mayfly project 2005

A year in 24 words: mayfly project 2005

Met a brother, friend, mentor, teacher.
Hired to begin a new career.
Suffered under the Bush Reign of Terror.
Began seeing with improved vision.

See http://meish.org/mayfly/

Deer Hunting

The last two days were spent hunting deer. Rather poor conditions: warm temperatures (above 40F), and rain; nothing seen to shoot either day.

I did, however, field dress a doe for the landowner's daughter.

This is one of the few times one wishes for snow.

Tuesday's Word

ennead* The Ennead (a word derived from Greek, meaning the nine) is a grouping of nine deities, most often used in the context of Egyptian mythology. As three of threes, the number was considered of great carnal power, and the groupings of nine Gods were considered very important.

There were multiple Enneads in Ancient Egypt. Pyramid Texts mention the Great Ennead, the Lesser Ennead, the Dual Ennead, plural Enneads, and even the Seven Enneads. Some Pharaohs created Enneads that incorporated themselves; most notably, Seti I in his temple at Redesiyah worshipped the Ennead that combined six important deities with three deified forms of himself.

Interestingly, the Egyptian term pesedjet, usually translated as Ennead, does not necessarily mean a group of nine. There are some pesedjets that had a varying number of Gods throughout Egyptian history, and may have contained as few as seven, and as many as ten Gods.

This Tuesday's Word come to us courtesy of Douglas Hoffman who found this humble blog through our good friend, blogger extraordinaire, Blue Gal!

*Wikipedia

Rudolph Shot!

Rudolph, aka "The Red Nosed Reindeer," was found shot this morning! It seems the leader of the famed sleigh team couldn't resist being invited to dinner!

Thanks to "Duck" Cheney for bringing the aiming fluid!

Merry Christmas, Bloggers!

Seven Things To Do Before I Die

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:

1. Build a house.
2. Compete in the (Escape from) Alcatraz Invitational Swim.
3. Find lasting love.
4. Make my parents proud.
5. Retire.
6. Travel.
7. Understand science.

Seven Things I Cannot Do:

• HTML
• Ignore politics
• Speak French fluently
• Tolerate an athletics before academics mentality, chaos, fundamentalists

• Write as Sharon Olds

Seven Things That Attract Me to My Spouse (or Significant Other, Best Friend, etc):

1. Confidence
2. Contemplation
3. Courtesy
4. Health
5. Kindness
6. Integrity
7. Intelligence

Seven Things I Say (or Write) Most Often:

• "Catherine,...?"
• "Damn!"
• "Je me souviens."
• "Must return to exercise, reading, writing, work."

Seven Books (or Series) I Love (Authors count):

1. BreakupBabe: A Novel
2. The Diversity of Life
3. Dune
4. Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival
5. Gone With The Wind
6. The World's Religions
7. The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

Seven Movies I Would Watch Over and Over Again:

1. Apocalypse Now
2. Blade Runner
3. Cat People
4. Croupier
5. Damage
6. My Dinner With Andre

7. The Swimmer

Seven People I Want to Join In (to Tag):

1. ae
2. Catherine
3. Estephania
4. Georgia Jones
5. Linnea
6. Rana
7. Scully

Tuesday's Word

jazz*, by a rough definition-of-thumb, is an improvisational, Afro-American musical idiom. It makes use of elements of rhythm, melody, and harmony from Africa, and of melody and harmony from the European musical tradition. The influence of jazz, and of closely associated Afro-American idiom, and elements of jazz have permeated a good deal of our concert music as well.

*The Enjoyment of Music: An Introduction to Perceptive Listening, Joseph Machlis, Third Edition/Shorter, W.W. Norton & Company, 1970.

Diebold's Bush-backer Boss Departs

Diebold's Bush-backer boss departs

Alison Grant
Plain Dealer Reporter

Diebold Inc. said Monday that its chairman and chief executive, Walden O'Dell, has resigned from the company and its board "for personal reasons."

The country's second-largest maker of automated teller machines named Thomas Swidarski, president and chief operating officer, as chief executive. He will retain his previous roles and also will become a director, Diebold said.

John Lauer, on Diebold's board since 1992, will take over as non-executive chairman.

"The board of directors and Wally mutually agreed that his decision to resign at this time for personal reasons was in the best interest of all parties," Lauer said in a written statement.

O'Dell, who joined Diebold in 1999 as chief executive, could not be reached at his home.

He had presided over a rocky year at Diebold. The company had several high level shakeups, with senior executives departing in recent months. Its stock price plummeted from an all-time high in early April of almost $58 a share to less that $38 on Monday.

O'Dell, a Republican, was plagued by political fallout from a quote in a fund-raising letter in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes" to George W. Bush in the 2004 election.

O'Dell said later that the statement was one of the worst missteps of his career.

A Diebold spokesman declined to elaborate on his abrupt departure except to say that it was unrelated to a report last week that Diebold executives contributed to Republican campaigns in August, just two months after the company banned political giving by its top executives. The policy did not bar these executives from donating, but a company spokesman expressed regret over the contributions.

More at www.plaind.com

Tuesday's Word

Gravitation,* n. The tendency of all bodies to approach one another with a strength proportioned to the quantity of matter they contain--the quantity of matter they contain being ascertained by the strength of their tendency to approach one another. This is a lovely and edifying illustration of how science, having made A the proof of B, makes B the proof of A.

*The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce, The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York, 1944.

Tagged For 10

Theresa, of 2 hot chiks, has chosen Yoga Korunta to play in Tagged For 10.

Here are ten random/weird facts about me to share with the blogging world:

I am ambidextrous, analytical, compassionate, contemplative, dependable, determined, health conscious, inquisitive, loyal, and a NOLS alumnus.

Tagging: Alicia, Blue Gal, Linnea, Misty, Rose.

Tuesday's Word

mole* In chemistry, the unit we use for dealing with atoms, ions, and molecules is the mole, abbreviated mol.** A mole is defined as the amount of matter that contains as many objects (atoms, molecules, or whatever objects we are considering) as the number of atoms in exactly 12 g of carbon (12.0 amu). From numerous experiments, scientists have determined the number of atoms in this quantity of carbon to be 6.0221367 X 1023. This number is given a special name: Avogadro's number, in honor of Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856), an Italian scientist.

This week's Word comes via the esteemed Sarah Jackson, for whom I have chemisty!

*Chemistry: The Central Science, Sixth Edition, Brown, LeMay, Bursten, Prentice-Hall.

**The term mole comes from the Latin word moles, meaning "a mass." The term molecule is the diminutive form of this word and means "a small mass."