Still Alive

At the end of Portal, the video game, Jonathan Coulton’s song Still Alive is played as the closing credits roll. It is sung by Ellen McLain who provided the voice of GLaDOS, the artificial intelligence. McLain is an opera singer and voice actress and the only person to have her voice on all the games in the Orange Box. I’ve never heard her singing voice, but the voice of GLaDOS sounds heavily processed. Of course, as the voice of an artificial intelligence I’m sure there was an intent to make it sound vaguely artificial and computerish. And it’s a cool song. The lyrics (which reference game content) are very 21st century. GLaDOS is supposed to be destroyed by Chell, but as the credits roll, GlaDOS sings that she is “still alive”.

Mystery Bug

This very pretty insect is perched on the brick wall outside my front door. It’s wings are snow white with black flecks, it’s legs are white with black bands (or black with white bands). Around its head is a patch of what looks like white fur (I think this is called “pile”). What manner of critter is it? Is it a moth? And, as insect coloration often evolves for camouflage, what kind of habitat would this bug blend into?

[Edit: I’ve been informed that this insect is an Acrea Moth - Estigmene acrea – a.k.a. the Salt Marsh Moth.]

Weight Loss Program

Exactly two weeks ago on the morning of May 9, I got out of bed and stepped onto the bathroom scale and pondered my weight: 191 pounds. No clothes, no shoes – 191 pounds of me. And I decided, “This won’t do.”

That morning I began the VirtualWayne Fabulous High-Intensity No-Hunger Weight-Loss program. This morning, a mere two weeks later, I got out of bed and stepped onto the bathroom scale and was gratified to see my new weight: 183. That’s an eight pound difference in two weeks. Granted, there’s probably 3 pounds of water loss there, but that leaves 5 pounds of ugly fat, or 2.5 pounds per week, that is gone. That’s a good number for a weekly weight loss. It takes 3000 excess calories to gain a pound of weight, so I have to burn 3000 calories more than I consume to lose a pound of weight. To lose 2.5 pounds requires me to burn 7500 calories more than I consume. I’m a couch potato, so it comes down to how much and what kind of food I eat. Fortunately, the VirtualWayne Fabulous High-Intensity No-Hunger Weight-Loss program allows me to melt off weight effortlessly.

I’m sorry I can’t divulge the secret of this fabulous diet. If everyone found out how easy it is to lose weight without being hungry, everyone would be looking fabulous. And where would that leave me?

Home Archeology pt. 3

Look at this deck of playing cards. The cards are like new, but they aren’t!

Two local businesses are advertised on the other side of the box.

Check out the telephone number for Rose’s Rexall Drug Store: it’s 39! Yup, 39 is the entire phone number. Of course, this was when you picked up the phone and a female operator said, “Number, please.” In a small town, you might even know the operator. “Hello Mabel, get me the drug store, please … I think their number is 39.” How old is this deck of cards?

I remember going to this drug store when I was about 5 years old. I remember it because the front door had an “electric eye” that opened the door and let you in. A cylindrical stainless steel post contained a light behind a convex lens, looking very much like an eye; another stainless steel post contained a photocell. When you broke the beam of light, the door opened. It was the first automatic door opener I had ever encountered and probably the only one in the city. I thought it was the coolest thing ever (though that particular usage of the word “cool” had yet to be adopted by the nascent Beat generation, and hippies were still a decade away).

If you turn the pack around by 180° you can read the ad for another business.

Their phone number was 575, a whole digit longer – obviously the telephone business was booming. I wonder who got “666”?

It seems strange that both businesses are drug stores. Why would either business want their competitor’s ad placed alongside their own ad?

Home Archeology pt. 2

Look at this old coin; it’s worn almost smooth. How many pockets has it been carried in? How many hands has it passed through? (Those questions are rhetorical – you don’t win anything by guessing correctly.)

Obverse: APOLEON III EMPEREUR – 1854

It’s worth noting the date it was minted: 1854. This coin was carried by someone, and probably many “someones”, before the American Civil War began. When this coin was made, it was legal in the USA for people to own other people.

Reverse: EMPIRE FRANCA – DIX CENTIMES

Here are two more old coins:

On the left: TUNISIE 10 centimes – 1942 PROTECORAT FRANCAIS

(In 1942 – 1943 Tunisia was the scene of major operations by the Allies against the Axis powers. Tunisia achieved independence from France in 1956.)

On the right: ROYAUME DE BELGIQUE – 1905 (Kingdom of Belgium)

(The coin was minted in 1905, only about two years after the Wright brothers flew the first successful heavier-than-air airplane on December 17, 1903.)

Here is the other side of the above coins:

Below is one of the stranger coins I’ve found in the house.

Side 1

Side 2

If you know what it is, leave a comment and share that information with the rest of us.

The coin below is obviously related to the coin above. Different year? Different denomination? Who knows.

Side 1

Side 2

Cheers!

Home Archeology pt. 1

Every now and then when I’m cleaning the house I run across a little box of memories my parents left behind: a small box of objects not important enough to be called memorabilia. Sometimes I know what they are but not the context in which they were acquired. Sometimes I don’t even know what they are. Usually I toss them out. I’ve tossed out a lot of old stuff. I don’t have that much runway left, myself, and I don’t want to clutter my life with relics of other’s past lives. But sometimes the relics are interesting to look at, for a while. Then what do I do with them? My family is almost extinct: I have only a brother left. No one cares about my family history – they’re busy living in the present. So I take a photo. I document that these things exist (existed). When I’m gone no one on the planet will care about my mother’s and father’s lives. But I find myself thinking, maybe if I document these things, and the photos survive the passage of time, and if in a hundred years or two hundred years from now the CD I put them on is readable (unlikely) … maybe someone will find a part of their stories interesting.

Cubana Airlines matches: my dad flew to Cuba a few times in the 1950s. Smoking on the plane? No problem. Here, have some matches. It looks like this matchbox shows what used to be called a “super-Connie”.

This matchbox shows a different airliner: what it is, I don’t know.

Dad fought in the Pacific in WW2.

Don’t know what this denotes:

Nor this…  Maybe it’s a marksmanship medal?

I know what this is, and considering that my dad was from Alabama, I’m not surprised to see it. But where would one use it? Would you stick it into your lapel or what?

Part of the U.S. Army branch insignia. This was worn on the right lapel and another button indicating the particular branch of service was worn in the opposite lapel (enlisted).

U.S. Army branch insignia. Crossed muskets indicate Infantry. The HQ speaks for itself. This was worn on the left lapel (enlisted). I’ve seen websites advertising branch insignia buttons, including the Infantry insignia, but I haven’t yet seen the HQ insignia.

U.S. Army branch insignia, Command Sergeant Major Infantry Branch. It depicts the coat of arms of the United States.

 

Below: the two ribbons at the top are for the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign, the center ribbon is for Good Conduct. The two decorations at the bottom are still unknown to me, but they look very much like the Alabama National Guard Faithful Service ribbon for six or more years service in the Guard. I don’t know if that is actually what these ribbons are, but I do know that Dad was in the Alabama National Guard when it was nationalized and became a part of the U.S. Army.

After I took the photo I found a second Good Conduct ribbon, making two of each ribbon. Are they awarded in pairs?

Below: some old coins. I put a quarter at top left and a penny at top right to show scale. Most of the coins are Alabama sales tax tokens. I think their value is one mil (a tenth of a cent). The red coin is plastic. The other sales tax coins are not metal but don’t appear to be plastic, either, though they might be. The coin with an “S” carved through it appears to be a transportation token (bus? trolley car?) Note the two small coins at the bottom right. They are Aussie 3-pence coins minted during WW2.

Heads:

Tails:

Cheers!

STS134

The Space Shuttle (or any manned rocket) is just a humongous blowtorch with human beings perched on the top.

The view from the ground:

The view from the sky:

Rose

A rose in my yard.

Goldfrapp

This is British duo Goldfrapp (with session musicians) performing Ooh La La. It’s a tune I like … not that I’m normally a fan of electro pop. Vocals are performed by the eponymous Alison Goldfrapp while Will Gregory plays synthesizer.

Butterfly Dreams

I was at the computer feeling sleepy and so I decided to lie down on my sofa for a while. And I fell asleep. And I dreamed.

Baby Robins

My neighbor Carey has a bushy honeysuckle vine climbing her backyard fence, and a robin found the top of the vine to be the perfect place for a home. The nest is also under a large tree, protected from rain and direct sun. These baby birds were just fed and are sleeping off the meal.

App Inventor for Android

Note: App Inventor for Android is a discontinued Google product. Therefore, this blog post is obsolete. However, I will leave it posted here for the curious.

If You Own A Brick House

I just discovered something is eating my brick house. I haven’t seen the critters but I can see the holes they’ve put in the mortar. Below is a photo of one of the holes (on the left) with the beginning of another hole beside it (on the right). There are quite a few of these holes around the southeast corner of my house. The holes are uniform in size: about one eighth inch in diameter.

Here’s a close-up view of the hole. It’s a perfectly round tunnel into the mortar. I googled for a mortar-eating insect and found reports of something called a “mortar bee.”

I sprayed pesticide into all the holes I could find. If you own a brick house, you probably (and reasonably) do not expect it to be eaten. But to be safe: the next time you're walking around your house, maybe you should look for small round holes in the mortar. Certain insects might consider your house a tasty treat.

Colbie Callait

Suppose you’re a 26 year old hottie who was born in Malibu, California. Suppose you decided at age 11 that you wanted to be a singer and picked up the guitar at age 19. Suppose your father was a music producer. Then you might, by age 26, be recording music videos like this. It’s available on YouTube in 1080p so I won’t diminish it by embedding it here. Colbie auditioned for American Idol twice but didn’t make it. I say making hit music videos is poetic justice. Go Colbie!