Patrick

We had a birthday celebration of sorts for me on Sunday at my parents' house. My sister and her family came, which is always fun. I was showing her 5 year old daughter Becky one of the books I got from my brother. It was one of those astronomy books full of large pictures of planets and galaxies, etc. She pointed at a picture of a spiral galaxy and said "What's that?"

"It's a galaxy," I said. "It's full of stars."

"Ohh, you can see that they're going in circles," she said and moved her finger around the galaxy. "They're all going towards that hole!" she said as she pointed at the center of the galaxy.

It's interesting how obvious it is to children, and yet it was only fairly recently that we realized that at the center of most galaxies is a black hole! :-)

This is pretty fascinating. Scientists have recently discovered what is now the world's oldest known flute. They think it dates back to around 35,000 years ago. In the article they actually include a sound clip of someone playing a replica of the instrument. It's interesting to hear how the scale on it is the same sort of intervals that we still use today in our modern music.

Update:
I read the article a little more carefully, and apparently the recording is from a replica of a different stone age flute (that's presumably somewhat newer). They're not done making the replica of this one yet, so we'll have to wait a while before we can hear what it sounds like.

I'm pretty certain Jeff Baxter from Steely Dan and Jamie of Mythbusters are in fact one and the same person:

Have you guys heard about this? Apparently, if scientists' measurements are correct, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse has shrunk in diameter by more than 15 percent in the past 16 years. That's really quite dramatic when you realize how long stars live for, and no one really seems to know quite why. There are other stars that regularly shrink and grow by that much and more, but they aren't the same kind of stars that Betelgeuse is. According to the article, it's possible that Betelgeuse could go supernova in the near future. That could be a little freaky. According to EarthSky, if Betelgeuse goes supernova, it'll be brighter than "a million full moons in the sky"... and it could happen any day now. I can't even imagine what must look like! Thankfully they also say it's far enough away that it won't do us any harm. Let's just hope they are correct! :-)

Update:
I read up some more on this, and it sounds like the scientist's use of the words "a million full moons" is more hyperbole than literal. ;-) But it still should be a fantastic sight. The reason they're pretty sure it won't harm us has to do with Betelgeuse's axis of rotation. The gamma radiation won't be shooting out equally in all directions, but mostly along the plane of rotation, which is not pointed at us. On an interesting note, Betelgeuse is big enough that when it does go supernova, it's likely to become either a neutron star, or black hole (assuming our understanding of stellar evolution is correct). If that does happen that will give scientists a lot of great opportunities for understanding those mysterious objects. :-)

My 14th book this year is one I've actually read before. It was The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence Krauss. It's one of the fun light science reads that are great when you need to take a break from more serious books. It's an interesting book because he makes it both educational about science in general (using Star Trek as sort of a framework for teaching the science), as well as an interesting factoids book for Star Trek buffs, especially near the end of the book. It's kind of interesting to see what the Star Trek writers both get wrong and right about science in the series. It's pretty rare when I read a book twice, so I guess it has to be pretty good!

This year, the first day of summer was marked by weather that was remarkably... cold. It's been really odd. Both yesterday and today felt more like what I associate with the first day of spring than I do summer at all. I don't mind it at all after the 90 degree weather we had earlier, but I have to admit that it feels kind of strange. I guess this will get us ready for San Francisco, though! I hear much of their summer is cool, breezy and overcast like this.

It's amusing what products will claim on their packaging sometimes. According to this big of Sun Chips I'm eating right now, by consuming this salty, fat-filled, carb-rich food, I am actually reducing my risk of heart disease, due to it containing "whole grains". And not only that, I am in fact helping to save the planet. Because, after all, one of their factories in California gets some of its power from solar energy. ;-) The back of the bag makes it sound like I'm actually performing some act of charity by eating these chips.

Who knew eating junk food was so important to the health and well being of ourselves and our planet? ;-) I guess I'm just glad to say I'm doing my part. ;-)

A lot of you may have already seen this, since it made it to the from page of LiveJournal, but there's apparently a whole group dedicated to finding truly horrifying things at thrift stores. Here's the link: http://community.livejournal.com/thrifthorror/

Some of the spooky items to be seen include a baby doll with three faces on its head, and a Rastafarian-Garfield-Sweatshirt. It's pretty awesome.

Have any of you guys had a chance to watch the new animated comedy, The Goode Family yet? Helen and I watched the first episode last night on teh internetz, and we both really enjoyed it. It's made by the same people who did King of the Hill, and is really quite similar, only instead of the main family being Texans, they're super politically correct liberals. It sounds like it's going to be a pretty entertaining show. You can watch free episodes online here.

Believe it or not, most Slurpees have less calories per fl oz than regular Soda Pop!
Strange, but true!*

*Of course this assumes 80 percent expansion due to freezing. ;-)

Anyone have any favorite flavors of slurpees? What kind should I try next?

Yesterday was apparently the official First Day Of Mosquitos in the Tri-Cities. I actually got bit right beneath my eye. It was horrible. The swelling and itching died down by the time I woke up this morning, but until then it was just awful.

Apparently, Kennewick, Washington is the Slupree Capital of the World. Or, more specifically, the 7-11 on Clearwater Avenue is the Slurpee Capital of the World. They've literally sold more slurpees there this past year than any other 7-11 on the planet. With this fact in mind, and our current hot weather, I've been stopping there a number of times to grab a slurpee -- something I haven't done in ages. It's rather amusing, literally every time I've been there, there's about a dozen people in front of me all of whom are getting slurpees. It's like some sort of mecca for the drink. One side of the store is completely filled up with nothing but various slurpee flavors, and I plan to try them all. :-D (Or until I get sick of slurpees, whichever comes first).

I have to agree with the Car Talk guys on this: http://www.cartalk.com/content/rant/gastax/

So, after trying gyros a few times with the pre-cooked gyro meat, I've discovered a few things.

#1. Use sweet or mild onions, not the stronger white onions common in Mexican food.
#2. Use at least 5 or 6 of the thin strips of meat. The first time I tried just 4 and it just wasn't enough.
#3. Don't put on too much of the sauce when you're putting it together. You can always add more later if it's a little dry, but if you add too much it can over power everything else.
#4. Keep your pita bread in the fridge if you have room, because that stuff goes moldy really quick.
#5. Make sure you microwave the pita bread to be nice and warm before using it.
#6. While not traditional that I know of, adding a few chopped up cucumbers is pretty good in the sandwich as well.

What about you guys? Any tips, or interesting ingredients you add to your gyros?

P.S.
Krikketgirl reminded me to mention that you shouldn't forget the tomatoes! A gyro without tomatoes just isn't the same!

Oh man, I just discovered Lonnie Smith will also be performing at Jazz Alley the two days (Sept 8th and 9th) before Dave Brubeck does his performances (Sept 10th - Sept 13th). Man, maybe I can make it to both of these. :-)

Helen and I are thinking about going up to Jazz Alley in Seattle this September to see the legendary Dave Brubeck! Anyone interested in joining us?

So I went grocery shopping today after work, and you'll never guess what I found at WinCo. All of the fixings needed to make gyros at home! :-) They had packages of precooked gyro meat for only $4, and right next to it they had plastic jars of the cucumber sauce. The pita bread was not too far from it either. For those wondering where to find it, it's on the island of premade food and fancy cheeses next to the deli section.