tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20128140850909806022011-12-28T16:47:54.937-08:00The only dependable thing is change.Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-64806793749103415892011-12-28T16:44:00.000-08:002011-12-28T16:47:54.956-08:00

They are called "nanoblock", but the smaller-print description below says "micro-sized building block". Which is it, 10-9 or 10-6? Make up your mind, there are three orders of magnitude difference between nano- and micro-! (That's a factor of a thousand, stupid. And factor means that you multiply not add, you idiot.) It is no wonder that neither the electorate nor those they have elected to

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-71642296531917475482011-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:002011-09-04T10:27:01.432-07:00

The winding-down of summer and the beginning of the fall semester has brought the angst and pain of procrastination along with a blizzard of paperwork. I find myself making lists so that I can see what is yet to be done, what is done, and what is not going to be done. In that spirit, and in recognition of the fact that I am quite proficient at misplacing, burying, ignoring, filing away, and

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-55283663103967874582011-08-08T14:22:00.000-07:002011-08-08T14:47:13.424-07:00

Repetitive alliterative assonance and consonance:Today, 8/8 (11), the Dow closed down 5.55% and the S&P 500 closed down 6.66%.Oh, and onomatopoeia too: sick, sick, sick.Dark verse from the stock market.Now is it buy-buy-buy or bye-bye-bye?

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-78547420234941499052011-07-26T15:45:00.000-07:002011-07-26T15:58:24.831-07:00

Here is the text of a message I sent to my Congressman: Please act to represent the collective best interests of all of your constituents, not just the dogmatic right. The issues are not black and white - just like equations and ledgers, they have two sides which need to act in unison if good solutions are to be realized. You and your Republican colleagues in the House are damaging the country

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-21271992669373146072011-06-09T12:34:00.000-07:002011-06-09T14:29:31.338-07:00

I don't have a facebook account. It's not because their business model is all about mining your interaction data to better sell stuff, including the data, or because online activity can be risky, none of that. The reason I don't have an account is more philosophical: unlike the World-Wide Web, facebook is a closed community - you can't access the content without joining up. This is fair enough

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-48333854469071075282011-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:002011-01-04T21:40:32.590-08:00

Where are we as we begin the new year? Even though it may not feel like it in the northern hemisphere, yesterday (January 3) the Earth passed through perihelion, the point in our elliptical orbit that is closest to the Sun (3.4% closer than at aphelion in July). Demonstrating again that on Earth the seasons have more to do with the tilt of our axis than with our distance from the Sun. For those

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-84998458648427615642010-08-04T12:34:00.000-07:002010-08-06T18:35:06.874-07:00

Quincy needs a new hospital, and we overwhelmingly voted to build one two years ago. Then some folks got a higher-than-expected tax bill and said, "No, wait, you mean we have to pay this much to build a hospital!? You mean the cost estimates were actually estimates, not a maximum!? You fooled me with your slick ad campaign; you lied."So instead of enlisting to help find a better approach, as

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-79125253605247190932010-06-18T13:30:00.000-07:002010-06-18T15:20:53.598-07:00

Here we go again: The Kyrgyz are killing the Uzbeks. (and/or vice versa this time or next)Get over it, grow up, use your brain, open your eyes, talk; you are the same. You are all descended from the same set of nomads, invaders, traders, missionaries, colonialists, etc. One group does not have feathers and fingers and the other fins and fangs; you are literally brothers. You are not the first

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-9399347940820736852010-05-11T11:10:00.000-07:002010-05-11T11:38:08.360-07:00

These two videos caught my eye recently. I decided to (re)post them here so that so I don't loose track of them. In one way or another they both relate to "products, process, and quality" and the unintended consequences that can result when the "process nazis" gain control of what and how things are done permitting logic to trump reason. Video: Patent Absurdity - Dokumentarfilm (28:54)

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-23763239789247291402010-03-25T10:03:00.000-07:002010-03-25T12:05:19.976-07:00

Jacob, now 4, wrote me an email asking "Why does the world spin?" Then he went on to suggest his own answer, "I think maybe the world spins because that's how the sun turns out the lights so we can go to bed and the universe can make a new day for Earth." Wow, such a good answer! I can't top that; even though the spinning turns out the light rather than the Sun, he has the correct idea. But,

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-28032132523533201722009-12-20T12:20:00.000-08:002009-12-20T14:34:37.866-08:00

Like a bad sci-fi movie-view of a future world after the suicide of civilization.Considering this display of pride, puissance, and artistic guile by Wu-Tang Clan, it is difficult to be optimistic in the last year of the first decade of this new millennium.Af-clan-istan has shown every civilization in recorded history the power of a tribal system infected with corruption, ignorance, repression,

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-18245575219654031552009-12-18T10:09:00.000-08:002010-06-18T15:38:01.425-07:00

In case you didn't read the book, here's the movie that shows everyplace else we know about in the universe. It seems that we ought to be able to figure out that either (a) we need to keep this place tidy or, if we want to use it as a dump, then (b) get busy finding other places to infest. Video by the American Museum of Natural History.

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-30523839735925638952009-04-12T13:10:00.000-07:002009-04-12T13:21:12.747-07:00

Pirates:If the ship has an American flag, find another. Ship owners:You get what you pay for:Discount registrations (from Liberia, Guatemala, etc.) don't include Navy Seals.

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-63998232240585129492009-01-17T09:15:00.000-08:002009-01-17T12:35:21.809-08:00

Patricia Stiles in her introduction of Barack Obama in Philadelphia's 30th Street Station this morning uttered a phrase that caught my attention because it succinctly captures a key part of the change that is afoot. Paraphrasing she said, [Barack Obama] embodies change from the politics of who is right to [doing] what is right.There is no doubt that Barack Obama is an extremely powerful "who",

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-69355592788366165952009-01-11T15:30:00.000-08:002009-01-11T16:09:05.094-08:00

I predict that if Roland Burris is seated in the U.S. Senate before inauguration day, then Rod Blagojevich (Milorad Blagojević) and his wife Patricia will receive tickets to it from him.

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-50577778273692090912008-11-07T07:11:00.000-08:002009-01-11T17:40:40.424-08:00

by Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-86016463712258357772008-10-26T18:00:00.000-07:002008-10-26T18:28:50.630-07:00

The Legislature of the State of California wasted almost three months after the beginning of the fiscal year (that began July 1) before they were forced by public exasperation and their own need to campaign to approve a budget. The budget that was passed is a patchwork of ill-considered gimmicks and trade-offs, the only one redeeming value being that it was passed and signed so that people and

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-61508365641494742072008-08-03T11:23:00.000-07:002008-09-07T08:01:55.869-07:00

I must be an elitist. Who else but an elitist would ignore common sense [and marketing 101] and use a Latin word as the name of a blog, or anything else for that matter -- much less a Latin word in an unusual form whose pronunciation is not obvious? I do not intend this blog only for those who are comfortable with Latin or other "foreign" words: Catholic clergymen, medical professionals,

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2012814085090980602.post-40399173660997984882008-08-01T13:53:00.000-07:002008-08-02T23:01:51.291-07:00

If your Latin is rusty (or pig), Sagittarum is the genitive plural form of the Latin word sagitta. Sagitta means arrow, so the English translation of sagittarum would be of the arrows or the arrows' (possessive). Sagitta is also the name of a small constellation that can be seen in late summer in the Northern Hemisphere (as well as in the image in the header of this blog). Follow this link to

Charley2NAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591734841674908821noreply@blogger.com0