Europe Travelblog  -

+ 0 - 2 | § ¶A Better Date and Time API: Joda Time

As part of my employer's Java News Brief series, I have written an article on A Better Date and Time API: Joda Time.  In the article, I discuss Joda Time, a major improvement over the date and time APIs built into Java.

Previously, I have written articles in the series on an Intro to JGoodies Forms, Units and Measures with JScience, an Intro to JGoodies Validation, and in Writing Music in Java: Two Approaches.

Check it out!

+ 0 - 2 | § ¶Here Be Dragons

The host of the excellent podcast Skeptoid has put together a video on how to think critically called Here Be Dragons: An Introduction to Critical Thinking.  I'm really impressed by the video; it's a clear, 40-minute explanation of how one should look critically and skeptically at the ridiculous pseudo-scientific claims made every day all around us, from homeopathy to 9/11 Truthers to Intelligent Design.

+ 0 - 2 | § ¶What I Wish More Politicians Understood about Religion

Barack Obama understands religion in a pluralistic society better than anyone we've seen in the White House for years:

He knows his own religion well (Christianity, not Islam), and he uses examples from the scripture in which he believes.  However, he also understands that America is a pluralistic society not based on one religion or even one particular variant of that religion.  He understands that political goals based on religious beliefs need to be expressable in terms other than just an appeal to religious authority.

He gets it.

+ 0 - 2 | § ¶It's gonna be another boy!

Douglas is going to be a big brother, but until today we didn't know if he would have a sister or a brother.  However, after months of being referred to as "Molly", little "Moses" has decided he had enough.  Today at our 20 week ultrasound, he let us know quite clearly that Douglas will be getting a little brother.  "Moses" isn't his actual name; it's just what we'll call him until we decide for sure.

Everything looks great, and he seems very healthy with no issues.   We had both a normal ultrasound and a heart-specific ultrasound to make sure that Douglas's problem isn't being repeated.  "Moses" is 1 lb, and we are halfway through the pregnancy. The official due date is October 16, although Jenny is expecting the actual due date to be later (more like the end of October).

Pictures (click on them for larger versions): (more)

+ 1 - 1 | § ¶Happy Mother's Day?

So, normally we'd be focused today on celebrating Mother's Day, but a major storm last night change'd the day's focus.

A large branch broke off a tree in our backyard last night and crashed into the garage.  It cracked the ridge of the roof of the garage.

We have lots of large trees in our backyard, and some of them have dead limbs we need to get trimmed.  This branch was a really healthy branch, though, so we were really surprised.

+ 0 - 2 | § ¶Dawkins in a new light

This is truly hilarious, for those following the debate over "Expelled".

+ 2 - 0 | § ¶Sun and Fun in Puerto Rico

One of our good friends from college, Nate Barkus, decided to get married in Vieques, Puerto Rico.  This was very nice of him, because it meant that we were able to get away from a long and snowy winter here in St. Louis and enjoy the beauty and beautiful weather of Puerto Rico.

We made nearly a week of the trip, spending three days on the main island of Puerto Rico and two days on Vieques.  We would have loved to have spent more time on each.

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+ 3 - 0 | § ¶Sheffield Sojourn

Last weekend, we took a long weekend to visit friends in Sheffield, England.  Our hosts normally live in St. Louis, but they are near the end of a year-long temporary assignment in Sheffield through Boeing.  When they became expats, they extended an invitation to friends to visit.  Since we had been expats ourselves in Germany and knew how much we enjoyed visitors, we decided to go visit and see a part of England we hadn't seen before.

Sheffield is a city in transition.  Even though it's the fourth largest city in England, it's practically unknown in America.  It's probably best known here as the home of the down-on-their-luck workers in The Full Monty.  The poor economic situation of the movie was realistic, because the city had lost much of its industrial economic base in the 80s and 90s.  However, there's been a lot of government and business investment since, and the city's economy is picking up and diversifying. (more)