Turn Your Next Toddler Playdate into the War for Arakkis

This weekend my lovely wife said something that made my mind immediately think of Frank Herbert’s classic novel, Dune. I did not know that if you sprinkle cinnamon in a sandbox that it will keep ants away.

While this is all fascinating and practical, I immediately thought the following: if you sprinkle cinnamon in a sandbox, you create a spice blow in miniature on Arakkis. What better way to engage your toddler with early science fiction / fantasy geekery?

Soon after, Lego harvesters can show up to capture the spice mass and sell it to the spacing guild. Before you know it, a byzantine world of interstellar politics will erupt in your sandbox! Native Fremen will clash with the elite warriors of House Harkonnen. From the ashes of a fallen royal house, Muad’Dib will arise and conquer the galaxy in a bloody war.

In addition to the fun of adding cinnamon to your sandbox, studious use of water toys and Bermuda grass can terraform your once barren Arakkis into a green world. Generations of Fremen and conquerors alike said that it could not be done, but you can prove them wrong.

And it all begins with one simple action:

Believe it or not, I do not have too much time on my hands.

Comments

Collecting Words with The Daily-ism: a Word-a-Day Microblog

Several months ago I began the practical application of my Master's degree in Liberal Studies through the creation of a Tumblr blog entitled, The Daily-ism . The blog seeks to provide an ism word a day with a definition gleaned from Google without commentary. To date, I have posted 86 entries and garnered 17 followers. What has been most interesting to me is seeing how people respond. The most popular posts so far have been: egalitarianism (20 notes) prescriptivism (7 notes) I've identified enough words for almost an entire year's worth of content if I post five times per week. One thing I like about the functionality of Tumblr is the ability to schedule posts out in advance. This means that I can essentially plan out a month's worth of content in an hour of spare time. Not that I have a ton of spare time, but I've discovered that micro-blogging is much easier to accomplish while working full-time and being a father of three. A great resource for catal

Yo ho, yo ho, a commuter's life for me

When I lived in the Chicago area, I would walk a mile to a train that would drop me 1 mile from my office. Such as it was, I was getting daily exercise and a mostly relaxing ride into work each day. Missing a train wasn't such a bad thing as the longest I'd ever have to wait for a train was 1 hour, and during peak times, about 20 minutes. I enjoyed unlimited commutes for about $120 per month. When I moved to Atlanta, I knew I would be driving. But I had no idea just how much. Out of strange curiosity in mid-January, I began keeping track of my mileage. My daily commute is about 36.9 miles each way. This translates into 90 minutes in the morning and about 75 minutes in the evening. Here's a table of my 2006 Hyundai Sonata's performance to date. For those keeping score, I am paying more to drive into work. Add in what I pay for parking, and it's close to double. There is a spectacular trade-off however. Back in Chicago, what I spend on my mortgage today got

Multidimensional Approaches: Life and SEO in 3D

This post originally appeared on my now defunct marketing blog "Waiting for the Conversion" in 2014 As a father of three, I am growing used to experiencing the unknown -- or at least experiencing the other side of things as the now adult in the relationship. As a result, the older I get the less certain things appear to be to me. Perspective is an amazing thing. Each experience adds new data, if not an entirely new dimension to my consciousness. It’s scary and exhilarating and frustrating all at once. To quote Aldous Huxley, “Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” Because a lot can happen to you but if you do not take the lessons and gain the insights, it benefits you little. I began working on the web in 1997 as a 17-year old summer intern at a company where my brother worked. I did research finding public e-mail lists and newsgroups and entered their pertinent information into a database that talked to a subscription

Walldren's World

Search This Blog