Sun-Shiny Day

I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but in many places the sun is out in great style. Whenever that happens I flash back to the song that was playing at Blizzard Beach water park at Disney World right as I walked in ready to have a day of great vacation fun. All I need to do is put up the lyrics and you'll be singing it too. Have a great sun-shiny day!

Artist: Johnny Nash
Song: I Can See Clearly Now

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I’ve been prayin' for
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there’s nothin' but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Men in Space: Past and Future

I'm old enough to remember the excitement of sending a man to the moon. For those of you who aren't or who wish to relive some of the era there is a Discovery Channel series called When We Left Earth that covers it well.

In the future many different companies hope to get the average man into space. Certainly Richard Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, is making a good run at it. Here is a 'spy photo' that shows it: Is this SpaceShipTwo?

Some of us may not be interested in going to space. I'd love a chance to go. Will I be able to afford to go as a tourist? I doubt it, but that won't stop me from dreaming.

Five Feet Worth of Puns

Feet washing up on a beach is funny if they are plastic mannequin feet. Having them be five real human feet is still funny but it's also darn creepy. Instinctively it triggers a natural human reaction of uneasiness because our evolution has taught us that when you find a bunch of severed human parts there is a decent chance that parts from your body could be added to the collection and you'd better get the heck out of the area fast before the savage human dis-memberers come back.

But we aren't cave men fearing man eating sabre cats. We are modern men who domoinate mother nature. Modern men cope with that uneasiness differently. We use humor and make fun of the situation like any civilized person would.

Read up:
Mystery of the Feet

Time Wasting Amusement: Monster Milktruck

Life is best when you've got some time to spend on whatever amuses you the most. Sometimes you find amusements in unexpected places from simple things. When I was a kid I spent a half of a sunny day watching some ants. Tireless and hardworking, they had a column running through the flowerbed and the stone walkway. At first it was just watching, but at the end there were also experiments. (No, I did not use the magnifying glass. Shame on you for thinking it.) I tried to interrupt the column by putting sticks across it but they quickly climbed over it. I tried to to divert them with some sugar water which gathered a lot of ants but also didn't stop the column from moving along.

Like with the ants, I recently ran across something relatively simple that ended up being very amusing and taking more of my time than I expected. Google Earth now has a browser plug-in and, to test and demonstrate their new work, they made a few simple applications. One is an oversized Milk Truck that can be driven across Google Earth. Simple. Amusing.
Monster Milktruck

Be sure to spend a few minutes driving off the peak of Whistler mountain. Don't forget you have a day job. Now you know what I've been doing instead of blogging.

When $300 Million is insignificant money.

Read this article and look at the cost values:
Boeing says Air Force miscalculated tanker costs

The important numbers come from this: "The Air Force initially put the cost to operate the tanker over its lifespan at $108.01 billion for the Northrop plane, compared with over $108.04 billion for the Boeing tanker."

The difference is $300 Million. It sounds like a lot. I know I'd like to have just a 1% of it to help offset the rising cost of gas for my Hummer H2. However, if you punch it through the dollar-store calculator you find that it's just 0.027% of the total. It's tiny. It's strangely, suspiciously small.

I'd love to know the answers to these two questions:

1) Why are the cost estimates so close? Is there some huge cost to operate the planes that it overshadows all of the other factors like fuel and maintenance?

2) Does anyone really think that claiming a 0.027% cost advantage is really significant? I don't think so.

If you had two painters that estimated $5000.00 and $5,001.35 to paint your house would you consider that any significant difference? I don't think you would - and I don't think the GAO and the taxpayers should consider these two $100 Billion estimates different either. In fact, they should be suspicious that they are so close. Very suspicous.

Thought for June 11, 2008: Driving the Dog

[This is the first installment of what I hope will be a statement or idea that provokes thought in my readers. Let me know what you think.]

You've probably notice that gas is over $4/gallon in some states. Regardless of how it got that way it made me ask a friend this question:

How expensive would gas have to be before you stopped driving your dog to the park just for him/her to play?

Everyone's answer would be different, of course. Mine: I don't have a dog!