07:49 – The Roku box is happy with its new hard-wired Ethernet connection, and our Netflix streaming is working again. It’ll be interesting to see if the wired Ethernet connection prevents the occasional drops that occurred with the wireless connection. Our WiFi environment is pretty cluttered anyway.
We continue to build kit inventory for the rush that commences in August. My goal is to have at least 60 each of the biology, chemistry, and forensics kits assembled and ready to ship in August, with the components for 60 to 90 more of each kit queued up.
13:16 – Wow. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me when the MSM gets something completely, utterly wrong, but this one did. I saw the headline first: Prominent atheist blogger converts to Catholicism
I knew it wasn’t me. I’m certainly an atheist blogger, but few people would call me “prominent”. So I wondered, who could it be? Not PZ, surely? Not Richard Dawkins or Jerry Coyne or Hemant Mehta or Greta Christina or ZOMGitsCriss, or any of the dozens of other Gnu Atheist bloggers I know. Who could it possibly be? So I clicked to read the article. I would certainly recognize the names of the top 100 atheist bloggers, and probably nearly all of the top 1,000.
As it turns out, this “prominent” atheist blogger is a woman named Leah Libresco. I had never heard of her until that moment. She has been blogging for only two years. She has, as far as I know, written no books about atheism, nor been a speaker at any atheist/secularist/skeptic convention, nor been an officer or spokesperson for any atheist/secular/skeptic organization. I’d guess her blog probably gets fewer visitors than my current blog, and certainly fewer than my old blog got back in the days when I commonly got 10,000 visitors on a good day. Nothing against Ms. Libresco. I don’t know her and have never read anything she’s written. But to call her “prominent” goes beyond exaggeration.
Obviously, the only significant thing about this is that someone somewhere has given up atheism to become religious. No surprise there. Religious people become atheists and vice versa. No one denies that. The only significant thing about this is that atheists convert to being religious believers much less frequently than the converse, probably by 1000 to 1. But the MSM makes it seem as though there’s some significance in the decision of an obscure atheist blogger to join the RC church.
What is the shelf life of the chemistry kit again? I thought I remembered reading it somewhere, but I couldn’t find it again. We are just about finished with the kit for boy number 1, but boy number 2 is way, way younger.
Marie
I think we specify the shelf-life as at least two years, but the reality is that it should be fine for much longer than that assuming that you keep the chemical bottles tightly capped and stored in a cool, dark place.
Thanks. My chemicals are actually in tubes instead of bottles, but we have been storing them in an out of the way corner of the basement. I had hoped that my high schooler would want to continue working with the kit past our finishing our class for the year, but alas, he never took much interest in it. I’m hoping out younger one will be more enthusiastic about it, but he’s only 8, so we’re a long way off still.
I finally broke down and pulled a cable to our PS3, since it had poor reception in our equipment rack. Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. are all rock solid now.
Maybe the reason that Ms. Libresco is news is that she is one out of a thousand. She should have chosen Judaism, we have much better jokes.
Rick, the atheist Jew from Portland
Wait. She was an atheist blogging for Patheos? Can you spell shill?
Standard instructions for storing anything that might deteriorate in storage. Great-grandma knew what she was talking about. Anything from foodstuffs to herbs and spices, chemicals to ammunition, will be better off if you
“Store in a cool, dry, dark place.”
Rare exceptions – living roots and fruits – will need humid rather than dry, which is where root cellars come into play. With roots and fruits, sometimes they will need separate storage, because gases (ethylene, acetylene) emitted by some, such as apples, will act as hormones to catalyse ripening in others. This is worth remembering, too, when you need to force-ripen something. Store a couple of apples in a bag with some persimmons, and the persimmons will ripen rapidly.
Our wireless setup here and at other places I’ve been has occasionally been spotty; I’ve been replacing it as much as I can with hardwired, for everything. Much more reliable and stable. I would have thought that wireless’d be fully matured by now, but no.
I don’t follow any atheist bloggers, other than our host, of course, and he doesn’t get on it that often anyway. Never heard of that chick; don’t care at all for Dawkins, but find Jerry Coyne a breath of fresh air, mostly, and could stand a pint with him. We could have some fun bashing the hadjis, I’m sure.
Driving rain showers hereabouts today, and God forbid anyone should slow the hell down, turn on their lights, use signals, or anything rational. At least two drivers, both wymmen, pulled out in front of me, cut me off, and when I politely waved at them to continue (might as well) I got dirty looks like I was the asshole in the scenario. I dunno, YMMV, but you’d think that someone in a little shoebox would be a bit more circumspect what with standing water in the road and crappy visibility, and a guy is bearing down on them in a big-ass Dodge Ram 2500 V-8 Magnum. Let alone that the said guy is nearly six and a half feet tall and heading fast toward 300 pounds and is a pissed-off PTSD ex-soldier, ex-cop, and ex-drunk with a short fuse and a Remington 870 behind the seats.
Probably better they don’t know…
“The only significant thing about this is that atheists convert to being religious believers much less frequently than the converse, probably by 1000 to 1.”
Well, where the atheists convert to Christianity at rates well above the norm is in prison. Nobody goes to their parole board hearing without a Bible in hand. They have all professed to giving their lives over to Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour.
Heh. And, unlike deathbed conversions, there is significant evidence that the jailhouse conversion gets results.
(Sneer quotes to be applied as appropriate.)
Davy, the wymmen probably thought you were being patronizing.
They were already halfway out in front of me *after* seeing me bearing down on them, and any fool ought to know a bigger vehicle takes longer to come to a stop, esp. on wet pavement. Then they just stopped and looked at me. I *politely* waved at them to continue, because they were already out there and I was not gonna get by them without causing a hazard or simply plowing through them. They just gave me dirty looks and then took off. Probably our local equivalent of one-percenters, in fancy foreign jobs, live in big glass McMansions up in Stowe Village, and have nothing but contempt and loathing for pickup truck operators and other such scum. Next time I’ll plow right through. (gee, couldn’t stop in time in all this water, Officer, and they just pulled right out in front of me, sorry!)
Stu, there may be as many Q’urans now as Bibles at those parole board hearings. (and if I was on the board I’d recommend doubling the sentence at that point).
See what I mean? You ‘waved’ them on. Patronizing as all get out. You probably have a full beard, too.
I don’t know why anyone tolerates full beards. they’re just a complete nuisance. I keep my beard trimmed to within 1-3 cm all the time.
Had a full beard once. Up in Minnesota, where every guy had one. Somebody tried to convince me that beards were as cool in summer as being shaven. I’m here to attest that is wrong.
Couple of years ago I had the beard down to my navel but it kept getting caught in the seat belts so I trimmed it back considerably. Now I just have a bit on the chin and the mustache yet am still guilty somehow of patronizing. Oh well. It’s a hard life.
More showers and rain well into Thursday, “they” say, and then we will be back into normal summuh weathuh. Mrs. OFD just having got back from Kalifornia will now have to drive MIL up to northern NB later this week or next, then come back for a week and then another week out in Oregon next month. August schedule not clear yet. (that’s the month that we start seeing the leaves turn red up in the hills.)
There’s not much point to me shaving, immediately afterwards I still have a five o’clock shadow. Also, I can’t usually be bothered. I’m usually running late in the morning and just don’t have the extra five minutes needed. I think trim beards look better than either clean shaven or long beards.
Couple of years ago I had the beard down to my navel but it kept getting caught in the seat belts so I trimmed it back considerably.
Are you sure that was not pubic hair and you were just confused.
OFD complained: “yet am still guilty somehow of patronizing. Oh well. It’s a hard life. ”
Yes. Yes, it is.
I don’t want you to think I thought you were being patronizing, just that the wymmen obviously did.
BC is drenched! Instead of the almost endless sun we get in June, we have a monsoon! Mudslides have closed the Trans-Canada Hwy (#1), 97A, the route north to the #1, has been cut by a flooding river, leaving behind a six foot deep chasm across all lanes, and the rains still come! I even had to turn on my furnace, as the temps inside the house dropped into the high 40s F the other night. 2012 will go down as the year without summer at this rate.
Dry as a bone here in the Midwest. Unexpectedly cool today—not even 70°F. Jetstream maps from Weather Bank show the line waaay up in Canada. Just double-checked my backup site at San Fran State Uni, and it confirms the same. But somehow, there is a high pressure system pushing all the way down to Ray’s territory. Welcome relief.
There are farmers who will go broke this year. Because most got burned with midget corn ears last summer, it seems they all planted beans this year, and soybeans are not a hardy plant. Whole fields are lying wasted. Those who did plant corn are going to have a crop, but it remains to be seen how good the crop will be. Last year’s midget ears were caused by heat, not lack of water, so the uni ag departments say. So far, we have not had the 100°F temps that were a daily occurrence last year for more than 6 weeks running.
Going to cut back the bushes in the back yard. New trash rules are that all yard waste has to fit in the green bins—it cannot spill over. So I have to do a little every week, instead of doing it all at once. At least today is a good day for that. Got the air in the car fixed this morning, so I won’t be too warm going over to Indy for work later this week.
there is a high pressure system pushing all the way down to Ray’s territory. Welcome relief.
Today is nice. But the weekend is going to be hot and very humid. A stay indoors or in the pool kind of day. Although my pool is starting to get too warm.
I run some electric clippers with a #2 guard on them over my bear once a week. Works for me. If I have something I need to get dolled up for, then I’ll grab a razor and clean up my neck and cheeks a little. Mostly I have a beard because I just hate having to shave every morning.
And your bear puts up with that, Chad? How unusually tolerant for a
normally irascible animal.
I’ve had a beard for all but one day since I was 18. That one day was when my dad convinced me to shave for a job interview. It was with the owner of a small company, and when I arrived for the interview I saw that he had a beard. He offered me the job, and I started growing my beard back that day.
I have been suspicious of wireless networking for anything intensive for quite a while now. That is why I hooked up my TV DVR to our house network with ethernet over power line:
http://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-over-POWER-Adapter-Pair/dp/B004C4XWN2/
Works likes a champ going back to our Clear WiMax modem (yes, that is ironic!). However, the Clear WiMax modem is optimally located near a window so that it can receive the WiMax bands well and it is not trying to broadcast/receive through the house walls.
Hey OFD, I now remember you . You just claim to be taller nowadays (about a foot or so). You were in the office next to me at Skyway Tower from 1986 to 1989. You had a long grey beard and cleaned a .45 match pistol everyday at lunch time for 20 to 30 minutes.
Spent lunch time cleaning his .45ACP pistol? I like this guy already! 🙂
Steve
I dunno. If he also muttered angrily, I think I would back away, not so slowly.
Al shot 100 rounds through that pistol every day on the way home from work. Every day. I often wondered whose faces where on the targets.
Did he take the train, the bus, or take pot shots from his car?
Al rode the bus to and from work in downtown Dallas, TX. I think that he had a firing range nearby his home in west Fort Worth. Some things you just did not want to know.