Friday, February 15, 2008

Hey Baby

Tonight, I listened to an NPR Science Friday podcast entitled, "How Much Is A Trillion". They discussed large numbers such as million, billion, and trillion in such a way to help people visualize the quantities involved.

At one point, they started talking about a BBs in a pool to illustrate one part per million. The problem was I heard them incorrectly. I thought they were talking about sticking a BABY in a pool. First I visualized it, and thought it was no where near one part per million as stated. Then I thought of a baby being dunked in a pool and thought it was some kind of off humor.

They next spoke of stacking a bunch of BBs (again I thought they said baby) together. I suddenly realized that I heard then wrong and that they were saying BBs not babies. A great big belly laugh came out of me, and I didn't stop laughing for a couple minutes after the humor of how silly the envisioned illustration was struck me.

It felt like I was laughing an awful long time during that two minutes, as if I just couldn't stop. I wonder how many people would find humor in laughing at one's own mistakes like that. Perhaps one in a million?

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Unusual Day

Statue of Liberty - SB00003I just wasn't getting a restful sleep last night. To top it off, I got to bed late and woke up my usual time. I put on the television and laid in bed to just and get a tad more rest. I fell asleep a couple hours more with the tv on, that deep, restful sleep. Wonderful. Shortly after I rose, I moved my arm a bit and 'SNAP' went the shoulder. No pain, just a snap. Shortly after that a similar noise shot out around my abdomen. I've never heard of that before. Perhaps it was my back, near the stomach. Shortly after that, my knee cracked. I was starting to sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies.

Today, I planned to take some pictures of some icons of all things in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. On my way, I drove through downtown Southbridge, and see someone dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume. I just had to pull over, but of could find no parking spaces on Main Street, so took a side street and walked a bit. I had to photograph "her" Miss Liberty did not object. She had a deep voice. **g**

On the return to my car, a woman walking along the side walk stops me. She asks to show me what she has because she just wants to share it with someone. She shows me a n instant lottery ticket with ten spots scratched off worth one dollar each (totaling ten dollars for the ticket). She smiles and says why can't it be more than just a dollar.

I did make it up to photograph the icons. I had trouble getting clear images due to my inexperience dealing with the lighting conditions there, and the icons positions in relation to the lights.

On leaving, I decided to drop in at Old Sturbridge Village. As I enter the village, a squirrel runs across my path, about three feet away from me. He then stays at the base of a tree, just standing, there looking at me. He was about six feet away at that point. Several moments passed, and he still just stayed there looking at me. I decide to grab my camera. I turn and he's gone.

It just seems that all these things in such a short amount of time seem rather unusual. Tonight, I plan to go out to eat with three friends. I wonder if anything else unusual will be waiting for me?

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