Only xxx Days Until Christmas

I don't really know how many and it seems too early to figure it out, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't start getting your gifts (or at least your gift list) in order.

Let's start with today's CoV right up front. I don't normally do this, so let's mess with tradition. I channeled my inner Neo PM.

Do you ever try to take 'macro' photos? You know. Those kind of shots that focus in on small objects? Here is one taken for MBH, who always likes the golden aspen leaves that have fallen onto evergreen branches.

Another macro shot taken that same afternoon is the rain drops clinging to an aspen leaf right outside our patio door.

Here are some golden leaves still hanging on the aspen tree.

And here is another flower from the same day as one I posted on Oct 27.

I saw this clever article in an AITS newsletter and thought a couple of points in it were clever. It will be most fun for those of you who have toiled, or are currently toiling, in a large company.
The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered by materials researchers. The new element, tentatively named Administratium, has no protons or electrons, and thus has an atomic weight of 0. However, it does have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons, and 111 assistant vice neutrons. This gives it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together in a nucleus by a force that involves the continuous exchange of particles called morons.
Since it has no electrons, Administratium is totally inert. However, it can be detected chemically, since it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. According to its founders, a tiny amount of Administratium caused one reaction to take over four days to complete; the normal reaction time is less than one second.
Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years, at which time it does not actually decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which neutrons, vice neutrons, and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Studies have shown that the atomic mass usually increases after each reorganization.
Research at other laboratories indicates that Administratium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points, such as governmental agencies, large corporations, and universities. Scientists point out that Administratium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can easily destroy any productive reactions where it is allowed to accumulate. Attempts are being made to determine how Administratium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results to date are not promising.

Are you into graphs of interesting data? Well, even if you are not, this article presents a really fascinating look at how well professional basketball players shoot from various distances on the court.

More funny business signs:
In a Restaurant window: Don't stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up.
At a Car Dealership: The best way to get back on your feet: miss a car payment.

More patient hospital charts:
The patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
The patient's medical record has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40-pound weight gain in the past three days.

I was reading a NY Times story about the Bono-iTunes mess a couple of months ago when they pushed their new album out to out accounts (for free), even if we didn't order it. There was an interesting tidbit that i thought you might like. "Almost exactly a decade ago, Steve Jobs was accompanied on stage by U2 when he introduced an odd-sounding device called the iPod and a marketplace for music called iTunes. Even now, every time a listener presses the artist button on iTunes, their thumb lands on a silhouette of Bono’s head." I did not know whose head that was in the launch icon. Did you?

We had a nice time with KLIK+JV and D-I-L's family this weekend up north in the cooler country. Everybody should take off a Friday as a mental health day and just relax. Go ahead, you have my permission.

Looks like I have reached my personal size limit for today's post. Anything else I might have shared can wait for another day. You, however, cannot wait, so go get Monday started. As John Wayne uttered in The Cowboys, "We're burning daylight." (Quick research on the interweb shows the phrase may have originated with Shakespeare in Act 1, Scene 4, of Romeo and Juliet)