Mow the snow?

    Actually this shows you exactly how the  Austrian style  scythe blade moves across the ground in a super efficient manner, requiring no effort to hold it above the ground, unlike the American style scythe. In the grass the blade is too well hidden for it's action to be this obvious. Based on what I've read and seen on this website, I'm almost ready to get one, let my grass grow a little higher than usual and try it out in the back yard. Obviously, the Austrian scythe would be the one I'd buy. I have to read a bunch more and probably wait for a reply to my website message to this guy to decide exactly what type and size blade to get with any scythe I'd purchase. Success in any endeavor is all about just such details.
    Check out some of the rest of the pages on the website linked to in the highlighted text above. 

    This guy with his near perfect technique, shows just why I see this as probably the most efficient hand tool ever invented by man. That's why it fascinates me so much.

Joe Paterno's Nightmare

    Here's the best major publication report based entirely on the Grand JuryReport and setting the timeline of the matter of the acts of Jerry Sandusky which culminated in arraignment on 40 criminal counts 5 days ago! I read the Jury report as well. There are at least 3-4 others who are culpable in the perpetuation of these acts over several years. We'll see how they fare.

    Those "3-4 others" refers only to those Penn State administrators mentioned in the Grand Jury Report. 

    As to any others who may have "looked the other way" or worse in instances related to other victims of his from "The Second Mile" program Sandusky started not part of the Grand Jury investigation, it's all speculation but it wouldn't surprise me. 

    It appears clear from the record that to say Joe Paterno "looked the other way" in this matter is inappropriate. One of the Penn State administrators he called to his home the next day, Sunday after his Grad student reported the event in question (victim 2 of 8) to discuss the incident "of a sexual nature" had The Campus Police Department under his authority.

    As always, see the references linked to via highlighted text above for more detailed information on the subject.

FLIPPING A LID

  
    O.K. so this is clearly not as serious as my blog posts usually are but it's from the POPSCI (Popular Science Magazine) Archives. It's a real article about drug smuggling interdiction. 
    The article, titled:  Mexican Authorities Seize Homemade Marijuana-Hurling Catapult At The Border  is one posted to their website from this last January. I'm not sure when if ever it appeared in their printed magazine.
   

    I think it's a pretty good marriage of my priorities with this blog. Those as stated are gardening, cool technologies and, where possible, a touch of humor. 

    I ran across this while searching their archives for an article from their monthly magazines' segment called "What's New"  that contains little blurbs with pictures of all sorts of new gadgets etc. that are either new to them, new to the market or have been announced by their makers yet unreleased to the market. 

    I was looking for one I recall seeing years ago about a human powered rotary lawn mower. I recall it looked  a lot like any other rotary mower but for size and  the absence of any gas or electric motor. That was replaced by a wheel driven gear train to the blade shaft.

     Anyway... though there was no luck per my search target, there was this about a completely different type of GRASS!

    As always, click on the highlighted text to find the items they link to.

Zen & the Scythe

    Almost everything about the use and maintenance of a scythe is zen like. From the actual act of mowing with a scythe to the maintenance of the super keen edge a scythe needs to be as efficient as it can be, everything about them is a matter of highly controlled repetitive movement. 

    First there's the "dance" required to properly use a scythe to mow.

    Then there is the peening of the blade that along with use of a stone is required to maintain the ultra keen edge required to keep the act of mowing a useful, productive "dance". 
    There are 2 different sets of techniques for the peening. One is free hand using only a hammer and anvil. The other is using a peening jig. 
    You'll notice both methods of peening are very similar in most aspects but the jig requires less  highly practiced physical technique.  

     Be sure to follow the links to additional videos for "free hand" and "using a peening jig".
     The "art" of the scythe, in both the mowing and the maintenance, is a pursuit that is mentally satisfying in a way not entirely unlike cycling. It is a completely repetitive motion exercise, a highly concentrated, possibly zen - like experience. It is just the kind of meditative process that has the potential to soothe the troubled soul these trying times can so easily produce. Is it any wonder then that there are so many scythe related items on the internet right now?  
     My personal fascination with the scythe centers on it's obvious combination of efficiency and simplicity.    
      This post merely scratches the surface. 

Bye bye to keyboard, mouse and display

     The video above says it almost all on it's own. 
     I see a fixed unit mounted to the overhead shelf of my computer desk though. 
     Just imagine this coupled with a PC with Dragon or whatever speech recognition. The keyboard, even a projected one then becomes a minimally used part of the system. It's then a matter of 90% + voice and graphic user interface.
     Another application would be as a variation on the overhead projector as control of a regular PC display projector for large or small group presentations with group interaction including  immediate inclusion of group input in the presentation content. 
     For those interested in (or capable of understanding) more details of the design concepts see the video below. It's a bit over my head.

BREATHE or DIE

          What's the ultimate superlative that can be used to describe any experience? Usually it's something like "breathtaking" or "it takes your breath away". Why is that? The answer boils down to the question, "lack of what can kill you the fastest?" Everyone knows the answer is breath. 

                                                                            
                                                            
          
                                              Breath  is life!
               

    That pretty much explains the terror asthma inflicts on it's victims. With each victim, in every attack, death from loss of breath is felt to be on their doorstep. 

     I'm relatively lucky. My asthma is not as severe nor the attacks nearly as frequent as with most victims. Still, it gives me some basis for sympathy towards Tina, my wife Jeanne's mom. From before we were married in 1977 to her death in 2001 she suffered from COPD involving periodic asthma and emphysema. 

     Anyone seeking more information on this growing worldwide health problem can begin with The American Lung Association

Steve Jobs and all of us

        There are very few truly universal “facts of Life” for Humanity. Three of them are Change, Death. and the uniqueness of each and every human being. Steve Jobs in his life and passing brings that into focus for many of us. We all make choices every day that relate to all 3. None of us know exactly when death will take us. We either accept that and behave as if it is today, as it certainly may be, or we live in denial of that fact of human life. Choosing the former dictates that we be true to the role of our own uniqueness in change in our world. That daily choice is possibly best described by Steve in this video of his commencement address in 2005.