links for 2007-02-03
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Interesting study on time – one of the conclusions drawn is how bad daylight-savings time is on our health
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Of course, the Colts retaliate by putting a dome on Dolphin’s Stadium. I love the Onion.
Groundhog predicts early spring
According to the AP, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow for the first time in several years.
Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — A new pair of hands pulled Punxsutawney Phil from his stump this year, so it was only fitting that the groundhog offered a new prediction.Phil did not see his shadow on Friday, which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter.
Since 1886, Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn’t seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time Phil failed to see his shadow was in 1999.More than 15,000 revelers milled about in a misty snow waiting for the prediction, as fireworks exploded overhead and the “Pennsylvania Polka” and other music blared in the background.
A couple of Stephanie’s friends got engaged at the Pennsylvania festival, and are getting married today.
Book Review – The Lost Art of Steam Heat
I checked The Lost Art of Steam Heat out from the library because our house has a steam-heat system and it’s working, but not exactly correctly. We’ve had a repair guy out numerous times, but he hasn’t quite fixed the rather complex system, and I wanted to understand a bit more so I could communicate with him about it.
Holohan’s book does an excellent job of explaining the physics and engineering of steam heating to lay people. These systems really are a lost art – the people who designed and installed them were very capable engineers, and every system in every house was by nature somewhat different, and required it’s own planning and calculations to build and repair.
It’s not surprising that today’s repair people don’t understand how delicately balanced steam heating is, and how to identify what the problems are.
The Lost Art of Steam Heat
by Dan Holohan
Non-Fiction
Incredibly useful for owners of steam heating systems.
Book Review – The Boy Detective Fails
Joe Meno’s The Boy Detective Fails is a loving homage and send up of classic kid detective stories like Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys, but the mysteries it explores in this funny, scary, sweet, and surreal book are the grown-up mysteries of life. Billy Argo is the famous boy detective, who with his handy Junior Detective Kit and his sister Caroline and stalwart friend Fenton, rids the town of crooks and bad guys, hitting the front pages of the papers regularly. But growing up is a mystery all three children have trouble with, and ultimately, Billy must solve the mysterious death of his sister to save his own life.
The Boy Detective Fails
by Joe Meno
I highly recommend reading this book.
Book Review – Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Alison Bechdel has been a popular, well-known cartoonist for over 20 years, penning the witty and and enjoyable “Dykes to Watch Out For” series, which is serialized in a number of publications and collected in book format over a dozen times.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is Bechdel’s extraordinary, resonant memoir, told in graphic novel form. But don’t think when you pick this up that you’d be reading a comic book – this is a piece of gorgeously-illustrated, lyrically-written literature.
Bechdel recounts her childhood, especially her relationship with her closeted and deeply conflicted father, who was both the owner of the local funeral home (the “Fun Home” of the title) and a local English teacher. Bruce Bechdel is a stern and exacting man who looms large in the lives of everyone who knows him, and Alison’s childhood is marked by both her attempts to reach out to him, and to rebel against his ideals and tastes. Bruce’s sexual orientation is an awkward and somewhat ill-kept secret in her childhood, but Alison doesn’t completely put all the pieces together until she comes out herself in college, when her mother fills in the gaps. Bruce Bechdel is killed a few months later in what may have been a suicide, and Alison is left to wonder whether her own coming-out, now overshadowed by the event, may have been a catalyst for it. Ultimately she finds a connection to her father by returning time and again to one of their mutual loves; classic literature.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Alison Bechdel
Memoir
I highly recommend reading this book.
links for 2007-02-02
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Wow, the Indy Star really gets it – wow. That’s awesome.
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So coo. Too bad I already have a USB hub.
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Famous gay architect Philip Johnson’s apartment overlooking the MOMA sculpture garden is for sale. We totally took pictures of the exterior of it from inside MOMA when were were there last year.
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Local organization working to stop the anti-marriage equality amendment.
Must Be Naptime
I’m home for the second day in a row with pleurisy and a head cold. Today, though, I’m back on the helpful prescription, so I should back in business soon. Lucy and Huckleberry are snoozing on the bed upstairs, and Dru and Annabelle are curled up and dreaming on the trunk in the library. Spike is nestled under his blanket on the klakbo chair nearby. I’m pretty sleepy so I’m going to nap too.
Happy Imbolc
Today is Imbolc, an Irish holiday:
Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar, celebrated either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring. Originally dedicated to the goddess Brigid, in the Christian period it was adopted as St Brigid’s Day.
The holiday is a festival of the hearth and home, and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Rituals often involve hearthfires, special foods, divination or simply watching for omens (whether performed in all seriousness or as children’s games), a great deal of candles, and perhaps an outdoor bonfire if the weather permits.
Sadly, yesterday I completely missed that it was National Gorilla Suit Day. I had a lot on my mind. Oh, well, it’s on the calendar for next year.
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