Yes, it really is almost October. Really is time to get serious about your Halloween costume, if you’re going to wear one.
I have a standard set of Renaissance Faire garb I usually wear for Halloween. It’s quick and easy, but one of these years I really ought to switch things up. You know, buy a new Halloween costume
. After all, I have to work up something new for my kids each year.
My daughter is old enough to have definite plans. She’s thinking Rapunzel this year, as she still loves the dressup outfit I got for her as a Christmas present last year. She’s also just considering going as the color pink (her favorite, of course). It’s a costume I call a pigment of the imagination.
No idea what I’m dressing my son up as. He hasn’t expressed an opinion on any of the things I’ve suggested, but he really doesn’t understand what Halloween is yet.
I do love to shop online for Halloween costumes. So much of a better selection than the stores have, and no fussing through the selection trying to find the right size, hoping it’s not sold out yet. You just generally have better odds online.
So… what are you dressing up as?
Technorati Tags: halloween, halloween costumes
Men and women do laundry differently. That’s just a given. So of course some of his habits drive me nuts.
On the plus side, at least he’s willing to do a bit of laundry here and there.
- Laundry is sorted by white versus any color at all, and parents’ versus kids’ clothing. I don’t really care about the first, but why sort the kids’ clothes separate?
- What starts inside out, stays inside out, if it’s not his. This includes when folding laundry.
- It makes sense to him to lay out the clothes that need to be on hangers, then leave them out for days until he or I get tired of seeing them, and puts the hangers in. He insists this doesn’t add any work. I prefer to hang them right away, so they get put away.
- All loads must be washed with baking soda. This includes when I buy detergent that has baking soda in it already. More needs to go in.
- If I’m lucky, he’ll put his clothes away after folding. Very rarely anyone else’s.
- I’ve finally got him folding the kid’s clothes, rather than just stacking them for me to do later.
- Dirty clothes go on the nightstand as often as the laundry basket. I guess that’s better than the middle of the floor.
- The lint trap rarely needs cleaning. Once again, he’s gotten better, but still needs improvement in this area.
- I finally have him turning the water to the washing machine off after we’re done with it. This isn’t necessary with most machines, but is with ours, as the water line leaks into the machine otherwise. This habit probably saved us from a flooded garage the day the line burst.
- Children’s clothing needs to only be laid flat, not folded. Actually this one has improved tremendously of late.
- The clothing sizes of a 5 year old and a 2-1/2 year look almost identical. I finally have him checking the tags, but before I would regularly find the kids’ clothes mixed up.
- All loads must be washed on the Cotton/Sturdy cycle, regardless of the materials.
- What the heck. He does laundry occasionally. It could be worse, right?
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Bandaids aren’t just about covering scrapes and scratches. At least, they don’t have to be. Just take a look:
Pirate Bandaids
Arr! How could yer little pirates not love these? For that matter, what about yer bigger pirates? Black with white skulls, perfect to go with yer finest pirate apparel. Not that pirates worry about fashion, arr!
Crayon Bandaids
Perfect for your little artist. Now if they could just figure out how to make it look like your child just drew the bandaid on, that would be pretty much perfect.
Bacon Bandaids
These just sizzle! Have a sense of humor while you cover those owies.
Tattoo Bandages
When you heart Mom just so much you have to have a bandaid declare it for you!
I just love that bandaids don’t have to be the basic ones in a single color anymore, or just favored characters from children’s show. You can have far more fun than that in your selection.
Technorati Tags: bandaids, bandages
I spotted this old trick algebraic proof over at wikiHow. The challenge is to figure out how this works, or rather, why it isn’t a valid proof. It took me a minute, but it’s been a number of years since I took any math class. Not to mention dealing with a rather nasty virus right now. The kind that gives you a cold, not the computer type, thank goodness.
Assume a=b. The do the following mathematical operations:
| 3a = 3b |
(multiplying both sides by the real number) |
| 11a = 11b |
(multiplying both sides by the “real” number) |
| 3a2 = 3ab |
(multiplying by a on both sides) |
| 11ab = 11b2 |
(multiplying by b on both sides) |
| 3a2 - 11ab = 3ab - 11b2 |
(subtracting the above two equations to make one) |
| 3a2 - 3ab = 11ab - 11b2 |
(subtracting 3ab and adding 11ab to both sides) |
| 3a2 - 3ab + ab - b2 = 12ab - 12b2 |
(adding ab and subtracting b2 from both sides) |
| 3a(a-b) + b(a-b) = 12b(a-b) |
(factoring out common terms ) |
| 3a + b = 12b |
(removing common terms) |
| 3a = 11b |
(subtracting b from both sides) |
| 3b = 11b |
(substituting a for b, remembering that they are equal) |
| 3 = 11 |
(removing common terms) |
Think about it. Where’s the mistake?
.
.
.
.
.
If a=b, then dividing by a-b means you divided by zero, which is against the rules of arithmetic.
Technorati Tags: arithmetic, deceptive numbers
I read over on Slashdot that UC Santa Cruz is going to be putting all of Robert Heinlein’s archives online.
The first collection released includes 106,000 pages, consisting of Heinlein’s complete manuscripts - including files of all his published works, notes, research, early drafts and edits of manuscripts. The documents offer a window into Heinlein’s creative process and provide background and context for his work.
That’s going to be pretty impressive for fans. However, they’re not available for free, and I suspect much of this will be more of interest to researchers.
I’m a Heinlein fan from way back. I see his books differently than when I was younger, and don’t enjoy them all. Some just don’t have the same quality as others. But he did a lot to establish science fiction as a legitimate genre, and the science in his stories can be quite deeply buried.
And I’ll never forget the college roommate I had who didn’t understand why I loved science fiction. She was quite the naive sort, but had heard of Stranger in a Strange Land, and wanted to read it so that she could understand my interest. Those of you who have read that may be laughing at her already.
I didn’t let her read Stranger.
Instead, I gave her a much, much tamer book, StarBridge. It was hilarious. She was completely and utterly shocked that there could be sex in science fiction. Can you picture if she had read Stranger?
Could’ve been fun.
Technorati Tags: heinlein archives, heinlein, robert heinlein
It looks like Mars is resisting the call by Hershey’s and other companies to allow the use of vegetable fats rather than cocoa butter in the manufacture of chocolate. They’re concerned about what it would do to their quality.
Considering they’re not the best anyhow, that’s saying something. Even if they do make cheap chocolate, it’s good to see that they care.
It’s a cost saving move, of course, but not one consumers are in favor of at all. There’s been quite an outcry about it.
I don’t care that you don’t have to buy the lower quality chocolate; after all, plenty of companies won’t make the change. But I think it’s ridiculous to make such a change to the essential nature of what we call chocolate and still call it chocolate. There’s a reason labels such as chocolatey and carob exist. Those aren’t chocolate, even though they taste similar. If a company wants to cut costs by cutting quality so drastically, let them take labels appropriate to what they intend to offer.
Technorati Tags: chocolate, vegetable oils, cocoa butter, chocolate quality
