Honeydew list

One of the down sides of retirement is the perception of some that TPP has plenty of time to keep entropy from increasing, although in the long term that's a losing proposition. So known affectionately as the "honeydew list", it's really the honey, DO list. A fairly significant list has appeared of little things that need my attention has been drafted, so rather than "wasting" time writing a blog TPP is attending to these many chores. It's mostly little things that are sort of falling apart, old houses are like that, and some garden chores that were forgotten.
The winterberry were quite handsome this year for a couple of weeks, then all the fruit disappeared. Since the bushes are low, it could have been a possum or perhaps a flock of cedar waxwings who have stripped fruited bushes before.  But if we want them to continue to look good an anti-bunny fence is needed (overlooked in the fall) or the bushes will be subjected to unwanted pruning. At least after the first below zero temperatures of the winter (and for all you metric people out there, zero is 32 degrees F below freezing and in these parts it means really cold), today will have a high in the mid-40s F melting all of the meager snow cover. 
The rest of the chores are technically more difficult. To tighten a loose newel post requires a hex bolt socket, and the one TPP owns is too large in outer diameter to fit into the countersunk hole where the bolt resides. This is what makes such repairs so annoying.  Now since the newel post was built this way, we must assume that sockets exist that fit into a hole of that diameter, so a-shopping we will go after double checking the parameters.  This should take no more than two or three trips to the hardware store.  Oh well, it will be a nice day for a walk.  But first TPP needs another cup of coffee, no need to rush into such things thoughtlessly.  After all honeydews are a fruit that needs to be ripe to be any good.

It must be spring - tell tale signs

After a long, cold winter, the human spirit just loves signs of spring, those little tell tales that let you know the season is changing.  Here's a mess of crocus that occupy space around and under some hydrangeas the still need pruning.  These crocus are basically volunteers that have prospered in some borrowed space, and they are so cheerful. They used to be in the lawn, but then that area was converted into  garden (grass to garden good, garden to grass never), and they were not overly disturbed in the process and unbothered by the hydrangeas. It not only looked springy, but this Monday morning had a distinct springy feel to it. But what let TPP know it was spring was the sudden appearance at our house by contractors, who have been starving all winter waiting for the weather to warm. Oh, it's just like the turkey vultures returning to Hinkley, Ohio, but that's not to say all these people who help keep our residence from falling down are vultures, they just appear suddenly.  A painter showed up at 9 am, and she was no sooner getting going than the chimney flashing/caulking contractor shows up to put up their scaffolding. Without even get a swallow of coffee in between, the carpenter who's fixing up the garage and putting in a new door appeared to get some measurements and discuss the job again since it had been quite awhile since we had gone over the details. Us old house owners understand that keeping entropy at bay has a cost and that money keeps contractors alive. In fact they all love our neighborhood!  And it was also cleaning ladies day, but they were on their own in terms to trying to find a space in the drive.  Unlike the starving contractors, our checking account that fattened up over the winter while  hibernating will now start slimming down. So, it must be spring! Of course some garden expenditures may be coming soon too, and if TPP didn't hire these wonderful people, he'd have to do these jobs and not have time to garden. Keep your priorities straight, people!   

Keeping entropy at bay

Today was a typical enough Saturday.  All those little things that needed to be done to keep entropy at bay were beckoning: extracting Jove's testicle from the pond pump, fixing the water hookup on a new washing machine, winterizing some doors and windows and fans, and all the while getting both students and himself ready for a rainforest field trip up coming.  But TPP was feeling pretty good because this is the first day in over a month when deadlines were not looming ominously overhead so he felt quite carefree.  And a book manuscript was sent back to the editor (a very good editor) all 700+ pages, a grant proposal was submitted after quite a struggle with both the govmint web site and the collaborators in chief, and a journal article was proofed, and summarized, in Portuguese, and returned to the editor.  In the meantime classes were taught, labs were prepped and presented, and all the rest.  It was an exhausting month just past.  This upcoming week is busy with other things, an out-of-town academic guest, several social events, and something else that is slipping my mind. 

Gardeners delight - 2nd law of thermodynamics negates weeds!

After a while you get tired of trying to explain biology and especially evolution to people outside of the field, and this includes mathematicians like Granville Sewell. In a recent publication GS argues that the 2nd law of thermodynamics negates evolution because order increases and the 2nd law says entropy, disorder, must increase. Ah, but as has been pointed out to the critics of evolution every single time this comes up, the Earth is not a closed system which this law refers to. There's a constant input of energy. But Granville gets clever and says he's done the math to show that when "…all we see entering is radiation and meteorite fragments,[and] it seems clear that what is entering through the boundary cannot explain the increase in order observed here."
Now the Phactor isn't a physicist or a mathematician, but let me have a crack at explaining this. Life itself has the ability to capture energy and grow which decreases entropy, locally, for a relatively short (on a cosmic scale) period of time. Life doesn't violate the 2nd law, it just slows down the increase in entropy, and no law says you can't do that. Eventually all the energy captured dissipates as heat increasing entropy. What Granville is arguing is that life is not possible, let alone evolution. Since he sees nothing entering the Earth that can increase order, evolution must be invalid. Let’s simplify things. Granville doesn’t understand biology or how life works at all, so he’s going to reject the whole thing. When a mathematician tries to unexplain biology, 2 + 2 doesn’t equal 4, it equals baloney.
But as the Panda's Thumb pointed out this is great news for gardeners because weeds can't grow and increase in numbers in your garden. And Granville's got the mathematical proof! But here’s what will happen. This foolish paper, even after being thoroughly sliced and diced by better and more mathematical minds than mine, will become the darling citation of creationists and it will be touted as “science” demonstrating why evolution is invalid.

First day of a new year - Same old stuff

What a way to start a new year trying to keep entropy at bay which is an ongoing activity for all owners of older homes. Who knows how many decades this particular toilet has been in service, and vitrified porcelain is almost forever, but not so the little bits and pieces inside, and now replacement parts no longer exist, so the Phactors spent the first day of the new year engaged in the glamorous activity of shopping for a toilet because too much water was being wasted. The Phactor takes this as somewhat of an omen, a portent of things to come. How many more things will leak? How many more little internal parts will become obsolete? So much to look forward to.