*Linked list: A Flickr of Light

Some people take pretty pictures and some people make pretty pictures out of data from those pictures. I, myself, don't do either, but enjoy looking at pretty pictures and data of pretty pictures. "Say what?!?", you say? Since a picture is worth a thousand words I will stop rambling and show you a few examples. Take a few minutes to marinate on these.

See or Say . Flickr uploads vs. Tweets by geography. Blue = Twitter, Orange = Flickr, White = Both (U.S. shown).


Locals vs. Tourists . A look at who is posting pics to Flickr in major cities. Blue = locals, Red = tourists, Yellow = undetermined (Chicago shown).


Flickr flow . Relative proportions of color seen in Flickr photos chronologically ordered. (Winter at the bottom).

Days late, hopefully not dollars short

Today starts my first day of maternity leave and, quite honestly, I thought I'd have a little baby to show for it. I had delusions of working right up until the last minute - biting down on a pen cap or breathing through those early contractions - until calmly shooting off an e-mail to my employer explaining my immediate need to run off to the hospital and promptly have a baby. Silly Nica, due dates are for...actually, I have no idea who due dates are for. In fact, I prepared myself to have a late arrival since, statistically speaking, firstborns are 1 week and 2 days late (I have actually heard the range of 1 week 1 day to 1 week 3 days, but close enough). A week before our due date I was counting on the baby being late so I could tie up those loose ends, procure necessities and cross off all the items on my numerous to-do before baby lists. Now staring back at a long week of being overdue I see that being overdue is a lot like a little kid 'hitting the wall' after staying up well beyond an appointed bedtime - you periodically feel that throwing a monumental temper tantrum is exactly what needs to be done. In fact, everyone who lays eyes on you will tell you what needs to be done to make the baby come faster and with this one action you will have a baby in a matter of days. The fascinating part about this whole process is you will take these random suggestions to heart with each passing day. Day one of overdue and I signed up for acupuncture. Day two and we were taking long walks...by the time all is said and done I wouldn't be surprised if we hunt down a cannon or two to shoot off in our backyard (read on for that last part to make any sense). Here are a few labor-inducing suggestions we've heard...repeatedly:


[Me...2 weeks ago.]
Acupuncture. Acupuncture in known locations will stimulate the labor process. Though not as quick acting as Western medicine (Pitocin), with a successful session or two you should go into labor within a few days. Studies are available on this and vary signficantly with the overall thought summarized as "can't hurt, might help."

Walking. Probably the number one suggestion by the public at large - take long walks or walk stairs. The theory behind this is that it will help position the baby lower, thereby kick starting the steps leading up to labor. The real impressive part of this suggestion is that what seemed like an impossibility 1 week ago - walking like a normal person for reasonable stretches of time - becomes not only possible, but routine.

Sex. Have sex to stimulate contractions or introduce pitocin naturally to start labor. This suggestion seems to have the greatest medical support and, usually, the most favorable partner support.

Indigestion. Okay, so it isn't presented as such, but basically spicy foods and ingesting Castor oil is all about upsetting your stomach to create a chain reaction that starts contractions. Downside to this one is you could just have an upset stomach or worse and still not go into labor.

Now for the good part - historical methods of inducing labor:

Cannons. A friend informed us that sometimes women were allowed onto sailing ships that were unknowingly pregnant. If the female was determined to be overdue or in the middle of a difficult labor, they would take her down to the cannons, load them up with powder and set them off in hopes of starting or hastening labor. This is one possibility of how the phrase 'son of a gun' got started.

Attacks . Some plains Indians were known to tie an overdue pregnant woman up and create a false attack to send her into labor. Really, it sounded like a good idea...

No reason to go postal

May 11th marks the rise of the postage stamp (per 1 ounce mailing, in case you were wondering). Having failed to stock up on the Forever stamps*, I am now stuck with having to plunk down 44 cents per normal letter I write. We've come a long way since the 2 cent days of 1885, but here is a rundown since 1975, taken from the website of a way too diligent citizen.

September 14, 1975.....10¢
December 31, 1975.....13¢
May 29, 1978.....15¢
March 22, 1981.....18¢
November 1, 1981.....20¢
February 17, 1985.....22¢
April 3, 1988.....25¢
February 3, 1991.....29¢
January 1, 1995.....32¢
January 10, 1999.....33¢
January 7, 2001.....34¢
June 30, 2002.....37¢
January 8, 2006.....39¢
May 14, 2007.....41¢
May 12, 2008.....42¢
May 11, 2009.....44¢

*For those of you stuck in the digital world: the Forever stamp allows you to buy the stamp at the current 1st class price - but it can be used any time despite postal increases. To me, a brilliant idea so you don't have to cobble together a billion old stamps to meet the current price. Or you could run in the opposite direction and place a ton of small value stamps in a pattern to comprise your postal needs (love this idea. Both idea and picture found on Oh So Beautiful Paper, a blog I will probably become obsessed with).

St. Patrick and his day

So, I originally set out to find the three miracles performed by Patrick that elevated him to sainthood...but that required too much reading. During my research (read: pulling up the page on wikipedia), I did stumble across list of items that St. Patrick is the patron saint of - a most eclectic collection of places and things.

• Ireland
• Nigeria
• Montserrat
• New York
• Boston
• Engineers
• Against snakes

Winter is here...officially

December 21, 2008 . First day of winter
March 20, 2009 . First day of spring, winter equinox
June 20, 2009 . First day of summer, summer solstice
September 22, 2009 . First day of fall, summer equinox
December 21, 2009 . First day of winter, winter solstice