Today we had Chipotle... twice

On Halloween, Chipotle gives you a free burrito if you dress up as something off the Chipotle menu (most people wrap themselves in aluminum foil), but they only do it from 6 pm until close. We wanted to go to the Farmer's Market this morning, which would be pretty exhausting, so we weren't sure if we'd be up for a second trip later that evening; each trip is over a mile of walking, and that can be pretty tiring when you're caring a baby and produce. But we really really wanted some Chipotle burritos.

So, I had this brilliant idea... we buy a couple burritos on our way home from the Farmer's Market, and then if we feel up to it we can go get the free burritos later. See, this way we at least get to eat some Chipotle, and maybe we also get free burritos. Win-win.

I'm very full right now.

Elimination Communication

We decided before Ada was born that we wanted to try Elimination Communication. We went into it with no expectation of catching all or even some of Ada's pees and poops. It's fun to try, and it's far less stressful to try this out now than potty training will be a year or two from now. There's no notion of success or failure, and there's no pressure on Ada to perform.

We've recently seen some unexpected results. In the past couple of days, Ada has pooped/peed in the potty 3 times. She has also been staying dry while sleeping.

We haven't noticed any visual cues for when she needs to go, we just take her and hold her over the potty after the following situations

• When we change her diaper. Babies sometimes don't like go in a diaper that's already messy, so they hold it until they encounter the fresh air.
• When she wakes up. The need to poop can wake a baby up, so we take her to the potty when she wakes up.

I say "we", but really Erinne has done everything and I just write about it.

DotA

While browsing a few Wikipedia articles, I discovered that Valve has hired IceFrog, who has been developing and maintaining Defense of the Ancients (DotA) since 2005, and that we may see Valve produce a DotA title...

99% sure??

When someone says they are 99% sure of something, they probably don't mean that. If they were 99% sure, then they would be willing to bet on it with 99-to-1 odds. That is, they'd be willing to bet $99 for the chance to win $1.

Fradulent Data

This article references the Gambler's fallacy and Benford's Law, which I thought were fascinating when I first learned of them a few years ago. The article continues with a really interesting and somewhat shocking discovery, that a polling company has been producing fraudulent data for several years.

Spanking makes kids dumber

From an NPR article here.

This guy has conducted two studies (published here and here) that suggest that not spanking leads to higher IQs. There have been other studies that demonstrate the connection between spanking and lower success rates as adults.

It's often difficult to make conclusions from statistical data like this; it could simply be the case that kids are poorer and dumber because their parents are poorer and dumber, and that poor and dumb people just happen to spank their kids more often. However, he claims he was able to adjust for socio-economic factors, indicating that the relationship between spanking and the child's IQs is causal.

Video Game Nostalgia

I had Thunder Force III on Sega Genesis when I was a kid. I tried over and over to beat it, then I watched a friend beat it, and after that it was easy. The greatest part about this game is the ending. Hilarious.

In a flash the planet of ORN
disappeared completely.

ORN could no longer control
the huge amount of energy
that had accumulated
after he lost his owner.

The Emperor ORN
had been disturbing
the Union of the Milky Way
for a long time.
What was his true character?
It was a huge bio-computer which
had been made in the beginning
of the space age.

Besides,his computer brain was
developing extraordinary,and he began
to have his own will.

He denied the existence of human
beings and finally he exercised
a program to kill
the whole human race.
It was evidently human beings
who had given him this idea.
Therefore human beings should
think of the meaning deeply.

Anyway the war was over.

And a peaceful time came soon.
It might be for a short time.
Human beings,think about
what you have done.

After the important mission was
completed,STYX turned over
his airframe to the base
fellows waiting for them.
Jean and Sherry,you might aware of
the real meaning of
"true peace"