First, keep three lists. Where you like to eat, where you've been meaning to eat, and where you've eaten recently. Then, based on your mood, pick either a comfort food from the list of favorites or a new place to suit a spirit of adventure. (Switch back and forth between the two lists, if you like.) Then, look at where you've eaten recently. If you are going for an old favorite, go to the one you haven't been to recently. If you are looking for a new place, go to one that fits in your budget. One exception: if you are in the mood for a specific kind of food, go eat that.
Any other advice?
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
some corrections
- The vocoder and auto-tune are different devices.
- In nuclear fusion, atoms smash together to combine, e.g. two hydrogens combining to produce helium and a spare neutron. However, wikipedia thinks hydrogen bombs use a different fusion fuel than liquid hydrogen (a mix of H-2 and H-3), since that is a hassle to work with.
- Neutrons can break down into an electron, a proton and an antineutrino via 'beta decay.'
- Alpha particles are helium nuclei. Proton emission is much more rare.
- People lose considerable mass through perspiration. I assume that is much more true for elephants.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
geographic and historical errors
- The Marianas Trench is near the Mariana Islands, not in the Phillipines.
- The NGA west gallery was completed in 1941, about 50 years after I said.
- The train station where the NGA is was a B&P station, which would be removed when Union station was built (being the union of the B&P and Pennsylvania railroads, among others).
- The 99-cent thing may have been caused by newspapermen, but probably not. If it was, it happened in Chicago, not New York, and with Stone, not related to the Pulitzer/Hearst thing.
- I haven't been able to find any info about pricing gas to the tenth of a cent, except that it would have made sense a long time ago, when a cent was worth something and you would have needed a lot of gas to get anywhere.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
some notes about Opryland
Opryland was closed in 1997 and sold for parts, to make room for other ventures. Gaylord's current management reportedly has been unable to discover any documentation of the 1997 management team's decision. I tried to track down a few of the rides.
- While the Grizzly River Rampage is gone, and what remains of the track not worth the cost of recovery, its creator, Intamin AG, has long produced and still produces similar rides. Current incarnations are more flume-like, with an emphasis on contraptions, smaller rafts, and more track-like chutes, whereas the River Rampage put more of an emphasis on a natural river experience. Many parks have a similar rides. A contemporaneous example (and likely most similar) would be the Piraña in the Netherlands and the first such ride, the Thunder River at 6 Flags AstroWorld. A more recent version, the Grizzly River Run at Disney California Adventure, has a similar name, perhaps implying similarity, but I can't find a track layout.
- The Wabash Canonball was sold, but the buyer never managed to find a place for it, and scrapped the ride in 2003. However, the original version of the ride, the Corkscrew, is still operating in Idaho.
- Several of the other roller coasters are still in operation elsewhere, including The Hangman in California and the Rock n Roller in New York.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
more corrections
- While I was correct that crudo means raw, cenote doesn't mean well; it is derived from a Mayan word for cenote.
- The Empire State Building is struck by lightning about 100 times per year.
- Roses were often planted in vineyards to indicate rot, mildew, or other problems on the rose petals before they show on the grape vines.
- The underground lunch room is in Carlsbad, not Yellowstone.
- It was North Dakota that wanted to (still wants to?) remove the direction from its name.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
just trying to keep up with my mouth...
- Bactrian camels have two humps.
- Polydactyly occurs in about .2% of births, not 5%, which is a little ridiculous, I suppose.
- On the other hand, breast cancer is more disturbingly common than I thought.
- Dad bought a Rav-4, which, while slightly ridiculous for a commuter car, is less ridiculous than a Pilot. It is smaller and gets better gas milage.
- The primary source of sweetness in most fortified wines comes from the grapes in the wine, not from the fortifier; adding the brandy (or whatever) kills off the yeast in the wine, leaving more of the sugars from the grapes.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
corrections, stale
- There are over 12,400 wild Cheetahs still around in Africa. The current theory is that their lack of genetic diversity traces back to the last ice age.
- Gas taxes are usually priced per gallon, not computed as a sales tax. So, the percent burden of gas tax has decreased with the cost of gas. However, some states apply sales tax to gasoline sales, and 'pay at the pump' fees to credit card companies are usually a percentage of the sale cost.
Monday, May 19, 2008
corrections: method acting and coloring problems
- 'On the Waterfront' came out in 1954, three years after 'Streetcar'.
- 'The Method' was taught by Strasberg and derived from Stanislavski's 'System'.
- A region surrounded by a single country is an enclave. East Pakistan would have been an exclave, but not an enclave.
- As such, neither would Pt. Robert's be considered an enclave, although wikipedia describes it as a 'pene-exclave'.
- Speaking of which, Wikipedia has a great list of four-country border sets, which demonstrate the need for four coloring the globe. It includes at least one exclave, which is sort of cheating.
Monday, April 28, 2008
short corrections; I need to take better notes
- Apple stock is up about 3,000% since I bought it, not 40,000%, which is an overstatement. It is up about 1,000% since I sold it.
- DCA is in Virginia. There was some dispute about it at the time, but the territory counts as part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, but is under control of the US congress.
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