A Tribute to SMART Girls

aaaah... the smarter they are... the simpler the play

 

I think it was in an early Star Trek… the original series… the quote went something like this…’the more intelligent the mind… the more the need for the simplicity of play!

Video Games have always been a part of our life… long before our children came into being, we played ‘pong’ on the airlines and competed in ‘break out’ on Atari in the ’70’s.

Smart girls are G*d’s gift to men who need someone to talk to. This is very different from wanting someone who will just listen… very different. Conversation is best when it is interactive.

Have you ever met really dumb kids from smart dads? Did you ever wonder where this comes from? Then you meet the mother…. and it becomes clearer. Men who father children with dumb women shouldn’t be surprised with what turns out… studies have shown that a woman’s IQ is the greatest determining factor in the success of her children. Don’t get me wrong… we ‘Y’ chromozomes play a huge role… but … it is not all about us.

Intelligent women are not without their challenges, be they wives or daughters… but it makes life’s journey all the better.

One young man asked me what I thought was important in a woman… besides attraction, fidelity and a moral center… which is important, I had some light hearted suggestions. Well… we are talking about other areas of compatibility… sooo :

TEST

1) She must love football & sports is not just a spectator sport

2) She must have a working knowledge of computers…
if she understands where her ‘auto exec bat file’ is…
she’s perfect

3) Video Gaming is a lifestyle … does she know what a ‘lan party’ is?

4) She must understand that Star Trek is not one series.
If she knows that some Star Trek movies were made that’s a plus
and if she can name any of the ‘shuttle craft’…
then she is perfect

5) If you say, “Stargate’… she’s a winner if she
says, “never miss it!”

6) She can cook with more than a microwave…
after all, replicators haven’t been invented yet.

7) Rub your eyes with excitement if she wants to go
to a ‘steak place’ for dinner

TEST SCORE: 

5-7 yesses… ‘Marry Her’

2-4 yesses… ‘we’re friends’

0-1 yesses… “I think we need to
take some time off from our
relationship so that we
can better explore our feelings ”

I asked Karla to do some research on this subject and this is what she found:

Video Games make you smart!
Video Games are Good For People
Women who play video games!

Karla says,” my two personal favorite series are Sonic the Hedgehog and Star Fox .Whenever we go shopping at an Electronics store, I always come to help get the newest video games I want, whenever they come out. I am an undefeated player in most video games today, and I kicks everyone’s butt in Mario Kart.”
(editor’s note: Karla is a tough cookie!)

Smart girls rock,

Roger Freberg

 

Karla’s World… life with Video Games, Computers & Autism

Karla's Control Center for her Nightly Gaming ChallengesKarla is a night owl… err ‘fox’ … as she likes to be called. Karla has autism.   We will join her in some games she likes to play, such as Mario Kart… but this is her world and she follows every change in technology that affects gaming Karla has shifted her schedule a bit in order to have the run of the house… she stays up late and gets some serious gaming going!   So far, Karla regularly plays Playstation2, X-Box, X-Box 360, Nintendo Wii, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Cube and more, including an assortment of computer games.  


She wants to buy a Playstation 3 for her birthday… so I am sure we’ll get a note on it soon ( she writes to us via email on things that are difficult for her to discuss in person). 
Here’s Karla’s contribution to my blog: 


“Karla is an expert artist, computer genius, weight lifter and video game player. In fact, she owns all the video games and systems in the house, her family borrows them to play their favorite game The Legend of Zelda. She’s very nice but she gets a little shy towards certain things sometimes, and she likes to be the best one. She is the creator of the K-World franchises, seen in her web site. She is currently busy with her artwork, surfing the internet, playing video games and reading books, which is all she likes doing for her spare time. She is also the most spoiled member of my family. She likes being in-charge of everything and makes dad and mom do all the cleaning.  Karla still has her web site at Freberg Sports but it is still Under Construction and she’s still working on a new site which we’ll move to her own domain when Microsoft moves our servers when the time comes. Very soon. Karla also did the artwork for Karen’s K-Mail and our blogs, including dad’s.”   


I hope you enjoyed a look into Karla’s World… 

   Roger Freberg  

Cancer Cure or false hope?

offering hopeOne of the more interesting magazines on my rack is called the New Scientist… and leave it to them to have some of the most current and interesting articles out there. I had searched everywhere and finally found the famed video of the ‘prehistoric’ ancient ‘frill shark’ caught alive off Japan on a site in New Zealand… but all I really needed to do was go to newScientist.com.

However, another diddy caught my attention… the title of this New Scientist article was “Cheap , Safe drug kills most cancers”. If the title of the article doesn’t grab you… the first few words of the article will….

“IT SOUNDS almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe.”

ScienceDaily from which I have linked the picture of the DCA molecule has an interesting take on the issue.

Shands Hospital at the University of Florida has looked at using DCA in other metabolic disorders.

Hero Award... given to those who make a positive contributionCongratulations to all who have found this promising drug… forgive me for being a little ‘corny’… but you are heroes to many…. because you bring hope … and just maybe… a cure.

Roger Freberg

for the love of Coffee!

Pele Plantation has great coffee!Interestingly enough, whenever I go on a diet… and hopefully, this is for the last time… I have a tendency to ‘upgrade’ on some of the few remaining foods that I am allowed.

One of my major love interests is coffee! Laura posts a bit on the subject , too.

I am sure there are plenty of folks who claim to have the best coffee… although, supposedly the ‘best’ coffee actually passes through the digestive tract of some animal… believe it or not.

However, I have loved the ‘mild’ coffee from Pele Plantations. Now, mildly roasted coffees strangely enough tend to be the more caffeinated… which is just fine by me!

As my daughter Kristin related to me, Pele was the goddess of fire… or as the chant goes “she who shapes the land”. Other Kona Coffee links:

Kona Coffee

Coffee Times

Kona Coffee Council

Kona Coffee Cultural Festival

Ahhhh… so before you jump into that ‘regular’ cup of coffee… pick up some of the real thing… and if you buy some green beans… well… you can roast them in that old popcorn air popper you have stored in the garage.

Roger Freberg

Travel & Tourism a Key to Economic Development

For many people, it may come as a surprise that tourism is one of the foundations for economic developement — not only in America — but throughout the world. And as they say, tourism has been booming!

My daughters are becoming far better traveled than I could ever hope to be… and it is fun to listen to their stories. Kristin documented her experiences in Iraq for which I am grateful. Karen passed along some data from the ‘World Tourism Organization’ that is amazing! International tourism has increased 166% since 1990 with over 806 million folks visiting somewhere in 2005. The world is indeed becoming a smaller place. Here’s how the world tourism market share divides up:
world Tourism by Geographical Region in 2005

Although African Tourism has doubled since 1990 it has only slightly exceeded the world growth trend. Most of the Tourism to Africa lands in Egypt and South Africa. Hard-to-get-to-regions like Australia are still growing in tourism… but still occupy a very small share of the market.

Top 12 Countries attracting International Tourism

It is not surprising that the top spot in international tourism is France with Paris easily the top city. After all, Paris has often been referred to as a living museum. What is interesting has been the growth in tourism to China and Hong Kong. Although the top 12 countries represent nearly 400 million visitors, this only represents roughly half of all international tourism.

The world is getting to be a smaller place… so, where would you like to go?

Travel to Australia?
Travel To South Africa?
Travel to Japan?

Roger Freberg