I’m a Mac guy. I cut my teeth on Macs back in the early ’90’s, have worked in prepress since then, and with the exception of an Amstrad Word Processor and an IBM PC/XT, have had nothing but Macs at home. At work I have the distinct and dubious privilege of providing support for both Macs & PC’s on the network, and one thing about Macs that I really appreciate is that you never have to hit Num Lock to get the numerical keypad to work.
I’ve never understood why it is that some PC’s switch the Num Lock off whenever you log off, shut down or restart the machine. According to Wikipedia it’s a throwback to the dinosaurs of computerdom;
The Num Lock key exists because earlier 84-key IBM PC keyboards did not have arrows separate from the numeric keypad. Num Lock would be used to choose between the two functions. On laptop computers, Num Lock keys are used to convert part of the main keyboard to act as a (slightly skewed) numeric keypad rather than letters.
Don’t know if that’s really the case, but either way, it’s pretty lame. True, you can set up a script to force your PC to remember your preference, but why in the heck should it be so difficult to do something so simple?
The astute reader might also ask why it’s so difficult to remember to hit the key every time, and true, it’s not a big deal. But my point is that it shouldn’t be something I have to deal with at all. Like on a Mac. It’s just always on.
Who, me? Oh, not much. I’m very easy to please. Here’s a list…
a two-car garage,
a couple of vehicles that don’t have acres of rust on them,
a MIG welder, drill press and milling machine,
unlimited funds and sufficient time to finish some of the unfinished projects around the house,
40 pounds off my midsection,
a new MacBook Pro,
a new job,
hair like I had twenty years ago,
a river-side acreage somewhere near Sioux Falls,
time to read and write the way I’d like to,
a set of bagpipes and lessons,
cello lessons,
etc…
See? I really am easy to please. But man, do I hate hearing that question. Yes, there are some things I’d like to receive as gifts for Christmas, but generally when I really need something, I buy it for myself. Likewise if I really want something that isn’t too costly; for the costlier items, I bide my time for a windfall of some sort (and permission from the wife) before I buy. But the things that I’d like to have that I don’t purchase myself are also too costly to ask someone else to buy for me. Hence the reluctance to answer that question.
Every year for Christmas with Yvonne’s family we draw names and give gifts that way, and every year I get that question, and every year I have a tough time with it. I don’t want to throw out costly suggestions and possibly oblige someone to fork out a lot of money on me (although it would be nice), but then again the last thing I need is more stuff; clutter is already an issue around our house.
My family dispensed with the gift buying/giving/returning thing at our usually annual Thanks-Mas events years ago, and went to a White Elephant Gift Exchange. That has been a blast, with lots of gaudy not so favorites making repeat appearances year after year. I wish we could do that with Yvonne’s family too, but old traditions are hard to change.
One other hesitation I have about the whole White Elephant thing is that it mocks Christmas in a way; the whole gift giving thing is supposedly to honor the Greatest Gift of All, Jesus Christ, who was God’s gift to us. So does giving a known rotten gift mock that tradition? I dunno; haven’t quite made up my mind on that. What I do know is that the White Elephant is a lot of fun, doesn’t require anyone to spend a ton of money, and doesn’t (always) add more stuff to my house.
I wrote a while back about the World Vision Gift Catalog; actually, if someone is going to spend money on a gift for me, I’d actually rather have them spend it there rather than on me. Or if they really want to give me something, how about dinner with them. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy; just any old thing at your house or my house, along with an evening to converse & catch up.
1,000 visitors, that is. Sometime today (or maybe tomorrow), I should cross the threshold into the four-digit realm, at least as it’s measured by Sitemeter since I first signed up in April, 2006. I should probably also note that I didn’t realize until just recently that Sitemeter allowed you to ignore visits from my own computer, so a fair number of that 1,000 is due to me checking on things. But since I added my computer to the ignore list, traffic has kept up a steady two or three a day routine.
That may not seem like much of a milestone, given that amount of time, and especially compared to some of the busier sites that will see that kind of traffic in an hour or less. But for me on my little outta da way corner of a minor thread in the World Wide Web, 1,000 is something!
So here’s to davintosh. The fly-over country of the World Wide Web!
I got a little taste of corn husking as a kid. Dad had his hobby farm by Shindler but not a lot of land for growing crops. What he did have was lots of connections with farmers who grew corn and would let him go through their fields to glean leftover corn that their pickers didn’t get, and many times he’d bring us kids along. Dad would hitch up his homebuilt corn wagon behind the tractor or behind a team of ponies, and we’d walk alongside through the field picking up anything we could find and pitch it against the bangboard & into the wagon. And Dad would tell us stories about how this was the way that corn was picked back in the day.
In the days before mechanical corn pickers, entire fields were picked by hand, ear by ear. And of course there were some guys that had a real knack for doing it quickly, which developed into competitions where they’d see how much corn each could shuck in a given amount of time. Amazingly these competitions live on today. And dang it anyhow, I missed the 2007 competition which was held in nearby Dell Rapids, SD.
Dell Rapids was also home to the somewhat famous 1938 National Corn Husking Competition, which dwarfed this year’s event. While there were only 12 competitors in 1938, the contest drew over 100,000 spectators. This year there were almost as many competitors as spectators.
I poked around a little on the cornhusking.com site and was amazed at the results turned in by the shuckers this year; first place went to Frank Hennenfent of Illinois who picked a whopping 699 lbs. in the 30 minute Men’s Open competition. But that pales in comparison to his 2004 National win with 896 lbs. picked. The second place finishers were over 100 lbs. short of Frank’s totals. Wow!
I don’t remember if Dad ever used one, but I have seen corn husking hooks and gloves that are used by huskers. Most involved a glove-like thing that placed a hook on the palm of the hand which helped in getting the husk off.
Other contrivances included nail studded leather thumb wraps that did the same thing.
I bumped into this in the classified ads at CarsOnline.com; very, very cool.
Asking price is $55,000, but I found another version of the ad where he’s asking $70k, so I’m thinking the price is pretty negotiable. Probably not negotiable to where I’d be able to afford it, but…
Here are the specs for the thing as listed in the ad. I wasn’t able to find any other info on the Fletcher Aviator through a Google Search, so could it be that this is the only one?
Fletcher Aviator. Custom built wing tank car. Same as used as bonneville land speed car of the 50’S and 60’S. Street legal car clear title. Built in the year 2006, Has never run at bonneville. This is a custom car just for the street.
Complete tube chassis straight axle front end
Willwood brakes all four corners
350 Chevy engine
350 Transmission
471 Blower
Franklin quick change rear end
Wheel vintique wire wheels
Wing tank F100 all aluminum
Apparently the body is made from the wing tank from an F100 Super Saber jet (photo of one mounted to the F100 here.) Too bad he didn’t keep the fins from the originals; that would’ve been a great addition! The ad also says he’s got more tanks available… If that don’t get the creative juices going…
Back in the early ’80’s I joined the South Dakota Air National Guard and went off to Basic Training, then on to technical training at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. During my six months at Keesler, one of my roommates was a Mormon guy from Utah by the name of Ira. Ira was a great friend during those months at Keesler, and had all kinds of stories to tell; one that stuck with me was about a friend or relative of his who made what were termed “bull pecker canes” (Ira’s words, not mine!) To make these canes, they would take the… um… reproductive organ of a slaughtered bull, run a steel rod down the middle (cringe), dry it, varnish it & finish it off with a fancy handle and foot.
With some of Ira’s stories, I never knew whether to believe him or not; no difference with this one. But today while browsing around the Sportsman’s Warehouse over a long lunch, guess what I found; a rack Bull Canes made by Ross Taylor Originals in Utah. And true to Ira’s tale…
Each of our canes, putters and jogging buddies are made from the reproductive organ of an American Buffalo or Domestic Bull. Yes, you heard it right…
As disgusting as they sound, the canes & walking sticks I saw are very nice. They’re fairly hefty, what with the 3/8″ steel rod running through the middle (cringe) and the brass handles. Prices are up there, $120 or so for a nice cane with inlaid buffalo nickels or Indian head pennies. You can also custom-order one with your own trinkets inlaid on the shaft.
The website says the canes are durable enough for a lifetime of use, and they look it. And I’m sure they’d be a fun conversation starter: “Nice cane! What kind of wood is that?” “Oh, it’s not wood, per se…”
Here’s something interesting; grooves cut in the pavement on a dangerous highway make the tires “sing”, and help keep drivers alert. It’s called The Singing Highway in South Korea. Very cool!
I’ve thought of something like this; there are stretches of road around here that have grooves cut in them to channel water off the pavement, and the pitch varies according to the speed you travel over it. I reasoned that you could also vary the pitch by spacing the grooves differently, and end up with cars singing a tune as they roll over it. The Koreans must be using some long-distance mind scanning technology to steal my ideas. Too bad they weren’t more creative in their choice of a tune; Mary Had A Little Lamb?! I guess the idea was to keep drivers awake, so something annoying fits the bill pretty well.
I can think of lots of more appropriate tunes; what would you use?
Is there someone you know who is really hard to buy a gift for? I know a few people like that. They’ve got everything they need. Most anything they don’t have and might be on their Christmas list would likely be too expensive for me to buy for them, and anything that is within my budget they would probably just go & buy for themselves. I feel like anything I buy for them would be just another junk trinket that they’ll either put on a shelf & forget about, return, or throw out.
We received a gift catalog from World Vision in the mail last week, and I was struck by its uniqueness. It’s not exactly what you’d expect in a gift catalog; instead of the usual stupid little trinkets you see in any other catalog from any other mail order company, World Vision offers gifts that you can give in someone’s name that can really make a difference.
Your gift can provide animals for needy people, shelter & warmth, health care, clean water, nourishing food… Some of the gifts are quite affordable; five ducks cost only $30 and will provide eggs to eat and ducklings to sell. Others can be quite costly; a fresh water well costs $5,390, but World Vision gives you the opportunity to buy a share in that gift, so that together with several other givers you can be a part of providing clean water to a huge number of people. Having visited Africa, I know firsthand what kind of water people drink in third-world countries, and this is something that would make a huge impact.
You can purchase a gift through the website, or you can go there to request a catalog (or a hundred if you want to distribute them) and order by phone. Your gift-ee will receive a card from World Vision detailing what was given in their name.
We just watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on TV last night, and it’s interesting that even back then Charles Schultz was railing against the commercialism of Christmas. Most stores had their Christmas stuff on display in September already. It seems to happen earlier every year, with the constant drumbeat of how the Christmas shopping season is sink-or-swim time for retailers, and a major indicator for the US economy. All that is just a detraction from what Christmas is all about; I’m totally with Linus on his explanation on the subject:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Watch and enjoy the scene on YouTube, or click here to listen to the audio only.
I ate my first lobster earlier tonight, and I must say it’s a terribly overrated experience. I was far from impressed.
I was invited to this banquet, and the main course was lobster. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but decided to go ahead for the adventure. And now, here I sit, four hours later with my stomach making horrible groaning noises, feeling like it’s right at the back of my throat, ready to launch lobster all over my keyboard. Ugh.
The lobster I ate probably wasn’t the freshest specimen on the planet — I live in South Dakota, so the poor guy was probably been cooped up in a small tank for the last month or so. When he took his final dive, I doubt he was at his best. But you know, the meat itself didn’t taste too bad, but then again it didn’t taste too good either. In fact, there really wasn’t much flavor to it that I recall. What I do recall is the green stuff. When the critters were served and the first one cracked open, someone said, “Don’t eat the green stuff.” No worries there; it looked like something that came out of the wrong end of an alien. And that was probably my biggest problem with the whole experience. Seeing the entrails all boiled to mush and falling on my plate.
I don’t mind the sight of the insides of animals, really I don’t. But in my mind there is this separation between gutting something and eating it. The way it’s supposed to work is you kill the animal, cut it open, take out it’s guts, clean the carcass, then cook it. That I can handle. But combining the gutting with the eating… That’s too much.
Things have settled down considerably now, so I think I’ll make it. Besides, it didn’t taste too great going down the first time, so I would imagine that the return trip would be so very much more unpleasant. I just hope the muscling-past-the-gag-reflex strategy works.