Writing

This goes out to all of my writer friends:

“Nobody ever committed suicide while reading a good book, but many have tried while trying to write one.”

• Robert Byrne

via the Quote of the Day mailing list

Disposable Economy

Welcome to the disposable economy.

My daughter accidentally dropped my Canon SD200 camera and broke the flash. (The rest of the camera works just fine). So I took it to Canon Canada’s customer service centre, asking for a repair estimate. They just called; $241.50 (presumably $210 + taxes). The camera new is $345 ($300 + tax)! Even if they’re replacing the entire electronics board, there’s still a lens, battery, SD card…

more on car seats

Since I mentioned it last week, I should also mention documentation for child restraint use. The news page references a recent paper proving that child booster seats are 59% safer than seatbelts alone…

Keeping kids safe during car crashes: every child a safe ride | Partners for Child Passenger Safety - Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

I guess as a parent the bottom line is: for $80, why take chances?

out of context

In an article about the difference between the best programmers and the mediocre, this paragraph made me laugh out loud:

In some other industries, cheap is more important than good. WalMart grew to be the biggest corporation on Earth by selling cheap products, not good products. If WalMart tried to sell high quality goods, their costs would go up and their whole cheap advantage would be lost. For example if they tried to sell a tube sock that can withstand the unusual rigors of, say, being washed in a washing machine, they’d have to use all kinds of expensive components, like, say, cotton, and the cost for every single sock would go up.

car seats vs. seatbelts

So it may not be as cut and dried as everyone thinks; car seats (over age 2) may not actually make any difference. Good luck finding a politician who is against car seat and booster seat legislation, though; that would be political suicide. Proving once again that government often doesn’t work in our best interests? (There have been other examples of dumb gov’t safety laws recently, based on zero real deaths or injuries; I’ll see if I can dig some of them out of my memory).

climate change

I know my priorities are messed up.

My biggest nagging worry about global climate change is that Americans are going to flee northwards. Into Canada. Bringing their ideology (and idiocy) with them.

Wouldn’t that keep you awake at night?

melting ice cream

I was standing in the store with melting ice cream, so decided to brave the relatively normal thunderstorm and run to the car. Of course the storm picks that moment to intensify!

In the 30 seconds it took me to run to the car and load the groceries, I was as wet as if I had just jumped into a swimming pool with all of my clothes on. Halfway through the parking lot an evil self-propelled buggy tried to take out my car, but I mananged to avoid it. Shortly after that I realized just how bad the storm was; there was an entire tree lying on the wrong side of the road (i.e. it snapped off and blew all the way across)!

Back

Spent 3 days at Pinery, then 4 days at a friend’s cottage. Very tired (cos I don’t sleep in the kind of heat we’ve had recently) but also very relaxed. We get a two day respite from the heat, then it’s back on Monday… Ugh.

Anyway, the relaxation should wear off quickly; we just put mummy on a plane for a two-week business trip!

Strangers

Apparently I never blogged my “don’t talk to strangers” experience.

A couple of years ago a group of us went on a day trip to Niagara Falls. While wandering around lookig for photo opportunities, I saw a small child (4 or 5?) climbing on rocks near the river, on the wrong side of a fence. So I walked over and told her it was dangerous to climb there, and that she should come back to the right side of the fence.

Talk to Strangers

I think “Don’t talk to strangers” is stupid advice.

So does Bruce Schneier .

And I bet Brennan Hawkins and his parents do now…

There’s a huge difference between “the stranger that approaches you”, and “the stranger you seek out when you need help”. I believe that children are well-equipped to understand the difference.

Update:

Interestingly, this is an issue that comes up in Search and Rescue even with adults, who regularly flee from their rescuers…

Wonderland

Taking 6 boys (and a girl) to Wonderland is a new form of insanity with which I was not previously acquainted.

Fortunately, it was an unbusy day, so we let them run from the exit to the entrance of several rides, allowing us to catch our collective breath!

nature indoors

I have a kitchen; the breakfast nook is no longer buried in centuries of sedimentary buildup.

We’re currently excavating Charlotte’s bedroom. There’s actually a hardwood floor underneath the humus layer (decaying clothes and toys)…

On the other hand, the front hall is now a transition zone, and migratory herds of boxes and winter boots are trying to pass each other without excessive predation…

(Update in 2025: nothing changes.)

famous kiters!

We’re famous! Check out the results of a video session we helped with last year at the Four Winds Kite Festival:

TVO - Planet Parent kite segment

license plate

The car turning left in front of me this morning had the license plate:

PLAN AHE

Good thing I was stopped…

car finalé

I have a car again!

My mechanic couldn’t find a rim quickly, so he put the bent wheel at the back of the car, where the vibration is less noticable. I picked up the car last night (I took the GO train to Langstaff, then took a GO bus north; I miss the GO train!). The brake lines weren’t quite as bad as we had feared; he only had to replace them from the middle of the car back. As for the radiator, apparently it’s common. The antifreeze that Daewoo used was unusually acidic. It eats away at everything; he’s had cylinder blocks in the shop that look like swiss cheese… It’s a good thing I did the cooling system flush when the lube guy recommended it, or my car would be in worse shape than it is!

car update

With the brakes ($600) and leaking radiator ($300) fixed, the mechanic took the car out to investigate the other problem: a vibration in the front end. Turns out that there are two problems: the left front wheel bearing is loose and needs replacing ($100), and the left front rim is bent ($unknown).

Maybe I’ll have my car back on Thursday. Ah well; safety first, right?

(I’m still ahead of the game; I did get the car cheap, after all…)