Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope all the USA'ers reading this had a Happy Thanksgiving. As we all know it is a time to give thanks for what we have. Health, relations, comforts, good living. I doubt my petition to rename it to Thanksgotten will make it far. But I hope you have all gotten lots to be thankful for in the past years.
Finally, a Hybrid Commuter
I actually saw a hybrid car with the HOV access stickers in the commuter lane with more than one person in it. A first for me! I figured the hybrid access thing was a political ploy (still do). I've never seen one in the commuter lane with more than one person before.
Click here to find the government MPG ratings for your car(s).
Holiday Gift Ideas
I ran across 2 gift ideas that are true winners for that hard to buy for person. Guaranteed surprises that will get noticed...
The first is the High Definition DVD video of hours of logs burning in the fireplace. Yes, it is now available in HD! If someone doles out the couple grand for the HD player and TV, then it might as well double as a fireplace. And from what I hear the HD setups put out enough heat that some people might even be fooled.
The second and I'm not making this up, is a toilet paper holder that mounts on the wall in your bathroom. What makes this one unique is that it has a built in docking station for your iPod. They didn't actually have one set up and playing at the store, so I don't know how good the sound is, but how can any audiophile resist. Just think of the accompaniments!
The amazing thing to me is thinking how many of these will actually get bought. Ah, the motivation of holiday shopping desperation. Have you run across any wonderful goodies out there?
Monday, November 27, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Red Lights Taunt Me So
They do! Those red traffic lights taunt me! I am frequently faced with a moral dilemma. After all, which is smarter? The traffic light or me? But it is not good to entertain such thoughts.
You see, it wasn't always so. There was a time when I was well conditioned not to question the authority of the light. Admittedly, It wasn't the safest conditioning. I subscribed, as many people do, to the interpretation so aptly voiced by Jeff Bridges in the movie Starman. After gunning it through a light, Bridges who plays an alien who learns to drive by observing others says "Red means stop; green means go; and yellow means go very, very fast!"
What pushed me over the edge was ... "the malicious light from hell". Long ago, between my house and the apartment my fiance lived at was a light that would default to red in the direction I had to take. Even with no other traffic in sight in any direction it would be red until I had fully stopped and waited for it to cycle. But that's not the worst of it. I had a 4X4 pickup truck with alloy wheels and good ground clearance. When I stopped at that light in that truck it would ignore me. I tried moving the truck over different areas where I thought the vehicle sensors were. Other cars had no problem. But to shorten the story, one night after sitting for over 10 minutes with no traffic I decided the red light was malicious and with nobody around to see drove through.
So now I question the authority of the light. Not as one of those scoff-laws who barely brakes as they make a right turn through their red light. I still believe in the purpose of the light to safely regulate traffic and can spare some patience in spite of their ineptness. The problem is that I know I'm smarter and more observant than the lights are! And so they taunt me...
They do! Those red traffic lights taunt me! I am frequently faced with a moral dilemma. After all, which is smarter? The traffic light or me? But it is not good to entertain such thoughts.
You see, it wasn't always so. There was a time when I was well conditioned not to question the authority of the light. Admittedly, It wasn't the safest conditioning. I subscribed, as many people do, to the interpretation so aptly voiced by Jeff Bridges in the movie Starman. After gunning it through a light, Bridges who plays an alien who learns to drive by observing others says "Red means stop; green means go; and yellow means go very, very fast!"
What pushed me over the edge was ... "the malicious light from hell". Long ago, between my house and the apartment my fiance lived at was a light that would default to red in the direction I had to take. Even with no other traffic in sight in any direction it would be red until I had fully stopped and waited for it to cycle. But that's not the worst of it. I had a 4X4 pickup truck with alloy wheels and good ground clearance. When I stopped at that light in that truck it would ignore me. I tried moving the truck over different areas where I thought the vehicle sensors were. Other cars had no problem. But to shorten the story, one night after sitting for over 10 minutes with no traffic I decided the red light was malicious and with nobody around to see drove through.
So now I question the authority of the light. Not as one of those scoff-laws who barely brakes as they make a right turn through their red light. I still believe in the purpose of the light to safely regulate traffic and can spare some patience in spite of their ineptness. The problem is that I know I'm smarter and more observant than the lights are! And so they taunt me...
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
A Kinder and Gentler Neighbor
Following the example of our great President, George W. Bush, I have decided that I need to be a "kinder and gentler neighbor". Similar to the "kinder and gentler nation" his father's Whitehouse Bio advocated. His fine examples make good sense to me. His actions make sense too. Peace through superior firepower and pre-emptive security actions.
My neighbors are terrorists, I know it. There are all the tell-tale signs. They are secretive and rarely participate in neighborhood functions. We must stop them before they carry out the acts they are secretly plotting against us. I know that they have stashes of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Sure, they may call them pest control and cleaning chemicals, but we all know that they are just hiding these dangerous WMDs before using them on us. I also have it on good authority that they have aluminum and other materials commonly used in the construction of nuclear bombs, missiles and other assault weapons. They must be stopped before it is too late.
So, are you with me in fighting terrorism? Or against me! We would be heroes to our country! I am sure we will find at least as many WMDs at my neighbors house as we did in Iraq. It is our moral imperative to rescue my neighbors from their dire situation, right?
But they are neighbors and we do abhor violence. So we must first act in good faith. But with firm resolve. First we will inform them that they have a limited amount of time to turn over all of their WMDs and their plans for deployment. If they deny them or are unwilling to turn them over, then in the name of stopping terrorists everywhere we must invade, imprison them and restore peace to their household. I would say two dozen combat troops and an air strike or two would be enough to remove this continuing threat!
Only then can we have true peace!
Following the example of our great President, George W. Bush, I have decided that I need to be a "kinder and gentler neighbor". Similar to the "kinder and gentler nation" his father's Whitehouse Bio advocated. His fine examples make good sense to me. His actions make sense too. Peace through superior firepower and pre-emptive security actions.
My neighbors are terrorists, I know it. There are all the tell-tale signs. They are secretive and rarely participate in neighborhood functions. We must stop them before they carry out the acts they are secretly plotting against us. I know that they have stashes of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Sure, they may call them pest control and cleaning chemicals, but we all know that they are just hiding these dangerous WMDs before using them on us. I also have it on good authority that they have aluminum and other materials commonly used in the construction of nuclear bombs, missiles and other assault weapons. They must be stopped before it is too late.
So, are you with me in fighting terrorism? Or against me! We would be heroes to our country! I am sure we will find at least as many WMDs at my neighbors house as we did in Iraq. It is our moral imperative to rescue my neighbors from their dire situation, right?
But they are neighbors and we do abhor violence. So we must first act in good faith. But with firm resolve. First we will inform them that they have a limited amount of time to turn over all of their WMDs and their plans for deployment. If they deny them or are unwilling to turn them over, then in the name of stopping terrorists everywhere we must invade, imprison them and restore peace to their household. I would say two dozen combat troops and an air strike or two would be enough to remove this continuing threat!
Only then can we have true peace!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)