Archive for 2011

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Worthless Housecat

Sep

6

2011

A couple of years ago, I accidentally discovered that Tomcat mouse traps are better than d-Con mouse traps.

This weekend, I discovered that Real-Kill glue traps are even worse than d-Con traps. I tried to find a website for the Real-Kill brand so that I could link to it, but I couldn’t. The fine print on the box says that it is distributed by Realex, a division of United Industries Corp., but their website doesn’t claim Realex as a brand. Oh well.

Just so you know why I say to use the Tomcat glue traps: I’ve never had a Tomcat trap that let me down. If a mouse ever visits a Tomcat trap, he’s done.

On the other hand, a mouse can visit a Real-Kill glue trap and not even know anything was wrong:

picture of mouse footprints across a glue trap with missing bait

The peanut butter in the middle of the trap is gone. I assume the mouse enjoyed eating that. And the glue trap’s only accomplishment is recording the footprints of the mouse so I can see where he sat while he ate the bait.

What good is that?

Here’s a photo of the front of the box, so you can know what to avoid:

picture of a box of Real-Kill glue traps

Look how happy that mouse is, sitting on the glue trap. That’s because he knows he’ll be able to leave once the photo shoot is done.

The two key points of the product, according to the packaging:

  • Non-toxic
    Definitely! No harm caused to the mouse at all!
  • Easy Disposal
    Right again! It’s very easy to throw away an empty trap – it’s light and compact!

Once again, I wasn’t planning on writing a review of mouse traps. But I knew I had to post something when I saw mouseprints on the trap.

Note: the glob of peanut butter was missing from the other trap that same night, so I know it wasn’t just one bad trap.

For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence.

Psalm 91:3

Posted in Mishaps | 4 Comments »

Training for Warrior Dash

Sep

1

2011

There are still a few Warrior Dashes left to be run this year, so maybe this post on how to train for Warrior Dash will be helpful to some people.

Before my race, I was wondering things like “What are the obstacles going to be like?” and “What should I be doing to get ready for Warrior Dash?”

The official WD website said basically not to worry about the obstacles and just be able to run a 5k. It used to say something like “run as far as you can” for training. It looks like they have updated it since then, and now it has an official plan. It has a running part and a strength training part, but no obstacle part. That’s where I come in.

(more…)

Posted in Sports | 1 Comment »

Pun-ctuation: Feline

Aug

30

2011

No explanation needed for this one:

feline punctuation pun: cat plus apostrophe equals catastrophe

cat + apostrophe = catastrophe

Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming!

Ezekiel 7:5

Posted in Humor | 3 Comments »

Raspberries 2011

Aug

29

2011

It is raspberry season, so we took our annual trip to go pick raspberries. It’s not much of a trip, since it’s only a few miles away. It’s quite convenient, in fact, especially with 3 children in tow.

picture of children picking raspberries

The baby was sleeping, so I took the other children.
Last year, the older two did a decent job of picking the berries.
Last year, I had Gamma in a backpack carrier, so he did fine too.

This year, the older two just ran around and played in the open field.
I sent them there after too many complaints about bees and mosquitoes and thorns.

picture of some raspberry bushes

Gamma just stuck by my legs and asked to be picked up or carried or to go home the whole time.

picture of children picking raspberries

I picked a few pints of raspberries.

picture of a container of fresh raspberries

The boys got to see some sandhill cranes, which apparently like to frequent the raspberry farm.

picture of two sandhill cranes on a gravel driveway

And that’s good enough for a while.
We froze about half the raspberries, so we can enjoy them throughout the year.

and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

Matthew 13:4

Posted in Food | 5 Comments »

Introducing Meta App

Aug

25

2011

Everyone has an app for me to download and use on my phone – the electric company, the grocery store, etc.

If I installed every app that was offered to me, I’d have hundreds and hundreds of apps. It would be a pain to organize them and find what I wanted quickly.

I have a solution for this problem, and I think it’s going to be a killer app. I call it the Meta App.

What it’s going to be is one app that can display a variety of information and handle a variety of tasks. The user would simply type the name of the company or service into the app-finder field, and the Meta App would call up the code from the target and serve it to the user.

Of course, to make things easier for everyone, the Meta App would use a common programming language so that apps would behave the same across the board (and across mobile phone platforms). Maybe I’d call it SGML, for Some Guy’s Markup Language…

Don’t you think Meta App would be much better than so many individual apps?

What’s that you say? A browser? No, I don’t know what you’re talking about. That does sound useful though. Why don’t more companies take advantage of this “browser” rather than developing their own apps?

who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me.

Philemon 1:11

Posted in Ponder | 2 Comments »

The Parable of Fannie Mae

Aug

23

2011

This might make more sense if you’re familiar with the news story that picked up steam last week about Fannie Mae. If you haven’t been paying attention to the news, read this article or this article to get up to speed, then come back here and continue.

And you should also be familiar with the parable found in Matthew 18:23-35. If you are not, go read the parable of the ungrateful servant, then come back here and continue.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain president, which would take account of his agencies.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed $317,000,000,000.

But forasmuch as it had not to pay, the president commanded it to be sold, and its officers, and all that it had, and payment to be made.

The agency therefore fell down, and pleaded with him, saying, “Mr. President, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

Then the president of that country was moved with compassion, and bailed out the agency.

But the same agency went out, and found one of its mortgagors, which owed it $5,000: and it laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, “Pay me what you owe!”

And the homeowner fell down at its doors, and besought it, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

And it would not: but went and foreclosed the house, till it should be sold at auction.

So when the other mortgagors saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto the president all that was done.

Then the president, after that he had called the agency, said unto it,
“O thou wicked bureaucracy, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy debtors, even as I had pity on thee?”

And the president was wroth, and delivered it unto bankruptcy, till it should pay all that was due unto him.

In case you had trouble following the story:
Original version:
king forgives servant,
servant does not forgive other servant,
king gets mad at first servant.

USA version:
Fannie Mae gets bailed out so that it can help people stay in their homes,
Fannie Mae keeps its money and continues foreclosing on people,
President/Congress gets mad at Fannie Mae.

For a nice ending to the story, we would see some oversight of the quasi-governmental agencies such that the bailout money is used for its intended purpose.

Even better, the bailout money could be taken from them and given directly to the people – cut out the middleman. In which case tax money is taken from the people and then given back to the people. Might as well just not tax ’em.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Matthew 18:35

Posted in Current Events | 3 Comments »

What Color Car?

Aug

22

2011

On the way home last night, I saw a white car. That would not normally be remarkable enough to appear on this blog, but this was not a normal car.

This car claimed that it was green.

picture of a white car that claims to be a green taxi

Clearly, the car is not green – it is white.

A green car would look like this:

picture of a white car that claims to be a green taxi

If they had used the term “eco” then there would be no problem. “Green” is too ambiguous – don’t use it in your product name. Well-known products can be grandfathered into this rule, such as Jolly Green Giant.

He explores the mountains for his pasture
And searches after every green thing.

Job 39:8

Posted in Marketing | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »