Mesa Mike's Midden of Musings

What To Do When You Are Bored

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:42:00 +0000

Kill a few Flies
Put them in the sun to dry for one hour.
Once they are dry, pick a pencil and paper... Let your imagination flow.

Here are a few examples...

Note To My Los Alamos Neighbors

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:32:00 +0000

Those of you who think that we shouldn't complain about our property tax burden because we don't pay as high a rate as others in the state and around the country will be happy to learn that starting in November, Los Alamos County property taxes will be increased by 36%.

I don't wanna hear any complainin' from the rest of y'all, if you voted for the latest school bond that caused this outrageous increase.

Read it and weep.

Papa Louie Passes Away

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:31:00 +0000

Louis Rosen, one of the great ones of Los Alamos, passed away last Thursday, August 20 2009. Rosen was the father of the 800 MeV linear accelerator where I work here in Los Alamos. He came to Los Alamos way back in 1944 for the Manhattan Project, and remained employed here up until his death at 91 years of age. He was well respected by the students and scientists here at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, and he will be greatly missed.

Read more about this.

Pay Special Attention to Rule #11

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:18:00 +0000

This is supposedly attributed to Bill Gates. I dunno. They're good rules, though.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So, before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

I Changed The Colors On My Blog

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:41:00 +0000

I guess I'm feeling like a Concord grape.

Here's something for Good Friday:

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:48:00 +0000

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
by Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676

1. O sacred Head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded With thorns, Thine only crown.
O sacred Head, what glory, What bliss, till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine.

2. Men mock and taunt and jeer Thee, Thou noble countenance,
Though mighty worlds shall fear Thee And flee before Thy glance.
How art thou pale with anguish, With sore abuse and scorn!
How doth Thy visage languish That once was bright as morn!

3. Now from Thy cheeks has vanished Their color, once so fair;
From Thy red lips is banished The splendor that was there.
Grim Death, with cruel rigor, Hath robbed Thee of Thy life;
Thus Thou has lost Thy vigor, Thy strength, in this sad strife.

4. My burden in Thy Passion, Lord, Thou hast borne for me,
For it was my transgression Which brought this woe on thee.
I cast me down before Thee, Wrath were my rightful lot;
Have mercy, I implore Thee; Redeemer, spurn me not!

5. My Shepherd, now receive me; My Guardian, own me Thine.
Great blessings Thou didst give me, O Source of gifts divine!
Thy lips have often fed me With words of truth and love,
Thy Spirit oft hath led me To heavenly joys above.

6. Here I will stand beside Thee, From Thee I will not part;
O Savior, do not chide me! When breaks Thy loving heart,
When soul and body languish In death's cold, cruel grasp,
Then, in Thy deepest anguish, Thee in mine arms I'll clasp.

7. The joy can ne'er be spoken, Above all joys beside,
When in Thy body broken I thus with safety hide.
O Lord of life, desiring Thy glory now to see,
Beside Thy cross expiring, I'd breathe my soul to Thee.

8. What language shall I borrow To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever! And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never, Outlive my love for Thee.

9. My Savior, be Thou near me When death is at my door;
Then let Thy presence cheer me, Forsake me nevermore!
When soul and body languish, Oh, leave me not alone,
But take away mine anguish By virtue of Thine own!

10. Be Thou my Consolation, My Shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy Passion When my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, Upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee. Who dieth thus dies well!

Amen.

Ed Grothus Passes Away

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Rumor has it that Ed Grothus passed away this morning.

Update 2/13/2009: Not just rumor -- More here.

The Black Hole

The Black Hole occupies what used to be a Piggly-Wiggly supermarket, and the aisles are stuffed to the ceiling with all manner of old test equipment, obsolete spare parts, hardware and every other imaginable type of castoff surplussed from The Lab. The parking lot is stuffed full of other items too big to fit inside.

Ed Grothus, the proprietor of The Black Hole, also owns a church building adjacent to the "nuclear waste" repository, which used to be the meetin' tent of Grace Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod). He has turned it into the "Omega Peace Institute", adorned with a large peace sign mounted on the building, two symbolically broken torpedos out front and a sign that reads:

OMEGA PEACE INSTITUTE
FIRST CHURCH OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY
BLACK HOLE SYNOD
Critical Mass Every Sunday
with
Bomb Unworship Service

Actually, no services are held, and the church building itself is stuffed with more junk.

Some say Ed's a crackpot. Maybe he is, but you can't deny that this fixture of Los Alamos is an interesting fellow.

Here's a YouTube video of Ed Grothus giving a tour of the world famous Black Hole of Los Alamos. This is an amazing place, and should be on your itinerary when you come to visit the Secret City.

Yes, that's a Geiger counter clicking in the background...

#44's plan for dealing with Iran

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:31:00 +0000

A Pelosi Parable

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:17:00 +0000

There was a farmer who had a gaggle of geese that laid golden eggs. These golden eggs brought the farmer much money, which he used to help maintain and operate his farm.

The farmer's laborers were lazy and neglectful, and brought most of the rest of the farm to ruin. Thus, the farmer was feeling financially squeezed, because he needed to spend a lot of money to fix the barn, repair the tractor, replant his crops and buy food for his starving barnyard animals.

So, he took the golden eggs from the geese and ground them up and threw them into the river that flowed through his property. You see, it cost money to have those eggs shipped intact to the smelter, so he was able to save that cost by eliminating the need to transport them.

A Parable

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:54:00 +0000

There was a person who, by some fortunate event in life, came into the possession of a tulip bulb of a very expensive and beautiful variety.

However, this person knew she was not skilled as a gardener, nor was she confident that she could afford the costs associated with growing such a precious plant. In fact, she didn't even really care to raise tulips. Too much of a hassle; it would interfere with her other interests. She figured that if she tried to plant the bulb and nurture it, it would just suffer badly at her hands.

So, she cut it up and threw it out. After all, it would be such a shame for it to have to grow amongst weeds and and be neglected by an uncaring gardener. Much better off in the garbage, where it wouldn't have to suffer.

#44 has been crowned.

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Moon and Planets

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:42:00 +0000

I took this picture of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter from my backyard tonight.
Too bad if you missed it.

Happy Thanksgiving

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:18:00 +0000

Yes, it's Turkey Day, Football Day, time for getting together with friends and family, etc.
But let us remember that the Holiday is for us to GIVE THANKS for our blessings .

President George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

President Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

Washington, DC, October 3, 1863

Crazies for Sarah Palin

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:16:00 +0000

Certain of y'all will enjoy this. For the rest of you, it will probably just feed your PDS.

A Stern Rebuke of Christians

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:13:00 +0000

If you're a Christian who voted for Obama, Dan Phillips is preaching to you:

It's like this. A man comes to attack your wife, or your child. You professed Christians who voted for Obama, you had every reason to know what that man was going to do. And your response was to toss him a knife, and tell him "Have at it, sport; I prayed about this, and I feel good about it. I'll just stand over here being deep and conflicted and nuanced, mocking anyone who tries to stop you, and congratulating myself on my new friends who cheer you on."

Your candidate was charismatic and confident. The people you wanted to accept you and think well of you swarmed after him. He was different, and novel, and exciting.

And when he said that his very first act in office would be to remove all legal restrictions against gassing Jews, and would compel taxpayers to pay for the gassing of Jews in foreign countries? Oh, well. It wasn't as if you would be pulling the lever yourself, right? Besides (you tried to convince yourself), removing all restrictions on Jew-gassing would actually result in fewer Jews being gassed!

This is what you've done. Obama was evasive and inconsistent about a great many things. Not about this. About this, he was emphatic, and crystal-clear: "first act as President."

And you knew it.

You Christians who did not vote or went third-party, you can tell yourselves you did otherwise. You didn't allow the attacker to assault that helpless victim. No, not you. You drew a picture of a devastating raygun, and waved it at him vigorously, yelling "Zap! Zap!", hoping he'd fall over.

Alas, he did not.

Read the whole thing.

Velokarate!

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:18:00 +0000

The best bicycle karate I've ever seen!
Well, the only bicycle karate I've ever seen.

The more you watch it, the funnier it gets.

This is just devastating

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:04:00 +0000

I guess I'll be voting for Obama after all.

McCain-Palin Rally, Albuquerque

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:24:00 +0000

Mesa Mike and family went to the McCain-Palin rally in Albuquerque yesterday. Mesa Mama and the kids stayed up till 11:00 PM the night before and made several posterboard signs. When we arrived at the convention center, someone told us we wouldn't be able to bring them inside, so I disappointedly put them back in the car. Later on, as we were standing in line behind eleventy-bazillion people, we learned that actually if we brought the signs in they would be taken from us, and after they were "vetted" by the Secret Service they would be handed out randomly, so I went back and got them. It turned out that once inside, we were able to get most of them back by finding whoever had them and asking for them.

The sun was shining down bright and hot as we were standing in line, and 2-year-old Mesa Toddler started melting down. Mesa Mama asked one of the campaign volunteers if there was any way we could get her out of the sun. He replied that since we had a young child we should all just go up to the front of the line and go inside!!! What? Is this some kind of cruel joke to make us give up our spot in line? OK, well, we'll go see... We trudged the 17.56 miles to the front of the line and the guy at the door said that wasn't correct, but go ahead anyway --sigh-- and he'd tell everyone else that kids melting down in the hot sun was not an excuse to go in early. What luck!

So, we got in just a couple minutes before the doors officially opened. After going through the metal detectors and having our innermost beings probed by the Rays of Truth, we wandered out onto the convention center floor and looked around. The platform was small with a railing around it in the middle of the hall, and there was still plenty of room up at the rail, so we parked it there. And we stood there for 2 hours before anything started happening. But we ended up being not more than 15-20 feet from the podium!
A group of Boy Scouts from Troop 17 came in and presented the colors. Next were state representatives Larry Larranaga and Justine Fox-Young, who led the Pledge of Allegiance, then an unidentified young man lead the singing of the National Anthem, in which the audience joined in. After that, Sheriff Darren White and Congresswoman Heather Wilson speechifying. Next, a group of youth cheerleaders ("The Storm," we've seen them before in cheerleading competitions; they always win) doing a routine and getting the crowd chanting. "J-O-H-N, John McCain! John McCain!" and then actor Robert Duvall and his wife were the last up before the big ticket items. His wife, Luciana Pedraza, called his attention to our "DRILL NOW" sign as they came up on the stage. "Can you give me an 'AMEN'?" he shouts as he takes the podium. The crowd complies. After Mr. Duvall finished his talking, he came over to the side of the stage and was talking to a secret service guy and pointing to our hand-made sign. He wanted the guy to get the sign, but the secret service guy wouldn't bend down to get it. He was probably just doing his job of not getting distracted. I picked up the sign and handed it to the SS guy, and he handed it to Mr. Duvall, who took it back up to the center of the stage and held it up and walked around the stage for everybody to see. It read "READ MY LIPSTICK." Then he flipped it over and did the same thing again with the "DRILL NOW" side. The audience went wild. Of course, that was probably because the Straight Talk Express was at that moment driving into the Convention Center.

After a short while, Senator McCain and his wife, and Governor Palin and her "First Dude" came on stage. McCain arrived without jacket and tie, with sleeves rolled up. Palin arrived de pelo suelto -- hair down -- (but wearing those Kazuo Kawasaki 704 series glasses!) It's OK; this is New Mexico. Gov. Palin saw the "DRILL NOW" sign and gave a thumbs-up and said "Thank you!" At some point in his speech, Senator McCain made a promise that we would "drill now", and then pointed to our sign for emphasis!

After the speeches were done, the candidates and their spouses (and a bunch of secret service guys) came down off the platform and started shaking hands and signing autographs for the people near the railing. Scout and Squirt were right up against the rail, Luke next to them, and I was standing right behind them with the camera. Gov. Palin and her husband autographed some of our tickets and a sign that Luke made. McCain didn't autograph anything because he had dropped his Sharpie (Luke later picked it up, it's now his prize possession...). When McCain saw Scout and Squirt standing there squished and barely able to see over the railing, he got such a big smile on his face and bent down to talk to our girls and give 'em a pat on the head. I could tell how warm and genuine he was. Then Luke chatted with Cindy McCain for a short while. This was such an exciting experience, and I hope our kids will remember it for a long time.

We have a whole bunch more pictures, which you can see at http://www.gentux.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=27002.

Also, you might be interested in Blogengeezer's writeup of the event.

WANTED: Chicken Pox or Shingles

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:57:00 +0000

Maybe this isn't really as weird as it seems to me, but I saw this item posted recently on the Los Alamos Freecycle list:

Yes, chickenpox, also known as varicella. There is a vaccine, but immunity induced by the vaccine generally is inferior to immunity induced by the wild virus. Wild virus is shed by children with chickenpox and by adults with shingles aka herpes zoster. (The vaccine has two benefits for consumers: few or no symptoms during the initial infection, and convenience of scheduling the initial
infection.)

Anyway, if you have a child with chickenpox, the child is welcome
to come over to play with my kids.

There have been several "me too" replies to this. Looks like many parents would rather have their kids get the real thing instead of a vaccinination for immunization.

Jimbo Quits BTNO, Cites "Lowest Common Denominator"

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:57:00 +0000

Local blogger James "Jimbo" Rickman, self described "Writer of Bad Things" has closed his locally-popular blogging website The Bomb Town News Observer to all further commenting. His last post is a long list of grievances against the "lowest common denominator," -- that trait common to all of Depraved Humanity that drives us to "chip away at the fabric of everything good and decent until that, too, is destroyed," now including Jimbo's often controversial, but nevertheless entertaining blog, which also was often more informational than the local news rag. Presumably, the work of moderating the cowardly anonymous slanderers became just too much, and was the Straw that Broke the Camel's Back for the BTNO.

There are a few other local blogs where local politics may be discussed (see side bar), but none as edgy as the BTNO was. Thanks, Jimbo, for your service to the community, and unless you change your mind, I'm going to miss the BTNO.

I Need Help!

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:04:00 +0000

I've got the "Hamster Dance" song circulating through my head, and it won't go away!
Is there a therapist in the house?

Oh, No!

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:30:00 +0000

Well this sometimes happens when there's a threesome involved. Somebody gets jealous, an argument ensues, then..., then... well, just look at what happens next!

Such a shame.

Help! I've Lost My Cache!

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:07:00 +0000

Well, this is embarrassing.

I went out into the wilderness today and found just the right spot to hide my latest geocache. While I was at the cache site, I decided to get a notebook out of my backpack in order to write a few things down. As I was doing that, I noticed I had some data sheets for some triangulation station benchmarks that I was planning on trying to find some day.

Being the geek that I am, I got sidetracked, and grabbed my calculator and did some trig calculations using the coordinates of some of the triangulation stations and the new cache. These calculations seemed interesting at the time...

Anyway, after a while I headed back to the car and went home to enter the coordinates for the cache. But to my horror, I discovered that I had completely forgotten to mark a way point at the cache site! I went back to the area, but couldn't find it. I just couldn't remember exactly where I put it. I searched my notebook, but there was nothing among my chicken scratches that makes any sense now, except for this crude drawing I made while at the cache site:

Please, can you all help me locate my lost geocache?

If you do find it, please log it at GC1B0Q9.

An English Usage Rant

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:18:00 +0000

More and more often, I'm seeing people write or say such things as, "So and So passed last Friday" to mean that So and So had just died. I'm not confused by such usage, but it still grates on my sensibilities.

Please, folks, the phrase is "passed away," or even, "passed on" when you are referring to the death of someone. When you say only that "he passed," it makes my mind, for a short while, imagine all kinds of qualifications on the phrase to narrow down the meaning. "Passed" what? Passed by? Passed out? Passed the biscuits? Passed a kidney stone? Passed gas?

Finally, my mind settles on passed AWAY, but only after having traumatized me by forcing me to think of all the possible meanings.

Video LOLCAT

mike@mesamike.org (Mesa Mike) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:33:00 +0000

Taking an Internet phenomenon to the next level.
With a healthy slathering of Kiwi layered on top.