According to a recent article on the Huffington Post, a fellow in India named Jairam Singhal believes that drinking urine from a virgin cow for the past 10 years has kept his diabetes under check.  Now, as odd as that sounds, I took a deeper look at this Cow Urine Therapy.

So, at Swaarnim Naturscience Limited, it appears that cow urine can be used to relieve symptoms from quite a few other ailments...asthma, cancer and even poor eyesight.  There is actually a huge list of so many ailments that I'm surprised this hasn't taken over the entire homeopathic remedy crowd.

My eyesight is quite poor, and since I can't stand having anything around my eye or touching it, I have been unable to wear contacts.  Maybe this could be the cure that allows me to fix my eyes without resorting to laser vision correction.  Too bad I don't know where to find a virgin cow.

I really try not to judge, but sometimes, I wonder what people are truly thinking when they do some of the things they do.  This guy thinks he isn't racist by dressing up as a white person?  Would he like it if I walked around in black-face around town?  And I'm not going to even approach the just plain oddity factor.

It has been a long time coming, but I have finally convinced my wife that we need to cut our cable TV connection once and for all!  

To kick it off, we have an amplified antenna for over the air HD network channels and an Apple TV for the main TV while I use a Roku in the man cave.  With a Hulu Plus and Netflix account, we are set for the Apple TV.  For the Roku, I am in better shape all around.

Now, I typically love all of the Apple products, but I question this...why does AirPlay only play select videos from my iPad to the TV?  I was wondering if it was a DRM issue with NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX, but I'm not sure enough yet.  Does anyone use an Apple TV and can get the networks?  If so, how?

All in all, I hope this means less of my wife's crappy TV...Millionaire Matchmaker, Housewives shows, and anything on HGTV.  

With

comes great responsibility.

It has been a long time coming...the return of Enginerdiness.  This time, I'll most likely make things more personal at times, not only identifying the items that truly make me geek out.  Lately, from podcasts I listen to on the Frogpants network, there has been discussion of different world regions having beliefs or folklore other than (or in addition to) Santa Claus.  For the record, I would like to just give a very brief description of a couple that I find interesting.

Krampus has been making his popular appearance for the past couple of years.  Krampus folklore centers in the Alpine countries such as Austria and Bavaria.  Most consider him the counterpart of Santa Claus.  Where Santa rewards the children who behave well, Krampus takes the misbehaving children away in a sack to his lair where he will lash them with birch branches.  Finally, payment for all of those kids who have avoided the rod in the "spare the rod, spoil the child" mentality of today!

The Caganer is a relatively new one to me.  This is a figure usually shown defecating in a nativity scene and originates around Catalonia or even in Spain.  The significance of the Caganer is all speculation in current times, but some believe that by pooping on the ground, the figure is fertilizing the earth which brings more grains to supplement the manger, thereby insuring that the manger will be around the following year.  I personally thing it is hilarious to know that some households in Catalan hide the Caganer in the manger scene and let the children try to find it.  Either way, quite a different version of holiday folklore than what we are used to.

Whatever your family's traditions are, we should make sure not to alienate our fellow people and help embrace their traditions as our own.  Personally, I think for this Christmas, I will perform Krampus's duties for any of the wee little ones in my family who misbehave this holiday season, and if everyone is on their best behavior, perhaps I will be a real life Caganer and see who can find me pooping around the house!

Happy holidays!