bastone.org

Author: joemama

  • What if Christmas != Presents?

    What if we didn’t give each other presents on Christmas? How would the U.S. economy be different? (Apologies to other economies around the world – I don’t know the impact of Christmas on other economies.)

    There wouldn’t be any such thing as Black Friday. Retailers wouldn’t depend on most of their revenues in a four week shopping binge. Would there be that must have toy every year? A Cabbage Patch Kid that every child must have or they’ll just die? Movies that come out in the late summer wouldn’t be rushed out in December. Gadgets wouldn’t be timed to come out at this time of the year.

    We also wouldn’t get a lot of stuff either. I wouldn’t have gotten my iPod if I hadn’t been able to justify it as my Christmas present. And I bet a lot of jewelry wouldn’t be purchased if it weren’t for Christmas.

    Or would birthdays be the big thing instead? I mean, we have to buy what’s produced at some point, or it wouldn’t get produced.

    What do you think? How do you think our economy would be different?

  • No Church on Christmas?

    When I first heard about some churches deciding not to have services on Christmas Day on the local news, I took it as a joke someone put out there and was picked up. Then when I saw the article on the NYT a few days later, and on the Weekend Today show yesterday, I knew it was real.

    The main argument is that it’s not convenient to have services on Christmas Sunday, because not a whole lot of people go. People stay home to spend time with their families. They have plenty of other services during the week leading up to Christmas, so they’ll just skip that Sunday.

    Excuse me?

    So, does that mean there will be no services on New Years Day? I mean, many people will be recovering from a late night out, probably with a hangover. It won’t be convenient for them to get up and out.

    Let’s just get right down to it. It’s the megachurches that are making the news over this one. I’m guessing they have done some surveys or studies, and have decided they will not take in enough money to make it worth staying open that day. Simple as that. A simple cost-benefit analysis told them to stay closed. Then they come up with the reasons to not have services.

    Churches have services on Sundays. Just because it coincides with Christmas shouldn’t give them the day off.

  • Outsource Game Playing?

    As if outsourcing jobs to India (or out of the U.S.) didn’t cause concern for people, online players are outsourcing playing games. The basic idea is this – let someone in China play your games on the easy stuff, then take over from there. Another idea – the kids in China find stuff in games, then sell the “property” online. Of course, it’s against the terms of service in games to do that, but it happens anyway.

    How lazy can someone be to pay someone to play their game, instead of actually playing the game themselves? It’s the same thing as cheating, as far as I’m concerned. Is there any sense of accomplishment left after that?

  • Fun with Magnets

    Magnet Pyramid

    I’ve always liked playing with magnets. Sharon and I actually built a magnetic spice rack a few years back, and it still draws attention. We used a pretty weak sheet magnet to get the job done. United Nuclear doesn’t have those kind of magnets. Nope. These are the kind of magnets that will pick something up from a foot away. Here’s a couple choice quotes…

    “Our larger magnets can easily bruise fingers and even break finger bones as they attempt to connect together.”
    “Our normal packing & shipping personnel refuse to package these magnets – our engineers have to do it.”
    “Two of the 3″ x 1″ disc magnets can very easily break your arm if they get out of control.”
    “We can only ship these magnets by ground UPS – they cannot be shipped via air as it will interfere with the aircraft’s navigational equipment.”

    After all these warnings, they must be fun! Just try to avoid TVs, pacemakers, computers, credit cards, you know, anything that would get destroyed by one of these things.

  • Baby Shower

    Happy Sharon

    Sharon’s baby shower was this past Saturday, and we had a pretty good turnout. There were about 15 people that came, and everyone had a good time.

    We would have loved it if everyone were able to make it, but seeing how everyone is all over the place, it just isn’t possible.

    A big thanks to Vanessa, Jen, Rachel, and Angie to putting together the whole event. And another big thanks to everyone for the presents! Everything we got is extremely useful, and will definitely be put to good use.

    Angie and Vanessa took a lot of pictures of the whole event, and I’ve posted them to the image gallery. If (for some reason), you want a higher resolution of a picture, just drop me a line.

  • Christmas Trees: Real or Fake?

    So what’s better for the environment, a real Christmas tree or a fake one? According to this article, real would be a bit better than fake, though both aren’t great.

    For fake trees, the argument for them is that they last a long time, so you’re not buying a tree every year. In that sense, they are more economical too. But the fake trees are basically PVC. And during the production of PVC, several carcinogens are produced, which tends to be bad for people living around the factories (primarily in China).

    Real trees, on the other hand, don’t have to worry about PVC, or lead, or carcinogens. But they are likely sprayed with pesticides. And getting rid of them in January can pose problems for dumps. Here, I think they take the trees and grind them into mulch.

    I go for real trees. Always have, always will. There’s nothing like the smell of a fraser fir tree to make it feel like Christmas.

  • Happy Trails, Diebold!

    Diebold has ceased doing business with North Carolina rather than release the source code behind their voting machines into escrow. Their excuse? Their machines contain Microsoft software. If they give the source code to NC, they break their licensing terms with MS.

    Whatever, I say. It’s a convienient way of getting out of town and not let their software take the blame. If Diebold really believed in their software, they would put the code in escrow, and let NC deal with Microsoft.

    All I can say is good riddance to Diebold. I’m happy to see a company with such insecure voting software get out of here.

  • Firefox 1.5

    If you need a reason to upgrade to Firefox 1.5, I think this site is it.

    The site uses SVG and some javascript to simulate a planet and gravity. Enter in a launch angle and velocity and watch it go.

  • A Sad Milestone

    It’s only a matter of time before the U.S. executes it’s 1000th prisoner. Virginia spared what would have been #1000, and that “honor” will likely fall on NC.

    I had wondered what state had carried out the most executions since 1976, when it was reinstated. Actually, I knew it was Texas, but was curious what the margin was between Texas and the rest of the country. From 1000executions.org:

      Texas – 354
      Virginia – 94
      Oklahoma – 79
      Missouri – 66
      Florida – 60

    On average, Texas executes a prisoner once a month. Now I’m not necessarily against the death penalty, but it seems like it is used too often, and doesn’t really deter crime. On the bright side, there are 17 states that haven’t executed anyone since 1976.

    Another sad fact – there are 3400 people on death row now.

  • I Hate I-81

    Why is there always construction on I-81 somewhere in Pennsylvania? Now I don’t travel on it a lot, maybe once or twice a year on my way to NY. But without fail, there is some major section of I-81 that is under construction. Many years ago, it was under construction around Scranton. Now that that’s complete, they’ve moved south.

    Now I-81 in Pa. is not alone. Here in Greensboro, I-40 was had been under construction for several years when I first moved here. It was finally (mostly) completed last year, and there’s already plans for more road work around here. But I-81 is horrible. I can’t stand it.

    Do you have a road you just absolutely hate?