Apr 25 Do you like car salesmen? I don’t.
They’re pushy, they’re slightly overbearing, and they only want to be your friends to make money off of you.
Case in point:
I read an article about an incident that outraged me. It also solidified my distaste for car salesmen. In the May 2007 edition of Car and Driver magazine, I saw an article about a man who went into a dealership to buy a car. He ended up buying a GMC Canyon. This man was mentally disabled (he was later reported to have had feces-covered pants on) with a reported IQ (from a relative) of 70.
To buy the Canyon, the man paid in cash (approximately $30,000) and ended up telling the salesman that he actually had a lot more cash at home. Granted this isn’t exactly a wise thing to do, but this man was also understandably mentally disabled.
Events proceeded and the man one day thought that his truck had been stolen (when in fact it turned out to have been towed). He called up his salesman buddy for a ride who then took him to the tow yard. While driving him, the other salesmen who had conspired together proceeded to go to the man’s home and steal the money. They ended up leaving with $70,000.
The police then came to the house to investigate the crime and upon finding feces throughout the house, had the mentally disabled man committed to an institute. A salesman kindly took the time to go to the institute, get the man to sign over the Canyon to him, and charged him for the time that it took to do so!
Subsequently, lawsuits were brought against many of the salesmen, the dealership returned the $100,000 to the man, and some semblance of justice was served.
Suffice to say, I am still not impressed with salesmen. Especially those of the car variety.
Apr 24 People are ridiculous. It’s amazing. I don’t even need to cut this entry short because I am speechless at such an act. Imagine yourself out eating dinner at a nice place. Then a man runs in. And then that man proceeds to storm a kitchen, grab a knife, and cut himself. Even more shockingly, he cuts off his own penis. Are you kidding me?!
If you’d like, you can read the original article. Seen on Digg.
Apr 24 Have you found that it’s fairly ridiculous how much people will charge you when you absolutely need something? Take passport pictures for example. There are specifications and guidelines such that most people won’t really want to study them in order to make their own pictures. So because of that, they’ll gladly just pay someone 8 bucks (or whatever it is) for a couple of 2” x 2” pictures of their face. Outrageous! Good thing you have other options.
I wanted to make some passport pictures for someone that I know because she needed more than the usual 2. Because of that, I’m not sure how much it would cost. And on top of that, I always thought it was unfortunate how much places would charge you for passport pictures anyways.
So I searched online, and I found this great tutorial that shows you how to make your own passport pictures! I followed the tutorial, but I used the Gimp instead.
The Gimp (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) is an Adobe Photoshop replacement that is both open-source AND free. That means that all of you cheap suckers out there can use this for nothing instead of that hacked version of Photoshop that you’re currently running (which is illegal both in law and in spirit). It’s also pretty robust in my opinion, but then again I’m not wizard at image manipulation anyways. Anyways, the Gimp has all of the necessary tools available but here are some helpful pointers from a beginner who already has done it. I didn’t want to just put the whole tutorial here because I didn’t make it. If you want to use it, then go there. However, for some completeness the steps are basically:
Basic Steps
- Measure from the chin to the top of the head to get the number of pixels.
- Calculate the DPI (dots per inch) that you’ll need for your particular picture because in the end you’ll need 1-1.375 inches from the chin to the top of the head.
- Divide measured pixels from chin to the top of the head by how many inches you want (from 1 to 1.375 inches). That gives you pixels/inches which is the same as DPI.
- Do a fixed size select. Since you want a 2” x 2” picture in the end, you’ll have to multiply the DPI that you previously got by 2. So if you calculated a DPI of 530 as in the tutorial, then you would do a fixed size select of 1060 by 1060. Copy the selected area.
- Create a new file with a size of 4” x 6” (or whatever size you want, I actually made an 8.5” x 11”). Then change the resolution to whatever your DPI is.
- Paste however many pictures you need from your fixed size selection to the new file. Position them so that you’ll have room to cut them out, etc
- You’re done!
Helpful Hints
The measuring tool is located in the toolbox as indicated. It works similarly to the Photoshop tool in the tutorial.
When using the rectangle select, you don’t have to use the free select. Use the fixed size option as shown here (after doing the calculations in the tutorial).
Make sure to specify the new file in inches according to how you want to print it. Then the resolution should be made to equal your DPI (this makes sure that your picture will turn out to be the right size).
Also, not to sound like a fanatic but long live open source software! :D
Update: if you specifically want a U.S. passport picture, the State Department has this Adobe Flash tool, which is extremely easy to use!
Apr 23 I want to wait But I don’t know if I can stay strong. If something comes along, I don’t know if I want to wait that long.
You seem so far I am so tempted by near things. In my head, A definite doubt rings.
“You need to give in” And “It’s not worth the wait”. Right there, Those are some thoughts that I hate.
I want it to be right I want to choose in a wise fashion. Instead of waiting To do the dashin’.
I wonder if I’m just strange, Everyone else seems alright. They’re all satisfied They don’t lay awake and suffer in the night.
Longing for that Which is not yet here. Won’t you come And be with me, dear.
What am I saying? Do you have even a clue? Well dear friends I’m being dumb, that’s true.
I just wrote a poem And the meaning is not Exactly what you thought. You won’t think it’s hot.
Sometimes I need, To really go. Sometimes I am My own worst foe.
The relief that comes After releasing the stress. Sometimes I think That is the best.
The bathroom is sometimes where I wish to be at. At that time, I don’t want to chat.
I wonder if you can Guess the other thought. If you do then great, On here you should jot!
Apr 23 [sin-tl-eyt]
Definition:
To emit sparks
Example of usage:
When she said that she didn’t mind kissing and telling, she was completely honest! Her descriptions included all of the scintillating details.
Okay so I actually this that this is interesting because I looked up the word before I posted it, and it seemed like a slightly different definition than I expected. It makes sense for scintillate to mean to emit sparks, but for most of the times that I’ve encountered it, it has been used more metaphorically. There is the usage in terms of sparks as between lovers. And there is the usage for someone who is very witty and quick. Hm, I guess we all learn something everyday, don’t we?