Monthly Archives: September 2006

Jordan Collier/Cliff Secord

Maybe you didn’t know, but imdb is one of my favorite websites out there. I often use their search features to find out who’s who in many of my favorite tv shows and movies. Every once and a while I come across something completely unexpected. Today was one of those instances.

Have you seen the TV show The 4400? It is on the USA network and has just finished airing season three. (We watched the first two seasons on DVD from Netflix so you can too!) It is a fantastic science fiction show with the premise that 4400 people were abducted during the 20th century (apparently to the future) and were all returned on one night, many with special powers. I find it fascinating.

Anyhoo. There’s a character named Jordan Collier. He’s somewhat of a Christ figure (JC!) and fairly controversial. Never mind that, though. I just realized who he is…

Cliff Secord! Or for those of you for whom that name doesn’t ring a bell… He was The ROCKETEER! I was shocked. (and I can tell you are too!) I can hardly wait for season 4 to start up next summer so that I can watch Jordan Collier with a whole new perspective.

I’m a mutant

In fact, so are most people of Western European descent. One of the things that I discovered, while reading up on child development, is that the ability to digest lactose normally disappears in mammals after they are weaned. Thus, being [lactose intolerant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance) is actually the “normal” state of a mammal. However, most humans of Western European descent have a genetic mutation that allows them to continue to digest lactose after weaning.

So, if you’re lactose intolerant, rejoice! You are perfectly normal, for a mammal. If you can digest lactose, enjoy your genetic mutation (albeit an extremely common one)… in lieu of the X-Men’s powers, I’d say being able to eat ice cream is pretty good. 🙂

Zucchini Goodness

Tonight for dinner, Becky made “Cheese and Almond Stuffed Zucchini”. She found the recipe in New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, a book that has helped her create many other interesting, tasty, and _vegetarian_ recipes! It was absolutely delicious. Here’s a pic:

ppp|Mmmm|ppp

The copyright of the book doesn’t allow us to reprint the recipe here, but I guarantee that it’s tasty! Look for the book in your local library or bookstore if you’d like to make it for yourself. Mmmm!

Update

We did get permission from Moosewood to reprint the recipe, so read on! Also, I would encourage everyone to keep copyright in mind when reprinting anything found in a book or in any other source. [Fair use](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use) law can cover you in some cases, for example, I would probably have a legal basis for printing an excerpt of the recipe, or a quote from the instructions, but to reprint the recipe in its entirety without permission is of questionable legality, and I personally would rather play it safe.

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Gloucester Schooner Festival

This past weekend was the [Gloucester Schooner Festival](http://www.capeannvacations.com/schooner/). Since we were all up in Townsend for the weekend, we missed it… or did we? In fact, due to the rain on Sunday, many of the events were postponed to Labor Day! So on Monday, Becky, Catherine and I headed up to [Gloucester](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester%2C_Massachusetts) to take in the events.

First, we watched the Parade of Sail, where a bevy of lovely schooners sailed past the Fisherman’s Statue to the delight of onlookers. The event was emceed by a hilarious old fellow, who had plenty of knowledge and color commentary about each ship as it went past.

ppp|Schooner|ppp

[See all the pics from the Parade of Sail](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/gloucester_schooner_festival/parade_of_sail/).

After the Parade, there was a demonstration by the [US Coast Guard](http://www.uscg.mil/uscg.shtm) of an air-sea rescue. A helicopter dropped a swimmer into the water, and then simulated a “rescue”, lowering itself very close to the surface of the water, and then dropping a rescue swimmer in. He used a loop attached to a line to hoist the “victim” up into the helicopter. Quite impressive.

ppp|Rescue|ppp

[See all of the rescue demonstration pics here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/gloucester_schooner_festival/rescue_demonstration/).

Finally, we boarded a shuttle boat to visit the [USS Doyle](http://www.doyle.navy.mil/), a Navy Fast Frigate that was docked offshore in Gloucester for the weekend. Besides being a fun boat ride out, it was extremely cool to get to tour a working military vessel.

ppp|Visiting the Doyle|ppp

[See all of the Doyle pics here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/gloucester_schooner_festival/uss_doyle/).

Catherine handled the whole day pretty well. She actually slept through our entire tour of the Doyle, just as she did on the [Friendship](http://prwdot.org/2006/08/29/long-hill-and-the-friendship/)!

It seems as though we’re starting to make a habit out of this visiting ships thing… but time and time again, it turns out to be one of the most interesting and fun things to do, and we’ve never had to pay to get on board any of the ships we’ve visited!

Wedding Pics

For those of you who are interested, the pics we took at David Lee’s wedding this weekend are [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/david_and_christine/). Sorry, since Catherine wasn’t invited there are very few photos of her! My cousin John and his family were kind enough to look after her while we were enjoying the event. 🙂