Lumber

I saw a great quote from Dave Barry today:

“The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished, and put inside boxes.”

Dave Barry has, in his humor, always captured perfectly the feelings of those of us who have no practical skills whatsoever. Screwdriver? I saw my contractor carrying one of those.

Indeed, back at the end of 1999 when we all were wondering if the world was going to end due to the Y2K bug, Dave had an article in which he said something like: if civilization does end next month, I'll be one of the first to pass through the digestive tracks of wolves. :-)

I always thought that about summed it up!

Ken

P.S. I also like this one:

“What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death.”

Condi Must Go

Along with Bush and Cheney:

After years of Condi Rice telling Congress that the U.S. does not condone or use torture, its now been revealed that she led meetings in which the use of torture was described in great detail, almost as if they were trying to choreograph interrogations themselves!

Get the details at Condi Must Go.


She shouldn't be allowed to simply leave her job with the upcoming transition from one administration to another, she should be forcibly removed and tried for her crimes.

Condi, thanks for betraying our nation!

Ken

Snow in Springtime, Take Two

Yesterday it was 86 degrees in Boulder and sunny. Today, its 39 degrees and SNOWING.

I hate Spring in Boulder!

:-/

Expelled Exposed

A movie called Expelled is about to come out that claims to be a documentary that shows how scientists who do not believe in evolution are discriminated against in academia. It even attempts to show how evolution is responsible for the holocaust. (I can't make this stuff up.)

The problem is that this movie is a pack of lies. The first clue that there's a problem with this "fair and balanced" documentary is that the producers have been going around America giving private screenings to Christian audiences (churches, Christian high schools, etc.) while barring film critics and even scientists featured in the film itself! (Hell, even Fox News panned it!)

Fortunately, the National Center for Science Education has created a website called Expelled Exposed. It will be going "live" tomorrow, the same day that this movie enters general release.

So, don't go to the supposed documentary that tries to tell you that a scientific theory that explains the complexity and diversity of life on this planet is somehow responsible for the Nazis murdering millions of Jews during WWII (I thought it was obvious that it was the Nazis who were responsible for that) and instead spend time reading the website that reveals all the lies in that movie and points you at the real science.

Enjoy,

Ken

Too Many Books, Not Enough Time

So, I've been faithfully recording the books I've been reading recently (see Postscript for additional details) and was actually starting to feel like I was getting ahead, when I stumbled across The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton which just came out in the U.S. (Europeans get access to Hamilton's stuff before us Yanks.)

So I bought it immediately, of course, and have added it to the stack. Hamilton is simply one of those authors where I buy his stuff the moment I see it. He writes epic space opera while also providing lots of depth to his characters. His book, Pandora's Star, which is one I read while on sabbatical in Denmark, has one of the best introductions to an alien lifeform (written from the perspective of the alien) that I've encountered in science fiction. It also has one of the best "first contact" scenes as well. (This particular alien is ruthless, and it does not go well for the humans involved.)

Anyway, I'm only 41 pages into Matter by Iain M. Banks and it has 565 pages, so Hamilton will have to wait.

Sigh, I really need to figure out a way to become independent wealthy, there are simply too many good books to read and not enough time.

Ken

P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I also read to Max and Lilja each night, and with the two of them I've recently finished all seven of the Bone graphic novels (Lilja loves them and can't wait for book 8 to be released!) and Max and I are currently reading the Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman having just finished book two of that series, the Subtle Knife. Its a really cool series and Max loves the main character, Lyra Silvertongue, and her companions, Will, Serafina, and Iorek. Loving books so much myself, its great to see this same interest taking hold in my kids!

Rendered Unto Utter Desolation

That's me, utter desolation, due to the fact that I chose to play Uno with Lilja today.

(Lets just provide some background here. I am 39 years old, heading towards the big 40 in August. Lilja is just slightly over one tenth of my age at 4.5. She still has 1.5 years of pre-school before she enters KINDERGARTEN.)

It started out reasonably enough. She won the first hand and received 25 points; I won the second hand and received 16 points for my efforts.

Lilja then wins five hands in a row to bring her score to 475 points!!!! I then manage to win a hand raking in 4, count them, 4 points bringing my score to 20 points.

Lilja goes on to win the next two hands.

Final score?

Lilja: 503
Papa: 20

Sigh.

Ken

The Things Kids Say

One more post, to make this a 5-post day:

On Wednesday, I went to pick up our four year old from pre-school. I saw on the message board that they had a "cowboy/cowgirl party" that day in relation to a western-themed fundraising event that is coming up soon.

So, while driving home, I asked L. if she had fun at the party and she said:

"Yes. I did a cartwheel but no one got hurt!"

Well, thank goodness! :-)

Ken

China's Disgust

China is calling the disruption of the Olympic Torch Route by protestors "disgusting" behavior.

And yet, just last week China was killing and arresting Tibetan monks who had the temerity to protest China's rule of their country.

Guess which behavior I find disgusting. (Hint: the latter.)

This is the way it is with bullies and dictatorships: the person or entity that is doing the bullying (or in this case, the killing) doesn't want to be called on it. And, if they are, they just get angry and try to pin the blame on the messenger.

In this case, I think China is being such a wonderful role model for other countries that would like to host the Olympics in the future. Not.

Of course, our president has not cancelled his trip to attend the opening ceremony of these Olympics. That might cause China to label the USA hypocritical (*cough* Iraq *cough*). And we couldn't have that.

Ken

Transitional Fossils

Awesome. Another transitional fossil has been found: Ancient serpent shows its legs

This one showing a creature that was evolving away from the concept "lizard with legs" and evolving towards the concept of "snake".

Cool.

Of course, this discovery won't go over well in the anti-evolution crowd... as PZ Meyers said "Just last week I was told that none of these creatures exist!"

Whoops.

Making Money

Making Money is the name of Terry Pratchett's most recent book in his voluminous Diskworld series. (This series contains 36 books and I've read pretty much all of them!)

It was the book I turned my attention to after finishing my decade and a half love affair with the Sword of Truth series and I'm already done.

Making Money was in a word: superb. The scenes with Lord Vetinari are simply priceless! Pratchett has that particular character down to a T. Its pure pleasure to read those scenes!

Most people on hearing that the Diskworld series has 36 books in it (with two more to come out soon) say "Well it must not be that good now, right?" And, in this case, they are wrong. The books in the series have, in my opinion, been better and better with Practchett becoming a demonstrably better writer in recent years. He's got better jokes, better stores, more detailed characters, the works!

The tragedy here is that Pratchett recently announced that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease but bravely states that he's good for a few more books! All good things come to end, but I intend to enjoy every last thing Pratchett produces before he has to stop. He's been a good force in my life, providing me with a ton of laughter over the years, and that's a very important thing!

So, what do you do after you finish a good book? Read another one! Next Up: Matter by Iain M. Banks.

Ken

P.S. My favorite book of the whole Diskworld series is book 26, Thief of Time, but don't start with that one. Its best if you start at the beginning and work your way up to it! :-)

Snow!

Winter does not seem to be aware that Spring was supposed to start a few weeks ago. Today it is snowing in Boulder HARD. Dead of Winter type snow, lots and lots of snow.

Sigh.

I view this as the Universe offering Max one more attempt to lose all of his winter gear at school! :-)

(He had most recently lost his winter coat on March 31st... it was missing for eight days until his teacher found it for him. It was located right where it normally is, just up on a shelf. Apparently, Max is incapable of looking up just a few degrees for missing stuff. Sigh.)

Hope its warm and sunny where you are!

Ken

Creepy Girl

100% CGI human: Creepy Girl