I love this idea. Proper grammar is fast becoming a lost art in this country.
3 weeks ago
The Sharpie Liquid Pencil. I have this thing pre-ordered like nobody’s business. Tons of ‘em. Back up the truck and dump them all in my living room. The stationery geek within me is dying from the anticipation.
This is a false color image of the planet Venus. Twenty years ago when I was in second grade, everyone in my class had to do a space-related project. I chose to do a clay model of Venus and used this image. Yes, that’s right: my clay Venus was blue. The funny thing is that nobody said anything to me about it and I didn’t discover that its cloud tops were actually a bland beige/white until almost a full year later. Oops.
I had a dream last night that I was on Mythbusters. I don’t remember much about the dream, but I specifically recall that Adam Savage and I were giving Jamie Hyneman a hard time about something. It doesn’t really matter. I just remember being disappointed when I woke up and found out it wasn’t even remotely reality.
I ran into this image over on the Wikipedia entry for Terraforming of Mars. This is an artistic conceptualization of what Mars might look like over time if we were to attempt terraformation of it’s surface. Pretty darn cool.
I’m on a Neil deGrasse Tyson kick lately. This guy is really something. Here’s a great video clip of him talking about the existence of UFO’s and alien visitors. Try not to laugh at his delivery, I dare you.
A Run in the Rain
There’s something primeval about running in the summer rain. It doesn’t happen very often, as summer tends to be a drier time of year, but every few weeks you catch a rainy day. So off you go, driving your body through the wind-whipped drizzle as the raindrops lash at your face.
Jogging through a rain shower is a cleansing experience. You have the human condition, physically toiling to improve itself. Muscles burn, the heart thunders, lungs heave, and sweat surges from the skin. The body is strengthening and purifying itself through natural labor that works in tandem with nature itself, which physically rinses away the sweat and heat with an exhilarating shower. The patter of water in the leaves above and on the road below quiet turbulent thoughts and helps the conscious mind focus inwardly as the feet rhythmically pound the pavement. It’s a form of meditation and when I finish, I feel physically and mentally rewarded.
Unfortunately, this event only occurs a few times a year and it’s rarity must be treasured. How many people, I wonder, appreciate this the same way that I do? Probably more than I’d expect, but not nearly as many as I would hope.
At one time or another, everybody should take a run in the rain.
Here’s a hell of an anecdote from Neil deGrasse Tyson. If Carl Sagan had shown me around his lab at Cornell, I would probably be studying the universe right now too.
I’ve been shaving with a badger hair brush, old fashioned shaving soap, and double-edged safety razor for about a year and a half now. I can honestly say that it provides the most consistently excellent shave of any method I’ve ever used. Trust me, I’ve tried them all: Modern 87-blade Gillette razors, electric foil shavers, rotary shavers, etc. Everything else just carves up my neck and leaves me with terrible razor burn. Plus, a simple pack of eight modern blades cost around $25-$30. I can buy one hundred Merkur or Derby blades (about a 2.5-year supply for me) for roughly the same price!
It’s nice to see that there are plenty of other people out there who are like me. We’re sick of using canned foam, buying overpriced blades, and getting a half-assed shave. Enough is enough.
