blivet radio
The Radio weblog of Hal Rager

Saturday, November 9, 2002

Veteran's Day weekend I am remiss in not noting that this is a three-day weekend because Monday is Veterans Day in the USA. It is observed on the second Monday in November, but the actual holiday is on November 11 [the same day this year] and was once called Armistice Day. I would personally like to thank my co-worker and fellow Archaeologist 'Jake' Hickerson. He is a retired 22 year Air Force veteran. He was a survival instructor and tested parachutes [no, really]. Now he is an Archaeology graduate student in the Anthropology department. (Heh. Talk about a survival situation!) Thank you Commander Dave Rogers, who served as an officer in the Navy. (I can't put my finger on how many years he served right now, I apologize, Dave.) My father and both Uncles were veterans (WWII and Korea) as well. We will be putting the U.S. Flag out on Monday as our observance. Thank you, every one of you veterans out there. [edit: made the wider net explicit] 12:11:59 PM    comment   trackback []

Going Camping? Pack a Tomato "Michael Roe, an entomologist at North Carolina State University, was designing synthetic insecticides when he realized their structures resembled that of an oily organic compound that occurs naturally in tomatoes. "I thought I would test the substance as an insect repellent--on a whim, basically," he says. Roe grabbed a cloth, dabbed it with a synthetic version of the tomato molecule, and placed it in a cage full of cockroaches. They scattered. He then did additional tests to show that the molecule repelled mosquitoes and ticks as well." [Discover Magazine] Mmm, tomatoes. [spelling edit: i could have sworn there was no 'e' in the plural, never mind that I could have checked the text i quoted] 11:35:06 AM    comment   trackback []

Ian and Dad's Excellent Weekend We saw Audrey off for a joint three-day field trip for her Structural Geology and Field Geology classes early this morning, so this will be an Ian and Dad weekend. She will be in and around Death Valley. Ian just went down for his nap, so I am checking email and seeing what you all are up to. This will be a fun weekend, I think we may take a field trip to the Lost City Museum in Overton. They are opening a new exhibit today. I doubt there will be any Father-Son male-bonding over a football game. Instead, our 'guy stuff' will include helping SirDeath put up ceiling fans in his new house tomorrow. 11:26:46 AM    comment   trackback []