kbobam

Here're two more pet peeves. I think I can do these pretty quickly and without being too obnoxious. Double-doors! Like most businesses have. When the blank did the entire world start automatically using the left-hand door to enter or exit a place? This is, to quote Led Zeppelin, going 'in through the out door'. It never used to happen. A very strange phenomenon to me. Last, the pet-peeve that totally makes me go more nuts than I already am. There's no good reason for my violent reaction to this, but I just can't help it. (What, me neurotic?) Modern televisions come in varying degrees of 'wide-screenness'. But regardless of the relative proportions of any given TV, more people than not have their sets set up to stretch the picture to fit the screen. This makes the picture look ridiculous. Why would anyone want to do this? Is it really so awful to have a few inches of black space at the sides? Personally, I literally get nauseous trying to watch a stretched picture. I think this is similar to the way your brain would make it very clear to you that something was 'very wrong' if you suddenly started 'seeing double'. Below is a shot of how a television picture would look if your set was adjusted to correctly show everything the way it was recorded. Below that is a shot of how most of you are watching your TV. Good God.

That was a very interesting post! Good to get a 'historical perspective' from someone who's 'been there and back'. (That might not be the perfect 'expression', but you know what I mean!) P.S. Only thing I didn't 'get' was the last line about the minimum wage. Didn't connect it with everything else.

In case you haven't seen it, here's a really nice Subaru ad that makes me think of you two. ( : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZiGe2ArTOE

Many of us older guys (and gals too) feel the same way about 'the hardware store'. It's not that we don't think the big orange box is great, but we're talking about two completely different experiences.

Well done! A pet pet peeve!

Nicely put. I heard two fathers of teenagers talking recently, and one of them said that there was no way in heck he was going to let his daughter get her license until she was 'functional' with a manual transmission. The other dad agreed. Made sense to me. ( :

You posted some great marbles elsewhere a little while ago. Thanks for that, too, but what I'm most grateful for is your opening line: "Here're my larger ones." This is great! I can't remember the last time I read or heard someone make a contraction of this sort properly! (Everyone can stop reading now, unless you want to hear me bitch and moan.) Why has 99% of the population started saying "here's" and "there's" when they's (joke) talking about more than one thing? "They's" wasn't really a joke. Makes just as much sense, so I'm sure it'll catch on soon! Here are = Here're There are = There're You wouldn't bring some paperwork to your boss and say "Here is the documents you wanted." So you can't say "Here's the documents" either. Dammit! Thanks for listening. I have a few more pet-peeves, but will save them for later. ( :

Wow.

I was kind of bummed out when hdesousa pointed out that the teaching of mathematics as most of us know it is dying out. I'm assuming this phenomenon is based on the belief that if you have a calculator you're 'good to go'. Geesh. Kids have been asking why they have to learn things since the beginning of time. ("I'll never use this!") But the bottom-line has always been that it's important to 'learn to learn'. What's changed? This new 'robotic' approach to everything is going to blow up in our faces one of these days.

That's a lot of speed! Will comment about math in 'The Lounge'. Here are a couple 'muddies'. They're not 'beat-up'! They have 'character'.

For someone who likes marbles as much as I do, I continue to be embarrassed about how little I know. But I know 'outrageous' when I see it! Thanks. ( :

"...perhaps a tad more..." O M G !!! Now all heck is going to break loose around here about the definition of a peewee. Well, probably not. It's been covered pretty well. But thanks for bringing up the 'pontil concept'. That's an interesting twist! The most informative post I remember regarding the 'peewee wars' was one where someone showed factory specifications regarding 'size' tolerances in terms of the final product. For me, this proved conclusively that a marble slightly bigger than half an inch can absolutely be designated as a peewee if the factory did so. Thanks very much to that original poster, and please speak up if you're here! Don't remember if I mentioned Bel Air before. I worked there for a few months several years ago. It was a bit of a commute from Annapolis, but I really enjoyed it. What a great place! You guys are lucky to live there! ( :

The 'net' bag and marbles are beautiful, along with the photo. They have a strong 'seaside' look to me, although that may just be because of my 'coast' location. ( :

What's going on with kids these days?! (I'm sure this question has been asked since 'Day 1'!) I've never been in a 'family way', either as a kid or an adult. But I get information from a good friend with extended family. He recently told me that children here are no longer taught how to write 'script' or 'cursive' or whatever you want to call it. So what that tells me is that people will no longer have a 'signature' with which to sign documents. I guess all they need now is a 'sign-in' name and a password! This is so strange to me, I can hardly believe it! ( :

I don't have any idea what's going on at this other place. But if we're making 'general' comments, I'd like to counter with 'Moderators often prevent nuclear holocaust'. This doesn't seem like a bad thing. You have to be pretty heavy-duty to do this sort of 'balancing-act' well. ( :

This is one of the marbles I refer to as an "Akrocity". (Ack-raw-city) It's way 'out of round', although it doesn't look like it here. I have a long way to go on everything. But thanks for being kind! ( :

Sunday! Hallmark Channel! Noon! 11:00 Central! Even earlier for Dani and Ernie! And Galen! And I'm sorry I have no idea whatsoever for our European and Australian friends! The Kitten Bowl!!!

I do too. Even a plain transparent green marble is super cool if it goes totally nuclear when you light it up. But there's something really magical about pieces that are already beautiful in their own right, where the UV glow is extra 'gravy'. An interesting thing about this piece is that the little orange spots you see here on two of the 'feet' aren't reflections. They're the same 'amber glow' effect you get from 'Moonies'. I've had two of these 'concentric ring' jars, and both of them did the same thing. I think I've heard of other marbles besides Moonies with this characteristic, but don't remember what they are. If anyone can fill me in, I'd appreciate it. ( :

Boy! That's just a spectacular box!

I'm not quite following the rules here, (That's right, baby. I'm a rebel.) but hopefully 'the judges will accept it'. (♪Ding!♪)

More great advertising! I love the "Visibility Plus Utility" description. ( :

This is a 'Brunswick'. One of the rarest marbles in existence! It's very large and very heavy. Also very valuable, in spite of the three large blow-holes not visible in this photo.

Steph's marbles from yesterday look pretty special too, but I'm wondering what the band-aid like things are on some of them. ( :

There really is something special about Winnie's marble, but I'm having a hard time putting it into words. There's something 'natural' and comfortable about the colors.

Nice! I'd give anything to be sitting in a reclining chair next to the conductor to listen to that performance! ( :