Welcome to the Wilcox Family weB LOG, your source for the latest Wilcox news, anecdotes, and rants; and, as Jack Benny quipped on his first radio show (March 29, 1932), “There will be a slight pause while you say, ‘Who cares?’â€â€
; "Nichelle finishing a set of bench presses.")
A couple of weeks ago, Nichelle had a dream about weight lifting.
In the dream, she was doing bench presses, and having a great time. A friend came up to her with a concerned look, and said, “Uh, Nichelle, you’re … dead.”
Nichelle responded, “You mean, I’m dead, and I can still do this? That’s awesome!”
I was directed to this item over on Rick Harrington’s BLOG by Erik DiVietro.
The “health and wealth” movement is an affront to Christianity, but one that (in various degrees) has pervaded our Christian culture. We all tend to assume, unless we actively fight it, that the wealthy (especially wealthy believers) have some special blessing from God.
But televangelists and false preachers have spread the message of “God wants everyone rich,” around the world, to the detriment of Christ’s cause. Piper really nails my opinion of this false gospel.
From http://www.myspace.com/LegoDoug—my MySpace page.
; "Naomi with her Belle dress, which is far too big for her.")
Last week we were visiting the McGrath family, and they (as usual) offered the kids some food. NaNi was eating a bread roll, and said, “Dad, we can cut open your head, and put this inside, and glue it back together, and you’ll act all crazy. Then when you’re done acting crazy, we can cut your head open again, and put your regular brain back in, and glue it back together again.”
A week before that, she said, “Dad, I can’t take my head off, because my blood is sticky—just like glue—and it holds it on.”
What a kid.
Oh, she also is crazy about dresses. Two weeks ago she slyly pronounced, “Dad, if you buy me a twirley Cinderella dress, I am soooo letting you take me to the ball.”
This morning I reported to my dentist at 8:00 a.m. to have a crown done. They use a CEREC system, and I was amazed by the technology.
They shot me up with Novocaine, got rid of the old filling and ground down the disintegrating part of the molar. Then they use an IR imager to get a 3D image of the tooth that remains, and match—in beautifully animated 3D—the crown that will be milled to the base that remains, using the tooth outline against a database of about 500 3D teeth to get one that looks natural. (See the video above. It’s jaw-dropping.)
The dentist then can adjust this using a mouse and 3D view. They pick a tint that matches the rest of your teeth, throw a block of dental material in a tiny, computerized milling machine, and in 11 to 22 minutes, the crown is done.
This gets molecularly bonded (rather than just cemented) to the original tooth surface, and voila—essentially a new tooth, in less time than it takes the Novocaine to wear off.
I was out and on my way again at 9:20.
‘Twas A grand, glorious day when I awoke. “Wench!†demanded I, “Where be me mornin’ grog?â€
But then I learned a right powerful lesson: Be not calling a fair lass a “wench,†if’n she be stronger than thee. Painfully quick the lesson was, and quickly painful.
I woke me offspring up this mornin’ by yellin’, “Avast, ye good for nothing lazy swabs! Get out of those bunks ‘fore I have ye keelhauled!”
Arrrrrrr!
We had a great time talking like pirates on the way to school, and David tried to convince me that, as it was a holiday, he had the day off. I changed the words to our usual Geek song fare, “Can’t you see I’m white and piratey?” and “That Be the Power of Love.”
Reuters covered it with this article.
Isaac and David spent two weeks this year at Game Camp Nation, which has been operated for a number of years by our friends Phil Luchon and Steve Deyesso and their staff, originally under the name of “Camp Turing.”
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”11″ gal_title=”Game Camp Nation, 2007″]
All the photos from those weeks can also be viewed here on Google Photos.
David and Isaac were among the first students to test a new curriculum designed for younger students. They developed games using the GameMaker software, which allows sprite-based games to be created using a relatively simple properties-panel-driven model. (Game Maker also features its own scripting language, and the ability to do more advanced things, even as much as a 3D FPS game.) Game Camp Nation also offers courses in game programming using C++ (which will probably be switched to Java next year), and 3D modeling and animation using AutoDesk’s Maya.
Each student gets his own computer to work and play on all day. Attendees also have some non-computer time to play board games and enjoy meals. Still, this was more of a “Geek Heaven” kind of place than one might be expecting in a summer camp. (I wonder if any of the children noticed that the conference room the hotel gave them didn’t have any windows.)
Isaac and David Outside the Conference Center used by Game Camp Nation for their Waltham, Ma., sessions.
Both weasels enjoyed camp immensely, and readily learned to create and debug games. They were up before I was every morning, and I let them stay late almost every night to participate in the network gaming tournaments that the camp runs at the end of the day. David got so tired one day that he fell asleep in the car in the morning, and then on the couch in seconds when we got home, sleeping there nearly 12 hours through the night.
Isaac and David with Game Camp Nation staff members Chris, Steve, and Joy.
We Have a Weiner Winner!
The game tournament is open to all camp attendees, whether they stay overnight or not. To keep things balanced among different types of games, they played FPS games (Halo and Call of Duty), RTS games (StarCraft and Command & Conquer 3), and Motocross Madness 2. Scores were kept all week, and the winner each week got a $50 gift certificate to Best Buy.
Of course that meant that Isaac and David were staying until 8:30 every night, but I figured it was worth the effort for two weeks.
Isaac came in first the first week, despite my dragging him out early one night. During the second week, he was leading by 100% of the second-place person’s score. Steve decided that dominating by that much for two weeks in a row would be called “Isaacing.”
Isaac with the huge Lego set he purchased, #7662 Trade Federation MTT
The Daily Planet, Metropolis, August 23, 2007
Lois Lane
; "Lana's new home (from www.unmarked-door.com)")
Lana Lang (below) was admitted to the Metropolis Psychiatric Hospital (above) earlier today for an indefinite period of intense psychiatric care, after what has been described as an “intense, psychotic break.” Lana is known for having a number of strange, apparently psychiatric episodes. One associate we interviewed believed she had merely “gone Lana” again, citing events such as Lana’s brutally attacking and nearly killing confidante Chloe Sullivan, editor of The Torch, Smallville High School’s often tabloid-like student newspaper, or another period lasting several days when she believed herself to be the incarnation of a 17th-century French witch.
; "Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk)")
Lana Lang, an exceptionally traumatized young lady.
A medical professional within the psychiatric hospital provided details under the condition of absolute anonymity:
Miss Lang is the most severely traumatized case I have seen in my career, far worse than we see even from lengthy, close-quarters combat. Lana seems to have an intense fear of nearly everything, including hospitals.
She is recounting stories of being attacked repeatedly at the Talon coffee shop, her parents’ grave site, the Kent farm, Smallville Medical Center, her own residences, Smallville High School, several horse stables, and virtually every outdoor location she has traveled to.
She screams or sobs constantly about being hunted, attacked, and buried alive. There is little wonder her sleep is disrupted by incessant nightmares. Her medical records, among her numerous admissions for injury or unexplained illness, indicate she even barely survived being caught in a tornado several years ago. She often rocks back and forth in a corner, incessantly mumbling that her friends are keeping secrets from her, and she appears convinced that at any moment anyone around her might suddenly turn on her.
If even half the things she describes have actually occurred, it will be a miracle if Miss Lang will ever be able to leave this facility. But we will do our best to help her.
Clark Kent, who has been Lana’s friend from early childhood, appeared nervous, and refused to comment on her condition.
Here’s an interesting bit on what Lana Lang was like in the comic books.
Well, it’s official. I am now as old as Jack Benny.
