Monthly Archives: July 2009

Thursday night – Tish B'av

Very productive day.. worked at home again in the tower. I find I get so much more done when I work up there. It’s quiet and there are no distractions. I was so busy that not much else happened that was worth recording here.. Tonight we had a nice break .. we walked over to Dawn and Jim’s for dinner. It was great hanging out with them. We ended the night with stupid yoga tricks.

One other thing of note.I learned from a friend that today is Tish B’Av.(תשעה באב)  .. the ninth day of Av… a day of mourning in the Jewish calendar. It’s like Friday the 13th.. but sadder. According to Jewish history there were 5 major calamities on Tish B’av.  (I learned from Wikipedia)
    The twelve scouts sent by Moses to observe the land of Canaan returned from their mission. Two of the scouts, Joshua and Caleb, brought a positive report, but the others spoke disparagingly about the land which caused the Children of Israel to cry, panic and despair of ever entering the “Promised Land“.

    For this, they were punished by God that their generation would not

    enter the land. Because of the Israelites’ lack of faith, God decreed

    that for all generations this date would become one of crying and

    misfortune for their descendants, the
    Jewish people. (See Numbers Ch. 13–14)

    The First Temple built by King Solomon and the Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE and the Judeans were sent into the Babylonian exile.
    The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, scattering the people of Judea and commencing the Jewish exile from the Holy Land.
    Bar Kokhba’s revolt against Rome failed in 135 CE. Simon bar Kokhba was killed, and the city of Betar was destroyed.
    Following the Roman siege of Jerusalem, the razing of Jerusalem occurred the next year. A Temple was built in its stead to an idol.

    I’d never heard about Tish B’av before yesterday. It’s strange to learn something new about your own culture at age 50..

    I hope it was a thoguhtful day for everyone..

    It was for me..   OK.. All for now.. Nite folks,
     Nite Sam

    -me

Wednesday night – just wednesday

Diane and I were on the road by 6 this morning heading back to VT. I’d been down in NY for work meetings for the past few days… we took advantage of that to visit some friends (Bruce and Mary Beth, Ruchir, Dave and Jean) and to go down to see Max in his new place.

Ruchir and I took advantage of an hour break in work meetings to hike up Turkey Hill near Yorktown.. It was in the 90’s and humid.. nice breeze at the top. Here we are lookign a bit wilted..

I got to Max’s about 7.  max was still at work..no prob there since I had work calls till past 8.  Around 9  Diane and I walked over to meet max on campus to watch The Colony.. with his friends Angela and max’s roommate Pat.. it was great getting to see the show with Max and his friends  !..

I love the folks at PRatt.. they are all so strange and creative.. exhibit 1.. Max’s other room mate Chad modeling his new fake mustache…

exhibit 2.. Max’s other other roomate JJ’s self portarait as a 50 year old man..

We hung out with those guys until about 2:30.. then I slept for about 3 hours..before we wokfke for the drive home. We got home early enough for me to have a full and productive work day,. then around 7, Diane and I headed to David D’s for a Burning Man work session. Tonight we were working on the ‘clockwork’ the moving heart of the timecycle vehicle. The clockwork is the piece that rotates the the ski lift chairs inside the 20 foot giant wheels. One job we had was to cut out the giant gears that will drive the chair assembly around the clock work.. They were so big that David had to cut them out of three parts  which we welded together.

While Homer and Chris welded,

David and Duane cut parts and Diane and I assembled the bearing and thrust wheels that will hold the moving rings of the clock work.

It was a peaceful and productive session. next session is Saturday when we will assemble the second giant wheel. We need all the help we can get to bag the 1600 pound wheel into shape and get it standing.. If you’re available to help, please let me know..

Yikes.. It’s after midnight again.. and I’m runningo on about 3 hours of sleep.. Gotta jump in bed.. more tomorrow .. nite all, nite Sam !
-me

Tueday night – gassifier

You know, there is nothing stranger than watching yourself on TV.. especially for a semi-shy person like myself (I know.. you’re saying.. semi-shy ?!? .. but think about it a little more.. and I tink you’ll agree). Diane and I watched the second episode of the colony with Max and a few of his friends in an overheated dorm lounge down at pratt. Once again.. I liked the show…   At the same time.. it’s odd seeing all the stuff that didn’t make it into the show.. 5 24 hour days are pretty tough  to cram into an hour TV slot. The whole complicated progression of making the wood gassifier had to be broken down into a few short beats.. I remember how absolutely amazed I was that we were actually making electricity out of wood fumes..  .. I hope the sense of ‘can that really be working ..?!?!’  came through. For those who are wondering.. we got about 3 hours of generation from every charge of wood. .. which was sufficient to top off our batteries. One thing I really loved about the show was that everything they showed that worked.. actually worked.. if it didn’t work.. they’d show that it didn’t work..   That was really important to me.
    It’s hard for me sometimes watching the interpersonal  stuff is hard for me.. the stress we were under often led to friction between folks on the cast.. It’s strange to see since we are all good friends now..   I know that the drama makes for more watchable TV. but I’ve never liked conflict…
   It’ll be interesting to see what folks thought of this second episode..Let me know what you think  I think things are going to get more interesting from here on out..  
I need to sleep now.. more tomorrow. Nite folks.. Nite Sam !
-me

ps. For what it’s worth.. here’s  part of the twitter feed I captured for the east coast screening.. interesting mix of comments !

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    t_stay the colony.. on the discovery channel.. legit.. check it out..

    2 minutes ago

    from mobile web
       


  2. Apc_logo_normal


    angrypenguin1 The plight of honeybees & alarming potential causes of colony collapse disorder http://bit.ly/4meivo

    3 minutes ago

    from TweetDeck
       


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    Chicago_SC Um yeah this Discovery thing “the colony” is lame. They’d of done better just showing how to be a freegan as it is, just more BS.

    3 minutes ago

    from Tweetie
       


  4. Twitter20_normal


    shacker The Colony is turning into DIY heaven, a little post-apocalyptic Maker Faire for the armchair.

    5 minutes ago

    from Tweetie
       


  5. Me_normal


    DubiousBastard By far, my new favorite show is the colony

    6 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    blogsbe Is anyone else watching the colony?

    6 minutes ago

    from Twitterrific
       


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    Eltrainlane Just caught the second episode of the colony http://bit.ly/ZOBk9 ) and I really dug it.

    6 minutes ago

    from Spaz
       


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    mtgiang the colony is having it easy. where did the goat come from?

    8 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    eclecticbliss watching The Colony (what the future could look like after a global viral outbreak) “reality” show on Discovery Channel

    9 minutes ago

    from TweetDeck
       


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    BossCampbell @porkchopRICH you coming to drink with me tomorrow at the colony?

    11 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    almitra the colony on discovery might just be the best show ever.

    13 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    epicjbrown Watching The Colony w/the wifey- #Discovery puts out some quality programming

    14 minutes ago

    from Twittelator
       


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    bglendin Watching the colony with alex, I can’t stand some of these people ugh

    14 minutes ago

    from Twitterrific
       


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    sassypsyche The colony: It’s like big brother meets mythbusters.

    14 minutes ago

    from TweetDeck
       


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    mtgiang the colony is having it easy.

    15 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    mtgiang the colony is having it easy. where did the goat come from?

    16 minutes ago

    from web
       


  17. Default_profile_normal


    mtgiang the colony is having it easy.

    16 minutes ago

    from web
       


  18. Office_pic_me_normal


    sassypsyche Anyone watching the Colony on Discovery Channel? Interesting show.

    16 minutes ago

    from TweetDeck
       


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    beccarisa The Colony is my new favorite show. So postapocalyptic.

    17 minutes ago

    from txt
       


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    pencilears Watching The Colony, what a bunch of morons.

    17 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    itsDESIREEE @kaliannawu oh hecks no. You do NOT see the pimples hiding under my bangs : Its like a colony..

    18 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    lavsudar casino – Chamber casino party set for July 30 (The Colony Courier-Leader) http://…com/nd44re

    18 minutes ago

    from TweetMyBlog
       


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    gzusone This new show The Colony seems pretty cool. Book smart doesnt always mean smart. Street smarts also crucial in life.

    21 minutes ago

    from mobile web
       


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    6pm_Noel Officially addicted to the Discovery channel show The Colony. And saddened that I would have no skills to offer after an apocolypse. 🙁

    21 minutes ago

    from UberTwitter
       


  25. Me_normal


    Camaran And also, The Colony on Discovery Channel is pretty darn good. I want to go on the show now.

    24 minutes ago

    from UberTwitter
       


  26. Pom_normal


    foodeater Watching The Colony, post-apocalyptic “reality” survival show set in L.A. Hard to buy into since its all so controlled.

    24 minutes ago

    from Seesmic
       


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    allinone09 News Daily: Afghanistan not a colony – Miliband – The Press Association (http://cli.gs/rteyj)

    24 minutes ago

    from WP to Twitter
       


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    CrazyinBonTemps watching ‘the colony‘ on discovery. This show is really cool!

    27 minutes ago

    from TwitterFon
       


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    mandy_soto93 Watching The Colony then going to sleep.

    29 minutes ago

    from txt
       


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    apollstar The Colony is the best reality show Ive ever seen!

    30 minutes ago

    from web
       


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    txcountry Watching The Colony… In a very very sad lonely mood tonight..blah

    30 minutes ago

    from web
       


  32. Evan_signing_normal


    ntjevan Ok, so The Colony on Discovery sounds cool…but in reality how do you have a show about a post apocolypse world without first having one?

    31 minutes ago

    from TwitterBerry
       


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    gregvaneekhout I hope mutants eat handyman Mike on The Colony.

    31 minutes ago

    from Seesmic
       


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    Marciegee Calling Fluffy Bunny, I mean, @mreko The Colony is on! Dagger needs her fix of scaring the colonists!

    31 minutes ago

    from TweetDeck
       


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    reichenberger13 Watchin’ The Colony.

    32 minutes ago

    from txt
       


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Print

Monday night – green eggs and ham

Very late to be starting to blog. Not much else to report today.. it was a good work day.. I did an

outreach event for teachers in Poughkeepsie in the morning.. then a

good set of work meting in Armonk in the afternoon. Right now I’m in Holmes NY staying with my friends Dave and Jean. Dave is an old freind from IBM.. he retired a few years back and now spends his time inventing cool stuff, playing the concertina and hiking.. not bad.   Their house is like a cool museum.. They collect original prints from books.. they have one of the original prints from Maurice Sendaks ‘where the wild things are.. and soem original Dr. Suess prints.. Here’s my favorite.

Not much else to report.. getting ready for tomorrows second episode of the Colony. We’ll be watching it in NYC with Max … I’ll let you all know what I think about it tomorrow night ..

For now.. here’s a scene from the archives of the show..  I really like this picture 🙂

OK.. that’s it for today.. nite everyone.. Nite Sam
-me