All-Blog

Dena bought this little unit before our son was born. It didn't seem all that useful to start with, but this says more about what parenting in the first few weeks consists of than it says about the usefulness of the Itzbeen. You don't need timers to tell you about feedings and diaper changes when they are both happening so incredibly often.

Once the time between successive feedings and diaper changes started getting longer, the Itzbeen turned into one of the handiest items we own.

Itzbeen is a cute name for it, since you look at the timers and announce "it's been" so many hours since the last feed or what have you.

It has four timer buttons, a clock button, a button for a little white LED that functions as an impromptu flashlight, and a little manual switch at the bottom, just for remembering which breast the last feed was from. There's an audio/no audio switch on the right side, and a lock/unlock switch on the left side, handy if you're putting the Itzbeen in a spot where the buttons could get accidentally clicked.

The timer buttons have icons for diaper, feed, sleep and an asterisk (for representing whatever you want it to - we often use it to mark off time spent in a Jolly Jumper). They can count up, if you just want to know how long it's been since the last feeding, etc., or down, if you want to do some things by schedule, and the button will flash red when the timer counts down to zero. You can only set the down timer in 1/2 hour increments, but that's not a terrible impediment.

I think the bellwether of how useful we find it is that we feel best when it's nearby and ready to be checked or clicked... so much so that we often go a little out of our way to grab it.

A highly recommended tool for parents, though it will likely not see much use in the formative weeks.

Ahh, baby's been sleeping for a little over two hours now. *warm glow of feeling informed* :)

I can only be civil for so long.

*sigh* Pope Ratzi is getting the troops back in the ready for the War On Satan.

UPDATE: The director of the Vatican Press Office is denying Father Gabriele Amorth's report:

"Pope Benedict XVI has no intention of ordering local bishops to bring in garrisons of exorcists to fight demonic possession.”

Full story »

Link: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/12/canadian-isps-p.html

This is ugly; Rogers has started adding their own content to webpages sourced from a third party. I have no issue with their transfer cap as mentioned in the linked article but manipulating received data is an abuse of power when acting as the transport mechanism.

Link: http://www.blogto.com/arts/2007/12/vidto_pedal_power_vs_toronto_police/

Funny video about a stripped 1986 Buick Regal, converted into a pedal-car, taking its first road test. The Toronto police were somewhat less than enthused about it.

(Via BoingBoing)

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/12/24/medical-myths.html

Link is to a CBC story on various pieces of popular folklore, including the infamous one that the tryptophan in turkey makes you sleepy.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

A Merry Christmas to you all; now go back to sleep.

(If you're reading this a bit later, leave the computer alone for a bit and go and chat with your family!)

Oh, yeah, and here's another YouTube video that's doing the rounds.

Link: http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/P/PREGNANCY_BALANCE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Wired News has a nifty article that tries to describe why -- physiologically speaking -- pregnant women aren't as likely as one would expect to lose their balance.

Too bad about the use of the phrases "elegant engineering", "design changes" and "tinkering" while they were doing so.

Link: http://www.regrettheerror.com/regret-articles/crunks-07-the-year-in-media-errors-and-corrections

Link is to a fine round-up of the more entertaining retractions, corrections and general oopses in the media.

Personal favourite:

The Ayrshire-based cable firm mistakenly aired the pornographic content, from adult channel Climax 3, to customers for two hours until the mix-up was discovered at midnight and the plug pulled on the offending material…

Two hours on both BBC channels and no one complained? Hmmm... I'm not quite sure what that says about Ayrshire viewers and the BBC.

(Via Kottke)

Link: http://www.kk.org/streetuse/archives/2007/11/popup_market_in_bangkok.php

This has to be seen to be believed. Anyone who's travelled through poorer countries knows that railroads tend to be centres of commerce due to the good access of maintained track. I've never seen a market built around the in-use tracks before...

(Via BoingBoing)

Link: http://consumerist.com/consumer/badvertising/toys-r-us-invites-you-to-save-+10-319089.php

I love the small text for the "Was..." price. Everything on the sign is absolutely correct with the exception that a sale is precisely what is not being advertised.

(Via BoingBoing)

Link: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35108

New Line and Peter Jackson have apparently patched up their differences. So, it looks like "The Hobbit" will be on celluloid and done properly. Woohoo!

I'm trying to figure out this comment though:

The deal includes another film to be made that takes place between the end of The Hobbit but before LOTR.

I can't think of anything completed by Tolkien, even in "The Lost Tales", that would fit in there.

(Via Kottke)

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCyPTM2FJgA

The original opening sequence for "Star Wars" makes for an interesting piece of arcana, but I agree with Kottke: it didn't deserve to make the final cut.

(Via Kottke)

I wish I had an original cite for this bit of Javascript that my wife found posted in a Fark forum, but it's fantastic fun, so I'm posting about it regardless.

To operate it, you copy the entire paragraph below, navigate to a web page (Fark works pretty well), paste it into the address bar in your web browser, and hit [ENTER]:

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.getElementsByTagName('img'); DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=(Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5)+'px'; DIS.top=(Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5)+'px'}R++}setInterval('A()',50); void(0);

If all goes well, all the images will swirl around.

There are a few more things you can do with this code, too...

Full story »

I had a bit of a rude awakening coming back home on Monday. My wife had dropped me off at work, or else I would had my shock in the morning, and perhaps waited for a bus that would never come.

Calgary Transit opened their McKnight station for public use on Monday.

I suppose they were trying to rely on radio and local news channels to divulge the news, though, since there was not even the amount of paper signage present at Whitehorn station that they use for warnings of schedule alterations due to weekend construction.

I thought I might have missed something obvious, but when I alighted at Whitehorn station on the way north, a good few dozen people got on the C-train.

Not only had they opened the new station, they had also eviscerated bus service from Whitehorn station, the previous end of the line.

By way of personal gripe, I used to have four bus routes in and out of my neighbourhood available to me. Now I have two, and one of them goes by far the long way around. It does not seem that the buses come more often by way of compensation, either. *sigh*

Pretty poorly handled, really. In passing Whitehorn this morning, I saw yet more confused patrons waiting for buses that would never arrive. I guess everyone will adjust, eventually, but not without a modicum of somewhat sour head-scratching.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykN-00i7VVs

I've not seen this "Not The Nine O'Clock News" skit in quite some time. Get it while it's still on YouTube!

(Via Pharyungula)