Days of The Late 90's

Of late, I've been completely hung up on a little alternative ditty known as Enemy (click on the link, then press 'play' on the upper right corner) by Days of The New. Check it out, if you like a blend of music that, according to Wikipedia, spans "post-grunge, acoustic rock, and electronic" genres. I've not listened to the remainder of that particular album, I must confess.

I've long enjoyed the band Days of The New's first album (self-titled), and only major hit. That release is more stark and stripped down than Enemy, but if you enjoy acoustic guitar, there is at least something in it for you, and I recommend you look into this album as well, online or elsewhere.

Sacrifice

During my 2+ hour class on Monday nights, my mind often wanders far afield. What occurred to me last night:

• Love, to be anything more than simple adoration, must involve sacrifice
• God showed his love through the sacrifice of His Son
• That sacrifice would have meant nothing were it not for our own sin
• Our own sin, although not desirable, is necessary for God to show us the magnitude of His love for us.

Perhaps, just perhaps, this is part of the reason for us to have free will, with the capacity to sin. Were it not for our own imperfection, God's love could only be adoration. John 3:16.

Just Because

Wifey took this photo. It reminds me of Michigan.

The Better Mousetrap (Bumped for Medieval Rodent Domination)

UPDATE: Two days ago I went downstairs as I prepared for work. I found this.


Somehow the rodent is suspended by its face over the edge of the beam. Just when you thought Glamdring's creativity had run its course, this mouse gets it IN THAA FAAACE.

I would not go so far as to say that we have a mouse problem at our new house. What is beyond debate, however, is that we have a legion of mice living in our basement. Accordingly, I have deployed 4 of the old-fashioned mousetraps in our basement and garage. All the traps in the basement have turned up a mouse or two. One of them, however, is a cut apart. I refer to it as Glamdring, the sword known as "foe-hammer" in J.R.R Tolkien's Hobbit. It has killed mice in almost every way imaginable. I have found mice trapped in it in the usual fashion. I have found them completely decapitated. I have found a dead mouse down on the concrete floor (Glamdring is best placed on a certain beam that is evidently a high-traffic area), with the trap lying four feet away. I have no explanation. It also hungers for human flesh, as it is very tempermental to set, and has come close to pinching my fingers on several occasions.

As an engineer, I know that any time you use a torsion spring you are assuming a 20-30% variability in its stiffness. Also, using a piece of slippery plastic to place your bait (which must include peanut butter by my reckoning, if you want to bring the mice in) and also serve as the catch for the bar is going to produce a different resistance to disturbance before release for each trap. Therefore, a given mouse trap may be nastier than another. That aside, there is something especially devilish about this particular mousetrap. It leaves me certain that it was forged in some work shop on one of the lowest levels of mouse Hell.

Here Comes The BOOM, Ready or Not

In early autumn, there were 2 days of very high winds. One of those days the long-dead tree on our property came down. Hard. Wifey and I looked into our backyard to discover the tree, which was easily big enough to wipe out the deck and part of the house, fell lying almost perfectly north-south. No structural damage to our house OR the kindly 75 year old lady who lives next door. Very fortunate we are. To sweeten the deal even more, I was able to parlay this event into the purchase of a chainsaw and a maul for the clean-up. Let's just say we have ample firewood.

Rotted out completely at the base

One foot, two foot, cut right through foot

The beautiful looks & cute outfit are from Mommy, the mug of coffee on the job is all Daddy

First fire at the new house!

2010: Bring The Acceleration

In 2002 an obscure book titled Thinking Geometrically was published. In the forward, Professor Jennifer Slack wrote (page xxvi-xxvii of the forward. That's right, the forward was almost 30 pages long, the rest of the book 185 pages!):

"I cannot imagine a more powerfully frightening despot than the one who can think geometrically. And where in the training to think geometrically do we train people to be ethical? In the "Philosophy of Technology" class I am currently teaching, one of the very best "thinkers" in the class, one of those who does indeed seem to grasp and hold in his mind's eye the work of multiple views, still plans to design war ships. I must admit to not understanding why. And I'm not sure that skill at geometrical thinking is enough to overcome the violence in war and in everyday life. I fear, in fact that it is quite capable of accelerating it, just as Waisanen suggests."

Yeah, I took Philosophy of Technology in 2001, and despite thoroughly perplexing the instructor, I loved it.

I'll do my best to steer clear of "despot", but no promises about, perhaps, "tyrant", or, some of my favorite words, "warmonger" and "ironmonger". Here's to another year of acceleration, in submarine firepower and every other aspect of life. Buckle up.