Halloween is Different Now

I like Halloween, which is next Tuesday. It's fun to pass out candy to the kids who come to our door.

But it's meaning has subtly changed over the years.

Used to be Halloween was about the supernatural. Goblins and spooks and witches, etc. Decorations generally followed this supernatural theme. 

Kids would dress up in costumes (not always supernatural related) and go door to door for candy. 

But these days, adults seem to be more involved in Halloween and the holiday has expanded to include horror such as serial or mass killers. Like this picture I recently saw in Facebook:

I think this change has followed the change in horror movies from supernatural to things like the Saw movie franchise (which, as I understand it, is just torture porn)(because I refuse to watch it).

I liked the Halloween of my childhood better. 

How do you feel about Halloween and what it has come to represent? Let me know in the comments below.

Coffee and Cars

Scene from American Graffiti

When I was younger (a long, long time ago), part of American car culture was "cruising." The movie American Graffiti is a great example of this.  You'd get in your car (or your parents' car) and go to a main street (usually, the main street through town), and drive up and down it slowly showing off both your car and yourself. I never did this because I never had a cool car until I was older. 

An aside: If you haven't see American Graffiti, which turned 50 years old this year, drop everything and see it.  

Now days, car culture has embraced the "Coffee and Cars" set up. This is where car people meet on a weekend morning and park their vehicles and talk to other car enthusiasts about, what else, cars. 

I think Coffee and Cars has become more popular for a variety of reason. First off, cars are a lot more expensive so it's older folks who tend to own the "cool" cars. And old folks don't want to stay up late cruising.

Second, local government have passed anti-cruising laws. 

And third: gasoline is more expensive so parking cars and talking is more appealing than driving a lot.

I've been to a couple of Coffee and Cars organized by a local car detailer (the only one who touches my cars) and they were fun. I stopped going after I sold my Corvette. Looking at other cars and talking to the owners was just a good time.

This, like cruising, is more a warm-weather activity, so it's pretty much stopping in the northern parts of the country right now and will start up again in the spring.

Have you been to a Coffee and Cars? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

The above photo is being used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act: fair usage.

I "Invented" the Internet

I invented the internet.

I'm serious. 

I remember when I was somewhere between 12 and 18 years old (but toward the younger side of that range) thinking "Wouldn't it be cool if computers were linked together somehow and you could access the information on them from anywhere." I have no idea why I was thinking that. I didn't own a computer (no one but the government, corporations, and universities did at the time). But I have this specific memory of thinking that. I was outside playing at our house in Idaho. I, of course, knew of computers, having seen them on TV.

This would have been the early 1970s. Yes, ARPANET had been around since 1969, but the world wide web didn't come around until 1989. 

Of course, I had no idea how this could work (or even how computers worked). That was sort of the beauty of it. I didn't know the limitations, either. I just wondered if it could be done.

Have you thought of anything that came to fruition later? Let me know in the comments below.

I Love This Time of Year

It's fall now. And I love it for lots of reasons.

The first is, college football is going. And I love college football.

The weather is cooling off and my allergies are calming down as plants stop trying to reproduce.

Less chance of being outdoors. Outdoors to me is sunburn and allergies. I have type one skin and I sunburn very easily. Even with SPF 75 sunscreen, I'm at risk of sunburn. Especially if I miss a spot. And I hate sunscreen. It's all greasy and smelly. And you have to put it on every 2 hours unless you swim or get wet otherwise, then it's more often.

Cars don't turn into kilns outside in the sunshine. They still get warm but not horribly. 

Oh, and I guess the leaves get pretty as they change.

The downside is, winter is coming. And that means snow and ice on the roads. And I need to get snow tires for my car. 

What do you think about this time of year? Do you like it? Let me know in the comments below.