DaDinck speaks out

linux webcam

2012-01-09T10:53:00.004-06:00

I run ubuntu linux, sometimes. To get my built-in webcam to work, I need to run "gstreamer-properties". I close the window and it works. I like to use cheese webcam booth.

Normal joke

2011-12-12T20:50:00.000-06:00

I was considering going out with Mrs. Normal's daughter, Abigail, until I discovered she was Abby Normal.

Ruby on Rails with Ubuntu

2011-12-09T21:15:00.001-06:00

Ubuntu wants to make it to the masses, but even a developer has trouble building the developer tools.

I am talking about Ruby on Rails. First off, the Ruby included in Ubuntu is jruby. The real ruby needs to be installed. That is fairly easy with an apt-get.

Then, to install sqlite3, the libraries are installed, but not the development package. That needs to be done.

gems has to be installed which can also be done with apt-get
But, the gemspec files are wrong (bad date format) and this causes a bunch of errors pointing at "tilt-1.3.3 not found" (but it is there.)

We "gem install rails". That works.

Once everything is ready to run, then rails complains that there is no javascript runtime.

But that is not the only thing. node.js is the javascript runtime, but it won't compile unless it has openssl. Openssl is there, but not the development package.

So, now that the gemspec files are fixed, the openssl dev, sqlite3 dev, gems, ruby are installed, we can finally run rails.

Whew!

Relax

2011-12-08T11:12:00.001-06:00

You could rest more if you were not restLESS.

-Me

Stereotypes

2011-07-28T09:43:00.000-05:00

Ethnic and cultural stereotypes are generalizations no more related to what an individual is actually like than are the pictorial representations of constellations to the actual nature of a star.

Great day for a run

2011-06-28T11:14:00.003-05:00

Today could not have been better for a run. The temperature was 62, the sun was only 1 hour high, and there was a light breeze. Not only that, I ran 5k in 27 minutes. Barefoot, of course.

Barefoot running hints

2011-05-24T08:05:00.002-05:00

When I first started running barefoot, there was not much to it. Take off your shoes and run.

However, I have found more enjoyment following these tips.

It is easier to run on grass or sand. It is not so ethical to run in others' yards.
Wearing shoes for even short distances puts strain on your knees.
If it is cold (<42 F) you are likely to get numb feet and won't feel an injury.
If your toes are getting ripped by pavement, put some medical tape on the affected toes until they are calloused enough.
If the top of your foot hurts, your strides are too long. Take shorter strides and speed up the cadence.

Running 5k

2011-05-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

Just ran the 5k in a little under 26 minutes. 25:56.

Would you pluck out your eye?

2011-04-21T21:12:00.004-05:00

In the passage in Matthew 5:29 and Mark 9:47 "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter the kingdom of Heaven with one eye than to be cast with two eyes into Hell."

This should not be too surprising if we look at it in the proper context. If I am righteous, I want to convince everyone around me of my goodness and my good intentions. Therefore, If I want to convince someone of my goodness, I might say "I am so righteous, I would never look at a prostitute. It was my eye that looked. I couldn't help it."

Someone might also say "I would never steal. It was this cursed hand of mine that stole." ... and so on. This would make me look better. I am a good person, and I can't help it if my body members sin.

And there is reference that parts of your body to not communicate with the self. In Matthew 6:3, Jesus says "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." It is thoughts like this that would lead someone to say "I don't know why my hand is sinning. I am good, but my hand is sinning."

We all know for sure that we can control our hands and eyes. They are all controlled by our brains for conscious actions, and by our reflexes for reflex actions. So, Jesus is only saying that you should get rid of the body parts that you cannot control.

In other words, take responsibility for your actions.

Baking joke

2011-04-19T00:41:00.000-05:00

Bakers may make a lot of dough, but cooks have a celery.

3DS technology

2011-04-18T22:24:00.004-05:00

I saw how the 3DS technology projects left screen and right screen to the different eyes. It is really very simple to demonstrate. You put on a 3D display, cover the touch screen and shine the upper display (in 3D mode) against a surface in a dark place. I have a picture of what it looks like.

You can see the rays of light forming on the top half of the picture. These are left eye / right eye projections from the 3D display. You can also see that if you hold the display too close, the left/right images will be blended. If you hold the diplay too far away, then one of the eyes will fall into one of the dark bands. If you tilt the 3DS left or right, then the left and right displays will hit the opposite eyes.

God's name

2011-04-17T23:54:00.003-05:00

Do you know God's name? The Jewish wisdom is that God's name cannot be pronounced. It is shown in English as YHWH. This has been interpreted as Yeshewa, Yahweh, and Jehovah. However, it is more proper to leave it as an unpronounceable word.

In 2008 the United States Catholic Bishops decided that, out of reverence of the greatness of God, that Yahweh will not be used during liturgy.

Moses did not want to go into Egypt and knew full well that God's name could not be pronounced. That is part of the reason he asked "who shall I say sent me?"

Running 5k

2011-04-14T07:46:00.003-05:00

Just ran another 5k (last one was April 8 in 28:37). Ran today's 5k in 28:38. That is smokin' for me.

I also ran 3 miles (left off the other .1) on April 9 in 26:48.

Running again

2011-04-02T17:35:00.002-05:00

Ran another 5k. Kids on bikes had trouble keeping up. However, it was still slow IMHO. 29:10. Really nice day for it, though.

Baseball joke

2011-03-24T22:35:00.001-05:00

The Major League Baseball union gave into concessions because they didn't want the first pitch to be a strike.

First outdoor run of the year

2011-03-17T07:44:00.004-05:00

Finally got my first outside run of the year in. I had been doing the treadmill over the winter, so I decided to do 5k. After the first mile, my feet were getting numb, but I managed to make it the whole way. 29:04 for 5k. That is a great time for me.

It was also wonderful to hear the robins and geese instead of the whirring of the treadmill. When I wanted to speedup, I didn't have to adjust anything, I would just go faster.

I managed to get blisters on my #4 toes. I expected as much.... All in all, a great run!!

Rich milk

2011-03-08T11:56:00.000-06:00

Q: How do rich people separate milk and cream?

A: An eccentrifuge!

Cynic

2011-03-01T11:27:00.001-06:00

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.

-Source Unknown

Low sodium pizza

2011-01-19T19:26:00.002-06:00

Do you like pizza but are on a low sodium diet? The following products have lower soduim than most:

Mama Mary's pizza crusts (140 mg vs 380 of Boboli)
Dutch farms shredded Swiss (55 mg)
Dell'Alpe pizza sauce (135 mg)
Use ground turkey and italian seasonings for the meat.

Chicken recipe

2010-12-22T23:17:00.002-06:00

boneless, skinless, Chicken breast

Batter

eggs
Garlic
dill
Paprika

Breading

Corn flakes
Mrs dash lemon pepper

Batter, bread, Bake at 400 for 50 minutes

Blood pressure woes

2010-12-19T00:35:00.003-06:00

I found out that my blood pressure was 160/90. That is what I get for eating that ham and cheese. Anyway, I thought it would settle down at the end of the day, but it would settle down at the end of the day. It didn't.

So, I ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I was all sweaty. A couple of hours later, my blood pressure was 123/80. That is much better. I believe that the sodium I exude through the sweat helped to relieve the blood pressure.

Anyway, in my search for low sodium snacks, I found the following foods were great:

Shredded wheat cereal
Sweet potatoes
Grits
Honey mustard pretzels. (a little high, but lower than most.)
raisins
air-popped popcorn
Carrots and other veggies

Surprisingly, the following had a high sodium content:

Bread (especially English muffins)
Chicken breast
canned mushrooms

I have done bland before. After about a month without salty food, one gets used to it. Here's to bland for life. At least I won't be taking pills for making salty choices. Keeping my blood pressure down will keep my heart and veins/arteries from wearing out at an early age.

Puritan goes Hollywood

2010-12-01T19:09:00.005-06:00

Cook noodles.

1 jar cheese dip
2 cans cream mushroom
1 can cream celery
1 lb frozen california blend vegetables, thawed and chopped
4 oz Romano cheese
2 sticks butter
1 can tomato soup
4 bay leaves
garlic powder
dill
1 lb turkey meat, diced
2 lb noodles
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced

Mix everything together except noodles
simmer
boil noodles
drain
pour sauce over noodles

About abortion

2010-11-29T09:18:00.004-06:00

Abortion kills a developing child. Inside the mother, the developing human depends on the mother for nutrients. This is not much different than the case of a newborn. A newborn has to be fed or it will die. He has no inkling of how to feed himself or stay safe.

Spiritually, this falls under "You shall not murder", Exodus 20:13 . The fact that a human in the womb has cells which divide classifies it as life. To stop those cells from dividing through a deliberate intervention would be considered murder. This also has legal implications. Science is clear hear. Once the egg cell is fertilized and starts to divide, that is a living organism. I only mention this because there are people who would say "so where in the bible is abortion forbidden?" However, it does not have to be in the bible. It is in the law as well.

Logically, a woman can do with her body what she wants. Every cell in her body has the same DNA. However, the developing human in her uterus has different DNA, and is not her body. The organism (whatever we decided to name the stage of development) inside the pregnant mother is, in every cell, a totally different human organism than the mother. As such the developing human should have rights. Every human should have the right to live, even if that human is dependent on someone else for survival. This also applies to people who are incapacitated.

Why isn't abortion an issue with domestic pets? We could say that a dog with an unwanted pregnancy should have an abortion. This does not usually happen because it is acceptable to kill a surplus of domestic pets. Therefore, an unwanted pregnancy is allowed to go to full term and the offspring are either adopted, or killed. This is the common practice in China for unwanted children. It is more natural and less expensive to let a child die from natural causes (neglect) than to terminate the pregnancy through surgical methods.

Therefore, I am certain that no argument on any moral or legal grounds would justify abortion. The only exception that would be permissible is if the mother would most certainly die carrying the child to term. Especially compelling would be the case where the death of the mother would also kill the developing child, anyway.

Awesome stove-top lasagna

2010-11-23T22:29:00.004-06:00

I made some awesome stove-top lasagna today. Here are the ingredients:

1 lb meat
1 lb lasagna noodles
6 oz cottage cheese
3 oz Romano cheese
4 oz Mozzarella cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes (with onion and green pepper)
1/2 onion, cubed
Italian seasoning
1 can mushrooms
1/2 can black olives
1 can spinach, drained

Brown and drain the meat.
Break the noodles into thirds and boil for 12 minutes. Drain.
Add spaghetti sauce, onions, and mushrooms to the meat. Simmer
Liquefy canned tomatoes in a blender. Add to meat. Season to taste.

Combine meat, noodles, black olives and cheeses
Eat up. Yum!!

Also, you can add Parmesan cheese and garlic.

Ran another 5k

2010-11-12T08:32:00.002-06:00

The weather was excellent. 53 F and calm. No sun. I got another 5k run in today. Finished in 30:04. No splits this time.

Some of the trees were a shocking shade of red contrasted with the dull gray fog. I saw and heard a crane fly by down the street.

Pedometer milestone

2010-10-13T06:51:00.002-05:00

I reached a new milestone with my pedometer. It is a Pikachu GS, and turns over at 10,000,000 steps. This is the second time I am turning it over. Accumulated 3444 days to turn it over to 20,000,000 steps.

There were also times when I didn't wear it at all. I think the longest stretch was about 8 months.

Running 5k

2010-10-08T08:35:00.001-05:00

I finally got my running distance back up to 5 km today. It was cold. I hardly sweated. My split times were:

1 9:37
2 19:07
3 28:24
5k 29:19

Who sells C-cells

2010-10-02T13:13:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine asked, "what kind of batteries does this take?"

To which I replied, "C cells."

And my friend said back, "C cells sea shells by the sea shore!"

New record time

2010-09-23T11:40:00.001-05:00

I just ran 2 miles this morning with a new record time. I did it in 18:04. I used to run 5K in 18:20, so I am a lot slower now. I am hoping that I measured the course wrong. It really felt that I was going faster than 9 minute miles.

I was running barefoot, of course. A couple weeks ago, when it was cold, I tried running 2 miles, but after the 1st mile, my feet were numb. I wore shoes for the second mile. That made my knees sore. I guess it is true that shoes mess up your knees.

Anyway, yea for my fast time :-).

Barefoot running resources

2010-09-10T06:43:00.003-05:00

Here are some barefoot running resources:

Wikipedia: Abebe Bikila and Zola Budd

Also, some web sites: http://www.barefootrunner.com/ and http://shodless.com/

What your parents know

2010-08-25T22:55:00.003-05:00

I grabbed this from Facebook:

Age 4: Mom knows everything!
Age 8: Mom knows a lot!
Age12: Mom really doesn't know eveything.
Age14: Mom doesn't know a thing!
Age16: Mom who?
Age18: that's old school.
Age 25: maybe Mom knows about this.
Age 35: let's ask Mom before deciding.
Age 45: I wonder what Mom would say about this...
Age75: I wish I could ask Mom about this.

Sea shell twist

2010-07-15T22:38:00.002-05:00

Here is a twist on the old "She sell seashells" tongue twister.

She sells sea shell sushi by the sea shore.

Contentment and comparison

2010-07-02T11:23:00.004-05:00

The more you compare yourself to others, the less content you will be with yourself.

-Jeff Delinck

Many people are not completely happy. Especially if they are looking to earthly things like food, money, and popularity to satisfy them. There is a certain enjoyment that they try to attain. If I am only seeking for my own enjoyment, I know when I am enjoying myself, or I am happy.

The minute I start to compare myself to others, however, I might find a person who is enjoying himself to a larger extent. Either he is watching a larger TV than me, he has more leisure time than me, he is healthier than me, his grass is greener than mine, the list is extensive.

However, if I am doing what I know is the right thing, and doing it to the best of my ability in my current situation, I should be completely happy that I have done what I could and feel no need to change that.

Network tools and categories

2010-07-01T14:14:00.004-05:00

There are some buzz words trying to categorize some of the offerings on the internet. First, some definitions.

Media: Text, pictures, video, and sound.

Audience: The recipients of media.

Social: 2 way interactions with groups of people. Among business associates, this is also called networking. The social audience is typically a dozen to the low hundreds.

Advertising: Announcing news with a pointer to some content.

Broadcasting: 1 way information dissemination usually to an anonymous audience. The audience of broadcasts can be scaled up to thousands or millions.

Facebook, linkedin, and Myspace would be examples of social media.
Email among personal contacts is also social media. It is sharing media with contacts.
Email lists sent by companies is broadcasting and advertising.
Chat rooms and virtual worlds are social interaction, not social media.
Webcam chat rooms, like stickam and justin TV are also social interaction.
YouTube and blogger, wordpress, et. al. would be examples of broadcasting to an audience. Although there are comments, I don't consider the initial post to be the beginning of a conversation.
Twitter can be many things. From a personal account with a small group of followers, it can be considered social media. If the account is corporate, it could be advertising.
Shared bookmarks (such as delicious and digg) are also advertising, not "social bookmarking".

Electronic Gizmos and Gadgets

2010-06-25T13:10:00.012-05:00

I now have a collection of electronic gadgets. Each one serves a purpose and saves worry, time, and hundreds of dollars. Let me explain. I am not counting the cost of WiFi at home because I would most likely have some form of WiFi at home with or without these handy gadgets.

Music:

Slacker radio has free service. I can run down the battery listening to music and not worry about not being able to get a phone call. It is refreshed with WiFi at home. The music is downloaded in a "Cache" area. Other services like Rhapsody and Zune charge money for music service. The fees start at $9.99. Savings are $119.88 per year.

"Smart" phone: Palm TX, Kindle

The advantage of a "smart" phone like an android or a blackberry is the ability to run applications and access the internet. The Palm TX has WiFi and is fast. Also can take notes, play games, keep contact information, run spreadsheets, read documents. The Kindle is slow and does not have Wifi. It does have 3G, however. Most data plans for cell phones are $15 to $30 per month. Therefore, I can use it as my connection to the internet when I am not in a WiFi spot. Savings on 3G: $180/year

Phone service

I use pay as you go I only pay 10 cents per minute. Mintues roll over and don't expire for a year. My phone also doubles as a watch, stopwatch, timer, and calculator. Most phone service is $30 per month. I pay about $70 per year. So, I save about $290 per year on phone service.

GPS

A GPS device. No service fees. Verizon charges $9.99 per month for VZ Navigator. Also can be used as a phone book for the points of interest. Savings of $119.88 per year. (That is about the cost of a GPS)

Camera

I know a lot of electronic devices have this built in. But at 12 Megapixel and 3x optical zoom and a good flash, the picture quality is much better than the built in camera of a phone.

My net savings by using all these gadgets instead of an all-in-one phone is $709.76 every year. That is not chump change. Although, all together, they get pretty bulky.

God makes all kinds

2010-06-14T08:09:00.001-05:00

If you do not like me because I am ignornat, I can be sent to school and educated. If you do not like me because I am dirty, I can be taught to wash and be clean. If you do not like me because of my unsocial habits, I can be taught how to live in society. But if you do not like me because of the color of my skin, I can only refer you to the God who made me.

Pain

2010-06-13T19:47:00.002-05:00

I like pain. It is my body's indicator that I am doing something harmful.

Even the soreness in my muscles after a workout is an indicator that the muscles are healing and getting stronger. They should heal before I use them again so I can gain more strength.

Sausages

2010-06-11T00:21:00.001-05:00

Here is another tongue twister: I saw Sid's sausage sauces.

Clams

2010-06-10T23:50:00.001-05:00

Here is a tongue twister: Can you do the can can with the clam can clan?

Simplify spelling

2010-06-03T16:41:00.007-05:00

This blog is in response to an msnbc article about protesters to the spelling bee. I did not write this, but it is clever and really pushes the point. I did find some similar posts at the Spelling Society.

Having chosen English as the preferred language in the EEC (now
officially the European Union, or EU), the European Parliament has
commissioned a feasibility study in ways of improving efficiency in
communications between Government departments.

European officials have often pointed out that English spelling is
unnecessarily difficult. For example: cough, plough, here, hear, bow,
bough, through and thorough. What is clearly needed is a phased
program of changes to iron out these anomalies. The program would be administered by a committee of top level staff chosen by the participating nations.

In the first year, for example, the committee might suggest using "s"
instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil servants in all sities would
resieve this news with joy. The hard "c" could then be replased by "k"
sinse both letters are pronounsed alike. This would not only klear up
konfusion in the minds of klerikal workers, but typewriters and
keyboards kould be made with one less letter, a signifikant savings.

In the sekond year, bekause of growing enthusiasm, it will be
announsed that the troublesome "ph" would henseforth be written "f".
This would make words like "fotograf" twenty persent shorter in print.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be
expekted to reash the stage where more komplikated shanges are
possible. Governments would enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. We would al agre that the horible mes of silent "e"'s in the languag is disgrasful. Therefor, we kould drop thes and kontinu to read and writ as though nothing had hapend.

By this tim it would be four years sins the skem began and peopl would be reseptiv to steps sush as replasing "th" by "z". Perhaps zen ze funktion of "w" kould be taken on by "v", vitsh is, after al, half a "w".

Finaly, ze unesesary "o" kuld be dropd from words kontaining "ou".
Similar arguments vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

Kontinuing zis proses yer aftr yer, ve vud eventuli hav a reli
sensibl riten stil. Aftr tventi yers zer vud be no mor trubls or
difikultis and evrion vud fin it ezi tu understan esh ozer. Ze drems
of ze E.U. vud finali kum tru.

Jehovah's witness education

2010-05-31T23:31:00.003-05:00

Jehovah's witnesses missed Isaiah 51:6, ... and the earth will wear out like a garment... After thumbing through their bibles, and coming up with some beautiful passages, they failed to realize this was in scriptures. Let's get the message out to them.

One of the passages they brought up was Isaiah 65:17 ... Behold I will make a new heavens a new earth... But they insisted it was this same earth. They were a bit frantic because I told them the kingdom of God was not of this world. Jesus said that if his kingdom was of this world, his servants would be fighting to save him. John 18:36

Pool time

2010-05-25T22:25:00.003-05:00

With all the heat this weekend (Fri, 5/21/2010), I decided to open up the pool. I bought some solar panels for it. Hooked them up Saturday, only to lose 1/2 of the pool water when a hose popped off. If I didn't have bottom drains, I would have run the pump dry.

So, topped off the pool with 5000 gallons of tap water (probably 50F?). 91 Ambient Sunday and sunny brought the temperature up from 62 to 67. Monday saw the temperature go from 67 to 76. Today (Tuesday), with 91 ambient and sunny, the pool went from 76 to 82F. That was enough to go in the water.

I went into the water to hook up the inside stairs. I dropped a screw and had to look for it. I don't want to step on it and have it poke through the liner. That was nice to be back in the water again. I had to go to the bottom and look for a while. It turns out the screw fell under the stairs. It was fun diving for the screw, though.

I will probably un-hook the solar panels until the pool water gets cool again. Even when the valve is bypassing the solar panels, all of the tubing and piping makes the pressure go from 14 psi to 20 psi on the system. I know the pump will be a lot happier without all that tubing.

blogging from the kindle

2010-05-19T22:16:00.001-05:00

I can blog from my kindle, but it is a slo and painful process. nice to know it can be done, though.

Editing an existing blog from the kindle is even more painful, but it can be done.

chirunning barefoot injury free

2010-05-19T21:43:00.002-05:00

There is an article in USA Today which supports my recent blogs about barefoot running. I suppose I could have built up the callouses more gently if I ran in the grass, but at 45 F and wet grass, my feet were too numb. I will stick to the sidewalk, thank you.

Twitter tools

2010-05-18T08:01:00.003-05:00

I found some twitter tools. They can be found on my social and communication page. I will highlight them here.

For general posting and viewing, I like tweetree. Seesmic is pretty good, too. The advantage of tweetree is that it shows some content of links inline and offers threading of replies. Two other threading mentions are twonvo and tweet convo.

Hash tags are those words which begin with "#". To find hash tag definitions, I like to use tagdef.

Finally, to see what everyone is talking about, you can use a tag cloud map, or "listorious", a list of popular lists.

A web site for posting pictures to twitter is twitpic. To share music on twitter, go to blip fm.

That's all for now. If you know anything useful, leave a comment.

Running farther

2010-05-04T07:26:00.002-05:00

Today I ran 2 miles (barefoot). But it took 17:41. Slow. Got to keep trying. The new callouses are holding out very well.

Running again

2010-04-30T22:24:00.001-05:00

Ran a 7:28 mile barefoot, then ran some more. Developed what would have been blisters on the fourth toes, but they have callouses now. Ha ha.

Forgive and forget

2010-04-29T16:35:00.001-05:00

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.

- Thomas Szasz

God has a plan

2010-04-23T08:31:00.001-05:00

'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.' When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'

Barefoot mile

2010-04-21T08:21:00.003-05:00

Ran another barefoot mile this morning. Had to tape left fourth toe. Still ripped up. Got a blister on the right fourth toe this time. I ran it in 7:44. That's a smokin' for me.

It felt real good. My toes were not as numb this time. Temperature was 46 F. My calves are not as tight. Been running 1/4 to 1/2 mile barefoot since last mile.

Running again

2010-04-14T10:10:00.002-05:00

Just ran 1 mile barefoot. 8:26. The pavement was surprisingly cold. It made my feet numb. I had busted a blister on my toe and didn't realize it until my feet warmed up.

Overall, it was a good experience. I felt pretty good after running. It has been a while.

Use for leftover breading

2010-03-23T09:14:00.002-05:00

Just got finished breading those pork chops or chicken legs, and have some left over? Don't throw it out! Add about 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 cup milk, and 1 tablespoon oil (more or less, depending on how much is left over). If you are using an egg for breading, put that in, too. If not, add an egg.

Then, fry it like pancake batter. Yum!

Yelling, discipline, and respect

2010-03-19T21:10:00.006-05:00

(read time 3 minutes)

Ok. I know that James Dobson said this, but I can't find it anywhere on the internet. This is about discipline and yelling.

Children don't like when parents yell. When asked what they like the least, children will tell you "I don't like when my parents yell."

James Dobson gave this example: When a police officer walks up to a car, and pulls out his book, the person in the car is very respectful. Respect comes from the word "fear." A person who gets pulled over is respectful because they are afraid of what the police officer will do next.

If a police officer is not given any authority, except to stand on the corner and yell at the cars that are speeding as they go by, the cars will not respond the same way. I suppose some of the drivers might even laugh as they go by. So, you can see by this example that yelling will not accomplish anything.

So what is it that parents should be doing? First of all, be consistent. Don't give a severe punishment for something today, and then laugh at the same infraction the next day. Try to make the punishment fit the crime. If a child is mean to another, that child should to the offended's bidding (within reason). In many cases, time out still works.

If you must use corporal punishment, and occasionally that is indicated, spanking isn't the only way. Pressure points can be a good alternative to spanking. Also, menial tasks can sometimes curb defiance, Especially when the menial task fits the offense. For instance, you missed the bus, so you wash the breakfast dishes. I didn't have time to do the breakfast dishes because I had to drop you at school.

Don't keep repeating yourself. Often a child will wonder at what point the parent really wants something done. It could even become a game. When was the last time you asked "how many times do I need to tell you to do..."? The answer should be ONE. If you tell a child three times to do something before he does what he is told, that will be the expectation on both of your parts. Sometimes, it helps to be specific. "Get the dishes done before 7:00 pm." That way, both of you know exactly what is expected.

Also, be honest. If a child asks "do you have $10" don't say "no" to avoid an argument. Just say "yes, and you can't have it." You shouldn't feel the need to lie to avoid exercising authority. Your children probably know when you lie, and will return the favor of lying when they want to avoid confrontation. Sometimes, they will lie anyway, but don't give them a bad example.

Finally, rewards are a better motivator than fear. Try not to use food for rewards, though, because that can cause dysfunctional eating habbits. It is amazing what a child will do for money. I had an experience where a child would complain about everything. So, I gave her 10 pennies. If she wanted to complain, she would pay a penny. At the end of the day, she got to keep all the pennies she didn't use. The complaining dropped dramatically.

I found in younger children that there is an inverse relationship between time watching TV or playing video games, and grades. If the grades go down, it was caused by too much TV or video games or computer games. I would give two days without TV or video games for an F, or a week without if it was a test. Not only is it a good motivator, but the extra time away from entertainment portals gives the brain more time to concentrate and pay attention in class.

Poultry in motion

2010-03-15T22:21:00.000-05:00

If you duck your head to take a peek, you perform a maneuver called the "peeking duck".

nature haiku

2010-01-27T09:43:00.002-06:00

The moon shines brightly
Bringing loneliness to earth
howling coyotes

Factual haiku

2010-01-27T09:43:00.001-06:00

First five syllables.
Seven syllables are next.
Five more in the end.

Funny haiku

2010-01-27T09:42:00.001-06:00

Knock Knock. Who is there?
Haiku. Haiku who? Haiku-ed
I borrow some salt?

Tired haiku

2010-01-27T09:41:00.001-06:00

It is time for bed.
Yet I twitter on and on.
I shall sleep in late.

Funny haiku

2010-01-27T09:40:00.001-06:00

In delivery
a pregnant woman exclaims
YOU DID THIS TO ME!

Food haiku

2010-01-27T09:39:00.000-06:00

Pizza is yummy
Tomato, crust, and cheeses
I will always eat.

Bedtime haiku

2010-01-27T09:38:00.000-06:00

The last thing I do
before I head off to bed
is start the washer

Dippy eggs

2010-01-16T23:26:00.003-06:00

Today, I made a treat my Grandma made. It was eggs over easy, with the yolk not cooked solid. This was served with buttered toast. After adding a little salt and pepper, break open the top of the yolk and sop the yolk by dipping the bread in. Take a bite out of the bread and repeat.

Because of the dipping, Grandma always called them "dippy eggs."

Car pool problems

2009-12-01T14:42:00.004-06:00

Pedestrian traffic is not allowed in the Lincoln Tunnel. So in an effort to accommodate pedestrian traffic, a car pool was set up to take pedestrians through the tunnel. The only problem is that all of the participants ended up with car pool tunnel syndrome.

Brain exercises

2009-11-29T21:30:00.001-06:00

Here is a place to exercise your brain: http://www.lumosity.com/

Hubble telescope links

2009-11-28T11:52:00.003-06:00

Here are some links in reference to the Hubble Space Telescope:

Assocition of Universities for Research in Astronomy

California Institute of Technology: Welcome to the Planets Home Page

Shrek II refrences to other movies

2009-11-28T00:42:00.005-06:00

I recall there are many references to other movies. Here are some that I can recall off the top of my head.

Fanfare for the messenger: Hawaii Five-O
Puss in boots going through Shrek's shirt: Alien
Pinocchio going down on strings: Mission Impossible
Mongo saying "Be Good": E. T.
Puss in boots pull chord and drops water on himself: Flashdance.

Those are the ones I found. There are a lot more here.

Eating, exercise and weight.

2009-11-19T23:55:00.003-06:00

If I drink a cup of water, I gain 8 oz, or 1/2 pound.

If I eat an ounce of potato chips, I gain 1 oz, or 1/8 of the weight I gain when I drink water.

Therefore, I should give up drinking water and eat potato chips. Right? Well, you know that is wrong.

You see, the water remains water. It isn't stored in the body long term. It is peed and sweated out.

In the potato chips, however, there are 9 grams of fat. That fat goes directly to storage. It will stay there most of your life, unless you exercise enough to start burning fat. That is the only way that 9 grams goes away. Most of us gain our weight 9 grams at a time.

Here are the conditions: I have to move large muscle groups (legs) long enough to deplete the stored up sugar in the muscles. That is usually 10 minutes. Then, I have to keep my heart rate between 60% and 80% of my maximum heart rate. A good way to judge this is if you can say sentences without having to take a breath in the middle of the sentence.

For most of us, a 20 minute walk will do the trick. You can walk at a club, outside, in the house, or in the store.

A trip to the chocolate factory

2009-11-02T09:56:00.003-06:00

A boy had never had a Fannie May candy bar before. After unwrapping it, he noticed the liner was gold. He exclaimed, "I got a golden ticket! I won a trip to the chocolate factory! They are still handing out tickets!"

Waiting for people

2009-10-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

People who are late are often happier than those who have to wait for them.

Jewish and Catholic

2009-10-23T23:50:00.001-05:00

I wish Jewish people would realize that they are also Catholic. Jesus was their Messiah before he was the Catholic's Messiah.

Evolution theory

2009-10-01T22:20:00.003-05:00

When talking about evolution, we should be specific and talk about evolution of species. There should be no question that within a species there is cross breeding which can generate new types of animals within a species. I will even grant that when a donkey and horse breed, it gives a mule. But, by definition, animals of different species cannot mate with each other and re-produce. Not even animals in the same genus but different species have been able to produce offspring.

However, a mule is very similar to a donkey and a horse. A wolf is similar to a dog. A midget is a type of person with the "midget" gene.

It really does seem absurd that a cat can give birth to a dog, but even more absurd that a reptile by chance would give birth to a bird.

Even in the case of the number of genes being different, as in mongoloid children, the offspring is still a homosapien.

Genetically, if matching genes are not there, the mates produce no offspring. Even with bacteria, which reproduces at a much higher rate than vertebrates, e-coli produces e-coli and does not produce some entirely new species of bacterium.

Even if, by chance, there was a new sexual species produced, it could not re-produce unless there were two of the same "new" species produced. That is because the "new" species could not mate and re-produce with its "parent" species. The new species would have to come about as one male and one female in the same time period (fertile period) and the same geographic area. Only with two instances of the new species can the evolved species re-produce.

The rate of evolution is between one in 2 million years to 20 million years ( http://www.thisviewoflife.org/evolution/rates.html ) Therefore, the chances of two offspring with the same mutation in the same "fertile period" in the same location is so very unlikely. Of course it is also unlikely and illogical that there is some being existing in a realm insensible to our five senses which possesses the power to produce life forms because of its will alone.

Evolution and Creation are both just theories. Each theory is not proven. There is nothing in the fossil record that one species gave birth to a different species. The new species just shows up at a certain level in the fossil record.

I have been to quarries before and have seen the massive amounts of trilobite fossils, and the absence of any other vertebrate fossil.

Animals and plants become extinct. New animals and plants are discovered that were previously unknown. However, there has not been a case in post historic times (the last 6000 years) when a new species was born. I don't expect that will ever happen.

Also the idea of a universe that is infinitely old and cycles from big bang to big bang is also not possible. The expansion of the universe is accelerating and not slowing down. There has only been one big bang, and there will not be another. The amount of time for life to have appeared is finite.

Life, therefore, cannot be explained by science, nor can it be proved by religion. It is just a great mystery which will probably never be solved.

Okra joke

2009-09-27T20:40:00.002-05:00

I went to the market to buy some okra. It was so windy they gave it to me for free. That's what I call okra wind-free.

Little church

2009-09-13T14:50:00.004-05:00

A child was imitating a religious service. Before the "service" started, he announced "Please turn off your cell phones."

For a gathering hymn, he sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

Knowledge within

2009-09-08T23:02:00.004-05:00

I got a saying in a fortune cookie: "One cannot teach a man, only reveal what is within".

That saying falls through the cracks on so many fronts. Some things a man cannot know until it is first taught. For instance, a person's name, or what they are called. One cannot know inside what a person is called until one is introduced.

No one can know when a person will die, or that the person died, unless it is told them. That a castle exists in Germany or China, or that a bridge fell thousands of year ago, cannot be know unless it is seen or told to a person. These things are not within.

There are two things which are within that can be taught. That would be peace and anger. Anger is a learned response. A person in touch with his anger will react with anger. Peace is also within. A person who is in harmony with others will react peacefully.

2009-08-31T22:57:00.005-05:00

My boinc stats are here:

Labeling people

2009-08-16T00:12:00.002-05:00

We are all born with labels: "Child of God". Those children of God who seem to be your enemies are just sheep gone astray. When Jesus said to pray for your enemies, it is because your enemies are only your brothers and sisters in Christ who need to come back to the fold. They need our help and prayers.

I think it is difficult to stay angry with someone when you realize that he is your sister or brother headed down a road to destruction.

Quotes

2009-07-28T14:00:00.001-05:00

He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it - namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.
- Mark Twain

Contentment and happiness

2009-07-11T23:07:00.004-05:00

There is nothing or nobody that can make you happy.

The only way to be happy is to be content.

Contentment means that you are satisfied where you are and what you have right now. You don't need anything else and you don't need to be anywhere different. If you can't imagine this right now, then you will have trouble being happy a majority of the time.

Rich people have more trouble being happy because they have more potential. They think "I am here now, but I could be somewhere else." Or, "I have this TV, but this other one is better."

Poor people know their limitations. They don't look forward to exotic trips or fancy cars because they realize they can't afford it. They can be more down to earth and content.

So, you can be content and make yourself happy. Do it today. Do it now.

Happy :-) :-)

The simple life

2009-04-29T12:20:00.000-05:00

"My life became much simpler the day I died"

Popular to buy

2009-04-29T06:59:00.001-05:00

Q: Why is everyone buying baby chicks?

A: Because they are "cheep, cheep, cheep".

Is that the truth?

2009-04-16T11:22:00.000-05:00

No matter how many times you repeat a lie, it is still a lie.

Is that correct?

2009-04-16T11:21:00.001-05:00

Will speaking louder make you more correct?

(No, it doesn't.)

Tongue twister

2009-04-08T17:16:00.001-05:00

Here is a fairly difficult tongue twister:

Hank Hawk's horn honks.

It is difficult to say it at all. Try repeating it a few times!

Linux gaining popularity

2009-04-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

I noticed on a USB flash drive I bought, that among the operating systems (OS) that it supports was linux. This is significant in that linux years ago was only a "hacker's OS". Now, it seems that linux is accepted as a viable home OS.

Knock knock Narnia

2009-04-02T08:26:00.003-05:00

Knock knock

Who's there?

Narnia

Narnia Who?

Narnia business

Hi I am here.

2009-04-02T08:26:00.001-05:00

I am here. This is my blog.