The Thomas Dilemma
Now that Jack is fully obsessed with all things Thomas (as in the Tank Engine, he hasn't gotten into english muffins yet) we need to commit to the kind of train system we're going to buy him and ask family to buy him. See, there's the blue track sets with the battery operated trains. And there's the wooden track sets with the wooden trains. The blue set is cool because the trains are battery operated and you can buy enough track to do cool layouts for not too much money. The wooden set does have battery operated trains but most of the trains are normal wooden ones with magnetic connectors. The number of neat extras you can get for the wooden set is astounding. The blue set only has a few things. But the wooden set is vastly more expensive.

Ah... I could go on and on. Ultimately, we've gotten about as much blue track stuff as we need so I think we're going to ask family to go the wooden set for Christmas this year.

Actually, I had this neat idea to build his big Thomas playboard that we inerited from my nephew into a coffee table. I need to add legs, siding, and a removable top so it can live in the living room and still be a toy for Jack. I'll start drafting plans tomorrow...  11:22:17 PM    

NIST 'Pins' Down Imaging System for the Blind
The NIST page on the device. This is just fascinating.  10:49:53 PM    

Display: Feeling Is Believing
This is simply amazing. I'm actually surprised that this is the first I've heard of it given the field I've been in the last year and a half...  10:45:54 PM    

Slacks-Jawed
An interesting article in Slate that I blog entirely for the benefit of my wife who will now immediately buy me a pair of these in the hopes that there will be hope for me. Actually, I'm fine on pants. It's shirts I'm brutal to...  2:58:31 PM    

Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors
It's not often a site can keep me up this late. Maybe I was in a zen mood. Either way, I'll be drinking a lot of coffee in the morning. Later this morning. Whatever.  1:53:07 AM