Thursday, February 26, 2009

FutureGeek

The Monkey spent the afternoon inventing a walkie-talkie. It has an antenna, a movable switch and (not shown in this video) a solar-powered rechargeable battery. I'm not even kidding. It also has pretty good range, as apparently it can be used to talk to people in space. Pretty impressive specs for three bucks worth of plastic.

You may have to turn up the volume... apparently my phone doesn't have a great microphone:

The Monkey's new invention from cbalmain on Vimeo.

A single tear rolls down my cheek.

The Internet - the way it used to be...

No matter what you think of Stephen Colbert's style or politics, it's hard to deny that he's a funny guy. This clip was on last night and had both Ann and me laughing pretty hard. It's also interesting to watch this clip with the understanding that my children will never get this joke.


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

GraphJam

I made this!

funny pictures
moar funny pictures

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Is socialism bad? If so, why?

With the election of Barack Obama and the implementation of his policies to shore up the worsening economy, I’ve heard a lot of people throw around the word “socialism.” I will freely admit that I do not understand economics; I have little education on the subject, just enough to know that it’s incredibly complex and that there are a lot of people who are way smarter than I am who still don’t understand what’s going on. So I ask these two questions in complete seriousness:

What exactly is socialism?
Why is it such a horrible thing?

People typically say things like, “Socialism will make us like France”, or worse, “Like Soviet Russia!” without really explaining these statements. Getting beyond the political ramifications of a socialist agenda, does it really make for bad economic policy? Should I expect my children or grandchildren to be standing in bread lines and buying Levis on the black market because of Obama’s alleged socialist agenda?

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lite Brite

The standard modern Lite Brite ships with a small, sealed bag of 200 plastic pegs. However, if you allow a 5-year old to open the bag of pegs, and he does so with the bag upside down, and the pegs spill out onto the kitchen floor, the number of pegs will magically increase to 15,000.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Dancing Queen

I've been terribly remiss in my posting lately. Things have been busy at work, the kids have been sick off and on, and Ann and I managed to get away for a cruise last week. I'll get back into the posting-groove soon but until then please enjoy this latest video of Vanilla Bean dancing...

Vanilla Bean dancing it up from cbalmain on Vimeo.

Monday, February 2, 2009

A good belly laugh

Today for lunch we had grilled bratwurst. Normally the Monkey loves sausages, but he was a little wary this time. Ann served him some, he looked at it, and said, "What's this?" I said, "It's bratwurst." There was a pause, and then he said:

"Raw horse?"

I haven't seen Ann laugh that hard in a long time.