gas pump loophole

a few months ago i decided to start turning off the gas pump at the console thingy and not at the nozzle pump. i figured il'd get all the gas that had been measured... including what was left in the hose. since it would have already been measured and i would already been charged for it. (i know thats weird reasoning because you get that gas from the last person who pumped if that makes sense). but anways, i soon noticed something interesting:

on some pumps the gas kept coming out (albeit slowly) even tho the meter had stopped registering. i think this is a common problem with some gas pumps. the trick is you HAVE to turn off the pump at the "nozzle holding area" (if that makes sense) while the handle on the nozzle is being squeezed and gas is being dispensed. (so that means you can't wait until the automatic shut off clicks on, or else it makes it a little harder.)

if you don't know what i mean by "nozzle holding area", im talking about the place where the handle/nozzle thing waits while no one is getting gas. normally there is either a giant switch looking thing (that you have to 'turn on' to activate the pump) or there is a flap on a spring inside the holder which is released when the nozzle is taken off the holder. you either have to push in the flap or flip the switch to stop the pump.

the last thing to keep in mind is kind of obvious... don't let go of the pump handle. once you let go of the handle it stops dispensing all together. anyways the result on most gas pumps is that the gas will slowly keep coming out.

finally, don't forget: this would be stealing if it isn't just what is 'left in the hose.' but it really doesn't seem to be that... so don't go stealing gas! i just thought it was an interesting obervation, and i guess some gasoline companies should probably be aware of (or made aware of) this issue.

idols are bad right?

so i've always liked american idol, but i think im finally getting into the competition aspect of the show. i always enjoyed watching the preliminary auditions to see the obviously bad singers, the bad singers who thought they were good, and the good singers try-out. but i always lost interest after it was just a competition between 20 or so good singers.

last year was the worst because some, comparatively, terrible singers got into the final 10 and final 5. then there was even the time when the 3 best singers were put into the bottom 3 and "america" picked who was sent home. it was a joke!

anyways here are my picks for who i like: the fat white guy who sounds like harry connick jr... his name is scott savol. i also like the green/purple haired girl who sang phantom of the opera... her name is briana davis. and the pretty girl singer who sounds like she smokes too much... i forget her name. we'll see how well they do..

super bowl prediction time

im not really into predicting games without being able to give an if/then clause to my prediction... so here goes. if donovan mcnabb rushes for more than 75 yards, the eagles will win. mcnabb seriously needs to stop thinking he is not a running quarterback and start to run. he hasn't done it for awhile and now would be an excellent time to start. the only caveat is that bill belicheck and his crew aren't idiots and should have the patriot defense ready for it. which is why i think the patriots are going to win. and since i like going against myself my official pick for the super bowl is... the phildelphia eagles over the new england patriots: 28-24.

childhood memories

i was having myself a bowl of golden crisp and had a childhood memory: i used to always find golden crisp (and its kellogg equivalent "smacks") stuck to my socks. i dunno what it was but those little guys were sticky as a crap!

on the wire

so i think ive mentioned before that i really like PoliticalWire.com. over there i found this interesting new york post article assessing the situation back in 1967, when South Vietnam held elections amid vietcong attacks. Sounds very much like the medias assessment of sunday's elections in Iraq doesn't it?

the corpse bride

it has been almost 12 years since tim burton released "The Nightmare Before Christmas." if you haven't seen, please, do yourself a favor and watch it. not only is it a great story, it has awesome stop-motion animation. and did i mention it is musical too? (which makes me wonder why broadway hasn't done a musical... maybe because it is seasonal theme?) i own and thoroughly enjoy the soundtrack. considering im not a musical fan, that is a feat.
anyways, tim burton is releasing another animated movie called "The Corpse Bride." You can see the trailer over at the Apple site. The interesting thing is that he is directing this film (He only produced "The Nightmare..." and 1996's "James and the Giant Peach") I'm already digging the tidbit of a plot...

freddy a-who?

so freddy adu was 14 when he was signed with dc united. and now there is a 9 year old in brazil who teams like manchester united are looking at. nine!!!! he was born in 1995!

hungry hungry hippo

so a storm is coming our (dc) way and i know you wanted to know where you could get a giant $3,000 hippo statue. well i found it for you! and shipping is only 3 dollars...

flip flop

i told you it would happen. Bush back tracked from him stance on gay marriage, and now he's a few christian fundamentalist mad at him.

why you gotta wait to buy a gun

i seriously hate that piano playing political comedian dude. what else can i say besides that?

cover me, give me shelter from the storm

So cover songs are... well unique. If you know what i mean. To me they fall in three categories: 1. Good, and on a rare occasion better, versions of the original (The Jimi Hendrix version of Bob Dylans's "All Along the Watchtower" and a bunch of songs one doesn't even realize are covers because the originals are obscure) 2. A little too much like the original version, so really they're for fans of the band doing the cover (The Dixie Chicks version and Smashing Pumpkins version of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide") and 3. Those that just plain suck (In essence, the rest.) Alot of times they suck on purpose and other times im just not sure.

Anyways, Coverville.com posts some interesting cover versions of songs. On a recent post they had rock versions of Britney Spears and Shania Twain songs. One (Toxic by Local H click on the scary picture) was... particularly.... ummm.... interesting shall we say.

everybody was peep fighting

so we we're discussing peeps and i brought up peep jousting. and i looked it up to to show people the joys of peep jousting. and then i noticed that the guy who did peep jousting started off with peep fighting. very interesting indeed.

fill in the blank.

afghanistan, iraq, and then ____? if you read between the lines with the help of the new yorker magazine, iran is next. would bush spread the military so thin? who knows?

remember la bamba?

so the Villanova Basketball Team and the Los Angeles Lakers both had scares while traveling in planes... odd coincidence dont you think?

el hfs-ol!

so the title might not make much sense but who cares... WHFS is no longer alt rock! and that is funny! it appears the owners of WHFS have decided to make it a spanish music station. EVEN Funnier! now they are bEl Zol! heheh oh my, i dont know why that cracks me up, but it does. maybe its because they stopped playing good music a long time ago... right around the time they started playing eminem. some would say it began earlier, and i wouldn't argue with that. theres just something poetic about a radio station that says it plays alternative music and then plays popular stuff.

Get your Mac on.

Well, as predicted by ThinkSecret.com, Apple unveiled its under $500 Mac called Mac Mini. They also came out with a new iPod (flash based instead of hard drive) called iPod Shuffle. There are 2 version of the Shuffle: 512KB and 1GB which sell for $99 and $149 respectively.

The Mac Mini is sweet in that it is cheap and small! $500 is awesome for a new Mac and ats 2" tall and 6.5" wide and long it won't take up any room. My main problem is that it smacks of the Mac Cube, which didn't have that good of a run a few years ago (But I think Apple got too ambitious with the Cube and put too much new and not so proven technology, like the touch power button, in the Cube). One of my concerns is that since it is so compact, it looks like it would be hard to upgrade and/or add memory to. I also wish they would have offered a G5 version for about $699.

The iPod Shuffle looks awesome, except that it doesn't have a display. You're just guessing at what is playing, but I guess that just goes along with the name: Shuffle. Plus the tagline is "Life is Random." Pricewise, it is awesome. The only reason why I haven't ordered one online is because i want to see it at one of the many area Apple retail store first.

maps galore

so a few years ago mapquest had a feature that you could see an aerial photo of the map you were looking at. you could see photos of famous monuments, stadiums, etc. you could even see a picture of your house if you lived in a popular enough area. then one day they got rid of it. not cool really. but since then a few sites have put up newer and better version of those with even better resolutions. ive even seen a 3D-ish version. of the normal views, TerraServer is nice.

the bushmiester

so the prez has a new puppy named, miss beazley. i might not be a fan a of the prez, but i sure do like his dogs. so cute!

tsunami damage

check out this before/after aerial picture of Banda Aceh in Indonesia. Scary...

happy new year!

So I finally saw 'The Incredibles' and it was great. I honestly think it deserves an Academy Award Nomination for Best Picture. That might just be a first if it happened... oh and 'Eternal Sunshine' should also get one. I also saw 'The Aviator' and its not bad, but Leonardo DiCaprio's acting killed it. Just not convincing, he has a Keanu Reeves quality to his acting... you know what i mean?

So I'm bashing two 'teenage hearthrob' actors, so now its time to praise one. I definitely respect Johnny Depp not only for his acting but for variety of roles he has taken... but i think I've spoken of that before. Anyways, right before Christmas the Trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out. I'm a little concerned because it looks alot like 'The Cat in the Hat' which just tried too hard. Hopefully Johnny Depp can help it not be so contrived.

Finally one of my new year resolutions is to write in here more often... but this time ive got a plan. i used to try and hold my thoughts for a concise post, but now i dont care. ill just post what comes to mind as soon as i can. no waiting.... hopefully that helps.