Modern western civilization teems with marvels

Here's a nice perspective, a post in the middle of a Metafilter discussion that I liked. A quote:

I am by no means a rich man, but in comparison to most of the world and most humans who lived in any age preceding ours, I live like a king. By the mere accident of birth, I came to live in a country that bombards its citizens with comforts. I woke up this morning and put two cups of fresh, clean water into a metal pan and boiled it on my electric stove. I then stirred in some 7-grain porridge and some raisins and cooked up my breakfast. I didn't have to grow the grains and process them and I didn't have to grow the grapes and dry them into raisins - it all came from the store, packaged and ready to go! From the same store, I also obtained some butter without having to own a cow and some honey without having to put on an apiarist's suit and squeeze it out of a hive. I put the porridge and honey and butter into a ceramic bowl that I did not cast and stirred it all together with a metal spoon that I did not forge.

Rockin' egg

Lately, Lily says this and tries to race us to things:

"First one there is a rockin' egg."

By the time you figure out whether you should hurry or go slow, she's already won.

Critique of Christian Culture, in the form of hilarious blog

Check it out: Stuff Christian Culture Likes. I learned, for example, that the Christian divorce rate is identical to the national average.

House built from lego

Fellow builds a house using Lego bricks as bricks. Really.

Visiting the exotic pet store

We go to the exotic pet store about once a week to get crickets to feed Chloe's fire-bellied toads. She's the only one of us who was willing to wrap a constrictor around her neck. How is that ever a good idea? I was nervous about having 66% of my genetic heritage that close to a big snake.

I petted the iguana, because I am very brave. Meanwhile Tanya held a rabbit, and you know what kind of filthy shenanigans those things get up to.

Disney has bought Marvel

I don't have any smart remarks for this, just that Mr. Behrens sent me a link to decent article from NPR on the phenomenom, and I wanted to note the fact that this occurred.

Yikes, Maker Faire Austin cancelled this year

This is too bad. No Maker Faire in October 2009 in Austin this year. I've really enjoyed the past two.

Chloe chasing Ethan with water balloons

Chloe lured Ethan outside and had a stash of water balloons ready. Good thing I happened to be there with a camera...and to prevent a murder. Also good that Chloe's aim is really bad. These photos are from 8/30/09.

Ultimate Fantastic Four vols 6-8, 10-11

I devoured these Sunday. Got all of them from my handy local library (Milwood! Best branch library ever!). I'd read a couple of them before, but it was great to read these in some semblance of order.

I like the Ultimate Fantastic Four books for their taking of the FF's trademark world-bending storylines (Cosmic Cube turns the earth into a fair replica of hell!) which were often silly, and making them tense and interesting. Reading these volumes in rapid succession was a thrill ride.

The villains are actually scary in these stories. They have an edge they lacked in the more innocent silver age stories.

Looks like the plotters dropped the ball at one point. At the end of, I think it was vol 8, Reed has a gadget in his hands that can do almost anything, and he's using it to fix all sorts of things that went bad in the story, and then he virtuously throws it away...rather than, for example:

- create world peace

- fix the paraplegics of recent wars

- I dunno, maybe turn Ben Grimm normal? I mean, usually he's obsessed with fixing Ben. But throw a magic wand into his hands and he forgets?

I'm not going to comment on each issue. I will say that if you like the Ultimates style of story, you should read these. They have a very similar vibe to the Ultimates. And the tensions within the team, especially Reed and Sue in these issues, are great.

OH: Mustn't forget: zombie fantastic four? Best villains ever.