Random Thoughts 12/20/12

• My sweet Tanner had a birthday this week (Tuesday) and turned 11!  All he wanted for his birthday was a metal detector.  Of course.  That's not homeschool at all.
• I took Shannon, Brennan, and Tanner to see The Hobbit Tuesday.   Part 1 (of 3) is everything a Tolkien fan could hope for.  We saw it in traditional 2D at 24 frames-per-second and it was perfect.  It seems like too dark a movie for 3D and I'm not a fan of wearing those plastic glasses and getting a headache anyway.
• The Christmas shopping for the kids is basically done now with just a few more presents to wrap.  Spreading out the shopping (and spending) over several months is a good thing and I'm already tracking ideas and online prices for next year.
• Our Google Fiberhood has expanded by a few miles (good for our neighbors) and been delayed a little bit (bad for us).  We supposedly will be hooked up by February.
• Yes, more gun laws will make a difference.  Just like laws against alcohol and drugs fixed those problems.
• Global warming failed us again.  We had our first serious snow today.  Blizzard conditions this morning and cold and icy all day.  But it's Kansas so it'll melt tomorrow… maybe.  In Russia they're having the worst winter in 70 years.  So it could be worse.
• I think some people are going to profit off of the panic and foolishness about doomsday in the next 24 hours.  I'll have a video go up on my blog after midnight Friday night about why the world didn't end yesterday.
• See Union Station's Christmas decorations here.
• The bodies of the "In Cold Blood" killers were exhumed in Lansing, KS, to collect DNA for a murder case in Florida 50 years ago.  Kansas hasn't executed anybody since these two were hung in Lansing in 1965.
• That video you've seen with the giant eagle snatching and almost carrying away an infant… is a fake.  It was created by a 3D animation workshop.