Archives: September 01, 2004

Wrap it up, I'll take it

Wednesday, 29 September 2004 08:46 PM

Today's lesson, regarding The History of Paper and Papermaking:

Corrugated Paper Products In 1856, Englishmen, Healey and Allen, received a patent for the first corrugated or pleated paper. The paper was used to line tall men's hats. However, this was not the corrugated cardboard we know today. On December 20, 1871, Albert Jones of New York NY, patented a stronger corrugated paper (cardboard) used as a shipping material. This was the first cardboard and stronger than paperboard. In 1874, G. Smyth built the first single sided corrugated board machine. Also in 1874, Oliver Long improved upon the Jones patent and invented a lined corrugated material and this was modern cardboard as we know it today - which led to the invention of the:

Corrugated Cardboard Box
American, Robert Gair promptly invented the corrugated cardboard box in 1890. These were pre-cut flat pieces manufactured in bulk that opened up and folded into boxes. Gair made his first plain paper folding box in 1870.

Containerboard or Corrugated Containers
The first use of corrugated paper for packaging came in 1871, when an American, Albert Jones, introduced an idea of wrapping bottles and glass chimneys in it. However, it was the addition of a liner to one and then to the other side of corrugated paper that signaled the birth of cardboard as we know it.

Interesting, you say. But why are we bringing this up today?

We bring it up because we are in charge of props for the upcoming Butler Little Theatre production of Dracula.

Ah yes, you say. Of course.

Yes. The production is set in 1897, in London. One of the deceptively troublesome props is a box tied with a ribbon. Inside the box is a wreath of garlic, of a size that the character Lucy -- who will eventually become a female vampire and then be destroyed by the man who loves her -- this Lucy can put it on over her head, despite whatever wigs and 19th century costuming she wears. The wreath of garlic will do her no good, but the characters are desperate in their hope to save her.

Anyway, so the wreath itself has been a problem for me, the humble props person. The wreath is tossed around a lot, which could be a problem with as fragile an item as papery heads of garlic. I'd initially planned to make the wreath from fake garlic, which Michael's craft stores stock. Not enough fake garlic is available in local stores however, and it is anyways expensive. Plus also, we need lots of additional garlic, to hang in strings around the stage.

Today I joined Costco and bought 18 pounds of garlic. I only hope it is enough. I can testify now that 18 pounds of garlic smells like the dickens. It's understandable that vampires would choose to avoid it.

But just when I think I have the garlic wreath problem nearly solved -- the strings of garlic and the wreath itself have yet to be made, but with a hot glue gun and determination much is possible -- now I realize that I also need a box in which to present it. The wreath is given as a gift to the ill-fated Miss Lucy. And thus the question: Would cardboard boxes have been available in London in 1897?

I am delighted to have discovered, through the magic of the Internet, that the answer is 'yes,' for this makes my work much, much easier.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Gist Street Reading, October 1

Monday, 27 September 2004 10:08 PM

The skinny on this month's reading, from Gist Street's Sherrie:

Toi "Guggenheim" Derricotte and Cathy "Coming in from New York City" McKinley. Poetry and Non-fiction. A power-duo of literary accomplishment. 305 Gist Street. James Simon's Sculpture Studio. Readings begin at 8:00; socializing begins at 7:30.

$3 suggested donation. Homemade bread. Cookies. Possibly the final fantastic batch of pesto. Gist Street raffle featuring a pumpkin from my very own garden and several politically motivated items encouraging you to VOTE this November. There will be books for sale! For bios, clear and coherent directions, and the now-complete 2005 schedule: see the website.

Fun stuff far away: special screening of The Incredibles

Monday, 27 September 2004 09:54 PM

I'm on the wrong coast for this event, but it sounds like an unbeatable night.

Special Screening of The Incredibles
to Benefit
The Emery Education Foundation

Wednesday, October 13, 2004
6:00 PM

Hosted by
Pixar Animation Studios
1200 Park Avenue
Emeryville, CA

$150 per person

Wine Reception, Silent Auction, Tours

RSVP by October 6, 2004

For Tickets (fully tax deductible):
• Contact EEF at (510) 601-4997
• Purchase online at www.emeryed.org

Please make checks payable to Emery Education Foundation.

The event is limited to 220 people (age 21+ only). Please arrive between 6:00 and 6:30pm

******

The information comes from a former NeXT colleague who currently works at Pixar. According to my Pixar connection, "The evening will include a wine reception and tours of our wonderful building and the galleries of inspirational art & sculpture used to create the film." He also notes, "If you've not had a chance to visit Pixar, want to scoop the outside world and see a fab film nearly a month before the hoi poli, and benefit local education, here's your chance."

And the horse you rode in on

Thursday, 23 September 2004 03:14 PM

More legal fun, thanks to on-the-ball defense attorneys: Pa. drunk driving law doesn't apply to horsemen:

Keith Travis, 41, of Grove City, and Richard Noel, 49, of Sandy Lake, were charged with drunken driving, along with a man driving a pickup who allegedly rear-ended the horse Travis was riding away from a bar on a dark country road.

Noel, Travis and the pickup truck driver all failed field sobriety tests, police said, but a Mercer County judge threw out the charges against Noel and Travis after they argued that the word "vehicles" in the state's drunken-driving law doesn't apply to horses.

Although HUI (horseback-riding under the influence) is against the law in Pennsylvania, the justices felt the statute is confusing and vague, because provisions like requirements for headlamps can't be applied to animals as they can to vehicles.

Best part of this case is the dissenting opinion, which -- and I'm not making this up -- a justice wrote in the style of the theme song to the TV show, "Mr. Ed":

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
but the Vehicle Code does not divorce
its application from, perforce,
a steed as my colleagues said.

'It's not vague,' I'll say until I'm hoarse,
and whether a car, a truck or horse
this law applies with equal force,
and I'd reverse instead.

Until we know whether Pennsylvania courts will be persuaded by the "High-Heeled Defense" in DUI cases, revelers might do better to choose a four-legged mode of transport for their drinking nights.

Among the remaining questions: What happened to the horse that was rear-ended? Is it in the shop for repairs? How do you rear-end a horse?

Defending democracy

Wednesday, 22 September 2004 05:59 PM

According to Reuters, "[t]he United States has begun flying up to 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to Afghanistan to provide increased security for that country's Oct. 9 presidential election."

Which is great.

Do you think they'll be back in time to protect "[m]illions of U.S. citizens, including a disproportionate number of black voters" from being wrongly blocked from voting in the U.S. election in November?

These boots are made for staggering

Tuesday, 21 September 2004 04:16 PM

There's at least one lawyer in North Carolina who's thinking outside the box:

Thomas contended it would be "fundamentally unfair" to use the results of field sobriety tests against one of his female clients because she was wearing stiletto heels at the time, making her unsteady on her feet. One of the tests required the woman to walk a straight line for some distance and then pivot quickly. In another, she was supposed to stand on one foot for 30 seconds.

Considering that she was wearing stiletto heels, the woman did remarkably well by making it to 16 seconds, Thomas argued.

Judge Wade Barber squelched the results of the field sobriety tests and tossed out the DWI case. Besides the high heels, Barber concluded that a police officer administered the tests incorrectly.

How hard would it be to carry a pair of spiky heels in the car, even if you weren't planning to wear them all night? Not hard at all. And to think I've been leaving my high heeled boots at home lo, these many Friday nights.

Number one reason I hate lists

Tuesday, 21 September 2004 11:02 AM

The Wall Street Journal and Harris Interactive have conducted a survey of corporate recruiters, asking which are the "top MBA programs." The full results will be published later today, so we can save grousing about the criteria and the questionability of recruiters' opinions until then. For now, let's take a look at the top five schools.

Or rather, let's look at the three lists of top five schools, because they couldn't narrow things down to a single list:

The Top North American Schools

National picks:
1. University of Michigan (Ross)
2. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
3. Dartmouth (Tuck)
4. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
5. University of Chicago

Regional picks:
1. Purdue University (Krannert)
2. Vanderbilt University (Owen)
3. Ohio State University (Fisher)
4. University of Maryland (Smith)
5. Brigham Young University (Marriott)

The Top International Schools

1. IMD International
2. University of London (London Business School)
3. Escuela Superior de Administracion y Direccion de Empresas (ESADE)
4. HEC School of Management, Paris
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)

WSJ.com - Recruiters' Top M.B.A. Picks

Do you notice anything odd about the lists? What makes an "international school"? Why is Wharton, which has long specialized in international business, a national school while Sloan, which is arguably better at finance, economics, and technology management, an international school?

Lists like these help smaller and lesser-known schools build awareness, which helps them compete with the brand-name schools. But they also carry so much weight that they can skew activities at the school, diverting attention from learning and research.

How dry I am

Monday, 20 September 2004 12:36 PM

As you might have heard, it rained in these parts on Friday.

My little ranch house sits on a hill in town, partway down the hill so all the water went rushing by, high above the areas that flooded. My basement stayed mostly dry -- a little damp in the corners, but no worse than usual.

My family's manufacturing company is located right in a frequently flooded area, and I expected to find people bailing out the lower level rooms this morning, but mysteriously it also emerged merely damp.

My parents, on the other hand, live at the top of a hill outside of town, and the water came rushing into their finished basement. Carpets and walls were destroyed, the whole bit. Mom spent the better part of Friday night running the wet/dry vacuum, hoping to hold it at bay, but there was simply too much water.

There are no longer any dehumidifiers in stock in any store in Butler County.

Some of our employees also were hit hard: One fellow had a foot and a half of water on his first floor, the basement having filled totally.

Worse for many of them, though, is that Friday was also the day that we -- my
parents really, who own the company -- announced that we're shutting down the manufacturing department, having been forced out by our supplier. It's traumatic for us all. We've been in business over 30 years. We'll keep the service business open, and will rent equipment and sell parts and tools, but the biggest part of the company will be closing.

I've been thinking of writing about it here, the efforts to find a way to keep going, negotiations with the supplier, planning to announce what's going on and to transition to some future business, our worries for our employees (all of them like family to us). But of course I had to wait until things were made public before publishing anything.

Anyway, so we're laying off many people. For those guys, Friday had a whole other "when it rains it pours" quality. Some of our employees are months from retirement. There aren't a lot of open jobs at other companies in the area.

What with that, and with seeing all the photos of Etna and Plum and so forth, I have felt surreally blessed all weekend. (Except for the Steeler game.)

I haven't heard from some people I expected to hear from over the weekend, and I suppose many of them will be out of touch for a while. It reminds me of other disasters -- the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, 9/11/2001 in NYC and DC -- where I knew people who were clearly at risk and wanted to reach them to find out if they were OK, but phone lines were busy or down, and people were focused on actually making themselves safe before reassuring worry-warts like me. But the difference for this event was how slowly it all came down. At first is was just rain, usually so harmless. If it had been snow we'd have taken it more seriously. I'd have send people home early if I'd understood what was happening. Instead I myself stayed until late and almost couldn't get home at all -- and I live just a mile from the office.

I didn't go straight home, actually. Knowing I'd be in a shaky set of mind after the announcement, and that I'd be better off around people rather than sitting alone with my cats, I'd made plans to meet people for drinks. So I drove through the rain and flood to a bar downtown. My friends were there, but almost no one else. Had some drinks, split a chicken roll-up, talked about inconsequential things. Eventually the friends left to tend to their own families, and I went home at last.

I think I still didn't fully grasp what the rain was doing, how much of it there was. If you'd like a better understanding of what happened, Anne presented a nice explanation of the weather behind the disaster -- she has a second career waiting for her as a waether personality. And there are many alarming and sad photos in the Post-Gazette. It doesn't come close to the impact of the hurricanes in the South, but it's terrible all the same.

I found some of your life

Friday, 17 September 2004 10:15 AM

If you found the memory card from a digital camera and didn't know who it belonged to, what would you do? Would you post the photos for all the world to see, and make up stories about the people in the pictures? If so, you've much in common with the creator of this blog: (NB: Link is broken. See update below.)

I Found Some Of Your Life

You are unknown to me.
Your camera's memory card was in a taxi; I have it now.
I am going to post one of your pictures each day.
I will also narrate as if I were you.
Maybe you will come here and reclaim this piece of your life.

(Link via The Morning News.)

UPDATE: The blog seems no longer to exist. (Last check 9/21, 2:37p EST) There had been a reference in the final entry that the site had received a tidal wave of traffic after being mentioned on Slashdot; I don't know whether the mention in The Morning News came before or after that, but I'd assume that Slashdot is responsible for most of the traffic.

I do know that My Brilliant Mistakes has received its own deluge of visits since I posted about the IFSOYL site. Perhaps the traffic to IFSOYL was more than Blogspot wanted to handle for free. Alternatively, it's possible that the sudden burst of awareness caused the photos' owner to finally discover that his pictures were being broadcast over the internet, and that legal action ensued, causing the site to be removed.

I'm mostly sorry I didn't take the time to explore IFSOYL more -- I thought there would be more time later. Another example of why we must never leave the things we care about until tomorrow.

UPDATE UPDATE: Here's the cached copy of the Introduction page from Google. The cache also has some archived entries if you're willing to search on the blog name and jordan" and the names of the other fake characters, but the pictures have been removed or just don't link properly. But you can get at least a sense of what the site was like. (Enjoy while it lasts.)

Ready for my closeup, part 2

Monday, 13 September 2004 10:42 AM

Tomorrow, at the bright and chipper hour of 9am, I'm going to be in a TV studio smiling nervously, sweating, and shaking ever so slightly. This will be because I'll be backstage at KDKA's Pittsburgh TODAY Live with Jennifer Antkowiak, waiting to talk about the upcoming Book Boot Camp we're running at Fat Plum.

I have been on live TV before, but not often enough to feel relaxed about it. Still, everyone I know who has been on Pittsburgh Today LIVE says great things about it, so I'm excited to have this chance.

There is the possibility that I'll freeze. Like Patsy on Absolutely Fabulous, I'll sit with legs crossed tightly and say, "Cheers." If I can just get the web address out, I'll be happy.

Most likely I'll be fine, but tune in for the potential meltdown!

Girly bloggers

Sunday, 12 September 2004 12:21 PM

Friday I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and lunching with a few of my fellow Pittsburgh-area bloggers, the techno-superwomen of Inner Bitch and the knitting goddess of Creating Text(iles).

We ate on the South Side, which is another rare treat for me -- it's not so much harder to get to than any other part of Pittsburgh, but I manage to detour myself every time I trek there, and the parking is nasty. Harvard Square on the first Friday night of the fall term nasty. Haight Street on a sunny Saturday morning nasty. At least, I think of it that way. On Friday I barely got lost at all, and I found a parking spot just around the corner from the restaurant.

The conversation was lively and entertaining, with just a pleasant smattering of geekiness. (Christina came through with a sentence so dense with acronyms and high-tech terminology that I'm still trying to parse it.) The food also was extremely good.

I brought everyone Inkburns bookmarks (the new design, with the photo of a bullet going through chalk) and Fat Plum coasters, and they were flatteringly appreciative.

My only regret was that the knitting goddess did not wear any of her knit items. She promised to wear Golden Gate (I think that was the name) next time, so I have latched my hopes on that future event. We've planned to get together in November.

And so of course this has led me to start thinking again of a centralized list of Pittsburgh bloggers. Each blog seems to maintain its own list: the advantage is that one can include and not include sites according to taste. The disadvantage is that we lack a directory. I'd like to have a map of the area with dots for each blog (like the NYC bloggers have), and then a searchable directory that would allow one to find all local blogs with a literary bent, for example. The categorizing/indexing would be tricky, but it's doable I think. I tried to coax Christina into setting it up, and she did waver for a moment, but she's simply too involved already with other volunteer efforts. I don't have much time myself, and I suspect my programming skills wouldn't be up to the challenge. But if I have a lull in workload I think I might take the project on.

(If anyone wants to work on it with me, that would be keen. And quicker I'm sure. Drop me a note.)

Nuclear

Saturday, 11 September 2004 12:55 PM

I've a print of this poem, signed by the poet. It was first published on Failbetter.com and then in Hayes's Hip Logic. I recall that when he read it at a Gist Street reading, he said it was inspired by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. I was struck by it at the time; looking at it in light of current world events, I see all new things in it.

Nuclear

How to make a nation say, uncle.
In other words: How to rule.
We learn
there will be no clue
before it happens. No clear
sign from the Cosmos. A clan-
destine airplane will appear wrapped in the lace
of a black dream. Then a flash like an ulcer
bursting in God's gut. Citizens who goggle & race
about the city as the sky becomes a caul-
dron. The bones burn clean.

--Terence Hayes

1. End words must be derived from four or more letters.
2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of 's,' such as 'bats' or 'dies' are not used.
3. Only one form of a verb is used.

Ready for my closeup

Thursday, 09 September 2004 07:34 PM

Today I was talent. Specifically, the local cable company was filming a commercial at my local coffee shop (Cummings Candy and Coffee, on Main Street, you should stop by when you're in Butler); and as I'm friendly with both the cable folks who were making the spot and the folks who own and work the coffee shop, I was invited to be on television.

I'm not good at being filmed. I don't feel uncomfortable on camera, but my movement by nature is quick and jerky, and I make ridiculous facial expressions. I slouch too, unless I focus on being as tall as possible. And I'm no beauty -- the best that can be said of me is that I'm attractive in a not-pretty way, and only on a good day. However, I'm as flattered as anyone to be asked to be in the spotlight. Plus I was promised free coffee and freshly squeezed juice.

I've been the talent for a cable commercial before. Early in the summer, Armstrong filmed a spot to promote their personal video recorder (like a Tivo but not), and for it they needed a varied crowd to sit in the bleachers at a local ball field and cheer at a fake home run. I did my very best, visualizing the pitch, the hit, the ball soaring. We all jumped and cheered. Later, the director of the spot told me how much fun, now many laughs they'd had in editing when they freeze-framed on my intent stare and then single-framed through my roaring and cheering. My only consolation is that they didn't record sound.

Anyway, so today I was back for more. They were shooting footage of people weighing out coffee beans and candy, juicing carrots and receiving and drinking said juice, making and drinking cappucinos, and using laptops hooked to the Internet via a wireless hot spot provided by the cable company at the coffee shop. I was first the juice receiver and drinker, and later my disembodied hands surfed the web.

Barry, who owns the cafe, thoughtfully put a shot of vodka in my juice glass before the cameras started rolling, so my carrot juice had an extra kick. The tough part was being filmed taking the cup from Barry and drinking the juice through a straw: my natural tendency to jerk around, toss my head, and laugh at stupid things was in full force. I also seem to be unable to hold a pose when directed. I don't like to think of the guys in the editing room going frame-by-frame at me slurping on the straw, but there's nothing to do about it now. Again, I'm consoled only that there was no sound.

The other hard part of attending a video shoot is keeping my suggestions to myself. There's already one director, and one's all that's needed. My little helpful hints to the other actors are simply extraneous. Fortunately, someone else made a comment to this effect, and I managed to shut up before I pissed everyone off.

The commercial will air in a month or so, and there's no guarantee my "scenes" will make the final cut. The director promised to give me a copy on VHS, but I doubt I'll watch it. I find it's easier to act natural on camera if I have no clue how I look.

A perfect short story

Thursday, 02 September 2004 11:43 AM

On Pindeldyboz, "Their Country House" by Dennis De Claudio:

The force of her wings, as she flaps down from the fence, pushes over a nearly empty cup of beer. I've never seen a duck this close. In the city, we have pigeons. And I would never let a pigeon eat a piece of cheese from my hand. "Don't be afraid," Jenny says. "She won't hurt you." I jerk my hand back anyway. Jenny and Tara laugh. The larger of the two, the male, I assume, is watching territorially from his perch on the gate. He's bobbing his head violently in my direction. I drop the cheese onto the ground and get up for another beer. The female watches me walk into the house. The two ducks belong to the neighbors. They're kept in a pen at night for protection. There were six ducks when Geoff and Jenny moved into this house. The other four were found in the neighbors' yard with their heads gone, but their bodies fully intact.

Drink of the week: The Buck

Wednesday, 01 September 2004 11:11 AM

From the Bombay Sapphire website, a refreshing long drink that I suggest as a novel alternative to the ubiquitous Mojito:

The Buck

1 1/2 shots Bombay Sapphire gin
1 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 shot green creme de menthe

glass // 12 oz collins
method // shake first three ingredients with ice and strain into ice-filled glass. top up with gingerale
comment // a long drink with subtle flavours of ginger, mint and lemon

I read about The Buck at the Wall Street Journal ("Bacardi's Test: Care, Feeding of Grey Goose," an article published today discussing Bacardi's plans for their acquired premium vodka brand and citing their success with the acquisition of Bombay Sapphire). But the WSJ had the recipe all wrong:

Bacardi also widened the array of outlets that offered Sapphire, which had been only available in small, exclusive high-end bars, and trained bartenders and wait staff on how to make cocktails such as the Buck, which combines Bombay Sapphire with lemon juice and crème de menthe.

But the gingerale makes all the difference. Where are the WSJ fact-checkers? Off drinking Cosmopolitans, perhaps.

Copyright © 2004 – 2007 Cynthia Closkey