Stuff

I'm about to go out of town for three days to a conference on dealing with poverty issues, energy depletion and climate change, and I'm a little nervous. We've had no babies born since Meadowsweet's appearance two weeks ago, and I have three does due in the next week - not only am I a little nervous about abandoning Eric and Phil-the-Housemate to delivering baby goats (which has historically been a she who did the birthin' of the boys job), but I'm also a little sad at the thought of missing all the fun! Still it is a good and important thing, and it reminds me to let y'all know about…
I was reading the July 2009 Consumer Reports (as usual, I'm about a month behind on magazines) and reached a set of ratings for chain restaurants. Read the commentary and the neat little sidebar where trained tasters compared oversized New York strip steaks at Morton's with slightly less oversized New York strip steaks at Outback, Applebee's and Friday's. (Conclusion: The steak's best at Morton's--duh--but Outback's probably the best value.) But then got to the actual ratings--and noted a lot of chains with black dots (the worst rating) for taste, some also for service, mood and choice. And…
Starts With A Bang! is off to a great start; each the past three days we have topped the 100 visitor mark, bringing our total number of unique visitors up to 1,413! I'm going to attempt to start a new tradition here of making a weekend post on a topic that I just find neat, and share it with you. This first Weekend Diversion is an optical illusion about color. Take a look at the image below: Looks like a cube with a bunch of different colors on it. Now do the following: Look at the top face of the cube, and tell me what color the tile in the middle of that face is. Look at the near face, and…
Bora tagged me--and, as we all know, saying no to Bora means courting bad karma. So, we're gonna play a game. I will tell you 8 things about myself likely better left unsaid (see below) and then I will tag 8 other people and try to persuade them to do the same. Why? It's about sharing, people. Superfluous Information About the Author: 1) I once worked as a Call Box Operator. That person who told you to remain calm and wait for the highway patrol coulda been me. No joke. 2) I will watch any iteration of Pride and Prejudice no matter how stupid. I love it that much. 3) Left to my own devices, I…
The boyfriend and I are headed out of town for a couple of weeks, folks. I plan to post, but it'll be intermittent. In the meantime, send in your 'Dear Neurontic' questions to orlivan [at] gmail.com. Best, Orli
Want the inside scoop on Neurontic? Check out my recent interview with the folks on the Seed mother ship.