The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Extreme tourism, Cashiers, North Carolina edition

The Marginalia Search Engine is such a cool search engine. It's like visiting the web in the 90s with the quirky personal sites with ugly designs and no advertising. Try out some random sites.

Very cool.

While there, I decided to see what results it had for Brevard, NC and boy, some of the results are incredible. I did not know that Cashiers, North Carolina is a hotbed of UFO activity. Had I know, I might have tried looking for an alien license plate at (what is now) the Cashiers Valley Smokehouse. Although, had we delayed our 2015 visit to Brevard to mid-November, we might have seen an actual UFO!

Darn our luck!

I'm not saying it's aliens, but … it's aliens

Right after finding out about Cashiers being a hotbed of UFO activity, my keyboard flaked out on me. The “o,” and “r” keys would register sporadically, which is odd given that I only use IBM Model M keyboards. And why then? Is it something they don't want me to know? Or maybe … aliens? Very odd.

I've probably been using that keyboard for nearly twenty years (it probably just needs good cleaning, but it requires a special screw driver to open), but fortunately, I have an entire stash of IBM Model M keyboards at hand to swap out. so I think I'm set for the rest of my life Because have you seen the prices for IBM Model M keyboards? Averaging around $150, with spikes up to $650! Insane! I never paid more than $10 for any of mine.

I pulled another keyboard from my stash, gave it a light dusting, and I'm good to go.

I'm still amazed this isn't Stevie Wonder

Today I learned that the song “Virtual Insanity” is not by Stevie Wonder, but Jamiroquai. The video is also quite insane, what with Jamiroquai sliding around the room, along with the furniture—trippy stuff, and something I had to find out how it was done. And like all magic tricks, it's both insanely simple and yet, amazing how well it's pulled off.

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[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

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