kitchen table math, the sequel: 12/21/14 - 12/28/14

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Back to books

I've decided to start turning off my laptop and my iPad at 6pm.

Hmm.

I see it is currently 6:28 pm.

So I'm going to post this, eat dinner, and pick up a book!

Light-emitting e-readers before bedtime can adversely impact sleep

Open the Book, Put Down the Tablet at Bedtime (behind pay wall)

Reading on electronic devices before bedtime can disrupt the body’s circadian clock, making it harder to fall asleep and become alert in the morning, according to a study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness

I've been reading bad reports on eReaders and sleep for a while now, but it was the finding on next-morning alertness that finally got to me. Before I owned a laptop and an iPad, I never had trouble waking up in the morning.

Now I do.

I may have to re-up my subscription to the paper version of The New Yorker.

Sing-along: Il est né le divin enfant

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas | Happy Chanukkah

From the annals of persistence:

Ed just spent ages figuring out how to watch The Interview on TV (via YouTube, via Roku, which turned out not to be plugged in. At all. As in, not plugged in to the TV or the wall socket. Things went downhill from there.)

This may have to become a Christmas Eve tradition.

I must say ... I'm enjoying the fact that this is the movie that stopped Sony in its tracks.

Good grief.

In other news, this is the first year we have ever had Christmas presents under the tree!

Meaning: this is the first year Andrew has been willing to leave Christmas presents under the tree unmolested. We used to have to lock wrapped presents in the car so Andrew couldn't get to them.

Needless to say, the Andrew menace led to a distinctly not-fun practice of wrapping all the presents Christmas Eve.

No more!

Another innovation: Andrew wrote out a Christmas list.