Events today (28. Aug, 2008)
- Historical Event: Martin Luther King, Jr. gives "I have a dream" speech (1963)
Most of the world’s work is done by people who don’t feel very well.
- Winston Churchill
Been a nice weekend. Overnight temperatures got into the low 50s, with freeze warnings up in the Arrowhead. That’s been nice enough that I could shut off the A/C and open the windows. Feels good to get some fresh air into the house. Not so nice to discover that they needed to drive pilings (or something similarly loud and boomy) in for the new bridge beginning at 6am on Sunday.
Not too much other news at the moment. Still busy. Mowed the lawn yesterday, and had to blast the mower with some carb-cleaner to get it to run. I suppose I should do some real maintenance on it one of these days, but for yesterday, I was just happy to get it running so I could lop the tops off the weeds.
- Says here Bob Barr needs help to get on Minnesota ballot. One of the things that they missed is that many Libertarians are still suspicious of Bob Barr’s “Road to Damascus” moment, since he was a big drug-warrior, and voted for USA-PATRIOT. He says he’s gotten better, but… [metro mpls]
- If your choice of weapons is a camera, you might want to avoid St. Paul for the next little while. Or not.
- Here’s some local color: ForgottenMN.com has a list of Minnesota ghost towns and abandoned places. It looks like the project of a single guy, and I found a couple inaccuracies (and sent in corrections), but it’s a start. As is this list of Ghost Towns of Minnesota (warning - parts of that latter site have annoying music).
Weather in Minneapolis for August 25, 2008 August 25 in History
Yep, yesterday was my birthday. Thanks to those who remembered and wished me well. I spent it at the ball-park, watching the Saints final home game of the season. So that was pretty good. Missed seeing a few folks out that I’d meant to, but that’s okay. There’s more free time now.
The Saints? They seem to have gone in the tank once they realized they weren’t going to make the playoffs. They lost all three to Lincoln, and last night the only scoring was a pair of solo homers by Brent Krause. I didn’t even see the second, having left the game shortly after the Saints converted the main men’s room to a women’s. I figured if they were going to take away my urinals, it was only fair for me to stop buying beer from them.
Overall, it seems to wrap up my summer of “too damned busy” in a fitting manner. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. Work is similarly winding down for the summer, and there will be a lull in which I’ll get some things done around the house, and take a vacation before the snow flies. And then, once again, I’ll ponder whether I really want to renew my season tickets. Probably will, but it seems that the discontent I feel at the end of the season is a perennial thing, and I need to deal with that somehow.
But that’s in the future. For now, I need to get myself to work for the day. And then one of these days I need to write a little something about how my iPhone has reinvigorated my blogging.
- Hey! I’m pretty sure this is a good ruling: Man can’t be forced to divulge encryption passphrase for his PGP-encrypted drive. The important bit is that his computer wasn’t shut down during the initial search (so no password was needed), but once the computer was shut down, the drive was locked down. Interesting. And another good reminder not to talk to the cops. Ever.
- On Monday Apple post[ed] iPhone 2.0.2 update; users say 3G problems remain. What I’ve been hearing is that it may show more bars for the same signal, but there are still problems with the 3G, and in many cases, the 2.0.2 software seems to make things worse. Might want to hold off on that upgrade for a while…
- Denver Police: Man Arrested Twice For Stealing Beer. Both times he was arrested while waiting for his getaway bus. [fark!]
- ESPN has a Q&A about maple bats, including information on how they got popular and why they seem to break more. [colby cosh]
- Good news? FTC targets prerecorded telemarketing drivel, banning pre-recorded sales calls. Not until September of 2009, though. [fark!]
Weather in Minneapolis for August 21, 2008 August 21 in History
Not a whole lot today, but the week promises to be busy with the tail end of the Saints home season, so I figured it was best to do a quick update today.
The Saints? Well, barring a series of miracles, they’re done for the year. I think it’s still mathematically possible for them to make the playoffs, but the number of different things that would have to happen is staggering, and I’m pretty sure any single loss removes even the slight chance they have. Given the way they’ve been playing, I’m not expecting any baseball in Midway after this Wednesday.
And that, I think, is going to do it for today. Have a good week!
- Woot! Shepherd Book Gets A Book, Serenity Fans Rejoice. Next year sometime. [jim]
- After a bit of a hiatus (a couple years?!) in updating the recipes, I’ve added a recipe for Venison meatballs to the recipes page. I’ve made these a half-dozen times this year, and they’ve always gotten good reviews out in the lot.
- I also added a recipe for Roast Pork and Potatoes that I cooked a few times this summer. The pork ends up tasty, and the potatoes get cooked in pork-drippings. What’s not to like?
Weather in Minneapolis for August 18, 2008 August 18 in History