nothoo.com » news http://blog.nothoo.com meritorious marginalia Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:28:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 The Future http://blog.nothoo.com/2009/03/02/the-future/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2009/03/02/the-future/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:59:44 +0000 jeff http://blog.nothoo.com/?p=610 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Sometimes big decisions by others force you into making big decisions of your own. After 12 years of slinging code in the software industry (all with crazy start ups) I am leaving my career. After much deliberation, hand wringing, number crunching, and other such stuff, my wife and I have decided to make some major life changes. First, I am not going back to work in the foreseeable future (maybe some small freelance stuff here and there, but that is it), my wife has upped her consulting hours (behavior analysis/modification for children with autism) and will be the bread winner. She will be able to keep her hours down so that she still gets time with our two wonderful kids.

This also means that we will have to make budget cuts (now if only we could get the god damned government to do the same!). One of our largest expenses is Montessori school for our oldest son. We have loved having him there but we think that we will like having him at home even more. Yes, we are going to homeschool our kids. Seems crazy to many I am sure  but we really feel that this is the right answer for our family. Public school sucks and private school, besides being hideously expensive, is really just a better version of public schooling. The attitude that it is all about preparing for college, preparing to become a cog in the machine, is not what we are after. I want my kids to learn to learn, love to learn, and not feel that their path forward is riding the rails of cookie-cutter American success. So look for more home schooling (unschooling?) blogging.

My last bit is about food. I love food. I love cooking it, reading about it, watching it being made/eaten, and eating it myself. I have spent the last 12 years exploring food primarily through the wealth of great restaurants that we have here in the Northern Virginia area (only secondarily via my whim driven dabbling in cooking). Eating out is expensive. A tighter budget means less eating out. Which also means more eating at home. More cooking, more exploration, more getting my hands in it and my head around it. I am really loving this aspect of being “Mr. Mom”. I have been baking (cookies, bread, pizza), curing meat, creating my own “recipes”, mixing, matching, and melding flavors, all while providing a meal for my family. My freezers are full of stock, bones, chunks, cubes, sausage, etc… (all examples of meat thrift a concept seemingly lost in this age of cheap meat). I definitely want to blog more about this. Maybe when the kids are a bit older I can even start a new career in food.

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2009/03/02/the-future/feed/ 0 Test post from iphone http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/09/03/test-post-from-iphone/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/09/03/test-post-from-iphone/#comments Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:48:58 +0000 jeff http://nothoo.com/2008/09/03/test-post-from-iphone/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Testing 1 2 3… Test post from ye olde iphone.

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/09/03/test-post-from-iphone/feed/ 0 If Everyone’s Talking, Who Will Listen? http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/08/25/if-everyones-talking-who-will-listen/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/08/25/if-everyones-talking-who-will-listen/#comments Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:22:36 +0000 jeff http://nothoo.com/?p=571 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Jonathan Swift

This is satire, right? Please say yes…

If Everyone’s Talking, Who Will Listen?

Money quote:

It’s possible that over time, an energy tax, by making some computers, Web sites, blogs and perhaps cable TV channels too costly to maintain, could reduce the supply of information.

And folks wonder why newspapers are becoming less and less relevant.

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/08/25/if-everyones-talking-who-will-listen/feed/ 0 Welcome to Nothoo 2.0! http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/06/28/welcome-to-nothoo-20/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/06/28/welcome-to-nothoo-20/#comments Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:23:19 +0000 jeff http://nothoo.com/?p=3 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Nothoo is back! I may or may not bring back all of the old content, depends on how much work it is. I am also going to revive fairfaxbirding.com. I have also entered the modern age and have this stuff hosted with a real hosting company rather than in my basement.

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2008/06/28/welcome-to-nothoo-20/feed/ 0 Damn, What a Loss http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/04/12/damn-what-a-loss/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/04/12/damn-what-a-loss/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:51:49 +0000 jeff http://www.nothoo.com/wordpress/2007/04/12/damn-what-a-loss/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Kurt Vonnegut has died.

I always loved Galapagos for its bizarre fusion of natural history, science fiction, and biting wit.

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/04/12/damn-what-a-loss/feed/ 0 W Loves to Raise Taxes http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/27/w-loves-to-raise-taxes/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/27/w-loves-to-raise-taxes/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2007 16:01:38 +0000 jeff http://www.nothoo.com/wordpress/2007/03/27/w-loves-to-raise-taxes/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Hell, why would anyone want to be able to deduct their medical expenses from their taxes? Come on it is un-American to not submit to a total raping at the hands of the the power-crazed, out-of-touch-with-reality, war-mongering, executive branch of these United States. Right? You are either 100% for America or 100% against it. So stop your complaining and spread them.

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/27/w-loves-to-raise-taxes/feed/ 0 Self-Deception Set to Music http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/27/self-deception-set-to-music/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/27/self-deception-set-to-music/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:08:56 +0000 jeff http://www.nothoo.com/wordpress/2007/03/27/self-deception-set-to-music/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Sam Harris has written an excellent essay for the LA Times. The following quote has been circulating and is in itself brilliant:

Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music.

This fragment nicely summarizes his argument:

The problem is that wherever one stands on this continuum, one inadvertently shelters those who are more fanatical than oneself from criticism. Ordinary fundamentalist Christians, by maintaining that the Bible is the perfect word of God, inadvertently support the Dominionists — men and women who, by the millions, are quietly working to turn our country into a totalitarian theocracy reminiscent of John Calvin’s Geneva. Christian moderates, by their lingering attachment to the unique divinity of Jesus, protect the faith of fundamentalists from public scorn. Christian liberals — who aren’t sure what they believe but just love the experience of going to church occasionally — deny the moderates a proper collision with scientific rationality. And in this way centuries have come and gone without an honest word being spoken about God in our society.

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/27/self-deception-set-to-music/feed/ 0 “They Tried to Teach My Baby Science” http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/21/they-tried-to-teach-my-baby-science/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/21/they-tried-to-teach-my-baby-science/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:16:00 +0000 jeff http://www.nothoo.com/wordpress/2007/03/21/they-tried-to-teach-my-baby-science/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Classic!

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/21/they-tried-to-teach-my-baby-science/feed/ 0 Health and Medicine Theme http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/19/health-and-medicine-theme/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/19/health-and-medicine-theme/#comments Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:02:41 +0000 jeff http://www.nothoo.com/wordpress/2007/03/19/health-and-medicine-theme/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> In consort with my back pain post from last week I am going to post lots of links to various and sundry medicine related stories this week. Here we go:

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]]> http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/19/health-and-medicine-theme/feed/ 0 Why Gasoline Prices Increase in the Summer, I Finally Understand http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/16/why-gasoline-prices-increase-in-the-summer-i-finally-understand/ http://blog.nothoo.com/2007/03/16/why-gasoline-prices-increase-in-the-summer-i-finally-understand/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:23:27 +0000 jeff http://www.nothoo.com/wordpress/2007/03/16/why-gasoline-prices-increase-in-the-summer-i-finally-understand/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> This post about why gas costs more in the summer is very interesting. All previous explanations that I have come across were to simplistic.

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