More cousins!

We had fun with the Riggses and Phans:

Fun with cousins

We saw lots of cousins on our trip...almost all of them! Here are some photos with the Parker and Court cousins:

Sundance

We just got back from two weeks in California and Utah. A fun trip, with lots of memories. Our first stop was Sundance, where the scenery is beautiful:

Date engine

The number one hit in the UK the week I was born was Kung Fu Fighting. If you're younger than 60, you can see what was popular when you were born at this site.

A paperclip and a house

Remember that guy who started with a red paperclip, and wanted to trade up for different items until he received a house? Well, he did it.

Sandstorm

Amazing video of a sandstorm in Iraq.

Pickles

I hate pickles, but not like this. My first reaction was "Yeah, right, that's totally fake." But who could make up something so stoopid? Money quote:

"Do you have nightmares about pickles?"

I think it goes without saying, but Maury Povich = Class Act.

Thirteen things that don't make sense

Sometimes I wish I had majored in physics.

Summertime, when the livin' is easy

Sleeping babies

Ginger and I went on a date last night. First to dinner at a dairy farm (a real Indiana experience), then to see a movie. It was a lot of fun. When we came home we watched the babysitter walk to her house across the street, then we went to check on the kiddos. First we went to the boys' room, and here is what we saw in Ethan's bed:

What?!? No Ethan! Where is he? So we checked Andrew's bed:

What's this?!? A decoy? We were not fooled, so we checked Emma's room, and here is what we found:

Very cute. We let them stay where they were for the night. When we asked Ethan this morning why he chose to sleep in Emma's old crib, he said it's "comfy."

Take a one minute vacation

This site has put together sixty-second, unedited recordings of various vacation spots throughout the world.

We watched the documentary "Touch the Sound" the other night, and I realized there are a lot of sounds I don't pay attention to. Immediately after watching the movie, I went outside to turn off the sprinklers and it was like I was hearing everything in technicolor: bugs, cars, birds, water.

Anyway, these one-minute vacations are fun to try. Check out the waves in Maine and the organ playing at St. Paul's.

Modern art

So an artist sent his sculpture of a laughing head off to the Royal Academy in London for display. Somehow the sculpture got separated from its base, and the curators thought they had received two separate pieces. They rejected the actual sculpture, but decided to display the piece's plain rectangular pedestal, thinking it was worthy of display in their fine institution.

There's an urban legend about a visitor to the Tate Museum in London who lost his wallet on opening weekend. Realizing his error, he went back to the museum to find a crowd gathered around his wallet on the ground, admiring it as if it were some artist's creation. When he tried to pick it up, a guard chastised him for touching the exhibit. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's a good story.

If anything can be art, art doesn't mean anything.

Having kids

Some good reading on the value society places on having children:

The first essay is from a woman who writes an advice column at Slate. A 30-something newlywed wrote a letter asking how to explain to her relatives that she didn't want to have any children. The advice columnist suggested she reconsider, since having kids is a lot of fun. Hilarity ensued when the advice giver was deluged with hate mail:

Why childless people hate me. By Emily Yoffe

The second is by Glenn Reynolds, about how society's view of child rearing has changed over time. A couple of generations ago, you weren't considered a full member of the adult world until you had kids, and raising children was a valued endeavor:

The Parent Trap. By Glenn Reynolds

The Lyrebird

Another fun link, via Neatorama and digg. This video shows the lyrebird from Australia, which mimics the sounds of other birds as part of its mating ritual. In recent years the birds have also learned to imitate other sounds they hear, like car alarms, cameras, and chainsaws. You have to see it to believe it.

Photos from North Korea

Neatorama linked to these unauthorized photos from North Korea, taken by a Russian web developer on a recent trip. Why he went on a trip to DPRK, I don't know... but the pictures are amazing. There are several pages, which you will miss if you're not careful. Check 'em out.

We are very lucky to live in the United States. Hopefully the people in North Korea will be free one day too.