The gyrobike allows kids to learn how to ride a bike without falling. A gyroscope attached to the front wheel base stablizes the bike and assists kids who are learning to ride a bike by automatically steering bike into the direction they are beginning to fall and preventing an accident while at the same time teaching the learner how to correctly keep the bike upright when the gyroscope isn’t there. Very cool…and tons better than training wheels. I know what Corryn is getting for her next birthday!
When my family lived in Mountain Green there was a kid who used to raise money for Scout Camp or whatever by selling salsa. My family always bought a jar or two when he came by and it was very good…at first. After the first couple of batches I started to notice that some bites of the salsa tasted bad…like soap or something. I had no idea for years and years what that taste was even though I found it in several other (mostly mexican) meals. I found out when I moved out to Virginia and had a roommate who grew his own herbs that the devil weed responsible for that foul taste was called Cilantro.
I told my herb growing roomate about what I thought cilantro tasted like and he thought I was crazy. I’ve since learned that Julia Child hated the stuff too and don’t feel so weird. It is said that the aversion to cilantro is genetic and it doesn’t have negative effects on most people. Now that I’ve found this site though…I know that I’m really not alone…and I’ve joined in the fight against the evil stank that is Cilantro.
Hat-tip: Virginia Postrel
I am a pretty big dork. Ask anyone who knows me…they’ll tell you the same. I’m a nerd who is completely happy in his dorkiness. I think that started…or at least intensified…the summer before I started High School. I lived in one of the prettiest places on earth, Mountain Green, UT and had great dorky friends. My really good friends that summer were Chris Walthers, Murray Triplett, and Ray Lamontagne. We liked to play D and D and a Tolkein role playing game that I don’t really remember and just generally basked in nerdiness. I loved it and have always remembered those people and times with a lot of fondness.
I was bored today during a break at work and decided it might be cool to Google the names of old friends. I tried Ray Lamontagne first and found his website. Check it out and listen to the music there…he is excellent. It was fun to listen to the tunes and remember that this was the guy who used to jump on my trampoline with me and Murray while we all pretended we were fighting dragons and orcs. (I told you I was a nerd!)
Heh…I guess this post isn’t very good publicity for Ray so I’ll stop…but it sure is cool to see that a friend from a long time ago has made such a success of himself through his great talents.
UPDATE:
Wow…Murray has a movie that he wrote/directed listed on IMDB and another film making the festival circuits…thats pretty cool too. I had talented friends!
Read this commentary entitled Liberty, Equality, Mediocrity by Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer perfectly analyzes and explains the current French unrest/riots and the root causes. Here’s a bit of it:
And now, in a new act of revolutionary creativity, the French are at it again. Millions of young people and trade unionists, joined by some underclass opportunists looking for a good night out, have taken to the streets again. To rise up against what? In massive protest against a law that would allow employers to fire an employee less than 26 years old in the first two years of his contract.
That’s a very long way from liberty, equality, fraternity. The spirit of this revolution is embodied most perfectly in the slogan on many placards: CONTRE LA PRÉCARITÉ, or “Against Precariousness.” The precariousness of being subject to being fired. The precariousness of the untenured life, even if the work is boring and the boss no longer wants you. And ultimately, the precariousness of life itself, any weakening of the government guarantee of safety, conformity, regularity.
That is something very new. And it is not just a long way from the ideals of 1789. It is the very antithesis. It represents an escape from freedom, a demand for an arbitrary powerful state in whose bosom you can settle for life.
I wonder what lessons America can learn from the complete failure of the French way of life? Read the whole thing.
Hat tip Instapundit.
Click here for interesting news.
If I had one of these I’d have a great excuse to spend at least an hour a day playing CounterStrike or World of Warcraft! Who knows how much weight I could lose. I’m betting it would be a lot.
The Navy gives trainees a fake gun, a set of VR goggles, puts them in the ball then sets the simulation to running and like a good hamster the guy playing the game participating in the training simulation starts running and shooting virtual bad guys. VERY COOL.
For lack of anything else interesting to post on this morning (oh yeah…good riddance to Tom Delay) I decided to post a link for everyone to my favorite music blog. It seems this guy has nearly exactly the same taste in music as I do because every week he finds 3 songs (with links to download mp3s) I really like. Here is my favorite from this week:
Matt Costa - Cold December
I also really like the commentary about each of the songs provided for download. It is fun to listen to the song after reading the descriptions provided by Jeremy (the site’s proprietor)…you listen differently than if you are just hearing a new song for the first time without any introduction.
Ok…I’ve been flogging this idea for the past week and now things are just about ready to go. I figured Thursday, April 6 would be a good day to start the project but I need some ideas about how we can most effectively make the site work. I really want it to be a motivation for participants (me especially) to study the Book of Mormon and comment on their study on a daily or near daily basis. Should we have a weekly study assignment or should everybody just post what ever thoughts or ideas they want as they read on their own?
Any ideas?
I have registered the domain where the blog will be published. www.bookofmormon.org.
I’m more than a little surprised that domain name was available. Hopefully participants will be able to make it a place where lots of people can gain positive and valuable insight into the Book of Mormon.
It would sure be cool to get more volunteers to help contribute to the site (the people who have already volunteered are AWESOME and I’m more than a little excited about the commentary and ideas that will be posted on the site as time progresses). It would also be very nice to have some volunteers to help administer and maintain the site. I still haven’t made a final decision on a blog engine and spam blocking scheme to keep the site’s integrity secure. Any ideas or thoughts? Anyone who wants to join or who has ideas or thoughts that might be helpful should leave a comment on this post or anywhere on my blog or email me at jeremy at themannings dot org.
