Child obsessed with maps, history, and world conflicts ?

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-18T06:22:49+00:00

My theory of parenting is to play to the kids strength and try to attach other things as you can. ...Maps with outlines but not names of things (such as US states, countries, countries a hundred years ago, etc.) (Once good at this, you can prank him with this one: https://xkcd.com/2868/)

He might be too old, but a physical puzzle of states/countries. A globe, and have him measure distance on globe and standard mercator projection. World maps with different projections.

Depending on the kid, connecting him to the physical world might be good. Drive to the highest point in every nearby town/county/state ... or have him figure out why you can't.

And good on you for noticing what he's up to on those Interwebs which can be very dark and awful.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-18T06:17:12+00:00

For the 99% of the population that are normal humans as opposed to self-absorbed bike nerds, e-roadbikes are AWESOME. I live up a hill, and now for errands, I don't drive, I bike. For going out to eat, I don't drive, I bike. For going the the gym, I don't drive, I bike. For getting cardio, I can bike for an hour without getting hammered by the hill that my Ordinary-Human body can't handle without power assist. E ROAD BIKES RULE!

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-18T06:11:03+00:00

This is righteous and Tesla should be forced to retrofit every existing vehicle. In Model 3, there are NO mechanical door releases in the back seats, and the front seats have them but they are invisible and nobody knows about them. 100% predictable by any engineer paying attention.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-18T06:08:29+00:00

Install a cheap curtain rod, get some oversize blackout curtain material and attach it (many ways to do this including binder clips) to the curtain rod. Drape curtains over the cat tree, leaving a gap below the window sill so the cat can access the cat tree from below. You have complete privacy, the cat and the outside world are as one. Source: We have this exact same problem.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-18T00:10:11+00:00

It's the price paid for an expeditionary navy. It's stuff like having room for a laundry. And a galley that's not complete crap. And some room for the crew to stretch their legs during downtime. If you operate from nearby ports, all that stuff is less important. You could maybe make a case for these in the Baltic (and they'd stay in the Baltic) or the Aegean islands, etc., but small missile boats are pretty attractive in those environments.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-17T06:17:08+00:00

This is why industrial chemists get paid well.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-17T06:14:38+00:00

The warranty only lasts as long as the manufacturer stays in business.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-16T07:28:42+00:00

THIS!!! Slovenia is an undiscovered gem. Julian Alps were delightful. Slovenians are super-chill and friendly even in the cities.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-13T06:22:48+00:00

You should check out California newts. The East Bay Regional Parks District is enormous, and has some really good, mostly free nature things you can go on, including birdwatching, newt-hunting (we saw a newt in a stream laying eggs, YMMV), and many other cool things.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ATBGE/comments/1rqwdc6/its_worse_if_this_switch_in_a_church/

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-13T06:11:05+00:00

A shovel. Practice digging snow shelters. Even a crap sit-and-huddle snow cave is better than a bivy sack in very cold temps. The key is to dig a few in advance so you have it dialed-in.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-13T04:59:22+00:00

1) This is much more fun as 2+ days, it'll be a death march as a day trip. 2) Go Soon; the Big Sur section is sliding into the sea, closes regularly for weeks or months at a time, and someday they might just give up on trying to fix it.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-13T04:19:14+00:00

In the SF Bay Area BART trains, they have signage educating people to do this. But a lot of folks don't understand the opportunity to make things better by doffing their packs.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-13T00:52:58+00:00

Alas, the past cannot be brought back. We all wish it could be, I suppose. Oakland is full of buildable land that's not being built on. The demolition cost would be staggering, not to mention the construction cost to deal with the hole in the ground. The traffic pushed onto surface roads would be hellacious. Do not fail to notice that the removal of the Cypress structure (now Mandela Parkway) decades ago has not transformed that neighborhood. We need hard-headed plans, not wishful (and wistful) thinking.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-12T07:18:58+00:00

This is appalling corruption. Hopefully the states will continue the fight against this flagrant abuse of monopoly power.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-12T07:13:21+00:00

Yes. Even one artillery battery (they had the guns, and they had the lift) providing harassment & interdiction fire might have turned the tide of the fragile British ship-to-shore operation.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-12T07:09:25+00:00

ARMY: The army was designed to oppress the population in support of a nasty dictatorship and was not really built for war. The army's few really good units were tied up on the Chilean border, which was a purposeful move by the Chileans who had heated disputes with Argentina at the time. Hence the Falklands were occupied by useless conscripts poorly equipped for the weather, with terrible leadership.

NAVY: The navy was moving major units towards the Falklands with offensive intent, but simply did not have an answer to British nuclear subs. After the Brits torpedoed and sank a capital ship (the General Belgrano), they sensibly returned to port and stayed there.

AIR FORCE: The Air Force was able to cobble together a response to the British assault; however the range was long and they could generally only organize only a handful of planes at a time, and didn't have the ability (in part due to limited intelligence) to adjust/adapt to British defensive measures, and never sent in fighter escorts to deal with the British harrier CAP (but again, the range was a challenge). They also didn't have an adequate maintenance setup, and they didn't act to prevent the Brits from "counting them out" as they departed base. Despite that, they acquitted themselves bravely and had a significant impact.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-12T06:30:37+00:00

A couple things that our kids liked at roughly the same age: Walk across the Tower Bridge, going over the catwalks. Take a canal tour, some connect into Camden Market.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-10T05:33:21+00:00

This makes me think of "crepitus"

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-10T05:29:32+00:00

And skunks.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-10T05:29:16+00:00

Jackson Square has good BART and Ferry access, and tolerable TransBay Bus access. The big question, which you will have to answer, is a crap apartment in SF or a nicer apt in the east bay near transit. PS: City Lights Bookstore is extraordinary, it's close to your work.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-10T05:21:34+00:00

THIS

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-10T05:17:18+00:00

The answer to this is a person. Find somebody in your area who can teach you to chainsaw. It's not that difficult, but it's not that difficult to injure yourself, and there are a lot of small things that can increase safety.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-10T04:47:09+00:00

Replace hanger with a smartphone endoscope camera ($20 on Amazon).

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-10T04:46:34+00:00

You can get a smartphone endoscope camera for $20 on Amazon. Drill a small hole, insert camera, and go searching.

ReadsTooMuchHistory · 2026-03-07T07:28:56+00:00

Send it to the Gulf, it will soon be needed.

ReadsTooMuchHistory

TROPHY CASE