which aren't available for replies since the forum structure was changed, and of course, topics which have been deleted and sometimes only exist in the Wayback Machine. I'm going to spend a lot of time outdoors this summer, so expect my presence here to be limited to, say, an hour a day. Okay, maybe two hours. And there may be days when I don't sign on at all. Yes, difficult to believe, particularly for those who have read that one before...

[SunkenCiv]

	Saturday May 26 2007	My Amazon reviewer rank has slipped now to 1290, meaning I'd need about 300 votes to catapault me back into the Top 1000. Another way to get those votes (besides others' saying "yes, helpful" regarding each of my reviews) is to have "yes, helpful" votes on my ListManias. Hint hint. The gardening continues. I broke into a dessicated fruit from a Liberty Bell tomato (from the fridge) of gardens past, and pulled out six or eight seeds, planting them immediately. Living around here is like one big science experiment, and not always in a good way. I'm looking now for the Black Diamond watermelon seeds I saved from last year, and the Golden Pearl tomato seeds of several years ago. This week through Thursday was hot, almost 20 degrees hotter than average for this time of year, and of course this long weekend is rainy and cool.

[SunkenCiv]

	Thursday May 31 2007	My Amazon reviewer rank has hopped up to 1,277, meaning I'd still like about 300 votes to reach the Top 1000, but many thanks so far! I've recovered much of the recently lost ground, jumping 18 spots since last I checked. Thanks again! Corrected a bad link to my reviews page, thanks dynachrome. I love hot weather, and look forward each year to this, the prime part of the calendar. The tradeoff is the seasonal allergies. My eyes itch and my sinuses blow up like beach balls, or perhaps a compressed-air powered vehicle. I found the Black Diamond watermelon seeds and planted them Sunday. I'd forgotten to mention the Scorzonera, but earlier this week I noticed that my last-year's seeds (ordered from a commercial source) seem to have germinated quite nicely. I just have to look for some recipes now. I'm still hunting the Golden Pearl seeds. I've updated the ping list thing near the bottom of this page, adding cgk's #8 topic. Ron Paul blames the US for 9/11, and should not be re-elected to congress, much less be our President.

[SunkenCiv]

	Friday June 8 2007	My Amazon reviewer rank has toppled to 1,285, but 300 votes would still be enough to reach the Top 1000. Thanks odds for the blog link update. I picked up a California Wonder sweet pepper plant, and dug up a volunteer sunflower plant, and planted both. i also got a six-pack of catharanthus to fill in some holes -- the originals vanished due to, I guess, gophers. Or maybe there's some kind of ring of catharanthus thieves in the neighborhood.

[SunkenCiv]

	Thursday June 14 2007	When I checked yesterday, my Amazon reviewer rank had slid to 1,288. It's actually more rewarding to watch the number move up and down than it is to contribute reviews. ;') Sometime this week I saw a couple of FReepers had hit counters on their profiles, and that seemed like a halfway decent idea. So today I picked what looked like a compatible color, started it on a number higher than zero, and plastered it in up there. Sometime in the past few days (probably Friday the 8th) I got and planted one of those huge-leafed, "full sun" coleus plants, and a very nice lookin' campanula, and popped 'em in the garden spot. Still have to get those marigolds planted as a border, but it's getting close. I'm going to eschew the forum for the rest of the week I think, and get back in here to do the GGG digest on Saturday.

[SunkenCiv]

	Friday June 15 2007	My Amazon reviewer rank has slid to 1,292. Three hundred favorable votes (either for a review or for one of my ListManias such as Politics by other means) would get me to or near Top 1000 ranking, something I've never enjoyed, but actually had a few years ago. Turns out I haven't eschewed FR, but had to get back online anyway, blah blah blah. :') Forgot to update my tagline yesterday, will do so now.

[SunkenCiv]

	Wednesday June 20 2007	That hit counter works nicely. It started at 1958, and is up to 1995. And I've only been in here to use a link a few times. Anyway, I plan to keep off FR as much as practical, because this is the summer, and the summer is my favorite time. You know those people who say they'd miss the changing of the seasons? I hate all those people. Thanks for all the recent FReepmail. There's been a lot of it from unexpected sources. Thanks also for all the great topics you've pinged me to, GGG or otherwise. I've found that, to find out if something has been posted, it requires A) a Google search, B) an FR search, and C) a browse on various keyword choices. A fourth method, which I'll call D), involves waiting for someone to post a reply with a pointer to the earlier topic on the same thing. Tomorrow is the longest day, also known as the summer solstice, also known as the first day of summer, also known as midsummer's day. Friday, July 6 will be aphelion day, when the Earth is furthest from the Sun. Earth is closest to the Sun on Jan 3rd, that's known as perihelion. Personally, I always have to look up those terms to keep 'em straight.

[SunkenCiv]

	Saturday June 23 2007	Since the 15th, my My Amazon reviewer rank has risen to 1284. Thanks to all for the help, and keep it comin'. The longest day has gone by, which means, alas, that the days are again growing shorter. Summer is my time of the year. So, why am I sitting here? I'm going offline now, and headed to some friends' house. [...some time passes...] I had a good time. We stuffed our faces, then took a nice long nature walk, then watched some show called "America Has Talent", which turned out to be true sometimes.

[Daffynition]

Good heavens what a monumental chore! I'll bet you alphabetize your spices too! 8-D

[SunkenCiv]

	Wednesday June 27 2007	Almost a year ago (Monday, July 3, 2006) I made a moderately angry (one little F-bomb), non-public complaint about some Jew-hating bastard's post from some time back (found it while searching for something else), which had never been deleted (and was a non-sequitur in the thread), and got bounced within a few minutes. That was my first (so far, only) suspension, and it gave me three days off, just in time for the Independence Day holiday. The mod added, "Have a Happy 4th" which was much appreciated (seriously). I still have only one FR id, have only had one, and plan to keep it all that way. :') Since the 23rd, my My Amazon reviewer rank has slid to 1287. Thanks to all for the help so far, but I'll be needing more. My hit counter for this page has reached 2029. I plan to try swimming in the Big Lake tomorrow. Temps look good.

[SunkenCiv]

	Thursday June 28 2007	Since yesterday, my My Amazon reviewer rank has risen to 1286. That's one more favorable vote. More, more, I'm still not satisfied! The hit counter here has reached 2040. It cooled off a little from time to time yesterday. I prefer hot weather, and we get very little of it, really. The worst part of course is how everyone always says they don't mind the heat, but can't stand the humidity. If that isn't the world's most oft-repeated cliche', I'd be very surprised. Anyway, I haven't made it to Lake Michigan., and I'd imagine I won't be doing it today. There is an outside chance, however. I really need to do some yard work, but hey, if God didn't want 'em to grow that tall, he wouldn't have made 'em that way. On Tuesday the 26th I edited a small bit of a Wikipedia entry, "Magnetic field reversals". My only previous foray into Wikipedia editing was back in March, regarding the Menkaure coffin/sarcophagus.

[SunkenCiv]

	Tuesday July 3 2007	Since the 28th, my My Amazon reviewer rank had fallen to 1288, then to 1291, but someone unknown to me has come through and in a matter of a couple of days, well, since yesterday, has pushed me up to 1272! Many thanks, only 273 yes votes to go. ;') The hit counter on this page (as of yesterday) had hit 2079, and actually I think it's in the 2080s. Yes, it's 2088. Meanwhile, Lake Michigan fell into the 50s, then rose a bit into the low 60s. When I checked yesterday the latest sat image was from 7-1. I've spiffed up the citations in that little paragraph I've re-edited on Wikipedia, "Magnetic field reversals". To do this I searched for and found more than just information (which was cryptic anyway), I found something called a Reference Generator, one of Magnus' toys (it says). Anyway, though brief, my edit looks nice. It's almost as if I have a life. Today is the 144th anniversary of Pickett's Charge, a sort of midpoint as well as turning point of the Civil War. It was Lee's great error, and Meade's finest hour. Meade was a counterpuncher and definitely had the right idea. Lee had pretty much the best matchup he was ever to have, but made a boneheaded mistake from which his army never recovered. The next day the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg surrendered, and didn't celebrate the 4th again until the 1940s. "That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg, Nov. 19, 1863. Ordinarily I'd go to a July 4th party at the home of some friends of friends (and they've got a pool, and I've bought a new suit appropriate for this whole Mister Potatohead physique I'm workin' on at age 49). I have not, alas, been invited. I have the day off, and need to do some stuff around the house. And, as that line I stole from Night Court goes, "and the Elephant Man had a little puffiness around the eyes." I hope everyone (even Dhimmicrats) have a great 4th of July, and I hope our armed forces put bin Laden's head on a pole -- anytime would be fine, but tomorrow would be a great time to have that happen. God bless our troops, and God bless the United States of America.

[SunkenCiv]

	Wednesday July 4 2007	Corrected the entry for the 3rd, said "yesterday" instead of "June 28". Also removed a double BR which I had following a close blockquote, also in yesterday's entry. I too suffer from cranial-rectal inversion syndrome, a.k.a. CRIS. Happy 4th of July! Still doing nothing but being online, although I did go to two stores, and ran a quick errand. I also plan to take a long walk a bit later. It rained for a few hours, beginning late last night, but for some reason I couldn't get to sleep -- not a usual problem -- and watched "The Big Easy" for the first time in a long while. This morning I watched about 45 minutes of "Ben Hur" -- the part I usually watch, which begins with Heston's captivity and "death march", through his adoption by Jack's character. It isn't my favorite movie, but oh, the sets, the costuming, the battle scene, the chariot race, and of course, the denouement. Today at Sam's Club I succumbed to the temptation of an under-$18 copy of Seasons 1 and 2 of "Seinfeld".