respublica

Funny plane story

I was wandering around Twitter this morning and came across a tweet which ended up with lots of funny responses. The original tweet was hard to believe, but maybe not if you fly at all.

"Hey United, when I pay through the nose for 1st class so I can get work done, one of the things I like from my power outlets is electricity."

Someone asked, "did you ask the flight attendant about this?"

"Yes. She says the electricity cycles around the plane so everyone gets a turn. Seriously, I told her my turn hadn't come for an hour."

Then the comments:

"Maybe if the pilot tilts the plane some of it will run down to your seat."

"Listen man, we have enough power to run your laptop or the flaps, which do you want?"

"Translation: "You Republicans have too much power already. Use a pencil like the heroic, energy-frugal NYT journalists do!""

"Are you sure she wasn't talking about the "air", and not electricity."

"something broken. the flight attendant gave you the brush off. you already know this. AC inverters do not operate in this manner"

"Sounds like a blown fuse on the convenience receptacle distribution network."

 

 

Old time roads

Here is a picture of Chicago's Lake Shore Drive from 1947. What's amazing is the complete absence of dividers separating north and south traffic. But if you enlarge the picture you'll see delineated rectangles in the driving lanes which were concrete dividers which could be raised and lowered as needed for safety between lanes. Also the merging lanes are so wide!

And here is a 1934 photo of Lindbergh Blvd just south of Page. This stretch became known as Dead Man's Stretch due to many fatal accidents.

The billboard is for the Chase Hotel

Apple workout

This was a go go go weekend. After leaving the 5th baskeball game over two days, Dale and I went to the Apple store so that he could get a new iPad. He has an iPad, but the newest model is the iPad Pro which is 12.9 inches and includes a keyboard. He saw our daughter using hers on the plane to Phoenix and was taken by the fact that it works as a great replacement for a laptop. Traveling with a laptop gets tiring and old and heavy. And you don't have to take the iPad out of the bag going through security.

It took very little time to talk to the Apple guy and buy the device. But it was when we started setting it up that things got frustrating and all because of the stupid passcode. When you set it up one of the things you are recommended to do is add a passcode so that only you can get access to your apps and data. Also there is a thumbprint option as well. Dale was doing the set up while I watched and listened nearby. We skipped the thumbprint for now because often I have to add something to his iPad and that would stop me. Then came the passcode. He sort of read the details and then typed in some numbers and letters. He was asked to repeat and he did. The iPad then opened up for use and we first put in our wireless code and decided to add a couple of the apps he uses and has purchased in the past.

I went to find his Facebook password and while I was gone (2 minutes) the new iPad went to sleep. When I went to wake it I was asked for the passcode. Dale told me what it was and it would not accept it. The iPad became disabled for one minute. Tried again after a minute and it would not take it and then the iPad became disable (locked) for 5 minutes. This went on until we were at a 15 minute disable.

I was tearing my hair out. What the heck? Finally I headed for a Google search to see what could be done and the answers were pretty depressing. Others have had this issue and most of the time the correction was to hook the ipad to the computer and do a restore. If it had previously been synced with iTunes it would maybe work but it it hadn't been, it would be more difficult.

Our new one hadn't been. I went through the restore steps, hoping it would restore to factory settings. Arrrrg. When finished it still asked for the darn passcode. So back to Google. Finally I saw one bit of advice for doing a recovery. 5 steps and then the ipad, hooked to computer went back to it's just purchased state. This took some time, but when the ipad flashed "hello" I was so relieved.

We then started the new set up all over again and skipped (for now) both the thumbprint and the passcode. Everything working as it should.

Then this morning Dale wanted the microsoft word app. So I started getting that onto his new ipad. That app wanted email so they could send a code which had to be entered. Got that. Then a phone number so they could text another code proving he was a real person. Got the text code but the app called it incorrect. I tried and tried. Finally gave up, deleted the app and started over. For some reason things worked without a text code and I'm not going to argue.

The iPad Pro is a beautiful thing.

The Best Right to Life video

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska filmed a video above yesterday's March for Life and it's a great one.

I also loved this photo from yesterday taken by Life Action

Tostitos as breathalizer

The new Tostitos bag now acts as a breathalizer which will indicate whether it is safe for you to drive. If this isn't crazy enough, you might want to take the advice from the Lawrence Kansas police who said, "If you have to blow into a Tostitos bag to know if you're intoxicated, for the love of all that's Holy, DO NOT DRIVE!"

The way the bag works is if you blow into it and it turns green you're good to go. If it turns red, call a cab, Uber or a friend to drive you home.

Don't you want to buy a bag of Tostitos just to give this a try?

Ladders 11

This morning a ladder fell onto the middle lane of eastbound interstate 44 at near the Salisbury exit. Yesterday a mattress fell onto eastbound 364 at 94.  So the tally now stands at Mattresses 14, ladders 11.

Be watchful out there.

Locally sourced produce a bit tricky in winter

No kidding. WTOP in DC has a story about how the demand by restaurants and boutique food sellers for locally sourced produce can be difficult to provide during the cold months. I've often wondered about this when we go out to eat or read food magazines on restaurants which tout this sort of thing. Maybe in California you can get locally grown greens and tomatoes all year round but not in most parts of the country.

A number of growers have begun constructing greenhouses to grow (mostly greens) all year and restaurants snap them up faster than they can harvest. Most of what they grow is spinach and kale. This is not the best system, but it satisfies at least the spinach and kale lovers.

What I've been impressed with is the hydroponic system of growing produce indoors. It's more elaborate and requires a piping set up as well as light, but what you can grow with this is much more varied than in greenhouses. There are grocery stores which have hydroponic systems set up in their deli/produce area which have tomatoes and peppers and greens and herbs for customers to choose from. We were in a Giant Eagle store in Pittsburgh a couple of years ago and saw one of these. And, the vegetables taste like homegrown and grow bountifully without the plants growing way too big. The plants are compact but full of vegetables.

I've been hoping we could put in a hydroponic system here at the seminary but so far no luck.

Transportation slide show

A series of photos and data from the transportation department on how the numbers of our means of getting around have changed in the last 50 years. For instance, in 1960 there were 78,684 airplanes in the U.S. now there are 216,456. And we go from there to locomotives and freight cars to trollys to busses to motorcycles to cars to boats. 

Just for laughs

Came across a couple things that made me laugh this morning.

From Matt Dawson on Twitter: " Researchers say that humans eat more bananas than monkeys. But for the love of Pete, I do not remember the last time I ate a monkey."

This one is sort of political, but it's from Politico and the headline is still chuckle worthy. "Democrats hold lessons on how to talk to real people."

On this day in 1949

On January 25, 1949 the first Emmy Award ceremony was held. If you're like me, your first instinct was to think back to the early days of television and you are surprised there was even television in that year. 1949? 

But yes, there was enough programming and a very small handful of people who had a television to justify having awards. Part of the reason for creating the Emmy Awards was to foster interest in this new type of entertainment. The name “Emmy” was a feminized version of “immy,” the shorthand term for the image orthicon tube that was used in TV cameras until the 1960s.

The very first Emmy winner (for outstanding television personality) was Shirley Dinsdale, a 20-year-old ventriloquist who starred in the children’s show Judy Splinters. Ever heard of this show? Me either. But, this was a puppet show in which Shirley Dinsdale dressed in a cowgirl outfit to match that of her puppet, Judy Splinters.

Here is a short clip of Shirley and her dummy from an unknown year talking about the show.