Frank's TV redux

In 2009*, the Dallas Cowboys put up in AT&T Stadium some videoscreens that measured 160 feet across and 72 feet high.  Converting that to inches and applying Pythagorean methodology, we find that this yields a diagonal size of... 2,105 inches.  Not yet available for home consumers, but still.  Frank would be pleased.

Also note that there are several stadium screens even larger in scope-- The Safeco Field screen is 2,500 inches, and the brand new (more or less) Reliant Stadium screen is a whopping 3,382 inches diagonally (a bit shorter but a lot longer.  Widescreen, donchaknow.).  There's also a race track in Dubai and a speedway in N. Carolina, but I don't have exact confirmed numbers for those, and I don't think it matters enough to track them down.  I'm sure in a couple of years there'll be another bigger one somewhere else anyway.

*"Frank's 2000 Inch TV" was released by Weird Al et. al. in 1993.  16 years ain't too bad to make something this hyperbolic happen.

Partial source: http://stadiumblog.dallasnews.com/tag/guinness-world-records
Other figures from "Bigger in Texas", Caleb Hannan, Wired, October 2013.

OIH

Another post for the annals of Obvious In Hindsight.

Having recently (last weekend) upgraded from my first ever smartphone to my second ever smartphone, I discovered that the old model (which they let me keep, to my vague surprise-- I guess I assumed they'd claim it as part of the trade-in) is still completely functional in every way except for its ability to make phone calls (arguably one of the least important of its functions as far as I was concerned).  So I can still use it as a music player, or game device, or Facebook check-in-er, or video watcher, or TV remote, or whatever just so long as I'm in range of the WiFi.  Which is good news!

The bad news is that it is also just as good an alarm clock as it ever was.  Which meant an unexpected blaring noise at 5:45 this morning coming from the other room because it never occurred to me to turn off the alarm when I switched the phones.

Mole rubbing

Mole fur has no nap.  This means that it does not lie in any preferred direction against the skin.  Presumably, this is useful if the mole has to reverse direction within a narrow tunnel, an act which would otherwise lead to a very bad hair day indeed.  Moles have proverbially poor eyesight, so at least they wouldn't laugh at each other.  It still wouldn't be very comfortable, though.

Fortunately, due to the naplessness, the above scenario never takes place-- moles are immune to this particular social embarrassment, and secure in the fact that it is, as the source article puts it, "...literally impossible for a mole to be rubbed the wrong way."

Source : Discover Magazine; http://discovermagazine.com/2013/september/15-the-urban-bestiary#.Uk7BUNJzHVo

The Wendy Dear

Today I learned that it is possible, although very difficult, to couple an iPhone camera to a telescope free-hand. 

The following is about a mile off-shore, and took me about five minutes to get a shot that wasn't off-center by 0.03 mm and therefore completely useless. 

Sandals

My beloved Tevas finally gave up the ghost after 16 years of yeoman service.  In the course of purchasing a replacement pair (which will prove inferior in every possible way, no doubt.  Sniff.), I learned that I had been pronouncing their name incorrectly for that entire time.  They are not Teeevas.  They are Tehvas.  At least according to the promotional video that the Zappos app had.

News of Eyes

What I learned this morning at the optometrist:

1. Introduction: My left eye is slightly more astigmatic than my right, which is a thing that can't quite be corrected for by current contact lens technology.  Not a big deal, I'm still 20/20 with the lenses, and my actual glasses are even better if I really care.
2. Opening: Cataract surgery has gotten really good in the last few years.  It's often quick, relatively straightforward, minimal recovery time (as in hours instead of days), and in many cases includes as a side benefit the equivalent of LASIK correction.  Getting a cataract removed can actually improve your vision significantly.
3. Development: Cataracts are also being detected much earlier than they used to be, which contributes to the ease of treatment-- the less developed they are, the easier they are to remove.
4. Embellishment:  Cataracts can be caused (sort of) by "trauma to the front of the face."  It doesn't exactly cause them per se, but an impact force on the eyeball can sort of prime it, making cataracts slightly more likely to form later on down the line.  All of which leads to:
5. Climax: I have the tiniest infinitesimalest beginnings of a cataract in my right eye, and even tinier such in my left. Possibly caused (as it were) by the air bag in the car accident I was in in '98, or even the soccer ball I took to the face back in...'87?  Maybe?  Somewhere around junior high.  Although I think that hit more on the left, if I remember correctly-- I seem to remember suffering a cut over my left eye from the beveled edge of my glasses.
6. Denouement: It's basically of no more than academic interest.  My previous OD (since decamped for another office) noted it in my file and didn't even bother mentioning it to me.  The current OD saw it on the file, peered into my massively dilated eyes, and said, "Wow, he was really picky."  Basically, I can easily ignore it for the next a decade if not two.

And now back to work, as my eyes slowly regain their previous pupillite proportions.

Pop rocks

The retro candy confection known as Pop Rocks are made by bubbling carbon dioxide through a solution of molten sugar (mixed with some color and flavorings), which traps the gas as the sugar hardens. It was invented in 1956 as a potential mix-in for Kool-Aid, but didn't work very well and so sat on the metaphorical shelf until the 1970s, when someone had the unprecedented idea of just shoving the damn things in your mouth.  And the rest is history.