My name is Paco. My name is Paco.

Ever since she read this story, my wife has been trying to teach our noisy conure that his name is Paco and he is from Peru!

Seriously?!

I find this very hard to believe.


Shaken Republicans look to McCain as savior

"I think that we're going to do a lot better than people think," Boehner said.

"John McCain appeals to almost all Republicans."

Google thinks I am Indian

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I keep getting this blogger tip when I post something. I never paid it any attention until just now.

Blog in your native Indic script
Convert English characters to Indic script as you type! Learn more about transliteration on Blogger.

Daycare Notes - Not Ready to Be Back

Our daycare for Baby Girl takes their vacation week in the spring, instead of around Christmas time. Before the vacation, we never had any troubles with the drop off, but afterwards, she had a re-adjustment period.

On the first day back, she walked over to a corner and cried:

I wasn't ready to be back, but after I saw all my friends, and Ms. A. gave me some of her love, I was ok :) We had a wonderful day, sotry time was fun with Ms. S and my friends. :)

Daycare Notes

This was from some day last week:

Dad Mom, Ms. A. said my [favorite] word is "No No" :)
But "Thank you" is also big. :)
I am growing up fast. I like playing with my friends. Outside all day: riding, pushing climbing, running, jumping, that's funny! :)

I am thankful I don't have to ride the Metro everyday

Harris Teeter in Adams Morgan

Wow, it finally opened. This has been a decade in the making and it is good for the neighborhood. I hope the Dorchester Market continues to thrive, the owner and employees were always very friendly and seemed like good people. Love the art deco store logo (see pic in the link above).

The Libraries of Alexandria

The Libraries of Alexandria (Virginia) have gone interactive. I've been dropping by 2 of the local branches about twice a week for the past month, so it is odd that I am learning about this feature from a blog and not from a flier or poster or pamphlet from the library system.

It's about time

Blogger now enables scheduled posting. I guess I haven't really had a need for this feature, but I did notice that it wasn't previously available.

Music Search Engine

My wife forwarded a link for SeeqPod, a search engine for music. Put in a band and it scours the web for music files, information, and YouTube links featuring your artist. Pretty handy at pulling stuff from a variety of sources. It will use the available links to create play lists that you can save. Didn't try that out yet. I'll check it out again next time I am looking for something specific. The only complaint I have initially is that only 6 search results are displayed on the first search page. I like to be able to see more than that off the bat, I have google set to show 50 results at a time, for one reason, it is a better gauge of whether my query is pulling useful information. Another complaint is that there were no results for my search for "Wred Fright"!

Questions

Why is it that, in the mid-Atlantic region anyway, the manhole covers in the streets are almost alway in the part of the road where you have to either drive over them and wear out your shocks, or to avoid them, steer wildly in your lane? Why can't they put them more in the center of the lanes?

Also, and equally as annoying, how can I get Microsoft Internet Explorer to *stop* asking permission before I copy from or paste into a web page?

Random Find

For some reason I was looking for info on the defunct funk band, Big Hunk o' Cheese, and found this old video from Saturday morning TV in the 70's. I remember doing a specific search for it last year after I realized it wasn't included in the School House Rock DVDs we checked out from the library for The Boy to watch, but I couldn't locate it.


and this,


wait, there's more,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt3KHH4Hh4A&feature=related

And last but not least:

Baby Girl

Baby Girl (almost a year and a half old now, but she is still my baby girl) is so sweet. When she finishes her bottle at night, I ask her if she is ready for bed she nods and says, "Yeah!" then she gets up, walks over to crib, and in mimic of me, counts to three the way I do when I prep to pick her up, and lays right down. She cries for few moments when I leave the room, but then she settles down and goes to sleep.

Moraes Watches When I Can't Bear To

Normally, I watch American Idol so that I can further appreciate Lisa de Moraes's wrap ups, but last night, I couldn't stand to even think about watching 'Broadway songs week,' so I took advantage of her column's subtitle, "We Watch So You Don't Have To".

Redesign Gmail

I only use the basics that come with Firefox, but this user-designed extension, gives Gmail a good facelift.

HT: GoogleBlogoscoped

My iPod's Moods

This morning my iPod was in a mellow, melancholy mood. I have it set for random albums. It started out with Laika's Good Looking Blues (jazzy trip-hop, Miles Davis's Bitches Brew crossed with Portishead).
Next it queued up a very mellow jazz album, Lonnie Liston Smith's Visions of a New World,

followed by Astrud Gilberto's A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness.


Now that I've returned for lunch, the iPod is kicking things up a notch with some Fugazi: End Hits.

Links for the Wife

Bret and Jemaine as Captain & Tennille.

FotC fansite: whatthefolk.net.

Yikes!

Sign in a grocery store:

Chuckles for the Boy

What a Difference a Week Makes

[Wow, I've surpassed 200 posts. Hurrah for me, and for my 1 reader, The Wife!]

Early last week I went for a longer walk than I've taken in a while, and was rather sore the next day.

I don't know if that ultimately helped strengthen muscles around my spine or not but I am much better this week. Last night I went to the park with The Boy. He and his good buddy asked me to be The Monster and chase after them, so I complied I did a little bit of running around. Expected some backlash today but I still feel okay. Went for a long walk again today during lunch and am still okay, no pain. Although, on occasion, something in my left leg was slightly out of alignment, a tendon or something in my thigh was snapping every few steps on the way back.

Dinosaur Show

Well, we decided to spring for the tickets to the Walking with the Dinosaur show coming to Baltimore at the end of this month. The reviews made it too compelling to miss. The only complaint seemed to be the volume so we'll bring some cotton in case it is too much.

The Wife found this bootleg video on YouTube of the show, and here is an official trailer:

News for the Wife

Flight of the Conchords have a motherflippin' new album and tour set for the spring.

What is Cheney looking at?

There's been lots of speculation in the blogosphere (mostly from the hate-America-type quislings) about what is in the reflection of Vice President Cheney's glasses in this photo:


Personally, I think it looks like either Chtulu:
or perhaps a pale Dr. Zoidberg:


PS. Cheney for VP in '08!

"Acknowledgement"

I tend to fall behind on non-work related emails, and even some of the lower priority work-related emails. My wife was "badgering" me for not checking out this link she sent back on March 31: The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. Good stuff.

Reminded me of this:

New Alexandria Water Taxi

The kids should like this, and we could go over and revisit The Awakening (see below) which was unearthed from Haynes Point:

New Water Taxi Begins Service Today
New Service Will Connect Old Town Alexandria and National Harbor

On April 1, the Alexandria-National Harbor Water Taxi, operated by Potomac Riverboat Company, will begin providing transportation between the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria and National Harbor. The water taxi service is one of a number of new amenities that the City of Alexandria, in partnership with the business community, has put in place to extend a warm Alexandria welcome to visitors from National Harbor. It is expected to bring hundreds of new tourists to Alexandria every day throughout the year, and will encourage National Harbor visitors to travel to Alexandria by boat, and not by car or bus—an earth-friendly strategy that benefits both the City's residents and the environment.
The Alexandria-National Harbor Water Taxi will operate seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. From April 1-4, the water taxi will depart Alexandria once each hour, on the hour, beginning at 10 a.m. and concluding at 10:00 p.m. It will depart Gaylord National Harbor once each hour, on the half hour, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and concluding at 10:30 p.m. After April 4, it will provide service every half hour from both locations from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily. A one-way fare costs $7; round-trip fare, $14.
For more information about the Alexandria-National Harbor Water Taxi, call 703.684.0580 or visit www.potomacriverboatco.com

Daycare News

Haven't entered any daycare notes in a long time. Here are a few recent ones I found around the house.

*********

April 2, 2008
Mom/Dad, my day was so good. I am moving faster and I can hold my own! :) I like playing with R*-baby and T*. Ms. S. is a good story teller. Books, building blocks, riding toys. A fun fun day. I was a Happy Camper all day.

*******
April 3, 2008

Storytime, Singing Songs, Outside Play, Legos, Housekeeping & Dress-up, Waffle blocks, V-Tech Toys, Hoppy Horse Music.

Baby Girl had a happy day : )
Have a Lovely Evening : )

********

April 4, 2008

Miss [Baby Girl] came in happy. What a beautiful little girl God gave you : ) High heel shoes, riding toys, [Baby Girl] is getting much better with her words, please help us with her words. Thank You. Have a great weekend. Love Miss A.

Korean Film

This is playing down at one of the Smithsonian museums this weekend:

I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay
(2006, 107 min., directed by Park Chan-wook, Korean with English subtitles) This whimsical tale is about love in a mental institution between a boy who thinks he's disappearing and a girl who thinks she's a robot.

Sounds interesting. Not in Netflix yet, unless the title wasn't translated.

iPod Shuffle Meme

Saw this over on NigelMoose and thought I would give it a shot. Hmmm. Don't know what to make of these results.

Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you?
Seekers Who Are Lovers - Cocteau Twins

Will I have a happy life?
The Maltese Melody - Bert Kaempfert

What do my friends really think of me?
Creek Bank - Mose Allison

What do people secretly think of me?
John Steed - Tahiti 80

How can I be happy?
Dizzy Miss Lizzie - The Beatles

What should I do with my life?
Shaking Through - REM

Will I ever have children?
Hoarding It for Home - Mates of State

What is some good advice for me?
Blue Hawaii - Frank Sinatra [Time to get away?]

How will I be remembered?
Nightmares - Violent Femmes [Yikes!]

What is my signature dancing song?
San Tropez - Pink Floyd [Good beach song, see answer above]

What do I think my current theme song is?
Night Shift Guru - The Cash Brothers

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Haunting - The Pogues

What song will play at my funeral?
So Long, Superman - Firewater [Ha!]

What type of men/women do you like?
Excursion Into "Oh A-Oh" - Stereolab

What is my day going to be like?
In the Wake of Adversity - Dead Can Dance [You've got that right, brother!]

It's Good to Have a Plan B

Yesterday's walk, yeah, that was a bit too much. I am paying for it today with some soreness. At least it isn't sciatic pain which is literally and figuratively a pain in the @$$. I've got my work cut out for me to get ready for a zoo trek this summer.

Maybe I'll just join these dufuses:

Pretty Big Day for eMusic

A lot of classic albums by the Rolling Stones have been added to the mostly indie-music download service.

They have the US and UK release of Out of Our Heads listed separately. The album has several overlapping tracks. With eMusic you get a limited number of downloads each month, depending on which plan you signed up for. I wonder if they count the overlapping tracks as separate downloads or not.

I have a hunch that they are counting them as separate downloads even though they are the same songs. The links for the song "Mercy Mercy" are different within each release. Caveat emptor!

Absolut-ly No!

Not that I buy much vodka, but after seeing this ad, my next bottle will be something other than Absolut:


Read the details at Michelle Malkin's blog.

My Back: an Update

I usually spend my lunch hours volunteering in a local charity thrift shop. There wasn't much to today so I went for a walk. According to YahooMaps, I traveled 0.76 miles round trip and I couldn't wait to get back to my office and sit down. It wasn't that it hurt, the pain was minimal, but I felt very uncomfortable in my lower lumbar area (see earlier post). And it was a strain to keep up my pace on the way back, which is frustrating. I am (or used to be, and hope to be again) a fast walker and would zip all around. Today I couldn't keep up with two older gentlemen strolling down the avenue.

So there will be less volunteering and more exercising for me. Need to get in shape for a trip to the zoo this summer!

Dinosaur Show

I dunno, Walking with the Dinosaurs looks pretty good. Check out this review:

Paleontologist Huxley (played by actors James Roberts and Jonathan Bliss) narrates the story, describing the dinosaurs and events as accurately as current science allows while the 15 life-size, lifelike creatures interact with each other.

The story covers nearly 200 million years of history in two acts with an intermission, using both live and recorded video. It includes explanations of how the carnivores came to walk on two legs and how the plant-eaters fended off foes. During the step back in time, viewers watch as oceans form, volcanoes erupt and a comet crashes into the Earth.

The show includes 10 species representing the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, all built to scale, such as tyrannosaurus rex, plateosaurus, liliensternus, stegosaurus, allosaurus, torosaurus and utahraptor. The largest, brachiosaurus, is 36 feet tall and 56 feet from nose to tail.

"We take the audience on a journey back in time and show how the dinosaurs might have actually looked in their prime — huge, sometimes frightening, sometimes comical monsters that fought for survival every day of their lives," says director Scott Faris. "Our dinosaurs move exactly like they are real, with all the roars, snorts and excitement that go with it. The realism is mind-blowing."

A team of 50 engineers, fabricators, skinmakers, artists, painters and animatronic experts spent a year building the $20 million production.

The question is whether it is good enough to spend at least $72 (two tickets plus Ticketmaster's gouging fee) for (primarily) a four-year-old's entertainment and a trek to Baltimore? Only 1 parental unit would probably be able to attend the show, on account of our 1-year old. But we could all head up together for a day trip.

Way to Go, Kakapo!

Over the weekend I was reading Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide (well, I was mostly looking at the pictures, but I read some parts), a hefty new book from our local library. The Boy kept dropping the book saying it was too heavy, and The Girl tried to rip out the index page. Yikes! I've since moved the $50 book to safer environs.

Despite its failure to include White-Eyed Conures, or any other conures for that matter, it is an amazing, informative book.

Scent can be a strong trigger of memory and the shiny, plastic-y smell of the pages brought me back to the days of sorting and browsing through the Safari Cards I collected as a kid; they had the same smell when first opened from their shrink wrap. By the way, I saved the Cards for my kids although if this Wikipedia entry is to be believed, some of the taxonomy information on the cards is outdated. I don't think I saved the special Jade Pendant, though. Oh, well.

Anyhoo, one part of the book I did read was about an extremely rare flightless parrot, the Kakapo.

Unlike my now-flightless white-eyed conure, the kakapo evolved on an island near New Zealand where there were no natural predators so over time it grew larger in size and lost the ability to fly. Once predators were introduced into its environment it was in big trouble. The Bird book noted that there were about 85 left in the world, and the survivors have been taken to safe locations for breeding.

I could appreciate how up-to-date the Bird book is from a news report I read today:

A species of flightless parrot edged back from extinction with the hatching of five new chicks in New Zealand in recent weeks and two more on the way, officials said Monday.The latest births of owl-like kakapos in southern New Zealand brought the population of the rare bird to just 91, said Emma Neill, a senior official of a Department of Conservation program to save the parrot.

Check out www.kakapo.net to learn more about this unusual and endangered parrot.

Fun Fact o' the Day

Former Senator Lott's real first name isn't Trent, it's Chester.

Futurama Predicted the Future

Over the weekend I re-watched the very first episode of Futurama, which originally aired on March 28, 1999 (I didn't realize I was marking the anniversary). The main character, Fry, who was accidentally frozen in suspended animation for 1,000 years, is standing in line at what he thinks is a phone booth so he can contact his last living relative. We don't even have phone booths in 2008, forget about it in the year 2999. It is New Year's Eve so naturally people are queuing up at a suicide booth.Fry manages to survive and hear a smiley-sounding recorded message, "Thanks for using Stop-N-Drop. America's favorite suicide booth since 2008."

Back to 2008, lo and behold, this article from the UK Times:
"Death for hire - suicide machine lets you push final button"

To paraphrase Futurama's Anthology of Interest II, "You've read it. You can't unread it!"

Spring 2008 Compilation

Finally. Finished burning a new compilation (my 99th since '91/'92) and making it into a list on RateYourMusic.com. The list took a while because of missing track lists in the database; had to do some research and make several additions to RYM.

Most of the songs were pulled from free compilations and tracks from eMusic. A few remaining tunes were from albums I've been listening to lately. Plus the obligatory Stereolab song, this one, Blaue Milch, newly acquired, it's an instrumental they contributed to some sort of tribute album to Peter Thomas.

News for the Boy 3

We recently watched a DVD lecture on dinosaurs, can't remember who the paleontologist was who delivered the lecture but he was very entertaining. This guy argued that, contrary to popular belief, the dome-headed pachycephalosaurs (GIS) didn't butt heads because many had ridges and spikes around their skulls and they would run the risk of having their eyes poked out.

This new article argues that perhaps teenage pachycephalosaurs butted heads.

NyQuil

My Button

I can't get behind the Republican nominee, but I oppose his likely opponent, Barack Obama. Here is a button I could wear:

No BO in the White House!
Socialism stinks

An alternate tag line could be:

I smell a socialist!

Del Ray Blogging

I was looking for some blogs about our neighborhood, the Del Ray area of Alexandria, VA, but didn't easily find anything current.

Mydelray.net looked interesting initially, but then I noticed that it hasn't been updated in 211 days. Do'h!

The blog AlexandriaDailyPhoto had a good concept, "One year of daily photos of the colonial town of Alexandria, Virginia," but the blogger/photographer finished up her project in May of 2007. Here are her photos taken in Del Ray. Enjoy!

Any other links would be appreciated.

More Housekeeping

I added a widget down the right side of the blog to keep track of news The Boy might be interested in. So far, it is just pulling an RSS feed from a Yahoo News search for the word "dinosaurs."

The widget is courtesy of WidgetBox.com. It was fairly easy to create. And they have a gallery of other public widgets that you can subscribe to or edit.

After you either create your widget or pick one to which you would like to subscribe, you have to click on "Get Widget" to make it available for Blogger, Facebook, iGoogle, or where ever. This is where I ran into trouble. Firefox just froze up whenever I clicked on it. Had to resort to Internet Explorer to get it to work. It would have been a lot easier if they just gave you a box of the code to copy and paste.

Don't Tell the Boy This News

A live dinosaur show based on the BBC series "Walking with Dinosaurs" is coming to Baltimore, April 30 through May 4. It looks pretty neat, but $32 a ticket is pretty steep when considering taking a 4-year old. Plus the ridiculous "convenience" fee charged by those mother-less monopolists at Ticketmaster.

News for the Boy 2

"A rare wild jaguar seen and photographed in the United States by hunter Warner Glenn is bayed by hounds during a hunting trip at an unknown location in southwestern New Mexico, February 20, 2006. Glenn and other members of his hunting party caught the hounds and led them away after they cornered the jaguar. The male jaguar, which weighed around 200 pounds, left the site at a slow trot unharmed. Jaguars are extremely rare in the United States, and Glenn is believed to be the only person to have encountered and photographed one in the wild. Photograph taken February 20, 2006. (Warner Glenn/Handout/Reuters)"

(Source Link)

Google Docs Keeps Evolving

Was perusing the Google Blogger blog, noticed a typo in the "help" link, htlp.blogger.com doesn't go anywhere, not very helpful. Do'h! (Update: They have since corrected the typo'ed link.)

Anyhoo, hadn't scanned Google's list o' official blogs in a while and noticed the Google Docs Blog. Google Docs has now been integrated with Google Gadgets so you can make nifty charts from your spreadsheets, charts that you can keep track of in your blog or your Google home page. And they've opened it up so other developers can create their own data visualizations.

Here is a link to a gallery of spreadsheet gadgets.

Handy Dandy Handyman Checklist

Our handyman isn't so much. He's got ambitious plans that he rarely follows through on. Saw him twice over the weekend and these are some of the things he is going to do, or at least talked about doing:

• Finish putting in screens
• Put in a rain spout
• Dig an underground pipe to have the rain spout pour into the vacant yard to our side
• Clear out the gutters
• Seed the yard
• Clear out the trees in our other side yard and put in bricks or pavement instead
• Clear the old roots out of the front yard
  

Op/Ed of the Year

Charles Krauthammer has a brilliant op/ed analyzing the rhetorical gimmicks in Barack Obama's Big Speech on Race.

I had an additional problem with the speech. In assessing the plight of the black community, BO put a heavy part of the blame, correctly, on a history of racism, but the ranks of the black middle class have been growing, so why is it that some parts of the black community have succeeded where other parts are stagnant? His analysis should have borrowed from Bill Cosby in condemning an underclass culture that glorifies criminality and has a disastrous rate of out-of-wedlock births.

But this may have led to a discussion of the consequences of the failed welfare policies of the Democratic Party, policies that Obama's presidency would expand on.

Uh oh!

(Photo Source)

Google Blog Seach RSS

I was trying to feed a few related Google Blog Search result RSS feeds through Yahoo Pipes so that I could streamline them into 1 convenient feed, but apparently Google doesn't like that.

I tested each RSS link separately within Pipes, and they worked, but once I put two in at the same time, I got a 403 error.

Looks like someone else had this problem too.

Partial solution, use the search operand | (for "or") to combine 2 into one. Tried using a second | to squeeze in a third search term as well, but that didn't seem to work very well.

Ahh, screw it, system simplification didn't work, so might as well make it easy to see which search term is generating which results. 3 feeds it is.

Housekeeping

Deleted a link to Draft Fred Thompson! What a crushing disappointment that campaign was.

Deleted a few of the links I had posted, since I never use them from here.

Messed around with the colors. Got bored with what I had. I wish there was a way to make better use of all the empty space in blogger. the main column is too narrow. It should either be wider, or it should be easier to add a second narrow column on the left side of the page. I suppose it can be done with html programming, but I'm not interested in figuring out the coding. Maybe there is a Blogger Hacks book from O'reilly.

Deleted the text box of my old Reading List. I had it set to show 5 items, but there was no way to click on it to see other items that are in the list. So I scrapped it and replaced it with a widget from librarythingy.com.

Great, another link and password to remember!

My Back

Early in February, I experienced pain like I'd never felt before. the day of the President's annual State of the Union address, it happened that I had to do a lot of overtime at work on a project. The next day, another big project was being wrapped up, and at home, I was also absorbed in a extensive round of Sid Meier's Civilization. so there were two days I was sitting around a lot.

Late Wednesday night during that first week of February I noticed a little pain on the left side of my rear as I stood up from the computer chair. Thought, "Hmm, that's odd," and went off to bed. Thursday, the pain was bit more noticeable. By Friday, it started getting exponentially worse. I had already scheduled to take the day off to relax after the grueling week, ended up laying down most of the day to minimize the pain down my left leg. Saturday morning, it was dreadfully painful to walk. When my lovely wife asked if I thought perhaps I should see a doctor, I readily agreed! The thought was already on my mind. So I went off to a nearby clinic.

Turns out, I had sciatica. I was supposed to go help some friends stuff envelopes for their wedding invitations, but there was no way I could help out. I had my appointment, got my medicine, and spent most of the day in bed. Also ended up missing a presentation I was supposed to give on Wednesday because I couldn't walk to the offices in downtown DC, and I was forced to miss CPAC for the first time in 7 years. On the following Wednesday, I made an appointment with a regular doctor who scheduled me for an MRI. Thursday morning, it felt like something clicked into place in my back and I started to feel marginally better. But the recovery was slow going, but mostly steady, at least.

Another 2 weeks went by, I was feeling somewhat better, but still limping, the doctor called back with the MRI results. Turns out I have a herniated disc. That was depressing news. Got over it after a few days.

It wouldn't have been so bad if maybe there was something that obviously caused this, but it really just crept up on me. Maybe it was a combination of Civ and OT, who knows?

Thinking back over the past few years, my left leg was always a little tight and sore when I stretched, early symptoms that I would have never noticed. So it goes.

After digesting the news about the herniated disc, I decided I shouldn't mess around with it so I got a prescription for physical therapy.

Several people told me that for them, PT was a bust and they didn't get anything out of it. That wasn't the case for me. It was worthwhile and beneficial.

The insurance approves 6 visits without another doctor referral. At that point the PT place automatically sent over the proper forms to the doctor. I tried to call my doctor to see whether I should keep going. I had no point of comparison to where I should be recovery-wise. The doctor's response was the equivalent of, "Duh! It's up to you." So that wasn't entirely helpful.

Went to a few more PT sessions before I decided I'd had enough and could just as easily do at home most of what we did in the sessions. And I couldn't shake off a nagging sense that while, yes, they were interested in my recovery, they were also very interested in having a paying-patient for as long as possible.

Record Flippin'

The Boy has been in a jazzy mood, but Baby Girl is showing a preference for exotica:

"Nope....

...nope....

..that's the one!"

Things I Learned Listening to the Big Speech

Obama can travel through time!

I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together .. .

Obama is black!

I am the son of a black man from Kenya ... .

Wow, what a long-winded speech, shy of 5,000 words. I guess that increases its Importance. I'll have to find time to finish reading it later when I get some free time. First impression, is that it was a 1 part "we should come together", 1 part socialism, and 1 part obfuscation to distance himself from his "crazy uncle," without, you know, really distancing himself from his "crazy uncle."

Obama's Big Speech

Obama was supposed to start his Big Speech on Race at 10:15. Running about a half hour behind now. Fine tuning his speech? That's already been sneaked out on the Drudge Report. Extra rehearsing? He's been giving pretty much the same speech over and over again for the past few months, perhaps he needs some extra rehearsal time for his new delivery.

While waiting for the Big Speech, check out the American Thinker blog, they found an interesting passage in one of Obama's books about his style, in particular manner of interacting with white people, Make No Sudden Moves.

News for the Boy

An extremely rare mummified Edmontosaurus was discovered in North Dakota!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Now That's Marketing!

http://producten.hema.nl/

Netflix Redesign

If you're like me and can't stand the redesigned "New Releases" page on Netflix, the old-fashioned link still works.

4-Year-Old Jazzhead

Me: Do you know who we are listening to?
The Boy: No.
Me: This is Frank Sinatra.
The Boy: Could you put on the be-bop jazz?
Me: You mean the Coltrane?
The Boy: Yes!

More Wisdom from a 4-Year-Old

"Do you know how many mountain lions there are in the wild? Two. We are running out of mountain lions. And do you know why? Because sharks and whales are coming to their terrain and eating them all up. I'm telling the truth!"

Obillary

A boy's interests

Our son's favorite toys or interests change over time.

Thomas the Train
Since he was 11 months old, Thomas the Train and co. have been among his favorite toys. At about this time, the thrift store where I volunteer gave me a box of wooden tracks. His collection steadily grew over the next 2 years. He still plays with them, but over the past 5 months, he has been more interested in the larger battery-operated versions of the trains put out by Tomy.

Bob the Builder
He got into BtB several months after Thomas. And when he was two, someone gave him a special BtB DVD that kept his interest going for several months. He only plays with these toys intermittently over the past year.

Cars the Movie
Cars has been a favorite with his whole pre-school class, at least among the boys, since shortly after the movie came out. He hasn't played with his Cars toys as much since just before Christmas. Although, most of the pictures he draws are about Lightning McQueen and Leakless racing madly in circles.

Dinosaurs
Last fall, we would hear him reciting in a low voice a history of the dinosaurs. Eventually we found out that they've been listening to a book on tape in his class. I don't know how many times they played it, but he and some of his friends had it memorized. Since then, we've checked out just about every dinosaur book in our local library, went to the see the unveiling of the newly discovered Nigersaurus at the National Geographic building, and went to see the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. He is pretty much an expert at this point. One of his favorite Christmas presents was a paleontologist kit where you chisel through a chunk of rock to find the 6 dinosaurs buried within. Once retrieved, he painted them up. The dinosaur craze went pretty strong until about 2 weeks ago.

Animals
As noted above, about two weeks ago he got very interested in animals, kicked off by a few factors. First of all was Zoo Tycoon. I bought the CD-ROM game last fall with him in mind but saved it for several months, finally broke it out 3 weeks ago. It is a great game, too advanced for him to play by himself at four years of age, but it is fun to play together. We've been learning a lot about different kinds of animals and what kind of terrain and habitats they prefer. I am thankful for the Control-4 cheat key so we don't have to worry about the finances of the zoo!

The second factor was a Christmas gift I got from my folks, BBC's The Planet Earth. An amazing documentary set. My son and I have been watching an episode each week.

Another factor, I think, has been "movie night". I've done painstaking research to find decent G movies that he can watch. Three we've seen lately are adventure stories featuring house pets: Homeward Bound, The Adventures of Milo and Otis, and Napoleon.

He says he likes animals better than dinosaurs. He is working on reading through all of our library's animal books now.

Ninja Warrior
This is a fun Japanese show broadcast on one of the cable channels. Contestants have to traverse through increasingly-difficult courses and obstacles. We watch it mainly on Saturday afternoon around lunch time. Now whenever he goes to the park or plays in the yard, he does his own Ninja Warrior challenges.

Wisdom from a 4-Year-Old

Me: "Is the stairway gate closed so your sister can't get up there?"

4-Year-Old Boy: "Yes. But I can climb over it. [My 1-year old sister] can't climb over it because she doesn't have powerful arms like I do."

Move Over, Gerald McBoing-Boing

... and make room on the perch for Boris McChirp-Chirp:

From The Sun:

Bird Boy Found in Russia

BOY can reportedly only communicate by 'chirping' - after living his life in a virtual aviary.

According to reports from Russia, the 7-year-old 'bird boy' has spent his life in a flat filled with bird cages with a mum who treated him like one of her pets.

Pravda said the boy's 31-year-old mum did not talk him and treated him like a bird, forcing him to learn avian language.

Social worker Galina Volskaya said shocked authorities discovered the boy in a two-bedroom apartment with bird mess littering the floor.

Volskaya said: “When you start talking to him, he chirps."

And she added that the boy becomes frustrated at not being able to communicate and flaps his arms.

Pravda reported that authorities believe the boy is suffering from Mowgli syndrome, after the Jungle Book character who is raised by wild animals.

The boy has reportedly been released by authorities and put in a medical facility.

Tricky Mazes

Click on one of the individual mazes to open up a larger PDF copy for printing.

Hillary Zings Obama

It is unfortunate that Hillary is being beaten to her left, albeit only slightly. She can't really go after Obama's policies, since they are hard to differentiate from her own proposals, so she has been going after his style. The plagiarism angle didn't work. The raison d'etre of the Democratic party is taking money from people, so what does it matter to the base that he took a few words here and there?

Drudge posted a link to a video where she goes after the cult of Obama with a dose of sarcasm. It might be too late for her but I got a chuckle out of her statement.

Addicted to Heat

Capped off my physical therapy session with 10 minutes of soothing heating pad relief. Forgot to bring one from home into work today so I have to improvise. My office is chilly so I have an electric radiator next to my chair. I just reach right over and put my little lumbar pillow on there for a minute or two then place it behind me and melt into my chair. Aaaah. Repeat as necessary.

Let no presents go unused!

Several years ago now, my wife got me a Brookstone Single-Cup coffee maker for my office.
I meant to use it, but was in the habit of drinking instant coffee at work so I put it in my drawer and forgot about it. Then one day three or four weeks ago, I ran out of instant coffee, was out of walking-around money, and had a surplus of ground coffee at home. Now I've been using it regularly!

Immigration Nightmare

Springdale, Arkansas, with a high population of immigrants from the Marshall Islands is facing outbreaks of leprosy and tuberculosis.

Sounds like it is time for a quarantine before this spreads.

Wisdom from a Four-Year Old

If a dinosaur or a monster ever eats you, wiggle and jiggle inside his body, then climb up his throat, grab his teeth and shake them. Then it will spit you out.

"You Got People"!?

"You Got People" is H&R Block's new slogan. I've heard some of the commercials, but didn't notice the missing word until I saw an online ad.

If you ain't got grammar, I don't think I can be trustin' you'z wif my numberz.

Picture of the Day

Ehi's Official Endorsement

Mitt Romney has been accused of flip-flopping on issues, maybe so, but he has flipped in the right direction, and don't we want converts to the conservative movement?

On the other hand, John McCain's signature laws have been, or would be, flops:

McCain-Fiengold restricts our political speech.
McCain-Kennedy immigration bills is a de facto amnesty for people who have illegally breached our borders.
McCain-Lieberman cap-and-trade bill would impose a hefty new tax on businesses.
McCain-Kennedy-Edwards Patient Bill of Rights contained mandates that would have driven up premiums and expose employers and health plans to expensive lawsuits.

And notice how he teams up with some of the biggest liberals in Washington.

Mitt Romney is the best choice to lead the Republican Party and the nation.

If McCain secures the Republican nomination, I could never cast a vote in his favor. I would vote third party or write-in a protest vote.

Go, Mitt, Go!

The Transformation of AlGore

Gore's been animated several times now for special appearances in Futurama:


But, in real life:
he is starting to resemble a different Futurama character, Mr. Horrible Gelatinous Blob:

John Edwards Quote of the Day

"Nothing is more important to our children's future than America's teachers."

I would have thought it was parents, but maybe that is because I am not a stark raving mad socialist.

In his world view, teachers trump parents because they are generally unionized, and in most cases, agents of the state, oozing with mushy notions of political correctness.

Thankfully, this blinky lunatic doesn't have a chance to win the primary, unfortunately, the Dems have two other socialists in the queue, albeit slightly less nutty, and much less blinky.

Anyhow they are all three lawyers.

Don't
Elect
Any
Lawyers!

Now That's Irony

"Fire destroys building at insulation business."

http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/292127.html

Foux da fa fa

Mother Flippin'!

Honey

Another study. It seems there are as many studies as there are blogs, but this one is worth a shot. Our little guy has had a night-time cough.

A teaspoon of honey before bed seems to calm children's coughs and help them sleep better, according to a new study that relied on parents' reports of their children's symptoms.
The folk remedy did better than cough medicine or no treatment in a three-way comparison. Honey may work by coating and soothing an irritated throat, the study authors said.

Fuzzy Math

Michelle Malkin writes about a new teaching fad, the "Everyday Math" curricula, which she labels "fuzzy math."

I must admit, after reading the FAQs from the "Everyday Math" homepage at the University of Chicago's Education Department, it does look like a dubious, and confusing technique. Especially the "Alternative Algorithm" section. See if you can make sense of it.

As Michelle noted, there has been a backlash against "Everyday Math" by parents who wonder why their kids have the same homework over consecutive years, or asinine exercises like this:

"A. If math were a color, it would be –, because –.
B. If it were a food, it would be –, because –.
C. If it were weather, it would be –, because –."

Texas recently subtracted the "Everyday Math" textbook for third graders.

Only ran a quick search but I didn't see whether this textbook is used in Alexandria.

Is your computer playing random classical music?

Then you'd better read this.

Be Green Like Al

Thanks for the Songs!

I would like to extend thanks to the anonymous benefactor responsible for giving me 50 free songs from EMusic. They showed up in my account with no explanation and EMusic never answered my email asking why. So, thanks!

Park to Check Out

The Weekend section of the Washington ComPost featured a bunch of unheralded local parks. We went to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens a few months ago. It is a shame it is in such a terrible neighborhood in NE DC because it is a great park for hiking and nature-watching:







The one park in the article we haven't been to yet is the Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD. The Post's article had many favorable testimonials about it from visitors.

The Madman of Iran

The second that Iranian President Ahmadinejad sets foot in the US he should be immediately arrested and either tried or sent to Gitmo for his role in the kidnapping of American diplomats at our embassy in Iran.

How Did I Miss This?

Internet search guru Tara Calashain has a new book out:
Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web.

Political Progress in Iraq

I've been waiting for someone to finally bring this information to light. Over the last few weeks there has been much hand wringing from the Democrats and their dinosaur media accomplices that there has been no progress on the political front in Iraq.

They use to complain that there was no military progress but since that is clearly not the case they've had to move on to the Plan B bitching. There hasn't been the grand reconciliation that most of us would like to see but how realistic is that over the short term? Let's focus on the areas where there has been progress.

From the White House:

· FACT: On August 26, Iraqi leaders took an important step towards reaching agreement on de-Ba'athification, a provincial powers law, a draft oil law, detainee issues, and developing a long-term relationship with the United States. As Ambassador Ryan Crocker said August 27: "The statement released by the five leaders yesterday is a positive and encouraging message that the government is making all efforts to achieve benefits for Iraqi people. I'm optimistic. I can see there is progress."

· FACT: The Iraqi Council of Representatives completed about 60 pieces of legislation in its most recent session, including a $41 billion budget that includes $10 billion for reconstruction and capital investment.

· FACT: Iraqis are in some cases reaching interim solutions to problems like oil distribution and de-Ba'athification as negotiation over legislation continues:

o Oil money is being distributed to the Iraq people even though the proposed oil law is still being negotiated, with $2.116 billion in oil money allocated for FY07 and $848 million obliged.

o The government of Iraq has contacted thousands of members of the former Iraqi army and offered them retirement, return to the military, or public sector employment.

· FACT: Our commanders report that Iraqi Security Forces are growing in number, becoming more capable, and assuming more responsibility. Currently there are about 140 Iraqi Army, National Police, and Special Operations Forces battalions in the fight, with about 95 capable of taking the lead in operations. As Gen. Petraeus said: "The Iraqi army has, in general, done quite well in the face of some really serious challenges. In certain areas it really is very heartening to see what it has done."

3 Surgeons

Recieved via email:

Three Arkansas surgeons were playing golf together and discussing surgeries they had performed. One of them said, "I'm the best Surgeon in Arkansas . In my favorite case, a concert pianist lost seven fingers in an accident. I reattached them, and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England .

The second surgeon said. "That's nothing. A young man lost an arm and both legs in an accident, I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in track and field events in the Olympics.

"The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a woman, who must have been high on SOMEthing, rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the woman's blonde hair and what was left of the rear end of the horse. I was able to put them together and now she's running for President.

eMusic Now Offers Audio Books

eMusic is branching out. They now offer audio books for $9.99 a month for 1 book, or $19.99 for two. An odd price system. Usually stores discount the price per item at the second tier to get you to buy more stuff. And with the number of books on CD and on MP3 from local libraries the price seems a bit steep. Maybe that is because they will have more newer titles. But as yet they don't have Laura Ingraham's New York Times Best Seller Power to the People.

Stack o' Stuff

How the Fed Works

Getting Organized

Making New Habits Stick

Time Management and Writing

One Scary Cloud

It's just a cumulonimbus, but it looks ominous.

Christmas Stocking

 

 

My aunt asked me to send her a photo of the beautiful stocking she made for our son so she can style a similar font for the stocking she plans to make for our baby girl. Click on the picture for a larger copy.

Good Jazz List

from eMusic:
: Soul Jazz


If you are thinking about signing up for this DRM-free music service, let me know so I can claim credit for their "free downloads for recruitment offer"!

3 Weeks 'Til Ultimate Fun!

I went over to the Ross store to buy for my son a Tomy battery- powered Thomas the Train set that came with a station, a bridge, and a tunnel for about $25. His birthday is coming up and we already got him some other Tomy trains and tracks from the Thomas universe so I was going to save it for Christmas, assuming he is good through the rest of the year.

But after I picked up the box, checked it over, and was about to make my way to the register, I spotted this hidden in a corner:
The Thomas Ultimate Set! Thomas and eight of his friends plus Cranky the Crane and a Troublesome Truck, a suspension bridge, a little bridge, a station, a crossing, and a couple of tunnels. A good deal at 50 bucks. Now this will be his b-day gift, [don't tell him!] and all that other stuff can wait 'til the 25th of December.

In your face, Mars!

Earth Might Survive Sun’s Explosion.

/That's all I've got.

One Smart Bird

Alex, the world's most famous African Grey parrot, passed away.

RIP.

A Polling Question That Hasn't Been Asked

Of the Presidential candidates, who has the voice you least want to hear over and over again for the next four years?

For me it is a close call between Ron Paul and Hillary Clinton, unless she plans to govern with the ebonics accent she uses whenever she is in the deep south or talking to a black audience.

Fred

Not as up on Fred as I was earlier in the year, he spent a little too long in the am-I-running-or-not? phase and lost a bit of his steam, and deservedly took some media hits on the way.
But now he is finally in it to win it and has a few weeks to rebuild his momentum.

This picture made me chuckle:

Free Classics Library

Questia.com recently made over 5,000 public domain e-books in its library available for free. Several classics are available, fiction and nonfiction. Their reader is similar to Google's Reader.

They also have some advanced features including highlights and notation, but for that you have to subscribe.

"Greeeaaaaat," he said sarcastically.

The new Yahoo mail is going out of beta over the next few weeks. Maybe they are fixing some bugs in the process to make it smoother, but as is, it is a clunky product.

One problem is that it takes a while to load, especially at home where we have a slow connection. I usually pre-empt it by clicking the link to view my mail in the old standard version.

And it always drives me nuts that you have to go through hoops to get to the actual email. What kind of email program doesn't open up by showing its inbox? Instead, you get some screen with a bunch of news links. If I wanted the news I'd go to the DrudgeReport (uh oh, Republican Senator Larry Craig is in a bit of hot water) but I wanted to see my email so I came to Yahoo! Mail. So then you have to click on the Inbox Tab and wait some more for that to load. And don't try to open one of the actual emails before the ads are fully loaded or things may come to a complete halt. Oh greeeaaaat, it finally loaded. I've got spam!