zafka

Todays Youth

2011-09-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

It was nice to read about this young man today: Puzzles and Pi.

Willpower

2010-03-12T18:21:00.001-08:00

Found a neat link on Hacker news, thought it was worth sharing:

How to strengthen willpower

Vote for your favorite Gallery

2010-03-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hey friends and visitors: Vote here to give me some bragging rights.
Thanks

This guy is funny

2010-03-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Just read this tonight, worth passing on:

Giles Bowkett's advice

What i submitted to the whitehouse today

2009-09-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

Why oh Why is a company such as Blackwater (XE) still being used by our goverment.?
How can we possibly win the hearts of the world when we use openly racist and greedy corporations to front for us?

I assume you have seen more information than is supplied in this article:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/scahill3

Please uphold your duty to the citizens of this county.

Regards,
Jim Kasper

An unhappy aniversary

2009-09-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Scahill says is far better than I could: Why is Obama still using Blackwater?

Perhaps an email to the Whitehouse would help: Contacting the Whitehouse.

Farewell to a fine soul

2009-09-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a small article about Norman Borlaug, a man who probably saved more lives than any other human. : The man who defused the population bomb.

Gone to the Dogs!

2009-08-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

Just got wind of this great place to satisfy your best friend: Artie's Treats.

Just a little Propaganda

2009-08-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dave for pointing out this article: Stephen Hawking speaks out.

Topical Financial advice

2009-08-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Here is today's little nugget: Drinking until the economy improves.

Very cool web site

2009-08-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

I just ran across this site tonight. It is like a very large graffiti wall:

your world of text.

Have fun!!

Health care and Math

2009-08-02T20:08:00.001-07:00

Here is the interesting link for today: Unconscionable Math. It does very good explanation of the dirty math that Insurance companies use to screw the general public.

Everyone should see this

2009-07-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

I had heard of this interview , but just viewed it today.
Bill Moyers and Wendell Potter on health care.

Cultivating weeds

2009-07-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

After getting started with the plants I continued. I had put seeds in the refrigerator from the common milkweed: Asclepias Syriaca. Earlier in the year I had tried to plant some that I had brought back form Illinois, but none germinated. After a little research, I found they needed to be chilled before they would sprout. Anyhow, I had a bunch of seeds mixed with damp sand, that had been in the fridge since June 25th. These seeds went into two pots. If they do not sprout in a few weeks, I will try a new batch next year. After I planted the seeds, I decided to see if I could propagate some of my Florida Milkweed: Asclepias Curassavica . I took a few stems, dipped them in Root Tone, and potted them. If this works, I will start a bunch for next year when i get invaded with Monarchs again.

Low Momentum Mondays

2009-07-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, Monday i half over, and I am starting to get up to speed. Judy Coffman came over to the studio and brought a master gardener friend. I pawned off some Jatropha Curcas seeds , and also sent Judy's friend home with a baby Jatropha Multifida, and a Lufa plant. Then I tried to find the cool Nursery I had just read about after finding it advertising next to one of my posts.
After a couple of hours i found it: Miller MacKenzie - Edible Landscaping.
I am hoping to get out there on Sunday. If their copy is accurate, I might be able to grow asparagus and Rhubarb in my back yard.

Friday at the Studio

2009-07-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

It is pretty quiet in the village today. It has been a day of reading, throwing many ceramic discs, and a few Saki bottles. I have another fascinating writer to add to my favorite list. His name is Steve Blank, and here is his blog.

Ogilvy's Advice

2009-07-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

Great thoughts from an Ad man.

Good Karma

2009-07-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is a fine example of great management: "Laying off the Boss".

In Memory of Sidney J. Harris

2009-07-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I used to love when Sidney J. Harris would run a special feature in his column: "Things I Learned En Route To Looking Up Other Things."

This was way before the age of the internet, I wish Sidney had a chance to experience what we have today. It was sort of a day off for me today. So while I was killing time before going to the dentist, I was randomly looking up a few things.

Along the way I found :This.
Thinking about what i could do with all the plastic things that I collect, I decided to bookmark this wiki entry: Plastics
And sure enough, the lid of the sherbet container is made of HDTP while the container itself is made of
PP.
One of the best articles of the day (so far) was from Hacker news. It was a short little article about being productive: Oops, Now I cannot find it. Quick recap. It gave five basic steps.
1. Start your day with a daily disipline, like a run.
2. Breakfast.
3. A little planning.
4. Get started.
5. Recap.
I read this about 5 hours ago, I might have altered it.

A New Yorker article "Getting over it" Pretty much agreed with one of my pet theories.

Mary's Gourmet Kitchen is back!

2009-07-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Mary's has always been a favorite for great breakfast and lunch. One of the most distressing things about season arriving every year, was the extended wait to eat at Mary's on Sunday mornings. When we first started going to Mary's she had a little restaurant behind what is now Crawdaddies. Besides the great made from scratch food, the wait staff included a couple of charming teenage surfer girls, one of whom was Mary's daughter.
Well just yesterday the flyers arrived. Mary will be serving breakfast and lunch at Ian's tropical Grill in Rio.
I cant' wait till I can get a break and get over there. Here is the address and number if you are not sure of where it is:
Ian's Tropical Grill & Mary's Gourmet Kitchen
1205 NE Dixie Hwy
Jensen Beach, FL 34957-6226

(772) 334-4563‎

A little excitement on Saturday

2009-07-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

It was a typical Saturday night until I walked Gretchen out to her car at about 11:00 PM. A voice from behind us said: "I need your purse and wallet". When we turned to see a person who looked to be a waiter from Mulligans, we chuckled. "I am serious", he said. "If you don't want to get hurt, give me your wallet and purse". The young man had his hand under his shirt, as if he was holding a weapon. I glanced at it and perhaps stupidly guessed that maybe he was bluffing. Gretchen said that what she had put in the car was groceries, not her purse. I told him that I did not have money on me, but if he wanted to come into the store, I would give him some money. He repeated his threat that he would hurt us. At this point i asked: "what are you going to hurt us with?" I guess this was the final insult. The young man turned and ran. After a few minutes of stunned disbelief, I called 911. In just a few minutes officers arrived. Officer Muse took my statement, and officer Root went looking for the culprit with a trained dog.

As it turned out, the would be robber was long gone, but it was nice to see a quick response to my call.

Today a friend sent me a link, we made the paper: TCPALM

Focus

2009-07-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

Diversify. Focus...... Well after talking about it for a few weeks, I spent about an hour hooking up the serial interface for my prototype board. Unfortunately when i started testing, all I got was gibberish on my hyperterm. Tomorrow i plan to clean that portion up, and then start calibrating the A/D portion of the project.

The Muses of technology

2009-07-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

I was doing my daily reading when I came across this very interesting article by Ryan Grim.

Numerology

2009-07-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

I just love numbers. The Fact that today is 7/8/9 delights me. I plan to throw quite a few pots today so I can date them this way. It is a blessing to be easily amused

Juicy Fruits

2009-07-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, These are the first of the pineapple harvest. Over the last few years I have planted over one hundred pineapple plants in my back yard. This year it looks like I will be able to harvest about 12 fruits.

Getting back in theSaddle

2009-07-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

After another long break I am getting started again. A big influence has been
Seth Godin's Blog Of course now that I have written a few words, I need to get back to the house to cut the grass. One big piece of news though: I just harvested four pineapples today!! They are quite expensive pineapples as I left the sprinkler on over night last week, but they will be quite tasty. Later on I will post a picture before I eat them.
Cheers.

Hell, it has been two years!

2006-02-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

But only 4 months since Zafka Studios was taken down by the latest of the big wind storms to
pass thru.

I started to write scathing remarks about the "contractor working on the building, but decided to
hold off a bit. I'll try to go slow.

Anyhow, tonight is the start of Mardi Gras in Jensen Beach!!

Start up

2004-06-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Really need to get back to work. Now i have this to keep updated,
along with http://zafka.com