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I just read an article on the BBC about long term information storage. At one point the article quotes a study by the Optical Storage Technology Association that found, "CDs had a life expectancy of only around 15 years". Has anyone reading this found this to be true? I ask because I have at least one set of CDs that I purchased in or just before I was in high school, so if I am not mistaken I would have purchased this in about 1993 about the time it was released. That makes these CDs close to 16 years old now and I should not expect them to keep playing. So far though no trouble. Anyone have a music CD fail due to age rather than scratches or something?
Bon Vivant, Joie de Vivre, simply Joy?
Jun. 20th, 2009 12:53 pmI think I finally figured out the sort of thing that I want to put on my personal ad when I start posting that sort of thing again (probably next month). The thing that defines me are those wonderful French phrases like Joie de Vivre and Bon Vivant. The Joy of Living and To Live Well. The only thing I worry a bit about is that using a French phrase might seem a bit pretentious. Not that I'm unpretentious, but I want to put my best foot forward.
A Modestly Half Baked Idea
Jan. 19th, 2009 02:06 pmThe United States of America, un-devastated by war and with large number of appliances in use, decided not to migrate to a 220V standard in the 1950s. Forget everything you read about Tesla, 120V at 60Hz is an historical accident informed by engineering. The problem is that we're stuck with a range of less efficient devices as a result.
My half baked idea? Individual migration and importation of 220V devices. A home could be wired with a few outlets of the type most commonly used in nations that have good 220V single phase power. The fact that we're be at 60Hz instead of the European standard of 50Hz does not hurt either since there is at least one industrialized nation that already uses 220V/60Hz, South Korea. And Taiwan uses both 110V and 220V at 60Hz using two different plug outlets, much like I'm proposing gradually doing.
Okay, it'll never work. But if I was crazy rich I could be irresponsible with my money in this way if I wanted to.
My half baked idea? Individual migration and importation of 220V devices. A home could be wired with a few outlets of the type most commonly used in nations that have good 220V single phase power. The fact that we're be at 60Hz instead of the European standard of 50Hz does not hurt either since there is at least one industrialized nation that already uses 220V/60Hz, South Korea. And Taiwan uses both 110V and 220V at 60Hz using two different plug outlets, much like I'm proposing gradually doing.
Okay, it'll never work. But if I was crazy rich I could be irresponsible with my money in this way if I wanted to.
If the various sídhe, fairies, sprites, bogies, and/or elves were real what rock musicians would they listen to?
( My Answer )
( My Answer )
The Simple Joy of a Drive In
Jun. 1st, 2008 08:46 amThere is only one Drive-in Theater left in the Denver area, the "Eighty-Eight" up on 88th Avenue and Rosemary Street in Commerce City. Dry and dusty as all drive-ins tend to be when it has not recently rained, it is not pretty. But there is a peculiar industrial beauty to the place with its rusting neon sign amid a tangle of telephone and power wires. The tower screen is made of corrugated tin painted white, many of the posts marking spaces no longer hold speakers and are bent due to collisions. Sometimes I have fantasized about the perfect drive in, but the thing is that if a drive in were perfect with nicely mowed grass and concrete parking spaces and surrounded by trees to keep out light pollution, it would lose some of the charm.
Going to a drive in is all about being able to bring in your own food and having enough space to behave badly. It is just like cars vs. mass transit. In a car you can talk back to the radio, sing along, or whatever you please. This is why I love going to bad or silly movies at the drive-in because then whatever group I am with can keep up a running commentary without bothering other patrons without our wit. Which Richie and I did to a certain extent as we watched first Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull</a> and then Iron Man last Sunday night. I was drinking very strong Thai Iced tea (it still needs to have the amount of anise reduced a bit), eating popcorn, bad Chinese food, and drinking soda. I just wish the 88 still had funnel cakes because that would have been a perfect addition to our self indulgent fare.
The movies were good, the wait to get in was long (show up at about a hour and a half before sunset, don't worry if the line is long), and we were up quite late because of this. But it was a lot of fun and reasonably priced at just eight dollars per person.
Going to a drive in is all about being able to bring in your own food and having enough space to behave badly. It is just like cars vs. mass transit. In a car you can talk back to the radio, sing along, or whatever you please. This is why I love going to bad or silly movies at the drive-in because then whatever group I am with can keep up a running commentary without bothering other patrons without our wit. Which Richie and I did to a certain extent as we watched first Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull</a> and then Iron Man last Sunday night. I was drinking very strong Thai Iced tea (it still needs to have the amount of anise reduced a bit), eating popcorn, bad Chinese food, and drinking soda. I just wish the 88 still had funnel cakes because that would have been a perfect addition to our self indulgent fare.
The movies were good, the wait to get in was long (show up at about a hour and a half before sunset, don't worry if the line is long), and we were up quite late because of this. But it was a lot of fun and reasonably priced at just eight dollars per person.
A Lovely Tool
Oct. 5th, 2007 10:28 amIf money were no object, if the blade was 1/16 of an inch shorter, and I did not worry about cutting myself using a knife with just a backspring rather than a full locking mechanism I think this would be my pocket knife. Everything about it is just so beautiful. The bee on the spring, the elegant curve of the handle, and the lovely pistachio wood. Well perhaps I would like ebony wood a bit more. But in some ways it would be too pretty to use and carry all the time. A really good knife should look beautiful even when well worn and used.
Why a 3½ inch blade? Colorado law defines a knife as a weapon if it is longer than that. So even though this knife with a curly birch handle and a locking mechanism would be closer to what I would like (except on price again, $149.00 is quite a bit) it would not be practical where I live with its 4-inch blade.
I did find two knives made by Coutellerie Chambriard that seem practical, somewhat elegant, and reasonably priced. One in ebony and one in juniper, but I do not have the money and even if I did I think I would want to shop around and learn some more about what makes a really good pocket knife before buying. And are there equivalent knife makers in the US that might make just as good a product, but locally? And somewhere that would be a good place to get one where I could really see it before I buy. And now back to work.
Why a 3½ inch blade? Colorado law defines a knife as a weapon if it is longer than that. So even though this knife with a curly birch handle and a locking mechanism would be closer to what I would like (except on price again, $149.00 is quite a bit) it would not be practical where I live with its 4-inch blade.
I did find two knives made by Coutellerie Chambriard that seem practical, somewhat elegant, and reasonably priced. One in ebony and one in juniper, but I do not have the money and even if I did I think I would want to shop around and learn some more about what makes a really good pocket knife before buying. And are there equivalent knife makers in the US that might make just as good a product, but locally? And somewhere that would be a good place to get one where I could really see it before I buy. And now back to work.
The New Paranoia
Aug. 16th, 2007 08:36 pmSo here I am blogging as I always said I was. For myself. I've been posting lots of private entries to myself. They don't go into specifics about work, because how dumb would that be? But I do talk about work and with the way things are lately I don't feel comfortable even putting those out even as 'trusted readers only'. Despite how I go on about blogging just for myself it does feel different when I write things that no one but me (and the snoopy techs at 6A should I attract their attention somehow) will ever see. If I die I think I should like my journal to be opened up. All the private stuff put out there after a decent interval has been observed. Say, five years. I wonder if that will ever be a thing. Researchers using computers to cull through old journal entries for ground level views of history. I know that researchers on any period before about 1850 would kill for masses of such information. How incredibly useful would it be if there had been a dozen lower class individuals keeping track of their lives around the French Revolution? But do such things hold any value today?
I know my journal has a lot of value for me. It can show me things like how I really thought about something at the time rather than how I remember it in retrospect. That is how I know that I expected Saddam Hussein to have at least some pathetic/decrepit chemical or bio warfare works around, though I did not expect the US troops to face any actually effective weapons. Though I held my breath fearing that I would be proved wrong in a dramatic way. That it would be a huge vindication of the Bush Administration and I'd have to eat at least some personal crow. I wonder how many people also felt those sorts of fears and have not forgotten saying, "Oh I knew all along and so did everyone really in the know."
It is even more useful for the small things. The bits that I would otherwise forget to write down. Like my random experiments with food and/or alcohol. Right. I should probably do more beer reviews again. I have, until this week, had about one a night with dinner. This week I skipped for a number of days because I felt blue and did not want to have alcohol. I tend to get bluer under the influence.
I know my journal has a lot of value for me. It can show me things like how I really thought about something at the time rather than how I remember it in retrospect. That is how I know that I expected Saddam Hussein to have at least some pathetic/decrepit chemical or bio warfare works around, though I did not expect the US troops to face any actually effective weapons. Though I held my breath fearing that I would be proved wrong in a dramatic way. That it would be a huge vindication of the Bush Administration and I'd have to eat at least some personal crow. I wonder how many people also felt those sorts of fears and have not forgotten saying, "Oh I knew all along and so did everyone really in the know."
It is even more useful for the small things. The bits that I would otherwise forget to write down. Like my random experiments with food and/or alcohol. Right. I should probably do more beer reviews again. I have, until this week, had about one a night with dinner. This week I skipped for a number of days because I felt blue and did not want to have alcohol. I tend to get bluer under the influence.
Damn Big Zombies
Jun. 13th, 2007 10:28 pmI won't blog about a zombie uprising. See I figure that if there were one the power would go out here very quickly. And anyway I wouldn't have time to blog on account of dying. Honestly, do you see me as a survivor in the zombie apocalypse? Didn't think so. Plus I would need to know that my boyfriend was okay so I'd do something crazy like try to go meet up with him. Then we could spend the end of the world together.
I wonder what small towns would be like in a zombie uprising. I mean some of them the dead outnumber the living, but is it only the recently dead? If so I don't expect there would be more than a few dozen out here. Other than a lack of power maybe I would survive.
I wonder what small towns would be like in a zombie uprising. I mean some of them the dead outnumber the living, but is it only the recently dead? If so I don't expect there would be more than a few dozen out here. Other than a lack of power maybe I would survive.
Leaving and Staying
Jun. 6th, 2007 11:28 pmI like my thin little internet fame. But I'm still enough of a lunatic that I would give it up over principle. I do not like how Livejournal or any other online journaling service operates. I would end up paying more for a personal page and so on, but it might be the right option for me. I could no longer post things of questionable nature and lock it to just registered people easily, but I could stand to not put such things out there.
On the other hand I keep up with many people here. I have found it terribly useful and I read good stuff here all the time. And it is silly cutting off my nose to spite my face since I'm unlikely to ever be hit by the various stupidities perpetrated by the LJ staff.
But it feels WRONG. I feel like I should take everything of value and never look back. EVIL should be punished. Yet I am but one man.
On the other hand I keep up with many people here. I have found it terribly useful and I read good stuff here all the time. And it is silly cutting off my nose to spite my face since I'm unlikely to ever be hit by the various stupidities perpetrated by the LJ staff.
But it feels WRONG. I feel like I should take everything of value and never look back. EVIL should be punished. Yet I am but one man.
Economics and Carbon Dioxide
May. 24th, 2007 09:41 pmA Thought Problem
Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide in 1990 were approximately 22 billion metric tons. The current population is about 6.7 billion, give or take some. So that works out to 3.28 tons per person on average if we were to achieve 1990 levels of pollution.
If combined with a goal of the whole world having the same standard of living as the United States of America, about $43,574 per person, that means that the worldwide goal is producing about $13.28 of economic activity per kilogram of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere (43574/3280). It would be an understatement to say that this will not be easy as currently the US is at about 20.6 tons per capita (more or less), or about $2.12 per kilogram.
The most efficient of all industrialized economies, in terms of least carbon dioxide released for the amount of GDP produced, is Switzerland at about $9.42 per kilogram, almost approaching the goal number. Now if the Swiss are thrown out as being an outlier and use the number five spot instead to evaluate the reasonableness of the carbon per GDP goal we have Denmark at $5.59, or a bit less than halfway there (42%). This gives me hope. Particularly since Denmark isn't in love with nuclear power, unlike France, which comes out ahead. So there realistic room to grown. Indeed I think it could be possible to both have a prosperous world economy and carbon emission levels that would not be good, but would prevent further damage.
The question is how fast and by what mechanism.
Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide in 1990 were approximately 22 billion metric tons. The current population is about 6.7 billion, give or take some. So that works out to 3.28 tons per person on average if we were to achieve 1990 levels of pollution.
If combined with a goal of the whole world having the same standard of living as the United States of America, about $43,574 per person, that means that the worldwide goal is producing about $13.28 of economic activity per kilogram of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere (43574/3280). It would be an understatement to say that this will not be easy as currently the US is at about 20.6 tons per capita (more or less), or about $2.12 per kilogram.
The most efficient of all industrialized economies, in terms of least carbon dioxide released for the amount of GDP produced, is Switzerland at about $9.42 per kilogram, almost approaching the goal number. Now if the Swiss are thrown out as being an outlier and use the number five spot instead to evaluate the reasonableness of the carbon per GDP goal we have Denmark at $5.59, or a bit less than halfway there (42%). This gives me hope. Particularly since Denmark isn't in love with nuclear power, unlike France, which comes out ahead. So there realistic room to grown. Indeed I think it could be possible to both have a prosperous world economy and carbon emission levels that would not be good, but would prevent further damage.
The question is how fast and by what mechanism.
Robots and War
May. 10th, 2007 12:53 pmRobot armies won't eliminate killing. It will make it more suddenly terrible. It is one thing to give a group of men an order to kill other men or a whole people, but if it is made using a clean interface that will not reflect the horror inherent in such orders it will become easier to exterminate a whole people. I think intellectual morality will tend to keep the robot armies in check. In fact in their first uses they might actually reduce enemy casualties since a commander would be more willing to risk a robot than one of his men, but if a war goes on long enough or there are enough wars where robots engage against humans I think there could be a gradual erosion of the reluctance to engage to kill. Because the one sure way to make sure that an enemy does not rise up again to fight is to kill all of them. And without having to see the results of such orders in person there will be less reason not to.
Girl Scout Cookies
Mar. 13th, 2007 05:03 pmI am a freak of the United States. I don't like girl scout cookies. I like the girl scouts well enough. When I feel flush I make a donation of a ten to whatever group seems most enthusiastic about it. I figure that's better than buying cookies as far as supporting the girl scouts goes. But the fact remains that I do not like the cookies. To me they don't seem any different than the normal store bought cookies, mostly nothing I'd eat. Too much sugar, no real butter, not real chocolate, etc.
I do like some store cookies. Some of the thin ginger snaps that come out with a crumb I just cannot get in my own cookies. And far too expensive little (real) chocolate dipped crunchy things. But for the most part I prefer cookies made at home. Personally I'd be more interested in buying actual culinary attempts by the girls. Maybe give a ten in donation and buy some. Even if they were not MY favorite cookie I like trying different flavors and styles.
I do like some store cookies. Some of the thin ginger snaps that come out with a crumb I just cannot get in my own cookies. And far too expensive little (real) chocolate dipped crunchy things. But for the most part I prefer cookies made at home. Personally I'd be more interested in buying actual culinary attempts by the girls. Maybe give a ten in donation and buy some. Even if they were not MY favorite cookie I like trying different flavors and styles.
The Instant Message: A Young Nob's Game?
Mar. 1st, 2007 10:37 amI remember when the minute I turned on whatever instant message program was hot, AIM, ICQ, MSN, etc. I would instantly connect with people. And when I went to send an instant message I'd find a fair number of people who were available and would respond to an IM. Now... not so much. For every time I turn on GAIM, the client program I use, I will get a message once out of dozen or more. And the vast majority of people in my list never log on, have away messages set all the time, or don't respond when I send a message. I'm thinking perhaps IMs are one of those things that you do for a while and then grow out of. So if I wanted to keep connecting like that I'd have to keep working at replacing the people I connected with every few months or something.
So I am wondering if other people are having the same experience with instant messages. Does anyone IM you? Do you have about forty people on your list who never log on anymore? Do you feel like you should put the rest in a category for people who are constantly logged in but never available?
So I am wondering if other people are having the same experience with instant messages. Does anyone IM you? Do you have about forty people on your list who never log on anymore? Do you feel like you should put the rest in a category for people who are constantly logged in but never available?
Guillermo Del Toro Believes
Feb. 21st, 2007 04:27 pmHe purposefully made it so that viewers could see it go either way, but he thinks that at the end of Pan's Labyrinth Ofelia really did become the Princess of the Underworld. This makes me very happy.
( Edit with Spoilers )
( Edit with Spoilers )
Secretaries
Jun. 15th, 2004 09:21 pmWhen exactly did secretary become a job without respect? I mean look at the titles in our government, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Defense, etc... And yet out in the business world the word secretary has been replaced with the doubletalk title "administrative assistant". I suppose that somewhere along the way being a business secretary had became "women's work" and thus a title that both men and women wanted to avoid. Though if this is the case I wonder why then the word "nurse" was not replaced. It had the same development where once women were not allowed to do it and then, seemingly overnight at the start of the 20th century, women dominated the profession and it was one of the few ways in which women could be in the medical profession. Yes, yes I know there were women doctors earlier than 1900, but there were not very many until after the midpoint of the century.
Positive Thoughts
Jun. 6th, 2004 09:16 amI've decided that whenever I post something negative here I must immediately follow it up with something just as, if not more, positive. Therefore I will note something that gives me hope for the future.
Scaled Composites has announced that it will make the first private manned space flight on the 21st of this month. In many ways this is the real beginning of the space age, for if space flight is to become common it cannot be something done by government to capture publicity and bragging rights. The reason we've never been back to the moon isn't because of a lack of dedication, it is because it was a shot, something done without any of the infrastructure that would make returning to the moon either logical or easy. If there had not been the cold war race I suspect that the first manned space flight would not have been until the 1970s and we would not have been to the moon yet.
This is the first tentative step that could very well be the start of a real manned presence in space. No longer a program constantly under threat due to government cuts, but people going there for their own reasons. And that is a very hopeful thing.
Scaled Composites has announced that it will make the first private manned space flight on the 21st of this month. In many ways this is the real beginning of the space age, for if space flight is to become common it cannot be something done by government to capture publicity and bragging rights. The reason we've never been back to the moon isn't because of a lack of dedication, it is because it was a shot, something done without any of the infrastructure that would make returning to the moon either logical or easy. If there had not been the cold war race I suspect that the first manned space flight would not have been until the 1970s and we would not have been to the moon yet.
This is the first tentative step that could very well be the start of a real manned presence in space. No longer a program constantly under threat due to government cuts, but people going there for their own reasons. And that is a very hopeful thing.
I Know Nothing
Jan. 19th, 2004 03:17 amOne thing you should keep in mind as you read my journal is that even though it might seem that I sometimes write factually, that's just a literary device. I am overwhelmed by the world. More specifically there is too much information out there, too many studies, too many scientists, too much disagreement to believe in any of it. I find myself incapable of holding useful opinions because I cannot decide who is right and wrong. Sure I'll spout off about how certain ideas seem idiotic, but give a proponent five minutes with me and I'll be reduced to a quivering mass without an opinion once again underneath my hard exterior of argumentativeness. The only thing that I can hold onto, that I do know, is what gives me pain and pleasure. And that's just opinion and should not be taken as a positive statement.
In other words, this is a fact free zone. Everything I write is fantasy of one type or another, it is all normative. For all I know this is all an alcohol induced hallucination. There is more of gravy than grave about me.
In other words, this is a fact free zone. Everything I write is fantasy of one type or another, it is all normative. For all I know this is all an alcohol induced hallucination. There is more of gravy than grave about me.
A Prayer to Steel
Jan. 13th, 2004 08:45 pmI do not wish to surrender. I do not wish to lay down my sword, but to continue the fight when it seems all hands are against me? Everything depends upon not giving up, not giving in, for if I lose there is nothing. Never again to hope for greener days ahead, nothing more than flickering half existence until the end. I think nothing can save me, but I struggle on without hope, through battles without meaning or number.
Even writing down what I feel might betray me, for who shall trust one who writes the things I do? The masters of this world want loyal fiefs that do not just obey, but believe in every word they utter.
My heart desires sleep without any troubling dreams. But I shall keep one eye open, I shall run the stone across my imperfect steel until it shines, and I will go on though I can see no clear path before me. By uncertain light, by the moon and stars, I may falter but I am determined not to fail.
Even writing down what I feel might betray me, for who shall trust one who writes the things I do? The masters of this world want loyal fiefs that do not just obey, but believe in every word they utter.
My heart desires sleep without any troubling dreams. But I shall keep one eye open, I shall run the stone across my imperfect steel until it shines, and I will go on though I can see no clear path before me. By uncertain light, by the moon and stars, I may falter but I am determined not to fail.
Unnamed Spring Convention
Jan. 5th, 2004 04:31 pmSo we were to run a convention, what would it be named? I've got my own preference of Mountain Empire Con, because then we could use any word starting with MEC for our various silly events. And it could move anywhere up or down the Front Range.
Lungfish Con (to revive an old, old joke)- We're still evolving.
Conorado- The Con of the Seven Cities of Gold
Lungfish Con (to revive an old, old joke)- We're still evolving.
Conorado- The Con of the Seven Cities of Gold
Food, Gore, & Ethics
Nov. 29th, 2003 03:25 pmBefore our main feature I'm going to mention that I do feel better as long as I don't try to talk today. Though unless this totally clears up in the next few hours I think it would be a poor idea for me to inflict myself upon my friends at Freehold Thanksgiving.
The following is rated PG for blood and parts of animals that gross many people out. Don't read it right before you're going to sit down and have pot roast if you have a weak stomach.
A Pointless Story (Mostly)
A conversation sort of thing about meat and ethics has got me thinking about my own experience of adding and subtracting things from my diet. Like all kids I had things I didn't like to eat, e.g. Brussels sprouts. And on occasion, because my dad had a number of allergies as a kid, I would complain of an ailment and something my parents would try would be taking something out of usual fare. For example I went a week on rice milk when they suspected I might have a reaction to dairy. My sister is mildly allergic to chocolate so we had carob around the house for her and looking back I think I must be lucky to have not developed any noticeable allergies to food or pollens.
But sometimes I would be put off some foods for other reasons. I liked liver and then stopped eating it for a while when I learned what a liver is and saw some raw. I was totally grossed out one time when eating a piece of beef and I found a vein in it and I was forever nervous about eating pork after I learned of trichinosis.
I was really put off my feed by the first time I had to gut and clean a fish I caught up at Steamboat Reservoir. I got all grossed out by having to reach in with my hands and pull out the internal organs, though scaling it was not so bad. I really hated the whole slimy feeling and for whatever reason I felt horribly unclean reaching inside an animal where all those bodily functions happen. As I recall I could only manage to eat a little fish that day for lunch at my mom's insistence.
Another time my dad shot a deer in our yard with an arrow. Seeing at first I was doing okay but when I saw that mass of intestines and smelled it, that had me running into the trees to get away for a minute. I don't think I was that much help to my dad in the project.
But in the end doing things like this made me much less squeamish. I still get freaked out by bad things happening to eyes, but other than that I'm usually fairly blasé about things like cutting up a whole chicken.
But though it is no big deal I don't joke about it or throw away anything I can use. My feeling is that when a person goes about killing something living or destroying something inanimate it should be for a good reason. And the act should be done with respect for the life or the work that had to go into it. I don't demand it of everyone, since I’m hardly in a position to demand things. But I always try to encourage putting things to good use if possible.
Gah, that reminds me. I've got to figure out a better system to deal with aluminum cans. I don't produce enough, even at parties, to make it worth my while to recycle them. But I feel like I should figure out something to do with them.
The following is rated PG for blood and parts of animals that gross many people out. Don't read it right before you're going to sit down and have pot roast if you have a weak stomach.
A Pointless Story (Mostly)
A conversation sort of thing about meat and ethics has got me thinking about my own experience of adding and subtracting things from my diet. Like all kids I had things I didn't like to eat, e.g. Brussels sprouts. And on occasion, because my dad had a number of allergies as a kid, I would complain of an ailment and something my parents would try would be taking something out of usual fare. For example I went a week on rice milk when they suspected I might have a reaction to dairy. My sister is mildly allergic to chocolate so we had carob around the house for her and looking back I think I must be lucky to have not developed any noticeable allergies to food or pollens.
But sometimes I would be put off some foods for other reasons. I liked liver and then stopped eating it for a while when I learned what a liver is and saw some raw. I was totally grossed out one time when eating a piece of beef and I found a vein in it and I was forever nervous about eating pork after I learned of trichinosis.
I was really put off my feed by the first time I had to gut and clean a fish I caught up at Steamboat Reservoir. I got all grossed out by having to reach in with my hands and pull out the internal organs, though scaling it was not so bad. I really hated the whole slimy feeling and for whatever reason I felt horribly unclean reaching inside an animal where all those bodily functions happen. As I recall I could only manage to eat a little fish that day for lunch at my mom's insistence.
Another time my dad shot a deer in our yard with an arrow. Seeing at first I was doing okay but when I saw that mass of intestines and smelled it, that had me running into the trees to get away for a minute. I don't think I was that much help to my dad in the project.
But in the end doing things like this made me much less squeamish. I still get freaked out by bad things happening to eyes, but other than that I'm usually fairly blasé about things like cutting up a whole chicken.
But though it is no big deal I don't joke about it or throw away anything I can use. My feeling is that when a person goes about killing something living or destroying something inanimate it should be for a good reason. And the act should be done with respect for the life or the work that had to go into it. I don't demand it of everyone, since I’m hardly in a position to demand things. But I always try to encourage putting things to good use if possible.
Gah, that reminds me. I've got to figure out a better system to deal with aluminum cans. I don't produce enough, even at parties, to make it worth my while to recycle them. But I feel like I should figure out something to do with them.
