THE UNIVERSE AND THE POWER OF DUCT TAPE

You've heard the old joke when a plane crashes - "Hey, why don't they just make the entire airplane out of the stuff they make the black boxes from - ha ha."

I was mildly interested in how they do survive crashes - so here it is - they are made from three boxes: "a hardened stainless steel or titanium box, an insulation box, and a thermal block. Producers put the boxes together like Russian dolls: one box is inside another box and that box is inside another box. It can survive a plane crash and function almost forever after that."

(Isn't it the cutest thing that they compare it to those stupid wooden dolls that people buy to "prove" they've been in Europe?)

And no, they are not black, they are orange - the expression "black box" comes from the concept of a "device, system or object which can be viewed solely in terms of its input, output and transfer characteristics without any knowledge of its internal workings, that is, its implementation is "opaque" (black)."

Yeah, I don't understand that either.

BUT HERE IS THE TRUTH - the real reason I began this blathering blog is this:

I still have the residue on both arms from the bandages that were put on TUESDAY when I went to the emergency room for a fun-filled evening of having needles, gauges and brightly colored tubes stuck in me for three hours.

Why does something that you do NOT want to lasts.... lasts?!?

I  put on waterproof mascara - it lasts maybe six hours on a cool day. Normal Arizona day with me being outside? About thirty minutes, and then I look like a raccoon.

Nylons? I've given up - I put runs in them by LOOKING at them.

Actually styling my drab, straight ordinary-brown hair, with mousse, gel and hair spray? Half of whatever event I have styled it for.

But this tape residue? I have scrubbed on it with soap, washcloths, a Brillo pad (really)....

Next step may have to be paint thinner.