Scholars and Warriors

"The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools." --Thucydides

Rip City

Cars

Thomy: Do they have cars in Brazil and England?

Me: Yep.

Thomy: Yes! I knew it.

Lost Christmas Eve

Trans Siberian Orchestra: because one guitar is just not enough.

You Make Me a Ghost

Clean Your Room

Jeff: Dad, when are you going to clean your room?

Me: Ha! I don't know.

Jeff: Last time Mom cleaned your room but now it is messy again.

Pets

Thomy: Dad, whenever I come home from someone's house, when they have cats Squeaky licks me, when they have dogs he starts sniffing me and following me around. Sometimes he licks me in the ear.

Floating Egg

Thomy: Today I have to work on my math word problem. If an egg floats down the Mississippi River, where did it come from? Then I have to do the math problems and find the letters.

Me: I'll bet it came from a bird or a reptile, maybe a chicken.

Thomy: C-h-i-c-k-e-n. Yep, that fits.

Exothermic Reaction

Jeff: Daddy, why is the sun hot?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: Huh?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: What?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: What daddy?

Me: Exothermic reaction.

Jeff: ....

Friction

Jeff: Why does Jello move around so much?

Me: Because it has a low coefficient of friction.

Jeff: What does that mean?

Me: It means it slips around a lot.

Jeff: Oh.

Is the Moon made of Cheese?

Jeff: Dad, why is the moon so bright in the sky?

Me: Because it reflects the light from the sun like a mirror.

Jeff: Oh. Is the moon made out of cheese?

Me: The moon is made of rock and dust.

Jeff: Oh, I thought it was made out of cheese.

Flying Car

Jeff: Dad, why do I keep seeing things that are not real? I just looked in the sky and saw a flying car.

Me: A flying car?

Jeff: Yes. Then I blinked my eyes and then it was not there.

Sunscreen

"Maybe the internet raised us." --Lorde

"Only the young can break away." --Brandon Flowers

"Don't be reckless with other people's hearts." --Mary Schmich

"Life ain't all rainbows and sunshine." --Rocky Balboa

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do." --George S. Patton, Jr.

Harvester Ants

Thomy: Almost all of the ants in our classroom died except for two or three.

Me: Hmm. Why do you think they died?

Thomy: Maybe they got too hot.

Me: Maybe.

Thomy: Or maybe we fed them too much.

Me: What if you didn't feed them enough?

Thomy: Oh.

Me: Or maybe they didn't have enough water.

Thomy: Yeah. But we did give them fruit and that has water in it.

Me: Or maybe they got a disease.

Thomy: Uh-huh.

Me: What kind of ants are they?

Thomy: Harvester ants.

Me: Solenopsis? Are you sure? Solenopsis are invasive. I don't think they would send you an invasive species. They are probably Formica.

Thomy: Formica are a little big. These are small ants. And they are red and hairy.

Me: Hmm. Maybe they are Solenopsis. I will take a look at them tomorrow when I go to your classroom.

Think Like a Scientist

Thomy: Every day of the year is someone's birthday.

Me: How do you know that? I think you're making an assumption.

Thomy: Well... almost every day is someone's birthday?

Me: I suspect you are right and that every day is someone's birthday, but how can we know?

Thomy: ...?

Me: What if we asked people when their birthday is until we found at least one person born on each day of the year. Then we would know that every day was at least one person's birthday.

Thomy: Oh yeah.

Le Faltan las Ideas y le Sobran Argumentos

God from the Machine

Bad Romance

This was my first exposure to Gaga. It kinda blew my mind. My favorite part is when she torches that guy at the end.

Jesus Wears Biker Leather

Love is Madness

Love this song. Not so much the video: it's too anti-establishment for me.

"Your mind goes to dark places." --Dr. Manhattan

Crooked River Ranch

I found a photo archive of pictures taken by Thomy on our camping trip back in July.

First we stopped at Vista House.

Ryan and Lizzy joined us on the expedition.

I sleep when I want, where I want. And Thomy likes to take pictures of me while I sleep.

I call her Lizard, for obvious reasons. 

We found some creatures, but not the coyotes we were looking for.

Lunchtime.

Whenever I want, wherever I want.

The kids helped dig the fire pit and gather firewood.

Our bivouac.

The survivors. We got a little wet on the last day.

La Paga

Ten years later this song has a new meaning to me, though still different from the author's intended meaning.

Bilateral Symmetry

Thomy: Whenever I look at something my nose gets in the way. Why do I always see my nose?

Me: That's a big question. What do you think Squeaker sees?

Thomy: Oh, his nose is way out there.

Me: Yep. He has a long snout and his nose is on the end. What direction does he travel?

Thomy: Straight.

Me: Does he move forward or backward?

Thomy: Forward.

Me: What would happen if his nose was on his butt?

Thomy: He wouldn't be able to smell things.

Me: That's right. He would have to stop and turn around when he wanted to smell something. That's why animals like humans and dogs have their sense organs--like eyes, noses, ears, and mouths--in front where they can sense things as they move forward. These animals are bilaterally symmetrical. What does symmetrical mean?

Thomy: It means the same.

Me: Yes. Syn- means same or joint and -metry means measurement, like metrology or metric. So together they mean "same measurement". Animals that are bilaterally symmetrical are the same on the right side and the left side. What about a starfish? How does it move around?

Thomy: Starfish have eyes on their feet.

Me: That's right, they have an eye on the end of each arm and they move around in any direction so no matter where they go they have an eye out in front. Can you think of another animal that is not symmetrical or has a different kind of symmetry?

Thomy: A germ.

Me: That's true; many single-celled organisms are not symmetrical or have a different form of symmetry. Can you think of a multicellular animal that is not symmetrical or has a different form of symmetry?

Thomy: A sponge.

Me: Yeah, many sponges are not symmetrical or not perfectly symmetrical. They also don't have any sense organs or any nerves either. I think only jellyfish and other animals have nerves.