Nissan’s Never Get Dirty Car

Washing a car can be a chore – and a costly one at that. In response, Nissan has begun tests on innovative paint technology that repels mud, rain and everyday dirt, meaning drivers may never have to clean their car again.

Posted in Interesting | 1 Comment

London 1924 & 2014

In 1924, Harry B. Parkinson and Frank Miller documented London in a fantastic series of short films, known as “Wonderful London”. Over the last few months, I have stood in their foot-steps, recapturing their shots exactly, and have blended the two together creating a window through time.

Wonderful London 1924 & 2014 from Simon Smith on Vimeo.

Posted in Interesting, Pop Culture | Comments Off on London 1924 & 2014

Bag of Randomness

scrooterbaofrdCapture

  • Yesterday I spent the afternoon at DFW’s most beloved radio sports radio station, KTCK The Ticket, at Victory Park.  Instead of driving I decided to take the DART Green Line.  I’m glad I had WifeGeeding drop me off because there wasn’t any parking available.  On the way there I was the only passenger on the train for the first few stops, but on the way home on the 5:09 train, it was standing room only.  I bought my ticket using their mobile app, but man, it would have been easy to just sneak onboard without paying.
  • Victory Park is a ghost land and a far cry from what was originally planned during the middle of the day.  Hopefully the New Victory Park will liven up the joint.  But I did catch some folks doing outside yoga during the lunch hour.
  • In case you are wondering why I got to spend a day at The Ticket, I gave Sean Bass an old mower and in exchange he said he would buy me lunch and let me spend an afternoon at the mothership.  There’s not a nicer guy in radio, I tell ya.  During lunch I asked him how the mower was working and it needed a little work and was only able to mow half his lawn, which made me feel like a heel as it worked before he came over.  But then again, it’s been collecting dust for about two years.  While we were eating he got the weekly rating numbers.  If I understood correctly, KZPS came in first, followed by KISS, and then The Ticket, but I got a bit lost in terms of what that meant in terms of demographics and such.
  • We walked into the studios around 1:30 PM and I got a brief tour of the place, including the other radio stations on the floor like ESPN and KSCS.  It was almost as I expected, with doors that had an “On Air” light above them.  I saw the Catman, the program directory, and that’s one intimidating mean looking dude.
  • During a commercial break we walked in on Bob and Dan of Bad Radio.  Bob didn’t recognize me at first and cited the beard, and I was surprised at how friendly Dan was.  I was nervous that I was intruding or throwing them off rhythm, but they’re pros and they seemed a little surprised that I was being so quiet.  I guess it was my way of being respectful.
  • The Ticket’s studio basically comprises of three studios.  You have one large room with a table and about six adjustable mics, and then two rooms are connected with that room with windows.  I’m probably not using the correct terminology, but one room is the control room where the producer sits (Jake or Danny) with a board operator, and another smaller room for the folks like Sean that does tickers.  I spent about all my time in the ticker room.
  • Understanding that I was a guest, I did my best to be respectful and try not to be “that guy” that whipped out the camera phone and take obtrusive pictures.  Even though Sean said it was okay, I still didn’t want to be a distraction but I did snap a few where I felt it was appropriate.  I really wanted to take some goofy pics with the hosts, but other than talking with Bob and Dan when I first arrived, I didn’t really get that opportunity.
  • There’s an actual real Emergency Break of the Week trophy.
  • This fathead of Mike Rhyner is about five feet tall.
  • Here’s Bob and Dan during a commercial break in the main studio room.
  • This is the control room, Jake is on the right.
  • On the opposite side of the building is where the sales staff and other folks work.
  • Funny Norm wallpaper for a computer in the ticker room.
  • The great Sean Bass preparing audio for an upcoming ticker.
  • A view from the ticker room of the two other rooms.
  • This is a picture of Sean Bass taking control of the ticker room at the start of Why Today Doesn’t Suck, notice the wallpaper of a young Mike Rhyner on the monitor.  Right above that picture of Rhyner is the actual back of Mike Rhyner in the studio.
  • Line Four Guy is no longer on line-four but line-one.  Line-four use to be the line for the long distance callers, so now you know he’s not a local resident.  I also found out only one host knows his identity as they are friends, childhood friends I believe.
  • Here’s Mike and Corby starting The Hardline, this is right after Rhyner said “the friendly Mercantile building.”  And here’s Danny Balis producering the show.  And yes, I know ‘producering’ isn’t a real word.
  • Here’s a very bad picture of Becca the traffic girl.  She basically sits down in the main room for about four minutes, plugs in her headset, does the traffic, and then heads out to do the traffic for one of the other radio stations.
  • While I was at The Ticket a close friend called saying he was at the Coppell Dairy Queen drive-thru and witnessed a black Mercedes convertible drive into the establishment.  He was able to snap this picture and then I told Bob I had breaking Coppell news.  Dan had a funny comment about it but I don’t know if it’s appropriate for this blog; however, I sure did laugh pretty hard.
  • All 552 ‘Simpsons’ Episodes to Air Consecutively on FXX in August
  • No one does more with less – Craig Ferguson is leaving the ‘Late Late Show’.
  • I found a replacement screen for my Chromebook on eBay for about $45 buck, which is much cheaper than buying a new computer.
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Bag of Randomness

2014-04-26 11.53.32

  • I took the family to the Bishop Arts District on Saturday morning where we visited Emporium Pies.  Not only did I get a kick out of their street number used for a pie shop, but their no soliciting message was pretty funny.  Lockhart Smokehouse wasn’t as good the second time around.
  • I just discovered that DART provides free service connecting Oak Cliff and downtown Dallas through something called the D-Link, which can make for a great weekend or afternoon.
  • Silly me, but until last weekend I had no idea that radio station KLIF was named after Oak Cliff, per Wikipedia.
  • I’ll admit it, everytime I heard Don Sterling’s name on the news yesterday my first thought was “Why is the NBA upset over a ‘Mad Men’ episode?”
  • Bought my first LED light bulb over the weekend since prices have come down.  The bulb cost less then seven bucks and performs better than I expected, much better than the CFL’s.  Suggestion: Don’t compare wattage when bulb shopping, compare lumens.
  • During yesterday’s sermon, my pastor played a Chevy commercial about a rancher looking for one lost calf, which of course was inspired by the parable of the lost sheep. I thought it was a pretty clever marketing strategy but got a kick that the ranching community was upset over the consistency of the livestock breed that was used.  Clicking on this link will autoplay the commercial and inform you of the inconsistency.
  • Hollywood seems to love remakes and comics, so I’m surprised there hasn’t been a new big screen version of television series of Buck Rogers.  I’d like to be in charge of casting Colonel Wilma Deering, my first choice would probably be Kate Beckinsale or Sandra Bullock.  She’s a colonel, so you need an older actress.  I actually watched the first three episodes of the old series over the weekend.
  • I learned the hard way that one shouldn’t leave a Chromebook or other similar device on the floor.  A toddler can step on it and ruin the screen.
  • Those Mavs have a little momentum.
  • ’60 Minutes’ had an interesting segment over operational underground missile silos operated by the Air Force.  I took two things away from it.  One, their technology is so antiquated they still use big, old kind floppy disks.  Since it’s so antiquated, there’s really isn’t a virus concern, and that kind of reminded me of the rebooted ‘Battlestar Galactica’ series.  Second, with the capability of shoot nukes from subs and stealthy fast aircraft, I don’t think there’s a need for the underground silos anymore and that’s one way to slice the military budget.
  • WifeGeeding caught DaughterGeeding standing in front of the toilet trying to “pee like Dadday.”  After a minute or two she decided to give up and proclaimed, “I guess I just can’t do it.”
  • I use to waste a lot of toothpaste as a kid trying to get the paste on my brush to look just the ones on the cover and commercials.
  • I caught the premier episode of ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’.  Overall it was pretty good.  He seemed a bit tight at first as you we leaning forward on his desk on his forearms, which I found distracting, but after a while he seemed to find his footing.  Without any commercial breaks or long video segments, it looks like it would be hard to be in character and that attentive compared to his old job.
  • I made a poor decision last night and made a very late trip to Whataburger.  I passed by our grocery store which has free Wi-Fi, but it was closed.  However, I saw a Mercedes parked outside and a man utilizing the Wi-Fi on an outdoor picnic table close to midnight.
  • If someone would have told me that Sarah Palin said, “Waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” I would have said they were being hyperbolic and they must be referring to some kind of SNL skit, but I’d be wrong.
  • Sometimes WifeGeeding will say “itch it” instead of “scratch it”. She’s the only person I know that does that until watching ‘Naked and Afraid’ last night.  Speaking of that show, it was interesting listening how one contestant prefers wiping with stones as opposed to her teammate who prefers leaves.  The man in leaves ended up getting itchy later.
  • Jim Carrey and Spike Lee make an unexpected but pretty funny comedy duo.
  • I had no idea replacing rail road ties could be so automated.
  • Grace
Posted in Personal | 3 Comments