Category: Insaneness

Take a guess what this guy is talking about below:

From the very first time he asked, I have promised him that I would teach him. But that promise always comes with me enforcing respect and understanding. Thanks to this consistency, my children can by rote say that a xxxxxxxxx is not a toy and that hey are not to touch one unless I am there handing it to them.

…..

That same xxxxxxx is actually hanging within a long arm’s reach of me as I type this, along with several others. And yes, my children have noticed them.

What should be in place of the xxxxxxx?  Well, if you were me, this is EXACTLY what I got taught about firearms.  It was the case in our house with firearms when I was a kid.  They were readily available.  It is EXACTLY what I will teach my kids about firearms.

Go read the original article (first seen here) and come back.  Swords.  They are talking about swords.  Oh, and how old is the kid?  5.  FIVE.  Let’s think about this for a second…..

I doubt anyone would say boingboing is conservative.  I actually think they are quite liberal in many ways.  But here they are praising this guy for teaching his kid…his FIVE year old kid…about swordplay.  I’m sure that most of the editors at bb would think me crazy for teaching my kids about guns.  Certainly, the comments would reflect it.

Riddle me this….what’s the difference?  Why are swords ok and cool but guns are evil?

In my dippy eggs quest, I tried something new today.  Instead of using the hob (that’s what they call the stove here) I thought I’d just boil the water in an electric kettle, then pour it over the eggs.  I let them wait for 5 minutes.  When I cracked the first egg, they were dippy alright….they weren’t cooked at all!

So, here’s the latest:  I’ve made about 1/2 dozen hard boiled eggs so far and 2 raw ones.

Image from hugovk via flickr

I’ve tried since we got here (a total of 4 times so far) to make dippy eggs and soldiers (basically soft-boiled eggs and toast).  So far, I’ve managed to overcook them to hard boiled every time.  I’m trying again this morning, but does anyone have any ideas for me?  Here’s what I do:

Take the eggs out of the fridge
Fill a pan with water to cover
Add the eggs
Put it on the heat
Wait for it to boil
Turn the burner off and wait

[Update 07-29-2010 06:46:58] Still not today.  The yolks are more creamy than before today…but still hard boiled.  BTW, I left them in the water as long as it took to make 4 cups of coffee in a filter pot.

Image from vissago via flickr

For those of you who aren’t facebook friends with me, on the weekends, I spend a few hours playing Farm Town on facebook.  Why?  Well, the mindless clicking is just a good way to relax.  Some people watch TV….I click little squares over and over  🙂

Anyway, they started offering buildings that actually do stuff.  I have a pretty sparse farm, but decided I’d get a sugar refinery.  So far, everything is working good (I’m not having the problems reported at the forum), but I started doing some math…..

My refinery has 1,100 units to process.  It does them in batches of 10.  Each batch takes 2 hours to process.  110 batches * 2 hours each = 220 hours.  That is almost 10 days!  Have I done my math wrong?

[Update 03-30-2010 16:37:35] They just introduced the ability for your friends to help you produce faster.  it isn’t too much faster, but it is ok…better than what it was. According to this article, yor friends can help you…..

In a follow-up to this set of posts on airline security, this is yet another reason why I want people to take a step back and think….

Remember the row about Google, China, and the US Government?  Well, it turns out that the “hackers” really didn’t have to hack too hard to get in.  They just came in the back door.  The back door that our government made google install.

I like Bruce’s conclusion:

The problem is that such control makes us all less safe. Whether the eavesdroppers are the good guys or the bad guys, these systems put us all at greater risk. Communications systems that have no inherent eavesdropping capabilities are more secure than systems with those capabilities built in. And it’s bad civic hygiene to build technologies that could someday be used to facilitate a police state.

This also illustrates why everyone should be encrypting their e-mail.  It is easily done with free software (free in both ways).  I’ll be writing a follow-up HOWTO in the next few days about how you can do this.  In the meantime, you can find our public key here.

Image from stuckincustoms via flickr

I knew there was a catch to this stuff.  Even if it worked as advertized, 99.9%, what about the stuff that remains?  How drug resistant do they become?  I for one will choose a “normal” product over an “antibacterial” one just for this reason along.  However, as the WSJ reports, these products undergo some more than favorable testing to reach their 99.9% effectiveness .

Ok guys…here are some videos for some honest to goodness muddin.  Nope…not mudding…muddin.  Get it right  😉  Prijatno!

{youtube}eVwfOcIXdUA{/youtube} 

{youtube}jeGS4_w-_qk{/youtube}

{youtube}F4GWW9GbzrE{/youtube} 

{youtube}rC28FrxEZ0Y{/youtube} 

{youtube}T63nuecJD4g{/youtube} 

 

No…not that ride.  This ride!

Only one word describes this…Wow.