Surprise, surprise

China lies.

For some reason, I'm not intimidated by their space program, or the plan to put a man on the moon in the next 10 years.

Biased Survey Skews Stats

In other news, dog bites man.

Nearly a year after Minnesota implemented a statewide smoking ban, the new law is getting high marks from residents. A new survey released today by ClearWay Minnesota, a strong nonprofit advocate of the ban, shows that 77 percent of Minnesotans support it with 41 percent indicating strong support.

In fact, the smoking ban is more popular than the Mall of America (69 percent) and State Fair Pronto Pups (69 percent).

The lobbying group primarily responsible for stealing this particular property right from private property owners says the theft is popular.

And they would never lie.

Interesting Response...

...to this article.
tripp:

Reading the top article... what a way to live. In constant fear of everything. That bloke will be dead of stress and anxiety, but his corpse will be safe inside his little fortress. A bit over the top to say the least.

I'll be dead of stress for suggesting people be aware of their surroundings and lock their doors and windows before going to bed. Interesting.

Al Frankenphiles

When you are having a Frankenphile convention, and you decide to go out en masse, it may be a good idea to be on your best behavior, to put a positive light on the face of your cause.

When 50 of you go to Eddington's, blocking others, filling the aisle, and otherwise being rude, it makes your entire cause look like jerks. Hey, stupid people, you were wearing Al Franken stickers. I know who you were representing.

Real people, adults that is, say "please" and "thank you" and occasionally, even "excuse me".

If "excuse me" doesn't work, for the sole reason that you are a jerkface, I'll have to demonstrate my elite crowd-maneuvering skills, learned in the festival seating sections of the finest death metal concerts.

And no, I won't admit to hanging a sign on the wall about Al Franken and gerbils. What he does in the privacy of his own stuffing room is his own business.

And Sarah Palin can kick his ass.

Kids and Bikes

My son is almost 9. Up until a few weeks ago, he didn't know how to ride a bike.

We had tried. Hard. Often. For years, off and on.

We tried training wheels.

We'd go to the park, and I'd hold on to the seat and watch him panic every time the bike leaned over, just a bit.

We'd go until he was crying and I was completely frustrated, then his bike would get parked for a few months, until we both forgot.

The last time-on the way home-he said, "Dad, I'm sorry, but I want to throw my bike away."

After he went to bed, I did some research, to figure out exactly what I was doing wrong. The answer was "everything". The traditional methods of teaching a kid to ride a bike...suck.

I found an ebook, titled, Riding Made Easy. It cost $15, which is a lot for a pdf file.

I wanted my son to learn how to ride a bike. To experience the freedom of exploring the neighborhood with his friends.

I knew that, if he didn't learn, he'd regret it later in life.

I wanted him to have the fun.

I bought the book.

The next morning, I told my son that we would try again that evening, with no stress and no tears. He agreed to one more try.

I followed the instructions in the book. No training wheels or holding the seat.

Two hours later, my son rode his bike home, and has been on his bike every day since.


Riding Made Easy is quite possibly the best $15 I have ever spent.

Self Defense in the World of Wally

The following is absolutely true.

A few years ago, I had a self defense encounter.

My beautiful wife was having trouble sleeping, shortly after our son was born. She was in the living room, watching TV at 4AM. I was tucked into bed, sound asleep.

Suddenly, the cats went nuts. They started hissing at the door and windows. Their fur stood up. Angry cats. Then my wife saw a shape run past our bay window.

She ran in to get me. I jumped out of bed, grabbing a sword(I didn't own a gun at the time) and the telephone. I handed the phone to my wife and told her to call the police. I checked on my son, then checked the rest of the house. From the windows, I couldn't see a problem in the yard.

My wife, on the phone with the police, looked out our front window, to see the prowler, across the street, going from one house to the next.

Bravely, ignoring the safety of my home, and the tactical advantage of waiting for the police, I ran out of the front door, bearing a sword and wearing only my boxers.

I saw the prowler, lurking in front of my neighbor's front door.

I held the sword aloft and fiercely shouted,"You don't belong here!"

To which the prowler replied, "I'm delivering your paper!"





That was the week we started tipping him heavily.

Obama Campaign

US Code

For those curious, or having too much time on their hands, here is some light reading, every Federal law in the U.S.

Couldn't have said it better

Security in your Home

This is part one of a series.

We’re going to discuss using a layered approach to improving the security of your home. Using a layered approach provides two primary benefits. First, it makes your home too much work for the “casual” burglar. Most burglars will take the path of least resistance. Multiple layers of security remove your home from that path. Second, each layer adds to your reaction time, either by warning you of an intrusion, or slowing down your intruder. This gives you time to get your family to safety and call 911. Every second counts.

Before we get into the options for home security, I want to define layers, in the context of security. A security layer is anything that provides notice of intrusion, or anything that slows or prevents said intrusion. In plain English, if it slows down an intruder, or convinces an intruder to go elsewhere, or alerts you to an intruder's presence, we’ll consider it a security layer. These layers can be anything from the streetlight on the corner eliminating shadows in our yards, to the monitored alarm systems with sensors on every possible entrance to our houses, to the family dog. Our goal is to convince the intruder to seek easier prey, or failing that, to slow them down enough that we can get to safety and wait for the police without fearing for our lives. We’ll be approaching the layers in the same manner as an intruder, from the outside in.

The first layer an intruder will encounter is an intangible that will never be noticed. This is the most important element in any security system. I’m talking about planning and awareness. The best security system in the world will accomplish nothing if you don’t get it installed before there is an incident or if you don’t know what to do when it is activated. The loudest alarm won’t help if you’re not paying attention when is shrieks.

Plan ahead. Get the alarm installed before you need it. Trim your bushes back, reinforce your front door, and most importantly, develop a plan of action for you and your family. Have a plan of action for your family in the case of a home invasion/hot burglary, much like you would for a fire. Conduct “Invasion Drills” as often as you would conduct Fire Drills. Everybody in the family should know what to do and where to go in the event of a home invasion.

Be alert. If your dog barks, investigate the bark. That’s why you have a dog. If your security lights turn on, look out the window and find out what caused it. Lock your doors and windows if you know you’re going to be less aware for a time. That means lock the door when you take a nap or a shower, or when you will be listening to loud music. Many people let down their guard at home, assuming nothing bad can happen there, that nothing bad can happen during the day. This is simply not true. If you are aware of what is going on around you, you are much less likely to be victimized. I’m not suggesting constant hyper-vigilance 24 hours per day. People need downtime to relax. I am, however, strongly suggesting you take basic precautions before you unwind.

Next time, we will discuss lighting.

Cross-posted here and here.