Bizarre iPod Accessories

I ran across this article on howstuffworks.com about strange iPod accessories, and I thought I'd share the ones that intrigued me the most. Really, there were three of them that either caught my fancy or that I definitely agreed was going a bit too far when it comes to accessorizing the iPod.

Now don't get me wrong. I love my iPod. I think the MP3 player is the best device ever created. I am one of the biggest music lovers in the world as I've often boasted that my iPod contains over 6000 songs and I listen to them all. Most of the ones I don't enjoy I've deleted already, and I continually add more to the list. I am the type of person for which this wonderful device that I described to The Socialite once as "a mini computer that plays music and movies" was created.

My music love goes way, way back. I had a couple hundred CDs before I ever left the Army 13 years ago, and I have no idea how many I have now. I haven't counted them, but I know there's no storage unit large enough to hold them all, so I stacked several when they were in the house. I carried a CD player and a host of CDs when I worked at the fireplace job, and I cycled through them daily. My car even has both a CD player and a cassette player in it. Why a cassette player? Because it doesn't have a aux jack (duh).

Anyway, the first one I find amusing is best referred to as the iBed, although its actual name is "The Pause". It's revered as the world's largest iPod dock. Check it out:

Check out the iPod there on the right. Now, the Queen would never allow such a thing, but I'm a freak when it comes to listening to stuff in bed as well. I've done it for years and years. I had a tape player that I used to play tapes on when I was younger to go to sleep. I listened to CDs with headphones in the military. And even now, I keep my iPod on the headboard when I go to bed with the stock iPod earbuds plugged in "just in case" I want to listen to something. I don't always, but sometimes I just want to listen to something. I just set the sleep timer to shut off in about 30 minutes.

The next one is just cool. I'd never get one, but the thought of having your iPod bulletproof is just too much:

Check that out. It's supposed to be able to stop a .22 caliber bullet. Of course, that's probably just on the backside, since the front clearly has openings for the screen and click wheel, and that can't be bulletproof. This little shell also adds a couple pounds to the weight of the device, so while I'd never get one, the idea of my precious MP3 data being ultra protected gives a warm feeling to my heart.

Finally, the weirdest of the weird. Yeah, I've seen this one before, and the Queen and I both agreed that we'd never purchase something like this. I mean, in all seriousness, who spends enough time in the bathroom to warrant this aberration of nature?

Now those speakers are supposed to be moisture free and the front two are mounted there on the toilet paper holder. It even charges your iPod while you do your business. The only thing I would personally ask (and yeah, this is more of a personal thing), but I would recommend you wash your hands BEFORE retrieving your iPod from the holder. The speakers might be moisture free, but I'm not sure the iPod itself is.

Then again, how many people can boast that they have to plug in their toilet paper holder?

Here's the original article that describes each of these fabulous items, if you want to see the other seven bizarre items in the list.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bizarre-ipod-accessory.htm

Static Electricity

I'm sure it's happened to you. You're walking along minding your own business when suddenly, zap! You're shocked by getting too close to that metal handle. Or maybe you were shopping in Sam's one day with the family, you stand too close to your significant other, and zap! An arc of blue electricity zips between the two of you. 

To get a little geeky on you (like this should come as a surprise), static electricity comes from the buildup of electrons on one entity trying to equalize itself with another entity. There are items that naturally buildup positive electrons and others that are naturally high in negative, so when your body has been building up a supply of these electrons and you suddenly touch a metal door handle which doesn't have quite as many, the electrons equalize themselves causing the spark.

Now let me tell you what really, really sucks about this little phenomenon. I listen to music at work. In fact, I'm a freak about it, and listen to it all day long...non-stop. I haven't listened to the same song since the first of the year sitting here at me desk and I have a little over 4700 more to go before I start repeating them. This office is also very dry meaning there's an imbalance of electrons going on constantly since I'm always being zapped by something. What and where?

You see, that's the part that sucks. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make the little mesh inside this earbud metal has another thing coming. Yeah, I am zapped at least once an hour by the metal earbud mesh inside my ear. It's really annoying.

People Don't Read

I found this to be incredibly amusing when I first saw it. Apparently, my building participates in a phone book recycling program at some point during the year, and during that time, phone books are brought to this designated point. From there, they are taken to wherever it is that they go, but people don't always "get" when that special time of year is, and fall into a sort of habit. You know that habit, right? The one where you find, say, a phone book some six months later and remember in the back of your mind that you could take this item to "that place" and drop it off and be done with it. Now, what to do when you get there and see this:

Wow, so you're left with a choice. I mean, it's January, so the next recycling time isn't until September. That's nine months away, and who can hold onto a phone book you don't want that much longer much less take the chance of forgetting it again during that special and mystical time when you can dump it? And what if you're not alone:

Why, who's going to notice one more sitting there on top?