So, ignoring the fact that talking on the phone while you are driving strikes terror into the hearts of pedestrians on the sidewalks around you, and flares anger from the other drivers around you as you do such a bad job of driving... isn't it rather rude?
Putting aside the possibility that it really is All About You...
1. Are you really supposed to mount the curb while parallel parking?
2. Are bumpers really supposed to be used to hit the cars ahead and behind your parking spot when you are parking your car?
3. Is the terrified passenger in your car ever going to want a ride from you again?
4. If you are talking to someone while driving, shouldn't it be your passenger - or do they really enjoy having to hear half of someone else's phone conversation?
5. Does the person on the other end of the phone conversation really only deserve a small part of your attention?
6. Is talking to you really a pain in the ass for the person you are talking to on the phone - so they aren't really paying attention to you either?
7. Have you noticed that no one wants to talk to you when you don't catch them on your phone? Is that the only way you can pin them down to talk?
Hints are flying at you, lets hope they don't hit you like that telephone pole that just jumped out in front of you...
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Why is the sky over BC a milky-white?
Allergies making you cough and sniffle? Is your throat dry, making it hard to talk? It could be smoke from forest fires in California - even if you live in BC.
The more than 2,000 wildfires burning in California are now being made worse by strong winds, and these winds are blowing smoke northwards as far up as BC. It's one planet, so what happens "over there" is just as important as what happens "here".
It's quite the lesson in global thinking. Nature's way of hitting you over the head with an idea, giving you a headache.
The more than 2,000 wildfires burning in California are now being made worse by strong winds, and these winds are blowing smoke northwards as far up as BC. It's one planet, so what happens "over there" is just as important as what happens "here".
It's quite the lesson in global thinking. Nature's way of hitting you over the head with an idea, giving you a headache.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Do corn husks grow the other direction in South America?
On the weekend we acquired our first corn of the season from our local farmer's market. It was picked that morning, and we had it for lunch, so it was almost the sweetest corn-on-the-cob imaginable - it could only get better if we were sitting in the field it grew in and pulling it off the plant and popping it into our mouths right there!
While I was taking the leaves off from around the corn cob I noticed a definite pattern. If you hold the cob at the stem, with the small end facing up, the leaves grow around the corn cob to the left in a clockwise manner. Taking the leafs off one at a time starting at the left and working to the right works well. Taking the leafs off one at a time starting at the right will give you a big knot of leaves that is tough to pull off.
From what I've read, the petals of a daisy grow in a similar pattern to the corn husks. So playing "he loves me, he loves me not" with a daisy is much easier if you pluck the petals off in a counter-clockwise progression around the flower - if the flower is from north of the equator. But if the daisy has grown in an area south of the equator, the petals grow in the other direction!
It's a memorable part of listening to travelers who have been south of the equator, to hear them describe how the flushed water in a toilet swirls in the opposite direction to what we are used to in the northern hemisphere.
It seems that more than just the water swirls in the other direction.
If the daisy grows in the other direction, maybe other plants do too. I haven't found evidence for corn growing in the other direction yet, but apparently the swirly patterns on butterfly wings swirl in the other direction, and the ozone layer swirls differently at the different poles... so maybe swirling is an integral part of that planet thing.
While I was taking the leaves off from around the corn cob I noticed a definite pattern. If you hold the cob at the stem, with the small end facing up, the leaves grow around the corn cob to the left in a clockwise manner. Taking the leafs off one at a time starting at the left and working to the right works well. Taking the leafs off one at a time starting at the right will give you a big knot of leaves that is tough to pull off.
From what I've read, the petals of a daisy grow in a similar pattern to the corn husks. So playing "he loves me, he loves me not" with a daisy is much easier if you pluck the petals off in a counter-clockwise progression around the flower - if the flower is from north of the equator. But if the daisy has grown in an area south of the equator, the petals grow in the other direction!
It's a memorable part of listening to travelers who have been south of the equator, to hear them describe how the flushed water in a toilet swirls in the opposite direction to what we are used to in the northern hemisphere.
It seems that more than just the water swirls in the other direction.
If the daisy grows in the other direction, maybe other plants do too. I haven't found evidence for corn growing in the other direction yet, but apparently the swirly patterns on butterfly wings swirl in the other direction, and the ozone layer swirls differently at the different poles... so maybe swirling is an integral part of that planet thing.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
What? No spreadsheet application on my MacBook?
After searching my MacBook, and then googling on the subject, I've discovered that my new computer does not have a spreadsheet application on it! Not even a light-weight one with minimal functions.
I may be in the minority, but I do have several spreadsheets I use and add to on a monthly basis, so I do need this type of application. I think since I have a few spreadsheets of 60+ connected sheets on the go that I can call myself a power user of spreadsheets. So a light-weight spreadsheet is not for me, but I'm not paying for MSExcel one more time...
So I've loaded Open Office (OOo) onto my MacBook. I was a bit worried after looking at several posts in blogs - was this still in Beta or not? I'm still not sure - but it has been working fine! It did have a bit of a hiccup the first time it tried to open a 60+ sheet spreadsheet for me, but the second time I tried it I had no problems... no satisfying reasons for starting the second time but not the first, but it works now, so I'm wary of it, but I can work with this.
I haven't tried other spreadsheet applications that work on the Mac, but I used OOo on my old Windows system as well, so there is no learning curve for me here. The transition to the Mac world has so far been easier than I expected.
I may be in the minority, but I do have several spreadsheets I use and add to on a monthly basis, so I do need this type of application. I think since I have a few spreadsheets of 60+ connected sheets on the go that I can call myself a power user of spreadsheets. So a light-weight spreadsheet is not for me, but I'm not paying for MSExcel one more time...
So I've loaded Open Office (OOo) onto my MacBook. I was a bit worried after looking at several posts in blogs - was this still in Beta or not? I'm still not sure - but it has been working fine! It did have a bit of a hiccup the first time it tried to open a 60+ sheet spreadsheet for me, but the second time I tried it I had no problems... no satisfying reasons for starting the second time but not the first, but it works now, so I'm wary of it, but I can work with this.
I haven't tried other spreadsheet applications that work on the Mac, but I used OOo on my old Windows system as well, so there is no learning curve for me here. The transition to the Mac world has so far been easier than I expected.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Battle Plant Update: Tea
A fitting update for my 42nd post, a nice cup of tea with mint flavour added by steeping some of my mint leaves in hot water and adding them to tea from my favourite blend!
There are still some flowers coming out from the Bachelor Buttons, and now I've been able to have some mint added to my tea. Not bad for having a pot with no plans for growing anything in it and old seeds that didn't do anything last year, so may not have even sprouted! I think I'll try this kind of random planting again!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Why are old road names used for new roads when the old roads still exist?
In Vancouver - well, in a suburb way outside of Vancouver, but kind-of attached - is Dewdney Trunk Road. A few blocks away there is another Dewdney Trunk Road. They both go in the same general direction, but one of them gets lost in the middle of a field and suddenly becomes 132 Avenue - and the other one starts where the first one ends off - but about 13 blocks south of it on what would be 119 Avenue if they had stuck to numbers! What vintage of BC Bud were the city planners smoking when they named these streets?
And Google Maps will give you a meandering route that uses both of the Dewdney Trunk Roads liberally to get to Golden Ears Provincial Park in Maple Ridge and waste a lot of gas and time doing it.
According to the early morning traffic news, Dewdney Trunk Road is a very important road that broadcasters keep their eye on when giving their audience advice on roads to take. But which one are they talking about?
"Well, everyone knows that one's the old Dewdney Trunk Road, and the other is the new one." Yeah, that helps. Did anyone ever consider naming one of them "old" or "new". Or better yet, there are 26 letters in the alphabet, if you put a single ounce of creativity into your life, you can use any combination of any of these 26 letters to create a new name for a new road!!! (They can't use the numbers because someone put the new road between 119 and 120 and there is no 119-and-a-half street. That was good planning too.)
Did anyone ever consider making the go lights green and the stop lights a different shade of green, just because everyone knows which one is which by their relative position on a set of traffic lights? Of course not!
Do city planners ever think that a person who hasn't lived somewhere for the past 40 years may want to travel through an area? Did they consider that naming a new road with the same name of a road about 13 blocks away might just be a tad confusing? Have they never heard of using new names for new roads?
The dearth of creativity in city planning is appalling.
And Google Maps will give you a meandering route that uses both of the Dewdney Trunk Roads liberally to get to Golden Ears Provincial Park in Maple Ridge and waste a lot of gas and time doing it.
According to the early morning traffic news, Dewdney Trunk Road is a very important road that broadcasters keep their eye on when giving their audience advice on roads to take. But which one are they talking about?
"Well, everyone knows that one's the old Dewdney Trunk Road, and the other is the new one." Yeah, that helps. Did anyone ever consider naming one of them "old" or "new". Or better yet, there are 26 letters in the alphabet, if you put a single ounce of creativity into your life, you can use any combination of any of these 26 letters to create a new name for a new road!!! (They can't use the numbers because someone put the new road between 119 and 120 and there is no 119-and-a-half street. That was good planning too.)
Did anyone ever consider making the go lights green and the stop lights a different shade of green, just because everyone knows which one is which by their relative position on a set of traffic lights? Of course not!
Do city planners ever think that a person who hasn't lived somewhere for the past 40 years may want to travel through an area? Did they consider that naming a new road with the same name of a road about 13 blocks away might just be a tad confusing? Have they never heard of using new names for new roads?
The dearth of creativity in city planning is appalling.
Friday, July 25, 2008
What input device should I use?
My new MacBook is much easier to work with than I expected it to be! But now I have so many choices of keyboard and mouse pointers, what should I do?
My wrist started hurting after using the touch pad for the mouse movements, so I have bought a bluetooth mouse from Logitech. When I turned the mouse on I clicked on the symbol in the upper right hand corner of the screen (with the touchpad) that had the same symbol as on the mouse, the MacBook found the mouse. It was a brief period of hand shaking, and the mouse was off and running. No need for any opening of CDs for the software etc. etc.
When I put my new MacBook in my regular work area, I have a keyboard that I use for my PCs at an ergonomically good position. I plugged it in to one of the USB ports on the MacBook. The MacBook saw this as a foreign object that was likely a keyboard and I was guided though about a 10 second process to identify the keys to the left and right of the two shift keys and viola, my MacBook will work with my keyboard!
(OK, previous post about not having a spelling correction facility in this TextEdit program was wrong... I just used it with the right-mouse button on an underlined-in-red word and got the expected variety of possible words I meant to use... I guess the unique 3 finger mechanics of using the touchpad for the right button click was what had confused me... I am a right mouse button addict, and I guess Apple is new to the concept.)
So now the problem is... there are so many other interesting keys on the MacBook, but should I be exploring them, or doing something useful? Would exploring those keys actually be "doing something useful"?
From the looks of it, the "command" key on the MacBook is just like the flying windows key on the PC keyboard ... which I have dug out and removed due to it's annoying way of booting me out of video games when I accidentally hit it. This may be a concern.
Hmm, yes, there are some other interesting keys I've never seen before, but the MacBook is now up at a good viewing height, not a keyboard height. I guess this means a retreat to the comfy chair where I can use it in my lap! This is an exciting thing for me because my old Dell laptop has a touchy keyboard that doesn't work when you move the laptop off it's flat desktop surface... not really a laptop at all anymore, part of the reason I'm abandoning it!
Such an adventure!
My wrist started hurting after using the touch pad for the mouse movements, so I have bought a bluetooth mouse from Logitech. When I turned the mouse on I clicked on the symbol in the upper right hand corner of the screen (with the touchpad) that had the same symbol as on the mouse, the MacBook found the mouse. It was a brief period of hand shaking, and the mouse was off and running. No need for any opening of CDs for the software etc. etc.
When I put my new MacBook in my regular work area, I have a keyboard that I use for my PCs at an ergonomically good position. I plugged it in to one of the USB ports on the MacBook. The MacBook saw this as a foreign object that was likely a keyboard and I was guided though about a 10 second process to identify the keys to the left and right of the two shift keys and viola, my MacBook will work with my keyboard!
(OK, previous post about not having a spelling correction facility in this TextEdit program was wrong... I just used it with the right-mouse button on an underlined-in-red word and got the expected variety of possible words I meant to use... I guess the unique 3 finger mechanics of using the touchpad for the right button click was what had confused me... I am a right mouse button addict, and I guess Apple is new to the concept.)
So now the problem is... there are so many other interesting keys on the MacBook, but should I be exploring them, or doing something useful? Would exploring those keys actually be "doing something useful"?
From the looks of it, the "command" key on the MacBook is just like the flying windows key on the PC keyboard ... which I have dug out and removed due to it's annoying way of booting me out of video games when I accidentally hit it. This may be a concern.
Hmm, yes, there are some other interesting keys I've never seen before, but the MacBook is now up at a good viewing height, not a keyboard height. I guess this means a retreat to the comfy chair where I can use it in my lap! This is an exciting thing for me because my old Dell laptop has a touchy keyboard that doesn't work when you move the laptop off it's flat desktop surface... not really a laptop at all anymore, part of the reason I'm abandoning it!
Such an adventure!
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