happy national bubble wrap day
celebrate in style.
—
“therapy is extremely expensive. popping bubble wrap is radically cheap.”
-jimmy buffett
—
credits: designer craig green, london fashion week show, 2019, reuters, henry nicholls photo,
play create explore
this film, an oscar winner, was shot in 30 minutes
though it may not be voiced in your language
all people will understand it
at under 4 minutes, it is very short
but will stay with you for a very long time.
—
Sorry means you feel the pulse of other people’s pain as well as your own, and saying it means you take a share of it. And so it binds us together, makes us trodden and sodden as one another. Sorry is a lot of things. It’s a hole refilled. A debt repaid. Sorry is the wake of misdeed. It’s the crippling ripple of consequence. Sorry is sadness, just as knowing is sadness. Sorry is sometimes self-pity. But Sorry, really, is not about you. It’s theirs to take or leave.
Sorry means you leave yourself open, to embrace or to ridicule or to revenge. Sorry is a question that begs forgiveness, because the metronome of a good heart won’t settle until things are set right and true. Sorry doesn’t take things back, but it pushes things forward. It bridges the gap. Sorry is a sacrament. It’s an offering. A gift.” ―
“have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? or perhaps you know the silence when you haven’t the answer to a question you’ve been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you’re alone in the whole house? each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.”
-norton juster, the phantom tollbooth
—
huron river, ann arbor, mi, usa – january 2022
never heard of lonnie johnson? now you have. in high school lonnie was the only black person at the science fair. he went on to get his phd and work at nasa. while experimenting at home, he had the idea of a pressurized water gun, and he built prototypes with pvc and a soda bottle. his invention eventually became the super soaker. he was paid for the super soaker in royalties when Hasbro bought the super soaker line, but when they used his system in other nerf guns, he was not paid. in 2013 he sued hasboro and was awarded $73 million in unpaid money. all the while he was building rockets, and built and designed the water gun in his spare time. never mess with an inventor, lest you get soaked.
Syracuse Herald-Journal reporter Bob Niedt gets a cool surprise introduction
to the summer of 1992’s hottest toy the “Super Soaker 200” water gun.
Niedt’s sons Ben and Bryan, do the soaking.
—
“to invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
-thomas edison
—
credits: history hustle, bob niedt, Syracuse Post-Standard
the kinder drummed on paint while listening to music
creating vibrant, splashy, coloring-bursting art
—
“creativity is intelligence having fun.”
– albert einstein
the great blizzards and a birthday – michigan history!
today is the anniversary of two of michigan’s greatest blizzards.
which both started on the same date January 26th, one in 1967 and the other in 1978.
also on this date
my brother scott, was born in 1965 under clear skies.
happy birthday!
—
The 1965 birthday. Scott was born, he was cute, and I wanted to bring him in for show and tell, but my mom refused and made me bring a picture, which I was really mad about. He did not like shoveling snow, but he did enjoy playing in it, sledding on our school hill at recess, and throwing it at us.
The 1967 storm. The big Blizzard went down as one of the all-time worst blizzards in Michigan’s history mainly because of the way the weather conditions quickly changed drastically and people were caught off guard. In the days leading up to the blizzard, some areas had temps in the 60s, quickly plummeted, and the skies dumped 1 1/2 feet of snow in a very short time.
The 1978 storm. Snowfalls for the entire storm included a whopping 30 inches in some Michigan locations. There were already 4 to 6 feet of snow on the ground before the storm started, and there were many drifts of over 15 feet.
In both storms there were wind gusts up to 65 MPH and both had several periods of thunderstorms with the snow, (thunder-snow).So far there has not been a storm that has come close to the intensity of either of the storms since 1978. My brother still enjoys playing in the snow and celebrating his birthday. And I’m glad for all of this.
—
“apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.’
-mark twain
—
credits: michigan history, clarence white
A robot vacuum cleaner made a break for freedom after giving staff the slip at a Travelodge hotel.
The automated cleaner failed to stop at the front door of the hotel in Orchard Park in Cambridge, England on Thursday, and was still on the loose the following day.
Staff said it just kept going and “could be anywhere” while well-wishers on social media hoped the vacuum enjoyed its travels, as “it has no natural predators” in the wild.
It was found under a hedge on Friday.
Staff at the hotel posted the story of the robot vacuum’s great escape on social media, asking for it to be returned, if found.
“Today we had one of our new robot vacuums run for its life,” the assistant manager wrote.
“They normally sense the lip at the hotel entrance and turn around, but this one decided to make a run for it.”
The robot vacuum had enough of cleaning the lobby and made its bid for freedom from the hotel, which is next to the A14. Its disappearance was not noticed for about 15 minutes and despite a search, it appeared the vacuum had made a clean break for it.
While some readers joked about the robot’s adventures, one feared for its safety in the great outdoors, pointing out that “nature abhors a vacuum”.
However, much to everyone’s relief, the device was found nestled under a hedge on Friday afternoon by a (human) hotel cleaner sprucing up the front drive. It was dusted off and “is now back sitting happily on a shelf with the rest of its robot vacuum family”, the hotel confirmed.
—
“one basic law of the universe dictates that robots
must learn to make fast food before they can get driver’s licenses.”
-leland mcknight
—
credits: eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk, n. chadwick/geograph
written by one of my idols-
for her writing, her wisdom, and in how she chose to fully live her life.
after last week’s surprise package of tempting treats
another food surprise arrived
a couple of breakfast meals
seem to have fallen from the sky
right to my front door
this time delivered by grub hub
with no address on the receipt
delivered in the morning when i was at school
huge portions of pancakes and eggs benedict
i’m sure they were hot and delicious when they arrived
another set of challenges to my healthy eating
testing my temptation limits
is my door the common delivery area for every address on my street?
what will appear next?
should i leave snacks and drinks out for all of the delivery people yet to come?
—
“when fortune knocks open the door.”
-proverb
when one local dollar tree store closed
my favorite enthusiastic manager
moved to the new location
and judging by my recent visit
he has not lost one bit
of his dollar store fervor and expertise.
this was a conversation between bob (the manager) and evelyn (my cashier) as i was checking out:
E: “bob, you’re really good at remembering all of the balloon numbers to ring up and knowing each one of them without looking.”
B: “well, i’ve been doing it a long time. once in a while a number will change or a new shape will come in, like a unicorn, but it’s part of my job to keep up with it.”
E: “when i worked at the grocery store, i knew all the prices for the cucumbers, the peppers and tomatoes. the easy ones”
B: “some are trickier, like avocados, and for some of those things you only see sometimes it’s harder to remember the all the plu’s.”
E: “it’s really a skill, bob. to be able to do that.”
customer john interrupts:
J: “hey bob – so this is where you’ve got up to – how are you liking the change?”
B: “hey, john. good to see you. it’s great. every day is great. i’m so lucky to be here.”
and how lucky is dollar tree to have bob as a manager?
a man who truly loves his job
takes pride in all of it
is always smiling and helpful
knows exactly where every item in the store is located
and who happily learns the number for the new unicorn balloon.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 