Roy Rides Again!

I have always been a big fan of Roy Rogers.  For some reason the pickles on the fixins bar are irresistible. And the fried chicken is really, really good.

There used to be a lot more of them around.  In fact as the number of stores began to dwindle - I wrote to the corporate offices to find out what was going on.  I came home from work one evening to find a message on my answering machine, with a long apology from someone in the corporate office.  It was a bit surreal.

My Roy Rogers intake these days is mostly limited to the rest areas on the New Jersey Turnpike.  But evidently, according to this story, the chain is trying to claw its way back.  I look forward to its triumphant return.

Post Number 1000

This is my 1000th post.   Statistics and observations are below - but I want to begin by noting the closure of an event that had a significant impact on my childhood.  Thirty-three years ago Friday Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school.  He was six years old and was walking to school alone for the first time.  Etan became the most famous missing child in New York City.  I was 11 years old when Etan disappeared and my parents and my friends parents started to look a little more carefully as where we were going.  Living on Long Island - my friends and I were aware of what had happened, as much as pre-teens were aware at that time.

It was announced yesterday that NYC Police had arrested an individual who had implicated himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz.  Patz's parents still live in the apartment where Etan left from and I hope that they can find peace.  Nothing will ever bring Etan back but at least they can now know what happened to him.  Rest in peace Etan.
____________________________________________________________


So here we are. A significant milestone. 1000 blog posts. Here's some highlights.

My first post was September 5, 2006. No comments.  The first post to receive a comment was my first post about September 11 (September 11, 2006). I have posted each year on that somber anniversary. Mondays soon became Recipe Day on Order from Chaos. Here's the first one, September 25, 2006 - remember what it was for? How many recipes have there been? 274 (at least four did not contain recipes for food - and while there were similarities, there have been no repeaters) And how many of them have I made or eaten? 64.  My most commented blog post to date was "I've Reached Two Score" December 19, 2007, which garnered thirteen comments, on my reaching the age of 40.

According to the tagging - this blog has been "about me" 250 times; "archives," "mandatory archival content," or archives conferences about 200 times; sports 121 times; history and politics more than 160 times.

For those who are really interested in the "metadata" here's the complete tag list for the postings.  While some posts have clearly been multiple tagged, my tagging has not been consistent.

• 9/11 (6), About Me (251), Anniversary (15), Archives (100), Art (9), At Home (26)
• Baseball (62), Basketball (7), Birthday (21), BlogDay2007 (1), Blogging (38), Books (39)
• Candy (5), Cars (1), Cats (3), Christmas (48), Cleaning (1), Coffee (4), College (8), Comedy (3), Commuting (3), Computers (3), Conferences (44), Crime (3)
• Dining Out (12), Dreams (1), Drink (17), Education (4), Europe (5), Family (56), Fashion (1), Fatherhood (22), Food (68), Football (12), Friends (1), Fun and Games (10)
• Geography (3), Girl Scouts (3), Golf (20), Government (7), Guest Blogger (10)
• Health (12), History (107), Hockey (43), Holidays (68), Humor (7), Ice Cream (2), Issues (1)
• Language (1), Libraries (16), Lighthouses (4), Lists (81), Literature (1), Local (3), Long Island (5), Lunch Bunch (1)
• MAC (Mandatory Archival Content) (8), Magazines (2), MARAC (27), March Drunken Madness (4), Meme (21), Movies (53), Moving (9), Museums (6), Music (28)
• New Years Resolutions (5), New York (37), News (124), Nostalgia (42)
• Obituary (6), On the Road (15), On this Date (42), Out on the Town (24), Poetry (2), Politics (55)
• Quiz (38), Radio (4), Real Estate (1), Recipes (274), Religion (6), Restaurants (6), Reviews (4)
• SAA (12), SAA2007 (6), Science (1), Shopping (14), Space (17), Sports (22), States of the Union (20), Summer (13)
• Teaching (5), Technology (1), Telephone (6), Television (49), The American President (65), The Web (6), Theater (9), Toys (4), Traffic (17), Travel (4)
• Vacation (23), Video (43), Washington DC (35), Weather (11), Wine (3), Winter (4), Women (4), Work (10)

Some other numbers of note:

• 46,146 - number of page views on Order from Chaos
• 2,237 - number of total comments across the blog
• 2,091 - number of days between post 1 and post 1000
• 1,048 - highest number of page views for a blog post, "Ring Dings vs. Ding Dongs, Discuss"
• 952 - number of referrals from Anna VS's blog (the most referrals)
• 789 - number of page views (the most of all the recipe pages) for "Mom's Beefaroni"
• 587 - Facebook friends (I joined Facebook after starting this blog and have reconnected with a lot of old friends and high school classmates)
• 402 - number of page views for the 100th Post of Order from Chaos
• 309 - the number of page views for the American President series, for Herbert Hoover
• 107 - number of different tags / labels used on the blog
• 44 - my current age
• 27 - number of years I have been out of high school - I attempted to organize a 25 year reunion in 2010 to limited success
• 18 - number of followers to Order from Chaos
• 17 - number of years I have been working as an archivist
• 10 - number of years I have been married to Mrs. BA
• 7 - current age of LBA (who is older than this blog)
• 5 - number of years I have been with my current employer
• 5 - the number of other blogs I have created during this time: The Political Point (not current - but may be coming back); National Archives Fantasy Baseball (the blog for my fantasy baseball league - also has not been kept up); Take Me Drunk, I'm Home (the March Madness drinking stories contest blog) and two family oriented blogs created for my family and Mrs. BA's family.
• 4 - current age of SoBA (who is younger than this blog)
• at least 4 - number of "blends" (blogging friends) I have made since I started blogging
• 3 - number of cars I have owned during this blog's life - we are down to just one
• 2 - series created on Order from Chaos - one on the Presidents of the US and one on the States of the Union (in progress) - there may be another one next year, I'm still thinking about what it will be.

So there it is.  I am still enjoying this and will continue to blog.  I hope that you have enjoyed stopping by and will keep coming back.

Thanks,
Brave Astronaut

Click, Clack, Ding, Kerchunk!

One of the more popular books in the rotation for LBA and SoBA is called Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type. It occurs to me that while reading this story, SoBA and LBA might be confused with the use of something called a "typewriter." Sadly, back in April 2011, it was reported the last typewriter factory closed its doors.

I remember taking "Keyboarding" in (junior?) high school. I wound up dropping the class because I had already "learned" to type and wasn't in the mood to relearn. Now, of course, I can type pretty fast and don't have to look at the keyboard (I'm not doing it now) to make sure that I am typing correctly. I do sort of hover near the "home keys" but the backspace / delete key is much easier to use than "correct-a-type" ever was.

In keyboarding, we used IBM Selectric typewriters. It had that very satisfying hum when you turned it on. Sometimes it felt like you could take it outside to mow the lawn with it. We had a manual typewriter around the house growing up until that finally gave up the ghost. When I went off to college, I had a brand spanking new word processing typewriter that had a disk drive that you could type your papers and then save! them to this piece of plastic. It had a little delay on it that you would type a line of text and then it would magically appear on the paper. It had a flip screen that served as a keyboard cover. For the life of me, I can't remember what it was called or who made it. But then again, if you can't remember a lot from college, you must have had a pretty good time, right?

Here in the office (where I deal primarily with electronic records) there was a typewriter around for a while - I don't know if it is still here somewhere. But with a computer on everyone's desk and the "Avery Plug-in" available so readily, is anyone still typing out addresses on envelopes (the last line of defense for needing a typewriter)?

So, dear reader. Typewriters? What do you think?

This Brave Astronaut has all of his Fingernails, Thank You

Of course, you all know that I am drawn to space stories. Here's three for you to look through.

The first is sort of evidence as to why I don't think this Brave Astronaut will be heading into orbit anytime soon. According to Time Magazine, who got it from National Geographic, it evidently can make your fingernails fall off, among other bad things. A tendency to motion sickness also? Well, duh.

If you would like to brush up on your "Fundamentals of Space Travel," head over to ThinkQuest and read up.

Secondly, of course, growing up, the mnemonic that we all learned to remember the order of the planets was:

• My (Mercury)
• Very (Venus)
• Educated (Earth)
• Mother (Mars)
• Just (Jupiter)
  
• Served (Saturn)
• Us (Uranus)
• Nine (Neptune)
• Pies (Pluto)

Of course when Neptune switched places with Pluto, making the furthest planet, it became "Pizza Nicely" but that's neither here nor there. For now, it seems that Pluto has been kicked out of the planetary club. Membership Card revoked. Secret Handshake changed.

American youth is not taking this sitting down. It gives me hope for the future when I see that children have taken pen (and pencil and crayon) in hand to lash out at the powers that be to demand that Pluto be given its planetary status back.

• First link from kottke, who includes a letter from "Will," who offers a picture of what Pluto looks likes so the scientists can make a model and put it back.
  

• PBS listed more "hate mail" in its Pluto files. Emerson asked why the scientists were making the other planets cry.
  

Finally, I had intended to make this list a bigger post, with links to the music, but you folks all know how to do that. Go read the list from (kottke)and then listen to some of your favorite tunes that were used to wake the astronauts on space flights. Evidently, according to NASA, the first recording used were the lyrics to "Hello, Dolly" sent to the crew of Gemini 6 in 1965. Enjoy.

A Day For Reflection

My post from September 11, 2006

My post from September 11, 2007

My post from September 11, 2008

My post from September 11, 2009

In the morning on this day nine years ago, I had just dropped my car off for service and gotten a ride into work. I turned on the radio in my office and the morning show deejays that I normally listened to were talking in very subdued tones, relating how what was believed to have been a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

There is not a day that goes by when I don't think about September 11. Everything changed that day and the images from that day are seared into my mind. Like a tragic Flickr stream, images pop into my head, and especially on this day. I have also been watching some of the specials that have been on television over the past few days leading up to today's anniversary.

There is another blogger out there whom I read. He also marks this day by writing a letter to his friend, Andy, who didn't come home that day from his office in the World Trade Center. You should go read his post for today.

Then. Stop. Reflect. Remember.

A Call I Already Answered

Just in case you were wondering, I am not running for Governor of New York State. Not right now anyway. But in a previous era, before I became an archivist, I was a teacher. I was one of those rare few who went off to college knowing what they wanted to be. I started my teaching career in the district where I went to school, which was a bit of a surreal experience.

One of my best teaching stories was when I was student teaching and was talking about the French and Indian War. To illustrate how the British forces scaled the cliffs from the St. Lawrence River to attack Quebec, I went from the floor, to a chair, and then stood on a desk, while I talked about the battle. When I announced that General Wolfe is killed during the heat of the battle on the Plains of Abraham, I jumped off the desk.

The following year, I served as a chaperon on a school trip with some of these same students to Quebec. As we toured the city and stopped at the Plains of Abraham, I had several students come up to me (mind you a year later, now), saying, "This is what you were talking about, wasn't it?" I nearly wept with joy.

While my teaching career never really panned out, I always enjoy watching movies about teaching. Just the other day I tuned in and watched "Stand and Deliver," starring Edward James Olmos as Jaime Escalante. I was sad to see that Escalante lost a battle with cancer this week. He was one of those teachers that I always wanted to be.

In no particular order, along with Stand and Deliver, a few of my favorite teaching movies are:

• Dead Poets Society
• Lean on Me - for a time, I taught in an inner city high school, though not quite like Mr. Clark's school
• Mr. Holland's Opus - possibly my favorite
  

Constitution Day

Today is Constitution Day.

Here are a few points of interest to ponder while you consider the importance of this founding document.

• Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787. At this time the population of the U.S. was around 4 million.
• 39 of the 55 delegates signed the Constitution, which was written in under 100 working days in Philadelphia.
• At age 81, Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate to sign.
• The Bill of Rights was not added to the Constitution until 1791.
• When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the Constitution was moved from its home at the National Archives to Fort Knox for safekeeping.

If you are in the DC area, take a trip to the National Archives and see the documents up close.

And the Strange Baseball Season Continues

On the day when both the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals won a game, another team (well, one member of the team) pulled off another rarity in baseball. The unassisted Triple Play. In the continuing saga of the New York Mets in freefall, their game with the Philadelphia Phillies ended abruptly in the ninth inning, when Eric Bruntlett pulled off the three outer by himself. In the modern era of baseball, it has happened only 15 times and only twice has the triple play ended the game. On a similar note, I spotted this in my reader, where "immaculate innings" are being tracked. What's an "immaculate inning," you ask? That's when a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches. It has happened only 42 times. Three pitchers have done it twice, but none have ever done it three times.

Here's the list of unassisted triple plays.

• Neal Ball (SS) of the Cleveland Naps SS, July 19, 1909 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner.
• Bill Wambsganss (2B) of the Cleveland Indians, October 10, 1920 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner in Game 5 of the 1920 World Series
• George Burns (1B) of the Boston Red Sox, September 14, 1923 - Caught line drive, tagged runner, touched 2nd
• Ernie Padgett (SS) of the Boston Braves, October 6, 1923 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner
• Glenn Wright (SS) of the Pittsburgh Pirates, May 7, 1925 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner.
• Jimmy Cooney (SS) of the Chicago Cubs, May 30, 1927 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner
• Johnny Neun (iB) of the Detroit Tigers, May 31, 1927 - Caught line drive, tagged runner, touched 2nd (Ended game)
• Ron Hansen (SS) of the Washington Senators, July 30, 1968 - 1st Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner
• Mickey Morandini (2B) of the Philadelphia Phillies, September 20, 1992 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner
• John Valentin (SS) of the Boston Red Sox, July 8, 1994 6th Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner
• Randy Velarde (2B) of the Oakland Athletics, May 29, 2000 - Caught line drive, tagged runner, touched 2nd
• Rafael Furcal (SS) of the Atlanta Braves, August 10, 2003 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner.
• Troy Tulowitzki (SS) of the Colorado Rockies, April 29, 2007 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner.
• Asdrúbal Cabrera (2B) of the Cleveland Indians, May 12, 2008 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner.
• Eric Bruntlett (2B) of the Philadelphia Phillies, August 23, 2009 - Caught line drive, touched 2nd, tagged runner (Ended game)

"Who are Those Guys?"

First off, name the movie for the above line. Bonus points for actually identifying the names of "those guys."

Last night, Mark Buehrle, not content to have thrown a perfect game in his last outing, decided to break the record of retiring 41 straight batters by getting past 45 (that's 27 from the perfect game and 18 more from last night's game).

Now as to this team that plays here in Washington, DC. What has gotten into them? They seem to have found something and have been cracking their bats over their opponents, now having won four in a row and six of their last eight. So when do playoff tickets go on sale? Yes, well, don't get your hopes up, they are still more than 25 games out of first place in the NL East.

A significant record was notched by Nationals outfielder, Josh Willingham in the game against the Brewers on Monday night. Willingham hit two grand slams in the same game, only the 13th time this has happened in the era of modern baseball. Please note this is five less occasions than the perfect games. Evidently baseball is harder than it looks.

Here's the list, which in of itself is interesting as it does not necessarily feature those marquee names that one might expect (there are only two hall of famers on the list). Further, it is interesting to note (and this was a subject of discussion at the lunch table) that, with only one exception, all of these took place on the road.

• May 24, 1936 - Tony Lazzeri, New York Yankees, away game
• July 4, 1939 - Jim Tabor, Boston Red Sox, away game
• July 27, 1946 - Rudy York, Boston Red Sox, away game
• May 9, 1961 - Jim Gentile, Baltimore Orioles, away game
• July 3, 1966 - Tony Cloninger, Atlanta Braves, away game
• June 24, 1968 - Jim Northrup, Detroit Tigers, away game
• June 26, 1970 - Frank Robinson, Baltimore Orioles, away game
• September 4, 1995 - Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox, away game
• August 14, 1998 - Chris Hoiles, Baltimore Orioles, away game (active)
  
• April 23, 1999 - Fernando Tatís, St. Louis Cardinals, away game
• May 10, 1999 - Nomar Garciaparra, Boston Red Sox, home game (active)
  
• July 29, 2003 - Bill Mueller, Boston Red Sox, away game
• July 27, 2009 - Josh Willingham, Washington Nationals, away game
  

27 Up, 27 Down

Tomorrow night I will be at Nationals Park to see the Nats take on the San Diego Padres. It features two really bad teams. Today, the country's number 1 White Sox fan got to see a rare gem in baseball. It's only happened 18 times in the modern era. Congratulations Mark Buehrle, who threw the no-no today in Chicago. It was the first perfect game in five seasons.

The Perfect Game "club"

1. Lee Richmond, June 12, 1880
2. John Montgomery Ward, June 17, 1880
   
3. Cy Young, May 5 1904
4. Addie Joss, October 2, 1908
5. Charlie Robertson, April 30, 1922
6. Don Larsen, October 8, 1956 (during the World Series)
7. Jim Bunning, June 21, 1964
8. Sandy Koufax, September 9, 1965
9. Catfish Hunter, May 8, 1968
10. Len Barker, May 15, 1981
11. Mike Witt, September 30, 1984
12. Tom Browning, September 16, 1988
13. Dennis Martinez, July 28, 1991
14. Kenny Rogers, July 28, 1994
15. David Wells, May 17, 1998
16. David Cone, July 18, 1999
17. Randy Johnson, May 18, 2004
18. Mark Buehrle, July 23, 2009
    

The Eagle Has Landed

I am the Brave Astronaut. I could not let this particular anniversary pass without a post. I had been accumulating a number of sites and things to post links to. One of the better ones I had comes from the Big Picture.

Kottke had a number of good posts:

• Cool photos of the Apollo landing sites from low Moon orbit
• The Giant Apollo 11 post
• NASA releases restored Apollo 11 moon walk video

July 16 also was evidently the anniversary of several significant historic events, other than the date the Apollo 11 astronauts blasted off for the mood. To commemorate the blastoff, Daily Kos had the video of the launch as did Kottke. CNN covered the release of NASA's enhanced films of the moon landing.

And with the passing of "Uncle Walter" here is a video of Walter Cronkite and others talking about that monumental day. Farewell Walter. You were the voice of reason for so many years. You will truly be missed. Thank you for all your years.

Congratulations to all those Graduates Out There

I have to admit to freaking out the neighbor boy the other day when I asked him how many more days of school he had. He replied, "two weeks." This was at the end of May. I stunned him with the tale of the dark days of my youth when we went to school until the end of June! His mother made him feel even worse with tales of year round school!

To celebrate the season of high school graduations, here are a few stories that showed up on the Brave Astronaut radar over the past few weeks.

1. Perfect Attendance - Really? This story from the Washington Post about a local high schooler and this AP story from June 1 about a student from Indiana that are graduating from their respective high schools with perfect attendance records. That is never having missed a day of school from Kindergarten through 12th Grade. I say again, really? My mother and the school nurses exchanged Christmas cards as a result of the time I spent in the nurse's office. I was constantly home - how else was I to get my Price is Right fix? Sure, there may have been some days that I could have gone to school, but my mother didn't push the issue. God bless her.
2. Dodging Gym - dodgeball anyone? While that "game of chance" is certainly passe in schools, evidently completing the rope climb is not. Unless you live in Little Falls, New York. There you can choose your gym experience in the form of Dance Dance Revolution. Really? What's next Wii? Get out there are dodge some balls, you big wienies! Then again, I did fulfill a phys ed requirement in college by bowling. And my sister got her requirement by taking "circus arts."
3. Local Flavor and Mandatory Archival Content Alert! - An elementary school in my hometown is in trouble with its former students. In 1981, students at Berry Hill Elementary School buried a time capsule on the school grounds. The site was later paved over for a parking lot. The time capsule is nowhere to be found. And the students are wondering what is up (or is it down)?

Where's the What?

First up, today marks the birthday of my oldest and best friends. While we don't have the same level of contact that we used to, he is a true friend (in fact he has been superb in helping me get through this recent computer crisis affecting the Brave Astronaut command console) and I wish him a very happy birthday.

Now on with the post of the day (coming from the newly mobile Brave Astronaut Command Console) . . .

When one goes to New York City as a tourist, it's a pretty safe bet that even if you are using an old dog-eared copy of a travel guide, you will be able to find your way to places like the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden. You know why? Those names don't change. Make no mistake, I am certainly generalizing here, and New York is not alone in keeping its landmarks named for long periods of time. For the record, Europe certainly has a better track record of keeping their named stuff straight, they've certainly been doing it longer.

I noted with some derision an article some time ago about the tallest building in the United States, the Willis Tower. What's that, you've never heard of it? Sure you have. It used to be called the Sears Tower. The Willis Holding Group, an insurance company based in London has leased 150,000 square feet in the building and scored the naming rights in the process. Sears' naming rights for the building expired a few years ago and Sears relocated out of the building to the suburbs. And hey, let's face it, retail ain't exactly the best business to be in right now.

In the retail vein, I even heard the other day that the Chrysler headquarters was built in such a way that it could easily be converted to a shopping mall, in the event that Chrysler went bankrupt. Hey, guess what? There's going to be a new mall in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

And of course, there are always bright spots in the dimming economy. Remember Blob's Park? With the housing market in a nosedive, the developers who had planned to build on the site of Blob's Park have all but vanished and the Park is enjoying a Renaissance. Perhaps a summer outing? I'm always up for a good schnitzel . . .

Take Your President to Work Today

A quick post (because I said I would try to be better) to point out that the President of the United States came to the National Archives today to give a "major speech" on terrorism, torture, and national security. He stood in the Rotunda of the National Archives and spoke eloquently (as he does so well) about the future of America, and why he believes closing Guantanamo Bay is essential. You can watch the speech from C-SPAN here. He gave the shout-out to the head of the National Archives, Acting Archivist Adrienne Thomas. We just need to teach him to pronounce "archivist" correctly.

This has not been a good week for the National Archives. On Tuesday evening, it was reported that a hard drive had gone missing from the National Archives. At the same time, the results of the National Capital Survey were released, which rate the agencies of the Federal Government. The National Archives came in next to last.

I love my job. Most of the people I know love their job. Who answered the survey? I know I did. And hey, the President came to see us, that's gotta count for something, right?

Dr. Seuss - Up to the Challenge

Both Mrs. BA and I read to LBA before he goes to bed. There is often much negotiation over "how many stories," "long stories or short stories," and then the negotiations continue once we are in bed - which one first, can he have another one after the pre-arranged number has been agreed to, etc. (We do try to read to SoBA - but he is usually more interested in grabbing the book and flinging it away, or flipping the pages from back to front rather than front to back - but we're working on it.)

There are several Dr. Seuss books in the repertoire, Green Eggs and Ham among them. As a result, I found this story very interesting. Evidently, after finishing (and publishing) The Cat in the Hat in 1955, Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss's real name) was challenged to write another book using only 50 words. (The Cat in the Hat had only used 223 words). Geisel collected on the bet when Green Eggs and Ham came out in 1960, using exactly 50 words. Okay, so they're repeated, but there are only fifty words in the story. Know what they are?

a am and anywhere are be boat box car could dark do eat eggs fox goat good green ham here house I if in let like may me mouse not on or rain Sam say see so thank that the them there they train tree try will with would you

Later, I found this story, published on what would have been Ted Geisel's 105th birthday, which detailed 10 stories behind some of the greatest hits put out by Dr. Seuss. As the parents of two small children, I've read most of them. I, however, avoid discussing the controversy. The Green Eggs and Ham 50-word bet, is on the list, here are the other nine:

• The Lorax is indeed about the logging industry and got Geisel in trouble with that industry.
• Horton Hears a Who contains the line, "A person's a person, no matter how small." This line was grabbed by pro-life organizations, but it is unlikely that Geisel meant it that way, especially since he sued to have one organization stop using the line.
• If I Ran the Zoo, published in 1950, contains the first recorded instance of the word "nerd."
• The Cat in the Hat was created because Geisel thought the Dick and Jane primers (wow - acid flashback) were boring. He was right.
• Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! is not about Richard Nixon. Really, it's not.
• Yertle the Turtle is about Hitler. Really, it is.
• The Butter Battle Book is about the Cold War.
• Oh, the Places You'll Go, published in 1990 and the final Dr. Seuss book, is one of his best sellers as it is a perennial gift to graduates. It sells about 300,000 copies a year.
• The cartoon movie based on How the Grinch Stole Christmas featured Boris Karloff narrating and providing the voice of the Grinch. The man who provided the voice of Tony the Tiger sang, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."

Why I Don't Shop at Whole Foods

Well there are several reasons, but this one is my reason for never setting foot in one anytime soon. You see, Brave Astronaut doesn't like spiders. In any way, shape, or form. Perhaps I was a fly or other insect in some previous life. Mrs. BA is in charge of dealing with any spiders that make it into the launchpad. I can take care of other bugs, and have on some occasions, but spiders are off limits.

Update: There was a follow up story in the Tulsa World that the spider may not have been poisonous, but I don't care.

I'm out walking the Ward today in search of votes. If you see me out and about, be sure to say hi. But please don't throw spiders.

I Love the President

Wow, did I really say that? And I at lest like him a little more than the Iraqi journalist he encountered this past Sunday. But he has been very good to us federal workers of late:

Executive Order: Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Friday, December 26, 2008

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 2008, the day after Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 of this order.

Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 26, 2008, for reasons of national security or defense or other public need.

Sec. 3. Friday, December 26, 2008, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.

Sec. 4. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against the United States, its agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 12, 2008.

Forget PETA, Let's Form PITH*

PETA is in the news again. I have hesitated on this post for a while, because it's really just a little too icky to contemplate. But here goes. PETA lobbied ice cream makers Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to replace cow's milk with human breast milk. With a press release titled "The Breast is Best," the organization, which also pushed the idea on their blog, pointed out that a Swiss restaurant owner is replacing 75% of its cow's milk with breast milk from nursing mothers. OK, all together now, EWWWWW!

So instead, grab that Ben and Jerry's flavor you love best and whip up some Creme Brulee.

Arnold's Ben & Jerry's Organic Crème Brulée

Ingredients

• 1 pint of Organic B&J Vanilla ice cream ( other flavors may be used. Smooth flavors work best. Break up chunks if using chunky flavors)
• 2 Organic eggs
• 2 tsp. Organic sugar
• 1 tsp. Organic vanilla
• 1/2 cup Organic sugar, reserve for "burnt sugar crust"
• 4 oven proof ramekins for custard
  

Soften ice cream to a liquid state. You can empty the pint into a bowl and leave in the refrigerator for a few hours. Do not heat at high temperatures to melt ice cream.

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees

Place four ramekins in a pan with water half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Beat the eggs only until well blended, no more then 15-20 seconds. Pour eggs, sugar, and vanilla into softened ice cream and stir until well blended. Pour crème mixture into ramekins. Place pan with water and crème mixture into oven for 1 1/2 hours. Custard is done when top is firm and jiggles slightly in the middle when shaken. Remove pan from oven and cool custard to room temperature. Note, you will see holes on top of the custard from the air in the ice cream having escaped - this is normal. When completely cooled, cover with food wrap and store in the refrigerator.

To create burnt sugar crust:

Immediately before serving, pour a liberal amount of sugar on the top of the first custard, pouring any excess into the next ramekin. Continue until the tops of all four ramekins have a thin layer of sugar. Caramelize the sugar by placing the ramekins under a broiler on the top rack or by using a small culinary flame torch. Note this step goes quickly, remove when sugar on the custard turns golden brown. Serve immediately.

* PETA is of course People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - PITH would be People for the Inhumane Treatment of Humans (especially PETA members).

Getting Away From it All

Today is one of the biggest travel days of the year around here. I will be staying home to celebrate the Feast of Turkey with Mrs. Brave Astronaut and her family. But don't worry about me, I'm heading to my father's next week to divest him of his belongings as he prepares to move in with his new girlfriend.

On the subject of travel, I spotted this in the New York Times Magazine several weeks ago and thought it might be a nice place for the "old archivists rest home," which is a subject of some discussion around the work lunch table. Clingstone, a home built on top of a rocky outcropping in the middle of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island is a rather rustic, remote getaway. Of course, it does sort of give new meaning to the phrase, "getting voted off the island." We may have found a solution to our problems anyway. But we would need to come up with the money to pay the taxes on this house until we were ready to occupy it. Maybe we could rent it for the Obama inauguration. Anybody want to go in on a ticket?

Believe me it has occurred to me to rent out the Brave Astronaut manse and make some money. But then again, I wouldn't miss the event for the world - and already I have reservations from friends looking for floor space that weekend. I'm assuming that Ed guy from Pittsburgh is out.

While I am likely never getting a vacation again, I lived vicariously through this site, which chronicles famous trips, including a few that didn't end so well for the people involved. And of course, if you are getting away, remember don't leave home without this (courtesy of the Smithsonian - the American History Museum has reopened as of last week!), via kottke.
Finally, I hope that your travels, if they include air travel, don't include your needing to reference this checklist:

• How to land a 747

In and Out - Same Day

The Brave Astronaut family are off for a quick weekend to visit with friends in Charlottesville. But I wanted to share with you this item I saw in the news recently. From the Rapid City Journal in Rapid City, South Dakota:

An elderly Sioux Falls, S.D. couple died together Saturday, side by side, of separate illnesses, reports the Argus Leader.

Diana Kraft and her husband, Kent, had been married for about 43 years, both born on the same day: Sept. 2, 1941, the report says. Diana Kraft had battled Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and Kent had a brief illness.

According to the Argus Leader, Police spokesman Loren McManus said the deaths of the Krafts were not suspicious or criminal. He said Kent Kraft had a heart condition.

It was a unique situation, reminiscent of the movie “The Notebook,” he said.

“It’s kind of like that. They’ve been together forever and she was very, very sick and she died,” McManus said. “Whatever effect that had on him, that was it.”

This was followed in due course by a list of individuals who checked in and out of this world on the same day, that is they all died on the anniversary of their birth.

• Raphael - April 6, 1483-April 6, 1520
  
• Étienne Dolet, French printer - August 3, 1509-August 3, 1546
• William Shakespeare - April 23, 1564-April 23, 1616 (the exact date of Shakespeare's birth is not known, although his baptismal date (April 26) is often used to estimate)
• Sir Thomas Browne, author - October 19, 1605-October 19, 1682
• Levi Morton, US Vice President - May 16, 1824-May 16, 1920
• George Washington Carver, US agricultural chemist - January 5, 1864-January 05, 1903 (as a former slave, Carver's exact date of birth is not known, but is celebrated on the 5th of January)
• Lawrence Oates, Arctic Explorer - March 17, 1880-March 17, 1912 (Oates walked off from the rest of his party to try and get help and froze to death. It is believed he perished on his birthday but could have died before or after that date)
  
• Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian politician - July 1, 1882-July 1, 1962
• Alfred Kazin, US writer and critic - June 5, 1915-June 5, 1998
• Ingrid Bergman, actress - August 29, 1915-August 29, 1982
• Betty Friedan, feminist writer - April 2, 1921-April 2, 2006