Derailment
A Train Of Thought That Jumped The Track

Apple's icon for their new Thunderbolt I/O port looks suspiciously like the ISO warning sign for high voltage, don't you think?

I put this note on my Facebook profile on New Year's Eve 2010. It's good to maintain perspective on all aspects of one's life. Living as we do at "internet speed" we can easily get caught up in thinking that such-and-such isn't fast enough or that we just can't exist another second without $SHINYTHING. We live in an incredible time and we should appreciate it more.

By the way: this list was somewhat inspired by Louis C.K.'s appearance on Conan O'Brien's show that went viral as the "Everything is Amazing and Nobody's Happy" video.

Almost to 2011. I'm a big fan of maintaining perspective on things, so here are a few interesting things that happened 100 years ago, in 1911.

First U.S. coast-to-coast flight arrives in Pasadena, California after a journey of 49 days, during which the pilot, Calbraith Rodgers, made 69 stops and 16 crash landings and was followed by a train carrying spare parts. It had only been eight years since the Wright Brothers first flew for two minutes at Kitty Hawk. You can now fly non-stop across the country in a few hours.

The U.S. Supreme Court dissolves Standard Oil using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Successor entities become Exxon, Chevron, Amoco (among others) which are still with us today.

New York Public Library building at 5th Avenue dedicated by President Taft. 73 years later, the Ghostbusters show up. Taft is nowhere to be seen, however.

First running of the Indianapolis 500 auto race. The average speed was about 75 mph. Today's Indy 500 speeds average over 160, with top speeds over 220 mph.

Ground breaking begins in Boston for Fenway Park. The Green Monster is soon to be born.

The first public elevator begins service at London's Earl's Court Metro Station. The date of the first passing of gas in an elevator remains unknown.

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first person to reach the South Pole. Local penguins are unimpressed.

Procter & Gamble unveils its Crisco shortening as a healthier alternative to lard. Hydrogenated oils enter the American diet and we've been getting fatter ever since.

Weapons of Mass Dilution and the threat of New Age terrorists. Brilliant! Eerily accurate with respect to the security response:

"Meanwhile, new security measures at airports require that all water bottles be scanned to ensure that they are not being used to smuggle the memory of an explosion on board a plane."

Multiple axes of humor.

I love the Fail Blog, as my wife can attest. I particularly like the grammar- and spelling-related entries, like this one. I'd also add one of my own pet peeves, apostrophes for noun plurals. This goes far beyond the classic "it's/its" that many people get wrong. I'm talking about using apostrophes to make all kinds of other things plural, like Oreo's or Wednesday's. Where do people get this idea? I never saw it when I was in high school (at least, as far as I can remember.) I first heard of it during a news writing course in college and ever since I notice it everywhere.

Where's my jetpack?

Happy 2008. We're a little behind, you know. We're supposed to be going to Jupiter by 2010. As it stands, we might make it to Mars in my lifetime. Apparently we're too busy with all the other pressing matters before us.

I consider myself a pretty good speller. I recognize that not everyone puts the same degree of emphasis on correct spelling as I do. Nevertheless, I think that if you're going to write something that will be viewed or used by the public, then you should make sure it's correct. This applies especially to program code. Read on for some fun.

Read the rest of this story...