While browsing the web for information about the Ford Expedition, I stumbled across this article by Malcolm Gladwell about active vs. passive vehicle safety. I think it’s an interesting read.

…my little Sentra was bullied by a huge SUV. This time, some lady in her huge Ford Excursion wouldn’t let me enter the normal lane from the merge lane. She sped up and tailgated the car in front. What a jerk. She then proceeded to tailgate the poor Camry in front of her the whole way down 360, while doing her mascara and riding her brakes. It really makes me mad that people use these huge gas guzzlers to commute to work. I mean, if you are simply taking yourself to work, why drive a behemoth that gets only 12mpg (and takes up two parking spaces). And heaven forbid she ever runs into anyone. That size of SUV will probably kill anyone driving a car. But as long as *she* is safe, I guess that’s what matters. I love the fact that she had a little American flag sticker on the back too.

Konica-Minolta announced three new digital lenses. They look pretty nice!!! Read all about it here at Dpreview.com if you are interested. I know the Minolta community will be very happy!

Ok, yesterday when doing a little web-research on peeing, I stumbled across the “I Used to Believe” site, where you can read all about different childhood beliefs that people had. It’s really fascinating! I just had to post about it again. 🙂 Here’s a couple good ones from the “selected bests”:

“When I was in kindergarden I used to believe that whenever we would sing “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”, the teacher was making a specific reference to something. In fear of her asking me what “it” was, I never clapped my hands. Now I know why teachers spent so much extra time with me.”

“I used to believe that when the judge sentenced a criminal to an impossibly long sentence (like 100+ years) that they kept his body in prison after he died until it was there for the whole sentence.”

“I wanted to grow up and become a marine biologist, which seemed to me the perfect combination of studying nature and shooting people.”

Here’s a another story by Plaschke about how they screwed over Dodger fan-favorite Adrian Beltre this offseason. Not to mention how they treated long-time Dodger announcer Ross Porter last year. I can’t believe Vin Scully hasn’t quit yet.

A couple things, the first might just be a guy thing. Isn’t it weird that you often shiver while you are peeing? I remember a party I went to during my High School years and a bunch of friends and I were hanging out in someone’s backyard, when my good friend Colin remarked that you shiver when you pee. I think it was him who said that. Anyways, it’s so true, at least for me.

The other thing I was thinking about is how my mind reacts to having a full bladder while I am dreaming. Oftentimes during the dream, I gotta go so bad, that I find a bathroom and go pee. In the dream I feel relief for a little while, but then I gotta pee again. During the second pee, I don’t feel relief at all. When I was young (elementary school age), peeing in my dream meant I would wet my bed. Now it usually means that I will wake up in a short while, and make my way to the bathroom. Is it just me whose dreams are affected by this?

Today I decided to “indulge” in a filet-o-fish sandwich from McDonalds. It was pretty good… except for the frickin bones. What the heck? This is the first time I have ever found bones in the filet-o-fish. There were a total of four small bones, perhaps about half an inch long each, and it completely ruined the experience. I had to finish my sandwich with extreme care, not wanting to get a bone stuck in the side of my throat. What a disappointment it was…

I scored a great lens on Ebay! It’s a Minolta 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5, and is rated pretty darned good. My favorite lens has been the 28mm because I love wide-angle landscapes. This new zoom will be even better, because I can go even wider to 24mm, plus it’s supposed to be sharper than the 28mm f/2.8 lens. The f/2.0 version is supposed to be awesome, but I don’t want to spend the extra money for that one. I can’t wait till the zoom lens arrives in the mail. It’s going to be my main lens (the one that is attached to the camera by default).