Lee.org

This is just a nice photo of Megan and Lee at the Madera Pancake Breakfast last year.

Remember Steve from Blue’s Clues? He remembers and he still appreciates our time spent together!
(via)

For my relatives in Nashville and my friends in Washington DC, where Jimmy Kimmel was preempted last night, here’s the 30 minute Youtube version of last night’s show. Viewed 15 million times as of right now, it’s an important watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1tjh_ZO_tY

(for historical perspective, Trump’s FCC called ABC and had him taken off the air. Public outcry (about fascism) brought him back)

In light of Jerry resigning from Ben and Jerry’s because Unilever isn’t holding up their end of the deal, I sent another letter to Unilever:

I wrote to you in March (see my public archive of the letter here) saying “If you abandon Ben and Jerry’s social mission, I will stop purchasing your product and strongly suggest to my friends the same.”

My family has avoided your products since March. Now that the co-founder Jerry Greenfield has left the company for the same reasons, I will actively pursue removing your products from our local shelves by reaching out to friends and local stores, and activism describing how distasteful your products are.

Do the right thing.

This week I embarked on a new gaming adventure, we played Dune the board game!
It’s got a lot of twists and turns, no “Victory Points” (yay!), lots of treachery, a brutal fighting system, and it’s going to be a lot of fun after I figure out how the hell to play it!

I’m going to Burning Man with Megan and Abigail! Staying in Kidsville, ~5:05 between E and F, in Camp Cerrito, also known as “Pickles and Pop Rocks” We’ll be there something like Tuesday-Sunday. See you on the playa?

We’ve been doing 4H for the last few years with our now 5th grader and very much enjoying it! Notably, the projects are engaging, run by committed volunteers; and the officer meetings are structured such that the kids run them, giving them ownership!

Come to the Ice Cream Info Session August 23rd from 2-4pm at the Arlington Park Clubhouse, or just sign-up at wildcat4h.org. Notably, it’s only $150 for the year for any and all projects your kid signs up for (except for some projects with material)

I originally learned to sing Amazing Grace when I was with Miriam and Rebecca a zillion years ago. Many books and histories have been written about it. The apocryphal background to the song is of the author who was on a ship that had slaves; the ship sank in a storm and as slaves and freemen alike were washing up on the shore, some living, some not, he had an epiphany about slavery and life.

When Abigail was born, it became a song I sang to her a lot. As a 10 year-old, when Abigail has had a particularly bad day, or a particularly good day, she asks me to sing it. Here are two live recordings.

June 18th, 2015. Abigail is 5 months old.

July 7th, 2017, Abigail is 2 1/2 years old.

In today’s fascist news…

Trump is (again) erasing actual facts from the public record because they make him look bad. NPR article: Trump’s impeachments have been removed from a Smithsonian exhibit, for now.

Trump is literally firing the messenger OR Trump is hiring a newspeak statistician. NPR article: Trump calls for firing of senior Labor official after job market weakens in July

The best mechanical pencil in the world isn’t manufactured any more, but I just found a box of them on eBay! Yay!

The Sanford Logo II mechanical pencil was made in the 1990’s by Sanford and Paper Mate. No other pencil had all of the important features in one writing implement:

1. Retractable tip so it doesn’t stick you in the leg
2. Spring loaded tip makes writing smoother
3. Solid feel
4. Large eraser

It’s crazy that the bar never raised in mechanical pencil design! This literally was the pinnacle of mechanicals and the box says it was made in 1994, more than 30 years ago. I would understand about people saying “They don’t make ’em like they used to” about buggy whips, or record player. But people (as far as I know) still use pencils!!!

Here’s some archival photos of the box:

The closest match to the Logo II is the Skilcraft Dual Action. I bought a few on recommendation from commenters on my blog. It’s almost as good as the Logo II but for a few issues:

The Skilcraft is a little lighter so it doesn’t feel quite as solid in the hand. It doesn’t have the spring-loaded lead, making the writing experience a little less enjoyable. And my “fix” for the loose eraser doesn’t work on the Skilcraft, making the eraser more of a bother. One thing the Skilcraft has is a slightly more robust pocket clip.

I’ve lost the clip fiddle-thing from the end of the pencil holder on few of my Logo II’s, which leaves a fairly raw piece of metal sticking in my pocket. See the photo:

The box of 9 pencils set me back about $90 which honestly is very reasonable since I’ve bought them for $4.50 back in the aughties!

(previously)