the excellent game without any rules

certainly click

Camden Yards baseball stadium,
Baltimore, Maryland USA

professional baseball players stay in hotels while they are on the road, and the hotel lobbies are packed with baseball fans who just want to be near the players as the players come in and out of the lobby

as near as they can get. sometimes the fan gets very lucky and a couple of baseball players invite him or her to sit in on a game of tegwar, which everyone knows is the favorite card game of baseball players.

tegwar is an acronym for The Excellent Game Without Any Rules. the thrilled and honored fan sits down with the baseball players, and quickly tries to comprehend the new game, which is played for money, to make it more exciting.

"No, when we just played a hand without any jacks, then a six and a four beat four aces," explains an experienced tegwar player, and hoses in the pot with the fan's money. However many hands are played, and however well and quickly the fan learns the rules that have arisen so far, the flow of money always seems to be entirely from fan to baseball players.

the card game tegwar is described in a baseball novel, "Bang the Drum Slowly," by Mark Harris, who died last year. It was made into a very fine and funny movie with Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, very much worth seeing. i don't think you have to know much or anything about baseball to enjoy the film. i don't know much or anything about baseball, except how far it is from the pitcher's mound to first base, because my brother asked me.

Another very interesting novel -- I don't think anyone ever tried to make a movie of it -- is "The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop." by Robert Coover. Guy rolls dice to play season after season of an imaginary baseball league with dozens of teams and hundreds of players in his head.

Everything Robert Coover writes is interesting. Coover is a professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island USA, and is still vertical, moving forward, and, I imagine, writing.

Oh, here is something else I know about baseball. You can take a train to Baltimore and see a game at Camden Yards, and have more fucking fun than you ever imagined it was possible to have at a baseball game. Camden Yards is an outdoor stadium made of red brick, a relatively new stadium designed in the style of the first baseball stadiums circa 1900. The Baltimore Orioles play at Camden Yards, and they play a very fine quality of baseball as far as I can tell. But mainly the entire experience is just totally pleasant and totally entertaining and fun.

After the game you can go to Inner Harbor and eat the world's finest seafood, crabs, oysters, clams, shrimp, prepared Chesapeake Bay style. And then you take a train home.

Camden Yards was designed by the HOK sports architecture firm.

it's real

I think Deltona is in Florida, but maybe not. I will ask someone at Agence-Vleeptron Presse to check on it.

S.W.M.B.O. sent this to me, we both agree there's something wonderfully Elemental about it. It reminds me of a Punch and Judy Show, Commedia del Arte kinda primitive extended-family puppet violence. The Dad should plead not guilty and demand a jury trial of a juror of his peers, they never seat anybody younger than 55 on a criminal jury. After he's acquitted, the Dad and the jury will do a Group Hug Photo Op thing at Olive Garden. The jury's picking up the tab.

The Associated Press (US newsire)
Wednesday 12 September 2008 4:36 PM EDT

Dad chases nude boy from daughter's room with pipe

DELTONA, Fla. -- An angry Deltona father whacked his teenage daughter's boyfriend with a metal pipe after finding the boy naked in his daughter's room. Authorities say the father, 45, didn't even know his daughter had a boyfriend or that the youngster had been sneaking into the home for more than a year.

When he heard noises coming from his daughter's bedroom Thursday morning and saw a stranger standing naked on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe. He then chased the teen out the front door and called police.

The boy was taken to the hospital where doctors closed a head wound with staples.

The father was charged with aggravated battery on a child and bonded out on $10,000.

- 30 -

Non-Sustainable Conventional Battery Technology extincted abruptly, replaced by far superior kind of "forever" battery

e-mail received from my List of garage and basement enthusiasts of ionizing radiation and all the gizmos that detect it:

==============================
----- Original Message -----
From: C*** C********
Sent: 9/14/2008 1:04:40 PM
Subject: Depleted Uranium Powered Items

This link may have been posted before, if it has I apologize, but I found this very interesting:

http://www.sandman.com/telco.html

NEW ITEMS BEING RELEASED THIS YEAR:

Dr. Drizzlenick and Director General Tolstonogov have developed alternate versions of all of the items you see on this web page, which run on common depleted uranium.

Because Director General Tolstonogov has an abundance of depeleted uranium, and because there are parts of the world where telephone lines are scarce, he and Dr. Drizzlenick have found a way to power the common everyday items you see here like razors, flashlights, vacuum cleaners, and even vibrators, from depleted uranium. Major toy manufacturers in China have agreed to install these Depleted Uranium Power Cells in toys for the next Christmas season, so parents will never again have to worry about buying batteries for their children's Christmas toys.

Dr. Drizzlenick says "The half-life of Uranium 238, a component of the Depleted Uranium Power Cell, is 4.5 billion

[ 4,500,000,000 ]

years. Certainly longer than any current battery technology. It's unlikely that Chinese toys will last that long."

Director General Tolstonogov says "These items are engineered to be perfectly safe by Dr. Drizzlenick, and several other scientists with years of experience working at Chernobyl. Nobody else in the world has the Nuclear safety expertise that Dr. Drizzlenick and the other Chernobyl scientists have."

The technology behind Telco Powered Products™ is covered under US Patent No. 4773863, and other worldwide patents. Telco Powered Products™ are not FCC registered. Items may not be exactly as pictured. Prices subject to change without notice. There is no warranty expressed or implied on any of the Telco Powered Products™.These terms apply only to Telco Powered Products™, not to other telecommunications items sold by Mike Sandman Enterprises, Inc.

Please Note: Due to the volume of requests for information on these products, and the difficulty in sorting out these legitimate email requests from spam like penis enlargement ads, bulk email ads, toner cartridge ads, work at home ads, Viagra for women ads, anti-aging ads and weight loss ads, email response may be delayed for some time.

I am not so sure if I where a parent I would be happy if my child's radio controlled car suffered a meltdown!


C*** C********
Yukon, OK

Preface and beginning of Chapter 1, "Charlotte Temple" (1791) by Mrs. Rowson -- the first English novel set in America

Watercolor miniature portrait
of Susanna Rowson (1762-1824)

CHARLOTTE TEMPLE

[a novel by]

SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON

[1791]

CHAPTER I.
A Boarding School.

CHAPTER II.
Domestic Concerns.

CHAPTER III.
Unexpected Misfortunes.

CHAPTER IV.
Change of Fortune.

CHAPTER V.
Such Things Are.

CHAPTER VI.
An Intriguing Teacher.

CHAPTER VII.
Natural Sense of Propriety Inherent in the
Female Bosom.

CHAPTER VIII.
Domestic Pleasures Planned.

CHAPTER IX.
We Know Not What a Day May Bring Forth.

CHAPTER X.
When We Have Excited Curiosity, It Is But an Act
of Good Nature to Gratify it.

CHAPTER XI.
Conflict of Love and Duty.

CHAPTER XII.
Nature's last, best gift:
Creature in whom excell'd, whatever could
To sight or thought be nam'd!
Holy, divine! good, amiable, and sweet!
How thou art falln'!--

CHAPTER XIII.
Cruel Disappointment.

CHAPTER XIV.
Maternal Sorrow.

CHAPTER XV.
Embarkation.

CHAPTER XVI.
Necessary Digression.

CHAPTER XVII.
A Wedding.

VOLUME II.

CHAPTER XVIII.
Reflections.

CHAPTER XIX.
A Mistake Discovered.

CHAPTER XX.
Virtue never appears so amiable as when reaching
forth her hand to raise a fallen sister.
Chapter of Accidents.

CHAPTER XXI.
Teach me to feel another's woe,
To hide the fault I see,
That mercy I to others show
That mercy show to me. POPE.

CHAPTER XXII.
Sorrows of the Heart.

CHAPTER XXIII.
A Man May Smile, and Smile, and Be a Villain.

CHAPTER XXIV.
Mystery Developed.

CHAPTER XXV.
Reception of a Letter.

CHAPTER XXVI.
What Might Be Expected.

CHAPTER XXVII.
Pensive she mourn'd, and hung her languid head,
Like a fair lily overcharg'd with dew.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
A Trifling Retrospect.

CHAPTER XXIX.
We Go Forward Again.

CHAPTER XXX.
And what is friendship but a name,
A charm that lulls to sleep,
A shade that follows wealth and fame,
But leaves the wretch to weep.

CHAPTER XXXI.
Subject Continued.

CHAPTER XXXII.
Reasons Why and Wherefore.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
Which People Void of Feeling Need Not Read.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
Retribution.

CHAPTER XXXV.
Conclusion.

PREFACE.

FOR the perusal of the young and thoughtless of the fair sex, this Tale of Truth is designed; and I could wish my fair readers to consider it as not merely the effusion of Fancy, but as a reality. The circumstances on which I have founded this novel were related to me some little time since by an old lady who had personally known Charlotte, though she concealed the real names of the characters, and likewise the place where the unfortunate scenes were acted: yet as it was impossible to offer a relation to the public in such an imperfect state, I have thrown over the whole a slight veil of fiction, and substituted names and places according to my own fancy.

The principal characters in this little tale are now consigned to the silent tomb: it can therefore hurt the feelings of no one; and may, I flatter myself, be of service to some who are so unfortunate as to have neither friends to advise, or understanding to direct them, through the various and unexpected evils that attend a young and unprotected woman in her first entrance into life.

While the tear of compassion still trembled in my eye for the fate of the unhappy Charlotte, I may have children of my own, said I, to whom this recital may be of use, and if to your own children, said Benevolence, why not to the many daughters of Misfortune who, deprived of natural friends, or spoilt by a mistaken education, are thrown on an unfeeling world without the least power to defend themselves from the snares not only of the other sex, but from the more dangerous arts of the profligate of their own.

Sensible as I am that a novel writer, at a time when such a variety of works are ushered into the world under that name, stands but a poor chance for fame in the annals of literature, but conscious that I wrote with a mind anxious for the happiness of that sex whose morals and conduct have so powerful an influence on mankind in general; and convinced that I have not wrote a line that conveys a wrong idea to the head or a corrupt wish to the heart, I shall rest satisfied in the purity of my own intentions, and if I merit not applause, I feel that I dread not censure.

If the following tale should save one hapless fair one from the errors which ruined poor Charlotte, or rescue from impending misery the heart of one anxious parent, I shall feel a much higher gratification in reflecting on this trifling performance, than could possibly result from the applause which might attend the most elegant finished piece of literature whose tendency might deprave the heart or mislead the understanding.

CHARLOTTE TEMPLE,

VOLUME I

CHAPTER I.

A BOARDING SCHOOL.

"ARE you for a walk," said Montraville to his companion, as they arose from table; "are you for a walk? or shall we order the chaise and proceed to Portsmouth?" Belcour preferred the former; and they sauntered out to view the town, and to make remarks on the inhabitants, as they returned from church.

Montraville was a Lieutenant in the army: Belcour was his brother officer: they had been to take leave of their friends previous to their departure for America, and were now returning to Portsmouth, where the troops waited orders for embarkation. They had stopped at Chichester to dine; and knowing they had sufficient time to reach the place of destination before dark, and yet allow them a walk, had resolved, it being Sunday afternoon, to take a survey of the Chichester ladies as they returned from their devotions.

They had gratified their curiosity, and were preparing to return to the inn without honouring any of the belles with particular notice, when Madame Du Pont, at the head of her school, descended from the church. Such an assemblage of youth and innocence naturally attracted the young soldiers: they stopped; and, as the little cavalcade passed, almost involuntarily pulled off their hats.

A tall, elegant girl looked at Montraville and blushed: he instantly recollected the features of Charlotte Temple, whom he had once seen and danced with at a ball at Portsmouth. At that time he thought on her only as a very lovely child, she being then only thirteen; but the improvement two years had made in her person, and the blush of recollection which suffused her cheeks as she passed, awakened in his bosom new and pleasing ideas.

Vanity led him to think that pleasure at again beholding him might have occasioned the emotion he had witnessed, and the same vanity led him to wish to see her again.

...

again by request: Elmer Elevator the Monster Maine Coon, with a scale object / Benedict Spinoza Tabby Cat, the world-famous Cat Of The Day

Clickety click.

Okay, again by request, Elmer Elevator the Maine Coon Cat's linear dimensions and mass. (I picked him up and stood on the bathroom scale, then weighed myself, then subtracted.) He's a bit on the light side, but will probably put on extra fat during the winter; Elmer's typical weight has been 14 pounds / 6.35 kilograms.

When Heathkit/Heathbar asked for a scale object to show Elmer's monster size, S.W.M.B.O. pointed out that Elmer was posing on nice orderly linoleum rectangles. Heathkit/Heathbar spent a few evenings here and was impressed with Elmer's size and very sweet and gentle savageness. Elmer hunts full-grown rabbits (successfully, and always brings us the meatier, tastier rear half).

Also Benedict Spinoza the Tabby Cat, Elmer's Bestest Friend Forever (like Spongebob and Patrick the Starfish with 1 neuron). Benny was celebrated around Cyberspace last year as Cat Of The Day. S.W.M.B.O. wrote the text.

Our other cats are Priscilla, a very attractive little grey and white cat (originally named Mittens for her 4 white paws), who gets a bit paranoid and violent when anything pisses her off; and Scarlett-Charlotte the incessantly shrieking screaming howling Siamese. Scarlett is named for Scarlett O'Hara of "Gone with the Wind," and then I concatinated Charlotte, for "Charlotte Temple," a 1791 novel by Mrs. Rowson that some regard as the first American novel. Charlotte Temple was an innocent young English girl who was seduced and abandoned by a British army officer (they're all scoundrels and cads) who brought Charlotte to America as his mistress while he fought the Rebels during the Revolution.

================

May 11, 2007
Benny, the Cat of the Day
Three years old
Male Tabby
Florence, Massachusetts, USA

Benny lives with his best friend Elmer the Maine Coon, in Florence Massachusetts. We got Benny because Elmer was lonely after Wanda the cat died at 19. Benny, as you can see from the picture, is the most laid back cat we have ever had. He loves to roll on his back on the gravel in our driveway while I vigorously scratch his tummy!

Benny will also fetch his favorite toy, Mr. Mousie, when my husband throws it down our long narrow hall. I have had to replace Mr. Mousie's tail three times as Benny likes to carry him dangling by his tail in his mouth.

Benny and Elmer hunt together. This time of year I am kept busy watching what they bring in through the cat door.

Benny's full name is Benedict, which means blessing, and a cat never had a more apt name. He is the joy not only of our lives, but of Elmer's as well!

by request: recent photograph of Elmer Elevator the Maine Coon Cat

Click on the Cat.

Steve Heathkit HeathBar has requested a recent photo of Elmer Elevator the Maine Coon Cat. Elmer was S.W.M.B.O.'s and my wedding gift to one another, which makes Elmer nearly 9 years old. Steve has visited and made Elmer's acquaintance, and apparently found EE memorable.

He is pretty memorable. First of all, he's huge -- the Maine Coon wins or ties as the largest domestic cat breed, and it's pretty obvious he has much more bobcat in his genetic material than any other kind of domestic cat. He has on several occasions been mistaken for a bobcat by passersby. He attacks full-grown large male dogs passing by, and hunts full-grown rabbits (successfully). He used to lie in wait for the mailman, and rush out and attack the fellow's legs and feet, but clearly just as a daily sporting game.

Elmer is getting on in years and has pretty crappy health, so this is not Elmer at his visual spiffiest.

But we've got him all cranked up on all kinds of pillz, and he's got a pretty fine quality of life, especially with his Bestest Pal & Hunting Companion, Benedict Spinoza Cat.

If Elmer is looking particularly bedraggled here, it's his coat -- gorgeous for 5 minutes after a thorough grooming, but after that, it's the Coat From Filth Hell, it quickly takes on all the qualities of the inside of a vacuum cleaner bag. He prowls around and wallows in Filth, and quickly becomes Filth. And stays Filth until we get him some Professional Help, which sometimes makes him look like a silver poodle after the clippings.

He likes me to put him in my office swivel chair and spin him around as fast as I can. He's never jumped off because he doesn't want to spin anymore. My swivel chair is Elmer's idea of the Superman Roller Coaster at Six Flags Over New England. (The other 3 cats have utterly no interest in spinning in the swivel chair.)

He doesn't "meow," he makes trilling noises: bbbbbbRRRRIP!

His paws are the size of baseball catchers' mitts. Once he checked himself out of a long stay at the veterinarian, in the examining room he made it clear to the staff that he would murder the next person who poked or probed or prodded him, and the vet decided that was nature's way of saying he should go home.

an inexcusably tardy but nonetheless fervent Ramadan Kareem

Vleeptron has truly fallen asleep at the wheel this year. This is the latest we have ever wished Planet Earth

Ramadan Kareem

Okay, well, we've been on a long, complicated, exhausting trip. Through Islam-Lite regions. Not a lot of warnings that Ramadan was nearly upon us in Nova Scotia. Maybe if I'd paid closer attention in Montreal or Halifax, I might have gotten a clue. But I would have had to look pretty closely. Mostly I was looking at timetables and itineraries.

Anyway, tardy as we embarrassingly are, Ramadan Kareem to all. The wish is in no way less.

Here's an English-language site, posts from people all over the world about their local Ramadan observances, exchanging wishes, telling little stories.

This year, because Ramadan is triggered by the Moon, and where it can be seen, Ramadan seems to have begun in India. Wikipedia confidently says Ramadan 2008 / 1429 begins 2 September and ends 1 October.

www.holidays.net appears to delve more deeply into the complicated and multiple answer to the simple question.

============================

Islamic Calendar 2008 - 2015
(We have made every effort to assure that the dates below are correct)

According to the Islamic Society of North America the first day of fasting for Ramadan 2008 is expected to be September 01st. (depending on where you live)

Source: www.moonsighting.com

CURRENT MOON waxing gibbous
moon phases 83% of full
thu 11 sep 2008

Islamic Events 2008*

* Eid-al-Adha (10th Zul-Hijjah) December 20, 2007
* Israa'/Me'raj (Night Journey to Heavens) July 29, 2008
* Lailatul-Bara'at (Night of Salvation) August 15, 2008

* 1st Ramadan (Fasting Begins) September 01, 2008 *
* Lailatul-Qadr (Night of Power) September 26, 2008
* Eid-al-Fitr (End of Ramadan) October 01, 2008

* Yaum-al-Arafah (Day of Arafaat (Hajj)) December 07, 2008
* Eid-al-Adha (10th Zul-Hijjah) December 08, 2008

*Ramadan 2008: The first day of Ramadan (fasting) in North America according to sighting, is expected to be September 02. However, according to Saudi Ummul-Qura calendar, Fiqh Council of North America, and European Council for Fatwa and Research, the first day of Ramadan is on Monday, September 01, 2008.

According to a new Fatawa from Deoband, India, the first day of Ramadan in UK will be September 02, because the moon should be easily seen by naked eye from Australia to Morocco. In Pakistan also, sighting will be easy on September 01, and first day of Ramadan will also be September 02.

(source: Moonsighting.com) [updated 08/25/2008]

Islamic Events 2009*

* Al-Hijra (Islamic New Year) December 29, 2008
* Israa'/Me'raj (Night Journey to Heavens) July 19, 2009
* Lailatul-Bara'at (Night of Salvation) August 05, 2009

* 1st Ramadan (Fasting Begins) August 22, 2009
* Lailatul-Qadr (Night of Power) September 16, 2009
* Eid-al-Fitr (End of Ramadan) September 20, 2009

* Eid-Al-Adha: November 27, 2009

sunset on the Bay of Fundy / the itty-bitty digi-camera i have grudgingly agreed to strap to myself / Brantford, Ontario by night / CAT ferry

Oh PLEASE click!
See it in all its glory!

For a long time I wouldn't bring a camera with me when I travelled, even if I was going to the Pyramids or the Petronas Towers or Antarctica. Just as I was about to take the train from Toronto to Winnipeg to Hudson Bay (in polar bear season), a woman realized I had no camera, and went totally ballistic, and forced her camera on me. And that was cool, I got some snaps that were pretty damn spiffy.

But the deal is, I think almost all the time a camera is just a big clumsy complicated machine that weighs a lot and is awkward and cumbersome and gets in the way of what I'm trying to grok with just my eyeballs and my brain, so that I can hose in not so much The Thing Itself, but what The Thing Itself looked like and meant to me when I saw it. And the way I subsequently remember it.

Local postcards, on the other hand -- now here's a guy or a woman who set up in front of the Cathedral for three days with a very expensive big camera and tripod and light meter and lenses and color filters.

This photographer captures the local soul, essence and meaning of The Taj Mahal or Angkor Wat, and the final tourist postcard emphasizes what the local folks want to ballyhoo to the world about the Scenic Wonder.

A local postcard is a Lure, a Seduction, to wind up in a mailbox in Topeka, Kansas USA, and suddenly smash the recipient in the brain with an Obsession to travel two-thirds of the way around the planet (he isn't a very experienced traveller) because now he must see the Thing ballyhooed on the haunting, evocative Postcard from Far Away.

I buy all the prettiest local tourist postcards. My favorite is the above postcard from a town in Ontario. You can put jokes in a postcard. I can't put many jokes in my travel photographs. In Stockholm I bought a 50-cent postcard of Kroninprinsess Viktoria and have been profoundly smitten by Her Royal Highness ever since. I told this to a Swedish guy, and he said, "Take a number."

(In most monarchies, getting lucky with so august a royal personage is considered High Treason, in England it used to get you drawn and quartered. Be careful whom you date.)

Well, anyway, I finally got Rational and agreed to wander through this world with a little digital camera strapped to my belt. At an electronics store in Willemstad, Curacau, a salesman superhighpressured me into buying the itty-bitty Konika PhD (Push Here, Dummy). It has everything. It does everything. Back home, the photos always turn out amazingly pretty and high-class. And it's about the size of a belt pager. It's got a quite powerful telescopic zoom.

Stores a gazillion photos (or takes a short movie). Communicates fairly easily and straightforwardly to the desktop computer through a cable.

When the Sunset over the Bay of Fundy began, a murmur ran through the CAT jet ferry passengers, and a little crowd formed at the starboard bow. Cameras began clicking. My efforts were immediately noticed because my flash kept flashing; another passenger politely approached and helped me turn off the Auto-Flash, because the flash would get me all-red snapshots of my flash reflecting off the glass window. There's a shitload of sophisticated features in the dingus' software, most of which I am wholly ignorant about.

On this crossing I've seen spouting whales, probably humpbacks. (cf. earlier post about Annapolis Royal Tidal Generating Plant's trapped whale Sluice.) The high-speed jet engine CAT ferry (built in Australia, I think) has a casino of about 50 slot machines. (The old big slow Yarmouth-Portland ferry had blackjack and roulette with a human dealer and croupiere; this casino is entirely self-serve, but an attendant wanders around to keep players happy.)

There are several kinds of seating -- comfy plush airline-style reclining seats, and cafeteria-style tables and chairs, with about 3 snack bars. Several television screens, three movie areas, one especially for children.

You can step outside at the stern -- great view of the long, white ship's wake -- but you can't access the outdoors at the bow. I carried Gravol with me, but didn't need it; a very smooth crossing.

I asked, but the CAT ferry offers no bridge tour. One fellow who'd seen the bridge says it's a bit spooky, the ship is steered by a joystick and the instrumentation resembles a high-tek video game. A few accidents a few years ago led to an agreement between the ferry operator and the US and Canadian coast guards calling for an extra bridge officer on duty for each sailing.

================================

Builder: Incat Tasmania Pty Ltd.
Class Society: Det Norske Veritas
Clarification: DNV +1A1 HSLC R1 Car Ferry "B" EO

[I think they mean "Classification.]

Length Overall: 97.22m
Length Waterline: 92.00m
Beam overall: 26.60m
Beam of Hulls: 4.50m
Draft: 3.42m maximum
Speed: 36 knots @ 750 tonnes deadweight
... & 40 knots @ 375 tonnes deadweight

* Note – All speeds quoted at 100% MCR (4 x 7080kw @ 1030 rpm) and excluding T-foil.

Maximum Deadweight: 750 tonnes
Passenger Capacity: 900
Vehicle Capacity: 240
Construction: 4/2002

Design: Two slender, aluminum hulls connected by a bridging section with center bow structure at fwd end. Each hull is divided into nine vented, watertight compartments divided by transverse bulkheads. Two compartments in each hull prepared as short-range fuel tanks and one as a long-range fuel tank. Welded and glued aluminum construction using longitudinal stiffeners supported by transverse web frames and bulkheads.

Air Conditioning: Yes

Evacuation: Escape is via Four Marine Evacuation Stations, two port and two starboard, and two external stairs aft. The two forward MES serve a total of 200 persons each, the two mid MES serve a total of 200 persons each and one aft stair serving 100persons. A total of ten 100 persons rafts are fitted. 2 x SOLAS inflatable dinghy with 30 hp motor and approved launch/recovery method.

Main Engines: 4 x resiliently mounted Ruston 20RK270 or Cataerpillar 3618 marine diesel engines, each rates at 7080kw.

Water Jets: 4 x Lips 120E waterjets configured for steering and reverse.

Transmission: 4 x Reintjes gearboxes, approved by the engine manufacturer, with reduction ration suited for optimum jet shaft speed.

Hydraulics: Three hydraulic power packs, one forward and two aft, all alarmed for low level, high temperature and filter clog and low pressure. One pressure line filter an two return line filters fitted. An off-line filter/pump provided.
Ride Control: A "Maritime Dynamics" active ride control system is fitted to maximize passenger comfort. This system combines active trim tabs aft and optional fold-down T-foil located at aft end of center bow fitted with active fins. The structural abutment, electrical and hydraulic services to receive the forward T-foil will be fitted as standard to the vessel.

free Tom Tom Club concert in Norwalk CT USA 20 September 6 pm

Click, why not?

Greetings Friends,

The Norwalk [Connecticut USA] Redevelopment Agency is delighted to host a

FREE CONCERT

on Saturday September 20th with the

Tom Tom Club
(starring Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth
- former members of the Talking Heads).

Washington Street in SoNo will be closed to traffic for the afternoon/evening, so it should be a great time for shopping and outdoor dining.

New Orleans native and very talented Renard Boissiere opens the show at 6pm with Tom Tom Club hitting the stage at about 8. Spread the word to your friends and families!

If you like to travel by train, take the Metro North New Haven Line from Grand Central Station [NYC] to South Norwalk Station. If you're traveling by car there is $1.00 parking at the Maritime Center Parking Lot right around the corner from Washington Street. Come to the show and tell your friends!

world's gonna end / or maybe it's not / Alpine Kat will tell ya why / her rap video's hot / tomorrow's the day they turn this sucker on

image filched from Sabine Hossenfelder and Stefan Scherer. Modified by the Vleeptron Ministry of Bright Shiny Colorful Objects (VMBSCO).

Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist in Ontario studying physics beyond the Standard Model. People keep leaving comments on her blog about the Black Hole which the Large Hadron Collider will create. This is pissing her off a lot. She vents:

=================

I've all said it repeatedly, but here is a summary for those of you with the really short attention span:

1. The LHC will not recreate the Big Bang. I repeat, the LHC will not recreate the Big Bang. No matter what you have read elsewhere. This statement is not only slightly inaccurate, it is simply plainly wrong by at least 19 orders of magnitude. For more details, please read Recreating the Big Bang?

2. The world will not end tomorrow. To produce a black hole at the LHC the world would need to have additional compactified dimensions, a so far completely unconfirmed speculation. Even in the unlikely event this would be the case, these black holes would decay almost immediately, long before they even reached the detector. There is no controversy about this in the community, no matter what you have read elsewhere. We do not know of any consistent theory according to which these black holes, once produced, would pose a risk. For more information, please read our posts The CERN Safety report, Black Holes at the LHC - again, Black Holes at the LHC - what can happen? and Micro Black Holes.

Please do me the favour and do not ask questions without having read the above mentioned posts, because I am really tired of repeating the same points over and over again. It is really not that hard to understand, just give it a try.

It is quite ironic that I spoke about these two examples in my talk yesterday to explain how difficult communication between scientists and the public can be.

=======================

Go HERE to see this charming rap video, which has apparently been viewed 3.885 x 10^209 times. But here are the lyrics. It was written, and the video produced, by CERN science writer Kate McAlpine, a.k.a. "Alpine Kat."

Large Hadron Rap

Twenty-seven kilometers of tunnel under ground
Designed with mind to send protons around
A circle that crosses through Switzerland and France

Sixty nations contribute to scientific advance
Two beams of protons swing round, through the ring they ride
‘Til in the hearts of the detectors, they’re made to collide
And all that energy packed in such a tiny bit of room
Becomes mass, particles created from the vacuum
And then…

LHCb sees where the antimatter’s gone
ALICE looks at collisions of lead ions
CMS and ATLAS are two of a kind
They’re looking for whatever new particles they can find.
The LHC accelerates the protons and the lead
And the things that it discovers will rock you in the head.

We see asteroids and planets, stars galore
We know a black hole resides at each galaxy’s core
But even all that matter cannot explain
What holds all these stars together – something else remains
This dark matter interacts only through gravity
And how do you catch a particle there’s no way to see
Take it back to the conservation of energy
And the particles appear, clear as can be

You see particles flying, in jets they spray
But you notice there ain’t nothin’, goin’ the other way
You say, “My law has just been violated – it don’t make sense!
There’s gotta be another particle to make this balance.”
And it might be dark matter, and for first
Time we catch a glimpse of what must fill most of the known ‘Verse.
Because…

LHCb sees where the antimatter’s gone
ALICE looks at collisions of lead ions
CMS and ATLAS are two of a kind
They’re looking for whatever new particles they can find.

Antimatter is sort of like matter’s evil twin
Because except for charge and handedness of spin
They’re the same for a particle and its anti-self
But you can’t store an antiparticle on any shelf
Cuz when it meets its normal twin, they both annihilate
Matter turns to energy and then it dissipates

When matter is created from energy
Which is exactly what they’ll do in the LHC
You get matter and antimatter in equal parts
And they try to take that back to when the universe starts

The Big Bang – back when the matter all exploded
But the amount of antimatter was somehow eroded
Because when we look around we see that matter abounds
But antimatter’s nowhere to be found.
That’s why…

LHCb sees where the antimatter’s gone
ALICE looks at collisions of lead ions
CMS and ATLAS are two of a kind
They’re looking for whatever new particles they can find.
The LHC accelerates the protons and the lead
And the things that it discovers will rock you in the head.

The Higgs Boson – that’s the one that everybody talks about.
And it’s the one sure thing that this machine will sort out
If the Higgs exists, they ought to see it right away
And if it doesn’t, then the scientists will finally say
“There is no Higgs! We need new physics to account for why
Things have mass. Something in our Standard Model went awry.”

But the Higgs – I still haven’t said just what it does
They suppose that particles have mass because
There is this Higgs field that extends through all space
And some particles slow down while other particles race
Straight through like the photon – it has no mass
But something heavy like the top quark, it’s draggin’ its ***
And the Higgs is a boson that carries a force
And makes particles take orders from the field that is its source.
They’ll detect it….

LHCb sees where the antimatter’s gone
ALICE looks at collisions of lead ions
CMS and ATLAS are two of a kind
They’re looking for whatever new particles they can find.

Now some of you may think that gravity is strong
Cuz when you fall off your bicycle it don’t take long
Until you hit the earth, and you say, “Dang, that hurt!”

But if you think that force is powerful, you’re wrong.
You see, gravity – it’s weaker than Weak
And the reason why is something many scientists seek

They think about dimensions – we just live in three
But maybe there are some others that are too small to see
It’s into these dimensions that gravity extends
Which makes it seem weaker, here on our end.

And these dimensions are “rolled up” – curled so tight
That they don’t affect you in your day to day life
But if you were as tiny as a graviton
You could enter these dimensions and go wandering on
And they'd find you...

When LHCb sees where the antimatter’s gone
ALICE looks at collisions of lead ions
CMS and ATLAS are two of a kind
They’re looking for whatever new particles they can find.
The LHC accelerates the protons and the lead
And the things that it discovers will rock you in the head.

Apostles atop Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World / Cathedral Marie-Reine-du-Monde / Montreal Quebec Canada

Clicking will do great things.

Oh, I forgot to say this was the view outside my window at the Hotel Queen Elizabeth / le Reine Elizabeth, which is built above the Montreal train station. They should have charged extra for the view, but I don't think they do. Great hotel, super-great train station, has very nice food court and everything a train traveller needs. And you can practice your French, which is very appreciated.

countdown to ecstacy / 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0 / cliquez ici to see large hadrons colliding

this just in

some physicists associated with the large hadron collider have received death threats as the Switch-On date approached, one UK physicist called the protesters "twats."

tempers are hot. assassination attempts and desperate acts are in the air. as well they should be if the End Of The World is at issue. opinions vary, but some say the LHC will create a black hole or strangelet, and maybe rupture the membrane between our universe and some totally different parallel universe, into which we would slide, or contrariwise, or both. that can't be good.

we should give serious consideration to seriously maxing out our credit cards for the next few weeks, just in case. I have always wanted to drive a lamborghini.

whoops, peter called it the LCH, it's the LHC. Don't ask me what a hadron is. another whomp-ass machine is

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC, pronounced like "rick", IPA: /ˈrɪk/) is a heavy-ion collider located at and operated by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York.^[2] By using RHIC to collide ions traveling at relativistic speeds, physicists study the primordial form of matter that existed in the universe shortly after the Big Bang,^[3] and also the structure of protons.

At present, RHIC is the second most powerful heavy-ion collider in the world behind only the LHC, which is scheduled to begin experiments September 10, 2008. It is also distinctive in its capability to collide spin-polarized protons.

[Wikipedia]

~ ~ ~

----- Original Message -----

From: Peter R. Zidek

To: GeigerCounterEnthusiasts@yahoogroups.com

Sent: 9/9/2008 2:30:08 AM

Subject: [GeigerCounterEnthusiasts] LCH to be producing collisions today 10. september 2008, Live webcast

Check it out at:

http://webcast.cern.ch/

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naked traveler pursued by savages / Across the Universe / Ratatouille / Excelsior!

Click for Better Things

patfromch said... As reigning Beatles Expert on Vleeptron I could have warned you about that awful movie. And your resumee fits, disneyesque pepole with disneyesque problems sing awful arrangments of songs that were never meant to be sung in this context.

Still have to catch up with Ratatouille, it would be the first non-bad new movie I would see this year

Good to know you had a good time in Canada, this country is still one of the places I want to visit, expecially a bench in Toronto, the arctic circle and Montreal, where I will probably be the only tourist to understand french

hehe hey mate, come to Europe next time, see the wonders of the old world (Pizza you owe me not included)

Oh and that laptop with wifi: if it is a Sony Vaio, check back with your dealer ASAP, they are calling back models Friday, 05 September, 2008

==============================

Oh No!!! Will my rechargeable battery burst into flame while I am Wi-Fying in a Montreal hotel room??? Thanks for the Sony Vaio Recall Tip, I will get right on it, that's a sucky way to Perish, it would make a really embarrassing obit:

WI-FI LAPTOP BLAZE
KILLS AMERICAN TOURIST

One of the veterans of the Lewis & Clark Expedition turned right around and marched back into the Great Wilderness to trap and hunt amongst Wild Savages for decades. This was the famous John Colter, who discovered Yellowstone -- "Colter's Hell" -- and had to run for his life naked and barefoot for 11 days and nights pursued by a band of murderous Pieds-Noirs / Blackfeet warriors.

And then died choking on a fishbone in a hotel restaurant in St. Louis.

On the 28-month Expedition itself only 1 member died: Of a burst appendix, which no doctor in the world's fanciest hospital at that time could have treated.

There were occasional brief exchanges of bullets and arrows, but the Explorers and the Plains and Pacific Northwest Indians usually got along famously.

Yeah, rent or web-hose "Ratatouille," it's practically the only computer-generated animation that's ever impressed me, and the only one so far that attended to the literary side of the Great Technical Project -- 4000 South Korean computer programmers, and 1 talented Screenwriter.

There's an adult "edge" to "Ratatouille," with lots of "adult situations" -- i.e., French situations involving males, females, and hundreds of rats scurrying around the kitchen of a 5-Star Michelin restaurant in Paris. The spirit of the thing reminded me a little of "Ren and Stimpy" by Jon Krickfalusa (sp?).

(While he lived, Walt Disney was famous for saving money by not hiring real screenwriters. When you watch the Old Disney, you are watching Minimum-Hourly-Wage Art Without Labor Unions, real k-Mart discount dramatic literature.)

Not being able to travel to Mitteleuropa this summer has broken my heart, but this Krazy Kanadian Train Trek was a really wonderful Prix 2eme.

If I had not been trapped on the High Seas on a ferry boat, I would never have had a chance to see a few parts of "Across the Universe," and it really was horrifyingly All Wrong, the drama as well as the Musical Wrongness of these versions of Beatles songs.

Well, at least the surviving members, Ringo and Paul, will be receiving some benefit from this mess -- although I think the entire Lennon-McCartney Beatles Song Catalog now belongs to Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. Clearly the poor misbegotten disaster was trying to cash in on the Nostalgia Pop craze of "Mama Mia" and A.B.B.A.

Well, anyway, Helvetia Or Bust is my new travel motto, and I will somehow get there soon. Here is another local travel motto befitting my plan to cross the Alps:

Excelsior

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)

THE SHADES of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior! 5

His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
Excelsior! 10

In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
Excelsior! 15

"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"
And loud that clarion voice replied,
Excelsior! 20

"Oh, stay," the maiden said, "and rest
Thy weary head upon this breast!"
A tear stood in his bright blue eye,
But still he answered, with a sigh,
Excelsior! 25

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche!"
This was the peasant's last Good-night,
A voice replied, far up the height,
Excelsior! 30

At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,
Excelsior! 35

A traveller, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,
Excelsior! 40

There, in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
Excelsior!



(I have a musical version of this clunker, Andre Previn on the piano accompanying a Music Hall baritone.)

This is a far, far better way for a Vagabond to perish than my laptop battery bursting into flame. Excelsior!

First Day Issue: Tierra de los Sueños / the Backpack Adventure thru Quebec, New Brunswick & Nova Scotia by train & ferry

Click for larger & clearer.

Sea Serpent from Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus
by Olaus Magnus, 1555.

Friend 1 was the Occidental Mystic Mathematician RamanuJohn, who lives about 10 minutes from the Portland ferry terminal, crashed me overnight, and then took me to the Downeaster train to Boston North Station.

The Downeaster had the Wi-Fi for my laptop, and it worked!

Friend 2 was RevJJ, who picked me up at North Station and drove me to South Station -- from Portland to Miami, the only non-train Gap requiring car/taxi/bus/hitchhiking in Amtrak's East Coast route. He dumped me at South Station with 15 minutes to catch my train to Springfield. I had just enough time to buy a lobster cloisonee souvenir pin.

I get by with a little help from my friends.

On the ferry they showed the movie "Across the Universe," today's Disneyesque teenagers getting through today's Disneyesque challenges while singing Beatles' songs. This may possibly be the worst motion picture ever made, and that includes "Snakes on a Plane." Several passengers jumped overboard to get away from it. (But they were also showing "Ratatouille," which I like a whole lot. Disney is good at computer-animated rats who like to cook French cuisine. Peter O'Toole voiced the meanest, nastiest Food Critic of Paris. I ate a wonderful dish in Yarmouth, a beloved comfort food from Acadia -- French-speaking Nova Scotia -- and will shortly filch & post the recipe.)

These numbers 012.3 are the hours into the trip, 000.0 = the Start at the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station. S.W.M.B.O. picked me up at Amherst at 150.5.

Harry Beck drew the famous map of the London Underground system in the 1930s. Almost every subway map in the world uses his format for depicting all rider-needed features of the system. Harry Beck lived near the Finchley Central Underground station (also a stop on the Ciudad Vleeptron Underway).