Once again, we present Three Unrelated Points. For those of you who aren't aware of what this means, it means these are Three Unrelated Points…
- The other day, flipping the dial in search of news on the now-thankfully-contained Griffith Park Fire, I happened to find myself watching a little of Montel, the show hosted by Montel Williams. His guest — and I gather he has her on often — was a lady named Sylvia Browne who seems to make a very fine living as a "psychic," telling people…apparently anything. She can tell what messages your dead relatives have for you. She can tell you how they died. She can tell you how your career is going to go in five years. She can answer any question and she can do it instantly, without pausing to feign concentration or a trance or anything. It takes less time to get a report on the current thoughts of your dead uncle via Sylvia then it would take to phone a living relative and find out what he's doing. I'm a pretty hard skeptic on subjects like communicating with the dead or predicting the future this way…but I do understand how some people can believe. What I don't understand is how even the most fervent believer in psychic powers could be so mind-numbingly stupid as to think Ms. Browne has any.
- Years ago, I made the mistake of buying a Pelouze scale that weighs my outgoing letters and packages and tells me to the penny how much postage to put on them. It's great but every time the rates go up, as they will on Monday, I'm supposed to purchase a new chip from the Pelouze people to upgrade my scale. The new chip is $45 plus postage and handling, which I think is more than the scale cost in the first place. In the past, I've shelled out the new fee almost without thinking. But as my use of e-mail increases, my use of paper mail slides in the other direction…and most of what I do mail is in the category of bills that don't require weighing. So I'm going to wise up this time and not order the new chip. If and when I do have an outgoing piece o' mail that might be over the minimum, I'll put it on the scale, note the weight and look the correct postage amount up here. Either that or I'll phone Sylvia Browne and ask her how many stamps to put on it.
- Why is it that if you go to Google, type in "search engine" and click "I'm Feeling Lucky," it doesn't take you back to Google?
You've been reading the latest edition of Three Unrelated Points. Tune in some time between now and the end of time for another thrilling installment of Three Unrelated Points.