Cup of Coffee

September 7, 2016: Second Day of School

67 Comments

I hope it begins better than the first. Due to the epically long storm, I had to take the Milkmaid to the transit station at 6:30, and my daughters' buses arrive at 7:30 and 9:06. All of that happened before work at 9:30. This could be a long few years with them in different schools.

67 thoughts on “September 7, 2016: Second Day of School”

  2. Last night was first contact rugby of the fall. Gonna feel it a bit I can tell. Gets a little harder every season.

  3. Has it been noted that last night's Twins loss and Orioles win eliminated the Twins from the playoffs?
    (The first team fully eliminated this season. The Braves still have an elimination number of 5 for the 2nd NL Wildcard. (The Twins would still have a 2 if they were in the NL.)

    1. I found my first local Laetiporus cincinnatus ("White Chicken of the Woods") just last night. I was coming home from work and EAR already had dinner, so I haven't eaten it yet.
      I had found one in a West-Central state park last August, but ate it wrapped with bacon and cooked over the fire like marshmallows. This will be my first chance to have the white ones cooked normally (to compare with the normal yellow one).
      The white one's supposed to be even better.

      The humidity and mosquitoes have been brutal lately (I assume this is what St. Louis is like most of the summer every year) for birding and mushrooming, but I power on as much as I can.

      I'm trying to get better at IDing the not-so-easy mushrooms that grow here. We've got an abundant Amanita (same genus as a few of the most deadly species), that grows under the cottonwoods on the River bottom. I've determined it to be a "Poplar-loving Grisette" (Amanita populiphilia): range-restricted to the midwest. I've also found A. muscaria var. guessowsii ("Yellow Fly Agaric"), A. vaginata ("Grisette"), A. bisporigera ("Destroying Angel"), and A. pantherina ("The Panther").
      The various Russulas and Cortinarius around here are confounding though. I did get a definite ID on a Lactarius though, but it's one I couldn't eat.

      I've found "Deceivers" (Laccaria laccata), a small Volvariella, "Hedgehogs" (Hydnum repandum), and I don't remember what else.

      1. AMR, you really should connect with my friend Jackie on teh Bookface. She lives in St Paul with her husband, daughter and dog. Important part is that she is into photogging mushrooms on hikes.

    1. I am so looking forward to this. There is going to be a lot of useful science even without the sample collection. The Dawn mission revealed that Ceres is far more interesting than first thought, the same for New Horizons about Pluto, and Rosetta/Philae about Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

  7. I have been toying with the idea of trying a WGOM podcast. I lack both the immediate technical expertise (I might be able to acquire it), and, right now, the time. But in a few months, when things quiet down here (ha!... but seriously, we'll get a routine at some point), I think that could be fun. Thoughts?

      1. I have, traditionally, been the WGOM Radio host in the past, but there's no reason it can't be a thing like CoC's where whomsoever feels like it does it. I can share the music beds no problem. It's not like I did a great job with them anyway.

    3. I listen to enough podcasts already, but I'd be all over this. I just came up with five eight ten episode topics off the top of my head.

      My understanding is that making a podcast isn't that hard, just time consuming (between the recording & the editing/production).

      1. Yeah, I think it could be pretty cool to do. And I'd guess that once one got the hang of it, they'd be able to put stuff together quicker, right?

        Anyway, I was thinking I needed to contribute more around here, and I'd love to pick the individual brains of various citizens on a wide range of things. So it seemed like hosting a podcast could be a good option, particularly as I've started listening to more of them.

        1. There could be a WGOM podcast about other podcasts for those who don't listen to enough podcasts!

            1. Have been listening to 'Revisionist History' - Malcolm Gladwell podcasts that grab a past meme and re-scrape it. Liked his books - the podcasts are OK so far.

              'Spoiler' SelectShow

                1. I have a hard time listening to Malcolm. He tends towards the "I'm smarter than you" tone, and has effed up some pretty important stuff regarding the 18 century (you'd have to ask Dr. Chop for the specifics...) for me to find him credible. I've read, and enjoyed, several of his books, but I find him to be grating at best.

    4. More seriously, you're going to need four things: a good mic, something to edit the files, a way to talk to others, and a good mic. My recollection is that Mags used Audacity for editing the files. Talking to others you have a few options. Skype is popular and so is Google Hangouts. WebRTC is probably an option but would involve some work to get everything hooked up. That could be the most appealing because then you would only need to visit a web page to start a session.

      1. Basically I set Audacity (or whatever other software) to record, we have the conversation via Skype (or whatever other software), and then I stop recording and I can go in and edit the stream via Audacity. So the real question is whether my computer's built-in mic is good enough and/or if I need to get one and figure that out (and if I get one... will it pick up the skyped-in user automatically, or will it be picking up the skyped-in user played through the speakers of the computer?). Probably a test session or two would figure this out.

                1. No, but CH's mic wouldn't do that either. Whatever is used to connect the guests over the series of tubes needs to do the recording.

          2. Ideally, you are able to record each person separately so you can fix them later. Even better is if each person also has their own version in case of transmission issues.

          3. Yeah, that was a problem on my end. I still feel a teeny bit bad about it. You sounded great through my headphones. I didn't record us on two separate channels like I thought I was, so I couldn't mix them properly.

    5. As you know, I've done podcasts at CdL with up to ten people and as long as levels are checked, they turn out sounding pretty good. I'm happy to host or be part of a panel, obviously. I also use Audacity for the record. My built-in mic is surprisingly strong but good ones don't cost much.

      What I've never really done are the musical intros and outros. Otherwise I'm handy with a podcast.

        1. The WGOM radio tower might be stationed in one of those not-really-a-real-town in the metro area: Lauderdale, Hilltop, Sunfish Lake, Dinkytown.

            1. All that currently remains of the city of Nininger are a few buildings dedicated to township management and two historical markers and possibly a new small craft brewery devoted to hops and Brettanomyces.

    6. I'd be interested as well. I've been wanting to try a podcast for a while now, and just haven't made the leap.

  9. So, Sturgill Simpson is in New Orleans this friday, and I have excellent tickets. Too bad my boss is sending me to Memphis tomorrow morning through next week. I'm not a happy camper today.

    1. I missed my one chance to see Stevie Ray Vaughan many moons ago because my boss reneged on giving me the night off and threatened firing if I didn't show for work. It's one of the very few grudges I still carry.

      1. Yeah, this kind of stings because there were other available coworkers but he can't "trust" them. Ugh.

      2. I missed The Clash opening for The Who on their farewell tour because my buddy who had the line on the tickets could not get off work. Yea, I am bitter. But we were still in each other's weddings. 😉

      4. I'm sure I've mentioned this, but my Dad was on the way to see Jim Croce when he learned of the plane crash.

  10. Joe Nathan is back in SF? When did that happen?

    He just entered a one-run game in the bottom of the 9th with 2 on, one out.

    1. The Senators thing is a little weirder, but I can completely understand why no one thinks about the Lakers. When that team was around, the sport barely resembled what t does today, plus there was thirty years between pro ball returning plus they became the f***ing Lakers. Add that to a franchise that has been far more terrible than not since it came into the league and you've got a perfect sport storm for forgetting the past.

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