Overheard on BART

Kid: is my daddy going to be there?

Mom: no, he's in Oklahoma

Kid: how long does it take him to get to gramma's?

Mom: about 3 days

Kid: do we pass Oklahoma?

Mom: no, Oklahoma is another state.

Kid: a state like mexico?

Mom: Mexico is a country.

Kid: what is a state?

Mom: ummm so on the piece of land that is the United States, there are
a bunch of different parts that are called states and there are 52 and
all 52 have different names

Kid: when is he going to come?

Mom: well when you get out of jail, you don't just get to go to
another state.

Kid: why?

Mom: cuz you have to be on um what's it called? Ummm. It's like being
grounded.

Kid: how about if we send him a cell phone?

Mom: well our phones won't work there because it's different satelites.

Improper Search?

A friend of mine, along with all the rest of the people waiting to board this morning's ferry, got searched by a Coast Guard dog. He complained a little bit, but no one else did. Then he sent an email to me and some other friends.

One of his friends commented that he'd rather put up with the inconvenience than read about it in the paper later, or, worse, have to be fished out of 40 degree bay water.

I couldn't resist answering with a little classic Ben Franklin:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Wait. Really?

As I was walking into BART today, I noticed a bike that was at a very
odd angle on the rack to which it was locked. And had a wooden pole
(evidently the support appropriated from a near by tree) sticking
through it. Closer inspection revealed the pole was stuck through a
standard intact, if badly twisted, Kryptonite U lock.

Someone tried to steal an old low end Trek commuter bike by breaking
it's Kryptonite lock with a very long (at least 6ft) lever. And failed.

AND broke the rear wheel off the fork, for that matter.

Dirty Harry Meets Rain Man

Classic: http://xkcd.com/692/

Bazooka

Dawn: can you do something about all these cars in our way?

Dylan: sorry, I forgot my bazooka

Dawn: what's wrong with you?

Dylan: hey, if that's the only thing we forgot we're doing pretty well.

No, really, everything is fine!

I love BART. I can always tell they're having a problem if there are significantly more people on the platform than normal. Of course, their service advisory page admits of no problems...

Cover Every Detail

I am on BART, reading a book about petroleum refining over the shoulder of the guy sitting next to me. The chapter he's on right now is about simple distillation techniques, and includes a discussion of a moonshiner's still. There is a drawing of a rudimentary still, with wet rags for cooling at the appropriate spot. Also, a shotgun, for accuracy.

Now that's a tongue!

I take a lot of pictures of butterflies and birds (and, OK, really lots of things - when I spent 10 days in Yellowstone & Grand Teton National parks last year with friends, I came home with about 650 pictures or something. And that doesn't count the ones I deleted before coming home. But I digress.)

Yesterday, Dawn and I were in the back yard with Zachary and a butterfly fluttered by and Dawn said I should get my camera. We wound up walking down the block with Zachary, and I got a chance to take a bunch of pictures of a couple of these butterflies at a neighbor's garden.I had the camera in auto-drive mode and took a lot of pictures, including several in a row at this point in which you can see the butterfly is feeding and then rolling its tongue back up...

Somewhere Over Berkeley

Way up high, we were treated to a double rainbow (and I don't mean the ice cream) just before dusk Saturday... It was really cool, especially after the very odd rain. And then the sun started to set and the sky turned red but the rainbow was still there.

Reading Between the Lines

From: [one of Dylan's co-workers]
To: [friendly office manager]
Cc: Dylan

Hi [friendly office manager],

Dylan came up with an idea for a lunch and requested (due to his work load) that I pass it on to you.

What do you think of a Chicken Wing Feast lunch for the office some time?

Dylan recognizes that while chicken wings are terribly dis-healthy, they do fill a certain spot in the “must-occasionally-have” section of the food-o-meter. Dylan further states that having chicken wings for lunch instead of dinner mitigates the dis-healthiness of the wings by allowing those who ingest them further time while awake and “active” to … process … the wings.

There is a place, well-known for its wings, and they do deliver. The following link is to their menu and information.

Dylan thanks you for your attention to this idea.

http://www.originalbuffalowings.biz/San%20Francisco%20Togo%202008.htm

[one of Dylan's co-workers]

-----------------------------------

My response:

Wow. I didn’t realize this is what I was really saying when I said “I’m not much of a wing person, but if you guys are ordering from there maybe I’ll order something too”. Go figure.

Lying sack of *&#$.

:-)