United States Secret Service: Know your money. I especially like the quote on page 2:

Design features sometimes vary from one series year to another. The most common variance comes with changes in the identity and, therefore, the signature of the Secretary of the Treasury or the Treasurer of the United States.

Emphasis mine.

¶ 240 Posted at 06.10 PM ⇒ No Comments ( funny | fyi )

The Kool-Aid FAQ sets the record straight on Jonestown (FAQ XX):

It is a popular misconception that 900 followers of cult leader Jim Jones committed suicide by drinking Grape Kool-Aid laced with cyanide at their commune in Jonestown Guyana in the late 1970's. This is not true. The followers of Jones actually drank cyanide laced Flavor-aid, a cheap imitation of Kool-Aid. The Flavor-aid flavor they consumed was grape. Therefore, Kool-Aid played no part in this tragedy.

So now you know.

¶ 247 Posted at 03.27 PM ⇒ No Comments ( interesting | fyi )

Check yourself for parasites.

¶ 260 Posted at 04.05 AM ⇒ No Comments ( internet | privacy | geek | fyi )

Basic Survival Techniques for Incarceration.

¶ 274 Posted at 10.25 PM ⇒ No Comments ( linkage | fyi )

The Truth about Homosexuality.

¶ 275 Posted at 03.33 AM ⇒ No Comments ( linkage | fyi )

Apparently it is not incorrect to use they/them/their as a replacement for an indefinite gender third-person singular pronoun. As in: "To each their own." So now you know.

¶ 629 Posted at 12.28 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

Yesterday I became frustrated with the standard "squeeze and roll from bottom" method of emptying a toothpaste tube. Having handy a travel-size can of shaving cream, I improvised and used it as a rolling pin. Very effective. Just out of curiosity, I did an Internet search and it turns out there are actual products you can buy to do the same thing, like this one. Behold the miracle of capitalism, I guess.

¶ 662 Posted at 10.57 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

If you have a little bit of red wine in a glass and you fill the glass with water, the mixture is blue.

If you peel a post-it note in the dark, you will see a blue-green flash, sort of like a Pep-O-Mint Lifesaver being crunched. It works for similar notes and some kinds of tape as well, though not all. I'm guessing the light is the energy of the adhesive's chemical bonds breaking, but I'm no physicist.

¶ 700 Posted at 10.25 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

Just so you know, it's perfectly legal for you to remove the tags from pillows, mattresses, sofas, etc. The tags specifically say "Not to be removed except by the consumer." I know; I just tore one off my office chair. I have a pathological inability to laugh at jokes with inaccurate premises, and a joke about this the other day on "The Daily Show" (I think) pushed me over the edge.

¶ 703 Posted at 03.32 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

I don't know how legitimate this is, but I've read that you can tell the phone company how to list your name in the phone book. So you can tell them to list your name as "K G" and have it be effectively unlisted while not paying for a "real" unlisted number. I actually want my number to be listed, so I'm not going to try it, but if you're curious, maybe you can give it a shot and let me know how it works.

¶ 711 Posted at 11.43 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

FYI, you can use Froogle to search for books simply by putting in the ISBN. You don't need to type "ISBN" or anything; just the number and it figures it out. Pretty nifty.

¶ 716 Posted at 10.44 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

Our national anthem was originally just a poem until it was set to the tune of an old drinking song. The same tune was used as the national anthem of Luxembourg at the time. And it didn't become the national anthem until 1931. So now you know.

¶ 769 Posted at 08.51 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

The past tence "payed" is legitimate English in the context of "paying out rope." It is wrong in other senses, such as making payment.

¶ 774 Posted at 01.33 PM ⇒ No Comments ( grammar nazi | fyi )

Somehow, even though I have lived in Austin for 4 8 years, I have never before today heard of the Moon Light Towers. Back in 1895, the City of Austin decided to install 31 very tall towers to illuminate the city at night, casting light over circles 3000 feet in diameter. This was apparently common at the time, as fewer, brighter lamps were cheaper and easier than more street lamps. About 17 of the towers still stand. More information: 1, 2, 3. Pictures from a guy who climbed one of them. So now you know. As do I.

¶ 788 Posted at 01.37 PM ⇒ No Comments ( austin | fyi )

According to tradition, the first marathon was run by a Greek messenger named Phidippides in 490 BC. The city of Athens awaited word from a climactic battle against the invading Persians on the plains of Marathon. Against the odds, the Athenians defeated the Persian force, though they were outnumbered four to one. To inform Athens of the victory, Phiddippides ran 26 miles from the plains of Marathon to the city. Upon reaching Athens, he shouted the word "Nike" (the Greek goddess of victory) and collapsed dead of exhaustion. This year, marathon runners at the Summer Olympics in Athens will run the same route as Phiddipides.

That's the traditional story, at least. If you look around, say at Wikipedia, you'll find it's considerably more ambiguous what really happened. That doesn't matter as much as a good story, though.

¶ 837 Posted at 04.43 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

To my surprise, one of my people is on the men's US Olympic gymnastics team (PDF) (his brother works for Microsoft, which I find hilarious). Previously, I hadn't understood why so many Chinese-Americans were so taken with Yao Ming and Michael Chang, but that was back when all I had to look to was a misogynistic golfer. Now, though, I'm starting to see it; I got irrationally excited when he was shown on TV, and he's the alternate.

¶ 847 Posted at 10.47 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

There are some weird animals in the family Canidae. See the bear-like Bush Dog; the cat-like Dhole; the fox-like Ethiopian Wolf; the confusingly tall maned wolf; the raccoon dog, surely a product of a love that dare not speak its name; Dumbo-like Bat-eared fox; and the absolutely adorable Fennec.

¶ 980 Posted at 11.14 AM ⇒ No Comments ( weird | fyi )

I mentioned previously that we are taking a Bradley Method class. Now, I'm not going to try to tell you that I'm objective, but you should know there are options if and when you are expecting. The way that we think of pregnancy and birth comes to us from society at large and from the particular mix of people we know. Those ideas don't necessarily reflect what is actually best. If and when you find yourself expecting a baby, just know that what is presented to you as the way is not the only way. Know that things that are presented as unambiguously good things aren't.

Birth and delivery in the United States are viewed as a medical event. This mindset tends to think of mothers as patients and pregnancy as a condition to be cured. I exaggerate, of course, but only a little. The hospital forms we filled out have an area where you check off either "Disease" or "Injury" as the reason for being admitted. In most cases, nature will take its course and do fine. This isn't some kind of Luddite thing but rather the recognition that evolution has been operating for a very, very long time. I also recognize that birth has historically been very dangerous, which is why we don't eschew modern medicine. However, many women in the United States give birth outside of hospitals, either in birth centers or in their homes. Globally, that is also the reality. The infant mortality rate in the United States is not the lowest such in the world. There are countries with lower rates that don't have quite as extreme a perspective as the American one.

You should know that nurses and doctors don't necessarily know better. Their interests are not going to be perfectly aligned with yours. That's not because they're bad people, but because they have established ways of doing things. They are afraid of malpractice claims, claims which result far more from injuries to the child than they do from an "unpleasant birth experience." All else being equal, medical practitioners will look for things to do and might not be so comfortable with not doing anything.

One standard intervention is the epidural. The mother is injected with an anesthetic directly into the lower spine to numb her lower body and thus the pain of delivery. However, the numbness is complete, which results in the mother being unable to control her muscles as well. As a result, epidurals can prolong labor. Additionally, the baby isn't as protected from the anesthetic as was previously believed, making them less alert and responsive at birth, and thus making it harder to tell if the baby is healthy.

Another common intervention is the use of pitocin. Pitocin is a synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin. It is used to stimulate or accelerate labor. It's used fairly often as part of normal procedure. Usually, though, you're just better off waiting. A downside of pitocin is that it can make labor more forceful, which will make it more painful for the mother and more distressing for the baby.

Circumcision is a stupid practice and there is no legitimate reason for doing it.

Like I said, I'm not objective. Every woman is different, and every pregnancy is different. Furthermore, everything above reflects only what we plan to happen given that Jessica has had a smooth and problem-free pregnancy so far (*knock wood*). It also has a lot to do with our comfort levels and preferences. I'm not saying that any of our choices are unambiguously better or right (except circumcision). Just be aware that many of these things are in fact choices. Be aware that they are your choices. Your doctor may advise you, but it is your decision, just like everything else.

¶ 1035 Posted at 12.17 PM ⇒ No Comments ( us | fyi )

If you are involved in a car accident, as soon as you have secured your safety, record the license plate number of the other vehicle(s). This weekend, we happened upon an accident almost immediately after it had occurred. It looked like a Honda Civic rice burner had rear-ended a Ford Ranger pickup at a traffic light. The pickup pulled to the side out of the way of traffic and its occupants were getting out when the Civic took off. We were driving past as the Civic fled, so we memorized its plate number. We circled back to tell the people who had been hit, but in the minute it took to turn around, they had already left. I called the police department's main switchboard to report this, but they were closed, and I wasn't about to dial 911. Austin has a 311 service for non-emergency calls, but I couldn't get through. I mention this only to demonstrate that I attempted to fulfill my civic duty to the extent reasonable.

Incidentally, I had a "Rain Man" moment a couple of weeks ago. It appears that standard, non-vanity Texas license plates have a pattern. Cars are always Letter Number Number Letter Letter Letter. Trucks follow a different pattern, which I think is Number Number Letter Letter Number. So there you go. Make good use of that information.

¶ 1047 Posted at 06.09 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

Uma Puma's got a new look. Check it out. It's hott.

¶ 1142 Posted at 05.04 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

Here's another article on what my company does. FYI, a purchasing card is a way to handle business payments using a credit card. It's broadly similar to a corporate credit card, purchase orders, and the like.

¶ 1144 Posted at 01.06 PM ⇒ No Comments ( (un)employment | fyi )

Department stores like Foley's or Dillard's can be surprisingly good for some kinds of furniture. We looked there only to do due diligence, but it turns out that what they have often sucks less than at focused furniture stores. Their list prices are no good, but it seems like every other weekend has some kind of sale that can knock the price down by 50%.

¶ 1208 Posted at 01.46 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

A single company, American Media, owns The National Enquirer, Star, Globe, National Examiner, Sun, and Weekly World News.

¶ 1229 Posted at 12.09 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

When the Bush administration tries to justify their treatment of captured, suspected terrorists, remember that even the Nazis got a fair trial.

¶ 1364 Posted at 08.55 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | issues | terrorism )

New Cuyama, California, would like you to know certain facts about their town, especially the total.

¶ 1382 Posted at 03.14 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | funny )

According to the CIA World Factbook, the median age in the United States is 36.6 years old. That's scarily near. In 8 years, I'll be older than half of America. Yipe. I'm already older than half of the world (listed under "World" after "West Bank," rather than at the top as you'd expected).

¶ 1469 Posted at 03.15 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

A very, very, very dedicated entymologist has devised a pain scale for insect stings. Now there's an objective reference for how much pain you feel. Too bad scorpions and spiders aren't on there; I'd like to know exactly how much it would have hurt had I gotten up close to that giant spider I saw crossing the road the other day (from my car! from 30 feet away! it was huge!).

¶ 1474 Posted at 02.48 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | science! )

When I was a young lad, I made sport of killing the houseflies that gathered in our garage. I became quite good at it, to the point of using rubber bands to kill them from 5 or more feet away. There were three key pieces of information that allowed me to achieve such prowess as a hunter of flies:

1. Flies can see well in all directions except behind them,
2. It is possible to get close to a fly if you move slowly,
3. Most importantly, in order to get into the air from a surface, a fly will jump a few inches.

My standard technique for killing a housefly standing on a table then became to sneak up behind them slowly, position my hands to either side, and suddenly clap them together a couple of inches above. The fly would see my hands coming and jump into the air to fly away, just in time to get squashed. Eventually, I got sick of cleaning fly guts off my hands and learned to cup my palms; that way, most of the time I wouldn't smack the fly directly so much as stun it with the pressure wave from clapping (so I assume). Then I could pick it up with a paper towel and squish it cleanly.

We've had a lot of flies in our house lately. These flies are a little less cooperative; they tend not to land where I can get them. As a result, I've had to try to get them in the air. The most important thing when stalking prey is to never take your eyes off it. Close off the exits to make it harder for them to get away. That's because you'll probably miss on most attempts, and they're easy to lose sight of. Finally, rather than clapping at a moving target, I try to swat them out of the air using a rolled up newspaper or sometimes just my hand. Now, flies are rather light, so that's not usually enough to kill one. The trick is to hit the fly so it goes zooming into a wall or the floor. You'll hear a satisfying "thwock" when you do it right. Then you just pick the fly up and dispose of it. Be aware that the fly might just be stunned, so it may right itself and fly away. Then you have to do it again. This time, it'll probably be easier.

¶ 1490 Posted at 11.50 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi )

You've no doubt seen that phrase on sticks of gum, or bottles of water sold in a flat pack, or any number of individually packaged items sold in larger packages. It's kind of a curious phrase. The intent is clear: they don't want people to buy the product at the bulk rate and then turn it around and sell off the individual items. That would undercut the retailers who already sell the same product packaged (and labelled) for individual retail sale. The reason it's phrased that way is simple: they can't tell you not to break it up and sell the items singly. Once you buy it, it's your property, and you can do whatever you want with it. The best they can do is the rather limp suggestion I quote above. It's probably not targeted at you so much as it's targeted at the retailers themselves.

Even that ineffectual (and kind of silly) tactic may no longer be necessary. Today the Supreme Court issued their decision in Leegin v. PSKS, where a 5-4 majority ruled that manufacturers may negotiate agreements with retailers to set minimum prices on goods (in some circumstances). Learn more about it from Wikipedia: resale price maintenance.

¶ 1498 Posted at 10.08 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | law )

Daniel says I was wrong. The statement is about complying with regulations regarding the listing of ingredients, nutritional information, etc. Here's some corroboration. So now we all know.

¶ 1501 Posted at 11.01 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | followup )

Self-determination: good. Serfdom: bad. Tibet before the Chinese invasion was not a happy place. Free Tibet by all means, but don't try to restore it.

¶ 1553 Posted at 04.21 PM ⇒ No Comments ( issues | fyi )

I don't understand how this keeps happening.

¶ 1562 Posted at 09.09 PM ⇒ No Comments ( us | fyi )

The current plan is for baby number 2 to be born at home. We've selected a midwife that Jessica has seen several times. She's also a medical nurse, which is a qualification that I needed. She has a professional relationship with several OB/GYNs at North Austin Medical Center, where Uma was born, in case we need medical backup.

¶ 1566 Posted at 08.52 AM ⇒ No Comments ( us | fyi )

There are a number of "engineered stone" countertop manufacturers all selling basically the same thing1. A handful of manufacturers dominate the market, and they're the ones you'll see at the big stores. Oddly, each manufacturer tends to have only a couple dozen colors, which means you're unlikely to find something just right from any given one. There's little difference in the product, and the costs can vary a lot, so it's worth knowing about the smaller players. I was unable to find a single, complete list of manufacturers that sell in the United States, so I had to find them one by one. Here's my list for future reference (yours, mine, whoever):

• Avanza
• CaesarStone
• Cambria (NEW: Cheryl Tiegs!)
• Daltile ONE Quartz Surfaces
• Dupont Zodiaq
• Formica Stone
• Hanstone
• LG Viatera2
• MetroStone: I haven't seen a site for these people, and they seem to have a limited selection, but they do appear to be quartz countertops
• Okite (warning: super-annoying all-Flash site)
• Rocksolid Granit (sic): this isn't quite the same as engineered quartz, but it's similar. An advantage with these particular people is that they install right over your existing countertops, eliminating the cost of removal and avoiding the need to go without countertops for a week 3. It is unclear whether this is the same as the other quartz engineered stones, but it's similar. One article calls it engineered granite, but quartz is a key component of granite.
• Silestone
• Staron Quartz4
• Technistone
• Transolid
• VMC Legacy Quartz

¶ 1605 Posted at 05.16 PM ⇒ No Comments ( house | fyi )

While looking up something else, I found a handy chart1 showing the age distribution of people in the United States (broken up by 5-year groups, using 2000 Census data). It looks like people about my age (± 2 years) are in the lowest population cohort except among the elderly 2. I wonder what the consequences of that are. One thing appears to be that it was a lot easier to get into competitive universities because there was less competition. Perhaps the same will be true of jobs seeking a particular experience level. I imagine being in a statistical minimum like that would have primarily beneficial effects like those I mentioned, but I don't really know.

¶ 1631 Posted at 06.52 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | statistics )

I've removed and installed 2 dishwashers, so if you want to save the installation cost, I can help you out.

¶ 1634 Posted at 08.24 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | house | me )

I've found this Google Maps app to be pretty useful. All it does is overlay colored areas designating different ZIP code areas. Note that ZIP codes to map perfectly to geographical areas as they are defined as "delivery routes," but I doubt you or I would run into any problems because of that.

¶ 1673 Posted at 11.28 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | geography )

Remember the vaunted Patriot missiles that protected Israel and Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles? The ones that George H.W. Bush claimed had a 97% success rate (41 of 42)? Well, that rate is lower. It might even have been zero. Mind you, that's with 3 or 4 fired against each Scud. Zero shot down. Zip. Zilch. At $1 million to $3 million a pop, even.

¶ 1674 Posted at 12.46 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | war )

There appears to be a world of difference between cheap drill bits and the expensive ones. Maybe I'm just abusive.

¶ 1694 Posted at 10.25 PM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | tips )

It's "yin and yang," not "ying and yang."

¶ 1737 Posted at 07.30 AM ⇒ No Comments ( fyi | words )

I had a minor complication with the IRS. They want me to send my response to Rulon White Blvd., in Ogden, Utah. Rulon Jeffs was the prophet (until his death) of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints father of Warren Jeffs, recently convicted for accessory to rape, also a former head of the FLDS (though he seems to say now that he was a false prophet), and all-around fun guy. The FLDS is the creepy cult who were raided recently and whose members saw many of their children taken away by the state. Which state? Texas. What is the capital of Texas? Austin. I live in Austin. And I am sending a letter to Rulon White Blvd. DUN DUN DUN DUN!

¶ 1744 Posted at 08.14 AM ⇒ No Comments ( news | fyi )