WordPress and Tabular Stats
One of my commenters once said “You are very random!” and I thought, “Yes! I am!”
It took me a long time to start blogging because I couldn’t limit myself to one sort of topic, like Life in Kuwait, or Religious Musings, or What Caught My Eye in the Newspaper Today, or Recent Studies Show . . . .
see what I mean?
I am such a geek. Today WordPress put out a bulletin: Tabular Stats.
The introduce it thus:
Tabular Stats
Today we present to our beloved stats addicts a new way to perceive numbers: stats tables! Tabular data is arranged in convenient grids so you can easily compare values along two dimensions: columns and rows. Headings along the top and left edges provide context and orientation. Alternating rows are faintly shaded to improve readability. Surely you have seen these things before.
Three new tables are available today: Months and Years, Average per Day, and Recent Weeks. They were modeled after tables Matt created for displaying top-secret WordPress.com metrics. Each one resembles a calendar in its own way. You probably won’t want to refresh these as often as some other stats pages—only a few of the table cells will be updated—but I won’t try to stop you. I know what it’s like.
When you WordPress users go to your stats page, go down to the bottom, where it shows things like your all time high day, and a small summary of your stats. There is a button there now – press it. It will take you to a nirvana for stat buffs, where you can see your average daily count for any given month, they have computed percentages – like the stock market – for when your stats are up or down – it is so much fun. Well, fun if you are a numbers and stat geek.
All in One Day
Life is funny, in Kuwait, you are just getting up, brushing your teeth, getting ready to head for work, knowing tonight is date night and tomorrow you sleep in. I’m in my jammies, lying in bed with my computer, watching old Law and Order’s on TNT (sometimes the Olympics just get boring) and winding down, getting ready to call it a day.
And what a day! My long time Army-wife friend and I went out playing – picked up lunch at Ivar’s and took it over to the park to eat, where we found a whole flock of new friends:
This guy was persistent – after we ate our fish, we threw him the fries:
We looked at a house for sale – great bones, significant view, lousy location:
The day was warm, but there was a persistent wind, and at one point, we drove home from the crowded malls in a driving rain. Everywhere, for the next three hours, people were saying “this is October weather, not August weather!”
A great night for Chinese food. T&T’s Seafood is SO Chinese that there aren’t that many things on the menu I am comfortable ordering, and I fly close to the edge of the envelope when exploring Chinese food. I ordered Hot and Sour Soup, Green Beans with shaved meat, and Prawns with Honeyed Pecans. I sat with all the other take-out people waiting for their orders – it’s truly that kind of night. Everyone is talking about the weather. They don’t do a lot of delivery in Seattle; mostly you have to go pick it up yourself:
It was pouring when I went in – clearing when I came out:
Heading toward the coast:
After dinner, I drove down to surfside to take a sunset photo with these wonderful clouds:
Safat Down?
I was just checking the Kuwait Blogs and I got a message that Safat is corrupted. Is anyone else getting the same view?
We take their service for granted, don’t we, these guys who volunteer their own time to keep Safat running. We are so lucky to have an aggregator in Kuwait so comprehensive and reliable.
“We Didn’t Have a Refrigerator”
We were eating breakfast together, my Mom and I, when she dropped a bomb. I had no idea she could catch me by surprise that way. We’d been talking about fresh peaches, and preserves.
“When your Dad and I got married, we didn’t even have a refrigerator,” she said.
Not have a refrigerator? You can get married and not have a refrigerator?
“How did you get one?” I asked, still reeling from astonishment.
“Your Dad inherited $100 from some very distant relative,” she related, “he got like 1/32nd, which came to $100. We used it to buy a refrigerator.”
“What did you do before you had it?” I asked, still a little disoriented.
“Well, it was Alaska,” she said. “We had these sort of pantries that had shelves with little holes opening to the outside, covered with screen to keep out insects and mosquitos, but it would let in the cool air. It didn’t get that hot, even in the summer. In the winter, we had shelves on the outside porches, too.”
Holy smokes, I thought to myself. How would I function without a refrigerator? We would have to go back to shopping every day. If there weren’t refrigerators, maybe stores wouldn’t have frozen sections, too? Maybe we would have to be buying meat just as it was slaughtered, only vegetables that could travel from not too far without refrigeration, we would be using a lot more grains and things that didn’t need refrigeration to preserve them.
Maybe we would be drying more foods? We would probably, in Kuwait, be eating more dates and rice, eating more locally raised foods – what, sheep? camel meat? We would probably be eating a lot more fish. We would probably go back to canning foods while they were abundant – tomatoes, fruit jams, maybe we would even pickle some fish and/or shrimp for out-of-season eating. Our food might be saltier, as salt is also a preservative. Maybe we would eat more rice, more pomegranate . . . maybe occasionally a boat would come in from Ethiopia or Kenya bringing rare coffee beans, and only very special, very lucky people would have access to the little luxury we all take for granted.
Ooops. Well, I am getting carried away. I was so amazed to hear my mother had initially kept house without a refrigerator that I sort of spaced out.
She went on to tell me that as she was growing up, her family had an ice box, and they would put out a special piece of paper when they needed ice from the ice man, who would drive by every day to provide ice for the cool-boxes. The ice came in different sizes, depending on the size of the ice box.
(I found this picture and a fairly clear explanation of ice boxes on on Wikipedia.)
It gets better. As I was reading the Wikipedia information, I came across the Pot in Pot refrigerator , known in Arabic as a “zeer” for which Mohammed Bah Abba was awarded a Rolex Laureate (Rolex Awards for Enterprise) in 2000. You can read about Mohammed Bah Abba, the Nigerian teacher who developed this simple, but effective refrigeration technique, by clicking on the blue type above. You can read more about the Zeer pot, and see a photo of how they work, by clicking here: Science in Africa.
Superlative Day: Gone Fishing
I’ve had some great and memorable days in my life, and this is one of them. My good friend said “Hey, you want to go fishing Friday?” and I said “Yes!” I had to go get a one-day fishing license, and I could add crab for a mere 50 cents, so I did.
We met up at 6:30 a.m. and were on the water by 7 a.m. on one of the hottest day’s in Seattle’s summer. As we left the marina, we passed an Eagle. (We thought of you, AdventureMan!)
AdventureMan must have heard us talking about him, because as the sun rises, he calls from Kuwait, eating Felafel sandwiches and ice cream as we watch the sun rise:
And set the crab traps – this is what an empty crab trap looks like. We put turkey legs and old fish heads in the bait box to attract the crabs:
It is a gorgeous morning. As my friends dig out the fishing polls, I admire the mountains and the sparkles on the waters of Puget Sound:
My friend has baited my hook and hands the rod to me. I lower the weight to the bottom, pull it up just a little and – an immediate nibble:
He’s a good size and he’s a keeper. My friend grabs my camera to take my photo with my first fish of the day, I hold the fish up – and just as she is snapping the shot, the fish does a little flip right off the hook and back into the water!
It doesn’t matter – the fish are biting and we are hauling them in. Some are too small; we take them off the hooks and throw them back, telling them to have a good life, grow big and we will see them again, we hope!
After about an hour of superlative fishing, we go back to check the crab pots. They are HEAVY with crab!
You can’t keep any female crab, or any male under a certain size, so any crab you think you might want to keep, you have to measure. You get a HUGE fine if you are caught with undersize crab. As we bring in the crab and the fish, my friend notes them down on our licence records, which have to be sent in to the state at the end of the season, listing fish we have caught, crab we have caught, and how many we threw back.
We catch a couple rock crab – those you don’t have to measure, and you can keep. Most of what we catch is the sweet and delectable Dungeness Crab – my very favorite after Alaska King Crab.
We had just decided to quit for the day – it was getting really, really HOT for Seattle, like 90°F/33°C (and there is an advisory for hot weather, and air stagnation) and we have nearly our limit for crab, and a respectable amount of fish, and we are happy, happy fisherpeople! Just as I am about to raise my line, I get a big bite, and catch the last fish!
Here is our bucket, full of fish. The cooler is full of crab. What a great day to be alive.
Hard Times
I noticed it right away, driving home on the Seattle freeway – a significantly reduced number of cars, and NO one is speeding. Seattle has outgrown it’s freeways – even early mornings the roads are packed. Or they were – they aren’t now.
At first, I thought I might be imagining it, but the trip down to the ocean cabin in Oregon and back up and through and into Seattle several times have only driven the point home – there are fewer cars on the road.
The Starbuck’s have fewer customers. This is mid-summer, normally a carefree, free-spending time, but not this summer.
There are also fewer shoppers in the stores – and, in downtown Seattle, many of the shoppers were foreigners, here to take advantage of the bargains provided by the weakened dollar. I have to admit, it’s humbling to be a bargain destination. I know many Kuwaitis headed for the USA this summer, enjoying an improved exchange rate.
Sitting in Barnes and Noble with a friend, we heard a very plummy voice giving directions to friends who were to meet them there.
“We drove through the most amazing rural area,” she trilled, “SO picturesque, you must try to find it, it is called Bothell.”
Bothell picturesque? Bothell rural? Bothell is a bedroom community to Seattle, full of sub-divisions where there used to be farms. I wanted to give her a dirty look, but I remember saying the same things – glowing about the desert and camels or sweet little French villages, and I just figure what goes around comes around and I am just getting a little payback.
It’s also scary seeing how much prices have gone up – eggs! The same problem Kuwait is having – eggs are more expensive. Rice is more expensive. My Mother thinks some merchants are just marking things up because they can, and they can blame it on oil and it’s all just GREED.
I think all this has a lot to do with perception. Right now, people are feeling insecure and are trying not to spend too much money, not knowing what is around the corner. Americans have an irrepressible sends of optimism, and I suspect that a more positive approach will take hold in the next few months. Once it does, markets will rise, people will be spending again . . . and I wonder if the prices will go down, or just keep going up?
It’s The Law
There is something about Oregon I love. I don’t know if this is true anywhere else in the country, but in Oregon, you are not allowed to pump your own gas. So when it is cold and rainy and foggy and drizzly, you can sit in your warm car and someone else fills up your tank.
Just like Kuwait!
I asked the very nice young man who filled my tank if people ever tip him, and he said “Some people do!” with a big smile. I was happy to tip him for filling my tank.
(I asked him if I could take his photo for my blog, and he said “sure” it was fine. )
Wooo Hoooo, Oregon!
Off the Banned Driver List
When I got to the car rental counter, the polite man behind the counter typed in all the information and then blanched.
“Ummm, ” he started off, very embarrassed, “there is a problem . . . . ”
I knew, I just knew what was coming. I had even sent the car rental agency an e-mail asking them to check to make sure everything was straight.
“You’re on our banned driver list.” he finished up.
If it hadn’t happened before – TWICE – I would have been a lot more embarrassed. Now, I am just annoyed.
When I came in here last time, I didn’t know my license had expired. Fortunately, I have another driver’s license, so they let me use that one – it is the license that is banned, not the driver (yeh, go figure). The very next day, I was the first one in line at the driver’s license place and renewed my license in less than five minutes. It’s easy. I just explain that I live in Kuwait and don’t always have access to registration facilities! They understand.
But when I got to California and went to rent again – same problem. Again, they let me drive on my other license.
So third time is the charm. Once again, they give me a car based on the second license (I mean, isn’t that funny in itself; you have this BANNED person and you give her a car because she can show you another license???)
The counter guy gave me a sheet of paper with an intimidating list of the possible reasons I was banned, including expired license, but also things like fleeing the scene of an accident, or felony warrants and things like that. (If you could see me, you would know how dyingly funny this is.) Before I even took the car, I called their security people. It took a total of 30 seconds. I told them I renewed the license, they checked, found out I was not lying and BINGO! I am no longer a BANNED person.
I knew what the problem was, but being BANNED made me feel terrible. It was so unfair. It made me think about labels, and how even though they are just words, words can make you feel really really BAD. I truly hated being a BANNED person.
Ivar’s Customer Service
In all the world, the restaurant I love above all others is Ivar’s, and the good news for me is that Ivar’s has branches all over Seattle. They have big, full service restaurants, they have counters in the food courts in all the malls, they have branches all over the city, sort of like fast-food Ivar’s, and then they have a couple branches by the ferry-boat lines, so people taking the ferries to the islands can just grab some fish and chips to go. Or clam chowder. Yummm.
You all think I come to Seattle and just sit back and eat bonbons, but you are SO wrong. I do all my medical check ups, and get new glasses, and try to take care of all kinds of business. So I am waiting for my glasses to be ready in one hour, and I go to the nearby food court where I know there is an Ivar’s. I was having blood tests this morning, so I have fasted since midnight the night before and I am HUNGRY.
When I get to the Ivar’s, I order the Salmon Ceasar, which the big sign says is $8.69.
“Is that the lunch special Salmon Ceasar?” the counter guy asks.
I am desperately looking for a sign and I don’t see one, so I say “yes.”
The price is WAYYYYY less than a dinner Salmon Ceasar, and the salmon is almost the same size, just a little less lettuce, or so it looks to me.
How often to restaurants ask you if you would like LESS instead of more? Often, when we order, the server asks “is that all?” and my usual answer is “isn’t that enough?” Like we are not supposed to be in the restaurant unless we are going to order more?
When my lunch comes, there is also a form – you will see it below. It is a very brave form – I always admire restaurants that genuinely ask for feedback.
(At one restaurant in Kuwait, I wrote I would never be back because they didn’t have the kind of pizza I like, and AdventureMan said “the home office will never see that one!” because he believes that the bad ones are probably tossed away.)
I’m only sharing this with you because I really love Ivar’s food, and I really love their approach to the customer.
Paid Their Dues and Deported
From today’s Kuwait Times:
KUWAIT: The government reached an agreement with Asian workers yesterday to end a three-day strike over pay and conditions, state news agency KUNA said. Three hundred protesters were also deported after being paid their dues, Kuwait Times has learned. Earlier, hundreds of mainly Bangladeshi workers went on strike for a third day, seeking better pay and improved working conditions, with some overturning cars and ransacking offices.
This all started back a couple weeks ago – remember the hospital worker’s strike? The gas station attendant’s strike? And then the Kuwait Times wrote an article that the company had agreed to pay wages and the workers were going back to work.
The next day, the workers said there had never been any agreement, and no one had been paid! They lied, and hoped the problem would go away.
So my question today is – I believe 300 were deported – maybe more. Do you believe they were paid all their wages?
Several citizens were angry these people had chosen to demonstrate, riot, strike, etc and suggested they should take their case to the Kuwait courts. Do they have eyes to see? These are the little guys you see at the street corners, they don’t speak English or Arabic, they don’t have enough to eat, they don’t even have privacy or clothing or their wages. Go to court? How do they go to court?
I have always loved the verse in the Qur’an that talks about paying the laborer for his work before the sweat has dried on his back. I think there are some very guilty employers out there, and some very slimy recruiters, who bring people in with a whiff of hope for a better tomorrow, and then cheat them. It will be on their heads.
Recent Comments
intlxpatr on Give to Those Who Ask ExpatAlien on What Country am I Living … intlxpatr on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Michelle on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Cathy on No Grown-Ups in Charge Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 