Possessing genes acquired from a long line of northern and central Europeans, The Mad Scientist has a definite preference for cooler climes. A short stint of hot weather, preferably spent in a beautiful tropical resort, doesn't come amiss of course. But as the temperature climbs, The Mad Scientist tends to wilt and become more slothlike than usual.
So Our friends find it amusing that We now reside in the desert. More specifically in a place often known as 'The Land of Enchantment'. There are deserts, mountains, volcanoes and not a lot of water.
Some aspects of this Enchanted Land are worth examining.
It does have a varied landscape with a lot of interesting geology. There are mountains, deserts, dunes, plains and badlands. It also has a local culture whereby several tons of that geology, in the guise of gravel, comprise a front (and often back) garden. To be fair this isn't everyone's idea of a garden. Chunks of lava, not from the local volcanoes, and boulders often substitute for the gravel. A rock garden is literally that: rocks and not much else.
The Land of Enchantment has a history going back thousands of years: Native American settlements, the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s, various groups coming during and after the American Civil war and the more recent influx of people from Southeast Asia. It's the only US state that keeps disappearing.
Despite the fact the US claimed/took the territory from Mexico in 1846, many Americans think The Land of Enchantment is a foreign country. In some ways it still is. Often when booking an internal flight here, airlines have asked for Our passport; this was long before any security issues made it a requirement. When phoning a US government agency for a grant application for scientific research, upon giving Our (American) university address, the sender said such grants were never given to foreign institutions. If the US government doesn't know where this place is, We can't expect anyone else to either.
http://www.nmmagazine.com/50missing.php
http://www.newmexico.org/
Budget recipe of the day:http://notecook.com/appetizers/dips/southwest-cooking-basic-guacamole/
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Monday, 8 June 2009
Ruby and the visitor
The Mad Scientist's household usually includes a cat or two. The current contingent consists of the Senior Diva Ruby (about 8 years old) and the Junior Diva Jasper, aka Jazzy-Purr (about 16 months old). They are both indoor cats, except when they've been watching 'Prison Break' and decide to have another go. We have provided space for birdwatching at the dining room window. The birdfeeders hung up outside are changed seasonally. April through September it is a hummingbird feeder; the rest of the year a seed feeder for everyone else. They are well patronised. Always enough to keep the felines amused.
They do the typical cat thing of crouching and 'chattering' when they spot someone at the feeder. Eventually their instincts get the better of them and they often pounce at the window as well. The birds don't mind; they know they are safe behind the double glazing. The larger birds attract more attention. The cats sit up, ears forward and don't move. When we saw Ruby in that 'freeze' the other day, we assumed a crow or mourning dove was outside. But no large corvids/columbids to be had. She then ran to a living room window on the side of the house. Same attention. Of course we followed, but still no birds. Ruby then even stood up on her hind legs to get a better view. Rare behaviour on her part. Finally we spotted what she had seen minutes ago: one of the wild cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus sp) that come round from time to time. They are the colour of the gravel that often passes for a front garden locally, making them harder to see. Ruby must have thought we were utter dolts not to have seen the rabbit. It moved on eventually and Ruby resumed her twitcher status at the dining room window.
Budget recipe of the day: http://notecook.com/main-course/chicken/spicy-chicken-burgers/
They do the typical cat thing of crouching and 'chattering' when they spot someone at the feeder. Eventually their instincts get the better of them and they often pounce at the window as well. The birds don't mind; they know they are safe behind the double glazing. The larger birds attract more attention. The cats sit up, ears forward and don't move. When we saw Ruby in that 'freeze' the other day, we assumed a crow or mourning dove was outside. But no large corvids/columbids to be had. She then ran to a living room window on the side of the house. Same attention. Of course we followed, but still no birds. Ruby then even stood up on her hind legs to get a better view. Rare behaviour on her part. Finally we spotted what she had seen minutes ago: one of the wild cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus sp) that come round from time to time. They are the colour of the gravel that often passes for a front garden locally, making them harder to see. Ruby must have thought we were utter dolts not to have seen the rabbit. It moved on eventually and Ruby resumed her twitcher status at the dining room window.
Budget recipe of the day: http://notecook.com/main-course/chicken/spicy-chicken-burgers/
Saturday, 23 May 2009
When High Tech is Low Class
The Mad Scientist lives in a society that could easily be deemed 'high tech'. This blog was written on (or, rather, with the help of) a computer (old and cheap) and has been published by another computer (undoubtedly newer and more expensive). The 'latest' of just about anything technical can be had by those with enough money or patience to queue up for it. High tech companies just love those insane 'early adopters' who *must* HAVE those expensive new toys. We (using the royal 'we' here, of course) generally aren't among that group for a host of reasons.
By 'We' is meant the human inhabitants of the household. The cats aren't counted for this purpose. The feline interest in high tech is predictably limited to: the fridge (food), the microwave (food), the computer (lap time as opposed to laptop time) and the television (the nature programmes). They lead simple lives, catered to 24/7 by the paw-challenged among us. No one has yet caught a cat queuing up overnight for anything. They have more sense.
While We are not Luddites, there is a limit to how much 'hitech' We need in our personal life. Some things are necessary, such as advanced medical equipment, which saves lives and reduces costs. A decent communication network, modern aircraft etc are needed and welcomed. We have never been especially thrilled with flying, but the thought of flying in something made of metal, cloth and glue (like many early planes) is even less tempting.
In our daily personal life, there are choices to be made about hitech anything. So, The Mad Scientist doesn't use a superslick hitech phone for two reasons. The first one is that We really *don't* need any more voices in our head. There is enough noise in there already. Adding more precious/annoying ring tones and incessant chattering won't decrease the entropy of the universe. We like a quiet life. The second reason is that the Mad Scientist has a defect in close vision, which requires a lot of magnification for reading. The microscreens on those hitech phones are useless for anyone with low or no vision. The adverts show the user reading a book on the tiny screens. At the level of magnification We require, only one word could be visible at a time. Not a lot of use really.
Because of the switch to digital TV in the US (finally; other countries did that some time ago), the purchase of a new model was deemed necessary. The old set was nearly 20 years old and its idea of 'colour' no longer meshed with ours. The new TV has about 25 ports on the back to plug things in. We are using one of those ports for the antenna. There aren't 24 other things in the house that need to be connected to the telly. While it is hitech indeed, We just don't need all of it. It goes on, tunes to the desired programming, adjusts colour, picture width and volume when asked and switches off. Works fine! Life is good.
Buy that hitech toy if you must. Just be prepared for it go obsolete that same day. The cats won't care in any case >^;^<
AL
Budget recipe of the day: http://notecook.com/salads/cabbage-salad-2/
By 'We' is meant the human inhabitants of the household. The cats aren't counted for this purpose. The feline interest in high tech is predictably limited to: the fridge (food), the microwave (food), the computer (lap time as opposed to laptop time) and the television (the nature programmes). They lead simple lives, catered to 24/7 by the paw-challenged among us. No one has yet caught a cat queuing up overnight for anything. They have more sense.
While We are not Luddites, there is a limit to how much 'hitech' We need in our personal life. Some things are necessary, such as advanced medical equipment, which saves lives and reduces costs. A decent communication network, modern aircraft etc are needed and welcomed. We have never been especially thrilled with flying, but the thought of flying in something made of metal, cloth and glue (like many early planes) is even less tempting.
In our daily personal life, there are choices to be made about hitech anything. So, The Mad Scientist doesn't use a superslick hitech phone for two reasons. The first one is that We really *don't* need any more voices in our head. There is enough noise in there already. Adding more precious/annoying ring tones and incessant chattering won't decrease the entropy of the universe. We like a quiet life. The second reason is that the Mad Scientist has a defect in close vision, which requires a lot of magnification for reading. The microscreens on those hitech phones are useless for anyone with low or no vision. The adverts show the user reading a book on the tiny screens. At the level of magnification We require, only one word could be visible at a time. Not a lot of use really.
Because of the switch to digital TV in the US (finally; other countries did that some time ago), the purchase of a new model was deemed necessary. The old set was nearly 20 years old and its idea of 'colour' no longer meshed with ours. The new TV has about 25 ports on the back to plug things in. We are using one of those ports for the antenna. There aren't 24 other things in the house that need to be connected to the telly. While it is hitech indeed, We just don't need all of it. It goes on, tunes to the desired programming, adjusts colour, picture width and volume when asked and switches off. Works fine! Life is good.
Buy that hitech toy if you must. Just be prepared for it go obsolete that same day. The cats won't care in any case >^;^<
AL
Budget recipe of the day: http://notecook.com/salads/cabbage-salad-2/
Friday, 22 May 2009
Dealing with the recession the easy way :)
The Mad Scientist hasn't had any trouble dealing with the recession. Why is that, you might wonder (or you might not)? Very simple answer: The Mad Scientist has little or no money to lose sleep over. Strangely enough, it makes life during the Recession very easy. Nothing to lose, nothing to worry about! A small retirement fund, which hasn't lost any value so far. Some unknown amount hamstered away in Social Security. No mortgage (the house is paid for), no student loans (already paid off) and perhaps most important, no credit card debt beyond what can be paid in a month or two at most.
A catastrophic illness (and catastrophic hospital bill to go with) wiped out all the savings a couple of years ago, so nothing losing value there either. It really does make for a quiet life. Of course it means working well past the usual 'retirement' age, but that had always been the plan. Back in the day, people worked until they dropped dead in the field or at the bench. Now people are being forced back into that pattern because of economic stresses. Having intended to do that all along means The Mad Scientist has one less stress in life. Being a writer should ensure employability for a while. Yes, it's tiresome always looking for the next bit of work but better than phreaking over diminishing investments.
Trying to keep costs down is a lifelong game for the Mad Scientist. Tips on saving money will appear from time to time in 'A Mad Scientist's View'. Watch this space!
Budget recipe of the day: http://notecook.com/bread/breadmaker-chile-bread/
A catastrophic illness (and catastrophic hospital bill to go with) wiped out all the savings a couple of years ago, so nothing losing value there either. It really does make for a quiet life. Of course it means working well past the usual 'retirement' age, but that had always been the plan. Back in the day, people worked until they dropped dead in the field or at the bench. Now people are being forced back into that pattern because of economic stresses. Having intended to do that all along means The Mad Scientist has one less stress in life. Being a writer should ensure employability for a while. Yes, it's tiresome always looking for the next bit of work but better than phreaking over diminishing investments.
Trying to keep costs down is a lifelong game for the Mad Scientist. Tips on saving money will appear from time to time in 'A Mad Scientist's View'. Watch this space!
Budget recipe of the day: http://notecook.com/bread/breadmaker-chile-bread/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)