I found today’s xkcd quite melancholy. I was hoping for the Moon or WALL-E ending, and instead we got… reality. You did a good job, little Spirit.
I just sent an email to Gardens R Us about our little Wollemi Pine tree. He’s looking very droopy lately, and I’m worried.
Hello, We bought a Wollemi Pine from the Kingsford store back in September. I was very excited to help in the conservation of these wonderful plants! The instructions we got indicated that the tree would be happy in a pot and out of direct sun, so we put him in a large pot near our front door. Here’s what it looked like then.
The location is sheltered and it gets only indirect sun. We read that overwatering can be a problem, so we’ve tried to limit watering to times when the pot soil feels dry. (No more than once every week or two.)
We had an initial period of lots of growth, but now our little tree is looking very droopy. Here’s what he looks like as of today.
You can see all the new growth along his branches, but they’re *very* droopy. Some of the lower branches are slightly brown and dry looking.
I’ve been searching the Internet but all the advice I read is conflicting. Should we move the pot into the sun? Is it the hot humid weather we’ve been having? Are we over or underwatering? Could the potting soil we used (just normal potting soil with some compost) be inhospitable to the species? Could the pot itself be leeching something into the soil that is hurting the tree? (It’s just a normal pot that we picked up secondhand.) Or is this actually just normal growth, and the branches are drooping because of the additional length?
I’d really appreciate any advice you can give us!
Have any of you ever seen this before? Have I actually managed to kill a tree species that survived untouched for hundreds of millions of years?
So… the iPad. I was half-hoping it didn’t exist, just because the rampant speculation of the past few weeks was driving me nuts. I wanted Steve to come out, do a big preso on iPhone OS 4.0, then turn to the audience and say: “Oh, and one more thing. SUCKS TO BE YOU!” Exit, stage right. But he didn’t, and now I’ve spent 24 hours reading crap like “HEEHEE, HE SAID IPAD. OMG WHO WOULD WANT TO USE SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT GOES IN/NEAR A VAGINA EWWW! HA HA! #iTampon” (I think the iPad-period meme has worn out even quicker than the previous speed record holder, the Kanye “Imma let you finish” joke.)
Anyhoo, the big surprise for me was the price of the thing. When was the last time Apple released a project that cost 50% less than everybody predicted? How about NEVER. Also, they’re going into a nascent market with a device that has 140,000 third party apps at launch. (If I were Amazon or Sony, I’d be crying into my cornflakes.) That’s just crazy. Still, I don’t really see where I need one of these in my life. Sure, it’d be nice to have in the kitchen (seeing as how I cook a lot from my iPhone or laptop these days). And I’d love to be able to subscribe to comic books and magazines. Those aren’t huge, compelling, drool-worthy reasons though. Then I read Stephen Fry’s review. Okay, I’m a little more interested now. Fry knows his gadgets, and when he says something feels magical, I believe him. I like stuff that feels like it’s from the future, but is actually usable and relevant today. (Like GPS. Snookums has commented more than once before that Google Maps on iPone feels like magic to him.)
As for reading books on the thing, I dunno. This morning, I noticed a girl two seats ahead of me on the bus reading from a Sony Pocket Reader. It was red and looked pretty nice. The text – at least from my view – didn’t look very clear though. The black-and-white display reminded me of a 1st-gen Gameboy. I’ve heard that E-Ink displays are good stuff though, so maybe up close it was better. I tried reading books on my iPhone with Stanza, but I found that I just don’t absorb digital text the way that I do printed text. It took me a lot longer to finish, and I didn’t retain the story like I usually do. I do like the idea of carrying around a whole library though. I also really hope that the iPad will be the catalyst for the ebook market to really take off.
@toastman I misread it as Space Farm eggs when I first saw them. And now that’s what I think of them as. SPACE FARM EGGS.
Thinking about public nudity… in the name of art, of course. http://bit.ly/38WKmU
RT @cdeagle: @web_goddess just heard your first podcast. Good stuff! Keep ’em comin. // Thanks! Planning to do the 2nd one this weekend. 🙂
Thank you! I’m loving the feedback. RT @bellsknits: Loving the new podcast Geek Girl Runner by @web_goddess – great to hear your voice kris.
Just completed a 5.17 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/bAcR17 #RunKeeper
Great run today. Decided to push HR into 150s to shake things up, and I think it worked! Felt like I was flying compared to yesterday.
I’m entering @crust_pizza #CrustFreePizzaFriday because I ran 5K this morning and I DESERVE some pizza!
@sharre Nice! The collective needs to assimilate newbies. 🙂
@cdeagle That’s what I’m thinking. It would only be useful if it pointed at you, so you could do video conferencing…
It was a weird week. It’s been hot and humid, and I’m still having trouble keeping my heart rate down. On Sunday, my HR was all over the place and I actually found myself getting irrationally angry about it. In retrospect it was actually kind of funny. (Gritting my teeth in anger doesn’t do much to calm down the ol’ HR!) I’m having a bit of shoe trouble though. I looked down at my Newtons the other day and realised that the outer lugs on each foot have worn completely down on the front! I got them at the end of August, and my total mileage in that time is just over 200 miles (325km). Is that normal? On one hand it’s clear proof that I’m landing in the right spot (as are the calluses on the balls of my feet). But on the other hand, these are pretty expensive shoes, and I can’t afford multiple pairs per year. I tweeted about it to @sirisaac but they didn’t respond. I’m guessing it’s partly because I actually have racers, as opposed to trainers. (The racers had a big discount when I bought.) Can anybody comment on the longetivity of their Newtons?
Anyway, the weekly totals…
Jan 22: 5.56km
Jan 24: 7.13km
Jan 26: 5.61km
Jan 28: 5.44km
Total this week: 23.74km (14.8mi) – same as last week!
Total in 2010: 92.4km (57.75mi)
I’ve got quite a cushion built-up in my quest to run 1000kms in 2010. I haven’t missed a run yet in January!
Why do Koreans like cute things? Bwahahaha! I’ve never heard of “Teenie Weenie” before. It looks like Ralph Lauren crossed with teddy bears. I WANT TO GO TO THERE.
Running Barefood or in Minimal Footwear. “This website has been developed to provide an evidence-based resource for those interested in barefoot or minimal footwear running.” This is an extremely good introduction to running with a forefoot strike, and it’s got a lot of cool little videos showing exactly what your feet and legs are doing when you land on your heel, midfoot, and forefoot.
You know that famous artist, the one who takes huge group photos of naked people in famous locations? Yeah, he’s coming to Sydney. He needs volunteers for a photo to be taken at the Opera House. Oh yeah, we’re doing it. This comes at a pretty opportune time. I’ve been undergoing a real attitude change towards my body in the past year. I’m not at my “ideal” BMI/weight, but this seems to be the weight where I’m happiest. I feel fit and strong. I like my curves. Looking at the scale in the morning doesn’t wreck my whole day anymore. I think I’m ready to get naked in public with hundreds of other people. I’m think I’m finally proud and happy in my own skin.
As for the Snook, apparently public nudity was a big theme of his college years. So it didn’t take much convincing to get him on board.
My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.
No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.
Woot, my knee-jerk don’t-overthink-it pub-quiz answer was Iran which seems to be [✓]. I ‘knew’ it was more populous than…
Congrats and to many more 🙌🏽
My home economics teacher taught us to use “J cloths” as press cloths. (Cellulose cleaning cloths). The upside of using…
Special thanks to Matt Hinrichs for the site logo!
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