25 so i sez, stop havin teh kittehz bout ur lifes, wat cheezburgerz or drinx u is havin, or about ur bodeez n wat u iz wearin. Iz life not moar importint den teh foodz, and teh bodeez moar importint den teh cloathz?26 Lookit teh birdz in teh ceilingz, dey dont be in teh fieldz gatherin teh f00dz or puttin dem away in teh barnz, but teh Ceiling Cat givez dem f00dz anywayz lolz. Wat, u aint more better den dem?27 Who can make teh life longur by havin teh kittehz newayz?
28 And y u be havin teh kittehz about teh raimentz? Lookit teh lileez in teh fieldz. Dey dont work or nuffingz29 but Solom0n cant pwn them even with his pimp outfitz. No rly.30 If teh Ceiling Cat makes teh grass all pritty, and it gets thrwn into teh 0venz 2morr0w, wat about u, peeplz who no beleiv dat much?31 So plz to be stoppin havin teh kittehz n sayin "oh noez, i can has cheezburger?" or "wat 2 be wearin 2dae?"32 Bcuz onlee teh n00bz be havin kittehz about thees thingz, k? Ceiling Cat noez wat u need. srsly.33 Look around first for teh kingd0m and teh r0xorz of teh Ceiling Cat, an u can has all thees thingz.34 So stop havin teh kittehz bout teh fut00r bcuz it have enuff kittehz alreddy. 2dae pwns u enuff. kthxbai.
5.03.2008
Words to live by...?
I ran across the LOLcat Bible this morning -- they are 61% done translating New and Old Testaments into LOLcat. I think I'll just let it speak for itself:
5.01.2008
Parenting makes me glad I went to Bible College.
Our normal bedtime routine is fairly predictable around here -- we send the kids into the bedroom, I follow a couple of minutes later. I often ask the kids if either of them wants to pray, they usually both say no; I pray, give each of them about 15 seconds worth of goodnightiloveyousleepwells, and walk out. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 minutes total.
Not so tonight.
I was in the process of saying the final goodnight to Ezra when he tells me he has a question. Not too much of a deviation from normal so far, he often comes out with questions like "How do you spell doozleboozlewoozlefoozlegungungungbaguk?" in an attempt to forestall the inevitable. This one was a little different, though: "Daddy, the Bible says that people who love God, obey God. I love God, but sometimes it's really hard to be obedient and I don't always obey Him. How can that be?"
Wow. I shifted gears and answered him as best as I could -- habits, trends, a lifestyle of obedience -- but he wasn't done.
"We're supposed to listen to God, but I never hear Him. I know that the Bible is, like, God's word, but it was written like two thousand years ago. How do we know He still thinks that?"
Wow again -- immutability, omniscience, inspiration, then on to conscience, listening prayer, and the voice of God -- mind racing, trying to answer the questions accurately myself, organize and prioritize my answers, and translate them into the language of a 5 year old.
"We need to read the Bible more. I don't know very many of the stories in it."
Whoaaa. The hand of God, prompting that which I want more than anything else for my kids but have no power whatsoever to force.
++Thank You. ++
Not so tonight.
I was in the process of saying the final goodnight to Ezra when he tells me he has a question. Not too much of a deviation from normal so far, he often comes out with questions like "How do you spell doozleboozlewoozlefoozlegungungungbaguk?" in an attempt to forestall the inevitable. This one was a little different, though: "Daddy, the Bible says that people who love God, obey God. I love God, but sometimes it's really hard to be obedient and I don't always obey Him. How can that be?"
Wow. I shifted gears and answered him as best as I could -- habits, trends, a lifestyle of obedience -- but he wasn't done.
"We're supposed to listen to God, but I never hear Him. I know that the Bible is, like, God's word, but it was written like two thousand years ago. How do we know He still thinks that?"
Wow again -- immutability, omniscience, inspiration, then on to conscience, listening prayer, and the voice of God -- mind racing, trying to answer the questions accurately myself, organize and prioritize my answers, and translate them into the language of a 5 year old.
"We need to read the Bible more. I don't know very many of the stories in it."
Whoaaa. The hand of God, prompting that which I want more than anything else for my kids but have no power whatsoever to force.
++Thank You. ++
4.30.2008
4.15.2008
The Story of Stuff
Just finished watching The Story of Stuff on Wess's recommendation. Definitely a lot of info there, and hard to process through it all critically in such a short space -- I don't buy some of the stats she throws out. I do agree wholeheartedly with Leonard's major point though, that the system we currently have in place is utterly broken and we need to do everything we can to fix it. Set aside 20 minutes, sit back, and let me know what you think when it's done.
4.14.2008
Random Aviation Post
Here's one I hadn't seen before: the "Tip Tow" project.
The problem: how to provide fighter coverage for long-range bombers when your fighters have nothing near the range of the bombers.
The solution: hook your fighters onto the wingtips of the bombers, shut down their engines, and let them have a free ride until they're needed.
The bomber, a B-29 Superfortress variant, was fitted with wingtip receptacles that allowed for the fighters, two modified F-84s, to hook up their own wingtip brackets in flight. Once connected and latched into place the fighters were locked in step with the bomber about their pitch and yaw axes, but free on their roll axis.
The fighters' elevators were used to assist as extended control surfaces for the bomber. In testing they accomplished this manually via control inputs from the fighter pilots, but the goal was to incorporate control of the fighters' control surfaces with the bomber's control surfaces automatically from the cockpit of the bomber. Upon first activation of the automatic system, however, the fighter immediately rolled over into the bomber, taking both to the ground and killing all on board.
The final solution: in-flight refueling.
The problem: how to provide fighter coverage for long-range bombers when your fighters have nothing near the range of the bombers.
The solution: hook your fighters onto the wingtips of the bombers, shut down their engines, and let them have a free ride until they're needed.
The bomber, a B-29 Superfortress variant, was fitted with wingtip receptacles that allowed for the fighters, two modified F-84s, to hook up their own wingtip brackets in flight. Once connected and latched into place the fighters were locked in step with the bomber about their pitch and yaw axes, but free on their roll axis.
The fighters' elevators were used to assist as extended control surfaces for the bomber. In testing they accomplished this manually via control inputs from the fighter pilots, but the goal was to incorporate control of the fighters' control surfaces with the bomber's control surfaces automatically from the cockpit of the bomber. Upon first activation of the automatic system, however, the fighter immediately rolled over into the bomber, taking both to the ground and killing all on board.
The final solution: in-flight refueling.
4.09.2008
| Two gerbils: | $17.98 |
| An aquarium: | $11.99 |
| A running wheel: | $6.99 |
| Assorted food, bedding, and other crap: | $45.00 |
| Having your 3-year-old daughter name them 'Blackie' and 'Cheesie': | Priceless |
To turn, or not to turn?
Scientific American answers a question I have often wondered: should you turn off a fluorescent light if you're going to turn it right back on again? I have always been told that there is a big energy draw in turning them on, therefore you should leave them on if you're just leaving the room for a little while... but how long is a little while?
Turns out the energy draw is minimal and equivalent to just a few seconds' worth of bulb-burning electricity. The real issue is that you're shortening the life of the bulb by cycling it -- so the more cycles you give it, the shorter your bulb will last. They suggest a rule of thumb of: < 5 minutes, leave it on. > 5 minutes, turn it off. Works for me.
Side note: Apparently I have always misspelled 'fluorescent' -- I had no idea the 'u' comes before the 'o'.
Turns out the energy draw is minimal and equivalent to just a few seconds' worth of bulb-burning electricity. The real issue is that you're shortening the life of the bulb by cycling it -- so the more cycles you give it, the shorter your bulb will last. They suggest a rule of thumb of: < 5 minutes, leave it on. > 5 minutes, turn it off. Works for me.
Side note: Apparently I have always misspelled 'fluorescent' -- I had no idea the 'u' comes before the 'o'.
4.05.2008
Saturday as it ought to be
Had a fun day out with the family today. We headed down to the Trillium Festival at Tryon Creek State Park to see what there was to see.
The kids got their faces painted and enjoyed the nature walk we took, guided by two naturopaths who pointed out the various edible and medicinally potent plants alongside the trail as we walked. (Did you know that stinging nettles are good in soup?) They also enjoyed the locally grown honey we bought -- gotta love the good dark stuff.
Once we left there we headed back north and decided to finally try out the Portland Aerial Tram, which we've been wanting to do ever since it opened.
Definitely a fun little trip -- very cool cars with great visibility even on a rainy day like today. It's no trip to the Alps but it's definitely got that great Euro feel with awesome geek appeal to boot.
This crane is down at the bottom of the tram in the South Waterfront area -- it kinda made me think of Mike Mulligan's steam shovel.
The kids got their faces painted and enjoyed the nature walk we took, guided by two naturopaths who pointed out the various edible and medicinally potent plants alongside the trail as we walked. (Did you know that stinging nettles are good in soup?) They also enjoyed the locally grown honey we bought -- gotta love the good dark stuff.
Once we left there we headed back north and decided to finally try out the Portland Aerial Tram, which we've been wanting to do ever since it opened.
Definitely a fun little trip -- very cool cars with great visibility even on a rainy day like today. It's no trip to the Alps but it's definitely got that great Euro feel with awesome geek appeal to boot.
This crane is down at the bottom of the tram in the South Waterfront area -- it kinda made me think of Mike Mulligan's steam shovel.
The Diaper Divide
Every single one of the dads my age that I know are involved at least occasionally in changing their kids' diapers. Some of the families have very predictable divisions of labor as far as diaper duty goes, others (like ours) base it more on who's less occupied at the present moment -- with a bent towards my changing them when I can since I'm gone for much of the day and Mel is stuck with the job.
But a few months ago we started realizing that most dads of our parents' generation were never involved in diaper changes -- and as I've started asking the question to more and more people, the tide change has become clear:
There are exceptions to these rules, but from what I've seen so far they are few and very far between. There has been a monumental shift in the way men look at the job of diapering (read: their job versus their wife's job) that seems to span economic backgrounds, national regions, parenting styles, everything but age.
I'm quite curious how this shift took place with very little modeling and very little controversy -- it seems to have just happened. Any thoughts? If nothing else, give me the poll feedback below so I can see if it's as widespread as I think.
Update: I found a better poll supplier (micropoll.com) whose polls display better(edit: ok, they were displaying better the first couple of times I loaded the page. Don't know why they have those gaps in them now). The votes that had already been received have been entered in already -- no need to vote again.
But a few months ago we started realizing that most dads of our parents' generation were never involved in diaper changes -- and as I've started asking the question to more and more people, the tide change has become clear:
- Baby boomer dads -- even the very best of them -- did not. do. diapers.
- Gen X / Y / Millenial dads -- all but the very worst of them -- assume diaper duty to be a normal part of fathering.
There are exceptions to these rules, but from what I've seen so far they are few and very far between. There has been a monumental shift in the way men look at the job of diapering (read: their job versus their wife's job) that seems to span economic backgrounds, national regions, parenting styles, everything but age.
I'm quite curious how this shift took place with very little modeling and very little controversy -- it seems to have just happened. Any thoughts? If nothing else, give me the poll feedback below so I can see if it's as widespread as I think.
Update: I found a better poll supplier (micropoll.com) whose polls display better(edit: ok, they were displaying better the first couple of times I loaded the page. Don't know why they have those gaps in them now). The votes that had already been received have been entered in already -- no need to vote again.
4.03.2008
Bulletage
It's been a busy four months since I last hung out here, and I got to thinking this morning about how much has changed. Here's a quick rundown:
* I'm not in school anymore.
* Ezra can ride his bike without training wheels.
* I'm comfortable with the 'pacifist' label.
* The Vanagon is running again, the Subaru isn't, and I have a Honda Elite scooter to ride to work.
* My kids have experienced a plane trip.
* I am increasingly coming to believe that Barack Obama is the best choice out there.
* I no longer expect to get my pilot's license anytime soon -- or ever.
* I know the basics of how to set up a website using Drupal.
That looks like a smaller list than it did in my mind... and of course there's lots more. Some of the above, however, are much bigger in real life than on paper -- the school item in particular. Amazing how different your life feels when you remove 35 hours a week plus homework.
* I'm not in school anymore.
* Ezra can ride his bike without training wheels.
* I'm comfortable with the 'pacifist' label.
* The Vanagon is running again, the Subaru isn't, and I have a Honda Elite scooter to ride to work.
* My kids have experienced a plane trip.
* I am increasingly coming to believe that Barack Obama is the best choice out there.
* I no longer expect to get my pilot's license anytime soon -- or ever.
* I know the basics of how to set up a website using Drupal.
That looks like a smaller list than it did in my mind... and of course there's lots more. Some of the above, however, are much bigger in real life than on paper -- the school item in particular. Amazing how different your life feels when you remove 35 hours a week plus homework.
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