Voder-Vocoder

Pangaea was not the first supercontinent. From the evidence available, scientists have reconstructed a predecessor, termed Pannotia, that formed about 600 mya, before dividing again some 50 million years later. Another, Rodinia, apparently formed approximately 1,100 mya and divided 750 mya.
(source)

In comparison, the earth is 4.57 billion years old. Somehow I had thought that Pangaea was the original configuration.

(See also: Supercontinent Cycle)

“No, Dean, this is Guild business, your father isn't in any harm. Guild work is clean, professional. It's surgical with them. In a way they're the only organization I still respect.”

I watched through all of The Venture Brothers this week. It was possibly better the second time. I'm not sure why I like it so much; it's kinda like The Tick, but more adult.

(source)

Saturdays can be harsh. Yesterday I worked for 11.5 hours. I wanted to be social and go out after work. But instead I went home and fell asleep.

Anyone want to go to brunch this morning? Or afternoon?

(source)

Interesting dreams. One involved a large university built inside the caldera of a dormant volcano.

Another involved me working two jobs. I got very tired and just started yelling at everybody.

The others were just too wierd to put into words. Like the one about the mutant spider eggs.

* * *

I've got today off from work!

Everytime I go into my storage room in the basement, I get spider bites. New plan: I'm getting as many boxes out of there this evening as possible, and leave the big stuff for much later. Then I avoid the basement.

[hal@lensman]$ time-till-I-leave-town.sh
Time until Mon Jul  3 09:00:00 CDT 2006:
3747726 seconds
3.7477 megaseconds
6 weeks + 1.3764 days
43.3764 days

[hal@lensman]$ cat ~/bin/time-till-I-leave-town.sh
#!/bin/sh
DDAY="Mon Jul  3 09:00:00 CDT 2006"
SECONDS=$(( $(date -d "${DDAY}" +%s)-$(date +%s) ))
MEGASECONDS=$( echo "scale=4;$SECONDS/10^6" | bc )
WEEKS=$( echo "$SECONDS/604800" | bc )
DAYS=$( echo "scale=4;$SECONDS/86400" | bc )
EXTRAS=$( echo "scale=4;$DAYS-($WEEKS * 7)" | bc )
echo "Time until ${DDAY}:"
echo "$SECONDS seconds"
echo "$MEGASECONDS megaseconds"
echo "$WEEKS weeks + $EXTRAS days"
echo "$DAYS days" ; echo ""

Bah.

(more...)

There is nothing I hate more than vinyl siding. It has no class.

What do you hate?

I've had the same hand soap dispenser for many years. I bought a new one today because the old one had a tendancy to fall over. Its base was just too narrow.

I am perpetually amazed by the amount of poorly designed crap out there.

If I had a sailing boat, I'd sail away,
Sail the Gulf of Mexico, I'd sail to Charleston Bay.
If I stopped at New Orleans, I'd fish oceans springs.
Sail to the Florida Keys, and I've got friends along the way.
Once I got to Charleston Bay, sail back down again.
Sail down to Mexico, it's just a dream, my friend.

I'd like to get to know the sea, look up toward the sky.
See full sails. Feel so down. I can see it in my mind.
Maybe I'm dreaming, but some times they come true.
And if this one comes for me, well then you're invited too.
But if things should never change, I know just what I'll do:
Close my eyes and hold you close and I dream my dreams with you.

But if I had a sailing boat, I'd sail away,
Sail down to Mexico, it's just a dream, my friend.

---“Sailing Boat”, Catfish Stephenson

Eyes on the prize:

* * *

This is me the day I moved to Madison:

When I finally move away, will I look like that again?

* * *

For my upcoming move this summer, I'll be putting a portion of my possessions in storage. After hearing horror stories of people losing many books and papers to water damage, the plan is to line each box with a large garbage bag before filling it up. This way if there is flood damage, I won't lose everything.

Every possession of mine that I can't throw out will be hermetically sealed into boxes lined with garbage bags.

Everything that I don't need in the next six months goes into a storage unit while I figure out my long-term living situation. As I pack books into box after box, I have this feeling that I might not open these boxes for decades.

Sort of like my own personal time capsule. Cool.