Generation Z in the house

I just learned that Hen's generation has been named Generation Z. Their nickname is Zoomer.

Henry is going to be super psyched about this.

That is all.

Why we have 'em: Opposable Thumbs edition

Henry today after grabbing a Mandarin orange for an after school snack: "This is why God gave us opposable thumbs, so we can peel oranges."

Presented without comment

Original @ Twitter

Timbers vs. D.C. United

We took Hen to the game last night! We stayed for the whole thing! He fell asleep on his own on the car ride home! Turns out all he really needs to help him wind down for a good night of restorative sleep is a stadium filled with people chanting loudly and throwing handmade confetti. Who knew?

Transfer photos from laptop/computer to iPod/iPhone/iPad

Open iPhoto and create a new folder (click plus sign at bottom left)
Move photos you want to transfer to your device into the folder
Open iTunes and click on your device
Select Photos option on right side of screen
Check Sync Photos from iPhoto
Check Selected albums, Events, and Faces, and automatically include no Events
Check album you created in iPhoto
Click Apply
Wait until sync is complete and disconnect

Vegetables and fruits, week one: The Cucumber

I'm trying to learn more about the vegetables and fruits we feed Hen so when he asks why he has to eat something I can say something more specific than, "It's good for you."

Why is it good for you? 

• It is a very good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and Potassium.
• It is low in saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium. 
• It is a good source of Vitamin A, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Manganese.

Interesting fact: 

The English cucumber is known as the "burpless" cucumber - the seeds and skin of other cucumber varieties are said to give some people gas. 

Cool bits from Wikipedia: 

Vitamin C

--good for preventing scurvy - Arg!

Vitamin K

--plays a role in bone growth and the maintenance of bone density 

--it has been hypothesized that vitamin K may hold benefits to treating Alzheimer's

--it is a true antidote for poisoning by rodenticides

Potassium

--chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19

--necessary for the function of all living cells

--makes up about 2.6% of the weight of the Earth's crust

--is the eighth or ninth most common element by mass in the human body

--triggers three of the five types of taste sensations

This garbage disposal is clean

We had a very unpleasant smell emanating from our garbage disposal. It was an assault on the olfactory system. Thank goodness for Google. I typed in "how to get rid of garbage disposal smell" and found an answer. It was as simple as pouring a little baking soda and vinegar down the drain. Should you ever find yourself in the same situation with a similar unfortunate odor wafting through the kitchen and into all the little corners of your abode, here's what you should do.

1. Sprinkle baking soda in your garbage disposal, enough for inside of the drain to be covered
2. Pour half a cup of vinegar into the disposal
3. Let sit for an hour
4. Run cold water down the drain while running the disposal

Voilà! The vinegar smell and the bad odor it was hiding will both be gone.

Some Perspective

Just a quick note about the CBO estimates for the recent health care bill, with come comparative numbers.


Legend:

• JGTRRA: Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 - Signed by George W. Bush, grew the deficit by, er, A LOT


• EGTRRA: Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 - Signed by George W. Bush, grew the deficit by something under 4 billion dollars.


• Iraq: yeah, I think we all know who shoulders this, grew the deficit by something south of 8 billion dollars.


• PPACA: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 - Signed by Barack Obama, shrinks the deficit!
  

GWB adds 12 billion dollars to our debt load and is fiscally responsible, while Obama reduces total spending and is sending this country to the poor house? Amazing. I guess it's all in how you sell it.

From Menzie Chinn over at Econbrowser.

Kid safety ideas

1. Take a digital picture of your kid(s) before entering an amusement park, zoo, sporting event, concert, museum, fair or any other crowded place. That way if your child gets lost, you can show the employees and/or authorities exactly what your kid looked like, including what he/she was wearing.

2. Write your cell phone number on your kid's belly with a Sharpie before letting him/her loose in the above mentioned arenas. Then explain what the emergency plan is in the event he/she gets lost. 

Hat tip: Parent Hacks

Baby signs

Darr's co-worker asked him about signing with your baby so I thought I'd post what we've been reading to learn how to do this with Henry. So far we haven't had any signs come back to us but we're currently practicing the following words:

• milk
• kitty
• more
• eat
• drink
• dog

My First Baby Signs
The good: It's a board book (there are a series of them from the same authors) so you and baby can read it together without having to keep the pages out of baby's reach. Also, babies love to look at the faces of other babies and this book is full of 'em, which helps keep baby interested. The book provides you with basic words and describes how to make each sign. Since it also shows baby making the signs, you can get an idea of what to look for from your own kid.
The bad: Each book only has a handful of words. And because it is created for babies, there isn't any information about how or why you might want to sign with babies.

BabyTalk
The good: There are a few chapters in the beginning that cover the basics (why, how, etc.) of signing with babies. It is littered with illustrations, which I like. It is easy to read and breaks signs into sections - starting, secondary, advanced. There is also a section on combining signs. If you're looking for a quick and painless entry into signing with your baby, this is the book. The bad: Darr called this one "Baby Signs for Dummies" because it is beyond easy to read and I think he hates the goofy illustrations.

Baby Signs (available at Powell's for under $10)
The good: The thinking person's book on baby signs, full of all sorts of information. (Noodle's mom lent us this book.) I like the Ten Steps to Success section. It also covers what progress you can expect and outlines how to recognize when your baby is ready to learn signs. The bad: It's a little more word-intensive so if you have been deprived of sleep lately, it might be too taxing on the brain. There are illustrations but they aren't nearly as cute as the ones in BabyTalk.

Common errors in English

My new favorite website: Common Errors in English. I knew there was a reason I always wanted to write "towards" instead of "toward". It's because I studied English Literature and those darn Brits write it with an "s". I could spend 100 hours or better reading through all of these.

You've got to admire the passion

About walking out of a movie:

Perhaps if I were to say that the film is utterly pathetic vapid stiff moronic pig-ignorant boring pretentious ridiculous patronizing slop, it might stir in you some dim inkling of the depth of uselessness of this toxic piece of cinematographic excrement. But that would be understatement, and I hate to understate. This movie has a badness value that cries out for new numbers to be invented. Ten on a scale of ten is nowhere near enough.

More here at Language Log

Last movie Christie and I walked out of was ... uh ... something with Marky Mark ... 'Fear!'. That was it. eeeew.

Not so very long ago

Sad to relay that Mildred Loving died today.

In 1958, two residents of Virginia, Mildred Jeter, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, were married in the District of Columbia. The Lovings returned to Virginia shortly thereafter. The couple was then charged with violating the state's antimiscegenation statute, which banned inter-racial marriages. The Lovings were found guilty and sentenced to a year in jail.

The Supreme Court opinion overturning their conviction was issued in 1967. My father was 23 years old.

Not so very long ago.

Poor people get screwed, part 87,472,159

Sigh, so true, so true.

[Warren Buffett] bet a million dollars against any member of the Forbes 400 who challenges [him] that the average (federal tax rate including income and payroll taxes) for the Forbes 400 will be less than the average of their receptionists.

So far, no-one has taken him up on this bet.

There more in this Freakonomics blog post, including this tidbit:

It appears that the tax system favors the super-rich over working stiffs.

Uh, duh.

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

So, I guess this falls under the headline of things you don't really need to know. I'm not sure if my life is enriched by the knowledge that, statistically speaking, I have a 1 in 314,139 chance of dying as an occupant of a special industrial vehicle.

I think to get the best effect from that last sentence, you should say “vee-HIC-el”. Go ahead, give it a shot, I'll wait. Ready? OK.

So, now that you've adjusted to that reality, you can take a look at

The odds of dying from....

Tag - It's my turn

I was tagged by Cathy at Mine to tell you five interesting things about moi. Yeah, let's put a disclaimer on this that the items I convey might not actually be interesting, but rather things about me you may not have known...until now.

1. I almost didn't get my degree. When reviewing my transcripts, the folks that determine whether or not you met the requirements for the degree decided not to accept my Geology credits to satisfy the science requirements. An appeal got me nowhere. I had to take an additional class at a local community college during my final semester to get the credits needed in order to graduate.

2. I have to sleep with a blanket or sheet on me, doesn't matter how hot it is in our room. In extreme temperatures, the blanket or sheet will usually end up pushed down to my ankles but at least one body part must be covered in order for me to get to sleep.

3. I once went an entire weekend (Friday night to Monday morning) consuming nothing but Mt. Dew just to see if I could. Yes, this did wreak havoc on my system. I would not recommend trying this.

4. My first cat I meant to name Ruffles but I didn't know how to spell and I ended up naming him Ruffless. (My spelling has since improved.)

5. My left boob is slightly larger than my right. This oddity has become more pronounced since I started growing a human.

So now I'll tag...um...the Noodle (or her mom) and Trina.

SIDS info

A preliminary study found that it might be possible to screen newborns for SIDS risk with a hearing test. It has to do with the functioning of the inner ear. Since the inner ear is involved in maintaining infants' breathing during sleep, it is believed that damage to the inner ear during delivery might affect that process. More research is needed to determine the validity of the theory but it is nice to see some progress as SIDS, for the most part, has remained a mystery.

The kind folks at WebMD posted the following 11 tips to help prevent SIDS:

1. Always put babies to sleep on their backs - for naps and at night.
2. Place the baby on a firm sleep surface.
3. Keep soft objects and loose bedding out of the baby's sleep area.
4. Don't smoke while you're pregnant.
5. Don't smoke or allow smoking around your baby.
6. Don't share your bed or couch with your baby during sleep.
7. Consider offering your baby a pacifier at nap time and bedtime.
8. Don't let your baby overheat during sleep.
9. Avoid products that claim to reduce SIDS risk.
10. Don't use home monitors as a way to reduce SIDS risk. (There is no proof that monitors decrease the occurrence of SIDS.)
11. Reduce the chance that flat spots will develop on your baby's head by providing "tummy time" when your baby is awake and someone is watching, changing the direction that your baby lies in the crib, and avoiding too much time in car seats, carriers, and bouncers.
    

Thunder: Fact I didn't know

What makes thunder?

The air around a lightning bolt is superheated to about five times the temperature of the Sun. This sudden heating causes the air to expand faster than the speed of sound, which compresses the air and forms a shock wave; we hear it as thunder.