New pix!

I've uploaded some new pictures from this month. There's a few more pictures from the Renaissance Festival, when we went on Oct. 5th.

There's several pictures of our sukkah from before and during the holiday of Sukkot. A sukkah is a booth, sukkot is the plural form. The holiday is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. Unfortunately our camera got broken while we were building the sukkah, so all the pictures after the construction pictures are taken with Isaac's camera. We gave some gifts to each other, and Kristin and Rachel came to visit.

I'm also posting the pictures of the boys' Halloween parade this year. There were quite a few clone troopers this year. Isaac went as Robin Hood again, and Isaiah was a ninja again. They had lots of fun.

Definately NOT a Bad Hair Day

I have often wondered what it would be like if I had a mustache or a beard. Well, my birthday is coming up, so to treat myself, I used high-tech equipment (it's really not MS Paint!...Probably...) to show what I would look like with a mustache or beard.

First, what if I had one of those mustaches that just screams "I'm the bad guy of this movie!"

"Curses! Foiled again!"

Or just a big, poofy beard?
"El Poofador"

Sideburns of ridiculousness? I've got that covered, too.
"General Burnside"

As terrible as it seems, someday I will get old. And we have to plan for the future.
"Still Handsome!"

If my beard ever gets too long, I can use it as a fashionable scarf.

"Itchy? I don't know what you're talking about..."

Vote for your favorite...post a comment!

Best books I've read lately

When I was in the school library a couple of weeks ago, I checked in a large hard-back book and noticed it had the Caldecott Medal winner label on it. For those who don't know, Caldecott Awards are given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published each year. You can understand why I was surprised that this very thick novel won for illustrations! It is called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. This book has some regular chapters, but also some chapters with little to no words, only pictures. It was a very good book, and a fascinating way of telling the story. I recommend it to everyone. Kids who don't like to read much like to get it and pretend they've read a very long book. :)

Another good book I read lately is a sci-fi book called Encounter With Tiber, by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes. You can probably guess what caught my eye on this book. I wanted to know what kind of book Buzz Aldrin would write. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is very long and kind of slow (Christopher thought it was too slow), but I really liked it. It's a good story.

LEGOS!!!!!!

I had a ULTIMATE LEGO BUILDING CHALLENGE. I ended up building a HUGE land vehicle with 4 cars and it doesn't stay together easily.






Isaiah


~~~~~~~~~~
FIN~~~

The Political Compass Test

The Political Compass Test is designed to show the limits of the traditional political concept of left and right.

For example, Ghandi and Stalin were both leftists, while Vladimir Putin and Charles Swindoll are both conservatives. Do these labels even work anymore?

The test - developed by a political journalist with a university counselling background, assisted by a professor of social history - consists of a series of questions whose answers can orient you on a two-dimensional axis: Left-Right and Authoritarian-Libertarian.

The test takes less than five minutes to complete, and you might learn something about yourself.

I'll post my results in the comments, but here is a chart of the candidates in the US Presidential Election.

Sign the Apocalypse Is Overdue # 12,672

Key Quote: During the process, you breathe through your mouth.By the by, I am not buying the smile.

Hair!

Under no circumstances will we be commenting on or linking to this story.

Sign the Apocalypse Is Overdue # 12,669

Ferrari has threatened to quit Formula One if FIA President Max Mosley's proposal for a standard engine and transmission goes through.

Now, let me be clear:

There Is No Formula 1 Without Ferrari.

Not just one of the most iconic teams in the sport, Ferrari is the oldest racing team in Formula One.

Despite negative reactions from all manufacturer teams, and the subsequent belief that Mosley's suggestion was not a true priority (do not Google to find Mosley's priorities), the FIA nonetheless confirmed on Monday that the drastic cost-cutting measure was moving ahead with interested suppliers invited to present their proposals before November 7th.

Ferrari agrees with the FIA and all the teams that cost-cutting measures must be taken, but state that a standard engine and transmission "would retract from from the entire (reason) of the sport with which Ferrari has been involved in 1950, a (reason for being) based principally on competition and technological development."

Frankly, I don't care about the cost-cuting. I cannot even afford a subscription to the Ferrari magazine; there is no chance I am going to end up near an F1 team. It just doesn't matter.

As Jeremy Korzeniewski wrote: "A Formula 1 world without Ferrari is practically unfathomable, as is seeing a Prancing Horse powered by a McLaren/Mercedes powerplant."

Mosley is an idiot (and I mean it about Googling Mosley's proclivities) and the FIA needs to be slapped.

PS. F1 is one of the sports I pretend not to care about in an agreement with my wife. When she does not watch football with me, I sneak off and watch F1. The half-time festivities may not be as fun, and there is too little overtaking, and the rules are bizarre, and the quest for parity creates dull races, and some of the circuits are just awful, and... Why am I watching this, again?

Still Undecided?

How could you possibly be reluctant to choose, when we know so much about the candidates?

Fish Hernia Operation

Most fish showing signs of ill-health are quickly eaten, in the wild. In captivity, they usually end up being flushed away to freedom.

But Carla, a 10-inch angelfish from the London Aquarium, got a hernia operation.

I just cannot think of any comment worth making, frankly, except that the Apocalypse is surely overdue.

Not Quite Top Gear

What would it be like if Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson ruled the world? Or at least Great Britain?


Now me, I would vote for the Stig.

Man drives drunk to protest drunk driving charge

And there is not much more to say about that.

In Case You Are Undecided

For All the Chiefs Fans

Stupid Fans.

Checkup time

I took the boys to the doctor for checkups last Thursday. They are both healthy. Isaiah weighs 73lb and is 4'6" tall. Isaac weighs 98lb. and is 5'1" tall.

The most interesting thing I learned at this appointment, though, was about warts. Isaiah has a wart on his palm, and the doctor said it's nothing to worry about unless it bothers him. He did tell me the best way to get rid of them, and you'll never guess what it is: duct tape! According to our doctor (and the study he cited), duct tape is better for removing warts than any treatment the doctor does. You simply cut a piece of tape to cover the wart and stick it on. Leave it there for a week. When you remove it, scrub the wart really well to remove the dead skin. Replace the duct tape and do it again.

We did agree, however, that it wasn't likely that an 8 year old boy would be likely to be able to keep a piece of duct tape on his hand for a week. So I'm not planning to try it unless Isaiah really wants to.

Has anyone else heard of this unique use for duct tape?

None of the Above

The best article I have read, recently describes an election Republicans deserve to lose but Democrats don't deserve to win. This echoes my views very well.

For No Good Reason I Can Imagine

Thank... Somebody?

A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against G~d, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served due to his unlisted home address.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers, who graduated from law school but never took the bar exam, filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction against G~d. He has 30 days to appeal.

There Is No I in G-R-A-H-A-M

Earnest Graham could be complaining about not getting the ball enough. Instead, he asked to get it less and earned a win for the team.

Universal Suffrage

What an amazing system.

Simchat Torah Songs

Need something to do in the Sukkah? Why not check out JewishPathways.com's user-friendly guide to 32 of the most popular Simchat Torah melodies. There's text of Hebrew, English and transliteration, plus audio versions of each song.

Great Googaly Moogaly

The Chiefs have a bye week, which is just about the only thing which could keep them from humiliating themselves some more.

WildWood II

Ok, ok. I know I said I would write this sequel "tomorrow"...about a month ago. But, hey, tomorrow never comes!
So I'm actually early!
Oh, yeah!
So, Day 2 of WildWood. Today, group E was scheduled to do the "Challenge Course." In these woods near WildWood, they've set up a bunch of "challenges" that are supposed to strengthen teamwork, critical thinking, etc. etc. These challenges can be anything from climbing a wall of eight sheer feet to crawling through a maze. A quick explanation, and we were off!
The first challenge was the Sorcerer's Stone. It worked like this: There were a lot of stepping stones. on the farthest one, there was the "Sorcerer's Stone", a small rubber ball. We had to get through the stepping stones to the ball without touching the ground. Oh, and we could only step on certain stones randomly selected by our guide, Grayson. Oh, and we couldn't talk or the pattern would change. So, we came up with the strategy of putting leaves on the stones that were safe.
Next was The Centipede Trap. There was a giant "spiderweb" on the ground. We had to get all of our group through the web. If we touched the spiderweb five times, we had to start over. We also were pretending to be a centipede, so we had to stay in contact. Lastly, the person in the very front and the person in the very back were blindfolded.
Then, we did the challenge of Jack and the Kraken. This one took us a long time to figure out. Supposedly, Grayson was Captain Jack Sparrow, and we were his crew. Supposedly, the Kraken had destroyed our ship, and we had to all get on this "plank"-- basically a teeter-totter. So, after an hour of shouting at each other, trying, and failing, we got everybody balance on the boat. At least this one was pretty straightforward.
Then was lunch-PB&J.
Then, we did our last two challenges. Paleantology was the first. It was like the sorceror's stone, but with stumps in the ground and a toy dinosaur at the end. We could touch every log, though--no specific paths. However, the logs were so far apart that we had to use boards to cross.
The last challenge was juggling. It's that simple. We just juggled.
Then, we went back to the cabins and had supper. After that, all the groups went on the hayless hay ride! It was just that-a hay ride, but they didn't have any hay. Finally, we ended the night with some campfire songs...most of which I would have said were terrible if I was singing them anywhere else.
On the third day of WildWood, my true love gave to me- oh wait, sorry. Not quite right, there. Let's try that again.
Ahem.
After another sleepless night (without the demented dog this time,) I woke up to the third day of WildWood, also possible the best. Group E went off on a nature walk. They had some special name for it, but I forget what it was. Then, we had ALL DAY REC TIME!
Until lunch.
After lunch, we said good-bye to Grayson and the rest of the people there, then headed off into the sunset.
Or whatever.

My Hero

For reasons not adequately explained, firefighters in Taiwan were looking after a venomous viper which had been found in a local resident's home. Deciding to give it a treat, they fed the viper this mouse.
They thought it would be a light snack, but the courageous rodent refused to cower from the 12in snake's gaping jaws and long fangs. Instead, it went on the attack.

The tiny rodent killed the snake after a fierce 30-minute battle, emerging with "barely a scratch on him".

And that is how you spell E-M-N-I-T-Y.

The O.J. Defense

A Des Moines burglar has challenged his victim to fight; winner takes all.

Seymour Gray, 66, of the 1100 block of 13th Street in Des Moines, told officers a man broke into his house last week and took two laptop computers, a desktop computer, a fax machine, VCR and some tools.

Gray said he knows who did it. He added that the man called one of his relatives and admitted taking the items from the house.

Police said in a report that the thief will give the property back only if the Gray challenges him to a fight. The alleged thief told police whoever wins would get the stuff.

The burglar has a 10-year age advantage. But that still puts him in his mid 50s, proving that you are never too old to be a bully.

May you be sealed for a good year in the Book of Life

This blog will be taking Yom Kippur off.

Why aren't you?

The American Financial Crisis Explained by Brits

Short People Got No Reason to Live

Unless they are Oliver Smoot.

Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?

So, like, there's this dude.

Those Wacky Senators

From James Taranto:

By a vote of 74-25, the U.S. Senate last night approved a bill aimed at "providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers"--popularly called the bailout.

Or, as it is formally known, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007.

When the House rejected the same measure Monday, it was known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The Providence Journal explains what happened:

In part, it has to do with the U.S. Constitution. Article 7, Section 1 says tax bills must originate in the House of Representatives.

In order to improve chances that the bailout bill, which the House defeated on Monday, would be approved this time around, the Senate tacked on several popular provisions, such as extending the life of business tax cuts that were set to expire and changing the alternative minimum tax, a much-loathed part of the tax code intended to ensure that the well-to-do pay their fair share but that in recent years has increasingly affected the middle class.

And an element of the tax package was legislation advanced by [Rhode Island's Rep. Patrick] Kennedy that requires health-insurance companies to offer coverage of mental illness on a par with that of physical illness.

Once the Senate added those provisions to the rescue bill, it qualified as a tax bill, which the upper chamber is constitutionally prohibited from originating.

In order to get around the Constitution, the leaders turned to the time-honored stratagem of finding a live but dormant House bill--Kennedy's mental-health parity bill--to use as a shell.

"They take out the entire text" of Kennedy's old bill, "and then, by amendment, they substitute the other bill," said Don Ritchie, an assistant Senate historian.

So the bailout ended up attached to a measure that extends benefits to people suffering from depression and is named after a lawmaker who died in a crash. Never let it be said that the U.S. Senate lacks a sense of humor.

Vote...

...for Google?