Weather—The Final Frontier

February 29, 2012

If you think that space is the final frontier, the last place of mystery—try predicting the weather.

At 6:17 this morning our “Weather on the 7’s” guy said that we would have no precipitation until at least 10 a.m. At 6:57 he said that there was a 60% chance of showers later in the day, with snow in the mountains. At 7:14 I heard snow pellets hitting the ground; they then changed to a light snow which lasted about 20 minutes.

In Three Men In a Boat (published in 1889), the narrator bitterly complains about the folly of listening to the weatherman. I don’t guess he’d think we’ve made much progress.

Weather—the enduring mystery.

And Now for our Exciting (Yawn) Conclusion

February 23, 2012

Once again we have a two-part episode, cliffhanger style (this time courtesy of “Castle”) in which the stars are shown in deadly peril at the end of Episode 1. Two minutes later, during the scenes for next week, we see them alive and kicking, and cracking jokes.

Tell me again, what’s the point of a cliffhanger?

Maybe They're Fine-Boned

February 23, 2012

According to the You Docs column I read on Sunday (Feb. 19), a 5-foot 6-inch woman is overweight at 155 pounds.

If I didn’t think that they were stark raving mad, I’d have to grow several inches taller.

(3/1/12)--OK, even as I was typing 155, I was thinking 135. My goof.

I Feel Out of Touch

On the sign at the Army-Navy Store:

DOOMSDAY APPROVED ZOMBIE TARGETS

Not even sure I want to know what I'm missing.

Living History

February 11, 2012

The Dallas school system was (I guess) trying to give one sort of history lesson, and actually ended up giving another. Officials scheduled a field trip for fifth-grade students to see the movie “Red Tails,” a story of black fighter pilots in WWII. There was only enough room for 5,700 students, so they sent the boys. The girls stayed at school and watched a movie about a black girl who triumphs in a spelling bee.

Officials thought the fighter pilot movie would appeal to the boys more than the girls.

The lesson I’m taking away is that the glass ceiling isn’t even close to being history.

Move Over, Mark Twain

January 31, 2012

If you haven't seen the column about the letter from former slave Jourdon Anderson to his former master, go to the Yahoo! home page and type in "Letter from former slave". It should take you to a column by Eric Pfeiffer at The Sideshow, which gives excerpts of the letter.

If Mr. Anderson had taken up writing professionally, he could have given Mark Twain and Bret Harte a run for their money.

Happy Groundhog Day

February 2, 2012

Just like last year, the February 2nd edition of the Statesman is chock-full of noteworthy tidbits. Read on:

Let's Work out the Bugs First

February 2, 2012

There’s a push to put digital textbooks in schools. They’ll be easier to update, which means that schools won’t have to shell out $70 per textbook every time a new discovery is made or a new edition is printed. They’ll also be easier for students to carry.

What I want to know is how the schools will stop people from hacking in and putting anything they choose to into the programs. (“Hey, Mom, did you know that Christopher Columbus discovered Pluto?”)