These are interesting

But I think a better one for us would have been Waverly Hills Sanatorium, an abandoned and supposedly haunted old tuberculosis sanitorium in Louisville, although since its undergoing tours in the hopes of restoration, maybe it's no longer considered 'abandoned'.

Abandoned America: 50 States, 50 Deserted Places

Dogs always look a bit more content than cats in costume

15 Adorably Bookish Pet Costumes

Some of these are quite amazing.

Drat

I thought I was firmly ensconced in my home for the night. Alas, I need wine for a libation tonight. I'll go after trick-or-treating and before 'Grimm'. Drat. Drat. Drat. Have I mentioned how cold and windy it is out tonight? I really need to take the trash out, too, and thought to put that off till tomorrow morning.

Happy Halloween!

(The pumpkin turned out to look much cooler when lit, didn't it?)

My cheesecake rocked. I came home with one piece left, and got many compliments. Tomorrow night I think I'll make one for my friends to take to the game, since the springform pan will be free. Now I've got the jack o'lantern lit and the Halloween stuff ready in case I have trick-or-treaters. That will probably be a no, especially with very blustery, cold weather with a threat of frost and snow. I brought the geraniums in just to prolong them a little while, as they are blooming nicely.

Oh, wow, they have this whole 80s-style websites thing pegged!

HERE’S WHAT GOOGLE, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, AND OTHER SITES WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE IN THE 1980S

Nostalgia is a basic human emotion. It’s an experience that’s practically universal, whether you’re a baby boomer, or you were conceived during Woodstock.

The YouTube channel SquirrelMonkeyCom takes a love for the 1980s to a whole new level, and re-imagines what many of today’s most popular Internet destinations would have looked like back then. If you grew up around then, you’ll definitely appreciate these hypothetical blasts to the past.

So, put down that iPad, take off your Bluetooth headset, and hit pause on Netflix. It’s time to travel back to when DOS (or Disk Operating System, for you kids out there) was the king of operating systems, and the closest thing to a tablet was this.

As an early Gen-Xer, my first computer was an Atari, the ones in high school were TRS-80s and early IBMs, or maybe an Apple II somewhere along there. I spent many a night using a 300 baud modem, all the way through part of grad school, actually, till I got my first real PC and had a higher baud dial-up through Earthlink. Then I graduated from library school and the Internet exploded, and I learned all I could about it and how to use it. Even in my early years at my job, we were still on dial-up, with the old Grateful Med CD-ROMs. Now, thankfully, we have PubMed and DOCLINE. Wow. Just wow. Kids have no idea these days. Thanks to George Takei for sharing this on his Facebook page.

One last post for the night

As I share the final picture with caramel and pecans on the cheesecake. I've hammered some gingersnaps into pieces in a bag and will include that with directions to add to top of cake as desired when ready to serve. All in all, I'm four gingersnaps short of using an entire pound in this cheesecake (so of course I ate those four), along with four packages of cream cheese and most of a stick of butter. I hate to see what the calorie and fat content of this is. Oh, and let's not forget a half a jar of caramel. This looks and smells absolutely decadent. Now to wrap it up, put it in the refrigerator overnight, do some cleanup, and then you know what, I'm pooped. I hope it is well received. Is it time for bed yet? (I'm so tired I forgot to attach the picture the first time I posted this...good night!)

Okay, I'm not a very good carver

But here is my little jack o'lantern. :)



Can you tell I absolutely love Halloween?

Out of the oven

My whole apartment smells like this - - pumpkin cheesecake with a ginger snap crust. It's right out of the oven here. In 30 minutes I get to drizzle caramel all over the top, sprinkle on some pecans, and refrigerate for tomorrow's dessert contest at work. If it tastes anything like it smells, it will be worth it.

With all the cheesecake-making

I forgot about the pumpkin carving. Gee. That's the fun part of Halloween, right? Now to find a good pattern...
But at least I remembered to go online and verify my employment with my cellular phone provider, as I get a discount that way. Today was the deadline.

Well, it's in the oven

I apparently only have one springform pan after all. I seem to recall thinking of getting two but only getting one. I did find the chopping blade of my food processor to chop up the gingersnaps with. It was inside my crockpot. Apparently I thought it was a safe place, given my penchant for klutziness and trouble with sharp objects. I also got to use a small stepstool I'd acquired that, despite being only a rugged plastic, is supposed to hold my weight. It did so, yay! (I had to look for my hand mixer, which had been placed in the cabinet above my refrigerator.) Obviously, I don't use kitchen tools very often. But it worked out pretty well. I got the crust together, put it in the pan, and put it in the fridge to cool for 20 minutes. Then I mixed together the ingredients for the filling, putting the oven on to preheat to the right temperature about halfway through that, and both crust and oven were ready when I finished the filling. So it should come out about 10:15 (yes, I started at 8 pm instead of watching BBT, but I recorded it). It went into the oven at 9. It calls for caramel to be put on the top after it cools a bit and then refrigerated at least four hours, then putting some more crushed gingersnaps on the top right before serving. But I'm going to take it to work in the morning and dietary is going to refrigerate it, and I don't want the gingersnaps getting soggy, so I'll forego that, maybe put some pecans, which are in the crust and inside the bottom as well already. That will also clue anyone with nut allergies to avoid the cheesecake. This has been fun. Still, I haven't started the cleanup yet. :) In case this sounds good to you, you can find the recipe at Ree Drummond's website. Funny, I'm not a 'foodie', and didn't know of her existence till a food show came here to Lexington just a few weeks ago. When I looked for a pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust, this one came up and sounded intriguing. I'll let you know how it goes. Since I've never made this recipe before AND it's for a dessert contest, I skipped the step at her recommendation where you drizzle caramel on top of the crust before baking. Some people report doing so leads to a rock-hard crust, and she says she thinks it has to do with variations in different gingersnap and caramel formulations. I used the same brand of cookies and ice cream topping she did, but didn't want to take a chance of botching this. (I did break down and use Kroger cream cheese instead of Philadelphia....the recipe calls for four packages of cream cheese per cheesecake and I thought I'd be making two, so I didn't want to totally blow my budget on this.)

Like many

I have long had an interest in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of pilot Amelia Earhart and her navigator. Here's some interesting tidbits about more evidence of them coming down at a small atoll in the Pacific. Amelia Earhart case isn't closed quite yet; New clues are compelling, but it's too early to say her mysterious disappearance has been solved

I liked this, both in terms of Tim Cook himself and the author of this article

Tim Cook Is Important Because Firsts Are Important

In 2014, it is still news when Tim Cook of Apple becomes the first chief executive of a Fortune 1000 company to publicly say that he is gay. Some day, an announcement like that probably will not be newsworthy, and when that happens, it will largely be because it was news today.

I had a really great time today

dressed up for our trick-or-treating at work. The kids were absolutely cute, everything from dinosaurs to Disney princesses, to Thomas the Tank Engine. One of our departments went as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with disposable turkey roasters on their backs painted green with the appropriate initial, etc. Another did a farmer and his animals. There were super-heroes and super-heroines in abundance. And one lady had a great shirt that said, 'If the broom fits, ride it.' Few of my co-workers really knew anything about the subject of my costume, but I got many compliments, including people who thought I'd do well as a redhead. I realised the wig could be used for Ariel or maybe even Merida from Disney, although the latter has very curly hair. The wig worked pretty well, although like all wigs it was a little itchy and hot. Here is what I looked like:



I got caught up on other things at work that had taken a back burner to the scheduling training. I'm going to go back up there tomorrow for a couple of hours and spend some time up there next week, as well. Since work, I have:

1. Hunted down the ingredients necessary for pumpkin gingersnap caramel cheesecake for the dessert contest tomorrow, as well as a fruit bowl for the birthday baby shower we're having.
2. Brought home a small pumpkin to carve for the contest tomorrow.
3. Gotten all the groceries in, although of course the one bag I dropped had eggs in it. Only one broke, though, and I was able to salvage it for cheesecake.
4. Put the cold groceries away.
5. Taken the itchy, hot wig off.
6. Returned my hair to something resembling it's normal appearance, so it isn't sticking up in all directions.
7. Gotten into shorts and a tank top.
8. Taken my dentures and contacts out, and set them both to soaking in cleansers of the appropriate type.
9. Scrubbed all the makeup off my face.
10. Put all the makeup I had strewn around the bathroom back where it belongs.
11. Eaten some Kroger Tuscany bean salad, cheese, and crusty bread.
12. Sat down and gone, 'whew!'

So now it's 7 pm. I need a little decompression time before beginning to carve and bake. I must remember that 'The Big Bang Theory' is on tonight, back in its regular slot. But in the meantime, I'm going to chill for a bit. If I start things about 8:30 it should work out.

How's that?

Here is the magnifier pendant with a mediaeval portrait of Arthur and his Knights.

Listening to Loreena McKennitt

which is appropriate for this time of year, as the album has both 'The Lady of Shalott', which I am dressing up as tomorrow for our trick-or-treat at work, and 'All Soul's Night', which is almost upon us. Right now, I'm listening to 'The Stolen Child', which I find to be quite haunting. I have my skirt and blouse all ready for tomorrow, and a wig that is a bit darker than Loreena McKennitt's but in the same style, with bangs and long waves, so in a way I'll be dressing up as both her and the doomed Fae.

Tonight I took a friend to an appointment and helped him with something. Tomorrow there's the dress-up and trick-or-treat, and I need to wish another friend a happy birthday, as he catches up with me in age. Tomorrow night I will be carving or decorating a pumpkin for a contest on Friday, fixing some cut fruit for a breakfast baby shower in my new department, and baking a gingersnap pecan caramel pumpkin cheesecake for another contest at work. Then Friday night is not just Halloween, but Samhain, a religious holiday for me. I never seem to get kids coming for candy to the door--I live in an apartment, and I guess people just aren't comfortable with that. But I'll get a little candy just in case. But I will also put together a libation and spend some time remembering the dead.

Okay, time to add a couple of touches to the costume--I'm going to print out the Tennyson poem for my cubicle and take a magnifier that doubles as an ornate necklace and copy some knights out of one of my books on the Middle Ages and use that as my 'mirror' tomorrow, hopefully without cracking it from side to side. :) [Image: John William Waterhouse]

Wow

FBI Created Fake Seattle News Story to Catch Bomb Threat Suspect

They used a fake story link to plant spyware on the suspect's computer.  Sneaky and scary.  And this was a minor.  Just wow.

:( But at least no one was hurt

Orbital Sciences' unmanned rocket explodes on liftoff in Virginia

Quite a loss,  but at least no one died.

I'm not Catholic, but I really like Pope Francis

especially compared to the last one. Here's the latest from him: Pope Francis on Board With Science: Evolution and the Big Bang Are Real, God's Not a "Magician"

Okay, I don't shop at Wal-Mart for a host of reasons, but there is also this...

'Fat Girl Costumes': Walmart apologizes for offensive plus-size Halloween costumes section name

Until a little after 11 a.m. on Monday, Walmart advertised costumes for plus-size women on their website as "Fat Girl Costumes."

The section name was discovered by a Jezebel reader Kristyn Washburn, who then tipped off the website. The section featured many of the same outfits as the Women's Plus Size section.

YKWIA called me this morning and told me about this. Yes, much like the Target 'manatee grey' fiasco where a dress was described like that in the plus-sized clothes line even though the regular sizes were in 'dark heather grey', we have 'Fat Girl Costumes' as a subsection of the Wal-Mart website, with a banner that read, 'Make it a monstrously big Halloween for less.' Yeah, wow, there's a way to get customers to buy your product, right? Who thought this was a good idea? And even if they were somehow costumes made in China labelled that way (and there's no indication I've found that that was the case), someone should have figured putting a subsection online with that name would be, well, bad from a public relations standpoint. Okay, yes, we know we're fat. But if you're going to use the word like this, at least be consistent, like manatee grey for regular sizes or, I don't know, maybe 'Fat Boy Costumes'--I notice it seems to be fat women who are the target here. Which is funny, because that's also the target customer, and one rule of customer service is to not offend your customer. *Shakes head.*

A couple of things of interest related to the history of public health

Lexington's 1833 cholera epidemic chronicled in new book

The stricken died quickly, sometimes within hours.

Others hung on a few days, but they were so dehydrated they no longer looked like themselves, but rather like skin stretched taut over bones and tendons. Their brains still worked, even as their bodies died all around them.

People passed one another in the street without greeting, fearful that their friends and neighbors would contaminate them. Orphaned children wandered the streets, seeking food and shelter from strangers. Those with means fled to the countryside.

Ebola in 2014?

No. Cholera in Lexington — in summer 1833.

Terry Foody, a public health nurse who has lectured about cholera for the Kentucky Humanities Council for the past decade, has written a book about the 1833 epidemic in Lexington: The Pie Seller, The Drunk, and The Lady: Heroes of the 1833 Cholera Epidemic in Lexington, Kentucky (Self-published; $18.33).

Terry Foody is signing her book at the Woodford County Public Library, 115 North Main Street, Versailles, KY, from 1-4 pm on Saturday, November 1st. She did a signing recently at the Morris Book Shop, which is an independent bookseller here in Lexington. I'll check with them tomorrow to see if I can get a copy.

Also, today is the 100th anniversary of polio-vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk's birth. Google honoured him with a Doodle, but there was also this, which I think is dead on--with the restrictions we have today (many to protect research subjects) and with the anti-vaccine nuts out there, such a large double-blind trial (of 2,000,000 school children) would not happen today.

Jonas Salk's Polio Vaccine Trials Would Be Hard To Repeat Today

My new haircut

I've spent thirteen hours over at my friends' house, watching 'Haven', 'Hart of Dixie', and 'Fringe', watching UK football with A, watching their cat play with the koi on my phone's live wallpaper and make the water move, and then helping YKWIA make a cake and frost it--chocolate with a bit of espresso powder in both. The cleanup is done. I am now home. I should be working on the game notes now, but I'm tired, so I'm heading on to bed with the idea of getting up very early to take care of the rest of the notes (of which I've gotten only about 1/3 finished), get gas for the car, go to the store for string cheese, crackers, and soda, and then get there by 9 am. Which is in 8 hours. Oh, and I need to remember to bring a blank CD-ROM for tomorrow.

Good night.

Cthulhoid Wesen!

I am so glad 'Grimm' is back! And with tentacled Wesen that suck out your brains (okay, your memories, but you get the point).

Piscis mortus est. Vivat piscis.

So the betta did, indeed, die. So this morning I fished him out (no pun intended), put him in a baggie, and disposed of him in the trash (you shouldn't flush fish), and did a partial water change. This afternoon I stopped by Incredipet and got another betta and five common goldfish. The goldfish are currently exploring their new home. They're about an inch smaller than the three I had, but big enough the others won't try to eat them. One is white, a couple are a lighter, golden orange than my others, which are a kind of deep orange or orange and white, and then a couple are that same gold with white. The betta will hopefully do alright. I did a bad thing. I bought a betta mini-heater since yes, they are tropical fish. Now my other did okay with just ambient temperature, but I sometimes let it get a bit cold in here, and I run a fan while I sleep year round. So I set that up and got it going. Theoretically I should (okay, I just should) have let the water temperature stabilise over the next few hours before putting the betta in, but, he was in a very small plastic box without benefit of the oxygen they were putting into his water. So I gave it a bit, got him used to the water as is, and left it to gradually warm (or that's the plan). I also got a couple of plants made from a softer material that are supposed to be better for bettas, and I rinsed them and put them in. I took the plastic plants that were in there, rinsed them really well, and then put them in the big aquarium (again, I probably shouldn't have done that, just in case there was something in the betta tank that caused his death. Still, he didn't look diseased at all.)

So my upcoming agenda is as follows:

Today:
1. Do game notes.
2. Watch 'Grimm'.

Tomorrow:
1. Watch 'Haven' with a friend.
2. Help said friend bake something (and since we did the store run yesterday, that is over and we don't have to tomorrow!)
3. Watch 'Doctor Who', or at least catch up on some I already have recorded.

Sunday:
1. Help get the house ready for the game.
2. Play the game.

But right now I'm going to stretch out and relax for a little while before starting the notes. It's been a very challenging week with lots of new stuff to learn, and I'm so glad it's Friday.

I'm tired and my feet hurt

especially after spending an hour-and-a-half at the grocery with A and putting away groceries, but it was good to get it out of the way before the weekend, and I got some things, too. It's the longest I've worn my new shoes in one wearing, and I found that the soles of my feet aren't quite used to the insoles of the shoes, which are from Sure-Fit. Maybe I should put my custom diabetic orthotics in them instead. But I am well relaxed at this point and the pain is easing, as I've spent another hour-and-a-half streaming Pandora through my bedroom TV, with a channel built around Loreena McKennitt, so it's been Celtic and New Age music.

Today was about playing catch-up at work, since I didn't have to train in scheduling today, so there was time for the library and data entry stuff I needed to do, or at least most of it. I'll have to finish up some tomorrow. But I got a lot done anyway. Today was also our benefits fair, so I came home with lots of information and some fun swag. There was also a kickoff luncheon downtown (I didn't attend) for the campaign for the new hospital, with the mayor, our Congressman, and various other candidates in attendance. By all accounts, it went really well.

I've been updating my tablet and Kindle and charging my phone, in which for the first time I let the battery completely die. But it's charging quickly, almost to full and that's in less than two hours.

I think my betta may not be much longer for this world. I came home and he was on the floor of the aquarium and has scarcely moved at all, and he's usually very active. He's lying in front of the bubble stone. In fact, it could be that the bubbles are moving his fins, rather than him, and he's actually dead. It's hard to tell. I've had him for at least a year-and-a-half. Brenda was just saying the other day that they don't live much more than a couple of years. So I guess it's about time. But I've really enjoyed having him, and I'm sad at the thought of losing him.

Okay, it's after eleven and I'm really struggling to stay awake, much like this critter. I love when the meerkat falls over and then pops up, looking all around it, like, hey, did anyone notice? :)

Yep!

People don’t like Mitch McConnell. That’s why Alison Lundergan Grimes still has a shot.

The Kentucky Senate race comes down this: whether voters are more willing to vote against a Barack Obama who is not on the ballot, or a Mitch McConnell who is.

Now I'm not saying I would vote for anyone to get Mitch McConnell out of office. But yeah, close to that...and I feel just about as strongly about getting a challenger to Rand Paul. I am embarrassed by the senators from my state--terribly embarrassed anytime I see the headlines.

Cool

45,000-Year-Old Man Was Human-Neanderthal Mix

Project leader Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London explained to Discovery News that the Siberian man belonged to a population that was closely related to the ancestors of today’s Europeans and Asians. He carried only slightly more Neanderthal DNA than they do.

“But his genomic segments of Neanderthal ancestry are on average about three times the length of those found in genomes today,” Stringer said.

This is highly informative, he continued, “as the chunks of Neanderthal DNA have been gradually broken up each generation since the time of interbreeding.”

He and his team charted the rate of that change to the present, when all living non-Africans possess 2 percent Neanderthal in their DNA. Going backwards in time, the researchers could then see that the mating with Neanderthals took place 7,000–10,000 years before the Siberian man lived. This means the human/Neanderthal interbreeding happened no more than 60,000 years ago.

Oh, dear God, this is for Brenda

(And for 'Doctor Who' fans, one of the gentlemen is Sylvester McCoy, who, while he is Radagast the Brown in the Hobbit movies, played the seventh Doctor.)

All, I can say is wow, this is what happens

when at academics take a terrible backseat to academics. Be sure to read the whole thing. This is so wrong, and antithetical to what universities should be doing. Athletics should be a means to an education, not the other way around.

UNC report finds 18 years of academic fraud to keep athletes playing

For 18 years, thousands of students at the prestigious University of North Carolina took fake "paper classes," and advisers funneled athletes into the program to keep them eligible, according to a scathing independent report released Wednesday.

"These counselors saw the paper classes and the artificially high grades they yielded as key to helping some student-athletes remain eligible," Kenneth Wainstein wrote in his report. He conducted an eight-month investigation into the scandal, which has plagued the university for nearly five years.

Four employees have been fired and five more disciplined because of their roles. One other former employee had honorary status removed, Chancellor Carol Folt said Wednesday.

Wainstein is the former federal prosecutor hired by UNC to independently investigate the academic fraud brought to light by CNN, the Raleigh News & Observer and other media outlets.

In all, the report estimates, at least 3,100 students took the paper classes, but adds the number "very likely falls far short of the true number."

Not that anyone will get it

But I'm going as the Lady of Shalott for Halloween.  I have a beautiful cranberry long skirt in velvet and satin,  along with a blouse that has a sort of fantasy mediaeval look with flared sleeves in the same colour. I just used a cashback bonus with Amazon for a dark red wig.  We'll see how that looks.

Okay,  so I'll be a somewhat rotund doomed fae,  but still...we'll see if anyone at work is familiar with Arthurian legend, the famous poem by Alfred,  Lord Tennyson (or the song by Loreena McKennitt based upon it),  or several pre-Raphaelite paintings with her as the subject,  including the one with her in the boat by John William Waterhouse (which I've included here.) :)

I came across these photos of me as Great Cthulhu a few days ago

If only I'd been able to rig wings. Big, green bat wings. :) Happy (almost) Halloween! I'm not sure at all what I'm going to dress up as this year. I'm just glad we have a work environment where that's okay, even expected. I think my favourite costume anyone did ever was the information services people came as keys from a keyboard, and a late and sorely-missed colleague, who was very likable and full of joie de vivre, came as the 'any' key. :)

Today is the second day

I've trained in scheduling. I'm doing better than yesterday--I actually did some reschedules without supervision, but handed it back to the other person when it came to juggling more than one patient at a time while on the phone. Still, I'll get the hang of it. I'll be there tomorrow and then mornings Monday-Wednesday next week. I was able to work on the other aspects of my job, both library and data entry, this afternoon, and did pretty well at getting much of it done, despite it being a high-census clinic day. Tonight I took a friend to an appointment and another to get his bus pass. Now I'm home and I may watch another 'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' episode, although what I really want to do is some reading, I think. I almost never read these days, and I have several books out from the library that look good, plus the many 'to be read' ones on my Kindle. I'm halfway through a book I started months ago. I don't think I can re-check it out again without turning it in. It's one of those Nellie Bly mysteries, called Alchemy of Murder by Carol McCleary. I've enjoyed, I just haven't had much time to read. Now I do, so I should. :)

This should be in print tomorrow

Shriners Hospital: Iconic Lexington institution gets ready to move from longtime home

I am amused

by Microbrachius dicki, both in its name in relation to this story and by the fact that it was apparently ahead of the times, and evolution seems to have had a bit of foreplay and then reverted to spawning instead. I am also amused by the fat that the BBC included diagrammes as to how they copulated. :)

Ancient Scottish fish 'first to have sex'

Peeling butternut squash

with a potato peeler is no easy task. And you get your hands covered in this stuff that, when it hardens, peels off like skin. In fact, it may actually be my skin peeling--I can't tell. Weird. I helped YKWIA with that and with using a hand mixer to make a three-bowl batter for clafoutis, because hand mixers are made for right-handed people and years of home oeconomics made me somewhat an expert on cleanly beating batters without splatters. Tomorrow I've told A I would help get the house ready for their company by sweeping and mopping. I'm also bringing ice and Saran wrap. I plan on getting there early, around 9 am, so I should go to bed soon, as it's just after 1 am. But I don't think I'll be there very late tomorrow. I actually bought a paper today for the Weekender to see if there was anything fun and cheap to do this weekend.

This morning both of my bosses came to the library and asked if I would be willing to temporarily (for 8-12 weeks) take on yet another job for the hospital, scheduling patients, as there are several pregnant women in that department who are ready to give birth pretty much all at once, and they need a temporary part-time person to do it. So next week I'll be training there from 9 am-1 pm Monday, Tuesday, and maybe Wednesday. This will mean cutting into my library hours, as those are in the morning. We're not doing anything different with my pay or the process I use for clocking in and out and doing a labour transfer from one job to the other, so the pay will be the same, which is good, as the library rate is probably higher. So I need to juggle the library, the scheduling job, the charge entry and reconciliation, and obtaining doctors' referrals so everything gets done. It'll probably be a little more stressful, but overall I think it's doable. Meanwhile, I have a replacement physician appointee for my library committee, and I have to try to schedule a meeting soon. I hope everything works out pretty well.

I went in early and got off an hour early today. The weather was beautiful, 70 degrees and sunny after days of cold rain. Then I went by the grocery, took YKWIA to an appointment, got something from Long John Silver's, took him to get a couple of things from the grocery, and then helped with the squash and clafoutis. Now I think it is time for bed. Good night.

And then there's this one

Have you seen this one?

For more on the new dog, see this one. What is it, a Saint Bernard puppy?

I went ahead after all

And washed dishes, wrapped the herb bread that I baked, and filled my pill box for tomorrow. It'll just be easier than doing them when I'm rushed tomorrow. So that just means getting up, showering, getting dressed, and getting gas on the way without all those little things that leech time in the morning. And with that, I bid you adieu.

Well, it's after midnight

and the debit is still showing as pending on my account, so it's neither fallen off nor posted, so I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow. The good news is I got paid, and I'm very tempted to go out right now and buy toilet paper and gas, but I think I'll resist, and just take care of everything in the morning. :) All I can say is thank you Little Clinic at the Tates Creek Kroger's, for passing out little facial tissue packets earlier this year for free. I very rarely keep Kleenexes or other types of tissue in the house, as I use paper towels usually to blow my nose, and I'm even out of those. :) Okay, too much information, I guess. I really have over-shared a great deal this week. I think I'm a little lonely, since I've been spending so much time at the house alone. :(

Tomorrow I'm going to go over and take A on a grocery run for a dinner they're having with a cousin and co-worker (one and the same) on Saturday. I can get toilet paper and other things I need then, thankfully, but the gas will really have to be on the way to work tomorrow. I wonder if the price will be the same. It was a low $2.99 when I went by this afternoon, and the pumps were filled. So, anyway, between that and the dishes, which I'm not up to tonight, I need to get up early tomorrow. So, I'm going to head on to bed. Good night.

I'm beginning to feel a little obsolete myself

Placements & Salaries 2014: Public, Academic, and Special Libraries

However, reports of placements in special libraries have fallen off in recent years, dropping from 6% in 2011 to 3.6% in 2012. This may signal, as some suggest, that hospital and corporate libraries, among others, are becoming obsolete, or it may indicate changing roles and titles within these situations.

Approximately 2017, my position with the hospital will cease as it moves to a new building near the university and a new ambulatory care model without a library. In the intervening time, I and my library committee will have to find an exit strategy of sorts for the library, while providing services and resources up to the bitter end. In the meantime, I am looking at jobs in other areas of the library world, albeit in this geographical area. I've applied to the public library, but they keep promoting from within, which is a good thing unless you're on the outside. :) I've also applied with the state. I keep looking each week actively. The good news is that there are more jobs now than there were during the Great Recession. The bad news is that while I am mid-career (almost 18 years in this position), I am a solo librarian, and while I have supervised some, I haven't held an actual managerial job whose supervision of others was a major component of the job description. I think that's hurting me. I think people are reluctant to hire me in a Librarian I position because that's entry level, even though I'd still probably get paid more since it would be full time (I currently have two jobs at the hospital, one with a librarian pay grade, one with a data entry clerk pay grade, so they average out lower than a full-time librarian would make), and with my experience, they would have to pay more than someone just out of school, or so they think. And I am worth that, although frankly, I'd work for a little less than I'm worth in exchange for a real full-time job with benefits. But a Librarian II position often includes departmental and even branch managerial duties, so that may be beyond my reach at the moment. The field is very competitive in my area because the university here has a library school. It took me four years just to find my current job, which I started out at with an abysmal wage for a job requiring a master's degree. (It improved greatly when they started including medical librarian in our salary surveys in comparison with other hospitals). Then in 2003 I was reduced in hours from 35 to 20 due to some lay-offs. For years I worked my 20 hours and then also at a gas station. At least I got benefits at 20 hours, although they cost more for part-timers. In 2010 I got the data entry position where I do charge entries and reconciliation for billing, as well as acquiring doctor's referrals. That brought me to full time. But while it does (barely) pay the bills, I'd really like to be doing a library gig full time, for one, with other librarians around, and I've got about two years to find a position that's a good fit. I have deep roots in the region and loved ones I can't move away from, so it'll have to be here (besides, I love living in the Bluegrass). Wish me luck!

I am fine, I am happy, all is well

which is our general phrase for things when they are actually going to hell in a hand basket. For one thing, a doctor's office called me today and wanted to issue me a refund, which was great, but when I gave them my account number, the clerk put it in as a debit rather than a credit, and that didn't change before the end of the work day. So I was on hold with the bank for quite some time to see if I might overdraw my account. A very nice and chatty customer service representative explained that either it would fall off at midnight if the office managed to void it, or if not, and it does overdraw the account, we can dispute both it and the attached fee. Fortunately I am also getting paid tonight or tomorrow morning, so I should be okay if I have to dispute. So while I was freaking out some, I feel a little better.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine was going to go to an appointment tonight and I was going to try to take him, but he cancelled it. On the one hand, that's good, because I could go straight home, as my gas light came on and I only had to drive about a mile or so to get safely home. On the other hand, I was planning to ask to 'borrow' (more like beg) for a roll of toilet paper since mine ran out this morning. Since I didn't go over there, I didn't get it. So I'm like, okay, I have some tissues, I can use them, and just not flush them down the toilet. So imagine my surprise when I did go and yet, despite nothing going down the bowl but a little urine, the thing floods the whole bathroom, and it took me several minutes to plunge it so the water would go down. So now my rug is soaked, I had to mop all that water up, and my evening just isn't going very well. Hence the mantra above.

Ah, First World problems. I really shouldn't whinge about my day when there are so many worse things out there. But writing helps, what can I say? So now I've taken care of everything (and I ate the last of the spaghetti while on hold). I'm going to try to salvage the rest of my time this evening, and hope that tomorrow is a brighter and better day. :)

PS Speaking of worse things, why on earth, if you had treated an Ebola patient and were within the incubation period, would you get on a jetliner? And if I'm reading the timing right, that was from Cleveland to Dallas, after treatment of the man who died in Dallas, so presumably there was a trip from Dallas to Cleveland as well. But the plane trip was the day before the newest diagnosed patient presented with a fever. I just don't get it. If I have a bad cold or the flu, I stay home from the hospital I work in and don't expose my friends. Why would anyone who had dealt with Ebola go flying to another state during the potential incubation time? Aren't these people supposed to be being monitored? I'm sorry to say, but it looks like the hospital had its head up its arse, given the things the nurses are saying and the fact that two people have caught the disease from the initial patient there. And while I realise that only four hospitals in the country have the ultra-isolation rooms and intensive training that are good for Ebola, this was still in a major metropolitan area. What happens when people go to the local hospital in smaller places? I have not been in panic mode at all over Ebola like some (there was a great editorial cartoon by Jack Ohman of The Sacramento Bee I saw where the fat guy with the big gulp drink and cigarette and beer is screaming in panic about Ebola when the deaths from obesity, smoking, and drinking are so high), but I am getting concerned, I must admit.

Well, I did fall asleep

But I got what I needed to do finished first this evening, and then later I got up and watched an episode of 'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' on Netflix. It was excellent. I love the era, the clothes, and I love Phryne Fisher. I have the first three books of the series as well. I'd like to get the first and second seasons on DVD. :) Then I played on my TV for awhile with the various applications, including setting up the fitness one, and registered the TV (an oversight) and my computer monitor. All told I own three, no, four Samsung items (even my microwave that I bought in 1991 is a Samsung), and I did have a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone before getting my S5 in April. So I'm a kind of Samsung/Google/Amazon girl, I guess. :) Okay, it's after 12:30 am. Time to go to bed for real this time.

After dinner

I decided the fish tank really did need a good cleaning, so I spent an hour siphoning out mulm (which translates to fish poop and other detritus in an aquarium) and replacing about 25% of the water with new conditioned water. I also changed the little white biological filter material (you do it in stages, so there's always nitrogen-eating bacteria in the filter--there's also activated charcoal on one layer and a foam pad on the bottom). I'm waiting for the filter to clear the water. I had trouble with the siphon. Gone are the days of having to mouth-siphon on the tube. You're supposed to just be able to push the bigger tube up and down to start it going, and I verified that I was doing it right with a friend who keeps several aquaria, but I always get a trickle at best. So I pulled out my trusty and never-used-in-a-vegetarian-household turkey baster (hey, it was a gag gift for my birthday, I think when I turned 30), and used that, as now that I am older and wiser, I don't want to get the germs that can live in fish tanks in my mouth, especially as I ate some crusty bread without my partials in last night and my whole mouth is tender and possibly has a bit of broken surface here or there on my gums. The baster worked well after a try or two. Once I got it started, everything was fine. I vacuumed the gravel thoroughly, pulling out probably about 2 1/2 gallons' worth of water while avoiding actual fish (at least these are between 3 and 4 inches long!) I then scrubbed the inside glass of any remaining algae and put the fixtures (rocks, gargoyle, driftwood) in firmly. I also added something that helps with the slime coat and some more nitrogen-eating bacteria in solution. I took the dirty water and put in out on the window boxes, a little on the inside plants, and out on the ground. It's great fertilizer, fish poop. I did, however, discover that I cannot find my water testing kit. I have no idea where it is. If I were out of solution, that would be one thing. But the thing has test tubes, too. It's not below or around the aquarium, as far as I can tell, and I have no idea what other sort of place I might put it. But the pet stores will test if you bring in a sample, too.

Now I think I'll retire to the bedroom and work on the game notes and get a little relaxation in (without falling asleep, hopefully). I don't know if I'll blog any more tonight. If not, have a very good night.

After a very rainy day, the sun has finally come out

It is streaming through the living room windows as I write this. My bounciness yesterday, while doing a lot for me then, had the effect of not being able to sleep well last night. I kept waking up every hour on the hour. I don't remember hearing any storms, although apparently there were some. And I spent most of the night on top of my bedspread, which is sort of scratchy. I finally got up and put a blanket down and slept better. But my mind wouldn't shut down. At three or four in the morning, I felt like going for a walk. Given the time of night and the fact that it was most likely raining, that was not such a good idea.

I'm having a quiet night alone again. Dinner will be more spaghetti (I made several servings at once). I think I may watch a little TV--I'm sorely behind on 'Doctor Who', and I'm intrigued by the last episode with mummies on the Orient Express. :) I have them on the DVR. My DVR is actually almost full of things I should really watch. And I'm going to start on the game notes, maybe even finish them if I'm lucky. That would put me way ahead for the week.

Tonight I need to do those things and arrange for a payment of a bill. Tomorrow will be somewhat tough. I'm hoping I have enough gas to get to work and back. But Thursday is payday and I can fill up the car and pay some bills. That would be very good. Thursday and Friday there are appointments to go to, so it will be good to have gas. :) I also need to make an appointment with the gynaecologist, which if I'm lucky I can get in maybe next week. I haven't heard back from the psychiatric practice. It occurs to me that I may have given the wrong phone number. (The prefix for my home phone and cell phone have the same numbers, in different order). I'll call back tomorrow. I don't know what the weekend looks like yet. As far as I know, we're playing the game Sunday, but anything beyond that is somewhat up in the air.

I have to admit, I'm a bit pooped. I did very well at work today, despite the lack of sleep. But my brain is trying to shut down. I wonder if I can lie down for an half hour without wasting my whole evening? Experience tells me no. Maybe I should just eat a bit and then take it from there. :)

I just signed up for a class

Which I think will help me be much better at helping someone I love dearly. It will start in January and run eleven weeks, meeting once a week. I refuse to burn out and be useless to either of us. Now if I can just keep things together until then, that would be good.

That was pretty decent

I don't normally sit and eat at the table, with just me. But that was fun. The only thing that would have made it better was Parmesan cheese. I thought I had some, but apparently it was thrown out in the great refrigerator purge a few weeks ago. Oh, well. I couldn't eat all the bread--I'm saving that for later. And you know the funny part? Although it's dark outside, I feel like going for a walk. Weird. Pasta does not normally have that effect on me. :)

I should watch this tonight

I know where my vote's going (and you can pretty much guess if you read this blog with any regularity). Still, I'm interested in how they do.

WATCH LIVE: Kentucky Senate candidates debate issues

Kentucky’s major party candidates for U.S. Senate will meet for a moderated conversation on Kentucky Educational Television’s signature politics program Monday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. EDT, in what is expected to be their only face-to-face event before the Nov. 4 general election.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) and Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), who are embroiled in one of the most contentious national races in the country, will appear live on “Kentucky Tonight” with host Bill Goodman. Libertarian candidate David Patterson will not be present, following a short but heated legal challenge against KET.

You can watch the livestream online thanks to KET (Kentucky Educational Television), if you don't get the station (although it does cover the entire Commonwealth, I believe, being one of the largest public television networks in the country, if I remember from when I was an employee there). Then there's this:

Tonight’s debate will not be open to an audience, but viewers with questions for the candidates may send them via e-mail to kytonight@ket.org or use the message form at KET.org/kytonight. Viewers may also submit questions on Twitter via @BillKET or on KET’s Facebook page. The phone number for viewer questions during the program is 1-800-494-7605. All messages should include the first and last name and the hometown or home county of the submitter.

Oh, by the way, for your perusal

Is E-Reading to Your Toddler Story Time, or Simply Screen Time?

Clifford the Big Red Dog looks fabulous on an iPad. He sounds good, too — tap the screen and hear him pant as a blue truck roars into the frame. “Go, truck, go!” cheers the narrator.

But does this count as story time? Or is it just screen time for babies?

It is a question that parents, pediatricians and researchers are struggling to answer as children’s books, just like all the other ones, migrate to digital media.

For years, child development experts have advised parents to read to their children early and often, citing studies showing its linguistic, verbal and social benefits. In June, the American Academy of Pediatrics advised doctors to remind parents at every visit that they should read to their children from birth, prescribing books as enthusiastically as vaccines and vegetables.

On the other hand, the academy strongly recommends no screen time for children under 2, and less than two hours a day for older children.

At a time when reading increasingly means swiping pages on a device, and app stores are bursting with reading programs and learning games aimed at infants and preschoolers, which bit of guidance should parents heed?

I particularly like this example:

Patricia K. Kuhl, a director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, led a study in 2003 that compared a group of 9-month-old babies who were addressed in Mandarin by a live instructor with a group addressed in Mandarin by an instructor on a DVD. Children in a third group were exposed only to English.

“The way the kids were staring at the screen, it seemed obvious they would learn better from the DVDs,” she said. But brain scans and language testing revealed that the DVD group “learned absolutely nothing,” Dr. Kuhl said.

“Their brain measures looked just like the control group that had just been exposed to English. The only group that learned was the live social interaction group.”

In other words, “it’s being talked with, not being talked at,” that teaches children language, Dr. Hirsh-Pasek said.

I have a co-worker whose child is not yet a year and a half old. She reads to her daughter, and the child does not watch TV. She knows Elmo and Mickey, but not from cartoons. I think that's a good step. At work, I coordinate an early literacy programme called 'Reach Out and Read', a national initiative to bring age-appropriate books to children 6 months to five years old who visit our clinic, and to encourage parents to read to their children. I know kids are fascinated by screens both small and large, and it's easy to let them be babysat by a device, but it's much better to interactively read from a real book, in my mind, where they can touch the pages and interact with both parent and book. We'll see what the research eventually says. But my gut feeling is that books are the way to go for young ones. At least one study I've read says people comprehend much better from a physical book. I have to admit, I tend to skim more when I 'read' an e-book myself. If adults don't fully engage with the words and pictures in front of them, what do you think toddlers do? Just my two cents' worth, anyway.

For one day, at least

I was a domestic goddess and kicked butt at work. Maybe it's because I got rest this weekend, or maybe it's because the house is clean. Or maybe it's because while I have eaten less than normal today, I feel so much better. I don't know. I got up at 6 am, started bread in the bread machine, and then finished the few things I needed to do to help get the apartment ready for inspection week. I made the bed (which given the number of shams and pillows I have, is no small task for one person), vacuumed, and took out the last of the trash and recyclables. Somewhere in all that I also burned some incense and cooked four cups of basmati rice, because one of the things I do have in my cupboard are heat-and-serve microwavable Indian dishes from Kitchens of India. So today for breakfast, I had a slice of bread and some peanut butter. For a mid-morning snack, there was yet another piece of bread alone. For lunch I had rice (for some reason, my spell-checker wants 'astigmatism' instead of 'basmati') and a chickpea and potato curry. I haven't eaten anything since then. I'm just now starting to get a little hungry. I think I'll go for just a little bread with something on it, as I'm not very hungry.

At work I spent the morning planning out what books I need to update in the library (with a grant that we will hopefully get) for next year, as well as our family resource centre updates and access to electronic resources. I worked at a good pace at my data entry job, including referrals, reconciliation of charges, putting in charges, and the like. It's a detailed-oriented job, and I managed to catch something that could have cost the hospital reimbursement. So I felt good about that aspect of my job today. But the day flew by, and I felt alert and energised all day. Usually by this time of day I'm dragging and ready for a nap.

When I got home I spent a little while caring for my indoor garden (spacing the houseplants out and taking off dead flowers and leaves). I opened all the windows. The Christmas cactus has a bud on it. Only the prayer plant is blooming right now; the African violets did for a long time. I did have to toss a croton because it had been killed off by those dratted little white mealybugs. The other croton might live; it has one leaf left. The violets have them, too, and they're hard to eradicate from fuzzy leaves. But the others seem resistant, thankfully.

I also have an ailing fish. The fish actually made it through the Time of Low Water and No Filter pretty well, but when I filled up the tank yesterday, I found that one had become stuck in the java moss. I freed it and cleared out a lot of the moss. It's pretty, but it can be pretty invasive. So since then, that fish has kept to the bottom and is slowly dying. I'm sorry for that. Fortunately it's a 19 cent feeder goldfish, but still, I feel guilty for letting the moss overgrow, and letting the water get low enough that it became a problem. That leaves me four-and-a-half fish, the betta in the bedroom's 3-gallon tank, and the goldfish in the 29-gallon long tank. Once a few days pass, I'm going to vacuum out the tanks really well and test the water. If it's doing pretty well, I'll maybe add some feeder goldfish. They're actually a nice size and pretty, and don't require an awful lot of babying. I'm used to livebearers, but they haven't done well in the tank since I set it back up a few years ago. Even with a staggered biological filter, water changes, and the addition of nitrogen-eating bacteria, I've had trouble with nitrates. That's not as bad as nitrites, but the fish don't flourish as well. I used to do much better at keeping fish, and livebearers reproduced readily. But sadly, this is not the case since the tank was set back up, and as a result, I've tended to let it get a little too dirty. So after a few days so I don't totally freak the fish out, since vacuuming means adding more new (although conditioned) water, I hope to rectify that. But just getting the filter back up and running has helped immensely. I'd had a power outage from a storm about a month ago and couldn't get the thing to pump the water up from the tube, even though it was clear, and isn't really the type that needs priming (but I primed it anyway, to no avail). This time, after being off for awhile, it started right up and pumped immediately. So I'm not sure what the deal was at the time. But I didn't mean to keep the filter off so long--I was just really, really busy.

I am very low on gas for the car, and have $1 in change to put into it tomorrow, which might get me to and from work through Wednesday. I haven't been quite this broke in awhile. I think I have a total of fifty-two cents in my checking and savings accounts combined--so that's part of the stress lately. So I'm saving the gas if at all possible. Still, I should call a friend and see how he is doing. I'm not sure things will get a lot better when I get paid, but they will get better. I called Friday and got several doctors' offices to agree to return co-pays I mistakenly paid (this is the first year I've had insurance with a maximum out-of-pocket expense amount, and I didn't realise that once I met it, co-pays were not to be collected. This came to the tune of $180. So sometime in the next six weeks those refunds should trickle in. That would help.)

After talking with YKWIA last night, I decided that my mood was a little less stable than it had been and with the shorter days and perhaps being a little further into perimenopause than I thought I was, my medicine might need adjusting. So I called the practice I used to go to a few years ago and asked if I could get an appointment. The receptionist said he would check my records and with the doctors and get back with me. He didn't today, but I hope he'll call tomorrow. The nurse practitioner I was seeing is gone from the practice now, but that's okay. I was going until the car died, and then really couldn't get there, even though it's only a short distance from my house. Now I think the connector bus does go by, but I don't think it did then. So my general practitioner has been handling my meds. I think they need a little fine tuning.

Okay, it's nearly 6:30. Time to get some of that bread and some peanut butter, I think. Or maybe spaghetti with vegetarian meatballs. Mmmmm. I have the ingredients, including frozen soy meatballs in the fridge. I've never had soy meatballs. Yeah. I could do that, and take anything left over to work tomorrow. :)

The last couple of days I have been working on the house

in earnest, as I got the notice that the annual walk-through to look for leaks and such is this coming week when I got home on Friday (which was not a good day--I started out the day stepping in dog poop and it really went downhill from there). I'm almost finished with the apartment--I just need to sweep/mop/vacuum, dust. fill up the fish tanks, work on the bedroom a little, water the plants in the living room and outside, and take out the last of the trash and recyclables, the ones I've done just over the last couple of days. Later on today, I'm going to go on and play the game. I have to admit, it was nice to be able to sleep in on a Sunday. I've slept a lot this weekend. I have some stress going on in my life, and some issues with a friend. On the one hand, it's good I've had some extra time to myself this weekend. On the other hand, I totally blew up at someone I shouldn't have, and so now our relationship is strained. This is also the second anniversary of getting hit by the car. So apparently mid-October is not a fun time for me. :(

Hmmm...

In the Shadows of Archaeological Swashbucklers

Historians, curators and moviemakers are delving into the histories of Middle East archaeological sites, some now destroyed or inaccessible in war zones, and resurrecting the stories of swashbuckling characters who dug there.

The early 1900s archaeologist and diplomat Gertrude Bell, a daughter of a British baronet, will soon be the subject of a Werner Herzog film, “Queen of the Desert,” starring Nicole Kidman; a book by the Canadian archaeologist Lisa Cooper; an exhibition at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle Upon Tyne, near her hometown; and a documentary “Letters Fom Baghdad.” The documentary’s makers, Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbühl, are drawing upon Bell’s photos and writings from her global travels and negotiations with tribal leaders and shaky governments.

In 1926, two days before her 58th birthday, Bell was found dead in Baghdad after an overdose of sleeping pills. Her family preserved her papers, and Newcastle University owns the bulk of them. Other artifacts have recently emerged in the hands of descendants and collectors, including Bell’s Kurdish weavings and her silver cigarette case.

As much as I love archaeology and Aegyptology, I have always seen the Europeans as erstwhile plunderers of ancient civilisations, often ignoring the wishes of their modern-day descendants. But given the instability in the Middle East, I have to admit, perhaps it better for an artefact to be in some Western museum than dynamited by radicals. On the other hand, instability can hit just about anywhere. But still, I fear a good deal has been lost in some of these war-torn areas. I admire the people who are actively trying to save their culture, though, whether locals or others.

That was close

I was helping YKWIA with a few things before I came home and forgot to help him set his DVR for 'American Horror Story' tonight. So of course I remember this after I'm already in the car, with about 9 minutes on the clock to get home in the hopes of setting my own DVR for it. I got in, parked the car at the first available spot, left everything in there, ran into the house (well, as much as I actually 'run'), turned on the TV and cable box, found the channel, and set the DVR, just as it was going into 'viewer discretion advised'. Now it's recording. None of us were up to staying up extra late tonight for it. I called an left a message that I was recording it. They'll have to come over to my house to watch, but oh, well. Of course, maybe he went ahead and set it, I don't know. Of course, I don't know exactly how I feel about this iteration of the popular show. For one, clowns really creep me out. Ordinary clowns. (Which is bad when you work in a children's hospital). I expect 'American Horror Story' clowns will be even more sinister.

Today I took a friend to a doctor's appointment and worked on the notes while he was in there. I'm almost finished with the game notes; I've got about 45 minutes of game play to transcribe, and it's not like I do it 'blow for blow' or anything. So it shouldn't take too long. I would work on it now, but I'm tired (I have been all day, it's like I never slept last night), but I'm relaxing to some of Bastille's music.

So we got back to his house and watched an episode each of 'Fringe' and 'Haven'. Now I'm home and seriously thinking of going to bed. One reason I'm sleepy is that I got up early to watch the eclipse. I even got a not-so-great picture (I've never had a camera that could do justice to the moon), showing the red shadow of the lunar eclipse. I was one of the lucky ones who were in the area experiencing a selenelion. The arrangement and trees were such that I couldn't see the moon and sun at exactly the same moment and position; but if I moved a pace back and forth, I could see each within a few seconds of one another. It was fun.

Okay, time to relax. Good night.

Speaking of scary viruses, hopefully parents out there are taking note and teaching kids the basics of infection control (and especially handwashing)

After Death of New Jersey Boy From Enterovirus 68, Worry Grows Among Parents

Eli Waller’s parents thought it best to keep their 4-year-old son home from school, worried that he might have pink eye and could infect other children.

But they could not have suspected that their son was harboring a much more troubling virus, one that has been spreading across the country with unexpected virulence and is being investigated as a possible cause of severe respiratory illness and other complications.

When Eli went to bed on Sept. 24 in his family’s home in Hamilton Township, N.J., he seemed healthy. By morning, he was dead.

“He was asymptomatic and fine, and the next morning he had passed,” said Jeffrey Plunkett, the township’s health officer. “The onset was very rapid and very sudden.”

Science fiction becoming reality

Sleeper spaceship could carry first humans to Mars in hibernation state

Six astronauts lie motionless in a row of compartments with medical monitoring cables connected to their bodies, as their space ship cuts through the silent blackness that separates Earth from Mars.

They're sound asleep and will be for the extent of their six-month trip, having been placed in an artificially induced state of hibernation called torpor.

This is the way a NASA-funded study sees space explorers traveling to Mars -- unconscious, with their metabolism switched into slow motion.

Sending astronauts that far into space would be too challenging, costly and grueling without it, says space engineer John Bradford, whose Atlanta-based company SpaceWorks wrote the study for NASA.

"Ultimately, it's what we'll have to do," he says.

Can I just say, wow, cool?

This makes me very unhappy

Madrid Will Kill Dog of Woman Infected with Ebola

"There is one article in the medical literature that discusses the presence of antibodies to Ebola in dogs. Whether that was an accurate test and whether that was relevant we do not know,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said at a news conference Tuesday.

"We have not identified this as a means of transmission," Frieden added, although scientists do know that Ebola can infect mammals and the virus can spread that way.

----

The Spanish mixed-breed dog, Excalibur, will be euthanized in a way to avoid suffering and its body incinerated, the government said. The nursing aid's husband, who is also under quarantine, posted the dog's photo on Facebook and denounced the move.

"I think it's unfair that for a mistake they made they now want to solve it this way," he wrote. "If they are so worried with this issue I think we can find another type of alternative solution, such as quarantining the dog and put him under observation like they did with me. Or should they sacrifice me as well just in case?"

Dog of Ebola-stricken Spanish nurse set to be killed over fears of virus spreading

Both pet and hunting dogs in West Africa have tested positive for the Ebola virus, but none have showed signs of being infected, getting sick or dying from the virus, Michael San Filippo, senior media relations specialist for the American Veterinary Medical Association told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

There are also no documented cases of dogs passing the Ebola virus to people, San Filippo added.

“There is more concern about fruit bats and non-human primates,” including gorillas, chimpanzees and monkeys, he said.

Yes, Ebola is one scary disease. Really scary. But I don't think this is the right thing to do. I agree with the owner, quarantine the dog, but don't just kill it due to some sense of danger that isn't necessarily based on science.

Not surprising

Siri ... why is this semi headed RIGHT AT ME? Phone apps distracting as ever – new study: Hands-free tech still not so safe, claim researchers

Using your phone's cyber-slave by voice while focusing on the road? You're not as safe as you think, according to AAA.

The US auto club said it found apps such as Siri, and in-car personal assistant systems, are far more distracting than expected.

A study [PDF] AAA carried out with the University of Utah found that using voice commands to dial numbers, changing the music, and similar tasks while on the road, was more taxing on the mind of drivers than normal tasks, such as chatting to a passenger or listening to the radio.

I've watched people using their 'hands-free' technology in the car, including the Bluetooth through the car console. Often they lean towards the little monitor. They definitely are not really paying attention to the road. Best thing to do in the car? Leave Siri or other assistants and the phone itself off.

Having some down time

Today I finished an audit,  did all of my regular stuff at work,  decorated for Halloween,  and sent in that book review and copyright form.  Afterwards I got gas (I was  on  empty),  came home,  took care of some personal business,  making sure my utilities remained on.  Then I had some gastrointestinal issues and rested for awhile till the pain stopped. I got up, ate, and blogged.  I can't say I have worked on the house at all tonight,  but I am enjoying just having a little downtime.  Right now I am listening to soft music under soft lighting. I am pretty relaxed. I will probably turn in early.  Tomorrow I will check on my friends.  Wednesday one has an appointment,  so I may take the laptop and with on the notes for the game.

Funny

but a few days ago I was thinking of watching the cult classic 'Twin Peaks' (now nearly 25 years old, eek!) a show that while I was around and in my 20s at the time, I didn't actually ever see. In fact, I don't know who killed Laura Palmer (please don't tell me; I think it's on Netflix), although it was a burning question at the time for many. I missed the first few episodes (I was in the last days of my relationship with my ex-husband, and was way too stressed to get very involved with TV at the time), so even though I was a bit interested, I never saw it.

Now I see this: Cult favorite 'Twin Peaks' to return as Showtime event

I particularly like this part, which restores my faith in Hollywood:

New episodes will be set in present day and provide closure to the loose threads that set up a third season that didn't happen. (A 1992 movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was a prequel, and didn't provide any.) "It's not a reboot, it's not a remake; it's a continuation, and we plan to get to the bottom of almost everything we put on the table," Frost says.

Here's hoping for good weather

Total Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday: The Complete Skywatcher's Guide

Total Lunar Eclipse On Wednesday Will Be a Rare 'Selenelion'

Observers of Wednesday morning's total lunar eclipse might be able to catch sight of an extremely rare cosmic sight.

On Oct. 8, Interested skywatchers should attempt to see the total eclipse of the moon and the rising sun simultaneously. The little-used name for this effect is called a "selenelion," a phenomenon that celestial geometry says cannot happen.

And indeed, during a lunar eclipse, the sun and moon are exactly 180 degrees apart in the sky. In a perfect alignment like this (called a "syzygy"), such an observation would seem impossible. But thanks to Earth's atmosphere, the images of both the sun and moon are apparently lifted above the horizon by atmospheric refraction. This allows people on Earth to see the sun for several extra minutes before it actually has risen and the moon for several extra minutes after it has actually set.

I live on the western area of the Eastern Time Zone, so there's a chance I could actually see the moon in eclipse as the sun rises. I'll definitely plan on getting up and ready earlier than usual so I can enjoy it, if possible. :)

Wow

In a Mystery, a Baby Black Bear Is Found Dead in Central Park

The furry black mass lay hidden under a bush near Central Park’s main loop, unnoticed, unmoving and partially concealed by an abandoned bicycle. A dog rustling in the brush drew the first eyes to the bush and a sight rarely, if ever, found in modern Manhattan: a baby black bear, dead.

A call to 911 followed and soon yellow police tape cordoned off the area near West 69th Street as detectives found themselves facing a mysterious crime scene on a sunny Monday morning.

How the animal, a three-foot-long female, got to that spot remained a mystery at day’s end: a cub, probably born this year, somehow separated from her mother and from anything resembling a natural habitat.

I wish it had been more sweeping

but I'm glad for the folks in several states who can now marry. I just wish Kentucky was one of them. I have every faith that eventually it will all work out. But as the article points out, many gay couples, especially those who have been together for years and are getting up in age, may be running out of time. For those of us who would like to see our friends and loved ones marry, or who would like to marry our loved ones, it is very frustrating.

Supreme Court Order Leaves Some Same-Sex Couples 'in the Dark'

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed gays and lesbians to wed in at least five more states, but advocates say their work isn't done because same-sex couples in some 20 states are still living under gay marriage bans that deny them many benefits.

The high court’s order applies to Utah, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Indiana and Virginia — where the challenges initiated. The order will likely expand to six other states in the area covered by the three circuit courts that had previously ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, bringing to 30 the number of states that allow gay nuptials (D.C. does, too). That means gay couples in 20 states will feel no direct impact from the court’s action.

“The ruling today means we’ll be left in the dark for who knows how many decades. Mississippi will be last and they will go kicking and screaming when they do,” said Charlene Smith-Smathers, a 63-year-old Mississippi state employee whose wife Dee, 73, is facing serious health troubles. “Dee is probably not going to live long enough to see it and that’s really depressing.”

She certainly sounds like she had the pioneering spirit

Jerrie Mock, First Solo Female Pilot to Circumnavigate the Globe, Dies at 88

That summer, Flying magazine asked Ms. Mock why she had undertaken such a treacherous journey alone.

“It was about time a woman did it,” she said.

The first circumnavigation of the globe by a solo flyer is generally credited to Wiley Post, a Texan whose trip, in 1933, began and ended not quite eight days later at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Four years later, Earhart, trying to do the same and flying with a navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared over the Pacific and into legend.

----

Ms. Mock was born Geraldine Lois Fredritz on Nov. 22, 1925, in Newark, Ohio. Her father, Timothy, was a power plant executive; her mother, the former Blanche Wright, was distantly related to Orville and Wilbur Wright, the aviation pioneers. When Geraldine was 7 her parents took her to a local airport for a short airplane ride; enthralled, she declared she wanted to be a pilot. She grew up idolizing Earhart.

“I did not conform to what girls did,” she said. “What girls did was boring.”

Yay for Felicity!

Branded Pit Has New Home

I'm really proud of how my community reached out to help a pit bull puppy who'd been abused and chemically branded with the f-word undergo surgery to obscure that and now she has been adopted into what I hope is a very loving home! Now if they can just catch the sick person who hurt Felicity in the first place, I would be very grateful.

So sorry to hear about this

Former Kentucky poet laureate Jane Gentry Vance dies at age 73

Former Kentucky poet laureate Jane Gentry Vance, 73, a longtime University of Kentucky professor who penned a large body of poetry, as well as critical essays and book reviews, died Thursday at Taylor Manor Nursing Home in Versailles after battling cancer.

Vance spent 40 years as a professor at UK, where she taught honors courses and creative writing. She won the UK Alumni Association's Great Teacher Award in 1986 and was inducted into the UK College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame after her retirement last year.

Jane Vance was a professor in the university honours programme, a 'Great Works' curriculum which I matriculated and remember with great fondness. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think she was one of the three teachers who taught our very first semester back when I started the programme, transitioning us from high school to the expectations there. But if not, I definitely knew her name in the department. I've also taken a creative writing class from Gurney Norman, another former Kentucky poet laureate quoted in the article. This is the third professor who taught me various subjects whose obituary I caught when perusing the paper, all dying from cancer. Such a shame.

Okay, this is an absolutely amazing story

First womb-transplant baby born

A woman in Sweden has given birth to a baby boy using a transplanted womb, in a medical first, doctors report.

The 36-year-old mother, who was born without a uterus, received a donated womb from a friend in her 60s.

The British medical journal The Lancet says the baby was born prematurely in September weighing 1.8kg (3.9lb). The father said his son was "amazing".

Do you sense a 'but' coming?

I did have the whole biological clock ticking thing briefly in my 30s, then a sense of relief that I didn't choose to have a child (although I'm not out of the woods yet, as I probably have a few more years of fertility left). But overall I don't understand this absolute impetus to deliver a biological child yourself, and the things people put themselves through to achieve it, often at great risk to both child and mother, as well as heartbreak. I know adoption can sometimes be a very slippery process, and surrogacy opens up many legal questions. But even IVF can be dangerous. I knew someone who was desperate for a child of her own. She went into congestive heart failure when they went to harvest her eggs for the in-vitro. She got pregnant for about a day and then it failed, then dramatically went on about her 'miscarriage'. She became pregnant unexpectedly and naturally a few months later. After the birth of her child, she became wrapped up with him and dropped people like me without children who had been there for her through the ups and down of infertility and endometriosis, and then eventually divorced her husband, for what I am sure were various reasons, but I couldn't help but wonder if he hadn't just served his purpose, since her eventual need for a hysterectomy meant she'd won her battle against the clock and frankly didn't need him anymore. I know that sounds callous. I know she went through a lot emotionally and physically. In the end, she got her child, but after years of hormone therapy got reproductive cancer which I cannot believe was unrelated. The whole thing could have killed her several times over. I just can't believe the whole thing was healthy at all, either physically or emotionally.

In the case above, the child was born prematurely after complications. We can do so much with science these days, push the envelope. I guess the question is, should we? When do we weigh everything and just say, you know, I love children, but I will find other ways to have children in my life? Or, there are so many children in the world who need loving homes, I will do that. Now I'm not saying that everyone who tries fertility treatment is obsessed with having a child to the point of being unstable. That's not what I'm saying at all. Sometimes the body just needs a nudge here and there, after all. And I'm not saying we should deny the chances of someone born without a womb to have the experience of being a biological mother (I almost wrote natural, but I can't really use that word in this case). I am saying we should really weigh the risks--not just the scientists and doctors involved, but those potential parents. Weigh the options. Decide on the best course of action for your situation, and the best situation for the child. Each of us have to deal with the outcomes of that decision. What if I try something terribly cutting edge and there are complications, and the child has a birth defect? Am I prepared for that? What if we go through the whole thing, and the mother's life is endangered? That sort of thing. And absolutely, the good of the child should be paramount--not of the parent. If it's all because of some desire to be a parent, rather than the child itself, it's not healthy and shouldn't be encouraged.

I guess we all have our lines we draw in the sand that we won't cross. Mine was having a child at all. I am simply not financially able to, for one. I have genetic disorders I would not want to pass on to a biological child, especially diabetes, and my health issues would not help the situation, but I'm not particularly temperamentally suited for being a mom, so adoption is also out even if there was money for it. I like kids in the theoretical sense, but I do not establish easy rapports with them. I wouldn't want to be a helicopter mom and steal all their independence, but I'd be a nervous wreck thinking of all that go wrong. I know this. So even though back in the day I seriously considered dating men who were wrong for me and contacting sperm banks, I chucked it all, came to my senses (with some help), and learned that's it okay to be a woman without a child, it's not that you're somehow unfulfilled, and really, I'm glad I made that choice. I know for others having a child is not just a biological need, but a societal and psychological need. Sometimes that's fine. Sometimes, that's unhealthy. Personally I think all people wanting to be parents (either naturally or not) should be screened. We test for drivers' licences. We conduct home visits to place pets. It's really rather a shame that there's no check and balance to keep unfit people from reproducing and raising children, as Big Brother and pro-eugenic as that may sound. But there's an awful lot of neglect and abuse out there that might be prevented at the same time, and lives and psyches could be saved by it. I'm just saying....

I've been up for about 45 minutes

I have opened the windows just a bit above the window boxes, just enough to get fresh air without making the plants up next to the window scream in terror (it was 43 degrees when I got up this morning), and I've been listening to Of Monsters and Men's My Head is an Animal. In fact, right now I'm listening to 'Your Bones', my favourite on the album.

I've eaten something and it's definitely time to start getting myself together and starting to work. I need to:

1. Pay my rent this morning.
2. Get some soda so I have some caffeine in me.
3. Set the DVR for 'Doctor Who'.
4. Work on the kitchen.
5. Work on the living/dining area.
6. Clean the bathroom.
7. Put laundry away.
8. Gather up new laundry.
9. Straighten up the bedroom.
10. Work on the book review.
11. Work on the game notes.
12. Get A to bring in the tubs/boxes in my car.
13. Go to the grocery store.
14. Watch something with YKWIA.

I'm not sure how much I can get done today. Some things, like rent, are priority. Which I should go get ready to do now, I think. Hope you have a great day.

Then there's this one, too

You can see both Earth and Moon.  Yay! (PS, the only alteration on the screenshots was that I mucked with a couple of the icons in the folders for the finances folder. You don't really need to know who I bank with, etc.)

I like to coordinate things

Especially purses and clothes,  but also desktops.  So both my laptop and my desktop at home,  as well as my desktop at work,  have the Milky Way theme for Windows,  and my phone has the Earth &  Moon Pro live wallpaper as well,  as seen on the screenshot here.  Funny,  I tried the 'I'm feeling lucky'  button on Google today and it took me to photos from the Hubble telescope.  I am in a starry mood this week.  I do love astronomy.  :)

Autumn's starting to go into full swing

It's 53 degrees outside after a high of 70-something on a rainy day, and tomorrow, while it's supposed to be sunny, won't be much higher than that, around 57 degrees Fahrenheit. It's windy and blustery. We haven't had rain in awhile, so the roads are slick with oil still.

I went over to a friend's to bring him creamer and fix him dinner. We watched an episode of 'Haven', one with a trouble where people were just incinerated. A particularly nasty one, that. YKWIA and I talked for some time and visited. Then I came on home.

Tomorrow the plan is to get up early, take some things back to the library, go pay my rent, and then come home and work on the house for awhile. A is going to help me get the things out of the car (some of which is theirs, old audio tapes I'm going to check). And we'll do the grocery run after that, once the car is clear. No really big plans other than visiting them and working on the stuff I need to.

But for now, I think I'm going to head on to bed. It's nearly midnight and I want to get up very early tomorrow morning, so I can work on the house, do the errands, and work on game notes and the book review that I still need to finish. Good night.

Interesting look at the origins of HIV

How AIDS first spread: Journey into night -- The early history of HIV has now been charted in detail

HIV/AIDS Origins Traced to Kinshasa

A new study finds that HIV/AIDS originated in the 1920s in the central African city of Kinshasa, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Researchers say "a perfect storm" of factors "primed the HIV pandemic," including rail and river transport in 1960s Congo, a booming sex trade and the use of unsterilized needles in health clinics.

The international research team traced HIV's genetic history using archived samples of the virus's genetic code.

HIV was first recognized in the 1980s. Worldwide, some 75 million people have been infected with it. Around 36 million of them have died.

Take note, hotels and other establishments selling access to wi-fi

Marriott Slapped with $600k Penalty by FCC for Jamming Mobile Hotspots

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a complaint that this particular Marriott location was blocking Wi-Fi signals in conference rooms. Once guests would complain to the hotel about the lack of Wi-Fi reception, they would be offered optional high-speed internet services (both wired and wireless) at a cost of $250 to $1,000.

The FCC conducted a further investigation into that matter and confirmed that the hotel was in fact using jamming equipment so that it could upsell hotel guests. However, this practice is a big no-no, as blocking Wi-Fi signals violates Section 333 of the Communications Act.

This was at Marriott's Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm an infrequent traveler, but when I do stay in a hotel, I expect to be able to use my mobile hotspot/tethering feature that comes with my cellular plan and phone, because really, there's no reason to pay for something I already should have access to. Plus, I've noticed my hotspot is usually more reliable than many 'public' wi-fi you find out there. Good that someone got caught. Maybe the rest of the business world will take note that jamming signals is, well, illegal, as well as just greedy and despicable.