One more week

to donate to Project Valour-IT during the Veterans Day challenge. (Team Marines please) Don't wait till the last minute.

For a little extra incentive go check out Badger6's blog.

Math 1950-2006

From my sister-in-law (a teacher with over 30 years of experience...)

Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I was digging fo r my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried.

Why do I tell you this?

Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

1. Teaching Math In 1950

   A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
   

2. Teaching Math In 1960

   A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?



3. Teaching Math In 1970

   A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?



4. Teaching Math In 1980

   A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.



5. Teaching Math In 1990

   A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of$20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers )



6. Teaching Math In 2006

   Un hachero vende una carretada de madera por $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

Real American Heroes

Not GI Joe but Sergeant Josh Morley, Specialist Tracy Willis, Specialist Chris Corriveau, and Specialist Eric Moser. Their story is one you won't read about in your local paper but deserves a few minutes of your time.

Jeff Emanuel has their story at The American Spectator

After reading consider a donation to Project Valour-IT

The day the routers died

Geek humor at it's best

Project Valour-IT 2007

I had been wondering when this was going to start as Veterans Day was fast approaching. A visit to Blackfive confirmed it was time.

Time to give.

Project Valour-IT is simply a way for the average American to give something back to the brave men and women who, while in service of our great country, have lost the ability to communicate. Valour-IT provides voice driven laptops and software to those in need to help them stay in contact with their loved ones. As a geek I think this is a awesome idea and one worth funding. It is run by Soldiers Angels and, as before, the fund raising is a competition between the services. This year my money to the Team USMC in memory of my dad.

Dad, My headlights don't work

That was Thing1 a week ago when he called home one night. He had gone out to his car to go somewhere and he had no headlights. Parking lights were ok, DRLs worked, and so did the high beams. But the regular lights did not. He replaced the bulbs and checked the fuses - nothing. Since he was coming home in a week I just told him not to drive at night and I'd take a look at it when he was home.

I did some research on his car and found that this is a common problem on late 90's GM J body cars. At least there was some hope of a simple solution :-). The solution was either the headlight switch, a bulb socket, or a wiring fix.

So yesterday I started poking at the car. A check of voltage at the sockets show 12.8 volts with the lights on. That seemed ok so I ruled out the switch. No obvious scorching on the bulb sockets or adjacent wiring. Ok - its probably on of the junctions that are ~1 foot from the battery. So I grab the DVM and check continuity between the positive and negative leads of the regular beams. Positive was 0 ohms. Negative was 1.3 Meg ohms. Thats bad. Thats wiring.

So I started to unwrap the harness going across the front. Got the the junction area and no problems with the negative wire. In fact there was no junction for it. Hmmm. Then I looked closely at the negative wire from the drivers side. It headed in the harness over to the passenger side rather than back to the firewall socket. So I unwrapped the passenger side of the harness a bit and counted wires. Compared to the drivers side there was 1 less. And it was the color of the negative wire. There was another junction somewhere. So I unwrapped the center of the harness. In the middle of the car, right by the hood latch, there was another splice. This was for the negative lead for the low beam lights. And it was corroded. By the time I got it unwrapped it fell apart.



In a effort to clean things up I unwrapped the whole harness and cut back the corroded wire about 6 inches on each end. A little bit of spare wire, solder, and heat shrink tubing and the lights were on. Took some electrical tape and re-wrapped the harness. 4.5 hours after I started it was done. Just in time for cake! Smiles all around.

Free Tacos!

For those interested in Baseball in general and the World Series in particular (not me since the Cubs chose to, once again, choke):

Free taco at participating Taco Bells on October 30th. See the MLB site for details.

Of course - maybe Taco Bell and MLB are really celebrating my birthday...

Christmas comes early. Well earlier

I love Christmas. Not only do we celebrate the birth of Jesus but people in general seem to be a bit more alive. The spirit of giving comes out as well. What drives me crazy is the push for Christmas decorations. They are already in some stores. Before Halloween.

Instapundit linked to a James Lileks post and one comment cracked me up:

Well, we spend $5 billion on Halloween and put the decorations out about a month beforehand. Sooooo, since we spend $460 billion on Christmas, let's see...that means the decorations for this Christmas should be set out in mid-1999. Or maybe this is just the rolling out for 2016.

Jack's back. Tony too!

Can't wait!

Advice from a Penguin

Taken at Brookfield Zoo. Perfect for Thing1.

And he's back

Day by Day

Keep the Muir family in your prayers

Day by Day is one of my favorite daily reads. Chris Muir is an awesome talent. When I took a look at his site today I saw this:



So - if you believe in the power of prayer keep the Muir family in your prayers.

This is sad

The brilliant minds that created the Cox and Forkum editorial cartoons are calling it quits.



The story is here.

If everything were sold like iPods

We would be shopping like this

Windows Server 2008 RC0 is fubar?

In a post on the Microsoft Technet blogs a German employee of Microsoft titles his post:

Windows Server 2008 RC0 ist verfügbar!

According to a online dictionary verfügbar means available.

However when I glanced at the title in my RSS reader I saw (incorrectly)

Windows Server 2008 RC0 is very fubar!

That would have been unusual considering the source...

I remember

I remember getting up that morning and heading off to work. Three people from my group were at a conference so I had to run some meetings. I was sitting in my office creating some slides when one of the other people on the floor said that he had heard on the drive in that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers.

I remember looking for a live video feed to see what what going on in NYC.

I remember seeing the second tower hit.

I remember calling my wife to tell her to turn on the TV to see whats going on.

I remember seeing people jump...

I remember seeing fire fighters head into the towers

I remember seeing the aftermath of the attack on the Pentagon

I remember seeing the towers fall

I remember crying

I remember seeing the crash site of United 93

I remember Kathy Bantis

I remember getting home and hugging my kids and my wife

I remember September 11th, 2001

I will not forget

I will not submit

Iraq in stereo

Chris Muir (the one who posted here?) shows why the milbloggers are so important.

Peder Eide - Live

For those who have never seen Peder you are missing something special. Peder refers to his worship events as worship on Mountain Dew and I have to agree. Thing2 and I went to see him last night at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and it was awesome!

This is Peder:



He's a independent Christian artist from Minnesota who spends his time leading worship at churches and at teen gatherings all over the mid-west. This was the fifth or sixth time I've seen him perform and the first where it was really worship rather than a concert. He rocks, he rolls, lifts you up, gets you to look inside, and helps you remember that there is someone waiting for you - if you'll just look. For those you have never seen Peder - take a look.

All I Needed To Know



As Is. Listen closely to the words.



Some older songs



Rise. One of my favorite songs.

Great idea for a PPV Super Bowl half time show

Featuring Michael Vick and Happy the Wonder Dog

---

from my sister Maggie (and no doubt her Doberwoman Mitzi)

Sweet. That's Danger Close

JD Johannes has a little something from the 2007 edition of Outside the Wire.

I have the 2005 edition of OtW. Worth watching (and buying as it supports JD in Iraq). With people like JD, Michael Yon, Michael J. Totten, and Bill Roggio over in Iraq as well as other places where the MSM fears to tread one has to wonder who to trust for the real story about whats going on in Iraq.

The MSM and their stringers or the guys who are there embedded with America's best?