Artifacting

Putting I Between Art And Facts

lists

A Lifetime In 10 Weeks

by 4 Comments

The last couple of months have been pretty crazy/amazing/profound. So much has happened that, I’ll probably never remember it all, and truthfully, that doesn’t bother me. In some ways I have a tinge of regret for not having taken the time to write it all down as it happened or shortly there after. If not just so I have it archived somewhere. But in reality, some of it I don’t know how to write about – i don’t have the words to fit the experience. Some of it I don’t care about. And some of it I simply don’t care to remember.

So instead I’m going to cop-out and make a list of some of the major and minor events of the past 10 weeks in no particular order and just leave it at that. I can only hope my life remains as eventful and that I take the time to write about it afterward.

I went to my first honky tonk.
I saw Built To Spill play again.
I’ve been to the hospital three times for three different individuals. Two of them in the emergency room. One fatal.
I met family members I have never met before and most likely will never meet again.
I spent a long weekend at my timeshare in Vail.
I went to a mini-family reunion and ski vacation in Breckenridge.
I suffered through a 150-hour work week.
I took a full week vacation.
A loved one died in my arms. It was probably one of the most weighty and profound experiences in my life to this point.
I did my time in the back of a cop car in Henryetta, Oklahoma.
I had the pleasure of staying in a giant mountain mansion with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two hot tubs, and ski in ski out access.
My car was hit by a kid who had his drivers license for a measly two days. He ended up totaling his car a week later.
I Was invited over by complete strangers for a mardi gras party/steak dinner.
Somehow fit in about eight days of skiing.
Saw a friend who I haven’t seen since his wedding.
The kitchen remodel was completed.
Mom came to town for a visit.
A few birthday parties were celebrated.
I got fall down drunk with a co-worker.
And lots of other various sundriness and ephemera.

Dog Gone It: 8 Foods To Keep Away From Your Dog

by 3 Comments

There is are naturally occurring stimulants theobromine and methylxanthine compounds found in cocoa beans will cause vomiting, heart problems, seizures and death in dogs. Despite it’s morbid premise this amazing National Geographic infographic will tell you exactly how much chocolate it takes to kill your dog. Other foods to keep Fido and Spot away from include:

Alcohol – Alcohol depresses brain function in dogs and can send them into a coma. It can cause further damage by turning their blood acidic.
Onion – An onions damage to canine hemoglobin is cumulative, so small tastes over time can be worse than wolfing down the whole bulb. It will eventually cause anemia.
Grapes – Toxicologists have found that grapes and raisins can cause acute renal and kidney failure. As few as ten raisins or grapes, anywhere from nine ounces (255 grams) to two pounds (0.9 kilograms), could be fatal.
Macadamia Nuts – Experts have yet to determine why just a few of these nuts can produce tremors, even temporary paralysis, in a dog’s hind legs.
Garlic – Dogs don’t have the necessary enzyme to properly breakdown the compound thiosulphate so garlic, in any form, breaks down a dog’s red blood cells, and large amounts over time can lead to anemia and possible kidney failure from leaking hemoglobin.
Coffee – The caffeine in a cup of java is a methylxanthine compound that binds to receptors on cell surfaces, precluding the normal compounds from attaching there.
Bread – Like alcohol, ingestion of yeast can cause fatal damage. Active yeast found in raw bread dough releases alcohol as it grows.

I Better Get Back To Work

by 2 Comments

By my age:

    Based on a nightmarish dream, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
    Russian ambassador Aleksandr Borosovich Kurakin introduced the practice of serving meals in courses.
    Frederic William Herschel, an English astronomer, invented the contact lens.
    American sprinter Evelyn Ashford won her final Olympic gold medal at age 35, old for a sprinter.
    Amedeo Avogadro developed Avogadro’s hypothesis.
    Law School professor Anita Hill charged that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas made indecent remarks to her.
    Margie Profet proposed a new theory of menstruation which claims that menstruation protects against infection and won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.
    Astronaut Buzz Aldrin achieved his life’s ambition at age 35 and wondered, what do you do after that?
    Mozart stopped composing and started, well, you know.

2007: The Year In Blogging

by 4 Comments

Readership here has steadily increased over 2007. Below is a graph of my total number of absolute unique readers during 2007 (Click to make it bigger). The spike in February was due to a link from Boing Boing. The spike in June was due to a link from StumbleUpon.
Unique Visiters 2007

The top ten referring sites to Artifacting (with search engines remved) during 2007 were:

Below is a chart of referrals to Artifacting throughout 2007:
Referring Sites

Below are the top ten most visited posts published in 2007:

General stats for Artifacting are as follows:
Posts 857
Categories 64
Comments 3,101
Words in Comments 93,532
Words in Pages 767
Words in Posts 177,269