Sundial

ADMINISTRIVIA DEP'T: Don't know if anyone has noticed, but I've added little "reaction" boxes to this blog, so it's easier for you to leave me feedback on how I'm doing. Now with one click you can tell me if a post was funny, helpful, made you think, or was so-so (click "meh"). You can select more than one as needed. And, of course, you can still leave me a comment or send me an email.

===

Tech writer David Pogue has come up with a couple of helpful cell phone tips over at How Stuff Works.

Instead of paying up to $1.50 to use the "411" option on your cell phone, David tells you of a couple ways to get that information for free. The "googl" method didn't work so well for me, but perhaps the listings I was hunting for as a test were unlisted.

+++

I was setting up a large, cast aluminum, decorative sundial in my yard that I had recently purchased from a garden catalog.

My neighbor, an old Florida fellow, was leaning on the fence, watching me.

"What the heck is that for?" he called out to me.

"It's a sundial," I explained. "See, the sun will hit this small triangular spike and cast a shadow on the face of the dial. Then, as the sun moves across the sky, the shadow will follow and by seeing where it falls on the dial, I'll be able to tell the correct time."

My neighbor shook his head and muttered, "What'll they think of next?"

[Chapnotes]

+++

WONDER for YOUR WEEK: Why do they call it a busy signal?

+++

Mark's Musings is also sent each weekday via email. Get the 411 on your very own subscription by clicking here.