Thursday, March 22, 2007

Magic Box

So, I don't know if any of you guys watch LOST, but last night, they gave some info on one of the mysteries involving things from people's past appearing on the island. One described it as a "magic box" where things you want to appear, do.

After several months on a deserted island, I think the first thing I would ask the box for would be a beer. Then perhaps I would move on to a steak.

Friday, March 16, 2007

One From the Archives

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Thursday, March 8, 2007

State of Franklin, Anyone?

"Main article: List of U.S. state secession proposals

It is constitutionally possible for new states to be formed by reorganizing current states with the permission of their legislatures.

The State of
Maine was part of Massachusetts

The state of
West Virginia was formed during the Civil War by counties in northwestern Virginia that had remained loyal to the United States.

One proposal has been for
New York City to secede from New York State (See New York City secession), which has been reciprocated by a call for Upstate New York to secede (See Upstate New York's Statehood Movement).

A similar circumstance has been proposed with the
secession of Chicago from Illinois since over a half of the population of Illinois resides in the metropolitan area. A variation of this was called Chiwaukee, which would be the strip of land from Milwaukee down to Gary, Indiana.
Historically, it was possible that the counties of southern
Oregon and northern California might have seceded from their respective states to form a new "State of Jefferson". Jefferson would have been the 49th state, making Alaska and Hawaii the 50th and 51st when they became states in 1959.

Also there have been brief calls for a 51st state named the
State of Lincoln in 1996, 1999, and 2005. The state would be made of Eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle.
During the late
1700s, portions of North Carolina and Tennessee joined to form an alleged "State of Franklin" and while "lawmakers" were elected to its alleged "Legislature," Congress never admitted the "State of Franklin" into the Union.

Similar junctions have attempted to take place in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which some wish to secede (sometimes along with adjoining counties of northern Wisconsin) in order to make a state called "Superior"."


(Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Monday, March 5, 2007

Idea for an Invention

TV remotes are boring. They just sit there on the coffee table or between the seat cushions doing nothing to spruce up the room. They have these little annoying buttons too. And they're always getting lost.

Instead of a remote control, wouldn't you rather control your TV using a big, wooden captain's wheel from an old wooden ship? Just set it up in your living room with an infrared sensor tuned to the TV, and when you want to change the channel, you take the wheel. Spin it to the left and the channels go down; to the right, they go up. The faster you spin it, the faster the channels change... like the iPod click wheel.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Celebrating 100 Years of Elevated Piss and Vomit


"PHILADELPHIA, PA (February 26, 2007) – SEPTA will commemorate 100 years of subway-elevated train service in Philadelphia with a special day of celebrations beginning with free rides for passengers on the Market-Frankford Line.

As a token of appreciation for its many loyal customers, SEPTA will provide free Market-Frankford Line train service between noon and 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 4.

The day will mark a century of service since the line originally opened on March 4, 1907 and operated on elevated tracks through West Philadelphia as the Market Street Subway-Elevated before continuing through Center City in an underground tunnel and ending at ferry terminals along Delaware Avenue.


The riding public is invited to attend the festivities where they can commemorate the event by signing one of 12 specially made oversized birthday cards or listen to music played by legendary DJ Jerry Blavat."


This Centennial anniversary begs the question, when did The El first smell like urine? Did it have a grace period before people began to use it as a moving public toilet? Kind of like a "30 Feet High Club" but for incontinence. Hopefully this will be covered in the retrospective. I also hope an explantion of the painting/mural (right photo) is made as I have been to that area many times and there seems to be 100% less trash and condemned buildings in this rendering.

For more on my tirades about the malodorous conditions of Philadelphia Public Transportation, refer to my Award Winning Superheady.com article, "This City Stinks: An Olfactory History of Philadelphia".


(Top Photo copyright Steve Zable, 1980. Bottom Photo Copyright SEPTA. Text excerpted from SEPTA Press release)

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Another Dream? You Know It!

I am in some sort of rogue government medical facility, possibly in some other country. I have been captured for trespassing. My foot is badly wounded, and I am chained to the wall. Across the room, a doctor is sharpening a very long, thin blade. His henchman is smoothing out one of the edges. The doctor begins walking toward me with the sword and breaks off a piece of it from the top. He gets closer and is swinging it at me. I start telling him that I will tell him anything he wants to know, just not to cut me. He stops as he gets right near my face and suddenly drops a large spider out of his hand, onto my wounded foot. He says, "The venom from this spider will heal the wound." I physically feel the "bite" and wake up immediately.