Random Thursday

Scattershooting while pondering one of life’s most important questions: will Pamela Anderson’s samba outfit on this season’s Dancing With the Stars be sufficiently intriguing to offset the appearance of Kate Gosselin? (Seriously, though: Pamela Anderson?!)

• You may have seen Rube Goldbergesque stunts before, but I assure you that you’ve seen nothing like this video from the pop group OKGo.

• Here’s a bit of local news you Midlanders might not have yet heard. The pastor of Midland’s First Baptist Church, Gary Dyer, is leaving at the end of this month to pastor a church in Austin. Dr. Dyer has been at FBC Midland for about fifteen years; he was just the third pastor my wife and I have had since coming to Midland in 1982. FBC is, in my opinion, at something of a crossroads, and the choice of a new pastor will be critical in determining its future direction. But, I guess you can say that about any new pastor.
• I found out today that one of my high school English teachers passed away, just short of his 90th birthday. Mr. Skylstad was born in Norway and came to America as a teen. There weren’t too many Norwegian immigrants in Fort Stockton. I remember him as having a great love of the English language and literature, and of teaching. I can’t honestly say that his class represented a great turning point in my life, but I do believe that he reinforced a love of reading and learning that I was fortunate enough to acquire at an early age. He also tried to teach critical thinking, something that I perceive to be sadly lacking in some of today’s educational tactics.
• The practicality of this gadget for a bicyclist probably depends on the traffic conditions faced by the rider, but it has possibilities. I never ride on the street without a rearview mirror, so the ability to monitor traffic behind me via a video screen isn’t something I need. But, of course, when it comes to geeky toys, need is basically irrelevant. Plus, it allows you to record an accident, which should result in some new dramatic YouTube videos.
• I have never claimed to be a graphic designer, but in my line of work, I can’t avoid tasks like coming up with color schemes for websites. Adobe’s Kuler is an excellent tool for the job, but it’s complicated and a bit of overkill. That’s why I’m thrilled to discover Elvan Online, a color generator that provides sliders for varying the colors, and one-click generation of a wide variety of palettes derived from a single color.
• Finally, while dealing with color palettes is plenty intimidating, riding a dirt bike on a rocky 12″ wide trail at the edge of a sheer cliff is downright nausea-inducing. Exhibit A (you’ll have to click over to watch it on YouTube; apparently, it might cause 12 year olds to try to ride their motorcycles through the Andes, or something):

  There are a dozen places along this trail where I would have plummeted to my death (if I was fortunate), for the sole reason that I have never mastered the art of looking where I want to go instead of at what I want to avoid. And when I look at what I want to avoid, I inevitably ride straight for it. (You know, there’s a Bible verse that seems to address this very phenomenon, although it probably wasn’t originally intended for mountain bike riders.)