Tuesday, November 30, 2010

what took you so long?

Overheard comment from woman probably 25-30 yr. old: "I'm going to get a passport..."

You don't have one?

How else are you going to convince the FEMA internment death camps that you're actually a US Citizen?

How else are you going to escape from the Idiots running the country & seek asylum somewhere else, if you can't get across the boarder?

Bumper Sticker of the Month (sort of)

so this is a while afterwards, but still funny:

Signs @ Rally for Sanity:

Sure there are more, but I don't want to go back through all of the ones I read, so here's a limited selection:

I came here Illegally. I went 5 mph over the limit on I-95

If you don't want the 1st Amendment, you can't have the 2nd.

I screwed you all, but thanks for blaming the black guy. w/Bush photo.

Really must see the photo.

I can't put the math symbols here, so just click here.

I have no problem paying taxes because I'm an adult and that's part of the deal
I'm ok with the mosque - but WalMart really scares me

If screaming makes you right ... the 3-year old won the street is a friggin' genius

I wouldn't presume to tell God who He hates.

Another sign you just have to see, but probably can't read the fine print.

God hates flags.





The following are still funny, but you probably don't want to read all of this, so the top ones are my favorites.

Taxes aren't why your life sucks.

Critical Thinking: The Other National Deficit
I'm a Marxist. w/Groucho photo

I scare Juan Williams at airports. sign held by female, brown-skinned woman wearing hijab

Facts have a well-known Liberal bias.

Glenn Beck brainwashed my grandparents. I want them back!

Vote Cthulhu. Why pick a lesser evil?

Pssst...if you see my mom in the audience, tell her I'm working on my dissertation

Pi is all the irrationality I need

Empowering the Powerful - RepubliCorp

Thanks Honey 4 staying home w/ the kids

I've only got hair under my scarf. wearing hijab

I want to see Sarah Palin's birth certificate

Repeal Civil Rights -- I was happy at the back of the bus. held by black man

No more unqualified candidates: show me your grades in
US Gov't
Environmental Sci
Stats & Econ
or STFU

Give Us Back the Colonies & we'll give you health care. under UK flag











.

Monday, November 29, 2010

science geek

Once a geek, always a geek
bonus Geek Points if you understand the bottom frame



http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/guest_week_bill_amend_foxtrot.png

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

OMG -HOW much did you say?

Christmas shopping > Jr.Gopher#1 > obsessions >
Legos
Soccer
Legos
Soccer
Legos
... ...

Possible gifts:
soccer jersey > german national team > OMG!
are you serious? That's more than a ticket to see the Red Wings play here in town.
And I can't even find them in kids' sizes.

Hmmmm ... link to sales in US ... OMG!
The Euro IS NOT that high against the dollar! And they don't even have Özil's number in the white home colors (and Real Madrid's jerseys are just ugly). I don't want to explain to Jr.Gopher#1 that #8 hasn't always been the same person.

Sort by price ... OMG
Do you seriously think I would buy a vuvuzela for my child? Yours, maybe, but not mine.

Found in kids' sizes ... guess it doesn't matter how expensive it is, since the sizes offered don't even appear on the chart...

sort by personal aesthetics ... why can't I find the 2006 jerseys? They were nicer looking. And, while I'm at it, why can't I find the women's team - not sizes, but die Frauenmannschaft? Power of popularity? The US Women's team has its own page, right? I live in a country where women's sports isn't hidden in the back closet ... we've got representa... uh, yeah, that page has one item: black training pants. And, seriously, who designed the US men's jerseys they had at the World Cup this year? Lord, how ugly...

I guess over-priced Legos might be higher on the shopping possibilities.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Scales & arpeggios

My 6-year old currently struggles to read, letter-by-letter. Consequently, he doesn't get the emotional impact of the text. Whereas, I can just let the letters pass and I get it. I found an analogy to music.

When I first learned to play an instrument (piano), it made sense to me as an 8-year old that one would somehow need to provide directions, i.e., the written music - probably not intuitively, afterall I'd spent my whole life seeing my mom play the piano. I could read words by that time, but learning to read music proved very difficult, to get both the bass & treble clef going at the same time. It was (and to a great extent still is) like reading two different books at the exact same time.

Later in life, when I finally pursued wind instruments, and fell in love with music as a hobbyist musician, I finally learned to read music, not just notes.

The same child has recently fallen in love with playing on my electric keyboard (a residual tool from singing in a choir and struggling to overcome hearing my own voice on/off pitch). The other day, while he was playing around with it, I reached over and started playing a scale while concurrently singing it. He was astonished, but promptly remembered the scene in The Aristocats, where one of the kittens is practicing singing her "scales and arpeggios" while the mom-cat plays the piano.

So far, Jr.Gopher#1 seems much more fluent reading in German than English. I think I'll need to check the availability of more German-language kids books to entice him to enjoy reading. Unfortunately, all of the sources for them domestically are really expensive - - and the trans-Atlantic shipping prices from amazon.de are horrifically high since they don't do surface shipping. I guess I'll need to ship it free deutsche-domestically to OmaGopher and have her ship it to us cheaply. sigh ...
.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Ad spending for election here in MN

Some of the TV stations are not releasing independent expenditure buys related to state races, including the governor's race, saying they are not required to do so under state and federal laws.
... therefore it's
1) a wonder the law has actually lasted
2) obvious the law will be repealed ASAP


Based upon the information contained therein about candidate spending,

1) the GOP will do anything legally possible to win the governor's race because they'll be horribly embarrassed if they out-spent Dayton more than 2:1, but still lost
Emmer(R): $1,713,780
Dayton(D): $ 889,330


2) the GOP voters apparently charge more, but the DFL votes are worth more
Emmer(R): 1,713,780 / 910,382 = 1.89 $/vote = 0.53 vote/dollar
Dayton(D): $ 889,330 / 919,238 = 0.97 $/vote = 1.03 vote/dollar


3) you can't win a state-wide seat on a shoe-string budget.
Governor: Hakeem = 6,187 votes (0.3%)
Auditor: Young = 54,152 votes (2.7%)
Admittedly, this might be interpreted as personally knowing me guarantees you can't win state office.
.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Conspiracy? Likely not, but still ...

Air Freight is a vulnerability in the war on terror.

I must admit, the first thing which crossed my mind when I heard this is wow, I bet the Government did this in order to maintain the crisis-panic subsidizing their power.

Do I actually think so? No. Nonetheless, it speaks volumes.

Flow chart - diagrams

click on image to get it into a larger format to see the whole thing ... sorry I can't get it differently...

Problem solving flow chart - now this is my humor of the month:

































Circuit diagram:
































the holy water is my favorite part

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

civic duty

I just helped someone find their local polling place. Beyond doing my civic responsibility, I've helped someone do theirs. yea.

I'm waiting to go vote until after school, so that I can go with Jr. Gopher#1.
Get 'em young - train 'em right.

So far, I'm planning to vote for people from 3 different parties; can't find any worthwhile GOP candidates this time.