The British claim to have a laser that will shoot down drones and missiles for only $13.00 a shot. This compares rather favorably with the present approach using a defensive missile to down an offensive one at two million a pop.
This is all well and good but my question is can we scale it down so that it would be useful around the home? There are many vexing problems that could use a boost with technology.
For instance, a guided anti-mosquito laser that would continually search the air around a picnic table and blast each winged terrorist as it comes into range.
Or take the example of the children who have lately been ringing our doorbell and then running off before we can catch them and tie them up while we look for their parents. They do no harm, really, but I think a response more than just standing at the door like a dummy is called for, if only to add a little spice to the conflict.
I have also thought of installing a camera that would be activated by ringing the bell, and then posting the picture of their cherubic little faces on the community bulletin board by the mailboxes with the accompanying legend:
If anyone knows the identity of this little s**t of a bellringer, would they please have a talk with them?
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In both of these instances I would be upholding the time-honored tradition of the old geezer yelling “Get off my lawn.” I think that traditions serve a useful purpose, and I would be glad to add my contribution, now that I have worked myself up to that esteemed status.
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From The New Yorker
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Robin left on Tuesday for a planned two-day visit to check in with grandchildren, but has been trapped there by an inconvenient snowstorm in the mountains between Paradise and Durango. It’s not likely that travel will be possible until Saturday, and in our conversations I remind her repeatedly that she is safe, warm, with a bed to sleep on and food to eat where she is, and doing anything riskier than staying put should not be on the table.
She chafes at this advice, and resents being held back from what she wants to do by anything as ephemeral as the weather. But we both know well that the weather is absolutely indifferent to our wishes. It holds all the cards.
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From The New Yorker
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A couple of years ago Robin and I were drawn into the air fryer universe for two reasons. One is that we didn’t want to appear to be just one more set of out-of-date senior citizens. The second is that one day we Zoomed with grandchild Elsa and she told us that she owned one and found it to be useful. That was enough for us, so we went out and purchased the exact same model that she was using.
Before plunking down the cash, however, we did a small amount of web research on fryers, and were amused to find that each review started out like this: There is no need for you to buy an air fryer if you already have an oven of any kind anywhere in your house because that’s all it is, a teeny version of a convection oven.
We did have a perfectly usable oven of large capacity in our kitchen, but went right ahead and got an air fryer anyway because we (mostly me) desperately needed to feel au courant. Sometimes you just have to go out and waste money to feel … I don’t know … alive.
But this morning I came across this article about Best Buy having to recall a quarter of a million of their air fryers, which if the stories are accurate, are the appliances from hell. Imagine having an electrical device on your countertop that can overheat, and if it does, several interesting things could happen:
- the handles could melt
- the handles could fall off
- the glass viewing window could shatter and slash you
- it could catch fire
Sort of makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, no?
All of this just to be able to make Arby’s Frozen Curly Fries even better than those served at the restaurant. Really, you can, because you have total control of the crispiness and do not have to depend on the high school junior in the Arby’s kitchen who has so many things to keep track of and is totally focussed on the girl working the counter.
But in the case of the Best Buy Signature Air Fryer, you have to balance this advantage against the chance of your home becoming a smoldering ruin while you are having your burned and bloodied hands bandaged. Of course, this is America, and you get to choose for yourself. My only suggestion would be to buy this suit in the photograph at the same time you get your fryer.
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Let me finish with something that might be a bit more uplifting. It is Sunday, after all. One of the pleasures of getting into a boat with my friend Bill H. is that if the fish are not biting every once in a while he will come at you out of the blue with a question so non sequitur that you are caught flat-footed. One such exchange went something like this:
Do you pray?
Yes, I do
I know that you are an agnostic and Buddhism is a non-theistic religion, so why do it?
Longish pause.
Because whenever I do, I feel better. Not at some unspecified future date, but right away.
Longer pause.
I don’t get it, really.
I don’t either. In Buddhism there is this kind of meditation called metta, where you say repeated phrases that are just like prayers, without the expectation that there is a deity that is listening.
Still don’t get it.
Believe I have a bite!
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Leonard Cohen wrote so many great songs that I don’t even try to pick a favorite. But if I did, If It Be Your Will would be a contender. And it is a prayer.
When asked in 1984 which song, “you wish you had written?” Leonard Cohen famously replied, “If It Be Your Will and I wrote it.”
There are loads of renditions available to choose from, but one of the most distinctive is by the performer Antony, and I offer it here.
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A metta meditation for you –
May you be safe
May you be happy
May you be well
May you live at ease
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Little Home In The Valley 