Update for Everyone V: Born Under A Bad Sign

[muon2]

Reading the first few chapters of this webcomic has made me think a lot about the concept of masculinity in a way I haven't before.

Thanks for the link. I don't find many webcomics that I like (being an old and all), but I've enjoyed the storytelling here.

[muon2]

Just cut my finger on an apple peeler. Must have lost like a liter of blood trying to clean it up.

I get that. Last weekend I shaved off a bit of my pinky using a mandolin on a cucumber.

[muon2]

Guys, I'm sitting here all sweaty, tremors in my hands, nauseous and weak because... I NEED ANOTHER ELECTION. I'm hooked. I'm going through acute electoral withdrawal.

Why can't we just fast-forward to 2017, then to 2018? I want answers!

But there's so much data to analyze in the election just past. I'm finding all sorts of interesting info just in WI.

[muon2]

I'm back

But for tonight, to symbolize where the hell I went for the last two days, I'm changing my avvie.

Suffice to say 800+ miles with 6 hours+ of it bein' in Nevada is no fun at all! I'm just glad the temperature never reached temperatures that'd make Goldilocks or Tony blush.  Also, California gave both the warmest [home] and coolest temperatures [top of Donner Summit]

I-80 across NV is one of the dullest drives I've done. The scenery was interesting for about the first 30 minutes and then it kept being more of the same. I might as well have been driving an interstate across NE or KS for all the interest the road provided. When I headed east again, I went across US-50 which I found distinctly more tolerable, despite its label as the loneliest road in America.

[muon2]

Saturday we got my wife a new car. It'll be our road trip vehicle so watch for it cruising through your area.

[muon2]

What's the car Muon2?  Dan and I got a new car in January, an rdx, and we just love it. It basically just drives itself.

2016 BMW X3. This car was used as a loaner from the service dept. In the pic you might be able to see that it is already fitted with the MUON2 license plate. My wife just got back from our sister city not far from the big BMW plant in Bavaria, and she's the head of our sister city club here, so it seemed natural.

[muon2]

What's the car Muon2?  Dan and I got a new car in January, an rdx, and we just love it. It basically just drives itself.

2016 BMW X3. This car was used as a loaner from the service dept. In the pic you might be able to see that it is already fitted with the MUON2 license plate. My wife just got back from our sister city not far from the big BMW plant in Bavaria, and she's the head of our sister city club here, so it seemed natural.

Ah, nice car. It looks quite similar to an rdx, and I walked outside to look at our car just to confirm that no, what your wife got, was different. I don't think NY has vanity plates, unlike CA and apparently Illinois.

We started our search at the 2017 Chicago Auto Show and sat in about 40 cars. The RDX was one, but my wife didn't like the layout of the driver's compartment as much as other cars. For our road trips that matters quite a bit. We had rented an X3 in January during our vacation in NV so we knew it would meet our long distance needs.

[muon2]

I have to sell advertisements door-to-door for a school project. It's genuinely depressing work.

I once left an internship with the MI GOP due to the fact that they wanted me to get petitions signed.

Can't blame you.

Talked to one lady who cut me off as I spoke because she wasn't interested, stopped me as I walked out the door to ask what I was selling, and then cut me off again (more harshly) because she wasn't interested.

I've done door-to-door sales and I've collected signatures on petitions. Either way I got doors slammed in my face. You will, too. Success rests on recognizing that as a fact of life and moving on to the next door. In the end I found that more doors were open than closed. Then again, there was that time I almost had my calf chomped off by a dog with an unfriendly owner ...

[muon2]

Anyone have any good suggestions for a Political Science Senior Thesis topic? I'm thinking of doing something that involves things like:
-Election cycles
-Voting behavior
-Why candidates win or lose (at Congressional or Presidential level)
-Factors at play in elections
-Alternatives to the Electoral College, or other electoral reforms

I'll be finishing this about a year from now, so something related to the 2018 midterms could be good as well.

Are you more inclined to a topic where you have to deal with practical statistics or one that is more theoretical in nature?

[muon2]

Anyone have any good suggestions for a Political Science Senior Thesis topic? I'm thinking of doing something that involves things like:
-Election cycles
-Voting behavior
-Why candidates win or lose (at Congressional or Presidential level)
-Factors at play in elections
-Alternatives to the Electoral College, or other electoral reforms

I'll be finishing this about a year from now, so something related to the 2018 midterms could be good as well.

Are you more inclined to a topic where you have to deal with practical statistics or one that is more theoretical in nature?

Probably more practical though overall light on the statistical side, like one idea that I'm interested in is recommending a replacement of the Electoral College more in line with democratic values. They also offer honors for those above a certain GPA threshold in upper level political science courses, so hopefully I can reach that instead (which would save me a lot of trouble).

That sounds reasonable. It also seems we've had a wealth of ideas and even some pretty good analyses of how other options compare here on Atlas. Those might give you some interesting directions to pursue.

[muon2]

Today marks 100 days until the Great American Eclipse. Though I've been planning for years, it's interesting to see different media outlets start to notice. This time it was Accuweather.

[muon2]

I just booked a hotel room in Nebraska to watch the total solar eclipse in three months.

Excellent. Which part of the state? I know that Scottsbluff is popular with eclipse chasers. I'll be going through there a week before the eclipse on my way to ID.

I would, except I already live in St. Louis! Probably never going to see a total solar eclipse from my backyard ever again.

You should get just over a minute of totality from your house. Since the probability of a total eclipse at any one spot is once every 375 years, your assumption is a good one.

[muon2]

I just booked a hotel room in Nebraska to watch the total solar eclipse in three months.

Excellent. Which part of the state? I know that Scottsbluff is popular with eclipse chasers. I'll be going through there a week before the eclipse on my way to ID.

We had been hoping to watch from the sand hills, but I was booking late and could not find a vacant room in any of the sites that we had scoped out west of Lincoln. So Lincoln it is. It looks as if our odds of catching good conditions are favorable in that vicinity, maybe near Beatrice, and we will wake up early enough to drive a few more hours if we must in any case.

Lincoln will get totality for only about a minute. If there are clouds forecast there and south to Beatrice, the roads heading west from Lincoln are good. I-80 goes to Grand Island (about 85 mi) which is right near the center line and will get two and a half minutes of totality.

[muon2]

I just booked a hotel room in Nebraska to watch the total solar eclipse in three months.

Excellent. Which part of the state? I know that Scottsbluff is popular with eclipse chasers. I'll be going through there a week before the eclipse on my way to ID.

I would, except I already live in St. Louis! Probably never going to see a total solar eclipse from my backyard ever again.

You should get just over a minute of totality from your house. Since the probability of a total eclipse at any one spot is once every 375 years, your assumption is a good one.

I'm just hoping for good weather in Nashville that day.  If it's bad, I guess I can always head up to Kentucky in 2024!

If its not overcast throughout the area and you have mobility, I-24 west and I-40 east both offer routes that stay in the path of totality.

[muon2]

Ramadan starts tomorrow, working at a restaurant during Ramadan really tests you sometimes, this year it is now May 27th to potentially June 24th this year. Summer Ramadans suck.

Ouch (Working in the restaurant bit).... being in Florida probably makes it harder than in Northern States because this time of year, daylight lasts way too long down there. I was only living in Texas, but I'm sure South Florida is even worse, since it is closer to the equator.

Why "Potentially" June 24th this year?

I mean don't the calendar conversion programs allow you to know exactly when it ends where you are living based upon the time of sunset, even you are not associated with a local community center?

It's the other way around. In June the days are longer as you go further north. Above the Arctic Circle the sun never sets. I was in Moscow for a couple weeks in June and there was barely 3 hours of nighttime.

[muon2]

Got my textbook for AP Physics, will be starting summer work shortly

Which text (authors) are you using?

[muon2]

Hi all.  Just checking in.  I'll be moving to the Netherlands permanently in early August.  Snagged a job at Leiden University's Philosophy Institute.  Looking forward to a new life there.

Congrats on the new position. However, it sounds like you'll miss the eclipse at Carbondale.

[muon2]

So, just got offered another job today, after having previously accepted another job offer last week...

Now I need to choose which of the manufacturing jobs I want to go with...

One pays significantly better, is closer, but has longer and odd shifts and is harder factory work---- the other pays less, is a 20 minute commute, and is a bit more of an assembly job, with greater potential for internal promotion down the line.

Which job do I go with

You might evaluate it based on future outcomes. For example, what would your likely position and salary look like in 2 years? 5 years? Is the lower paying job today likely to overtake the other one on the time scale of a couple of years? Is either job likely to leave you out of it in a few years due to company performance or your satisfaction level?

[muon2]

Since 1993 I've appeared 31 times on an official ballot (including primaries and party offices). This morning I announce that I won't be on in 2018. I'm timing the announcement to occur before my big western road trip which starts on Friday. Petitions for 2018 start circulating just after Labor Day, everyone will know my plans well in advance.

[muon2]

It's never a productive day when both cars are in need of repair. The BMW ran over a screw on Sat while driving in northern WI to beat the Chicago heat. With run flat tires I could top off the air each morning, but I knew I needed to get it replaced soon - and that was this morning. Then I went to run an errand in my Fusion hybrid and it wouldn't turn on. It's a 2011 and still had the original battery, which decided to die while we were away. So it went to get a new battery this afternoon. I had to cancel a couple of meetings and was indeed generally unproductive.

Speaking of the heat, today was the seventh consecutive day of record heat in the 90's. There was only one stretch of multiple days all summer over 90, and that was 4 in a row. The front will come through tonight and return the area to seasonable temperatures.

[muon2]

Playing D&D for the first time.

Cool. I played a lot in college and grad school when it first came out. I still have most of the old books, including the original three pamphlet box set. I'm fascinated that it has held interest even as the electronic gaming business replaced most of the paper and imagination versions.

[muon2]

Dan and I are moving across town to this house next summer, after some interior walls inside are moved around, and the footprint in back expanded to convert a laundry room behind the kitchen into a breakfast room open to the kitchen, with a view of the garden behind.  Supposedly the right portion of the home was built in 1780 by the first mate of a whaling ship (the left portion being added in 1850). I strongly doubt that since the proprietors who laid out Hudson, did not even show up to purchase the land patent and establish a whaling port until 1783. 1820 might be more like it, which still makes it one of the oldest surviving homes in Hudson.

Nice. Which ward is it in?

[muon2]

I spent most of yesterday touring some farms making use of technology for more efficient and sustainable agriculture. The robots in a milking barn allows are becoming quite sophisticated, keeping human hands and their germs off of the udders. Here's the manufacturer's video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vo4NJU5wTk

They even had a Dalek to help in the barn like this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyjRHjmXnTE

I'm pretty sure I heard it say "Now ruminate. Now ruminate."