A quiet day at home, spent as it should be. Coffee, a good book and comfortable, and no matter what anyone says, this place is the most comfortable it has ever been. It wasn’t all play, as Theresa and I delved deeper into scanning and planning. I see that a month ago I printed a copy of the flyer in letter size, now I cannot remember how I did it. Don’t you hate it when that happens?I see my little “factinos” are popular. These are morsels of information on just about any subject, including one I want to repeat here. According to Simon & Shuster, the most common punctuation mark is the lowly comma. Not only that, it is used twice as often as all other punctuation marks added together (I did not confirm). What merits this repeat is I busted my sides laughing at the editorial.
Simon & Shuster, obviously addressing a serious problem, commented that commas are not to be used “just because you happen to pause to think before moving on” and “pausing is not a reliable guide because people’s breathing rhythms, accents, and thinking spans vary greatly”. I can certainly think of less polite ways to put it. Guys, anybody that stupid doesn’t read, much less write. Thanks for the hilarious example of restraint. I like that, “vary greatly”. Can I safely say my brother’s intelligence did vary greatly?
I watched TV, a nice way to put me to sleep. There was a Discovery issue on the Pacific, rather informative, but pointlessly spread out by interspersing the footage with animal scenes. History and nature don’t mix that well. For example, they started a clip about the Essex, a whaling ship that had been sunk by an angry whale. The crew drifted in lifeboats into the zone of desolation, an area of the ocean devoid of living matter.
That in itself would have made a great program, but then switched to twenty minutes of how seals feed in the Galapagos. Or facts like DNA proof that the Melanesians came from Taiwan. Or that the highest point in the Solomons is merely 15 feet above sea level. About twice that of Key West. Good data, but as soon as I put down the book to watch, suddenly they are talking about the sex life of Hawaiian fruit flies. Get it together, Discovery, dammit.
Yes, I’ll mention the earthquake in Haiti. I won’t mention how they were so fast to complain the USA didn’t move fast enough to help them, but not a word about Cuba or, say, Mexico not rushing to their aid. I had been recently looking at seismometers since my homebuilt units have no way of recording the data while I’m absent. If you must know, a good computerized used seismometer is around $3,000 and should be mounted on a solid concrete pad. Technically, you need two seismometers to get a directional reading. The alternative is to join a group of other seismologists who agree to triangulate.
I am used to seeing seismometers based on gravity and inertia. The ground moves, the mass stays put. However, I was intrigued by several clever new methods, including one that dangles a wand inside an electromagnetic field. To any budding types out there, don’t be fooled by used seismometers sold by oil exploration companies. They don’t work for detecting earthquakes.
Potential bad news for Pudding-Tat. She seems to be suffering a type of urinary tract problem, and I have no cash for the vet until my check arrives. Yes, I’m waiting on a check; I’ll tell all about it later, when the cash is in the bank. The Tat now drinks twice as much water and has an aversion to “going” outside, constantly making dry runs to the new litter box. Hang in there girl, unbelievable things are about to happen. I just can’t say for sure exactly when but it will not be long.
