On vanity and freezepops and stuff
At our local grocery store, there are some perfectly normal shopping baskets, and also some larger green ones that have two different handles. One allows you to operate it as a normal basket (see Figure 1); the other allows you to pull it behind you on its little castered wheels, like a tiny strange shopping cart (see Figure 2). I've noticed that male shoppers almost always carry those baskets rather than wheel them.
Yesterday, I was out shopping, preparing to make some excellent fried rice, carrying a green basket. I like to monitor how much my basket is weighing, since I need to carry everything home. Looking at the pasta, I conclude that my basket is too heavy, and I need to divest myself of the box of freezepops and one of my bags of Vidalia onions. I have a brief conversation with myself about the nature of vanity, and transform my basket into wheel mode.
About fifteen seconds pass without incident. Then another shopper comes up to me and asks me if this strange basket that I'm shopping with is my own basket. But he has a sort of strong Indian accent, so it takes a bit of back-and-forth before I'm able to understand and explain that baskets like these are available up front, near the other baskets.
Today, I went back to the store, and bought shoe polish for the first time in my life, and cut my thumb on the lid of the can.
I'm not sure what the moral of this story is.
Answer to the quiz: Without acting as an agent of the US government, there are two ways to violate the Constitution. The first way is by owning a slave (forbidden by the 13th amendment), and the second is to cross state lines in violation of beverage control laws (forbidden by the 21st amendment) Just think of it! If you get to work right now, you can violate the Constitution in under an hour! If you live in Rhode Island.
I later realized that the bat incident basically consisted of me being separated from my computer for about 24 hours, and thinking "This would make a great LJ entry". Then I realized, "Oh great, I've lived yet another XKCD strip."
Question: does it bother anyone else that the freezepops and onions are in exactly the same position in both diagrams, despite the fact that switching modes would have jostled them around?
Correction: last entry, I used the word "nonplussed" to describe someone whose professional demeanor was unaffected by being asked a somewhat bizarre question. It turns out that I had the definition exactly backwards. I apologize for not describing him as "non-nonplussed".
Clarification: my fried rice recipe in no way involves freezepops.
Yesterday, I was out shopping, preparing to make some excellent fried rice, carrying a green basket. I like to monitor how much my basket is weighing, since I need to carry everything home. Looking at the pasta, I conclude that my basket is too heavy, and I need to divest myself of the box of freezepops and one of my bags of Vidalia onions. I have a brief conversation with myself about the nature of vanity, and transform my basket into wheel mode.
About fifteen seconds pass without incident. Then another shopper comes up to me and asks me if this strange basket that I'm shopping with is my own basket. But he has a sort of strong Indian accent, so it takes a bit of back-and-forth before I'm able to understand and explain that baskets like these are available up front, near the other baskets.
Today, I went back to the store, and bought shoe polish for the first time in my life, and cut my thumb on the lid of the can.
I'm not sure what the moral of this story is.
Answer to the quiz: Without acting as an agent of the US government, there are two ways to violate the Constitution. The first way is by owning a slave (forbidden by the 13th amendment), and the second is to cross state lines in violation of beverage control laws (forbidden by the 21st amendment) Just think of it! If you get to work right now, you can violate the Constitution in under an hour! If you live in Rhode Island.
I later realized that the bat incident basically consisted of me being separated from my computer for about 24 hours, and thinking "This would make a great LJ entry". Then I realized, "Oh great, I've lived yet another XKCD strip."
Question: does it bother anyone else that the freezepops and onions are in exactly the same position in both diagrams, despite the fact that switching modes would have jostled them around?
Correction: last entry, I used the word "nonplussed" to describe someone whose professional demeanor was unaffected by being asked a somewhat bizarre question. It turns out that I had the definition exactly backwards. I apologize for not describing him as "non-nonplussed".
Clarification: my fried rice recipe in no way involves freezepops.