Nathan's Occasional Blog

I just called Comcast and removed our subscription to HBO.  We really never get a chance to watch anything on that channel any more (since we’re spending time with KC), and quite frankly when we do have a chance to do that I never see anything I want to watch.  So “goodbye HBO”!

Alicea wrote a great post the other day on how our TV viewing has changed of late, which is just fine with me.  🙂

What We Watch With the Wee One

Currently watching: Krakatoa: Volcano of Destruction!

Nathan and I have decided to limit our television watching when Kaitlyn is downstairs with us.  If we do have it on, we have a couple of choices.  Sports, education, or childrens. 

Sports: pretty much any type of sports.  During this month we have the World Cup on.  In only a couple of days the Tour de France will dominate our television.  It is amazing to me the pure stamina and athleticism of the riders. 

Education: Usually the Discovery or History Channel.  Although I’m sure Krakatoa and some of the other stuff we watch (Deadliest Catch, etc.) may be a bit extreme, I’m certain that it is better than exposing her to sitcoms and other mindless trash (hey, I watch mindless trash too) out there.

Childrens: Sprout or Noggin… usually Sprout, just because it’s 24/7 preschool.  I may be rotting my child’s brain, but it’s so cute to see her huge smile when I switch to Sprout and she sees the host, Melanie.

All that being said – this Krakatoa thing is pretty amazing.  For some reason I really like watching shows about geological events.  It is so interesting to me to learn about what this earth is capable of. 

Why am I so proud?  Because my wife found her first software application bug yesterday!  She submitted a bug report to the developer, they validated that she had indeed found a flaw (was a permissions issue in a web service), and they corrected it.

Yay Alicea!

I know I haven’t posted in a while, and I don’t have much of an excuse other than I’ve been too busy.  But, all that being said…

THE WHALERS WON THE STANLEY CUP!  The sweaters may be red and they may be called the Hurricanes, but the team will always be the Hartford Whalers to me.  🙂

“Maybe God just turned to one of his cherubs and muttered something like ‘I don’t roll like that,’ because it seemed funny.”

– Scott Adams from What’s My Lion?

Some choice clips from YouTube discoved while Alicea and I were avoiding sleep this evening…

Baby gets it ON!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxaTJ1B1e68

The Matrix stinks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUvhW1xodqQ

Anything from
http://www.askaninja.com

urban ninja
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2kJZOfq7zk

evolution of dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

it’s YOURS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cSRpu7bI04

krazy mooves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSoVKUVOnfQ

“Podcasting is like a factory feeding apple pies to whales.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEmss2lg-ug  OH YEAH!

Holy crap.  I’m sitting in my office right now listening to NPR’s Morning Edition.  All of a sudden the Rocketboom theme song is playing and then they’re interviewing Amanda.  SWEET!

Give it a listen!

Robert Scoble just posted that he “discovered” HDTV is rotting [his] brain.”

Alicea and I started rotting our brains a few years ago when we got a Toshiba 34” HDTV.  It’s a perfectly flat 16:9 CRT (traditional glass tube) because the flat panel screens were $10k or more back then.  But our 180–pound TV is beautiful just the same. 🙂  Why watch a mindless show when you can watch the same mindless show in HD?

After a while you get obsessed with all things HD.  The DVD must be high quality.  Cable TV must be high quality.  Argh – why can’t I get HD from my Media Center computer?  Because the computer is too old to recognize a computer via it’s DVI port (the cable box works though).

One of these days we might have to get a new TV so we can get computer content in HD.  THAT’s obsessed!

Anybody want a 34” HDTV?

Now this is what I call thinking outside the box.  Some brains from an MIT-based startup have developed a turbocharger that runs on ethanol.  What’s the big deal?  It can make a 1.5–liter 4 banger act like a 3.0–liter V6 while consuming less gas.  All this for under $1000 and the ethanol tank could run for months on a single fill. 

Check out AutoBlog (and their source) for more details.

All the talk about hydrogen is nice, but what are we going to use until that’s ready?  And how is hydrogen the answer, seeing as it has to be kept so cold and is so volatile (think Hindenburg).  I remember hearing somewhere that there is a lot of energy required to get hydrogen in a form that can be used in a car … so you’re basically just transferring pollution from many little sources to fewer BIG sources.

Let’s think outside the box – is hydrogen really the answer?  Someone tell me.  🙂

I’m not 100% sure how I feel about this.  Monopoly is a classic game, and now they’re going to change the board?  I assume Boardwalk and Park Place will stay the same … right?!?  On the other hand, making the game relevent to todays kids makes sense.

I do agree with replacing the railroads with airports.  I wonder what you get once you get Logan, Kennedy, O’Hare, and LAX … other than a lot of headaches!  🙂

Monopoly was introduced in 1935 and now, in 2006 is getting ‘modern’. The board will be updated with the names of landmarks, streets and neighborhoods from 22 cities rather than Atlantic City landmarks and streets. The railroads will be replaced with airport names as well.

You can vote at the company’s website.

Read @ Blogging Baby