Yellow River redux

So here's an interesting lesson in journalism and photo processing rolled into one: compare this picture (on the left here) of the SunnyD accident published by the Daily Mail compared with the nearly identical version published by the BBC.

The river in this picture looks much, much more bright orange. Nearly radioactive, if you ask me.

My guess is that both images derive from the same original digital image; they are just post-processed differently. (I don't know this for a fact, but the shots seem awfully similar in all other respects.)

Why we don't drink Sunny Delight

We've never been big fans of so-called juices like Sunny Delight (recently rebranded as SunnyD).

These things seem more like lab experiments than fruit juices since they are filled with non-nutritious and outright frightening-sounding additives such as high fructose corn syrup, modified cornstarch, cellulose gum, xantham gum, sodium hexametaphosphate (what in the world is that?), and sodium benzoate.

If you needed any more encouragement not to let your kids have any, I offer this recent news item from England: about 8,000 liters of SunnyD concentrate leaked into a nearby river turning the entire water bright orange and killing a bunch of the fish in it.

SunnyD recently went private (it was formerly part of P&G). I'll bet it's pretty glad it doesn't have to deal with Wall Street's financial scrutiny as it cleans up from this debacle. Can you believe they sell nearly half a billion dollars worth of the stuff a year? Or at least they did last summer when they went private.

Flowers and trees

There are some pretty impressive looking flowers and trees in our neighborhood. I'll build up a photo catalog over time on our Smugmug account. 

Jedi Sheep

Fedora had to make a sheep costume for Colin. Their class presented an near-year-end performance of a children's book in which pairs of animals pile onto a boat. Colin was, as you can see, the Jedi Sheep. :-) 

The train in Central Park

The kids -- carefully clutching their train fare -- wait anxiously for the train conductor to get things moving. 

Pink flowers

I didn't get this framed exactly how I wanted it, but it still turned out ok -- thanks to the camera for helping out! :-) 

Soft Flowing Water

The new point-and-shoot digital camera we're trying out (the Casio Exilim EX-Z850) has a bunch of pre-programmed scene modes which are optimized to capture everything from kits to pets to autumn leaves. Here is its Soft Flowing Water preset capturing one of the tiny waterfalls at the San Mateo Central Park's Japanese Tea Garden. What do you know, it actually worked!

My favorite preset is the eBay preset which is optimized for taking pictures of things to post on eBay. Kudos to the product manager was diligently doing their homework on the needs of the US market! 

Squeaky Bug

Cameron: Waaaah!

Katie: It's all right, baby. I will bring you Squeaky Bug.

Dad: That's very generous, Katie.

Katie: Yes, I don't play with Squeaky Bug anymore because I am a baby. Squeaky Bug is made of soft.

Dad: Really Katie? What is Squeaky Bug made out of?

Katie: Soft! Squeaky Bug is made of soft! 

Evolution of Dance

When they talk about folks being physically talented, this is what they mean. Here's a hilarious, very creative act called "Evolution of Dance" from a comedian named Judson Laipply.

Colin's Self Portrait

As one of the Open House displays, Colin's entire class painted self portraits: you know, the standard head-and-shoulders type display. Once Colin finished his self-portrait, he embellished it with Star Wars characters fighting light saber ("life saver") duels along his shoulder. Oh, and I think those rectangular things are TIE fighters. :-)

Fox School open house

The kids and I trekked to the Fox School Open House last night (sunny but chilly!). We toured Colin's classroom as well as the three first-grade classrooms. Apparently first graders are capable of writing and illustrating their own books, which struck me as pretty impressive.

Anyway, Colin's classroom is incubating eggs and then raising the baby chicks that emerge. Strangely, they also have two baby turkeys.

Here are the two of them posing with the school mascot.

I guess Colin got the gene that enables him to curl his tongue. Neither Fedora or me can do that. Cool. 

Katie up close and personal

Our Canon digital camera suffered an untimely demise, so we're trying out a Casio Exilim Zoom from Costco. Colin got a remarkably good shot of Katie with it this afternoon. Both of them love taking pictures. I'll spare you the shots that didn't quite make the cut... :-) 

What are these kids thinking?

Colin: "I'm too bored for this photo."
Katie: "Me! Take a picture of me! I'll do my best crazy girl look!" 

Kayla and the Birthday Cake

Doesn't this expression say to you, "well if you really must take my picture, I'll consent to pose. But you do realize I've got birthday cake in front of me, don't you?" :-) 

Cameron and mom enjoy a quiet moment together

Cameron had a grand time at the birthday bash as well -- though after 3 rountrips on the Lemos Farm train, he predictably fell asleep. :-) 

Katie the Cowgirl

The girl had to strrrrreetch to fit. I was going to crop out her little hands clinging onto the sides of the wood frame, but I just got a kick out of seeing them there. :-) 

Draw, pardner!

I'm surprised we actually got both the older kids to pose behind the cutouts. 

Tractor pull

Lemos Farm had a few pieces of old farming equipment, including this tractor. I wonder if it was a working farm at one point? 

Happy birthday, Rachel and Aaron!

The kids enjoyed their 2nd or 3rd outing to Lemos Farm (this was dad's first visit), this time to celebrate Rachel and Aaron's birthdays. The kids had a grand ol' time, though both of them continue to refuse the pony rides. They are--for some reason--terrified of being licked by the pony. And even though we explain that if you're afraid of being licked, sitting on the pony's back is just about the safest place there, still no luck.

Oh well, there were plenty of other fun attractions including the train, the bouncy house, and of course (as Katie demonstrates here), being pushed by the Birthday Girl herself on a CAT tractor. :-)