Dan Goodman's journal

dsgood @ 2009-07-14T14:52:00

2009-07-14T19:52:53Z

Monday July 6, 2009 To the computer lab at Southwest Senior Center.

Newsletter from Duotrope (http://www.duotrope.com). Included among the contests:

"7/31/2009: Horror stories based on the world of Oz - Shadows of the Emerald City Anthology - http://www.duotrope.com/market_3512.aspx"

***To the Cub supermarket on Lake Street. Outside the store, a woman was giving $10 Cub gift cards to people who got trial subscriptions to the Star Tribune. Which seems like an excellent way to lose money, for a newspaper already facing bankruptcy.

This Cub store has aisle signs in English and Spanish. Among the Spanish ones: "habas de refried."

***Leaving the store, I came across a small drama.

Man to male cop: "I love you."

Cop: -"Don't say you love me. How about saying you respect me?"-

***Back home: Picked up a table knife, and it felt odd. After a moment, I figured out why: my hand muscles had relaxed enough that familiar objects felt wrong.

Tuesday July 7, 2009 I barely missed a phone call from an unfamiliar number in an unfamiliar area code (713.) I tried to call back.

"The Department of Corrections number you are trying to call does not accept incoming calls."

***To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

I did a reverse lookup on the phone number at http://whitepages.com. It was an unpublished number in Houston. Since I don't know anyone likely to be either a prisoner or a guard in Houston, the caller almost certainly dialed the wrong number.

While I've lived in the Twin Cities, I've twice answered calls from people trying to phone Sydney, Australia. (Area code for Minneapolis, formerly also for St. Paul: 612. Country code for Australia: 61. City code for Sydney: 2.)

Later, I started thinking about a common science fiction device: the teleport booth. You step into a booth, dial the place you want to get to, and there you are. In the stories, it usually goes smoothly.

In practice, some people would misdial and then overlook obvious clues that they'd come to the wrong place. "Why does this supermarket have more signs in Arabic than in English? That's carrying political correctness too far! And where are the pork chops?"

***Radio interview with originators of the HBO show "Hung." It's about a male prostitute with a female pimp. (His clients are female.)

dsgood @ 2009-07-10T14:57:00

2009-07-10T19:57:05Z

Happy Birthday tomorrow, bradhicks!

dsgood @ 2009-07-10T14:56:00

2009-07-10T19:56:30Z

Happy Birthday, daystreet!!

dsgood @ 2009-07-07T12:57:00

2009-07-07T17:57:34Z

Thursday July 2, 2009 To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

Andromeda Spaceways rejected "The Day After I Saved the Universe." Form rejection with "...we hope to hear from you in the future" and a market suggestion.

***To Walker Library.

"Walking along the closest equivalent Warsaw has to New York's Fifth Avenue one bright spring morning [in the early 1990s], I spotted what looked like an artist's canvas on a tripod outside the elegant Blikle Cafe...the Blikle display proudly announced the arrival of 'the New York breakfast' of smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagels. Expensive and exotic, the arrival of the New York branded bagel seemed to be just one more sign that borders really were coming down and that Poland was opening up to Western tastes." Maria Balinska, The Bagel: the surprising history of a modest bread. Yale University Press, 2008.

***Adult Children Anonymous meeting.

July 3, 2009 Federal holiday.

***To the shopping center near Lake and Minnehaha.

Target had netbooks marked down to $200; the advertised special was $49.99 more. These were basic machines; but some of their features (webcams, for example) haven't always been considered basic.

Ten years from now, $50 might get you a useful new computer. (No, I'm not adjusting for inflation.) And my prediction may be too conservative.

Four-function calculators once cost hundreds of dollars. Today, calculators are sometimes on sale at two for two dollars.

*Back in the 1950s, I bought a computer kit from Edmund Scientific. BRAINIAC wasn't much by current standards; it could be hardwired to add, or to subtract, or to multiply, or to divide.

I never put the kit together. If I had, I'd able to brag about being a really early home computer user.

On to Aldi for groceries, and then home.

***I decided to see if KNOW had any news. (Like other "all news" radio stations, KNOW has commentary, talk shows, and other stuff I don't consider to be news.)

There was news: Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska. Her announcement came as a surprise to, among others, the Lieutenant Governor.

It would surprise me if Sarah Palin got a sex-change operation, became a liberal, or started making sense. I found her resignation unexpected, but not surprising.

dsgood @ 2009-07-07T12:57:00

2009-07-07T17:57:14Z

Happy Birthday, nodakwriter!!

dsgood @ 2009-07-06T13:04:00

2009-07-06T17:58:44Z

Sunday June 28, 2009 Saw a wheelchair brand-named "Quickie." The thought came to my mind that it lacked the room for two people to have a quickie.

To the Lake Street Rainbow Foods, to pick up flyers.

On to Cub Foods. Picked up flyers, and checked prices on shelves; mostly in the "nothing over $2" section.

On to Target. Checked grocery prices. I now know that Rainbow's cheapest ketchup is a whopping seventeen cents less than Target's cheapest. (And thirtyseven cents less than Aldi's.)

Devout frugalists search out large numbers of prices at all the supermarkets they use, and keep their price books up-to-date. For a family of six, this might make economic sense. But an economist might suggest also looking at information costs: gasoline used in driving around to supermarkets, to begin with. And opportunity costs: what else could they have done with the time?

On the other hand, I find groceries a source of entertainment. Who buys special salt for Margaritas? Premixed peanut butter and jelly? Is Hispanic spaghetti (imported from Texas; maybe sometimes from Oregon) much different from ordinary spaghetti? Wandering around the supermarkets has benefits as well as costs.

On to Aldi, where I bought groceries.

Tuesday June 30, 2009 To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

***Back home, I turned on the radio to see if there was any interesting news. There was.

On November 4, 2008, Al Franken had been elected Senator. So the Minnesota Supreme Court said in a unanimous opinion today.

Would Norm Coleman fight this all the way up to the US Supreme Court? At the beginning, Coleman had led by a slim margin; he said that Franken should do the right thing and not file a ballot challenge. But since then, as the battle went increasingly against him, Coleman hadn't followed his own advice.

Coleman gave a concession speech.

There are activists in both major parties who believe the United States has only one legitimate political party. The Republican ones are going to be very disappointed with Coleman.

Wednesday July 1, 2009 Used the computer lab at Southwest Senior Center.

***To the Wedge Coop. Used the ATM. Bought honey and Canola oil -- small amounts of each. I don't use them up fast enough to make larger amounts at lower unit costs practical.

***To HealthPartners Riverside, to pick up meds.

***On to the Aldi supermarket on Lake Street for most of my groceries.

A solar-powered pickup truck pulled into a nearby parking lot as I was leaving Aldi. It was topped with solar panels. Otherwise, it didn't seem much different from fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. Which I suspect was the point.

dsgood @ 2009-07-02T13:45:00

2009-07-02T18:45:26Z

Friday June 26, 2009 Southwest Senior Center. My email had comments on five-suited cards, including a long and thorough one from Denny Lien.

***Submitted "The Day After I Saved the World" to Andromeda Spaceways.
===========
Dennis Lien <d-lien@umn.edu>

There was a five-suit card deck marketed for a year or so in 1938. In the US the fifth suit was green and called Eagles; in the UK it was blue and called Royals.

See http://www.stardeck.com/games.php

which quotes the same book I learned this factoid from, decades ago.

I've never seen one.

also http://www.answers.com/topic/suit-cards

and this cached info from a defunct page:

Five Suit Bridge
A form of the game of bridge played with 65 cards. This variation was devised, developed and patented, which is something rare in the world of card games, by Mr. Walter Marseille, who was a psychologist and mathematician living in Vienna. The game was introduced in 1937 and became popular with some enthusiasts. This form of game was also discussed in the publication by Mr. Samuel Fry titled How to Win at Five Suit Bridge, 1938, and co-author Edward Hymes Jr., Publisher: Knight, New York, New York, LC: 38011495. Essentially this form of bridge was governed by the same rules and guidelines as Contract Bridge. However, this game had a fifth suit: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, No Trump, and the fifth suit. The fifth suit had different designations according to the country; in Austria it was known as Blätter. In America the fifth suit was referred to as Eagles, and in England it had the designation of Royals, which was the designation given in the first chapter of the publication by Mr. Samuel Fry and Mr. Edward Hymes Jr., entitled Enter The Royals.

The deal was the same as with Duplicate Contract Bridge, clock-wise in rotation. However, after dealing 16 cards to each player, there was one card remaining called the widow. The last card to be dealt, the widow, was placed face up on the table. The auction began and once trump and the declarer were established, the declarer was permitted to replace one card with the widow card and discard one card, which was also seen by the remaining three players. However this action was not required.

Accordingly book was eight tricks, not six. The act of scoring this form of card game was a different matter and rather evolved over time since there was no established scoring rules. Later, as the scoring became more consistent, it was determined that game required 150 points. The points awarded for each trick was 30 points, no difference being made between Major suit tricks and Minor suit tricks. No Trump contracts each scored 50 points, and the Royals (Eagles or Blätter), also referred to as the Super Major, scored 40 points for each trick. Establishing slam premiums was not an easy matter, but the consensus agreed upon as the game progressed was that a small slam or fifteen tricks bid and made, not vulnerable, received an additional premium of 500 points. Curiously a fifteen trick vulnerable small slam, and a non-vulnerable sixteen grand slam bid and made received an additional premium of 1000 points. A grand slam vulnerable contract bid and made received an additional premium of 2000 points. It is presumed that the undertricks, doubled and/or redoubled were given the same additional premiums as in Duplicate Contract Bridge, but this cannot be established. See also: Joker Bridge and Midget Bridge.

According to a reference by encarta.msn Five Suit Bridge:

1938: Contract Bridge

During the early part of the year, considerable excitement was created in bridge circles by the introduction of Five-suit Bridge, an importation into the United States from Austria, via England. As suggested by the title, this game was based on decks containing five suits instead of the traditional four. The innovation received its greatest impetus in England, when Their Majesties, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, visited a charity bazaar and bought some of the new decks. American newspapers and magazines gave this incident great publicity, probably as human interest material, and the result was an immediate tremendous demand for Five-suit Bridge decks. The new game, however, proved cumbersome and needlessly complicated, and it was not surprising that its life in the United States was less than two months. Thus, Ely Culbertson's early observation. "The average player has not yet thoroughly learned how to play with four suits, let alone with five," proved prophetic.

*****

books include

Title: Five-suit bridge.
Author(s): Culbertson, Ely,; 1891-1955, ; ed.
Publication: [New York, Bridge world magazine,
Year: 1938
Description: 47 p.
Language: English
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Five-suit bridge.
Other Titles: Bridge world magazine.
Responsibility: Prepared by the Bridge world magazine; Ely Culbertson, editor.

Title: Five-suit bridge,
Author(s): Burnstine, David. Jacoby, Oswald,; 1902-1984, ; joint author. Maier, Merwin D., ; joint author. Schenken, Howard, ; joint author.
Publication: New York, Simon and Schuster,
Year: 1938
Description: 96 p. 28 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: LCCN: 38-12213
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Five-suit bridge.

Title: How to win at five suit bridge /
Author(s): Fry, Samuel, 1909- Hymes, Edward, ; joint author.
Publication: New York : Knight,
Year: 1938
Description: 68 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: LCCN: 38-11495
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Five-suit bridge. Note(s): "Five suit bridge scoring" on p. [3] of cover.
Class Descriptors: Dewey: 795.41
Other Titles: Five suit bridge.
Responsibility: by Samuel Fry, jr., and Edward Hymes, jr. Illustrated with diagrams.

Denny

dsgood @ 2009-07-02T13:43:00

2009-07-02T18:43:58Z

Happy Birthday, runeshower!!

Advance Happy Birthday to mckitterick (July 4) and anghara (July 5)!!

dsgood @ 2009-07-01T13:38:00

2009-07-01T18:32:43Z

Happy Birthday, mplscorwin!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-30T12:16:00

2009-06-30T17:16:49Z

Monday June 22, 2009 Today I became certain that Iran will have a new government not far in the future. The current regime isn't competent to hold power. Its efforts to keep the lid on news about the opposition have succeeded only in becoming more bad news.

***To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

Downloaded the July 1930 issue of Astounding Stories of Super-Science (now Analog.) I was amused by letters asking editor Harry Bates to reprint The Good Old Stuff. (Bates is best known for writing "Farewell to the Master;" the story dumbed down to make the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still.")

I was interested to see a Murray Leinster story I'd never heard of: Part I of _Murder Madness_. The style wasn't what I expected from Leinster, but was like that of the other stories. My suspicion: Bates was a heavy-handed editor. (Caution: I did not finish reading any of the stories; my conclusions are not based on careful research.)

***Steeple People thrift store was having its annual Dandelion Sale. Clothes were two-for-one; everything else half price.

I got a very few things, including _Claim Your Inner Grown-up_ by Ashley Davis Prend.

Wednesday June 24, 2009 To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

The lunch for seniors often has entertainment and/or education. This being the monthly Birthdays celebration, there was edutainment: Armenian folkdancers.

***The news showed up on my LiveJournal friends list before it was on Google News. South Carolina governor Mark Sanford hadn't been walking the Appalachian Trail; he'd been in Argentina to see a female Close Friend. (Breaking it off, he says.) Meanwhile, he'd been neglecting state business.

I for one would not trust Sanford to handle my affairs.

Why this wasn't on Google News yet: Google collects what newspapers,tv, radio, etc. consider important, as shown by the amount of print space and air time it's given. And the story hadn't yet built up enough bulk to reach Google's front page.

I see three problems with this way of deciding what counts. First, newspapers play up stories which the editors don't think are important, but do think readers will be highly interested in. For example, the President acquiring a dog is always first page news.

Second, much of what news editors think is important turns out not to be. Not always because they're ignorant; often the relevant experts are at least as wrong.

Third, stories which they don't consider important turn out to be.

***To the Wedge Coop.

Then across Lyndale Ave to Steeple People thrift store, which has a half-price sale through the 27th. I bought the first two volumes of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. From the magazine free box, I got two recent issues of The Nation. And from the miscellaneous free box, Lonely Planet's guide to South America (2004 edition.)

***To the Aldi supermarket on Lake Street for eggs. Then to Target, and then home.

***I used to read The Nation frequently; but these days I prefer political blogs to magazines of opinion. Reading these two issues, I found myself most interested in the
"liberal liaisons" ads. In the June 15th issue: "FETISHES AND FANTASIES fulfilled. Hot erotic talk with creative, sensuous woman." Two more such ads. Other kinds: "GREEN SINGLES. Free photo ads for progressive singles in the environmental, vegetarian and animal rights communities." Two nonprofessional ads from men, one of whom is "Locked in but not locked out."
=========
Thursday June 25, 2009 Used the computer lab at Southwest Senior Center.

***Stopped in at Steeple People thrift store.

***To Walker Library. The New York Times had a front page article on successful African orphanages. "Success" meaning that babies whose mothers died in childbirth are kept alive and healthy through the most vulnerable few years.

The July Scientific American had an article on the origin of differences between the two hemispheres of the brain. It's been Scientific Fact that the differences exist only in humans; the researchers say they go back to the very beginning of the vertebrate lineage.

***Inc. magazine has an article on a family business which includes a prodigal brother. The one who founded the business (a bakery) took his errant brother back a couple of times before the brother finally stopped using meth and started to properly run his life. The prodigal brother then originated the line of bread which made the bakery really successful.

***Adult Children Anonymous meeting, and then home.

dsgood @ 2009-06-29T13:57:00

2009-06-29T18:57:43Z

Saturday June 20, 2009 A small, odd parade on Cedar Ave. as the #23 bus reached Cedar and 35th St. There were adults and children wearing tall, elaborate headdresses. Other parts of their costumes ranged from minimal additions to ordinary clothing to elaborate masks and other decorations.

(The #23 bus usually runs on 38th St.; but there's road repair on 38th between Cedar and Bloomington Avenues. "Minnesota has two seasons: winter and road repair.")

Picked up Fare For All food at Pillsbury House.

***On to the wedding of Carolyn Brust and Tom Koefoed (sp?), in Bloomington. Depending on which signs you believe, the site was either Moir Park or the Moir Picnic Area of Central Park.

The trip began easily enough. The #5E bus runs frequently, and reaches the Mall of America fairly quickly.

But then...the #539B runs once an hour on Saturdays. I needed to get off at Old Shakopee Road and Thomas Ave. The bus ran on Old Shakopee Road, moved on to another street, returned to Old Shakopee Road, moved on to another street, etc.

Then came the walk. Moir Park was at 104th St and Morgan Ave. Morgan and Thomas were in alphabetical order, but with streets not part of that pattern interpolated.

The guests were from several different subcultures, including sf fandom. But a couple of the fans hadn't been around in fandom for some time.

There were more smokers than I'd seen at any gathering in a while. And there were a lot of dogs.

Before the ceremony proper, there were Irish love songs. The singer looked very likely to be of Irish ancestry.

The ceremony was conducted by the bride's father, Steve Brust.

Wedding guests were given small bubble blowers and commemorative frisbies.

And food; much food.

Reen Brust (mother of the bride) arranged a ride home for me with Dave (?).

I was happy to attend, and I'm happy for the newlyweds.

dsgood @ 2009-06-25T14:03:00

2009-06-25T19:03:59Z

Thursday June 18, 2009 A card deck with five suits would require different solitaire games. I'd been thinking one out, and it needed one more detail. Red cards go on black cards, black on red. Green cards would go on?

Even-numbered green cards on red, I decided. Odd-numbered green cards on black. Red on even-numbered green cards, black on odd-numbered green cards.

I haven't decided what the green suit would be called. I'm tempted to say "lawyers," in honor of the Green Card Lawyers (the first people to massively spam Usenet.)

***To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

***Missed the ACA meeting. I was a bit sick, and there were weather reports which included possible tornados. (Not in Minneapolis, but I wasn't tracking well enough to realize that.)

Friday June 19, 2009 To Southwest Computer Center, to use the computer lab.

And saw on the BBC news page that Portugal had decriminalized recreational drugs in 2001. I wonder why I hadn't heard about this earlier. Similar legal changes in the Netherlands get mentioned frequently; Switzerland less often, but more than rarely.

***Up through Sunday, the Wedge Coop had a City-County Credit Union ATM. Monday through Wednesday, it was ATM-less while a Spire Credit Union ATM was installed.

Today, it still needed a bit of work. A sign explained that the new ATM would tell Spire members and members of credit unions in a cooperative agreement that they were being charged a fee for withdrawals. However, they would not be charged. (The sign also said that City-County was no longer party to the agreement.)

The new ATM is smaller; and aside from that glitch, seems to work a little better.

***To DreamHaven Books for Joel Arnold's reading.

dsgood @ 2009-06-24T14:24:00

2009-06-24T19:19:03Z

Happy Birthday, sturgeonslawyer and puritybrown!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-22T13:36:00

2009-06-22T18:36:01Z

Advance Happy Birthday, ciderpress!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-22T13:35:00

2009-06-22T18:35:23Z

Happy Birthday, jackwilliambell!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-19T12:29:00

2009-06-19T17:29:03Z

Monday June 15, 2009 Two pieces of mail. One from a funeral home, the other from the Skyway Senior Center.

***To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

I asked whether anyone had designed aircraft to be piloted by cats on the Project Wombat mailing list, Dreamwidth, LiveJournal, and InsaneJournal.

Why? A story I'm writing:

"Teach Your Cat to Fly!" the sign said. In smaller print: "Not yet available in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas."
....
Inside there was what he expected in an experiment shop. Books and magazines, some on paper or plastic. Kits for designing your own birdhouse, computer operating system, or language. Meditation candles. Herbal teas, guaranteed kosher and halal. Ads for classes on setting up an underseas nation, choosing the species for your next reincarnation, playing guitar, making authentic haggis.

***To the Wedge Coop, to get my Go-To Card (transit fare card) topped up.

That name is a better coinage than Boston's Charlie Card. I don't know if it's better than London's Oyster Card, because I have no idea what "Oyster Card" is supposed to call to mind.

Across the street to Steeple People thrift store. From the free box, I got two foam rollers. I have no idea what they're intended for, but they're now hand exercisers.

Tuesday June 16, 2009 To Southwest Senior Center, to use the computer lab.

Among the spam: "The best manure for your pork stalk."

Some answers on cat-piloted aircraft. (A summary will follow in a few days.)

dsgood @ 2009-06-19T12:32:00

2009-06-19T17:26:47Z

Happy Birthday, slashfairy!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-15T13:29:00

2009-06-15T18:29:07Z

Has anyone designed aircraft to be piloted by cats?

dsgood @ 2009-06-12T15:02:00

2009-06-12T20:02:39Z

Advance Happy Birthday to:
slobbit Jun 13,richardf8 Jun 13, faux_pseudo Jun 14, and david_de_beer Jun 14!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-09T14:39:00

2009-06-09T19:41:02Z

Happy Birthday, sleepingzebras and joe_haldeman!!

Apologies to anyone whose birthday I missed by not being online yesterday.

dsgood @ 2009-06-05T14:02:00

2009-06-05T18:58:23Z

Happy Birthday in advance, jaylake (June 6) and optimussven 9JUNE 7)!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-03T14:37:00

2009-06-03T19:37:28Z

Happy Birthday, penthius and cloudscudding!!

dsgood @ 2009-06-01T14:24:00

2009-06-01T19:19:05Z

Happy Birthday, mizkit!!

dsgood @ 2009-05-28T13:56:00

2009-05-28T18:56:19Z

Happy Birthday, ursulav!!

Advance Happy Birthday to: nancylebov May 30!!
mplspunky May 30!!
karinfromnosund May 31!!

dsgood @ 2009-05-27T13:40:00

2009-05-27T18:40:32Z

Happy Birthday, ellenmillion!!