Bicycle

I think bicycles are the most complex machine that pretty much anybody can understand completely just by looking at. Anything more complicated generally needs an explanation, but most people can figure out every component of a bike by examining it for long enough.

Goals

Planche
Iron Cross
Handstand Pushup
One-Armed Pullup
V10 Bouldering Route
Ollie an 8-stair gap
360 flip

1 out of 6 so far.

Tombstones

Tombstones are facebook pages for the dead; or maybe facebook pages are tombstones for the living.

[Sorry, I was in a pretentious mood]

Metal

Do you need courage and perseverance? Well, you can either spend a lot of time, energy, and prayer (if you're the praying type) trying to develop it...or you can just listen to metal.

Twins

In 2009, 12 families had boy/boy twins who they named Alexander and Alexis respectively.

Come on people.

Futile

Right now, I'd rather do something meaningful that I'm not great at than something I come alive doing but feels futile.

Literally

"Sloth" and "Gluttony" cannot have been meant purely metaphorically in the Seven Deadly Sins. I've never heard a sermon that treated them literally.

Iron

"He is not a man. He is like a piece of iron."
- Ivan Drago, in reference to Rocky Balboa

Florescent

Florescent lights outside at night have to be one of the prettiest things in existence.

Athletes

Ever wonder why athletes' bodies don't look quite like bodybuilders' or models'? (Particularly for women, but also for men).

Deals

Off-menu items at McDonald's that are awesome:

- Mcdouble add Mac Sauce, Lettuce, and Bacon
(Basically a Big Mac with bacon on it, but costs $2.00 instead of $2.88 which is what a normal Big Mac costs)

- Steak McSkillet add Bacon
(Incredibly tasty and filling, a complete meal for $4.26)

- Sausage Hashbrown Biscuit
(Exactly what it sounds like; hashbrowns are 2 for $1 so buy two on the side. Good with ketchup on it. Order a round egg a la carte and throw that on as well)

Remember: 1) You can get pretty much anything a la carte. 2) You can add bacon to anything for $1.00. 3) If you go during changeover you can mix breakfast and lunch ingredients if you're willing to wait a few minutes. 4) McDonald's accepts competitors' coupons.

On-menu items that are good deals:

- Big Breakfast with Hotcakes (formerly the Deluxe Big Breakfast)
(You get Hotcakes [$2.56], a sausage biscuit [$1], eggs [$1], and a hashbrown [$0.89]. So that's about $5.50 worth of food for $4.26)

- Anything off the dollar menu
(All great deals, without exception)

- Double Fish Fillet meal
(Costs around $5 and it's two fish patties)

- $1.99 Happy Meals
(Hamburger -- get a McDouble and you've got two sandwiches, fries, a drink, and a toy for $3.21)

Success

Ever feel like your success is just God doing other people a favor?

Wisdom

Wise words from the facebook profile of a person I don't know very well:

"The only other option is riding away on a stretcher, looking only at my blackened eyelids, unaware of how badly I have failed."

Highway

There are three basic categories of signs along I-75 that pertain to your location:
What roads are nearby / the road rules for your location
What you can buy near you
Who died near you

Haircuts

Places where people commonly have deep, often anonymous or confidential, conversations with strangers: confessional booths, haircut places, doctors offices.

Change

The most pennies you would ever need to get as change is 4.
The most quarters is 3.
The most dimes is 2.
The most nickels is 1.

I would therefore predict that 40% of all dropped change is pennies; 30% quarters; 20% dimes; and 10% nickels. But people are more likely to pick up valuable change when they see it lying around, so the coins you would be most likely to find on the ground are, in order (i am guessing):
1. pennies
2. dimes,
3. nickels,
4. quarters
It would probably depend a lot on the socioeconomics of the area involved, too.

Chalk

Chalk is the coward's spray-paint.

Girls

Girl guitar players that are world class -- regardless of gender.

April Lawton --
Check out her stuff with Ramatam. In the early seventies, I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say she was one of the 10 best guitar players on earth, maybe one of the best 5. Furthermore, I don't think anyone was as wild as she was except Hendrix himself. She quit music early so she could focus on painting and graphic design.

Orianthi --
I've been reading articles about her in "Guitar Player" magazine for years. She's done stuff with Steve Vai, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Santana. And now she has a top 20 single.

[I will add to this list, but now I have to go set the table]

G'n'R

The following formula expresses one's enjoyment when listening to Guns 'n' Roses:

E = kVD/(1+S)

when

E is Enjoyment
V is Velocity (on foot or by vehicle)*
D is volume level in Decibels
S is number of music Snobs in one's presence
k is the album constant

for "Appetite for Destruction" k = 10
for "G'n'R Lies" k = 5
for "Use Your Illusion I & II" k = 7
for "The Spaghetti Incident" k = 9
for "Chinese Democracy" k = 3



*excludes commercial airliners -- they are boring

Hofstadter

Quote from a book I am reading:

Tortoise: Your argument is persuasive, Achilles, and I must agree that such a flag is indeed impossible. But it is beautiful anyway, is it not?
Achilles: O, yes, there is no doubt of its beauty.
Tortoise: I wonder if its beauty is related to its impossibility. I don't know; I've never had the time to analyze Beauty. It's a Capitalized Essence; and I never seem to have the time for Capitalized Essences.
(p. 29)