Tuesday, August 09, 2005
A new car?
Yes, that's right. After 16 years of loyal service to my family and two very solid years as my vehicle of choice, the Invisible Ben Mobile is being replaced. Tomorrow, I travel by train to pick up Version 3.0, with features like reliably working air conditioning and a CD player. No more CD/Tape adapters for me! Another shift in car color is also in the cards. Those of you in the know recall that Ben-Mobile, v. 1.0 was dark blue. In an inadvertent nod to the Civil War, v. 2.0 is gray, or if you're feeling benevolent...silver. The latest Ben-mobile breaks from the trend, with a shiny red paint job. Technically, that's not true. While doing research on various car models, I quickly learned that cars do not come in red anymore, or blue or silver. The simple Crayola colors of our youth have been deemed overly generic by today's automakers. Which is why my new car is not merely red. No, to appeal to today's younger, hipper audiences it's
SANGRIA RED!!!
Which is ironic when you think about the fact that sangría, by definition, is an alcoholic beverage. And nothing says responsible driver like a cool refreshing bit of the alcohol. What does next season hold for automobile model colors? Coors Silver? Guinness Black? Johnny Walker Blue? Hmm...I may be on to something here.
In any event, I'm looking forward to the car. And I certainly am glad I didn't trade it in for that mystery box.
Some other quick news points:
That's all for now folks. Until next time...keep watching the skies. (Perseid meteor shower is coming on the 12th!)
Yes, that's right. After 16 years of loyal service to my family and two very solid years as my vehicle of choice, the Invisible Ben Mobile is being replaced. Tomorrow, I travel by train to pick up Version 3.0, with features like reliably working air conditioning and a CD player. No more CD/Tape adapters for me! Another shift in car color is also in the cards. Those of you in the know recall that Ben-Mobile, v. 1.0 was dark blue. In an inadvertent nod to the Civil War, v. 2.0 is gray, or if you're feeling benevolent...silver. The latest Ben-mobile breaks from the trend, with a shiny red paint job. Technically, that's not true. While doing research on various car models, I quickly learned that cars do not come in red anymore, or blue or silver. The simple Crayola colors of our youth have been deemed overly generic by today's automakers. Which is why my new car is not merely red. No, to appeal to today's younger, hipper audiences it's
SANGRIA RED!!!
Which is ironic when you think about the fact that sangría, by definition, is an alcoholic beverage. And nothing says responsible driver like a cool refreshing bit of the alcohol. What does next season hold for automobile model colors? Coors Silver? Guinness Black? Johnny Walker Blue? Hmm...I may be on to something here.
In any event, I'm looking forward to the car. And I certainly am glad I didn't trade it in for that mystery box.
Some other quick news points:
- First off, this article by Alexandra Starr explains what anyone teaching in an inner city public school could have told you...low standardized test scores do not automatically demonstrate a lack of intelligence among American high school students. Rather, it confirms the lack of incentive to perform well on tests which seem to have no impact on their lives. An interesting read, even as a part of what Starr refers to as "the weak link of the U.S. educational system." (Thanks to Mr. Barker at Thought for the Day for bringing this to my attention.)
- Secondly, I have added a few new links to the Invisible BlogRoll of late. Check out the ruminations of some of Dartmouth's finest at The Hanover Collective . Or if you prefer technologically inspired anarchy, perhaps you'll enjoy Technological Solutions to Social Problems .
- Third, the politically minded among you might enjoy this MP3. It's brought to you by Harry Shearer and the kindly folks at LeShow, and is therefore, almost certainly a copyrighted feature of that site. But, I still think it's worthy of dissemination as it effectively encapsulates our Commander-in-Chief's unique justification for the difficulties our troops face in Iraq.
- Fourthly, speaking of copyrighted features, I am still trolling around for Wikipedia Bloopers [TM], and I could use your help. All you have to do is browse Wikipedia, and if you find an error in an article, send it along to me at the Invisible E-Mail so that we can archive it for posterity. The more blatant and hilarious, the better. And unlike a Wikipedia article, you will get sole credit for your work...so get to it!
That's all for now folks. Until next time...keep watching the skies. (Perseid meteor shower is coming on the 12th!)
