Cheap Therapy

Check out www.mangonel.com for catapult kits. Or check out some cool books on how to build them.

The DNA Ancestry Project will give you information about your genetic heritage in exchange for a cheek swab and between US$119 and US$318 depending on how much information you want.

The Elitzur-Vaidman bomb-tester.

A handheld X-ray fluorescence analyser.

Fans of fantasy author Tim Powers might like to know that he appears briefly in some of the content about Phillip K Dick included on the Bladerunner Final Cut DVD’s. 5 disc box set in aluminium Voight-Kampff-esque briefcase here for Australians.

• Cleared some tree bits off the roof
• Upgraded the network so St. Isidore now has to bless packets 10 times faster
• Kept Puggle and Bilby occupied
• Enjoyed the cool breeze
• Scanned some of the paper mountain

Left to do today

• Fix reticulation
• Dig more trampoline hole
• Minor shopping

Puggle would not wait easily for Christmas morning, and a chance to open his stocking (after all, it’s got Chippies in it Read “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” to him last night after a brief stint at church (running into past flames :), Christmas light watching (replete with own synchronised FM soundtrack) and preparations for today (Yay for last minute on-line christmas shopping :).Breakfast of muffins, fruit, etc. With family, friends and grandparents. Puggle has trains, tools, a fake fishtank (c/o the next-door neighbour) and a post office/general store. And a forever flashlight that will wear him out trying to power it, hopefully :)Haul includes West Wing, Maggie Beer, clothes,  an audio book (thanks Liz!), Puggle constructed rocky road, Muppets In Space (for watching with Puggle), 28 Days Later (for watching without anyone :)Then it’s off to dinner, second round of presents with the other grandparents. Brief unintentional nap. Pack up, return home, retire children.Collapse, blog.  Queen’s Christmas message 2007 (via YouTube, lots of people trying to get hits from those search terms!)  Today’s discretionary electricity usage went on Aircon. My friend in Exmouth complained that he’d gone up there for Christmas and it was hotter down here!

Woken up this morning by Puggle proclaiming “Dada, come and make me a coffee”. This is not particularly unusual.”I’ve got everything set up”Visions of a kitchen knee-deep in brown caffeinated sludge.Getting into the kitchen I find the chocolate shaker and star template laid out neatly next to the measuring scoop, already primed with the first measure of coffee, with only minimal spillage. Next to this is a cup. On the machine is a jug with milk in it already to be frothed.”I didn’t plug it in because I couldn’t reach” (Well, I’m thankful for that! Electricity, water and steam is a hazardous combination at the best of times!)Needless to say I frothed his milk and made his coffee for him. He even said he didn’t want actual coffee in it (usually I remove the group handle and give him hot water and expect he thinks he’s getting actual caffeine Later on in the day he juiced an orange all by himself. I’m hoping for freshly squeezed OJ tomorrow [Edit - Yes, got a freshly squeezed OJ the next day. He used a plastic kiwi fruit knife to halve the oranges. Only got about half the juice out of each orange though as they're still a bit big for him to handle properly]

Strange things people have noticed in orbit.

 From “Fair Dinkum Aussie Christmas” by Bucko and Champs and Kilmeny Niland, which we’re listening to at the moment (unlike Amazon it’s a book from Scholastic that includes a CD). The song is “The Feral Pig and Cane Toad”:

The Holly and the Ivy,If they come up in your yard,The go and get the Roundup,And hit the mongrels hard