Category: General

Meanderings….

The snow last night was the kind that paints all the trees white, and leaves a frosting of snow on everything like a confectionist gone mad. I like it. It’s the sort of scene that reminds me why I like winter sometimes.

Oh, and in the course of reading about the Vinland Map, I came across this odd trinket of local history: http://greisnet.com/needhist.nsf/VikingsontheCharles . Rather interesting reading, and explains the road and tower nearby. Might be a good visit come warmer weather.

As the days twinkle down to a precious few…

Sunday night / early Monday morning, my maternal grandmother passed away. I made it to the hospital in NH on Sunday, as did as much of the family as possible. We all sat around her as they turned up the morphine and turned off the ventilator, to the strains of Willie Nelson in the background. Tuesday was the wake, and Wednesday (yesterday) was the funeral. My mother is taking it pretty hard, but the family as a whole is pulling through ok. I’m having a mixed time of it, but will be ok. At this point I’m trying to get back into a normal routine, but it has thrown my entire rythym. Bear with me if I’m off my game for a few days.

-10 for flagrant use of technology!

The dining hall on campus got a new microwave. It loudly proclaims itself to be a ‘smart microwave’. It has a built in bar code wand that you can unclip and scan over the package of food you are attempting to cook. It then recognizes the product and automatically sets itself for the correct power and time.

Because apparently people can’t follow even basic instructions any more.

Really. If I told you ‘microwave at high for 5 minutes’, do you think you can handle that?

Creativity points for thinking up new uses for the ubiquitous bar code, but I fear for the race if it keeps going like this.

Next up, putting RFID tags in your food: not only do you not have to bother with the wand reader, but now the airport can tell what you had for lunch based on the tags you’ve swallowed!