Subtitle: Yes, apparently we can even cause earthquakes now too.

This one comes from a thoroughly scary article on National Geographic’s Website. Christian D. Klose of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, has released research indicating that the largest earthquake in Australian history, was caused by 200 years worth of coal mining in a specific region. The removal of millions of tons of coal, plus the displacement of over 4 times that much weight in groundwater (to prevent the underground mine from flooding), created the stresses that led to the 5.6 magnitude quake. Read the rest of this entry »

The Environment | No Comments »

Subtitle: Mostly just to remind y’all I’m alive.

Yah, I haven’t posted in almost three weeks now, but life gets pretty busy around the holidays. And work sucked pretty hard over the past few weeks. There is nothing fun about running a homeless shelter over the holidays. Read the rest of this entry »

Pointless Posts | 1 Comment »

Subtitle: Toys today are just too dang safe.

I sent an e-mail around today with a link to an article on the Top 10 Most Dangerous Toys of All Time. Damn thing had me giggling for a good twenty minutes straight, and I just had to pass along the joy. I mean, heck, I owned a bunch of those at one time or another.

And that article didn’t even include some of the true classics of pre-adolescent mayhem. Read the rest of this entry »

Humour | 1 Comment »

Subtitle: Why, oh why, oh why…

So, today was the big marathon stupervisor meeting. I went in, all bright eyed and bushy tailed after already working a little over twelve hours straight.

And if you believe I was bright eyed and bushy tailed after working twelve hours supervising a 125 man capacity shelter, then I have some fine, historic, surplus steel to sell you from a soon to be demolished bridge in Brooklyn. Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking About My Work | 4 Comments »

Subtitle: What? It’s just a cake. Who needs a subtitle.

My wife’s in a bit of a funk, so I decided to surprise her with a treat when she got home. Ok, it may be of the “easy bake” mix one extra ingredient and bake it variety, but hey, it’s the first time I’ve ever baked a cake in my 35 (or so) years on this planet. I even iced it. Read the rest of this entry »

Pointless Posts | 1 Comment »

Subtitle: Now With Pictures!

So, I just know you’re all dying to get more info on the J2W2B story. (”All” being the half dozen or so people who read this pointless waste of bandwidth.) Well, I’m glad to say I have an update, and even some pics.

First off: Yes, I finally got around to telling my wife about the bus. To say that she was “not real keen” on the idea would be an understatement. But hey, I’m working on it. Time and patience can erode the hardest rock. Err, something like that. Mainly, I refuse to give up a free bus, so I’m going to keep hammering at the subject until she gives in. Read the rest of this entry »

The J2W2 Bus Saga | 2 Comments »

Subtitle: My job exposes me to parts of humanity most people don’t even read about.

So, the Monday Night through Tuesday Morning shift was day four of my four day rotation. All in all, it had been reasonably dull. I’m in a bit of a pissing match with my direct supervisor, so that served for some mild entertainment, but overall, not much to write home about. I think only one guy threatened me in 4 days. Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking About My Work | 3 Comments »

Subtitle: Making a game of watching the flow of a news story.

Hi, my name is Grelmar, and I’m an addict.

My drug of choice is information.

It started at an early age. In Elementary, when most boys my age were watching G.I. Joe, I’d race home to tune into PBS and watch Nova, National Geographic, and an assortment of documentaries. Read the rest of this entry »

Online Culture, Rants | 4 Comments »

Subtitled: The Annual Pumpkin Political Statement

Well, I unintentionally started a tradition last Halloween. My wife and I were staring at the tabula rasa of our freshly acquired pumpkin, and we were drawing a complete blank.

“I want something scary,” my wife insisted.

“I want something funny,” I returned.

And there the issue sat, for about three days. We both doodled away a small forest worth of paper. My wife, the architect, even resorted to CAD/CAM software. I fired back with Google Image Search. Things had a strong potential to devolve into one of those marital battles with no possible victor. It was a friendly enough battle, but it was a battle nonetheless. Read the rest of this entry »

Humour | 4 Comments »

Subtitled: Why do people fall for this crap?

Now, I have fairly good junkmail controls, so I never even see most of this stuff. But every now and then, someone who I have whitelisted will forward on some piece of internet mythology, thereby evading the the guardians at the gate.

Usually, it’s something fairly inane, or even humorous. And equally often, I reply to the message with a link to the corresponding article on Snopes debunking the myth. Makes me feel all superior and intellectual like. Read the rest of this entry »

Rants | 4 Comments »