"Give peas a chance." - Gregor Mendel

A 20-year old free runner is in critical condition in a Phx hospital after he fell four stories off an apartment building here. I hope he pulls through but it doesn't sound good.
Reading that news item got me to thinking about people who do dangerous things and die as a result. The cliche is, "Yeah, but he died doing what he loved."
But he's still dead! You think that if this guy had known about today's fall he still would have left the house this morning to go almost leap tall buildings in a single bound? Or that if, when somebody first suggested this insane activity, they would have told him, "and it's going to kill you before you're old enough to legally drink" he'd have quickly responded, "OK! I'm down with that!"?

Dying doing something you love is no consolation if that something is stupid. It's just that people don't realize they're doing something stupid, whether it's free running or smoking or eating three cinnamon rolls at one sitting.

I'm not a fan of electric vehicles (EV's). They sound like the solution to pollution until you think about the material in those batteries, including the mining and disposal issues. Then there's the matter of the electricity needed to charge those batteries, which in the U.S. will almost always come from a coal fired power plant. But EV's have led to some pretty creative thinking to solve interesting problems.
They found a disproportionate number of pedestrians were getting hit by EV's because they couldn't hear them coming. So in the next year or two all EV's will be required to include a noise maker. A creative engineer could have some fun with that one. What sound?
They also realized the really high voltage in EV's could create a major electrocution hazard for first responders to an accident. ZAP!! So they all include a device that automatically disconnects the batteries in any collision that deploys air bags.

You probably saw the clip of Rupert Murdoch getting hit with a pie during the hearings before Parliament yesterday. What struck me is that the British press called it a "foam pie." Huh?? Before I saw it on TV I pictured some fool cutting up a sheet of foam into tiny little pieces and putting them in a pie crust. I guess the good part is it would be a lot easier to clean up.
Turns out what we call shaving creme they call shaving foam.
So do they have creme mattresses?
"England and America are two nations divided by a common language." - George Bernard Shaw

At the beginning of our vacation we spent a couple of days with my folks who live at the Ida Culver House. That's a large and very nice assisted living facility in north Seattle. I think they have between 300 and 400 residents, almost all of whom are ambulatory though a lot of them use a walker or scooter to get around. We discussed the average age and agreed it's probably in the mid-80's. They have several residents over 100 years old.

So we're waiting for the elevator to go up to the fourth floor to my folks' unit, and as the elevator doors open there stands a man with his walker who is frail and looks to be near 90. He'd probably dozed off as the elevator traveled and clearly was surprised to see two people standing there. He gets this startled look on his face and my wife says...
"Boo!"

After he was off the elevator and we were on I told her, "You NEVER say 'boo!' to anyone at the Ida Culver House. Do you realize what could have just happened?"

From my friend Jenny on Facebook: "I home school because I've seen the village and I don't want it raising my children."

Note re. the first item in this post: I fully expect a snide comment from one of my family members about the risk of death while riding a motorcycle. But there's a key difference. The day I see a free runner wearing a full face helmet and protective clothing, or a smoker wearing a gas mask I'll concede the point.
So there!