Mr. Rogers' Thoughts

House

Well, we've finally done it! We bought a house. It needs a little (yeah, right, a little!) work, but what the heck, I've got 14 hours or so a day that I'm not working, right? Plus the weekends, that's another 48 hours! Well, anyway, needless to say, I'm a busy bee lately.  Speaking of which, I've got to go. Enjoy the preview!

The Museum of Unnatural Mystery Homepage

This is an interesting site. Lots of humorously objective takes on unnatural phenomena.

Ok, maybe not that much. I just received this email through Flickr:

You've been sent a Flickr Mail:

------------------------------------------------------------

:: Permission


Hello, I am an independent musician from Philadelphia. I am
interested in using one of your photos for a cover idea I
have. I can't afford to pay anything but I would gladly
credit your work and give you a copy of the album. Please
let me know either way.

Thanks
Jonny

That's pretty cool. I hope it goes well for him. I'd never dreamed anyone would find a use for my pictures. :-) I'll update y'all if I get any more information.

Foosball Master - Google Video

This is one crazy foosball player!

Well, we've been here for a few days now. Spent alot of time at the park or walking around the city. We ate at a great Pizza place called Gruppo. The weather has been great. The park is a lot of fun. Lot's of slides, forts, swings and toys. Mari went on a tire swing for the first time. Today we're going to the Children's Museum to see Dora's house. Well... I've got to run. I'll post again soon!

Someone asked me an interesting question the other day at work. Who do I consider the best lyricist of all time?

I don't think I can answer the question as put to me. It's like asking what my favorite drink is. It depends on what kind of drink I want.

That said here is my brief effort to make a list (in no particular order) of some of my favorite lyricists based on my limited musical exposure:

Jewel
Carl Stephenson
Paul McCartney
John Lennon
Paul Simon
Freddy Mercury
Faithless (Colaborative lyrics, Maxi Jazz, Rollo, Sister Bliss)

That's what comes to mind right off the bat. I'll update with more if I think of them.

What do you think? Am I missing anyone obvious?

Boing Boing: Marvel Comics: stealing our language

Marvel and DC are trying to trademark the word "super-hero". This is crazy. Can't these people make money some other way? They're a big company. Do they really need to bully other people around like this? Things like this and patents make me wonder if anyone in the USPTO is awake. Or sane. Or even human.

mediatinker.com

No, this is not a recipe. It's a sewing pattern for making your very own wierd deep sea creature. I'll let you know when I'm done how difficult it is.

DARPA Seeking Insect Cyborg Creation Team

Um... This is so crazy. DARPA is seeking teams to create cyborg insects that can be remotely controlled and can transmit data back. They go so far as to suggest embedding the tech in the insect prior to metamorphosis so as to get a better integration into the organism. Can this be for real?!? What happens when the insects decide they don't want to be used any more?

Runaway...

Multi-Touch Interaction Research

This is one of the neatest things to come out of the recent Emerging Technology conference. It is so futuristic seeming I can hardly believe it's real!

Just in case you needed a little cuteness to brighten up an otherwise depressing day...

Just a Little Guy
Let's Be Friends

Boing Boing: Bizarre looking crustacean discovered

This is definitely an odd lobster! I just love it when new species are found. Like this shark, found last year and just recently classified.

United Nuclear - Site Stats

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a criminal action against scientific equipment suppliers to ban the sale of common chemicals that could be used in the making of explosives to anyone not possessing a $1000 license from the ATF to manufacture explosives. While this may seem logical on the surface, many of these chemicals are used in children's science kits, just like the one's I used as a child.

If the government thinks it can protect freedom by taking it away, they are seriously deluded. Criminals are going to get their chemicals one way or another, so yet again we have a law that punishes law abiding citizens instead of criminals. Argh!

Wired News:

Now this I've got to see. I'll definitely be taking the family when (if) it comes to town.

Parenting is by far the best profession/hobby. There is nothing more fascinating that observing and facilitating the development of a human being. Sometimes, however, it can be frustrating. Right now my daughter is 4. She's pretty smart (I know, all parents think so :-) ) and has an easy time learning things. Once concept that seems to be difficult for her is learning the concept of measurements. She will say something like, "Wow! That dog was 100 big!", and when I ask her "100 what?" she gets frustrated. Like I should realize that 100 is a really big number, so that means it's a really big dog. Given that she's only 4, I have no problem with that logic, but I would love to teach her about units and measurement.

So, here's where I need feedback. Does anyone know of a good site/method/book/movie/show to teach the concept of measurement to young kids?