My basement

My basement is full. No more room.

Everything in it is one of three types.

1. Things I use now and then, or maybe all the time. My toolbox. The
washing machine. Camping gear.

2. Items of purely sentimental value. Everytime I sort though any of this
stuff, I throw away half of what I find.

3. Things that may have some possible use. Someday. For someone. Maybe.

Every time I start thinking I should get rid of all of category three, I
need something from my basement, that I haven't seen in years, and
it's gone. Of course, I can't decide if that's because I once
gave in and threw it away, or because it's buried too deeply.

birthday terminology

I first heard about the Golden Birthday a couple of years ago. This is where your age is the same as the day you were born. Mine was when I turned 15.

I wonder if there is a special term for when your birthday falls on the same day of the week as you were born.

I find that more important or interesting than the golden Birthday. I'm not sure why.

Where do those drugs go when they leave your body?

Fleas and Pharmaceuticals

Scientists say a lot of the things we take to wake up, go to sleep or fight illness are winding up in lakes, streams and drinking water. Researchers are trying to determine what they do there.

Colleen Flaherty studied the effects of things like antibiotics, antidepressants and cholesterol-lowering drugs on tiny water fleas called Daphnia. These organisms are the foundation of the food chain in many freshwater ecosystems.

Flaherty is a graduate student in zoology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She says all sorts of things we consume get into the water because they're not completely broken down by our bodies. In some cases, up to 90 percent of a drug can be excreted in a biologically active form. Flaherty says most of the drugs she studied get into the environment through human excretion.

"When you drink a cup of coffee, when you take an anti-biotic or an antidepressant or a birth control pill, or anything, you can imagine how many drugs are ending up in our waterways. They have been found in surface water, groundwater and drinking water at very low concentrations."
Flaherty says some medications she tested altered the number and sex of the offspring of Daphnia. Flaherty says combinations of drugs, like an antibiotic mixed with a cholesterol-lowering medication, can have adverse affects on the water fleas. She says there are mixtures of drugs in the wild, and the effects of that chemical cocktail are hard to evaluate.

She says people may add to the problem by flushing their unwanted or expired prescription drugs down the drain. Flaherty presented her work last year at a meeting of the Ecological Society of America.

From Earthwatch Radio

Eclipse

I was very happy to see that the sky is completely clear.

It started round 9:00, and was fully eclipsed a little after 10:00. It's reddish dark now. It was fun to watch the familiar bright silvery moon slowly slide around the top of the big ball. It really did seem like a ball, instead of the usual flat disk.

I was disappointed that I could not locate the manual fo rmy camera. I shot one frame, befroe remembering that the moon itself will be way overexposed. Then I played with the thing for quite a while before giving up.

About twenty minutes ago it was reddish near the top, and darker near the bottom. It must be near peak right now because the reddish part is around the left side.

update, 11:25: The left side is a bright crescent. The rest is deep red. Wow, that is so cool! The "dark" part is bright enough that with binoculars, you can see all the features.

Happy Birthday

Cindy did a very sweet thing for my birthday. She set up a poll where people could give me gifts and wish me wishes.

Thank you all, for your thoughts. I got lots of great things. A Strat, a ride on a Harley, a tree, a Grand Canyon trip, Peace and many more great things, including ones related to roofing and remodeling. I did get an eclipse, but I won't get the haircut until next week. And my own personal iLoo would be pretty damn cool.

The gifts, and especially the wishes made me smile. You made me happy tonight. You're a great bunch of friends.