Life is a Big Q and A by valmg

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I know my vision is bad. Since I was less than ten years old I’ve had to wear glasses or contacts because my vision is much worse than 20/20. I always wondered what 20/20 meant, so this week I looked it up. Normal vision, or acuity, is tested by reading an eye chart at a distance of 20 feet and comparing your vision to what should be seen from that distance by the majority of the population. So if you’re 20 feet back from the chart and see everything clearly your vision is 20/20. If you’re 20 feet back and you see what someone with normal vision sees at 100 feet back then your vision is 20/100. The cutoff to be legally blind is 20/200. If you see at 20 feet back what the average person sees at 10 feet back, then your vision is measured as 20/10 and is better than normal.

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20Q is a website where you can play the game 20 questions. There are numerous versions that you can play including Disney, the Simpsons, Earth, the Old Testament, Star Trek, People, TV, Movies, Name Game, Harry Potter, Music, Sports and Classic. The site lets you play for free. After you choose which version of the game you want to play you answer questions by clicking on links. It’s guessed my answer each of the five times I played it. Try it, it’s fun.

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I got an email from a friend about this product called Anti Monkey Butt Powder. At first I thought it was a joke or something but it looks like a real product. The site says that this powder is supposed to absorb sweat and prevent friction. The site also says that it’s made for people that sit a long time and are involved in sports or physical labor. I wonder how they came up with the name?

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My son asked me this one. I thought I knew the answer but wanted to be sure. Here it is.

Deodorants contain a fragrance or scent designed to mask odor.  Antiperspirants may or may not contain a scent and are designed to stop sweat from forming by blocking the sweat ducts.  Both are available in many forms including solid, gel and spray. It is healthy to sweat because toxins come out in sweat.

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Have two pictures and want to know which is better? Maybe the pictures are of outfits, or puppies, or houses, or anything. The site This One That One gives users the chance to post two pictures and then gives the public the ability to vote on them. The site is free to use, you don’t even need to create an account. I didn’t have any pictures I needed voted on but I did have a bit of fun voting on other people’s pictures.

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I never seem to hear about product recalls until they’re in the news and getting big attention. I never really gave much thought to what recalls were being announced at any given time until recently. The best source of product recall information that I’ve found is the CPSC site, which is the website of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The site allows users to search by month and year, product type, company, product, type of hazard and country where the product was manufactured. An rss feed is available to receive updates on new recalls as well.

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Pipl is a site where visitors can search for people. They claim to be different because they say they search the “deep web”, the content that spiders can’t reach. To use it you put in the first and last name of the person you want to find, as well as the city and state. I found it less effective than google. It only found me once and didn’t find a few other people easily found on google at all.

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The wantsforsale site really surprised me. The site is run by a couple. When they want something in life they post a painting of it and put that painting up for sale. When someone buys that painting supposedly the couple goes and buys that item. The site states the price of each painting is exactly what it costs to buy the item. Well, that’s not exactly true because they also charge $15 for shipping within the US and more for other countries. I really don’t understand why someone would pay good money for a cheesy painting so that someone else could have something. Why don’t they just get a job?

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I received an email a while back telling me to check out a site called McSweeney’s because it was really funny. I finally checked it out today. The site doesn’t make much sense to me. It’s plain white and has no navigation, just a bunch of links. Most of the links lead to short stories or more links. I was pretty disappointed, because I didn’t find a single funny thing there.

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The Mutopia Project is a website where people can get the sheet music for classical songs with editions available in the public domain. The site is managed by volunteers. Materials on the site fall under a limited creative commons license and according to the site may be printed, downloaded, performed and shared.

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I’d never heard of Bookcrossing until about a year ago. When I mentioned it to a coworker, they weren’t familiar with it either so I thought there might be a lot of people out there who weren’t familiar with it. Bookcrossing is a way of sharing, or recycling, a used book with other people and tracking where else it’s traveled or has been. It is free to register as a member. Members register a book that they own and it receives a unique identifying number. The book is then placed in a  location (released) where someone else is free to pick it up and enjoy it. Ideally, the person that picks the book up will see the identifying number and website and then write on the journal that they’ve caught the book. I think that Bookcrossing is a great idea, and a terrific way for people to share  a book and promote reading.

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One of my coworkers recently started dating again after many years. Here’s a list of tips that all the girls in the office came up with for her.

• Shave the pits
• Wear a long shirt he’ll never notice that you didn’t shave your legs
• Be honest, don’t be misleading
• Let the man talk too
• Enjoy the conversation
• Bring some cash
• Use good table manners, not his shirt
• Don’t stare at his unibrow
• Don’t diagnosis his moles
• Don’t fart
• Don’t burp
• Don’t pick your teeth
• Don’t flash your breasts
• Don’t clip or bite your fingernails
• Don’t pick your nose
• Don’t compare him to your ex
• Don’t bring him home to meet Mom
• Don’t compare tattoos
• Don’t tease him by running your leg up his
• Don’t forget protection
• Don’t drink more than he does
• Don’t ask for the waiter’s number when he comes to bring the check.
• Don’t insist he takes a tic tac from you (“No, really…I don’t care if you’re a diabetic!”)
• Don’t point to a red mark on your arm and say “Does this look like ringworm to you?”
• Don’t tell him your parole officer insists you be home by 10.
• Don’t give him a rundown of your most recent bowel movements.
• Don’t talk all night about your cats…come on, don’t be the cat lady!
• Don’t tell him you can’t eat too much, your next date is waiting at the pizza place down the road.
• Don’t tell him you have to drink slowly, that’s the only way to fool the alcohol monitoring bracelet the judge ordered you to wear.
• Don’t say “I’d offer for you to come back to my place, but I’m not sure the department of health is done yet” After dinner is done
• Don’t drink too much, you don’t want to show him how much of a cheap date you really are

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Waterbuds were created by two families trying to prevent the spread of germs. A Waterbud is an inexpensive small charm that people can place on water bottles. The ring that goes around the neck of the bottle is made of latex free silicone, so it can tolerate washing, heat and cold. The charms are dishwasher safe, and could even be used with mugs, straws and cans. Waterbuds can be purchased online and in select stores in Virginia.

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