The Rest of Everything Archives - Page 35 of 56

Just a Leap Second

June 12, 2015

I read Just a Second by David Wolman for Slate a few minute ago. The piece fascinated me. It addresses the interface between NIST-F2, an atomic clock and the most accurate clock ever built by human beings, and where the sun is at any given moment. Bottom line: the effing Earth does not move in synch with 9,192,631,770, which is some number which relates to something having to do with Cesium. (Some Clock might be what you’d expect to see in Charlotte’s web in Mr. Zuckerman’s barn.)

So how do smart people deal with the fact that 9,912,631,770 and the effing Earth are not in synch. Well, they watch the Earth and, “whenever it looks like the

leap second

The Rest of Everything

Leave a comment

Nuts and Cookies

June 7, 2015

Mark Rubin

I don’t like nuts. Actually, I really do like people who are a bit different, and it’s almonds, cashews, and pecans I can do without. I like nut butters plenty, so long as they’re creamy style, which makes me think my real problem with nuts relates to my teeth and, more precisely, the space between aka diastema and, really, those particles which fill the “space between.” Alas, I digress, mightily. (I do like cookies. More later on that subject.)

I’ve been looking for a way to turn my passion for food into a hobby with some structure. I mentioned fruitcake in the February 25 Curator. It’s not a “no go” yet, but several people have mentioned

610 Magnolia, Bar Mix, Chef Edward Lee

Food, The Rest of Everything

Leave a comment

The Colorado River Fiasco

June 6, 2015

Mark Rubin

Lake Mead (Photo by Brian L. Frank)

Catching up the other day, I ran across Where the River Runs Dry by David Owen for the New Yorker on May 25. It’s a great piece of reporting and writing about the Colorado River, from its headwaters on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to its delta in Mexico, south of Yuma, AZ.

You really need to read this article. Here’s some of what I learned:

The river and the basin, underground, are drying up. Lake Mead’s water volume has fallen by 60% since 1998. GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), a very cool two-satellite NASA mission, has determined that the river basin lost 50 cubic kilometers—900 hundred square

Bradley Udall, CAP, Colorado River, Grady Gammadge, Imperial Valley, Lawrence Cox

The Rest of Everything

Leave a comment

The Individual, Elevated

June 4, 2015

Mark Rubin

I was driving up to Phoenix—work, not pleasure—on Wednesday afternoon, listening to NPR. Hearing ‘Worst-of-the-worst’ Taliban leader may be set free on PRI’s The World crystallized some thinking for me and provided the theme for this piece.

The Taliban leaders who may be set free were responsible for an Afghan uprising in the earlier 2000s, in which CIA operative Mike Spann died. (His was the first American death in the Afghan war.) In the story Charlie Sennott reports on conversations with Johnny Spann, Mike Spann’s father. Mr. Spann is furious about the Obama Administration not consulting him about the possible release. Mr. Sennott closes his story by noting that “at a minimum [Johnny Spann] wants an explanation, and I think

John Donne

The Rest of Everything

4 Comments

Tucson – Positivity

May 31, 2015

Mark Rubin

I left you yesterday with a promise of positivity. I also assured you that there are no easy answers or quick fixes. Our hole is deep and old, and it won’t get filled easily or quickly.

So, what? We need to start this endeavor by recognizing our situation. The late Reverend Forrest Church, quoted by MRW before, said “Want what you have; do what you can; be who you are.”

Who are we, Tucson? We’re a very large second tier city, with lots of problems. But we’re also an old city with a strong sense of self, and we have an amazingly generous spirit. From my fund development days, I recall Tucson outperforming much larger cities—think of one just

Tucson

The Rest of Everything

Leave a comment

Tucson – Struggles

May 30, 2015

Mark Rubin

Tucson as a city and a metro area struggles mightily. According to a study based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Five-Year American Community Survey, Tucson was the nation’s fifth poorest community through 2013. Hard to believe, what with resorts, beautiful homes in the foothills, a world-class research university, etc., but slightly more than third of our population makes less than $25,000 per year. Only one of every 25 working residents makes more than $150,000. Median income in 2013 was $36,758, ranking Tucson 169th.

The poverty correlates with other measures. Property crime is a huge problem. Our food hardship rate ranking was 30th in 2012. According to a 2012 Brookings study about college-educated residents in metro areas, Tucson ranked

Tucson

The Rest of Everything

Leave a comment

Thursday Evening

May 28, 2015

Mark Rubin

I thought I was entertaining on Thursday evening. Alas, my guests could not join me. Still, a man does have to eat, and I did have my provisions at the ready.

My intended menu included a cold apps board, a pizza, roasted potatoes, and a salad. The cold apps went by the wayside, although I certainly nibbled on turkey jerky, cheese, and some left over stir-fried veggies and pork while I consumed my martini.

The potatoes are one of my favorites. I take any variety—tonight it was Russets and blue sweet potatoes, a new hybrid—and chop them into chunks, unpeeled. They get about six minutes in boiling, highly salted water. Then, the pot gets drained and they get a splash

Pizza, roasted potatoes

Food, The Rest of Everything

6 Comments

Memorial Day Thoughts

May 25, 2015

Mark Rubin

There’s a quote out there which captures well my thoughts about Memorial Day. It’s from Senator Bernie Sanders, (I-Vt.), who says:

If you are not prepared to take care of the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this country – who came back wounded in body, wounded in spirit – if you’re not prepared to help those people, then don’t send them to war in the first place.

Memorial Day was, originally, Decoration Day. (For some background on the early origins of the holiday, read The Surprising History of Memorial Day by Ben Railton for Talking Points Memo.) It had as its purpose decorating the graves of dead soldiers.

I appreciate the fact that

Memorial Day, veterans

The Rest of Everything

Leave a comment

The U.S. Constitution: Meeting Our Needs?

May 23, 2015

Mark Rubin

In the United States of America we venerate our Constitution. Most people know little about what it says or means. Slam it, however, and you’re a traitor or worse!

Few people, relative to all of us, take an oath to support or defend the Constitution of the United States. (The few include attorneys, government employees and office holders, and naturalized citizens; 300,000,000+ others need not say or do anything.) For reasons I can’t quite explain, having taken an oath to support the Constitution, I think I have right to questions its relevancy and validity some 225+ years after it was ratified.

There’s something downright nervy and arrogant about a suggestion that a document written so long ago serves our

U.S. Constitution

Law, The Rest of Everything

1 Comment

Graduation Weekend at Beloit College

May 21, 2015

Mark Rubin

I arrived at Beloit College 489 months ago. Ms. J got there 453 months ago. Cate Rubin showed up only 45 months ago. Alas, we all said goodbye to Beloit and Beloit College last weekend, as Cate graduated.

The town has stepped up its game, big time. Downtown Beloit offers good—no, not good for Beloit; really good—restaurants and bars. The riverfront is beautiful, and the city looks alive, not like it did when I lived there in the 1970s.

Beloit College has improved greatly, too. In my day it was a good, small liberal arts college. It still is, but good in 2015 is better than good in 1978. The grunge of the 70s doesn’t work anymore, and Beloit

Beloit College, graduation

Food, The Rest of Everything

8 Comments