Why do you tweet?

I saw a tweet from @Robin2go which had a hashtag, #psutlt. I looked up the hashtag, trying to find what she was talking about, and I found another tweet by @jeffswain talking about “Why do you tweet?” with the same hashtag. Jeff also has a blog, five-4-six,where he posted the same video. Here is my response.

Why do you tweet?

This is such a simple question but everyone finds it impossible to simply answer. It’s like asking why do you talk to people or why do you listen to people.

I tweet to and talk with and listen to people – like you Jeff – that I’ve never met but with whom I have something in common. I think of tweeting like a constant conversation taking place on the internet and twitter users can choose to join or listen. I think there is a little more transparency with twitter than with instant messages. So, I, like a lot of people, have more personal conversations on twitter.

I started my twitter account in October 2008. I didn’t really commit to tweeting until March 2009 at SXSW. It seemed like everyone there had an iPhone and was on twitter. I was actually blogging my notes from the conference and I found a nice API that would tweet my blog posts. So that why I started tweeting.

In October 2009, I went to HighEdWeb, and again everyone had an iPhone or a laptop, and it seemed like everyone was tweeting – constantly. I started reading the hashtags in tweets from the conference and putting a face with the presenters I was hearing. I realized then that they are people like me and twitter is another tool – like instant messengers – that we can use to have conversations. I also realized the difference from AIM is that twitter is a many-to-many conversation. The only limitation on how many people you can talk to is how many people follow you. Since HighEdWeb I’ve followed lots of people from the conference and we have shared several ideas about higher education.

Viral Video or Google Ad

I think this video was really an ad for Google – maybe one of the long, lost tapes.

It struck me last night as I was getting ready for bed that the colors in the video match Google almost perfectly. If “red” and “green” were switched the colors would match.
Source: YouTube – OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – RGM version.

First nuclear plant in 30 years

This is great news. I’m glad we finally got a power plant. I’ve been out of the nuclear game for 12 years, but I have always wanted more nuclear power in the United States.

The Obama administration yesterday (Feb 16, 2010) pledged a conditional $8.3 billion loan guarantee to support the construction of two nuclear reactors in Georgia, which would be the first new U.S. nuclear plants in more than three decades. Source: NYTimes.com | PETER BEHR | February 17, 2010 | DOE Delivers Its First, Long-Awaited Nuclear Loan Guarantee.

Thirty years ago a series of events led to the stoppage of nuclear power in the United States. The Three Mile Island accident occurred March 28, 1979. Then a severe recession began in December 1980 and the prime interest rate eventually reached 21.5% by June 1982. Nuclear power was deemed unsafe and too expensive.

Today, terrorism is more of a concern than accidents. Unfortunately for the industry I fear the results would be the same. If an attack was successful, I think the nuclear power industry in America would shift into reverse. Existing power plants would be taken offline, and their radioactive materials would be buried deep underground. I could be wrong. They might strengthen walls, increase security, and fight back, but that is less likely considering the tension between the public and nuclear energy.

Here’s an interesting comparison. In 1977 Crystal River began operating one PWR. Doing my ol’ back of the napkin calculations, the estimated cost (in 2006 dollars) to build would have been roughly $1,365,940,000. The an average overrun of 169% the actual cost would have been roughly $3,667,926,000. So, that tells me costs went up roughly 13%. This time its not inflation or interest its labor and materials that puts the price so high.

838 MW * $1,630,000/MW = $1,365,940,000

838MW * $4,377,000/MW = $3,667,926,000

teamsiems.com tagline

I don’t write about myself or this site too often, but I had a small epiphany about the tagline of teamsiems.com. Like every other story I can remember this story starts off with, “I was surfing around the web and….” I happened upon the Google’s Webmaster Tools website. This site lists, among other things, a ranking of your site’s pages in the Google search engine. It made me realize that visitors were coming to my site for some odd topics, and furthermore the tagline was basically lying or misrepresenting the content of teamsiems.com. After that revelation I wanted to fix it and make it more search engine friendly.

I started this site in 2006 as a sandbox to try new web technologies and techniques. In the back of my mind I always wanted to make this into a business. Here we are in 2010 and I have launched a few sites from here, but for the most part this site has become my collection of blog posts and PHP code. It’s time to acknowledge that this site will not become a business anytime soon and clearly state that this site, like my life, is a collection of odds and ends and (seemingly) random bits of information.

How do I reflect this idea on this site? I started with the tagline. I’ve burned through a few description tags and taglines since 2006, but the last one I wrote was done quickly and it only furthered the murky purpose of this site: organized chaos of a web developer. I am a web developer, but teamsiems.com really doesn’t have anything to do with web development.

I rewrote the tagline. It’s not as easy as it looks. It took me a while to think of a tagline that more accurately reflects the scope of this site: The Siems Team: observing life on the web. I think this is true. My name is Siems. I recently added more members to my family and it’s not a stretch to call us teamsiems. I think the last part is clever. I observe and collect information from the web and store it here – on the web.

So, until I change it again, this site will remain a collection of life taken from the web and saved on the web.

Memphis Ribs in Winter?

In my defense I offer two arguments: 1) it has been about 8 months since I made brisket, 2) tomorrow is the Super Bowl and (2.5) we had good weather today. I wanted some ribs so I found a recipe from Marlboro of all places and decided what the heck.

There is something you need to know about BBQ: all barbecue is not the same. And for god’s sakes don’t slap some barbecue sauce made in New Jersey on a rack of ribs and call it barbecue. I didn’t learn about barbecue styles until I came to Texas, but apparently there are 4 styles in the US.

Memphis style comes wet or dry. The wet is mopped with a mustard and vinegar sauce while cooking. The dry is made with a rub and not mopped.

Carolina style is rubbed and mopped with a vinegar sauce. Variants range from North to South Carolina.

Kansas City style depends on the sauce. The rubbed meat is smoked and then  served with sweet sauce at the table.

Texas is so big it has 4 regions of it own. From experience I can say Texas style is cooked with a rub and then a tomato-based sauce at the table – if you really need sauce. In fact they will probably call you a Yankee if you sauce your bbq; it’s all about the rub in Texas.

Well, I’m made wet and sloppy Memphis style ribs today. I rubbed them this morning and let them setup for 5 hours in the refrigerator. Then I made the mop sauce when I lit the gas grill. I setup the grill for indirect cooking as much as one can on a gas grill. For ribs its not really about the low and slow method. These ribs were supposed to cook within 2 hours.

Rub Ingredients

1/4 cup paprika
1 1/2 Tbsp black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp dark brown sugar firmly packed
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp celery salt
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
6 lbs pork ribs (I use two 3lbs racks of baby back ribs)

Mop Ingredients

1/4 cup prepared mustard
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp salt

The secret to tender ribs is to pull off the membrane on the back. Make a cut parallel with the ribs in the membrane and insert the knife under the membrane and gently pull it up. Then pull the rest of the membrane up with your fingers.

Combine the rub ingredients and rub about 2/3 on the ribs. Wrap in plastic-wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

When you wait for the grill to come to 200° F, combine the mop ingredients and set aside.

Cook the ribs 1 hour meat-side up then mop the top and let cook for another 30 minutes. Flip them over and mop and let cook for 30 minutes. Continue mopping and cooking for 30 minutes until you run out of mop sauce or the ribs are done. Be sure to check the temperature. I try to keep mine at 200° F the whole time. It took my ribs about 2 1/2 hours to cook.

I served my ribs with baked potatoes and baked beans.

High School Reunions Via Social Media

If it wasn’t for the Internet and the explosion of social media I probably would not know about my high school reunion. We started finding each other through email before the last reunion in 2000, but facebook, myspace and twitter make finding and communicating a lot easier and cheaper than some places (ClassMates.com). Although the other sites may have served a purpose in the past, social media sites are king today. They’re free and more and more people are using them for way more than class reunions.

Clearwater High School Class of 1990 (on Facebook)

Florida football is changing forever

Many are asking “Is Friday the last night of the Florida dynasty?” Source: ESPN. Friday, January 1, 2010, Florida plays Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, but it may be the last time (for a long time) they play in a bowl. Urban Meyer, the coach that led the Gators to 2 National Championships, suffered chest pains after the loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship. He said he will retire then he said he will take off indefinitely. Add to that his star quarterback, Tim Tebow, is graduating. Florida wont be the powerhouse again for several years, if ever.

At the same time, Florida State is retiring a legion, Bobby Bowden, after 33 years. Friday, FSU won against West Virginia in the Gator Bowl – it was his last game.

Finally, 2010, The Year We Make Contact

Is this the year we make contact? With whom, you might ask. Well, if you ask that then you don’t know what I’m talking about. The year 2010…the movie 2010…this is the year! Will we make contact with aliens? Who knows.

What I do know is what I remember thinking about what will happen in 2010. I thought I’ll turn 39 in 2010, and that sounded old. When I graduated high school my first thought was that my 10 year reunion will be in 2000, and my second thought was that my 20 year reunion will be in 2010. I thought maybe I would be working on space nuclear power by 2010.

Things I didn’t know would happen include the death of both of my parents before 2010. I never thought I would be married let alone on my second marriage by 2010; or have 3 step kids. I didn’t know I would be living in Texas for 15 years in 2010.

It’s easy to say, “I wish I knew then what I know now,” but the truth is “life is like a box of chocolates,” you really don’t know what you’re going to end up with. I wish my mom and dad could have lived forever, but they’re in a better place now than where they were a few years ago. I wish I only married once – to avoid that pain – but I’m glad I met my second wife.

I’ve changed quite a bit in 25 years since the movie came out. In 1984 I turned 13 years old in 6th grade. I wasn’t thinking too much about the future. I was concentrating on making good grades in 6 classes per day in a new school. It wasn’t too long before I would start focusing on what I would do in college and beyond.

In high school I started thinking about space nuclear power, specifically space ships and nuclear powered rockets. It wasn’t until I went to college that I learned we had already made nuclear powered rockets, but we should not expect to use them any time soon. It’s 2010 – about 50 years after the first test of a nuclear rocket – and we still don’t have a nuclear rocket.

German Sauerbraten – Patience Is Key To Perfection

Sauerbraten or “sour roast meat” is a dish that is marinated in a vinegar and herb solution for several days to break down the toughness of the meat. After marination, the meat is cooked for several hours like a traditional roast. Traditionally, sauerbraten is served with potato dumplings (Kartoffelklöße) and red cabbage (rotkraut or rotkohl).

I love sauerbraten and I wanted to share it with my new family. Because it takes 3 days to marinate and 3 hours to cook it requires patience, but I think it is worth it.

I started with a recipe from Cooks.com. My technique is to start with a recipe and make it my own by modifying it a little. For my version I chose bottom round of beef and added some uncooked bacon and Merlot wine to the marinade. I also warmed the marinade to a simmer to let all the flavors come out at the start. Then I let it sit in my refrigerator for 3 days. I turned the meat over every night.

When it was time to cook the meat I saved the marinade and brazed the meat until lightly brown on all sides. Then I put the meat into a baking dish and added some of the marinade’s carrots and onions and new water. I roasted the mixture in a 350 degree oven for 2.5 hours.

Meanwhile, I boiled carrots, celery, onions and the remaining vegetables from the marinade with some new water and the juice of the marinade. I also made the red cabbage and potato dumplings. When the meat was finished I made a quick gravy from some of the drippings, flour and water.

Original Ingredients

1 kg beef
1 onion
4 peppercorns
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1/4 liter vinegar
3/8 liter water
salt and pepper
sour cream
corn flour and water
Maggi liquid seasoning

All in all it came out alright. There were a few things I could have done better. I think one mistake I made was not covering the meat while it cooked. The meat was a little dry and not as tender as I wanted it. I also started cooking the vegetables too soon; they only need about 20 minutes to cook.

So remember, it takes patience and love to cook sauerbraten. If you take the time you will be rewarded in the end.

German Rouladen – A Warm Dish On A Cold Night

Rouladen or more precisely Rinderrouladen is a German dish made with thin beef, onions, pickles and mustard. There are many variations, but Rinderroulade uses these combination of ingredients.

I was in the mood for something from my German heritage so I settled on rouladen. At first I thought about sauerbraten, but then I thought it takes 3 days and my wife isn’t partial to vinegar.

I started with a recipe from RecipeZaar.com and made some changes. I substituted dill relish for chopped pickles and I added real-bacon bits from a jar to my cooked bacon. Since my wife’s stomach is more English-delicate than my German-hearty, I added the Dijon mustard to sour cream to cut the acidity.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs beef flank steak
4 teaspoons heavy German mustard or Dijon mustard, will do
6 slices bacon, diced
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped dill pickles
1/4 cup flour
1 (13 3/4 ounce) can beef broth

I started with cooking the bacon and onions on medium heat. I chopped 1/4 white onion into fairly large pieces and mixed it with 6 green onions chopped into medium pieces. While that was cooking I pounded 4 flank steaks to about 1/4 inch thickness. The mistake here was cooking the onions at the same time as the bacon. I should have cooked the bacon to almost done and then added the onions. Another mistake was green onions. I should have only used 1 whole white onion.

After the steak was thinned, I mixed the mustard with about 8 ounces of sour cream. (The sour cream was left over from another great meal I made the night before – .) I spread the mustard mixture over the meat, added the bacon and onions, then topped with relish. Then I rolled it up – starting from the thin side – and tied the roll with string.

I brazed the rolls in the bacon fat and set them in to a 6×9 glass dish. Into the bacon-steak-onion-pickle-mustard-broth flavored pan I added flour and 15 ounces of beef broth. I stirred this mixed until it was fairly creamy and then spooned it over the rolls. I added whole mushrooms just for something extra. (Steak and mushrooms always go good together.)

When the rolls were about 30 minutes from done I started the potato dumplings (Kartoffelklöße). I bought a box mix of potato balls so it was easy to make. I did put the optional cruton in the center of each ball just to be traditional.

The last thing to make was red cabbage. Actually, I bought a can of it from the store too. It was next to the potato dumplings and it’s so mush easier to make.

From start to finish it took me at about 4 hours to make this dish, but in the end it was worth it. I made a warm dish on a cold winter’s night worthy of any German restaurant.

Blue Beanie Day

November 30 is Blue Beanie Day. Fight bad code. Use Web Standards.

10 Years After Bonfire Collapse

Today, on the 10th anniversary of the Bonfire collapse at Texas A&M University, the mood is somber and reflective. We remember the 12 that died and the 27 that were injured. There are remembrances and stories of the past. The local television news on KBTX asked the question:

Where Were You When Bonfire Fell?
As a community marks ten years since 12 Aggies lost their lives, people are remembering where they were and what they were thinking a decade ago. Source: Where Were You When Bonfire Fell? | KBTX.com

My post was as follows (I know I misspelled St. Joseph.)

I was with my ex-wife in the St. Joesph emergency room. She was waiting for a shot for a migraine when the nurse came in and said we had to leave. She said that Bonfire collapsed, and they were receiving several injured.

Collapse of Bonfire 1994

As I blogged earlier, the debate about Bonfire’s return is still going on after 10 years. The governor, and former Aggie, Rick Perry, thinks it will come back to campus, maybe as soon as 2010, but he left it up to the Board of Regents and the students.

Lest we  forget, in 1994, the stack collapsed as seen in this picture from youtube.com. Two cases of collapse – although for different reasons – should stand as a reminder that stacking thousands of trees upright is very dangerous. Even if they are engineered to stand-up, gravity wins out sometimes. With that amount of risk, and its safety record, I don’t see how any insurance company will cover the cut, build and burn of Bonfire.

I also think burning thousands of logs is not only dangerous (sparks can fly for miles) but it is very ecologically irresponsible. I thought that the first time I heard of Bonfire (1995) and I think that now. I’m not a tree-hugger, but I don’t cherish the thought of billions of tons of CO2 going into the atmosphere for nothing – no homes are being heated, no electricity is created, no waste is being consumed.

…burning a tree is the carbon equivalent of driving a gas-guzzling SUV 15,000 miles a year. Source: SUVs vs. Trees, CO2 Emissions & The Environment

Better or Worse Getting to HighEdWeb 2009

Worse

What’s worse, 40 minutes of a bumpy airplane ride or the guy sitting next to you is big as an ox and he sneezes. What’s worse, the cab driver sounds like he has emphysema or arriving in a strange city with $40 in your pocket and the cab costs $30. What’s worse, the annoyingly catchy tune blaring from the cell phone in the next hotel room or the person that kept calling and burning that tune into my head.

Better

What’s better, getting to Milwaukee for #heweb09 or having laughs, beer and good times with some of the folks presenting. What’s better, crashing a private party at Mo’s or finding the private-private party that was behind the private party. What’s better, finding hidden cash to buy a couple beers or paying a single-digit tab for several beers.

If I return home without gaining 10 lbs because of all the beer and good food in Milwaukee or returning without swine flu – those would be good things. Learning something I can put in to practice at my shop or getting some swanky swag – those would be good things.

Let Geek Camp begin.

If Bonfire Returns

On this, the 8th anniversary of the “9/11″ terror attack and collapse of the Twin Towers, are Aggies seriously considering bringing back Bonfire to the Texas A&M campus in College Station?

Paul Burka, Governor Rick Perry, even former university president Ray Bowen, and others have made mention – at least in passing – that Bonfire can/should return to campus and burn again.

Why does Burka keep harping on Bonfire? The words that are said and the way they are said makes it seem like Ags are hell-bent on melting the polar ice caps and raising the average global temperature a few degrees.

Not only is Bonfire dangerous – no matter who builds it – but it’s evironmentally insane. It needlessly forces tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. I thought it was crazy when I first heard about it in 1995, and I still think that it’s crazy to “build” something as massive as Bonfire and then BURN it!

I’m all for traditions. Traditions build unity and keep the past fresh. Aggie Muster is an example of a Tradition. First Yell is an example of a good Tradition. Bonfire is a good example of putting people at risk during “cut” and “build” and contributing to the harm of future generations during “burn”. I think it’s time to put Bonfire to rest and maybe say a prayer (or have a moment of silence) on November 18.

Source: Burkablog: Texas Monthly.

UPDATE:
From an e-mail from Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, Interim President
September 15, 2009
There is a lot of discussion about bringing Bonfire back to campus as we prepare to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. Bonfire brings out strong emotions in all of us. As an Aggie, interim president – and father – I believe that the parents who entrust us with their sons’ and daughters’ education expect us to first and foremost do what we can to help ensure their children’s physical safety and well-being. Please keep the families of the Aggies affected by the tragic collapse of Bonfire in your thoughts and prayers as we look ahead to November’s 10th anniversary.

25th Annual Kolache Festival

Repost from http://www.burlesoncountytx.com/Kolache%20Pages/Kolache%20Festival.html

Come be Czech for a day! 25th Annual Kolache Festival - Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Kolache Festival is a celebration of the revitalization of Czech heritage… a county that was basically a Czech settlement realized their precious identity was slipping away. New generations knew not the language, the music or the art of their ancestors. Not only do we grasp at the past, but we hurry to share the history…to bring into today’s focus the beauty, talent, and delight of the Czech people.

Come to the Kolache Festival and learn the wonderful Czech philosophy. See the technique of stenciling, basket weaving, egg decorating, quilting, woodcraft, carving, sculpturing. Dance to the polka, and sing the songs of the musician. Taste the true ethnic food and lend your soul to the fulfillment of the Czech cultural heritage.

Laboring on Labor Day

If you’re lucky enough to have a job, you may be one of the 25 Million that have to work on Labor Day – the day Congress intended workers to rest.

Social media outlets – as par – don’t slow down on holidays. In fact, traffic increases on networks like facebook or twitter. A (very) few have even used the weekend to their advantage: eHarmony was promoting free days.

End of Days

In January, 2009, I watched a television program on the History channel that talked about the End of Days. I’ve since searched and read about other people that watched this program and blogged about it. Below is what I wrote in my blog with an addition about Nostradamus. I added the bit about Nostradamus after watching another History channel program on September 6, 2009.

The Mayan calendar predicts that December 21, 2012, is a significant day, maybe the end of days. Nostradamus also predicted (or so modern people say) that the end would occur during the winter solstice of 2012. We call it the predictions of the Galactic Alignment.

But what about computers you ask. The financial apocalypse may occur on January 19, 2038. That represents Unix Time value of 2147483647 or 3:14:07 GMT.

And now, in 2009, Hollywood is getting in on the act (profiting) with the movie, “2012” which is set to open November 13, 2009.

In my opinion, the Galactic Alignment is the apex of gravitational pull and probably magnetic and other radiations. It may trigger catastrophe on the earth, but (all things being equal on either side of the apex) in 2042 we should see environmental conditions that we saw in 1982. In other words it’s part of a cycle. Like the seasons, environmental affects come and go and come again; two words “ice ages.”

keywords: 2012, 12.20.2012, Mayan Calendar, Mayan Prophecy, End of Days, Apocalypse, Bible Prophecy, Conspiracy Theory, Illuminati, New World Order, End World, Doomsday, End Times, Unix, Epoch.

UWEB Lightning Talk Notes 09-04-2009

What little I wrote down is here. There is a couple good links.

Robert: who makes user experience design

Stephanie: WordPress content import plugin.

Also see: wordoff.org

Rob:  SVG

Plain text (XML). It can be manipulated by JavaScript (DOM).

Monty:  Standard module format

Also see: Yahoo Theather

At the end we had an open discussion where we talked about good resources to learn technologies of the web.

One byproduct of the talk was a resource for handling javascript in IE7 at http://dean.edwards.name/IE7/

For more information about the Lightning Talks or other topics the uWeb group talks about go to http://uweb.tamu.edu/

Did you hear about “Cap and Trade”

In case you missed this one – I almost did – it sounds like the tree huggers tried to slip a fast one through congress: Senators Spend Recess Fine-Tuning Messages on Cap and Trade – NYTimes.com.

If ever there was a time to look at nuclear it is now. Actually, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved several “small” and “clean” reactor designs.

The industry has been working on something smaller, cheaper, standardized, and easy to build since construction on new plants ended nearly 20 years ago. The double digit interest rates of the 80’s combined with attitudes after Three Mile Island (TMI) crippled the nuclear industry. Clean, safe, and easy-to-build nuclear power is not only possible but essential for the future of U.S. energy need.

Read more than the headline

A headline on KBTX.com read

Texas to Receive Millions of H1N1 Doses.

Oh no, we’ll all be infected!

Of course, the lead says we are going to receive receive millions of doses of novel H1N1 vaccinations.

Even that isn’t quite right. We will probably receive millions of does of vaccine which then must be administered as vaccinations.

The point, read more than the headline.