Sleep - Tips for falling asleep

Everyone has different strategies.

My mom told me she occasionally tells body parts to fall asleep, starting with the toes. She's lucky and can fall asleep that way, but I have tried it and found it unsatisfactory.

Lots of externalities, like caffeine, alcohol, stress, exercise, and so forth.

Beer

Beers tried.

2015

• Iceland
•  Einstök Beer Company (Akureyri, Iceland)
• White Ale
• Pale Ale
• Toasted Porter
• USA
• Uinta Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Punk'n Harvest Pumpkin Ale
• Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing (Santa Cruz, California)
• Devout Stout
• The People's Porter
• Amber Ale
• Chocolate Pumpkin Porter
• Boardwalk Blonde: European-style malts and organic California grown hops featuring locally harvested honey.  With aromas of wildflowers, smooth in body yet strong in character, seaside amusements don't get any better than this. 
• Afternoon Delight: An American Wheat brewed with Xiang Xing Oranges and infused with Lemon Zest. A light and citrusy beer perfect for an afternoon drinking session!
• 
  
• Uncommon Brewers' (Santa Cruz, California)
• Baltic Porter
• Hermitage Brewing Company (San Jose, California)
• Ale of the 2 Tun Imperial Stout
• Maltopia Double Scotch Ale

2014

• USA
• Anderson Valley Brewing Company (Boonville, California)
• Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale
• Summer Solstice Seasonal Ale

2013

• Czech Republic
• Krušovice
• Royal Dark
• Primátor
• Premium Dark, Dark Lager
• USA
• 
  

PREVIOUS

• USA
• "The Champagne of Beers", Miller Lite (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• Pabst Blue Ribbon (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• Old Milwaukee (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• "From the Land of Sky Blue Water", Hamm's (St. Paul, Minnesota)
• Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company (Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin)
• New Glarus Brewing Company (New Glarus, Wisconsin)
• Sprecher Brewing Company (Glendale, Wisconsin)
• "Milwaukee’s Finest Beer", Valentin Blatz Brewing Company (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer", Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Super Blood Moon, September 2015

Sounds more awful than it is.

Out here on the edge of the western United States (Santa Cruz), we had partly cloudy skies, so tough to pick out the moon, as it rose over the horizon.

We noticed it as the eclipse waned, around 8:45-9:00 p.m. Dawn and I sat with our cats, on the balcony, and listened to the people below, who also had noticed and clustered together to discuss. A perfect view.

DETAILS

Total Lunar Eclipse | September 27, 2015
All times in Pacific Standard Time

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 6:07 pm
Total eclipse begins: 7:11 pm
Greatest eclipse: 7:47 pm
Total eclipse ends: 8:23 pm
Partial eclipse ends: 9:27 pm

Wikipedia has an animated illustration of the moon passing through the earth's shadow.

DEFINITIONS

• Blood Moon: the fourth and final eclipse of a lunar tetrad: four straight total eclipses of the moon, spaced at six lunar months (full moons) apart
• Super Moon: Because the sun is about 50,000 miles closer to the earth than at its furthest point – and it’s a full or new moon – the moon will appear larger and brighter than most full moons. To be considered a supermoon, it has to be within 224,851 miles (361,863 kilometers) of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth

Via: http://sf.funcheap.com/supermoon-night-san-francisco/

Dreams6 - LED Bath Lights

http://www.dreams6.com/products/ilovenewyoku/lineup.html

DeWalt Drill Notes

Have a DeWalt DW926, purchased in ~2001. It came with a 9.6v, NiCd battery pack (x2...2000mA each?), a charger, and a carrying case.

The batteries failed to hold a charge, roughly around the same time, in 2014.

Use cases: basic domestic stuff, plus random jobs. Infrequently used, as we have lived in rentals.

Thinking about replacing it. Would like a Li-ion battery pack, but only see Ni-MH or Ni-Cd.

Noting just as a placeholder.

UPDATE, 2016-03-20: Ordered the DEWALT DW9061 XR 9.6-Volt 1.7-Amp NiCd Pod Style Battery Pack.

Swedish Potato Sausage

Something I have fond memories of eating, while a child.

From Wikipedia, Swedes call it "värmlandskorv":

Our family includes: pork, potato, onion, and spices (salt, pepper, garlic, and so forth).

Suggested preparation: frying pan and 0.5-inches of water, steamed until evaporated.

Note: not so fatty, as really just the extra bits of pork leftover. Seems a bit sketchy, that word, "leftover", but sausage is as sausage is.

UPDATE 01/16/2020: Looks like Dittmer's in Los Altos sells it frozen.

Mark Twain's White Suits

Listening to Mark Twain's autobiography, and he recounts this story about transitioning to wearing white, his second favorite clothing style, behind wild color:

Next after fine colors, I like plain white. One of my sorrows, when the summer ends, is that I must put off my cheery and comfortable white clothes and enter for the winter into the depressing captivity of the shapeless and degrading black ones. It is mid-October now, and the weather is growing cold up here in the New Hampshire hills, but it will not succeed in freezing me out of these white garments, for here the neighbors are few, and it is only of crowds that I am afraid. I made a brave experiment, the other night, to see how it would feel to shock a crowd with these unseasonable clothes, and also to see how long it might take the crowd to reconcile itself to them and stop looking astonished and outraged. On a stormy evening I made a talk before a full house, in the village, clothed like a ghost, and looking as conspicuous, all solitary and alone on that platform, as any ghost could have looked; and I found, to my gratification, that it took the house less than ten minutes to forget about the ghost and give its attention to the tidings I had brought. 

I am nearly seventy-one, and I recognize that my age has given me a good many privileges; valuable privileges; privileges which are not granted to younger persons. Little by little I hope to get together courage enough to wear white clothes all through the winter, in New York. It will be a great satisfaction to me to show off in this way; and perhaps the largest of all the satisfactions will be the knowledge that every scoffer, of my sex, will secretly envy me and wish he dared to follow my lead. 

In other words, he's nearly 71, he doesn't care anymore, he likes white, that's the way it's going to be, and...people get over it pretty quickly.

Via:
"8 October 1906: Paragraph 14," in Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2. 2013, 2008. <http://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=works/MTDP10363.xml;style=work;brand=mtp;chunk.id=dv0055#pa001821>

Buckwheat Hull Pillow

A number of years ago, I purchased a king-size buckwheat hull pillow, from vendor Beans72 (Yumiko Oshima). She vends pillows on Amazon.

It seems they resell pillows manufactured by Organic-Web Ltd Co., out of Brownsville, Texas.

It's worked OK. I don't think I would recommend it, currently, as I have yet to make the attempt to dial-in my own pillow. It feels overfull.

Leyla World Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Co. - Closed

Went to Leyla World Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Company a few times, but noticed it closed, this afternoon.

Never seemed busy. Always seemed a bit tired, despite eclectic interior. We always had a good ice cream experience, though, with helpful staff.

Last we noticed, they had advertised custard on a big banner outside the store. We had tried the lemon custard, I think.

I guess the summer season did not bring in enough to sustain the operations (?)

Cat foods tried

Our two cats have different approaches to food.

The orange cat eats everything.

The white cat snubs things.

So, journaling the results of foods we tried, for the white cat:

• Simply Nourish
• Tuna, Pasta, & Peas Casserole
• 9/26/2015 - snubbed, AM
• 9/26/2015 - eaten, PM
• Chicken & Duck Stew
• 10/10 - eaten, AM, 9:45 a.m.
• 11/1 - eaten, AM, 9:45 a.m.
• Tuna Recipe in a Savory Broth
• 10/25 - snubbed, AM
• 11/1 - snubbed, AM
• Newman's Own Organics Premium Cat Food
• Organic Liver Pâté
• 9/27/2015 - eaten, noon

NOTES

• When as important as What, it seems (note: we have an autofeeder set to dispense kibble every three hours, portioned appropriately)

Cat Toys

While at PetSmart a few weeks ago, we watched kittens playing. One toy they had looked like it involved a motorized pink feathery object. I didn't think to investigate, at the time, and attempts to find it online failed. So, best to probably go back and see if I can identify it, in person.

In the mean time, I looked online for motorized cat toys and found a few highly rated ones, on Amazon. But nothing standing out.

9/26/2015: Purchased the Cat's Meow toy, on sale for $6. Will see how it goes.

Bees clustered near water

On Q Street, in Sacramento, a front yard has a small waterfall, very zen-like. Around the edges of the water bucket cluster bees (wasps?):

Bees collect nectar, pollen, propolis (plant resin) and water for their colonies. On very hot days, you'll see scores of bees at a water fountain, bird bath, or pond.
... 

Flottum points out: "Water is as necessary to your bees as it is to your pets and to you. Whatever watering technique you choose for your bees, the goal is to provide a continuous supply of fresh water. This means while you are on vacation for a couple of weeks, when you get busy and  forget to check, and especially when it's really, really hot--bees always need water."

"Water is used to dissolve crystallized honey, to dilute honey when producing larval food, for evaporation cooling during warm weather, and for a cool drink on a hot day," Flottum writes in his book. 

Via: http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=11349

Mark Twain's Nom de guerre - First Use

Samuel Clemens' first use of the nom de guerre "Mark Twain" (?) It seems he assumed the name from Mississippi River pilot Captain Isaiah Sellers:

"I was a cub pilot on the Mississippi River then, and one day I wrote a rude and crude satire which was leveled at Captain Isaiah Sellers, the oldest steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, and the most respected, esteemed, and revered. For many years he had occasionally written brief paragraphs concerning the river and the changes which it had undergone under his observation during fifty years, and had signed these paragraphs “Mark Twain” and published them in the St. Louis and New Orleans journals. In my satire I made rude game of his reminiscences. It was a shabby poor performance, but I didn’t know it, and the pilots didn’t know it. The pilots thought it was brilliant. They were jealous of Sellers, because when the gray-heads among them pleased their vanity by detailing in the hearing of the younger craftsmen marvels which they had seen in the long ago on the river, Sellers was always likely to step in at the psychological moment and snuff them out with wonders of his own which made their small marvels look pale and sick. However, I have told all about this in “Old Times on the Mississippi.”

"The pilots handed my extravagant satire to a river reporter, and it was published in the New Orleans True Delta. That poor old Captain Sellers was deeply wounded. He had never been held up to ridicule before; he was sensitive, and he never got over the hurt which I had wantonly and stupidly inflicted upon his dignity. I was proud of my performance for a while, and considered it quite wonderful, but I have changed my opinion of it long ago. Sellers never published another paragraph nor ever used his nom de guerre again."

Via: "10 September 1906: Paragraph 5," in Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2. 2013, 2008. <http://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=works/MTDP10363.xml;style=work;brand=mtp;chunk.id=dv0050#pa001690>

Longplayer

Longplayer stream down, since July 1, 2015:

The live stream is down while we try and resolve some technical issues. It’ll be back as soon as possible. In the meantime the Longplayer iOS app is available from the app store which plays independently of any data connection.

2015-10-12: Looks like it works again. Note: the page linked to, above, no longer resolves.

Clothing color combinations

https://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/comments/2wi8yt/an_improved_visual_guide_to_quick_easy_color/

Looks reasonable (?)

Also, first time I have seen the term, "lumbersexual".

Flu Shots

Got our flu shots at CostCo, on Thursday.

Pharmecist Matthew administered them, this year. He said the other pharmacist, named ???, was out on paternity leave.

University of California, Santa Cruz - Digital Arts New Media 2015

http://danm.ucsc.edu/mfa15

While walking through the UCSC Digital Arts Research Center (DARC), we noticed posters for the Digital Arts and New Media MFA Program (DANM):

• Birth of Stars : "Michael M. Chemers: Birth of Stars is the story of a fourteen-year-old girl, Sofia, growing up in a rural mountain community in California. Sofia has exceptional gifts - she has an extraordinary facility with science and is obsessed with the life cycles of stars. These gifts, however, come at a terrible price - Sofia is outcast from her community, cruelly bullied (and cyber-bullied) by her classmates, and misunderstood by her mother, who is very religious. The one person who might understand her is a great scientist, but he also wrestles with terrible personal demons. Sofia’s journey through these obstacles is both a compelling and deeply human one, but also, in the end, transcendent and cosmic, in the grandest sense. The show itself combines live action with a variety of digital visual effects, including projections of simulations of stars forming in space. The live action interacts with the projections and other effects to create what we think is a unique experience that is both immediately present and also highly mediated."
• The lead actress wears a shirt with text reading, "I love Carl Sagan"
• The Orrey Harp: "The Orrery Harp is an autonomous musical instrument designed to play a composition based on the movements of planetary bodies in motion around the sun. The instrument includes nine strings representing each planet in our solar system, including the dwarf planet, Pluto. Frequency is determined by the rotational period of a given planet (day), while rhythm is determined by the planet’s period of orbit around the sun (year). Each string is activated by an electromagnetic pulse to induce harmonic resonance as a planet reaches its starting point, or yearly cycle. One Earth year is scaled to 36.24 seconds on the Orrery Harp. Nathan Ober is a new media artist whose work crosses disciplines from installation and performance to video and sound. His current research is focused on astronomy and astrophysics, and deals with techniques of sonification and processes that attempt to expose our innate connection to the universe. Video by Dani Williamson."
• Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vaom2BDXqbA

Neko Atsume

Neko Atsume - playing, as they released it for North America.

Neko Atsume (Japanese: ねこあつめ?, "Collect Cats") is a cat collecting game developed by Hit-Point for iOS and Android

Strategy guide:
https://welcometowonderland.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/how-to-play-neko-atsume/

• If you’re in a hurry to get lots of sardines, Manzoku-san and Koikoi-san tend to give more sardines and are easier to attract than other rare cats.
• Manzoku-san: Any food that isn’t value crisps
• Koikoi-san: Deluxe house

Walkthrough (lists cats, and so forth):
https://welcometowonderland.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/neko-atsume-walkthrough/

Comics
http://jam-filter.com/nekoatsume/index.html

Cocoon Innovations Grid It

Cocoon Innovations Grid It - back in 2010, we ordered the CSG310GY - City Gray Neoprene Minifolio Case.

Just ordered another one, this time from Ebay, as they only sell them in red, now.

Fishing hat

Saw a straw hat I liked, while walking to work. Per my memory, it seems to look like a "straw fishing hat".