Stardate 67669.47 - Annual Update

It has been well over a year since I last posted to this blog...a far cry from the multiple posts per week that I wrote back near the start (June 24, 2004 to be exact).  I started the blog to mess around with RSS as we were using that technology for work (remember, nearly 10 years ago!), so the first few posts were just messing around.  But then I started posting photos and stories from our lives in Manhattan and later on the Jersey Shore.  It became the main method of keeping our families up-to-date on what we were doing and of sharing photos with them.

The blog was kept pretty well up to date until September, 2011.  At that point, Facebook took over as the main mechanism for keeping people up-to-date on what we were doing and of sharing photos with them.  In a way, it took over from the blog because it was so easy...just upload a bunch of photos, maybe write a caption, and you are done!  It took far less time than the narrative around the photos I wrote for the blog, and uploading photos was so much faster...in fact, getting multiple photos to upload in the proper order was a real hassle in the early days of blogging (at least on Blogger).

The demise of the blog also coincided with the transfer of primary photo-taking responsibility from me to Cheryl.  As Cheryl began shooting in RAW and doing post-processing of the photos, they simply were not available in a format to quickly post after an event or vacation, and once time had passed the urge to get the photos posted with a story wrapped around them would fade.  And it was easier to just share the album once she put it up on Facebook than it was to re-create the whole thing on the blog.

So for now, this blog is pretty idle.  Only had a post or two in 2012, and this is the first post from 2013.  If you are still subscribing to this blog as your primary way of keeping in touch, I recommend that you either click on the links on the left to add us as friends in Facebook, or subscribe to my Twitter feed (@SawyerCurt).  I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but Facebook (and to a lesser extent, Twitter) have pretty much killed off the blog as a "what are we doing" and photo sharing channel.  Until I can figure out a different use for it, one for which it is uniquely qualified, this blog will remain mostly idle.

Atlantic Highlands, NJ

Stardate 63970.98 - Charlie Brown Christmas Killed by ABC

I'm not sure if anyone watched ABC's presentation of Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, but they cut up the episode to insert more commercials. My friend Jess does a dramatic reading of a well-written letter to ABC:



NYC

Stardate 62973.63 - Why me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

"Why me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

That was what I exclaimed when I was a child and during a mock sword-fight with my cousin Justin I backed up, lost my balance a bit, and set my hand down on top of a very hot wood stove. You could see a hand-print on the stove for months afterward, as I believe I lost a very thin layer of skin. I repeated this mantra for hours (days if you believe my cousins). Well, on Sunday we decided to get out of the house, run a few errands, take Loren to Grand Central for the laser show, and swing by Cheryl's office to move the last few items out of her old office and into her new office (right next door to her old office). Well, 2 out of 3 got accomplished.

First, we went to the AT&T store where (for Cheryl's birthday) we got her an iPhone. We thought we'd lost her phone Wednesday night at my company holiday party, and between the time we realized we couldn't find it and when we actually found it 24 hours later, Cheryl had done some research on line and had decided that she'd really like an iPhone to replace it. I think she was a bit disappointed when we found the phone, so we decided that for her birthday (I had not gotten a preasent other than flowers for her yet) we'd get her an iPhone. So we did, and she loves it! I'm having some gadget envy right now, I must confess.

Then, as we were walking down the wet, slushy stairs to the 4/5 train I had Loren's hand in one hand, and 2 umbrellas plus the iPhone bag in the other hand and suddenly slipped. I was wearing ankle-high snow boots and I'm not sure if they helped or hurt but I slid down several stairs as I tried to quickly release Loren's hand (successful), grab hold of the handrail (partially successful), keep from smashing the AT&T bag (successful), and keep my foot from folding under my leg (partially successful). As I stood up I realized that my ankle hurt like hell and I couldn't put any weight on it. I hobbled down the stairs and after a few minutes realized it was not getting any better.

So Cheryl and Loren went on to Grand Central without me as I hobbled back up the stairs and hailed a taxi to take me home. It turned out that there was also a train display there, and Loren fell in love with it.


Meanwhile I elevated my foot and watched New England crush the Cardinals while I tried to figure out if my ankle was broken or just horribly wrenched. I'm going to call the doctor today to see if I need to come in to have it checked out. I can move around the house slowly today, and the swelling has gone down, so I'm hoping it is the same basic injury I did to my right ankle about 10 years ago or so playing racquetball. It hurt less this time (left ankle this time), and the swelling was less so I'm hoping it is just a bad sprain.

So I'm working from home today. What a great way to start the holiday week.

Why me?!? :-)

NYC

Stardate 62749.44 - Paper Paper Paper

Went to Sears to get bags for the vacuum and the amount of paper receipts and coupons and crap spit out by the register was unbelievable. Here, for your comparison, is one of the three packages of the bags, alongside the stack of paper I was handed upon check-out. The bag of bags is smaller than the sum total of the register receipts.

Am I the only person who finds this to be crazy?

NYC

Stardate 62669.14 - Calling All Nerds

I love my HD Television (Panasonic), I love my HDMI receiver (Onkyo), I pretty much love my HD DVR (Scientific Atlanta), and I am ok with our HD cable (Time Warner). But for some reason, when Gossip Girl (in HD) has been recorded from CW11 onto the DVR, we get periodic sound drops during re-play. It is driving Cheryl nuts. The only thing I found through Google was someone in New Jersey who had similar issues and they stopped when he upgraded to 1.3a HDMI cables.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? If so, what was the fix? I'm dreading contacting TWC about this because I anticipate them not being very helpful.

Thanks!!

NYC

Stardate 62398.66 - Frak

Today we got back from being out with Loren at the Sesame Street park in PA and the Dell Inspiron E1705 had an error message about not being able to boot. Odd, since it was running with the screen saver on when we left. To make a long story short, here is the problem:

*** Hard Drive - DST Short Test ***
Test Results: Fail
Error Code 2000-0148
MSG: 0: IDE ERROR: Status 3E No additional sense information

The laptop will not boot from the hard drive. And if I boot from CD-ROM I can get to the Hard Drive but I cannot see the "Users" directory at the root level. To make matters worse, the backup (which seemed to complete successfully yesterday) will not permit me to restore. It just does not show any restore points available, even though I can see the data files on the drive for yesterday. I tested the restore function back when we first got the drive, but it failed a couple of months ago and I had to scrap the backup data and start over and I apparently never re-checked the restore to ensure it was working property.

We're completely screwed. We'll loose months and months and possible more than a year of photos if I cannot get the data either from the hard drive or from the backup. I'm going to call the tech support line for the backup software tomorrow, but I'm not anticipating any luck with them. My next option is to send the drive to one of those data recovery outfits and spend whatever it takes to get the data back. (Anyone got any suggestions as to a good place?)

I am ready to throw the laptop out of the window and into the courtyard below. I've now spent the past 3 hours trying to fix this, to no avail.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

NYC

Stardate 62395.71 - A Little Picnic

For dinner tonight (Saturday, May 24th) we decided to pack it up and have a little picnic on the roof deck. It was pasta all around, with salad for Cheryl and me, topped off by water (and milk for Loren). The wind was a little high and the tiny, plastic wine glasses tipped over a couple of times, but the 3 10-year -old hooligans who came up unsupervised and proceeded to climb to the top of a mechanical structure and kick roof tar down onto the deck were the greatest annoyance. Their ineffective parental unit, who showed up 5 minutes later, was a close second place on the annoyance scale.


We had a nice view, however, and mostly ignored them and they went away soon after regardless.


NYC

Stardate 62383.25 - CA Day Five

I'm now back from my 4-day sailing adventure (an early birthday present), so I can continue with the California vacation series.


Because we thought Loren was getting a little bored in the evenings at Yosemite, we purchased her a magnetic Yosemite scene that she could add animals to in different locations. She really liked her "game" and played with it a lot. Here we are just about packed up on Thursday morning, ready to check out, and she is still in her PJs, playing the game. As you can see below, we finally got her dressed and she wanted all of her berets in her hair.


It wouldn't be a long car trip without a picture of Loren in her car seat.


We went into the valley for the last time and let Loren throw rocks into the creek for the last time.





And then we had a hellish time getting to Berkeley. The route we wanted to take, 120, was completely closed by a rockslide (but we didn't know that), so we got sent off on 140 (which also was partially closed by a rockslide). In several places (like the one pictured below), the road went down to a single lane with 2-way traffic. We we waited and waited and waited before we could go. I won't go into all the details, but Loren was pretty good for the first hour or so of delays, but then she wanted out when there were no places to get out and finally fell asleep as we cleared the last of the hideous traffic jams. At that point I was ready to beat someone to death so Cheryl took over driving the rest of the way.


Here on 140 you can see how the road is covered in rocks. They had temporary bridges set up to send you to the other side of the river and back to avoid the slide, but it was taking forever to switch traffic from one direction to another, and at one point a huge truck was 3-4 spots in front of us and was turned around because the temporary bridges were insufficient to support its weight. So that took something like 15 minutes to get sorted out while we sat, and sat, and sat.


As we approached the bay area there were hundreds and hundreds of windmills on the hills, spinning and generating power. Go green!


Here in Berkeley Loren literally stops to smell the flowers at the Doubletree Marina, where we stayed one night.


Across the street from the hotel was a park (Cesar Chavez Park), and Loren enjoyed running in the tall grass.


And watching this kite be skillfully flown.


That evening we met an old High School classmate of Cheryl's for dinner, and Loren was very good at the restaurant. It was then back to the hotel to sleep.

NYC

Stardate 62279.99 - Home At Last

Friday was a delightful day to fly on an American Airlines MD-80. I was out in Illinois all week for work, having left on Monday when there was no indication (of which I was aware) that travel on American was about to go Tango Uniform. All week I kept an eye on the news and the cancellations, and I was concerned when the Thursday version of my flight was canceled. I was also concerned when only one flight all day Friday made it to NYC. A couple made it to Chicago, but the legs to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) were canceled.

All day long my flight continued to show as on-time, however, so I got to the airport a good 2.5 hours prior to departure in case of problems. Then 45 minutes prior to departure, the text messages began. First, we were delayed 15 minute to a 7 PM departure. Ten minutes later, another 20 minute delay. Ten minutes after that, another 15 minute delay. And 40 minutes later, our original departure time of 6:45 PM was now 8 PM. Luckily, we were told, at this point the plane was en route from Dallas so it was clearly one that had been inspected and certainly nothing could keep us from LGA now.

I think it was 8:30 PM (Central Time) when we took off, but we were told by the Captain that we'd be at LGA at 11:15 PM. Then, around 11 PM it became obvious that we were circling. The Captain came on and told us that conditions at LGA were "below minimums" and we would divert to Kennedy (JFK). LGA is a 10-15 minute taxi ride to home, while JFK is more like 40 minutes. We finally landed and got to the gate at 11:30PM. Turns out we were the lucky ones, as other planes bound for LGA were diverted to Connecticut and Philly.

Almost an hour later, our luggage finally arrived at baggage claim. By this time, there were 50 people in line for Taxis, so I was was cursing under my breath and about to get into the line when one of the many illegal car service people asked me if I needed a car ($65 is the price he quoted me to get to Manhattan, which is $10 or $15 more than a Taxi ride). Faced with a 20+ minute wait in line, I took him up on his offer and we were off to Manhattan. At about 40 miles per hour. He was one of the slowest drivers I've ever ridden with. I seriously think I would have done better to wait in the Taxi line. Additionally, he went the wrong way off of the Queensboro Bridge and had to go a few blocks out of the way in order to get back around to our place.

I finally was home and in bed at 1:20 AM Saturday morning. But at least I got home.

I will say that the employees of American Airlines remained very professional throughout the evening, and we had many off-duty flight attendants on our flight trying to get to work. Believe me, they were just as inconvenienced as the rest of us were, but everyone kept their cool.


NYC

Stardate 62191.05 - Spitzer Must Resign

In case you missed it, our Governor was just caught up in a prostitution sting. Eliot Spitzer, a former state attorney general who was elected on a platform of cleaning up Albany, has been charged with a Federal Crime (violating the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution) for arranging for the transportation of a prostitute across state lines.

It is bad enough that he now looks like a complete and total hypocrite, but he has probably just cost the Democrats control over the NY State Senate, which they were poised to win this fall. Even worse, "as attorney general Mr. Spitzer also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force" (NY Times). If he were a Republican I would be demanding that he resign, and it would be hypocritical of me to not do so now. (For the record, I am an Independent/Moderate, but I think most people know I tend to tilt Democratic.)

Mr. Spitzer, you have disgraced yourself, your party, your family, and your state. Resign immediately so we can get on with business.

NYC

Stardate 62156.73 - Stupid Is as Stupid Does

I received an e-mail today from USAirways, stating:

"Today, US Airways announced a change to our baggage policy. Beginning May 5, 2008, we’ll charge $25 for a second checked bag. The new fee applies to travel on or after May 5 for tickets purchased on or after February 26, 2008.

We’re making these changes to offset record fuel prices and rising airline related expenses. We simply must make changes to the way we do business to provide all of you with the high level of service that you’ve come to expect from US Airways. Also, we’re doing all we can to keep fares low. With this policy change, we’re able to give you the choice to avoid the fee and pack fewer items. With fewer bags to process, we save both money and fuel and can pass that savings on to you."

How is this stupid? Let me count the ways:

1. More people will carry on 2 items.
2. People will now check bigger, heavier bags instead of 2 smaller bags.
   

First, overhead space is already minimal, because people bring a laptop bag along with the largest, heaviest piece of luggage they can currently cram into the overhead compartments. I've always checked as much luggage as possible so that I can put my laptop backpack in the overhead and keep the space at my feet clear. Now people like me will probably be carrying on more luggage, both filling up the overheads quicker as well as cramming luggage down at our feet. And with the narrow, tight-ass seats on planes these days I predict more aggravation and lower customer satisfaction (as if it could go any lower these days). ALSO, because to the first to board goes the overhead space, I predict more people rushing the gate as soon as boarding begins, instead of people waiting for their rows/group to be called. This situation is already rampant, creating a throng of people one must push through to get to the gate. Now it will be even worse as people jockey for position in order to get their huge bags into the limited overhead space.

Second, I don't see how they will have fewer bags to process. They are simply moving the problem from the cargo door to the passenger door. Now the hold-up will be either as passengers argue with the gate attendant as to what constitutes a "personal item", and/or waiting for passengers to struggle to fit their bags (which are usually large enough to hold a German Shepard) into the overhead. We will also have lots of delays as the flight attendants attempt to latch those doors with bags and handles and everything else hanging out of the compartments. I anticipate zero time savings.

Bottom Line: People are not going to pack less, they are simply going to carry on more. There will be zero savings due to weight (because there will be no reduction, bags will just be shuffled from the hold to the cabin), and zero savings due to time (because the delay is just being moved to the cabin). Even worse, this action will prompt other airlines to follow suit, ending pretty much in disaster. I predict more angry passengers as the limited space we have now at our feet is eliminated by more luggage.

USAirways - what brain trust came up with this plan?

NYC

Stardate 62081.64 - What a Diffference...

I arrived at the St. Louis airport on Tuesday morning to 67 degrees and clear skies. I opened the sunroof on my Toyota Highlander rental car on my way to my client site, and turned on the vents full blast. I considered turning on the A/C, but that just seemed wrong.

After lunch I was coming back to the client site and there was this large, black, wall of death sweeping across the plains heading towards me. Suddenly the sky was black, the wind was roaring, my car was being pushed around on the road like a discarded fast food bag, and the temperature started to drop.

and drop.

and drop.

and drop.

By the time I left the office at the end of the day, there was a half-inch of snow on the ground, my car was covered in ice, and this is what my laptop said:


50 frack'n degrees!!! The temperature dropped 50 frack'n degrees in something like 2 hours!!! I'm out here freezing my ass off right now!!!!

O'Fallon, IL

Stardate 62003.84 - New Year's Day

On December 31st Cheryl and I stayed up and watched Knocked Up (our review of that movie will be posted later). We finished the movie at 2345 so we stayed up the extra 15 minutes and watched the ball drop. The whole event just gets more and more underwhelming each year. The 1999-2000 year change was such a big deal that everything else pales in comparison (although maybe it is because the 2001-2002 change was the last time we actually went out to a big event for New Year's).

Anyway, Steve and Rachel and their kids Ethan and Ellie came into the city on January 1st, and we took them to the American Museum of Natural History as our gift to the kids. Since Loren enjoyed it so much when we took her, we joined as members so we can go back for free as much as we want (and we paid for Steve's family as our Christmas gift).



Generally, everyone seemed to have a good time, but we had a significant issue with the coat check. We got there pretty early and there we no lines for the tickets, but there was a line of 20 people or so waiting to check coats. It was a raw, cold, rainy day (and hot in the museum) so we didn't want to have to carry coats around. It took the two people behind the counter 30 minutes to process 20 people. At the end of our trip we took the kids to the cafe and I went to the coat check to get into the line to pick up all the coats. The line was probably 30 people when I got into it, and another 10-15 stacked up behind me. At one point, they closed the doors so that no-one else could get into the line. This action made all the people trying to pick up coats come in through the exit and try to cut into the front of the line, making people picking up coats who were waiting patiently in line (like me!) very angry. It took nearly an hour for me to get the coats, and things were really starting to turn ugly as I collected our coats and left (when the coat check guy was telling a customer to take it up with his supervisor, I knew things were bad). And for the pleasure of this waiting and waiting and waiting we got to pay $2 per coat. I did end up in line behind two women from England so having been there a few times for business I chatted with them, passing the time. My advice - on busy days, keep your coat.

Finally I had our coats and we left the museum and went back to our place for Steve and Rachel to see our co-op and for the kids to play. We ordered great pizza from Pizza Park and as the kids were getting really tired (and Steve's cat allergies were starting to kick in) I took Loren out in the stroller so she could fall asleep for her nap and when I got back Steve and Rachel were just about to head out the door and back to NJ.

NYC

Stardate 61817.38 - Digital Ethnography

Jessica Stover posted this video on her blog. As a parent of a very young child, I often wonder how different things will be for her in college than they were for me. As an example, when I was in school only Engineers and Computer Scientists had computers - the Apple Macintosh 2 for CS majors, and the IBM PS/2 (XT) for Engineers. I didn't have an e-mail account until my senior year, and that was on a mainframe and required special formatting to get out onto the Internet. I had a 1200 baud modem to visit bulletin boards and to get hints for games. Professors handed out everything hardcopy, and used blackboards or overhead projectors. No-one had a cell phone. Things have changed so much in just 15 years. How much more will they change in another 15?



NYC

Stardate 61787.38 - Time and Temperature, Part Two

What a difference a week makes! Last week I was complaining about how hot it was in the apartment, and how I almost turned on the A/C as it topped out in the low 80s inside the apartment.

Well, no more! Fall has officially arrived!

At 0930 this morning it is 56 outside and 66 inside. Suddenly both cats really want to sit in my lap.

NYC

Stardate 61770.96 - Time and Temperature

For the record, it is 0937 on October 9th and it is currently 81.5 degrees in our apartment. Um, isn't it supposed to be Fall or something?

And look at the dramatic temperature drop we are supposed to have this week - down 10 degrees tomorrow, another 10 degrees by Friday, and into the 50s by Saturday.

And a lot of rain. And I know rain makes it a hassle for Cheryl to get Loren down to daycare but I think the entire east coast could really use some rain right now.

And I'm still waiting to get some photos from my classmates' cameras to post here from the reunion on Saturday, since I was a moron and never took a picture all day Saturday.

NYC

Stardate 61713.27 - So Very Warm

Just look at these great temperatures! It is finally feeling a little like fall, and while I am going to miss both those lazy Saturdays on the beach and also the sailing season, I do enjoy the cooler temperatures that arrive with fall. I enjoy switching to jeans, being able to wear a blazer to dress up a little, and the nice cool breeze blowing through the windows as I telecommute from home during the day.

Yes, as much as I morn the passing of summer, there is something about the fall that seems to energize me in some way. I do enjoy a slow, gradual progression towards winter.
Of course, I'm not actually in New York this week to enjoy it. Instead I am back in O'Fallon, Illinois where summer's death grip still clutches the land. Instead of upper 70s and maybe 80 I get to experience upper 80s to 90 degrees this week.

In a suit.

Driving back and forth between 3 different places where I have meetings today.

Oh, the joys of travel!!

O'Fallon, IL

Stardate 61687.1 - Talladega Nights

I watched Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby over the past 2 days (an hour Friday night and the second hour while Loren and Cheryl ran out to do some shopping late this afternoon). In a word:

Awful.

Really, really bad.

I got the impression that there was a lot of improv around a very lose plot line, the results of which was a movie that was uneven, unfunny, and "un-entertaining". And the direction the movie was heading in was obvious about 20 minutes in - but during that first 20 minutes I found myself asking multiple times, "What is the point of this?". While there were a few funny parts they were few and far between and most jokes were drawn out way too long - the movie could have been 30 minutes shorter. What is it people say? "Cut for pacing".

After I committed an hour I felt as I had to complete it, but I almost didn't even finish it. We had it on our list because after a succession of depressing dramas we felt we needed a few comedies.

Thumb down. Cheryl feel asleep Friday night 30 minutes into it and had zero interest in completing the movie.

NYC

Stardate 61619.95 - Hope There Isn't a Fire

Unless something truly horrible happens, this will be my last post about the hotel I am staying in during my trip to Montgomery, because I am sure people are tired of hearing about it.

I was looking at the back of the hotel room door yesterday, and something just didn't look correct. The evacuation sign seemed a bit off. You know the sign I am taking about, the metal or plastic plate on the back of hotel room doors showing which room you are in and the location of the emergency exits. The sign indicated that I was just a few doors away from a stairwell, if I turned left upon exiting my room. I opened my door and looked left...down a long hallway that lead to the elevators and eventually to a stairwell at the far, far end.

I looked right. A couple of doors down was the end of the hall and the stairs leading out of the building. The sign was wrong - it was the mirror image of what the hotel actually looked like. If there were a fire or smoke and I had tried to use the sign to figure out which direction I should exit in it would actually have steered me away from the exit!

The people are nice, as I mentioned before, but I still think this hotel gets the "no fly zone" treatment in the future.

Montgomery, Alabama


The picture is of a fire exit sign resembling those accordant with the EU directive 92/58/EEC, without the text "fire exit". Drawn by Mysid in CorelDraw. The creator of this work granted permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. Subject to disclaimers.

Stardate 61616.12 - Personal Hygene

As I got ready for bed last night I discovered I had forgotten to pack toothpaste. Luckily, I had purchased a pack of gum at the store so I used that as a substitute.

Today it hit 103, so it was a good thing I had not forgotten my deodorant, but I did have to go to the store again after work today to buy new toothpaste. I went into the Rite Aid directly beside the grocery store, thinking the price would be cheaper. It looked like something from a post-apocalyptic disaster movie. Shelves were strewn with debris, items were thrown on the floor, and entire sections were just cleaned out. As I left in disgust with no toiletries, I thought, "Do they know something I don't know?" But then I noticed the giant banner across the front of the store that somehow had eluded me upon my entrance, which read in 4-foot high letters "CLOSING". I guess that is what was going on. So I walked over to the well-stocked grocery store and got my toothpaste, where the woman in front of me in line smelled like she was in a liquor store when it suddenly exploded. But I got my toothpaste during what I thought was my last trip to the store.

I got back to my crappy hotel and realized that when the front desk said "You get room service each day" that "room service" didn't apparently involve cleaning the tub (now with back footprints from my wearing Tivas all day Sunday), or washing the dishes I used for coffee (decaf!) and cereal in the morning. So I looked around the room, and guess what else this hotel doesn't provide! Dish soap!!

So I called the front desk an hour ago to ask for some and was told "we don't have the little packets in the room anymore, but I can get you some." So I waited 30 minutes and no-one had showed up and then the phone rang. Apparently they thought I was coming down to get it. So another 30 minutes later and the front desk person shows up at my door with a bottle in one hand and says, "You got something to put this in?" So I hand her a bowl and she squirts some into it and now I have dish soap.

The staff is very friendly, but the hotel is just awful. Not move out awful, but never staying here again. It is cheap (under $50 / night) but charge me an extra $5 and give me shampoo and dish soap!

Montgomery, AL

I got the toothpaste image from Wikipedia, where it was procured from Image:Toothpaste.jpg, which was released into the public domain by user User:SCEhardt.

Source: derivative of commons:Image:Toothpaste.jpg