Rumspringa has sprung

For whatever reason, several of us at work are vaguely fascinated with the Amish rite of passage called Rumspringa. It seems to come up in conversation almost once a month -- especially between Matt and myself (usually referencing the documentary Devil's Playground, which I still haven't seen and which is probablty not exactly a representative depiction) -- so when Brandon saw this over the weekend he obviously had to pass it along: Amish woman looking for true love. - 22

Hi! I am a girl from a small town in Iowa, where I was raised Amish. I am currently on rumspringa, which is the time in every young person's life where he or she goes out into the English world to experience everything that is out there. The hope is that at the end of rumspringa, we will return to our communities and join the Amish church, but I'm still not sure if I'm ready for that! I really like living in a world with cars and electricity and computers!

I'm 22 years old and I like to go hiking and I love animals. I like listening to music because that's something else I could never do before, so it's very exciting! I'm looking for a guy who is honest and kind and good looking of course! I have blonde hair and I guess I'm cute and stuff, and I wear English clothes rather than Amish and I don't wear a bonnet or anything, I mean, I do sometimes but probably wouldn't if we went out!

This is just fascinating to me on so many levels...

At a very base and juvenile level, I think I just like how "rumspringa" (and the occasional wilding that goes along with it) reminds me of "Rump Shaker".

When it's high up in the sky it almost looks like it is white

Summer Moon Illusion

This week's full moon hangs lower in the sky than any full moon since June 1987, so the Moon Illusion is going to be extra strong.

What makes the moon so low? It's summer. Remember, the sun and the full Moon are on opposite sides of the sky. During summer the sun is high, which means the full moon must be low. This week’s full moon occurs on June 22nd, barely a day after the summer solstice on June 21st--perfect timing for the Moon Illusion.

There's a table of moonrise times for various cities. Check it out and step outside this week.

Cringely on Apple + Intel

Going for Broke

This scenario works well for everyone except Microsoft. If Intel was able to own the Mac OS and make it available to all the OEMs, it could break the back of Microsoft. And if they tuned the OS to take advantage of unique features that only Intel had, they would put AMD back in the box, too. Apple could return Intel to its traditional role of being where all the value was in the PC world. And Apple/Intel could easily extend this to the consumer electronics world. How much would it cost Intel to buy Apple? Not much. And if they paid in stock it would cost nothing at all since investors would drive shares through the roof on a huge swell of user enthusiasm.

Man, I love it when he gets all kooky with the far out speculation! I kind of hope he's right, too.

It's like the joke about the dog named Lucky...

Don't Stand By Me: Surviving a lightning strike.

Jerry LeDoux is a guy you don't really want to interview, because interviewing him means having to be near him, and that's like planting yourself by a dartboard. The stone claw hanging from his neck attests to his grisly encounter with a bear's jaw at a roadside park in August 1990. (His wife, Bee, brandishes a photo album that documents the mauling before he's done telling the story.) The Purple Heart on his Navy Seals sniper hat testifies to the three bullets he took in Vietnam. The ugly black mark on his finger is evidence that he once air-nailed it to a floorboard. The scar on his left arm is proof that he accidentally screwed his flesh to the wall. The long knife wound on his hand? "Things happen," he says. The most improbable of his many accidents is the one that left the least visible evidence—just a few white splotches on his arms and a discoloration near his hairline. But that doesn't mean it's easily forgotten. LeDoux rolls up his sleeve to show off a tattoo of a man getting struck by lightning engraved on his left bicep.

I had no idea there were international conferences for lightning strike and electric shock victims.

I'm just happy that my own lightning experience was so mild that it had no lasting physical effect. I can live without those few seconds of memory. ;)

Skunk Works

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, best known for his time with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, is now a counterterrorism consultant.

The guitarist-turned-defense-consultant does regular work for the Department of Defense and the nation's intelligence community, chairs a congressional advisory board on missile defense, and has lucrative consulting contracts with companies like Science Applications International Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. He says he is in increasing demand for his unconventional views of counterterrorism.

"We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles," says Mr. Baxter, who sports a ponytail and handlebar mustache. "My big thing is to look at existing technologies and try to see other ways they can be used, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at."

He's also on the list of Boston University dropouts to go on to fame and fortune -- though I doubt the conservative Baxter would care to talk politics with many of the others (Rosie O'Donnel, Jason Alexander, Peewee Herman).

[This list of "notable" BU people is interesting, if incomplete. Lots of hockey players on there, of course.]

Hooray Rollergirl!

No, not that one (though she is a good thing, for sure). I'm talking roller derby girls! The recent resurgence of roller derby has finally made its way to the Denver metro region, and I am psyched.

Matt and I desperately want our ladies to sign up. Then not only could we be legitimate rollergroupies to real, live, super-hot rollergirls, we could stage roller husband fights in the stands!! Yeah!

Besides, check out the friends they would make:

The assembled crew suggests there's no typical derby girl. There are women from all walks of life: a mom, a burlesque dancer, PhD students, nine-to-fivers, a former figure skater. Some girls are all of 90 pounds while others are significantly more. They all come together thrice a week to strap on some wheels and smack each other around a bit.

Sweet. They even have t-shirts available at Twist & Shout.

Spiritual Youth

Surveys: Young adults searching spiritually

They are often tarnished with labels like "self-absorbed" and "materialistic." But young adults are actively engaged with spiritual questions, two new surveys suggest, even if they are not necessarily exploring them through traditional religious practice.

One of the lessons in A Whole New Mind (which I have finished and highly recommend, btw) is that material abundance in Western cultures is leading to a sort of spiritual awakening. Since the average suburbanites no longer needs to focus all of their energy on feeding the family, they have more time and money to devote to philosophical introspection and therefore are on the lookout for people/things/services aimed at their spiritual side.

While these surveys seem to confirm that notion, I don't really see anything surprising here. You're supposed to explore the ether when you go to college. It goes hand in hand with leaving the nest. There's nothing new about college freshmen experiencing (or striving for) an "awakening" when they first start reading Kerouac, Nietzsche, Castaneda, or whatever.

It's the way things always worked, I thought.

GOSH!

This is amazing. The Idaho House has passed a bill commending the creators of "Napoleon Dynamite".

12 WHEREAS, the Preston High School administration and staff, particularly 13 the cafeteria staff, have enjoyed notoriety and worldwide attention; and 14 WHEREAS, tater tots figure prominently in this film thus promoting Idaho's 15 most famous export; and 16 WHEREAS, the friendship between Napoleon and Pedro has furthered 17 multiethnic relationships; and 18 WHEREAS, Uncle Rico's football skills are a testament to Idaho athletics; 19 and 20 WHEREAS, Napoleon's bicycle and Kip's skateboard promote better air qual- 21 ity and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transporta- 22 tion;

And then the capper:

2 WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the 3 Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent 4 resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of 5 Their Lives!"

Yessssssssss!

Trick of the Trade

Tricks of the Trade is a great idea.

A tip for listeners: when having a call-in contest, radio hosts prefer winners who sound excited. So if you call a station and sound fun, there's a better chance of not only winning but getting on air as well. The whole "caller 9" thing is mostly a filtering trick, allowing the host to tell boring-sounding people "you're caller number 7, sorry."

It's run by everyone's favorite defective yeti.

Did they mean it?

Yesterday morning, as I drove to pick up my morning latte, I passed the new LED sign that was recently erected by one of our neighborhood churches and it had an interesting slogan on it:

Tired of Religion?

God is too.

I thought to myself, "Well, that's an interesting angle." I couldn't really wrap my head around what they were trying to say with that.

This morning the sign had something more normal on it, so now I wonder if it was some vanaldous scalawag who hacked the sign. It does seem that some folks are using that message legitimately, however, so perhaps not.

Taste the Music

A musician who tastes each chord - literally

When you listen to music, what does it taste like? That's not a silly question. Swiss researchers are studying a young musician who consistently identifies musical intervals by the flavors they induce on her tongue.

For example, a minor second is sour. A major second is bitter. A perfect fourth is mown grass. A minor sixth is cream. An octave has no taste at all. Neuroscientists call such mixed perception synaesthesia. It's a nagging reminder that what we perceive is not just a simple processing of stimuli from one or another of our senses.

Ever since I read The Man Who Tasted Shapes, I've been fascinated with synaesthesia. I'm almost jealous, in fact.