Rain-Sensing Wipers

As I was driving on the rainy day you see below, it got me to wonder how rain-sensing wipers work.  A little research showed it starts with a light-emitting diode (LED) located between the windshield and the rearview mirror.  When the windshield is dry, most of the infrared light is reflected back to a light detector (photodiode) within the sensor.  When raindrops land on the glass, they disrupt this reflection. The water droplets scatter the infrared light, reducing the amount reflected back to the sensor.  Pretty slick.

More information can be found at the link below.

https://www.carparts.com/blog/how-do-rain-sensor-wipers-work-and-are-they-the-right-choice-for-you

Skinny Caps

Back in November 2024, I blogged about the skinnier cap on cartoons of Half-n-half, which measures in at 3/8" high, and how I had to use pliers to get it open.  Ice Mountain has taken that to new lows with a cap that measures only 1/4-inch high, as you can see in the image below.  Activists pressure companies to reduce their "environmental impact," apparently with no regard for what is good for the consumer.  I, for one, will be looking very closely at cap heights when buying in the future.  

More on "wrap rage" from USA Today at the link below, including the next bad design idea, "Tethered caps".

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/04/shrinking-plastic-caps-bottles-harder-to-open/75719362007

Using AI For Landscaping

Since a blight killed all the boxwoods at the front of our house, we decided that a complete redo was necessary, and I turned to AI for an assist.  I uploaded a picture of our house and asked it to "remove all the bushes, shrubs, and shadows".  Then I asked it to "recommend landscaping with plants that do well in southwest Ohio", and that's the picture you see below.  I really like the pop of color from the purple and bright green hostas and how it puts a larger bush at each end to frame it nicely.  It was also nice that it removed all the leaves from the grass and made the American flag look brand new.  I used Google Gemini 3 with a trial of their Nano Banana Pro image generation tool.  Now we can't wait for spring!

https://gemini.google.com

Honey-Garlic Shrimp Skewers

I picked up a large bag of 16-20 Wild Ocean Shrimp at our local Foremost Seafood store, and Gourmet Chef Elaine turned them into a wonderful meal you can see below.  The glaze consisted of honey, sriracha, crushed red pepper, garlic, lime zest and juice, and parsley, which was brushed on the skewered shrimp as they fried.  It's sitting on a bed of wilted spinach, which was sauteed with a couple of grated garlic cloves.  The full recipe is at the link below.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/honey-garlic-shrimp-skewers-6601298

Love Field

Our recent return trip from Austin, Texas, went through Dallas, but I thought that would be the huge Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport; but it happily turned out to be the original Dallas airport, Love Field (DAL).  There are only 20 gates in its single terminal, but it is packed with plenty of restaurants, bars, and shops.  We'll be looking to fly through there for future trips.

The Southwest Airlines sign you see below has several screens with useful information, but I particularly like "how full is the aircraft for the next flight", which for this Atlanta-bound plane is 55%.  It's nice to know you'll have room to spread out and stow luggage in the overhead bins.  However, our Columbus, Ohio-bound plane was 85% full, but we still had adjacent seats, albeit in the back of the plane.  Southwest is changing from its "cattle call" boarding process to assigned seats beginning January 27, 2026, a change we are 100% looking forward to.

https://www.dallas-lovefield.com

Honey Bucket

Back in July, I promised to share more porta-potty names as I encountered them, and I finally found a new one, Honey Bucket, while driving along Texas State Route 71 headed to College Station.  I couldn't take a picture at that time, as I was moving at 70 mph, so the image below comes from their website.  

Usually, porta-potty names are cute, like Mr. John or Gotta-Go, but Honey Bucket takes that in a different direction, trying to make it sound like the inside is going to be pleasurably scented.  No way, I'm still going to hold my breath for as long as it takes.

https://honeybucket.com

Thunderstorms

Falling to sleep during rain falling and distant thunderstorms rumbling is a once or twice a year occurrence at best.  We found that our Amazon Echo, playing the right selection from our Spotify Premium subscription (i.e., no ads), is every bit as calming as the real thing.  Stormy Evening by Taranis is our current favorite, the right balance of gentle rain and booming distant thunder.  It's also available on YouTube at the link below.

We also like the sound of waves crashing on a beach, but for some unknown reason, their soundtracks sound fake and don't do a thing for us.  The real thing, however, is bliss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lCpVQbj9Nk

Using AI For Creating Images

I have a whole bunch of links to websites that have free (I love free) images I can use for these blog posts or other of my writing adventures.  Searching can take a lot of time and is not always what I want, if I can find something reasonably close.  AI allows me to describe what I want, like "create an image of a scary Halloween pumpkin", as I did below using Canva, and select one of several options that I like best.  I think it hit the mark on scary!

https://www.canva.com

NY Brick Steak

When I saw NY Brick Steak & Crab-Stuffed Shrimp on the menu at Frankie Bones on Hilton Head Island, my dinner selection was done, although I had no clue what a "brick" steak really was.  After a little research, I found that it’s almost always a New York strip steak that’s either pressed while searing or cut thick and rectangular.  Add two garlic-butter roasted breaded shrimp stuffed with blue crab dressing, whipped potatoes, green beans, and bacon bordelaise sauce, and it was a dinner to fondly remember.

https://frankiebones.com

Chrome Split View

Google added Split View to its Chrome browser in version 142, and it's going to be a favorite of mine on my Mac Mini with its 32-inch display (it's really a TV, but that's not important).   Split View allows users to display two websites side by side within the same browser tab, as you see below with Amazon shopping on the left and Walmart's website on the right.  Instead of clicking back and forth between tabs or opening, resizing, and repositioning two windows next to each other, all you do is click on the tab you want on the left, and then select the tab you want on the right.  This will help me when I'm writing this blog and conducting genealogy research.  Read more at the link below.

https://www.androidauthority.com/chrome-split-view-feature-3613155