Tag: Misc (Page 2 of 11)

I’ve spent a lot of time messing with this little tool, which shows you how any shape you draw would float if it were an iceberg.

Iceberger

Go head, fuck around with it for a bit. It’s fun to discover shapes that flip over to find their most buoyant position.

Normally when I see videos like the one I share below, I’ll watch a few minutes and then move on to something else. But I was absolutely mesmerized by this video of a boat traveling the waterways that connect Rotterdam to Amsterdam and watched the whole thing. Multiple times.

I have a medical procedure coming up that I’ve already attempted once and was unable to complete because of a bit of an anxiety attack (more on that in a couple weeks). I will soon be attempting it again with the help (hopefully) of some Xanax. I might ask if I can also watch this on a loop until the procedure is complete. It puts me in a very chill place.

For example, how about all the different kinds of bridges? Something about them makes me happy, especially when they just open up as the boat approaches. It feels more like a model train setup, or a video game, than a time lapse of something real. The first time the boat has to sit and wait for a bridge to open comes as a shock or seems like a glitch in the system. And I love it when the big cargo barges go zooming by them.

Via Kottke

This is just incredible. Not just the story, but also how it was reported. This is A+++ journalism of a style that, sadly, just doesn’t exist anymore.

I have no memory of this, but apparently this story was a bit of a sensation in the 1990s, one of the first viral events on the Internet. It must not have trickled down to those of us who relied on AOL to be our gateway to the World Wide Web back then.

Here we are, another calendar year about to end.

2018 was a wacky, wild year for us.

There were a ton of kid sports: volleyball, basketball, kickball, cross country, soccer, cheer.

There was our first family trip beyond the US borders for spring break in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

There was our first family visit to the ER, when C had a mystery issue in June that, thankfully, has never recurred.

S and I took a trip to New York City, a first for both of us.

Lots of books and music and sports on the TV in between.

We’re going to close the year by taking in our first Pacers game as a family later this afternoon.

Oh, and we bought a new house, moved, and sold two other homes.

Obviously the house thing is the biggest, most impactful event of the year. As I’ve written about often, it’s a big deal to change 15 years of habits. And despite being settled in comfortably it will probably be another six months – at least – before everything locks in mentally.

This was a year of transition for our family, and not just because of the move. It was the last calendar year our girls will all be in the same school, and the final we won’t have at least one daughter in high school or beyond for a long time. It was the last calendar year we had a daughter who was under 10 years old.

Put all that together and while 2018 was rather stressful at times, it was a jumping off point for a lot of (hopefully) great things to come in the years ahead.

As always, I must acknowledge that as I, and my family and friends, get older, it’s a bigger deal that we’re all around and healthy on January 1. Even for those of you I don’t get to see, or “talk” to, that much any more, I’m thankful you’re all still here with me. I hope each of you has a fabulous 2019, that our paths cross at some point, and a year from now we can all celebrate surviving another year.

I love stuff like this: deep explanations into everyday things that are amazingly complex.

We all know that it’s a logistical miracle how fast products can get shipped from one side of the globe to the other. Or even, say, some warehouse in Utah to your front door.

This video breaks down how the major shipping companies in the US manage getting products from point A to B so quickly. So simple yet equally complex.

This is has nothing to do with the Olympics but is a must-watch. It is equally amazing and creepy. The best parts are about halfway through this piece, when you see the ice surface flexing and then cracking after Marten Ajne skates across it.

I can’t ice skate, so I’ve never been tempting to go out on our lake when it freezes over in the winter. And even if I could, I would always be nervous about how thick the ice is, especially since our lake gets very deep very quickly. No way in hell I’d ever try something like this. But it is fascinating to watch and listen to.

Here is one of the greatest things I saw over the holidays.

“Euverus” used the game Cities: Skylines to test how traffic would flow at a 4-way intersection using 30 different road configurations. I love the examples with no controls, especially the little software glitches that allow vehicles to pass through each other. And some of the higher-end examples are just mesmerizing to watch.

I believe we can label this as Good, Clean Fun.

Via Kottke

They’re the worst.

Two stories of awful people I’ve encountered recently.

A couple weeks back I was at the grocery store. I rounded one aisle and turned into the next. A woman – probably 45–50ish – was looking at some items on the shelf. She had her cart parked so that the entire aisle was blocked. The way she was facing, she should have been able to see me clearly; it’s not like I’m a small dude. I waited patiently for a moment or two, but she made no move to either take a step back or move her cart so I could pass. After waiting an additional few seconds, I cleared my throat and very politely said, “Excuse me, please.”

Her response? No quick, unnecessary apology and adjustment of her cart to the side of the aisle she was on, as 99% of sane people do when you say excuse me at a grocery store. No, this woman sighed deeply and moved her cart the absolute minimum necessary to allow me to pass. Apparently I was putting her out by making a polite request to not stand and watch her select between brands of tortilla chips.

If you know me, you know I’m non-confrontational by nature. But this was so ridiculous I almost said something to her. I even paused for a second as I passed to see if she would look at me, hoping a witty and scathing comment would come to mind. You know I have to be pretty fired up to almost  say something to a complete stranger that is rude!

That was annoying and inconsiderate, but our next terrible person tops her.

Our drive from school takes us along a fairly busy stretch of road that expands to a five-lane highway briefly. In this stretch, there are some businesses set to the side, with a small street for access between them and the barrier to the highway.

As we passed this area yesterday, I noticed there was a car stopped in the middle of that side street. Both the driver and driver-side rear door were open, and an older gentleman was standing on the side of the car. He looked vaguely like my father-in-law, so I took a second glance. I noticed something odd about his posture. I took a third glance and WHOA!

This dude was standing in the middle of the street, facing a busy highway, with his dick out pissing in the street! I don’t know if he was making some kind of political statement, if he was suffering from a disease or condition that caused him to make socially inappropriate decisions, or he just couldn’t hold it until he got to the McDonald’s or gas station that were 500 feet down the road.

I’ve seen plenty of people pissing in the trees on the side of the highway, backs to the road. But this was a first, with a guy just letting it flow for anyone to see. Thank goodness the girls were busy arguing about something in the backseats and didn’t notice!