I haven't posted in nearly a year, which I realize is rather obnoxious. So I thought I'd post something ( Read more... )

So this time, I was in Minnesota, and the box was hidden just off the north shore of Lake Superior. I quickly figured out the island it was on. When I took that photograph, I was staring longingly at that beach right in the middle, thinking about how easy it would have been to pull a kayak up onto it. But I also saw that there was a way to ( Read more... )

I started this LJ with the idea of having interesting intellectual discussions. I did not start it as an outlet for my personal life, and while I will make personal comments on it occasionally, I cannot and will not tolerate anonymous posters trying to pick fights, resulting in entire threads that would be boring to the average reader. For over ( Read more... )

It is almost unquestionably human mating season. I think that's what "spring fever" is all about.

In order to sustain my traveling and telecommuting, this morning I had to cough up the (nominal) money for a NetZero Platinum account so that I can plug my laptop into a phone line if all else fails (i.e. no ethernet port and no Wi-Fi). Now I'm sitting here testing it (and using the modem on this laptop for the first time.....ever). Of course it' ( Read more... )

We prepare to enter.

It's tough going right away.

Ray begins to break his snowshoes.

We leave the vast majority of Ray's snowshoes, to be retrieved upon our return.

It doesn't get easier.

Victory is mine.

OK, the others made it too.

But most of Ray's snowshoes did not.

We knew we weren't going to remain sweaty and hot, so we started a fire while ( Read more... )

Question: What is the local currency?

Answer: This. (More.)

Question: Where do you do laundry?

Answer: Here. (Yes, that's what they're all called.)

As Richard E. Frye, M.D., Ph. D., once said, "Houston is dangerous because the food is so good." I'm in Houston on business, and he's right. But that's not all Texas has. Among some of the other things:

• Houses on stilts: Example 1, Example 2. Floods here aren't any nicer than in New Orleans.
• The Gulf of Mexico. This would make for prime ( Read more... )

When I was reading the Metro on the subway in early July, I ran across a story about Andrew Keen's then-new book. A few days later, I ran into his book at the Barnes & Noble on Kenmore Square. I summarized it quickly for the couple of friends who met me there, and they responded in the same manner as I did. Amazingly enough, half a year later, I ( Read more... )

In the 17th century, Newton already saw farther only because he stood on the shoulders of giants, and nowadays, this appears to me to be the only way to do so. Scientific papers cite around a hundred references—or at least a very significant fraction of that—and checking each one is hopeless, as each of those will cite another hundred references ( Read more... )