Fearlessly, the Idiot faced the Crown

[rain_gryphon]

An Otterish Horde.

*****

Sunday: What a dismal race. I'm still disgusted.

*****

Certain of the local furs are enough to make Jesus cry. We all probably deserve each other.

*****

For many years, people wanted hearing aids to be invisible. I clearly remember people having the kind that fit behind the ear, and I also recall seeing some of the really old 'pocket radio' types when I was little. The current technology will apparently fit into the ear canal. Now, of a sudden, I'm seeing ads for the old pocket type again. They're styled to look like MP3 players with earbuds, and have the ubiquituous blue LED to draw attention. The people in the ads are actually holding the things and pointing them, so I guess they're directional.

It's really obvious that the designs are playing off MP3 devices, and they're apparently meant to be seen too. What's odd to me is that the designs of the late 50s looked very much like transistor radios, which were one of the sexy consumer goods of that age, yet people didn't show those off. They wanted them to get smaller until they couldn't be seen. Now, for whatever reason, there's a totally different aesthetic. Something has changed. Stuff like this fascinates me more than it probably should.

*****

I'm tempted to install a blue LED on my hammer, so it will be high tech.

*****

Saturday I was mowing my mother's lawn, when I came across the remains of a nest of baby Birds. I think they may have been Starlings - they weren't really old enough to tell. They were all dried out and kind of leathery. I'm guessing their nest fell in the storm a few days previously. They went in seconds from being in their safe warm nest to lying on the ground in the grass, drowning in cold water, with chunks of hail slamming down on them. All of this drama happened just a few feet from my mother's safe living room.

*****

Zimbabwe, which just issued a 100 billion dollar note, has decided to once again redenominate their currency. 10 billion old dollars will be worth one new dollar. As a practical measure, it probably makes printing price tags, receipts and such easier, but I doubt it's going to do much for consumer confidence. They did this a few years ago too, IIRC.

The exchange rate is apparently now at Z$256 billion per US$1. On July 16th it was Z$20 billion...

Comments

[haystack.livejournal.com]

If you're talking about the Allstate 400 at Indy, you're far from the only one who was disgusted. I feel terrible when I think of all the fans who spent hundreds or dollars on tickets and travel expenses to attend, only to bear witness to a yellow-flag fest. I wonder whether disgruntled fans will rename it the Allstop 400 in unkind memory.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

That's the one :P

[spaceroo.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to install a blue LED on my hammer, so it will be high tech.

I'm starting to develop a deep seated hatred of blue LEDs.

You really have to love how manufacturers are possessed to put them in *incredibly* inappropriate places. The car GPS unit I bought for my wife has one on the back of the cigarette lighter plug. It's essentially impossible to use the thing at night without blocking the glare with something. Otherwise it's like perpetually having an oncoming blue halogen high-beam right in the corner of your peripheral vision. Yay. :^b

(One of these days I'll remember to deal with the problem ahead of time and stick some duct tape on it.)

[xolo.livejournal.com]

They put credit card acceptors on all of the vending machines here at work. That's fine, except that each one has a bright blue LED on it, beaming out at eye level. The things are just too damn bright to use for pilot lights.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

You're not going to elaborate, are you?

It's not you.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

It's Teh Furry Drama.