Tuesday, June 30, 2009

good book, driving tips, and some really cool color photos

we'll start with the book everyone needs to at least thumb through. it's called "big ideas/ 100 modern inventions" it's by alex hutchinson. the one thing in it that really blew me away was the thing about insulin. i never really paid attention to diabetes, or it's history as a disease/ condition. turns out it used to take 8000 pounds of cow or pig pancreses to make just 1 pound of insulin! can you even imagine?! anyway, when they figured out how to make it in a lab, it made it alot better for millions of people. there's a bunch of other stuff too, it's a neat book. check it out, i got it out of the tulsa library.

next up, some driving tips or rules of common courtsey that most people seem to have forgotten or maybe never learned in the first place.

1) when you are driving behind someone... if you can easily read their license plate... you are too damn close! BACK OFF! or i will play my favorite game with you, it's called "slam on the brakes, and it will be your fault when you rear end me and you will get the ticket and your insurance company will pay for my car repair". i've never actually done this, but i've sure felt like it a few times. i usually just tap my brakes... and sometimes who ever is behind me gets the point.

2) there's this thing on your steering column, it's called a turn signal indicator. have you ever heard of it before? well, some people haven't. here is the correct sequence for it's proper use:
1) "i think i will turn" you say to yourself
2) move turn signal indicator in proper direction, up for right, down for left
3) apply brakes to slow down
4) make turn, then make sure that it goes off so i don't have to drive behind
you for 20 miles with one of your blinkers on
THIS ALSO WORKS FOR LANE CHANGES
if you do not have working turn signal indicators, learn the hand signals and
USE THEM

3) when you stop behind someone at a light, your bumper is NOT susposed to touch their bumper! you should be able to see their back tires on the road in front of you. it is really important that you follow this when you have to stop on a hill, the person in front of you could be a newbie driver with a clutch... if you're too close... there goes your front end.

i could go on and on about what you shouldn't be doing while driving, but there's not enough space.

ok, i was not aware that 100 years ago some russian guy took a bunch of color photos of russia and its people. but he did, and it's really cool! click on link below:

http://quazen.com/arts/photography/the-incredible-century-old-color-photography-of-prokudin-gorsky

there's another link in the comments to another site about this guy, check it out too:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

ok, that all for the moment... stay tuned...

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