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Whether you celebrate it or not, today is (US) Thanksgiving Day.
I'm thankful for you, flist. Thanks for your friendship, companionship, and suchlike. Oh, and let's say 22% of the memes that you post. ;)
Meantime... I spent a fair chunk of yesterday on a plane. Which meant that I got to peruse Skymall, the inflight catalog of many random things. Most of which no normal person would ever buy, and almost all of which are overpriced. It's where I first found out about the Voice activated R2D2 and video watches. Both of which I then researched on the web and purchased for approximately half of Skymall's list price. (Although I see the price of R2 has gone up considerably...) It's always amusing to browse, especially when you're stuck on a plane with nothing else to do (especially when you're waiting on the runway, not allowed to use electronic devices, and not yet quite ready to open that book).
This month's crop includes a USB soil probe (to tell you exactly what to plant where in your garden), a GPS parking spot locator (press the button, and it'll guide you back to exactly where you left the car), and a Fung Shui compass (which tells you how to arrange the furniture based on the local electromagnetic field technobabble). They also sell topiary dogs and aquarium coffee tables, amongst many many other things. Oh, and kitchen gadgets such as automatic mini donut makers, automatic peanut butter makers, and a toaster designed specifically to fit two hot dogs and two buns.
The plane itself was shiny and new. Taking their cue from JetBlue, Continental had this plane built with screens in front of each seat (embedded in the headrest of the seat in front of you). I'm not sure exactly what JetBlue offers, but these were lightweight touchscreens (with the ability to swivel slightly) which offered a variety of movies, games (including multiplayer board games), travel information (flight progress map, local conditions, etc), music, and more. Pretty nifty. I'm impressed that they can afford to put all that at every passenger's fingertips. Though slightly annoyed that they're still using their proprietary headsets (sold in-flight for $1). Oh, and electrical outlets in every row, too.
Oh, and while browsing Skymall, I also came across IBM's new Veriface thingy. (BTW, Firefox spellcheck recognizes "thingy" as a word. Neat!) It replaces passwords and fingerprint readers with facial recognition via the laptop's built-in webcam. Very nifty. Unless you have a twin...
One other thing... I got The Man With The Golden Gun out of the library. The book, that is. Very different from the movie. I think I prefer the movie. The book is less entertaining. But more realistic. And less formulaic. Anyway, there was a bit in the book that caught my attention. Early on, M reads Scaramanga's dossier (in preparation for sending Bond after him). It starts off with a dry bio, but then there's a profile by this genuis historian/psychologist hired by the secret service to provide insight into important cases. M gives us a bit of introspection about how the guy works in his own time and order, getting to files whenever he feels like it, but that it's worth putting up with him because he's pretty much always right. The report on Scaramanga gives an anecdote about a childhood incident which drove him to become an assassin, muses about how his flashy choice of weapon likely means that his sexual reputation is highly overrated, and then mentions the little tidbit that really jumped out at me. It seems that Scaramanga can't whistle, and although he admits that there's no actual scientific evidence to support this, there's a belief in some circles which links that with homosexuality. (At which point M, just to reassure himself, makes sure that, even though he hasn't done so in decades, he can still whistle.)
Ian Flemming was actually in the British Secret Service. His Bond books aren't entirely realistic, but he did fill in the background with his own experience. And this little tidbit comes from a source whom we're told in no uncertain terms is nigh infallible. Flemming is basically telling us that (with his experience in the field), although there's nothing solid to support it... gay men can't whistle.
Weird. Very weird. Especially given the catcalling gay stereotypes. I mean, I've never seen Queer Eye, but I'm pretty sure any random episode would disprove that theory. But... hmm. I can whistle both ways (on the inhale and exhale). I wonder what that means...
Also, on the subject of Flemming, my niece and nephew love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. (They just don't make movies like that anymore. Or stars like Dick Van Dyke.) It amuses me that (from what I know in general, and having read a couple of the Bond books) despite what you see in all the movies, I'm pretty sure Chitty is the only book Flemming wrote which included a supercar.
Oh, wait. One other thing... Back when I was a kid, I got this nifty shirt made out of recycled Coke bottles. I think it was fiberglass, but I'm not sure. Anyway, they've reintroduced "sustainable wear." There's a line being introduced at Wal-Mart, but there are also some available from the Coke store. These are a 50/50 cotton/poly blend, with the polyester being made from recycled plastic bottles. I like the Coke logo ones in the pretty colors, but the white shirts are made with more recycled material and are made in the USA. Will have to think about it. But they're back! Yay! Oh, and they make handbags and tote bags now, too.
I'm thankful for you, flist. Thanks for your friendship, companionship, and suchlike. Oh, and let's say 22% of the memes that you post. ;)
Meantime... I spent a fair chunk of yesterday on a plane. Which meant that I got to peruse Skymall, the inflight catalog of many random things. Most of which no normal person would ever buy, and almost all of which are overpriced. It's where I first found out about the Voice activated R2D2 and video watches. Both of which I then researched on the web and purchased for approximately half of Skymall's list price. (Although I see the price of R2 has gone up considerably...) It's always amusing to browse, especially when you're stuck on a plane with nothing else to do (especially when you're waiting on the runway, not allowed to use electronic devices, and not yet quite ready to open that book).
This month's crop includes a USB soil probe (to tell you exactly what to plant where in your garden), a GPS parking spot locator (press the button, and it'll guide you back to exactly where you left the car), and a Fung Shui compass (which tells you how to arrange the furniture based on the local electromagnetic field technobabble). They also sell topiary dogs and aquarium coffee tables, amongst many many other things. Oh, and kitchen gadgets such as automatic mini donut makers, automatic peanut butter makers, and a toaster designed specifically to fit two hot dogs and two buns.
The plane itself was shiny and new. Taking their cue from JetBlue, Continental had this plane built with screens in front of each seat (embedded in the headrest of the seat in front of you). I'm not sure exactly what JetBlue offers, but these were lightweight touchscreens (with the ability to swivel slightly) which offered a variety of movies, games (including multiplayer board games), travel information (flight progress map, local conditions, etc), music, and more. Pretty nifty. I'm impressed that they can afford to put all that at every passenger's fingertips. Though slightly annoyed that they're still using their proprietary headsets (sold in-flight for $1). Oh, and electrical outlets in every row, too.
Oh, and while browsing Skymall, I also came across IBM's new Veriface thingy. (BTW, Firefox spellcheck recognizes "thingy" as a word. Neat!) It replaces passwords and fingerprint readers with facial recognition via the laptop's built-in webcam. Very nifty. Unless you have a twin...
One other thing... I got The Man With The Golden Gun out of the library. The book, that is. Very different from the movie. I think I prefer the movie. The book is less entertaining. But more realistic. And less formulaic. Anyway, there was a bit in the book that caught my attention. Early on, M reads Scaramanga's dossier (in preparation for sending Bond after him). It starts off with a dry bio, but then there's a profile by this genuis historian/psychologist hired by the secret service to provide insight into important cases. M gives us a bit of introspection about how the guy works in his own time and order, getting to files whenever he feels like it, but that it's worth putting up with him because he's pretty much always right. The report on Scaramanga gives an anecdote about a childhood incident which drove him to become an assassin, muses about how his flashy choice of weapon likely means that his sexual reputation is highly overrated, and then mentions the little tidbit that really jumped out at me. It seems that Scaramanga can't whistle, and although he admits that there's no actual scientific evidence to support this, there's a belief in some circles which links that with homosexuality. (At which point M, just to reassure himself, makes sure that, even though he hasn't done so in decades, he can still whistle.)
Ian Flemming was actually in the British Secret Service. His Bond books aren't entirely realistic, but he did fill in the background with his own experience. And this little tidbit comes from a source whom we're told in no uncertain terms is nigh infallible. Flemming is basically telling us that (with his experience in the field), although there's nothing solid to support it... gay men can't whistle.
Weird. Very weird. Especially given the catcalling gay stereotypes. I mean, I've never seen Queer Eye, but I'm pretty sure any random episode would disprove that theory. But... hmm. I can whistle both ways (on the inhale and exhale). I wonder what that means...
Also, on the subject of Flemming, my niece and nephew love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. (They just don't make movies like that anymore. Or stars like Dick Van Dyke.) It amuses me that (from what I know in general, and having read a couple of the Bond books) despite what you see in all the movies, I'm pretty sure Chitty is the only book Flemming wrote which included a supercar.
Oh, wait. One other thing... Back when I was a kid, I got this nifty shirt made out of recycled Coke bottles. I think it was fiberglass, but I'm not sure. Anyway, they've reintroduced "sustainable wear." There's a line being introduced at Wal-Mart, but there are also some available from the Coke store. These are a 50/50 cotton/poly blend, with the polyester being made from recycled plastic bottles. I like the Coke logo ones in the pretty colors, but the white shirts are made with more recycled material and are made in the USA. Will have to think about it. But they're back! Yay! Oh, and they make handbags and tote bags now, too.