I’ve added a lot of boardgames to my wishlist… I may break the boardgames into their own list since they would be more equally share-able with the boys… As a reminder the kids wishlist has been updated recently as well.
All posts by Brian A. Thomas
The Song My Sig Comes From
Mumford & Sons is a great band with lots of great music. This is the song my email signature comes from:
Continue reading The Song My Sig Comes From
435 Isn’t Enough
Fun point. We have had 435 Representatives in the house since 1911 (with a 4 year exception when it went to 437). Our Founding Fathers wanted it locked in at 50k to 60k per Representative, we now have an average of 800k (source I am fact checking them now, however even if those particular facts aren’t true, their idea of more Representatives is a good one). NOTE: All that follows is a work in progress…I may modify it as I go along and further refine my ideas.
If we limited to the 50k our Founding Fathers originally wanted the size difference between districts would be less than 5%. There would be 6,000 members of the House and would far better represent their local populace. We could, if cost was a huge concern, limit it to one member for each 100k, this still results in 3,000 (or nearly anything up to say one rep for each 300k… no more than 500k).
With modern technology there is no need to have every member of the House in the building in DC… as a matter of fact, from a security point it is better, and there is nothing in the Constitution that would stop us from using modern technology to do it. And by leaving them in their home districts we could cut the expense of having them all in Washington. For direct representation in DC, if we wanted to continue to house 435 people in the the Capital itself, then each state’s legislative body and governor would decide who went to DC. Who went wouldn’t matter since being in the Capital itself doesn’t increase their voting power. If they wanted they could rotate so all of them get a chance, but to reduce costs perhaps best to leave it set. I would also suggest a pay cut to help with the expense of so many Reps, especially since most will be in their home district. At the very least a big cut to the size and costs of their staff and other expenses.
This does increase the difficulty of getting things done, since now you have far more people to sell on a plan, but in the end we end up with less pork, less ear marks and a government that is forced to be more focused on actual governance and more bills would become far simpler in order to get them passed.
Such a plan would greatly reduce Gerrymandering. It could be reduced further by devising a GIS based program to draw district lines without regard to politics… as a matter of fact, this should be done even if we stay with the 435 number we have now. That alone would improve representation.
We also need to remove the first past the post voting method in the US for all federal offices… I would say for state level offices as well. There are two primary alternatives, the Alternative Vote and the Single Transfer Vote. I would say for the House, use the Alternative Vote, for the Senate and President use STV. On the election form they are more or less the same, it is how they are counted that changes. Continue reading 435 Isn’t Enough
White Wine in the Sun
One of the best Christmas songs I’ve ever heard…
Look Here, a New Dark Tower Book!
I love Stephen King’s the Dark Tower series
I read the first few books in the first series, and it was really good.
You probably should read the regular books in the series first, then get into the graphic novels, even though they take place before the novels. Also that first novel can be a bit hard to get through, but after that they are a fun, fast easy read.
The graphic novels start with: Continue reading Look Here, a New Dark Tower Book!
Our Crumb Cake Recipe
I have fond memories of baking with my grandma Thomas. We made cinnamon jumbles, cookies, and this crumb cake. The recipe cards always say “Olive Crumb Cake”, but it is supposed to read “Olive’s Crumb Cake.” As I understand it, Olive was one of my grandmother’s friends, and this was her recipe.
The cake is nice, moist and spongy. The cake sort of crumbles, but it is the crumbs on the top that give it its name. It is a wonderful breakfast cake as well as a snack cake.
Ari and I made this the other day, and I thought I would share it.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Shortening (I recommend butter flavored stuff… I’ve used butter itself as well, but the recipe says Shortening so I’ll repeat what it says).
- 2 Cups Flower
- 1 Egg
- 1 Cup Sour Milk (to make Sour Milk, pour 1 cup milk into a bowl, add 1 Tablespoon Vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes)
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
Directions:
Continue reading Our Crumb Cake Recipe
Just as I Thought They Need a Movie About Rugby
I just saw a trailer for yet another ping pong movie, and then one for soccer, and I started thinking, I have seen movies based on lots of sports: all the aforementioned, golf, football, basketball, a few others, but never one for rugby. Oddly, the very next trailer I clicked at random on Apple’s Trailer site was for Forever Strong, staring Sean Faris, Gary Cole and Sean Astin. (Despite the All Black Haka style intro we see at the start of the trailer, shown below, the movie takes place in the USA.)
Watch the better quality trailer at the official site linked above.
When Covers are Better Than the Original
Johny Cash cover’s NIN’s Hurt.
Of the cover, Trent Reznor said:
I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure.
Don’t Freak Out, Cell Phones Can Not Pop Poppcorn
There are several versions of the following viral video going around where a few kernels of popcorn are popped using cell phones.
Not only is it impossible to pop popcorn with cell phones, they are most likely a viral advertising campaign seeing how many similar videos were posted the same day by a few users. It could be a massively coordinated joke, but be it a joke or viral advertising, they are fake. See Physicist Debunks Cellphone Popcorn Viral Videos, and Snope’s entry which mentions the popcorn bit while debunking an earlier version of the joke where somebody cooked an egg between two cellphones that were on for 60 minutes (also not possible). The Snope’s article also includes a video where the British show Brainiac expands on the egg experiment by using 100 cell phones.
EDIT: Turns out it was an ad for Bluetooth headsets.
Answers to a Scavanger Hunt
What follows is a scavenger hunt. I am trying to do it as in character as possible with the the theme of the hunt. All due apologies to the image holders for hot linking to the images, however, I have linked to your page where the image is coming from. This post will likely be deleted after the hunt is over since I’ll have a regular Steampunk post coming soon.
Some related links before I go on. The Clockwork Cabaret who’s scavenger hunt this is. Brass Goggles, one of the bigger Steampunk blogs out there, and from whom I got the video about tea the other day. I’ll cover more later, suffice it to say that I’ve have been mildly interested in it for a while (not enough to look anything up, but enough to appreciate seeing Steampunk stuff), but just recently really started getting into it, but as I said, I’ll dive more into that later.
Continue reading Answers to a Scavanger Hunt
At the Firing Range
I went to the firing range for the first time in something like seven years. Back then I took a firearms training class, and all we shot was a .22. This time out, I got a quick refresher and shot a Springfield XD 9mm. The XD is the gun I have been looking to buy, but wasn’t sure about the caliber, as it comes in 9mm, .40 and .45. I may rent a bigger one next time out, but I have to say that I thought the 9mm felt really comfortable. I didn’t do to bad according to them, and even I thought it wasn’t too bad considering how long it has been and the jump in caliber. Most of the shots were grouped just lower left of the center bullseye, touching it and extending a bit from it. I shot 100 rounds, and less then 20 were jerked and randomly placed (all low), most of the rest were in that lower left of center spot, or there abouts, some on the red bullseye itself.
Things I need to work on is grip, which tends to be too tight and my strong hand isn’t up quite high enough for ideal. I also lean back too far and need to work on leaning forward. I used an isosceles stance and may try Weaver Stance next time out to see if that helps, I think I used that with the .22 eons ago. Smoother trigger pull is also on the list of must improve aspects.
On the purchase side of things, a Springfield XD, probably a 9mm with personal defense rounds that will fragment when they hit plaster/drywall. A .22 for most of the practice to be done with as ammunition isn’t cheap, especially the rounds you would likely use in defense situations. Of course one must also do plenty of practice with their main weapon, and a good bit of that practice should be the rounds used for defense, but a .22 works well for casual practice. For the .22 I will probably go with the Beretta U22, which seems semi-affordable compared to most other .22’s. Of course a good gun case would be a must since Ari is here, even if the gun is kept unloaded, with a child around I think it should be kept safe, there are safes that open without having to be looked at to put the combination in.
I keep thinking competitive shooting would be a fun sport… that and perhaps some Krav Maga training… 😉 Sara and I saw an episode of Human Weapon that featured Krav Maga, and while I have leaned to Aikido as the martial art I may want to learn, Krav Maga does have a bit more appeal from the practical stand point.
Anyhow, I had a good time.
Brian at the Blossom with the Cleveland Orchestra
We had free lawn tickets to the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Center and since one couldn’t ask for nicer weather I of course went. Sara was too tired, having had a full day already, and by this point it was too late to get another date for the night so I went alone.
I found a great spot to camp out at. Not far from me was some people who brought a whole table with them and had it fully setup… short 1 foot high table, but a table none the less. I was dead center to the stage, with the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stand to my one side.
Parking ended up not as bad as I originally thought, though I was in the grass, it was a 10 minute fast walk, perhaps 15 minute regular walk. I was on the freeway in another 15 to 20 minutes.
On the program today, we had guest conductor, Jahja Ling conducting the Cleveland Orchestra in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Opus 83, with Peter Serkin as the piano soloist. I enjoyed this piece, especially what I would think was the second movement…The fourth movement I have to admit was a bit slow for me and I found my mind wondering.
A small intermission and then it was onto Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67 which of course has perhaps the most recognizable opening of any classical piece to those who don’t listen to much classical anyhow. I of course recognized the familiar “ta-ta-ta-TA” and most of what I would guess is the first movement, however, the next three movements all seemed to meld into one or two in my ears, perhaps this is just the way Ling conducted it, or the way it is written, I don’t know.
We’ll probably go one more time. Right now I am leaning to the “Zinman Conducts” night where we’ll get a few pieces, including a violin concerto and the “Enigma” Variations… I am not familiar with any of them… at least that I know of.
Dark Tower Graphic Novel Out
I missed it somehow, but Stephen King’s Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born)
I Got a Go Board
My dad had given us a gift certificate for the mall, so I used a bit of it at the game kiosk to buy a Go Board. As a bonus, since the holidays are over they have everything discounted so the whole thing came under $20 even with tax.
Go Game with Wood Board
That is the board I got.
I review it below the break.
Continue reading I Got a Go Board
My First Teaching Game of Go
I got my first teaching game of Go today, but before I did that I played yet another bot on KGS. I paid no real attention to the marking of dead stones at the end and hit done quickly. Bad mistake, as the game thought Black (the bot) won by 360.5, when the reality was that White (me) won by 66.5. Unfortunately that was a ranked game and is part of my record. So the lesson from that is, pay attention during the mark the dead stones phase.
Anyhow, for my teaching game, I played a game against a gentleman from Germany (I won’t say his online name here as I am not sure the rules on such things). It was a quick 13 x 13 game where White won by resignation. I was Black and I had a 4 stone handicap, but was far too defensive. My weakness continues to be corners, which even with the computer I tend to loose out on.
Specific things I need to work on. 3×3 invasions when I am on the default 4×4 star point. Building corners period really. Remember to look to connect stones, even if I can’t make a second eye close to the one set, if the other set I might connect to has one eye, then all of them will live. I need to view more moves down the line as I tend not to view too many moves ahead.
Reading the review is a bit harder to follow than the initial time through it since the comments appear when they were entered in, and some of my reactions may have been when he was a few moves from where he mentioned something.
Great Go Blog
ChiyoDad Learns Go is my favorite Go Blog. It is a very good website, especially for beginners. It is where I first learned of Hikaru No Go, which I will probably talk about at some future point (warning, don’t read past the Spoilers warning on that page until you have finished the series). Anyhow, ChiyoDad Learns Go, GoDiscussions and Sensei’s Library (a wiki for Go) are all things that every Go player should have bookmarked and visit regularly.
Where I First Learned of Go
I first heard of Go eons ago when Atari was the king of video games. I knew they were named for a Go term, but not much more than that. When they made their Tengen division, I again learned it was a Go term, but thought nothing more of it for a long time.
When Pente came out, I once again learned of Go. This time I gained a more active interest in it, but didn’t do anything about it.
Somewhere along the line I got back into it again and started learning the game. I learned some basics, and attended a local Go club meeting. Unfortunately for me, the club met at a time and date that didn’t work well for me and I was unable to go. They have since stopped meeting after one of the main guys in the club moved out of the area… not that it would matter since it would most likely still be a bad time for me. 🙂 After being unable to go to meeting, and too intimidated to do anything online, I stopped for a few years, once in a great while picking up a Go book and looking through it. As all things go full circle for me, I am once again pursuing Go, and this time will do more online since there are no local Go clubs. I am learning more this time, and once I get a few teaching games under my belt, I am sure I’ll be good to go (no pun intended).
Interesting Lesson on Counting Liberties
I was looking ahead a bit in my reading of The Second Book of Go (Beginner and Elementary Go Books)
Here we see the marked white stones has liberties at A and B and the marked Black stones have liberties and B and C. Generally when counting liberties that is where I would have stopped. However Black in this case has one more liberty.
White can play neither B nor C, else she puts itself in atari. That is, if she played B, Black would capture that stone and the marked stones by playing A. If she played C, Black would capture that stone and one more by playing D. So White must first play C, meaning even if White plays first she’ll loose as it would take one more move on her part. (Generally in a capture race, with everyone having the same number of liberties, the one who goes first will win.)
STICKY: I Am Not a Spammer
STICKY POST: New posts appear below this one.
If you have gotten Spam from brianathomas.com, please read below the break. The short of it is, it isn’t us but somebody pretending to be us. We don’t spam.
Continue reading STICKY: I Am Not a Spammer
My Go Book Collection and Books I Want
Here are the Go Books I currently have:
First is Janice Kim’s excellent Learn to Play Go series. These are basically English translations of books from the Korean Go Association. Very good books to have in your Go library. Some say the problem is that it is spread across so many books, and you get the lessons in one or two books from others, but I like them.
Learn to Play Go: A Master’s Guide to the Ultimate Game (Volume I) (Learn to Play Go)
A very good introduction to Go. As a matter of fact, I would say this one is nearly a must have for anyone who doesn’t know how to play Go at all. Once you know more than just the basics, it might be a bit to basic, but a great introduction.
The Way of the Moving Horse (Learn to Play Go, Volume II) (Learn to Play Go Ser)
I am nearly done with this one right now. This is probably the first book to get after the basics are learned, even if you skip the first book.
One of the must have books from Kiseido Publishing Company is
The Second Book of Go (Beginner and Elementary Go Books)
I plan on reading this soon. I started it a long time ago, but never finished it.
Go: More Than a Game
I am reading this one too right now. It is a nice book. Not an introduction to the game, but an okay book after you know the basic rules of the game. I like the other stuff it covers such as the history of Go and the like.
Every Go library needs the Graded Go Problems for Beginners. I have the first 3 volumes. Anything above the first volume right now is above my current level, though I can do some of the 2nd volume stuff.
Graded Go Problems for Beginners, 30 Kyu to 25 Kyu (Beginner & Elementary Go Bks.)
Graded Go Problems for Beginners, 25 kyu to 20 kyu (Beginner & Elementary Go Bks.)
Graded Go Problems for Beginners, Vol. 3: Intermediate Problems
Books I want:
Continue reading My Go Book Collection and Books I Want