Ouch

Back in the early 70's a short book of humorous, sometimes ascerbic, religious poetry came our way. No, I have no memory of who the author was. I only recall a few fragments, one of which was:

Savior, like a shepherd lead us.
In Thy pastures fatly feed us.
We are Thine, do Thou defend us.
In Thy cause do not expend us.

Pilot verses

I'd not heard of them before, but the idea makes good sense: landmarks and directions set to verse to make it easier to memorize the way to pilot the ship.

Shakespeare it isn't -- doggerel, but with rhythm and rhyme enough to keep in your mind. "As you draw near to the Fogo land, you'll have fifteen fathoms in the sounding sand, -- From fifteen to eighteen, never more, and that you'll have close to the shore."

At the moment the linked site only has the one sample.

The site also has a collection of shanties and of sea songs. I assume these are slightly sanitized versions. Hard work, alcohol and female company are prominent. "The other mornin' I was walkin' by the river When I saw a young girl walkin' With her topsails all a-quiver" Several of the shanties are about the life and troubles of black sailors.

New roads

If you were assured that the journey were reversible -- you could hike back again when satisfied -- would you try that adventure? (after first running back to the car to get some extra food and a parka, of course)

The temperature yesterday made the possibility extra enticing. Yes, I'd go, even without a camera to prove things with later.

Lapham Peak is a kame, named after Increase Lapham who "made weather observations here and issued the first published national weather forecast". Lots of birds for Eldest Son, a butterfly garden -- a good day out in the air.

Learning through trials?

Maybe not the best paradigm.

I'm a lousy photographer

My wife has a much better eye for composition. She's been trying to teach me the basics.

Beyond the basics: I like this man's take on the profession.

The new normal

Milk tastes slightly harsh--more so the less fat content it has.

BBQ meat tastes pretty much the same as before--slightly drier, perhaps. But BBQ sauces might just as well be ketchup; there's little taste to them.

Generic Cheerios are made differently than brand name ones. Ask me how I can tell. I'd read that generics were made by the same factories as the brand names, but perhaps not.

Fruits seem to have an aftertaste now (apples particularly). No, it isn't pesticides; we don't use any in our garden and the raspberries taste off too. Maybe I'm finally tasting the natural anti-bug flavors the plants use.

Diving

Is this the way to cure it in soccer?

Speaking of performative injuries, the intersection of South Baldwin and Williamson streets is blocked off by protestors who need space to "mourn." They've managed to get the last and penultimate Concerts on the Square canceled too. For "mourning."

Pillar

Revelation 3:12: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name."

The three-fold naming caught my attention this morning. Jesus refers to his "new name"--presumably new to us, since we just have the human name of Savior. He sometimes refers to God the Father as "my God". So what is the relationship of the name of the new Jerusalem to the other two names?

The presence of the Holy Spirit, maybe?

Fuzziness

The videos that were posted immediately after the shooting were taken as proof that the Madison policeman murdered the man 5 of them were trying to arrest.

Perhaps my eyes are just not what they used to be, but I can't tell exactly what went on. It doesn't help that a car moves across the field of view for part of the time.

Madison police do not wear body-cams(*)

Madison police have a reputation for being more community-sensitive and better trained than most. It could be true; I haven't had enough interactions with police here and there to have any basis of comparison.

I don't care to render a judgment myself; not right now. I do not see what the accusers profess to see. Nor do I see evidence of innocence. I see blurriness. And therefore I harbor deep suspicions of those who claimed perfect clarity from the very beginning of the reporting. It is possible for someone to have lied even when what he says eventually proves correct. Consider Joseph McCarthy.

And I wonder who is having AI generate video recreations of the incident right now.

(*) Former mayor Soglin, famously known as The Red Mayor, wrote this:

Why Madison Police do not have body cameras:

Prior to 2016, real reason: cost of storage of data

Since 2017: stated reason, "Invasion of a citizens privacy."

Since 2017, real reasons:

1. It increases the city's liability not having information a body camera provides.

2. The police want it, therefore we say, "No."

Ice cream flavor

The chef liked to experiment, and decided that he had a good mix with miso and caramel ice cream.

I lingered over the taste a while, trying to figure out what sort of cuisine and palate this would fit with.

Not German or Cajun or "American Midwest."

Interesting, but once is plenty.

I'll pass on making it myself, and on this recipe too.

In the night

One of the former leaders of our men's Bible study is in memory care, with hospice helping and not long left.

In the middle of the other night the nurses heard music from somewhere, and finally traced it down to his room, where he was singing hymns.

In a different kind of prison, one with bars of sickness and of failing mind, he was, like Paul and Silas, still singing.

Trying to fill in some gaps in my knowledge

The language is largely opaque to me, but I sort of get a hint of what he's talking about. Charles Cornell tries to explain what makes the motion in music.

My ear isn't tuned for this yet, but when he goes through it I can start to hear what's going on.

I get the impression that the categories of major and minor are a bit blurry at the edges.

Challenges

Among hackers porting the video game Doom to a new platform is a famous challenge. Pretty much anything with a computer in it has been hacked to run Doom--or so it seems. Even the Husqvarna Robotic lawnmower and the Honeywell Prestige thermostat...

This one is a doozy, though. The game, and also an IBM PC empulator to run it in, were implemented in Cascading Style Sheets, a software used for formatting web pages. The implementation isn't small, and is excruciatingly slow (estimated 1/10000 frames per second, after about 4 months to get the system booted and ready).

It isn't remotely useful, and although I can see the attraction of the challenge I would not have attempted it myself. I wouldn't try to climb Everest, either. That may be wisdom or laziness, or perhaps both.

Heightened risk

The body has some built-in cancer fighting capabilities. These have some fairly high probability of destroying mutant cells--though not 100 percent, so if your lifestyle exposes you to lots of mutagens something is more likely to get past the defenses. And presumably these defenses get weaker with aging and other bad habits. Once something gets past, ouch.

How likely is it that more than one type of cancer (not metastasis of the same!) develops?

Estimates: 1 in 20 within 6 months; 1 in 5 lifetime.

Time for a little back-of-the-enveloping.

For someone in the 70-74 range (averaging the sexes; men have higher rates), the population average for developing cancer is 2%: 1 in 50. That range includes 10 6-month periods, so estimate 0.2% chance per 6 month period, just from the normal incidences. The 1 in 20 cited above is 25 times bigger than normal.

Some of that may be due to the insults to the body from radiation or chemo, both as mutagens and as reducing the body's capacity to fight off mutants.

If I assume a 70-year-old, and if 13 years is the residual lifespan, and I use the same numbers as before, ignoring the rise in rate, then the expected lifetime risk is about .05, or 1 in 20. So having cancer increases the lifetime risk of a different cancer by about a factor of 4--better than the 25 above.

That seems consistent with a temporarily increased risk (e.g. chemo weakening the body) on top of a more generic increased risk.

Remember the rule: Where you see one problem, look for another.

Note to self

Do not plant raspberries and roses close (within about 20 feet) of each other.

Runners spread and removing stray raspberry canes from within the rose bush is tricky.

The contempt of the world

A nice turn of phrase: Eucherius lays the axe to the root of the tree, by shewing him the vanity, and the iniquity of riches and honours, the two grand inticements of popular spirits. And this he doth with such powerful and clear reasons, that to virtuous and peaceful minds he hath rendered them not only contemptible, but odious. Much more might have been spoken against them, but — seeing the age we live in hath made all his arguments demonstrations — he hath in my judgement spoken enough.