Ugh, I can't remember the last time I updated -- sorry about that, folks! I've been reading LJ, even if I haven't been posting.

Life with a baby is (predictably) a bit more hectic than life pre-baby. Mister Baby is doing well, though has been sleeping & napping so-so for the past few days, as he currently has four teeth working their way through. My parents/his grandparents came up for a visit yesterday, and we tried to go out to lunch, but once we were seated at the restaurant a bunch of tables around us erupted with cheering and applause as a touchdown was scored in the football game on the TVs. This was too much for MB, and he had a meltdown. We wound up leaving, and going back home, where we ordered delivery.

In work related news, I just received a delivery that took nine years to get to me. It seems a box with a power cord and a mouse (Logitech 3-button, pre-scroll wheel) that was part of a server we got in 2000 must have fallen behind something in receiving or the mail room, where it languished until this year, when someone found it and finally delivered it to me.

In toy news, I picked up a WDTV box and an external USB one-terabyte hard drive (both refurbished, with coupons cutting down the cost further). The box is a little thing that has two USB ports and will play most any music & video files you throw at it, though I haven't had oodles of time to play with it. The box runs linux, and there are custom firmwares you can load, though I am waiting to get my wireless USB adapter back from my nephew before I try one of them.

Musically, I've been listening to a lot of WWII era swing & big band. I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm really digging it recently.

Family wise, I found high-res scans of old maps of some NJ areas, and on a 1872 map, located my paternal great-great-grandfather's residence, and what I suspect was his wheelwright's shop next door. He lived about 5 miles from where my parents live now. I know he was born in 1820, and his parents were both born in NJ, but I still don't know who his parents were. I'm descended from his 2nd wife, and I found where she grew up and where her parents lived [about 7 miles from my folks], and possibly where her father was buried (who would be my one of my great-great-great grandfathers, b. 1808 - d. 1885;).

That's good enough for now. I will be trying to update more often, I hope.

So, here is one of those bits where yolen and I have a difference of opinion, which I learned one day while working in the kitchen.

After washing some dishes, I took the sponge and wiped off the countertop. She reacted negatively. She thinks using the same sponge used on dishes to wipe off the counters and the table is gross. I argue it doesn't matter; I rinse out the sponge after I use it in either case, and while we don't eat directly off the counters/table, it is the same food residue that is on the plates. In deference to her, I have adopted her way, even though I think she's being crazy on this issue (which she acknowledges may be, but doesn't care). So out of curiosity we ask those of you out in LJ land:
Poll #1456744
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 23

Same sponge for both dishes and countertop?

I found this nifty tutorial for making an Order of the Stick style avatar using Inkscape.

Here's my first attempt at an Oots style self-portrait.



I'm not satisfied with it, but I guess it is ok for a first attempt.

This article about an owner getting his back his 50-pound pet African wild cat lead me to wikipedia to read about Serval Cats, which can evidently run 65 miles an hour and jump 15 feet in the air, but nonetheless make good pets, expressing dog-like loyalty to their owner.

That lead me to the wikipedia article on Serval/domestic cat hybrids, called Savannah Cats. Oh my, the cat in the lead photo is so cute; reading about the cats, I see they can be trained walk on a leash, fetch, and come you call their name.

If I wanted a cat and had a few thousand to drop, I'd seriously think about it.

Dracula's drycleaner must die! *Snort*

Via metafilter.

Hot Jazz Saturday Night.

I don't know why, but lately I've found myself listening to a fair amount of 1920s/30s/40s music, mostly jazz and swing.

1/3 of the world's sharks facing extinction.

And Wave of Marine Species Extinctions Feared and bees and frogs and more.

Just finished the 6th and final disk. What a good show. I am sad they didn't get picked up for a second season. I understand why -- because people like me weren't watching the show 10 years ago when it was on -- but still, some very nice television.

Next up on the netflix queue: Undeclared.

Still reading LJ, even if I'm not posting much.

Kiddo is keeping us busy. He's sleeping right now, and yolen is doing laundry at the laundromat while I watch over him. When she gets back, I'm going to put together a mac-n-cheese to bake tomorrow.

We took him to my folks last weekend so he could meet several relatives, mostly great-aunts and uncles, as well as extended cousins. He slept through a bunch of it, and we've been slowly trying to get him back on a sleeping at night schedule again.

Just finished In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, the second of S.M. Stirling's "Lords of Creation" books (the first is The Sky People). Both books were fun, retro-SF pulp, with a bit of alternate-history semi-hard SF twist. The basic idea is that 200 million years back, someone (presumably aliens), terraformed Venus and Mars, and transplanted Earth life to them. More recently, about 200,000 years ago, they transplanted hominids. The end result? Venus has swamps, dinosaurs, and cavemen. Mars has a 40,000 year old world civilization (based on bio-tech and genetic engineering) that peaked 20,000 years ago. I'll recommend them for those of you who like this sort of thing.

This weekend was spent taking care of Mister Baby, taking naps, and watch season 3 of the Venture Bros. Hope you are all doing well.

Ganked from yendi

Henson's 11. Good editing mixing Muppets to fit the trailer.

( Spoof trailer for ''Henson's 11'' inside )

While home taking care of Mister Baby, there are times holding the baby on the couch that I would turn on the TV and using the shiny new DTV converter box, surf between the various PBS & independent channels we get (Thirteen, NJN, and WNYE -- sadly, no WLIW with the current antenna). As such, I caught a local-artists music video program on WNYE, and that introduced me to "Daylight" by Matt and Kim. Looking around the blog-world, I see I am a few months behind the curve on picking up on them, but I figured I'd help spread the word to you other late-comers.

This song is 100% infectious power-pop; those of you who don't like that kind of thing, feel free to skip.

( Youtube music video inside )
In other news, it feels weird having short hair. Hmm, maybe I should change my icon...

For my wargaming friends, Hex Empire is a simple "Empire"-like game. Advice: you probably want to play as Red, because Red goes first. If the map isn't favorable for red, hit "random map" to get a new one.

First, the answers.

Question 1: Name a Superhero who has *not* appeared in a major motion picture.
The winner here was AquaMan! Green Lantern was a close 2nd. (Are you listening, Hollywood?)

 #  Answer
--- -------------------
 8  Aquaman
 7  Green Lantern
 4  Wonder Woman
 2  Black Lightning
 2  Blue Beetle
 2  Green Arrow
1 each: Bluntman, Hothead Paisan, Mighty Mouse, Power Girl, Preacher, Raven, 
The Badger, The Flash, The Tick

 #  Answer
--- -------------------
10  Catwoman
10  The Penguin
 7  The Riddler
 2  Two-Face
1 each: Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Sandman, Scarecrow

 #  Answer
--- -------------------
22  Dark Horse
 5  Image
1 each: AC, Angry Viking, Archie Comics, Charlton, Fantagraphics, Midnight Comics

 #  Answer
--- -------------------
 8  Spider-Man Theme Song
 6  (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, by The Kinks
 5  (I am) Superman, R.E.M.
 3  Superman (It's not easy), 5 for Fighting
 2  Superman [no other explanation, so I was unable to place it as one of the above three songs.]
 2  Flash, by Queen
 2  Kryptonite, by 3 Doors Down
1 each: Aquaman's Lament, Believe it or Not (Greatest American Hero), Don't Mess Around With Jim, 
Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Hero by Chad Kroeger, "Na na na na na na Batman"

 #  Answer
--- -------------------
13  V for Vendetta
 8  The League of Extrordinary Gentlemen
 4  300
 3  From Hell
 3  Who is Alan Moore/never heard of him/drawing a blank
 1  Constantine

 #  Answer
--- -------------------
 4  Dr. Manhattan
 4  Dr. Strange
 3  Aquaman
 2  Hellboy
 2  Cannot think of one
 2  Iron Man
 2  The Tick
1 each: Buckaroo Banzai, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Danger Mouse, Fings, Green Lantern, Hancock, Hothead Paisan, 
Mermaid Man, Prince Namor (the Sub-Mariner), She-Hulk, The Elongated Man, Thor, Wolverine

I'll be close the poll sometime tonight, so can tally up results tomorrow.

Jasper Morello and the Lost Airship, from The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello.

To compete in this round of Group Think.

After that, I'm closing the poll and tallying up votes.

Last night, I saw Watchmen (which I enjoyed), and I've been thinking a bit about Superheroes. So I decided it was time for a Superhero themed round of Group Think. [You may remember it, Group Think was very popular last time, back in 2007.]

Explaining the rules again:

It is a game-in-a-poll. The rules are basically like Family Feud, though you are both survey taker and question answerer.

Basically, you answer the questions. When all is said and done, next Friday (the 20th), I'll tally up the answers. You get one point for every answer that matches yours (including your own). Blank answers are worth zero points. Since there are six questions, the minimum score for answering all the questions will be 6, and the max will be 6xNumber of poll takers -- but in order for that to happen, everyone would have to answer everything the same.

Most all the poll questions exclude one or more popular answers -- an "isn't". You'll see what I mean in a moment.

Last time I did a bunch more questions and a number of rounds, but that made scoring a pain. This time, I'm just going to do one short round, but if this is as popular as last time, I may do another a few months down the line.

Here we go:
Poll #1364929 Superheroes Group Think
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 34

Name a Superhero who has *not* appeared in a major motion picture:

Name a Batman villian who isn't the Joker:

Name a comic book company that is neither Marvel nor DC:

Name a song about a Super Hero that is not "Iron Man":

Name a movie based on an Alan Moore story that isn't Watchmen:

Bonus question: Name a Superhero who does not have a secret identity:

trish_punch was the first one to post the right answer to my math puzzle. paulisdead also posted the correct solution. catwithbell and ishldgetoutmore get partial credit.

Comments on the entry have been unscreened.

Thanks to all.

You have 5 bags each containing 20 marbles. The marbles are supposed to be 10 grams each, but you suspect that some of the bags are filled with cheaper 9 gram marbles. (Note, all marbles in a single bag are the same weight.) You have a scale, but it is one of those pay-scales that you have to pay a nickel to use, and you only have one nickel. How can you pick out which bag(s) contain cheaper marbles with only one use of the scale?

Comments screened to avoid giving away the answer! Clues available if people request.

Edit: if you care, you can consider the bags effectively massless.

For those of you in the NY area, PBS channel 13 is showing a charming little film called "Sita Sings the Blues" tomorrow night (Saturday, 10:45PM). If that's too late night for you, it's also available on line at Thirteen.org or also at The Internet Archive.

It's a cartoon retelling of the Ramayana, set to 1920s/30s Blues/Jazz, sung by Annette Hanshaw. For those of you with kids, I'd rate it PG, mostly for dialog of the three shadow-puppet narrators, who while *very* funny, occasionally talk about adult topics. There is some violence, but it's all cartoon-y. The story is also intertwined with an autobiographical break-up story.

If you like cartoons, 1920s Jazz&Blues, and/or are interested in Indian mythology, I will recommend it.