There is an elephant in the way
Sun Jan 04, 2009 00:28 (UTC -5)Some weeks ago, my printer started choking on paper. A sheet couldn’t go in very far before getting crunched. I tried to look inside, but I couldn’t see anything wrong. I thought it might be something simple, like the input tray being misaligned, but I can’t really fix anything, so I brought it home for my dad to look at. We had a look inside and eventually saw something stuck in there. It was white, but it wasn’t a piece of paper. It was… a cotton ball. There was a cotton ball in the way.
My printer is right next to my garbage can, which is in turn near the sink. I go through a lot of cotton balls. Usually they land in the garbage can, but sometimes they miss and land on the printer’s input tray. When I find them there, I throw them away, but I must have missed one. You can bet that won’t happen again.
If you’ve been reading for a while, you probably know about my Canadian friend Natasha. We met through this site a few years ago. For Christmas, she got me a framed photo of the skyline of her hometown. She sent a letter separately that arrived today (well, technically, yesterday). With the letter she included some photos that she wrote on the backs of like postcards. They got me thinking.
If you have friends, they’ve probably sent you postcards every now and again. I have a large corkboard on which I hang up various things, including postcards I’ve gotten. Although it may sound strange, I’m faced with a dilemma when hanging up postcards: which side do I show? Do I want to show off the photo or the customized greeting? I like reading what my friends write to me, but I also like pretty pictures. Personally, I’ve always posted them greeting side out, but it’s starting to look a little ridiculous. What would you do?
You know those questions that you’re really not sure about until you ask someone, and right then it seems totally obvious? That was one of them.
John Lennon is endorsing the One Laptop Per Child project… well, sort of. In this commercial, a voice actor stands in for the late musician, and archive footage is digitally altered to make it look like he’s talking about buying computers for Third World children. I’m not sure what to make of it. What do you think? Is it inspiring? Shameful? Creepy? I’m tending toward weird myself.
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which I’ve never heard of, recently quizzed Americans on their civic knowledge. The results were abysmal. Ordinary citizens achieved an average score of 49% on the 33-question, multiple-choice quiz, and those who had held elected office averaged only 44%. Now you can take the quiz yourself. I scored 100%. Maybe I should run for office.
Filed under Computers, Friends, In the News, Musings and Observations, Stuff, Weird
4 comments
#1 by Kirsten: Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:58 (UTC -5)
I got 85% on that quiz, but I’ve been out of school for many years and that sort of stuff tends not to stay fresh after that long.
About the postcards, you could try finding one of those clear curtains with pockets in them. I have something similar to this for my postcards, but it only fits standard 4×6 postcards, so the larger ones are kept in an envelope tucked into the book.
#2 by Jordon Kalilich: Sun Jan 04, 2009 17:53 (UTC -5)
I hadn’t thought about a postcard album. Actually, I was thinking it would be great to hang postcards on strings from the ceiling. That way I could always see both sides. The downside: they would hit my head.
#3 by Daniel: Tue Jan 06, 2009 00:04 (UTC -5)
No, see, if you score too high, you CAN’T run for office. That’s the American way.
#4 by Jordon Kalilich: Tue Jan 06, 2009 08:33 (UTC -5)
Maybe I could run as a total moron and then surprise everyone.