Feel free to Like me

I'm nothing if not an early adopter. At the bottom of every post there's now a Facebook Like button. When you click on that button, an announcement that you like that post will appear on your Facebook page.

I debated whether or not to jump on this bandwagon but then I read about the dossiers Facebook'll be able to assemble on everybody with its new functions. By clicking Like after one of my posts, it will go into your permanent record. When Facebook then turns around and sells its dossier on you to an advertiser, that advertiser will know that you like me. Eventually, the advertiser will realize that it can eliminate the middleman, drop its ads on Facebook and then buy very expensive display ads from me instead. Thanks Facebook!

A definition of nuclear decay for Christine that's been gnawing at me all day.

The great Christine Skaly and I were having a conversation in the comments section of one of radiation posts this morning. In addition to being the pillow maker to the stars, Christine and I are similarly cursed/ blessed with an all-encompassing need to know everything. I love having a spot on the internet where a fabric designer and a kitchen designer can discuss the finer points of nuclear physics. Seriously.

I used the term Picocuries as a unit of nuclear decay in my post and Christine was using the unit Becquerel. We assumed that they were the same measurement, just different names. Well, it turns out they aren't.

A Picocurie is a trillionth of a Curie, and a Curie is a unit of measure that describes the rate of nuclear decay of a given substance. Curies are an old-fashioned measurement though because they don't take into consideration the effect of mass on nuclear decay.

Becquerels on the other hand, control for mass. Just like the Curie, a Becquerel measures nuclear decay over time.

Curies are abbreviated as Ci and Becquerels are abbreviated as Bq. To convert Curies to Becquerels, you just run this equation.

1 Ci = 3.7×10¹⁰ Bq

Similarly, a Becquerel can be converted to Curies with this equation:

1 Bq = 2.70×10⁻¹¹ Ci

And with that out of the way, I can go back to doing my thing and Christine can go back to her sewing machine.

By the way, if you're too lazy to do the math, here's a handy conversion table.

Sherwin-Williams knocks one out of the park

The always brilliant and occasional contributor David Nolan sent this video to me this week. Bravo Sherwin-Williams!






How can you go wrong with a cardinal?

Is this tub setting up your kids for a life of disappointment?

This is Safety Tubs' safety tub for kids and it won The Peoples' Choice Award at KBIS in Chicago last week.

The Peoples' Choice Award is given at the show and it's voted upon by all of the attendees at the show. Well, I voted for my favorite but it sure wasn't that tub.

I look at that thing and it reminds me of the nightmarish kids' carts at Publix. One barely fits down an aisle and two is a recipe for grocery store rage.

Miami Every Day Photo

Anyhow, this tub bothers me. While I don't doubt that the inventor's intentions were above reproach, and I know the goal here is to make bathing fun and safe. But does it really do kids a service for everything to be fun? Some things aren't fun when you're a kid and it builds character to learn how to deal with that at an early age.

via Flickr

I see that fire engine tub and I see a generation of kids who are being set up to a lifetime of unrealistic expectations and the disappointment that always follows.

Richmond Supply Company

Isn't some how better to have some aspects of childhood that have to be endured? Maybe it's just me, but isn't it better to give kids something to look forward to when they're older?

Southern Bell Soap

ITRE's classic JJ in a Limited Edition and at a special price

Iconic lighting purveyor ITRE has issued a limited edition of the original, articulated desk lamp; the JJ. The JJ has been in continuous production since 1937 and now it's available in three new colors.

Deep purple, electric blue and brilliant green JJs will only be available for a short time and they're available on Y Lighting right now for $209. That's down from the usual $265.50.

Nothing says spring quite like a purple, articulated desk lamp. Or so I say anyway.