clanMcGraw.com

It’s a beautiful day in Birmingham. Sunny, 68 degrees outside.

Unfortunately, I’m stuck inside at work, dealing with an upgrade that has gone bad. I was up until 4:30 this morning, and then had to borrow my Dad’s truck to drive back to Birmingham. And I don’t know when I’m going to be finished.

My plans today had actually been to take the boys to an Alabama baseball game. That would have been a much, much, much better way to spend my day.

Ugh.

About a year or so ago, I signed up to participate in a class-action lawsuit against the music industry. It was in regards to price-fixing that was going on in regards to CD sales. Quite a few people told me that I would probably see nothing from it, as the settlement stated that if enough people responded, driving the per-person settlement to less than $5, that money would be donated to charity. Knowing how many people buy CDs, I figured that was what was going to happen.

Well, my check arrived yesterday - my share was $13.86.

It’s not even enough to go buy a new CD, but I still feel like I fought the man… and won (for a change).

Brandon came through his shots just fine… Thanks to all of you who asked.

He was sore, but a trip to the toy store, and a new computer program from Dad, helped him quite a bit.

I feel bad for Brandon today. He’s going to get his vaccinations for school today. Not 1… not 2… but 3 shots. He hasn’t had to have any shots in about 2 years.

V-time is 3:15 today. Say a prayer for him & Amanda, if you would.

the friday five

When was the last time you…

1. …went to the doctor? Last Friday.

2. …went to the dentist? Ugh. No comment.

3. …filled your gas tank? Last Sunday.

4. …got enough sleep? I wish I could remember. Probably December 17, 1998.

5. …backed up your computer? Believe it or not, last week.. Some of the important files, anyways.

Today’s topic? God’s providence, and the viewpoints of the Calvinist and Arminian camps.

Some things just should not be talked about at 5:30 am.

I’m working on a new pet project. It’s a new website at a different domain, but I don’t want to reveal anything until it’s ready to roll.

If you’ve arrived at clanMcGraw.com via that new domain, thanks for checking it out. Please be patient.

I love talking about the weather. It is completely fascinating to me. I’ve listened to the various storm spotters in my area for years, calling out their reports as they’ve been on the front lines watching severe weather roll in and out of my area. I’ve taken both the Beginner and Advanced storm spotter classes here in town, and have actually even called in 1 storm report to the National Weather Service.

Anyways… I visit the forums at TalkWeather.com every so often. Today, there was an article that I found so fascinating, I had to cut and paste it here:

YOU HAVE AT LEAST ONE TORNADO DETECTOR IN YOUR HOME - TORNADO DETECTION INSTRUCTIONS

First—–warm up your TV set and tune in channel 13. Darken the screen to almost black (use the brightness control).

Second—-turn to channel 2 and leave the volume control down (unless you have a broadcaster on that channel). Your tornado detector is now in operation. As a storm approaches, lightning will produce momentary white bands of varying widths across the screen (color sets produce a colored band). A tornado within 15 and 20 miles will produce a totally white screen and remain white (color on color sets). Should this occur, turn off your TV set, take your portable radio and go to a place of shelter immediately.

This system was discovered by Newton Weller of West Des Moines, Iowa after twelve years of study. It works because every TV set has channel 2 set at 55 megacycles. Lightning and tornadoes generate a signal near this frequency which overrides the brightness control. Channel 13 is at the “high” end of the frequency band and is not affected. This is why the darkness must be set on that channel. Keep a portable radio handy for emergency instructions and in case of power failure. Lightning will cause intermittent static on a radio tuned on 550 kilocycles. A tornado will cause steady, continuous static.

The above was featured as the Safety Topic in a newsletter of Argonne National Laboratory.

As it turns out, the Weller Method of tornado detection works, according to some real meteorologists. As much as I would hate to be close enough to a tornado to try it out, I’m dying to be close enough to try it out…

As it turns out, none of my posts were lost. Norton’s Internet Security was preventing Movable Type’s rebuild script from working. I had forgotten that I had turned Pop-Up blocking on. What’s really strange is that the old Pop-Up blocker that I was using, by Panicware, never gave me this kind of problem before.

It appears that Movable Type has stopped working… This is a test.