David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 116

All The Talk Makes Me Feel As If I’ve Already Seen The Dark Tower

I see so many people talking about The Dark Tower, it feels as if I’ve seen it already. I read the books, so it isn’t as if I don’t know what goes on…at least vaguely since the movies don’t have to track the books exactly. Still, people just go on and on. They’ve discussed so much of the movie that I feel like I actually went out and watched it.

Of course, I both loved it and hated it. I’ve seen a great deal of discussion both ways, not a huge amount in the middle. Given that I’ve taken that much discussion of the movie in on both sides, I both hate it and love it. I’m actually kind of okay with this.

I’ll probably just let the whole thing pass me by.

My Wife Is Back From Mexico!

My wife is back from her trip to Mexico I didn’t get to go on!

Just feel like celebrating.

I Once Talked To A Guy

I once talked to a guy who claimed to be the secret son of Jim Morrison. He had a copy of a Morrison biography with him. He wore flannel shirts as jackets in Omaha in 1991 and claimed to be an advanced practitioner of Muay Thai. It was all completely absurd and not even a tiny bit plausible, any part of it. I didn’t believe any of it.

But there seemed to be no reason to challenge him. I just let him talk. It didn’t matter.

Why The Heck Are All These People Signing Up For Sarahah?

I’m a bit mystified why all these people are signing up for Sarahah, the app that allows people to send you anonymous messages. I get the idea…maybe there’s someone out there who has something to tell you that you need to hear, but are too afraid to say it and need anonymity. However, it seems completely obvious what will actually happen, what I keep seeing happen.

Person X: I just got Sarahah! Send me something!

[moments later]

Person X: Someone just send me the most hateful thing! Who sent that?!

After all, it seems pretty clear how much venom most of humanity is capable of dishing out for the tiniest reasons, particularly when they feel any kind of isolation from consequences, even when that isolation isn’t total. Why invite hate by making sure there are no possible consequences?

Sure, there’s a small chance someone out there who has something to tell you that you need to hear, but are too afraid to say it. A small chance. The chance of pointless venom hate garbage? High. Very, very high…and we can be pretty sure of that.

Why would anyone want this? Why invite it? Why do people seemed surprised that people behave in frightening fashions when there are no consequences? Have people not been paying attention?

I just don’t get it. I’m not sure anyone who has taken sufficient time to think about it really gets it either.

Facebook Should Give You The Option To Accept Or Not If Someone Adds You To A Group

Most of us have had it happen, a notification pops up from Facebook something to the effect that someone thinks you’d like a Facebook group…to which you’ve already been added without any input on your part. People rail about it, it is widely considered rude and many people (including myself) will automatically unjoin any group someone joined them to without asking, but Facebook still lets people do it.

Why not pop up a notification that gives you the option to accept or not? Facebook doesn’t have to let them automatically join you to a group. Why not pop up the option to accept or reject? You have that option for friends, why not groups?

Some groups are just suggested, but some are not. The latter are annoying. Is there some ad revenue generating aspect to this that I don’t see? That’s the only reason I’d see for them to allow this.

We can just classify all this under my suggestions to Facebook on how to improve that they neither have the inclination or opportunity to listen to and wouldn’t care about if they actually did.

Googe Images: What The Heck?

I did a Google Images search for “80s diver toy animated gif.” This was one of the higher ranked results:

What the heck, Google Images? What the heck?

I’m Not The Only One

I found myself reminiscing about these crappy little angel food cakes I used to find in convenient stores/gas stations that had pink frosting. Garbage as they were, I loved them and ate them all the time. I hadn’t seen any in a while and couldn’t remember precisely what they were (I’d never paid attention) or how to find them again.

Then I found a thread where someone else was wondering basically the same thing. They were Frosty Angels from Dolly Madison.  Not sure if they’re still out there and I just can’t find them or not.

Regardless, I wasn’t the only one thinking about this.

Messing With Blue Apron

Have you heard of Blue Apron or the like? If I get it right, you pay them to deliver you meals in various stages of preparation. The meals are all there, you just have to finish and cook according to the directions. Overall, based on the various pricing plans available from them and similar services, you’re paying them to put packages of pre-prepped ingredients together for you and you do the last steps to make a meal.

For some reason, I have the urge to get a list of their customers and deliver a bunch of Red Baron Thin & Crispy Crust Supreme pizzas with the outer boxes removed. The instructions would just be the heating directions.

Could you imagine? Subscribing to an upscale meal prep service like this and getting Red Baron pizzas without the boxes delivered? Still in the plastic shrink wrap?

I wouldn’t actually do it, but something about the idea really appeals to me.

(Note, this came out of me seeing “Blue Apron” in my Facebook news feed. Only later did I realize it was a McSweeney’s piece, which was kind of my idea but better. I’m keeping this post anyway.)

 

More Pop Cultural Programming

Another pop culture programming moment. I was waiting for my bus and looked off down the street to see if it was coming. There was a guy on the sidewalk at the side of the road walking in the opposite direction. He had a backpack on. Instantly, the end theme from The Incredible Hulk played in my head.

These things are almost Pavlovian. I’ve been programmed.

Some People Just Don’t Know What To Do With Flashing Yellow/Red Lights

Some people just don’t know what to do with flashing yellow/red traffic lights. I wait for the bus on a fairly busy street outside a newer housing development. The cross traffic is infrequent, but often enough that it was really time they put in traffic lights. They did, but they haven’t been programmed yet. For the current time, they just flash yellow on the busy street and red on the non-busy. This obviously means the busy street is to proceed, but to watch for cross traffic. Cross traffic is to stop and then proceed when the busy street is clear. This is simple, but some people just don’t get it.

I keep seeing cars block traffic when they actually stop at the intersection. This jams things up pretty good. It’s flashing yellow. Why are you stopping?

Perhaps they don’t understand what flashing yellows/reds mean. Perhaps they weren’t paying enough attention and saw just yellow, thinking it was about to turn red when it never would.

Whatever the explanation, they’re causing problems.