Coal plants supply most of this country's electricity. Perhaps this should change. But attacking coal plants with Federal regulations during a recession without providing any alternative energy supply is silly.
On the Wednesday before last Christmas the EPA created the "Utility MACT rule". It might make sense to adjust how most
coal plant particulate emissions are already regulated. But this rule instead uses the guise of "mercury emission regulations" to attack coal plants. Its cost-increasing effects are beginning to be seen.
This is silly. Mercury emissions are circulated globally, and U.S. coal plants are responsible for less than 1%. Moreover, since the 1950s the nation's mercury pollution has been decreasing for many reasons.
Soon the Senate will vote on S.J. Resolution 37 to overturn the Utility MACT rule. This morning I wrote to Senators Merkley and Wyden to ask that they support overturning such dreadful legislation.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Two New Sonnets
Last week I was in California, so my grandmother could meet Gildor and see Smiley again. I also attended a friend's wedding.
The trip was calm enough that I wrote two sonnets, Developing Balance and Holding, Blending, Dancing.
The trip was calm enough that I wrote two sonnets, Developing Balance and Holding, Blending, Dancing.
Spam from my Evil Twin
In early April I received the following e-mail.
However, Mr. Qufa provided a different e-mail address for me to reply to than the address from which the spam was sent. His was a foxmail.com address. The spam came from ekylsnav.divad@cwtoday.com.
Why would someone think using my name backwards would be helpful? Why would someone bother writing software that did that?
Oh well. As one college friend would paraphrase Shakespeare, "There are more things in heaven and earth than anywhere else."
Hello: What is your name penei.com domain name transfer intention?So far nothing too unusual, since I get automated requests like this a few times each month. This one was also in Chinese, but I am not going to copy-and-paste that text in case it actually translated to something else.
I want you to talk about the transfer of matters. If convenient, please leave your contact
Mr. Qufa
However, Mr. Qufa provided a different e-mail address for me to reply to than the address from which the spam was sent. His was a foxmail.com address. The spam came from ekylsnav.divad@cwtoday.com.
Why would someone think using my name backwards would be helpful? Why would someone bother writing software that did that?
Oh well. As one college friend would paraphrase Shakespeare, "There are more things in heaven and earth than anywhere else."
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Sabbath Prayer Videos
I often get phone calls to the P'nei Adonai phone number from people wanting to know where is the Messianic Jewish congregation nearest to Eugene, Oregon. I think that is still Beit Ahavat Yeshua in Lebanon.
Mark, who runs that congregation, has recently finished a big project: putting all of the major Sabbath prayers online as videos. Fun!
Mark, who runs that congregation, has recently finished a big project: putting all of the major Sabbath prayers online as videos. Fun!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Blessed are the Inefficient
Today Nathen blogged about taking short rest breaks, even napping if needed, as a spiritual practice that aids emotional and physical health.
I no longer need almost an hour to fall asleep, but after years of sleep-onset insomnia can certainly celebrate with Nathen for his overcoming that affliction.
(My only recent problem is how my role of househusband kept me waking early and going to bed late. I am a few pounds overweight because of this, because I eat a little more than I should to compensate for not regaining enough energy with sleep. I have probably lost a few brain cells from lack of sleep too. However, it is a part of parenting and compared to "real" health issues is a small matter.)
I still sympathize with Nathen about the mindset of get things done! that prevents me from being as relaxed and restful as I should be during the day. Parenting and preparing for my math teaching keep me quite busy. I also try to do a little website work each day (I am currently adding old essays to my religion section and converting my novel Windsong to HTML).
Fortunately, I am neither a workaholic nor one of those people whose nature thinks it a crime that scripture never says "Blessed are the efficient". I am fairly content to not get something done today, and barely bothered when a task winds up happening in a non-efficient manner.
Nathen writes well about keeping the day relaxing. I only have one other trick to add, which has worked well for me in the past: have someone drive you somewhere remote and leave you there for a couple hours. The situation of being completely unable to be productive can be delightfully therapeutic.
I no longer need almost an hour to fall asleep, but after years of sleep-onset insomnia can certainly celebrate with Nathen for his overcoming that affliction.
(My only recent problem is how my role of househusband kept me waking early and going to bed late. I am a few pounds overweight because of this, because I eat a little more than I should to compensate for not regaining enough energy with sleep. I have probably lost a few brain cells from lack of sleep too. However, it is a part of parenting and compared to "real" health issues is a small matter.)
I still sympathize with Nathen about the mindset of get things done! that prevents me from being as relaxed and restful as I should be during the day. Parenting and preparing for my math teaching keep me quite busy. I also try to do a little website work each day (I am currently adding old essays to my religion section and converting my novel Windsong to HTML).
Fortunately, I am neither a workaholic nor one of those people whose nature thinks it a crime that scripture never says "Blessed are the efficient". I am fairly content to not get something done today, and barely bothered when a task winds up happening in a non-efficient manner.
Nathen writes well about keeping the day relaxing. I only have one other trick to add, which has worked well for me in the past: have someone drive you somewhere remote and leave you there for a couple hours. The situation of being completely unable to be productive can be delightfully therapeutic.
My Winter 2012 Morning Routine
For almost a year I have been getting too little sleep. Because my wife
is not a morning person it is my role to wake up when little Gallant
does. This is usually between 5:50 am and 6:45 am.
When he was very little I would put him in the ergo, make tea, and go for a walk. Some mornings I would hold him while I showered.
Colder mornings of Winter happened to correspond to Gallant being old enough to entertain himself with toys (and heavy enough that holding him in the shower was no longer a trivial matter). So the routine changed. I put him in his baby corral for twenty minutes while I make tea, eat a banana or some other quick food, and take a shower. That was my time to myself each day this past Winter. Then, after twenty minutes, Gallant needs attention. So I play with him downstairs quietly, including letting him climb on me while I do my back extensions and planks, stretching, and morning praying.
Between 7:30 am and 8:00 am Smiley wakes up. If it is a Tuesday or Thursday I depart for LCC at 7:45 am, waking up my wife if she is still sleeping.
If it is a Monday/Wednesday/Friday I bring Gallant upstairs and try to keep the boys quiet while making us breakfast. My wife wakes up between 8:00 am and 8:30 am. I get Smiley to preschool at 9:00 am. I either drop my wife off at her work on the same trip, or return home to get her and take her to work.
If possible I try to go to bed at 9:00 pm, shortly after Smiley is in bed. But this seldom happens. Until fairly recently Gallant would wake up once or twice (usually twice) between his bedtime at 7:00 pm and midnight, wanting to drink. While my wife nursed him, I made a bottle (her milk supply is low at the end of the day). Then I waited a few minutes while she fed him the bottle before helping move him back to his crib.
Happily, more sleep will happen soon. Gallant has been walking for about a week. This tires him out enough that he is no longer waking between his bedtime and midnight. Yay!
When he was very little I would put him in the ergo, make tea, and go for a walk. Some mornings I would hold him while I showered.
Colder mornings of Winter happened to correspond to Gallant being old enough to entertain himself with toys (and heavy enough that holding him in the shower was no longer a trivial matter). So the routine changed. I put him in his baby corral for twenty minutes while I make tea, eat a banana or some other quick food, and take a shower. That was my time to myself each day this past Winter. Then, after twenty minutes, Gallant needs attention. So I play with him downstairs quietly, including letting him climb on me while I do my back extensions and planks, stretching, and morning praying.
Between 7:30 am and 8:00 am Smiley wakes up. If it is a Tuesday or Thursday I depart for LCC at 7:45 am, waking up my wife if she is still sleeping.
If it is a Monday/Wednesday/Friday I bring Gallant upstairs and try to keep the boys quiet while making us breakfast. My wife wakes up between 8:00 am and 8:30 am. I get Smiley to preschool at 9:00 am. I either drop my wife off at her work on the same trip, or return home to get her and take her to work.
If possible I try to go to bed at 9:00 pm, shortly after Smiley is in bed. But this seldom happens. Until fairly recently Gallant would wake up once or twice (usually twice) between his bedtime at 7:00 pm and midnight, wanting to drink. While my wife nursed him, I made a bottle (her milk supply is low at the end of the day). Then I waited a few minutes while she fed him the bottle before helping move him back to his crib.
Happily, more sleep will happen soon. Gallant has been walking for about a week. This tires him out enough that he is no longer waking between his bedtime and midnight. Yay!
Relaxation, Fascia, and Rhodiola
About a year ago I blogged about taking rhodiola root extract to help with muscle relaxation.
It actually does much more for me. It's about time I blogged that too.
Between it and the fact that I have much less fascia tension than a year ago I now fall asleep fairly quickly. For most of my life it took forty to sixty minutes to fall asleep. What a huge benefit!
Also, from my high school years until a year ago I had a subconscious nervous habit of picking at my upper lip. This habit has bothered me (and really annoyed one of my best friends) but I could not stop it since I usually did not notice starting to do it. Yet the rhodiola root makes that habit go away. A couple of times during the past year I have wondered if the rhodiola root might have had some permanent effect and stopped taking it, and with a day or two I catch myself picking at my lip again. Strange! I must have some slight chemical imbalance or lack that the rhodiola root fixes.
It actually does much more for me. It's about time I blogged that too.
Between it and the fact that I have much less fascia tension than a year ago I now fall asleep fairly quickly. For most of my life it took forty to sixty minutes to fall asleep. What a huge benefit!
Also, from my high school years until a year ago I had a subconscious nervous habit of picking at my upper lip. This habit has bothered me (and really annoyed one of my best friends) but I could not stop it since I usually did not notice starting to do it. Yet the rhodiola root makes that habit go away. A couple of times during the past year I have wondered if the rhodiola root might have had some permanent effect and stopped taking it, and with a day or two I catch myself picking at my lip again. Strange! I must have some slight chemical imbalance or lack that the rhodiola root fixes.
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Six Teeth and Six Steps
Gallant now has six teeth. His upper right lateral incisor came through last weekend, and the upper left lateral incisor came through this weekend. He still has a runny nose and frequent wakings during the night, so we expect he is working on yet more teeth.
He also took his first six step "walk" towards Smiley, yesterday. Not only is this his longest set of steps yet, but he is getting noticeably better at it. Before he did a "shuffling charge" that was all one continuous forward slowly falling motion. Now he is taking steps almost as big as when he cruises holding onto furniture, and not falling forward until the end.
He also took his first six step "walk" towards Smiley, yesterday. Not only is this his longest set of steps yet, but he is getting noticeably better at it. Before he did a "shuffling charge" that was all one continuous forward slowly falling motion. Now he is taking steps almost as big as when he cruises holding onto furniture, and not falling forward until the end.
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Smiley's Treasury
Today, after a splashy yet relaxing soak together in the spa, Smiley and I had an interesting conversation.
I had mentioned needing to do my exercises next. Smiley likes to invent "exercises" which usually involving holding a somewhat contorted posture and then wiggling the fingers of one hand or the toes of one foot.
I had mentioned needing to do my exercises next. Smiley likes to invent "exercises" which usually involving holding a somewhat contorted posture and then wiggling the fingers of one hand or the toes of one foot.
Smiley: Do you want to do more exercises?I have no idea where or when he added the word "Treasury" to his vocabulary.
Daddy: In one moment, after I get dressed.
Smiley: I keep them in my treasury.
Daddy: What is a treasury?
Smiley: My treasury is a special one. It contains all of my exercises--those with names and those with no names.
Daddy: Tell me more, please.
Smiley: Do you know about a treasury contest?
Daddy: No, what is that?
Smiley: Some have names. The person with the best one with names gets a surprise on their birthday. That's just what happens in Far Away Land. In Eugene it's not happening right now. Maybe tomorrow morning it will happen.
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