One of the pleasures of being an engineer parent is when your kids come home with math homework. It's an opportunity to flex parts of your brain that haven't been exercised in decades. (Never mind the depression/anger that arises when the teacher gives the parent a bad grade.)
But it gets even better when you are able to tell them that this ridiculous concept that they're learning really can be used in real life, if they get into certain professions.
This series will be a journey of answering the question, "When will I ever need to use ?". It will be populated by real life examples that I encounter during the course of my job and my sons' math-lete adventures.
Purchased from REI. I tried all of the hiking and backpacking boots that they had in stock and found that these and the Asolo Power Matic were the only ones that didn't rub my feet the wrong way. (For my usage, the Asolos only added a feature of the bearing in the laces eyes that make your boot explode open when you untie and unlock the laces; nice, but not worth the extra money.)
The Salomon's were comfy right out of the box, though I did have to get the one size larger than my normal shoe size (The Asolos would have worked with my normal size 12.)
Wore these in New Mexico (see amusingly insufficient video) for a week and had no blister development. Walked and hiked about 50 miles over that week. Break-in consisted of wearing them around the house for about 4 hours while sitting at a desk and watching TV (so, really nothing).
The locking heel cam is really nice for getting the right tension on the lower and upper part of the boot.
Pretty gross. But, no matter how many times you scream at remind everyone in the house, flying things make their way in. Once they're in, you can smear their guts all over with a fly swatter or fry them with the battery operated version.
Until Now.
With just 3 purchases from Home Depot, you can make a simple, sanitary solution. Set a reminder on your Google calendar every six months to change out the trap and it will last years.
Here's the parts list:
Undercabinet fluorescent light fixture (Don't put it under a cabinet, though. Put it on top of your cabinet.)
Blacklight fluorescent bulb, sized for the fixture above (bugs like the UV light)
Sticky box fly trap (bugs will brush against this and get caught)
You may have seen something like this, even if you didn't realize it, in restaurants. The cool blue glow of that white thing sitting on the wall of the kitchen at your favorite place does the same thing. The principle is pretty basic. Attract flying insects on a one-way trip to their afterlife.
Find a good spot on top of one of your cabinets. Set the fixture up there, with the blacklight bulb installed. Run the power cord off the side of the cabinet so that you can plug it into the wall. The fly trap would normally hang somewhere, but we're just going to lay it on top of the bulb and fixture. Make sure to remove the sticky backing so that the insects will be captured. Then just turn on the light. It won't suck too much juice, but if you really don't want it on during the day when the attracting light won't work as well, you can add a timer.
At night, when you're padding through your kitchen at night with your white socks on, they'll glow like you're at a rave. No need for a night lite.
Depending on how many insects you let in, the fly strip will last several months, but it's easy to check. If it loses its tackiness, swap it out. If it gets full, swap it out. It's a couple of bucks to replace. The light bulb will last years. And you'll be surprised at how many bugs you'll catch.
Check this one out. Got more crane flies than houseflies this time.
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Greg Noeninckx
Is anyone else as annoyed as I am about the ridiculous size of croutons these days?
Everything that you can get in the stores is "Texas sized" or "homestyle" or some other code-word for manufacturers wanting to make more profit by cutting out process steps.
Eating a homemade salad with store-bought croutons is like chewing on an entire slice of rock hard toast.
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I've known about this from my earliest days of interest in astronomy, but I never made it happen until the handy events in the week of March 26, 2012 (and today as it happens). I have recently tormented my family with helping them experience the joy of astronomy during the daytime (like this other event), and now you can enjoy it, too.
Venus
It is possible to see the planet Venus in the day sky, you just have to know where to look. During a single day, Venus is essentially the same distance from the sun, and travels with it across the sky. It doesn't change much from one day to the next, either.
Without technology you can find it by measuring the distance that you notice the very bright "star" in the evening or morning. (Remember, Venus is also known as the Morning Star; or just ask an astronomy buddy.) So, once you know that it's about a fist-width away from Sol, or an elbow length, or whatever, you just wait until some time during the day. Given a clear sky and blocking the sun behind a building, you put the relevant appendage back up, measure off the correct distance and start staring.
But, nerds have long since solved even the most mundane problems for us, and this one is no different. Sky charts are electronically generated now, like the nice people over at Heavens Above do quite well. You can put in your location, set the clock to whatever time you want, and it spits out a picture.
Leave it to The Google to kick it up a notch, and a long time ago when Android was still young. Get the Sky Map app on your phone, make sure your sensors are calibrated and your location is set (usually automatic), then hit the search button. Type in Venus, hit enter. A circle will show up telling you what direction to move your phone, when you get Venus in the circle, it will expand and you'll see the planet on the screen. You can zoom with the screen controls (or finger spreading) to get a little finer location. If this happens to be in the day, and the phone indicates that Venus is not obscured by the Earth, if you keep looking in the right direction, you'll be able to see it.
It takes a bit of concentration to make it appear, but once you see it, it will surprise you at how easy it is to see. With some practice, and checking the night sky frequently, I have been able to glance up at the daytime sky and find it unaided. Show your friends. This is an impressive trick for those adults who have lived their whole life not realizing that you can see a "star" in the middle of the day.
youtube.com - After more than 2 years of on and off production, the long awaited music video to Coldplay's 2008 single has arrived. Thank you to everyone who has waited from the very beginning, I hope you enjoy every...
