Who has time for a journal?

Hyphens

2022-03-18T05:53:43Z

My local weekly newspaper, the Milpitas Post, can still wow me sometimes, even if a "former reputable newspaper" now owns it. The "pay-for-play" was clear, but the equally alliterative "jail-in-jury case" in the next paragraph had me flummoxed. I'm not sure it's ever OK to break a line mid-word in a multi-word hyphenated phrase.

Of course, the hyphenation isn't a problem in the web version (where my copy/paste is faster than the paywall pop-up):

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/03/10/santa-clara-county-sheriff-laurie-smith-tells-staff-she-wont-seek-re-election/

Smith now faces seven formal corruption accusations from the county’s civil grand jury, which began a probe last fall at the urging of the supervisors. The jury’s accusations focused on the gun-permit scandal, as well as a high-profile jail-injury case and an aborted investigation that followed. If the accusations go to trial and a jury finds her guilty of just one of any count, the verdict would compel her removal from office.

The printed version, however, has too many hyphenations at the ends of lines, because the columns of text are too narrow:

[...] indicted two of

her commanders on charges

that they brokered a pay-

for-play scheme trading sel-

dom-issued concealed-carry

weapons permits for polit-

ical donations.

[...]

Smith now faces seven

formal corruption accusa-

tions from the county’s civil

grand jury, which began a

probe last fall at the urging

of the supervisors. The ju-

ry’s accusations focused on

the gun-permit scandal, as

well as a high-profile jail-in-

jury case and an aborted in-

vestigation that followed.

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Vaccination

2021-03-11T22:33:27Z

Woo-Hoo! Today I got my first Covid vaccination (Moderna), with follow-up appointment in 4 weeks, April 8th. My best guess for why I got an email inviting me to sign up is having Kaiser medical coverage via Stanford University (as an early retiree, but I won't question it). California is currently limited to age 65+ or essential workers including all education jobs. I'd looked for appointments with pharmacies (Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreens), but the web checklists only seemed to include staff at grades K-12, not colleges.

Meanwhile, Jonathan (age 65+) got his first shot via the county health department, and was due for his second shot today. Yesterday, they sent email to cancel his appointment (lack of vaccine supplies), saying he should use Kaiser. Kaiser's web forms only show an option for a first vaccine dose. I asked about that while waiting the 15 minutes afterward (no side effects at all yet), and they said just sign up as a 1st dose, then bring the previous vaccination card and let them know it's really a 2nd dose. That's about what I guessed last night when we booked his appointment for tomorrow.

We're using the Fremont/Pacific Commons Kaiser clinic in Alameda County even though we live in Santa Clara County (but we're near the border -- the houses across the street have their back yards in Alameda County). It's less than 15 minutes away by car, and seemed very streamlined for vaccinating, as opposed to the Gilroy Valley Health Center at the far end of the county, 45 minutes away (plus Friday evening rush hour traffic), where they seemed slow and disorganized, and his follow-up appointment had already been moved to Gilroy High School.

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Harry Potter and the Pangolin of Doom

2020-04-12T17:18:21Z

In the Harry Potter books, there are several scenes in divination class where Harry tries to use the crystal ball to see the future, and he just makes up something vague, writing down whatever pops into his head at the last minute. And yet, several of those predictions come true (for example, a hippogriff flies away).

Maybe the same thing happens when Donald Trump falls asleep while tweeting:
2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covfefe
2019-2020, SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

The similarity is spooky. How can you accidentally get "fe" twice? Are the first SARS virus and MERS so different that the numbering should skip MERS, or was it the fe-and-fe of fate?

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C-1 Singing Call figures

2018-12-10T18:49:22Z

Disclaimer: I haven't done proofreading. It is possible
that these may include a typo or two, and it is possible that some
calls that were once on the C-1 list have since been dropped
(although I've included substitutions for Curlique/Curlicross where
not already included). You may want to call these figures to a
strong C-1 group to verify their correctness and/or list-accuracy.

General Disclaimer: These are not intended to be "Easy" or
"Vanilla" C-1. Most of these figures go beyond the standard
applications of the calls. The first few times through each figure,
the choreography is unlikely to seem smooth and flowing, because the
dancers will need to stop and think, or stop and see the formation.
Once familiar, it should be possible to dance each figure in about
48 beats of music, leaving 16 beats (2 musical tag lines) for the
Swing and Promenade. Only the easiest and least-interesting figures
would be appropriate "cold" in a singing call.
---
Stewart Kramer

***
( Read more... )

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C-4 Singing call "Only You"

2018-12-10T18:45:56Z


WORK SWING CHAIN: 4 LADIES CENTER, TEACUP LIKE A DAISY
only you, can make this change in me
for it's true - you are my destiny
when you hold my hand i understand
the magic that you do - you're my dream come true
my one and only you
only you can make the darkness bright
when you're thru, let's have those HEADS STEP RIGHT
MYSTIC TOUCH 1/4 and, EXPAND THE COLUMN
then TAG BACK AND DODGE -- you're the one that i, TAKE 2
a FUNNY GOOD SHOW TWICE and FLARE THE STAR
only you, can MIRROR HOT FOOT SPIN
only you, can TRADE YOUR NEIGHBOR IN
PICK AND CHOOSE: WITH FINESSE AND
CENTRAL STRUT RIGHT (INTO THAT SPACE) - with a CRAZY SWITCH
my one and only you.
only you, DIVIDE THE OCEAN RIGHT
then SPLASH IN, and CROSS FLIP -ER'S DELIGHT
you're the one that i sing lyrics to,
CROSS FLIP BACK AND DODGE - you're the one that i, TAKE 4
a STROLL DOWN THE LANE -- and then CHANGE LANES
only you, 1/4 CHAIN AND CIRCULATE IN
only you, 1/2 TAG AND TRIXIE SPIN
in this chaos, you're AN ANCHOR,
EVERYBODY ROLL, CENTERS 3 SQUARE 2 AND 1, THE 2'S
 RUN RIGHT AND ROLL, and LINES (DIXIE
SASHAY) THRU, INTERLOCKED FLIP THE DIAMOND AND ROLL,
SASHAY THRU, THE K and RUN AWAY
CENTERS CROSS SASHAY, THE PULLEY BUT
go 4 STEPS AT A TIME and you'll PASS THE TOP
and then, WORK ONCE-REMOVED: and CATCH TOP 2
only you, can 2-FACED HOT FOOT SPIN
only you, 1/4 CHAIN AND CIRCULATE IN
when you're there, you'll ACEY DEUCEY
and PROMENADE BACK HOME
you're my dream come true, my one and only you
LEFT ALLEMANDE and SWING,
you're my dream come true, my one and only you!
***
A few comments: Swing Chain Teacup Like a Daisy replaces 3/4 stars
with 1/4 stars, so each star is either 1/4 or 5/4.  The double arm
turns are not required, because it is being danced symmetrically so
no one is using up time waiting for the three stars in a row.  The
pattern, for those who don't want to figure it out on their own, is
Star R 1/4, L turn r-h man, R turn partner, L turn r-h man(="back"),
R turn partner, Star L 5/4, R turn corner, Star L 1/4(="back", but
star would have been 3/4 so it becomes 1/4), R turn opposite man,
Star L 5/4, R turn r-h man, L to partner for courtesy turn.

so: Star 1/4 to rh; pt, rh, pt; stars: 5, 1, 5; courtesy turn

Some of the timing is a little fast: Flare the Star; Pass the Top
and Once-Removed Catch Top 2 (certainly not enough time to work
twosome; stretch it at each end instead).

Central Strut Right may be bogus: you must use the definition "pass
thru, right loop zero (i.e., flip right), extend" with the "into
that space" modifier creating a normal tidal 3&1 line.

Heads Step Right (short for Heads Step Right to a Line of 4) is a
call used commonly by some callers, but some dancers may never have
heard of it.

Funny Good Show Twice is gratuitously hard to figure out on the fly,
and there is no "think time" allotted.  Crazy Switch has no "flub
time" allotted.

After the 3 Square 2 And 1, I believe the 2's who are running are
the sides, but I'm not sure; in any event, the others are of course
t-boned to them and probably can't see who is to run.

The proximity of similar calls like Sashay Thru and Cross Sashay is
purely intentional; any resemblance to real choreography or real
callers is coincidental.

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Ask the Square Dance Guru

2018-07-14T19:36:34Z

Well, my personal Stanford website is gone, the copy at Dosado.com is gone, and Comcast no longer has personal web pages, so I guess this is the right place for the Square Dance Guru web page:

Ask the Square Dance Guru

The Square Dance Guru (aka Stewart Kramer) will answer your most probing questions about square dancing. Permission is granted to freely distribute the wisdom of The Guru, but impersonators will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the low.

Unsure? Confused? Squarebroken? If the hissy fits, send email to: zipperbear@gmail.com, and all will be explained. (Note: The old address at forsythe.stanford.edu is scheduled to stop working at the end of 2003. Please use the new address instead!) [2018: All of my addresses at stanford.edu have stopped working.]

Ambiguous Calls - Split Phantom Wave Inroll Motivate - date unknown
Triple Box Pass In - 11/91
Invitation-Only Dances - 11/91
Tapes and Sequences - 11/91
Ladies Go Left, Gents Go Right - 11/91
Handedness on Scoot and Counter - 1/27/93
Linear Cycle vs. Recycle & Sweep 1/4 - 12/16/93
Right Call/Wrong Formation? - 3/94
Weak Dancers and High Levels - 5/4/94
Trade Circulate - 9/8/94
Split Phantom - 1/20/95
Chain Reaction and Pass Thru - 2/95
Crossfire from Inverted Lines - 2/9/95
Rims Trade Back - 3/16/95
Swing 1/2 and Hinge 1/4 - 3/22/95
Curlique - 4/14/95
Fractional Grand Square - 3/2/95
Deal and Wheel - 5/8/95
The Sashay Story - 5/19/95
Rolling and Peel Off - 5/19/95
Backing to a Wave - 6/5/95
Stimulate the Column - 8/28/95
Badges - 9/7/95
Linear Sigh called Hinge Fold Pat Feel - 10/16/95
Parallelograms and the Solomon Rule - 10/23/95
Hourglass Motivations - 10/23/95
Siamese Zs - 10/26/95
Dividing the Ocean Right or Wrong - 10/25/95
Deucey - 10/25/95
Slither Kissing - 11/21/95
Swing the Fractions - 2/21/96
Stretch - 4/16/96
Stretch II - 11/15/96

( Read more... )

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zipperbear @ 2017-04-14T17:53:00

2017-04-15T00:55:30Z

Finally importing my LJ stuff (after figuring out which email address I used in 2013 to sign up here) ...

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