Friday Hodgepodge

Three Things

1. My admonitions of morning silence to my three-year-old son, who rises early and exuberantly each weekend morning, have morphed over time into a shared joke.

At first, he took charge of morning silence. I began noticing that, if I tried to tell him something, even in a whisper, Little Man would smile, place his finger to his lips, and say, "Shhhh!"

So, one day, as soon as he shushed me, I jokingly shushed him back, and then would do this the instant he made a noise of any kind. Having a good sense of humor, he got the joke right away.

Now, we often start our weekends with a round of shushing each other. And overall, he usually does a decent job of being quiet while Mrs. Van Horn and Pumpkin doze upstairs.

2. They're calling them "nuclear batteries":

New technology has been developed that uses nuclear waste to generate electricity in a nuclear-powered battery. A team of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol have grown a man-made diamond that, when placed in a radioactive field, is able to generate a small electrical current. The development could solve some of the problems of nuclear waste, clean electricity generation and battery life.

This innovative method for radioactive energy was presented at the Cabot Institute's sold-out annual lecture - 'Ideas to change the world'- on Friday, 25 November. [links in original]

Later in the Phys.org article, which also notes the pros and cons of the new technology, there is mention of a way for interested parties to suggest possible uses. (HT: Snedcat)

3. Clients From Hell presents us with the following humorous sign of the times:

Can you send me your email?

-Sent from my iPhone

I have a strange feeling that the person who submitted that did not read that from a printout.

Weekend Reading

"If the season feels like a duty to you, then something is wrong." -- Michael Hurd, in "Gifting Shouldn't Be a Chore" at The Delaware Wave

"Risk gets a bad name because it gets lumped with sensation-seeking." -- Michael Hurd, in "Happiness Can Be Risky" at The Delaware Coast Press

"Trump poses such a threat to free speech because most politicians and intellectuals have not taken it seriously as a right for years." -- Steve Simpson, in "Free Speech Is a Right, Not a Political Weapon" at The Hill

-- CAV