Is it NOAA, or Noah?

My area has been experiencing severe and heavy rainfall lately.  So it occurred to me to wonder about the name of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  Was the intent to have its acronym be a homophone of “Noah,” whom G-d entrusted to build the ark that saved him and his family and Earth’s animals from the Flood?

WIFE: "When is it ever gonna stop raining?"

SPG: "NOAA says it's supposed to rain all weekend."

Halloween 2019 -- The Litterbox Costume

I dressed up as a litterbox yesterday.  This was an easy, low-cost outfit.

• Cardboard box – free (with a delivery from Petco)
• Okocat non-clumping paper litter¹ – about $3 (It was marked down and I had a coupon)
• New pooper-scooper – 97 cents
• Safety glasses – free (Household item)
• Dust mask -- free (Household item)
• Zip-Lock bag – free (Household item)
• Tootsie Rolls -- about $3
• Other Assorted Chocolate -- free (Household items)

The Okocat paper litter was a good choice for this project.  It’s extremely light weight, and the granules aren’t so small as to leak through any gaps in the box or in my pants.  I had some lying around because I tried it out with the cats, and I found that it would quickly get saturated with pee.  The entire litterbox had to be emptied and refilled with fresh litter about once a week.  This reminds me, I’m planning on writing a review of cat litters soon.

So, did you dress up for Halloween?  What was your costume?

#NaBloPoMo2019

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¹ https://www.healthy-pet.com/products/dust-free-paper-natural-litter
² Photo credit: anonymous coworker

An Interview With Square Peg

James Lipton, host of the cable TV show "Inside the Actors Studio", gives his guests the following list of ten questions. I thought it would be fun if I tried to answer them...

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on?
4. What turns you off?
5. What sound or noise do you love?
6. What sound or noise do you hate?
7. What is your favorite curse word?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

1. I can't decide between "fortuitous" and "serendipity" as my favorite word. As they are akin, I choose to answer with both.
2. I don't have a least favorite word, and I'm not willing scour my soul to figure it out.
3. Kindness, altruism, fairness "turns me on" in a sense, no matter whether I am fortuitous enough to receive it or whether I can spread it.
4. Greed is abhorrent to me.
5. The trickling of a babbling brook is pleasing to me, but even better is the smacking sound my four cats make when they eat breakfast together at dawn.  It's better because the cats are getting replenished, whereas the water just goes somewhere.
6. Loud, discordant noises upset me.  Active construction sites are my least favorite places.
7. My favorite curse word changes over time.  Currently I'm using "Crappazoids" as one might say "Crap" when getting to the traffic light just as it turns red.  If I want to call some asshole something bad, I would use either "F*ckwad" or "F*ckhead".  Oh, wait, "asshole" is curse-like, too, isn't it?
8. I had tremendous difficulty in high school deciding what to do after graduation.  A personality test that I took in the office of the Guidance Counselor suggested that I should go to a college in Oregon to study Forestry.  I think it would've been a good career choice, at least in terms of being fulfilling.  Whether there was money in it, I have no idea.  I'm currently an Electrical Engineer.
9. There are financial folks that negotiate mergers between two companies.  The mergers usually involve firing hundreds of people just to make wealthy people wealthier and to show continued growth on a balance sheet.  Those financial folks are detestable.  It's another matter if one of the companies is failing and the merger strengthens it and saves jobs, though.
10. I would like to hear God (or Whoever) say this to me, "I'm so very sorry for all the shit I put you through."

It's your turn, please let me know your answers!

Does Getting Paid to Do Something Take Away the Enjoyment of That Thing?

Does it seem to you that when you get paid to do something that you love to do, the activity then becomes less enjoyable?

Here's an excerpt from "Swearing is good for you: the amazing science of bad language," by Emma Byrne:

Give most children crayons and paper and they'll happily draw for the fun of it; the intrinsic reward of doing something creative keeps them happy and interested.  But as soon as you pay children for their art, their drawings get sloppy and less detailed.  They also don't seem to enjoy the process of drawing anywhere near as much as when they are offered a treat in return for each piece produced.  In studies, children who know they will be rewarded for their drawings spend only about half as much time playing with crayons as those children who aren't offered a reward.

-page 124

The author references M. R. Lepper, D. Greene, and R. E. Nisbett, "Undermining Children's Intrinsic Interest with Extrinsic Reward: A Test of the "Overjustification" Hypothesis.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 28 (1973), 129-137. doi:10.1037/hoo35519

That Twee Thing

Tuesday's Colin McEnroe show on "Twee" whisked me all the way from "What on Earth are they babbling about?" to "Oh my Gosh I LOVE TWEE!" before it ended.  Mr. McEnroe often takes on important and controversial issues.  So devoting the entire show on something called "Twee" must mean that "Twee" is important, right?

But in the beginning it really didn't seem so important after all, as they struggled to define the term.  The thing that caught my attention was a person called "Zooey Deschanel" whom I've never heard of before.  They'd repeat her name, Zooey Deschanel said this, Zooey Deschanel did that.  And all this in the context of this "attitude" called "Twee".  I was so intrigued that I actually picked up my Android tablet and used Google's voice search to find out "Who is Zooey Deschanel?"

I saw several images of the beautiful entertainer / actress, plus a list of TV shows and movies that she performed in, almost all of which I'd never seen or even heard of.  The only movie that I was familiar with was one of my all-time favorite movies, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."  Yes, Zooey Deschanel played the role of Trillian, whom I'd wistfully imagine asking me to go to Madagascar with her.  "Yes, of course, I'd love to!" was always my reply.

My favorite scene is the one in which Zooey shoots Zaphod with the Point-of-View Gun.  Of course, it's so much better when viewed in context with the story line.

When I connected Twee, Zooey Deschanel and the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" movie, it helped me define and pinpoint that movie, and how its tone differed so much from the books in Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's" series.  Yes, while the books depicted the Universe (or at least the Galaxy) as a harsh and unforgiving place in which if anything could go wrong it would go wrong at the worst possible moment, the movie was Twee, wasn't it?  It was a place where torture involved having to listen to really bad poetry.  It was a place where the zots from numerous Vogons' guns couldn't possibly hit you because the Vogons were such poor marks-creatures and their firearms so cheaply made.  It was a place where, if your house got bulldozed to make way for a bypass on a planet that was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, someone would come along and make exact replicas of both.

Wow.  Twee.  I love it!

Halloween 2014

We enjoyed Halloween at work as we usually do.  The company allows for a costume parade.  Those who wish to participate can dress up.  Then the rest of the employees vote on the costumes.  Prizes are given for scariest, most original and most creative.  (Don't ask what the difference is between "original" and "creative".)

My plan this year was to dress up as a beach bum with dreadlocks.  But yesterday morning's sudden chill dissuaded me from putting on the swim trunks and tank top, so I dressed up like a stoner with dreadlocks.  Notice the focus on dreadlocks, here.  That was what we prepared for -- dreadlocks as the centerpiece of the costume.

My daughter and I fashioned the dreadlocks from an abundance of cat fur, which we rolled into many thick strands and stapled to the lining of an old baseball cap.  It looked really cool, but judge for yourself.

My wife encouraged me to get into my costume before leaving for work.  When she saw me she said, "Oh you look like such a dirtbag!  What a loser!!"  I sense that she's been wanting to get that off her chest for several years.

I got favorable reactions from the guys, especially the retired Jamaican janitor.  The reactions from the few females that didn't totally ignore me ranged from disgust to revulsion.  I thought one woman was going to vomit, that's how green her face became.

Halloween can give us a chance to experience society from others' perspectives.

How was your Halloween?

Towel Day

Author Douglas Adams died unexpectedly on May 11, 2001 at age 49.  Adams was the creator of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," the work he is perhaps best known for, and in which we learn that the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is 42.

Fans organized a wake called "Towel Day" to take place two weeks later, May 25, 2001.  It was such a success (as if a wake could be a success) that it has been held annually on May 25.

This year, Towel Day falls on 5/25/12, which is numerically auspicious.  You see, 5 + 25 + 12 = 42.

Here are some links so that you can learn more about Towel Day.

http://strugglingwriter.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/happy-towel-day-2010/

http://TowelDay.org

Computer Games for Children

Occasionally my friends ask me to recommend computer games for children. They know I'm serious about online privacy and security, so they're curious to know what sites I let my daughter play on. Here's what I tell them:

Webkinz. This is a great site in many ways. First, the site requires no personal information. Second, the chat features are extremely restricted by phrase & word filters. Children cannot enter any words that do not meet the criteria, and that includes personal names. You need to buy one stuffed animal once a year in order to obtain a code to gain access. You get a room and an online pet that you can care for as well as many games. You earn Kinzcash by playing games, then you can buy clothes for your pet and furniture for your room. The games are generally free of violence. There is no advertising and no product placement except for the stuffed animals themselves. The stores that sell Webkinz also carry other Webkinz merchandise, such as clothes. My daughter started on this site when she was about seven years old, yet she still signs on to play at age 12.

Bella Sara. A great site for children who are horse lovers. It used to be that to gain access to the site you had to buy trading cards that come with codes you enter into the site. But now you can join for free, but the codes are required to unlock additional features of the site. You need to supply an e-mail address when you sign up. Once you do, you adopt a magical horse that you care for. There is no chat and no third party advertising. Activities are free of violence.

Poptropica. This site can be played entirely free. You do not need to buy a pet to gain access. You can sign up without an e-mail address or any other personal information. However, you can get a premium account that will enable your child to get more stuff for his online character. The site offers several "islands" that have themes. Play involves solving the problem that's associated with the island. Problem solving is sometimes educational in nature. For example, you might have to put paintings that have been mixed up into their proper locations (Impressionist, Cubist, Expressionist, etc.), or engage in trading to earn money for a large enough boat to defeat a pirate. However, solutions to all of the islands are available on Youtube. When you get defeated at certain parts of an island, you are simply returned to an earlier point without losing any inventory. You earn credits every time you solve an island, and you can buy things for your character with the credits. Each island has a chat room in which chat is scripted. There are promotional ads for movies and books that actually take you to other websites.

Miniclip This free site has hundreds of games in many genres to choose from, including games that involve violence in which you shoot at aliens (Obama Alien Defense) or punch and kick opponents (Karate King, Street Fight). The site asks for an e-mail address when you sign up. Advertising takes place in the margins of the browser. Chat is very limited with scripted phrases. You can create an avatar (called a YoMe). There is a player's forum message board, but the link is easy to overlook.

Do you know of any other fun online gaming sites? Let me know!