I Tell You What, I'll Have You Know.
OK, did he actually roll out to Love Rollercoaster?! My main man Dennis is all, "I got yer Ohio Player right here."
You know: ramble away on an historical event while playing "Which Way Does The Drain Swirl" with a bottle of wine. Few of us, however, have the alacrity to turn it into a full-production miniseries. Ladies and gentlemen: Jen Kirkman and Company.
Couple new things.
1) Enjoying my 4th layoff. This time I knew what I was getting into: tiny, sketchy company, marginally developed product, low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. So, my bad. On the eggy side of the sun, emails from recruiters no longer get sung to.
B. Off to DC in September, with Francesca, to cheer Mom on and hang out with Dad. Also, go to Lisa's wedding. Hope to get some time w/Dini and Bill, and reunite with some old Delhiites.
III. I found my car. I mean, the one that won't make me choke on my self loathing for dragging around an internal combustion engine in 2008. Tata's coming out with an electric version of its rs.1-lakh ($2500) car, in partnership with a Norwegan auto shop. They're also teasing us with a compressed-air version, which I would buy in about 5 seconds, whether it worked or not. At $4 a gallon, I spend about $2000 a year filling up my tank. So do you, probably.
Four: You're awesome, and I think you're my favorite thing in the world.
পাঁচ ) Watched Greg Giraldo do the Saget roast on Comedy Central. Saved my life.
This reminds me of Pearly (of Chris and Pearly). She's is a bio scientist at the LCRA, doing water quality testing. I wonder if Eppendorf knew what they were in for when they asked this ad firm to work something up for their new automated pipette machine.
Less reagents; Faster workflow; Saves you money...Well, well, well.
"Pipetting all those well-plates, baby, sends your thumbs into overdrive
And spending long nights in the lab makes it hard for your love to thrive
What you need is automation, girl, something easy as 1 2 3
So put down that pipette, honey, I got something that will set you free
And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great)
Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate)
It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no more pipetting late at night)
Only for you epMotion (whisper: girl this time we got it right)
DNA
RNA
Proteins
Cell Cultures
Less reagents
Faster workflow
Saves you money
Well, well, well
And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great)
Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate)
It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no more pipetting late at night)
Only for you epMotion (whisper: girl this time we got it right)"
A = Collapsing demand for SUVs and Trucks
B = Insatiable demand for hybrids and EVs
C = Price of oil
D = Destabilized Middle East
E = Federally-mandated pollution controls on electric plants
F = Affordable, powerful electric cars
Sales Plunge as Automakers Are Hit Hard by High Gas Prices
The economic slowdown and high gasoline prices hit the carmakers hard last month.
Sales were down 28 percent at the Ford Motor Company, 21 percent at Toyota and 18 percent at General Motors and Nissan. G.M.’s numbers were considerably better than expected, and its shares soared 12 percent on the news, after falling 6 percent earlier Tuesday.
- New York Times
Wed. July 2, 2008
Demand for hybrids leads to waiting lists
Manufacturers of gas-electric hybrid vehicles cannot keep up with the growing demand that is tied to $4-a-gallon gas prices. That means customers usually must get on months-long waiting lists if they want one.
- Austin American Statesman
Tue. June 24, 2008
Speculation, weak dollar add $45 to oil prices: OPEC
Oil cartel OPEC on Tuesday said speculators and a weak US dollar have contributed $45 a barrel 
- Agence France Presse
Wed. July 02, 2008 (Madrid)
Oil Rises on IEA Supply Warning, Concern Israel May Attack Iran
International Energy Agency said supplies may not keep up with demand through 2013 and ABC News reported Israel is increasingly likely to attack Iran this year. The IEA said in a report that spare OPEC capacity will shrink by 2013, keeping the market ``tight.'' Israel may bomb Iran if OPEC's second-largest producer acquires enough enriched uranium to build a weapon, potentially threatening Mideast supplies, ABC said, citing an unidentified Pentagon official.
- Bloomberg.com
Tue. July 1, 2008
In the ruling released late Monday afternoon, a state judge relied on a decision by the Supreme Court last year that carbon dioxide could be regulated as a pollutant... But the judge, Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore in Superior Court in Fulton County, Ga., said that federal air pollution control laws required pollution permits to cover all pollutants that could be regulated under the Clean Air Act, not just those for which there is “a separate, general numerical limitation.
- NYT
Wed. July 2, 2008
Tesla confirms Model S sedan, 225-mile range and $60k
...Tesla to continue its production of vehicles in the Golden State, specifically the start-up's second vehicle, codenamed the Model S, which according to Tesla, get 225 miles on a single charge and cost $60,000.
- Autoblog.com
Mon. June 30th 2008
Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, George Carlin. We don't have sadhus in our Eurocentric culture, so we force them to become "comics."
Etymology
The Sanskrit terms sādhu ("good man") and sādhvī ("good woman") refer to renouncers who have chosen to live a life apart from or on the edges of society in order to focus on their own spiritual practice.
The words come from the Sanskrit root sādh, which means "reach one's goal", "make straight", or "gain power over". The same root is used in the word sādhana, which means "spiritual practice".
- Wikipedia
This is what I want to end up with - a nice piece of land, with some water, and a crop like this (if it'll make it through Texas summers):
Last batch was a supra-malt gem of a Munich Caramel Vienne beer so delicious I drank pretty much the whole thing by myself in 3 weeks. (Yeah, well, plus I had New Job stress. Don't do the math.)
Attempting to reproduce it, I bought most of the same ingredients, only using Safale S-33 instead of their dry version of American 1056 (jargonoff alert: this is yeast talk). Plus 2 oz. of black market fresh Cascade hops.
Beer glass alarmingly low. Last of the last batch from a bottle I stashed in the back of the cupboard. Some people don't drink while brewing, as a rule. Good on ya, and go 'head knock your bad ass self out with that, I say.
So far so good. Shortly after this photo was taken, it starts to go all Mars Climate Orbiter on me.
Litany of errors:
- Using the late-addition method, I added the 1 lb. of extract with burners on full blast. Expected pot-blackening hilarity ensued.
- Boil complete, I cranked up the wort chiller, and while cleaning up a little, discovered the rest of the malt extract.
- By now she's cooled to about 150 degrees. So I switch off the hose, and light the burners again, in an attempt to boil the syrup for 15 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, things seem quiet. Too quiet. Sure enough: out of fuel.
See that white container, on top of the empty propane tank? 5 pounds of spaced malted barley syrup.
Anyhoosle, managed to wrap it up 2 hours later than usual, which means 2 extra hours of sorrows-drowning opportunities. Painful day at the office seemingly immediately followed.
But hey - that yeast finished in 3 days. I know. Kegged it last week, and am now clarifying by draining the sediment off the first few glasses. Pretty ding dang yummy so far. Watch here for updates.
Few people have the genuine, sincere ability to exactly vocalize the thrash and motions of your psyche, in that unique desperate chaotic granular abandon behind your eyes.
In 1989 I was working at the D.C. Tower Records. The art department came out with that week's issue of new release posters (cut from colored foam board, the words and images all stacked up on each other). Mary Margaret O'Hara's "Miss America" looked intriguing to me, so I cued up my employee selection. An hour later a winnowy, sometimes stuttered/sometimes bowed-saw vox rolled out, twisting through the genre rooms on each floor. I immediately bought that strange little tape, and copied lyrics from it to the backs of postcards. A few months later, I was in Austin. With those keening hiccups along for the ride in my head.
I remember getting the same feeling from Mary Margaret's voice that I got discovering Kate Bush.
PS she's Catherine O'Hara's sister. Did not know that till today.
This is pretty whiz bang, folks. My new favorite thing.
Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo
