A Crown of Thistles

Champs and leaders share the points in stunner at Mosset Park

2011-11-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

A stunning game at Mosset Park saw the champions share the points with the side that is currently posting the greatest threat to their crown.

Forres Mechanics twice came back from a goal down, showing once again just why this team have been so difficult to overcome on their own patch.

Buckie on the other hand put in a much-improved display and that alone will provide some encouragement for their supporters.

It was the home side who produced the early opportunities with Graeme Fraser getting to the ball at the back post and setting up brother Lee Fraser only for his header to fly over the bar.

Eight minutes into the game and Neil Whyte burst free in the area but his shot was well saved, with Mechanics coming close from the resulting corner when Nathan Sharp sent another header just over.

It was not all one-way traffic, however, with Davidson seeing a great effort blocked by Whyte before goalkeeper Knight smothered the loose ball. Duguid sent another effort over the bar for Mechanics, but it was the visitors who minutes later would break the deadlock.

Buckie broke quickly after winning the ball at a Forres thrown-in, catching the home defence napping Davidson drove down the flank before cutting the ball to Paul Napier who found the back of the net.

Right on half time the Jags might have doubled their advantage, Napier cutting in from the right flank before striking a great shot that came crashing back off the bar.

Early in the second half Buckie had another chance to extend their lead, Angus sending a shot inches wide. It was from the resulting goal-kick that the home side fashioned their equaliser, a route-one ball finding Neil Whyte who reacted quicker than the Buckie defence, sending an inch-perfect pass to Lee Fraser who delivered a shot from six yards into the net.

The game was end to end but it was Buckie yet again who prevailed and moved back into the lead with just over an hour gone. Zander Sutherland created the opening with a great cross to the back post where Craig MacMillan was judged to have been pushed by Sharp. The penalty was awarded and MacMillan himself drove the ball home from the spot.

This time the advantage would only last three minutes when Grant picking up the scraps from a corner on the halfway line and his delivery was clipped into the area by Duguid. Once again it was Lee Fraser who reacted faster than the Jags defence, beating Kevin Main from eight yards to level the match up again.

More chances arrived for both sides in the close 20 minutes plus a further five added time, but the most notable events were injuries to Buckie goalkeeper Kevin Main followed by extensive treatment being required to Darren Strong.

Source http://local.stv.tv/forres/sport/27372-champs-and-leaders-provide-a-stunner-to-share-the-points/

A good Friday in five different ways for Thistle

2011-10-03T23:01:00.001-07:00

IT was all about the numbers at Firhill last night as Partick Thistle and Morton took a possible step into the future.

The success or failure of Friday night football will depend on the size of crowds that can be attracted and while the result of this match will be of paramount importance to the teams and their managers, the 3380 attendance figure will be the one that matters most for the Scottish Football League. The proximity of Greenock to Glasgow’s West End made the first division fixture between these two the ideal guinea pig for the unusual encounter.

Source http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/more-scottish-football/a-good-friday-in-five-different-ways-for-thistle-1.1127013

Openings in kids camps, programs at Ridges

2011-07-22T01:07:00.000-07:00

Do you know a child who loves outdoor adventures? If so, there's still time to sign them up for one of the summer children's programs offered at The Ridges Sanctuary, near Baileys Harbor. There are still lots of openings in programs each week through mid-August.

When kids attend Ridges programs, they experience firsthand one of the most unique natural areas in Door County. Children can search for dragonfly larvae in a sedge meadow, examine animal tracks along the beach and learn about the appetites of insect-eating pitcher plants and sundews. They might become an animal in an active game of "predators and prey," build a tree model or even dress up as a bat. All programs are conducted by professional staff and volunteers from The Ridges.

The following camp sessions are scheduled:

» Foxes: for children entering grades 1-2; 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday; $20 per session for Ridges members, $25 nonmembers.

» Explorers: for children entering grades 3-6, 9 a.m. to noon July 27; $20 per session for Ridges members, $25 nonmembers.

» Camp Taiga I: for children entering grades 1-2; 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 2 through 4. Theme for this three-day program is "Home is a Habitat." $60 per session for Ridges members, $70 nonmembers.

» Camp Taiga II: for children entering grades 3-6; 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 9 through 11. Theme for this three-day program is "We Need Each Other." $60 per session for Ridges members, $70 nonmembers.

Registration is required for all Ridges youth programs. For more information or to register for a camp session, call The Ridges; information is also available on our website.

From the endangered Hines Emerald dragonfly to the rare ram's-head lady slipper orchid, the Ridges Sanctuary provides refuge for some of Door County's rarest treasures. Over five miles of trails are open year-round for self-guided hiking, and naturalist-guided hikes are offered at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 9:30 a.m. Saturdays. The Nature Store, featuring nature-related books, puppets, T-shirts and gift items, is open daily through mid-October.

The Ridges is at 8288 County Q, just east of Wisconsin 57, Baileys Harbor. For more information, call (920) 839-2802 or visit www.ridgessanctuary.org.

Source http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110720/ADV05/107200636/Openings-kids-camps-programs-Ridges

Ridges Sanctuary: Get up close with nature in family 'Discovery Night'

2011-07-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been inside a giant soap bubble? Would you like to examine pond creatures under a microscope, or blow bubbles like a spittlebug?

Parents and kids can do all these things and more during Thursday's "Nature Discovery Night," sponsored by The Ridges Sanctuary. This program includes hands-on nature investigations and experiments for the entire family.

Nature Discovery Night is an opportunity for parents (or grandparents) and children to investigate and learn about nature. Some of the activities planned include pond critter identification, giant bubble blowing, fish printing, wildlife track stories, getting to know antlions and monarch caterpillars and simple nature crafts and snacks.

It will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Baileys Harbor Town Hall, 2392 County F. This program is free, but donations are accepted.

From the endangered Hines emerald dragonfly to the rare ram's-head lady slipper orchid, the Ridges Sanctuary provides refuge for some of Door County's rarest treasures. More than five miles of trails are open year-round for self-guided hiking, and naturalist-guided hikes are offered at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 9:30 a.m. Saturdays. The Nature Store, featuring nature-related books, puppets, T-shirts and gift items, is open daily through mid-October.

The Ridges is located at 8288 County Q, just east of Wisconsin 57, Baileys Harbor. For more information, call (920) 839-2802 or visit www.ridgessanctuary.org.
July 2

» 6:30 a.m. — Discovery Bird Hike: Birders ranging from beginning to experienced are invited to explore various birding hotspots in the immediate area. Meet at the nature center.
July 5

» 9 to 11 a.m. — Barberry Pirates: This is a hearty crew of volunteers who work to control the exotic plants that threaten the Ridges, attacking the dreaded barberry, the pernicious crown vetch, swamp thistle and others. New pirates are always welcome. Snacks are provided after the raid.

» 9 a.m. to noon — Foxes Camp: Children entering first and second grades can learn more about the "Scaly and Slimy" residents of the Ridges through games, activities, crafts and a hike. Registration is required; call to sign up.
July 6

» 9 a.m. to noon — Explorers Camp: Children entering third through sixth grades can learn more about the "Scaly and Slimy" residents of the Ridges through games, activities, crafts and a hike. Registration is required; call to sign up.

Source http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110629/ADV05/107010343/Ridges-Sanctuary-Get-up-close-nature-family-Discovery-Night-

Clach loses second league and cup double player

2011-04-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

A talented footballer in his day, Callum Nicolson died from a brain tumour after a long illness at the age of 61.

He is the second player from Clach's celebrated 1974/75 team, which won a league and cup double, to pass away this month.

Team-mate John Alison, nicknamed "Johnny Al", died after suffering a heart attack in his shop, Highland Carpets and Flooring, in Montague Row.

Fifty-seven-year-old Mr Allison, of Fairfield Road, was a full back in Clach's successful team and played for Ross County and courted by senior side St Johnstone.

Mr Nicolson's death last Thursday came as a £190,000 deal to sell the Clach social club to a Christian group saw it resume normal trading after more than a year of administration.

Mr Nicolson, of Cradlehall Park, Westhill, was described as a gentleman by brother-in-law and former Clach and Inverness Thistle manager Roshie Fraser, who said he had refused to let cancer take over his life after he was diagnosed 18 months ago.

"It is very sad," said Mr Fraser, describing Mr Nicolson as a family man. "It is just two weeks after John Allison and he was unable to go to the funeral because he was unwell."

During his football days Mr Nicolson, who originally played as a winger and later converted to left-back, turned out for Clach for five seasons, as well as Inverness Thistle, Ross County and Lossiemouth.

Mr Nicolson's family was originally from Farr and he had eight sisters and one brother, Iain, who was a goalkeeper for Thistle.

They moved to Inverness where his father worked as a gardener at Hedgefield House in the Crown.

The father-of-two won the Highland League and the Scottish Qualifying Cup with Clach. He later played for Inverness Thistle with whom he won the cup again in 1976, and Ross County and Lossiemouth.

After his football career ended, Mr Nicolson became a keen golfer and was a member of Inverness and Nairn golf clubs. He was the manager of BP and Shell's Inverness depot in the Longman until his retiral nine years ago after 32 years.

He still worked two days a week during his retirement to tackle any pension-related issues amongst the former and current workforce.

His widow Val Nicolson said her husband retained a keen interest in Clach and she attended matches in the 1970s having married her husband at the age of 18.

"I knew all the Clach songs then," she said. "He was a gentleman and always made sure everybody was okay first before himself."

He was diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago but treatment appeared to combat it, until the condition returned 18 months ago.

Mr Nicolson's funeral will feature a montage of pictures taken during his football career and life and takes place at William T. Fraser & Son's funeral home in Culduthel on Friday.

He is also survived by children Paul and Sharon and four grandchildren.

Source http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/14644/Clach_loses_second_league_and_cup_double_player.html

Musk thistle control

2011-04-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Musk thistle has been a nuisance in Kansas for many years. It is on the noxious weed list and landowners with the weed on their property are obligated by law to get it under control. Musk thistle, which is also known as nodding thistle because of the way it moves in the wind, is usually a biennial or winter annual but can also occur as a summer annual. As a biennial, it produces a rosette the first year and then develops flowers and seeds the following year. Seedlings can emerge any time during he growing season, but the plants usually remain in the rosette for about 90% of their life cycle.

Musk thistle usually starts flowering in May and may remain blooming for several weeks. The flowers are usually deep rose to violet or purple. The leaves are coarsely lobed and dark green with a light green midrib. They can have a sliver-green leaf margin. The leaves are alternately arranged on the stem and are smooth and hairless on both sides. Each lobe has three to five lobes that ends in a whitish or yellowish spine. Seed development is very quick with seed dispersal beginning within seven to ten days after the head begins to bloom. Musk thistle seed is generally dispersed by the wind but can be spread by other methods as well.

Light infestations can be controlled fairly well with cultural practices. The plant can be removed by hand by digging below the crown of the rosette. Be sure to remove flowers and seed heads from the field and burn them. Nebraska research shows that mowing is most effective at full bloom but needs to be done repeatedly to destroy new stems and flowers that develop after the initial mowing. Remember that an escaped flower represents seed that is produced and distributed with the end result being more thistle plants.

Chemical control can be accomplished either in the fall or the spring. Ed Field, Crawford County noxious weed director indicates that in his experience that spring control can be accomplished with the use of 2,4-D alone while the plant is still in the rosette stage. The rosette stage is when the plant is growing in a circular pattern without any elongation or stem present. After the plant begins to bolt or elongate, Milestone should be mixed with the 2,4-D in order to get satisfactory control. After the plant begins to bloom Escort needs to be added to the mixture of 2,4-D and Milestone in order to prevent the flowers from producing seed. Applications over 4/10 oz. of Escort may temporarily reduce fescue production. Spraying should not be done unless the air temperature is over 50 degrees F.

If you have questions about this you can call me at 724-8233 or Ed Field can be reached at 724-4079.

Grape and Wine Workshop

Crawford County Extension and Highland Community College will host a workshop on growing grapes, making wine and the Kansas Grape and Wine Industry. The workshop is free to the public and will run from 6:00-8:00 pm, Monday, April 18th. It will be in the Extension meeting room at the Crawford County Extension office in Girard.

Dominic Martin, Viticulture and Enology Instructor from Highland Community will conduct the workshops. He will discuss how to get started in the grape/wine industry as well as other topics including disease control, what/when/how to plant vines, vineyard air pocket mitigation, irrigation systems, cover crops between rows, sprayer calibration, spray scheduling, wine making practices, and five things that must be done before planting a vineyard or opening a winery. Please RSVP to either the Crawford County Extension office or Scott Kohl at Highland Community College at 785-456-6006.

Source http://www.morningsun.net/lifestyles/columns/x675814697/Musk-thistle-control

A Brief History of My Weekend

2011-03-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

For something as monumental and epic as my past weekend, the tale can only be told in picture form. Being a cartophile, I've busted out the maps for all to appreciate.

First up, the map showing all the states I have visited. You'll find that Delaware and Maryland are new additions, bringing the total to 25. That's half the states. Score.

Second up is my "beer map", where I record every new beer that I've tried...at least by state. I found some stuff from Flying Fish Brewery in New Jersey and was quick to quaff a couple the same day. Total states "sampled": 30. Score again.

Final map speaks for itself. It's a map of all the states that I've gotten good and tuned up drunk in. Georgia gets honorable mention because I got drunk off two barleywines there, but I wasn't tuned up enough to be classified as "faced".
For anyone truly interested, a trip to Delaware is well worth it. I just wish that I had had more than a day to spend there.

EDIT: If you've been reading the comments section, you'll see that I inadvertently left off Illinois. It popped into my mind that my buddy Will and I went to Second City with several of our theater friends and we proceeded to pretty much try to drink the city of Chicago dry. I remember passing out on the bus only to wake up at some point chanting "Huzzah" and then getting lectured by a rather keg-shaped woman on the origins of the word "huzzah" and how it relates to "hooray". Memories are so much better when they're fractured...

Totally Mundane Update

2011-03-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

A quick little follow up to the red cloud of death I generated last week.

I did the same reaction today, but made sure my stuff was good and clean before I added the nitrite. This time the solution just turned yellow and bubbled. I was paranoid and ran a vent line out into an Erlenmeyer full of DI water, just because I'm ubersafetynerd like that.

Hooray for me.

A Tale of True Heroism

2011-02-22T19:55:00.000-08:00

I've been childless for something like three weeks now. At the beginning of June, on my daughter's last day of school, we took them up to Marietta, OH and met my mother-in-law there for dinner (at the Marietta Brewing Company, by the way) where she took the kids and we headed back down the road to North By God Carolina. Mother-in-law and children went north and west, ending up in South Bend eventually, where they hung out for a couple of weeks. While there, my children had some swimming lessons where my daughter (who will be six on Friday) learned how to swim underwater, without floatation devices, how to dive, all that good stuff. My son, who will be three in July, learned how to not be afraid of the water. I suspect he was easily coaxed into the water by Miss Abby, his swim instructor.

Anyway, for the past few days, my children have been in Oklahoma, visiting their great-grandparents (my wife's grandparents through her mom's side). The great-grandparents have a pool, which is one of the main reasons why the kids went through swim lessons, so that they could swim safely in the pool.

This sets the scene. And now for the action.

I came home on Friday and sat in my chair, and my wife came over and sat near me. If you've ever seen Knute Rockne: All American (and if you haven't, I only ask, why haven't you subjected yourself to this fine piece of American film???) there's a scene at the end where Knute's wife has a chill about the same time that Knute's plane goes down in a Kansas farmer's field. That's kind of the look my wife had as she approached me. She worried that the little boy would fall into the pool and no one would know and then we'd have no more little boy. I told my wife not to worry as our daughter would watch over him, and she asked what she could do, and I told her that she could scream for help.

I think you see where this is going. But I'll finish the story.

We call the kids later that night, and my wife talks to my daughter and nothing big happens. Then she talks to the little boy and he says "Sissy saved me." To which my wife responded "What?" And he follows up with "My life. Sissy saved my life."

At this point, my wife says, "That's nice honey...could you please put Grandmommy on the phone?"

My mother-in-law quickly starts to explain.

Apparently, after dinner, people weren't really paying attention to the little boy and he decided he wanted to go swimming, so he just walked down the steps and into the pool. Without floatation devices. A few seconds later, my mother-in-law hears my daughter yelling "Grandmommy, help me. I need help. Help me." My mother-in-law looks over and sees my daughter in the pool with my son. She has her arm wrapped around her chest and is holding his head above water so that he can breathe, and she is back kicking toward the side so that they can get out.

Well.

The only thing I could take from this was that I could tell my wife that I was right. Fortunately, my daughter was more proactive than just yelling for help. She apparently dove in, went underwater to get him, and dragged him back to the side like a lifeguard. I don't know if she was taught this during her swim classes or not, or if she just acted on instinct alone. Either way, it was pretty fucking amazing for a five-year-old to do. I'm guessing not a lot of twenty-five year olds would do that.

If it seems like I'm bragging, you're damned right I am. This is one of those things that I felt I should write down, lest my memory fail me later in life. Also, my daughter will someday be able to read AND work the internet (she does both now, but not together), and I don't want her to think that her father is just some fat, drunken lout who tries to poison his lab mates with toxic gas and has issues with HR and uses the F-word way too much. I mean, she knows that anyway. This way she can know that I really do pay attention and can be proud of her. Plus, this is another way of reminding my son that he owes his life to his sister, and being a Catholic family, you can bet this will come up time and time again as both children age.

All comments relating to Pamela Anderson and slow-running will result in a healthy ass-kicking from a father who is already a tad overprotective. You've been warned. Punk.

Good-bye, Hep

2011-02-15T00:14:00.000-08:00

I've never made it anything but abundantly clear that I'm a Notre Dame football fan. I've often referenced the strange phenomenon that happens in northern Indiana every fall, when people turn their Notre Dame football sweatshirts inside out and they magically become Indiana basketball shirts. I'm guilty of this, as well. I attended Notre Dame for graduate school, but I was a lifelong Indiana fan. As such, I've followed both schools major sports pretty faithfully over the years, including the "off sports" for each institute, which would be Notre Dame's basketball and Indiana's football programs.

Well, today, Indiana's football program took a serious shot to the stomach.

Terry Hoeppner, the head football coach at Indiana, died of complications due to tumors in his brain this morning. He was 59.

Indiana used to have some pride in its football program, back in the Bill Mallory days. Then came a time when it seemed everything went to basketball. When IU hired Hoeppner away from Miami (OH), it seemed that they were ready to shake the dust off a program that had grown stagnant over the years. He was exactly the kind of man that IU needed as a head coach: charismatic, outgoing, exciting, and loved Indiana football. Indeed, this past season, IU was tantalizingly close to a bowl game, which would have been its first since the Eisenhower administration (actually...I think it was since 1993). Interest in Indiana football had suddenly become posh once more in the southern part of the state, and season ticket sales were on the rise, among alumni, students and the general public. Higher level recruits were actually answering the phone when IU called. Changes to the facilities and to the stadium were planned and underway. A lot of this was thanks to Hep's energy and charisma. IU might not have become an overnight powerhouse, but it was taking the necessary steps toward shuffling off the doormat moniker that has plagued it in recent years.

And now, IU nation has taken a shot to the gut. The recruits and players are all, understandably, dazed, as the people around the program are, too. I do suspect, especially with the naming of Bill Lynch (I believe that's his name) as the interim head coach this past weekend, that AD Rick Greenspan and others expected this to happen--perhaps not so soon, but they probably expected it to happen. Whether expected or not, it's a sad day for IU nation, and my heart goes out to them.

Here's hoping for a good season to remember Coach Hoeppner, who began to lay the foundation for improving the overall standing of the football program. My condolences to the Hoeppner family and to the team who grew to love their charismatic coach. You were a good one, Hep, and you'll be missed.

A Modest Proposal

2011-02-08T01:55:00.000-08:00

A few months ago (probably at the beginning of the year, being that is the resolution time and all) my company offered this special discount with Weight Watchers. We still had to pay an inane amount of money to join, and the WW food wasn't discounted or anything, but we could pull out the payments from our paycheck so that we were losing weight tax free!!! And there was much rejoicing.

The response was...luke warm at best, I'd say. We got several emails from HR ~~demanding~~ asking people to join. Naturally, all of the people who don't need to do Weight Watchers joined. It was around this time that HR put pressure on one of my associates to get ME to join the program. This really pissed me off. Not because I'm not a fatass (I'll admit to being one readily), but just the gall of someone to think they can pressure a person into doing something they don't want to do just because they're in the front of the building...well, I shan't start on HR people. At my old job, the HR ~~idiots~~ directors were sneaking, conniving, evil people. Here, they just call you fat and pressure you into losing weight.

I realize that having a not-overweight workforce is something that companies see as leading to lower insurance costs. I won't deny the logic here. People who aren't grossly overweight make better, healthier, more productive workers. What I'm still pissed about is the notion that the HR woman felt the need to pressure me through another person in the company (this person had already signed up for the program).

The thing that pisses me off, though, aside from HR's antics and all the people who don't need to lose eight joining and that we still have to pay for food, meetings, blah blah blah is the really pathetic notion that people feel they need to have a group supporting them in order to lose weight. It's one thing to be supported by your spouse, especially if he/she does the shopping. It's entirely different to sit around a powwow once or twice a week telling everyone what you forcibly allowed to slither down your throat. Well, here's some news for you, folks: you ain't gonna lose weight unless you want to lose weight. The group means dick when it comes to weight loss, unless the group is going to show up at your house and slap the brownie away from your mouth upon its final approach. If you don't have the willpower to stop licking the cream from between Little Debbie's cookies and shoving ho-hos in your Twinkie hole, you probably should just end it now. Quick tip for you: the best way to lose ten pounds of ugly fat is to just cut off your head.

One other thing that pisses me off, and then I'll get to my point. I'm tempted to go on the Subway diet. Real tempted, except I'm not fooled by Senor Fatass Jared. I hate to tell people who buy into this whole notion that white bread and mayonnaise sammiches ain't the solution to your weight problem. What Subway neglects to tell you is that Senor Fatass walked/jogged for three hours a day in the park beside the optometry school at Indiana. I know this because my best friend went to optometry school at Indiana. So, it wasn't the highly processed carbohydrate-laden buns nor the processed fat-laden mayonnaise on those sammiches which caused Jared to shed the poundage, it was exercise. Gasp! A novel fucking concept.

Now, on the other hand, my wife has a friend/manager who received for Christmas a Nintendo Wii. Since Santa placed this sinful bunch of silicon wafers and circuits under the tree, Ms. Manager has lost 20-25 pounds. I'm willing to bet the last few ounces of Dr. Pepper in my bottle that most, if not all, of the Weight Watchers people did not lose that much weight. Wow. That almost sounds like--gasp! again--exercise! What a concept!

So, here's my proposal the next time HR feels the need to shake the fat tree that I've shinnied up: subsidize my Wii and allow me to buy games tax free. I mean, if I can lose 25 pounds in six months, isn't that getting me to the same goal as the Weight Watchers crowd? I believe it is. Oh, and it's a helluva lot more fun than eating white bread sammiches, counting points, and waiting for the approval of "the group".

So...what do you say, HR? First one to -50 lbs wins?

Ten Bold Predictions: Number Five

2011-01-18T19:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I started the day out with a happy post about beer and running.

Then I went a little frightening and sad with the near...bad news...of my son.

So...I'm a few hours away from leaving on "vacation" (it's in South Bend, IN, thus the quote marks around vacation) and I'm a little behind on the whole prediction front. So, let's go a bit more light-hearted tonight and do a little Harry Potter action. Oh, look, it's about pieces of souls and death! How happy!

Harry is the last horcrux!

I know. I know. Impossible, you say. I've taken a lot of heat for this in various on-line forums, but this is the only possible solution that makes sense to me. And I'm an author...er...sorta.

We know from HBP that Voldemort was looking to make himself invincible by splitting his soul into seven pieces, which is the magic number in wizarding circles. We also know that Dumbledore was aware of Voldie's plans, and we also know that Voldemort feared only one wizard in the whole world, and that was Albus Dumbledore. Okay, let's back up to predition number 10 for a moment. That is Dumbledore, since he's still alive.

With that in mind, let's review the horcruxes: the diary (gone), the ring (gone), the locket (in the Black House), the cup (with the Smith family), Nagini (the snake with Voldemort) and then something of Ravenclaw's and something of Gryffendor's.

As for the Ravenclaw potential...I'm not sure. However, there are thoughts that Harry is a descendant of Godric Gryffendor. The importance of this is that Voldemort was looking for objects from the most powerful wizards in history (the founders of Hogwarts), thus showing that he was above the greatest of the wizards ever to live. The problem is, Gryffendor did not leave many things behind, except his legacy and his blood, which might live on in Harry's veins. The opening scenes of Book 7 are to take place in Godric's Hollow, where Harry's parents lived and where Voldemort and...well...I'll leave that for later...went to kill James and Lily Potter and to horcruxify Harry.

Now, I am full aware that Dumbledore told Harry that it is difficult to make a horcrux out of a living creature. He could do it to Nagini because she was like a pet. My argument is that Harry was an infant, defenseless and innocent. If you are going to strike a living creature and insert a tiny piece of your soul into that creature, you'd think that you'd do it to the very young. I could go into a whole scientific explanation about how it would be easier for a baby to absorb a transplant and grow up with it and the body thinking that the transplant belongs there. I won't, but think about that.

Also, one of the arguments is that Harry saw a flash of green light, and the only spell that we know of that uses green is avada kedavra (the killing curse). To that I respond with the green magic that protected the locket in the cave was, well, green, and Slytherin's colors are green, so it seems that the color green is a symbol of evil in the books. Making a horcrux is a very, very dark, evil spell. What color should it be? Probably green.

But, the most important thing is that Voldemort went right after Harry as soon as he heard the prophecy. So, he knew that Harry (or chose, according to Dumbledore) was a threat and prophesied to be the one to bring about Voldemort's ultimate downfall. So, this is how it goes down: Voldemort is going around placing little pieces of his soul around the world in order to ensure that he's immortal. He knows that a baby boy has been prophesied to destroy him, so why not hide a piece of your soul in the boy that you are supposed to fight. It's like the ultimate safety net. If Harry and Voldemort square off, and Voldemort wins, well, he's just sacrificed a little piece of himself--no big deal, there's seven more where those came from.

If Harry wins, well, then there's still a piece of Voldemort left in the world so that he can regenerate. When Harry gets lax, is fired up with his victory, Voldemort shows up, kills Harry and wins the day. This is the beauty of Voldemort's plan: either way, he wins.

The only thing he didn't count on was Dumbledore seeing through his plans to the horcrux making. So Voldemort doesn't count on the slow destruction of his other souls. I'm not sure how Voldemort doesn't feel his soul pieces being destroyed; you'd think that would be something that would repercuss across the soul left in your body. Being as I haven't made any horcruxes, I wouldn't know. Sorry.

So, there it is. Voldemort, being the crafty old snake, built himself a safety net by placing the last horcrux in Harry's forehead. How to get that out without hurting Harry? Well...I guess we can think on that until I get back from vacation.

Many Happy Returns

2011-01-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back from vacation, such as it was.

I'll give a quick recap. We went up to Indiana to reclaim my children. They had been with my mother-in-law for about three weeks, lest we forget the near drowning incident. Nothing so ghastly took place over the small break. I did get my eyes checked out and found I need new glasses. I could put it off last year, but not this year. We also celebrated my wife and daughter's birthdays. It was the big 06 for my daughter, which means it was the year for pierced ears.

If you see her, she'll sweep her hair back behind her ears and flash them at you. She's very proud. I won't even tell you that she freaked out pretty bad when the earrings were going in her ears. Oh, crap...

Also spent the day at the zoo in Fort Wayne. It's a fine, fine zoo, one of the best I've ever been to. Of course, that would be all of three zoos. But, seriously, the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is awesome. One of the tigers was up pacing around. I had never seen it up and walking around before. Normally it's hidden in the foliage of the tiger pen. That was great. My only complaint about the zoo is that there is a definite lack of bears. They need a North American exhibit with bears and buffalo and elk and such. Just because I've never seen them is all. And some ibex, which I know are European, but are pretty damned cool nonetheless.

Anyway, Sunday was spent with my friend Jason and his family, which was nice because his son was born last year on the day we left Indiana. So, it was our first introduction to little Porter. Oh, by the way, Jason's a homebrewer. Heh.

Monday was the trip home. Like I said, it was a strategic, surgical strike. And we're all here, none the worse for ware, and very happy to be home. I lazed about for another two days before returning to work. Sure, one of those days was a national holiday, but still, I lazed.

Not much else to report, other than US Route 35 in Southern Ohio is a very lonely stretch of road. Very pretty, but not heavily trafficked. I guess I should also report that I have managed to not get a speeding ticket yet again. Go me.

I'll return us to regularly scheduled programming within a few hours.

Appetite for Algebra

2011-01-04T02:59:00.000-08:00

I was on my home this evening from tutoring when I heard a DJ come on the local radio ("the everything that rocks" station...for what it's worth) and say that it was 20 years ago when Guns & Roses first released something off their "Appetite for Destruction" album. This didn't make me feel old, though I probably should, but it did make me think of my 7th grade math class.

That's probably a strange sort of memory to be stirred by GnR, but it made me think of a t-shirt design that was proposed for the math classes under the tutelage of my math teacher, Mr. Wallace. The t-shirt design had the cross with roses in place of the heads from the Appetite for Destruction album cover, and in the same font as on the album was written "Appetite for Algebra". Someone actually sketched the design freehand (we had many pretty decent artists in my middle school...I sometimes fancy myself a bit of an artist, but my designs, drawings and everything paled in comparison to some of my middle school classmates). I believe that it was going to be a black or slate gray shirt with red letters and it was going to be really nice, especially to a seventh grader. I'm sure my mom would have crapped to have something like that in her house, which always seemed like the worst insult ever. "I wouldn't have something like that in my house!" "I won't allow that in my house!" What about in the yard, mom? The car? Just on the porch?

Anyway, all of these are in the "possible" range since I never received my shirt. You see, I wanted one, wanted one badly. I saved up my lawnmowing money for a couple of weeks and the money I could con out of my parents in order to buy "extra milk" on chocolate milk days. Then the day came when the sign up sheet was passed around. So, Mr. Wallace put the sign up sheet on a desk by the door to the math room and stepped out a second for coffee, and now that I'm an adult, I can't fault him for that. With Mr. Wallace gone, havoc was sure to ensue. And it did.

We all lined up for sign ups. We joked, talked, goofed off...all the things you'd expect from a bunch of seventh graders. I thought nothing of it, but the air was filled with electricity from the merriment surrounding both the sign up sheet as well as the lack of Mr. Wallace. It was the build up to the perfect storm. Finally my turn in line came, and so I dutifully bent over the desk to write my name, number of shirts, size, money enclosed for payment...

Let's point out here that, in the seventh grade, I was about six foot tall. The desks were about mid-thigh high on me, so I had to bend over quite a bit to get down to the sign up sheet. Instead of crouching down by the side of the desk and filling out the paperwork like I had a fricking brain in my head, I bent over, at the waist. Doing so caused the waistband of my jeans to dip low down my backside. Fortunately for me, the waistband of my underwear was rock solid and did not move at all, providing a delectable target that was too delicious to avoid for my friend Chris Long. I had just managed to jot down my first name when I felt that horrible tug on the waistband of my drawers as they shot skyward. Searing pain shot through my nether regions as the crotch of my briefs threatened to emasculate me and the bulk of my underwear were turned into butt-floss.

The pain was real, that was for sure. My fragile seventh-grade ego also was shattered--doubtless word would spread soon after the attack on my backside to the remainder of my classmates who were not fortunate enough to witness my unmanning. Worst of all, however, was that, while the Mother-of-All-Wedgies was happening to my backside, the only face I saw was that of the alabaster angel who sat on the other side of the room by the far wall: Stacie Farmer.

In the seventh grade at my school, we got a whole new batch of kids from another school that did not have a middle school. Among these imports from Lancaster Elementary were my best friend, Jason, one of my closest confidants through middle and high school and beyond into college, Kelly, and the perfect, unfettered beauty, Stacie Farmer. The one problem with my infatuation with Stacie was that it was quite unrequited. Being a writer, I'm sometimes hostage to the whims of my passions, which flow through my veins like white-hot lead. It's these passions that I spill out onto paper in the form of prose, most of the time. Being an awkward seventh-grader, my passions would often fully encompass my being, smothering all sense and reason.

The unrequited nature of my desire for Stacie happened pretty much from the first day the new students arrived from Lancaster Elementary. I was blessed enough to have Stacie sitting behind me in science class. One day, that fateful first week of seventh grade, I turned around, smiled, and opened my mouth to speak. Unfortunately, that was the exact moment my wits decided to leave me, and thus my opening line was:

"You don't blink very often, do you?"

Not the smoothest pick-up ever. In fact, that pretty much sealed my fate with Ms. Farmer. I could tell because her answer was "What are you, stupid?"

That did not stop the ball of emotion within my chest from beating solely for Stacie Farmer. It would not, however, amount to anything, but I still remained completely infatuated with that blonde beauty. So, you can imagine that, upon that fateful day in math class, when I looked up and saw the look of astonishment and amusement on Stacie's face as my underwear was being heaved up around my shoulders like the raising of the mizzenmast, a piece of my soul shattered.

So, when I heard that Appetite for Destruction was 20 years old this year, I didn't feel old. I felt a small twinge of pain deep in the pit of my heart, thinking about the time when I was completely and thoroughly embarrassed and unmanned, and my poor little heart was crushed.

And I also felt like I needed to pick my underwear out of my butt.

Ten Bold Predictions: Number Four

2010-12-28T01:31:00.000-08:00

I have a little over two weeks to go, so I figure I had better step it up in the whole "predictions" ring, especially since an early release of the novel sold at auction a couple of weeks ago for $18,000+ (I think that was the news I heard whilst driving to Indiana). I wouldn't want people to think I had an extra $18,000 to blow on early release Harry Potter editions. Because, you know, I wouldn't buy a new car or pay off my credit cards or put a down payment on a fairly nice house or anything like that. I'd go right for the children's lit section.

Prediction Four: Harry got the reprieve!

When I first figured out that Harry was the last horcrux, I immediately wondered if he would have to die. In my world, where I write the endings to books, he would die. And, for a long time, I'm pretty sure J.K. Rowling was in the same boat. She had said that there was absolutely no way that there would ever be any more Harry Potter books (being that she's a multi-billionaire at this point and wants to work on different stories, I tend to believe her). And, honestly, the way I see things working out, I don't blame her. She's written seven books now all about one kid growing up (okay, so it's three kids...four if you toss in Neville Longbottom), so why not make that series about a magical raccoon who shoots spells out of his butt?

[That's an obscure Robot Chicken reference, just in case you didn't get it (thus making it obscure).]

Anyway, it would make sense. Harry (and his friends) manage to pull the magical upset of the century and they beat Voldemort and send him on his merry way after ~~completing the Triforce~~ destroying all the horcruxes (except Harry) and squaring off against ~~dark lord Gannon~~ the dark wizard Voldemort. Then, in order to make sure that Voldemort doesn't sneak back, because Hermionie will have figured out the true nature of the scar, Harry makes sure he gets killed--probably at the hand of Wormtail, Peter Pettigrew. After all, Wormtail does owe Harry a bit of a favor, not to mention, that whole business with betraying Harry's parents.

However, a few months back, John Irving and Stephen King both went on a campaign to beg JKR NOT to kill off Harry. Evidently, they saw the finish of the story the same way I did, and that Harry had to die in order to really wrap things up. I think lots of other people saw it that way, too, and there was an outcry (I don't know if that's really the right word, but it fits) to save Harry from the fans.

A few months after that, J.K. Rowling came out and did an interview in which she stated that one of her characters got a "reprieve". In stead of the original plans to kill off two major characters, she would only kill one (which one? See prediction number two, forthcoming). The one who got the reprieve, I originally thought, was Dumbledore (though she claims he's really dead, ha, we all know the truth!). Then I realized that popular pressure had influenced her and she changed it to young Mr. Potter. So, instead of killing off Harry and one other, it's just the other--but his (or her) death is still tied to Harry.

But what of the scar? How to take care of that? We've heard for a long time now that the last word of the last book (Deathly Hollows) was "scar". How to get rid of Voldemort's soul from Harry's forehead without harming Harry?

Again, we'll have to leave this one up to Hermione, as she's the clever one. She'll be the one that realizes that the Dementors are the key to releasing Harry from Voldemort's curse. The Dementor's Kiss sucks the soul out of a person. So, if you have an extra piece of someone else's soul, one would think that that would go away, too. Harry will then have to allow himself to be "kissed" by a Dementor (they will be at the last battle, anyway, since Voldemort has gathered unto himself all of the non-human magical creatures of the world) just long enough for Voldemort's soul to be released from Harry's body. Then Ron will pop in, create a patronus, and scare off the Dementor, leaving Harry to recover with all the chocolate he'd ever want to eat.

How to know that the Dementor's kiss worked? The scar fades and disappears. Simple as that. The last line of the book will read something like "When he looked in the mirror, for the first time in his life, he did not see the scar. The End." Or some such. I won't pretend to know exactly how she'll word it, but that is probably pretty close. And that concludes prediction number four.

Spoiler-Free Harry Potter Post

2010-12-22T00:29:00.000-08:00

I was reading this today about Helena Bonham-Carter's portrayal of dark witch Bellatrix Lestrange in the latest Harry Potter flick. At first, I thought it was the same ho-hum story about yet another bigger-named actor in one of the Potter flicks (especially since Bellatrix isn't all that involved in this episode).

But then my pretty little eyes lit upon this part:

"At first they thought, `Oh, we'll just put her in a sack,'" Bonham Carter said. "But I said, `There's no way I'm going to wear a sack. I've got to be a sexy witch.'"

"I wanted a sort of bodice thing to give me a shape," she said. "There is a bit of the warrior about her Bellatrix means warrior. She's the right-hand Death Eater to Voldemort.

"I also wanted everything to be splitting at the seams and a bit of `Sunset Boulevard' disintegration to be going on, because she's been in prison for so long. She has a very posh, aristocratic carriage, because she's pureblooded, but at the same time she's completely divorced from reality."

Oh hell yeah. It's not that I think Helena Bonham-Carter is hot, but she is fairly attractive and most definitely sexy. Especially with the accent. So, to hear she'll be filling a bodice to the utmost, well...sign me up. Especially with dark hair. Mmmm...talk about Witch-alicious.

Maybe I'll start rooting for the bad guys after this...

Ten Bold Predictions: Number Three

2010-12-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

Here we come down the final stretch. I'm sad to say that I haven't yet seen the new movie, but I believe we're planning to catch it maybe next weekend after the crowds die down a little bit. From what I've read, I'm in for a treat.

Today's prediction isn't really startling news. I believe in an interview shortly after Half-Blood Prince came out, J.K. Rowling alluded to this prediction. However, she did not go into great detail, so that's where I come in. I guess this is only like a half prediction then. But, it sets up the next two prognostications, so there. It maybe be a half of a prediction, but it determines the fates of several characters.

Prediction Number Three: Voldemort was Not Alone!

For most of the books now, we've all been suffering under the distress of thinking that Voldemort acted alone when he went to Godric's Hollow lo those many years ago to kill James Potter and to horcruxify Harry. It just so happened that Lily Potter got in the way was killed. I don't believe that she was the main target, but a sort of collateral damage that came about after the dark lord's attack.

If Voldemort wasn't there by himself, then who was with him? Peter Pettigrew was probably there, and once the deed was done he went tearing off into the night to hunt down Sirius Black and frame him for Pettigrew's own duplicity and assisting Voldemort in slaying the Potters. This is not much of a stretch at all. I still don't think this accounts for all of the wizards there that night.

Voldemort knew that Dumbledore would be ready to protect the child in the prophecy and that he commanded the Order of the Phoenix. Of course, Voldemort would then seek assistance from some of his own Death Eaters in case there was any sort of battle that would ensue. It's not like Voldemort is a dummy; he's not going to stumble into a situation where he can be offed. Sure he has the safety net of the horcruxes, but why use them unless he really needs them?

So, who went with him? For one, Severus Snape went along.

We know that Snape had a crush on Lily Potter. We also know that Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow only to kill James Potter. My guess is that he was going to try and convert Lily to the Death Eaters, only because of Snape's feelings for her. Up until that point, Snape had been a loyal Death Eater, and Voldemort would trust him inherently. And perhaps Voldemort thought that Severus' presence would help to bring Lily to the Dark Side. However, we know that their efforts were for naught and she ended up dying and Harry was "scarred". None of this is too surprising.

The second name will probably stir some controversy. It was Regulus Black.

All of the pieces fit for Regulus to have been there: he was "running with the Death Eater's", he comes from a powerful, pureblood family, and we know that Regulus figured out that Voldemort was making horcruxes. Not to mention his surname, Black...perfect for one of Voldemort's trusted cohorts. Sure, his last name doesn't implicate him at once, but it does help make him all that much more sinister.

We also know that Regulus got in deep with the Death Eaters, but "didn't go all the way" as Sirius put it when talking about his brother's fate in Order of the Phoenix. Something happened to change his mind about wanting to hang with Voldemort, and my guess is that either seeing him attack a defenseless infant or seeing him form a horcrux is what turned Regulus away from the Death Eater's. However, he had seen too much, which is why Voldemort sent the other Death Eater's after Regulus with orders to kill him. Sirius passed this off as not being important enough for Voldemort to snuff out himself; I believe it was because Voldemort was too weak and/or preoccupied with dealing with infant Harry to take up matters with Regulus personally. I see it as something like Regulus telling Voldemort that he can't do such things, he's a monster, yada yada and then running from the room or the house (or apparating). And then Voldemort screams to the other Death Eaters hanging around "Kill him. He must not be allowed to live!" or some other silly villain speech.

I think the same things turned Snape, or at least the attacking infant Harry. The straw that probably did the most damage to the dromedary was Voldemort killing Lily. Snape is also familiar with all sorts of dark magic, and so I'm certain that if he saw a horcruxing spell, he would recognize it for what it was. I'm sure this is how Dumbledore got turned on to the notion that Voldemort was making horcruxes; he just needed Slughorn's memories to confirm everything. Remember, he had already been out hunting and destroying horcruxes before Harry discovered what they were and what they did (Dumbledore did seem awfully laid-back in those memories alongside Harry for finding out that Voldemort was nearly impossible to kill).

So, there it is. Voldemort wasn't alone, and Snape and Regulus were both there to witness his attacks on Harry. These also help lay the foundation for the next two predictions.

And because I feel like it, here's a couple of fanciful predictions I came up with.

7g. Hogwarts will be closed at the beginning of book 7, only with promises to open again at the end of book 7 when the good guys have won.
Nothing surprising here. Parents pull their children from the school when monster snakes roam the hallways killing people. The board shuts them down when dark wizards threaten. Dementors roam the grounds when evil escapees from Azkaban come to town. With Voldemort on the return and Harry's attachment to the place, yeah, it'll be shut down.

7h. MacGonagal is the new Head Mistress at Hogwarts.
Again, not much of a stretch. Mostly because MacGonagal (and Maggie Smith, by the way) kick major ass. Even if she does have a proclivity toward cats.

7i. A fifth house opens at Hogwarts called "Dumbledore" in honor of the last head master; it is symbolized by a Phoenix and the traits for being placed in Dumbledore will include honor, leadership, compassion and forgiveness.

This is a real stretch. I admit it. It probably won't happen, but if I were writing the book, that's one of those last little tidy-ups that I'd put in.

Rolling Red Clouds of Death

2010-11-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had me some fun in ye olde lab. Some of the old school kind. And it involved a diazocompound.

I know what you're thinking must have happened if I mention diazo. No, no, rest assured that all flasks are still present and accounted for. There was no reason for two of my grad school professors to show up and chant "You'll blow your nuts off! You'll blow your nuts off!" (Two of my professors went to great lengths a couple of times to try and pound into our thick skulls the dangers inherently built into diazocompounds, like their tendency to go BAM!, and not with powdered sugar). This was an entirely different beast altogether.

All I wanted to do was to convert an amine into a hydroxy group, which I've done by this route maybe two dozen times now. So, yesterday, I took my amine up in glacial acetic acid (as per usual) and I stirred it vigorously under N2 (as per usual) and then I took my sodium nitrite up in water to make an approximately 2M solution (as per usual). When I added the first drop, everything changed color drastically. Usually, it goes from pale yellow to bright yellow as the diazo forms and is replaced by water. This time it turned dark brown/orange. Better yet, it started making a gas that was the same color.

Instantly recognizing it for the bank of death that it was, I acted. Fortunately, from my bigass hydrogenation days, I had a sparge line set up, and I jammed that into the flask and quickly affixed the outlet hose with a pipet which got set in an Erlenmeyer of water. I watched as the Orange Death slowly made its way through the tubes to the water where it harmlessly dissociated into nitric acid. Later, after (somewhat miraculously...it seems) my reaction went to completion, I was smart enough to flush the solution with nitrogen to chase out the rest of the gas before I continued on with the work up. Today, I isolated a beautiful white solid, which is amazing since everything was black and orange (screw you Warsaw Tigers!). The LC\MS even confirmed it was the right stuff.

I'm not sure why this time was different than all the rest. I guess my starting material wasn't as clean as usual (which is true) and that something in there caused the generation of the N2O4. Whatever, no one got hurt or dead (which is most important) and I have a gram of nice, clean material to carry on to further reaction.

Too bad I'm taking a couple of days off and won't get to do anything with it until next week (more on that later).