I don't do a lot of reposts, but it had been a while since I used the tool I am mentioning. If nothing else, this is like a bookmark and memory jogger for me...

I had a few PDFs on-hand that I wanted to back up but save on my local machine as text files. There are a number of ways to do this, but the easiest (and cheapest) way was to get Xpdf from here. One utility program included with Xpdf is pdftotext. I then had to figure out a way to use pdftotext to convert my files in one big batch. Here's what I did. First, I dragged the few hundred desired files to the directory where pdftotext.exe was located. Next, I used the command prompt (under Vista, Start->Run->cmd) dir to make a list of all the PDF files in the same directory (dir *.pdf /b > list). As for batching the file conversion, I then used the FOR command included with the cmd program. Here's the applicable syntax:

for /F %i in (list) DO pdftotext %i

Worked like a champ!

Snow

A picture of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in the 1-10-11 snow (Nuclear winter?)

I read a piece on salon.com the other day regarding the USDOJ subpoena of Twitter for records and information relating to several folks associated with Wikileaks. In the story (from 1/7/11), Greenwald mentions "I'll have much more on the implications of this tomorrow." The resulting story on salon.com was posted today. I read through this piece and one additional (earlier last year) link from it. Regarding the additional piece, I understand that "the list" and its permissions to eliminate certain individuals have some necessity. However, my feelings are that an administration that was so anti-Bush doctrine should be absolutely clear that apprehension is the more desirable outcome. If nothing else, we can't extract info from the dead yet. So much for "change"...

Municode, Mars Rovers, homepage changing for loc.gov, and more...

When I had to bury my kitty, I wondered if it was cool to bury her in the yard. I quickly discovered (via the Athens, AL city website) municode.com. Check here to see if your town's municipal codes are listed...

Spirit and Opportunity: When the two Mars Rovers were launched in 2004, they were supposed to go for at least 90 Martian days. Opportunity is still going fairly strong. Contact has been lost with Spirit since March 22, 2010 (2210 days into its mission). NASA is still trying.

There are some amazing things to be seen in the cosmos. I thought this was a pretty cool picture.

If you are anything like me (hopefully not, for your sakes), you might border on being an information junkie. One excellent source of varied information is http://www.loc.gov/. If it's been a while since you've been there, their homepage is due to undergo a redesign effective tomorrow.

In keeping with the New Year and a frequent New Year's resolution, the Library of Congress is hosting an event entitled “Weight Loss Through the Ages” on January 19.

Check out my two "bundles" for Google Reader:




In closing, one further event of note (later this week on January 15) is Wikipedia's 10th birthday.

Time to wait for the snow to kick in...

Potentially big fishing expedition, eagle awareness weekends, 3 days of the Congressional Record

Potentially big fishing expedition by the USDOJ

Looking for something to do in North Alabama this weekend (or any weekend through the second weekend in February)? Eagle Awareness Weekends at Lake Guntersville State Park

The business of Congress this week? Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Aflockalypse, Browns Ferry, City of Athens

So, here are a few things for your perusal...

Someone took the time to map recent "mass animal deaths" using Google Maps. Some folks are referring to it as the "Aflockalypse". Check it out!

I figured I'd revive my old NRC info on Browns Ferry thing. Here are links to documents regarding Browns Ferry that the NRC has posted since 12/1/2010...

ML081960276: 04/20/1982 Memo - Court of Appeals Decision on Fire Protection Rule.
ML103430097: Browns Ferry Disposal of Waste Oil.
ML110050287: Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant - Investigation of Tritium Releases to Groundwater.
ML103070133: Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2 and 3 - Supplemental Information Related to the Reply to Notice of Violation; EA-09-307.
ML103280504: Browns Ferry, Unit 1, Response to Request for Additional Information - American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Section XI Inservice Inspection Program for the Unit 1 Second Ten-Year Inspection Interval, Request for Relief 1-ISI-26, Risk-Informed....
ML103270411: Browns Ferry, Unit 1 - Response to Request for Additional Information re Inspection Program for Second Ten-year Inspection Interval, Request for Relief 1-ISI-26, Risk-Informed Inservice Inspection Program.
ML103350181: Bellefonte, Units 1 and 2, Browns Ferry, Units 1, 2 and 3, Sequoyah, Units 1 and 2, Watts Bar, Unit 2 - Nuclear Quality Assurance Plan, TVA-NQA-PLN89-A.
ML103360004: Notification of Potential Part 21 re Update to MFN 10-327: Crack Indications in Marathon Control Rod Blades.
ML103330450: Summary of November 29, 2010, Public Meeting with TVA Regarding Emergency Action Level Plans for the TVA Nuclear Plants.
ML103370571: Notification of Potential Part 21 on GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC, Crack Indication in Marathon Control Rod Blades.
ML103400155: Anomaly Discovered on Rosemount Model 1152 Differential Pressure Transmitters with Output Code "L" 10-50 mA Electronics.
ML103370638: IR 05000260-10-008, 05000259-10-008 and 05000296-10-008; Tennessee Valley Authority; 10/12/2010 - 10/22/2010; Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1, 2, and 3, NRC Inspection Procedure 95002 Supplemental Inspection Report.
ML103370281: Press Release-II-10-083: NRC Schedules Meeting to Discuss Fire Protection Issues at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant.
ML103470631: Browns Ferry - Slides for December 2010 Public Meeting.
ML103480821: Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 2 - Request for Additional Information Regarding Relief Request No. 2-ISI-40 Snubbers Inspection and Testing.
ML103500174: Notification of Potential Part 21 re 60-Day Interim Report Notification: Failure to Include Seismic Input in Channel-Control Blade Interference Customer Guidance.
ML103510031: Notification of Potential Part 21 Report Concerning Failure to Include Seismic Input In Reactor Control Blade Customer Guidance.
ML103490867: Browns Ferry - Revised Slides from December 15, 2010 Public Meeting.
ML103550247: Regulatory Performance Meeting Summary- Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260 AND 50-296.
ML103620327: LER 10-003-00 for Browns Ferry, Unit 1 Regarding Failure of a Low Pressure Coolant Injection Flow Control Valve.
ML103630041: LER 10-004-00, for Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 1, Residual Heat Removal Low Pressure, Injection System Pump Motor Failure.

It's often been said to "think globally, act locally". To that end, check out the City of Athens calendar (city council meetings, zoning meetings, etc.):

A few realities stand between Sarah Palin and the presidency

A few realities stand between Sarah Palin and the presidency

So, between visiting family and friends and watching the occasional sporting event on the first day of the new year, what to do?

Perhaps a short run?

Happy New Year

By nature, I am not an early riser...

However, if I have to beat the sun rising, I figure that I might as well go all out. I'll get up a few hours before the first hint of sunrise. That affords me time to drop a quart of coffee down the hatch, catch up with goings-on in the world and get the blood pumpin'/sweat rollin' (e.g. run). By 6 AM, I feel thoroughly refreshed and ready to go. So, here we go with the rest of the day...

Snow - North Alabama - Christmas 2010

Wishing you a very...

ZP-2 – nEW dIRECTIONS – Free! FREE!! FREE!!! | Zzaj Productions

ZP-2 – nEW dIRECTIONS – Free! FREE!! FREE!!! | Zzaj Productions: "

ZP-2 – nEW dIRECTIONS – Free! FREE!! FREE!!! | Zzaj Productions

Source: zzaj.freehostia.com

In the spirit of the holidays (and because I need to test something on my FTP site), I’m giving away (free, no charge) a CD titled “ZP-2 - nEW dIRECTIONS”; It features Jeff Olson, Dick Metcalf and Stacey Gravatt, as well as a “guest shot” (on drums) by my long-time playing partner Harlan Mark Vale

"

I'm wondering if it's just an oversight or the Senate trying to be sneaky...

Here's the vote tally for the repeal of DADT on Saturday. I find it interesting that when it was posted on Saturday (and remaining so still) that the "Measure title" section reads "A bill to amend the Small Business Act with respect to the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program, and for other purposes."

In other news, congratulations to Committed for their win on The Sing-Off.

18 years ago today...

Suzanne and I got married! Hard to believe she's put up with me that long, eh?

Happy Anniversary!!!

Senate Repeals "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," 65-31 | C-SPAN

Senate Repeals "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," 65-31 | C-SPAN

It's time that our country finally got rid of this outdated policy. I've already seen at least one vet (via C-Span's twitter feed) raising hell about this. The oath I took when I joined in 1992 was:

“I, Arthur Metcalf, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

Implicit in the support and defense of that Constitution is protection of ALL Americans. No exclusions for race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, political preference, SEC football team, choice of dessert or anything else. It seemed troubling to me that some groups (of qualified, law-abiding folks) were excluded from the privilege of supporting and defending the Constitution (and our country) merely because they admitted who they were...

Happy Meals are the DEVIL!!!

OK, OK, I don't really believe that. Suing McDonald's over the Happy Meal because they "entice children" is ludicrous! If you're that concerned about your child's nutritional well-being (as parents should be), be the parent and steer clear of those old golden arches in the first place...

K-May Donuts & Coffee House is now open in Athens, AL

From Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate......

Stopped by after picking up a Papa Murphy's pizza. Even tried one before (in fact, I'm just about to) putting the pizza in the oven. Mmmm-mmm, good! I'm just glad to have a doughnut shop in Athens, AL. No website (as of yet), so I figured I'd post the menu up here. If you've got a hankering for a doughnut and you're near Athens, hit'em up...

HEY! Uhhhhh...

Happy Birthday Suzy!!!

Sneaky Santa

Blount Hospitality House

Self-described as "a home away from home for out-of-town family members of Huntsville area hospital patients", the Blount Hospitality House is having a little 5k run on December 18th. Proceeds go to support this place, so if you're free and able to run, come on out!

Joy To The World - Art style

Maru is cool!

I am Maru.

To everyone...

Happy Thanksgiving!

T-12 hours and counting...

Yeah, I'll be starting one of (there are a few) the silliest physical/gastronomic challenges ever...

The 2010 Krispy Kreme Challenge

The short of it? Run 2 miles to the doughnut shop, eat a dozen and then run back 2 miles. Oh, by the way, do this within one hour. Should be a BLAST!!! Besides, the proceeds go to a charity.

Wish me luck...

Carb up!!!

 

To all who have served, are currently serving and those to come...

Happy Veteran's Day!

Via http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/

Mid-60s and not too much traffic (for Mooresville/Huntsville-Browns Ferry)...

View 11/8/10 in a larger map

Who's more American?

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
Jon and Stephen - "I'm More American Than You"
www.comedycentral.com
Rally to Restore Sainty and/or Fear The Daily Show The Colbert Report

It's 10/31/10....

You know what that means?!?!?!

Happy Halloween!!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

OK, I really like Hybrid!!!

Hybrid - Disappear Here (Music Video) from Hybrid on Vimeo.

Me and Suzy JibJabbed...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

My tracks on soundcloud.com (three for now)...

If you like, you can download any of these (128kbps MP3 files)...


My tracks on soundcloud.com by vejadu

Tough enough to overstuff....

Ahhhh, the never-ending stream of food at buffets....

It's particularly cool when they bring the food to you. Bea's Restaurant has been around Chattanooga since the early 1950s. Just bring your appetite! Food is continually brought to your lazy susan table as the existing trays get empty.

We're talking fried chicken, beef patties in a brown gravy, pulled pork, cole slaw, potato salad, potatoes in white gravy, greens of some type, pinto beans, rolls, cornbread muffins and a tasty peach cobbler (particularly crazy when topped with additional butter)! Just bring your appetite!!!


View Larger Map

Food, food, food...

It's been a while since I talked about dining choices, but dinner this evening was GREAT!!!!!!

The main course (speaking for myself only, of course) was a medium wheat crust pizza from this joint. Why eat at a pizza joint called Lupi's? It was chosen as the Best of the Best 2010 pizza by readers of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. I can see why. If you're in Chattanooga and jonesin' for some pizza, Lupi's should certainly be at or near the top of the list.

You might like to think an entire pizza (hey, it was only a medium) was enough, but...

We wanted dessert, so we went to this little diner (one of two in town) called City Cafe Diner. Having been there before, I knew their desserts reign supreme. They have a variety of cheesecakes, regular cakes and pies. Most of the regular cakes are nearly six inches tall. And they are insanely sweet. I had a slice of "tiramisu cake". Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! And yeah, I ate the entire thing. Talk about carb overload. You know what? You only live once...

via THOMAS from the Library of Congress - Top Ten Bills - Week of October 03, 2010

Top Ten Bills - Week of October 03, 2010: "1. H.R. 4667 - Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2010

2. H.R. 5297 - Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010

3. H.R. 3081 - Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

4. H.R. 4646 - Debt Free America Act

5. H.R. 3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

6. H.R. 6134 - To provide for a 10 percent reduction in pay for Members of Congress; to make Federal civilian employees subject to a period of mandatory unpaid leave, and to reduce appropriations for salaries and expenses for offices of the legislative branch, during fiscal year 2011; and for other purposes

7. H.R. 4173 - Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

8. H.R. 45 - Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009

9. H.R. 2378 - Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act

10. H.R. 4872 - Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

"

Sure enough, it's fall again...

The Alabama Tourism Department has a lot of good information for various events throughout the year. However, one spot that is particularly appropriate to this time of year can be found here.

Here's a quick and dirty (Flash required) map of estimated dates and color peaks:



Key

 no change  slight change  near peak  peak  past peak

The official info page again...
http://www.800alabama.com/activities/tours-and-trails/fall-color-trail/

4:30 AM, no traffic, 56 F....

View Nice quiet 1 mile loop in a larger map

Two quick trips around this loop was just enough to get the blood pumping in the morning...

News From KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK

For an absolutely bizarre view of news from North Korea, this is the place to go...

in reference to: News From KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK (view on Google Sidewiki)

Shards O' Glass RECALL

Shards O' Glass RECALL

Top Ten Bills - Week of September 26, 2010

Top Ten Bills - Week of September 26, 2010: "1. H.R. 5297 - Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010

2. H.R. 6134 - To provide for a 10 percent reduction in pay for Members of Congress; to make Federal civilian employees subject to a period of mandatory unpaid leave, and to reduce appropriations for salaries and expenses for offices of the legislative branch, during fiscal year 2011; and for other purposes

3. H.R. 4646 - Debt Free America Act

4. H.R. 3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

5. H.R. 4173 - Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

6. H.R. 4667 - Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2010

7. H.R. 5136 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011

8. H.R. 45 - Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009

9. H.R. 4872 - Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

10. H.R. 4213 - Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010

"

Kids, moms and dads can be healthy in Tuesday's Autumn Chase Run

Kids, moms and dads can be healthy in Tuesday's Autumn Chase Run: "

On Tuesday, Huntsville Hospital is hosting an event where adults can practice what they preach to their kids - to be healthy.

"

This Week's Sky at a Glance

This is for you sky watchers out there...

This Week's Sky at a Glance

Congressional Record Latest Daily Digest for Friday, September 24, 2010

Nothing earth-shattering in the daily legislation and debate yesterday, but the Congressional Record can definitely be an interesting read at times...

Congressional Record Latest Daily Digest for Friday, September 24, 2010: "Latest update was Friday, September 24, 2010"

NASA | Dust Simulations Paint Alien's View of the Solar System

Happy Birthday John Coltrane! (via In The Muse blog from loc.gov)

Happy Birthday John Coltrane!: "

John Coltrane House, 1511 North Thirty-third Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. Prints and Photographs Division.

One of the great tenor (and soprano) saxophone voices, composer John Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926. The Music Division has a number of lead sheets that Coltrane submitted to copyright for compositions such as “Blue Train” and “Moment’s Notice.” The Library is also home to a set of tapes recorded at a performance by Coltrane and Thelonious Monk at Carnegie Hall in 1957. The tapes were discovered in the collection by Reference Specialist Larry Appelbaum, who at the time was a Recording Engineer in the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. In a documentary about the discovery and release of the tapes, Larry spoke of the moment he realized the magnitude of his discovery: “I thought, well, it’s possible this is a rare unpublished recording by Monk. And then when we went to digitize the tape, I heard the tenor saxophonist in the quartet – and I knew it was John Coltrane. My heart started to race! ”

On this first full day of autumn, remember Trane with the 1960 recording of “Equinox” on the album Coltrane’s Sound . Or just listen to him all day, starting with his contribution to Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue (named to the National Recording Registry in 2002), classic Atlantic recordings like “Giant Steps” (named to the National Recording Registry in 2004), and the exploratory masterpiece A Love Supreme.

For more autumnal music, see the Historic Sheet Music Collection, 1800-1922 in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia for titles like “Al Trahern’s “Harvest Moon,” (not to be confused with Nora Bayes’ more famous “Shine on Harvest Moon” version, also recorded by Tiny Tim).

"

-via In The Muse blog

Recall - Abbott Voluntarily Recalls Certain Similac® Brand Powder Infant Formulas That Did Not Meet Its Quality Standards

Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts Abbott Voluntarily Recalls Certain Similac® Brand Powder Infant Formulas That Did Not Meet Its Quality Standards

Congressional Record Latest Daily Digest for Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Congressional Record Latest Daily Digest for Tuesday, September 21, 2010: "Latest update was Tuesday, September 21, 2010"

For your handy dandy reading pleasure...

I've gathered all the RSS feeds from http://www.loc.gov/rss/ into one convenient list.

Things To Do In Huntsville (via about.com)

Things To Do In Huntsville: "Here's some things you might want to check out in Huntsville & North Alabama over the next week: Scarecrow Trail at Botanical Garden, Harmony Park Safari, Flying Monkey's Artist ...

Read Full Post

"

I've already posted this at Facebook, but ...

Ever thought about incorporating the statuses of your FB friends as a feed that you can use in your favorite RSS reader (makes for much quicker reading)? It used to be a bit easier, but here's what you can do:

Go to http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?friends

Copy the subscribe link (left hand side of the page) and change friends_notes to friends_status

For example, http://www.facebook.com/feeds/friends_notes.php?id=xxxxxxxx&key=xxxxxxxxxx&format=rss20 becomes http://www.facebook.com/feeds/friends_status.php?id=xxxxxxxx&key=xxxxxxxxxx&format=rss20

Obviously, your id and key will be different (I've taken the liberty of replacing mine with Xs).

You can do the same thing for links that your friends post to their wall. For that, just change friends_notes to share_friends_posts

Voila! You now have an RSS feed URL for your friends' statuses or links. Hope this might be useful...

Update from 1/14/12 - I looked at this again and instead of saying subscribe or RSS, the "Friends' Notes" is now just a hyperlink on the left hand side that says Friends' Notes. When your mouse is over it, the link will say rss or rss20 at some point...

Never forget!!!!!

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/lcwa/html/sept11/sept11-overview.html

http://news.yahoo.com/topics/september-11-attacks

http://september11.archive.org/

http://911digitalarchive.org/index.php

http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Terrorism/Incidents/September_11,_2001/

http://search.usa.gov/search?query=9%2F11&USA.gov+Search.x=22&USA.gov+Search.y=7

http://twitter.com/sept11memorial

http://www.facebook.com/911memorial

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/sept_11_2001/index.html

Libertarians release top 10 disasters of 2009 Obama administration and the top 10 of the previous administration...

There's NOT a great deal of difference.

Libertarians release top 10 disasters of 2009 Obama administration

Though it's doubtful that Mark Twain actually said this...

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."

-Often likely misattributed to Mark Twain

I'll continue the tradition right here. This is really only of much interest for those of you in North Alabama. For those who had any doubt, August really was hot. See? FWIW, while you're at it, check out the Fall edition of Rocket City Weather...

Although it appears to now be a moot point...

since Terry Jones has called off this weekend's libricide, the whole uproar that has accompanied this set of events brings many interesting issues to light...

What are the limits of free speech?

Would the government be able to abridge a freedom of speech issue concerning the free exercise of a group's religious beliefs?

Do folks around the world (and I mainly mean Muslims in other countries) really understand how our government often has its hands tied when it comes to controlling the forms of self-expression that Americans can choose to engage in?

Why do many of the folks who were protesting the planned event chanting "Death to America" or "Death to the Christians"? The folks who were going to burn the Koran are an insanely small group of people compared to Americans and/or Christians.

Had violent retribution taken place, could it be attributed in part to Jones or only to the perpetrators?

As I've said before, although I totally thought the action would have been foolish, I fully supported the rights of Jones and his supporters to do what they were going to do. I'm just happy that he came up with an excuse to end the furor. I support those who would burn any book or flag or effigy even though such actions are pointless and silly. I have my own (partial at least) answers to the above questions. What do you think?

Islamophobes я Us....

Someone I know recently received an e-mail that discussed a "boycott" of "the new Muslim Eid stamp". I'm sure that all of the folks who continue to propagate these BS chain e-mails love their country and "their religion", but there are so many holes in this e-mail that it needs to quickly sink to a watery grave. Besides, this stamp has been around since 2001.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/stamps/eidstamp.asp
https://supplies.usps.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10052&productId=10006182&langId=-1

To borrow a favorite line from a twisted book...

Don't Panic!!!

In closing, with religiophobic myths like this continuing and idiots like the Dove World Outreach Center and their little event planned for 9/11/10 (I think these folks are so idiotic that I won't even link to them), we are entirely too close to a point where the 9/11 attackers have achieved what I believe was their true goal: fomenting that "war between the civilizations"...

I was just browsing around here....

and I stumbled across this document. Very interesting reading! I'm sure there's much more interesting stuff on the MERLN site, but the section on the left side of the page titled "Quick Links to U.S. Policy Statements - MiPALs" is a good start.

So there I was...

I had a few PDFs on-hand that I wanted to back up but save on my local machine as text files. There are a number of ways to do this, but the easiest (and cheapest) way was to get Xpdf from here. One utility program included with Xpdf is pdftotext. I then had to figure out a way to use pdftotext to convert my files in one big batch. Here's what I did. First, I dragged all 575 of the desired files to the directory where pdftotext.exe was located. Next, I used the command prompt (under Vista, Start->Run->cmd) dir to make a list of all the PDF files in the directory (dir *.pdf /b > list). As for batching the file conversion, I then used the FOR command included with the cmd program. Here's the applicable syntax:

for /F %i in (list) DO pdftotext %i

Worked like a champ! The files I converted were mostly text, so they were fairly conducive to conversion. Besides, this freed up about 60 MB on my hard drive. Not a lot by today's standards, but I can keep a few more pictures or MP3s now...

Seasonal produce tips from Kraft for ya...

Last Tuesday run of the summer....

http://www.huntsvilletrackclub.org/HTC_Races/SUMMER%20CROSS%20COUNTRY%20RUNS%202010.pdf

in reference to: Huntsville Track Club Events (view on Google Sidewiki)

How to See the Best Meteor Showers of the Year: Tools, Tips and 'Save the Dates' - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

How to See the Best Meteor Showers of the Year: Tools, Tips and 'Save the Dates' - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

I'd heard about the public meeting at Calhoun the other night regarding Browns Ferry burning MOX fuel....

But I didn't readily find a great deal of supporting information. This is the beginning of a fairly long process. None of the media I read or heard said anything about where to gather information on the whole issue. If this is of interest to you, check out http://www.spdsupplementaleis.com/...

I was slightly surprised that there was no information (that I readily discovered) via TVA or the NRC. That's partially because of where we are in the process. The public comment period for the supplemental EIS ends September 17, so if you've got something to say, this pdf has information...

We sadly had to euthanize Isabella, our pet kitty for the last 10 years, this morning...

Early in July, she was diagnosed with renal failure. She declined steadily throughout the month. Here are a couple of nice snapshots from the last few hours she was among us:



Goodbye kitty!!!

Although it was blazing hot today...

I felt like knocking out several miles on some of the trails up on Monte Sano Mountain. It's nice and quiet and secluded and shady. It's also a good way to work up a little sweat and free up your mind for thought...

I've already put up a link elsewhere for the Alabama Virtual Library (AVL), but it's a fairly valuable resource, so I'll put it up here as well. The old (current) site requires a card for home access. The beta site uses IP geolocation, so if your IP resolves to Alabama, you don't even need a card. Pretty cool!

One thing I just recently discovered (from AVL) is the Encyclopedia of Alabama. I've only given the site the most cursory glance, but it looks like it might have promise. Plus, there's always the Alabama portal on Wikipedia...

On this July 4th, let me wish everyone...

Just figured that I'd say....

Happy Father's Day!!!

This made the rounds a while ago (in some circles at least)....

But I am still highly impressed each time I see/hear it:

One of the Wikimedia Foundation's projects is Wikimedia Commons...

The site has a lot of cool media that can be used for various purposes. One nifty page linked from the site shows the latest files and updates in real time (http://toolserver.org/%7Epara/Commons:Special:NewFiles):

Fun 18 miles...

View 5-23-10 ride in a larger map

To all you moms out there...

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Nice day for one of the Land Trust trails...

 

http://landtrust-hsv.org/

Followed, of course, by a 30 minute hacky session...

It was such a beautiful day!!!

A little run on 4-21-10...

Unfortunately, I got about halfway through my original planned route and discovered that a local bridge was out. I ended up doubling back and adding about 1-1/2 miles to what I was initially going to run....

 

An absolutely delicious day for a run...

Granted, it might have gone a little bit quicker if I hadn't waited until the peak heat of the day (not that much quicker), but that's what happens when one is getting ready for more night shifts. 7 miles. It was a beautiful day....

From Blogger Pictures

What do you get.....

when you combine this:

From 4-6-10

with this?

From 4-6-10

A GREAT day to be outside!!!

Another absolutely "gawgeous" day....

Much of it spent asleep!

However, I woke up in sufficient time to run for 20 minutes and then soak up some rays/bebop to some of the crazy tunes I listen to whilst kickin' the olde sack in the street. I would've stayed outside for another hour if I didn't have to head into work.

I hope that anyone who might be local had a chance to enjoy the sweet day today. Some of the weekend won't be as nice....

Peace, y'all!!!

Hey!!!!!!

Spring forward tonight!!!

Hybrid DJ mix via soundcloud.com

What an absolutely delicious day!!!!

The only bummer was that I slept for much of it. I did have a nice chance to soak up some rays for about 45 minutes while hackin' the sack and crankin' up the tunes in my driveway. Don't do what I do kiddies, because I actually play in the road. Fortunately, it's a quiet cul-de-sac...

And now?

Off to work! Y'all have a great night!!!

Back in the day (OK, it's only been between 10-12 years)....

I saw this amazing electronic band named Hybrid as a supporting act with Moby. I hadn't thought much about them in a while, but I receive a Facebook feed from them. Their latest opus:

Break My Soul from Disappear Here

Hybrid - Break My Soul (Music Video) from Hybrid on Vimeo.

What a beautiful day!!!

In preparation for my upcoming time on night shift, I slept in fairly late. After getting up (and finishing the mandatory first mug of coffee), I decided to go out and take advantage of the 60 degree weather and sunny day. I ended up running for 7 miles. I would have considered a longer run, but I had other business to attend to this evening. Here's another link with info about the Richard Martin Trail:

http://www.traillink.com/ViewTrail.aspx?AcctID=6031682

Yesterday was nearly as nice, but I didn't have as much time to hang around outdoors. After two miles on my treadmill, I went to the funeral of one of the UAH professors. Dr. Davis' husband is a co-worker of mine. The service was quite touching and hopefully eased some of the pain that her family and friends are feeling.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/02/post_215.html

Not really a lot going on of great importance this weekend (other than the aforementioned things). Hopefully, the weekend will end up just as nice as the rest of it has been.

BTW, for those of you who are so inclined, check out the first installment of my father's memoir. I've checked out the preview and I'm sure the rest of the story will be quite interesting...
Peace, y'all!

in reference to:

"Rails to Trails"
- Limestone County Parks and Recreation (view on Google Sidewiki)

Olympic medal count via vancouver2010.com...

Seeing that I work at Browns Ferry....

A friend from the Navy working at another nuclear utility was interested in info regarding the Browns Ferry fire of 1975. While doing some research into TVA info (photos, reports, etc.), I found the additional two items (external to TVA) somewhat interesting:

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant fire : hearings before the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, Ninety-fourth Congress, first session, September 16, 1975. (1201 pages)

The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Fire [Technology Report 77-2] (48 pages)

The government has done it to you again...

Although Obama covered some level of fiscal responsibility in the SOTU address last night, the Senate has just passed an amendment to a previous House Joint Resolution that will raise the statutory debt limit from $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion. When does it end?

A preliminary recap of 1/21/10 tornado from NWS Huntsville

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hun/?n=january2010_severewx

Crazy Mother Nature....

Tornadoes in January are somewhat unusual, but Huntsville was hit by one yesterday. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. WAFF's community gallery site has some decent pix and videos...

And to think, when all this stuff started going down, we were gorging ourselves (I was, with three plates from the buffet) on Chinese food...

I'm sure that anyone who would read this has probably used Wikipedia...

I end up there occasionally. Have you ever given consideration to creating an account? If so, here are some of the reasons to do so...

One of my favorite features (with an account) is the ability to convert any Wikipedia page to a PDF file....

Mainly links here...

Some interesting weather stuff for the new year:

1. 2010 Storm Spotter Class Schedule 


2. 2009 Annual Climate Summary 


3. 2009 Tornado Storm Data 


4. 2009 Tornado Summary 


5. 2009 Annual Climate Statistics 


6. December 2009 Climate Summary 


7. El Niño Impacts in the Tennessee Valley 

I'm actually giving serious consideration to checking out the spotter class in Athens on March 9th. That might be pretty interesting and I think I'm off of work that night...

That whole escapade in Massachusetts turned out to be quite a surprise. It's kind of amazing that the tide would turn just one year into the current administration. I'm sure that it was just disillusionment with the state of "things" in general. I was disillusioned by both parties quite some time ago...

DI.fm Windows Media Player Stream....

for your listening pleasure.

WARNING - kinda trippy stuff here.

in reference to: goapsy.asx (video/x-ms-asf Object) (view on Google Sidewiki)

Mmmmmmmm......... Chili and beer and football!

I wouldn't consider myself much of a fan of any football (college, pro or otherwise), but if I had to pick a college team to be a fan of, it would be The Tide...

I am a fan of chili and beer.

At least we got some snow out of what one local TV station is touting as "Winter Storm 2010"....

I was reading one of the several cooking magazines my wife gets....

and I saw a recipe for a meat loaf. That got me thinking. I figured that Ro-Tel would make an interesting addition.

Here's how it ended up:
____________________________________________________
Ingredients:

1 10 oz can Ro-Tel (undrained)
2 lightly beaten eggs
2/3 cup panko (any crumbs would do)
1 lb ground beef (I actually had 1-1/4)
Seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash in the loaf) to taste
1 packet onion soup mix (I omitted this accidentally)
Heinz Hot & Spicy Ketchup (enough to top loaf)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine first six ingredients and mix well. Pour into a loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 50 minutes. Remove and cover (to taste) with ketchup. Bake 10 minutes more. Enjoy.
____________________________________________________
For an experiment, this turned out pretty well. I wish I had remembered to get onion soup mix at the store. That was a my bad. Suzanne said the spicy ketchup made it a little too kicked up. I liked it just fine....

_______________________________________________

Happy New Year!

To each and everyone out there....

Merry Christmas!!!

I've tweeted this already, but I figured I'd embed it in my blog as well....

The pictures are scans of pictures I took when we lived in the northeast during the Winter (1990s vintage). The music is Coventry Carol as interpreted by yours truly....

17 years!?! Whoa!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary Suzanne!

As it happens....

I recently joined my daddy-o's channel @ ning.com. I've put up four of my "compositions" so far. Three are mine and one is a mix-up of a piece of my dad's. Here they are:


Find more music like this on Zzaj Energy Channel

New song at indieonestop.com....

Aethereality TV

To Suzy and my Uncle Greg....

Happy Birthday!!!

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate....

Just so you know....

I don't suppose that I have any great explanation why I gave my blog its title several years ago. I just figured that it kind of fit. This blog is about everything and nothing at the same time. Sometimes it is mundane and sometimes I might even have an interesting take on things. When you "enter here", I hope that you're not expecting a great deal of profound material. I blog about things that come to mind that are interesting to me. Often, I'll talk about music or politics. I might even talk about the latest and greatest sandwich that I ate. Hence, the idea of "abandoning hope".

http://etcweb.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/dante/campuscgi/mpb/GetCantoSection.pl?INP_POEM=Inf&INP_SECT=3&INP_START=1&INP_LEN=200&LANG=2

Weekend report....

Hmmm, where to begin? Friday was an off day, but I had to go in for several hours due to unforeseen circumstances. It's all good, I was only there for several hours. After that, the day was a VERY lazy day. I don't even think I ran on Friday. We did have a fine pizza that night...

Saturday started with a kickin' morning exercise hour and snow. After a good shower, we went out to Cheddar's for a pre-birthday birthday lunch for my wife and a friend of ours. The Cheddar's in town has just opened in the last month. Our best friends got there 20 minutes early and were seated by the time we got there. It's good they arrived earlier than we did, because the wait would have been a little while. For as busy as the joint was, the service was pretty good. The food arrived in a decent amount of time and was as tasty as I remember. On the negative side, the food could have been a little bit warmer. Other than that, the experience was great. We'll be going back again...

And then there was the Bama game....

I don't consider myself any kind of big fan or anything, but it was good to see The Tide win. We didn't even stick around the house to watch the entire game. I had brought up going to a fundraising event for Toys for Tots that was being put on by a friend from high school earlier in the day. It just so happens that the event was a number of dance acts by women specializing in belly/tribal/world fusion dance with the appropriate accompanying music. I had seen my friend's group perform at Panoply before. My wife actually thought the whole thing was pretty cool. We left a little early for some grub and a chance to stop by to see the Mother Unit (1 each).

This morning started with another hour of sweaty exercise. That's always an exhilarating way to start the day. After that, we had breakfast with friends. The monotony of shopping occupied the next couple of hours. It was a lazy enough afternoon until I decided to finally get up and run on the treadmill for five miles. The most exciting part was the catfight in/near our front yard. The run was very refreshing. After a little dinner, here we are: Watching Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Obviously not award-winning, but this flick is mildly entertaining....

Well, I think I'll run along now. Y'all have a great week! Peace!