Archive for Life - page 29

…such as “I wonder how the letter W came about?”.  OK, this is pretty much just ripped off from Althouse, but I thought it was interesting.  So as small thanks, go read her blog too.

The History of “W” According to Wikipedia

Short Video:

Interesting tidbit from the Wikipedia history: “The initialism “www” for the World Wide Web thus, perhaps ironically, has three times as many syllables as the full name.”  Huh.  WWW = nine syllables and World Wide Web = three syllables.  Conclusion: I am easily amused.

I entitled this post “Don’t Worry…Be Happy” because it sounded better than “As spirits in a material world, we sometimes have a hard time living an existence in a solid three dimensional space”.  Because here on earth over the long eons of human evolution we have learned that in order to achieve a certain outcome (our will), certain physical efforts must be made.  We have learned, initially as a matter of survival that physical things must be moved or changed to suit our will or desired outcome.  The physical solutions that were (and are) required to solve physical problems are of no effect for non three dimensional issues.  Physical assertions will produce no results in the realm of the mind.

Remember that there are aspects of our lives that are not physical.  There is a great deal that goes on inside our heads.  Certainly we are physical creatures and we exist in a solid world governed by physical (as in physics) laws.  But there is a spiritual component to our being as well that is unbound by laws of gravity, inertia etc.  Can we understand the difference between the physical and the spiritual and how to initiate changes that cannot be accomplished by movements of the physical?  How can we make changes in our non-physical realm to bring about desired outcomes?  Or is it, in fact, possible at all?  Spritually are we just along for the ride?  Do the constraints of the physical world limit the possibilities of the spiritual?  I ask these questions rhetorically, since there may not be an answer, or conversely there may be too many answers.

But seriously…

There are many things in life that people wish they could change, and in pursuit of that change we often entangle the physical and the spiritual.  We build physical barriers between ourselves and the actions that might bring those changes about.  Aren’t we strange critters.

Most people would tell you they want to be happy.  But if you ask an unhappy person what would make them happy?  Likely they will name the lack of certain material possessions.  Or they may cite the existence of conditions beyond their control for their unhappiness, as in how can I be happy when Panda Bears are going extinct?.  Or they will project onto others the blame for their condition:  Why does no one love me (when I do not love myself?).

We all have things in our lives that cause us to worry, to be angry or to be sad and these are often things outside of ourselves and beyond our control.  Can we accept the fact that there are things beyond our control or beyond our influence, and understand influence versus control?  You only control you.  You may influence others or events, but you cannot control them.

So ask yourself if you are serious about being happy.  One needn’t justify a conscious decision to live a happy and joyous life.  Act locally, and by locally I mean within the boundaries of your skull.  Stay within yourself, geographically and chronologically; Try to see this picture in your mind – envision the universe as a target and you are at the very center point of the “bull’s eye”.  In fact the center point is in the center of your mind.  The concentric circles of the target extend around that point, the first rings inside you, and then more around you, then extending out to infinity.  You control only the center point.  You have no control over the rest, the best you can do is influence.   So don’t worry, be happy.  And see what influence it has on your world.

FBI put nation on alert to “…highly credible terrorist threat”.  Is there no heinous act so loathsome to which those demented Al-Quaeda bastards will not stoop?  Follow the link to learn what horrible end is in store for us.

…and the bartender says “I can’t serve you because I’m not sure you exist!”  Bada-bing!  Meh…needs work.  Anyhoo… it looks like we haven’t yet even learned all of what we don’t know.  That is to say that the more we learn, the more we don’t know.  Or something.  If I can’t get that point across, then I have no chance of explaining subatomic physics regarding the discovery of a new “exotic” particle, the 4 Quark Hadron.  Or rather the confirmation of the 2007 discovery of the 4 Quark Hadron.  So I’ll suggest you follow that link to a very concise and surprisingly easy to understand article on the subject at the UK Daily Mail.  Why do you care?  OK, you don’t but why should you care?  Because atoms and their subatomic components make up everything in our entire universe and we will never figure out what the hell this whole universe thing is about if we cannot even understand what it is made of.

Besides, C’mon! It’s Hadrons!

TCM, or Turner Classic Movies turns 20 years old next Monday, and it’s one of the few things I’m willing to thank Ted Turner for.  There’s no way to describe it other than “the old movie channel”, since they air movies almost exclusivley made before 1970.

They are also uninterupted by commercials, unedited and usually introduced by a host who will pass some information about the stars of the film or some anecdotes about the making of the film which I find adds to my appreciation of the film.

When the channel was first introduced, it offered access to a library of films not often seen on commercial television, nor easily found in the once ubiquitous video stores, films one usually had to buy in order to watch them.  Also, you may have had to stay up late or get up early in order to catch a movie you wanted to see, but with the advent of the DVR (and the death of the walk in video rental store) you don’t have to stay up until 3:00AM to see that obscure film.  Schedule the recording and watch at your leisure!

Since the audience that these old films appeal to is aging, the looming question is will the channel be able to attract younger viewers with it’s current fare?  Let’s hope they find a way, or that younger people find an interest in classic films.  So Happy Birthday TCM and may you adapt to change better than Blockbuster Video!

….Happy Birthday to you!  The Ford Mustang, that is, not the horse, nor the “ranch” in Nevada.  Yes, the Ford Mustang turns 50 years old this week.  Though today it is a globally recognized American Icon, it very nearly never came to be.  Accountants at Ford were not convinced of the need for the new model since it was really just a Falcon with different bodywork and they believed it’s introduction would only hurt sales of that model.  Still, legendary marketing man Lee Iacocca pushed hard for the project and won out in the end.  The projected sales for the first year were around 100,000 units, and ended up in reality being over 400,000 units!  And it is a brand that is still thriving today, even after many copycat competitors  have come and gone and come and gone again.

I have owned a few Mustangs, though is has been about 20 years since my last one.  The first car that was my very own was a 65 sedan which I bought from my brother-in-law in the mid seventies for $300.  It had a 200 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine and a 1 barrel carburetor that looked like it belonged on lawn mower.  The transmission was a three speed manual with a floor mounted stick.  It had an after market paint job in a non factory color, a kind of “root beer brown” which earned it the nickname “hershey car” though in reality it was more metalic brown than chocolate.  Overall, a great car – simple transportation, nothing fancy.  I drove the crap out of it for 4 or 5 years and sold it for $200 when the transmission finally went out.  I don’t have an actual picture, but this one is very close:

same hubcaps as mine

My second Mustang belonged initially to my girlfriend who I later married and so it was more ours than mine.  It was also a 65 with the same 200 c.i. engine and three speed manual tranny as mine, but this one was a fastback 2+2 (fold down rear bucket seats) and ran alot better than my first one.  It was positively peppy.  I wish I had taken better care of it and kept it, but after marriage and when a couple kids came along it wasn’t practical.  Again, I have no picture but here is a similar one:

nearly identical to ours

My most recent Mustang was the first brand new car I ever bought: a 1979 Mustang “Ghia” coupe.  This generation of Mustang, the 3rd, after the ill-conceived “Mustang II” was not a muscle car in any sense.  It was after all the late 70’s and we had just gone through the Arab Oil Embargo and so small engines were the order of the day.  All Mustangs of that vintage had only 4 cylinder engines, though there was a turbo option (larger engines were re-introduced later).  Mine did not have a turbo, but it was a fairly light car and so performed reasonably well with it’s 4 speed manual transmission.

mine was Burgundy Red, but same faux wire wheels

Since the Mustang of legend is always thought of as a muscle car, my next one will be more along these lines:

I’m a vanilla kind of guy

Oh, who am I kidding?  By the time I’m ready to buy one they will probably be wind-powered…

…but I suppose I could live with it

The New Straits Times (Malaysia) is reporting that Malaysia Air Flight 370’s Copilot attempted a cell phone call after final radio contact and after the plane diverted from it’s planned course to Beijing.  I have seen this reported nowhere else.

The source for the story is an anonymous person inside the investigation.  The source states that the co-pilot’s cell records are being examined (as I assume would be the pilot’s, flight crew’s and all the passengers’) and the examination shows that the phone was powered off about the time that the crew boarded the flight.  This is considered normal.  However, after the flight departed, after the final radio contact with ground controllers and after the flight changed course, the phone was turned on and a call was made or attempted.  The source declined to give further information as to whom the call was attemted or if it was indeed completed.  I will be interested to see if this story is picked up by other media sources.

Did I say common sense?  Sorry, I meant stupidity.  This week the Senate Health Commitee approved SB1000 which would require warning labels on sodas and other sugary beverages sold in California.  California will be the first in the nation!  The label would read:

STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking
beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.

Huh.  Who knew?  The next thing you know the government or someone will come out with a study that says Americans like Pizza or something.  But I digress.  We Californians are fortunate that we have such wise stewards in our legislature who realize that Utopia cannot be realized without sufficient warning labels.  We can’t credit them for all the warning labels California requires today though,  the most ubiquitous of which are the “Prop 65” warning labels which you will find on everything in the state.  Of course, I am exagerating (WRONG! I’m not!).  Here a little backgound is in order: California has something called The Ballot Initiative Process.  The idea is that We The People can bypass the Legislature if we choose, draft our own laws (“propositions”) and put them to a vote of the people.  If they pass they become law.  Power to The People!  Right On!  However… sometimes there is an idea so stupid even our legislators realize the can’t have their fingerprints on it,  so they draft their own “proposition” and put it on the ballot.  In this state, if you can sell something in Los Angeles and the SF Bay Area then you get to shove it down everyone else’s throat.  This is how we got Prop 65, the purpose of which was to warn people of scary toxic chemicals that would jump out and murder them unless they were warned.  Oh, and Clean Water!  Surely you’re not against clean water?  Anyway, now we have this warning on every building and product in California:

WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer  and birth defects  or other reproductive harm.

Turns out that everything causes cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm to one degree or another.  True Story: one summer at Lake Tahoe I was waiting for a table at a restuarant.  It’s Tahoe in the summer, so there are a lot of tourists from out of state and while we’re all sitting there, a young woman in another party notices the Prop65 warning posted at the entrance to the restaurant.  Yes, there is one of these posted at every restaurant in California.  She became alarmed; OMG look at this!  We better go somewhere else!  We’ll get cancer if we eat here! (on the shores of pristine Lake Tahoe, mind you).   The locals started laughing and told her not to worry, that warning is on everything in this state. There are two things to take away from this if you’re a California State Senator reading this.  First, “the locals started laughing” and second “that warning is on everything in this state”.

Prop 65 was passed in 1986.  Here it is 2014 and we’re still figuring out which warning labels to put on what.  That’s a lot of time wasted, so I’d like to offer this suggestion.  Let’s just make one warning label for everything so we can be done with this and move on.

My suggestion:

You’re Welcome.

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