Fear of Clowns

All plants other than the new sprouts and pepper cuttings were started in peat pellets and established in a flood and drain system with 500 PPM Supernatural GrowAqua solution under 16 hours light/day from 4 x 54W T5 bulbs. The pepper cuttings were put in the hydro system at the same time as the herbs. After about two weeks the solution was changed out and upped to 850 PPM, significantly higher than I intended but everyone seems to be doing OK despite the recently conquered spider mite infestation.

Italian basil, today and on December 3rd, pinched back once two weeks ago at 10 - 12 leaves, maybe a little late,

Sage today and a month ago. This it the first time I've grown sage, but it seemed to respond violently to pinching back - went from six or 8 to all these leaves in two weeks,

Parsley today and a month ago,

Bhut jolokia pepper cutting, today and a month ago which was about six weeks after taking the cutting,

Chocolate habanero cutting, today and a month ago - new growth starting at top and base after losing all its leaves to a spider mite infestation,

Lettuce,

French rosemary,

Spearmint, started last week,

Tomato, started a few days ago,

Peas, started a few days ago,

Labels: chili peppers, gardening, hydroponics

// posted by Erik @ 1/05/2009 09:52:00 PM
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Background if you need it. Republcans react.

Labels: obama, Republicans, right wingers

// posted by Erik @ 12/31/2008 12:56:00 AM
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This D. auratus morph is from around Campana, Panama - on the eastern coast. It's unknown whether it exists in the wild any more - its habitat has been extensively developed since it entered the hobby.

I got six of them from Amanda last Friday. They are juveniles, about 3/4" from snout to vent.

Labels: pets, photos, poison dart frogs

// posted by Erik @ 12/23/2008 11:52:00 AM
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Close up of a Brazilian Yellow Head D. tinctorius. They are about an inch or perhaps a little more long.

Close up of a green and bronze D. auratus - the black is turning notably more bronze every few weeks.

The D. azureus lovers. Still no fertile eggs. Maybe they'd feel more amorous if they didn't ust crap where ever they happen to be.

Sad news: I moved my 4 near-adult leucomelas to a new vivarium today and discovered one has escaped! Judging from their reactions to a recorded call I believed I had two males; I haven't heard a call in a week or more. I either had one male - the escapee - or hopefully the remaining male no longer feels compelled to call. I've read leucs have two calls: one territorial that mostly occurs an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset and another call to woo females that occurs whenever they feel so moved. Indeed, the vast majority of calls I've heard have been between and hour and two after lights on, so I'm hopeful once they're sexually mature I'll get some fertile eggs. I moved my juvenile banded leuc in with the remaining three. The old, unplanted viv:

Anyway, the viv would have been escape-proof if the guy at FCA would have made and shipped my custom tops by now. I paid him in full - including shipping costs - on October 13. Everyone who keeps aquarium animals knows how it feels to lose a pet due to human error; I did take a risk by ordering the tops at the time when they shipped, but like, he said he'd ship the tops in two or three weeks. It's been ten.

UPDATE 12/24 11:45 AM. I still have a boy! My ears are plugged with a cold and the pipes in the building can actually sort of sound like a leuc call, but after wondering if I was just hearing what I wanted to hear for the last few hours, I finally and conclusively heard a call with my ear right up to the vivarium. There's still a boy, fantastic.

Labels: pets, photos, poison dart frogs

// posted by Erik @ 12/23/2008 11:46:00 AM
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Also from Rami.

From b3ta board.

Labels: Bush White House, iraq, war

// posted by Erik @ 12/22/2008 04:05:00 PM
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Thanks to Rami for sending and translating!

Translation: Kiss goodbye

Translation, quoting a famous Arabic song: "If I only knew my ending I wouldn't have started"

Translation: Bush entering history carrying a shoe on his back

Translation: The historical day of December 14th

Translation: We stand on solid ground in Iraq (Interpreting: we stand with our feet solid in Iraq)

Labels: Bush White House, iraq, war

// posted by Erik @ 12/22/2008 03:34:00 PM
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I was too caught up in partisan rhetoric at the time to realize my passion for knocking on doors was primarily driven by a desire to hear an announcement like this from the president-elect. Awesome. YAY! We did it!

Labels: 2008 elections, Bush White House, obama, Republicans, right wingers, technology, YouTube

// posted by Erik @ 12/21/2008 04:45:00 AM
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I've had a croton on and off for my entire life, but I've never had one bloom!

Dave's Garden lists blooming as "inconspicuous/none". I got this specimen from HomeDepot so doubt it's an uncommon variety.

Here's a shot of some of the most erotic parts of my car.

Labels: botany, photos, transportation

// posted by Erik @ 12/17/2008 09:30:00 PM
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// posted by Erik @ 12/12/2008 11:24:00 PM
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Just wanted to chime in here about the post-election polls. Given the extraordinarily high post-election numbers for Obama, the desire for change has been proven by numbers but the impatience of the American electorate combined with two unpopular wars and an collapsing economy, Obama is going to have to absolutely charm America to avoid collapsing approval ratings.

I hope he can do it. The best thing we can hoe for is hope.

Labels: 2008 elections, economy, obama, war

// posted by Erik @ 12/11/2008 10:50:00 PM
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Sri Lanka - A 48-year-old woman who was on her way to the Kandy High Court to be present as a witness in a case was attacked and trampled to death by a wild elephant en-route.

Labels: elephants amok

// posted by Erik @ 12/06/2008 09:14:00 AM
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As a rabid American-style leftist, I believe we should take a controlling stake in any company we bail out, but this letter to TPM was an eye-opener. Given the $billions we've granted the financial industry, denying the auto industry a fraction of that would be obscene.

Labels: economy

// posted by Erik @ 12/05/2008 07:04:00 PM
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Two are clearly the favorites ... click to create your own.

Labels: fun stuff

// posted by Erik @ 12/04/2008 10:04:00 PM
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A man was trampled to death and a home destroyed after sixteen wild elephants rampaged through a village on Indonesia's Sumatra island, officials said Wednesday. Villagers in Aceh province's Cot Pangee tried for days to scare away the elephants, yelling and making loud noises, but the animals instead became more aggressive, said Andi Basrul, of the Conservation and Natural Resources Agency.

Over the weekend, one elephant trampled to death a 30-year-old man and a group of 15 animals destroyed a house and tore through several acres (hectares) of farmland Tuesday, he said.

Villagers say they have increasingly been terrorized by the animals. In May 2007, wild elephants searching for food in a village inside the Bukit Barisan National Park on Sumatra island trampled to death a woman and her 3-year-old daughter. In October 2007, a wild elephant stepped on the head of a 14-year-old boy and killed him after the teenager's motorbike hit the animal on Sumatra island, where most of the country's 2,500 wild animals live.

Labels: elephants amok

// posted by Erik @ 11/28/2008 07:17:00 PM
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RANCHI, India: Rampaging tuskers trampled two people to death in Khuti district of Jharkhand on Monday, the police said.

According to the police, a herd of elephants entered into Husir village, around 70 km from here, early morning and trampled Budhu Gudia to death.

The same herd of elephants then killed Nathniyal Orayia in nearby Nimda village. The elephants also damaged a few houses in the two villages, said the police.

Labels: elephants amok

// posted by Erik @ 11/26/2008 07:21:00 PM
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No lie!

Labels: 2008 elections, stranger than fiction

// posted by Erik @ 11/23/2008 10:01:00 PM
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