Ryan and Debi & Toren

Travel, Tech, Thoughts…

  • anyone up for a “little” waterboarding?

    In case you missed it, Christopher Hitchens, the well-known author and Vanity Fair writer, was called out by the editor of Vanity Fair on his position on waterboarding.  Hitchens had described waterboarding as “extreme interrogation.” When asked by the editor of Vanity Fair if he would be willing to be waterboarded, he agreed.  Check out…

  • why John McCain will probably win…

    I have an aunt and uncle who are super nice and really great people.  But they also happen to forward to me (or Debi) every political email they receive.  They are pretty conservative, so the emails tend to be on things that I disagree with (as a liberal independent).  I’ve probably received close to 10…

  • you need worms

    I read a lot of science news.  Much of it is very cool, but only occasionally do I read something and find myself saying, “Holy Crap!  I never thought of that and it makes perfect sense!  Genius!”  I did when reading this NYTimes article on parasitic worms.  The article basically explains that, in our evolutionary…

  • Stan’s Funeral

    As I noted last week, my Uncle, Stan Winston, passed away. I had the opportunity to go to the funeral along with most of my siblings and in-laws. On the way out to the funeral I read a book about Stan Winston Studio called The Winston Effect. The book was published in 2006 and Stan…

  • have you done your part?

    If you haven’t downloaded Firefox 3 yet, you still have a couple hours to participate in their Guiness World Record setting attempt at the most software downloads in 24 hours.  We’ve downloaded a new copy for each of our 6 computers:

  • Stan Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008)

    I found out this morning that my uncle, Stan Winston, passed away Sunday night. Stan was a favorite uncle in my family, not because he was rich or famous but almost despite his fame. Stan was always kind and considerate. Even while he was winning Oscars, he kept up with Cragun family happenings in rural…

  • LTC

    We finally had a break in the weather yesterday (it’s the rainy season) long enough to go outside and mow the lawn and take care of some stuff outside.  In the process, I came across this: LTC – Watch more free videos

  • orchard stories

    When my aunts and uncles were out here visiting a couple weeks ago, it reminded me of some stories from when I worked in the orchards one of them ran. The orchard was in Pleasant View, UT, which is where my Dad is from and where many of my relatives still live. I created a…

  • Fort de Soto

    There’s a lot to like about working as a college professor, but one of the best perks is the flexible schedule, especially over the summer. We usually work every weekday, and usually most weekends, but sometimes we take a day off (or even a couple hours) to go explore our new surroundings. The flexible schedules…

  • the latest Steve…

    In case you’ve never heard of “Project Steve” of the National Center for Science Education, here’s a quick recap: NCSE’s “Project Steve” is a tongue-in-cheek parody of a long-standing creationist tradition of amassing lists of “scientists who doubt evolution” or “scientists who dissent from Darwinism.” (For examples of such lists, see the FAQs.) Creationists draw…