Dear Republicans:

Also

The story of out-of-control debts and deficits is just plain wrong. US deficits have fallen in the past four years

Dean Baker, at The Guardian writes:

Republicans are delusional about US spending and deficits

Contrary to the widely repeated stories of out-of-control deficits and spending, deficits have plunged in the last four years falling from 10.1% of GDP in 2009 to just 4% of GDP in 2013. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit to be just 3.4% of GDP in 2014. The latest projections show the debt-to-GDP ratio falling for the rest of the decade.

Nest 'Nestifies' A Smoke Detecter

I had read news that Nest was probably going to release something in this segment of the market. Given that we are mere weeks away from moving into our new home, and I'm planning two install two Nest Thermostats as it is, the announcement from Nest this morning has me very excited.

Nest Protect

A few points that I found interesting:

• They have both battery and wired versions
• If you also have Nest Thermostats, the Nest Protects will share information with them.
• Information shared can do things like turn off the furnace if it detects CO2, or motion data to assist with Nests learning.
• Sends data to its iOS application
• You can wave your hand near the Protect to signal for it to turn off in the event the smoke is from a source you're aware of.
• At night, it can emit low light based on its motion sensor to help light the room in the event the lights are out (presumably so you don't trip over things on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night without having to wake up your spouse.).

House Update: Panel Molding, Stair Rails and Siding

We were at the house on Sunday checking in on its progress. We took some pictures, many of which I already shared on Twitter, but I wanted to post them here too. [nivoslider id="4911"]

Tom Clancy has passed, 1947 - 2013

Tom Clancy - April 12, 1947 - Oct 1, 2013. During middle school and high school my favorite author was Tom Clancy. I first read Red Storm Rising and then discovered the Jack Ryan series. I read them in chronological order, and then re-read them…and then again…and then again. As he grew older, he began to publish less frequently, but I looked forward to each one. By the mid-2000s I had resigned myself to his 'retirement' as he had mostly stopped writing. During many of the Jack Ryan books, Clancy used George Mason University, in Fairfax Virginia as a prop/reference in his books. I knew that Tom Clancy was active on newsgroups and had been for years, so using Google's newsgroup search, I found some posts from him and learned his email address was simply Tom@AOL.com. This didn't surprise me, because it was well known that Tom Clancy was a long time computer geek, having bought some of Apple's very first machines and being one of the first people to have Internet access. He was an early AOL customer. Why did I care about George Mason University? I was a student there. I wrote Tom asking him why he used GMU in his books - he told me that he lived not too far away, in Falls Church VA, and that he thought it was a good school. So why not? He went on to answer, at length, a few other questions I had for him and wished me luck. I wrote him back, thanking him. One of my favorite Clancy quotes: “Never ask what sort of computer a guy drives. If he’s a Mac user, he’ll tell you. If not, why embarrass him?” – Tom Clancy Rest in peace Tom.

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Tom Clancy in his home library.

Making Apple Butter

This past weekend, my family got together with some friends (and a ton of planning on the part of my Dad) and held our 2nd annual Apple Butter cooking day.

This year's stats:

• 17 bushels of Stayman Apples
• 75 lbs of sugar (25 lbs less than last year)
• 1 dram of clove oil
• 1.1 fl oz of cinnamon oil
• 1.1 oz of powdered nutmeg

The copper kettle in the photos is a 50 gallon kettle. We started peeling apples on Friday at 10:00 AM and were finished by 3:00 PM. We started the fire under the kettle around 5:30 AM Saturday morning, adding the first bushels of apples + some apple vinegar. The apples were then ground through the antique grinder you see in the photos and added to the kettle. By 9:00 AM we had all of the apples grinded and added to the pot. Around 3:00 PM in the afternoon we removed the fire from the kettle and began canning. Total 2013 yield: 143 quarts of Apple Butter or 35.75 gallons.