"The Battle of Midway" by Craig L. Symonds is an excellent and thorough retelling of both the events and situations leading up to the turning point of the war in the Pacific during World War II, but also some of the inner workings of Allied and Japanese politics surrounding the decision of the...
This book changed everything. First published in late 1959, its influence has been felt on every single Science Fiction novel, TV show, and movie there has been since.
"Good Omens" is a book about the end of the world, as seen by Agnes Nutter, witch. The story follows quite a few distinct story lines. If you are familiar with Mr. Neil Gaiman, you will recognize his unique style of storytelling, including the frequent footnotes you might have found in some of his...
This article will show you how to build a tomato tree planter just like the one at "Living with the Land" at Disney World's Epcot.
Sometimes just getting started with a new diet is difficult. Figuring out what you should or shouldn't eat can be confusing if you are just starting out. With the guidelines I present here, you will be able to identify which foods are keto-friendly when you go to the grocery store.
Making the decision to go low carb/high fat is a difficult one to make, but one that I am glad I did. I've lost over 100 lbs, mostly on keto. You can too! And you'll be able to do it while eating bacon, eggs, steak, and sour cream. I know this, because the majority of my diet over the last few...
My all-time favorite movie is "The Princess Bride," without a doubt. The movie is now over 25 years old, and has been wonderfully re-mastered into high definition blu-ray. You can see the new trailer below and see how great the colors look, compared to the (probable) VHS copy you might have in your...
Cutting the cord on cable TV has never been easier. Streaming devices like Roku, Chromecast, and others make eliminating your cable bill a snap.
Atrial Fibrillation is one of the more common heart arrhythmias, and becomes more common as you age. Atrial Fibrillation, also known as "A-Fib" is a condition where the normal pacemaker (the sinus node) of the heart is no longer in control of depolarization of the atria (the top two chambers of the...
Looking at an EKG can be very intimidating and difficult to understand for a lay person. EKG interpretation is a little tricky at first, but with some persistence, you can put together what the P wave, QRS, and T wave correspond to as the heart is working. Since Normal Sinus Rhythm is the easiest...
Ingress is a pretty daunting game to play when you first start, and some hints on the finer points of playing would have gone a long way into playing and being successful much easier for me. These are some very basic points that a LOT of people miss...
When I first started playing Ingress, I did not really understand how to play. I felt lost, and I didn't really have a friend or acquaintance who played to explain to me how to go about getting started. It was like flying blind, and it took me a...
I initially bought my soldering iron to install a radio in my car. As it turns out, soldering irons can serve as wood burning pyrography tools. They heat up and burn wood just like a pyrography pen and have interchangeable tips. This opens a whole new door to arts and crafts. Have you ever seen...
I remember reading The Giver as a young adult in middle school. It was pretty mature reading for someone that age, but I really enjoyed it. The Giver was one of the few books that I felt didn't treat you like a child, but instead was right on the level.
Fiberfix is very versatile, however. It wraps pretty similar to tape, just like the package says. You wet it, squeeze out the excess water, then wrap whatever needs repair. It is hard enough to work with (like paint and sand) in about 5 minutes.
I remember trying Final Fantasy 7 for the first time back in 1997. Previously, I had played all available North American Final Fantasy games, including I, II, III and mystic quest. FF 1 was actually what hooked me into RPGs.
I started looking up facts about spam the food as a way to add to an email or post that was spam, the annoying commercials. I dig up an interesting or fun fact about spam, so that unwary clickers at least learn some trivia about spam. Usually it is well received and garners a smile or two.
While I cannot recommend the Captain Underpants series of books, my middle son Connor sure can. He has loved every single one of these books, and they are just what he needed to get into reading.
A Benefits Coordinator is an amazing person to have on your side when you are trying to deal with your autistic or unruly child. I will explain in detail why that is, but first I have to give some background about my son, Devin Jr.
But what a lot of people don't realize is that the movie was based on the book which in turn was based on a family's 28 day experience living at 112 Ocean Avenue Amytiville, NY 11701. That's a real address, to a real house, that the Lutz family vacated after only 28 days ownership, back in 1975.
Everyone knows the intelligence of chimps, elephants, and dolphins, but few know that birds have some standouts, especially the crow. Crows are amazingly adaptive, and have survived along with humans, even using us to their advantage in some circumstances (more on that later). Crows form family...
Dressing up your children as Uncle Si Robertson is a great Halloween idea. Si is the most recognizable person on Duck Dynasty and will allow them to practice their acting skills as well. Hey!
Brewing beer at home has never been easier. We will go through some of the basic steps of brewing beer at home using a kit in this quick look at homebrewing.
Single Cup coffee makers have become quite popular, with Keurig leading the way in popularity. But is it the best single cup coffee maker? How does it compare to Flavia drink station?
Modern art. It just leaves a sour taste in my mouth, just like the milk I had 30 days after the expiration date (can milk turn into alcohol? of course it can). Modern art seems to evoke strong emotions from some people. Frankly, most of the time I don't get it, just like a neutered dog. I shrug my...
Christopher Colombus was not the first European to discover America. The Vikings hold that distinction, with a colony in Newfoundland just after the year 1000 AD. They named the colony "L'anse aux Meadows" and the land itself "Vinland."
Every episode of suits showcases a new suit worn by Harvey Specter. He is as much a character as he is a fashion plate. I would give my right arm for just one of these suits, and I bet if you are visiting this page, you would too. Harvey wears suits designed exclusively by Tom Ford.
I've made coffee almost exclusively from French Presses. It's not that I haven't had drip coffee, I just find French Press' results better. Making French Pressed coffee is a more intimate coffee experience, requiring care and attention to detail compared to a drip machine.
But what about after the coffee gets to our house? Do the tools we use change its flavor? Is there anything we can add or change to make it better? The answer is a resounding "YES!"
Most people take the easy route when decorating outdoors for Halloween. A few pumpkins here, a fake skeleton there. Maybe a "spooky sounds" CD playing. Nice, but not amazing. What would really be a showstopper is a well planned and executed crop circle in your front lawn.
PvZ Brainball is about collecting other people's brains, but the other half is protecting the brains you do have. If your defenses aren't up to snuff, someone is going to come along and snag all your brains faster than you can say "twiddlydinks."
Plants vs Zombies Adventures is PopCap's facebook version of the popular computer game. PvZ features a game called "brain ball" that has taken over most of my time there. It is very fun, and I enjoy it more than the actual game itself.
The popular interpretation of the song is that it is a convict returning home after doing his 3 years in prison. This is a literal interpretation that most people recognize, but I am here to present an alternative interpretation, that the convict is actually a returning service member, having...
We humans have done some really odd things to attempt to improve a drink. Downright weird, odd, and disgusting drinks.
met an elderly gentleman who was a sergeant during the storming of Normandy, D-Day. He told me about how he was to be deployed on the beach by a Higgins boat. The captain of the Higgins started flipping out after they started taking fire by the German emplacements, and dropped them early.
Arabica beans are widely considered to be superior than Robusta beans, but the truth is that, while different, neither coffee is clearly superior. In the United States, Arabica is the most commonly available coffee, and I have had some difficulty finding Robusta coffee in the past.
We wait in long lines at Starbuck's for our coffee. We buy gadgets and gizmos to make it easier, better, or faster. Everyone has a favorite coffee mug.
This is a continuation from my first war stories article About 10 years ago (around 2003), I met a man who went by the name "Mr. Cody." Mr. Cody was a mechanic during World War II. He was kind enough to sign a picture of himself next to one of the planes he worked on, the Enola Gay.
I remember the day that I started practicing how not to smile. I was on a school bus, maybe 8 or 9 years old. One of the older "cool" kids started calling me "smiley" and making fun of my cheery demeanor. I had to fight to keep the corners of my mouth from forming a smile, but I was able to control...
Every year, my family and I find ourselves watching the same Halloween cartoons. It has become a tradition that we really enjoy. I find myself looking forward to watching these same shows over and over, despite knowing most of them word for word.
Most people focus on "the 5 senses" whenever the human senses are discussed. The truth is that we have quite a few more than 5 senses. The five senses sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell are just the most recognizable and easily explained senses. Humans have quite a bit more than those 5. Some...
Sensory Integration Dysfunction is something that frequently gets diagnosed alongside autism. Sensory integration is something that most people have very little issues with, but with autistic kids magnifies their social problems and outbursts.
I hang with an older crowd. This isn't necessarily by choice, though I have enjoyed many a ride to the hospital enamored with my patient's storytelling abilities. Working as a paramedic, I tend to see the elderly quite frequently.
My experience with my father's 1972 Kelmark GT kit car. Included here are the original parts list and instructions.
One thing I like about comedies is the subtle humor that normally gets missed. It's that special line that makes you go "OOOH," and really makes you smile. It's like a juicy secret someone told you, or some interesting fact you discovered. A comedy that makes you laugh when you watch is merely...
It became apparent to me that coin and bill collecting for value on the market is not nearly as fun as collecting for historical significance and just oddity/interesting money. Even worse is collecting money for the gold or silver melt worth. Ruining what I consider to be precious artifacts with no...
Your graphics card is going to be the most important piece of your gaming computer. Yes, you need adequate RAM, processor speed, hard drive. But graphics card is where you need to make a top notch purchase so that your computer will be able to handle today's and tomorrows graphically intense...
Hard drives are more important than just storing data. The speed of your hard drive can affect gaming performance. The new kid on the block is the SSD, or Solid State Drive. The returning champ is the HDD, or Hard Disk Drive.
We generally think of plants as food, ornamentation, ground cover, or even to climb. These plants turn the tables on their would be predators. Carnivorous plants eat mainly bugs, but have also been found with frogs, birds, and even small rodents and rats. Carnivorous plants are usually very...
Star Trek was revolutionary. Despite being on the air for only 3 seasons, Kirk, Spock, Uhura(OMG) and the rest of the gang broke a lot of cinematic ground. During a time when women were still well below the glass ceiling, and blacks were still dealing with racism on a daily basis, Uhura was on the...
RAM makes a difference, there is no denying that. Fast RAM and larger amounts of memory will increase the speed of your computer. Especially when large amounts of data are being moved about, more RAM means you have to access the "swap file" on your hard drive. RAM is much faster than accessing your...
Geocaching is also a great game for kids to play outside. It encourages them to go outdoors and explore the world around them, and find new places.
My son is autistic. Big time. Not "a little odd" autistic. Autistic like can't put his shoes on the correct feet, Autistic. He puts his pants on backwards, shirt inside out on a good day. On a bad day, he might strip down and try to run around the neighborhood. Oh, and he is going to be 10, so it...
Scrambled eggs are found on almost every breakfast table during the week, sometimes multiple times. They aren't technically "hard" to make, but good (great?) scrambled eggs are harder to come by. Myself, my wife, and my 3 sons all eat scrambled eggs. I have what I feel to be pretty darn good...
Topsy Turvy Planters don't require a plot of land like a normal garden and can maximize the space your garden already is using. They are quite revolutionary, and work really well!
Composting is a great, affordable way to recycle waste into rich soil for your lawn or garden.
Ah, beer. Nothing quenches your thirst on a hot day like a nice cold beer. Kicking back and relaxing after a long day of yard work is almost an American tradition. But beer is more than that. Like wine, beer has many styles and flavors. The process of making beer is nuanced enough that there are...
Daylight Savings time is when everyone in USA(and other countries) decide to show up late for work by 1 hour, and then continue to be an hour late until regular time is restored. This change to normal time usually takes about 6 months. I blame this guy.
Vibram FiveFingers shoes are available for men, women, children, and teens. Yes, Vibram Fivefingers are very comfortable, but take a little while to get adjusted to properly, especially when putting them on.