Cremation Freakout

My mother lost my grandmother's ashes and this is why:

"I had her ashed right next to the three cat's ashes, we had them all cremated - lucky, daisy, and miss kitty. I didn't want her to be sitting by her permanently, and so I put the three kitty ashes on the top shelf of the bookcase in the dining room. Now I cannot remember where I put your grandmother's ashes... I sat her down somewhere because I was going to put her in the urn in the hutch. I hadn't done that yet and then I was thinking 'I want to do this now,' and then I forgot where I put her!"

-Disclaimer: My mother would like everyone to know that she loved and adored her mother dearly, and that her ashes will show up because they are somewhere in the house.

Creamed Spinich

A twitter from Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill:

For all of you that keep asking... The spinich recipe is here.

Placing the Blame

Andrew Sullivan defends Greenspan against James Kwak:

At least Greenspan has admitted his mistake.

I like the reason given by Judd Bagley:

Imagine an apartment building which, due to the unwise actions of its greedy management, devolved into a dangerous fire trap.

One day, an arsonist puts a match to some of the many piles of oily rags in the basement, with predictable results. Whom is to blame for the spectacular conflagration that follows? The greedy management or the firebug?

Everybody here seems to be looking for specific managers at fault for the poor state of the building, while the role of the arsonists has been ignored.
In this case, the arsonists were the short selling hedge funds that orchestrated the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers (learn more about them here).
Would we be in this bind even if Bear and Lehman had survived? Maybe. But it always costs less to bring an old building up to code than to build anew -- to say nothing of the human toll.

So...I blame short selling hedge funds.

Duncan Donuts

From a brilliant new article on Arne Duncan, the new Secretary of Education:

On one hand -

In 2001 he set out to make one of the worst performing urban school districts into one of the best. And by all accounts he fell short, despite his record as the longest-serving big city school chief in the country. During Duncan’s tenure, high school graduation rates rose about 8 percent. But test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly referred to as the nation’s report card, were mixed. Fourth-graders’ math and reading scores rose slightly, but eighth-graders’ reading scores were stagnant. After almost eight years under Duncan, Chicago’s system remains one of the worst nationwide.

On the other -

He hewed then to the same hands-on approach that guided his mentoring endeavor, visiting a different school almost every day, personally returning calls from teachers, union heads and parents, and shooting hoops with kids across the city. He raised the graduation rate of the nation’s third-largest school system, with more than 400,000 students, every year he was in charge.

What-a-Prices

This morning I got hungry (what a surprise) and decided I'd pick something up from Whataburger. I hate their fries so I asked the waiter if it would be cheaper to get just the burger and a large drink instead of the corresponding combo. Guess what!? It's actually cheaper to get the combo! I told them to keep the fries even as I ordered the combo (I didn't want the food to go to waste) and in exchange they put another patty on my burger.

This is why America is fat. I was being served by this obese African-American guy who looked like a total slob as I kept thinking to myself: "how are we ever going to reform health-care in this country if American food corporations cannot develop some sort of quantity/price ratio?" The problem is that Americans just don't know how to control portion size! We are consistently given larger portions for cheaper prices so we tend to eat more, and more, and more, more, more, and more.

The simple fact is that health-care reform in this country will not work until the government systematically redraws fast food regulation. We need to put a stop to giving larger portions for cheaper and we need to invest in education (and reform that as well) so that our children know how to control what they eat and, more importantly, why they need to control what they eat.

Aequidens vs. Cichlasoma

Aequidens or Cichlasoma?


Labeled as Cichlasoma sp. 'Guyana', purchased under the assumption that it was not. I purchased two of the fish (one which is definitely a Cichlasoma) and asked specifically for the oddball and another large specimen. I picked them with the intention of finding out what this fish truly is. They are wild caught from Guyana so the possibility of this being a species of Aequidens that got stuck in with the Cichlasoma during transport is reasonable. I'll update if this does turn out to be something more intriguing.

For comparison:

Aequidens or Cichlasoma?


Cichlasoma sp. 'Guyana'

Mixing Basketball with Politics

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight does an excellent job of breaking down Obama's basketball picks:

Was Obama more inclined to select teams from swing states that were closer in last November's election? A bit of reverse engineering of his bracket suggests that the answer is a qualified yes.

Heros Heroes

A new thread's highlights:

Heros efasciatus


Heros sp. "Rotkeil"


Heros efasciatus


Photo credit goes to Japes and Blairo1

Hot Topic

Pterophyllum scalare


I feel bad for this person. They were duped into buying wild caught P. leopoldi when what they thought they were purchasing was wild caught Pterophyllum scalare. She probably spent $25-50 per fish when they were really worth less. She could have purchased non-wild caught P. leopoldi for $5 from a Petsmart.

Photo credit goes to Jan Fredsholt.

Meow!

How awesomely cute.

Kullander's Groupings

A new thread:

Cichlasomines: Acaronia, all Central American genera, Astronotus, Australoheros, Caquetaia, Chaetobranchopsis, Chaetobranchus, Cichlasoma, Heroina, Heros, Hoplarchus, Hypselecara, Mesonauta, Pterophyllum, Retroculus, Symphysodon, Uaru.

Acara: Aequidens, 'Aequidens', Bujurquina, Cleithracara, Crenicara, Dicrossus, Guianacara, Ivanacara, Krobia, Laetacara, Mazarunia, Nannacara, Taeniacara, Tahuantinsyoa.

Geophagine: Acarichthys, Apistogramma, Apistogrammoides, Biotodoma, Biotoecus, Geophagus, 'Geophagus', Gymnogeophagus, Microgeophagus, Satanoperca.

Other: Cichla, Crenicichla, Teleocichla.

I agree with the opening comments on Retroculus:

Retroculus: This one stumps me. In a newer paper, Kullander provided DNA evidence stating that this genus is a Cichlasomine, indeed much closer to Cichlasoma than to any Geophagine genera. Despite having the gill arch needed for inclusion for the Geophagines, as well as the Satanoperca like shape ... these are now believed to be a result of convergant evolution (different fish in similiar type areas devoloping similiar evolutions) versus direct evolution (descended from eartheaters).

A Comment

Heros notatus


I've gotten a question on the length of my notatus:

The tanins give off a more natural feel. How large is your Heros notatus?

The H. notatus actually isn't visible for the entire video... I'll upload a video of him later. I'd say a good 5 inches of pure body length and 6 or 7 with finnage included. Slightly larger than my efasciatus.

According to Fish Base this is about the top length for the species.

A Look at my 200

Current inhabitants:
1 Astronotus ocellatus
1 Uaru amphiacanthoides
1 Heros efasciatus
1 Heros notatus
2 Cichlasoma sp. 'Guyana' (1 who may actually be something else despite the protestations of the store I bought him from - beautiful anyway. My guess is some species of Aequidens)
9 Unknown - possibly an Astatheros variety
3 Acarichthys heckelii (temporary residents)
1 'Geophagus' steindachneri (temporary resident)

Music: I'm playing the piano for this while my sister took the video. It is a bastardized excerpt from the song Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum from Gregor Mendel's "Children's Corner."

Marriage Redefined.

Marriage has been officially redefined.



Personally, I would prefer that government leave the whole business of the word marriage to the religious and rename the civil bond something else besides civil unions... There is too much hurt embedded in this title after years of gays being relegated to this separate but 'equal' institution. This would be a win-win situation. Not only would all people be enfranchised in the rights that come along with the civil bond, but all people would be able to marry - as there are some churches that will perform gay marriages. The only problem with this is that those who oppose marriage for gays also oppose any legal recognition for their couples.

Update. Further Visual Comparison.

G. sp. 'Araguaia Red Head'


G. sp. 'Tapajos Red Head'


I thought I'd come back and correct myself... Apparently, according to the information here, the fish I presented in the previous post was Geophagus sp. 'Araguaia Red Head'.

When given the choice between the three species I would probably pick G. camopiensis because of its understated beauty. Also, it isn't as large a species and can readily be kept in smaller tanks. A close second would be the Tapajos variety.

Photo credit goes to Schmuck and Fella as well as Eartheaters Australia

A Comparison

G. sp. 'Tapajos Red Head'


G. camopiensis


When looking at the two species simultaneously my eyes are drawn to the camopiensis simply because it looks like it's blushing. A simple Valentine present. The Tapajos is very, very beautiful in its own right, but when presented next to understated beauty looks gaudy and ostentatious.

Photo credit goes to S. Bochenko

Beautiful Tank

Geophagus sp. 'Tapajos Red Head' is one of my favorite eartheaters. I prefer G. camopiensis though. Its more subtle coloring gives it a very beautiful delicate appearance.

Pope Benedict...

Pope Benedict has been near-universally condemned for comments relating to the African HIV/AIDS pandemic:

"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem."

Did no-one notice the Pope's other major comment? He also believes that abstinence is a better prevention of the disease. This should be a welcome development! At least the church is acknowledging that there is a problem and is deigning to offer a solution - albeit of a predictable nature. Can we argue over the validity of the solution instead of attacking the Pope himself?

The First Post

I know that no-one is reading this. That is okay. This blog is meant not for the enjoyment of the masses, but for the enjoyment of my soul. It is meant as a release for things that I cannot share among friends. Consider this my life unabridged and undoctored. A journal unaltered so that the trivial will share equal footing with the serious.