We're Born With It

Looks like we might very well be born with an understanding of math:

One sign that this skill truly is innate: Children enter the world with a head for numbers. Veronique Izard, a cognitive psychologist at Harvard University, demonstrated this in a recent study of newborns. She and her colleagues played cooing sounds to babies, with varying numbers of sounds in each trial. The babies were then shown a set of shapes on a computer screen, and the scientists measured how long the babies gazed at it. (The length of time a baby spends looking at an object reflects its interest.) Newborns consistently looked longer at the screen when the number of shapes matched the number of sounds they had just heard. For example, a baby who heard “tuuu, tuuu, tuuu, tuuu” would look the longest at four shapes, less at eight, and still less at twelve. Izard’s study suggests that newborns already have a basic understanding of numbers. Moreover, their concept of numbers is abstract; they can transfer it across the senses from sounds to pictures.

Read the whole article here.

I Don't Know What To Say

From the LA Times:

Churches outnumber schools, clinics and banks put together. Many promise to solve parishioner's material worries as well as spiritual ones — eight out of ten Nigerians struggle by on less than $2 a day.
...
It's hard for churches to carve out a congregation with so much competition. So some pastors establish their credentials by accusing children of witchcraft.
...
There's a scar above Jane's shy smile: her mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her and repeated exorcisms costing a total of $60 didn't cure her of witchcraft.

We just got the book "Tear Soup", and it's what I read to Simone in bed tonight. I couldn't help but think about how much soup must be made in Nigeria right now.

Ugh....

I woke up this morning with the song for Never Ending Story playing in my head. This does not bode well for the day.

AT&T: Why Do You Make It So Hard To Give You Money?

So, we've got AT&T for our cell phones. We've been relatively happy, we're simple users - we just make calls and we don't really text.

Our last 2 year contract is over and now it's time to upgrade phones. I don't really like how in the U.S., the cell carriers have a lock on the market and force you to subsidize people's phones. I wish the phones weren't locked to carriers and you were free to move between them (yes, I know you can buy unlocked phones, the point is that the 99% of folks are locked into their carrier).

Anyway, it's time to get new phones, and we're also going to add a line (move the home phone to a cell line).

I get a corporate discount. Why do I tell you this? Because you can only use your corporate discount on the web page. When I called in to do the upgrades, the kind lady informed me that I get a discount, only she can't give it to me. ungh? Yup, she can see the discount, but can't use it. Great, only the web page was down at that time, so I couldn't use the web page.

When I can finally log in, the web page is even slower than Comcast's. It literally takes from one to three minutes for each link to be processed. It's like I'm using dialup, only, I know I'm not using dialup because I can watch a YouTube videos while I wait.

So, I go through the agonizing steps to get my new phone, and then try to add Mary's phone. Whamo, I'm logged out of AT&T and am presented with a login page asking for my zip code and phone number. Evidently, you can only upgrade one phone at a time, even though they're all on the same account. Oh, and the free phone I just upgraded to? It costs $18 to activate. Fine, whatever, I pay the price and finish the order. I click on "continue shopping" and it logs me out again.

After much swearing, I try to log in again to get my phone upgraded. Nope, not tonight, the server is having problems and cannot log me in because of server error 114.

AT&T: I'm trying to throw money at you. Really, your mediocre service is fine, I want to buy some stuff and upgrade my plan. You're making it incredibly difficult to do so. If it weren't such a pain to switch carriers, I would...

SImone Smorgasbord

Just before Labor Day, we went camping at Paradise Campground, just down the McKenzie River from where we were married a short 8 years ago.

We got a campsite that had this view:



Pretty nice, eh? Check out the other photos from the trip here.

This one was kind of odd, a cross between Dopey and Blair Witch:



After camping we went to the beach. It rained, it poured, we stayed warm and dry with a big fire every day. It was great. Simone took a few good pictures:


Simone cuddling with the stuffed monkey.


Simone sprinting.


Simone's doll is holding a coin


Simone and Mary

Oh, and what did I learn today? Simone knows "left" and "right"! I was all excited to teach her, but she passed the test with flying colors - even figuring out the right answer to, "which side of mine are you on?"

Ever wonder which colors Simone likes to use for coloring? Here they are, lined up by usage. Apparently green and white are not so much fun...



And a bonus Hazel note: did you know she likes going down slides? Check it out:


Hazel in motion.

Vodka Vodka Vodka

I'm not a huge van of vodka, mainly because I think there's no real reason to drink alcohol unless you can taste it. And, the better the vodka, the less flavor it has (vodka being just water and ethanol).

But, because of that, it works really well as an ingredient in flavored alcohols (like kahlua, or nocino). And this is the weekend of flavored vodkas. I have a bottle of vodka and vanilla beans to make some vanilla extract. I've got a bunch of cherry pits that I crushed that are infusing a vodka with an intense almond flavor.

And, lastly, I took 8 jalapenos, chopped them up and soaked in vodka to make a green pepper vodka. Why? Well, on memorial day I was treated to a wonderful drink that was just like a mojito, except it used jalapeno vodka in place of rum. And, I must say, it is an awesome drink.

That's what I'm drinking right now:

• 1 oz fresh lime
• 1 oz simple syrup
• 1 oz jalapeno vodka
• 2 oz club soda

cheers!