Category Archives: Life, the Universe, and Everything

Two Keys Chained Together

Posted on
5

I think it’s great that every time I rent a car they give me a set of two keys!

So many, many circumstances could arise (I came up with three) where this would be handy.

Two Keys on a Chain

  • Someone else might need to take the car out
  • I might (heaven forbid) lock myself out of the car and need to get in
  • I might (perish the thought) lose a key

Yes, having two keys to the rental car would be great … if they weren’t bound together on the same indestructible keychain without any possible way of ever separating them.

Why do you think they do this? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr.

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When Pigs Fly in Texas

Posted on
8

Everything really is bigger in Texas. The cowboy hats, the belt buckles, the hairdos and even the hood ornaments. I used to think that owning a Cadillac was a sign of maturity, stability, and class.

Pigs Fly

That was before I spotted this winged chrome oinker perched atop the hood of a Caddy at the office recently.

Front Pigs Fly

Clearly, you can’t buy good taste (or good sense for that matter). But, you can buy everything bigger.

What’s the tackiest thing you’ve seen lately? Sound off in the comments below.

All images via my flickr

The Time I Met Vader & Chewie

Posted on
7

Best Day Ever

Did I ever tell you about the time I met Darth Vader and Chewbacca? I didn’t!?! Well, it was only the best day of my life!

Yup, that’s little me with them in the picture above. Just chillin’ with Vader and Chewie, no biggie.

In reality, I have absolutely no memory of this day and if it weren’t for this one polaroid, I never would have remembered that this meeting even took place.

From the look of the smile on the face of my 4 year old self I’m pretty sure that this was the highlight of my life up to that point.

What I do remember is that I, like many children of the 70s, loved Star Wars with a passion. I watched the movies, I re-enacted my favorite scenes with the toys, I read the comics, I listened to the records, I the wore t-shirts & pajamas, and slept under the sheets.

Such an encounter couldn’t have been anything less than magical.

What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you that you can’t remember? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope.

Posted on
5

This week NASA shared a super-duper high resolution image (8000 by 8000 pixels!) of the Earth with the world. In case you missed it, here it is. I feel it ties in perfectly with this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope.

Most Amazing High Definition Image of Earth - Blue Marble 2012
Photo courtesy of NASA’s flickr.

I am moved by the beauty and majesty of our precious planet. What a wonderful world we have been given! It gives me hope for the future.

I didn’t take this picture, but I hope that some of my tax dollars were spent in paying for it.

Want to participate in the challenge? Head on over to The Daily Post and follow the instructions below.

1. Each week, [they] provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use a “postaday2012″ or “postaweek2012″ tag.

3. Subscribe to The Daily Post so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.

Now, take a picture that captures this week’s theme and post a link to it in the comments below.

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Retro Skills: Clean Out Your Mouse

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Reply
Apple Macintosh Plus mice (left) Beige mouse (...

Image via Wikipedia

Over the years I’ve acquired quite a few valuable technical skills. Many of them are as useful today as they were back when i learned them.

The art of de-gunking a computer mouse is not one of those skills, sadly, and has not held its value.

For my kids’ sake (in the event that they should ever find themselves trapped in the past and the only way to get back to the future is to perform an intricate series of mouse clicks and the darn thing just isn’t responding), below are detailed instructions courtesy of an old 1990s Macintosh Classic factory manual I found several months back.

Mac Clean Mouse Part 1

Mac Clean Mouse Part 2

It’s amazing that so much care went into describing such a mundane and now obsolete process. That’s part of what made Apple’s culture the way it is today.

What’s the most irrelevant technical skill you mastered? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.

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Hot Links: PopRocksCandy.com

Posted on
6

Sometimes a website is so ugly, it’s awesome. This isn’t one of those times. It’s just plain horrid.

PopRocksCandy.com

Check out PopRocksCandy.com and see how many of the biggest web design mistakes it’s guilty of.

What’s the ugliest site you’ve seen lately? Sound off in the comments below.

All images via my flickr

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Advice for the New Year from Thomas Jefferson

Posted on
7
Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peal...

Image via Wikipedia

In September of 1785 Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his nephew, Peter Carr. Jefferson imparted sage guidance to the young Carr in the correspondence which can be of benefit to any who read it.

Below are seven of my favorite axioms from the Founding Father’s letter.

  • “Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises; being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual.”

  • “There is no habit you will value so much as that of walking without fatigue.”

  • “Rise at a fixed and an early hour, and go to bed at a fixed and early hour also…Sitting up late at night is injurious to the health, and not useful to the mind.”

  • “A strong body makes the mind strong.”

  • “Husband well your time, cherish your instructions, strive to make every body your friend…”

  • “He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time”

  • “If you ever find yourself environed with difficulties and perplexing circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will extricate you the best out of the worst situations.”

Jefferson’s counsel to his kinsman rings as true today as it did over two hundred years ago. I find them especially applicable now at the beginning of a new year when so many of us take the time to analyze our lives and strive for improvement.

Which of Jefferson’s tips would benefit you the most? Sound off in the comments below.

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