Out and About – Week of November 18th

Two final ideas that might make your traveling experience more fun:

Never wear new shoes, especially hiking boots. Purchase them so that you’ll have a few weeks to break them in first.
Think about purchasing a travel plan that facilitates emergency care. A travel or medical emergency could leave you paying thousands of dollars for health-related emergency services not covered by your primary medical insurance.

Purchasing a new car with a “Keyless Start” function is not uncommon these days. I’ve heard that it won’t be long before this feature comes standard on any new car. You’ll show your age, if you remember the time when automatic transmissions, power windows, and air conditioning were all extras. I remember when my father bought a new car and my brother paid the extra cost to have a radio installed. Anyway, that key-less fob, that lets you unlock your car and even starts it with a push of a button, can pose a risk, when it comes to the security of your vehicle. It seems that a crook can find the signal the fob sends and relay it from your home and through an amplifying device to open and operate your car.

To protect that $40,000 machine that transports you from point “A” to point “B”, you might consider storing it in a signal-blocking container: a steel box; a commercially sold Faraday bag, which would block any radio frequency signal. You might even consider placing it in the refrigerator, when not needed. A final option would be to wrap it in aluminum foil.

On a clear-cloudless day, it’s fascinating to look skyward and see the contrails of commercial airliners as they move across the sky. As a jet is traveling, you rarely see the plane itself, but the contrails are visible. If an airplane is just taking off or landing, you can, of course, see the jet, but there aren’t any contrails. Here’s the explanation for those interested. The contrails are formed from condensed water vapor. Jet engines release water vapor into the air from their exhaust. This hot water vapor from the engine mixes with the cold air of the atmosphere and condenses into a cloud-like foggy trail. This phenomenon is more likely to occur higher in the sky, where the air temperature is lower. If the relative humidity of the surrounding air is high, the contrail can last for several hours. If the relative humidity is low, it will quickly evaporate and disappear. You grandparents might want to write this down, because this is one question that any grandchild could ask at any given time.

When you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead. The pain is only felt by others. The same thing happens when you’re stupid.

Along with getting their Christmas card list ready, some families are making arrangements to have that Christmas photo taken, so that it can be included with their greeting cards. The Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) would like to help. This Saturday, November 23, from noon until 3 PM, ARF will be at the local TSC store out on US-131. They’ll take a picture of your pet for just $10. For each additional pet, the charge is only $2 more. Family members may pose with their pet for FREE. All monies received from this fundraiser go toward feeding homeless pets here in St. Joseph County.

A quote or two from Randy Pausch:

“One key factor in the downward spiral in our educational system is that there is too much stroking and too little real feedback.”
“It’s a thrill to fulfill your own childhood dreams, but as you get older, you may find that enabling the dreams of others is even more fun.”
The main function of the little toe on your foot is to make sure that all the furniture in the house is in place.

See you Out and About!

Submitted by Norm Stutesman

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