Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

It really doesn't feel like Halloween without chilly weather and the smell of leaf mold. On the other hand, this is without question the scariest pumpkin I have ever carved.

Lauren's Visit

Lauren's visit

When it's been a hot day on the coast, fog starts rolling in right before sunset.

After Hours Productivity

Through a rigorous scientific process I have determined that the distribution of balls in the Google ball pit does not match the distribution of colors in the Google logo.

Rich's Wedding and the Cincinnati Nature Center

Rich's wedding

I went to Cincinnati this past weekend for my cousin Rich's wedding. It was really wonderful. :)

I've got longer videos of the dance that I'm uploading to google video at the moment. I'll post them here when they finish uploading.

Update: here they are. 1 2 3 4

Cincinnati Nature Center

On Sunday after a brunch at my Aunt's, my mom and I along with my other aunt and uncle went to the Cincinnati Nature Center. Here are some pictures from that. I missed the height of the leaves changing by about a week, but I saw enough of it to tide me over.

The video in that album is of woolly aphids devouring a limb of a beech tree. The only thing that eats them is a particular type of carnivorous caterpillar.


There are a lot of wonderful things at the nature center. In the spring the frog ponds are all suitably full of frogs and lily pads for them to sit on. The larger lakes are great places to watch fish and turtles come up to the surface to gulp down any offered food, or to watch turtles sunning themselves on a log. In the summer the prairies are full of birds and the sounds of locusts. In the winter the clearings in front of the bird blinds fill up with birds, and they are my favorite part. When I'm in a bird blind I feel like I'm simultaneously kneeling at an ancient forest shrine and watching the lost boys have a food fight. Together, the two effects ensure that I always leave refreshed. I think I like Charley Harper's art for a similar reason. A lot of artists capture the grandeur and beauty of nature, but I've seen few that simultaneously capture it's silliness.

Mark Warner is going to be president.

I don't think there's a politician alive with more ideas or credibility. Spread the word.

Garrison Keillor on Habeas Corpus

Garrison Keillor had some powerful words to say about the recent Senate action. There should be an editorial like this in every newspaper in the country.

None of the men and women who voted for this bill has any right to speak in public about the rule of law anymore, or to take a high moral view of the Third Reich, or to wax poetic about the American Idea. Mark their names. Any institution of higher learning that grants honorary degrees to these people forfeits its honor. Alexander, Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Burns, Burr, Carper, Chambliss, Coburn, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Crapo, DeMint, DeWine, Dole, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Frist, Graham, Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Isakson, Johnson, Kyl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, McConnell, Menendez, Murkowski, Nelson of Florida, Nelson of Nebraska, Pryor, Roberts, Rockefeller, Salazar, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith, Specter, Stabenow, Stevens, Sununu, Talent, Thomas, Thune, Vitter, Voinovich, Warner.