In previous experiments I grew Red Lion amaryllis bulbs in 7:1 ratio of water to vodka 80˚ (40% alcohol by volume) and achieved a pretty stout, self-standing, amaryllis bulb growing indoors on liquid. The control on plain water grew tall, spiked well but — as is typical — the foliage fell over and needed support (see suggested reading links below).

My aim now is to see how much larger and taller I can sprout an amaryllis bulb on a dilution of alcohol before the foliage gets leggy and the leaves topple over: I want to determine the minimum dilution of alcohol to use for maximum results.

The original ratio of 7:1 vodka 80˚ (40% alcohol by volume) to water is 1/8th of 40% or just 5% alcohol. This year I’m trying (a) weaker dilutions of alcohol to put less stress on the growth — 4.1% and 3% respectively — and (b) I’m using less expensive and more easily obtained isopropyl alcohol rather than the ethanol or grain alcohol I used in all my previous experiments.

Using 70% Isopropyl Alcohol, the math looks like this …

• 13:1 water to 70% Isopropyl Alcohol = 5% (1/14th of 70%)
• 16:1 water to 70% Isopropyl Alcohol = 4.1% (1/17th of 70%)
• 22:1 water to 70% Isopropyl Alcohol = 3% (1/23rd of 70%)

Having previously used and proved a 5% dilution I now made up the following solutions to test, respectively, on two large Red Lion amaryllis bulbs …

• 480ml water plus 30ml 70% Isopropyl Alcohol = 510ml of 4.1% alcohol
• 440ml water plus 20ml 70% Isopropyl Alcohol = 480ml of 3% alcohol

Both bulbs will sprout on water for ten days before being drained off and put on the booze. That’s where this post begins. It’ll evolve with appended updates describing the progress of these bulbs.

NOTEBOOK

10/22/2009 Thursday: Planted two large Red Lion amaryllis bulbs on water.
11/02/2009 Monday: Drained off the water after 10 days and replaced with dilutions of 3% and 4.1% alcohol respectively. Growth 3%=3.25″, 4.1%=3″ (measured from base to tip of foliage).

Suggested reading: The Amaryllis Experiment: Part I, Part II, Part III | A tipple of Gin at the office …

I watched a rerun of an episode of The Big Bang Theory tonight, called The Vartabedian Conundrum. It originally aired on CBS on 8th December, 2008. I paused on the vanity card, a benefit of having TiVo, to read the joke — they’re often funny — excepting, this time, I wasn’t laughing. I thought it was offensive.

Vanity card #231 reads “I believe that inherent within the God-given right to the pursuit of happiness, is the equally God-given right to the pursuit of unhappiness. That is why I support gay marriage.”

Several of Chuck’s cards have been censored by CBS (e.g. #217), so it’s not as though the broadcaster isn’t paying attention.

How do you read card #231? Gay people deserve to be unhappy for wanting to get married? Why should only straight people suffer the misery of marriage? Something different? I’m not sure, but it doesn’t resonate well with me. Help me out here and comment on what you think it means and answer the question: Is this offensive?

Suggested reading: Chuck Lore’s vanity cards, by number | The Big Bang Theory TV Show | Variety’s article Vanity cards let Lorre sound off

In spite of full 3G signal strength AT&T’s service in New York City doesn’t have the bandwidth to squeeze in another 160 characters. It’s bad and rapdily getting worse!

Enabled from your blog’s Dashboard>My Blogs under the “Publicize” column check on Twitter. Complete the authorisation process after you click on the “Enable” button. A yellow box appears below your Twitter check-off in which you request a link to Twitter. I was already signed onto my Twitter account so Twitter simply asked for my consent to link then switched me back to WordPress.

Now, when posting a new story, amongst the “Publish” control’s you get the “Publicize: Twitter” option already enabled to tweet an update of your post. “Edit” if you want to uncheck Twitter updates but more especially to add a custom message to your Tweet. WordPress will append a short URL to your update in the form of http://wp.me/s0m3th1ng.

This post will, in fact, be the first post that I tweet automatically via this new functionality!

The audio levels on my iPhone movies are too low. My music is loud enough and can be increased beyond my comfort levels. Movie soundtracks are, however, too soft even when the volume control is maxed out. Why the disparity in sound levels? Not sure. I’m time-shifting movies from DVDs using Handbrake, perhaps this app is to blame?

Here’s how to work around it …

In your iTunes Movies library, before you synch up your iPod or iPhone …

Select all movies
File>Get Info
Select the Options tab
Slide the Volume Adjustment up from None to 100%
Click “Ok”

If asked, acknowledge that you’re changing multiple files through this action!

Of course you can and probably should change the settings on individuals movie files as you add them to iTunes.

Synch up! Your movies should be loud enough, although still not equal to the maximum volume you can crank your music up to!

This slide show illustrates how my nephew Mark had a family heirloom jug professionally restored.

Headstones with age and initials only: What’s the story behind this interesting find?

There are several aspects of geocaching I most enjoy: In rough order of preference they are the exposure to locations I would not otherwise have visited, the history that goes with it, the occasional opportunity for urban exploration, the follow up research it inspires — and the technology which drives it. Of course many geocaches don’t meet all the criteria, but we look for those that do.

On a recent trip to discover colleges for our daughter Bo-Ashley we stopped in at Geneseo, New York. Bright and early one morning, before visiting SUNY Geneseo, we went geocaching for GC1FDBD To each his stone by Lucky46, whose profile picture is a piece of history in itself!

First a tip of the hat to the cache itself: A custom made container, submerged in the ground, that is completely natural and not out of place from above. More than that would be to spoil the enjoyment of uncovering this hide for yourself.

Next is the obvious question begged by headstones bearing age and initials only, why? Lucky46 answers that himself in the cache description “many long years ago there was a “Poor House” or County Home, as it were, north of the Lake Conesus Geneseo Road and west of where Walmart now stands. The buildings still stand. The larger in some disrepair. The others being used as businesses. It was also lesser known as an asylum. The poor souls buried here are said to have died at this institution, and their stones were only provided with initials and their age to protect their families from embarrassment.”

The graves are located here: 42°47′57.95″ N 77°47′9.22″ W.

The ruin of the Livingston County House is located here: 42°47′56.85″ N 77°47′29.17″ W

Back home we did some more research into this “poor house” and came upon the Livingston County House, Geneseo, New York — which I believe describes the institution referred to in Lucky46’s cache.

Now here’s where you have just got to love the Google Books project for out of print books: In the Princeton library there exists a copy of the Annual report of the State Board of Charities of the State of New York published by the State Board of Charities for the year 1903 wherein the Livingston County House, Geneseo, New York is described — in more detail than the clip shown above.

In a follow up email Lucky46 writes “Howdy, I’m glad to see you enjoyed my To Each His Stone cache, and thank you for the nice log. Just wanted to mention that I also have a cache at the poor house you took the photo at. Check out GC1GTXG it is the prequel to the one you did. Thanks again and happy caching.” Unfortunately we didn’t know about it at the time. We thought we only had time for one quick find — but this one was so close, we were right there, I wish we had done more research on site.

Suggested reading: Development of New York State Institutions 1800 – 1850, Livingston County House | Geocaches GC1FDBD To each his stone and GC1GTXG The Poor House-To Each His Stone; The Prequel

This awesome, albeit fake, movie trailer was created by YouTuber whoiseyevan a self-proclaimed broadcaster who says of himself “I’m a writer/filmmaker trying to get his big break. The videos on my channel were posted to show-off some of my editing, directing, and art direction skills.” Well this kid is off to a pretty good start!

So here’s something that Apple’s GUI gurus didn’t get right: How to save draft email in the iPhone’s Mail application.

Stop writing. Hit “Cancel” (1), yes, I know, that doesn’t feel right or comforting. But then up pops the option to “Save” (2) your email. You’ll then find it in your “Drafts” (3) folder.