Bluecigar

I’m So Creeped Out

Brian — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:24:28 +0000

I watched the 8 videos of Dr. Albert A. Bartlett’s presentation on Arithmetic, Population, and Energy on the youtube, and I was way creeped out. Doc was all about trying to get people to viscerally feel what happens when you have an exponential growth rate. And he did a nice job with examples, and charts, and tables to illustrate how one should think about exponential growth.

For example, based on a world population annual growth rate of 1.3%, the world population would reach a density of one person per square meter of land in 780 years. That blows my mind. In ten human lifespans we will have overrun the planet.

This guy lays out a dire situation for our energy consumption, and a gross misrepresentation by the media and the government about our ability to sustain our energy consumption. Not a pleasant message. Based on the current predictions we hit peak oil production in 2004, and it’s all downhill from there.

My takeaway is that it’s a race between the exponential growth rates in technology and the exponential consumption of oil. If we can successful use the energy in oil to develop new sources of energy, then we live. It sounds like the new solar technology starts to become commercially available in five to ten years, with who knows how long to switch over. So we may have a shot.

Almost Walking

Brian — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:11:27 +0000

We have taken steps, but not on a regular basis. He still likes to crawl most places, but occasionally he’ll decide to take a step or two. One time he did maybe 6 steps. We keep trying to get him to walk, but mostly he ignores us and does as he pleases.

Oh and we are up to four teeth now, with a couple more on the way.

Television Rots Your Brain

Brian — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:27:07 +0000

Here is a most interesting article describing research linking autism rates in children with television watching.

The Cornell team searched for some independent measure of increased television viewing. In recent years, leading behavioral economists such as Caroline Hoxby and Steven Levitt* have used weather or geography to test assumptions about behavior. Bureau of Labor Statistics studies have found that when it rains or snows, television viewing by young children rises. So Waldman studied precipitation records for California, Oregon, and Washington state, which, because of climate and geography, experience big swings in precipitation levels both year-by-year and county-by-county. He found what appears to be a dramatic relationship between television viewing and autism onset. In counties or years when rain and snow were unusually high, and hence it is assumed children spent a lot of time watching television, autism rates shot up; in places or years of low precipitation, autism rates were low.

It’s always impossible to judge the quality of research from a mainstream media report, and there’s a lot here that’s suspect. But four hours of tv a day for kids on average? That’s damn scary.

Inappropriate Music

Brian — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:34:16 +0000

This made me laugh real hard: 2001.

via Kottke.

Isaac Loves His Wagon

Brian — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:08:48 +0000

Mimi Trish bought Isaac a little wagon for his birthday, and he has taken to pushing it endlessly back and forth across the attic. He’s gotten quite good at extricating it from nooks and crannies where it sticks, showing off some new motor skills. I took a loooooong video of him messing around with the wagon, and was too lazy to edit it down to just the good bits. So try not judge my time-filling patter too harshly (if you make it that far).

Pool Time

Brian — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:28:29 +0000

Last weekend was damn hot, so we filled up the kiddie pool for Isaac to splash in. He approached it somewhat tentatively, not perceiving as a giant bath tub like I expected. But he seemed to enjoy reaching over the side to give the water a splash or two. Also note the cool swim togs Blossom got him.

Isaac’s First Birthday

Brian — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:43:47 +0000

Hooray! Isaac is one year old today. Why it seems like only yesterday that Blossom had me pull over at three in the morning so she could have a contraction on the side of the road. Today was a mostly normal day. We did give Mr. J. a few new birthday toys, but he was mostly interested in his books. I did conduct an interveiw to get his thoughts on this momentous occassion:

Big Boy Cut

Brian — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:03:53 +0000

This weekend Mimi Trish came to visit. We had a lovely time, managing the boy and eating and drinking. Standard family encounter. We went to the Stone Zoo on Saturday. The grownups looked at the animals and Isaac looked at all the people. Then on Sunday we had the main event: a real haircut for the boy. Previously I would hack his hair down when he got overly hirsute. But we decided to splurge and make him look like a real boy. And he was damn good in the chair. Observe:

Sherpa Boy

Brian — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:31:31 +0000

Little man loves him some stair climbing.

The Girl Effect

Brian — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:00:41 +0000

Too bad we spent 6 billion dollars on the Iraq war instead of this: