Lee.org

And so it begins. I set my very first gopher trap today.

I planted a wildflower meadow in my backyard and it’s looking terrific except for… An increasing number of gopher holes!

Last year, I finally got approval from the wife and child to set traps after the gophers destroyed THEIR plants. We are done with repellants and thoughts like “there’s enough plants for everyone to share”.

It’s on!

Same day Update!

Holy moly! I just caught my first gopher!

This year I wanted our family to donate to a worthy cause. A few factors went into my choice of who to donate to:

• I’m reminded of how many adults are always willing to sign petitions on banning dihydrogen monoxide.
• Last quarter, Abigail went to a “fun environmental science” after-school program. In actuality, she (a first grader) learned about all the unsolved global environmental disasters of our time: climate change, the acidification of the oceans, the pacific garbage gyre… fun stuff! No, not really. I strongly believe that she should have learned about how the world’s system work before being alarmed about how they don’t. It’s a matter of putting the cart before the horse.
• Political discourse in the US has taken a dangerous anti-science bent in the past few years.

This year, our family donated a sizable amount to Khan Academy to promote early science education.

The goal is to help helping to raise the science literacy of the most number of people. Originally, I set a goal of finding an organization that teaches the fundamentals of science to adults, but that, sadly, sounds like a political act these days.

This is an encouraging pair of COVID charts

(via, and)

What I see is that the number of Omicron cases per week is soaring but the number of deaths has not increased. Maybe just maybe this means that Omicron doesn’t kill people and (maybe maybe maybe, fingers crossed) Omicron is a contagious vaccine.

Omicron hit California on about December 22nd. Deaths usually follow confirmed cases in 2-4 weeks, but that doesn’t appear to have happened yet.

Yes, there are lingering fears about long COVID, delayed deaths and bad bad things. Heck, have you seen the Rick and Morty episode where Rick makes a love potion for Morty? Hilarious, right?

I had a really good time making many of the eggs in this video! My new favorite way to make an egg: French Omelet

If you are bothered by flickering lights and can get to Portland, Oregon in the next month or so, please join this research experiment! If you know someone that is bothered by flickering lights, tell them about this research project!

This is important research that will help science understand more about the light flicker some people see in car tail lights, building lighting, LED string lights, and other places. The research will help characterize people’s response to it, which will ultimately solve this modern scourge!

The experiment is happening in-person, in Portland, Oregon, in mid-January to mid-February (please disregard what the flyer says for timing, email for actual dates!).

PNNL Lighting Lab Flicker Experiment Recruitment Poster

What the heck am I talking about? Look at my Flickering Light Project website.

If you’re interested but can’t attend, I’d still love to hear from you in the comments below! This coalition to improve lighting is slowly gaining momentum and every voice is important!

Over the years, I’ve used a few different lights to combat seasonal affective disorder, AKA getting depressed during winter because there’s not enough light.

For a while, I used a giant CFL light. I set it up so it was shining just over my desk. It helped!

Charlotte got me a dedicated lightbox, a NatureBright Suntouch Plus light with short fluorescent tubes in it. I’ve got to admit that it is a little better at pushing the blues away, possibly because of my intention (reciting in my head, “I’m turning my light box on now! It’s going to help me!”) possibly because of it’s placement (it sits right on my desk next to my computer, blasting my face). It has a 30 minute timer on it. When I need it, I run it for way longer than 30 minutes, more like 2 hours at a stretch. That lightbox isn’t for sale any more. I’d guess that  the new LED light boxes have replaced it at 1/2 the cost in 1/2 the space.

What is the light good for?

I haven’t had seasonal affective disorder (SAD) this winter yet, though here we are, right at the beginning, it’s not too late for me to need to pull that thing out!  I didn’t need it last winter since I spent all my time sitting in front of my home Zoom studio lighting. I used it 2 winters ago and it totally helped.

What my SAD feels like is a heavy, dark cloud, pushing down, almost literally, on my head and shoulders. I can literally feel it in my face, pushing the sides of my mouth down into a frown, pulling my facial features down, weighing on my neck. I can feel my ideas and emotions being smothered by that dark cloud. One of the worst things is how incessant it can be. Anyone can survive feeling like crap for a day, or even a week. But the damn feeling lingers for months, pulling everything down!

When I turn on my light box to counter SAD, within 3 minutes, I have a subtle, pleasant sense of mania, coupled with a slight, high pitched ringing in my ears. In a few minutes, I get that elated, expanded feeling like an espresso coffee just hit my bloodstream. It’s nice! Heck, I just pointed my desk lamp into my face and, woo hoo! it’s like cheap drugs! I’m exaggerating a little, but… not that much, really! A simple lightbulb really does all that!

When I don’t need a lightbox, it doesn’t do anything to push away the dark cloud of winter. But when I do, it totally works.