As some of those reading already know, Jamie "Egg" Kufrovich, moufette, died earlier this month. I never met him face to face, as if that really mattered - the only time we might have met something important came up that required his attention more than the relative frivolity of the event others were attending. That said, I did know him. Perhaps not as ( Read more... )

I'd expected the return to work after a week away to be annoying, with a backlog of email and a few orders that are wanted yesterday if not sooner. No such luck. That would have better than what actually happened. The backlog of email was sorted out quickly, but it had something far nastier than an urgent order in it. A sudden company wide ( Read more... )

( Warning to Hunter S. Thompson fans: You probably won't like this. )

( Johnny Carson (1925-2005) )

Beryl Neubauer (1913-2004)

Late Friday morning I got a phone call from my folks. My (paternal) grandmother, who hadn't been in the best of health for a while, was in the hospital and things didn't look good at all. There were multiple serious problems.

Saturday morning I got the other call. Late Friday night, actually very early Saturday ( Read more... )

I expect there will be editorial cartoons about Rodney Dangerfield this week. But really, the most fitting would have to wait until next week...

One panel: Rodney Dangerfield addressing an audience atop a cloud or such. "I'm ok now but last week I was in rough shape..."

For the last couple weeks a coworker, I'll just call him KH, has been concerned with the health of his father. His father was diagnosed with some cancer. I don't know the details, and they don't matter. The cancer was quite advanced and he had days, or maybe weeks. He decided to try to get a bit more time with some treatment and underwent "light ( Read more... )

In no particular order, a non-exhaustive list:

Cocoanut Grove fire
Triangle fire
Chicago, Peshtigo, etc.
Chelyabinsk (Mayak)
Three Mile Island
Chernobyl
Jamestown
Shuttle Challenger
Shuttle Columbia
Windscale
Bhopal
World Trade Center, Sept. 11
Oklahoma City
Minamata
Sultana
Titanic
Edmund Fitzgerald
Texas City ship explosion
Boston molasses ( Read more... )

Listened to a bit on the radio while driving about around noon. There was a show discussing war, whether it is a necessary evil, or unneeded madness, and how changes in weapons affect point of view. All that was not what set me off, however. It was a simple phrase or two that did. I've heard the idea before and it's always struck me as wrong.

( Only the power of death. )

...is the kind that keeps you alive.

Today as I read my friends list here I read of a close call with gas and carbon monoxide. My sister and her housemate once also had a close call. Her housemate wasn't feeling well, had a nasty headache, felt tired while in the basement. A fellow ham radio op (KA9SRO), years ago, had a similar incident. Each of ( Read more... )