Video of a giant centipede grabbing a bat out of midair.
I’m going to name my nightmares after that thing.
Category: Uncategorized
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Vegetative Persistence
I make a habit of a daily stroll, walking the grounds here at the manor, to keep tabs on the state of the gardens and construction projects. I inspect the various flower beds, deadhead the plants that need it, fill the bird-feeders, and so on. It keeps me in touch with my earthbound roots. Usually, I do it barefoot, to better feel which portions of the lawns need application of the sprinkler.
Part of this routine is a long-running, most-likely futile battle against a creeping weed in the bed at the Southeast corner of the house. Each day, it sends up new shoots. Each day, I grasp them and gently pull out as much of the root matter as I can. This little beast spreads vegetatively using long underground runners. If allowed to grow unchecked, it will sends up vines which twine around and choke whatever other plants I try to grow there. As a sign of its victory, it pops out small white flowers. The flowers are an insolent finger in the face of the gardener, and will not be tolerated.
These days, the preferred plant in this bed is rhubarb. This was a deliberate choice. Not many species in the plant kingdom have the chops to compete with the Siberian Devil.
So every day, I pull the shoots. Every day, they grow back.
Fundamentally, I am pitting my own will against that of a vegetable. Plants are not strong, but they are very, very persistent. No individual root destroys a wall, but give ivy a decade, and it will tear your brick or stone structure to shreds. The best we can hope to do is to keep our little structure clean and undamaged, while we have the life and breath to do it. Possibly, we can inspire someone to carry on the tradition once we no longer can. Thus, as a species, we hold our own. There is no victory in the long run.
Today, however, animal quickness once again held back the plant menace. The shoots are once again removed.
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Day
Nice day. Pleasant temperature, and it didn’t rain!
I started off with email, worked through the day on generating web statistics off our many web servers, and then said “this can bite me!” and mowed the lawn. Finished painting the hallway: no more “butt brown,” now it’s “off white.” Now, back to karate.
Yay.
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medical education
Sat down and this poured out: Medical Education. It’s a long one. I may have to count it as two essays.
In other news, a batch of Imperial Stout is in primary fermentation.
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Targeted marketing
Stolen from auddess who got it from Wikipedia: The Forer, or Barnum effect:
“You have a great need for other people to like you and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts about whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself on being an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic. Security is one of your goals in life.”
Thinking about this while I put on my spam boots and clean out the spam bucket.
I love my garden, and I love my flowers. Here are