Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2005-11-08:

"The debate between those who believe in evolution and those who believe in "intelligent design" is always formulated in terms of what we should teach our children. Some say both theories. Some say only one.

"Here is what we should teach our children: nothing, none of it.

...

"Here is what we should teach our children: how to think; how to look at evidence and determine reasonable conclusions that can be derived from the evidence; how to know what constitutes evidence; how to interpret evidence."

-- Roger Schank in Edge: The Reality Club, Edge 168

(submitted to the mailing list by John Karabaic)

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2005-11-08.:

"The debate between those who believe in evolution and those who believe in "intelligent design" is always formulated in terms of what we should teach our children. Some say both theories. Some say only one.

"Here is what we should teach our children: nothing, none of it.

...

"Here is what we should teach our children: how to think; how to look at evidence and determine reasonable conclusions that can be derived from the evidence; how to know what constitutes evidence; how to interpret evidence."

-- Roger Schank in Edge: The Reality Club, Edge 168

(submitted to the mailing list by John Karabaic)

I did something to my back last night Uh ... My back did something to me last night. ( random 'ow' and thinking aloud about short-term plans )

According to Weather Underground, the wind is currently 31 mph with gusts to 41 mph (49 kph & 65 kph) with a wind chill of 273K (that should be the one temperature I don't have to convert to °F or °C for folks, right?). The only reason I bothered to check is that I'd noticed that on the Glenn's House Wind Scale the speed was "rattle the windows noisily".

So if I do get out of the house, the wind will definitely be a factor when I choose which skirt to wear. Not the day for short+gauzy. The brown, tiered skirt is probably a heavy enough fabric to be manageable, at least with a coat over it.

I'm not sure which will be worse for my back; a folding hand-truck just a smidgen too short for me or hanging haversacks off my shoulders as usual. It won't be the day to stock up on seltzer water and potatoes.

 

Oh bother. Just as I was about to post this, an even louder gust of wind rattled a window hard enough to make the pane slide down so it no longer meets the frame at the top. I noticed because the curtains suddenly started moving in time with the wind sounds instead of just rippling slightly.

I did something to my back last night Uh ... My back did something to me last night. ( random 'ow' and thinking aloud about short-term plans )

According to Weather Underground, the wind is currently 31 mph with gusts to 41 mph (49 kph & 65 kph) with a wind chill of 273K (that should be the one temperature I don't have to convert to °F or °C for folks, right?). The only reason I bothered to check is that I'd noticed that on the Glenn's House Wind Scale the speed was "rattle the windows noisily".

So if I do get out of the house, the wind will definitely be a factor when I choose which skirt to wear. Not the day for short+gauzy. The brown, tiered skirt is probably a heavy enough fabric to be manageable, at least with a coat over it.

I'm not sure which will be worse for my back; a folding hand-truck just a smidgen too short for me or hanging haversacks off my shoulders as usual. It won't be the day to stock up on seltzer water and potatoes.

 

Oh bother. Just as I was about to post this, an even louder gust of wind rattled a window hard enough to make the pane slide down so it no longer meets the frame at the top. I noticed because the curtains suddenly started moving in time with the wind sounds instead of just rippling slightly.

I don't think gaffer's tape is recommended for glazing use, but I think it'll hold for a little while, keep the draft through that window down to sane levels, and prevent the top pane from coming completely loose and plummetting to the sidewalk.

This isn't the first window here to suffer this failure mode. The wood of the frames is old and deteriorating, and the joints at the lower corners of the upper sashes of some of the windows on the front of the house are coming loose. I've got a couple held together by sticks the right length wedged between the bottom edge of the upper sash and the sill below.

I'm not the handyman that the previous owner is, so when I fix these for real it'll probably have to be either screwing metal brackets (uh, I mean 'flat corner irons', I think) onto the fronts of the sash-frames or saving up to get the windows replaced. Replacing the windows with modern, better-insulating, possibly heat-reflecting windows that look enough like the old ones to meet the local historical preservation regulations (which only apply to the fronts of houses here) would be the best long-term answer, given how much it could save on heating and cooling, but like so many potential long-term savings, coming up with the initial capital is the obstacle.

I think of it as being like the activation energy of an exothermic reaction. If you can light the thermite you'll get a lot of heat out of it, but if you don't already have an ignition source hot enough to start the thermite going, all you have is a pile of mixed metal-dust.

If I understand the current economics of photovoltaic solar correctly, I could save money over the long haul by putting enough solar panels on my roof, too. But that'd cost even more up front than getting the windows replaced.

(Eighteen windows total, eight subject to historical preservation rules. All of them currently drafty, some through gaps between the sashes or between a sash and its track, some through gaps around the panes, some through gaps around the frames where the opening in the wall has deformed slightly over the last hundred and forty one years.)

Aaaand there goes a really ominous tearing/creaking noise that I do hope wasn't some part of my house (like more of my roof) getting town off. Hey, the Internet connection is still up (if a bit laggy); that's a good sign. It means the antenna hasn't blown away. I'm hearing objects of various sizes and compositions rattling and clattering up the street, as well. Some of the wooden-sounding ones are fairly bouncy. I should go take another look and match sounds to objects.

I don't think gaffer's tape is recommended for glazing use, but I think it'll hold for a little while, keep the draft through that window down to sane levels, and prevent the top pane from coming completely loose and plummetting to the sidewalk.

This isn't the first window here to suffer this failure mode. The wood of the frames is old and deteriorating, and the joints at the lower corners of the upper sashes of some of the windows on the front of the house are coming loose. I've got a couple held together by sticks the right length wedged between the bottom edge of the upper sash and the sill below.

I'm not the handyman that the previous owner is, so when I fix these for real it'll probably have to be either screwing metal brackets (uh, I mean 'flat corner irons', I think) onto the fronts of the sash-frames or saving up to get the windows replaced. Replacing the windows with modern, better-insulating, possibly heat-reflecting windows that look enough like the old ones to meet the local historical preservation regulations (which only apply to the fronts of houses here) would be the best long-term answer, given how much it could save on heating and cooling, but like so many potential long-term savings, coming up with the initial capital is the obstacle.

I think of it as being like the activation energy of an exothermic reaction. If you can light the thermite you'll get a lot of heat out of it, but if you don't already have an ignition source hot enough to start the thermite going, all you have is a pile of mixed metal-dust.

If I understand the current economics of photovoltaic solar correctly, I could save money over the long haul by putting enough solar panels on my roof, too. But that'd cost even more up front than getting the windows replaced.

(Eighteen windows total, eight subject to historical preservation rules. All of them currently drafty, some through gaps between the sashes or between a sash and its track, some through gaps around the panes, some through gaps around the frames where the opening in the wall has deformed slightly over the last hundred and forty one years.)

Aaaand there goes a really ominous tearing/creaking noise that I do hope wasn't some part of my house (like more of my roof) getting town off. Hey, the Internet connection is still up (if a bit laggy); that's a good sign. It means the antenna hasn't blown away. I'm hearing objects of various sizes and compositions rattling and clattering up the street, as well. Some of the wooden-sounding ones are fairly bouncy. I should go take another look and match sounds to objects.