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I am a Firefox user. Firefox has Pocket, which will suggest articles to read when you open a new tab.

Today, one of the articles was: Can We Touch?

I love being touched. One of my favourite things in the world, probably more than sex, is my wife rubbing my back. She uses the tips of her fingers to gently run her fingers up and down and side to side. When she comes across an imperfection like a little bump or tiny scab or whatever they are, she will use her nails and pick it/scrape it off. Sometimes she will look for tiny blackheads and squeeze them, which is quite painful, but I love it. It's gross, but strangely intimate. My girlfriend from High School would do the same thing, so it can't be that uncommon.

It's almost like some sort of primal ritual. You see monkeys grooming each other in a similar way. Searching each other and removing bugs or parasites or whatever else they find.

My Love Language is Physical Touch. I just love being touched. There is a guy at work who is Persian or something and he is really touchy. When you pass him in the hall he might greet you and touch your shoulder. He super friendly, and I find his touch comforting, even if it's a little weird.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but the article was about how being touched in the right circumstances can bring health benefits. However, modern society (probably in large part because of the Me Too movement) is moving away from casual touching. I get it. I don't initiate touch hardly ever because it's just too risky. Even on a date when touch is pretty much expected, it can be scary to break the touch barrier. In normal day-to-day life, being touched is a very rare occurrence.

Maybe I'm just feeling a little down/lonely because Annie dumped me earlier this week, but I would love a nice hug right now :)

Annie dumped me last night. She did it very kindly, which I appreciate.

We had a date last night. We went to the library to play a board game, but ended up talking for most of it. We always had great conversation. After that, we went to a local pub and had a drink and a snack. I took her home and she said we need to talk. She basically gave me the 'no spark' excuse.

I don't disagree with her. We had a great time together, but the relationship seemed to be having problems transitioning into a physical one. I feel that a large part of that was because it was impossible to have any time alone together. We were always out in public on our dates (My wife an daughter were home, so I couldn't go there, and she has roommates and never invited me to her place). Kinda sucks, but that's life.

Dating two women simultaneously in addition to my home life was quite a bit. It will be nice to have a tiny more time to myself. I missed having time for myself.

... In other news... I received my Soylent News mousepad yesterday. I ordered it from the online store in the sidebar a week or so ago. Shipping was pretty quick to reach me in the Great White North. The mousepad itself is quite nice. The printing quality is pretty good, and the soft top feels nice. One thing that is different than normal mouse pads is that it is thicker. It is twice as thick as my other mousepads which gives a feeling of comfort and security.

The mouse tracking is perfect, and now that I have it installed at my work desk, my job satisfaction has improved ~15%.

All in all, I am happy with my mousepad and would recommend it to anyone who loves this site.

It's annoying when you must hear only one side of someone's cell phone call. If they were courteous, they would put it on speaker so everyone around them could hear.

Further, when you can only hear one side, you cannot really understand what is going on.

For example . . .

Ring ring

Hello?

No! I'm not driving.

Well, yes I am in the car. But I'm stuck in traffic. Thus not driving. The car is in park right now.

No, I left the car seats at home.

Calm down, I don't need them. I don't have the kids with me.

No! No. Of course, I did not leave the kids alone. I left them safely with the dog.

Yes, I know it's my weekend.

They'll be alright. They're very smart for their age -- after all, I am their father. And the oldest is almost 7.

I just needed a break. That's all.

No. Don't worry. I am not going to the strip club. Not while this traffic is stuck.

You don't seem to understand. How can I be drinking and driving when I'm stuck in traffic, car in park, not driving? I know better than to drink and drive at the same time.

No, I'm not with my drinking buddies.

What do you mean "then where are they"? I swear, they are not in the car!

Look, they jumped out of the car because we could see a liquor store on the next block. And traffic isn't moving. I'm not with them because they haven't returned yet with more drinks for us. And we're taking turns driving, so it's okay.

Chill out. Nobody is drinking when it is their turn to drive.

What are you so upset about? I can't understand what you are saying.

Today, I'm writing a journal entry about my first job - Burger King.

It was an early summer day and I was out looking for a job. I was only 14 years old but was about to turn 15 (the legal minimum working age) in a couple weeks. I had taken the bus up to a large shopping centre with a stack of resumes. I applied at all the fast food places except for McDonalds. Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, Dairy Queen, Cineplex, Blockbuster. They all got my scantly filled resume.

The first callback was from KFC. I showed up for the interview but ultimately didn't get the job (possibly because I wasn't quite 15 yet). Burger King was second and offered me a position. I accepted their generous offer of $4.50cdn/hour. They gave me a shirt and pair of pants that were probably 8" too large around the waist, and I awaited my first shift.

I was nervous for the first shift, but it went well. I watched training videos for most of it, then started working the broiler. It was actually a pretty neat piece of kit. Frozen burgers and buns would go in one side, and cooked patties and nicely toasted buns came out the other. After a couple weeks, my first paycheque arrived - $50. I remember spending most of it by going to a movie. I really liked having my own money to spend though.

I would end up working there all through high school. I would master the broiler, sandwich prep, counter & drive through. Eventually I would pick up the odd night shift where we would work all night and clean the fryers and broiler while goofing around and smoking cigs in the dining room.

After high school, I decided that I was done with school. I went full time at Burger King and switched locations (I can't remember why). I was now working five 8 hour days per week at Burger King. I was lucky that I worked with some pretty great people, but after a couple months, I couldn't take the boredom and constantly smelling like burger. I reconsidered by position on not liking school and applied for a Computer Engineering Technology course at the local trades college.

Burger king was a pretty good first job, really. I worked with some really cool people and we would have quite a bit of fun. The pay was terrible -- of course -- the work was mind numbing, but it taught me a very, very important lesson: I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life.

Burger King gave me the motivation to go back to school and the money to pay for the first semester. I also met some great people there. It was a great shit job.

What was your first job? What was your starting pay?

You cannot have your Pork and eat/fly It too.

If the SLS flies, it will be so expensive that it will quickly implode the program.

In order to keep the program, the SLS must perpetually be in a state of delay, which will cancel the program.

Everyone knows pork does not fly.

When I started my relationship hacking series, I said that I would post both the good and the bad...

I'm not really sure where to start on this journal entry, so I'll just lay it out here. Over the last while (a couple months, maybe), the romantic spark between my wife and I has practically disappeared. We still love each other a lot, we are kind to each other, we are still best friends... Everything is great except the spark is missing -- or at least quite muted.

I'm not quite sure what the cause is. I think that one major factor is that we are tired. My daughter is difficult at times (she's a 2 year old...) and we are tired. It's like we are working two jobs. I work my normal 9-5 job then I go home for the evening shift which involves making/cleaning dinner, a little play time with my daughter, then bedtime. That's all done sometime after 8:00, and by then we are both exhausted. We don't have the energy left to spend quality time together. We'll either watch TV together or she'll watch TV while I sit at my computer.

Meanwhile, I'm dating two different women and seeing them almost once a week each. Those 1-2 nights a week that I'm out is my only time that I'm not either at work or with my daughter. Most Saturdays I'm looking after my daughter alone, and Sunday is the only day we actually spend together as a family. Most of the time on those Sundays we are too tired to plan anything fun and end up catching up on household chores. My wife has a couple weekdays partially to herself. On Mondays Grandma takes my daughter for a few hours, and on Tuesdays she's in daycare so my wife has pretty much the whole day to herself. I guess I'm trying to justify those 1-2 nights per week when I'm gone -- My wife has two weekdays, I have two weeknights. I dunno...

Anyways, that's where we are at. We actually have a date night planned for Saturday night. That's a pretty special treat. We practically never have time away from our daughter. It's the 3rd time since she was born. We are going to get massages and then go out for a steak dinner. We have the entire night alone. Hopefully we can rekindle some of the spark.

I don't know if this is a result of the open relationship or not. On one hand, having a kid means our energy is focused there. By the time that job is done, we are exhausted. On the other hand, my wife sees me going on regular dates with two different women where she is lucky to get a date with me every 6 months. That's hardly fair.

One thing that I think needs to change is that my wife an I need to have more date nights. We need to find a babysitter. We need to carve out quality time together. I also think that her working almost every Saturday is taking it's toll. To me, it feels like I work 6 days a week, and on the 7th we spend it doing chores. We do need the extra money though.

I also don't know if this is a normal thing for new parents. Even before I had my daughter, the romantic connection between my wife and I would ebb and flow. It doesn't seem unreasonable that with the additional stress of raising a child that the romance suffers a bit. I've heard countless stories of deadbedrooms after children.

When it comes to my dating, I obviously really enjoy it. It's MY time. It's time when I can be my own person. Make my own memories and have my own experiences. It's the only time I have that is not either at work or at home. Is it selfish? Maybe, but it's a source of happiness. It gives me the energy and motivation to give 110% effort when I'm at home. I feel confident and attractive -- something that I have struggled with. I honestly think that if it weren't for the dating that I would be struggling with depression.

So that's where I'm at right now. I'd love to hear about your experience with keeping romance alive with children. Do you have tips? Am I being selfish with my dating (probably... but I feel like it's keeping me sane)?

Typewriters are ancient and should be abolished. People who want to keep a typewriter should be punished by being forced to use one.

One problem with typewriters is that sometimes certain letters might not work.

This would make it difficult to understand an article explaining the difference between a 3.5 inch floppy di_{_}k and a big hard di_{_}k, versus a mi_{_}roSD   _{_}ard.

It would become almost impossible for the reader to infer what the malfunctioning letter might be.

Or multiple malfunctioning letters on some typewriters.

Task:
        To blink an LED.

        A blinking LED is required on a control panel to indicate
          a warning condition.
        Therefore it must be extremely reliable.

Hardware engineer:

        Easy, I'll use a 555, a few resistors and a capacitor; or LM3909 chip.
        Done. Did I win a prize?

DIY Maker:

        Easy. I'll use an Arduino with the blink sketch and a resistor.
        Done. I have more billable hours than the first guy.

Senior Software Engineer:

        You guys have it all wrong.
        Such a system would never be flexible enough for a real application
          where a blinking LED indicator is required.

        Consider the inflexibility of the 555 approach.
        What if the marketing people change the requirements from a simple
          on/off blink to a different blink pattern.
        The simplest example would be the double blink.
                Blink, Blink, long pause, Blink, Blink, etc.

        Then consider the lack of sophistication that the Arduino has.
        With a simple microcontroller you can't have a web interface
          to configure the LED's blink rate.
        You would have to re flash the firmware.

        With a more sophisticated controller, like a Raspberry PI, or
          even better, a Beagle Bone, the system could automatically
          check on the internet for software updates; and automatically
          download and apply them.
        For security, downloads could be signed with 4096 bit keys
          using private certificates from the manufacturer.
        (This also ensures ongoing contracts since no other vendor
          would have the private certificates.)
        Higher end boards provide more flexibility.
        The LED controller could have it's own WiFI connection to
          not burden the rest of the system to provide its
          internet access.
        And even better . . .

(lightning bolt strikes in mid sentence)

As I've often noted, it's sad that few people have a decent grasp of history.

Given that what has come before is both a strong indicator and a significant influence on what is now and what's to come, it seems odd that many folks choose to remain ignorant of the past.

History is vast. So much has gone before. And if the Doomsday Argument is considered valid, quite a bit is still to come.

As such, it seems to me that those with a reasonable interest in the future should also have a reasonable interest in history as well.

If one accepts that, the question becomes: "Where do I start?"

Given that SoylentNews is an English language site, most users likely live in cultures evolving from The Western Tradition. That seems like a good place to start.

The series entitled The Western Tradition^* is a personal (as Eugen Weber points out, history is inherently a personal journey) journey through the history of Western civilization.

The video series above consists of 52 half-hour episodes. That seems like a lot, but consider that the series covers many thousands of years.

As such, the series must go through all this very fast. But, as Dr. Weber points out, here in America, we do everything fast. For example, here's the history of man in four minutes or so.

Regardless, I invite you to check this out and share it with others, especially children, as it provides a good look at how we got to where we are now (and, if cogitated upon, can provide us with some clues as to where we might be going).

Do any of you have suggestions to supplement the above? Including the works of Gibbon, Spengler and Spheeris.

Also, what (if anything) has history meant to you? Has it impacted your thoughts and actions in the present and/or your ruminations about the future?

Let's discuss.

^*Updated playlist that's actually in order/complete. Thanks to Hendrikboom for calling me out on my laziness with the initial link.