Monday, September 25, 2006

Clouds and Calculus

I was driving around this weekend, and I noticed something I have not noticed in a while: clouds.

Now before you suggest I start medicating myself, let me explain. When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time on my back looking at the clouds. I can remember summer days when I would look into the sky for hours. Lying in the warm grass, talking to friends and just admiring the clouds.

I did a lot of thinking, looking at the clouds. I remember hearing or reading somewhere that clouds, though made up of water particles that are individually extremely light, en mass, have an incredible weight. We are talking tons. And I would think about what clouds would feel like – they look so feathery and soft. My left brain did not think that fog might be a particular type of "cloud" and perhaps being up in the clouds would be akin to being in the fog here on Earth. Not nearly the romantic thoughts I had as a girl.

In school, we had to learn about clouds in science class. They made us remember all of the cloud types – cumulus, stratus, cirrus, nimbus, and so forth. I can also remember putting some names together to describe clouds (cirronimbus). Dorky, but hey, I was in middle school.

Staring at clouds got me thinking – again, I suppose, because when I used to stare at clouds, I would think. And I was thinking about not really doing much thinking since I have become an adult. I did not consider myself an adult in college – more of a transitional phase from child to adult. And once I became an adult, I used less of my brain. College was harder than work, though I am a bit under-employed and always have been. Still, it is a shame that I don't really think all that often. I mean, I make thousands of decisions per day, I suppose, but none of them takes much real thought.

Now, I am not saying that I am going to start thinking more, but I am pondering it. I don't watch much television – so my brain does not have an automatic snooze button, but I wonder if I get some of the same brain-off satisfaction from reading without a critical eye. If some writer makes a statement, I used to measure the statement carefully. Now I just assume it is so. And it ain't always so!


I got this message on my comments the other day:
Hi Leesa

I'm sorry to bother you here in comments, but I wonder if you could point me in the right direction to find the code for your drop-down menus.

I've searched high and low for manually edited ones like yours ie: Blogs That Impress Me, Blog/Writing Tools. And failed.

Thanks. (I would have emailed, but you don't want to be bugged by nuts like me. Wise.)

Wombat


Two things about this: (1) I actually came up with the code myself, and (2) I can't believe other people are asking me for HTML advice. It is a bit humorous, actually. Part of me wants to say, suck an egg! I thought of this myself. But you know, that is not entirely ladylike.

Here is the code; in the message body, you have to put:




<h2 class="sidebar-title">DropDownTitle</h2>

<form action="dummy" method="post"><select name="choice">

<option value="">Choose a Link</option>

<option value="http://url1.html">Link Title1</option>

<option value="http://url2.html">Link Title2</option>

</select><input TYPE="button" VALUE="GO!"

onClick="jump(this.form)"></form>


Where "DropDownTitle" is the title of the drop down list you want.
Where "Link Title1" is the title of the first link, and "url1.html" is the URL you want to jump to. The "Choose a Link" line is optional – just giving the user a hint that you need to select somewhere to go to.

I don't think you need anything in the header – some forms need javascript in the header to tell the computer what to do – and I don't think this is the case with what I have done. Please remember I am a novice at HTML, and I coded this a while back. If it does not work, I may have said something wrong.

8 comments:

Wombat said...

Thank you so much for this Leesa.

You are the best.

Deb said...

This is all Greek to me. Copy and paste it, and then have it end up on the top of your page--like the header. That's what will happen to me. I am so bad with HTML. Also, if you have a large blogroll like I do----do you have to transfer everyone manually? I'm assuming so... Hmm. I have to get a test blog.

Thanks for the info Leesa! Also, clouds still amaze me. I'm a huge fan of storm clouds--the ones that come right before a tornado--those HUGE black thunderous ones. *scary!*

SheenV said...

I used to look at clouds all the time as well. Since moving into a house in a neighborhood with a lot of trees, I don't notice them as much anymore. I do like to look at them out of airplane windows.

Prata said...

HTML is just mark up to text you already have present, it is a presentation sort of thing.

You must put the code in the correct place, and with blogger it is within divs. So find the div section of your coding and place it there so it is relative to your other stuff and then edit to your heart's contentment.

I still look at clouds on occasion. I wasn't all that interested in them as a child. I had things to blow up. I was good at chemistry. ^_^

Leesa said...

wombat: you are welcome.

~deb: Yeah, if you have a huge blog-roll, this manual stuff sort of sucks.

sheen: looking at clouds when sitting in a plane is so cool. I ask for a window seat even though I have a small bladder and also like the isle seat.

prata: thanks for the clarification.

Wombat said...

Leesa, you might really want to tell me to suck eggs now, but by sheer coincidence, it is Cloud Day on my photo blog: Love Revealed.

Feel free to pelt me with vegetable scraps and used newspapers now.

mal said...

Methinks you sell yourself a bit short as far as using less of your brain now. You just have it engaged differently. I believe if you were to go back to school you might find it much easier now than when you were younger just for that reason

Leesa said...

wombat: hmmmmmmmmm.

mal: I thought we were supposed to sell short, buy long.