iphone photos from today

1) me channeling mc escher at the atrium in the hospital

2) gorgeous fractally clouds that God smeared his finger in

3) clouds with a stretchmark

4) God's fingerprint ridges

More plates

Custom license plates I saw yesterday.

MGIK MKR (Do you think that's magic maker or magic marker?)

PHAT SS (Do you think that's 'fat *ss' or fat *sses?)

R3D5KN (Obviously a Redskins fan)

09PRAY

MI OASIS (It's actually kinda sad when your car is your oasis...)

NAVYWX (any ideas on this one?)

GRGRMR (I don't get this one either..any ideas?)

E-THR-OR (Very clever either or)

LXANDRA (Cute way to get the idea of Alexandra... Its very cyberpunk)

PLEADES (the star constellation)

OBIDDY (Old biddy?)

LT-N-GT (Less than and greater than?)

OWLOVER (Clever double use of a letter Owl Lover)

MNSTR CR (This Monster Car was actually a little Volvo, so not talking about the size)

TALEGT (And yes, this pickup truck was definitely tail gating the car in front).

Custom plates

Here are a few of the custom license plates I saw while driving today:

MNY PENY
AIRBAGS
NOOPY
MS PRNCS
SO CMFRT
2 ANGELS
4D-MUTTS
FOXX RUN
30-DAZE

Words I learned today

Here's stuff I learned today in order to understand a pathology report:

1. "Skybalon" is a greek word that is used in the New Testament. It means refuse/dung/garbage. In the pathology/medical world, it means a chunk of tissue that is not part of an organ. For example, a finger-like fatty projection of tissue attached to the colon.
2. "Adnexal mass" means "lump of tissue near uterus". In this case, the ovary and fallopian tube were the "lump".
3. "Sigmoid colon" is a s-shaped section of the colon that attaches to the rectum.
4. "Posterior cul-de-sac" (did you know that your body has walls, gutters, and a cul-de-sac??) is the area behind the uterus but above the rectum.
5. "Obturator lymph node" is a lymph node near or attached to the obturator artery which comes down your spine and then branches like a tree in the pelvic area, with branches headed towards the legs.
6. "Cecal" is where the small intestine attaches to the large intestine.
7. "Cribriform" means pierced with holes, like a sieve.
8. "Metastatic" means cancer that has spread from somewhere else.
9. "Carcinoma" means an invasive, malignant tumor from epithelial tissue (the inner lining of an organ) that tends to metastasize to other areas of the body.
10. "Psammoma bodies" means round nuggets of calcium or calcified tissue.
11. "Infarcted" means tissue death due to a blocked blood supply
12. "Papillary" means mushroom-shaped tumor with the stem attached to the epithelial layer of an organ.
13. "Adenocarcinoma" means cancer tumors that secrete a fluid like a gland does.
14. "Serous" means body fluid that lubricates organs in your abdomen to reduce friction from movement.

That's it for today's vocabulary lesson. There will be a pop-quiz on this tomorrow, so study up!

New ones to me

CNN had a silly article titled "Why are some men drawn to redheads?"

I learned some new nicknames for us redheads:
flame brain
a human 'red hot'
she-ruby
cinnamon mist
living corpse

"Every single she-ruby I've ever attempted to date has failed to acknowledge my existence, taken a flamethrower to my heart, or disappeared in the morning like a cinnamon mist." As a previously-posted joke said, just hope that's the worst thing we do to you!

Comic relief

I think this is hilarious.

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Book Review: Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart by Chuck Black

I really enjoyed "Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart." It is book 3 of the series "The Knights of Arrethtrae", but stands on its own without the need to read the previous books first. I enjoyed a few of the world quirks: the country of "Arrethtrae" is "Earth Terra" spelled backwards, and the Son of the King is Sejus (a scramble of Jesus). The place where the country began is "Nedehaven", which has "Eden" in the front of it and is near the river Tisgri (a scramble of Tigris River). Fun. The story is easy to read, yet not simplistic. The allegory is nicely done, and the author skillfully weaves in present action with flashbacks. This is clearly Christian fiction and delivers a clear message without being heavy handed. I think that pre-teens (and older) would really enjoy this story. Highly recommended.

Graphing the Seven Deadly Sins

Some researchers at Kansas State University created geographic displays of the Seven Deadly Sins. See the article in the Las Vegas Sun.

While termed a parlor trick, I think these are pretty brilliant.

Wrath: Compares the total number of violent crimes — murder, assault and rape — reported to the FBI per capita.
Wrath hotspots (red) and cools spots (blue):

All of Northern Virginia is "average" but the entire state of Delaware is a hotspot. Interesting!

Sloth: Compares expenditures on arts, entertainment and recreation with the rate of employment. Now, I don't agree on art expenditures as sloth, but entertainment and recreation could certainly classify.

Sloth hotspots:

All of Northern Virginia is warm or hot for sloth. Work hard, play hard? Or do we have some bad unemployment?


Pride: Aggregate of the other sins.

Pride hotspots:

Fairfax County is dark red, Stafford County is the next level down of red, and Prince William County is pink. The other Northern Virginia counties are yellow (average).


Lust: Records the number of sexually transmitted diseases — HIV, AIDS, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea — reported per capita.

Lust hotspots:

Most of Northern Virginia is yellow (average) while Stafford County is pink.

Greed: Compares average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line. I think this is especially interesting.

Greed hotspots:

Yeah, all of Northern Virginia is dark red. The haves and the have-nots.


Gluttony: Counts the number of fast food restaurants per capita. Why fast-food only? Why not all restaurants? Heck, add in the number of grocery stores too, while you're at it.

Gluttony hotspots:

Stafford County is pink; the rest of Northern Virginia is yellow.


Envy: the total number of thefts — robbery, burglary, larceny and stolen cars.

Envy hotspots:

All of Northern Virginia is yellow.

Book Review: The Spire by Richard North Patterson

"The Spire" is the first book I've read by Richard North Patterson, and I found it hard to put down. Apparently this style of book (a psychological thriller) is not his usual fare, but I found it very well done even though I figured out who the bad guy was about 2/3 of the way through the book. The characters are rich and deep, with lives that are not trivial. I loved the way the author wove present-day and flashbacks together...it was very nicely done. A few plot twists were less-than-probable, but overall it was a nicely complicated story. A (hopefully unnecessary) warning to parents that this book is not for children, and probably not for teens under 18 due to the explicit inclusion of drinking, drug use, casual sex, and racially-based sadism.

So yeah, the brownies contain dog-poop but at least they were baked at 450 degrees... that should make them okay to eat, right?

Bimbo Jones Remixes I Like

Girls Aloud - "Untouchable"



Pink - "So What"



Pink - "U & Ur Hand"

Miley Cyrus - "Seven Things"


Katy Perry - "Hot and Cold"

The Killers - "Spaceman"

Mary Kay colors that mimic Luna Twilight compacts

MTV has pictures of the compacts of the Luna Twilight colors that are due in September. What you see in the compact: upper left is lip gloss; upper right is lip stick. Middle row are two eyeshadow shades. The big square in the bottom is blush.

Can't wait till September? Use these equivalent Mary Kay products NOW!

The Bella Color Palette is “soft and subtle with nude shadows, warm nude blush, nude lipstick and the sheerest cherry red gloss.” To convert this look and get it right away, try:
Mary Kay NouriShine Lipgloss in Coral Rose OR
Mary Kay NouriShine Lipgloss in Sweet Raisin
Mary Kay Creme Lipstick in Apricot Glaze
Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in Sweet Pink and
Silky Caramel
Mary Kay Mineral Cheek Color in Shy Blush

Here's what these Mary Kay items could look like:

Alice is themed “eclectic and spunky with shimmering blue and silver shadows, rosy blush and sheer hot pink lips.” To convert this look to Mary Kay products and get it right away, try:
Mary Kay NouriShine Lipgloss in Pink Diamonds
Mary Kay Tinted Lipbalm SPF 15 in Rose
Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in Blue Metal and
Granite
Mary Kay Mineral Cheek Color in Strawberry Cream

Here's what these Mary Kay items could look like:

Rosalie is “regal and refined with peach toned shadows, a coral blush and apricot lipsticks and gloss.” To convert this look to Mary Kay products and get it right away, try:
Mary Kay NouriShine Lipgloss in Melon Sorbet
Mary Kay Creme Lipstick in Pink Satin
Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in Precious Pink and
Spun Silk
Mary Kay Mineral Cheek Color in Sparkling Cider

Here's what these Mary Kay items could look like:

The edgier Victoria is “bold and fiery with shimmering jewel-toned shadows and deep wine colored lipstick and gloss.” To convert this look to Mary Kay products and get it right away, try:
Mary Kay NouriShine Lipgloss in Berry Sparkle
Mary Kay Creme Lipstick in Raisinberry
Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in Dusty Lilac and
Raisin
Mary Kay Mineral Cheek Color in Cherry Blossom

Here's what these Mary Kay items could look like:

Go here for Bella's natural looking school day makeup look.

Go here to get Bella's makeup look on the cover of Entertainment Weekly!

H&M Little Black Dress

Now, THAT is an awesome dress. I would definitely have worn that in high school and college. Don't think they make it in my current size though :( ... discrimination, I tell you!

September: Cry For You

I just added this album to my playlist. Love the dance beat. Would make an interesting song for use in a New Moon video.

I never had to say goodbye

You must have known I wouldn't stay

While you were talking about our life

You killed the beauty of today

Forever and ever

Life is now or never

Forever never comes around

(People love and let go)

Forever and ever

Life is now or never

Forever's gonna slow you down

You'll never see me again

So now who's gonna cry for you

You'll never see me again

No matter what you do

You never heard me break your heart

You didn't wake up when we died

Since I was lonely from the start

I think the end is mine to write

Chorus

Book Review: Timescape by Robert Liparulo

The first page behind the copyright page says "STOP! Read House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings Book 1), Watcher in the Woods (Dreamhouse Kings Series, Book 2), and Gatekeepers (Dreamhouse Kings Series, Book 3) before continuing!" This warning absolutely must be heeded...this fourth book makes very little sense if you have not read the series from the beginning. While you can probably enjoy the little vignettes as the family has micro-adventures in other time periods by traveling through portals, you definitely won't appreciate the overall thread of finding and rescuing the family's mother from wherever she has gone.

There is non-stop action to be found. Quite literally. Even the few hours when everyone is supposed to be sleeping are full of adventure. The 305 page book covers just short of 24 hours of real time. During this 24-hours, the family barely escapes from the future where they are chased by mutants that fling spears at them; saves Nana from being pulled into a portal; finds that Jesee has been stabbed and his finger cut off; escapes from the sinking of the Titanic; handles the mystery of the teddy bear; sneaks in to visit Jesee in the hospital; barely escapes from Vikings and Berserker warriors; attends a full day of school; travels back in time to meet Jesee as a young boy; and follows the evil Taksidian and gets caught in his trap. It is hideously unrealistic that young children could endure this much drama and physical danger in 24 hours, especially since they are injured repeatedly.

While this book is allegedly Christian fiction, it is not obviously religious. I'm not even sure which characters are supposed to be Christians. David (who has the bizarre nickname "Dae"... does a name as short as David really need a shorter nickname??) sometimes repeats to himself "strong and courageous" from 1 Chronicles 22:13, and someone utters a prayer using the word "Lord". But that's it in terms of Christian influence. And then there are the movie references, which far outweigh any Bible references. Movies/books mentioned: War Games (25th Anniversary Edition), Eagle Eye, Titanic, Mission Impossible (Special Collector's Edition), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Single Disc), Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Jaws (30th Anniversary Edition), I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, High School Musical (Encore Edition), Star Wars Trilogy, The Incredibles (Two-Disc Collector's Edition), Spy Kids, All About Eve (Two-Disc Special Edition).

The book ends with questions for a discussion group.

For Mike, the Magnum PI nut

Moths I can't identify

Well, I've spent about 1.5 hours this morning looking at pictures on the internet to try to identify these two moths. If you've any better moth-research skills than I, please leave a comment to give me ID suggestions.

This little guy is about 3/4 inch long and looks like a rolled up dry leaf.

And this snow-white beauty is about an inch maybe. It's wings are very furry and it has this amazing hairy fringe around it's head. I don't see antenae. It has an ivory face, and a weird ivory bump in the middle of it's back. Ah ha! Found it! It is a White Flannel Moth (Norape ovina).

Book Review: The X and Y of Buy

I absolutely loved all the information about neuroscience and brain structures. The first part of "The X and Y of Buy" talks about how the male and female brains function differently. Each chapter has a chart summarizing the information, and then ends with a short explanation of how to apply that information to a sales situation. The chapter subtitles give a pithy summary of the content: "Men buy; women shop and then purchase 80% of everything", "It's about his quest and her nest", "He prioritizes, while she maximizes", "He sees like a laser; she sees like a lighthouse", "He's more sensible, and she's more sensitive", "He gives directives; she seeks consensus", "He contains his feelings; she conveys hers".

The second part of the book attempts to apply the information about neuroscience to the sales process. This is definitely the weaker part of the book. The example scenarios are shallow, and the advice seems generic. I did, however, like the summary of the sales cycle for each gender.

Sunrays

Yellow and Violet Imperial Moth

We recently had a visitor. This is an Imperial Moth. Last year's Luna Moth was green and photographed in late August. They are the same family of moths, the Saturniids. Apparently racoons find them a tasty treat.


Here's the topside. Wingspan was about 4 inches.
And the underside (out of focus, damn iPhone camera).

Firey lessons

Don't know exactly why, but I've been thinking about the lessons learned in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire book. Now, we expect Snape and Malfoy to act in a less-than-moral ways ... they are evil people. But Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with Hagrid and a few others, are held up as good people, people worth imitating. So what can we learn about correct behavior from this book and these 'good' characters?

1) Cheating is ok, because everyone's doing it. Hagrid has Harry follow along (invisibily) when he takes Madame Maxime to see the dragons, the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. He specifically comments to Harry that she'll likely tell her student about the dragons (which is cheating) so it's only 'fair' that he know too (cheating). We also see Karnakov sneaking off to see the dragons so he can tell his student (cheating), which further justifies the idea that cheating is ok because everyone is doing it. Compare this attitude to recent scandals about professional athletes and their "performance enhancing" drugs. Harry is the 'professional' athlete here, but no one cares that his performance is enhanced by knowing in advance what the challenge will be. Not one person shows any guilt or hesitancy that there is cheating occuring.

2) Some groups of people enjoy slavery. The whole house-elf freedom thread is entirely unsolved by the end of the book. Having not yet read books 5-7, maybe this is addressed further. But everyone's (except Hermione's) non-chalant attitude (at best, and vehement support of, at worst) towards domestic slavery is disgusting.

3) Taking the law into your own hands is a good response. When Hermione discovers that the annoying reporter is actually an unregistered animagus (illegal), Hermione takes the law into her own hands. Rather than hand the reporter over to the justice system, Hermione imprisons the reporter in a glass jar and blackmails her. Um, yeah...very ethical there, Hermione.

Any positive lessons? Sure. I see that we're supposed to learn about friendship even under difficult circumstances, loyalty, not being prejuidiced because of genetics, and bravery.

Catchup

A bit of this and that:

• Saw "Inkheart" today. Not bad. My mom and sister hated it. I wouldn't necessarily watch it again, but I wouldn't say it was horrible. We like Brendan Frasier around here, so if you set your expectations to "Brendan Frasier" level, you'll not be disappointed.
• Saw "Knowing" today. Not bad. I like Nicolas Cage. This is a typical movie for him too. Could have been something that M.Night Shyamalon wrote (but it wasnt).
• Finished reading "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)" today. Not bad. The movie did a good job of leaving out the Winky/Dobby House-Elf story line that didn't contribute much to the action nor was it wrapped up in the book.
• Finished reading "The Host: A Novel" the other day. Not bad. The jacket says that the book explores what it means to be human. Seems too lofty a goal for what I saw in it. Nice sci-fi story. I would say it was like Stephanie Meyers watched Stargate SG-1 and asked herself what it would be like if the Goa'uld parasite wasn't inherently evil and did manage to invade Earth, then wrote this.
• Finished reading " The X and Y of Buy: Sell More and Market Better by Knowing How the Sexes Shop (NelsonFree)" recently. Some fascinating trivia, but poor on the application thereof.

Book Review: The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn

I was pleasantly surprised that this is not your average romance novel. This is a wonderful suspense/romance that follows Kenzie Thorn and Myles Borden through twists and turns as they unravel a deep seated plot to harm Kenzie, the granddaughter of the govenor of Oregon and a GED teacher at a men's prison. There is a solid adventure here, with characters that appear to be actual practicing Christians. The romance element may be a bit too Stockholm-Sydrome for my tastes, but was not sickening or overdone. The characters are relatively real feeling, and the setting is nicely painted. Definitely an enjoyable read from a new author.

Facebook book meme

Official instructions: Don't take too long to think about it. 20 books you've read that will always stick with you. First 20 you can recall in no more than 20 minutes.

Fiction Books that will always stick with me:
1) Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
2) Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Neal Stephenson
3) The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (Also The Summer Queen)
4) The Singer/The Song/The Finale (The Singer Trilogy 1-3) by Calvin Miller
5) New Moon, and Midnight Sun, especially but the whole Twilight saga
6) Stargate SG-1: The Barque of Heaven: SG-11 by Suzanne Wood
7) The Dark Is Rising (The Dark Is Rising Sequence) series by Susan Cooper
8) The Phantom of the Opera: The Original Novel by Gaston Leroux
9) Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition (Dune Chronicles, Book 1) by Frank Herbert
10) Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
11) Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffery
12) The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2) by Ursula K. Le Guin
13) Synners by Pat Cadigan
14) Liege-Killer (The Paratwa Saga, Book 1) by Christopher Hinz
15) Exile's Gate (Morgaine Saga, Book 4) by CJ Cherryh
16) So You Want to Be a Wizard (digest): The First Book in the Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane
17) Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
18) Neuromancer by William Gibson
19) Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
20) The Last Jihad (Political Thrillers Series #1) series by Joel Rosenberg

Boiling clouds

Since getting my iPhone, I have coincidently stopped carrying my 10MP camera b/c the battery needed to be charged (and I couldn't find the charger for a few days). The iPhone's camera is only 3MP, but its doing ok for now. We've had quite a few nice weather fronts recently. I have 40+ cloud pictures on my iPhone now... Mom says they can all be erased, but here are some especially nice ones. Here is the over-all shot, notice the boiling area on the left edge:


And here are two closeups that have been "auto corrected".

Are those structures just awe-inspiring?! If I were to paint those, someone would say I had a bizarre imagination. But here they are straight from the paint brush of God.

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Review: "Evil at heart" by Chelsea Cain

I didn't find the dramatic tension to be as high in this book (Evil at heart) as in the previous two (Heartsick and Sweetheart)... Archie doesn't seem that desparate to find serial-killer Gretchen Lowell and put her in jail again. Susan Ward seems to be more the focus of this book..Archie is just too out of it to really engage. Which is kinda weird since he's off drugs now. We meet a few new characters that I would expect we'll be seeing again, such as Leo the drug lawyer... it is pretty obvious that Ms Cain will be writing another book in this series. I don't feel compelled to read it when it comes out...I'm not a serial-killer groupie that is waiting for Cain's every pen stroke. What I found most interesting were the trivia that reporter Susan Ward interjected about how many people die each year in various ways like choking on pens and on escalators, etc. The mystery of who is doing the killings (is it Gretchen, or is it her fan club?) is not actually solved, of course, because Gretchen is a master manipulator. And in the end, I just don't really care who did the killings.

Grenades

Joke passed to me by a friend:


Q:What do you do if a blond throws a grenade at you?
A: Pull the pin and throw it back.
Q: What do you do if a red head throws a grenade at you?
A: Jump on it and hope it's the worst thing she ever does to you.

Yes, yes, we have tempers. Don't forget it.

Review: Marked ( House of night book 1)

"Marked" is the first book of the "House of night" vampire series for young adults.

Not to be punny, but it sucks. I wont be reading any more of them, and since i bought the first four at the same time at costco, i have to decide how to get rid of them.

I would compare this first book to the Harry Potter series.... The main charcter is a teen girl who is "marked" to become a vampyre. She must move to the "house of night" boarding high school for vampyres or she will die. Her family is upset, like Harry's family... They dont want a vampyre as a daughter; the rigid Christianesque stepdad in particular. We quickly learn how special she is (a la Harry; while all vampyres have a blue tattoo-like cresent moon on their forehead, hers is special too) ... her powers develop too rapidly, etc. She is taken under the wing of the schoolmistress because she's so special ( a la Dumbledorf). Her roomate is a weirdo ( a la Ron Weasley), and before you know it a cat familiar has chosen her. Vampyres in this world are a publically-known species that excell in the arts...most actors and musicians are vampyres, like Shania Twain and Brad Pitt. And then we meet the villan of the series, Aphrodite (a la the Draco kid, but here Aphrodite is a much larger character). Rounding out the friend-gang are a gay guy vampyre and two girls that act like they are twins. While the plot isnt that stellar and the writing is vapid (the adult author says that she had her teen daughter co-author so that the speaking would be realistically teen-enough), my main objection is how native american and wiccan rituals are described in detail and lifted up as wonderful while Christian-esque religion is ridiculed at every turn. While Harry Potter is explicitly about witchcraft, at least it is vague or even just fantasy wand waving and latinized words. I'm not interested in reading about wicca under the name of vampyres.

Review: "The Mutant Chronicles"

We watched this on the SciFi channel because we like some of the actors in it. This is a rather typical post-apocalyptic 'save the world' storyline. The movie starts with steam-punk trench warfare a la World War One; and then the mutants are unleashed. Of course some nice monks have been saving the knowledge of how to defeat evil (think 5th Element) and they gather a band of unlikely heros to destroy the machine that is making the evil mutants. Meanwhile a small portion of the Earth's population flees to colonies on Mars. Lots of predictable fighting transpires as the hero team gets killed off one by one. Then the main hero plugs in what is supposed to be a bomb and activates it, and we discover that the evil mutant machine is actually a spaceship that launches instead of being destroyed. The closing scene shows the ship arcing towards Mars. Poetic justice and all that. A solid B-level movie, very dark, very violent, and pretty boring.

America is a Judeo-Christian Nation

Eisenhower and Ford: "Without God there can be no American form of government nor an American way of life. Recognition of a supreme being is the first impression of Americansim. Thus the founding fathers saw it, and thus, with God's help, it will continue to be."

Review: "The Vanishing Sculptor"

My review of "The Vanishing Sculptor" is over at sleepybeth's today.