What I Learned This Week - 9/5/14

1.  468 days until Star Wars Episode VII is in theaters.
2. There is an air guitar world championship. Yes way.
3. The definition of “mixed feelings”: getting a shiny-new computer then realizing the effort it is going to take to get all the software installed and network/personal configurations set.
4. Researchers have discovered that sunscreen from beachgoers dissolves and breaks down into many nasty compounds such as hydrogen peroxide – which could explain some degradation to the environment around popular beaches.
5. My kids and their friends will be quoting episodes of “Neature Walk with Lenny Pepperbottom” for the next few weeks. How neat is that?
6. There are few things I find redeeming about Des Moines, Iowa. Drivers, parking abilities, friendliness, and general manners are not among them.
7. People from Des Moines have not seen photos of any mountain outside their state. Matterhorn references are completely lost on them.
8. There is always something to buy at Bosselmans – the Disneyland of truck stops.
9. Apparently some people pick their fantasy football teams on the sole measure of “who has the best hair”. I predict I will lose to this person later in the year because I laughed.
10. Family member that travel 11 hours just to watch a relative compete for an hour are pretty awesome.
11. Sometimes the good guys actually win.
12. My kids don't like my Obi Won Kenobi impression at the dinner table when I tell them to, "Use the fork, dude"
13. Some people need to be reminded that last place in a national championship always beats not qualifying.
14. Four teens doing “homework” on a cross-country trip will drain a 12v battery in a Suburban in under an hour.
15. Sometimes texting what you really want to say but shouldn’t is worth it.
16. An “eggcorn”, which was coined in 2003 on a linguistics blog, is an invented word that describes invented words. I’m not sure how else words come into existence if they are not invented.
17. There is a programming language called “ArnoldC” based entirely around Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes. #getinthechoppa
18. When Star Wars debuted in 1977, US gas prices were at an all time high at $0.60.9/gallon.
19. Thanks to the internet and my kids, I now see robot faces in the rear-ends of vehicles. Taillights as eyes, bumpers as mouth, etc. The Jaguar F convertible has one of the unhappiest faces I’ve seen.
20. US Copyright laws do not apply to photographs not taken by a human. So you don’t actually own those family photos taken on a timer – they are free for public usage.