Bombs and Hits

Wednesday, 30 December 2011

Browsing through Amazon.com today, I happened upon this power generator. I think any home owner should have one and, with free shipping, this one looks like the one to buy. The reviews are excellent – 5 out of 5 stars from three reviews – and I can’t really find anything wrong with it, especially since it can be affixed with solar panels.
The price is a bit more than I’d like to pay, so if any of you other homeowners out there would like to go halfsies with me, let me know.

And here are my kids feeding some goats:

In other news, half the German city of Kolenz will evacuate this weekend due to a bomb dropped on their city…during World War II. That’s just amazing to me. To think that the lives of thousands of people will be disrupted this weekend due to a war that ended over 65 years ago…wow. I just hope nothing goes wrong. I’d hate to see World War 2.1 start up.

Thursday, 01 December 2011
Today I once again hosted Atheists Talk.
During part one, I interviewed Scott Lohman on the secularism of Star Trek. Scott is the chair of Diversicon, a science fiction convention held in the Twin Cities each summer and is the President of Humanists of Minnesota. Scott gave a historical overview of the erstwhile science fiction show, from its origins in the mind of Gene Roddenberry, to its becoming a phenomenonal hit. Scott gave examples of how religion was treated in the series, and how the show’s writers and directors were able to circumvent the network sensors.
In part two, we talked about specific episodes that dealt with the themes of belief and nonbelief, including the original series’ “The Cage” and “Return of the Archons,” The Next Generation’s “Who Watches the Watchers?” and “Devil’s Due,” Deep Space Nine’s “In the Hands of the Prophets,” and “Death Wish,” from Star Trek: Voyager (watch that clip – it’s great). Scott also noted the treatment of omnipotence and heavenly bliss as interpreted in the Star Trek motion pictures The Final Frontier and Generations, respectively.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SHOW’S PODCASTS, although the latest episodes (including the one from tonight) are not loaded up yet.

Friday, 02 December 2011
I picked up Owen from school today. It’s kind of a tradition now; me picking him up on Fridays.
Today, his teacher told me that the class will be having a science demonstration on Thursday (the 8th) and that I am welcome to come join them.
You may recall that Owen and I, along with a classmate and his dad, attended the U of M’s “Math and Science Family Event” a couple weeks ago. Well, while there, I picked up a brochure that provided information about grad students coming out to local schools to provide science demonstrations to students. The brochure said they had programs for every grade level – from Kindergarten to 12th Grade. I gave the brochure to Owen’s teacher back on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she called the number. Yesterday, they responded to her with the names of the volunteers and a date set for next week.
I asked the teacher if this was going to take place in the cafeteria, and she said no, it’s just a special, small program for her students, so it will be right in the classroom. Which is absolutely fantastic for the kids, I think.
On the way home, I asked Owen if he’d like me to attend the program next Thursday and, in stark contrast to how I would have responded to my own parents’ similar requests, he said yes.

Oh – and here’s my wife’s photo-essay of making pie from scratch with our kids: CLICK HERE.