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Wednesday/ Andy Warhol’s Queen of Swaziland

I made my way back to Seattle on Wednesday morning, starting out in Pittsburgh’s airport.  This print of Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland*, is one of a series of four ‘Reigning Queens’ made by Andy Warhol in 1985.  The prints are in concourse C of the airport.  The other three queens are Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Warhol once said ‘I want to be as famous as the Queen of England’.

*Swaziland is a tiny kingdom, land-locked by South Africa and Mozambique. I have to confess I did not know about the Queen of Swaziland’s existence while I grew up in South Africa.  The Queen has since been succeeded by her son, King Mswati III.  Check out http://www.gov.sz/

A screen print on Lenox museum board, of Andy Warhol’s Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, made in 1985. (There is a yellow light reflection in the top left that I could not avoid when I took the picture).
This is an Andy Warhol print of Queen Elizabeth II, one of a series of four of Elizabeth II in different colors, that the Queen’s trust bought for the Royal Collection just this year (reportedly for several £100,000).

 

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Tuesday/ dinner at the Great Eagle

The Great Eagle is a grocery store here in Cranberry township north of Pittsburgh, and what a bargain its hot food buffet is!  Get exactly what you want, without waiting for your meal in a restaurant after a long day of meetings.   The store also has an amazing collection of beers for sale from all over the world.

Here’s my comfort food : Brussels sprouts, carved turkey (got to warm up for Thanksgiving, no?) and mac-and-cheese.
A keg of beer from a microbrewery set up inside a restored Roman Catholic church (!) here in the Pittsburgh area.. check out http://www.churchbrew.com/ for photos of the church.
Here is the Kasteel Triple Ale from Belgium (not to be confused with South Africa’s award-winning Castle Lager).
And can you see the hidden-in-plain-sight lettering that says this is a white ale from Kiuchi brewery in Japan? Look again!

 

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Monday/ Pennsylvania politics

We don’t see any Tea Party political ads in Washington State – we’re a blue state and an Republican hoping to win office had better position himself more or less in the middle (left is liberal and right is conservative in American politics).   But here in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr. is running for re-election to a second term against Republican nominee Tom Smith.  Tom Smith is for (see http://tomsmithforsenate.com/): a flat tax code with no loopholes, for reducing annual spending to 20% of GDP (that is a massive reduction, given that the US is almost at 40% of GDP), for ‘ending oppressive regulation that suffocates growth and kills jobs, for energizing our future (mostly by producing more oil and using coal) and for reducing health care (repeal Obamacare) and Social Security.

Republican/ Tea Party candidate Tom Smith in a TV commercial running on local television. Balanced budget amendment is a reference to change the US Constitution, so that the country stops running deficits. He is also for a flat tax with no loopholes.
Here’s a teacup with Tom Smith on it, from a political TV ad from Senator Bob Casey.

 

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Sunday/ in Chicago, Pittsburgh bound

It takes all Sunday to get from Seattle to Pittsburgh : there are no direct flights!  (Boo! to the airlines). So I got up early this morning for an 8.15 am flight and have made it into Chicago’s O’Hare airport.  It’s another hour or so before I will go on to Pittsburgh and I will arrive there at 7.30pm.   Pittsburgh is on East coast time, so the time zone change moves the clock forward by three hours.

O’Hare airport is northwest of the city of Chicago.

 

This is the underground pedestrian tunnel connecting my arrival concourse (C) with concourse B for my flight to Pittsburgh.
And here is the industrial-style skylights of terminal B. Have you spotted the dinosaur, or its skeleton, then? It’s a Brachiosaurus altithorax. This one lived 150 million years ago in what is today Utah and Colorado.

 

 

 

 

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Saturday/ dishwasher guts and glory

I am not much of a handyman, but I am lucky enough to have a friend who is !  – Bryan :). So we thought we’d take a crack at it with a Google search for ‘asko dishwasher D1760’ and see if someone out there had run into a problem similar to what I have.   The dishwasher fills up and starts washing, but then fails to complete the wash cycles and does not get to the rinse cycle.  To make a long story short, a combination of the symptoms and taking a look at what’s going on underneath the washer pointed to a valve and controller that failed.   I ordered the part on-line.  It arrived after a few days, we put it in, and voila! it fixed the problem.

Here’s the offending part. It had a much cheaper price on one website compared to another ($66 vs $168). I ordered the $66 part .. looks like it’s been used already, which explained the price difference. But hey, it works.
Here’s the valve-and-controller part installed. The water from the house’s plumbing comes in through the tubing covered with the silver coat (on the right), goes through the valve and goes out at the back into the dishwasher.

 

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Friday/ are the job numbers red or blue?

.. the surprising 7.8% September unemployment rate for the USA, that is.  Scarcely were they out, or ex-General Electric CEO Jack Welch (and very obviously a Republican) accuses the Obama Administration of interfering with the Bureau of Labor Statistics!  Quite outrageous, his claim, and dismissed by just about everyone.

Jack Welch’s tweet cam out just 5 minutes after the September job numbers were released.  While interviewed by Chris Matthews from MSNBC, he admitted he had absolutely no evidence of any interference from the Administration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (That would be a scandal of epic proportions).
‘Grandpa Simpson’ says the numbers are fake, too. From the website quickmeme.com at http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3r7rdd/
From the New York Times : here is the way Republicans have viewed the unemployment numbers, and will no doubt continue to view it.
Also from the New York Times : the way Democrats view the unemployment numbers. So .. are you wearing blue glasses, or red ones?

 

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Thursday/ clash of the database titans

It is not only statements from the Presidential debate last night that are getting fact-checked.   Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has made some contentious statements at the Oracle OpenWorld 2012 conference this week, disparaging SAP ‘s latest technology called SAP HANA (High-Performance Analytic Appliance).

From Vishal Sikka’s blog at http://www.experiencesaphana.com/community/blogs/blog/2012/10/02/setting-the-record-straight–sap-hana-v-exadata-x3  :  ‘The statement Mr Ellison made about HANA, when talking about the release of a new Exadata machine, that has 4TB of DRAM and 22TB of SSD, is false.  He referred to HANA being “a small machine” with 0.5TB of memory. He said his machine has 26TB of memory, which is also wrong (SSD is not DRAM and does not count as memory, HANA servers also use SSDs for persistence)..

.. the largest HANA system deployed so far is the 100-node system built earlier this year with Intel and IBM.  It has 100TB of DRAM and 4000 CPU cores.  Mr. Ellison is welcome to come to Santa Clara and see the system working himself, with workloads from several customers’.

SAP’s full-page ad that appeared in the Wall Street Journal this week, firing back at Oracle’s claim that SAP has a ‘small’ in-memory database (compared to Oracle).

 

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Wednesday/ the first 2012 Presidential debate

I watched most of the first of three Presidential debates tonight with friends over beers and pizza.  We were a little dismayed that the consensus among the political pundits (and a poll conducted by CNN) was that Romney ‘won’ the debate, even though there were no obvious zingers or knock-out punches.  CNN summed it up in one line as ‘The Republican candidate says the president’s vision is one of big government, while Obama challenged his rival’s plans as unworkable’.

A graphic from MSNBC TV channel here in the USA that covered the first 2012 Presidential debate.

 

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Tuesday/ ‘complete plant’

I like this sign across from the grocery store two blocks from my house for two reasons.  1. It has a vintage neon sign that looks really nice when it gets dark.  2. The ‘complete plant’ in the building (see it on the right?) actually points in a way to the 21st century where new buildings may very well have their own complete (power) plants.  As power generation becomes more common from rooftop solar and wind generators, or diesel or natural gas generators inside buildings, the differences between distribution and transmission grids will continue to blur.

I like the vintage neon sign of Superb Cleaners on 15th Ave in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

 

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Monday/ it’s October

It’s the start of Halloween month, the start of the final 2012 quarter (will the Dow Jones crack or not?) and we’re into the final stretch of the 2012 US General Election (will President Obama prevail?).  The sun is still shining brightly almost every day here in Seattle.  I have all but given up expectations for any rain at all to fall down on Rain City this year (I’m joking, but that’s how it feels).

Street art that I found outside the gate of the Ghost Gallery on Summit/ Olive Way on Capitol Hill.   Is that a Halloween incarnation of Mickey Mouse being scared by the pterodactyl?
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Sunday/ Uwajimaya

Uwajimaya is a grocery store chain here in Seattle’s International District that carries Asian food and other specialty items. I happened to drive by and wanted to take a picture of the dragon on the lamp post – and ended up in the store’s parking lot.  Oh well, might as well go inside and buy a few items, I thought.

Here’s the dragon on the lamp post.
And another dragon inside with the store’s name.
I checked out the saké but did not buy any. I see Nigori means ‘unfiltered’ and ‘Genshu’ means undiluted, so this is a little more potent than wine (20% alcohol).
Fresh quail eggs from California? I didn’t buy any – had some of these in China (boiled as part of a ‘hot pot’ dinner) and they really tasted not much different from chicken eggs.

 

I learned in Hong Kong that Japan makes wonderful baumkucken (German layer cake – how did that come about, I wonder?) .. and lo and behold, I can buy some right here in Seattle.
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Saturday/ safaris in Zimbabwe

The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal reports that Zimbabwe’s economy is doing better, four years after they started pegging the Zim dollar to the US dollar, and with a coalition government in place.  ‘Zimbabwean safari guides are known as the best on the continent’ says the article that covers safaris in Hwange National Park.  Visitors get up close to elephants (presumably NOT to lions and leopards) on foot.   As for myself : I have vivid memories of the African safari experience from Botswana.  I will never forget the one time when I went for a short walk into the bush on my own (with no weapon).  As I approached a clump of bushes, the birds went quiet, and a sixth sense made me feel something was about to happen.  I felt the hairs on my neck stand up straight .. the next moment the bush exploded and a big buck crashed out of it, scaring the living. African. daylights. out of me.  Man! at the same time, what a relief it was!

Here’s the article, with a lioness facing an elephant. On her own she is no match for the elephant. But if there are four or five of them ..
The Hwange National Park is up by Victoria falls and the north eastern part of Botswana. My family and I went to an area called the Northern Tuli Game Reserve a dozen times when I grew up in South Africa.
Here is a picture from Botswana from, oh, 1988 or 1989. That’s my dad on the left, and me on the right (and two of my brothers and one’s girl friend).  The guys in front know every big tree and every bend in the dirt roads in the area.

 

 

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Friday/ Bent Burger

My friends and I went to Bent Burger in the Seward Park neighborhood for a burger and a beer. (No, the burgers are perfectly even and not ‘bent’. Bent is the family that owns the restaurant).   I had a turkey burger with yam fries : very good.

Bent Burger’s location in Seward Park.
Sarsaparilla a perennial, trailing vine with prickly stems that is native to Central America. It is used to flavor root beer, a carbonated soft drink.
Here is the menu from inside the restaurant, in chalk on a blackboard. (A spotlight make it impossible to take an evenly lit picture with a cell phone, so I tried to make some corrections to the picture with Photoshop).

 

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Wednesday/ what would you build here?

That is the question that Skanska* asks on this billboard in South Lake Union that made me stop and take a look at it.  You can also express your urban planning ideas on a website they have set up. (I’m still mulling over my ideas).  Amazon’s offices are just a block or two away.

*Skanska is a Swedish design-and-build construction and engineering company that is also doing some roadwork for Seattle’s Alaskan Viaduct replacement project.

Here’s the billboard. A good thing that there has been almost no rain in Seattle the last two months, or some brilliant ideas might have been washed away ..
A peek-a-boo view of the Space Needle through a new building on Terry Ave close by – where many Amazon employees work by day (and by night?).
Here is Skanska’s web site at www.400fairview.com. The most popular suggestions so far are for : a college-themed pub-and-grub place, a jazz cafe and bar, and a local Elysian Brew House Pub.
This urban design analysis is also from the 400Fairview web site.  Hey, I don’t know too much about urban planning and the ‘urban corridors’ in Seattle but it’s good to know that the bigger picture is taken into account as well.

 

 

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Tuesday/ don’t drop out (of high school)

Only about 3 out of 4 high school students graduate in the US every year (75%).  That is shocking. I watched a documentary last night on PBS channel where the question was asked ‘What does it take to save a student?’.  Well, sometimes it takes a lot, and too many times it just cannot be done despite the best efforts of special counselors and assistants at schools. Of the 4 students followed in the PBS documentary, one’s mom was in jail, one was facing deportation, another had a 2-yr old baby and a fourth one only wanted to play football and not go to class.

Here are some numbers from a study done at Northeastern University some years ago.

The Lifetime Net Fiscal Contributions of Adults 18 to 64 Years Old, U.S., 2007

Over their working lives, the average high school dropout will have a negative net fiscal contribution to society of nearly -$5,200 while the average high school graduate generates a positive lifetime net fiscal contribution of $287,000. The average high school dropout will cost taxpayers over $292,000 in lower tax revenues, higher cash and in-kind transfer costs, and imposed incarceration costs relative to an average high school graduate. Adult dropouts in the U.S. in recent years have been a major fiscal burden to the rest of society. Given the current and projected deficits of the federal government, the fiscal burden of supporting dropouts and their families is no longer sustainable.

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Monday Night Football Furore

It’s the Green Bay Packers 12, Seattle Seahawks 7. It’s the final play in the 4th quarter.  Seahawks rookie quarterback Russell Wilson pass deep left to Golden Tate (blue #81 shirt) for 24 yards.  It is ruled as a TOUCHDOWN (check out the animated picture from SB Nation).  The replay assistant challenged the pass completion ruling, but the play was — upheld. Place kicker Hauschka adds a point.  Seattle wins 14-12.  There’s more : the regular NFL referees are still ‘locked out’ due to a contract dispute, so the replacement refs had to do the best they can.  Today (Tuesday) the NFL admits an error was made but upheld the outcome of the game.  Even President Obama weighed in on Twitter (see below).  So we will see if the contract dispute with the referees get resolved soon.  My view : the NFL is awash in cash.  What is so hard about it?

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Sunday/ Seattle’s Great Wheel

This afternoon I went to check out our new and own little ‘London Eye’ Ferris wheel right here in Seattle.  (The Great Wheel has been in operation since the end of June, actually.  Also see seattlegreatwheel.com).  The Wheel was a $20m investment (funded privately) and is designed to draw visitors to the Seattle waterfront, in part to address concerns that the construction of the waterfront tunnel nearby will keep visitors away.

The Seattle Great Wheel is 175 ft (53.3m) tall and has 42 enclosed climate-controlled gondolas for a year-round operation. The London Eye is a lot bigger at a height of 443 ft (135 m).
I am standing below the Wheel on the pier. There doesn’t seem to be a gear track on the big wheel meshing with a pinion gear on the ground structure. Check out the sturdy black roller that is in contact with the wheel frame (to the left of the upper gondola).
The sun is setting on Elliott Bay and Pier 57, but no matter, the Wheel keeps going and will actually be lit up in different colors at night time. I will catch it another time for some night time pictures as well.

 

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Saturday/ buttermilk rusks

Here are all the ingredients lined up before they make their contribution to the recipe. I used canola oil instead of butter, and cholesterol-free egg mix instead of real eggs but everything else is what the recipe calls for.

So fall season has started officially here in the Northern Hemisphere.  It was a little grey on Saturday morning and I decided it’s high time I baked some rusks again, from a recipe I got from my mom a long time ago (1996 says the date on the hand-written fax with the recipe).  Rusks are hard, dry biscuits that are twice-baked to dry them out completely.  The pictures show the progression and the final result.  It takes a little patience to dry the rusks out, and the whole house smells rusky and biscuity afterwards, but hey, that’s not a problem. I discovered that there is such a thing as aluminum-free baking powder, and got some. Supposedly it makes for a better taste of cookies or biscuits that are baked with it.

The wet ingredients are heated up a little to make them play nice with each other and mix : the canola oil, the buttermilk, the egg and the sugar.
Here is the self-raising flour, mixed with bran flakes, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl.
The wet and the dry stuff have been mixed up nicely, and the dough pressed into a baking pan. It goes into the oven for an hour ..
.. and comes out nicely baked with a dry crust, but still moist inside.
So the big piece of baked dough is cut up into little pieces of rusk and put back into the over at low heat for about 4 hours. That dries out the rusks completely.

 

 

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Friday/ Mitt Romney’s troubles

Republican presidential candidate brought withering criticism onto himself this week with his remarks that surfaced from a private fund-raiser (see first picture).  During the same speech he also said (I’m paraphrasing) ‘if I get elected as president the economy will do better even if I do nothing’.  Really? The United States is spending $1.3 trillion every year that it does not have, adding to the $16 trillion national debt.

The ‘Briefing’ page from TIME magazine’s latest edition.
And here is a diagram published by TIME magazine’s Sept 17, 2012 edition. Looks to me as if the Corporate Income taxes ‘coin’ could be bigger, as does the Income Taxes one (just because there are no other big Receipts), and then on the Payments side, Defense could be smaller.   There is an on-going and bitter political debate about Income Security, Medicare and ‘Other’ payments.

 

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Thursday/ dishwasher trouble

Alright, next up to fix/ get fixed is my 10-year old dishwasher : it goes through the cycle, but only a little bit of water seems to enter the machine.  I had a Sears technician scheduled to come and take a look but when he called to confirm the appointment he said no, he cannot help me.  Sears does not repair Asko dishwashers (Swedish manufacturer).  So back to square one.  There is a lot of helpful repair information on the internet these days and I should check one or two simple little things myself.  For example, the float valve might be stuck, fooling the machine into thinking the water level in the bottom is higher than it really is.

P.S. ‘How Stuff Works’ says Josephine Cochrane invented the modern dishwasher in 1886.  She was a wealthy socialite whose servants kept chipping her fine china while hand washing it.  So she developed a rack and water jet system that debuted at the 1893 Chicago World Fair. The company she founded eventually became KitchenAid.

This picture is from ‘How Stuff Works’.