Monday, September 24, 2001
Wendy Mae Chambers invented the Car Horn Organ in 1983. The instrument is comprised of 25 car horns operated by a homemade keyboard and powered by a car battery charger. The car horns were selected with a pitch pipe and purchased from junk yards, with the exception of the Cadillac C-Trumpet and the "ahooogah" horn which were purchased new. You must hear her do "New York, New York."
63 things you might need to know someday
and in the news . . .

University library bans "Proud to be an American" stickers
Florida Gulf Coast University's director says her staffers aren't allowed to wear "I'm proud to be an American" stickers because they may offend foreign students, faculty or other people who use the library. That baffles an ACLU lawyer, who says: "It's unexplainable that a public university would do this." (Naples News)


Cops say penis-shaped 7-foot tree stump is perfectly legal
Locals aren't happy to see the carved penis, which is topped with flags these days. "I sent one of the lieutenants out there, but he said he didn't know what we could do about it. And neither do I," says a cop. "We don't have a county ordinance that I know of that says you can't carve your tree into a penis." (The Olympian)


Woman, 78, upset after being jailed for fake $20 bill
Lucille Howard was hauled away in handcuffs from her favorite clothing store after a clerk accused her of passing a fake $20 bill -- cash the woman got earlier in the day from Bank of America. The bank branch manager says police overreacted and grabbed an innocent woman. "A little old 78-year-old woman spends some money that she got at the bank and they handcuff her and haul her off to jail." (Augusta Chronicle)


Wednesday, September 19, 2001


Scenes from the aftermath

Pictures from around the world

A photo essay, Shattered

Wednesday, September 5, 2001

The fascinating world of illusions. Illusions are a very nice window into how the brain works, because illusions can reveal the hidden constraints of the visual system in a way that normal perception fails to do so. http://www.illusionworks.com/html/jump_page.html
A complete guide to obtaining, preparing and cooking insects. You can also eat them raw, but the site cautions you should only eat those you keep yourself or that you know are free from pesticides. http://www.eatbug.com/recipes.htm
You just knew there was a good reason they invented the internet. The Official Three Stooges Website complete with video and sound clips, and even reviews of their films. http://www.threestooges.com/welcome.htm
A research version of Next-Generation Text-To-Speech (TTS) from AT&T Labs. You type in text and a male or female voice says it aloud. You can save your creation in a wav file. There are all sorts of immature things one could use this for. Not that I would ever do something like that. http://www.research.att.com/~mjm/cgi-bin/ttsdemo
The things you find out online. I had no idea that people made their own home-made soap. Well, they do. Interesting link. http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-one-category.tcl?topic=Countryside&category=Soap%

Friday, August 24, 2001


I turned 48 yesterday and I and for some reason, I don't think it's taking. I'm wondering when I'm going to grow up. We were in Manassas, Virginia and saw these chairs at the side of the road. I really wanted to get one, but cooler heads prevailed. It's just as well, I suppose.
Why do we like ice cream?
We're biologically conditioned for it. In nature, bitter tasting things are generally poisonous or spoiled, while sweet things are the taste of carbohydrates, the body's fuel. . . . America's favorite flavors? 1) Vanilla 2) Chocolate 3) Neapolitan 4) Butter Pecan 5) Strawberry. . . . Who eats the most? 1) Omaha, Nebraska, 2) Portland, Oregon, 3) Baltimore, Maryland. Are we pigs, or what? The U.S. produced 1,620,902,000 gallons of ice cream in 2000, or 22.71 quarts per person.
Most shark bites near U.S. shores happen in Florida, and Volusia County has the highest number if attacks in the state. There have been 40 shark attacks worldwide this year, 29 which have occurred in the U.S.; 22 of these have been in Florida.
Have you ever received a gift that came with bubble wrap and it was better than the gift itself? Now you can snap them all day long! Enjoy, as you pop virtual bubbles at snapbubbles.com .
Test your reflexes online (okay, so this is really dumb).http://www.reflexgame.com/

Every now and then , you find a really neat website like SoYouWanna.com. This site teaches you how to do all the things nobody taught you in school. It's worth a look. http://www.soyouwanna.com/

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

So, they built a new house across the street and some real nice people, John &
Patty and their family, moved in. We're on our best behavior not wanting to make a bad impression on the new neighbors. Soon as they get their things unpacked John comes over, borrows my posthole digger and puts in his mailbox. Two mornings later, I back out of the driveway and right into the mailbox putting it on its side. I get out and right it. (Luckily, it wasn't cemented in.) Feeling mighty dumb. I told John about it last night. He laughed and said I was the second person to knock it over. Turns out, he'd put it on the wrong side of the street and has to move it anyway.

Guess the Dictator or Television Sitcom Character
Here are the rules: Pretend to be a dictator or television sitcom character. This website willl try to guess who you are by asking simple yes/no questions. I pretended to be Rob petrie, Sam Drucker, and Kramer and it got them all correct.
A red-letter day. I scored my highest point total ever on Pipe Dream (a rather obscure 10-year old computer game): 1,210,800. I have a screen shot saved to prove the total and I will be glad to email it to any doubters. I think I can safely declare myself Pipe Dream champion of the world. I suppose my lofty position in the Pipe Dream world would be more impressive if I actually knew of anyone else who plays the game regularly.
One out of every four people physically attack their machines at one time or another according to a survey of 4,200 computer users by Novatech Direct, a British computer retailer.

How time flies . . . this month marks the 20th anniversary of the IBM personal computer. IBM shipped out the first PCs with Intel 8088 processors that clocked 4.77 megahertz, 256K of memory, and two 160K floppy drives. All for $1,500 (monitor extra.) It's also 10 years since Tim Berners-Lee came up with the concept of the World Wide Web which allowed a drab, gray system to become graphically rich.
"The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time."
--- Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900


Restrooms of the Future
Making public restrooms better and a woman's guide on how to pee standing up.
And you thought I was weird?
The Dangerous Perils of Vanity License Plates
Frequently Asked Questions about Fire Eating and Fire Breathing
All you need to know about possibly the most dangerous and potentially injurious art to be found in circus, theater and street performing.


Acme License Maker
Make your custom license plate online, and you don't even have to go to prison.
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