
<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952649017_1cc94cf4fe_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Santa Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952649017_7e703e90f1_t.jpg" alt="Santa Nora"/>
</a>

Yet another calendar year is coming to a close. The offspring are doing well. They have been at their grandparents' house for the past week, enjoying the Christmas festivities. Nora has totally bought into the magic of Christmas and Santa Claus and the Magi Kings. It sounds like they talk about that a lot at school. She has not even a sliver of doubt that the myths might not be 100% true. Occasionally she will ask how Santa Claus can do X or Y, but we feign ignorance or defer to "magic", and that is more than enough explanation.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952649017_1cc94cf4fe_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Santa Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952649017_7e703e90f1_n.jpg" alt="Santa Nora"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15516081614_c620c6c74a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Santa Ian">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15516081614_facb319b8a_n.jpg" alt="Santa Ian"/>
</a>

Ian did _not_ want that hat on his head.

### Cards

One day this month, Nora came home from school and asked me to cut some pieces of paper, fold the pieces, and draw a heart on the front, because she wanted to make some cards, "like a valentine, but not". She's not usually that excited about drawing things, so this was a welcome turn of events, and I happily complied. I was later asked to address them.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138454205_ccce02188d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cards by Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138454205_930422ba7c_z.jpg" alt="Cards by Nora"/>
</a>

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16112655426_80152248b9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cards by Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16112655426_d6755639a2_z.jpg" alt="Cards by Nora"/>
</a>

From top to bottom, they are for Claudia, her best friend at school, Elias, an older boy at school, Viky, her teacher, and Hugo Urrutia, the charismatic leader of her kindergarten class. Every day after school, I get to hear about what hijinks Hugo got up to, which girl he prefers now, and what strategies the various girls have for winning his attention. The kid's a heartbreaker.

She gave me some explanations about each one, but I've forgotten. It seems to be raining in most of them, which seems reasonable given the rainy Cantabrian winters.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16136624451_a6974b2f4a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Handprint Reindeer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16136624451_cf30f77413.jpg" alt="Handprint Reindeer"/>
</a>

When I first opened this Christmas card from Ian's daycare, I thought, "Oh, they made a mistake and put his handprint upside down", but then I realized that it was a reindeer! How clever! All those years making Thanksgiving turkeys as a kid, and I never realized that you could turn one upside down and make a Christmas animal.

### Cognition

I cannot think of a single new word that Ian learned this month. I'd like to think that he's working more on his pronunciation. He will repeat back the last few phonemes he hears. For example, if you ask him, "Would you like to go on vacation?", he might reply, "'cation." It sounds like he knows lots of words, if you're a doting grandparent, but it's a bit like talking into an empty cave.

Nora hasn't advanced too much, either. The biggest hurdle that I want her to cross is to understand numbers. To her, numbers are things you can count up to. She knows that 20 is more than 5, and that 100 is more than 20, but she has no concept of the relative distances between those values on the number line. It's a bit like those tribes that only have "one", "two" and "many". There are so many (> 2) things I'd like to talk to her about, but we can't get there because this epistemological stepping stone is still too wobbly to support our weight.

### Fever all through the night

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15518752933_f2f948fdb4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Feverish Ian">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15518752933_4688d2c10a_m.jpg" alt="Feverish Ian"/>
</a>

We've all been a little under the weather this month. Ian was feverish for about a week, and he got his sleep patterns all messed up. He would take long naps during the day, which we would not want to wake him up from, to let his immune system do its best, but then he wouldn't want to go to bed at bed time. There were a few days where he would go to bed at 3am, and then be back up at 5am. Since my wife has to get up early for work, and I don't, the night shift usually falls to me, but then I got sick too, and was just too run down from getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night for several days, and there got to be a time when I just couldn't go on. I had to call my wife at work and ask her to come home, and then my in-laws came that afternoon to take some of the night shift.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15950977488_0338995094_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Complaining Toddler">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15950977488_6616fcd8aa_m.jpg" alt="Complaining Toddler"/>
</a>

Thankfully, Nora is so awesomely independent that she can go to school all by herself now when she has to, like when Ian is sick, so she was a great sport during the hard times. Later that week, with my in-laws helping, there was one night when Ian didn't go to bed until _five in the morning!_ His grandmother had him until midnight, then I had him until 2:30am, and then his grandfather got up to take the 2:30 to 5am shift. It was _brutal_.

I have no idea how single parents do it. Or even double parents with no reinforcements. One child had us both out of work.

Since then, Ian has recovered fully, but this past week, Nora has been a bit feverish, but not feeling too terribly.

It's been a long month.

<iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/Ogl1VEmXL6b/embed/simple" width="500" height="500" frameborder="0"></iframe>

<script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

### Dance Exhibitions

Remember how we finally got Nora to go to dance classes last month? Well, they had their exhibition this month. It was better than one might expect from a five year old with only six weeks (12 hours) worth of training. They were mostly just aping the teacher who was standing in front of them, but, I mean, what more could we expect?

There were three performances, complete with costume changes, the final performance being with all the dance instructor's students. Unfortunately the venue, the local sports gym, wasn't the best place for such an event, but it's what we've got available. The place was packed.

Nora is mostly on the left. Sometimes she has to go all the way to the end to get out of everyone else's way.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DK3HNki2Ow0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It was over 90 minutes of watching other people's kids dance badly, which I found pretty boring, but I entertained myself by spying on what my own daughter was doing during the other performances. She was one of the only ones in her group that seemed to be practicing dance moves.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/OG9lEQUnyQU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You may have noticed that I titled this section plurally. That's because she had yet another dance exhibition with her kindergarten at school, performing Mariah Carey's Christmas classic. It was pretty darn cute. See if you can pick out which boys aren't good rule followers.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-v-ZHxcxZro" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This was just _half_ her class; the other half did another song separately.

### Puddle Stomping

Ian got some new waterproof boots.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BwwTxzTnvA8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### Playground Beauty Salon

One Sunday this month, I took the young'uns to the park, and Nora found that a neighborhood girl had mounted a little beauty salon in one of the playground structures. Nora didn't exactly ask my permission, but she did come up to me and say, "I don't know this girl, but I'm going to get my nails painted," which was a nice way of running it by me in case it needed a parental veto.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15518738683_f9b4577d57_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Playground Beauty Salon">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15518738683_f092e857c9.jpg" alt="Playground Beauty Salon"/>
</a>

Who knew that there was such a thing as fake "toy" nail polish that washes right off?

Oh, and there was "eye shadow", too.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16137719932_4808d1aa12_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Playground Beauty Salon Results">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16137719932_b8657d5a78.jpg" alt="Playground Beauty Salon Results"/>
</a>

### Random photos

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138517325_9fee3ae06a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Unai and Ian">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138517325_62e1353e84.jpg" alt="Unai and Ian"/>
</a>

Both Ian and Nora are pretty big fans of their Aunt Belén's boyfriend, Unai. Here, Ian fell asleep on his shoulder.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951210010_71fc743d40_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="IMG_1613">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951210010_cf11c66f4c_z.jpg" alt="IMG_1613"/>
</a>

Ian and Nora on different sides of a bakery shop window.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952682137_b6d91e88c8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian Shopping Cart">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952682137_7cae3fbea9_z.jpg" alt="Ian Shopping Cart"/>
</a>

Ian had to help me with the shopping one day.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16137704892_6b8e4fbb41_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian Christmas Tree">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16137704892_185b3dae4b_z.jpg" alt="Ian Christmas Tree"/>
</a>

At a local butcher shop.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951164360_34c31acf26_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian Playing in Bar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951164360_aa32bdf3fa.jpg" alt="Ian Playing in Bar"/>
</a>

One evening, while out with his father and grandfather for a couple wines, Ian got to playing with this stranger in a bar, mimicking each other's actions.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952727467_43fe975ebf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Salmon Eater">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15952727467_f60e47df29_z.jpg" alt="Salmon Eater"/>
</a>

Eating salmon. Ian is a really good eater, although he now refuses to be fed anything. He demands to operate the utensils.

### Christmas

For Christmas, as usual, we went to my wife's hometown of Mondragón. We followed the Christmas Eve parade a little, where the Olentzero (the Basque version of Santa Claus) paraded around and threw hard candy at the children. Nora did some sort of Olentzero letter writing and submission exercise with her Aunt Belén.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15516299834_601bb0ed6d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian in Mondragón">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15516299834_e24e0a5196_z.jpg" alt="Ian in Mondragón"/>
</a>

Ian doesn't really get Christmas yet, but Nora was extremely excited. When she woke up on Christmas morning, she was ecstatic.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15518816293_591ddc40b2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora Christmas Gifts">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15518816293_f7346693ab_z.jpg" alt="Nora Christmas Gifts"/>
</a>

The "strewn presents" is a new tradition, started a couple years go when Nora was fantasizing about there being "so many presents that the pile goes all the way from the Christmas tree to the bedroom door!" Each adult received a present, Ian received several, but Nora took the lion's share. Ian received a xylophone, an item that Nora had been asking for. Nora received some _Heely's_, a type of sneaker that has a wheel on the bottom and doubles as a roller skate. Ian got some nice shoes, and a little car set. Nora got a book and some dolls. I got a sweater and Marga received a purse. All around, it was a pretty good haul.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16137832342_de61f3b643_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian Christmas Present">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16137832342_330f33c950_z.jpg" alt="Ian Christmas Present"/>
</a>

Ian got this sound board, that makes the noise of various vehicles hone you remove and replace them.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138590355_a63c686736_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora Christmas Dream Catcher">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138590355_a397496e22_z.jpg" alt="Nora Christmas Dream Catcher"/>
</a>

Nora surprised me a few months ago when she requested a dreamcatcher. She said that she had been having bad dreams and knew of this device from school.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951151998_ebfe34d399_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Memory Christmas Game">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951151998_83a0e376ec.jpg" alt="Memory Christmas Game"/>
</a>

Nora got a _Doc McStuffins_ memory game, which was played with much enthusiasm on Christmas afternoon.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138596855_ea60c4b4d7_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Ian Gambling">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/16138596855_3a83f0507a.jpg" alt="Ian Gambling"/>
</a>

Ian prefers games with some money on the table.

All in all, it was a great Christmas and the finish to a good year.

The state of the offspring is strong!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951201230_d0817b95fc_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Basque Children">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-29-state-of-the-offspring-address-december-2014/15951201230_9dbb0a811c_z.jpg" alt="Basque Children"/>
</a>


State of the Offspring Address - December 2014


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-23-drone-terrorism-coming-to-skies-near-you/15468042013_3640144ac9_t.jpg" alt="Quadcopter" class="post-thumb"/>Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology is advancing incredibly rapidly. For several years now, I've been a fan of the [Team BlackSheep](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAMZOHjmiInGYjOplGhU38g) YouTube channel, which regularly displays seriously impressive videos from the point of view of their drones, zooming around places that no manned aircraft could do. It's about as close to a first person perspective from Peter Pan or Superman that we all imagine as you can find on the internet.  As of the end of 2014, the current state of consumer UAV technology is that we have drones that are wise to GPS and can run a set pattern of waypoints completely unaided. You program them, and you say "Go!" and that's it. They do their thing and will even land within a meter or so of where they launched. That's. Pretty. Awesome.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7k_viLj3avE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

However, as one of the billions of humans who remember exactly where they were on September 11, 2001, a very, very obvious thing occurs to me. \[Dear CIA Agent reading this, Please don't waste my tax dollars investigating me.\] How incredibly easy would it be, perhaps not with today's technology, but with tomorrow's, to program anywhere from one to a thousand (they're only a hundred or two each) of drones, each with a stick of whatever the modern equivalent of dynamite is, to all rise up at the same moment, across a nation, and crash themselves into major targets?

The natural churn of progress of technology has taken the pilot out of the kamikaze plane and the radical out of the suicide vest.

Thankfully, your average terrorist is no where near as organized as the foes depicted on _24_ or _Homeland_. But if someone can [fly a drone up to Angela Merkel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKV6g47hgRs), it doesn't seem that hard to get one next to just about anyone of importance, especially those who give public speeches.

If our future, according to Jeff Bezos, is to have drones zipping about overhead all the time delivering packages and mapping our streets and traffic patterns, I don't really foresee any way, aside horrifically draconian licensing fees (and even then, they will be practically unenforceable), to keep the bad guys, the harm causers, if you will, from using the same technology against us. The "only a good guy with a drone can stop a bad guy with a drone" is as false as its more famous gun rights cousin.

There are gun clubs, who post videos on YouTube, where a bunch of Ye Good Olde Boys go out to the gun range and someone pilots a UAV around in front of them, and they try to shoot it down. This sounds fun as hell, but it really demonstrates just how hard the little buggers are to hit.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rGLxKXtkHpY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

As someone who keeps what Team BlackSheep does, gorgeous aerial photography via remote control, on my list of "Stuff to do when I'm so rich that money is no longer an object", I'm concerned that the future of such technologies might be so dark.

Of course, it's supremely ironic (or just?) that the action that causes the most hatred of the United States and its allies that will most likely fuel/fund the first of these unmanned aerial strikes is...wait for it...military unmanned aerial strikes.

I don't know what to do about it – some sort of directed [EMP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse) device for Secret Service agents? – but it seems inevitable that this technology will be eventually be used by a militarily weaker entity against a military giant, which will be called "terrorism". It's just something that has become obvious to me, so I thought I would write it down so I can point people back here when the event actually happens in 2018 ± 3 years.


Drone Terrorism: Coming to Skies Near You!


![](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-18-la-otra-carta-horrible-spanish-ikea-ad/15858901768_95e963633e_t.jpg)Swedish furniture giant, IKEA, has released a commercial in Spain that has quickly gone viral around _El Internet_. It's meant to be a tearjerker, and it is, if you suspend all your critical faculties and ignore the underlying message. It only came to my attention because my daughter's kindergarten teacher played it for all the parents of her students during a parent-teacher meeting yesterday. Some of the more intelligent parents questioned her motives, and rightly so. I'll run you through it... 

### The Other Letter (La Otra Carta)

The video starts by presenting the question, "Why do we insist on **not** giving our children what they want for Christmas?" Intrigued yet?

The ad then goes on to depict an "experiment" in which the children from ten families are brought into a room and asked to write a letter to the Magi Kings to ask what they want for Christmas.

Side note: In case you're new here, in Spain, the children receive presents at Christmas from the Magi Kings, or Three Wise Men, on Kings Day, January 6th. Not on Christmas from Santa Claus as British and American children do. Plus, it's common for the gifts at Christmas to _only_ come from the Kings, i.e. if your aunt or uncle buys a gift for you, it shows up on Kings Day as being magically brought from the Orient. No "Thank You" cards! Now that I think about it, I wonder if this might explain the Spaniards' aversion to saying "Thank you"...hmmm... To me, a huge portion of the delight of childhood Christmas was seeing the presents under the tree and speculating as to their contents.

Back to our regularly scheduled rant...

![IKEA presenta LA OTRA CARTA - YouTube 2014-12-18 01-34-39](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-18-la-otra-carta-horrible-spanish-ikea-ad/15860561447_7b07975b77_m.jpg)Of course the children, aged 5-10 or so, find it very easy to fire off some material possessions they are lusting after. Toys, musical instruments, games, etc. One girl points to every item on a catalog page. I've seen that behavior personally this month. The kids finish up their letters and place them in a box to send off to the Orient.

Then they are told that they have to write another letter to their parents, asking what they would like from their parents this Christmas. The children look a little befuddled, but they eventually write something.

Cut to the parents sitting on a couch, of recognizable brand, and someone presents the parents with the letters written to them from their children, to be read aloud. They are all along the lines of, "Mommy and Daddy, what I want for Christmas is for you to spend more time with me and play and draw together." Some of the parents break down into sobs, and others just smile.

![IKEA presenta LA OTRA CARTA - YouTube 2014-12-18 01-36-20](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-18-la-otra-carta-horrible-spanish-ikea-ad/15858879688_09c9741ea8.jpg)

Wait for it, the _coup de grâce_ is coming...

The children are then told, "What if you could only send one of these letters? Which would you send?" The children are surprised by this twist, but they think about it for a while. Eventually every single one (okay, we are only shown two) says that they'd rather send – you guessed it! – the one to their parents.

Not to give them more views, but it might help you understand my objections...

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5egLxg_7mg0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### Conclusion

So the message we receive is, "Your little children love you even more that all those toys they are asking for despite the fact that you don't spend any time with them and try to buy their love with toys."

Well, F you, IKEA!

As a parent who really tries hard to spend a lot of time with my children, but always feels like I'm falling short – because, let's face it, they always want more – this kind of message really stings. I would love to have a full time cook and maid and spend every moment from the proverbial 5pm to bedtime playing with my spawn, building block towers and painting flowers in the art studio annex of my mansion, but sometimes I have to banish my kids from the kitchen so the spitting oil from the frying pan doesn't sear their perfect little faces!

Not only that, but these kids are raised in a culture, as I mentioned above, where material goods are not asked of the parents at Christmas, so what could they possibly ask of Mommy and Daddy for Christmas? You could see the very silliness of question in their eyes.

And then they have the gall to ask if they would rather have toys or Mommy's love? WTF, IKEA? That's just plain mean.

On an even more subversive "What do they _really_ want?" level, it's clear that IKEA is trying to pressure wage earners, with the love of their children (shame be upon the advertisers), into spending less at stores that sell toys and things fun for children, which IKEA does not sell, with the ultimate intent of the money staying in the bank account to be spent on home wares, which IKEA _does_ sell. That's just low.

_Skam på dig, IKEA_.


La Otra Carta - Horrible Spanish IKEA Ad


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-12-facebook-to-introduce-enemies-list/16006841042_2c3479f693_t.jpg" alt="Zuckerberg-QA-2" class="post-thumb"/>MENLO PARK, CA - At a press conference and Q&A session held at Facebook's corporate headquarters in California today, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of the biggest and most important social network in history, admitted that there may be plans to release a new feature of the website: The Enemies List.  "Just as everyone can list off their best friends," explained Zuckerberg, "most of us can also list a few enemies, people upon whom we actively wish harm. \*cough\* [_Sorkin_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network) \*cough\*"

As Facebook sees it, the social graph is only half complete. "How can we build a complete social graph if we continue to ignore the darker side of social relationships?", the CEO rhetorically questioned.

The way it works will be simple. If you understand the Friends List, the Enemies List will be obvious to you. You send an Enemy Request to those people that you don't like, and if they accept it, you will become mutual enemies. "In our beta testing, the simple act of receiving an Enemy Request is usually enough to guarantee an acceptance," read the accompanying press release.

Just like with Friends, when you visit someone's profile, you will be able to see your Mutual Enemies. The proverb, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," dates back to the fourth century BC. By marking your enemies, Facebook hopes that you will also expand your Friend List, by friending those people who also hate the same people and brands that you do.

![Zuck](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-12-facebook-to-introduce-enemies-list/15387529003_b2a245f29d.jpg)

Zuckerberg closed by quoting Michael Corleone, in _The Godfather Part II_, "My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this room. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer."

Soon, you will be able to keep them in a public list on your social profile!

![Zuckerberg-QA-2](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-12-facebook-to-introduce-enemies-list/16006841042_2c3479f693.jpg)

This post is satire, riffing on the announcement today that [Facebook is considering a "dislike" button](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30447565).


Facebook to Introduce Enemies List


![Download on the App Store](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-09-ios-game-review/15983614881_74abe17077_m.jpg "Download on the App Store")I go through ebbs and flows of iOS gaming. As my previous iPhone 4 slowly aged into oblivion, I weaned myself off of gaming, and I've since been reluctant to start back. I used to play quite a bit of the FIFA games, although they have messed with the controls, and I have sort of lost interest. Plus, the local team, Racing Santander, has dropped into the third division, which is not covered by _EA Sports_ (It's in the game!).  I'm very, very, very far from someone who identifies themselves as a "gamer", but I've long been a fan of auto racing games. The thrill of hitting a curve just right, or passing someone right at the finish line, it's a rush. I shy away from the advanced control modes where you actually have to do the shifting and braking manually. I much prefer to just try and steer. More on this, later.

In a recent episode of one of my favorite podcasts, [\[the\] Accidental Tech Podcast](http://atp.fm), which I can only recommend if you would consider yourself an Apple Nerd (in which case, it's _awesome!_), the three hosts were discussing two fairly new games. While I was listening to [the most recent episode](http://atp.fm/episodes/94), I told Siri to remind me to check out the two games they were talking about. My entire family is glad that I did.

The first two are perfect for whenever you need to kill a minute or two, in line at the grocery store, or, I'll admit it... I do most of my iOS gaming on the toilet.

### [Crossy Road](http://www.crossyroad.com)

[![Crossy Roads](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-09-ios-game-review/15798328540_dee28c7166_m.jpg "Crossy Roads")](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crossy-road-endless-arcade/id924373886?mt=8)Remember Frogger? This game is Frogger, but awesomer. Plus, the app developers don’t seem to understand the [freemium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemium) model, and as such, offers only in-app purchases that are relatively meaningless and don’t really improve the game. I still might throw some dollars at them for making such a great game. Nora ADORES it. It’s really simple. You can get these in-game coins, which you can either pay real $ for (don’t, unless you want to), watch a video ad to get (also not worth it), or just earn them by picking them up or by time played. And all they are good for is to randomly get a new character, which makes no difference, but definitely adds some texture to the game. It’s free, so don’t think much about it and just try it.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/a3pTw0jmxlg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### [Desert Golfing](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/desert-golfing/id902062673?mt=8)

[![Desert Golf](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-09-ios-game-review/15983674871_687dcba484_t.jpg "Desert Golf")](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/desert-golfing/id902062673?mt=8)

This one excels at simplicity and utter lack of flare. It’s 2D golf, over never-ending computer generated terrains. There are no rewards for holes-in-one nor penalties for scoring a 16 on a hole. No mulligans, no nothing. And it always picks up right where you left off. It’s $1.99, but it’s totally worth it. It really capture the frustration and exhilaration of real golf. It sounds dull, but just try to stop playing it! [People are loving it](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/02/desert-golfing-mobile-games-angry-birds).

As my esteemed podcasters pointed out, your relationship with this game will be an abusive one. Hint: You're the victim. The physics is wonky and you will get no praise, but that won't stop you from playing. Of all the addictive games I've experienced, this one is the hardest to put a finger on the mechanism that makes it so.

If only someone could write a song about it. Oh wait, Jonathan Mann has!

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1mHxHC75Sw8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### [Real Racing 3](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/real-racing-3/id556164008?mt=8)

[![Real Racing 3](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-09-ios-game-review/15798416180_9fc5773e4a_t.jpg "Real Racing 3")](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/real-racing-3/id556164008?mt=8)I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better racing game on iOS in 2014. In case you are like the developers of _Crossy Road_ and don't understand the proper way to do a freemium app, these EA Sports guys are experts at extracting every last cent from the users of their free app. Personally, I refuse to use my dollars to jump ahead in the game, and I am very slowly working my way up through the ranks, driving my Ford Escort with all my might, working my way up to proper roadsters. The easiest level is perfect for me.

Real Racing 3 uses some really clever controls, using the accelerometer. The iPhone becomes your steering wheel. As you tilt it left, the image on the screen actually tilts right to remain level. You can manually brake, and probably shift on the advanced modes, but the brake and shift assist is such that you need not touch the screen at all during a race, which finally rids the problem of gaming on a touch device where your hand blocks your view.

But wait, there's more...

If you have an Apple TV, Real Racing can use your television as the display and the iPhone as the controller. In much the same way that it was obvious in 1998 that it was inevitable that we would eventually be carrying around MP3s in our pockets, it's obvious that eventually we will be using our phones as gaming devices, beaming only the video up to big screens. RR3 is the first game where this is even remotely feasible. Even with a good wifi connection, there are slight glitches, perhaps while the phone is checking email, where you lose instantaneous feedback for a half a second. That doesn't seem like much, but when you're racing around a track at 200 kph, it can make a difference. If you have an Apple TV, I recommend you try this app just to get a glimpse of the future.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/g242o1KOTWI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


iOS Game Review


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15974092472_19be04b1a0_t.jpg" alt="TarKarí" class="post-thumb"/>Due to a lucky bit of childlessness this weekend, my wife and I were finally able to try the best restaurant in town, which opened less than a year ago, I think. It's a place called [_Tarkarí_](http://tarkarigastroart.com). The name comes from an Indian curry, the chef is Venezuelan, but the food is Italian, although perhaps the chef might prefer the word "fusion". The logo proclaims "gastroart", and the logo looks like it was drawn by my one year old son; how delightfully pretentious! The chef explained to me that the vegetable curry called _tarkari_ was introduced to the Caribbean during British occupation, eventually made its way from the islands to Venezuela, and somewhere along the way baby goat was added to make the, now typical, Venezuelan dish called _tarkarí de chivo_. Perhaps it's this cultural culinary fusion that lead the chef to name his restaurant after it. Plus, it's a pretty cool word.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15788742489_71cd0a81d4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Marga at TarKarí">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15788742489_594ec0d105.jpg" alt="Marga at TarKarí"/>
</a>

My date.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15974744435_df5ab7ec14_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Bar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15974744435_6c6a413d87.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Bar"/>
</a>

Inside the bar is clean and modern. Although, because I'm a barhopping local, I can tell you that the decor hasn't changed much since the previous owner.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15948994296_9b71f07266_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí Pinchos">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15948994296_15f31ae4d7.jpg" alt="TarKarí Pinchos"/>
</a>

The tapas are mouthwatering, but that's not what we were there for.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15355123913_1a9bbfec08_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí Dining Room">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15355123913_9f3eeded63.jpg" alt="TarKarí Dining Room"/>
</a>

One look at the dining room is enough to tell you that, A) this is not a good place to bring small children, and B) it's a pricy place with good food. The cheaper Spanish restaurants cram as many tables into the space as they can; but at _Tarkarí_, and other [fine](/2012/12/10/restaurante-solana-michelin-star-dining-in-cantabria/) [restaurants](/2014/08/31/condado-de-la-mota-mogro/), the tables are much more spread out.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15787456520_54c31ef04a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Tasting Menu">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15787456520_b4af39a041.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Tasting Menu"/>
</a>

As always, we opted for the tasting menu. Let's go through each item, shall we?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15948985346_148e7de14e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Ensalada de salmón marinado en miel y limón">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15948985346_73630d6a66.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Ensalada de salmón marinado en miel y limón"/>
</a>

_Ensalada de salmón marinado en miel y limón._

**Salad with salmon marinated in honey and lemon.**

The salad was good, with the sweet balsamic vinegar, but the salmon was _amazing_. The sesame seed crust was a very cool touch. Another easy to miss touch of brilliance I noticed was how he cut the bottoms off the cherry tomatoes to make them sit still and not roll around when you tried to stab one.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15355126413_306f1faaf1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Fagotinis rellenos de gorgonzola y nueces, con crema de hongos al aroma de trufa negra">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15355126413_7c4ee67ff4.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Fagotinis rellenos de gorgonzola y nueces, con crema de hongos al aroma de trufa negra"/>
</a>

_Fagotinis rellenos de gorgonzola y nueces, con crema de hongos al aroma de trufa negra._

**Fagottini stuffed with gorgonzola and walnuts, with a mushroom cream with the aroma of black truffles.**

This was the "_Oh my god_, I need to close my eyes and savor this!" dish for me. It looks like a tiny serving in that big plate, but it was so rich! My wife didn't really care for it very much, claiming that it tasted "like butane", so she let me have her last two fagottini.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15787358638_86e63231ef_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Merluza en salsa de almendras con risotto de setas">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15787358638_703393f4e9.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Merluza en salsa de almendras con risotto de setas"/>
</a>

_Merluza en salsa de almendras con risotto de setas._

**Hake in almond sauce with wild mushroom risotto.**

Normally, in my opinion, a top chef really makes his or her skills known with fish, as I think fish is harder for amateurs to cook perfectly than other foods, but in this case, the hake was nothing special. I'm not a huge fan of almond sauces, either. And the rice was much drier than [my expectation](/2012/11/06/autumn-recipe-pumpkin-almond-risotto/) of what a risotto is. It was okay, but it was easily the worst dish.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15352481014_f10bf20f7b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Crujiente de rabo de toro sobre puré de patatas">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15352481014_8a86c6a173.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Crujiente de rabo de toro sobre puré de patatas"/>
</a>

_Crujiente de rabo de toro sobre puré de patatas._

**Crunchy \[pastry\] of bull tail on a potato purée.**

Bull tail may seem exotic to some of my anglophone readers, but it's a fairly common piece of meat in Spain. The pastry thing didn't add much beyond the ability to present it as a meat phallus. This dish was simply a really good roast beef and mashed potatoes. Having missed Thanksgiving in America this year, I was especially in the mood for some good mashed potatoes and gravy. We could barely finish it, we were so full.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15972768181_eca68d4907_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Bizcocho de coco, con helado de leche">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15972768181_8d9a2ca82f.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Bizcocho de coco, con helado de leche"/>
</a>

_Bizcocho de coco, con helado de leche._

**Coconut cake with milk ice cream.**

I'm not a big cake lover, but this one was _really_ well made. Soft and spongey, just like cake should be. The caramel wasn't too sweet, which was perfect.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15972769711_b15cd53dd9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Café con hielo">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15972769711_59a966b7fa.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Café con hielo"/>
</a>

Then came the coffee. My wife has turned me on to iced coffee, in which you put a little sugar into the espresso (this is the only time I put sugar in coffee), stir it up while it's hot, and then pour it into a glass of ice. It's quite lovely.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15352484924_c429d855b2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí - Orujos de crema y hierbas">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15352484924_b2174fdc8c.jpg" alt="TarKarí - Orujos de crema y hierbas"/>
</a>

The waitress then offered some liqueurs, on the house. I chose the _orujo de hierbas_, a yellow herb liqueur, and my wife had the _crema de orujo_, which is not dissimilar to Bailey's. Each came in their own little bottle and shot glass, both of which had been in the freezer.

We were told that that each dish was paired with a wine, but in reality they just served us a white with the fish, and then switched to red for the beef. Both were excellent, and although the bottle was never left on the table, the waitress was very attentive with refills, so our glasses were never empty.

Our other options for going out to eat on Sunday in Colindres would've been a "Menu of the Day" for around 10€ each, with barely potable wine and no liqueurs, or maybe 15€ with a wine upgrade that didn't quite reach the quality of the wine we had at _Tarkarí_. The food at another place would've been considerably more poorly prepared and presented. So I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the 25€ each for the tasting menu also included all the wine and coffee and bread (other places of this calibre charge you for the bread). _Tarkarí_ might be the best quality-to-price ratio of dining I've experienced in Spain. _Highly_ recommended. I look forward to going back to try the titular _tarkarí de chivo_.

And best of all, this place is within walking distance of my house. Love it!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15974092472_c9a1fd11fa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="TarKarí">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-08-tarkari-the-best-restaurant-in-colindres/15974092472_19be04b1a0.jpg" alt="TarKarí"/>
</a>


Tarkarí - The Best Restaurant in Colindres


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15931405906_be57008444_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Dinosaur Foot">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15931405906_22ed2cebe3_t.jpg" alt="Dinosaur Foot"/>
</a>

Ever since my daughter's preschool class took a field trip there two years ago, _Karpin Abentura_ has been on our list of places to take the kids for a day. A couple Sundays ago we finally pulled the trigger and went there. It was a lot closer than we thought, only a thirty minute drive away, straight up into the mountains. It's just across the border in the Vizcaya, in the Basque Country.  The other local zoo, [_Cabárceno_](/2012/03/11/visiting-cabarceno-zoo-cantabria-tourism/), is slightly further away, about twice as expensive, and more spread out, requiring getting the kids into and out of the car between exhibits. To be fair, however, _Cabárceno_ has many more animals and generally a more professional feel to the place. _Karpin_ feels like the RyanAir of zoos.

The history of the place is obvious, with the grand entrance and the dilapidated mansion in the middle; it used to be the land of a rich Basque. It belonged to _Urbano Peña Chávarri_, an engineer at _Altos Hornos de Vizcaya_, a huge ironworks business in Bilbao. Mining and metallurgy was an enormous boon to the Basque Country in the twentieth century. But I suspect that most of _Urbano's_ money really came from his uncle, _Romualdo Chávarri_, a classic _indiano_ (remember [when we learned about that word](/2014/08/30/comillas-dia-del-indiano/)?), who made a fortune in the Puerto Rican textile industry. The construction of the mansion was completed in 1911, some time passed, generations died, and eighty four years later, in 1995, it was inaugurated as a wildlife refuge.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dl9M1R82hes" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The car ride up there started off happy, but it didn't end well. Nora is a _lot_ better in the car than she was when she was younger, and Ian is way better than Nora was at his age, but Ian gets car sick sometimes, a gene passed down from his father's father's mother. Because the journey is so mountainous, there were plenty of curves. We had to stop once, by an abandoned factory, where the kids had fun throwing rocks for about ten minutes. We ended up making it to about 600 meters from the zoo before he puked all over himself. Luckily, my wife is a genius, and had packed backup clothes. I ended up walking him in the stroller the rest of the way up to the zoo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15334904914_be677c3a5e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Autumn Rocks!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15334904914_a532cbf126.jpg" alt="Autumn Rocks!"/>
</a>

Once inside the zoo, the only thing the stroller was good for was for me to walk back to the car to get our picnic lunch. Ian walked for the entire seven hours we were there. It was a great place for that, too, because there wasn't too much danger he could get into. It's nice to feel comfortable letting your kid be fifty meters away from you. And sometimes we had to wait for him to catch up. On one such occasion, I decided to try the time-lapse feature on my phone.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/APmS_dEGG18" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### Animals

When we walked by the cat enclosures at 11am, they appeared empty. I think maybe we saw one dozing lynx. The Mississippi alligator was also motionless, soaking up what little sun made it through the overcast Basque sky. The first interesting exhibit was the monkeys. Specifically they were Barbary macaques, like the monkeys that often get the better of tourists in Gibraltar.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15337550943_852f440454_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Monkeying around at Karpin Abentura">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15337550943_e02faf3eca.jpg" alt="Monkeying around at Karpin Abentura"/>
</a>

They kept us fairly far from the fence. Nora wasn't that impressed.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15337552173_4a36c07c99_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Primates on both sides">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15337552173_b014b5babc.jpg" alt="Primates on both sides"/>
</a>

Ian, on the other hand, literally had to be dragged kicking and screaming away from the monkey exhibit after we decided that fifteen minutes of watching them was enough.

There was a young man sitting between the human and monkey barriers with a huge panel with papers on his lap. At first I thought he must be sketching something, but when I got closer, I saw that he was ticking boxes on each page of something. Curious, I asked him, in Spanish, what he was recording, and he explained to me, in pretty good English, that he was a primatology student, and he was studying the social interactions of the macaques. He said that they had recently combined two social groups into one cage, and things had not gone so well. Two of the females were in their own cells to reflect on their behavior.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15334906654_669d3d943f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Raccoon">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15334906654_3be2c305e4.jpg" alt="Raccoon"/>
</a>

The raccoons weren't that interesting.

This ostrich really wanted to kiss me.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uHO71gUCpe4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's cool how you can see the film cover his eye as he goes for the peck.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771156609_e94e0d0718_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rare White Wallaby">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771156609_87342794d9.jpg" alt="Rare White Wallaby"/>
</a>

Let's face it. Wallabies are really just enormous rats, aren't they? (Yes, I know that they are marsupials.) One of them was albino, which was pretty cool.

Just before we left, just before sundown, we went back to the feline exhibits, and they were all up and walking about. We saw a couple lynxes, some wild cats, but no lions or tigers. My favorite, though, was the black panther.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771459217_4883b57019_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Black Panther at Karpin Abentura">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771459217_8ed2364b2e.jpg" alt="Black Panther at Karpin Abentura"/>
</a>

I think he's walked that path before.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771459677_595329df43_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Black Panther at Karpin Abentura">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771459677_bf7a648457.jpg" alt="Black Panther at Karpin Abentura"/>
</a>

Here you can really see his spots. I felt a really strong urge to scratch him behind the ear and hug him. In fact, there were quite a few animals that we saw that I wanted to hug and play with, but that would probable eviscerate me in less than a second.

I can't recall everything that we saw, but there were lots of birds of prey, some turtles, some vultures, some mountain goats, some emu, ostriches, smaller primates, like lemurs (one tried to snatch my phone as I tried to photograph it), some llamas, and plenty of deer. They had two bears, also huggable, which we saw right at their afternoon fruit and vegetable snack time.

The continent of Africa was very underrepresented; there wasn't much in the way of savanna fauna.

### Picnic

There is a very nice family-friendly picnic area, with about a dozen picnic tables surrounding a playground in such a way that the kids can't really wander off, so you don't have to be watching them at every moment. We took a _tortilla de patata_, some breaded chicken breast fillets and a cooler with some cold beer and juice and had a wonderful lunch.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15769900930_2a9bd2be1b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Picnic at Karpin Abentura">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15769900930_72891131db.jpg" alt="Picnic at Karpin Abentura"/>
</a>

Feeding time at the zoo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15769902480_a49abbc54b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tractor Kids">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15769902480_b947ed200f.jpg" alt="Tractor Kids"/>
</a>

In another section, they had some pretty long slides that we all went down. At first Nora was too scared to go down by herself, but once she realized that she could, she went down about fifty times. Ian was fearless and loved every second of it, especially going down the slide at the same time as his big sister, both full of giggles. We spent the last hour of our time there, by which time we were the only visitors in the park, going down the slides. I hadn't gone down a slide in a long time, and I had a lot of fun.

### Dinosaurs

Despite being somewhat of a science nerd, I've never had much of a fascination with dinosaurs. For whatever reason, perhaps their high education to maintenance quotient, or some lobbying from the animatronics industry, someone decided that dinosaurs should be part of _Karpin Abentura_, so part of the park is dedicated to prehistoric animals.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15955215751_8570575c49_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Attention! Don't feed the dinosaurs!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15955215751_fcfc37cefe_z.jpg" alt="Attention! Don't feed the dinosaurs!"/>
</a>

I have to admit that the "Attention! DO NOT FEED THE DINOSAURS!" sign got a chuckle out of my wife and me.

They liked animatronics so much that they even ventured down into the uncanny valley and made some "humans" to explain things in Basque, Spanish, and some pretty strongly accented English.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hxkj2jNuMNI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Just weird.

At one point along the path, my leg passed through a very well hidden infrared laser beam, and large klaxon went off. Then a roar! Up ahead, through the trees, I saw red "Danger!" lights flashing around an tiny enclosure containing... a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Because I wasn't expecting it, I will admit that it did trigger my innate "fight or flight" physiological response for the split second until my brain processed the silliness of the rubber T-Rex head.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771159859_8ff46c58ee_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Keep that thing in its cage!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15771159859_abf580d54e_z.jpg" alt="Keep that thing in its cage!"/>
</a>

Nora wasn't scared.

Ian's reaction, on the other hand... well, see for yourself.

**Attention**: Even if you haven't clicked play on any of the videos so far in this post, you _really_ need to watch at least the first 40 seconds of this one.

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MSaKwDuKGGQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

He watched it for about ten iterations before we finally got him to leave.

At the exit from the dinosaur exhibit, they had an obligatory photo spot, with this enormous dinosaur foot. It seemed a little too big to be real, but I don't know much about dinosaurs, just enough to know that most of the feather-less depictions of the twenty-year-old models we saw are now known to be inaccurate.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15931405906_be57008444_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Dinosaur Foot">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15931405906_22ed2cebe3.jpg" alt="Dinosaur Foot"/>
</a>

We had a wonderful time at _Karpin Abentura_ and look forward to going back many more times. It's just the right size that you can see everything without ever being in a hurry. It's a great way to spend a day outdoors with kids. Oh, and the mountain views were lovely.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15957167305_c8c3bac0f2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="View from Karpin Abentura">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-06-karpin-abentura-basque-mountain-zoo-and-dinosaur-park/15957167305_29dcf65062.jpg" alt="View from Karpin Abentura"/>
</a>


Karpin Abentura - Basque Mountain Zoo and Dinosaur Park


![](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-05-spanish-ham-mites-entomology-and-jamon-iberico/320px-Cheese_mite.jpg)Yesterday, with the entire family – the children were forbidden for solstice myth reasons – digging around in our storage room to find [the missing Christmas tree legs](/2014/12/04/merry-kitschmas/), we ended up finding another leg that we'd bought this past summer, a leg of Iberian Ham, or _jamón ibérico_. We sliced off a few slices for dinner last night.

This morning, I glanced at the ham and noticed some little white dots on the open meat. Upon closer inspection, I realized that they were moving. Ugh. Here's what our ham looks like this morning: (look closely)

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HiZ0YVYWLbo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The world "revolting" comes to mind.

I've seen these before, both on ham and extremely cured cheese. They are either _Tyrophagus putrescentiae_ or _Tyrophagus longior_, commonly called mold mites. As you may remember from your Greek lessons, _tyros_ means "cheese", and "phagein" means "to eat" or "to devour". To quote Wikipedia:

> \[_Tyrophagus putrescentiae_\] is a common pest of stored products, especially those with a high protein and fat content (meat, cheese, nuts and seeds, dried eggs, etc.). It feeds on the fungi that grow on the foodstuffs, and can become a pest of mycology laboratories.

### Tyrosine Crystals

![cristales-tirosina](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-05-spanish-ham-mites-entomology-and-jamon-iberico/15331844613_33f088c3d0_o.jpg)

One must be careful not to confuse these little buggers with tyrosine crystals, which are little white splotches that occur sometime on cured ham. Tyrosine a perfectly normal amino acid used by mammalian cells to synthesize proteins. It's in a lot of stuff you eat and is not harmful whatsoever. They are even considered by some experts to be signs of high quality ham.

### You mite want to clean your ham

I'm going to translate some information from [this great page](http://masquejamon.com/acaros-del-jamon/) about this pest.

> We're talking about a mite, like those known as "dust mites" that produce so many allergies. Specifically the species _Tyrophagus putrescentiae_. They are parasites that, like you and me, love ham, and if it's Iberian Ham, they like it even more (not joking).
> 
> We can also find them in other cured foods rich in protein, like cheese and deli meats. It's just that in those cases we notice them less; it's a lot harder to miss them in the case of ham, with the white color against the bright red.
> 
> The fine sand (that's what it looks like) is formed by living and dead mites and their excretions, can be an allergen.
> 
> The truth is that these little white bugs choose well. They like to live in high temperatures and eat the best foods. They're not stupid.

The fact of the matter is that they are perfectly safe to eat (protein bonus!), but if you let the infestation get too big, they can dry out your ham, so the recommended action is to wipe them off with a cloth or sponge that is soaked with either hot sunflower or olive oil or the melted fat from the ham itself. If you've got a lot of them, you can use water and then dry it off.

### A closer look, really?

Too bad I couldn't get a closer video of them, you say? YouTube to the rescue! \[viewer discretion is advised if you ever want to eat ham again\]

<iframe width="505" height="284" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/h0gIqUx2am8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Just like with all the other microscopic mites and creepy crawlies that science has shown us live in, on and around us, you've really got to just unfocus your eyes and not think about these critters. Another webpage I found suggested that the mites should really be considered "part of the ham", and returning a ham to the seller for having mites would be as ridiculous as returning an extremely strong cheese, like _queso de cabrales_ for having rotted.

Who wants a slice?

[![III Feria del Jamón Ibérico de Bellota de Los Pedroches 4](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-05-spanish-ham-mites-entomology-and-jamon-iberico/1559779045_fd6c8e56af.jpg)](https://www.flickr.com/photos/abaceriadelsur/1559779045 "III Feria del Jamón Ibérico de Bellota de Los Pedroches 4 by MG Spain Export Consulting Spanish International Trade Consulting, on Flickr")


Spanish Ham Mites: Entomology and Jamón Ibérico


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15920300116_ed4e435d1f_t.jpg" alt="Cindy Lou Who" class="post-thumb"/>Last January, when we were packing up our plastic Christmas tree, something went wrong. I vaguely recall that all three feet of the tree didn't get stored with the rest of the tree. Ever since, at least one of the feet has been bouncing around our house, getting played with by a child and found by an adult. So when I went to get the Christmas tree and set it up for Xmas 2014, I discovered that none of the feet were in the box. We only have the one that has been in the living room all year long. Little Cindy Lou Hoo is _not_ amused. After an extensive, but ultimately unfruitful search, today I went out to scout possible replacement trees; this one has lasted us almost a decade.  Thusly, I was thrust into the world of Spanish Christmas kitsch. In Spain, they have this really long tradition of Christmas being about the birth of baby Jesus (imagine that, Americans!) and are just now, little by little over the course of the decade I've been here, assimilating the whole Santa Claus – they call him _Papá Noel_ – narrative. Traditionally in Spain, it's the Magi Kings that magically bring presents to children on January 6, but that jolly old bearded sleigh driver is awkwardly making his move. The whole thing is very confusing, even without adding in the Basque element as my family does every year.

The Christmas paraphernalia is similarly confusing. Nativity scenes are _huge_ in Spain. They are the traditional scene that any westerner would recognize, despite having little basis in the Bible. But rather than just stopping at the manger, it's common in Spain to build [an entire village](/2011/12/21/nativity-shepherds/), sometimes with moving parts, running water, and even polar bears (thanks, Santa myth!). The closest thing we have in the States is those really intricate model train diaramas.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15943672842_3890c2afeb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Christmas Kitsch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15943672842_225e33b5ce.jpg" alt="Christmas Kitsch"/>
</a>

Baskets of peasant-folk. These things make me think of [The Indian in the Cupboard](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375847537/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0375847537&linkCode=as2&tag=eriksblog07-20&linkId=MOI6HISE2V4ZU6UF). It's hard not imagine them coming to live at night.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15944337695_e6e12fc68d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Christmas Kitsch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15944337695_7580bebfa4_z.jpg" alt="Christmas Kitsch"/>
</a>

Mangers and polar bears. Perfectly reasonable.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15322077514_44ce3cc997_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pisser - Christmas Kitsch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15322077514_b07f567695.jpg" alt="Pisser - Christmas Kitsch"/>
</a>

It's common to include a fellow relieving himself, typically off the side of a bridge. It could be worse... I could live in Catalonia, where they can't have a nativity scene without [someone taking a shit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15758298859_cf2ed9c183_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Porcine Friends">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15758298859_75523f7e73.jpg" alt="Porcine Friends"/>
</a>

I often wonder what the Chinese factory workers that produce this stuff must think.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15324706323_dbca971a57_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Christmas Kitsch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15324706323_3877741dcc.jpg" alt="Christmas Kitsch"/>
</a>

Tinsel town!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15944340795_6f265e7975_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Christmas Kitsch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15944340795_4780276e22.jpg" alt="Christmas Kitsch"/>
</a>

Some Magi, some Santas, some snowy houses...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15757051740_a076e0e869_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Christmas Kitsch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15757051740_0b7d4696e4.jpg" alt="Christmas Kitsch"/>
</a>

Gas Filled Santa.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15758599807_18bf4c4507_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Christmas Kitsch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-04-merry-kitschmas/15758599807_29201fa201_z.jpg" alt="Christmas Kitsch"/>
</a>

Two gas filled Santas. One riding Rudolph and one in a hot air balloon.

I leave you with this gigantic (one meter diameter) inflatable snow globe...

<iframe class="vine-embed" src="https://vine.co/v/OvdbhKP2eb9/embed/simple" width="505" height="505" frameborder="0"></iframe>

<script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

**UPDATE:** _¡Praise Niño Jesús!_ It's a Christmas miracle! We've found the other two legs of the tree, in totally disparate corners of the house. You'll have to do better than that, Mr. Grinch!


Merry Kitschmas!


![Cantabrian Cow](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15753433810_36e2c7f18e_m.jpg "Cantabrian Cow")One Sunday in early November, at around 2am (so colloquially still "Saturday night"), I mentioned, over the loud thump-thump of the salsa music, to our friend Agustín that my family and I would like to come up to his mountain garden with him some time to see his newborn donkey...perhaps tomorrow? He gave me the reasonable response of, "Dude, you've gotta give me more notice," which I accepted humbly. But then, the following morning, I get a text message from him saying that he is up on the mountain and if we'd like to head out there, we're welcome. It takes us just shy of an hour (possibly a record!) to muster the troops, and soon we're in the car.  I was assuming that my wife remembered how to get there ([we've been there once](/2010/08/04/agustins-vegetable-garden/)), as she is the donkey of the marriage – in terms of memory for past trodden paths! – but it turned out that we were both in the dark. We called up Agustín, and he told us how to get there. The only problem being that when you are giving directions to somewhere that you go to _extremely_ often, you tend to gloss over important details. For example, he said that we had to turn right _before_ we get to Podunksville, so when we got to the sign saying "Now entering Podunksville", we turned around, even though what he meant was that we had to turn right in more or less the very center of Podunksville. But since he actually knows the place, he doesn't consider the town passed until you get to the town hall or something. Anyway...

So it took us an hour to get to his garden which is about 18 minutes away. Ever since, whenever we're in the car, the ever-helpful five-year-old Nora comments, "I think we're lost."

I've pinned the location on the map on my iPhone, so we can get back there lickety split next time we so desire.

Ian was pretty wary of the beasts at first, but then when he warmed up to them, he complained about leaving them behind.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15318422594_b9832f242b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15318422594_fb71c45a9d.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
</a>

As I understand it, there were three donkeys, the mother and her adolescent and baby of only a few months.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15754943257_49d8bcc718_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15754943257_ed4e97ac7e.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
</a>

Tentative Ian.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15754946437_39db0485a5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15754946437_d769c7133e.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
</a>

Nora feeding the baby. She was fine as long as there was plenty of bread between her and the donkey teeth.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15940035862_340fbb90e2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15940035862_e512051914.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
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Breaking off a piece of the day-old bread, that we got from the local grocer, required some tug-of-war.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15940040012_8509384559_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15940040012_1d02c26161_z.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
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My cowboy.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15753419180_9aef6134f6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15753419180_a879d3e6c2_z.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
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Somebody needs a cleaning!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15318438874_4921952758_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15318438874_6cdb309ef9_z.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
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Soon Ian was brave enough to feed them himself. He's not even two years old, remember!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15940049822_f7b907b3b2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Agustín's Burros">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15940049822_e073e25cc3.jpg" alt="Agustín's Burros"/>
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Reluctant rider.

After we left the burros, we headed to Agustín's parents' house, just a couple hundred meters away. There we saw some chickens – I'd never pet one! – and other animals. We also went to a walnut tree to collect walnuts.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15914906466_0272123a56_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Collecting Walnuts">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15914906466_0fd133892f_z.jpg" alt="Collecting Walnuts"/>
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There were so many on the ground, nestled among camouflaged walnut-sized ungulate feces, that we collected several kilograms in just a few minutes. Ian liked the game...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15914909256_72c9b64fc2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Collecting Walnuts">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15914909256_27c846580a_z.jpg" alt="Collecting Walnuts"/>
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...until he tipped over the bucket, but that made collecting them even easier!

On the way home, we drove past this cow that I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye, and I slammed on the brakes, pulled over, got out of the car and had to snap this photograph. Gorgeous! If I ever change the header photo of this website, this photo is a top contender.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15753433810_2ab31afd81_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cantabrian Cow">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-03-donkey-sunday/15753433810_36e2c7f18e.jpg" alt="Cantabrian Cow"/>
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Thank you, Augustín, for showing us yet another corner of Cantabria.

_Muchas gracias, Agustín, por enseñarnos otro rincón de Cantabria._


Donkey Sunday


![Trust Fall](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-02-trust-and-passwords-on-the-social-web/15905594586_5891ac8008_o.png)As part of a sermon about being vulnerable, one of my Facebook friends, who is a religious leader of some capacity, has decided to give out his Facebook password... **_live on the radio_**. Of course this is strictly prohibited by Facebook's Terms of Service, which states:

> 4.8) You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

Clearly this is intended as a hip new version of that old team-building exercise of letting yourself fall backwards and be caught by a group of your peers. It's also an expression of trust of the community and of Humanity in general, like leaving your house unlocked. Anyone involved with computers and security will, of course, tell you that that this is a really stupid stunt, just as anyone in the home security industry will tell you that telling everyone that you leave your house unlocked is just asking for trouble.

To my friend's mind, the worst case scenario is that someone malicious comes in and deletes his posts or posts spammy crap to his timeline, annoying his friends, in which case my friend (who somehow still thinks he will have control over the account) will go in and delete the account, start a new one, and contact all his 990 friends to re-friend him with the new account.

What both he and I think will happen is absolutely nothing, mostly because of Humanity's apathy than its kindness. A simple thought experiment using an account of higher importance, like that of a celebrity, is all that is needed to show where the balance lies.

**The irony about his effort is that he is encouraging people to be more vulnerable and trust in others _by betraying his friends' trust_.** Your Facebook account is not just about you. Giving someone access to your Facebook account is giving them access to information about your friends that your friends, potentially, had entrusted _specifically to you_.

Your Facebook account is not just about you.

I would love to know the actual numbers, but I might optimistically guess that, despite Facebook's attempts lately to do account security checks, 40% of Facebook users have overridden the default settings that make everything they post public to the world, and have set it to the only reasonable setting to only show their posts to the small subset of Humanity that they have marked as friends on the worlds largest social networking platform. Most of my online acquaintances have restricted access to their posts.

Obviously if there is a secret that you really, really need kept, don't go putting it on Facebook, but the network works as well as it does because there is this base assumption of trust. Just as in meatspace when you talk to a friend, there's no guarantee that the other person isn't feeding information of your whereabouts to a serial killer or your ex-husband against whom you had to file a restraining order, but there is an established level of trust either one-to-one or one-to-finite-approved-group communication. The same is true on Facebook.

Personally, I'm somewhat of an anti-example of this, as I, much to the horror of some of my friends and family, post stuff about my children publicly on my blog, but I have definitely said things in private online social media that I would not dare say in a television or radio interview. I understand privacy and I very highly respect that of my friends and family and even of strangers. It is a huge privilege to be able to live this openly; I have friends online that would be in physical danger, from bad people in their past, if I were to broadcast their location publicly.

![Facebook Exclamation](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2014-12-02-trust-and-passwords-on-the-social-web/5432100262_32938fb031_q.jpg)There are tons of articles – try googling "Should I friend my boss?" – about how to best choose where to draw those lines, and there's a news story every month about someone getting fired for posting stuff about how much "this job sucks". The rise of services like _Snapchat_ demonstrates our desire for _more_ intimacy enabled by _more_ privacy. Some people are very strict (and boring) about what they put online, and others are more willing to rely on the privacy provided by such social networks to open up a bit more.

My friend **_cannot know_** which of his 990 friends have posted photos of their children, or of their drunken partying, or of their religious or political beliefs, that they posted with a _specific implicit trust_ that it was only going to be seen by people that they personally know and have chosen to be in their circle of trust. By releasing his password, he is showing all of those people that he is not to be trusted with such intimate details of their lives.

What a great way to teach people **_not_** to let themselves be more vulnerable.

**UPDATE: He actually did it.** I admit to logging in to verify that he really did it. Some of his other friends did too, changing his profile picture and relationship status and adding some silly life events, but that was about it. After about ten minutes, my friend took control back, either because no one changed his password or via Facebook's well trodden "Oh noes! Somebody guessed my password!" security steps. So in the end, it was a bit like someone who walked on a skyscraper ledge just for the thrill of it. Nothing happened, but it was still a stupid thing to do. However, it did make me think about these issues, and for that I'm grateful.


11 posts from December, 2014