The Sputterly Utter

More Favorite Shows

I've been listening to podcasts and watching videos a lot on my phone. My current favorites are TED Talks and the Scientific American Podcast.

Some Favorites:
J.J. Abrams' mystery box
Isabel Allende tells tales of passion
A.J. Jacobs, My Year of Living Biblically
Keith Barry does brain magic
Michael Moschen juggles rhythm and motion
Amy Tan on creativity
The Jill and Julia Show
Pamelia Kurstin plays the theremin
Michael Pollan gives a plant's-eye view
The Long and Winding Road: DNA Evidence for Human Migration; Plus July Issue Highlights
One Singular Sensation: Will We Upload Our Brains, and Other Questions Related to "The Coming Singularity"

I liked the SciAm Podcast about giant pumpkins, but I can't find it on their site. In iTunes you just get one big list of titles. Much easier.

Captcha

I'm not very good at captchas. They make me wonder sometimes if maybe I am a robot after all. This is a screenshot of an actual captcha that a friend of mine got today.

Taking Your Dog to Germany

It took me an hour on the phone to make arrangements for Sam to get to Berlin on the same flight as us. I figure other people could profit from the information I've gathered, though of course you should verify for yourself, too, because these things can change.

When we came over from Paris six years ago, we found the airline with the cheapest dog transport and Erik came over a week later than Vigo and I, with Sam. I remember it all having been fairly straightforward and not terrifically expensive. This time, I got our tickets all together first and then called our airline (Continental) to make the reservation for Sam. I recommend anyone taking a dog to investigate costs for the dog between airlines like we did the first time around. It turns out that Continental has a pretty fancy pet cargo service, including climate control so pets can travel in the summer, which is great. The down side is that it looks like it cost us over $1000 to get Sam to Berlin. The pet transport wasn't any great shakes, either. Sam wasn't let out of her box for the entire trip which lasted just under 18 hours. She did have water, but she was pretty miserable.

So, here's the basic information. Our Sam weighs about 60 pounds and is a fairly big shepherd / pointer / maybe poodle.

The Carrier

* There has to be 3" of clearance from the dog's head to the roof of the kennel.
* The dog has to be able to stand up and turn around inside it.
* The kennel has to be ventilated on all four sides.
* There have to be two dishes attached to the door for food and water.
* Taped to the top of the carrier should be a note saying what time the dog ate last and a ziploc bag containing a small amount of dry dog food.
* The floor of the kennel has to be covered with absorbant material like old towels or blankets, shredded newspaper, etc.

Paperwork and Health Stuff

* The animal cannot be sedated for the trip.
* The animal has to have either a tattoo or a microchip.
* A veterinary health certificate, also called an EU Journal, in English and German, is required. This is a form your vet should give you. It's a thing in several copies with carbon sheets inside, like an export form.
* A rabies vaccination certificate older than 21 days but issued within the past 12 months is required.
* An international health certificate issued within the ten days prior to the flight is needed. It's not that easy to find the English/German form. Someone at the USDA helped me find a pdf. Don't count on your vet having the right form. You might have to bring your own, like I did.
* All your paperwork has to be stamped by the USDA. Be sure to get your veterinary visit far enough ahead of time (but not more than ten days!!) so you can get your paperwork to the USDA and back. This part cost me over $50 in Fedex charges because I only found out about it at the last minute and had to scramble. When I got to Berlin, I discovered that the vet at the USDA had forgotton to sign the papers in one spot, so double-check your USDA papers and if you see a missing signature, forge it yourself. Or go back to the USDA to get it signed, but seriously... no one will be the wiser. It's really the stamp that counts. The USDA vet doesn't even see the animal, for crying out loud! But the Germans are in love with the minor hassle and they will give you one if you are missing the tiniest thing.

Complicated stuff

* Sam has to be at Newark at least two hours prior to departure of our international flight. Since our layover is only 90 minutes, she has to go to Newark on an earlier flight than us.
* You need to deliver your dog to the cargo handlers three hours before your flight. For us that means 9:30 am in Boston.
* If the dog is in transit more than 18 hours, she has to have an onsight exam, which costs money of course. Luckily for us, Sam will not be in transit 18 hours.
* You cannot bring a dog from Germany to the US on a Continental 747 because of weight restrictions. Luckily, we are only taking her one way.
* The largest kennel that will fit in the plane Sam is taking to Newark is an xtra large. If she were to need a jumbo, we'd be screwed. I think an xlarge will be fine.
* Cargo can only be officially booked 7 days in advance, but you can reserve a spot for your dog four months in advance. You get a record number and then you call a week ahead of time to get your confirmation number.
* Berlin Tegel does not take animals on the weekends at all.

Cost

* The weight cost is calculated for the dog and the carrier. It will be about $1000 for Sam on Continental.
* There is also a variable per pound fuel surcharge. It's at about $2 now and will be higher when we are ready to leave.
* Import fee is 50 euros.
* Handling fee is 15 euros.
* Customs can charge you whatever they damn well please. Don't complain to Continental about that.

Now that it's all written up, it feels less daunting. I'll have to find someone with a van to take us to the airport.

Extra Bummer Spam

Spam is always a drag, but the last couple days I have been getting one subject line in my email that I find particularly unfortunate: "What a stupid face you have here Tracy."

It's really beginning to depress me. I don't need to hear those words in my head every time I look at my email. Time for a filter, I guess.

Maybe I should set up a robot to spam myself with junk email with headers like, "Tracy, you are amazing!" and "I love you Tracy."

"You are smart and pretty, Tracy"
"Your hair looks great today Tracy"
"Tracy, you are so right."

Haiku Friday

My favorite post from the Boston Live Journal haiku Friday thread

This isn't a haiku,
it only looks like one,
I didn't count shit.

What's the Difference: Helvetica & Arial

For a while now, I've been thinking about a regular blog feature called "What's the Difference" wherein I'll explain the differences between two similar things. I thought I had done one years ago on this blog's ancestor the Utterly Sputter about the differences between alligators and crocodiles, but I can't find it now, so maybe I only thought about writing it.

With any luck, this will be the beginning of a new era of regular blog features. What's the Difference, installment one. Helvetica & Arial.

Arial is the Microsoft clone of Helvetica. They are extremely similar, but you can tell them apart with a few letters.

This article lays it out for your clearly. Once you've studied, or if you prefer, before you study, you can quiz yourself.

Hair

I saw this great video today on BoingBoing. I love anything that keeps illustrators in business, and this is really lovely.

Cool Things I Like

Stereoscopic Cameras
The Stereoscopic Lens cap
Loreo Stereo Camera (no longer being manufactured! What a shame!)

Garter Belts (I wear tall socks)
Bare Necessities
Sock Dreams

Button Makers
(I'm hoping to come across one at a thrift store now that I know what they look like)

Dramatic Tea (I just got a glass teapot at the Salvation Army)
Xian Kang
Blooming Flower
Teaposies
Rising Sun
Lily Basket
Golden Prosperity
Awakening Spirit
Jasmine Fairy Maidens

Patron Saints

Anita was working this morning on a translation about Saint Catherine Laboure and I did a little searching to see if I could figure out if that really is the woman's corpse or not at the rue de bac. Seems to be so, though it's hard to believe.

This led me to a webpage listing saints' patronages. Botulph is the patron saint of Boston. The patron saint of computers, computer users, and computer technicians is Isidore of Seville. Mental Illness has many patrons. Narcissus and Saint Mark the Evangelist share the patronage of insect bites. Narcissus lived as a hermit in the desert and probably then suffered from all kinds of flea bites and such, but Mark has no fewer than 19 patronages. It seems unfair to make Narcissus share the one measly patronage he has. Mark has Egypt, Venice, lawyers and scrofulous diseases. Hardly seems fair.

Spiderweb Farm

On our way home from Vermont recently, at a particularly commodious rest area, a flyer for Spiderwed Farm caught my eye. "Home of the 'original web site'", it boasted. Today I finally got around to checking it out.

"REAL SPIDER WEBS ARE HARVESTED -

collected by Will Knight. The colorless, fragile web of an orb-weaving spider called Araneidae is first brought to light by painting. It is then transferred by hand to a wooden plaque where it is protected with a fine furniture finish to assure a lifetime of enjoyment for all web lovers."

I bet these are kind of amazing in real life, too bad the pictures aren't a little better. I'm sure they don't do the work justice. I bet these are hard to dust.

Nanowrimo

Nanowrimo. I don't stand a chance of finishing. Do I? So far I am 0 for 5 or 6 or however many years I've signed up.

I got pretty far last year.

I think I have a better chance at Drawmo.

Mother's Little Helper

Recently, in a wine shop in Medford, I saw a display of wine marketed to a fairly obvious target market: exhausted mothers. I'm amazed I never saw anyone doing this before. A pregnant woman, especially in America, spends nine or more months without a drink. Then she gives birth, which at its best is a somewhat traumatic experience. Her entire life has changed. A whole new layer of potential stress and guilt has been laid atop her existence (and joy and wonder, but those aren't the ones that make you say, "I could sure use a drink," so I'm glossing over for now).

I found this marketing gambit pretty ballsy, here in Puritanical Massachusetts. I wonder who's behind it. "Mommy's Time Out." Brilliant! And notice, the display is empty.

The store's attempt to market wine to die-hard Red Sox fans, to the left of the Mommy's Helper box, was slightly less successful. Those guys are already drinking beer. The idea of putting baseball players' faces on wine seems like as bad an idea as Mommy's Helper is a great one. Wine drinkers won't like it, and neither will jocks and baseball fans.

Here's another wine targeting mommy, though with slightly less hutzpah and humor.

That label says to me, "I'm so drunk that my child has become nothing more than a colorless, fuzzy sketch to me. Hope she keeps up, 'cause I'm not stopping now."

Mystery Package

This just came for me via registered mail to J & D's address in Portland. I have no idea what it is.

My Favorite Shows

If you aren't already listening to This American Life and Radio Lab, I highly recommend you check them out. I especially am enjoying Radio Lab these days.