Thane Plambeck

The Little League season is already half over

IMG_0177, originally uploaded by thane.

Too sad

Worst milkshake flavor ever

Worst milkshake flavor ever, originally uploaded by thane.

"Blue Moon" --- Cole pointed out that it tastes exactly like the milk in the bottom of a bowl of already eaten Froot Loops.

That didn't stop me from having it, of course.

From a "Notice of Utility Rate Change" sent by the City of Palo Alto

PROPOSED WATER RATE INCREASES

The proposed water rate structure includes two components (i) a "volumetric" charge for each CCF (hundred cubic feet) of water concerned during the billing period, and (ii) a base monthly charge for each customer that this based on the size of that customer's water meter.

Hmm...I need to get myself a tiny water meter.

magazine stack, to finite depth

Economist
The Nation
New Yorker
nature
Phi Beta Kappa Key Reporter
Hudson Review
Granta
College Mathematics Journal
Another New Yorker
Another nature
The Nation
another The Nation
music@menlo program
The Enigma
Word Ways
Granta
Another Granta
Yet another Granta

Yes, this is about to fall over too

book stacks

STACK ONE:
Encyclopedia of Astrology, Nicholas Devore
Dawn Powell, Novels, 1930-1942
Waugh, Selina Hastings
Princeton Companion to Mathematics, Gowers

STACK TWO:
A first course in General Relativity, Bernard Schutz
The Bad Popes, Russell Chamberlin
Some Strangeness in the Proportion (Centennial Symposium to Celebrate the Achievements of Albert Einstein)
T.S Eliot, The Complete Poems and Plays
PHP in a Nutshell
The Wapshot Chronicles, John Cheever
The Master Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, Baus
The New York Times crossword puzzle dictionary
Stanley Coleman, Aspects of Symmetry
Edward Lear, The complete verse and other nonsense

yes, stack two is about to fall over

The finale of the American Crossword Puzzle tournament

Here's an interesting account of the final of this year's ACPT, written by "Willz" (Will Shortz) for The Enigma, the flagship publication of The National Puzzlers' League [ you should join! ]

The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament has had some exciting finales over the years, but this year's "A" playoff was both exhilarating and emotionally draining. The final round pitted defending champion Mosayc (four-time winner, 2005-2008) against Qaqaq (three-time winner, 1993, 1998, and 2004) and Lunch Boy (finalist in 2007).  All three were perfected tied in points after seven rounds.

Qaqaq was the first to finish the playoff puzzle, a gorgeous 66-word themeless by Trick, in 9 minutes 31 seconds --- but he had two letters wrong (writing ALL ALONE instead of ALKALINE for the clue "Basic").  The playoff commentators had announced the error when Qaqaq made it and moved on.  Most of the audience of 1000+ was mentally screaming, "Go back! Fix your mistake! Don't declare 'Done' !"  So when Qaqaq whipped off his headphones and declared "Done!" everyone groaned.  Expecting cheers for his first place finish, Qaqaq exclaimed, "You're kidding me!"

Lunch Boy was next to finish, in 12:50 --- but hed had the very same letters wrong as Qaqaq.  His emotions whipsawed, first thrill that he had finished, then mild disappointment that he'd come in second, and finally despair when he realized that if he'd caught his mistake, he still could have won the tournament.

But the contest wasn't over.  Mosayc had seven more minutes to finish the puzzle, and soon he was down to two blank squares.  These weren't th esame two squares Qaqaq and Lunch Boy missed, but still all three contestants were even.  Could Mosayc do it?  Ironically, the answer that was holding him up was COLEADERS, for which he had COL-A-ERS, with the clue "They're tied at the top."  Crossing the first empty square was BON-S, clued as "Items in stock."  As former bond trader, Mosayc thought the missing letter must be D, which looked good for the crossing, even though the clue didn't make complete sense.  He hadn't considered that bones are often found in soup stock.

For almost five minutes Mosayc stared at the grid, erasing letters, filling them in again, shaking his head, dancing from foot to foot, stretching, talking to himself, and tilting his head back and forth, but never giving up.  The tension in the room was almost unbearable.  Suddenly, with the clock down to 2:55, the answer hit him.  He scribbled in the two missing letters, yelled "Done!" and whirled around, expecting polite applause for his third-place finish ... and was met by deafening cheers.

It was an amazing moment, one of the best in the ACPT's 32-year history.  And it just goes to show:  Never ... give ... up.

Emily Dickinson poem not chosen completely at random

I bet with every WInd that blew
Till Nature in chagrin
Employed a Fact to visit me
And scuttle my Balloon --

Emily Dickinson poem chosen completely at random

The Stimulus, beyond the Grave
His Countenance to see
Supports me like imperial Drams
Afforded Day by Day

Three possible answers for 35D, Friday NYT

35D:  Occasion to drop one's arms (9):  SURRENDER, ARMISTICE, CEASEFIRE

I can think of a few more.  I think CEASEFIRE was correct.

gloria's xray

impression:  tiny spurs arising from the undersurface of the acromion

Tired Of vs. More Please

Tired of:  A. E. Housman, Walter Benjamin, Kafka, gratuitous French, "what every educated reader must know," translators writing about their work and/or word selection, email from gun control lobbyists, Santayana, 8th grade algebra problems that truly do require calculators, the S&P 500, batteries, laundry, weekly trash pickup that seems to occur 4 times per week.  Bathroom trashcans that don't self-empty, my inability to play piano a tempo.

More please: Fringe dictionaries (Hawaiian, crossword puzzle, Icelandic (set in marvelous TeX)), maps, digital illustration, biographies that don't conjure images of working 3x5 notecards as I'm reading them (Chernow Titan, Lindley's Degrees Kelvin), university press mailing lists, psychiatric classification, cinematic science videos (par exemple), Bruce McCall, Schubert Op. 50, D. 779, books on counterpoint, modern architecture porn, accountants (yes, there seems to be a shortage), reality TV & documentaries, Jose Ortega y Gasset [Full of disappointment he wrote: 'Liberalism - it is well to recall this today - is the supreme form of generosity; it is the right which the majority concedes to minorities and hence it is the noblest cry that has ever resounded in this planet.  It announces the determination to share existence with the enemy; more than that, with an enemy that is weak. It was incredible that the human species should have arrived at so noble an attitude, so paradoxical, so refined, so acrobatic, so antinatural. Hence, it is not to be wondered at that this same humanity should soon appear anxious to get rid of it. It is a discipline too difficult and complex to take firm root on earth. link]

Borderline: Yeats.  Possibly Evelyn Waugh.  My hair. 

From the Palo Alto Online sports section

Palo Alto youth hoop team is third in national tourney

From Palo Alto Online, 7 April 2009, "Palo Alto youth hoop team is third in national tourney:"

The Palo Alto fifth grade All-Net boys' team recently returned from the NJB Nationals held in Anaheim, where the squad finished third in its division.

Palo Alto opened the tournament with victories over Irvine, Fullerton and Yorba Linda. The team finally dropped a close game in the semifinals, but rebounded in the third-place game and earned a trophy with a victory to cap a 16-9 season.

More than 170 teams competed in the national tournament. Palo Alto qualified for nationals after finishing second at the Silicon Valley sectionals.

The Palo Alto fifth-grade All-Net basketball team that finished third at the NJB Nationals are (bottom row, L-R) Tyler McGraw, Brey Johnson, Sinan Turan, Matt Lewis, and Kaya Turan. Middle row (L-R) Nils Klovdahl, Jonathan Davis, Alec Olmstead, Mikey Grandy, Owen Plambeck, and Justin Hull. Back row (L-R) assistant coach Sean McGraw and head coach Ken Morgan. my slideshow

Houston diving

Houston diving, originally uploaded by thane.

Cole (age 13, probably getting ready to do a back dive on the 1m springboard in this photo Gloria just sent from her cellphone) is in Houston diving at the Spring Junior West National Championships.

Manch. Ches. Salop. Yorks.

Manch. Ches. Salop. Yorks., originally uploaded by thane.

United States Highway 83 Directions (Thedford, Nebraska)

United States Highway 83 Directions (Thedford, Nebraska), originally uploaded by courthouselover.

Dutton-Lainson Building

Dutton-Lainson Building, originally uploaded by candleshoe.

Hastings, Nebraska

400 N State College, Orange, CA

400 N State College, Orange, CA, originally uploaded by thane.

An idealized image of the location 400 N State College, Orange, CA. I copied and Photoshopped it from its Google StreetView. It corresponds pretty closely to my memory of what it was like to cross this intersection, on foot, from the Hilton Suites (not shown, off to the right) to a "Del Taco" fast-food place across the street (not shown, off to the left). Naturally, I waited until there were few cars coming from either direction, as is shown in the photo.

Some questions (with answers):

1) What percentage of my field of view is concrete? [ I'd say 85, maybe 90%]

2) What's the most interesting thing about crossing this street? [ The yellow line. ]

3) Would you like to visit this location? [ No. ]