I saw this link on SimpleBits.com about High Definition Radio
being able to play over regular analog air waves.
I am recent convert to
XM Radio
(which is also available over the web). The music is
crystal clear, the DJs are the best, there's plenty of choice (over 120
channels) and NO ADS -- especially, no long call-in programs and "here we
are in the shopping mart parking lot, ready to give away a t-shirt to
whomever pulls up next ... blah blah blah."
We were sitting in the house yesterday
afternoon when I heard loud thumping on the roof. I figured, "What
now?!!!" First, the city is doing some work on the creek, giving the
neighborhoods around here a miserable, annoying loud background hum --
noise pollution. We can hear the hum 24 hours a day -- it is so loud.
At least this irritating buzz is only temporary.
Now the roof is going "clunk" "clunk."
Our cats hate roof sounds and hide in fear. My husband looks out of the
window and discovers that it is hailing. We only have big hail like this
every few years. It is always a surprise. On the downside, hail often
precedes a tornado and we listen for the tornado sirens. (Fortunately, they
did not go off.)
The last time it hailed like this, we had to
replace our roof and make an insurance claim to fix the dents on our car.
Jenny was out and about. She drove up and asked me to look at her car, but it seems okay at first
glance. It's hard to tell, though. Sometimes small cracks appear in the
glass and grow. We will all be checking and watching for damage. It did a
number on our pansies.
I was watching Fox News this morning and they
debunked a myth. George Washington did not have wooden teeth. He had hippo
teeth. They also said a survey showed Abraham Lincoln as the greatest
president of them all, but Reagan got high marks, too.
I remember when Reagan was president. During
those days, I saw the results of a nationwide poll. Everyone was asked who
they thought the greatest person in history was and Ronald Reagan won. As
for the most-hated person in history, President Reagan won that slot, too.
Oh brother -- that's America for you. (Count me on the side that liked Reagan.)
My nephew was talking about lucid dreaming
the other day. If I go to bed thinking about something, sometimes I can
have a dream about it. Some folks feel that dreams have deep signifigance.
Others feel like they are random meaningless products of the sleeping
mind. Still, others feel they could be revelations. I think they
are all true at one time or another. As for me, for the most part, I think
they are meaningless, but I love the dreams where I can fly by just
holding out my arms.
Here's what Psychology Today says about where
dreams come from:
"Are you trying not to think about all
those problems or bothersome people at work? Well if you are, you
might want to prepare to meet them in your dreams, a recent study
seems to suggest.
In the study, published in the journal
Psychological Science, when participants were asked to refrain from
thinking about a certain person before they fell asleep, they ended
up being more likely to dream about that person than someone they
had been told to specifically think about before drifting off.
And participants also reported
dreaming about people they were not attracted to at least as often
as they dreamed of people they were attracted to. Daniel Wegner, a
lead researcher and psychology professor at Harvard University, says
that whatever it is that we sweep under the rug, oftentimes returns
to us in our dreams.
He says that one thing this proves is
that at least some dreams come from prior content in our lives and
are not just random occurrences.Wegner also says that the part of
the brain that has to do with mental control is not operative while
we sleep, and this allows the release of our unwanted thoughts into
our dreams."
Thanks to Jennifer C., comes this list of
contradictory words. Some of these are just a matter of opinion, however
funny, though. Have things gotten so bad that "business" and "ethics" are
no longer associated? Have business owners and individual workers lost
their ethics in dealing with each other? Is there no loyalty on either
side any more? I hate to think that all ethics everywhere could be lost in
favor of greed, but oh well, that's
another discussion. (I am more than ready to go to church today and get my
faith in human kindness renewed.) Back to the humor:
Cleaning a lens is harder than I imagined.
First, I bought premoistened packets meant specifically for cleaning
lenses and monitors, etc. The package says that no drying is needed. Their
wet tissues do not leave streaks. I tried it on my monitor and it was
great! The solution dries rapidly and my monitor sparkles with cleanliness.
BUT, I tried cleaning my camera lens and it
left streaks! I could only see the streaks when I tilted the lens to catch
the light just right, but the streaks were there. I walked into Wolf
Camera today and bought a different kind of lens cleaning kit with
solution, a blower and lens paper.
In the kit, it says to use a dry paper
afterwards to clean off the streaks and do it all gently. So I did -- and much to my
frustration, the streaks were still there! Even cleaning both sides of a
lens, left streaks! Blasted streaks!
So next I buy a soft lens cloth. The
instructions say that I can use it wet or dry. I try it both ways and there are
STILL streaks on my camera lens! Why?!!! In desperation, I blow a little
fog on the lens and then clean it off -- NO LUCK -- the streaks are still
there!! How can this be? Will it be impossible to have a perfectly clean
lens?
I asked Wolf Camera if they clean camera lenses and
they said no, but they will ship them off to be cleaned. WHAT? Cleaning a
camera lens requires sending it out of the store and I have to give them my lens
for DAYS? What happened to the friendly neighborhood photography place
that could take it in the back room and have it all cleaned up in a few
minutes? Argh!!! Please excuse me while I go pull out my hair.
Thanks to Chris S., here is a link to
beautiful pictures from the Hubble Telescope. These are the most beautiful
ones I have seen yet - the best of the best. You can even vote for your
favorite -- which will be hard to decide. --> Hubble Telescope Pictures.
Are you weird?
Apparently, I am with a score of 120 the first time I took this quiz. I then took
it again a few days later, putting more thought into my answers and scored an 89. What does
this mean? Maybe on certain days I am weird and other days I am boringly
normal. (Must be related to PMS somehow.)
I've been itching to go to a new movie this
week. Having seen The Mask, Son of the Mask previews looked
interesting, but as of right this minute, Rotten Tomatoes gives it a
ZERO!!!! Whew! I know it is too soon for many reviews to be in, but that
is SAD! Critics say it is mean-spirited -- which might be funny to some
folks, but I think I will pass.
I just saw previews for Constantine with
Keanu Reeves. The premise looks interesting. The reviews are not TOO BAD so
far. If anyone sees this, please let us know what you think of it. (BTW,
anyone know what this is going to be rated?)
I have a vast bookmarks list. Since I am
"old" (depending on whom you ask), I forget some of the things I have
saved. Keyhole is one of them.
This program zooms from outer space to your house in a smooth, fluid
motion. It comes with a 7-day free trial. I've wasted half the morning
looking up actual pictures of friends' and relatives' houses. (P.S. A good
video card improves the fluid look of this.)
Cleaning a lens is harder than I imagined.
First, I bought premoistened packets meant specifically for cleaning
lenses and monitors, etc. The package says that no drying is needed. Their
wet tissues do not leave streaks. I tried it on my monitor and it was
great! The solution dries rapidly and my monitor sparkles with cleanliness.
