Category Archives: General

I just found a couple of 50-Franc notes in an old drawer. Someone had them leftover from a trip to France in the ’90s, and since I was planning a trip, they gave them to me. But I forgot to … Continue reading →

Wow, my stepbrother is amazing. He had been a sculptor for many years, working with stone, metal and wood to make amazing creations. But a back injury now makes that impossible, so he’s started taking jewelry-making classes. Here’s the first … Continue reading →

Commenting (and posting) on ScienceBlogs.com is going to be down starting at about 1 p.m. EST today. You can use this post for commenting on today’s Cognitive Daily Post. If you ask nicely, I might even consider adding some additional … Continue reading →

I’m upgrading to the latest version of WordPress software. This means things may go a little wacky for a bit. I’m also going to trash my template, so if you’re used to that warm, fuzzy yellow design, I’m sorry. It’s … Continue reading →

Kevin Drum has responded on his blog to my point that it’s often okay to require users to click to see the entire blog posts. He makes some good points: Occasional long posts, especially ones that have a limited audience, … Continue reading →

…So Kevin Drum published his list of whines for 2009. It’s a pretty good list, but I have to disagree with some of his points. Here’s his complete list, with my comments in Bold. Blogs without comment sections. Or, blogs … Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, we noticed that our new local gourmet grocery store offered a wide variety of custom-colored M&Ms, in bulk. Nora and Greta decided that we absolutely *must* build a gingerbread house. Of course, *just* a gingerbread house … Continue reading →

For the past couple years I’ve preferred Weather.com over AccuWeather.com — mostly because AccuWeather had slower page-load times. But the most recent redesign of weather.com has destroyed most of that site’s utility. I visited AccuWeather and found that they had … Continue reading →

As more and more newspapers and news sites start to include “blogs” as part of their coverage, they also show that they have absolutely NO understanding of how a blog works. On a blog, the posts are in reverse-chronological order. … Continue reading →

Mark added this to his post about the downwind-faster-than-wind problem today: It appears that I really blew it with this one. I’m the bozo in this story. After lots of discussion, a few equations, and a bunch of time scribbling … Continue reading →

I’m amazed that Mark has persisted in his argument for so long. Honestly, it’s astounding. He still can’t seem to admit that the video I wrote about yesterday demonstrates that downwind, faster-than-wind, wind-driven travel is possible. Let’s take another tack … Continue reading →

Wow, I don’t get to say that very often! But it’s true. In this post, Mark claims that it’s impossible to make a wind-powered vehicle that goes faster than the wind, while traveling in the exact same direction as the … Continue reading →

It’s been a while since Nora and I made a large-scale Lego creation. But a week or so back someone on Twitter complimented Nora’s Parthenon — most definitely an awesome achievement. Here’s the movie we made of it way back … Continue reading →

A little less than eight years ago, I wrote this. Now the Onion’s in on the joke: Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are Should I sue?

There’s an interesting article in the New York Times which points out that your vote means more in some states than others. In Wyoming, about 135,000 voters pick each electoral vote, while in Florida, each vote is picked by a … Continue reading →

In these troubled times, the TI-83 series of calculators may just be your best investment bet. The Munger family has personally purchased four of these babies: one for Nora, and three for Jim, who has lost two of them and … Continue reading →

Here’s what Nora and Jim have been up to lately. After reading Beowulf, Nora was assigned to write an “epic poem” (more of a poem-let) for her English class. Then she did a dramatic reading, complete with sound effects! Without … Continue reading →

The title of this post is what I call the section of town I must pass through to get to the trails I run on every Tuesday and Thursday. It actually starts with my neighbor’s house, and continues down the … Continue reading →

While Nora and I were hiking in the Pasayten, Greta and Jim were back in North Carolina completing their own epic journey: They were systematically watching some of the best Westerns in cinematic history. Neither of them has a personal … Continue reading →

I fixed the links list to reflect blogs I actually read. I even fixed the links list to actually link to the actual blogs I actually read, instead of some random dead-end from three years ago. Looking over there, I … Continue reading →