I just returned from a couple of days at Disneyland. Midway through a ride on Space Mountain, it stopped and the lights came up. (For those unfamiliar with the ride, it's an indoor roller coaster that's entirely dark except for simulated star light.)
It took about 5-10 minutes to get going again, requiring a couple of ride technicians to literally push-start us and then gravity did the rest. It was really interesting to see the track layout since it's so difficult, if not impossible, to tell what's going on with the lights off. I counted five other coasters stuck on the track at the same time as us and was astounded at the number of stairs and ramps all over the place.
I once hung out of a car in traffic for one of Anonymous' free hugs outside of the Church of Scientology in SF.
Now a group acting under the banner "Anonymous" has warned the Westboro Baptist Church of unspoken retribution if the church does not cease and desist its hateful protests, you know, in the name of God. More here
Hot damn, nothing screams "Americana" like a pre-fabricated house from the late 40's. The Lustron home was a factory-built steel house screwed together onsite by the Lustron Corporation. Locate one near you by clicking here.
Up in the city, Fat Cookies sells cookies from a string dangling from their second story window.
I can't decide if I'm more jealous of them (for stealing the idea from coke dealers) or their frequent customers (because I live too far to make it a habit).
We don't get weather here very often, but when it does rain, I've found that there are almost always rainbows all over the place. This morning on my way into work, I was treated to a double rainbow (oh my god). This is not a picture of it:
Geert Chatrou is a World Champion whistler. Not terribly surprising I suppose, but I never knew such a title even existed, much less that one could make a living at it. He performs "Eleonora" by A. Honhoff and his own "Fête de la Belle."
KILLER PLANT SUCKS IN PREY AT RECORD SPEED Plants would seem to live in the slow lane, but a carnivorous aquatic plant may be an exception. By Jennifer Viegas
"Aquatic, meat-eating bladderworts are among the world's best suckers and they have just been named the fastest trapping carnivorous plants, according to a Proceedings of the Royal Society B study.
Their traps suck in prey in less than a millisecond, making this one of the speediest movements in the entire plant kingdom." more
"Written in Central Europe at the end of the 15th or during the 16th century, the origin, language, and date of the Voynich Manuscript—named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller, Wilfrid M. Voynich, who acquired it in 1912—are still being debated as vigorously as its puzzling drawings and undeciphered text. Described as a magical or scientific text, nearly every page contains botanical, figurative, and scientific drawings of a provincial but lively character, drawn in ink with vibrant washes in various shades of green, brown, yellow, blue, and red." more...
Last week SNL featured Dana Carvey and Linkin Park. It was one of those rare occasions that I actually watched the musical performances instead of fast forwarding through them.
Similar to the Seward Street Slides in San Francisco, I can't believe this place is allowed to remain open; the liabilities seem like they'd be astronomical...
Remember the junkyard that Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids used to hang out in?Adventure Playgroundkind of has that vibe only without the rats and stench of a real junkyard. I kept expecting to turn a corner and see a kid playing a steam heat radiator; "Na-na-na gonna have a good time!"
Since I've never seen one personally, I'm still not sure if these unicorns-of-the-sea really exist. It could all just be an elaborate hoax like other things I've never seen, such as gravity or Abraham Lincoln; all undoubtedly resulting in some sort of ill-gotten gains!
I just returned from Arizona. I couldn't help but think of "Raising Arizona;" probably the funniest, most underrated movie by the Coen Brothers. So many wonderful details, in both the dialogue and props, cemented it as one of my all time favorites.
Here's why you're right-handed or left-handed Predisposition is tied to preference of one eye over the other, study finds
By Jennifer Viegas
When a southpaw shakes hands, his left eye and the right portion of his brain are working hard to process the other individual, suggests a new study. The research helps to explain why hand and limb preferences exist across numerous species.
The predisposition, as it turns out, are tied to ocular dominance, or the tendency to prefer visual input from one eye over the other, according to the study, published in the latest Royal Society Biology Letters.
Ocular dominance, in turn, is driven by cerebral lateralization, which refers to how information processing is divided and coordinated between the brain's left and right hemispheres. …more
While I do occasionally pine for the muffled sound of snow blowers on a dark & chilly night, or the sound of snow being compacted under the weight of a passing car, I can't say that I wish I were here:
Snuggle up and stay warm, friends! Spring is not so far off.