Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Best Roller Derby Name
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sunday Guilt Trip
Today's topic: Trash
The New York City Dept. of Sanitation has a resident anthropologist. Who knew?
"...everything is clean and fine and running along..."
Wait, what's that burning smell coming from the dishwasher?
No, really.
The New York City Dept. of Sanitation has a resident anthropologist. Who knew?
"...everything is clean and fine and running along..."
Wait, what's that burning smell coming from the dishwasher?
No, really.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
50 Years Ago Today
the first presidential debate. Radio listeners thought Nixon won. TV watchers scored it for Kennedy. But for Papa Joe, Nixon would have won the election. Or so "they" say.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
What's So Funny?
So. "Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?". The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"
Supposedly, world's funniest joke.
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into a sewer and die."
Mel Brooks
I will have to remember the Benign Violation Theory and other related discussion over at MeFi, which keeps me up too late. 'Nite.
Supposedly, world's funniest joke.
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into a sewer and die."
Mel Brooks
I will have to remember the Benign Violation Theory and other related discussion over at MeFi, which keeps me up too late. 'Nite.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
How Can I Not Love This?
She is, after all "the first British-Kashmiri female dholi, trained by the Dhol Blasters and Azaad dhol..."
Don's Pharmacy Potato Salad
I used to get all fancy and complicated with potato salad, because I really didn't like it. No matter how fancy I made it.
Then I discovered French potato salad made with vinegriette and that was pretty good. And different.
But it wasn't until I impulsively ordered — and tasted — the house potato salad while at ONE OF THE LAST LUNCH COUNTERS IN AMERICA (and one of the few places you can still get a real malted milk shake) — for my annual BLT w/o the L or the T, that I knew I'd finally found the secret.
And what is it, you ask. KISS, honey, just KISS.
Take any number of white potatoes that you want and microwave them on baked potato setting, then let them cool but not get cold.
Or you can boil them if you want to go to all that trouble. They do get a little too soft in the microwave.
Chop up a bunch of scallions, greens included, until you've got enough to kind of balance the potatoes. Roughly, I'd do about one bunch to four medium potatoes.
Peel and dice the coolish potatoes into 1/2 inch chunks, throw in the scallions (you HAVE washed them, cut off the root ends and discarded anything that looks brownish, right? Do I have to explain everything?)
Then start spooning in heaping tablespoons of mayo (Best's only, unless you live in the Midwest, where I've heard Heilemann's is the man) and gently coating everything until it looks neither too dry nor too wet. Salt and pepper to taste. Eat. Enjoy.
Refrigerate leftovers. You can add chunks of peeled harboiled egg to this, but it's not necessary unless you're making it a one-dish vegetarian dinner and need some protein. Scallions and potatoes, scallions and just about anything. I would not recommend substituting any other kind of onion. Then it wouldn't be Don's and you'd have to get all fancy to pull it off, in which case, why bother, just buy some of that overpriced pre-packaged stuff at Safeway.
BTW, Don's is no longer called Don's. It's called The Leader Drug Store, which probably means the local newspaper publisher bought it and named it after his paper or paper company or something.
But to me, it will always be Don's. The waitresses are all the kind you usually only find in the movies, call me honey and some of them are older than I am.
The cook used to be female but they've got some passing ex-shed boy in there now.
He makes great potato salad, a decent cheeseburger and there's lots of B on the BLT without the L or the T.
It was a great place to hang out my first winter here when the rain was driving me crazy and the kid was at school. Still feels like home.
What's a shed boy? Well might you ask.
Then I discovered French potato salad made with vinegriette and that was pretty good. And different.
But it wasn't until I impulsively ordered — and tasted — the house potato salad while at ONE OF THE LAST LUNCH COUNTERS IN AMERICA (and one of the few places you can still get a real malted milk shake) — for my annual BLT w/o the L or the T, that I knew I'd finally found the secret.
And what is it, you ask. KISS, honey, just KISS.
Take any number of white potatoes that you want and microwave them on baked potato setting, then let them cool but not get cold.
Or you can boil them if you want to go to all that trouble. They do get a little too soft in the microwave.
Chop up a bunch of scallions, greens included, until you've got enough to kind of balance the potatoes. Roughly, I'd do about one bunch to four medium potatoes.
Peel and dice the coolish potatoes into 1/2 inch chunks, throw in the scallions (you HAVE washed them, cut off the root ends and discarded anything that looks brownish, right? Do I have to explain everything?)
Then start spooning in heaping tablespoons of mayo (Best's only, unless you live in the Midwest, where I've heard Heilemann's is the man) and gently coating everything until it looks neither too dry nor too wet. Salt and pepper to taste. Eat. Enjoy.
Refrigerate leftovers. You can add chunks of peeled harboiled egg to this, but it's not necessary unless you're making it a one-dish vegetarian dinner and need some protein. Scallions and potatoes, scallions and just about anything. I would not recommend substituting any other kind of onion. Then it wouldn't be Don's and you'd have to get all fancy to pull it off, in which case, why bother, just buy some of that overpriced pre-packaged stuff at Safeway.
BTW, Don's is no longer called Don's. It's called The Leader Drug Store, which probably means the local newspaper publisher bought it and named it after his paper or paper company or something.
But to me, it will always be Don's. The waitresses are all the kind you usually only find in the movies, call me honey and some of them are older than I am.
The cook used to be female but they've got some passing ex-shed boy in there now.
He makes great potato salad, a decent cheeseburger and there's lots of B on the BLT without the L or the T.
It was a great place to hang out my first winter here when the rain was driving me crazy and the kid was at school. Still feels like home.
What's a shed boy? Well might you ask.
Early Meatless Monday For AB
So I have all this aging celery in the garden, it's getting fibrous and I don't even like celery but even the celery lover doesn't want to eat it but I hate to let it go to compost.
Just so happens the NYT had a recipe that I saw when linking to something else that called for five cups of celery, which is a lot.
Yesterday I decided to make the Greek beans, which I think of as Italian beans because instead of tomato sauce or paste, I used a can of diced Italian spiced tomatoes.
The celery lover and I split the results and, guess what, we each have only about a spoonful left after less than 24 hours.
I like my beans with enough broth to eat as soup because the broth is soooo good. But I was still scarfing the dish down at midnight while I watched The Ghost Writer — pretty good thriller — and so it turns out it was an uplanned but totally satisfying Meatless Friday.
Use all your bean broth when you put the dish in the oven and bake in something larger than the two-quart glass casserole I used, which boiled over a bit.
I will never be a vegetarian, but I could do more things like this and skip the beef/pork/chicken entirely every couple of days and never notice the difference.
P.S. I had small navy beans, so that's what I used.
Recipes for Health
White Beans With Celery
By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN
This dish is inspired by a Greek recipe from Diane Kochilas’s “The Glorious Foods of Greece” that calls for giant white beans and about three times as much olive oil. I had regular white beans in my pantry and a bunch of celery left over from a recipe that called for only a couple of stalks (which happens so often). I love the textures here. The celery retains a little crunch, which contrasts nicely with the soft beans.
1/2 pound (about 1 1/8 cups) white beans, rinsed, picked over and soaked for six hours or overnight in 1 quart water
Salt to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 to 5 cups chopped celery, including the leaves
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce, or 2 tablespoons tomato paste diluted in 1 cup water
1/4 to 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (to taste)
Juice of 1 to 2 lemons, to taste
1. Drain the beans, and combine in a large saucepan with enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, add salt to taste, cover and simmer until the beans are just tender, about 45 minutes to an hour. Do not let the beans boil hard or they’ll fall apart before they’re cooked through.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet, and add the celery and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until it just begins to soften, about three minutes, and add the garlic. Stir together for a minute, until the garlic is fragrant, and remove from the heat.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the beans over a bowl. Place in a large baking dish, preferably earthenware, and toss with the celery and garlic, the remaining olive oil and the tomato sauce or diluted tomato paste. Add enough of the drained broth to cover by an inch, and stir in the remaining olive oil. Cover the dish tightly with foil, and place in the oven. Bake one hour, or until the beans are soft and creamy.
4. Uncover the beans, stir, and add salt and pepper to taste. Add a tablespoon or 2 of lemon juice, or more if desired, and adjust salt and pepper. Serve hot, warm or room temperature, with a little more olive oil drizzled over the top if desired.
Yield: Serves four.
Advance preparation: The beans will keep for three days in the refrigerator. You may want to thin them out with a little water or broth.
Just so happens the NYT had a recipe that I saw when linking to something else that called for five cups of celery, which is a lot.
Yesterday I decided to make the Greek beans, which I think of as Italian beans because instead of tomato sauce or paste, I used a can of diced Italian spiced tomatoes.
The celery lover and I split the results and, guess what, we each have only about a spoonful left after less than 24 hours.
I like my beans with enough broth to eat as soup because the broth is soooo good. But I was still scarfing the dish down at midnight while I watched The Ghost Writer — pretty good thriller — and so it turns out it was an uplanned but totally satisfying Meatless Friday.
Use all your bean broth when you put the dish in the oven and bake in something larger than the two-quart glass casserole I used, which boiled over a bit.
I will never be a vegetarian, but I could do more things like this and skip the beef/pork/chicken entirely every couple of days and never notice the difference.
P.S. I had small navy beans, so that's what I used.
Recipes for Health
White Beans With Celery
By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN
This dish is inspired by a Greek recipe from Diane Kochilas’s “The Glorious Foods of Greece” that calls for giant white beans and about three times as much olive oil. I had regular white beans in my pantry and a bunch of celery left over from a recipe that called for only a couple of stalks (which happens so often). I love the textures here. The celery retains a little crunch, which contrasts nicely with the soft beans.
1/2 pound (about 1 1/8 cups) white beans, rinsed, picked over and soaked for six hours or overnight in 1 quart water
Salt to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 to 5 cups chopped celery, including the leaves
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce, or 2 tablespoons tomato paste diluted in 1 cup water
1/4 to 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (to taste)
Juice of 1 to 2 lemons, to taste
1. Drain the beans, and combine in a large saucepan with enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, add salt to taste, cover and simmer until the beans are just tender, about 45 minutes to an hour. Do not let the beans boil hard or they’ll fall apart before they’re cooked through.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet, and add the celery and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until it just begins to soften, about three minutes, and add the garlic. Stir together for a minute, until the garlic is fragrant, and remove from the heat.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the beans over a bowl. Place in a large baking dish, preferably earthenware, and toss with the celery and garlic, the remaining olive oil and the tomato sauce or diluted tomato paste. Add enough of the drained broth to cover by an inch, and stir in the remaining olive oil. Cover the dish tightly with foil, and place in the oven. Bake one hour, or until the beans are soft and creamy.
4. Uncover the beans, stir, and add salt and pepper to taste. Add a tablespoon or 2 of lemon juice, or more if desired, and adjust salt and pepper. Serve hot, warm or room temperature, with a little more olive oil drizzled over the top if desired.
Yield: Serves four.
Advance preparation: The beans will keep for three days in the refrigerator. You may want to thin them out with a little water or broth.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Email O' Teh Day
(Thanks, JK)
Inner Peace: This Is So True
If you can start the day witout caffeine
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment
If you can conquer tension without medical help
If you can relax without liquor
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs
...then you are probably
the family dog
Inner Peace: This Is So True
If you can start the day witout caffeine
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment
If you can conquer tension without medical help
If you can relax without liquor
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs
...then you are probably
the family dog
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Blog It Is
I admire and respect Jerome a Paris over at Daily Kos.
He's French but with a native grasp of American politics as well as the world picture, plus he knows all about energy and economics. He's in the business, as it were, green energy investment apparently.
Anyhoo, I just started reading his new post, the first in a long time that I've noticed, and just thought I'd recommend it for his impressive grasp of the salient factors in our recent economic experience. Guess what, he doesn't include the housing bubble. Hmm.
He's French but with a native grasp of American politics as well as the world picture, plus he knows all about energy and economics. He's in the business, as it were, green energy investment apparently.
Anyhoo, I just started reading his new post, the first in a long time that I've noticed, and just thought I'd recommend it for his impressive grasp of the salient factors in our recent economic experience. Guess what, he doesn't include the housing bubble. Hmm.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The First Contrariennes
"When sentenced at Bow-Street Police Court to two months hard labor the two Suffragettes who were yesterday released from Holloway Gaol uttered the threat 'It will be bombs next time'."Ah, memories.
August
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Exactly
Refusing at Fifty-Two to Write Sonnets
by Thomas Lynch
It came to him that he could nearly count
How many Octobers he had left to him
In increments of ten or, say, eleven
Thus: sixty-three, seventy-four, eighty-five.
He couldn't see himself at ninety-six—
Humanity's advances notwithstanding
In health-care, self-help, or new-age regimens—
What with his habits and family history,
The end he thought is nearer than you think.
The future, thus confined to its contingencies,
The present moment opens like a gift:
The balding month, the grey week, the blue morning,
The hour's routine, the minute's passing glance—
All seem like godsends now. And what to make of this?
At the end the word that comes to him is Thanks.
by Thomas Lynch
It came to him that he could nearly count
How many Octobers he had left to him
In increments of ten or, say, eleven
Thus: sixty-three, seventy-four, eighty-five.
He couldn't see himself at ninety-six—
Humanity's advances notwithstanding
In health-care, self-help, or new-age regimens—
What with his habits and family history,
The end he thought is nearer than you think.
The future, thus confined to its contingencies,
The present moment opens like a gift:
The balding month, the grey week, the blue morning,
The hour's routine, the minute's passing glance—
All seem like godsends now. And what to make of this?
At the end the word that comes to him is Thanks.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Web Site O' Teh Week
MetaFilter says it could become as addicting as ... wait for it ... MetaFilter.
My fav:
Neoliberalism has unshackled public culture from the chains of innovation, freeing it to be bland, nervous, artistically moribund, and commercially limp…
Or maybe:
Loose regulation, poor women, and wads of cash combine to form a lively market in human eggs in Cyprus…
A gold mine is what it is.
Tvxtg! Fast!
Google CEO Eric Schmidt said we now create 5 exabytes of data every two days, an amount equal to all the information created from the dawn of civilization through 2003.
UPDATE: Anonymous wants to know what the connection is. Franklin (who Tara later "kills" — her success is questionable and fans apparently want him back) is just contributing his bit to the bytes, so to speak.
UPDATE: Anonymous wants to know what the connection is. Franklin (who Tara later "kills" — her success is questionable and fans apparently want him back) is just contributing his bit to the bytes, so to speak.
Roger Ebert Speaks
I was asked at lunch today who or what I worshipped. The question was asked sincerely, and in the same spirit I responded that I worshipped whatever there might be outside knowledge. I worship the void. The mystery. And the ability of our human minds to perceive an unanswerable mystery. To reduce such a thing to simplistic names is an insult to it, and to our intelligence.From this piece on Christopher Hitchins.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Frist!
Georgia Boscolo, the 24-year-old daughter of a gondolier, becomes the first Venetian gondoliera in 900 years.
In National Costume
One of Andrew Sullivan's readers responds to a previous post about the lack of color photography in the early period of photography and that the dominance of black-and-white distances us from our view of the past.
Bashkir woman in national costume, 1910, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii
And s/he sends a link to a little treasure trove from a pioneering Russian photographer.
Seeing this, I am inspired to ask, what would a photograph captioned "American woman in national costume, 2010" look like?
And s/he sends a link to a little treasure trove from a pioneering Russian photographer.
Seeing this, I am inspired to ask, what would a photograph captioned "American woman in national costume, 2010" look like?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
So Ted Stevens Is Dead. So, Let's Eat
I'm not dead and I have this great recipe to share because there is no news, repeat, no news today. So far.
So, okay, I ran across this fantastic recipe at Slate, and I have no memory of why I was even there. And the Chinese-American chef who gave it talked about spilling his mother's homemade ginger-scallion sauce on the chair and wanting to eat the upholstery every time he sat in it.
Luckily, he had some sauce in the refrigerator and could just go add it to noodles or something. It's good on rice. It's used to dip BBQ in and also on poached chicken.
So I finally made the sauce last weekend and it was a pain because a) I don't own a food processor (Goodwill, do you hear me? Habitat?) and b) I sort of fudged on reading directions.
It's a simple recipe and I thought he said just salt the hell out of the processed ginger and scallions. He sort of did, but he also recommended tasting it as you went and making it "just a little too salty."
I just dumped too much salt in thinking everything would be fine for the double batch I was making. It wasn't so I had to make another single batch because that's all the ginger I had left and even now it's too salty.
But it's really, really good.
I made a quick Thai instant noodle thingie for lunch and it sucked so I grabbed the sauce from the refrigerator and cautiously put a little bit on them. It was good, so I put more on. Then more. The noodles disappeared. I wish I had more. Oh, wait, maybe I do.
Send some to your kids in college, tell them it's great on Top Ramen, just forget the other crap in the package and only cook the noodles because Top Ramen DOES have way too much salt.
Here it is:
Ginger scallion sauce
Makes 1 cup; a little goes a long way
Active time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
1 ounce ginger, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 bunch (about 4 ounces) whole scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
1/2 cup oil, preferably peanut or corn (Avoid olive oil and definitely no canola, which, when heated like this, smells like a fish. And not in a
good way.)
Salt
Directions
Whirl the ginger in a food processor until it's finely minced, but not puréed (meaning stop before it gets liquidy and pasty). Put it in a
wide, tall, heatproof bowl, several times bigger than you think you need. For real. The bowl matters. Use a cooking pot if you have to,
because when that oil gets in there, the sizzle is going to be serious business.
1. Mince the scallions in the food processor until they're about the same size as the ginger. Add it to the ginger.
Salt the ginger and scallion like they called your mother a bad name and stir it well. Taste it. It won't taste good because that much raw
ginger and scallion doesn't really taste good, but pay attention to the saltiness. You want it to be just a little too salty to be pleasant,
because you have to account for all the oil you're about to add.
3. Heat the oil in a pan until you just start seeing wisps of smoke, and pour it into the ginger scallion mixture. It's going to sizzle and
bubble like a science-fair volcano, and it's going to smell awesome. Don't stick your face in it. You wouldn't stick your face in lava,
would you? Give it a light stir with a heatproof spoon.
4. Let cool to room temperature. Keep it in the fridge, for whenever you want to be one spoonful away from deliciousness
The chef's name is Francis Lam and I'm going to make the ratatouile, no the eggplant pasta first. Anyway, follow him here.http://www.salon.com/food/
So, okay, I ran across this fantastic recipe at Slate, and I have no memory of why I was even there. And the Chinese-American chef who gave it talked about spilling his mother's homemade ginger-scallion sauce on the chair and wanting to eat the upholstery every time he sat in it.
Luckily, he had some sauce in the refrigerator and could just go add it to noodles or something. It's good on rice. It's used to dip BBQ in and also on poached chicken.
So I finally made the sauce last weekend and it was a pain because a) I don't own a food processor (Goodwill, do you hear me? Habitat?) and b) I sort of fudged on reading directions.
It's a simple recipe and I thought he said just salt the hell out of the processed ginger and scallions. He sort of did, but he also recommended tasting it as you went and making it "just a little too salty."
I just dumped too much salt in thinking everything would be fine for the double batch I was making. It wasn't so I had to make another single batch because that's all the ginger I had left and even now it's too salty.
But it's really, really good.
I made a quick Thai instant noodle thingie for lunch and it sucked so I grabbed the sauce from the refrigerator and cautiously put a little bit on them. It was good, so I put more on. Then more. The noodles disappeared. I wish I had more. Oh, wait, maybe I do.
Send some to your kids in college, tell them it's great on Top Ramen, just forget the other crap in the package and only cook the noodles because Top Ramen DOES have way too much salt.
Here it is:
Ginger scallion sauce
Makes 1 cup; a little goes a long way
Active time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
1 ounce ginger, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 bunch (about 4 ounces) whole scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
1/2 cup oil, preferably peanut or corn (Avoid olive oil and definitely no canola, which, when heated like this, smells like a fish. And not in a
good way.)
Salt
Directions
Whirl the ginger in a food processor until it's finely minced, but not puréed (meaning stop before it gets liquidy and pasty). Put it in a
wide, tall, heatproof bowl, several times bigger than you think you need. For real. The bowl matters. Use a cooking pot if you have to,
because when that oil gets in there, the sizzle is going to be serious business.
1. Mince the scallions in the food processor until they're about the same size as the ginger. Add it to the ginger.
Salt the ginger and scallion like they called your mother a bad name and stir it well. Taste it. It won't taste good because that much raw
ginger and scallion doesn't really taste good, but pay attention to the saltiness. You want it to be just a little too salty to be pleasant,
because you have to account for all the oil you're about to add.
3. Heat the oil in a pan until you just start seeing wisps of smoke, and pour it into the ginger scallion mixture. It's going to sizzle and
bubble like a science-fair volcano, and it's going to smell awesome. Don't stick your face in it. You wouldn't stick your face in lava,
would you? Give it a light stir with a heatproof spoon.
4. Let cool to room temperature. Keep it in the fridge, for whenever you want to be one spoonful away from deliciousness
The chef's name is Francis Lam and I'm going to make the ratatouile, no the eggplant pasta first. Anyway, follow him here.http://www.salon.com/food/
Monday, August 9, 2010
One Of Those Days
today was. You know, where it suddenly becomes clear that exactly nothing is clear. What's the opposite of momentum? Oh, yeah, intertia.
In that spirit, I offer Comment O' Teh day from MetaFilter's Vonnegut thread:
I wish Vonnegut were a professor of science. "Alcohol, it's what happens when little creatures called yeast binge on sugar until they suffocate in their own shit. And so it goes."
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Did You Notice Anything Odd About Chelsea's Wedding?
Like, for instance, you know almost nothing. As opposed to more than you ever wanted to know?
Okay, so here's something. Hillary's dress.
No comment.
Oh, okay, it's Awful de la Renta.
Okay, so here's something. Hillary's dress.
No comment.
Oh, okay, it's Awful de la Renta.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Where Should Education Dollars Go First?
Preschool, preschool, preschool.
the gains from preschool appear to be so significant and consistent that, according to Cunha and Heckman, investing in early childhood education is just about the most cost-effective way to spend public money. The economists calculate that, for every dollar invested in preschool for at-risk children, society at large reaps somewhere between eight and nine dollars in return. That’s how I want my tax-dollars spent.
Friday, July 30, 2010
The Maths
Some people believe in cosmological intentionality, that God loves them and watches over their every moment, often intervening.
Some people believe in string theory.
And some people, well, speak a language I cannot understand and must take on faith. Faith that they know what they're doing, not necessarily that they have a final answer for me to believe.
Black holes. Time. Space. What's for dinner?
Some people believe in string theory.
And some people, well, speak a language I cannot understand and must take on faith. Faith that they know what they're doing, not necessarily that they have a final answer for me to believe.
Black holes. Time. Space. What's for dinner?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
A Little Light Summer Reading
Guess I have no excuse not to read David Foster Wallace now. Somebody's compiled an informed list of best magazine articles and he seems to dominate. Whatever happened to Susan Orlean anyway?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Goodbye, And Good Luck
No, I'm not going anywhere soon that I know of. And neither are you, that I know of.
But eventually we'll all go.
As usual, the peerless Atul Gawande offers something important to think about.
I know, I don't want to either. Read it anyway.
On that cheerful note:
But eventually we'll all go.
As usual, the peerless Atul Gawande offers something important to think about.
I know, I don't want to either. Read it anyway.
On that cheerful note:
Twenty-five per cent of all Medicare spending is for the five per cent of patients who are in their final year of life, and most of that money goes for care in their last couple of months which is of little apparent benefit.
Ah, The Race Card. Now I Get It.
Josh Marshall draws the depressing conclusion from TODAY'S NEWS IN REPUBLICANS.
So they did some polling, right, and found there is a lot more anti-black feeling directed at Obama than they thought. Enough to win elections even. This makes sense to me. I spent a harrowing afternoon with a woman who is convinced that Tacoma is "mostly black," and that it's crime-ridden and that's why. Blatant, unthinking, uninformed racism. It's her mind set and has been for 70-some years.
So they did some polling, right, and found there is a lot more anti-black feeling directed at Obama than they thought. Enough to win elections even. This makes sense to me. I spent a harrowing afternoon with a woman who is convinced that Tacoma is "mostly black," and that it's crime-ridden and that's why. Blatant, unthinking, uninformed racism. It's her mind set and has been for 70-some years.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Cats, Dogs Plot Against Civilization
Think about it, you could have been building the pyramids or something. Instead you were watching this.
Ultimate cats.
Ultimate dogs.
Ultimate cats.
Ultimate dogs.
What's In Your Purse? Come Play With Me
Contrarienne got the idea from this. She hasn't touched her then-new video cam in three years and in fact the first film tape is still in it.
But this, this she can do. And so can you.
Email a copy of what you find in your purse — kemrocken at gmail dot com — and she'll post it.
This could be fun, contrariennes.
Oh, and guys, just empty your pockets and take a shot at it. Or your man purse.
Briefcases, knapsack, backpacks, fannypacks. You get the idea.
My purse. Pretty cool, huh? $15 at the consignment shop and like new at the time.
Boring, I know. You can do better? Show me. kemrocken at gmail dot com
But this, this she can do. And so can you.
Email a copy of what you find in your purse — kemrocken at gmail dot com — and she'll post it.
This could be fun, contrariennes.
Oh, and guys, just empty your pockets and take a shot at it. Or your man purse.
Briefcases, knapsack, backpacks, fannypacks. You get the idea.
Boring, I know. You can do better? Show me. kemrocken at gmail dot com
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Stakes Are Too High
to "elect another career poltician or former athlete." I think I drowned my keyboard.
For reference, original Daisy ad, which ran once, but is iconically embedded in the national political memory.
For reference, original Daisy ad, which ran once, but is iconically embedded in the national political memory.
Oh, Now I Get It
Never mind putting Shirley Sherrod's speech in context, let's put the whole thing in context. Thank you, Talking Points Memo.
It's also important to understand that Andrew Breitbart's timing of the release of the grossly distorted video of Sherrod, which he admits having had for weeks, may not be entirely random. Congress will soon vote on whether to fund part of a settlement between the USDA and African-American farmers who faced acknowledged discrimination -- farmers like Sherrod and her husband used to be. It's a tiny piece of the upcoming war supplemental bill.
Josh Marshall Is Pissed
Andrew Breitbart and Fox News are the guilty parties, and that's the story.
Everything else is media cowardice.
Second.
Everything else is media cowardice.
Second.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I'm On A Horse Guy
Old Spice's ad people have turned their iconic, viral, self-mocking humor into a social media phenom.
Last week they started making video Twitter responses, hundreds of them, starring the guy himself, Isiah Mustafa, who not only is a cool black buy with a Muslim name, but apparently has a new NBC contract for something even more lucrative.
Anyhoo, I was waiting for someone to pick through the mess and pull the best.
Here they are.
Last week they started making video Twitter responses, hundreds of them, starring the guy himself, Isiah Mustafa, who not only is a cool black buy with a Muslim name, but apparently has a new NBC contract for something even more lucrative.
Anyhoo, I was waiting for someone to pick through the mess and pull the best.
Here they are.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Dana Priest, Dana Priest, Dana Priest
How did I know Dana Priest's name would be on this story?
Dana Priest broke the groundbreaking black ops stories. Dana Priest broke the Walter Reed fiasco. Wide open.
Journalism lives. Long live journalism. Long live Dana Priest. And, dare I say it, WaPo lives despite its toady publisher (Katherine, are you turning in your grave?) and its joke of an editorial page.
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.Drudge has been warning for days that WaPo was about to open the can of worms, making it all sound like national security was at stake. But what's really at stake is the security of entrenched interests.
Dana Priest broke the groundbreaking black ops stories. Dana Priest broke the Walter Reed fiasco. Wide open.
Journalism lives. Long live journalism. Long live Dana Priest. And, dare I say it, WaPo lives despite its toady publisher (Katherine, are you turning in your grave?) and its joke of an editorial page.
Heat, Humidity, Sex
The Republican's knew what they were doing when they devised the Southern Strategy.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Abortion, Birth Control, Whatever, It's All Bad
The new health care reform bill and you, your daughter, your granddaughter.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
I Write
I write like
David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace
I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!
And here's the proof.
UPDATE: My blog and several pieces of fiction come back Wallace. My last journalism piece comes back Stephen King. A recent piece of poetry comes back H.P. Lovecraft. Apparently, I am unable to write like Dan Brown, which is a relief.
UPDATE II: Ooh, something I wrote for fun last summer got an Atwood!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Your Brain On Caffeine: Zzzzzz
No, not really, just messin' wit ya.
So, here's the lowdown.
Question: Is my ache-all-over feeling from all this coffee or all these years?
So, here's the lowdown.
Question: Is my ache-all-over feeling from all this coffee or all these years?
Today In Ice Cream
The thing I can't figure out, and something this article does not address, is:Why are we this bored?
Meanwhile, at the world's third best restaurant:
Meanwhile, at the world's third best restaurant:
I liked the black pepper ice cream, I really did. And today, as we speak, I am enjoying orange cream ice cream with chocolate chips. But spare me the Dead Elvis, or whatever they call it.One of Blumenthal’s most famous dishes is scrambled-eggs-and-bacon ice cream, which he has served with tomato jam, French toast and jellied Earl Grey tea.
Monday, July 12, 2010
You And The Fed
Krugman keeps using the term liquidity trap to describe our economic situation in which, he argues, federal stimulus spending equal to the last one must be applied because the last one was too small, which he warned about at the time.
But even though I know interest rates (not yours, silly, the ones the banks pay) are near zero, I keep getting hung up when he says liquidity trap.
He doesn't really bother to define it anymore, as in "a liquidity trap is" because all his readers but me and the right-wing nuts responding to imaginary flashing neon signs that say Keynes was wrong, Friedman was right, already know what he means.
So I figured if I look it up and write it down, I will remember.
Oh, and Japan. Also.
From Wikipedia:
The term liquidity trap is used in Keynesian economics to refer to a situation where monetary policy is unable to stimulate an economy, either through lowering interest rates or increasing the money supply.
I thought you lowered interest rates by increasing the money supply, but I think a lot of things. That Jon Hall is the sexiest man on the planet, for instance. (No offense, George, but you're old.)
Anyway, things are gonna get worse and the Dems are a bunch of chicken-hearted fools who are going to lose power anyway, so why not take a stand for what's right and needed? I dunno, maybe Obama's got something up his sleeve. My guess is not, though.
But even though I know interest rates (not yours, silly, the ones the banks pay) are near zero, I keep getting hung up when he says liquidity trap.
He doesn't really bother to define it anymore, as in "a liquidity trap is" because all his readers but me and the right-wing nuts responding to imaginary flashing neon signs that say Keynes was wrong, Friedman was right, already know what he means.
So I figured if I look it up and write it down, I will remember.
Oh, and Japan. Also.
From Wikipedia:
The term liquidity trap is used in Keynesian economics to refer to a situation where monetary policy is unable to stimulate an economy, either through lowering interest rates or increasing the money supply.
I thought you lowered interest rates by increasing the money supply, but I think a lot of things. That Jon Hall is the sexiest man on the planet, for instance. (No offense, George, but you're old.)
Anyway, things are gonna get worse and the Dems are a bunch of chicken-hearted fools who are going to lose power anyway, so why not take a stand for what's right and needed? I dunno, maybe Obama's got something up his sleeve. My guess is not, though.
Self-Improvement 101
Now that you know about the extinction burst, you can lose weight. Or whatever.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
BANG!
Cosmologists estimate the Big Bang occurred about 13.7 billion years ago, when all the matter and energy that would eventually constitute the universe was concentrated in a space smaller than the period at the end of this sentence at ineffable pressure and density. Shown below is the picture...See it here.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Kagan Kills: Comment O' Teh Day
It's like a Catskill Mountain Resort -- a Jewish comedian playing to a bunch of senior citizens (but in this case, there are more gentiles than Jews in the audience).Video at TPM. Lindsay Graham apparently thinks Hanukkah and Christmas are on the same day.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
New/Old Agnostics: Back To Square One
Remember yesterday when I converted wholeheartedly to agnosticism?
Wait, you don't even remember what you had for lunch yesterday?
Well, anyways, I did, seduced as always by the highly persuasive Ron Rosenbaum despite my disappointment in his reaction to 9/11 (kill all the bastards now!).
I admitted that I knew nothing of physics, but I was willing to take his word for it that it doesn't help answer the question.
Except, apparently, it does.
So, sigh, back to the quest.
Wait, you don't even remember what you had for lunch yesterday?
Well, anyways, I did, seduced as always by the highly persuasive Ron Rosenbaum despite my disappointment in his reaction to 9/11 (kill all the bastards now!).
I admitted that I knew nothing of physics, but I was willing to take his word for it that it doesn't help answer the question.
Except, apparently, it does.
As Nobel Laureate physicist Frank Wilczek has put it, "The answer to the ancient question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' would then be that 'nothing' is unstable."PZ Myers over at ScienceBlogs blasts Rosenbaum for being a lazy thinker and essayist and I also find him persuasive, although pretty hyperbolic. But it's easy to forgive since Rosenbaum probably is. Lazy, I mean.
So, sigh, back to the quest.
101 Recipes For Grilling
From Mark Bittman. I love reading Bittman, and watching his videos, but I totally screwed up on his Phad Thai and I had to drive 45 minutes for the something-or-other paste (tamarind, that was it), which I used too much of as well as not enough honey (I ran out) so that I couldn't eat it although my companion thought it was yummy and had seconds.
Anyway, MeFis (MetaFilter denizens) love/hate Bittman and have other links to his stuff.
Anyway, MeFis (MetaFilter denizens) love/hate Bittman and have other links to his stuff.
If You're So Smart, How Come You're Not Rich?
Love my inner Bob. He's my headline writer.
So, Jonah Lehrer talks about Type 1 and Type 2 intelligence and YOUR BRAIN!
Cool stuff. But that's just me. Or is it Bob?
So, Jonah Lehrer talks about Type 1 and Type 2 intelligence and YOUR BRAIN!
Cool stuff. But that's just me. Or is it Bob?
Monday, June 28, 2010
Contrarienne Reviews 50 Top Videos
This is the best, partly because it's only five seconds but also because it made me laugh out loud. Well, Charlie biting my finger was the best. Then this.
What's really embarrassing is that Contrarienne had seen 30 of the 50 videos.
It took more than an hour to scan through, not watch, them all. Anything over two minutes without good music is a speech, not a YouTube video. Most of the ones I hadn't seen weren't worth it. I should have liveblogged, but because I watch it so you don't have to, here's the recommended list.
#15 Wedding Dance
#16 Sneezing Panda
#17 Otters Holding Hands
#18
#27 Hillary ! classic
#36 if you want to know what auto-tune is, you'll know enough at 1:38
#40 Thriller in Manilla
#42 SNL's Adam Samburg--Lazy Sunday--classic
#43 Diet Coke and Mentos, you know you want it
#47 Skateboard Dog
#48 Christian the Lion (you'll probably cry)
Charlie Bit Me
and 49 other top YouTube videos from Time Mag. I'm going to watch them all. It should take about half and hour, better than the news.
Who Says The Democrats Haven't Learned Anything?
It's probably too soon, but I'm an optimist, albeit a damaged one. (Cynical? I prefer skeptical.)
So when the House started balking today at funding Afghan projects, citing corruption and bellowing about the waste of taxpayer money, I sniffed a plan.
Obama can't take the lead on this, because for the Republicans it's all about Obama all the time.
And why should he?
Congress needs to get us out of there. What better way than to start closing the purse? First the slushy stuff, then the military stuff, and finally, force withdrawal.
I just don't see many Republican candidates making much headway toward election by accusing their opponents of wanting to cut and run from 25 AQ — that was the number estimated to be there, in a report a day or two ago. Good timing? Heh.
Polls show a way high percentage of Americans think the war in Afghanistan is lost, for fools, just don't care. Most of them forgot we're there.
It's bleeding dollars, and Tea Partiers and whatever sympathizers they have can't muster much to appeal for the opposite action.
I'm willing to bet some resourceful staffers are ready with a nice study to show how much we could reduce spending and reduce the deficit with these cuts.
It's a winner all the way.
I'm feeling better already.
So when the House started balking today at funding Afghan projects, citing corruption and bellowing about the waste of taxpayer money, I sniffed a plan.
Obama can't take the lead on this, because for the Republicans it's all about Obama all the time.
And why should he?
Congress needs to get us out of there. What better way than to start closing the purse? First the slushy stuff, then the military stuff, and finally, force withdrawal.
I just don't see many Republican candidates making much headway toward election by accusing their opponents of wanting to cut and run from 25 AQ — that was the number estimated to be there, in a report a day or two ago. Good timing? Heh.
Polls show a way high percentage of Americans think the war in Afghanistan is lost, for fools, just don't care. Most of them forgot we're there.
It's bleeding dollars, and Tea Partiers and whatever sympathizers they have can't muster much to appeal for the opposite action.
I'm willing to bet some resourceful staffers are ready with a nice study to show how much we could reduce spending and reduce the deficit with these cuts.
It's a winner all the way.
I'm feeling better already.
It Was String Theory
that put me back in the agnostic camp, just when I was ready to jump ship and confirm my unbelief.
But, frankly, can anyone who knows nothing of physics — and knows she knows nothing — honestly subscribe to either belief or unbelief? And I know nothing of physics. And neither do most people. I just like string theory, I don't know it.
Anyhoo, if they're selling this, I'm buying it.
But, frankly, can anyone who knows nothing of physics — and knows she knows nothing — honestly subscribe to either belief or unbelief? And I know nothing of physics. And neither do most people. I just like string theory, I don't know it.
Anyhoo, if they're selling this, I'm buying it.
Our T-shirt will read: I just don't know.
Kagan Hearings
Best comment so far on the Republican idiots blasting Thurgood Marshall and Kagan for clerking for him:
It's just warmed over Rovianism... take an opponents strength (clerking for one of the best-know and most beloved justices of the modern Supreme Court) and try to turn it into a liability.although I also liked the one calling Sen. Sessions a "little rat-eared racist prick."
See also: boating, swift.
The Front Fell Off
Circulating via email as an actual interview.
But it's not. But it's hilarious. What can we do but laugh?
But it's not. But it's hilarious. What can we do but laugh?
Sarah's Baby: Hang In There, Andrew
Andrew Sullivan's not letting this go and I, for one, will be forever grateful.
His biggest bitch, and mine, is not Palin or the birth story fiction.
It is the media.
His biggest bitch, and mine, is not Palin or the birth story fiction.
It is the media.
What have we seen to back up the maternity of Trig? Nada. Not a single page from what must be a mountain of medical records, no birth certificate, nothing but a single page doctor's note confirming the birth in passing, issued four hours before polls opened, by a doctor who once spoke freely with the local press but clammed up completely as soon as Palin hit the national stage...because if Palin has lied about this, it's the most staggering, appalling deception in the history of American politics.
The Bush Lega$y
Yeah, I know it's spelled with a "c" but I had to do it.
And now, folks, for a nice graph of the Third Depression.
Be sure to skim the comments. CBO apparently backs this up.
Whadda we want? JOBS!
When do we want 'em? YESTERDAY!
And now, folks, for a nice graph of the Third Depression.
Be sure to skim the comments. CBO apparently backs this up.
Whadda we want? JOBS!
When do we want 'em? YESTERDAY!
Dept. Of Sex And Quote O' Teh Day
Female sexual response is too complex for any pill.Wit ya on dat, Brutha.
New Media Dept.
Worry. Not worry. You decide. Me, losing the intertubes would be like cutting off both arms.
I just love this line, so I'm linking to the whole piece even though it's not as witty overall.
I just love this line, so I'm linking to the whole piece even though it's not as witty overall.
Yes, every time we learn a fact or skill the wiring of the brain changes; it’s not as if the information is stored in the pancreas.Maybe I just like the word pancreas. It's a silly word.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Next Up: Elena Kagan
Hearings start Monday. So what?
For Congress, it's an election year, and the hearing provides Democrats and Republicans a platform to make their respective campaign arguments to the viewing public.Oh, and, um, the G-20 idiots decided to commit to austerity, just the opposite economic policy needed at this time. Because, Krugman says, they're idiots. Obama seems to be still favoring more stimulus, although how this will all play out is anybody's guess. Maybe when they start cutting spending and the unwashed masses begin to notice, things might change.
Blood Cell Phones
I'm probably going to buy one later this year.
But which one? Are there any electronics companies listening to the "conflict" movement? Seems the new video is going to go viral and Kristof's column yesterday gave it a big push.
Here's what you can do.
But which one? Are there any electronics companies listening to the "conflict" movement? Seems the new video is going to go viral and Kristof's column yesterday gave it a big push.
Here's what you can do.
Warning: Science Rears Its Ugly Head
- The total precipitation that falls on the world in one year is about one meter of rain, the height of a golden retriever.
- The total amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the industrial revolution began is about 200 meters, the height of Hoover Dam.
- The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the time of Moses is enough to fill up all the oceans.
- The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the Ice Age ended is enough to fill up all the oceans four times.
- The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since the dinosaurs died is enough to fill up all the oceans 20,000 times—or the entire volume of the earth three times.
- The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since coal formed is enough to fill up the earth 15 times.
- The amount of rain that has fallen on the world since oxygen formed is enough to fill the earth 100 times.
Okay, you say, and I should care why?
Wait, we haven't even gotten to rocks yet. And, and, ice.
And so, he concludes:
The geologic record suggests that climate ought not to concern us too much when we’re gazing into the energy future, not because it’s unimportant, but because it’s beyond our power to control.Uh, okay, I don't need a Prius after all. In fact, I don't matter. In fact, who is I?
The Mother Of Us All, Reborn
I will never read this book. Either translation. And it doesn't matter. I am lucky to be the recipient of its benefits to the cultural change and personal awakening it created.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
BP Lower Than OJ, And Other Energy News
This from a diarist/commenter at Daily Kos today:
BP is incredibly unpopular -- one recent poll had it at 6% (no typo) approval rating, while OJ Simpson never got below 11%.The diary is a keeper, about the Dems' new "Go Big Or Go Home" Congressional strategy for a blowout energy bill. Too bad we had to lose the Gulf to win the climate.
Friday, June 25, 2010
I Am Ashamed
Until today, I had never heard of Terry Pratchett or his wonderful sounding books.
I have only got to the early paragraph below of his two-part lecture on assisted suicide, but so far at least I expect him to become my new advisor on death. I think about it all the time, but it is not considered appropriate material for conversation, even among the people I know must also be thinking about it all the time. It seems to make people nervous.
Tomorrow I go to the library for as much Pratchett as I can find. Thank you once again, Metfilter denizens, without whom I would be a much poorer human being.
UPDATE: The above link is to a short version of Pratchett's lecture.
This is the longer version.
I have only got to the early paragraph below of his two-part lecture on assisted suicide, but so far at least I expect him to become my new advisor on death. I think about it all the time, but it is not considered appropriate material for conversation, even among the people I know must also be thinking about it all the time. It seems to make people nervous.
Tomorrow I go to the library for as much Pratchett as I can find. Thank you once again, Metfilter denizens, without whom I would be a much poorer human being.
If you did not know there was anything wrong with me, you would not know there is anything wrong with me. The disease moves slowly, but you know it's there. Imagine a very, very slow-motion car crash. Nothing much seems to be happening. There's an occasional little bang, a crunch, a screw pops out and spins across the dashboard as if we're in Apollo 13. But the radio is still playing, the heater is on and it doesn't seem all that bad, except for the certain knowledge that sooner or later you will definitely be going headfirst through the windscreen.
UPDATE: The above link is to a short version of Pratchett's lecture.
This is the longer version.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Aw, Jeez, Krugman
I really do think we’re looking at a lost decade.I could have waited til the end of summer to hear this. Yeah, yeah, you telegraphed your punches. It's not like I didn't see it coming.
Honorary Contrarienne? What Say You?
McChrystal Gone, GOP Turns On Limbaugh
I'm gone for the day and look what happens, all hell breaks loose.
Thank God for Kwame Kilpatrick.
(Yoga lessons? Have you seen the guy? Built the way daily Big Macs mean you to look.)
Thank God for Kwame Kilpatrick.
(Yoga lessons? Have you seen the guy? Built the way daily Big Macs mean you to look.)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
McCrystal Resigns
Aw. I never did got around to setting up a poll. Should he resign? Should he be fired? When will he be fired? When will he resign?
A lot of blogger speculation that he did it on purpose to avoid getting stuck with his own failed Afghanistan strategy.
Anyhoo, here's a little Kos analysis of other things in the Rolling Stone story.
Josh Marshall says of course he resigned. But will they accept it?
A lot of blogger speculation that he did it on purpose to avoid getting stuck with his own failed Afghanistan strategy.
Anyhoo, here's a little Kos analysis of other things in the Rolling Stone story.
Josh Marshall says of course he resigned. But will they accept it?
It's being reported that Gen. McChrystal has submitted his resignation to President Obama and Secretary Gates. And that's being played in some publications as meaning McChrystal's out.
Not even close. It's entirely possible that McCrystal will be out this afternoon. But in the present circumstances McChrystal submitting his resignation is a given; it is absolutely essential for him to do that. He has no choice.
The question is whether Obama and Gates choose to accept. His submitting his resignation simply isn't the bombshell some are presenting it as.
Today's Poem
is the first one I've recommended in a while. Not even Yeats from Sunday. Hunh.
| Packet | ||
| by Jamie Ross | ||
A green light that comes when you never saw it coming, never heard it, felt it, but you knew it like the woman in the sandlot behind Abram's Grill who's just lost her lenses, on her hands and knees, her hair cut short but seems as if it's flowing, and the rush on her throat like a rise from birth, the music in the car as the engine goes silent while you fold down a seat for the stashed beam lantern with it's yellow plastic grip, six Ray-O-Vacs, the movement in the trees beyond Lake Michigan. It's a wave like that when the wind gets lost and the mail-boat from Racine, three hours late, cracks into a tanker, where the crew, like you, has waited on the decks, in the hold for two months out, to send a message home—or to get a certain scent, for just one instant, of weeds, in the dirt, the both of you groping. | ||
Monday, June 21, 2010
Nobel Winner Explains My Entire Life
But I was too incompetent to know it.
Dunning and Kruger argued in their paper, “When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it. Instead, like Mr. Wheeler, they are left with the erroneous impression they are doing just fine.”
Saturday, June 19, 2010
I Love The Intertubes
I couldn't be there, except in spirit. But I felt like I was there. New York City, a story on every block, a drama on every corner. Human family.
Bhangra in the East Village from Derek Beres on Vimeo.
Bhangra in the East Village from Derek Beres on Vimeo.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch
There's this thing called fusion. I dunno either, but people who do seem to think we MIGHT BE SAVED!
Successful early test shots suggest that the NIF will achieve the first ignition within the next few months, and that shot will be heard round the world.
The American Health Care System
Sometimes it helps to have a little perspective. Andrew Sullivan found this:
Would I be alive today without Spireva and Advair? Possibly not. Certainly not walking or breathing without assistance. They cost a lot.The truth is that the volume and complexity of the knowledge that we need to master has grown exponentially beyond our capacity as individuals. Worse, the fear is that the knowledge has grown beyond our capacity as a society. When we talk about the uncontrollable explosion in the costs of health care in America, for instance—about the reality that we in medicine are gradually bankrupting the country—we’re not talking about a problem rooted in economics. We’re talking about a problem rooted in scientific complexity.Half a century ago, medicine was neither costly nor effective. Since then, however, science has combatted our ignorance. It has enumerated and identified, according to the international disease-classification system, more than 13,600 diagnoses—13,600 different ways our bodies can fail. And for each one we’ve discovered beneficial remedies—remedies that can reduce suffering, extend lives, and sometimes stop a disease altogether. But those remedies now include more than six thousand drugs and four thousand medical and surgical procedures. Our job in medicine is to make sure that all of this capability is deployed, town by town, in the right way at the right time, without harm or waste of resources, for every person alive. And we’re struggling. There is no industry in the world with 13,600 different service lines to deliver.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Project Runway: Eleanor Of Aquitane Edition
Why I Love The Intertubes
and the people who contribute to Metafilter. Because how would I ever know about this without them?
Delight for delight's sake. What is life for besides that?
Delight for delight's sake. What is life for besides that?
'There Is No Resupply Vehicle'
Taplin has this ongoing project on what he calls the Interregnum, which is explained here.
But the last sentence is what got me.
But the last sentence is what got me.
...we are all passengers on spaceship earth, flying through the cosmos. Everything we have for the journey is already on board the ship (except sunlight for life generation). There is no resupply vehicle.
Laugh Out Loud
Obama gets BP to withhold dividends and put $20 billion — $20 BILLION — toward and independently administered damage fund, and the GOP calls it "Chicago-style shakedown."
That's it. That's all they can think of to say. Hallelujah! The GOP just fucked itself sooo big time.
That's it. That's all they can think of to say. Hallelujah! The GOP just fucked itself sooo big time.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
My Goodness, Indeed
The crazier woman who beat the crazy woman for the GOP Senate nomination in Nevada has inadvertently revealed the new crazyspeak for guns.
If this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.Is that crazy enough for ya?
Monday, June 14, 2010
Can They Do That?
Yes, they can.
The opening episode of True Blood was awesome. As the LA Times put it, you want werewolves? We got werewolves!
Denmark and the Netherlands played to a scoreless tie in the first half of their World Cup matchup Monday, but a costly Danish error gave the Dutch the lead just after the second half began. Less than one minute into the new half and with the Netherlands threatening, left back Simon Poulsen attempted to clear the ball with a header, but instead he deflected it into teammate Daniel Agger's back, where it bounced into the Danish goal, giving a score to the Dutch team. The goal was credited to Simon Poulsen. Scroll down for video.Am I watching the WC? No.
The opening episode of True Blood was awesome. As the LA Times put it, you want werewolves? We got werewolves!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
The Internet Is My Only News Source These Days
So stop me if you've heard this:
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.Or this:
Apparently, according to historian, Douglas Brinkley there is a huge federal gulf recovery act being planned by the Obama administration and by Congress that would be on the scale of Tennessee Valley Authority.
Question O' Teh Day
A. About ten seconds.
Still, it lasted about six months, six times as long as other Frisbees. Add to annual budget, Frisbee: $14.50 X 2.
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