FDAGA 2009 - small scale entrepreneurs in peril

I've posted about the FDAGA 2009 thing before, but if you care... well, check out section 5.d. If you don't have two employees or more, you are gone with the wind. Many of the other requirements will also put small-scale companies out of business; many cottage perfumers/aromatherapists/cosmetics manufacturers do not have laboratories with sinks and other required facilities, storage off the floor, etc.

I am not proposing that we encourage shoddy product, or contaminated/adulterated materials. However, this Act is written for large-scale producers (and yes, I do think they should be subject to similar quality controls!!) Perfumers in particular are vulnerable to formula theft if they list all ingredients with proportions. Registration requirements, etc., are too stringent and unrealistic for small businesses.

Oops, she did it again

Mommy hummer is on her nest again.

We have liftoff!

Our little bird has fledged. He flew the nest on the day after Valentine's Day (I missed seeing the flight, but that's okay.)

Don't despair, if you're addicted to watching little winged things grow. His busy mother has laid another egg (the day after he fledged) in one of her other nests.* The camera will be moved as soon as the storm passes.

*Mama Hummingbird is a great environmentalist... she renews, recycles, and reuses. :)

At the risk of being flamed off the planet

I will bring you a brilliant link Robert Link brought to my attention. Hilarious.

Notchet

He's still poking around the nest. Oh, but he spends a lot of time standing on the edge, getting ready to go!

The bottom of his nest was clean until he started standing on the rim of it looking out... now it's as yucky as the sides. Poor little critter.

By the way, check out the videos above and below the camera image. There's a video of an earlier brood learning to fly... and the accidental "oh God why am I going backward noooooooo" nature of the experience really is thrilling... and amusing.

Pat and Robert rescued a baby dove yesterday. It is hard to tell whether it just fell out of the nest, failed on the first fledging attempt, or was smacked by a cat (there were cats watching delightedly). It seems to have been well feathered, healthy, and not in shock, and the boys were charmed by its high-pitched adolescent whistling in the coo-OOO, coo, coo pattern that mourning doves have while they drove it to Morro Bay.

Our baby boy is probably going to fly today... go see him at http://cam.dellwo.com/ while the seein's good.

Also... hey, Greg, if you are out there in readerland, I enjoyed hearing your voice on the answering machine. We'll catch up soon in the tag-you're-it.

Consoles win

I installed Spore last night on my computer (yes, Sam, because of you... I just move slowly). It's fascinating and fun and I am cross that I am at work today and not "sandboxing" around in the game world.

However... it took THREE FRUSTRATING HOURS getting it installed and updated. Now, I know that this is because it's a Maxis game and they make fantastically inefficient games. However, um... the games are GOOD. I don't want to play bad games just because their installs are light.

Do I have three hours to futz around with an install? Well, last night I felt I did; I did other things for much of this time, while infinitesimal movement crept across the progress bar. But most days I am not home/awake for that much time, and I feel it is time ill-spent to do a lot of prep-work for fun I also don't have time for.

The plug & play aspect of console games is very seductive -- and they get me out of the office, staring at a screen and monkeying with a keyboard, after a day of doing the same, and into the cozy living room where I can backseat drive and take turns at will. It's seemingly more social. I really can't face the computer at home after work. For instance, last night I updated my virus protection for the first time since December 5th; that's not a lot of personal home computer time. (I assure you it's not because I'm getting lax about security.)

So, I see it now: consoles pwn, even for ramblingly unmotivated explorer types like myself. I don't need to pay a monthly fee for WoW or EVE Online. I can sandbox delightfully with the X-Box in Fallout 3, Oblivion, or, heck, noodle around in Rock Band as usual. Even Wii Music has its masochistic charm.

...But I'm still playing Spore.

So happy!

The second endometrial biopsy showed perfectly normal levels of uterine natural killer cells and the doctor is not concerned. He tells me we only have to treat for thrombophilia now: relatively safe, relatively inexpensive, relatively simple, and non-controversial.

He also says "go get pregnant. Have fun with that."

Anyway, I thought some of you would want to know. I'm pretty darn happy!

This is pretty cute

A video called Validation -- about 15 minutes long, very cute.

Also, looooooook!

He is getting big

FDAGA 2009 -- take a look

I care because it affects small-scale farms, artisan producers of foodstuffs and cosmetics. You may care for other reasons. Go take a look and see what you think.