By Guus , 10 February 2007

Collapse -- How societies choose to fail or succeed

A year ago I read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and I enjoyed that book tremendously. Collapse was just as good.

The book describes how various societies have failed in the past, and analyses what the root causes of those failures were. Deforestation and unsustainable population growth were some of the common causes, as was an inability by some societies to changes cultural values when necessary. The Norse Greenlanders for example, seemed to have had a taboo against fish eating -- incredible if you consider the availability of fresh fish in Greenland.

By Guus , 7 February 2007

chaps

sturdy leather coverings for the legs (cowboys)

By Guus , 6 February 2007

Washing the car

Washing the car.Saturday morning I washed our car. After the winter weather we had here the car had gotten pretty dirty.

It was very cold but it was rewarding to wash off all the dirt and see the difference before and after the car wash.

Before.

Before.

After.

After.

Washing the car.

There is a car washing facility in our apartment complex.

Topic
driving
By Guus , 4 February 2007

Super bowl XLI

Superbowl XLI.Tonight was the Super bowl XLI, the final match of the NFL 2007 season. This year I haven't really followed the football season. A shame really: the Super bowl game reminded me how much fun it is to see American football.

The match started with a very spectacular first quarter with a touch down for the Chicago Bears; the first touch down ever on an opening kickoff. However, the Indiana Colts came back in the 2nd quarter and continued to rule the match during the 2nd half.

The Colts won with 29 to 17. I was kind of supporting the Chicago Bears in this game but it was great to watch anyway. Next season I'll definitely follow more games in the NFL -- let's hope that the Redskins will do well.

My favorite commercial was one by Blockbuster, about using a "mouse" to get on internet. There was a nice preview of a silly movie that I'd like to see, Wild Hog. While Pepsi is the official soft drink of the NFL Coca Cola placed a lot (great) commercials around the game.

Topic
sportstv
By Guus , 4 February 2007

pasture

land for livestock grazing

By Guus , 1 February 2007

Working from home

Yesterday I worked from home. The weather has turned bad, and the weather forecast included ice and sleet and I didn't want to drive 25 miles in that.

Wednesday night I worked on our taxes, and like last year I used an online service, TurboTax, to file. Since we moved last year I had to fill in 3 tax different declarations: one for the federal taxes, one for Virginia and one for North Carolina. TurboTax made filling them in a lot easier, and their advices on deductions (for example for our moving costs) made a big difference.

Last night we went to Emily to celebrate her birthday and it was a fun evening.

Topic
dailylife