Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

What If They Opened a Highway, and Nobody Came?

Yesterday the slowpokes widening Route 3 announced the first section to have all three lanes (and two shoulders) opened, which was Route 3 northbound, between Drum Hill (Route 4) and the New Hampshire border.

I was very pleased, as I usually go home by driving up to Drum Hill through Chelmsford side roads to get onto Route 3, rather than trying to go through the four-lanes-becoming-two-lanes nightmare currently at the 495 interchange.

So, I got the e-mail notice yesterday, but discovered that almost no one was actually using the newly-opened right lane. I guess that most people did not know the lane was opened, and definitely did not know that it was open all the way to New Hampshire.

In a related effect, we have been waiting all summer for the paving to be finished over the railroad grade crossing in Nashua that is on our way to church in Litchfield. The grade crossing was in such a bad condition that any speed over about 1 MPH would virtually guarantee significant damage to one’s vehicle. Well, a few days ago, they finally finished the top coat paving, making the grade crossing passable for the first time in months. However, people are so conditioned to driving over it at extremely slow speeds, that they are still doing so.

Posted on

Nada

Nada is now what happens when we turn the key on our 1994 Buick Century Wagon. It’s got about 160,000 miles on it, and has served us extremely reliably, and we aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to it. AAA is coming by later to deliver the car to our new mechanic.

At work on Friday just before leaving a great thing happened! I was modifying our demo application, and we needed to pass a parameter for a specific localization file to the right module. I coded it, cycled the server, and it worked, all in less than 5 minutes. Struts has not always been so easy, but it’s getting easier.

Naomi turned 5 months old this weekend. She is babbling more, and able to roll over now, and wants to get her hands into everything from what we’re eating for dinner to the computer keyboard. With 3 brothers, I predict her first words will be, “Mom, he’s bothering me.”

Posted on

Wild News from The Casa Del Menor Vida Nueva

10 New Children Have Just Arrived in the Tudors’ CareWe just received this message from Eldon and Connie Tudor, the missionaries who operate the Children’s home which our church has helped build, and to which most of our summer missions trips have taken us:

Dear Praying Friends,

PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!

Last night the police here in Constitución brought us 6 Oaxaca (pronounced wah-ha-cuh) children because the mother has been murdered and the police think the father did it. We bedded them down on mats in the living room floor. This morning the police brought us 4 more children as they think the father of these children helped in the murder of the woman.

The body of the murdered woman had been (as it looks now) hanged, then taken over across the road and thrown in the garbage dump. She has been there for 3 to 4 days, and the coyotes and other animals have been eating on her. When the body was found, they thought it was a boy at first.

The children think their mother has gone back to a town to visit relatives.

This morning the first thing to do was to feed them, and next we are going to have to delouse them.

All that they are used to eating is chiles and tortillas; they range in age from 13 down to 3 years.

We are sending a picture of them. Since the police brought them here, we do not know if the Mexican
child welfare will help us or not. We do not know what is going to happen when they find out that their mother is dead. One 12-year-old boy and one of the older girls say they are married, but they have not been together yet, the parents arranged the marriage, as it is a custom of their Indian tribe.

Right now, what we need the most is prayers!! We do not have enough beds, the children are all very dirty and need bathing, plus we are all concerned about getting the bugs
too!

We will keep you posted, just PLEASE PRAY!!!!!!!!

Eldon and Connie

Posted on

The War of the Worlds—65 Years Ago

The War of the Worlds—65 Years Ago

On October 30, 1938, The Mercury Theatre on the Air, starring Orson Welles, presented a radio version of H.G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds. It became famous because many people (although not as many as the media later reported) heard only part of the broadcast, presented in the form of a breaking news story, and thought earth really was being invaded by Mars.

If you’d like to hear this historic broadcast (it’s also one of the best radio plays ever done, actually), you can stream via the link below.

Listen to The War of the Worlds broadcast (presented via streaming RealAudio).

Posted on

A Cool Word

The German language has some fascinating words, some of which have made their way into accepted use in other languages.

Schadenfreude: The pleasure one gets from talking about catastrophies; delight in another person’s misfortune.

I came across this in the short story “Thomas the Proclaimer,” by Robert Silverberg, published in his novelette collection entitled Sailing to Byzantium. (Thanks to Kevin Miller for the loan of the book.)

Posted on

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb

[doug][nuke]It seems that today I have come across a number of headlines that reflect individual, societal, or corporate stupidity. Let me share a few:

Individual: Not getting enough attention with your body piercings? Have your tongue split!

Reuters Oddly Enough news simply titled this article, “Aaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!! ” Enough said, da?

Societal: Let’s boost tourism by catering to marijuana-smokers!

A little history:

Last month, the Canadian government introduced legislation to end criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Under the bill, people caught with 15 grams (half an ounce, or enough for about 15 to 30 joints) or less of cannabis would only be fined, and criminal penalties would be reduced on those growing up to 25 marijuana plants.

I won’t even begin to list the stupidity of moving toward the legalization of marijuana (but, hey, it’s Canada—the people who brought you the best argument against Socialized Medicine in North America), but check out these statements, made by “Prince of Pot” Mark Emery:

”Marijuana—that means fun times, parties, a cool city and an enlightened state of mind,” Emery told a crowd gathered in front of Toronto's police headquarters.

Cradling a marijuana plant in the crook of his arm, and a pipe in one hand, Emery said: “Believe me, marijuana people don’t create problems like alcohol people. You want those kinds of tourists who are laughing, having a good time, and eating a whole lot in Toronto restaurants.”

See the full article here at Reuters.

¡Qué bárbaro! (What an idiot!) Apparently, slowed thinking and reaction time, confusion, impaired balance and coordination, cough, frequent respiratory infections, permanently impaired memory and learning, increased heart rate, anxiety, panic attacks, drug tolerance, and addiction are not problems. You might want to wander over to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America® site.

Corporate: USB Whah?

Confused about USB standards? You will be.

In December [the USB Forum] announced that henceforth USB 1.1 would be called USB 2 and USB 2 would continue to be called USB 2. To help the public grasp this subtle distinction USB 2, which was the old USB 1.1, would have “Full Speed” added to its title and USB 2, which was USB 2, would have “Hi-Speed” added.

See the full article here at the Bangkok Post.

Posted on

The Amazing Geckoman

Scientists in the UK have created a sticky tape which works in the same way as gecko feet.

Co-worker Brian Cortez sent me this link from the BBC, about a tape that has been developed that works using microscopic hairs, just like a gecko’s feet. (Isaac owns a New Caledonian crested gecko, and they are amazing climbers.)

There are still significant technical challenges to overcome before this can be mass-produced, but Brian suggested this likely scenario at the WIlcox house:

I can see the toy manufacturers drooling over this one. Imagine being able to sell a set of real “Spiderman” gloves! I can also imagine you as a parent telling your son Isaac to get off the ceiling … it’s dinner time. 🙂

Posted on

In Memory of Elizabeth Camplese

Note: I’ve created a second site now as a living memorial for Beth. It’s at http://camplese.wilcoxfamily.net/.

We received a phone call today from Christy-Sue Olson, a classmate I haven’t seen since junior high school, with some sad news. Beth Camplese, who lived just about across the street from where I grew up in Easton, passed away at Mass. General Hospital on May 1, succumbing to a battle with lymphoma, complicated by pneumonia and infections. (I think we all expected her to outlive us, if by nothing else than sheer stubborness.)

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 7, 2003, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at the Copeland Funeral Home, 38 Center Street, North Easton, Ma.

In respect for Beth’s wishes (and in lieu of flowers), a scholarship fund in honor of Beth’s lifelong devotion to teaching has been set up. Donations may be made to the Elizabeth Camplese Scholarship Fund, c/o Washington Irving School, 105 Cummings Hwy., Roslindale, MA 02131 (617-635-8072).

Beth was a teacher at the Washington Irving Middle School in Boston. She was a fascinating person, with a fiercely independent spirit, a wide range of talents, a love for books, a willingness to share what she had, and a complete lack of prejudice of any kind.

She enjoyed taking care of animals, including, among the years, sheep, goats, a retried race horse, dogs, and geese. (The meter readers used to hate going to her house.)

Following are a few (of many) memories I have of her.

  • Her house was full of books. In fact, she started a book store at the Washington Irving School, and I would sometimes buy some titles of interest from her to aid the bookstore, called “The WISE Place.” One book she refused to sell to me was a copy of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, in Spanish, published in Barcelona—I kept haggling, but she never relented.
  • When I was in elementary school, I remember repeated run-ins with her sheep, especially one particularly ornery one named Saffy—Sheep can kick, and this one seemed to enjoy kicking me repeatedly.
  • My brother, Aaron, when he was only 2 or 3, had one of her geese grab his coat through the fence, and it just wouldn’t let go. (Maybe the coat was goose down?) Better his coat than his fingers, I suppose.
  • When I left for college, my parents moved to Florida. Beth let me store my things in a room at her place. I made 17 trips over, but her kindness let me hang on to many things that otherwise would have been lost.
  • One time someone snatched her purse on the subway, and she chased him down. I don’t think she caught him, and remember her friends were mortified. “What if he’d had a gun?” I doubt that would have impeded her retribution. It might have been better to ask, “What if she’d caught up with him?”
  • My favorite story regards her long-standing problem with dozens of pigeons taking up roost in her eaves and gutters. They made a terrible mess of her house for years. My wife, Nichelle, and I, when our son, Isaac, was an infant, were visiting her, when I asked, “What happened to the pigeons?” She replied with a wicked gleam and a laugh, “I shot them all.” She had done exactly that, over a period of weeks.

The world is a poorer place without her.