What We Have, Is Failure To Communicate!

My kids have always been very good at communicating. The twins have always had a great vocabulary and they know how to use it.
My youngest also has a very good grasp of the language.
Today, I discovered one of the ramifications of this particular skill.
Having kids who are good speakers, I sometimes forget that they are just that...kids.
Particularly with Mitch, the young one.
So, today, he asked me to write out some math problems for him to work on......yeah, you read that correctly. He wanted me to write out several math problems so he can practice. In actuallity, he just likes to show off, but I don't care. I think it's cool that he likes to do math. I didn't like to do math until Calc II in college.
So, I wrote out several problems of the form:
   20
+ 15
+ 10

He works out the problems and gives them back to me. The first problem was off by a huge number..like 40. I asked him, to review the problem and let me know what he did wrong. After checking it out, he informed me that it was correct!
So, I read the problem to him, and this is where I discovered the problem....
You see, when I write a 2, I make it all loopy...the 2s that he sees are more like the two's in this font...no loops. His little mind saw that, and the closest number he could associate that with was a 6. If you substituted a 6 for the number, then his answer was correct!
After telling him this was a 2, he redid the problem and got it right.
I got to thinking about this....about how experience makes all the difference in the world...how I take for granted what my kids know (and don't know) and how I maybe shouldn't do that.
Also, if you wonder why it's so hard for computers to do things that you may think simple, it's for the very same reason...there's brazillion's of ways to do the same thing, but until you do it (or see it or smell it or taste it) it's very difficult to contextualize things.
Mitch saw a number he hadn't seen before and tried to put it in context...the best he could do was think that Dad had wrote the number backwards!
The cool thing about this is, the next time, he WILL be able to put it into context...we both just got a bit smarter today.

St. Agnes

Card tricks are good....

The Creative Process

Probably since high school, I've liked to write. Part of the reason I started this blog is so that I could (hopefully) improve my writing skills. I've enjoyed writing this blog and I enjoy that I look out for things that I'd like to write about.
Also, I've started to try and find information around the writing process itself. Where ideas come from, what to do with them, etc, etc. I've even bought a book!

I've linked to John Scalzi several times over the last few months. One of the reasons why I like his work is precisely because he likes to help aspiring writers (of which, I find myself among).
This month, he's asked dozens of authors that he knows to post something on his blog about the writing process. Today, he's asked Elizabeth Bear, and she's posted a very good thought on the process behind writing a novel.
If you're interested in writing, take a look and let me know what you think.

Do You Know What I Know?

The Chicago Tribune has a Christmas Carol Quiz online: HERE

I missed 20 out of 25 which is a solid B-.
Not so coincedentally, that's what I graduated both High School and College with.
I'm consistent!

BTW, if you take the quiz, also check out the 'Scared of Santa' pictures too...funny!

p.s. Props to my SIL: Billie for the heads-up on this. You Rock!

Christmas for Geeks

This was too cool for school.
Somebody's posted Christmas Cards sent out by King George (Lucas) over the last 30 years or so...I wonder if you could find the entire collection on eBay?

Here's my fave:

Just 'cause

“ In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power...Green Lantern's light!”
        —Hal Jordan/All Current Lanterns

Love My Nieces (and their dad too, I guess!)

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Hark, Abbott!

Ok, so for as long as I can remember, I've been a fan of Abbott and Costello. My all time, number 1 most awesomestly favorite comic skit is Who's On First by A and C.
I used to have it on audio cassette and would listen to it over and over again while I was working.
Recently, while doing some research for a Christmas Party we are having at work, I came across a version of Who's On First, dubbed over Yoda and Jar-Jar Binks. That was pretty funny, so I sent it to my son for his pleasure.
To my shock, horror and SHAME, he informed my wife that he had never heard this skit before. Alas, I have failed as a father....sorry Matt.

She told him to search for the original, which he did and loved, so hopefully, he should recover from my indescretion.

Anyway, since then, I've been watching it again, and while viewing on YouTube, I notice a Shakespearian Version of the the classic skit. This is done very well, and is worth your time to watch. Enjoy:

Geek Sports

I saw this on Wired* today....AWESOME!

Here's a list of the top 10 Geek Sports:

1) Racewalking
The sporting equivalent of marching band. Inhaler required.

2) Segway Polo
The only sport in the world in which Woz (and his trusty personal transporter) could make the A team.

3) Badminton
When tennis balls get silly drunk, they dress up like shuttlecocks.

4) Hacky Sack
Based on our exhaustive research of this game, prog-rock T-shirts and ponytails aren't mandatory, but they help.

5) Curling
More a physics exercise than physical exercise. Bonus: tracksuits.

6) Jousting
Armor + the potential for internal hemorrhaging = pretty cool. If only the Ren Faire were every weekend.

7) Fencing
The fake swords — they're actually fake lightsabers. (Jedi mind trick.)

8) Disc Golf
In an ideal world, we would all put down our clubs and pick up a disc. Frolf, anyone?

*Hyperlinks mine

Goodbye Evel Knievel....

Friday was a sad day.
Not sad in the sense that anything drastic or horrible happened to me or my family.
Not sad because someone hurt my feelings.
Not sad for any real, personal, reasons.
Yet, it was sad none the less.
Evel Knievel died on Friday, and that makes me sad.

I started thinking about Evel, when I heard the news, and that sent me back to my childhood.
I can remember, pretty clearly, Saturday afternoons spent in front of the family TV, watching ABC's Wide World of Sports.
That's how I was introduced to Evel Knievel. I remember watching him do his daring stunts on TV and thinking how I wished I could do that.
I wished I could jump all those buses on a motorcycle.
I wished I could jump the fountain at the casino.
I wished I could jump the Snake River*...of course, so did he!

I remember talking about Evel (even his name was cool then!) to my friends, all the time. If I had a dime for everytime I told some one 'He broke every bone in his body at least once!', I wouldn't be rich, but it would be a Merry Christmas!

The cool thing about these kinds of trips down memory lane, is that they usually don't stop there....with what brought you. So it was with me.

I kept thinking about those Saturday afternoons...how many cool or interesting things I used to see. You never knew what you'd get:
The Harlem Globetrotters
Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell (DOWN GOES FRASIER!!! DOWN GOES FRASIER!!!)
Gymnastics
Figure Skating
and all started with those famous words by Jim McKay (I can still hear him now):

Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… this is ABC's Wide World of Sports!

Cool thing about that is, when they said 'agony of defeat', they always showed a picture of this poor fellow, Vinko Bogataj, crashing down a ski jump. My uncle was there, under that ramp and saw the whole thing live. How cool is that!?!?

At the end of the weekend, I realized, 'Yeah, I'm sad that Evel died'. I'm sad for his family, particularly Robbie, who have to deal with this loss. My prayers go out to them.
However, it was a bittersweet sadness. I liked remembering. I liked thinking about those simple times when I was young and I'd put a board over some bricks and pretend I was jumping 25 buses instead of 25 Hot Wheels Cars.
I liked watching Ali beat someone up, or Nadia Comaneci win gold medals, or the Medowlark Lemon toss in a half court hook shot (swish) to beat the Washington Generals (again!).

So, once again, Evel Knievel delivers...if not through the exhilaration of some daring jump, then through a genteel trip down memory lane.


*I think this is also when Evel Jumped the Shark!