Friday Tea

Today's Tea will start sometime between 3:00 and 4:00, presuming that lightening doesn't strike the building too hard.

We may have a special guest - because the road to Vermont doesn't open until "4 or 5".

No cheese plate today - just *Royale" French Onion dip.

Oh, and a fine assortment of Teas.

Das Grosse Eszett

The ISO has granted the Eszett the status of "special consonants found in western European languages".

This despite its "scrapping" in Swiss German, and it's officially sanctioned use in Germany only after long vowels and dipthongs. Says Kerstin Güthert, managing director of the Council for German Spelling Reform: "It's up to the people to decide whether or not they will use it."

Being pseudo-traditionalists, we applaud the ISO's decision.

A Better Chocolate Bar?

Mars, Inc is funding (to the tune of $ 10MM), a five-year project to sequence the chocolate genome.

Can they do better than nature? We hope so, but won't be holding our breath.

Mass Customization Reaches Logical Conclusion

There have been a lot of "well, now I've seen everything" posts lately, and this one won't be much different.

Did you know that you can get M&M's with your own pictures printed on them?

Check it out...

Tomorrow sees a brief software summit

It's only two days long, so we'll try to keep it focused.

Massive Gin Spill

Today's excitement - other than the 2 lines of thunderstorms that will have passed over the area today - one imminently - is the discovery that nearly an entire bottle of Gin has been senselessly wasted in the freezer.

When RA went to get some ice for his ice tea, he noticed that there was "water" at the bottom of the freezer. But it's not frozen? How could that be? OH...

Well, at least the Vodka survived.

A Few Things

We learned a few things this weekend:

At least one VW "Thing" is still on the road.
VW Bugs float.
PG has some competition - AZ is a sharpshooter with a BB gun.
Sauerkraut tastes better when it's got bacon mixed in with it.

Last Friday of Spring Tea

Today's Tea is the last one we'll hold this spring. (Summer arrives tonight at 7:59 EDT!)

Don't worry, there'll be more Fridays in Summer. You don't have to hold on to my shoulder - it'll be all right.

Libations will be a la carte - not to mention early - see you at 3:30!

OK, now we've really seen everything.

The Jura Capresso F9 coffee maker.

It's Internet connectable.

Runs Windows XP. Allows for remote diagnostics.

And is hackable. No kidding.

$ 1798.00.

And since when did we get rid of the definite article?

"Disney Channel features Jonas Brothers."

Pourquoi pas "Le" Disney Channel et "Les" Jonas Brothers? Henh?

Wait...

These are the real Celtics Dancers?



The things you learn by poking around the web.

They even have a Caitlin! They're almost as lucky as we are.

Oh, yeah, we won, handily.

Blood Seperates?

Did we just hear RD announce the founding of a new clothing line?

Wilson!

We'd be remiss in not mentioning that Wilson and WP came for a visit today. (Thanks for bringing him by, WP).

A friendly and well-behaved dog, it was a pleasure to meet him.

No one was attacked, not even RA.

Who is Jones?

What is this we've been hearing about Generation Jones?

It is a heretofore lost generation, between the Baby Boomers and Generation X. (Born between 1954 and 1964). One of the major characteristics?

...the unrequited craving felt by this generation of unfulfilled expectations.

So that explains the angst! We need our expectations fulfilled, and it's high time that they are!

Now we've seen everything

Today TS got a fan for her bedroom from WalMart.

It has a remote control, and an up to 7.5 hour timer.

China. Eighteen bucks.

Que es mas macho?

Tequila Sunrise, or Gin and Tonic?

Find out at Tea today. See you at 4:00.

Take it easy on NT

Take it easy on NT today.

He's lost the war of the daybed.

She's obviously broken his spirit.

Calling Maxwell Smart!

Experts unveil 'cloak of silence'

BBC, June 13

Being woken in the dead of night by noisy neighbours blasting out music could soon be a thing of the past.

Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an "acoustic cloak", which could make objects impervious to sound waves.

The technology, outlined in the New Journal of Physics, could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls or stealth warships.

Scientists have previously demonstrated devices that cloak objects from microwaves, making them "invisible".

"The mathematics behind cloaking has been known for several years," said Professor John Pendry of Imperial College London, UK, an expert in cloaking.

"What hasn't been available for sound is the sort of materials you need to build a cloak out of."

UPDATE: Another researcher has apparently been laboring in the same field: Alistair Cockburn (pronounced "Jones") claims to be the world's leading authority on "Silence Radiators." He produced the first cone of silence back in '58.

Overheard

RS to RD: Oh, that's an accounting thing - it's complicated.

[Translation: Don't worry your pretty little head about it]...

More Strange Physics

From Auntie Beeb, we have:

Hints of 'time before Big Bang'

BBC, By Dr Chris Lintott, June 6

St. Louis - A team of physicists has claimed that our view of the early Universe may contain the signature of a time before the Big Bang.

The discovery comes from studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB), light emitted when the Universe was just 400,000 years old.

Their model may help explain why we experience time moving in a straight line from yesterday into tomorrow.

Details of the work have been submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters.

[...]

Although this microwave background is mostly smooth, the Cobe satellite in 1992 discovered small fluctuations that were believed to be the seeds from which the galaxy clusters we see in today's Universe grew.

Dr Adrienne Erickcek, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and colleagues now believe these fluctuations contain hints that our Universe "bubbled off" from a previous one.

[...]

Their model suggests that new universes could be created spontaneously from apparently empty space. From inside the parent universe, the event would be surprisingly unspectacular.

Describing the team's work at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in St Louis, Missouri, co-author Professor Sean Carroll explained that "a universe could form inside this room and we’d never know".

OSSM Booty!

Thanks, RD, for the "meat" products apparently lifted from the hotel at which the OSSM was held. They are OSSM!

BTW, we held our own little OSSM on the River - you will cover that bill, won't you?

OSSM

Today's the OSSM.

First, lunch on the River.

Then, who knows?

SJ comes through again!

SJ dropped off some homemade fudge today, carted here via jet from Philadelphia. The kid's got style.

There's still some left in the kitchen.

GB and BC are hopelessly beaten.

Tea

Today is the birthday of Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin. Considered the Father of Russian Literature, he was also an inspiration to generations of Russian rebels. The Bolsheviks loved him. His life ended tragically in 1837, two days after being mortally wounded in a duel that he convened.

Today is also the anniversary of WW II's D-Day, the largest single-day invasion of all time. Coincidence?

We'll be celebrating today with Captain Morgan rum and cokes.

We just noticed!

We just noticed that the Sauna's open! Just in time for Summer, too.

It's located out back in shipping and receiving.

Hours are 5:00 pm to Midnight. Bring your own towels.

Word of the Day

Apropos of nothing - except curiosity about what a hypercrit might be...

Hypocrite
Main Entry:
Pronunciation:
\ˈhi-pə-ˌkrit\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English ypocrite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritēs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai
Date:
13th century

1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion 2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings ---- hypocrite adjective

New Hires!

We have some new hire news.

1) KC will be joining us to fill the position left by JM. She'll need a whole sunshine band to pick up where JM left off.

2) BK is rejoining the company after a short stint elsewhere - apparently there's no better place to work for him.

Congratulations newbies - we hope you enjoy your new gigs.

NR is looking for male blood

NR is looking for male blood. 50 micrograms of it, in fact.

So if you'd like to be a guinea pig, and have just a single drop to spare (obtained either deliberately or fortuitously) seek her out.

Dark Chocolate Emergency is over

RS has been good enough to replenish the candy coffers, which includes an ample chocolate supply.

Chocolate Emergency

Tonight we had our first Dark Chocolate Emergency.

There was no dark chocolate in the usual places.

Luckily there was a private secret stash, and those in dire need knew where to find it.

Perhaps the corporation should have a procedure in place for this sort of thing?

OSSM Update

We've just been reliably informed that Managers at Director level and above will be attending the OSSM.

So, HD and NR will have to miss the river events.

Pity.