Thursday, September 25, 2008

Which one of these is not like the other

You know those annoying IQ test type things? Well, which one of these is not like the other?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Our Condolences

Yesterday afternoon our cousin Avi Spiegel the son of Elliot and Malke Spiegel was nifter (passed away) he was 12 years old, Boruch Dayan Emet.

In Loving Memory of Avi, he will be sorely missed.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

MIT Map Humor, Please wait while the sattelite moves into position

While the map for the MIT campus loads they have some pretty hilarious statements that help you mind the time.
This occurs mainly when clicking the arrows on the map to move the view to the left or right. So my favorite is "Please wait while the satellite moves into position" shown below



Some other good ones:

please wait, checking the gravitational constant in your locale...
please wait, and enjoy the elevator music
please wait, the bits are breeding
please wait, we are testing your patience
please wait, and dream of faster computers

Thursday, September 18, 2008

My son is a marine...

I saw this bumper sticker today:
But I thought I could improve on it for all the proud parents of marine biologists out there:
Be sure to purchase one for your favorite parent of a marine biologist.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Funny Church


Somebody stole some more of the letters off of this sign on the church. It was especially funny when I was walking by the other day and I sneezed. Quite nice.
This is the same church from this post.
Which had this great comment worth mentioning from NotElon
"I will also point out that there is a United Methodist Episcopalian Church down the block from me with the inviting welcome sign, "Visit Us on Facebook."

I guess they are just not worth visiting in person, even if you are standing 2 ft away."

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Egyptian Falafel Stand



Amazing what humans can learn to do with such skill. I took this video close to the central train station in Cairo Egypt.

and as a bonus here is this question from an online thing that was very difficult to answer after they gave you a hint.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Another long walk

Some time ago I reported on Ask.com's (now defunct) walking directions feature. These days, Google Maps includes an option for walking directions. So I figured I'd give it the same thorough treatment I gave Ask.com. (If you don't remember that post, or if you've picked up the blog since then, check it out before continuing...). Here we go:
Google maps doesn't know about the 130-stair pedestrian shortcut, either. At least they admit "This route may be missing...pedestrian paths," though. And they must assume people walk slowly, because the walking time seemed a bit long.
In any case, I did the same trial by fire: Washington Heights, NY to Fort Lee, NJ - a approximately two mile walk across the GWB:
And this is Google Map's 26 mile suggested hike:
First a positive note: It knows about the Hudson River bike path. However, it doesn't know about the GWB pedestrian walkway, and let's take a closer look at the water crossings. They direct: "Take the Ellis Island-NY Fry ferry to Jersey City"
It puts you on a ferry line that doesn't exist!!! (And what's a "Fry Ferry," anyway?) What you need to do, if you're planning to take a boat, is actually stop at Ellis Island, and get off the boat. Fortunately, once there, you can transfer to a boat to NJ. Walking to Elizabeth has the same ferry issue, but at least doesn't send you to PA along the way.
So, somewhat better than Ask in some ways, somewhat worse, but I assume it will only get better with Google, not disappear, like on Ask.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Last week Jimmy's fathers truck broke down. Not much I can say it was bad.

Here is where it broke down, (we are talking to the police officer who came out to help)
Here is what happened when it was getting put on the truck to go back up to Jimmy's.

Of course the whole reason Jimmy was coming to my house was for Sergey's sending off party, we wish him well as he works at Johnson Space Center for Lockheed.
The other day he told me that the only surviving Saturn Five rocket is the one in front of the Johnson Space Center, in fact it has a functional Apollo module on the top.

Talking about space, I have a little challenge (don't cheat and use the internet). How many men have walked on the surface of the moon, and what are their names.