Man I love making cookies.

So the other day I bought vegetables. I saw this receipe in the Betty Crocker Cook Book which is currently in my possesion, and I thought it would be really good. It was to be slow cooked in a crock pot, which of course I have. I was really hoping it would be good, it turned out to be not so. What I have learned is that I don't give details very well, and I don't like beans.

I really want to go out on a date, yet I know no one who is 23 years old and available.

I've only heard one Futureheads song on the radio, but Erika wanted to go and it was only $15, so I couldn't refuse.

The French Kicks were good. At first I didn't see what Erika saw in them, but they grew on me. I like how some of their songs develop slowly and grow more complicated as they move along.

The Futureheads play a tight set. They can really get a crowd going. My only problem is that they have one sound and use it for every single song, and all of the songs are very upbeat. There's only so much I can take of that. It was fun to watch, but I wouldn't buy a CD.

Anyway, my actual story about this night takes place during the French Kicks' set. This annoying couple decided to shove their way through the crowd and stop right next to me (of course). They started dancing like goofs on purpose, bumping into everyone around them, so most people shifted away from them. I decided they could dance all they wanted and bump into me all they wanted, but I wasn't moving, so I decided they could dance and bump into my elbow. I stuck my thumb in the belt loop of my jeans and let my elbow stick out. The girl ran into it I don't know how many times, but enough times to hurt a little. ...

So after the opening band ended, we decided to go up to the balcony to sit. I took my thumb out of my belt loop and noticed it was asleep. Weird, but understandable. It stayed asleep the whole night. It slept through the day yesterday. It is STILL sleeping two days later!! Creepy. I think the feeling is just starting to come back a little today. We'll see how long it takes to finish coming back!!

I just learned that there is another way to multiply numbers on paper. In school I learned this method:

US Mulitplication

  39
 x25
-------
 195
+78 
------
 975

That works fine, but it requires you to know your multiplication table well, which I never did until . . . ok, I confess I used a calculator to multiply 39 x 5 and 39 x 2, so I still don't multiply very well.

But there's a method called Peasant Multiplication that only requires that you know how to double and halve numbers. With this method you put the two numbers you want to multiply at the top of two columns. Then, for the first column you halve the number over and over (discarding any fractions) until you get to one. For the second column you double it the same number of times as you were able to halve the first number. Next, strike out any rows where the number in the first column is even and add up the remaining numbers in the second column:

Peasant Multiplication

  39  X  25
  19     50
   9     100
   4     200
   2     400
   1     800
        -------
         975

This method is more common in European classrooms than in the US, but I like it, despite its disparaging title.

Three law professors have published a comic book that explains United States laws regarding copyrighted material and fair use. Despite the cover and some of the quotes praising it, the comic does NOT exploit tired superhero cliches to present its message; rather, it is framed as a dialogue between two experts and a young documentary filmmaker. It's actually very well done, and makes effective use of the comics medium to clarify potentially confusing, abstract ideas.

The best part is that James Boyle, one of the authors, serves on the Board of Creative Commons; consequently, the comic book is offered in free digital formats. Check it out.