Random Thoughts Archive

• Mexican Thanksgiving

  I had an idea today (as I ate my last super asada for the next several days), and I thought I should share. Why not? A Mexican Thanksgiving feast… Starter course: tortillas and guacamole; Second course: vegetarian burrito; Third course: chicken burrito (pollo); Fourth course: steak burrito (asada); and Dessert: crab ceviche. It would be [...]

• Old-Fashioned Lemonade

  Everywhere I turn, there is old-fashioned lemonade available to quench my thirst. What makes it old-fashioned exactly? And where is the “new” lemonade that it is being compared to? Did they stop using lemons for a period of time in the 80s? Is there a classic recipe that makes lemonade “old-fashioned”? I need more information. [...]

• Blessed

  I just got off the phone with a colleague in Boulder, Colorado (his vote counts), and left him with this salutation: May you have a blessed Election Day. Which got me thinking. Why aren’t there Election Day greeting cards? This is an untapped market.

• Pants

  I have at least ten pairs of pants. But I only wear two or three of them regularly. Sure, I do have specialty pants for weddings, business meetings and nights out on the town, but I wouldn’t really consider them pants, at least in the comfortable sense of the word pants. Pants are a lot [...]

• pOH

  This is something I have been playing around with for some time now. In place of referring to pH when noting a substance’s acidity (a measure of the hydrogen), make note of the substance’s ratio of hydroxide, or pOH. The equation is elementary, and they both reveal the same meaning; same difference. pH + pOH [...]

• Zenith

  I am in a different hotel room this evening, and I think I am on to something. The only places you see Zenith television sets these days are in hotel rooms. (I must admit I used to own one.) An interesting thing about Zenith. If they would have created the company in the last few [...]

• Slate

  When was the last time you actually read an article on Slate? I have clicked on the colorful headlines on the front-page so many times, and then when I started reading the first paragraph — “eh” — I quickly lost interest. When will I learn? New rule: No more Slate Magazine. It has been removed [...]

• Buildability

  For some reason, “buildability” is not a word.

• Snapple Periods

  I just realized something. Not all of the facts underneath the caps of Snapple bottles — Snapple facts, of which I am a frequenter — end in a period. But some do. This is going to kill me.

• Same Shirt?

  I know this is a lame excuse, but I have been so busy these past two weeks, I am not sure if I wore this shirt two days ago. I guess I’m relying on whether or not anyone notices, but what would they say if they did? Hey, didn’t you wear that shirt two days [...]

• Ph.Ph.D.

  Here’s a thought… What do you call a person who has a Ph.D. in philosophy? I know what you are thinking — (a) waste of space, or (b) seven years lost — but that is not what I am getting at. But you are close. Since a Ph.D. is a “doctor of philosophy,” having a [...]