Misc

I recently added a Swedish translation to my FishTank calculator. I don't speak Swedish, but this summer I became interested in the Swedish band Kent from hearing them on Pandora. Check it out, it's good stuff. Through their music I've absorbed a tiny bit of the language. I found a referrer to this post on a Swedish aquarium forum and I decided to give a translation a try. There are lots of language tools on the web, and I made much use of this English-Swedish dictionary, some of the Swedish Wikipedia, and a little of online translators.

I'm sure there are errors in my translation, so feel free to correct me if you find one! I enjoy learning about other languages, so if you'd like to see FishTank in another language, let me know.

I'm going to take my son to the Georgia Aquarium soon. I was browsing their website and came across this tidbit (emphasis mine):

For the safety of our guests, everyone must go through the security checkpoints before entering the Aquarium. No guns, knives, lighters, matches or fishing poles are permitted inside Georgia Aquarium.

Well, I'm pretty disappointed about this, because I was planning on catching one of those whale sharks to bring home!

Back in January I wrote this on a Slashdot article about how underground utility infrastructure is frequently damaged by construction and repair.

My neighbors and I have had our share of underground utility outages while a new sewer line was installed. Cable, telephone, electricity and water were all out at some point during that period. To fix the problem, the companies just lay a new line and bury it, leaving the old. If you dig and find a broken wire, there's no telling if it's needed unless somethings stops working in your house (or your neighbor's).

I think there should be a standard for burying utilities. At least have a marked pathway where everything goes. Or how about a fixed conduit from the street utilities to your house? Make it easy to get to and hard to damage. Phone and cable wires could be lumped together, and the electricity could be nearby but obviously guarded from people accidentally touching it.

Sure a conduit box could be expensive, but given the number of times these guys have had to come out to our neighborhood to fix damage, it might pay for itself. Something has to be better than the present situation.

I think a utility conduit is a good idea that companies are too short-sighted to adopt. And it's not just a problem in the U.S. While reading the May 2006 National Geographic, I came across this quote from Prince Charles regarding a planned community he was trying to establish:

"It took a long time to wear down the public utility people to have one common trench for water, electricity and gas," [Prince Charles] said. "That was more difficult than you would believe possible. It means you don't have to dig up the road every five minutes—and, you know, one common satellite dish means you don't have to have these things stuck all over everything like a rash."

So I guess I just need some royal clout and I might be able to pull it off!

My previous residence is for sale! Please click here and have a look. It's a great house with access to Lake Greenwood (South Carolina). If you know anyone who might be interested, please pass the info along!

Update 2006-11-29: the house has been sold! Thanks for your interest.

I realized I haven't written a thing since January. Well, it's mostly because we moved to a new house and are getting the old one ready to sell. Not very interesting for blogging.

We finally had some good weather on a weekend around here, so I took my son to the local airport to watch the private pilots fly the pattern. We lucked out and there was a lot of activity, so my son was happy. There was a helicopter parked on the field, and we walked over to take a look at it. A woman in a flight suit appeared while we were there; she turned out to be the pilot. Apparently they're in town to work for the US Forest Service. They have been using the copter to start controlled fires in the Sumter National Forest. Today she was on call to put out the fires if necessary.

I'm looking forward to getting back to Flight Simulator when I get my office put together. My friend Owen put together a custom 3D model of our airport that makes it look like you're really flying here.

I stumbled upon this blog. The author is also a Travis McGee fan and followed in Travis and Meyer's footsteps on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico (from the novel Dress Her In Indigo. If you read some of the other entries, you'll see pictures and quotes from some of the places in the book. Cool! I really enjoy the McGee novels based in Mexico. Cinnamon Skin is probably my favorite.

My son is getting interested in playing around with the computer. Many of the shows he likes have eqivalent websites with stories and games. Several of these are on the Nick Jr. website. My son is smart enough to navigate these sites by himself for the most part. I was really disappointed when I found that several parts of their website have video ads that you have to watch or click "skip" before you can see the content. That's pretty desperate on their part. Don't they get enough revenue advertising on TV? Fortunately my son is faster to click the "skip" button than me, but I think I'll be pointing him to better kid websites in the future.

It's fun to watch the search engine hits to my blog when the Ohio State / Michigan game rolls around. My article from last year about jumping into Mirror Lake is getting a lot of traffic.

This year a writer from the Lantern happened upon that post, and asked to interview me. That's a first for me! A lot of Mirror Lake history and parts of our discussion appear in an article in today's Lantern.

I think it's the first time my name ever appeared in that newspaper. I didn't think he'd print the part about not jumping in 1990 because I was wearing my only good pair of shoes! I was prepared in later years with old clothes and ratty sneakers.

I wasn't yet steeped in the tradition of The Game when I arrived at OSU in 1990, and so I sold my student ticket for the Michigan game for slightly more than I paid for the whole season. But I kicked myself when I watched the game on TV from Cincinnati on Thanksgiving weekend; the crowd was so energetic that I wanted to be a part of it. Maybe if I'd have been there the Buckeyes wouldn't have lost 16-13! I vowed to not miss my next chance to go.

I had the luck of going to OSU during the John Cooper years, which meant plenty of wins during the season, but devastating losses to Michigan and bowl game disappointments. The Bucks lost to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor in 1991, 31-3. In 1992 I got my chance to see The Game. I screamed and hollered until I was hoarse, and maybe it did some good, because the Buckeyes pulled off a 13-13 tie with a late game comeback. I remember being genuinely excited about the tie; after all, it was a step up from a loss. OSU's president at the time, Gordon Gee, referred to the game as "one of our greatest wins ever." At the time it didn't seem unreasonable. It sure beat the 28-0 drubbing the Buckeyes would take in 1993, and it stood out as the only non-loss to Michigan when I was in school. So I relish that tie; perhaps if college football games had had overtime back then it would have been a win!

I'm glad the Bucks have turned it around in recent years, but I'll always be a little nervous and excited during Michigan week. GO BUCKS!

Jon Abernathy recently returned to Oregeon from Florida and blogged about the overuse of air conditioning there. I find it's much the same here in South Carolina. We keep the summer temperature in our house at around 78°F, higher than anyone else I know. It gives us a few extra bucks to spend or save. Stores and restaurants here are usually ridiculously cold.

His comment reminded me of a fitting 32-year-old passage in a Travis McGee novel, The Turquoise Lament:



Maybe those overworked compressors are part of the reason for the Atlanta Heat Island which sends storms and pollution our way.

Update 2006-08-06: I came across this Slate article on the same subject.

Last weekend a longtime friend came down in his Cessna from Rock Hill, SC. He took me flying last October too. This time we did some more buzzing of Greenwood County. Instead of heading directly for the lake, we flew over the city and then into the south part of the county. I thought it would be fun to see Ninety Six National Historic Site from the air. This was an American Revolutionary War battlefield. The British had an interesting star-shaped fort and the park has a grassy mound outline of the star. I had a little trouble picking the park out from the air with all the other open fields in the area, but I finally found it and we circled around. Click on the photo for a better look.

Then we headed up Lake Greenwood. I was surprised to be able to see the SC mountains from this area. Those mountains are up close to the NC/SC border. My friend said it was an exceptionally clear day. Then it was back to the airport, landing on the newly-paved runway. Lots of fun. Someday I'll get a pilot's license and start yet another hobby!