I've Been Thunderstruck

I recently had to take a defensive driving class online. One of the things they do to make sure you’re not skimming the material is to place random sentences in the text, and then quiz you on them later. Below is a list of those random bits of information that I was able to learn about, in addition to understanding how to be a better driver!

• A frog is a mechanical switching device on a railroad track.
• Bob Denver was a teacher before Gilligan’s Island.
• A car operates at maximum economy at speeds between 25 and 35 miles per hour.
• Half an ounce of gasoline is used to start the average automobile
• Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com was originally going to name his web venture Cadabra.
• The last twelve cylinder car produced in the United States was the 1948 Lincoln Continental.
• The student who designed the Nike swoosh logo was paid $35.00
• Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures.
• Thermometers were once filled with brandy instead of mercury.
• The highest selling domain name is business.com for $7.5 million.
• White light is a mixture of every other color in the spectrum.
• The Concorde jet guzzles 300 gallons of fuel per hour while idling.
• The wing flaps of a Boeing 767 come from Italy.
• The household refrigerator was patented in 1899.
• Cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger on the sitcom M*A*S*H wore size 10 pumps.
• Gray lenses in sunglasses best protect the eyes against the Sun’s rays.
• At age 14, Bill Gates formed a company that sold traffic counting systems.

I actually missed one question pertaining to these tidbits. They gave a list of colors, and which was not part of white. I believe the answer to be Black. Just as White is the reflection of all the colors combined, Black is the absorption of all the colors in the spectrum. But, I still managed to pass that lesson!

I came across an interesting post today, called The Dreams of which Stuff is Made. This is the sort of thoughts about our physical world that totally get me thinking about just how amazing all this really is. Consider these few items, and then head over to the post for more :

• Tightly coiled in the nucleus of every cell of your body is six feet of DNA bearing your genetic code. Since the body has around 10 trillion cells, there are about 10 billion miles of DNA inside you.
• With your eyes, you can see the past. Look at the North Star and you are looking at 1300 A.D. Today’s light left that star nearly 700 years ago.
• Right now, as you remain “still,” you’re moving 400 times faster than a bullet. You are traveling 1,000 miles an hour with Earth’s daily rotation, 67,000 mph with Earth’s yearly journey around the sun, 550,000 mph with the solar system’s revolution around the Milky Way, and 1.3 million mph with the galaxy’s motion through the universe. A bullet goes about 3,000 mph.

I try and talk with people about this stuff all the time, but I can tell they just don’t get how amazingly complex this world…this universe…really is. They get angry when an email doesn’t reach them in 2 seconds, but never stop to think of how amazing that process really is. Or they take the light from stars for granted, not realizing what they are looking at could actually be gone.

Take some time to think about the universe, and what’s really going on. Fun stuff!

For those of you living in Arizona and New Mexico, and who own Garmin GPS receivers, I have created a mapset called Southwest Trails that you may find useful on your outdoor adventures.

Southwest Trails is a transparent map overlay that you can put on your map-enabled Garmin GPS receiver. This allows you to see, and follow, trails using whatever maps you normally would on your GPSr…be it topo maps, City Navigator, or any other sort of map that you have on your GPS. Using data provided by The Trails Co-Op, as well as my own data and user submitted data, I hope to build an extensive mapset of trails across the Southwest. This should help make your outdoor experiences more enjoyable, and more safe.

Using Southwest Trails on your Gamin GPSr extends your ability to have a fun, safe time in the wilderness. No longer are you contrained to adding a few trails or tracks to your GPSr, limited by the design of the device. Since Southwest Trails is a complete mapset, you simply load it with all the other maps you want to have on your device, and any trail in the mapset is available for your use at all times. Now, the only limitation is the number of trails that come with Southwest Trails! It’s my hope that Southwest Trails will enhance your wilderness enjoyment, and keep you safe on your travels.

Southwest Trails is available for both Windows and Mac users. The current version, v0.51a, is available for download at Outdoor Resources.

Filling station and garage at Pie Town, New Mexico (LOC)

Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

I came across the Library of Congress collection of photos on Flickr today, and was browsing through some of them. These images are all copyright free, with no known restrictions on their use…which means you can use them for anything at all (but don’t take credit for taking the picture…that would be wrong). But, I digress. I thought this picture was cool because I like the old style gas stations, and because it would be sweet to live in a place called Pie Town!

It’s always easier to talk a good talk than to walk a good walk! The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

Back when I lived in Seattle, I used to drive by Dunn Lumber Company every day on my way to work.They had a sign outside their store that, on both sides, would display some sort of philosophical quote. Now, most stores can’t even manage to spell most of the words right on their signs, because they always seem to lack enough letters to do the job right. Not Dunn! These guys were able to get entire quotes, on both sides of the sign, without any mistakes. After about a year of driving past these signs, it finally dawned on me that they would make good blog material…so, I started taking pictures of them. What follows for the next while is a view of the world according to Dunn Lumber Company. There is some good advice here…take some time to think about what you see.

This one seems particularly appropriate these days, given the number of different strategies being formulated to get this country out of its economic crisis. I know it’s also quite on the mark where I work.

This month I participated in my first “12 of 12,” which is a photography thing where you take tons of pictures (usually with a theme) on the 12th of the month and post the 12 best pictures. For my first go at this endeavor, I chose to take pictures of an Illegal Alien Trash Dump sitting on the outskirts of Tucson, AZ. We all know that illegal immigration into the United States has a host of problems associated, but the trashing of our environment is not one that often comes to mind. I invite you to view these 12 pictures I took, and consider what impact this has on our country.