Turtles All The Way, Ph.D.

Juice

2011-04-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

Baby Turtle had grape juice today for the first time and she LOOOOOOOVED it. She'd have a sip from Mommy Turtle's cup, then sign "please" until Mommy gave her another sip. It wasn't even full strength, it was diluted over halfway with soda water. And when Mommy explained that she was drinking juice, Baby Turtle learned the sign for juice right away.

Almost a year!

2011-03-20T00:42:00.001-07:00

I've been a super bad blogger, leaving 10 months between posts. I'll try to do better. Same with the photos: no uploads in a long, long time, but I'll try to improve.

Baby turtle is walking now, and talking a little bit, has started eating pureed foods (finally!) and talks a *lot* in sign language. She's very busy during the day with all her important work. There are things to put inside other things, and then to take out, there are other things to rearrange, etc. She likes to rub things with paper towels and then walk over to the trash to throw out the"dirty" towels. She even helps to brush her own teeth!

Photos!

2010-05-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

I've started uploading another month of Baby Turtle's photos. They should be done by the morning!

2010-05-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

Friday: 5 hours sleep. Get up early to hold the itchy baby so Mommy Turtle can get some sleep. Work until 8pm. Laundry until 12:45am. Shower. Hold Baby Turtle so Mommy Turtle can eat dinner. 2:15am eat dinner. Sleep.

But, it's all worth it to see the big smile when I pick up one of her favorite books or start singing one of her favorite songs.

Photos

2010-04-27T00:34:00.001-07:00

I've been working on photos of Baby Turtle from the last 2 months, and I just found an extra card with over 600 more of them. If all goes well, I should have the best of them color-corrected, cropped, and uploaded in a day or two.

I also just noticed that I haven't posted any updates in three months. It really doesn't feel like that long! I guess I've been pretty busy, with Baby Turtle and the new job. Sorry! I'll try to do better.

Mr. T.

Photo shoot

2010-01-28T02:43:00.001-08:00

Today I had a real photo shoot for Baby Turtle. We dressed her up, set up a backdrop, and used a homemade reflector to get the lighting right. I wanted to use ambient light, so I used my fast lens, but we needed a bit more light from the side, so I put aluminum foil on a big piece of cardboard to reflect the light coming in from the sliding door. The backdrop was a blanket hung from a hanger on the back of a chair. Mommy Turtle held our beautiful subject in a sitting position from behind the backdrop. All in all it was pretty effective, and I learned a lot that I can use in future photo shoots, say tomorrow.

Baby turtle

2010-01-16T21:41:00.001-08:00

Baby Turtle is getting huge! She started out at around the 33rd percentile for weight, and now is up to the 75th! At 7 weeks old, she's already getting too big for the 0-3 month clothes. In a week or two she will have gone through two entire wardrobes in only two months.

Needless to say, we're no longer buying the clothes that are the easiest to put on and take off. We're using what we have, even if it's not the most convenient, since we're only going to be using it for a few weeks.

Poop Stains

2010-01-07T02:30:00.001-08:00

For the inevitable poop stains that squirt out the back of the diaper, OxiClean is amazing. I dump the clothes in a bucket with some detergent and OxiClean in hot water, let it soak, then scrub it out. Often I can't even find the stains to scrub them, and I've only had one bad enough to require multiple soakings. I still remember that one. The explosion happened in my lap, and ended up covering almost all of poor Baby Turtle's back. It was gross, but powerful.

Overtired

2010-01-05T00:06:00.001-08:00

That could be Baby Turtle or me. She gets herself so worked up that she doesn't want to go to sleep. Luckily, we've found some tricks for getting her to calm down and sleep. I swaddle her and hold her sideways in my arms, so her tummy is against my tummy and her head is in the crook of my neck. Then I walk around rocking her while rain sounds play on the iPod. Usually she's sleepy in 5 seconds, but I hold her for a minute or two so she's comfortable, then put her to bed. She's often awake when I put her in her crib, but she's calm enough that she usually goes to sleep pretty quickly.

2 days later...

2010-01-04T16:54:00.001-08:00

Two days after we got that fortune, it came true! The small lucky package, Baby Turtle, arrived on November 25th, 2009. She started her journey on the afternoon of November 24th, but finally introduced herself on the morning of the 25th. She's not the smallest package I've ever gotten, but she's definitely the luckiest.

My fortune

2009-11-23T01:33:00.001-08:00

At the Chinese restaurant tonight, my cookie held the following fortune:

A small lucky package is on its way to you soon.

That must be the most accurate fortune cookie I've ever gotten!

Tired but Productive

2009-10-25T00:43:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break from putting away laundry to relax in my ducky PJs. (Yes, turtles wear PJs. Look it up.)

Today we learned all abut caring for newborn turtles. The feeding class was really helpful and I feel really confident in that department now, although I'm technically not head of that particular department. The newborn care class was also really informative, especially the practice in dressing a baby, changing the diapers, and various holds.

We can now walk to almost all areas of the nest, and the pile of donations is really large now, big enough to fill up the floor of our walk-in (scuttle-in?) closet.

The Car Seat Has Landed

2009-10-20T19:58:00.001-07:00

Just in case the baby turtle comes before we can buy a new car, I've installed the car seat in our Turtle Honda Civic. It's very exciting.

The place is still a mess, but slightly less of a mess today than yesterday. And the pile of donations is even larger.

Cleaning up

2009-10-07T23:05:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to clean up the place in preparation for the new turtle coming to town. She's still resting in her egg, but we've got to make room for all her accessories. I've also been trying to (slowly) catch up on my long email queue and send out more resumes.

Last weekend we went to the Ballet. I was kind of sleep deprived so I had to suck on some candy to stay awake, but I enjoyed it.

I'm glad went to Europe when we did. We went while Mrs. Turtle could still get around relatively easily, important for getting to all those hard-to-reach castles.

Babies 'R Us

2009-10-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

Mrs. Turtle and I went to Babies 'R Us the other day. It was a pretty frightening experience. I could feel my chest constricting the further in we walked... There's a lot of unnecessary baby junk in the world, and almost none of it will fit in our tiny apartment.

Nothing much to report

2009-06-10T13:18:00.001-07:00

We went cherry picking last weekend, but now I'm all out of cherries. :(

Chores

2009-04-14T01:06:00.000-07:00

7 loads of laundry, 1 load of dishes, 2 scripts for work, 4 bills paid. It's been a very tiring evening.

Time to clean house!

2009-03-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

The old nest is getting cleaner. We installed a new bookcase, and have gathered a bunch of stuff to throw out or donate. It'll be nice to finally live like a turtle, and not like a pack rat.

In other news... Well, there's really no other news. I've spent the weekend doing work and cleaning. Not very fun, but necessary.

OBAMA!

2009-01-22T20:19:00.000-08:00

This site has newspaper front pages from all over the world, from the day after inauguration. It's super cool.

I'm back!

2009-01-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I was off visiting some relatives (leopard tortoises) in Africa, and then vising all the Turtles in SoCal.

To make up for the lack of posts, here's a movie for you to watch. It's gross but cute, and I know how the kid feels. The Zit

Lord British in Space!

2008-10-15T01:10:00.000-07:00

US game designer blasts into space with DNA cargo - Yahoo! News

Lord British, the creator of the Ultima games and responsible for wasting thousands of hours of my youth, has gone into space. The article mentions someone named "Richard Garriott", which must be a pseudonym that Lord British uses when traveling amongst the people. He reportedly paid $30 million to go into space.

His picture is on the right. He looks scared, yet excited.

There's video at the link. I like the part near the end where the cosmonaut uses a stick to press some buttons, because they're pressed back into their seats and he couldn't reach otherwise.

Drinking shrinks your brain!

2008-10-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

Does drinking alcohol shrink your brain? - CNN.com:

Overall, the more alcohol consumed, the smaller the brain volume, with abstainers having a higher brain volume than former drinkers, light drinkers (one to seven drinks per week), moderate drinkers (eight to 14 drinks per week), and heavy drinkers (14 or more drinks per week).

Yet another reason not to drink!

Awesome

2008-10-14T01:01:00.000-07:00

This is a crazy "ballet". I put the quotes because it's actually more of an acrobatic show in the guise of a ballet. Whatever it is, it's mighty impressive.

Why, Mr. Turtle?

2008-08-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

Q: Why, Mr. Turtle, are you quivering on the ground?

A: At first I thought it was because I just spent the weekend with my nieces and nephews. They are SOOOO cute! One of the babies is apparently taking Comparative Bellybuttons 101. Other people got little giggles. Whenever she would raise up my shirt to look at my bellybutton, we got gales of laughter. That's a game that anyone could play for hours!

But, no. The real reason I'm quivering on the ground is the baby pandas with bottles. I almost fainted with cuteness!

Why, Mr. Turtle?

2008-07-09T02:00:00.001-07:00

Today we introduce a new feature on Turtles All the Way: Why, Mr. Turtle?

Q: Why, Mr. Turtle, are you up so late?

A: Because one of my pet red-eared humans, let's call him "P.J.", got a very serious injury to his eye. He lost one eyelid and some other skin on his face, but we managed to save the eye itself, as well as his life.

For now he is in a special humarium (human aquarium) on the living room floor. Every morning and evening we replace his water with fresh, clean water, and smear silver sulfadiazine cream (1%) over his eye and nearby skin. Every other day, one of us gets the opportunity to inject his arm with 0.12 ml of Fortaz, an antibiotic.

As luck would have it, Mrs. Turtle was called away to New York city on an important project for her company. It's a great opportunity, and she finally gets to do some of the exciting traveling that she's always wanted to do. Plus, she gets to visit one of her best friends while she's there.

So, tonight was my lucky night. Again. P.J. didn't feel very lucky, though, so he threw a tantrum as I was taking him from his humarium, and got human water all over the carpet, the TV stand, and Mr. Turtle. I, of all people, understand his pain. I hate getting shots, and once punished a nurse quite harshly for attempting to do so. (I was a little kid, give me a break!) But it needs to be done.

Now, you have to understand that humans live in their own filth, so getting splashed with human water is pretty gross water, even though it's new from this morning. Of course, I had to take a shower tonight, even though I usually shower in the morning. I'm out of the shower now, as you have probably surmised, but our apartment's attic soaks up the heat during the day and lets it out into the apartment all night, so it's been really hot up here. Add that to the fact that I just got out of the shower, and I'm way too hot to sleep.

So, to answer your question, I'm waiting to cool down so I can get to sleep.

The oldest lightbulb in the world

2008-06-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

It's in Livermore: "At 107 years and counting, the low-watt wonder with the curlicue carbon filament has been named the planet's longest continuously burning bulb by both Guinness World Records and Ripley's Believe It Or Not."

Follow the link for the whole story.

Balloon Figures

2008-06-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

There are some really great balloon figures in this gallery. Use the arrows to see more.

Digital Forensics: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Photo: Scientific American

2008-06-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Digital Forensics: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Photo: Scientific American

Cooooooool.

Nudibranchs

2008-06-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

This is a really cool gallery of nudibranchs. Nudibranchs—Photo Gallery—National Geographic Magazine I've been especially interested in them since I saw a few on a coral reef whilst diving in the Galapagos. They were so colorful!

Boomerangs in Space!

2008-05-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, they work without gravity. Click for a video.

Smile you're on ele-vision: How a camera attached to an elephant's trunk captured amazing jungle views | the Daily Mail

2008-04-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

There's more where this came from!

How people from different countries count bills

2008-04-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

I'm surprised that there are so many different variations.

How People Count Cash? - The best bloopers are here

Dark Roasted Blend: Japanese Creative Barcodes

2008-04-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Dark Roasted Blend: Japanese Creative Barcodes

There's more if you follow the link.

LiveScience.com : The Bear Rub

2008-04-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

LiveScience.com : The Bear Rub
Sooooo cute!

The true face of Leonardo Da Vinci

2008-04-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

TED | Talks | Siegfried Woldhek: The true face of Leonardo Da Vinci? (video)
This is a really great 4-minute talk. He tries to figure out what Leonardo Da Vinci looked like, in the absence of any obvious self-portraits. It sounds boring, but YOU MUST WATCH IT, it's really cool.

Funny game show clip

2008-04-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is a funny clip from an old gameshow. It's amazing how much more eloquent people were back then.

Paper Enigma Machine

2008-04-03T20:08:00.001-07:00

I've you've ever wanted to play with state-of-the-art WWII codes, here's your change. This is pretty cool.

Paper Enigma Machine

2008-04-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

I've you've ever wanted to play with state-of-the-art WWII codes, here's your change. This is pretty cool.

What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?

2008-04-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is what they thought it would be like in 1968. In some ways they were very accurate, but in others they were way off. I think I like their version more than how things turned out.

Singing Tesla Coils!

2008-03-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

YouTube - Twin Musical Tesla Coils playing Mario Bros

This is just so awesome, it's beyond words. These Tesla coils are huge: seven feet tall, putting out sparks up to 12 feet long!

Vorpal Bunny

2008-03-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

Respect my authoritah!!

AmericanHeritage.com / SHANGHAIED!

2008-03-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

AmericanHeritage.com / SHANGHAIED!: This is a cool article about the old practice of shanghai-ing. We were just watching a documentary about the history of San Francisco, and this practice played a big role in the city's past.

An RV for Mad Max

2008-01-18T22:44:00.000-08:00

These RVs are awesome!

The name says it all

2007-12-13T00:49:00.001-08:00

CatGenie - The World's Only Self-Flushing, Self Washing Cat Box

But you really should watch the demo movie.

It's actually a pretty clever idea. The "litter" is just some rocks which are never used up. The automatic system removes solid waste, which is flushed down the drain; and rinses off the litter with water, removing the liquid waste as well.

Gary Carter

2007-12-05T20:29:00.001-08:00

Guess who went to Sunny Hills? Also Shane Black (screenwriter and director), Jackson Browne, and the Red Ranger in 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'.

Ours vs. the Queen's

2007-11-16T09:42:00.001-08:00

Differences between our English and the Queen's, as noticed by someone from India.

Anecdotes abound about the misunderstandings that arise when foreigners come to America thinking they know the language, and stories like this have enlivened many a dinner table over the years. My own favourites find the English hoist by their own petard, if not by their own pedantry. One young man, in the course of a passionate courtship, told his American girlfriend, "I'll give you a ring tomorrow." All he meant was that he would call her by telephone. But she understood him to have offered betrothal, and the relationship didn't survive the misunderstanding. That story is probably bettered by the hoary tale about the English girl who asked an American hotel clerk to "knock me up in the morning". She merely wanted to be woken up; the horrified American understood her to be soliciting a pregnancy.

The Strike

2007-11-16T09:39:00.001-08:00

One of the writers from the Daily Show explains the writer's strike. It's pretty funny, you should watch. Plus, there's a guest appearance by a Daily Show correspondant!

Mechanics

2007-11-07T20:41:00.001-08:00

Finally, someone has done a scientific study of the accuracy of mechanics. When Trust in an Expert Is Unwise - New York Times

At only 27 of the 40 garages did mechanics tell Mr. Schneider that he had a disconnected battery cable, the very problem to which he had pointed them by saying his car didn’t always start. Only 11 mentioned the low coolant, a problem that can ruin a car’s engine. Ten of the garages, meanwhile, recommended costly repairs that were plainly unnecessary, like replacing the starter motor or the battery. (Tellingly, his results were in line with what the Automobile Protection Association found when it performed its experiments in Canada.)

In all, only about 20 percent of the garages deserved a passing grade. “And that’s with a pretty low bar,” Mr. Schneider told me. “I’m even allowing them to have missed a blown taillight that should have been caught.”

Japan

2007-11-06T18:57:00.001-08:00

Charlie Stross, a science fiction author, has written a great little essay on his impressions of Japan. He does a good job of describing how simultaneously familiar and strange Japan is.

Immunizations

2007-10-17T00:26:00.001-07:00

An interesting opinion piece in the NY Times. This may be common knowledge to all my doctor and pharmacist buds, but it wasn't to me.

Nice Shot - New York Times

But the idea that illness is good for children — or anyone else — is wrong. In part, the idea of “good sickness” is a throwback to a now disproved version of the “hygiene hypothesis.”

In 1989, an epidemiologist in Britain, David Strachan, observed that babies born into households with lots of siblings were less likely than other babies to develop allergies and asthma. The same proved true of babies who spent significant time in day care. Dr. Strachan hypothesized that the protection came from experiencing an abundance of childhood illnesses.

Dr. Strachan’s original hygiene hypothesis got a lot of press, not only in the news media but in serious medical journals. Less publicized was the decade-long string of follow-up studies that disproved a link between illnesses and protection from inflammatory disorders like allergies and asthma. If anything, studies showed, early illness made matters worse.

Moreover, studies now show that the more infections a person has during childhood, the greater his or her chance of premature death from scourges of old age like heart disease and cancer. The link appears to be chronic inflammation, a kind of lingering collateral damage from the body’s disease-fighting response.

Still, Dr. Strachan’s original observation was confirmed — as a group, babies in large families and day care are less likely to develop allergies and asthma than are children born into smaller families and kept at home. The same protective effect can be seen in children born on farms and in areas without public sanitation.

But the link isn’t disease-causing germs. It’s early and ample exposure to harmless bacteria — especially the kinds encountered living close to the land and around livestock and other young children. In other words, dirt, dung and diapers. Just as disease-causing microbes clearly bring on inflammation, harmless microorganisms appear to exert a calming effect on the immune system.

A second misconception common among vaccine-shunning parents is that there’s something “natural” about the 6 to 10 respiratory infections the typical American child gets every year (or even the two to four we adults experience). Common, yes; natural no, not if “natural” represents the forces that shaped the human immune system during all but the last sliver of our 250,000 years as Homo sapiens. Colds, flus and most other contagious diseases found a central place in our lives only after we and our domestic animals began crowding together in large settlements some 5,000 years ago.

A Whale of a Time

2007-10-17T00:23:00.001-07:00

This video was taken by a robot inspecting an oil rig in Perth. A whale stops by to see what's up.

Nikon Small World gallery

2007-10-17T00:22:00.001-07:00

There are some amazing pictures at the Nikon Small World gallery. Here is a sample, a frog embryo:

Archimedes

2007-10-01T22:05:00.001-07:00

This is the really cool story of the journey of some of Archimedes writings, and their recovery. Read it!

Hello World

2007-09-30T20:58:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't written much, I've been too busy at work. That's right, work.

Today we went to see the Turtle Cousins and Turtle Nieces and Nephews. I was the most popular kid there, and got a thunderous "Goodbye Uncle Turtle" when it was time to leave. The occasion was the first birthday of my niece, so we ate the red eggs that are traditional for Chinese first birthdays. I spent a lot of time playing with the 1-year-old and 19-month-old nieces, who were remarkably well-behaved for such a long and action-packed day. I really like playing with all the nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Turtle made a bean salad which was the hit of the party, a bit surprising considering that most Chinese/Vietnamese people aren't used to that sort of thing. Half of the women there ended up asking Mrs. Turtle for the recipe.

Eels!

2007-09-12T23:29:00.001-07:00

Turtle Bro sent an awesome story about eels: If the First Bite Doesn’t Do It, the Second One Will - New York Times. It turns out that eels have two jaws, just like in Alien. It's really amazing!

Hello!

2007-09-11T00:44:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Today I started my first job. Woohoo! Yeehaw!

To celebrate we watched "Hot Fuzz", a really cute cop movie by the makers of "Shawn of the Dead". I highly recommend it.

Caffeine in Soft Drinks

2007-08-31T20:27:00.001-07:00

Pepsi One has more caffeine than Mountain Dew!!! That, and a big table of the caffeine in soft drinks, at the link.

Cheap Wired Subscription

2007-08-31T15:38:00.001-07:00

Subscribe or Renew WIRED for one year only $5. Offer expires September 4th. Use the link and my friend T-Bone gets 20 cents. He just moved to Hawaii, though, where 20 cents will buy you about 10 cents worth of stuff.

No More POPCORN

2007-08-31T15:35:00.001-07:00

Time of day calling it quits at AT&T

Richard Frenkiel was assigned to work on the time machines when he joined Bell Labs in the early 1960s. He described the devices as large drums about 2 feet in diameter, with as many as 100 album-like audio tracks on the exterior. Whenever someone called time, the drums would start turning and a message would begin, with different tracks mixed together on the fly.

Home Ownership

2007-08-31T13:41:00.001-07:00

Paul Kedrosky: Research: Why Do We Want People to Own Homes?

Do American prefer to own their own homes, or do they prefer the kinds of dwellings that are usually offered for sale (as opposed to the kinds offered for rent)?

That's an interesting way of putting it.

Granola

2007-08-30T01:04:00.001-07:00

We're waiting for our second batch of homemade granola to cool. We made the first batch a couple of weeks ago, enjoying it in various yogurt-based treats. After it ran out, we had a few days before the symptoms of withdrawal set in, and today they got so bad that we decided that we needed another fix. It's actually pretty simple: the dry mix contains oats, nuts, and dried fruit; while the wet mix contains honey, maple syrup, and oil. The mixes are combined, then it's baked. Every five minutes it needs to be stirred so that it bakes evenly. After it's done, pack it down and let it cool. Voila! Granola! (A real recipe helps with the ratios of ingredients the first couple of times.)

George Orwell was Shot

2007-08-21T14:54:00.001-07:00

George Orwell describes in great detail what it was like to be shot by a sniper in the Spanish Civil War. It's a very interesting passage, and not very long. You should read the whole thing.

My first thought, conventionally enough, was for my wife. My second was violent resentment at having to leave this world which, when all is said and done, suits me so well.

Turn a pencil into an emergency light source

2007-08-20T01:22:00.001-07:00

Details here!

Structurally deficient bridges

2007-08-07T23:33:00.001-07:00

Now you, too, can find out which bridges in your state are structurally deficient! The short answer: almost all of them! Yay!

Genesis

2007-07-19T00:40:00.001-07:00

Genesis, the Rollout:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Not just for the profit, either. God wanted a place where beings could find products that could make a difference in their lives.

The first thing he worked on was ambiance. "Let there be nice lighting," he said. God called the light "Come on in. We're open!" and the darkness he called "Closed. Please call again!"

God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures, some for heat-and-eat, others for petting, some simply for atmosphere. And to every animal of the earth I have allocated certified-organic food as well as romp-and-roll toys."

Read the rest! :-)

La Mirada!!!

2007-07-16T22:42:00.001-07:00

Money Magazine has ranked La Mirada as the 34th best place to live in the country.

Located 25 miles south of Hollywood, La Mirada is best known not for its film or television industry, but for its theater. Converted from an old movie house, the 30-year-old La Mirada Theatre is considered one of the best regional playhouses in the nation - and it's active in the community. The theater hosts a number of events and workshops throughout the year for kids and teens. And a new 18-acre swim park expected to open in La Mirada later this year.

Free Books!

2007-07-13T18:46:00.001-07:00

This is awesome! Baen has put a bunch of books online for you to read for free. I'll say it again: Awesome!

Cleaning

2007-07-13T01:55:00.001-07:00

I spent another exciting evening cleaning the aquarium. Instead of running the hose to the plastic siphon device in the kitchen like normal, I bought a utility pump and ran it all through the bathtub. Using a pump saves tons of water compared to the siphon, and cleanup is also a lot easier in the bathtub than in the kitchen. Plus, we don't eat in the bathroom. It was a little harder, though, because we don't have a garbage disposal off of the bathtub, so I had to be really sure to catch everything before it went down the drain.

Sick

2007-07-09T01:45:00.001-07:00

I hate being sick. I always forget just how bad it is.

I don't have a very bad cold, as far as colds go, but I'm still miserable. And I feel like I'm wasting so much time. I've got a lot of stuff to do, but I haven't felt up to doing anything for a few days. And even worse, I don't feel like reading or watching TV so I can't even enjoy my unproductive time.

All we had in the house yesterday was the new "Sudafed PE". I tried to get normal Sudafed, but all the pharmacies were closed and since Pseudoephedrine can be used to make drugs, only pharmacists can dispense it now. I was SOL. Sudafed PE is a little better than nothing, but not by much. Today I got some of the normal Sudafed (12 hour) and the difference was like night and day. As soon as it took effect my nose was much clearer and much less runny, and I felt much better. So for anyone reading: don't bother with Sudafed PE, get the real stuff.

My activity for the day was house-sitting for our cousins. Mrs. Turtle watered the plants, and I put out more food for the chickens. That's right, the chickens. The little guys followed me around everywhere. They had plenty of food, so I'm not sure what they wanted. Perhaps they were worshiping me. Or maybe my they interpreted my sneezing as some sort of communication.

Big Wendy

2007-07-07T15:02:00.001-07:00

Big Wendy the muscular whippet has a genetic condition that makes her extremely muscular. Unfortunately, her heart and lungs are normal size, so she will have a shorter than average lifespan. Other than her extraordinary buffness, according to the article, she's a normal, playful dog.

Wow

2007-07-06T13:04:00.001-07:00

A plurality support impeaching Bush, and a majority support impeaching Cheney. I'm really surprised that the numbers are that high.

Psychology

2007-07-02T11:58:00.001-07:00

The NY Times has a great op-ed about incentives. Here are some excerpts, but you should read the whole thing.

The logic of the plan reveals a second assumption that economists make: the more motives the better. Give people two reasons to do something, the thinking goes, and they will be more likely to do it, and they’ll do it better, than if they have only one. ... Unfortunately, these assumptions that economists make about human motivation, though intuitive and straightforward, are false. In particular, the idea that adding motives always helps is false. There are circumstances in which adding an incentive competes with other motives and diminishes their impact. Psychologists have known this for more than 30 years.

In one experiment, nursery school children were given the opportunity to draw with special markers. After playing, some of the children were given “good player” awards and others were not. Some time later, the markers were reintroduced to the classroom. The researchers kept track of which children used the markers, and they collected the pictures that had been drawn. The youngsters given awards were less likely to draw at all, and drew worse pictures, than those who were not given the awards.

Why did this happen? Children draw because drawing is fun and because it leads to a result: a picture. The rewards of drawing are intrinsic to the activity itself. The “good player” award gives children another reason to draw: to earn a reward. And it matters — children want recognition. But the recognition undermines the fun, so that later, in the absence of a chance to earn an award, the children aren’t interested in drawing. ...

An especially striking example of this was reported in a study of Swiss citizens about a decade ago. Switzerland was holding a referendum about where to put nuclear waste dumps. Researchers went door-to-door in two Swiss cantons and asked people if they would accept a dump in their communities. Though people thought such dumps might be dangerous and might decrease property values, 50 percent of those who were asked said they would accept one. People felt responsibility as Swiss citizens. The dumps had to go somewhere, after all.

But when people were asked if they would accept a nuclear waste dump if they were paid a substantial sum each year (equal to about six weeks’ pay for the average worker), a remarkable thing happened. Now, with two reasons to say yes, only about 25 percent of respondents agreed. The offer of cash undermined the motive to be a good citizen.

It is as if, when asked the question, people asked themselves whether they should respond based on considerations of self-interest or considerations of public responsibility. Half of the people in the uncompensated condition of the study thought they should focus on their responsibilities. But the offer of money, in effect, told people that they should consider only their self-interest. And as it turned out, through the lens of self-interest, even six weeks’ pay wasn’t enough.

Australian emerges after two weeks in underwater box

2007-06-29T15:52:00.001-07:00

Doesn't sound like all that much fun, but cool nonetheless:

An Australian adventurer emerged from the bottom of a lake yesterday after spending nearly two weeks living underwater, riding a bike to generate electricity and using algae to produce oxygen. ...

Breathing air provided by algae soaked in his own urine, "aquanaut" Lloyd Godson spent 12 days living in a yellow steel capsule submerged in a flooded gravel pit.

The 29-year-old's claustrophobic ordeal was intended to shed light on the practical and psychological challenges of living in an alien environment.

His temporary home, a 10ft long box, was billed as "the world's first self-sufficient, self-sustaining underwater habitat." ... The marine biologist used a system of onshore solar panels and a pedal-powered generator to create electricity and recharge his water-proof laptop computer.

He kept an algae garden to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen for breathing.

A team of divers delivered food and drinking water to the sub through a manhole, including a homemade lasagna and freshly barbecued salmon.

For entertainment, Godson watched videos on his laptop and used a wireless Internet connection to communicate with schoolchildren around the world.

The 29-year-old scientist won funding for the project by winning a £20,000 contest called "Live Your Dream" sponsored by the magazine Australian Geographic.

San Diego

2007-06-26T02:51:00.001-07:00

Friday night we flew down San Diego to see my great aunt who wasn't doing too well. Luckily we saw her on Saturday, because when I called on Sunday morning to go over, it didn't sound as if things were going well. It turned out that she died a few hours later.

I was glad that we had managed to see her on Saturday, even though she hadn't been able to talk. I hope that it made her happy to know that so many people had come to see her. I wish I could have done more for my great uncle, who is very smart and very kind. We watched an old video of me and Turtle Bro when we were little. We were both dressed very embarrassingly, and my great uncle took us fishing while my great aunt was working in the garden.

My great aunt was always a very bright and happy person and it was very sad to see her in that state. However, she was able to choose pretty much when, where, and how she went, and was surrounded by her immediate family and a parade of guests who all loved her. I will always remember her smiling and joking and saying "aluminium" in her cute accent.

On Saturday evening we went to Officer T's house to see his new baby. She's really cute and has two parents who obviously care for her very much. I always have fun talking with Officer and Mrs. T, so we stayed up really late shooting the breeze. In my defense, I had it in my head that he was working the late shift the next day, instead of the early (6am) shift. I hope he didn't fall asleep on the job on Sunday.

It seemed kind of fitting to spend the evening with a fresh, new baby. I'm not a philosopher, or even a very good writer, so I can't explain it very well. If I think about it too much I get really sad, but maybe that's the lesson.

What Time is Dinner?

2007-06-26T01:28:00.001-07:00

I may have posted this before, but this is a really cool article about the evolution of mealtimes since medieval times. Below are some excerpts, but you really should read it all.

The names of meals and their general times were once quite standard. Everyone in medieval England knew that you ate breakfast first thing in the morning, dinner in the middle of the day, and supper not long before you went to bed, around sundown. The modern confusion arose from changing social customs and classes, political and economic developments, and even from technological innovations. ...

Peasants broke off after six or seven hours of work in the morning to have dinner around noon. This was their main meal too, consisting of bread or porridge, peas or beans, perhaps with some cabbage, turnip or onions thrown in. Sometimes they had meat, fish, cheese or whey (a byproduct of cheese-making). Their meal was much like that of the middle class except there was usually less to eat, and little variety. They ate far more at dinner than at breakfast or supper. ...

In the 1790s the upper class was rising from bed around ten a.m. or noon, and then eating breakfast at an hour when their grandparents had eaten dinner. They then went for "morning walks" in the afternoon and greeted each other with "Good morning" until they ate their dinner at perhaps five or six p.m. Then it was "afternoon" until evening came with supper, sometime between nine p.m. and two a.m.! The rich, famous and fashionable did not go to bed until dawn. With their wealth and social standing, they were able to change the day to suit themselves. The hours they kept differentiated them from the middle and lower classes as surely as did their clothes, servants and mansions. ...

Luncheon as a regular daily meal only developed in the US in the 1900s. In the 1945 edition of Etiquette, Emily Post still referred to luncheon as "generally given by and for women, but it is not unusual, especially in summer places or in town on Saturday or Sunday, to include an equal number of men." She also referred to supper as "the most intimate meal there is...none but family or nearest friends are ever included." Only hash or cold meat were to be served at supper; anything hot or complicated was served at dinner. In her first edition of Etiquette, in 1922, Post had seen no need to explain that. But by the 1945 edition, she had to explain that luncheon was an informal midday meal and supper an informal evening meal, while dinner was always formal, but could occur at midday or evening.

The New Span

2007-06-25T23:15:00.001-07:00

Photos from the construction of the new span of the Bay Bridge.

How to Make The Coolest Prop Ever

2007-06-25T23:06:00.001-07:00

The M41-A Pulse Rifle from Aliens. Awesome!

The Final Frontier

2007-06-25T22:52:00.001-07:00

A Sci-Fi author discusses the feasibility of space travel. He convincingly concludes that it won't be possible. You should read it if you're at all interested in this sort of thing.

Fish

2007-06-21T12:38:00.001-07:00

Here's a chart of fish listed by how healthy it is and how eco-friendly it is. The same site also has a list of answers to questions about the health value of eating fish and the dangers of contaminants in fish.

Cell Phone Fun

2007-06-20T12:36:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of applications that will work on any cell phone that can run Java. My cell phone is a few years old and can run them, so yours probably can too.

First we have Google Maps Mobile. This is an amazing map program. It'll give you interactive driving directions, showing a map and giving text directions for each turn you need to make. It is far and away the most impressive general program I've ever seen on a cell phone.

Next we have Opera Mini, a much nicer web browser than the one that came with your phone. Trust me. I used it last night to check my email and to view some photos sent to me as attachments.

Finally, we have Google Mobile. Just set your phone's web browser (hopefully Opera Mini by now) to mobile.google.com, and it'll let you access Gmail, Google search, Google news, and Google SMS on your phone. I believe that these are just web interfaces, as opposed to Java, but the displays and interfaces are optimized for cell phones.

These applications are all free, but remember that you might be charged for internet access or airtime on your cell phone, depending on your plan. Our plan charges us for the airtime we use (it comes out of our minutes), but doesn't charge anything extra. This means that I have free internet usage after 7pm and on weekends on my cell phone.

Let's be friends

2007-06-20T02:27:00.001-07:00

A blog consisting on nothing but animals making friends with each other. It hasn't been updated in a while, though.

Gold crop's coming in good this year

2007-06-20T02:26:00.001-07:00

An article about gold farmers in China. These are people who play video games for a living, selling in-game money for money in the real world. Their lives are a strange mixture of drudgery and gaming.

Humans and Their Avatars

2007-06-20T02:24:00.001-07:00

A New York Times series showing people and their in-game avatars.

The Apple //e rocked!

2007-06-19T12:47:00.001-07:00

This animation was made on an Apple //e in 1985! He made it frame-by-frame using stop-motion animation, with a monochrome monitor! The color appears because he used color filters and exposed each frame multiple times for the various colors. It's amazing what people could do with such a machine.

A great tweak for Firefox

2007-06-07T14:41:00.001-07:00

From Lifehacker:

If you've ever tried copying and pasting a multi-line address into Google Maps just to realize that an input box will only take one line at a time—meaning that you have to copy and paste each line individually—there's a simple Firefox tweak that will solve this problem:

Type "about:config" in the location bar. In the "Filter" field type "singleline." You can set the value to 2 for editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines, which will allow pasting of multiple lines to input boxes.

Clarification

2007-06-01T01:18:00.001-07:00

The Turtles actually returned on May 28, 2007 (Memorial Day), but I neglected to point out that fact until now.

We left on May 28, 2007, a few hours before we arrived. Fun stuff, that international date line.

The Stars!

2007-06-01T01:16:00.001-07:00

The Turtles are back from Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and are finally caught up on Dancing with the Stars. This year justice was served, as opposed to last year, one of the biggest thefts of the century. I do feel sorry for Joey, though. He really wanted to win.

Our turtle stomachs have still not recovered, or are perhaps readjusting to Western food. Neither of us got sick the whole time we were gone, although we had upset stomachs much of the time and took prodigious amounts of Pepto.

The jet lag is also really bad. I suppose it has something to do with our slow turtle metabolisms.

Beef

2007-05-30T22:28:00.001-07:00

This is why the Turtle family has stopped eating beef. "The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease... A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows... Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well."

In Da Nang

2007-05-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

We're in Mrs. Turtle's homeland. We visited her mother's old house, and there were two women there who remembered Mrs. Turtle's mom and aunt and uncle. We didn't know exactly where it was, but the women pointed out exactly which unit it was. In the intervening years they've added a second floor and divided the house into two units, but I gather that it hasn't changed hands more than a couple of times. There was a well outside, although I'm not sure why. When we arrived the church was holding Saturday evening mass outside because it is too hot to have the service inside.

I've been told that I have a Da Nang accent in Vietnamese, and I have noticed that people here in Da Nang are much easier to understand than other people in Vietnam.

We're popping Pepto pills constantly, and have been mostly free of upset stomachs. We've had some pretty interesting food, especially in Cambodia. Mrs. turtle was too scared, but I tried:

A grasshopper - Very good, probably because of the sauce. You have to take off the head, wings, and arms first, and bite it off of the back legs, which you also don't eat.
A silkworm - Not great, but not bad. The inside looked and felt like cheese.
Some sort of beetle - You chew these up, then swallow the juice and spit out the rest. This was gross, so I only chewed it once and spit everything out. The head and wings were removed first.

Angkor Wat was awesome. There are tons of really cool temples in the surrounding region, which are also really cool. The last thing we saw in Cambodia was a floating village. When the water level changes with the monsoon they move the village so they're always in about 4 feet of water.

Next we're joining a tour of central Vietnam and Ha Long Bay. Should be fun.

Hello from Bangkok

2007-05-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of guesswork taking place here, since Blogger is showing me everything in Thai. Hopefully I'm writing a new blog post, not a personal ad.

Mrs. Turtle is in a wedding, so we've flown to Thailand. Boy are our arms tired! The weather isn't that bad, comparatively speaking. We are in a really cute hotel far from the wedding site, so I might have to leave 2 and a half hours early to get there on time. Mrs. Turtle already left to get her hair and makeup done with the rest of the girl turtles. I will try to post updates along the way.

Two from the New York Times

2007-05-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

In Ducks, War of the Sexes Plays Out in the Evolution of Genitalia. Impressive.

If You Want to Know if Spot Loves You So, It’s in His Tail. The direction a dog wags its tail determines if it's a good wag or a bad wag. The article discusses the causes, and other animals with left/right biases.

Cookie Monster

2007-05-02T22:15:00.001-07:00

Here's the first appearance of the Cookie Monster (before he had that name) as part of an IBM training video. It's pretty funny.

Do the Limbo Limbo

2007-04-20T17:08:00.001-07:00

The Catholic church has decided that there is no such thing as limbo. Nice to know they made up their minds.

Weng Weng Rap

2007-04-20T11:51:00.001-07:00

Only 2 foot '9 inches tall, Weng Wen... Only 2 foot '9 inches tall, Weng Weng fights crime in the Phillippines as Agent 00. Track by THE CHUDS.

Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality

2007-04-20T01:06:00.001-07:00

Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality

There are more examples through the link.

Strange story

2007-04-18T22:23:00.001-07:00

A story from Ellis Amdur

Rikidosan was a Korean national, lived in Japan, who was a high ranked sumotori. He shifted to Pro-Wrestling, and was the first "Japanese" (so he was presented) to "beat" the Americans after WWII. He was insanely popular. Kimura, the great judo champion, was forced to turn pro (he tried a professional judo league and then pro-wrestling) to pay for medicine for his very sick wife. He and Rikidosan agreed to a match that would end in a draw. In the middle of the match, Kimura bared his throat, and Rikidosan sucker punched him in the neck and knocked hiim out. (that's just for background on Kimura and the kind of guy Rikidosan was).

R. was subsequently drinking in a bar and in going to the toilets, pushed and otherwise bullied a small gangster, who stabbed him in the abdomen with a knife. (Not only is the story widely written about, the gangster's former bodyguard told me directly). R. stuffed napkins in the wound and continued to drink for several hours, went home and some time later, died of peritonitis.

Make your own wine, from the comfort of home

2007-04-18T11:13:00.001-07:00

Virtual vines grow on world wine web - CNN.com. A web-based company will make wine according to your specifications. Pretty nifty if you want to make wine but don't have the contacts, equipment, or storage facilities.

The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business

2007-04-18T10:32:00.001-07:00

The world's oldest business went bankrupt.

The world's oldest continuously operating family business ended its impressive run last year. Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, in operation under the founders' descendants since 578, succumbed to excess debt and an unfavorable business climate in 2006.

The Landlord

2007-04-18T10:29:00.001-07:00

Here's a funny video for you: The Landlord.

It's from a new comedy video site, Funny or Die. One of the founders is Will Ferrel.

Archery

2007-04-17T00:40:00.001-07:00

A while back Cleetus, Mrs. T and I went to the archery range in the park SF. It was tons of fun, and really made me appreciate the skills of people who could actually hunt or fight with bows. We could barely hit the target from 30 feet away!

A guy next to us took pity and helped us out. He had been on the Philippine Olympic archery team and had taught archery at a university. He gave us some good tips. He and his son were shooting from fairly close and with no target. He said that the first thing to learn is to be consistent and to cluster your shots. Only then do you worry about accuracy and aiming the arrows at a particular target. I found this to be very true, as it was extremely hard to just be consistent.

The people to one side of us, with the snazzy high-tech bows, were shooting from the edge of the range. The arrows left their bows like missiles and made a buzzing sound as they passed by. When we arrived, we didn't realize that people were shooting from that far back (they really were ridiculously far away) and walked right in front of them. Luckily, they realized that we were clueless and didn't shoot us.

The guy on the other side of us was using a normal bow, but still shooting from very far away. He was actually shooting up into the air, and using the arc of the arrows to hit the target. After trying our hand at archery, that guy was much more impressive than the high-tech guys, even though they were further back.

It was kind of scary having people on either side of us shooting such powerful bows. We were very careful to stay in the center of our lane. I imagine it to be like a gun range, but with everyone a different distance up each lane. Not really a fun place to hang out. Eventually we moved to a different target, one where there were normal people next to us.