Some Blog Site

The June 2009 edition of my IEEE magazine arrived, and it had interviews with the candidates running for election for president of the organization. The interview contained various questions. About half were related to engineering, and the other half were get-to-know-the-person questions, such as “What is your favorite movie?” The one that piqued my interest was “If you were stranded on an island, what one thing you would want to have with you?”

The answers that the three candidates gave were these:

• A solar-powered iPhone with lots of books stored in memory
• A solar-powered laptop with Internet access
• A Crocodile Dundee-size knife

(Note: I assume he meant a knife that is the same size as the knife that Crocodile Dundee had, not a knife that is the same size as Crocodile Dundee himself.)

After reading the third answer, I thought the first two sounded like cheating. How many qualifiers can you add to an item and still have it count as only one item?

I pondered for a little while and decided on my answer, should I ever be asked what is the one item I would want with me on a deserted island.

• A fully-furnished house

I suppose I could embellish it a little: a fully-furnished, solar-powered house with working water and sewer. But I like the simplicity of my original answer.

Ah yes, the long-awaited digital TV deadline is here – June 12, 2009. Although Congress does have about 30 more minutes to act to delay it again, I think they won’t bother.

A few months ago, people were concerned for the 7 million viewers who had not updated their TVs yet, and thus would lose their all-important TV viewing rights. Now, there are still over 2 million people who do not have the capability to watch digital TV (as they have only the analog receiver) and who will therefore not be able to watch TV tomorrow.

These 2 million people include the same poor, elderly, and minorities who were in the 7 million group. Why is Congress not fighting for these people anymore? Have they slipped through the cracks? Does the federal government have a disaster-preparedness plan for June 13, when all these people will be TV-less?

On a somewhat related note: I wonder how many people will check the old analog stations tomorrow just to see if they have really stopped transmitting…

We received a mass mailing from our health insurance company. Okay, we did not receive it – it was addressed to my wife. But it wasn’t a letter; it was a large brochure/folded-postcard-type thingy that anyone could read.

It was a generic announcement that said “If a baby could be in your future” then you should call their program, as they can answer questions and make sure that the mom and baby are off to a good start, health-care wise. Enroll in our free program, it said, and get this information and that information and access to such-and-such, etc.

What caught my attention was the disclaimer.

For those who can’t read the text: it says “This information has been sent to all female plan members in your age group in order to make them aware of the program. By sending this mailing, we are not implying that you are pregnant or intend to become pregnant.”

I know pregnancy is a discreet subject. If you think someone might be pregnant, you don’t usually start on that topic. But I think this disclaimer goes a little overboard. Why do the people at the health insurance company think they need this footnote?

Maybe they had too many complaints from women who definitely did not want to be pregnant and wanted to make sure they knew that as well. But this is a tiny disclaimer that would not likely be noticed by those who would take the whole flyer the wrong way anyway.

Maybe they did have some legal action against them, and this legal-looking disclaimer might be a good way of thwarting other future legal actions.

Maybe they had some calls from irate husbands, demanding “What do you know that I don’t?” or something. But I think that’s not likely.

I know – I’ll complain that they didn’t send me a flyer too! After all, their program “offers helpful tips for dads”. I’m a dad – why wasn’t I notified of this program that can offer me helpful tips? Why are they discriminating against me? Just because of my gender? I demand equal treatment! I demand equal rights!

No, I don’t really want to be included in female-specific mailings. I just thought I would worry a few corporate policy and disclaimer producers over there for fun.

“One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, ‘Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.’ ”
– Luke 11:45

We spent some time in a touristy area last weekend, and it had an arcade. The kids enjoyed going through the arcade and playing some of the games, especially skeeball. We spent maybe $2-$4 total.

One of the games token-eating options, no matter what arcade, anywhere in the world, is always the bunch-of-tokens-in-a-pile-being-pushed-by-something game (apparently known as a “coin pusher” game). Here are some examples.

I’m always tempted to try those games because those coins are so precariously positioned that some of them just have to fall. But I know, from the couple of times long ago that I tried it, that it’s just a trap and chances are very good that the coin that I add will have no effect on the coins at the end – the ones that look like they are about to fall into the tray for me to grab.

For some reason, I thought about that today as I was trying to put a bottle back in the refrigerator. There is room at the back of the fridge, but I want to add the bottle to the front of the fridge since it’s a hassle to try to maneuver the bottle around everything that’s already in the fridge. I put the bottle at the front of the shelf and push, but nothing moves to the back of the fridge like I want. Instead, a couple of things move sideways and something falls over.

Just like the coin-pusher games (no matter how many coins you add to the back, no coins ever get pushed off the front), no matter how many items you put at the front of the fridge, the existing items never fill the back of the fridge.

Note: this applies only to the shelf that has the miscellaneous smaller items (hot sauce, water bottle, mayonnaise, A1 sauce, child’s drink from yesterday that he wanted to save but will never finish, ketchup, salsa, taco cause, soy sauce, Parmesan cheese, etc.) – our bottom shelf with the milk jugs and large items does not have this problem.

“He who tills his land will have plenty of food,But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.”
– Proverbs 28:19

Inspired by Jeff Daniels’ “Tiger Fan Blues Revisited“, I thought the Red Wings need a song that includes a bunch of the players’ names. Since I am not the singer/songwriter type, I am shamelessly spoofing an existing song.

Here goes… ahem…

Franzen, raises his hands after scoring at the goal crease, again
Oh, Fleury, maybe he’ll see a little better set of days (yeah)
Oh, slap shot, Abdelkader’s name said again ain’t that familiar (oh yeah)
Oh, Datsyuk, he can’t help, but we’d like to have him play (oh yeah)

(Penguins) Need a goal, can’t beat Osgood’s butterflies
Oh, in the zone, Lidstrom chases them away.
Someday soon, Wings will win the cup again, cup again, cup again

Holmstrom, standing by the goalie so he doesn’t see a thing (oh yeah)
Oh, Hossa, faster than the players that are on his former team
Oh, feelin’, Kronwall hit the Penguin player into yesterday
Oh, Cleary, a game-winning goal again will bring you fame (yeah)

Need a goal, getting rough as tempers rise
Oh, in the zone, Draper chases them away
Zetterberg, he’ll be in a fight again
Referees gently lead him away, him away, him awayyy

Yeah!

Even strength, Stuart killed the penalties
Oh, Hudler’s there, and he checks guys on his wayyyy
Breakaway, and a score by Filppula
Red Wings fans, octopus on the ice, on the ice, on the iiiice

Editor’s notes:

• I know “goal crease” is somewhat redundant. I didn’t have “goal” in there originally, but I needed to extra syllable to get that line to flow well. If not well, then at least better.
• The phrase “Penguins need a goal” implies that the Penguins are losing, not that the songwriter is cheering for the Penguins.
• The phrase about Datsyuk’s not helping was written while he was out with his injury and does not imply that he not helpful when he’s on the ice.
• I know Draper hasn’t played yet, but I put him in after it was announced that he should play in Game 4 at Pittsburgh.
• Cleary could have a better line (to the song, not his teammates). The alternate had something to do with “going to bring Stanley to Newfoundland again.”
• Why “Even Flow”? I was inspired by Tim Hawkins‘ “Kids’ Rock” commercial. Go watch it.
• If you’re going to look up the actual lyrics to “Even Flow”, be warned that many of the lyrics sites contain the CD version, not the radio version. Use Last FM’s lyrics for a clean set.

“Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.”
– Psalm 33:3

Now that it is June and the kids want to wear shorts even if it is only 50 degrees outside, it is time to update Some Blog Site’s background photo.

This is of the oldest child, carrying a bucket of water from the ocean at Myrtle Beach last year.

For those of you who thought Yahtzee was just a game – it can also be a math lesson! You don’t make it into a lesson, of course. You just play Yahtzee and help the child add the numbers as you play.

The box says “Ages 8 & Up”, but our 5-year-old likes to play. He does not know all the addition tables quite yet, but I have found that Yahtzee is a good way to teach them to him. He knows some of them, and I figure that after a few more games he will have learned all his addition combinations.

Then we can start using Yahtzee to teach multiplication. And then probability and statistics.

Since he is still learning how to win and lose sportingly, I was trying not to win.  If we’re playing Mario Kart and I’m winning, he asks me to slow down so he can win.  Of course, his younger brother has the same problem of not liking to lose, so I am trying to teach them to take turns winning.  I hope that each of them will be able, eventually, to be able to lose the game without losing composure.  I don’t want to suppress the desire to win – I just want them to handle losing.  And to be nice to their siblings.

Back to the main thought here: I was trying not to win the game of Yahtzee that I was playing with the 5-year-old.  But I was also demonstrating the rules and reinforcing how to play the game correctly, so I was making sure that I matched what I got to the correct category and added the points correctly.  It’s not like Mario Kart racing where I can ease off the throttle.  When I play Yahtzee with my wife, she gets the 5-of-a-kind Yahtzee roll of the dice and wins.  I cannot seem to get the 50-point Yahtzee.

Until now, playing against the child…  I was able to keep it kind of close until then.  He did seem to handle the loss rather well.  I suppose the concept of winning a numbers game might be a bit abstract, not the same as a race, so maybe it didn’t affect him the same way.  Or maybe he has learned to blame the dice already.

“They cast lots for their duties, all alike, the small as well as the great, the teacher as well as the pupil.”
– 1 Chronicles 25:8