Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 14, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 14, 2012
Ambient office = .108 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .086 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .105 microsieverts per hour
Sliced almonds from grocery store = .089 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .072 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .117 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 13, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 13, 2012
Ambient office = .135 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .119 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .132 microsieverts per hour
Ice berg lettuce from grocery store = .113 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .108 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .072 microsieverts per hour
Conservatives who think slavery is frickin’ awesome
I’ve written before about conservatives who praise slavery, but lately it seems like they’re just coming out of the woodwork! Do you think it has anything to do with, I don’t know, the fact that our president is black and that a whole lot of people are sickeningly not okay with that?
Me, too.
So here’s your handy dandy list of conservatives who not only think that slavery was just the best thing since Country Kitchen, but also deserve to hear from you about their comments.
- Representative Jon Hubbard, who thinks that slavery was “a blessing in disguise” because it allowed black people to come to America. Yes, being raped, murdered, tortured, forced to work for free and sold like a piece of property is soooo the American dream, Jon!
- Congressman Trent Franks thinks that today’s policies are worse on black people than slavery was. I guess because voting and owning your own property and being able to marry whoever you want and not having your children sold from you and not being worried about being hanged from a tree for looking at someone the wrong way is such a burden, and it was so much easier when your owner just made those kinds of choice for you?
- Pat Buchanan may not be on a ticket right now, but his comments about how slavery led black people to become prosperous Christians. Forget the facts about how many black people unjustly serve time in prisons (or are murdered in them, like Troy Davis), fall below the poverty rate, and that none chose to come to America but were kidnapped and forced here as slaves, right Pat?
Look, I am always trying to understand my white privilege, learn from it, and teach my daughter about it as she gets older; it’s not something to be denied. Yet these people take it to an extreme! Are they that much in denial, I wonder, or do they really delude themselves about not only what a fair country we live in—or that, as Art Robinson said, slaves in America were so damn happy and likely happier than any “laborers” in Europe?
These people disgust me and I’m embarrassed to have so many of them in prominent positions or even running the country. I’m just as embarrassed when a friend of a relative on Facebook comments that I am a “Muslim lover” because I’m voting for President Obama again—not for loving Muslims, but because she’s just as stupid as these conservative talking heads who drink from the same purple kool-aid trough of privilege and, ultimately, hate.
The party planner
I don’t know about you but I’m spending the rest of this year planning my party schedule for next year. I refuse to get bogged down in the quicksand of depression regarding the dismal economic outlook for the New Year. To that end, I vow to have all my party planning organized, planned and budgeted for the entire year. I have even begun to compile a tentative guest list for each affair. I believe my friends and I will both deserve and need the mental relief provided by some enjoyable and friendly get-togethers.
I fear if I wait until the events begin to show up on the calendar, I will be too busy to give the party planning the attention it deserves, if I am able to give it any at all. Truth is I may not feel like giving it any attention at all.
And that is why I am doing my planning today. Once an event is planned out completely and budgeted so that money doesn’t become an issue, each event on the calendar becomes an expectation. The work is already done, it’s just a matter of following through.
In addition to planning everything out to the n’th degree, I am going so far as to develop invitations on my computer for each party I conduct. This gives me plenty time to collect the e-mail addresses of all the invitees so I can e-vite them without difficulty.
I’m developing a theme for each party, locating the outlet for any rental equipment I may need and also locating the venue for each party as well
I’ve done one other thing: I’ve let the word out that I’m the party guy for next year and each party will be over-the-top fantastic. I want my friends to look forward anxiously with high expectations, to each event. This whole process will get me invited to more parties than ever before and will definitely give my social standing a shot in the arm.
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 12, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 12, 2012
Ambient office = .088 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .119 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .128 microsieverts per hour
Red leaf lettuce from grocery store = .081 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .086 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .079 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 11, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 11, 2012
Ambient office = .091 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .076 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .093 microsieverts per hour
Bell pepper from grocery store = .133 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .133 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .118 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 10, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 10, 2012
Ambient office = .046 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .068 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .065 microsieverts per hour
Romaine lettuce from grocery store = .079 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .071 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .064 microsieverts per hour
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 09, 2012
Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on October 09, 2012
Ambient office = .085 microsieverts per hour
Ambient outside = .083 microsieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain = .095 microsieverts per hour
Button mushrooms from grocery store = .045 microsieverts per hour
Tap water = .091 microsieverts per hour
Filtered water = .162 microsieverts per hour
Rabbit for supper
As I have written about several times in the past, my brothers and I were very close to our grandparents. With five boys in the house, my mom would break us up and allow my younger brother and me to stay with Gramps and Nanaw (the name I always knew my grandma by) during the summers and other holidays throughout the year. As I think back on it, I am struck by how much the world has changed since those days.
On a visit there during the summer of 1952 something occurred that I have not witnessed since that evening. Nanaw and Grandpa had been invited to supper by some a member of the church and her husband. She was anxious for Nanaw to bring us along since her youngest boy was off fighting in Korea.
We drove for quite awhile into the country outside the tiny city of Irving, Texas until we finally arrived at the home of Nanaw’s fellow church member. After being exhorted to be on our best behavior, we piled out of the car and headed to the house. My brother and I were captivated by what we saw. We walked past cages upon cages of rabbits; cute, furry rabbits, everywhere! My brother and I stopped, petted and played with them.
Thinking back on it, I now realize the house was an old farmhouse, very old, unpainted and rickety. In lieu of front and backyards was bare ground populated by chickens of every size and description. Over to one side of the house was a well made of brick and wood with an old bucket on a rope set on one edge. Of course, behind the house was a good sized truck garden.
Once we were in the house we found it to be extremely crowded with old worn furniture that hadn’t been moved for at least 50 years.
Nanaw’s friend was busy stirring large pots and skillets full of at the wood-burning stove. The pots and skillets contained meats, vegetables and hot water cornbread (cornpone), all of which were producing delicious aromas.
Before we got settled my grandmother’s friend handed me a large pot and asked to “go fetch a bucket of water” so I took the pot and headed off to where I had seen the well earlier. I gave no thought to how one “fetched a bucket of water” until I got to the well. I was standing there looking at the bucket—with a long rope attached to the bucket’s bail—sitting on the edge of well-wall.
At that moment, grandpa walked up grinning and said he thought he should give me a hand. With that, he turned the bucket upside down and tossed it into the well while holding on the end of the rope. He jerked and tugged on the rope until he felt the bucket was full and then pulled it up. He then took the drinking cup from the nail on the upright post holding up the well’s roof. He used it to skim the dirt and debris from the water’s surface before pouring the bucket into the pot.
By the time we got back inside the house supper was on the table and as I sat down I noticed my brother looking at me with a horrified expression. Nanaw’s friend then announced we would be have a feast of roasted rabbit.
Second career in ceramics
In a previous column I wrote about the interest my wife and I had in ceramics. Our initial interest was sparked when we considered making and selling ceramics. I was due to retire soon and this seemed to be a relaxing and creative way to generate some extra cash to supplement my social security. We also looked forward to road trips to ceramic fairs where we could sell our products.
Toward this end we took a number of lessons while I was still working and learned early on that throwing pottery and slip casting ceramics was not for the fainthearted. We learned that it is hard physical work, requires creativity (especially in order to sell your creations), is time consuming and expensive to get into.
Of course, the kiln is the greatest expense but other costs seem to continually add up. Also, as we continued to work with pottery and ceramics we learned that no matter how good you were the loss from breakage and other issues that rendered them unsalable, was incredibly high.
We re-evaluated what it was we wanted to accomplish:
- Make cash to supplement retirement funds.
- Pursue an active and interesting second career.
- Travel to interesting places and socialize with people.
We gave the situation a great deal of thought and figured how to attain our goals without actually creating the pottery. Having met a number of potters during our pottery making phase it wasn’t difficult to interest them in our idea. We began negotiating with them to identify venues where we could set up a booth, display and sell their creations. We went on the road which gave the potters the time to do what they did best and what they enjoyed most. With every road trip we gain more potters into our network and now have a list of potters waiting to allow us to sell their pottery and ceramics.
We got exactly what we wanted and so did they.