
<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203812775_267d11a275_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Autumn Parenting">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203812775_1101a6c822_t.jpg" alt="Autumn Parenting"/>
</a>

When I was a kid, sometimes my after school daycare program would bring us to The Children's Park, right downtown next to _The News Herald_, the town newspaper, and across from The Rec\[reation\] Center. There was an old fire engine that had been parked in the park for children to play on. I very vividly recall all the little – and I mean _tiny_ – nooks and crannies, presumably where pumps or folded hose had been, of that fire truck that we used to crawl into with as much exit strategy as the Pentagon. Ah, good times.

In 2004, the park was completely renovated with donations from the wealthy Pheifer family, in memory of Martha Pheifer, and renamed [Martha's Park](http://www.ci.morganton.nc.us/index.php/departments/parks-and-recreation-dept-menu/city-parks-menu/131-marthas-park). Earlier this year, my parents moved a few blocks from the park, so on Monday, while I was telecommuting to the office, Nora went to the park with her mother and grandmother. Judging from the photos, they had a grand old time. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203694687_47b9969b95_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="In the park">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203694687_5e6195377d.jpg" alt="In the park"/>
</a>

Nora's an expert at the "swinging with cookie" maneuver.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203708009_a7fbb7d5f5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="With Mommy in the park">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203708009_b7f4ff6d0b.jpg" alt="With Mommy in the park"/>
</a>

"_Mi casa es su casa._"

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204319226_5db8091c42_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Picnic">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204319226_387a9e5ab5.jpg" alt="Picnic"/>
</a>

"Have a seat. We need to talk."

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203731565_41389d0f11_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Playing at the park">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203731565_2e655d9173.jpg" alt="Playing at the park"/>
</a>

Through the window. I love this shot.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203739251_a09acf1226_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Elephant in the park">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203739251_863c55d994.jpg" alt="Elephant in the park"/>
</a>

Riding an elephant.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204360866_d7bda65338_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Martha's Park">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204360866_087ea10f8c.jpg" alt="Martha's Park"/>
</a>

I assume this statue is of Martha?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204390062_08e2f9102f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Doing laps">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204390062_021354002b.jpg" alt="Doing laps"/>
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Doing laps around the circle.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204382758_7e267a0472_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Fun at the park">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5204382758_c250330776.jpg" alt="Fun at the park"/>
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Monorail Cat.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203812775_267d11a275_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Autumn Parenting">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-fun-in-marthas-park/5203812775_1101a6c822.jpg" alt="Autumn Parenting"/>
</a>

We've had some truly wonderful weather so far this week. I'm glad that Nora and Marga are getting to enjoy it.


Fun in Martha's Park


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/5204928352_d917fc9ab1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Napping with Sam">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5204928352_5f6c5ea0a1_t.jpg" alt="Napping with Sam"/>
</a>

 When we visited last March, Nora's favorite of my parents' dogs [was clearly Sam](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/4456623189/), the West Highland Terrier. The same is true this time, except that now that Nora can walk, she can _hound_ him considerably more, following him around the house shouting "_¡Hola!_" at him.

Yesterday, when Nora was awaking from her stroll-by-the-river-induced afternoon slumber, I picked her up out of her pram, thinking she was fully away, and set her on the couch. She quickly dozed off, and slowly slouched over to her left, landing on top of the sleeping westie, creating one of the cutest scenes I've ever witnessed. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/5204336099_cf12d5d5f3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Napping with Sam">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5204336099_11930811ac.jpg" alt="Napping with Sam"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/5204924580_9072cbea09_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Napping with Sam">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5123/5204924580_e60965a541.jpg" alt="Napping with Sam"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/5204928352_d917fc9ab1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Napping with Sam">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5204928352_5f6c5ea0a1_z.jpg" alt="Napping with Sam"/>
</a>

I think this is my favorite one. She has the look of a [putto](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putto).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/5204343479_abec324e5b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sleeping Westie">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-24-sleeping-with-sam/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5121/5204343479_2cde1113d0.jpg" alt="Sleeping Westie"/>
</a>

Macro Sam. The iPhone's camera really shines at a distance of about 8 cm.


Sleeping With Sam


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201043905_d6f8aa64a9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="American Lake">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201043905_e1456f8287_t.jpg" alt="American Lake"/>
</a>

On Sunday afternoon, Nora, Marga and I went out sailing on Lake James with Uncle John. He's not really my uncle, but my love for him could best be described as avuncular, and he flew all the way to Spain to come to my wedding, so he's deserves an honorary _uncledom_. Earlier this year he bought a 24-foot sail boat which he loves to take out on the local manmade lake as often as he can.  We were unsure of how well Nora would do on the boat considering that she can get carsick very quickly, but she did very, very well for her first time on a boat. I'm not certain that she understood that she was on a boat in the middle of a lake, but several times she did look over the side and say "Water, water!" She spent most of her time exploring the deck. As she does with the television remote control, she immediately intuited the importance of having the tiller in your hands and liked to grab for it. Once we let her have it and we went around in circles a few times.

We brought several layers of warm clothing, because everyone knows it's cold both in a sailboat and out on an open lake. The weather, however, was such a wonderfully perfect 24Â°C that we had trouble catching wind in the sails for most of the outing, not that anyone minded. The peace and tranquility of being out on the lake was delightful.

John brought out a plate of cheese and olives, which immediately endeared him to Nora, who is a big fan of both foods. It was a wonderful hour and a half out on the lake. We vowed that next time we should bring some lunch and make a day of it.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201564824_9eac8e3d94_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Passengers aboard the Dream On">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201564824_c27ff83bd4.jpg" alt="Passengers aboard the Dream On"/>
</a>

On board the _Dream On_. Unfortunately, I was an idiot and didn't get any photos of John on our outing. It shan't happen again.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201708593_fd6b38dd92_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="John and Linda on their boat">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201708593_37978ae5f0.jpg" alt="John and Linda on their boat"/>
</a>

Update: Here's a photo of John and his wife, Linda, taken by my father on a previous sailing adventure.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5477394500_81e3c6da96_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Captain John">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5477394500_5e14170600_z.jpg" alt="Captain John"/>
</a>

Update 2: Another photo of John sailing his boat, courtesy of Jacob Pittman.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5200999357_04a2b721fa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora at the Helm">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5200999357_5d0761c80f.jpg" alt="Nora at the Helm"/>
</a>

Nora takes the helm. She lives in a fishing village, so she's very nautical.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201612810_6c932c882e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora at the Helm">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201612810_48886f382f.jpg" alt="Nora at the Helm"/>
</a>

Hard to starboard!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201027213_a3b5c521e6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="The tiller fights back">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201027213_0f9051ae02.jpg" alt="The tiller fights back"/>
</a>

Manning the tiller actually requires some arm strength, otherwise it might push you overboard.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201043905_d6f8aa64a9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="American Lake">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-23-sailing-with-uncle-john/5201043905_e1456f8287.jpg" alt="American Lake"/>
</a>

Thank you very much, John, for a wonderful trip out on your fantastic sailboat. We can't wait to come back and do it again!


Sailing With Uncle John


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-22-airline-security-and-underpants-bombs/5198674320_d6f9547eca_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Nora in her Lufthansa Bassinet">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-22-airline-security-and-underpants-bombs/5198674320_ed0c1cca64_t.jpg" alt="Nora in her Lufthansa Bassinet"/>
</a>

On Saturday, we flew from Bilbao to Munich to Charlotte. There are a few good anecdotes from the journey to share, so I thought I'd commit them to the Internet.

I was expecting extra tight security, as that's what the US and European media are all atwitter about. In the Bilbao airport, it was early in the morning, and the _Guardia Civil_ agents that run the airport security seemed pretty disinterested. I didn't even have to take my laptop out of my bag. I had to put the bag that normally hangs from Nora's stroller through the x-ray machine, but it contained a large bottle of water, a pocket knife, and various canisters of powder. I asked if the stroller should go through the machine too (it has before), but the agent said I could just walk through the gate with it, leave it on the other side, walk back through, and then walk through it myself to make sure I didn't beep. He then casually glanced under the stroller where the plastic cover was, but didn't remove it or look under it. There was plenty of space to hide a semi-automatic handgun under there. And off we went to our gate... We normally try to make our two-flight hop to Charlotte via Frankfurt, but this time I discovered that Munich was an option as well. In the Munich airport, I was amazed that our departure gate was in the same terminal as our arrival gate. Almost always (London, Paris, Madrid, Frankfurt) you have to switch from the intra-Europe terminal to the intercontinental terminal; this is the first time we didn't have to do that.

The other standard step is going through the extra-paranoid "OMG, you're flying to the US!?" security at the departure gate, where they ask you how long you've owned every piece of electronics in your bag. It's been like this ever since I emigrated shortly after September 2001. But there was nothing; no additional security at our gate. The same handgun I could have boarded with in Spain could still be with me, flying over Washington, D.C.

Our layover was the perfect 60 minutes, and by the time we were at the gate and found some seats, they were announcing that the rich people could start boarding. We decided to visit the restroom before embarking, so first I went, while Nora and Marga watched the stuff, and then they went to change Nora's diaper. When they came back out and we were about to get up to board the plane, Marga said, "Umm...did we put all the diapers in the checked luggage???!!?" After three minutes of frantic searching through our bags like I'd expected the security folks to do, a feeling of doom settled over us...

**We boarded a nine hour flight with no diapers!**

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-22-airline-security-and-underpants-bombs/5198674320_d6f9547eca_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora in her Lufthansa Bassinet">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-22-airline-security-and-underpants-bombs/5198674320_ed0c1cca64_z.jpg" alt="Nora in her Lufthansa Bassinet"/>
</a>

Marga eats her chicken, and a German woman feasts on a small baby.

By about the time we reached cruising altitude, Nora got "that serious look" on her face, pointed to her rear end and said, "Pee pee!", an expression which has superseded "stinky" and applies now to all diaper events. "No, I'm sure it's nothing," I told her nervously. But she was insistent. Right around the time we were contemplating ways to clean out the dirty diaper and put it back on her, a little blond-haired blue-eyed girl whom a casual observer could easily mistake for Nora was carried back into coach from first class by her blond-haired blue-eyed German mother. She walked passed us, and Marga and I looked at each other. Did we just see a path to salvation?

When the blond mother-daughter pair walked back and glanced at Nora, I asked, "I'm terribly embarrassed to be asking this, but do you think we could have one of your extra diapers?" I had to consciously avoid the word "borrow". Although any half-decent person would say yes to that plea, she was overly kind about it in a way that dovetailed nicely with the selfless politeness stereotype I have of northern Europeans.

A quick plug for Lufthansa... We normally, on the Bilbao-Frankfurt-Charlotte trip fly with US Airways. When [we flew in March](/2010/04/05/one-year-old/), we didn't know that we could request a bassinet, and dealt with having Nora on our laps for the whole flight to the US. But on the way back, we requested one and it was a hundred times nicer not having her on top of us the whole trip. We were a little worried that Nora wouldn't fit into the bassinet very well, but the Lufthansa bassinets were twice the size of the US Airways ones, and much more sturdily designed. Along with the eerie pre-9/11 lack of security, we also found that the booze was free on the Lufthansa flight like it used to be back in the good ol' days. I didn't dare order wine with my chicken meal, but then the guy behind me ordered a rum-and-coke with his, and didn't pay a dime, so twice later in the flight, I went back to the galley and asked for a beer, which was given to me cold in a can with a plastic cup. Rock on, Lufthansa!

We had one stretch of sixty miserable minutes during the nine hour flight in which Nora was screaming at the top of her lungs and was punching at us angrily when we tried to console her. The problem was that she was sleepy and she always naps in her stroller, which was unavailable to us. So there we were, at the front of the coach section, with an audience of people wrapped up in their blankets trying to sleep with a red-faced tantrum-throwing child. To anyone who has ever been annoyed by a child on an airplane, I can assure you that however annoyed you feel, the parents are an order of magnitude more peeved.

At about the 59-minute mark, a flight attendant came up to us and said "You can walk her around the cabin if you'd like. Perhaps that would help?" It took all our might not to strangle Little Miss Brainstorm who apparently hadn't seen us try that five times already, but we picked up Nora and walked her around. As if to frustrate us even further, this happened to be the exact moment of exhaustion when walking her around actually did help, and Nora began to fall asleep, the interval between sniffles growing with each minute. What followed was an hour and a half of silence, in which I got a little sleep as well.

When the screen in front of us was informing us that we had three hours more to go, Nora starting saying "Pee pee!" again. I got up and walked to the curtained barrier between gentry and the plebs, and peered through. Within a few seconds, a flight attendant came up to me, like I knew she would, and said, "Sir, you can't go up there." I asked if there was a little blond girl up there, the attendant said that there was, and I explained that we desperately needed to borrow a diaper from that family. This was probably the best excuse she'd ever heard from an uppity passenger, and she let me pass.

Tail, had I had one, between my legs, I walked up to the German-American family and asked humbly for another diaper. With no hesitation whatsoever, they produced one for me. I've been dreading the next time we fly when Nora is over two years old, because we'll have to pay full price, which is often four digits, for her ticket, but here was a 22-month-old girl who had a full first class seat to herself. While eternally grateful to them for saving us from a potentially literally shitty flight, the redistribution of wealth Liberal in me didn't feel too bad inconveniencing them a little.

The descent into Charlotte was filled with screams from Nora. Everybody around us felt compelled to explain that it was because of the pressure changes, but her mother and I know it had almost everything to do with the seatbelt restraining her.

When we'd boarded the plane in Germany, there had been snow on the ground and 2Â°C, and in North Carolina, it was 19Â°C and sunny, a pleasant change.

Nora really enjoyed the people-herding movable bollards used to keep the immigration lines orderly. We let her stray out of line a couple times. "Be careful, there are a lot of foreigners here!", I quipped. Once, she found one of the unused bollards against the wall and managed to get her head stuck between the bollard and the wall, which forced Marga to duck under the tape out of line to help her free. When we finally got to the immigration agent, he was quizzing Marga, the non-American-citizen in our group about her travels. I looked down at Nora, and she was gone. I said, "Excuse me, I'll be right back," and dashed passed the agent, Nora was ten meters away looking at some other passengers. When I got back to our agent, he chuckled, defusing the awkwardness of my border jumping.

The best thing about the slow immigration queues is that you don't have to wait long for your suitcases at baggage claim. Nora wanted to go pet the contraband sniffing beagle, but we wanted to get past customs before they found the goat cheese I'd brought with me. A quick call to my mother and a four minute wait on the curb and we were all piled in the van heading home.

For the first fifteen or twenty minutes of the van ride, Nora was so excited to see her grandmother that she kept shouting "Grandma! Grandma! Grandma!" from her car seat. Our 16-hour trip had been a success.


Airline Security and Underpants Bombs


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-16-denise-%c2%a1patadas-no/5181490551_b9617d5e12_o_d.png" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Denise, patadas no (screencap)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-16-denise-%c2%a1patadas-no/5181490551_9c7475b3c4_t.jpg" alt="Denise, patadas no (screencap)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")A couple weeks ago, as her mother was drying and dressing her after her bath, Nora began kicking. Her mother told her "_¡Patadas no!_" (No kicks!) She then told Nora, "Tomorrow, at daycare, you can tell your friend Denise. _Denise, ¡patadas no!_" For whatever reason, Nora really liked this idea, and she's since taken to saying "_Denise, ¡patadas no!_", particularly when it's time to go to daycare. As far as we know, Denise, who is about a month older than Nora, has never once kicked Nora or anyone else, but it's pretty cute.  Today after Nora's lunch, she started saying it as she was slowly falling into a post-lunch stupor (that's _siesta_ in Spanish), and I got out my iPhone to record her. Her performance has all the drama of a hipster poetry reading.


Denise, ¡Patadas No!


[![Apple TV 2.0 - Unboxing](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-12-a-fortnight-with-the-apple-tv/5051587487_86bf55f995_t.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/humedini/5051587487/ "Apple TV 2.0 - Unboxing by humedini, on Flickr")I have now had an Apple TV (2nd gen) for two weeks and I thought I'd post some thoughts about it. Unlike the first generation Apple TV, this one has no permanent storage on the device. _Everything_ is streamed from an outside source. So all my movies and television shows live in my iTunes library on my computer, which I can browse on the Apple TV and select an item to view. It takes about two or three seconds sometimes to start playing, but then the rest of the video downloads into a buffer while the first part of it is playing, much like when you view a video on YouTube on your computer. 

## The Expected

### Photos

I knew that the Apple TV would connect to either my local iPhoto library or to my Flickr account and show slideshows. The photo screensaver on the Apple TV is just as mesmerizing as the one on my desktop computer, although the randomization is a little off. It seems to just choose a selection of 50 or so random photos and then repeat those.

### Movies

I have watched a couple dozen movie trailers and added some movies to my Wishlist, but I just can't bring myself to spend $4.99 to rent a movie for 24 hours. Not only that, but it's hard to find time to watch a movie. Normally I can only find that kind of time after everyone has gone to bed, in which case I'm better off watching it with my eyes 50 cm away from my 30" computer monitor.

### TV Shows

I think I may have finally found the Holy Grail solution to watching bittorrented television shows on the Apple TV. I've [talked about this before](/2007/03/14/podcasting-and-bittorrent-unite/). So far there has never really been a great solution, and even now, three years later, the final setup is a bit contrived.

For a while now, I've had my RSS feed reader, [NetNewsWire](http://netnewswireapp.com/) ([Automatic](http://codingcurious.com/automatic/) alway seemed buggy), checking [ezrss.it](http://ezrss.it/shows/) feeds for new torrent files, automatically downloading them into my folder where [Transmission](http://www.transmissionbt.com/) picks them up and downloads the video file. This was good enough for watching shows on my computer, but to see them on the Apple TV, they need to be converted into a proprietary iTunes format. I'd been using [VideoMonkey](http://videomonkey.org/) for this, but there was no good way to automate the conversion. Then I stumbled upon [this wonderful guide](http://winfred.vankuijk.net/2010/01/from-torrent-to-itunes-an-automated-workflow/) that recommended [iFlicks](http://iflicksapp.com/). iFlicks isn't free, but its database searching for show metadata tends to work better than VideoMonkey's. And most importantly of all, _it comes with a [folder action](http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/folderactions.html)_. That means that, when a file is placed in a certain folder, iFlicks will automatically launch, fetch the metadata for that video file, convert it into an Apple Universal format, and add it to your iTunes library. This makes iFlicks worth every cent of the 19.95€ it costs.

Now, when I wake up in the morning and turn on the television, there's last night's _The Daily Show_ and _The Colbert Report_ ready to be viewed. Awesome.

### Children's Shows

My daughter is getting to the age where she is starting to enjoy television programming. Children, much to their parents' frustration, are often suckers for repetition, i.e. viewing the same videos over and over again. They like knowing what's coming next. One of the reasons I bought the Apple TV was to have a video library of kids' shows available at my fingertips in the living room without having to fiddle around with the outdated optical disc media of yesteryear. Her very favorite thing at the moment is a Spanish children's song series called [Cantajuego](http://www.cantajuego.com/). It's like a drug that will pull her out of the deepest crying tantrum. Priceless. She's also enjoying _Dora The Explorer_ and _Rugrats_, although she's a little young for the latter.

## The Unexpected

### Podcasts

One of the things I was looking forward to was being able to watch [TED Talks](http://www.ted.com/talks) while I'm playing with my daughter in the living room. So when I got the Apple TV, I immediately went to my computer and subscribed to the TED Talks HD podcast and downloaded a few. Sure enough, there they were under my computer when browsing from the Apple TV.

What I didn't realize was that the Apple TV can access internet podcasts directly, thus there was no need to first download them to my computer. In fact, under the "Internet" menu in the Apple TV, you can browse podcasts available on the iTunes Store, and then play them directly from the internet. In retrospect, this is obvious, since the whole point of the Apple TV is to play hosted video files. Since discovering this, I have enjoyed watching the _NBC Nightly News_ every morning.

### Internet Radio

I'm not sure why I expected the Apple TV to be more of a Home LAN device, when there's so much content out there on the internet for it to play. The internet radio menu on the Apple TV has at least a thousand radio stations to listen to, in every conceivable genre. While this is probably the functionality that I will least use, it's still nice to know it's there.

### The Remote

The [Apple TV remote control](http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC377?mco=MTM3NDY2Nzg) is amazing. There are no seams in the metal. It's one solid piece of aluminum, and the electronics have been inserted through the holes where the buttons are.

The Remote app on the iPhone and iPad are interesting, although I'm not sure how useful they will really be in practice. I suspect they will come in most handy when we can't find the actual remote control.

## Conclusion

In general, I'm very happy with the $99 second generation Apple TV. I look forward to seeing what new features Apple will build into its operating system over the coming years.


A Fortnight With The Apple TV


[![Sistine Chapel Creation of Adam by Michelangelo](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-09-michelangelo/3261174157_7aef89c7ee_t.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbell1975/3261174157/ "Sistine Chapel Creation of Adam by Michelangelo by mbell1975, on Flickr")Recently I have been witnessing one of the things I was most looking forward to as a parent, the bilingual language acquisition of my daughter. You can say "Where's the table?" or "_¿Dónde está la mesa?_", and she'll point right to the table. The same works for her anatomy and toys. In fact one of the best tricks I've discovered for keeping her occupied while I sit on the couch is to say, "Where is \[object not currently in this room\]?", which prompts her to run off to verify that whatever is in its place. Every day I try to teach her a little more vocabulary. Yesterday was "elbow" and "knee"; today was "couch" and "TV". But what really amazes me is when I ask her about stuff that I haven't explicitly taught her, and she knows what I'm referring to. That's what really blows my mind.  On Sunday, I made a parental blunder. Nora had just discovered that she can inch her way around underneath the coffee table, and I thought it was cute, so I grabbed my iPhone and recorded a video. What happened next was that she began drawing, in crayon, on the underside of the table. In an instant, I quickly calculated the value of continuing to film her contrasted with the value of stopping her from drawing on the furniture. I concluded that, as far as furniture graffiti goes, you can't get anywhere much less noticeable than the under side of an opaque coffee table, so I let her continue.

Unfortunately, she has since had the idea to go "tagging" other objects in the house, managing to draw a little on a wall before getting appropriately chastised by her mother. I fear that for not nipping this behavior in the bud, I may have unleashed a vandal.

When I looked under the table, I saw this:

[![Sistine Chapel Creation of Adam by Michelangelo](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-09-michelangelo/3261174157_7aef89c7ee.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbell1975/3261174157/ "Sistine Chapel Creation of Adam by Michelangelo by mbell1975, on Flickr")

Well, okay, maybe it really looked a little more like this:

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-09-michelangelo/5159157031_f58073a24d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="The Sistine Chapel (Rough Draft)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-09-michelangelo/5159157031_c608a1b20b.jpg" alt="The Sistine Chapel (Rough Draft)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")


Michelangelo


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-06-noras-first-visit-to-the-emergency-room/5152284646_25a64ebf9e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Swollen Ring Finger">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-06-noras-first-visit-to-the-emergency-room/5152284646_a50a54f6ba_t.jpg" alt="Swollen Ring Finger"/>
</a>

I love the smell of x-ray radiation in the morning. Last night, Nora had an encounter with [The Ceramic Bulldog](/2008/07/08/ceramic-bulldog/) that didn't go so well for either party. She managed to lift the one-kilo ceramic atrocity above the floor and then drop it somehow upon her left ring finger, breaking the dog's tail slightly. She cried for a bit, but then stopped and it was time for bed, so we all [went to Cuba](/2010/06/12/quirky-old-grandpa/).  In the morning, her finger was enormously swollen, and she was pretty much crying nonstop "Mano, mano, mano, mano, mano!!!" It was decided that, just to be on the safe side, we would take her to the ER at the local hospital and get an x-ray to verify that nothing was broken, and that kisses really could "make it better". At 8:00, we left home for the hospital. We arrived at 9:10, according to our car's clock (I'd forgotten to set it back an hour for non-DST). The ER was immediately familiar to us, because it was where I took Marga at 2 AM [on March 24, 2009](/2009/03/26/birth-of-a-daughter-twitter-feed/), just 11 hours before she gave birth to Nora. With her usual charm, Nora refused to have the hospital bracelet placed on her, so her mother was her surrogate bracelet wearer.

We waited for 15 minutes before the doctor came in and looked at Nora's hand. Every time anyone came within a meter of her (which was every time any doctor or nurse had to deal with her), Nora was screaming inconsolably. They tried to weigh her, to calculate her doses of painkiller, but we ended up having to subtract "Mommy + Nora" from "Mommy" to get her 10 kg weight.

Eventually the radiography technician arrived and told me that I was responsible for holding her still during the x-ray. She put a lead apron on me with a neck guard, and I had to hold Nora's hand still on a plate. Apparently I was chosen because the radiation is less damaging to Nora's chances of having a sibling if her father receives it than her mother. I dutifully held her hand (it took all my might) to the plate, and the technician lady ran from the room shouting, "_Tira, tira!_" (Shoot, shoot!) In the blink of an eye, we'd both been sufficiently irradiated.

After another 20 minutes in our room, enough for Nora to completely soak her denim dress with water which she kept demanding out of boredom and then spitting out all over herself, the doctor came back in the room and pulled up Nora's file on the computer in the room. He double clicked on her x-ray file and up popped the x-ray of her little hand and mine holding it down. He zoomed in and showed that, although her joints had not yet fully formed, the finger bones were still aligned properly in the damaged finger. This is what we'd come to the hospital to hear, and we felt reassured. He prescribed her some ibuprofen and sent us on our way.

By the time we'd arrived home, the ibuprofen that the nurse had given Nora (only 75% of which was spit back out) had started to take effect and the swelling was down. I took her for a walk and she promptly fell asleep.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-06-noras-first-visit-to-the-emergency-room/5152284646_25a64ebf9e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Swollen Ring Finger">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-06-noras-first-visit-to-the-emergency-room/5152284646_a50a54f6ba.jpg" alt="Swollen Ring Finger"/>
</a>

Only once she was asleep was I able to take a non-blurry photo of her hand. The swelling was already down. Hint: It's her ring finger that's swollen!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-06-noras-first-visit-to-the-emergency-room/5151686161_387d6ce173_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="In our hospital room">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-06-noras-first-visit-to-the-emergency-room/5151686161_39a10172cd.jpg" alt="In our hospital room"/>
</a>

In our hospital waiting room.

[The dog](/2008/07/08/ceramic-bulldog/), which we have disliked since inheriting it from the previous owners of our house and needed very little provocation to throw it way (frankly, I'd been disappointed in Nora's inability to shatter it thus far), was disposed of on our way to the hospital, despite Nora's melancholy "Doggy! Doggy! Doggy!" rantings.

May all her future visits to the emergency room go so well...


Nora's First Visit to the Emergency Room


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-05-blog-name-idea-1/5149784900_ac7085e9c9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Unshaven Thinker">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-05-blog-name-idea-1/5149784900_5213dbe2c5_t.jpg" alt="Unshaven Thinker"/>
</a>

I was as creative in naming my blog as Dave Matthews was in naming his band. The thing is, I was a blogger long before I was a blog reader, so I didn't really know that blogs were supposed to have interesting names, and I must say that I put the first thing that popped into my head for the "blog name" field in my original setup to the precursor to this blog. Oh well.

Anyway, a cool name for a blog popped into my head well over a year ago and I've been meaning to mention it. I don't actually want it for myself, so I'm just throwing it out there for anyone to use it. At the time of this writing, all domain names involved are available. Here it is. Please say it aloud as you read it.

itaintwhatyouthink.com

The first layer of beauty of this name is that it can be read in two different ways, depending on where your brain breaks up the words.

1. I  taint  what  you  think
2. It  ain't  what  you  think

The second layer of beauty of this name is that the very nature of the first layer **_makes both those statements true_**.

If I were to use this blog name, I would make the header of the blog show one version of the sentence 50% of the time and the other for the other 50% of the time. It'd be a great name for an optical illusions site or something similar...or just any old blog.

In case you're getting to this post late and someone has already snatched up that domain, never fear. You can replace the word "think" with just about anything (e.g. feel, believe, want) and the trick still works.

If you choose this url, I'd appreciate a link back to this page on your about page.


Blog Name Idea #1


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-05-little-bo-peep/5148323571_1c000e2ac8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Remote herding">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-05-little-bo-peep/5148323571_9a03e7b327_t.jpg" alt="Remote herding"/>
</a>

One aspect I did not foresee of my child gaining her bipedal mobility, was that she was not the only object in our house that would no longer remain stationary. Scores of inanimate objects move about our house seemingly randomly on a daily basis. Conversations like, "Where's the television remote?" "Have you checked the bidet?" have become commonplace. Just this morning I had to use Apple's "Find My iPhone" service to locate my phone. The question is not **_if_** an electronic device will end up in the toilet, it's a matter of **_which_** electronic device will get flushed.

A very recent behavior has emerged of hoarding certain objects. I can tell, whenever she's marching from room to room with that determined look on her face, that some exodus of objects is taking place, be it coasters, pencils, toys, or clothes pins. Last week when I was mounting our new television on the wall, I took my eye off Nora's activities for a few minutes. When my parental "It's _too_ quiet!" neurons fired, I wandered into the kitchen to find that she had herded all the television remotes and one RCA-to-SCART connector into a certain spot on the kitchen floor and was standing guard over them like a shepherd with her walking cane her grandparents bought her.

While I am delighted that this behavior is technically increasing order in the house, it has yet to be order that actually helps the rest of the members of the family in any way.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-05-little-bo-peep/5148349577_bcaf5640e9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Little Bo Peep herds her remotes">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-05-little-bo-peep/5148349577_020a0afe57_z.jpg" alt="Little Bo Peep herds her remotes"/>
</a>


Little Bo Peep


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5145990751_b260a2b509_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="With Nora and Chloe (crop)">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5145990751_3180780b68_t.jpg" alt="With Nora and Chloe (crop)"/>
</a>

 by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")Last weekend Nora got to see her second cousin, Chloe, again. Chloe is five months younger, and several kilos heavier, than Nora and has just begun walking. They were pretty cute together. Unlike Nora, Chloe is happy to be picked up by a relative stranger. I picked her up when I first saw her and she took an immediate liking to me after that, which is the exact opposite of what Nora would do.

I became a fan of [Three Frames](http://threeframes.net/) (sometimes NSFW) about a year ago. It's an idea I'd never have thought of, to take just three frames from a movie and make an animated gif. The result can be quite comical. One side-effect is that, if the camera was moving at all, the resulting gif takes on a 3D effect. While it was not my intention when I was snapping photos like crazy of Nora and Chloe, when I later got them in my computer and was flipping between them, I just had to make a three-framed animated gif of three of the shots. <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5146579384_ceaed56ee5_o_d.gif" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora and Chloe Dance">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5146579384_ceaed56ee5_o.gif" alt="Nora and Chloe Dance"/>
</a>

Bobblehead Dancers

Here are a few more photos of me trying to get kisses from both little girls.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5145950325_c257c23a86_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="With Nora and Chloe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5145950325_21c1ced7d5.jpg" alt="With Nora and Chloe"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5146556950_e29649f5ab_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="With Nora and Chloe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5146556950_c5670766f9.jpg" alt="With Nora and Chloe"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5145958697_0922ede062_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="With Nora and Chloe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-04-fun-with-cousin-chloe/5145958697_fd04cdb4d9.jpg" alt="With Nora and Chloe"/>
</a>


Fun with Cousin Chloe


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127704915_763e85e3d8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127704915_6ed455fede_t.jpg" alt="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume"/>
</a>

In Spain, the primary holiday for children to wear costumes is [Carnival](/2010/02/12/carnival-2010-in-colindres/), not Halloween. However little by little, the virus of American culture is taking hold. Several of my expat friends in Spain have reported some trick-or-treaters, and some of the local shops say they got some too.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/4434951855_73e10beb37_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Zebra Girl">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/4434951855_357c0a69a1_m.jpg" alt="Zebra Girl"/>
</a>

I took the opportunity of Halloween to dress Nora up in a zebra costume that Friend of This Blog, Josh Grady, sent us. His daughter, Sophia, is nine months older than Nora, and they live in Barcelona. He got the idea from the caption I put to this photograph of Nora [last March](/2010/03/15/spring-rears-its-fragrant-head/) looking like a zebra doing Eeyore's famous pose. He asked me for my mailing address and shipped us a zebra costume. Unfortunately, neither Carnival nor Halloween fell at the exact time for the costume to be Nora's size, but she wore it proudly despite it being a little small. As with most new items of apparel (e.g. hats, sunglasses, etc.) she protested bitterly when I put it on her and even more ferociously when I tried to take it off her.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127694303_13fe5098dc_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127694303_0376267832.jpg" alt="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5128304776_1b252c8e24_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5128304776_ee6c10760e.jpg" alt="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume"/>
</a>

<david-attenborough>   Zebras do not normally come across carved gourds in the wild. </david-attenborough>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127704915_763e85e3d8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127704915_6ed455fede.jpg" alt="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume"/>
</a>

Curious zebra.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127706911_0d0e36b4ae_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-halloween-zebra/5127706911_ff7eef8aae.jpg" alt="Nora Zebra Halloween Costume"/>
</a>

I hope you all had a happy Halloween. Thank you very much to Sophia and her parents for providing the wardrobe for this post.


Halloween Zebra


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-social-networking-and-flight-search-mashup-idea/1127195296_a9e0ebcab9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Suitcase Sam">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-02-social-networking-and-flight-search-mashup-idea/1127195296_046d347de5_t.jpg" alt="Suitcase Sam"/>
</a>

I've got some extra vacation time to spend this year. I'd like to travel somewhere, but I don't have any ideas. For the longest time I really wanted an app to show me all the places I can go from my local airport on a given week, but no one had anything like this. Recently, however, I have been blown away by the [Kayak iPad app](http://www.kayak.com/ipad), which does just that, plus price range and temperature range sliders, and even checkboxes for pastimes like skiing, golf, beach, etc. It's amazing.

But what I really want, and I suspect there are clever people coding this as I type, is a way to combine information from my social networks, primarily Facebook, with flight searches to find the best deals to go see my friends. One destination on my shortlist is a major US city, and I think there's a pretty good chance that there is some classmate of mine that I would enjoy sharing a beer or dinner with is probably living in that city. There are [already](http://www.google.com/search?q=facebook+friend+google+maps) Facebook applications to do this, of course, but the few I have tried do not work very well.

But here's where I want the technology to go...

### First Dimension

I want to see flight offers to destination cities where I have friends. Ideally I could rank my friends (privately, of course) in order of whom I'd most like to visit soon. I'd also like to see prices for them to come see me.

### Second Dimension

Here's where it gets more complex. I want to see destinations where relatively cheap flights from my airport and my friend's airport arrive and depart around the same time. If there's a cheap weekend deal from Bilbao, Spain (my airport), to Paris and also from Sofia, Bulgaria (where I have a friend), to Cairo, Egypt, arriving the same afternoon and departing the same morning a couple days later, I want to know about it.

### Third Dimension

The same as before, but with multiple friends from multiple departure cities. Say I have a group of four friends from Cincinnati, Miami, Phoenix and Houston, and we want to get together for a week somewhere that's not Las Vegas; what destinations and dates would be good?

At the moment, this level of search combinatorics is only possible through very painstaking trial-and-error meanderings through the search space, either by a consumer or by a travel agent. But one day in the near future, flight information and social networks will collide to provide some interesting results. I'm looking forward to seeing them.


Social Networking and Flight Search Mashup Idea


Just some food for thought to my American brethren as you head to the polls on Tuesday. Not that it should discourage you from voting. Please vote! [It's important](/2006/06/19/voting/).

[![The Problem With Representative Democracy](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2010-11-01-the-problem-with-representative-democracy/b2cc9888-75f7-4fec-86e3-6753a1ebaa10.png "The Problem With Representative Democracy")](http://cheezburger.com/rasman1978/lolz/View/4091106304)  I realize this is horribly cynical. The truth is really much worse: that _no one_ is good at governing, at least [not in a way that will please you](/2010/04/29/constructive-criticism/) all the time. But really, vote. Otherwise [the crazy half of the country](/2008/09/29/the-other-half-of-you-make-me-so-mad/) might win!


14 posts from November, 2010