All over the apartment complex this morning, there were smoke detectors ringing. Not because there were any real fires going on. It’s because of the weather. As the weather cools down, people naturally turn the heaters on. In these apartments, the AC/heater units must have some kind of heating element that collects dust, because as soon as you turn them on (after being idle for most of the summer), there’s invariably the smell of something burning. The accompanying smoke of course triggers the smoke detectors. There were plenty of smoke detectors going off this morning as I walked back and forth on trips to the laundry room.
Happens every year.
Reply to Flanders Fields
Oh! sleep in peace where poppies grow;
The torch your falling hands let go
Was caught by us, again held high,
A beacon light in Flanders sky
That dims the stars to those below.
You are our dead, you held the foe,
And ere the poppies cease to blow,
We’ll prove our faith in you who lie
In Flanders Fields.
Oh! rest in peace, we quickly go
To you who bravely died, and know
In other fields was heard the cry,
For freedom’s cause, of you who lie,
So still asleep where poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.As in rumbling sound, to and fro,
The lightning flashes, sky aglow,
The mighty hosts appear, and high
Above the din of battle cry,
Scarce heard amidst the guns below,
Are fearless hearts who fight the foe,
And guard the place where poppies grow.
Oh! sleep in peace, all you who lie
In Flanders Fields.And still the poppies gently blow,
Between the crosses, row on row.
The larks, still bravely soaring high,
Are singing now their lullaby
To you who sleep where poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.– John Mitchell
Deck the turkey with boughs of rosemary
There’s a radio station here that’s already started up with the Christmas music already.
What’s up with that? Last year I didn’t hear my first Christmas tune until Nov 20th. This year it’s barely a week into November and already they’re starting up with the Christmas songs.
Gaaahh!
Google recruiting
I’ve really been getting a kick out of Google’s recent recruiting ads, such as their GLAT booklet and their big question billboards. The most recent ad is one that I saw in the latest issue of Physics Today.
It’s a big full page ad titled “How to Care for Your Big, Wonderful High-Performance Brain”. It looks like one of those full-page ads for weight loss or hair growing products, or maybe an old fashioned PSA ad, or even one of those big anatomical charts you might see in your doctor’s office but way more amusing.
There are sections titled “Big Brains Crave Algae and Acid”, “Lead is Big-Brain Kryptonite”, “Get Your Nap On” to name a few. I think they’re actually pretty clever and creative.
They got all the dumb ones
There’s no doubt that he’s a smart and… he’s a smart enemy and he’s shown some discipline, that’s for sure. I think for the most part over the past year and a half we’ve killed all the dumb ones and they got the smart ones left.
Captain Griffin, US Marine on the second day of the attack on Fallujah insurgents.