Social Neuroscientist John Cacciopo discusses the value of social connectivity and the destructiveness of loneliness… And what his and others research say about it.
Definitely worth 15 minutes out of your day!
dad 1 raccoons zero
- my new best friend is ‘yard guard’ by Bird-x — CLICK on picture
I have a beautiful grape trellis that rests about ten feet above our patio. Over, around, and through the trellis is an expansive Concord Grape plant that spans around thirty feet and is very productive now that it is mature; that is when the raccoons don’t sample it!
Over the years I have thought some very nasty thoughts about these varmits when I would chase them away at all hours of the night, but no more! Today, I have a ‘raccoon annoyer’ ( my words) from Bird-x that I was able to buy from the helpful folks at Double D feed and supply here in San Luis Obispo.
In the past, I listened to far too many people who told me these things don’t work… these are the same sorts of people who would swerve off the road to avoid a squirrel… I should have known better! Last night I watched as the raccoons slinked by my place… it appeared as though something was ‘annoying them’… poor babies! heh heh 😉
So, it looks like we’ll have a good crop this year.
finding interesting applications for the iPad
One of the fun things we have been doing recently is adding some of the fun applications available for free or with a slight cost via itunes. Certainly, I had to add a couple of Laura’s favorites: tetris and soduku along with the usually presentation, word, graphic and spreadsheet software. This isn’t supposed to be a replacement for a lap top or a phone ( although it will do Skype), but it will certainly do almost everything else!
I wanted to find a background graphic that would be pleasant for Laura and I to see and one of my favorite is of 3 of my four girls up on the Parthenon overlooking the city in Athens.
Oh yes, I had to paint my new redwood bench. The table in the foreground in the foreground was made 24 years ago with 2×12 redwood and has lasted wonderfully… so I have hope for the second one as well.
Have a fun day,
Roger
iPad is whats for lunch and dinner
We all love technology in our family and this coming from a guy who lives in a community that thinks electricity is a passing fad! The simple fact is that each of us recieved an iPad 3G 64GB today and we all looked forward to it with anticipation.
There was only one person who had trouble today and that was me! First, I had to make it work with a router that wasn’t designed for Mac and an entire PC network! Oh well, we missed lunch and dinner but got it done and it is wonderful! Fortunately, Mom is one of those rare breed of women who loves football and technology, so she helped put it all together!
One of my daughters called to tell me she was going poor adding all the aps she wanted, the other interrupted and asked if her sister had found all the ‘free’ aps that were out there? The fun thing is that it is moments like this that bond us fondly together in common interest… and to help Dad stay relatively current!
Technology helps make learning so much easier.
Roger Freberg
karla loves apple bamboo drawing tablet
Our daughter is one tough person to find things that she would like for her birthday. Karla is also very picky as to what she uses to make her art. I asked Karla to whip up something quick for my blog and she came up with the above artwork, but if you look at her site, she has a lot of talent.
A smile is worth everything.
Roger