munky.org|v3.0

Today's rocket - Estes Rascal. Free hand me down worth a million smiles

For people who think spending time with your children is overrated, you need to be slapped. To people who think you have to spend lots of money for your children to have a good time, you need to remove your head and gain a new perogative.

So how do you spend time with your children on the cheap while teaching them new things? There’s millions of ways to do it. Today, my daughter and I launched a model rocket. Nothing fancy, but it went a long way. Ever since we got the rocket (my father in-law had it laying around when they had to move), she’s been wanting to launch it. I finally found my old portable launch stand and launch controller today, so without missing a beat, I offered to let us launch it. Her eyes were a mile wide in joy.

So we went out and set it up. I explained the things we were doing, and explaining about safety. She was a big help for me. Her biggest job was to hold on the safety key, but she also help me set up the stand and prep the rocket. Amazing how much fun wadding is to insert.

Then after we got everything set up, it was time to go Houston. She got to insert the key, we counted down, I kept it armed and she got to launch it. She got giddy after watching it launch!

Only downside was the high level winds. That baby went HIGH! By the time it hit its max altitude (over 1,200 ft), it probably had drifted almost 1/4 mile SW, and it landed 1/2 a mile NE. In the median of a busy road, caught on a bush 6 inches away from the curb.

So we didn’t launch again, but it didn’t matter. She was still excited about it hours later. Nothing like bringing joy to your child’s face, especially when she gets to learn something new and develop a joy and interest in science. Highly underrated.

Meet Fat Barbie. This is a screen shot I found from an AdFreak blog post. “Keep obesity away from your child” is the tagline for this commercial. You can thank a Texas based hispanic group named LatinWorks for the commercial and their cause – Active Life Movement.

Maybe we need to send Mr. Eldridge down to Texas, he might just feel at home (if he brings the family of course).

My 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 The Day I Brought It Home

Honestly, I’ve been bored tonight. I wound up at a video site called WonderHowTo. It’s been worth it.

I found a trick that is definitely worth trying for my motorcycle. Anyone who owns one knows how much of a b*tch it is coming up to the so-called “smart” stop lights. The ones where bikers generally have to run the redlight or get into the intersection and let a car get on the line. For those who don’t know, the light will never turn green because that “smart” light doesn’t think you are there.

Well according to this informative video, the sensors in the road (those caulk-tarred lines in the road) sense the change in electromagnet field overhead, and a motorcycle doesn’t make enough of a change to convince the sensor there is a vehicle above.

According to this video, the simpliest thing to do is to tape a couple of strong magnets (this examply used ones capable of picking up 6 lbs) to the undercarriage. I’m not sure if it works or not, but I’ll definitely be trying. I’ve had to run a number of red lights because it never notices I’m there, passing me over like the retarded kid in gym.

To watch the video and more like it, you can find it here.