"Murphy was an optimist!"
Segregation in Knoxville September 23, 2010 1:34 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Touchy SubjectsBased on 2000 census data, this is how Knoxville is segregated. Red is White, Blue is Black, Green is Asian, Orange is Hispanic, Gray is Other, and each dot is 25 people. [Source, Flickr – Eric Fischer, Race and ethnicity]
And here’s Memphis:
And Nashville:
[Source, Atlantic Wire, Mapping the Segregation of U.S. Cities]
add a commentQuote of the Day September 22, 2010 10:03 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, Quote1 comment so farYou can lead people to knowledge but you can’t make them think. [Source, Chicago Tribune, How to spread ‘dumb-ocracy’]
So why does the ice melt? September 22, 2010 9:45 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Environment, Politics, Touchy Subjects, War, World PoliticsThe country that brought us Chernobyl will now be floating 8 nuclear power plants on top of the world. Granted, the United States had Three Mile Island and I’m told by an old timer that apparently there is was a reactor meltdown in Oak Ridge in the 50s that was buried physically and by public relations but I cannot validate that. Let’s not forget who is the world leader in exploded nuclear bombs. As the arctic ice shrinks and exposes more land, a battle is brewing for the possible gas and oil reserves previously hidden by the ice. The major players will be Canada and Russia but other countries could try to stake claims. With these ships that could supply power to 45,000 for 12 years at a time..that’s 12 years without needing to return to port..Russia certainly has an advantage.
[Source, BBC, A rare view of Russia’s floating nuclear power station]
add a commentYou’d think computers could remind you about birthdays September 22, 2010 8:24 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Birthday, Daily Life, Family, HolidayLast week I thought, "I’ll actually send my mother a card for her birthday." Naturally, I considered my brother’s birthday too since both my mother and my brother were born in September. Life, being what it is, came and went and I didn’t purchase or make a card. I decide to call her on her birthday. Only I didn’t call her on her birthday; I called her on my brother’s birthday. Her’s is 8 days later! It would have been fine and dandy since it was a good excuse to talk to the folks. Only, I never called my brother…
Happy Birthday Dean!
add a commentAnd the doctor said, go forth, and rest upon the beach September 21, 2010 3:08 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Health, MentalFor 2 weeks I fretted over an incident. During this time, my blood pressure spiked 20 to 50 points higher than normal and remained there. My doctor and I discussed a medicine change but he suggested that I wait a couple of weeks first. Today my blood pressure registered the lowest since I started tracking it. I think clearly my blood pressure has far less to do with physiology and far more with a need to sun myself on the beach of some tropical island for 3 or 4 weeks.
add a commentOh, so that’s what I’ve been doing wrong September 17, 2010 9:33 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Transportation, TravelIt took me nearly 2 years to get a freeze plug installed back in the engine and two weeks to change the brake calipers. Now I understand I should have dismantled the whole Jeep!
Props to Cathy for finding this on Makezine.
add a commentTime to reboot the feed reader September 16, 2010 11:37 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Communications, Software, TechnologyI used to love SharpReader. I was using it before RSS was vogue. The difference between consuming information by going to individual webpages vs using a feed reader is like riding a bike on the Interstate versus driving a Ferrari. I had to give up SharpReader because it was tied to a single box and I’m not. I work anywhere and everywhere and I need to be able to access my data from any device. I switched to Google Reader and have never looked back. Unfortunately, I lost all the articles in SharpReader that I’d marked as a favorite during the transition.
As I scan and read in Google Reader I use the star to mark my favorites so that I can return to the article and read it again (not that I ever do). I rarely but once in a blue moon add an item to my shared items.
I’ve come to a point where my feedreader more resembles bookmarks rather than a useful way to consume content. Many of the feeds are dead or stagnant. I have some like Fark that I don’t read anymore. Some have changed hands and are actually spam now. I’m going to drop my entire feed list. I’ll export the entire list first and probably publish it somewhere for reference. My one concern is losing my favorites. I can find nothing that talks about whether or not there is a way to save my favorites and whether or not removing a feed that had something marked as a favorite will also delete that favorite. I’ll experiment with it this weekend and figure it out.
8commentsKindle vs iPad September 15, 2010 6:17 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of InterestOur family has both a Kindle and an iPad. Two different devices intended for two different purposes and both are awesome. However, this commercial does ring very true!
add a commentIt’s not that complicated September 14, 2010 9:56 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryDon’t be fooled
Live has no deep meaning
We are simply a cog
In someone else’s machine.
Foreseeing September 14, 2010 7:36 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Philosophy, PoetryI knew it would happen before it did
And when did, it happened so quickly.
Protected: Deep End September 13, 2010 6:28 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Health, MentalNo Fear September 13, 2010 11:10 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, Quoteadd a commentThere is nothing more painful than regret.
Invincible September 13, 2010 9:50 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryI used to think that there was no challenge I could not beat
No malady I could not overcome
No loss from which I could not recover
No misguided step from which I could not correct
No betrayal which I could not forgive
No pain which I could not withstand
No negative which I could not make positive
On all accounts, I was wrong.
Dreamed away September 12, 2010 9:21 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryThe thing of it is
I did what I did
Ten years, no twenty, got behind me
Thought I was a dreamer that did
But I’m just a dreamer with wishes
My many opportunities, all misses
Those dreams all gone now
Replaced with struggle and survival
Life gets in the way
Of living
Deep Thoughts September 10, 2010 10:52 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Deep Thoughts, Philosophy, PoetryI awoke from a 30 year dream
And reality smacked me in the face.
