Kirk blAug

This morning I got up for my run while it was still dark. After the first quarter of a mile or so, I looked up at the sky. I saw a few very bright stars up there. While this normally makes me feel humbled and connected at the same time, today it just made me feel disappointed. My disappointment was entirely relative to what I saw this past weekend when I looked up. Being in the country pretty far from any significant light pollution, I could see so many more stars than I normally do in the city. I am talking tens of thousands of times more. It was amazing and beautiful. It was a display of stars that I had not experienced in a long, long time. It made me think of the star gazers of the past such as Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei. I thought of how they looked up at very much the same night sky, and probably an even more stunning display than the one I was seeing. I thought of other people at different places in the world who were also sharing the spectacular sight of that n

I went on an internet detox this weekend. That is to say, I went camping. It was a much needed one too. We went to a place that has no signal on my carrier. This meant that I could not even really try to use the internet. Chris' iPad uses a network that got decent signal which I did use to communicate with my parents so that they could come out to our campsite for a visit. Other than that five minute use though, I was free of the internet for about 60 hours. I must say it was peaceful. I was with my children and my partner, so the only notifications I received were the important ones in realtime and face to face. It meant that I had to find other things to do and talk to people without being able to look up the validity of claims. I would not want to do that all the time, but it kept conversation light and agenda free. Our world grows evermore connected as we humans progress. From paintings on cave walls to the printing press to the ultra connected state the internet

I got an email from my past self today. It is from a version of me six years ago and is about how I was frustrated with the job I was at an hoped that I would be doing something I liked better in the future. Every time that I get an email from futureme.org it completely catches me off guard. I always forget about the service a few days after I send a set of them out. However, I think it is an excellent way to communicate something to me in the distant future. I tend to write about what is currently going on with me and where I hope to be by the time I get it. A few years ago I got one that told me I was completely stoned and just chilling out in Columbus, Nebraska. It was received during a time that was just chilling out in St. Louis, Missouri (but not stoned, maybe drinking a beer). I thought that was interesting. It always forces me to reflect and appreciate all the changes in my life since the time I wrote it. I am always glad to have received it. I am doing something I

There are far too few parenting books that address parenting from a secular point of view. So when I was asked to take a look at McKerracher's recent offering into the parenting book realm, I was immediately intrigued. There is a strong argument to be made that the secular values of knowledge, reason, logic, kindness, honesty, and love make for a great guide in raising tomorrow's youth. Compared with many religiously motivated guides of mostly authoritarianism and fear based parenting, McKerracher shows exactly why both religious and nonreligious parents can benefit by only presenting religion to children in an objective and unbiased manner leaving them to make their own decision about what they believe once they reach a developmental age at which they are capable of separating what is real and what is not. In one chapter, she tackles the myth that I often hear regurgitated by religious apologists that children are innately believers in a god. By pointing out the logical

Yesterday morning while at the park with the boys, Jupiter suggested that we play superheroes. Since he was wearing a Batman shirt, Jupiter wanted to be Batman. In keeping with the theme of the moment, Tsunami decided to be Robin. Jupiter then asked which hero I would choose to be. I told him that I wanted to be Alfred. "We are playing super heroes, dad!" Jupiter replied. I argued, "Alfred is essential to the hero that is Batman. In fact without Alfred, I do not think there could even be a Batman as you know and love." To be honest, I had never actually thought of Alfred in this way until the moment I made the argument. But I think it holds true. How many times has Alfred been there for Batman in ways that were essential to his task? I think plenty. Without Alfred, I do not think that millionaire, Bruce Wayne, could keep his identity a secret. Alfred has covered for him often. There have even been instances where Alfred has put on the bat suit in order make

Jupiter is currently building the Ecto 1 thanks to Grandma Ernie and Grandpa Pat. I am really loving these LEGO Ideas sets. I applaud LEGO for bringing community involvement to their retail products. I am sure it is no easy task as there must be licensing hoops to jump through as well as making sure the products meet a certain degree of structural integrity. The Back to the Future set was equally fun to build. One thing that I really like is that, aside from unique paint on some of the pieces, these all seem to be built from preexisting pieces. There are seemingly no new molds created because, for example, a certain Star Wars vessel has some particular need. Maybe one day we can submit one of our own creations to LEGO Ideas to be voted on as a potential product, but for now we have been more than satisfied with what the community has come up with. Now if only we had some of that Hi-C Ecto Cooler that I loved drinking in the late 80s, we could really get the nostalgia flowi