When this 2000 cartoon appeared on the Web site in 2008, gas prices were hovering around $4 per gallon. In recent weeks, gas prices fell to near the $1.69 price that flabbergasts Arlo above, and drivers were elated. Perspective is everything, no? The situation depicted here is totally factual; as a boy I loved raiding the “service stations” for bundles of maps, and most of them never complained. On a tangent, I went into a Shell station yesterday looking for a bottle of bleach. (Why isn’t relevant.) Almost the entire store, and this was a sizeable one, was devoted to snacks! I know this comes as no revelation to you, but it is brought home when one searches for quotidian inedibles. No wonder we’re getting fat.
88 responses to “Very Tiny”
I have seen Venus in full daylight several times. I was driving the little schoolbus — some years ago — and I kept track of what Venus was doing. Easy enough with an Almanac, or the Sky and Telescope site and such references, or often just look up! We bus drivers had to get up very early in the morning. But seeing Venus happened around 4:30 in the afternoon, and it was Spring or Fall, not Winter. We needed to fill the gas tank every day after our route was done, and I was standing there at the pumps; it was a bright clear day, and the sun was hidden on the other side of the bus (really a converted van) and I knew where to look for Venus, a bit above the van roof; and there it was! I think I saw it the next day, too.
Bill I still enjoy looking at my map (now my phone) as I drive long distances. It drives my wife crazy!
Thanks, EMB. I’ll try to not get hanged.
Sand: ” on 13 Oct 2015 at 10:02 pm # Posted from a tablet, https://youtu.be/VYRkPJC2_W0”
Yes, you can do that, ’cause you are a techno whiz! Me? I am more of a “no need to know” person. If I don’t HAVE to do it, I’ll usually be lazy and not learn!
What happens when you put too much trust in a GPS: http://www.gpsbites.com/top-10-list-of-worst-gps-disasters-and-sat-nav-mistakes
Remember the whiny “my kayak is sinking and I don’t know what to dooooo” guy? This video shows that annoying wimps come in all genders. And also that trying to appeal to a wild animal’s “better nature” and “reason” with it may perhaps not be the optimal survival strategy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7hNdI94OQ
Debbe 😉 No particular theme or reason for this one, hon, other than I think it’s a very pretty song, and I like it a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HydvceA1PAI
“No wonder we’re getting fat.”
Because of my fairly new dietary restrictions, I am becoming ever more keenly aware as to how correct Gene and Mary Lou were when they said, “It’s a deep-fry culture.”
Finding green and other non-starch vegetables in restaurants is always a challenge.
Once in a while, I do. Too often, it’s kale.
Spinach.
I want spinach.
Not kale.
Spinach.
De gustibus, etc., but I agree on kale vs. spinach. Kale is my least favorite green, as opposed to chard, spinach, beet greens, mustard [very young, or mixed in with others], collards, cabbage, Br. sprouts, pak choy, some sea weeds, various lettuces. If you like it spicy, get JYOTi Delhi Saag, a zippy canned combo of spiced mustard greens and spinach.
Peace, emb
When I was a kid in Pittsburgh we drove one summer to a camp in Ohio. I was navigating using single state paper maps. As we approached the Ohio state line, I looked at my mom and said in all seriousness “The map stops”. It became a joke in our family for years. Later on, while serving in the Coast Guard, we had to make sure that we always had the next chart readily available. It was common knowledge that if you sailed off your chart, you would fall off the edge of the world.
Cheers,
Jay
Yep, that’s why the cartographers drew dragons on the edges of the uncharted areas, giving rise to the saying “Here be dragons.”
emb:
Dandelions are also superb greens.
The entire plant is edible and delicious.
Thanks for the tip about JYOTi Delhi Saag. I will look for it tomorrow.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio
http://jyotifoods.com/product/delhi-saag/
As a kid, I would collect maps from all the different gas stations. It was interesting to see which ones were more up-to-date. I use to have (and maybe still do) a whole country map book in the car. It gets very dogeared and older ones are usually tossed by my wife while I’m not looking.
We often use various GPS/map programs but they are not necessarily up-to-date or completely accurate. We now use the GPS as a rough guide only. We found the voice on the GPS is called Allyson so we have gotten rather rude with her and her “lies”.
Emb, I recently heard that pumpkin leave are edible and supposed to be nice. I’ve never had the chance to find out.
Rick, Re. Dandelions, make sure that no-one has sprayed the “weeds”.
I love maps! My dad was a truck driver but I don’t think that is the reason. I think he was a truck driver because he had the wanderlust, and I inherited that part of him. But I do have to admit – I don’t have that desire as much as I did when I was younger.
We still stop at all the state welcome centers to pick up brochures and sometimes maps. Ever since we discovered the Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer series many years ago, they have been our preferred guides – much more detailed, easier-to-read road info than regular maps, plus they’re topographical.
At the risk of poisoning a new group of minds … Bob and I have to be careful what we say when we refer to the atlases in public. We were vacationing with another couple some years after we all started using the Delorme books. While visiting a mutual friend in the Keys, the subject of maps came up and he said he really liked their Florida “gah-zeeter”. Somehow we all managed to keep a straight face then, but guess what we’ve called the books ever since 🙂 And after we told the story to other friends and family members, most of them do the same!
Since I am driving off to Texas tomorrow I doubt anyone questions my road warrior status. I have been driving like this since age 14 when I got my first car. I love maps and always have. My mom was geographically challenged and never learned to read maps so I have no idea how she did it before I took over but we drove coast to coast more than once. Then I took over navigating.
National Geographic was always an inspiration to me and I had a lot of wonderful adventures because of following their often unvisited suggestions for remote points of interest.
Mark
Re: GPS disasters – and they want to make car driving completely computer/satalite
automatic?
The vehicles today are taking over – my new to me – PU has so many auto services I don’t
agree with and yet cannot be turned off.
I set the “hand brake” (You know emergency/parking brake) and then could not find how to release it – no hand lever. After reading the manual you have to press the foot/main brake
and then the park brake at the same time. They are going to safety us to death.
Mark in TTown: Which states changed their mile markers to kilometers? Granted I had to quit trucking after my heart incident in ’09, but none of the states I drove in had done that! Only a few posted anything in kilometers, alongside the miles.
Mark in TTown — From the article you posted:
“This guy had to spend Christmas behind bars after driving a chemical tanker onto country roads that were only meant to have a 10 ton weight limit.”
Following the instructions of a general-purpose GPS when driving a rig is dangerous! Truckers have “special needs” (bridge heights, truck routes, load limits, etc.) and so require trucking-specific databases for their GPS and/or mapping software. And the burden of avoiding those dangers and limitations fall strictly on the driver. As I was told in truck-driving school, “Even if a police officer has instructed you to follow him somewhere, if a bridge is marked as 12-foot clearance and your rig is 13′ 6” tall, you don’t follow him under that bridge!
Ghost
That woman with the bear has watched too much Disney. And Please bear?
And then to post it?
Reminds me of the joke about the Vicar that meets a bear on the remote trail.
The vicar prays “Lord make this bear a Christian”
The bear kneels and says ” For what we are about to receive we are truly thankful”
emb
Dandelion flowers make great wine.
TruckerRon what the states did/forced to do was change the exit numbers from
1,2,3,4 to mile post numbers Exit 37 is at milepost 37 or there abouts.
Yous “guys” have kept me up late enough – up early
Good Night!
TruckerRon
Did you look at the 11’8″ web site?
will find link tomorrow.
Good morning Villagers….
John Connor….by chance is your mother’s name Sarah? 🙂
Haven’t used a road map in years….haven’t been anywhere in years….but, in my younger days, we never used road maps…just followed the signs on our way to Florida. Ah, the adventurous days of youth.
When I subscribed to Nat Geo mag, I loved looking at those maps, kept them inside the mag too. I figure that when I do decide to quit working (gasp), I have 5 years of reading to catch up on.
John, did you see where I told you that Orion’s Belt is directly overhead. It’s been cold here in the mornings (41 degrees right now) and when I go out to start my car up, I find myself just standing and gazing at all the brilliant stars and planets.
Did anyone read my story about my cp-worker from the end of yesterday’s entry? You should, it caught me off guard….well, it was one of those moments where you had to be there.
I love spinach dip with cream cheese….love that fat.
And a big welcome to all the new posters…..
ya’ll have a blessed day