Every day should begin at 3am!
Blog
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Gaining Momentum
Turning up the heat on my current project. Let’s ride the night!
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In the public ear
Another CNN open mic faux pas.
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Feed the conspiracists
Cathy likes to joke about my conspiracy-mindedness. I like to makeup conspiracy theories as jokes. Here is some fuel on rigged elections. The comments make some valid points about why this would be hard to do in practice such as the injected number of votes not matching the recorded number of voters.
I really like the comment that suggests we get a vote receipt like an atm receipt. When the polls close all votes are published on a website. You could then match your vote receipt to the published vote to see if it differed. If it differed then you could dispute it. This would not allow for changing votes because you are reporting that it is different than the information printed on the vote receipt, not that it is different from your memory.
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Install buggy code for free!
Microsoft is offering 100,000 free downloads of its new operating system Windows Vista. This is a beta 2 pre-release candidate 1. That means it should probably work with no problems but you could also end up with a disfuctional computer.
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*cough* back to school *cough*
With 4 children in 4 different schools, we are guaranteed to catch everything! But I am feeling better today thank you.
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Site Tools – URL Investigator
I have posted about the tools I use when looking at a url, ip address, etc. URLInvestigator is another one new to the scene.
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Google Maps vs Yahoo Maps and Geotagging
I love Google Maps! I used to use Mapblast and still contend its line directions are the best way to present driving directions. Are Google Maps accurate? Using Sergey Chernyshev’s tool to compare Google Maps and Yahoo Maps, I am surprised to find that although Google Maps has more detail in Europe, Yahoo maps appears to be more accurate in the US (at least in the areas I checked).
I found Sergey Chernyshev’s site while reading Thomas Hawk’s review of Flickr’s new geotagging option. Thomas Hawk is the Chief Evangelist for the photo sharing site Zooomr which makes his review of Flickr so much better. Zooomr was reviewed by C|Net 7 days ago. Geotagging is the practice of associating GPS coordinates with a picture, blog, post, or other information. GeoURL is a service mapping URLs to specific locations on the planet.
Geotagging is unhealthy for the paranoid because placing coordinates on a photo, or blog entry, publishes publically (in most cases) your exact location at an exact time. Some people may decry this a privacy issue (remember, you voluntarily put the information in the public’s eye) or declare it dangerous as "the bad people" could derive patterns in your life and track you down. It may be wise to not geotag your house or neighborhood but in reality does it really matter if people know that on Tuesday at 3:03pm you were standing by a cool statue? Personally, I wish my camera automatically put the coordinates with the EXIF information on the pictures and that the photo services would automatically grab that info. Some cameras do this already.
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How did you learn to shave?
In days of yore, packets of razor blades came with a blank. As a child, I had my own razor. Dad would put a blank on it. I would lather up from that blue can with the red and white stripes. Then clear my face of foam by Dad’s side.
One day hairs poked out of my face. Coincidentally, I had one distinctly red hair on my mangy chin. Dad handed me a real razor and my own shaving cream. Then he left. I was on my own. Fortunately, Bill Cosby taught Theo how to shave on an episode of The Cosby Show so I felt I had some guidance.
Now-a-days, children do not need parents for anything. Everything is available on the Internet! No Bill Cosby re-runs to teach my children. They can learn to shave from YouTube!
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Late to school! Alzheimers warning signs.
I woke this morning at 7:10. The panic set in immediately. Noah had missed his bus! I rushed upstairs muttering, "where had Sunday gone?" I thought of the hellish schedule for today and how I had hoped to make a little progress on the client’s work Sunday. The construction project also had no changes from Saturday. I make mysef do something to it everyday. I guess Sunday had been too busy. I distinctly remember yesterday’s travels in the car, the trip to the grandparents to pick up the children. The quality time with Cathy during the day and in the evening. I guess Sunday was a good day and I will deal with today.
Noah is not in his room. He normally wakes me if I am not up. I guess he got himself to school. Sarah and Amy are missing! Oh. Wait a minute.Today is Sunday!
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Odd Ball Out in a Big Family
Target last night was quite the adventure. After leaving a stench in their bathroom we casually wrapped up our shopping by dividing and conquering. The bulk of the crew went for the remaining items and I headed to the pharmacy for their very cool prescription bottles. The crew joined me at the pharm and we played with the blood pressure test machine, laughed and shopped happily. At the checkouts, Cathy, Sarah, Amy, Evan and myself started the checkout process. Out of the blue, Noah appears behind us! "Uh. Were you going to leave without me?" Cathy replies, "yes!" We look at each other and laugh asking, "Did you know he was here?" to which we both replied, "I forgot."
There goes our shot at parents of the year! A big family teaches self-reliance and independence!
Update: Target provides 6 colors for their medicines which assumes you will never have a family larger than 7. The bottles could be improved for larger families by allowing more than one color ring per bottle or using some striped rings.
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Dear Target, sorry about the stink in the bathroom…
I love having a big family! Big families teach self-sufficiency and team work.
Last night in Target I heft Evan up on my shoulders as he giggles maliciously. Seconds later the smell hits me. That familiar smell of a runny diaper filled to capacity with sludge. Microseconds later he is off my shoulders and being held in that non-loving pose at the end of my outstretched arms using only my finger tips as if carrying hazardous waste all too aware that squeezing the diaper could make John Belushi’s zit seem tame.
I pass Noah playing demos in the video games. I speed past aisle after aisle knowing I could easily be walking right past Cathy and crew. Then I see a cute little Amy peek out. I alert Cathy that I must go to the car and she deftly produces "equipment" from her purse.
Wordlessly I grab the diaper and wipes and rush to the nearest restroom. One thing parenting has taught me is that stores abound with hidden restrooms. Some are singles; some are family; some are "employee only"; but if do not have children, these secret water closets are invisible to you! In Target, I was nearest the rear one located in toys. The men’s room is a single shooter graciously outfitted with a changing table with a broken safety belt. Not having the belt means one hand holds the baby, while another hand handles the wipes, another hand keeps the baby’s hands from helping, another hand removes the diaper, another hand guards the clothes from sliplage and overflow, two hands bag and seal the toxic waste, and two hands put the new diaper on the baby.
I plop Evan on the table and open the diaper. Huggies should be proud! Evan immediately goes for the flip and almost simultaneously throws in the helping hands. I am off to a bad start and recognizing I misjugded the diaper threat level I know I need reinforcements. Evan at this point is in full scream and sending a text message sos is out of the question. I dial Cathy’s number and put the phone down as I attempt to salvage the situation. Assuming I went to voicemail. I slap the phone shut, hit redial, and return to mud wrestling. Moments later, a 4 year old girl opens the men’s room door. Then a 13 year old girl opens it slight further. My reinforcements have arrived!
Suffice it to say that with Evan now outnumbered we won the battle with minimal damange. All hands, including Amy, pulled their weight. The 13 year old deserves a purple heart for casually stepping into the men’s room. From Cathy’s perspective, when the phone rang she could hear the baby screaming in stereo and knew to deploy the more mobile of reinforcements. Good choice on the special ops!
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My next transport – personal helicopter
Oh I want one! It’ll fly 3000 feet! No license required in Japan. Only $30,000 in the US. See the details.
A couple of related links showing the helicopter crash in New York: video and stills.