Orange Shirt Guy

Fruitcakes in the galaxy
Fruitcakes on the Earth
Strut naked towards eternity
We've been that way since birth

Half baked cookies in the oven
Half baked people on the bus
There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us

Religion, religion.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

Where's the church, who took the steeple
Religion's in the hands of some crazy ass people
Television preachers with bad hair and dimples
The God's honest truth is it's not that simple

It's the Buddhist in you, it's the pagan in me
It's the Muslim in him, she's Catholic ain't she?
It's that born again look, it's the wasp and the Jew
Tell me what's goin on, I ain't got a clue 

I bought a cheap watch from the crazy man
Floating down Canal
It doesn’t use numbers or moving hands
It always just says now
Now you may be thinking that I was had
But this watch is never wrong
And if I have trouble the warranty said
Breathe in breathe out move on 

Buffett, J. Link.

A paraphrase as I'm listening to it on the iPod instead of reading it.

 "Most people know that their money is pretty important.  Some people actually budget their money.  Not as many people realize how finite and limited time is (and therefore how important).  And even fewer still budget their time."

Pausch, R. (2008). The Last Lecture.  New York: Hyperion.  Link.

Why do some escalator rails run at a different speed from the steps alongside them?

the handrails.  Because the steps and the rails run in a continuous loop, the descending halves of the stairs and handrails act as a counterweight to their respective ascending halves.  The handrails, then are totally friction-driven rather than motor-driven.

     If the escalator is properly maintained, the handrail should move at the same speed as the steps.  The handrails are meant to provide a stabilizing force for the passenger and are thus designed to move synchronously for safety reasons.  Handrails that move slower than the accompanying steps are actually dangerous, for they give a passenger the impression that his feet are being swept in front of him.  Richard Heistchel, of Schinder Elevator Company, informed Imponderables that handrails were once set to move slightly faster than the steps, because it was believed that passengers forced to lean forward were less likely to fall down.

Feldman, D. (1989). When Do Fish Sleep and Other Imponderables of Everyday Life.  New York: Harper.  

     Now, two months after he told me he wanted to go to Salt Cay, I was back in Alabama. My dad greeted me warmly, pointed at his watch to let me know that he was aware I was fifteen minutes late.  "I had to divert for some buildups around Cross City," I explained.

      We picked up our oyster loaves and once again were out on the pier eating lunch together.  He sat at the very end of the dock on the crabbing pier and tossed sticks to the dogs, who gallivanted into the shallow water to retrieve them.  They swam back to the pier, shook the water from their fur, and dropped the sticks at our feet, waiting for the next toss.  After several more throws, they sensed a change in mood and swam off toward the beach, leaving my father and me alone.

     "It's getting worse, Jim," he said flatly.  "It's the scariest thing I have ever been through in my life."  I didn't know what to say.  I was in tears but couldn't speak.  Saying I was sorry just didn't feel like enough.  My dad sensed this immediately and changed the topic.  "You know why I chose to fly instead of go the the sea?"

     There it was, the question that had been nagging at me all these years.  Now, on the end of the pier near the end of his lucid days, I was going to get the answer.  "Why?" I asked.

     "Because it was what I wasn't supposed to do.  Looks like you have made a career out of that, doing what you're not supposed to do.  I'm proud of you, boy"

Buffett, J. (1998). A Pirate Looks at Fifty.  New York: Random House.  Link.