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I give little creedance to the thought that Tarot draw upon supernatural powers (maybe a tiny bit of creedance, but certainly very very little). But they are certainly good as a meditation on a subject. It can be something that helps you focus your thoughts on a matter.

And then this comes along… This is the card Charlotte recently drew from the Voyager Tarot when meditating about her uncertain future and the thoughts of moving west.

This is the trust card… You may notice the Golden Gate bridge and the SF skyline… and it’s probably nothing but I mailed her a little plastic frog a few days before she pulled the card.

I’m reminded of the famous scene in the 1995 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie just after the Rangers got their powers. One is embued with the majestic powers of a giant mechanized crane, another gains giant ape powers. And Adam… well… Dulcea looked at the forlorn new Black Ranger Adam. She asked, “Adam, what is wrong?”

Adam responds with a sullen expression of frustration and futility saying, “I’m a frog.”

I’m glad I saw it in the theater. Heck it was way better than Star Wars I.

I recently got one of those “forward this to all your friends” emails. It offended me so much that I wrote a response and sent it to all 100 or so people I found in the Forwarded by… list.

First the letter, and then my response.
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I’m thinking of doing Improv classes at BATS Improv Theater :-)

There’s a “Foundation I” class running every Sunday from April 23rd to May 28th.

Last week I caught a “Double Feature” long-form improv show at BATS and quite enjoyed it. I’ve always (I remember wanting to very badly in college) wanted to try improv.

:-)

I’m starting to think about model aviation again. It’s been a long while. I had promised Ma’at that I’d get her in the air at Burning Man 2006. It still seems like a great challenge. There are two big challenges I can think of. First, finding the right plane to put her on. The Trick 1000 didn’t work very well for a few reasons. The second challenge is safety. I want to fly her over the heads of Burners at night. What I want to do is put her on a platform that can (in a worst case scenario) hit a person and have it not hurt. I’ve been hit by my Zagi a few times and the EPP foam and rear-mounted motor made the strike a non-issue. I think it’s possible to make a crash-safe plane but it’s going to take some effort to get such a plane to be able to carry the 12 oz payload of Ma’at and her batteries.

My apartment is strewn with playa-dusty airplane parts as I begin to get things together. While I was looking online for some answers to my questions, I ran across an inspiring video. Give it a view and then tell me flying isn’t uplifting and beautiful.

(Article with video link)
(Video link), Mark Leseberg at Tucson Shootout 2003.

(local version) (26megabytes)

I saw mention of Rainbow Grocery on Yelp. I thought, “oh that’s nice, another snazzy grocery store.” Boy was I wrong.

Their cheese shop is quite formidable. I think I counted 4 wild-picked mushroom varieties and at least another 5 varieties present! Their spices and bulk food sections are exceptional. It is crunchy-granola heaven. And, they have a huge variety of exciting specialty foods.

But most important of all, they have a tap stuck out of a 55 gallon drum of Vermont Grade B Maple Syrup! And while Charlotte gave me a tremendous gift by finding and bringing Trader Joes Maple Syrup all the way from Boston, this…. THIS is the stuff! I just compared them head to head and all it takes is a glance to tell the difference. The Coomb’s syrup is darker, thicker and has a richer smell. And the taste… now I’ll say that Trader Joe’s makes a fine syrup. It really is. In fact, it’s probably what more people would prefer. But this is maple syrup that tastes like driving past a sugar house in early spring with the billowing steam that you’d say looks dangerous until you roll your window down and then the smell encompasses you like a jet plane diving into a cloudbank. It’s like living in another, infinitely more delicate world for a million years in a second. It brings to mind the colors of the ground during mud season when the melting snow, recently uncovered grass and previously frozen dirt turn into a slippery, boot-sucking menace with deep scars where vehicles foolishly tried to cross from the driveway to the relative safety of black-top.

Good maple syrup makes me so happy. Thank you Charlotte. Thank you Rainbow Grocery. Thank you Coomb’s Family of Brattleboro Vermont!

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From my Google Answers question:

Update 4-10-06: I found a solution. I got the brakes very hot by pressing both the brakes and accelerator fairly hard for about 2/10 mile going downhill at 50 MPH. The brakes now only squeak on rare occasion and then only slightly.

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I have found many resources that tell me how to stop the brakes from squeaking on my car. But I haven’t found any where people say a particular method actually works.I am looking for credible testimonials that say a particular method of stopping brake squeaking actually works (even if only occasionally)Some methods I’ve heard of include: Lubegard Squeak Relief spray, other sprays, pastes and goos on the back of the pads, copper paste on the backside of pads, stepping hard on the brakes several times to remove glazing, shaping the pad with sandpaper..You don’t have to answer this second part specifically but this will give you some context…

I have a 1998 Chrysler Sebring. The brake pads were replaced about 15,000 miles ago. It started squeaking just 3,000 miles after the replacement. They squeak only at low speed, when slowing from 20MPH to 0. If I apply the brakes very hard, they don’t squeak. On occasion, I feel and hear a lower toned rumbling or grinding when I near a stop; I feel this mainly through the brake pedal.

I took it to a Chrysler Dealer who (after $400 of brakes service) said that there is nothing wrong with the brakes. The trouble is, I will be unfortunately forced to shove toothpicks in my ears if this sound keeps up.

A plea went out to help fund Seti@Home. I’d like to meet LGM as much as the next guy so I gave a donation

The latest Google Desktop has a feature that lets you search the contents of one of your computers from another computer. That sounds peachy except that it does it by putting the contents of both of your computers on the Google servers.

That’s right, they get to look at everything on your hard drive… free access. Google says they’ll only use it for Good. But there is no way for you to know if your data is used for Evil until it’s too late.

Do not use Google Desktop Search Across Computers.

Before removing the feature, find and click the “Clear my files from Google” button in the Search Across Computers Preferences menu. I don’t know if it actually does what it says, but it might.

And if you’re thinking, “Yeah but Google isn’t evil.”… Do you remember when an AOL employee stole 92 million email addresses from AOL? Do you know what a subpoena is? Have you read the PATRIOT act?

I have waay too many bookmarks in Firefox.
Here they are. Some I use 20 times a day, some I haven’t touched in years. I’ll let you figure out which is which.

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