The Berlin Wall, 17 March 1990

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We will be visiting Paris and Berlin for the first time in thirty-six years. I pulled out my travel journal from back then to see what has changed.

This is a portion of the entry from 17 März 1990. The next day would be the first (and only) free elections in East Germany. The next election was after reunification.

I’ve preserved the capitalization, clearly my English was German-influenced at the time.

On the east side of the wall, we found a line from Mending Wall by Robert Frost, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall / that wants it down…”

I believe the distant part of this view is now the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The foreground is now the US Embassy.

Berlin wall 1990-03-17.

Then off to Checkpoint Charlie. The U-Bahn stop is one block away. The wall edge is filled with concrete sellers. The going price is DM5 for a 5 cm piece. A short wait at the checkpoint, DM5 for the visa (they didn’t stamp my passport, it is still a virgin) and we’re in. The Linden on Unter den Linden weren’t blooming yet. Oh yes, on the way we passed Democratic House, the home of New Forum. A DDR (Deutsche Post) TV van was set up outside, ready for the election coverage tomorrow.

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Accomodations for Hand Foot Syndrome

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The major side effect from my chemo drug (capecitabine / Xeloda) was Hand Foot Syndrome (HFS), known by doctors as Plantar Palmar Erythrodysesthesia (PPE). This happens when the chemo drug leaks from capillaries in the hands and feet, damaging cells and leading to swelling, peeling, sensitivity, and even pain.

There is a really useful publication from BC Cancer about capecitabine with some recommendations for HFS/PPE.

The sensitivity makes some daily activities difficult, like buttoning shirts and opening jars. Here are some of the accommodations I figured out over 6+ months of chemotherapy.

But first, a photo of my affected hand with our four month old granddaughter.

I will not include a photo of my inflamed toes. None of us need to remember that.

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Backpacking Pasta e Ceci

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Pasta e Ceci is a classic rustic Italian recipe, a simple chunky soup of small pasta and chickpeas. With some dehydrated ingredients, it is an easy and filling backpacking meal. This photo is from a doubled (or tripled, I don’t remember) batch to feed the adults on a Scout backpacking trip.

Pasta e ceci 2.

This makes 2 servings.

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My Father’s Pens

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I have two pens from my dad, a Parker Vacumatic and a Sheaffer Pen for Men. I had both of them serviced (new rubber parts) and they’re in my pocket. They’ll be my daily writers for a while.

Dad's pens parker vacumatic.

The older pen is a Parker Vacumatic Major in emerald pearl. The date code says it was made in Q1 1946, so I’m assuming it was a present when he graduated from Princeton High School (Indiana) in May 1946. It has a 14K gold nib in a fine point. The Vacumatic holds a lot of ink, so this would be a great pen for taking notes and writing papers.

I have it loaded with J. Herbin Pearle Noire ink, a dark black that is safe and well-behaved in pens. I think it is a nice choice for a fine point note-taking pen.

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Testing the FlipFuel

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I tested the FlipFuel fuel transfer device and it works well to consolidate partly full fuel canisters. It left about 6% of the original contents un-transferred (13-17 g), roughly enough to boil 3-4 cups of water. I’m OK with that performance. I started with six canisters ranging from 22% to 55% full and ended up with three canisters that were 74% to 81% full and three punctured, empty canisters in the recycling bin.

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Advisors to the National Court of Honor, 1919

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It is hard to grasp how prestigious the Boy Scouts were in the early days, but this table of advisors for merit badges gives some idea. Luther Burbank, Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, John Philip Sousa, Charles Schwab, Thomas Edison, this was like having Bill Gates, John McPhee, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Warren Buffett as advisors today.

This list is from the 1919 BSA annual report. As a rough guide to their prominence, I’ve linked to a Wikipedia page for each person where I could find one. Over 2/3 of them have Wikipedia pages. A few more have New York Times obits or well-known publications.

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Click Residual: A Query Success Metric

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How do you find out which queries need the most improvement? Look at the ones that are underperforming compared to their expected number of clicks. If you look for low click-through rate (CTR), you’ll find underperforming queries, but they’ll almost all be in the long tail. Improving those won’t make an overall improvement. Click residual is a metric that combines CTR with overall traffic to give a useful number.

To find the queries with the most impact, start with the click count. “Click residual” is the difference between the expected number of clicks and the actual number of clicks. When that is negative, you can see how many times a customer did a search, but wasn’t satisfied enough with the results to click, relative to the overall performance of the search system.

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$11 Base for Magnetic Keys and Paddles

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Want a base for your spiffy new Morse Code paddles with a magnetic mount? Try this jeweler’s bench block. It is 13 oz. (375 g), has a shiny surface that magnets stick to, and a grippy silicone base. Plus, it is only $10.99.

Keyer base

The key is a UMPP-Academy made by GM0EUL. It looks like other 3D-printed keys, but it uses the same precision bearings that Begali uses. I have the extra magnets mounted on the sides of mine to increase the force needed to make contact. With the built-in magnets, it was just too touchy for my big, clumsy fingers.

It is plugged into an Ultra PicoKeyer, which is more keyer than I’ll ever need.

The Power of Suggestion

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This article was in the January-February 2020 edition of BSA Advancement News. That issue is not available in the BSA’s online archive so I’m republishing it here. Emphasis is in the original.

The Power of Suggestion

We’ve all heard of the ‘power of suggestion’ and how it can influence our lives and the lives of those around us. If someone or something suggests to you a specific outcome, your expectations can play an important role in achieving that out-come. The reason for this is that the way we anticipate our response to a situation influences how we will actually respond.

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