Fathers and Sons

This article recounts the author's day with his sons watching Tiger Woods play golf. I really could care less about golf, but it reminds me of the precious time a father has with his son.

I was reminded just last night how precious and potentially fleeting this gift is. I love waking up in the morning with my son, putting on our old shoes and going hiking with him up to the coffee shop to play dominoes. I love going fishing with him at the local park and watching the sun set behind the trees just when the catfish start to bite. I love riding in the car with him, watching him play videos on the computer. I love teaching him about true love and honesty and respect.

While loving him in all of these ways, perhaps I am being selfish. After all, he also makes me a better person. However, I believe that he is a better person for it as well.

Pictures: Baseball Game

Isaac and Christian at the baseball game.

No Smoking: Science Fiction Edition

Extreme no smoking advertisement. In the final screen, "smoking contributes to to and empowers the imminent robot death squad apocalypse!"

Music: Workout Mashup

We're always looking for rockn' workout songs. Here's a mash-up of the Beastie Boys and Joan Jett that seems to qualify. Warning, as in most Beastie Boys songs I've heard, this may contain some content not appropriate for young children.

Spanish: Word of the Day - Bowl

Bowl (noun) -

1. tazón
   
2. bol
   
3. cuenco

... and here's sign language

Surfing: Make Your Own Surf Board

A Maker article and the website to purchase your own surfboard kit. Looks like great fun!

Movies: Official Trailer For Alice in Wonderland

There's no way to embed this video so take a look at Disney's website for the interesting looking movie trailer. Isaac and I read these books several years ago, but we're very interested in seeing Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

Exercise: More Push-Up Variations

We continue to attempt the 100 push-up routine. Here are some interesting variations on the standard theme. Can't wait to try the Hindu push-up.

Puzzles: Crossword With Wolfram Alpha

I must remember to show this application to Grandma. Its a crossword solving function inside the Wolfram Alpha search engine.

Space: Lunar Touchdown Circuit

The internet has had many specials in honor of the 40th anniversary of the first man on the moon, but this one is different. This site from NASA shows much of the documentation for the Apollo Lunar Module.

A post from 5Volt.EU has great detail on the Apollo 11's touchdown indicator schematic. This design was the one that told them when the Eagle had landed at Tranquility Base (it also told them when to turn the engines off).

Imagine the huge number of teams necessary to make that mission to the moon possible. Thousands of tiny processes just like this one. They did this all on a computer system that could not even compete with today's cell phones.

Conspiracy: Lunar Orbiter Spots Apollo Landing Sites

Oh dear, what are the conspiracy theorists going to do now. The Lunar Orbiter has sent back photographs of the first Apollo mission to the Moon. The pictures show the Eagle lunar lander at Tranquility base (there not very clear though).

Hiking: San Antonio

Found some interesting San Antonio hikes to take a look at.

Hill Country Creek and Canyon Trek
Twin Peaks Trail
Friedrich Park Trail - Here's the driving map to Friedrich Park Trail - 21395 Milsa St San Antonio, TX 78256

Space: We Choose The Moon

This is a remarkable web site demonstrating the Apollo 11 voyage to the moon. They are celebrating the 40th anniversary of this event.

This might only work in Firefox 3.5, not sure, there are several more advanced features.

This picture is from the Eagle after it had lifted off from the moon. Notice the Earth in the background. More great pictures from The Boston Globe.

Happy Birthday Uncle Chris

We love you Chris and can't wait to see you on the rugby pitch again. After all the cannons do still thunder, here's a version from Jack Johnson and Dave Mathews.

Space: International Space Station Movie

Check out this amazing graphic detailing the steps to build the International Space Station. It even includes future components, and demonstrates how the various space vehicles fit into the station.

History: Bastille Day

July 14th is celebrated as Bastille Day in France. The day symbolizes the birth of the French Republic and abolition of feudalism.

The painting from Claude Monet depicts the celebration in Paris in 1878.

We find it also makes for a more interesting bike race in the Tour de France, as the French riders give more effort. However, they've been quite successful this year already.

Tech: Integrated Circuit Introduction

Can't resist post this one, if for nothing else than the totally groovy side-burns.

Music: Michael Jackson A Cappella

One more Michael Jackson tribute, from Acapodcast Podcast. Check out his other podcasts, great stuff.

Space: Interplanetary Internet

The International Space Station (ISS) is testing software which would provide internet access to space vehicles. The ISS will be the initial node in the "Interplanetary Internet"; however, NASA is in discussions with European and Japanese counterparts to add to the network. The nodes will also be placed on future NASA projects.

The new technology is similar to TCP/IP, which our internet uses, but is designed to handle the long delays in packet transfer which would occur in deep space travel. It would also enable a new space communication model. The current model is more similar to radio.

While following Tour de France bike riders with Twitter has been interesting, we can't wait for twittering astronauts.

Comparitive Anatomy: How the Turtle Got Its Shell

You might need a short anatomy review before reading this one. The turtle's shell is basically made from a fusion of its ribs to the vertebrae. The trick is that the shoulder blade (scapula) grows deeper than the rib cage, rather than on top of it (like ours).

This adjustment of the shoulder blade causes a "muscular origami" when the torso musculature is forced to develop differently.

In the end, it is not possible for a turtle to come out of his shell, as the cartoons suggest.

Programming: GoTo Statements

As background, GOTO statements are expressly frowned upon in modern software development. They lead to a hard to read and error prone spaghetti code.

TDF: Lance and Jimmy Buffet?

We closely follow the Tour de France, and Lance's team this year, Astana, looks very impressive.

However, what could be better than Lance and Jimmy Buffet together! Take a look at Lance's Twitter feed, maybe he'll do a video with Jimmy as well.

Farming: Find Local Farmer's Markets

This site has farmer's markets and local produce. Here's the search for our zip code's farmer's markets.

Bible: Oldest Known Bible Online

An article from CNN discusses the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest known Christian Bible, which is now available online. A quick look at the website shows it is not the best for such an important historical document. There are few English translations, and the pages load very slowly.

The Codex Sinaiticus was written in the 4th Century and was found in 1844 at the Monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai desert. One of the more interesting aspects are the additional books not found in the Hebrew Bible such as Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach.

Tools: Free OCR Conversion Tool

This tool converts images of documents to proper documents which can be edited, and it's free.

Games: Online Drum Kit

Cool little online drum kit. Actually the best part is its made entirely from HTML and JavaScript; however, it still makes for cool drum experimenting.

Taekwondo: Gae Baek Pattern

Isaac's Gae Baek pattern from many angles.

Front


Side


Back

Stories: Creepy Stories

Creepy Stories by Christian and Isaac. Young authors at work.

Comics: X-Men Relationship Map

We recently found a t-shirt with many of the Marvel comic book heroes. However, this page describes, in fantastic detail, the various relationships of the X-Men characters throughout the series. It even discusses characters from an alternate dimension.

Holy smokes, Wolverine has a lot of lines pointed in his direction.

Quotes: Intelligence Quotient

Great quote for the day. Be curious and find your quest. Love it!

Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. Eugene S. Wilson

Ukulele: Harmony

Good article about musical theory of harmony. Especially meant for ukulele's. Looking forward to some great jam sessions.

Main melody: G D G A B C A
3rd harmony: B F# B C D E C

Main melody: G D G A B C A
5th harmony: D A D E F# G E

Main melody: G D G A B C A
6th harmony: E B E F# G A F#