Thomas statement on White House absence
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=613279

Tim Thomas put himself above team
Bruins goalie picked inappropriate time, venue to make personal statement
http://espn.go.com/boston/nhl/story/_/id/7495441/tim-thomas-picked-wrong-time-make-statement

Tim Thomas told: ‘Stick to hockey’
Slammed for Obama snub
http://bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20220124thomas_told_stick_to_hockey_slammed_for_obama_snub/

Tim Thomas wrong to skip White House trip
Goaltender should have put team above individual concerns
http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/01/24/thomas-absence-left-bruins-shorthanded/0IZldFXHIvciMSfbNnkBfL/story.html

On Twitter:
Yahoo’s Ryan Lambert: btw congrats to tim thomas for making a pouty political decision and distracting from what should’ve been a memorable day for his teammates

Former NHL general manager Craig Button: Certain that Tim Thomas has team mates that don’t share his political or ideological beliefs. Will he not show up for games because of that?

Damien Cox: Gotta say, really quite disappointing to learn Tim Thomas is, well, apparently a crackpot. This sure adds an element to all-star weekend.

Tim Thomas put himself above team Bruins goalie picked inappropriate time, venue to make personal statement

Perhaps it would look like this at his house:

Scratching your head on the reference?

Here are a few clues 1 2 3 4

A Yahrtziet Candle in honor of Steven P. Jobs

NY Times: Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age 
http://apple.com/stevejobs/

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Paths to Glory, How Great Baseball Teams Got That Way

I recently read the book “Paths to Glory, How Great Baseball Teams Got That Way” by Daniel Levitt, a Minneapolis-based baseball scholar (and real estate developer) and Mark Armour (happily, a Red Sox fan) and it was really quite interesting and engaging.

Why is it interesting that it was interesting to me?  Mostly, because I find baseball incredibly slow and painful to watch more that 3 times a season.  Reading about our “national game” is not something I do very frequently.

The book uses both narrative and statistics to compellingly argue the where the competitive edge comes from for baseball teams.  It leads to thinking about how those decisions can be made in other area of life.  And isn’t baseball supposed to be a metaphor for life and all sorts of other stuff?

Anyway, I highly recommend it and and even bought it for a baseball-nut friend of mine (who says he loved it).

Why did I single Mr. Levitt out when there are co-authors?, you ask.  It is because this book got me to purchase his other book “Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees’ First Dynasty“.  I am in the midst of reading it and am giving it a big thumbs-up.  Will see if Mr. Armour has written anything else in the near future….

j-me Tape Dispenser

Love the use of the iconic cassette tape form as a scotch tape dispenser on this product.

The Philips Company of the Netherlands invented and released the first compact audio-cassette in 1962.

Makes me remember with great fondness the days mixing up a really good (and sublimely meaningful) tape in the mode of the ultimate mix-tape book, High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby.  There was great joy when the recipient actually understood what you were getting at.  Fortunately, that kind of backhanded communication vehicle is not a lost art, it has just morphed on into other things…

Mix in a little Bob Mould, and have a listen to his musical interpretation of High Fidelity.  How’s that for a random loop?

Thank goodness the homeowners gave us a shout as they had received two bits of bad advice -  a local exterminator was going to charge them $350 to spray the bees with poison (dumb idea – see: Why not Kill Them, by prominent beekeeper Cindy Bee – yes, that is her REAL name) and a local beekeeper (who really should know better) wasn’t patient enough to hear them out and find out where the bees really were (hanging off of the house) and only listened to the first few panicked words  “the bees are IN my house” (they were not) and sent her to the exterminators.  Very lazy way to deal with a “civilian” who is understandably afraid of 20,000 stinging insects on their home.  Swarming honey bees are not going to attack anybody, and it is the responsibility of a beekeeper to help walk folks through that.  As a matter of fact. part of the EAS Master Beekeeper requirements are “can present this information to the beekeeping and non-beekeeping public in a detailed, accurate, clear and authoritative manner.” and “knowledge and ability to communicate effectively to both beekeepers and public”.

Anyway, off my soap box.

The swarm was under the eaves of a log-style home (see red circle) and fortunately they had a sturdy ladder on hand, so we didn’t have to drag one over.

Big J. suiting up. Then up the ladder we go to capture the first swarm of the season

I am guessing it was around 4 or 5 pounds of our little flying friends – they were very docile.  Just sprayed them with a little sugar water and scooped them into the “lucky” swarm box (see the video of it in action from last year).

Close up of the Swarm

Combined them with a very weak hive in the apiary by putting a sheet of newspaper between two supers and letting them chew through (the top super also had a hole for them to fly, and let the stray bees come in) overnight.  Went to check at lunch today and there was lots of activity around the entrance and lots of happy bees. Will go in tomorrow to check on progress and perhaps even add another super.

All-in-all a successful bee rescue.

Happy Combined Hive (note the newspaper sticking out)

Well, it is real.  It was manufactured for Dadant & Sons (a formidable beekeeping supply company) I am guessing in the 1970′s (anybody have an old catalogue they could verify it in?) judging from the label and where I found it in my fathers beekeeping supplies.

Taylor's Aerosol Hive Bomb - Manufactured for Dadant

One look at the caution label on the back gives me even further pause as to why it would have been produced and vexes me as to why my father would have purchased it.    But the can feels pretty full, so I am guessing it was just a failed experiment – and old-time version of this goofy thing.  Learn how to light a smoker folks, it really isn’t that hard.

Taylor's Aerosol Hive Bomb Warning Label

The new Romney for president logo

Really enjoyed this link that my friend KPP sent on the new Romney for president logo.

Two things struck me.

First, when the goal is trying to please everybody, the end result is almost always milquetoast – and this logo certainly proves that point.   A designer friend, Cornelia, came up with this interpretation:

Aquafresh For President by Cornelia V. S.

Second, is that a quick look at the font treatment of “OMNEY” and it can read as “MONEY” (and not only for the dyslexics in the crowd).  Sadly, the way the system works these days, it is only because of the fact that he has personal heaps of money is why he gets to do what he does in the public arena.  So this is my take on it:

New and Improved Romney for President Logo

So there you go, MONEY for President.  Anybody have any good ideas on the tag line?