Copyright

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November 17, 2005

Things I have been wondering lately

Why is a Milky Way bar sold as a Mars bar in Canada? Are there other versions of a Milky Way sold to other countries?
Why do they make you take your laptop out of the case and then x-ray it at the airport?
Why does the President think Americans are so stupid as to still believe his lies? Isn’t his huge drop in the polls indicting we are getting wise to him? (don’t actually answer that—I know we’re stupid)
Why are stores already putting up Christmas decorations when it is not even Thanksgiving yet? We’ve skipped Thanksgiving and are having Halloween followed by Christmas this year.
Why does Matt Millen still have a job in Detroit? He has the worst record of any GM in the league during his tenure.
When will Susan Cooper’s incredible series, or at least the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone, but turned into a live-action movie? Incredible tale, and the first book is perfect for the “tween” audience.
If copper wires have a hard limit of 9600 baud, then how do DSL and higher-speed modems work? And don’t give me “compression”—that can only account for so much!
Why don’t more parents care about education? Why do so many parents assume that the teacher is wrong and their child is right, even when they themselves know their child to be duplicitous and disrespectful?
Why is America the only industrialized nation without some form of national health care?
Why does my memory have to fade?
Where will I be in a year?
Why was it always hard and shaky with the others and why is it so easy and comforting with M?
Will my immediate family (mom, dad, sister and each of our immediate families) ever sit down to a Thanksgiving together again?
Can the world survive three more years of President Bush’s policies?
Will people ever respect the work I do? I do a little more than “pretty up” a document.
If everything is made up of energy, and energy is never created nor destroyed, and our memory and consciousness is that energy in action, then why is it so hard to believe in ghosts?
Will I ever finish the cleaning project in my apartment?
When will people realize that they are not “wasting time” when they are driving—they should be watching out for their own safety and the safety of others on the road?
Will people go back to taking responsibility for themselves and their actions? Or is that dead forever?
Will the Narnia movie possibly live up to my hopes and expectations? LotR did, for the most part, but Narnia is more important to me than LotR.
Will M. Night Shyamalan ever make a non-gimmicked movie? I think he’d be good at it. Die Hard 4 (would re-team him with Bruce Willis).
Why did it take me so long to find a woman who would be honest with me?
Why does gay marriage scare the religious right so much?
Will work let me work from home from Canada permanently?
Will M like Irvine?
When will people get back to the heart of the matter and stop talking about the weather?
Why do we still use Daylight Savings Time today? And why isn’t it universal?
Will any product ever truly engage Microsoft?
Why do I sometimes smell peanut butter or dust when neither is in evidence?
How is it that light can be seen, but does not illuminate?

8 comments:

  1. What I don't understand is why it's branded a Milky Way in the US. It's made by the M&M/Mars company, so why not label it as your flagship candy bar? Seems kind of dumb to me. They don't call M&Ms something else.

    Ah, you just gave me an idea for a present I think you'd like. Nothing to do with candy bars though :)

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  2. Anonymous9:05 PM

    So when I read the comment about the Mars bar I thought, "What? But we used to have Mars bars in the U.S.A. as well."

    It turns out that the history of this company's "naming conventions" is actually rather boggling. What the rest of the world calls a Milky Way--a name that's been around since the 1920's--we call 3 Muskateers.

    What we used to call a Mars bar was changed a few years ago to "Snickers Almond"--not to be confused with a Snickers Bar, which apparently used to be called a Marathon bar in some parts of the world.

    It's like they only had a small pool of names to work with and randomly assigned them based where they were being sold (U.S. or "International")... creating a candy bar naming mess in the process.

    Maybe it's just me. But this doesn't show a whole lot of conviction in their naming process.

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  3. 3 Muskateers doesn't have caramel in it though, whereas Milky Way does. They are still selling both in the US, at least they were 2 weeks ago when I was over the border in Maine.

    The Snickers with Almonds is a Mars with Almonds here, and they're not that easy to find. I do actually like that bar, but had too much of it after buying a box from Costco one time. :)

    Looking at the candy bar shelf here compared to when I head over the border, it is quite different. We seem to have more of a UK influence to that shelf - especially when you see the Mackintosh Toffee, a favorite of my brother's, in which you have to slam it on the floor to break it into pieces before you can eat it. Or maybe that's just something my family did. It was always best slammed against the ugly green tile in the front entry. Ah, memories!

    Agreed though, none of their names make any sense. It's not like 3 Muskateers tells you what the bar has in it. I would hope it doesn't contain hats with giant feathers and/or swords. Mmmmm, crunchy! :P

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  4. I got a charge out of your memory fading and where will I be in a year so close together.

    As long as your memory doesn't fade so quickly that you forget where you were a year ago...

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  5. You got me wondering about the DSL thing...

    For the long description, go here: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dsl.htm

    In short... Your voice uses the low end of the available capacity (frequency range) of the copper lines, the DSL uses the upper end. It's all about the 1's and 0's.

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  6. Anonymous3:22 PM

    All your questions will be answered in due time. I know that sound trivial. People walk around not asking any questions or taking responsibility for themselves. You can’t change the stupid things people do. You can ensure that you and the people that are important to you are using common sense with their lives.

    Really, you have too many questions. I will answer these two.

    Q: Why was it always hard and shaky with the others and why is it so easy and comforting with M?
    A: You two are meant to be together! The others were just there to ensure you would appreciate M when you two met. Accept the good luck and cherish your time together. Life is short.

    Q: Why don’t more parents care about education? Why do so many parents assume that the teacher is wrong and their child is right, even when they themselves know their child to be duplicitous and disrespectful?
    A: This comment refers to the observations of people that you probably would not considered friends. These people are outside your sphere of influence or time for that matter. That is the mass that is vocal which you do not see eye-to-eye with. I have a second grader that attends public school in Fullerton, CA. All the parents I meet there are very involved in their child’s education and agree with their child’s teacher.

    We do seem to see more things that don’t make any sense. Remember, we now are a product of mass media. That business is built on sensationalism. Which brings the stupid things that people do into our otherwise common sense lives

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  7. Anonymous7:14 PM

    The Marathon bar was something entirely different from a Snickers--a braided rope of caramel covered in chocolate and about a foot long.

    And the reason the 3 Musketeers is called what it is, is that it used to come in three flavors: I think chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Only the one musketeer survived.

    If you like this sort of thing, read "Candyfreak." But be warned, it'll make you hungry!

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  8. Anonymous7:25 PM

    Oh yeah, and a lot of parents do care about education. It's this weird media thing where you only hear the worst-case stories.

    Aaaand, yes, a lot of Americans still believe the president, my husband being one of them. We have all sorts of interesting discussions about the veracity of the president and his minions.

    Totally agree on Susan Cooper. Hopeful for Narnia. But have you re-read it as an adult? It wasn't as good to me.

    I'm gonna say we could do 3 of 4 on the dinner thing. You're always welcome here, and I'm sure Mom will always make fake potatoes for you wherever she is, but I can't speak for Dad.

    Daylight savings is one of those government plots to daze and confuse the populace. They can't stop switching it because we might get over the mental confusion and realize that our country is being run by idiots.

    Sometimes memory fading is a blessing. I just wish we could choose what fades.

    The answer on driving is: multi-tasking, and an economy that prides itself on "productivity."

    And cleaning lasts forever. You no sooner get it perfect than you eat, take off your clothes, get the mail, buy the newspaper... Go for "livable" and you'll be OK. Whenever possible, avoid sticky, stinky, and unwalkably cluttered, too.

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