Yesterday I bought a reel to store my 100′ extension cord. Until yesterday, it had been sitting in a less-than-neat pile. But now it is organized.
While I was setting up the cord reel, I noticed a warning on the label. It said to unroll the cord before use. I initially thought “why bother with that?” Isn’t the point of the reel to keep the cord in a nice coil? Why not let it stay coiled, like the garden hose does? It doesn’t complain at all. Then the lessons of how to make an electromagnet came to mind, and I thought there might be something to it.
There is some argument about whether it is induction causing the issue or just the normal heat associated with voltage drop for such a long wire. Normally the heat would be able to dissipate along the surface area of the cord. With the cord wound tightly however, there is much less surface area. Normal household loads for a moderate time should not cause any problems. But I would still be careful not to let any metal go into the core of the cord reel.
“He covers {His} hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the mark.”
– Job 36:32
Posted in Fun | 2 Comments »
We made sugar cookies today. On the beach.
Ingredients:
- 4 tsp. sunscreen
- 2 cups sand
- 1 child
- 1 swimsuit
Instructions:
- Place child in swimsuit
- Spread sunscreen on skin of child, taking care not to put sunscreen on the swimsuit
- Sprinkle the sand onto the child, rotating to ensure even coverage
- Optional step: place child on towel and bake in the sunshine for a few minutes
As you may have guessed, we did not eat these cookies, so I can’t say how they taste. But I would expect they would be a bit gritty.
“Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths {of an ephah} shall be {in} each cake.”
– Leviticus 24:5
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To avoid sunburns, we use sunscreen. Recently my wife bought a large bottle of NO-AD sunblock lotion. It was highly rated by someone or something, so she thought she would try it. It’s called NO-AD because they don’t advertise.
So we were at a place that gives you wristbands for admittance, and they write something on the plastic wristband. It was written in permanent marker, and my wristband had gotten wet with no problems. But after I applied this NO-AD sunblock, I noticed I had some darker spots on my skin. I looked around and noticed that the permanent marker was running or bleeding off my wristband. I thought “That’s a poor permanent marker to just be able to wash off with water.” But after checking other people’s wristbands, I saw that mine was the only one with a problem. So the only other conclusion was that the sunblock acted as a solvent for permanent marker.
I forgot about that incident until the next morning. I did not put the NO-AD sunblock on myself, but I did put it on my children. So the only place on my that had the NO-AD was the palm of one hand. An hour later, I happened to hold a ballpoint pen. It was the standard pen with the name of the hotel printed on it. I’ve had it for a while and it never caused any problems. But when I opened my hand to put the pen down, I noticed that the hotel name was now printed on my hand. The ink from the pen’s shell, the ink that was used to print the hotel name and logo, had been partially dissolved by the sunblock and was now smeared on my hand.
So some ingredient in the sunblock is acting as a solvent to break down inks. They could break into another market and increase their sales. Just pour some sunscreen into a different bottle and label it as “permanent marker smearer” or something.
“Our skin has become as hot as an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.”
– Lamentations 5:10
Posted in Marketing | 3 Comments »
It’s fun dealing with a young child who is still learning grammar. Here are some recent accounts of conversations that we had with our young children.
Before the funeral – Me: “Okay, you need to be good during the funeral.”
After the funeral – Child: “Did I be good?”
How can you not smile at the child who says that?
A different situation, this time:
Me: “You need to get dressed; it’s almost time to go.”
Child: “No, I willn’t”
Part of me was ready to discipline him because he said that with a defiant and angry attitude. But more of me was ready to laugh at the grammar or using “willn’t” instead of “won’t”. But I couldn’t let him see me laughing. One reason was that I didn’t want him to think his attitude was okay, and the other one was that if he saw my laughing at him while he was angry, that would make him even more angry. So that was one of those situations where I had to stifle my amusement until later and deal with the immediate problem. So I went over to him and said, “It’s won’t, not willn’t.”
Here is an exchange that happened while we were driving somewhere. As I was driving, not taking notes, I don’t have the exact words that were used, but these quotes portray the spirit of the event.
Me: “That’s not food. Do not put anything in your mouth except food.”
Child: “And drink!”
Me: “Yes, and drink”
Child: “And silverware”
Me: “Yes, and silverware too”
Child: “And medicine”
Me: “Okay, and medicine”
I think it ended there, but that reinforced the concept that family rules should be more general than specific.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4
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What constitutes a successful nation?
Is it how comfortable the people are? Is it how happy the people are? Is it how rich the people are? Is it how many people want to leave their countries for it? Is it how free the people are?
However you measure it, the USA is a successful nation and a great place to live. Not just exist, but live.
Although July 4th is two days late:
Happy Birthday
A M E R I C AA M E R I C AA M E R I C A!
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.
Psalm 33:12
Posted in Current Events | 1 Comment »
I just saw the report that the police used a Taser on some guy, and it not only subdued him, it also restored his heart rhythm as he was having some heart problems before.
Since Tasers are recommended as an alternative to deadly force, and since Automatic Emergency Defibrillators (AEDs) are recommended for just about every public setting, I propose that people carry one Taser to fulfill both recommendations. If Taser (or any of Taser’s competitors whose names no one knows because Taser is as established a brand as Kleenex) decides to promote this, it could be a very good campaign for them. It could allow them to sell their products in states or cities where they are currently banned. Just label them as AEDs and they are instantly legal! Or maybe it’s not that easy.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?”
– Psalm 27:1
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Growing up in my family, I was informed that humans have a separate dessert stomach. I don’t remember when this knowledge was conveyed to me – it is one of those things that everyone just always knew. No matter how much you ate for dinner and no matter if you could not eat another bite of beef/chicken/pasta/insert-other-dinner-item-here, you could always eat some dessert. And this post will show you the science behind the dessert stomach.
After investigating the matter further, I have concluded that, although many people indicate the dessert stomach does not exist, it does exist. This is in stark contrast to the ridiculous notion that some people have a hollow leg where all their food goes. Those who eat a lot, more than would be expected, are said to have such a leg (or two, in extreme cases). For some reason, I have never liked that saying. The stomach doesn’t go anywhere near the leg. It would be absurd to have the digestive tract go down into the leg and then back up. It would have to be early in the digestive process, in order to allow people to eat a significant amount, so the plumbing would be quite crazy.
But the dessert stomach exists; it exists in your brain rather than in your belly. It is a psychological concept known as the law of diminishing returns. It says that more is not necessarily better. For example, 5 cupcakes won’t taste 5 times as good as one cupcake. At the end of your meal, you have consumed enough beef so that the return on taste has diminished. More beef doesn’t taste good anymore. And the same goes for potatoes, green beans, or whatever else you have for dinner. Each dinner item has been eaten and the initial tastiness has decreased, such that you do not want to eat any more of them.
But now dessert arrives. This is a new food group, a new taste that has not appeared in your dinner yet. This is the second part of the law of diminishing returns – in order to be satisfied, you need something new. So your mind tells your body that this should be good, and your body sets aside the feeling of being full – but only for this new taste. And thus: the dessert stomach.
“So they ate and were well filled, And their desire He gave to them.”
– Psalm 78:29
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This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
