Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in stickmaker's LiveJournal:

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Monday, June 4th, 2012
3:32 am	Once More Unto the Breech Just returned from taking my Mother to the emergency room. Something woke her a couple of hours after she went to bed. She felt bad, and took her blood pressure. It was 200/90, and she felt tingly and dizzy. She called me, and claimed she was having a stroke. I told her to call 911 and that I would be there as soon as I could. The paramedics were there by the time I arrived. The confirmed that her BP was much too high, and offered to take her to the hospital, though the recommended that since she could walk and I was there that I take her to avoid the ambulance fee. We agreed with that, thanked them, and I took her over. They checked her over, took blood samples, gave her something to bring her BP down, and watched her while the blood tests were run. They couldn't find anything wrong, and by 3 AM her BP was high normal. They sent her home. She was no longer feeling tingly, but she was very dizzy. More than before, probably due to the drug. I got her home and in bed and left her hooked to her CPAP machine. It is now 3:30, and I'm starting to crash. Hopefully, this is coherent. Current Mood: awake (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 3rd, 2012
6:41 pm	Apple Lion Rant You have been warned. Twice since I began using Lion I have encountered a situation where TextEdit will suddenly pop up a message telling me that the autosave didn't work. Both times I could not save the document manually, either. I created a duplicate of the file. Which then wouldn't save, though this time there were no error messages. Just a complete absence of the file, anywhere, and a warning it hadn't been saved when I tried to close. I finally had to close it without saving. I next tried pasting into a new document. That worked, but I couldn't save it, either. I threw a screaming fit. I could see my work, edit it just fine, even copy and past it, but could not save it! I had the idea of creating a new file in Open Office, pasting and saving. That worked! I closed both Apps, took a deep breath, opened Open Office and the new file and copied the material. Then I opened TextEdit and the main file, and pasted. It worked, thank Ghu (Purple Be His Name). This happened just as I was about to save and start supper. I am now waiting for my ramen to cool as I type this. I am not alone in criticizing some of the changes made between the two most recent versions of OS X. Neither am I alone in accusing Apple of taking a functional and reliable text editor and making it something which is neither. This time I was working on a hobby piece. However, the first time I was working on something I hope to sell. I lost several minutes of that work, thanks to this rampant stupidity, and had to recreate it. Current Mood: angry (Comment on this)
Friday, June 1st, 2012
3:15 pm	And the First Rule of Time Travel Is? Know your timeline: http://www.xkcd.com/ Worksafe. (Comment on this)
12:38 pm	BUH?! Expensive new telescope intended for Antarctic use goes missing. Driver eventually found, asleep in his truck, with no explanation of where telescope is. It is eventually found at a truck wash: http://www.universetoday.com/95576/missing-big-bang-arctic-telescope-found/#more-95576 Driver fired, but Texas police refuse to press charges, even though this is several times the limit for grand theft. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
10:18 am	Plague Victim or Vampire? At: http://www.livescience.com/20619-vampire-plague-victim-spurs-debate.html (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
5:49 pm	Comfort Food? Folks who know me know that I used to be an avid camper and hiker (and would like to get back into those hobbies some day). They also know I like to keep food supplies on hand in case of emergency. (Not uncommon where I live. One Winter we had a heavy snow right after a heavy ice storm, followed by a long stretch of sub-freezing weather. Folks couldn't drive these steep roads and could barely even walk outside for nearly a week.) I have something I recently discovered (though it's likely no surprise to some of you). These are the Spam Single Classic retort pouches. They have a single slice of good old Spam in a sealed pouch with a long shelf life. (The example I'm currently looking at says BEST BY DEC 09 2014.) They're a bit expensive at over a buck a 3 ounce pouch, but for some purposes could definitely be worth the cost. Tuck a few of these and some MRE cracker packs in your car emergency kit and you could eat (monotonously, I admit) for days. Add some to your home emergency supplies. They're also good as quick snacks or even meals if you discover you forgot lunchmeat and don't feel like another trip to the grocery just now. (Though the cans - especially the large ones - are more economical for that purpose.) If you like to hike and camp these are lightweight sources of protein and fat. (Yes, fat. It's a major source of long-term energy.) Yeah, Spam is often derided (I recently heard "Spam: The original pink slime!") but served right - especially to someone hungry - it still satisfies. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:10 pm	Beautiful Astronomy Article about the plasma lobes above and below the Milky Way's disk, caused by gamma rays beaming out of the megastellar black hole at the galaxy's core: http://www.universetoday.com/95504/ghostly-jets-haunt-the-milky-ways-black-hole/#more-95504 There's an artist's impression of the view edge on from a distance. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 28th, 2012
6:46 pm	Barely Obsolete Some of the best of the 19th Century's ironmongery: http://www.google.com/search?q=linotype&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=xEo&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=h_HDT8mWFYKi9QTO4-ibCw&ved=0CH8QsAQ&biw=2403&bih=1106 Worksafe, Linotype images. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 24th, 2012
10:45 pm	Don't Dig Too Deep Excerpt from a novel in progress: "There are things under the ground," said Llewellyn, his deep voice deceptively calm, "though not as many as in the folk tales, nor as easy to reach. Still, there are creatures and forces which may be disturbed by deep digging in the right areas. Some will even be attracted by digging, and meet the digger halfway." "That's enough to give me nightmares, right there," said Theal, with a wince. "I know of a well, long abandoned and of unknown provenance, where if you listen in a quiet moment you may hear breathing," said the healer, with an impish smile. "Thank you very much for that information," said Theal, now shivering. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
11:40 am	Opportunity On Edge Opportunity reaches an edge: http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/652304main_pia15684-43_946-710.jpg Worksafe. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Monday, May 21st, 2012
12:36 pm	There's a Little Black Spot on the Earth Today... The Moon's shadow on the Earth during yesterday's eclipse: http://phl.upr.edu/library/notes/eclipseofmay20-212012 Worksafe. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Friday, May 18th, 2012
5:21 pm	Pretty Darn Corn! For those who thought corn could never be pretty: http://boingboing.net/2012/05/11/glass-gem-corm.html Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
12:46 pm	Oh, Well... Brilliant idea: Mow in the morning before the temp rises. Doleful reality: It's already hot. Current Mood: tired (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
10:17 pm	Aluminum Foiled Great. First they stopped making Pyrex out of Pyrex. Now they have changed aluminum foil so that even the heavy duty - if used to cover a dish in the oven - will delaminate and stick to the food. It won't even hold water any more; it will leak at every fold or crease. Article here: http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/Don%27t%20Trust%20Aluminum%20Foil.htm Worksafe. Current Mood: aggravated (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 14th, 2012
12:01 am	Kentucky Derby! Finally got my photos of the Derby Train and the Derby Breakfast online, at: http://www.rodsmith.onthisnet.com/images/DerbyTrainBreakfast/ Worksafe. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Friday, May 11th, 2012
12:11 pm	Dual Purpose Resized some .45 Colt a little earlier and noticed the die was pretty dirty. Finished with the cases and put them in the vibratory brass polisher. Took the die apart preparatory to flushing it with toxic solvents, then realized it could go in the polisher, too. If the polishing medium - ground walnut hulls and jeweler's rouge - won't hurt brass, it won't hurt tool steel. And I get to save the toxic solvents (and gloves) for later! :-) Addendum: Didn't work as well as I hoped. No damage to the die parts, but the medium simply wasn't aggressive enough to cut through the crud (mostly built-up resizing lube). I may try again another time, for longer, but this time the brass looks fine, and so does the die after I manually wiped off the crud and then sprayed with WD-40 and wiped again. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
10:42 am	Best Laugh in a While At: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3fla97opr1rtxk51o1_1280.jpg Worksafe Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
11:03 am	Titan and Saturn At: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS73/W00074109.jpg Worksafe. Current Mood: artistic (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
11:04 am	You've been... Thunderstruck! At: http://www.gocomics.com/frazz/ Worksafe. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
10:42 pm	When the Moon Hits Your Eye... There's some good planetary observing this month, and we finally got a hole in the clouds. Despite storms in the area, I was out with binoculars earlier and saw Venus (now set) Mars and Saturn. I also got a few glimpses of the Moon, mainly as a reference. These are only 10X and the haze was blurring things, so there were no real details spotted, not even rings around Saturn (which I have seen through my Schmidt-Cassegrain before). I thought about dragging my telescope out, but was feeling tired and it's a heavy, awkward beast on its tripod, and difficult to fit through my narrow back door. If the luck holds, maybe tomorrow or Thursday. The show will continue for at least a few more days. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)