Sharp Skirts

A Sunday editorial hit the perfect note for my three day weekend….and it already seems like so long ago. What five inventions have made living easy possible?

Here’s the list but I’m sure we can do better:

• The La-Z-Boy Recliner–it has”forever blurred the line between sitting up and lying down”
• The Calculator–it makes math class much easier
• Velcro–”nothing beats the sweet music of parting Velcro”
• The Toilet–does this need an explanation?
• The Escalator–”paving the way for today’s world, in which we choose not to use staircases, just StairMasters.”

You, my friend, are lucky enough to live a life of luxury with every flush. Only a 22nd Century invention combining the La-Z-Boy, a toilet, and Velcro could make it any easier.

There are some obvious complexities inherent in that proposition. Let’s not dwell on it.

It’s your turn….what is missing from this list?

Daniel Ruefly pushed the plunger while police and thrill seeking spectators watched. Over three hundred people competed to stand in his place and pull the trigger on the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge. With a low draw bridge that’s raised an average of 270 times a year, the bridge in question has haunted Daniel Ruefly for the last 30 years and the commuting public since 1961.

What was Daniel’s prize-winning story? It’s a commuter’s day in hell:

In 1999, he suffered a hip injury when his pickup truck slammed into an illegally parked tractor-trailer on the bridge. On top of that, the injury was made worse because the ambulance taking him to hospital was stuck on the bridge for more than half an hour waiting for the drawbridge to lower.

QUOD: What traffic nightmare would you like to blow sky high?

This post at Gizmodo is worth a laugh. We’ve come so far that this woman was actually fired by text message. Now that’s a CUL8R!

A friend of mine still wonders how IMing my neighbor in the cubicle next door made any sense. Good thing she couldn’t see what we were typing! It was also an IM buddy that kept me up entirely too late last night. Like Midnight is the best time to argue about U.S. policy in the Middle East! And, don’t get me started on the horror of grading a student’s paper these days…BC it SUX.

So, instant messaging is permeating our days and nights.

Add your rant or rave here. Is it making you more productive? Helping you keep up with friends? Or adding another distraction to your day?

Lore at Wired News believes he is the only one with time to ponder the ultimate joystick today. With only a couple of days between a return flight and another departing flight, I found this question a welcome diversion from the laundry cycle. Here’s the premise….we have game controllers perfect for racing through L.A., a whole flight simulator set up for learning to fly in your living room, and the dance pad attachment for a pathetic Saturday night.

Let’s skip right pass the obvious to consider the possibilities of Lore’s action-figure controller or the fun of drinking alone with the beer controller. Alcohol poisoning and a throbbing drunk crowd of digital friends chanting “chug, chug, chug” might be the perfect end to that aforementioned Saturday night.

What is the gaming world still missing?