you can now wear your resume on the back of your shirt…what does that say about you?
an interview with a former secretary of the treasury regarding the coming economic crisis.
a few books regarding the modern con job.
from the “fix it” series: tech policy and education (for the record, I agree with most of both of these).
freaky, crazy animals found off antartica.
finally, what every american should know (and i surely do not know) about the middle east.
rate a few jokes here, then laugh at the funny jokes it recommends based on your taste.
a short essay on a month without sugar and the benefits of said diet.
it’s coming!!!! wireless power…
i don’t really want to even link to this news blip about a local attorney who gets busted for wanting to have sex with a 13-year old, except for this quote by an area resident (fantastic source, by the way…”Wow, he lives there!!”): “You wouldn’t expect something like that in an area like this.” Please. Cause it’s a wealthy area? A white area? Rich white people will do more bizarre and illegal shit than you can dream of. Why is this still shocking??
a chicago suburb is regulating light-production to control light pollution.
justice: police caught the couple responsible for fraudulent craigslist ad which was written as a guy with a sudden need to leave town who left all his possessions up for grabs (including his horse!).
slate’s “fix it” series: the presidency.
a few words about the most commented and favorite’d photo on flickr.
a photograph of a man-made vagina, as constructed transsexuals. warning: it’s a little graphic.
wind farms that float - the future is now.
according to this, DC is actually a leader in promoting sustainable buildlings. cool.
while i know it doesn’t pertain to most of my (limited) readership, this is fantastic piece about parenting.
finally, just in case you miss it elsewhere (it’s getting a lot of traction on the nets), a review of the world as if it were a video game.
yesterday, one of my roommates started chatting at me, asking me if i’d heard the BANG the night before or saw “the tree.” as mature and clever as i am, i retorted something about BANG-ing one of his relatives and asked which tree he was referring to. he described, “the tree that crashed through the garage.” though he was a day late on april fools, it wouldn’t be the first time he was a day late so i figured he was trying to “pull one over on me.”
turns out it was no joke. half of a fairly large tree split off two nights ago and fell directly on the garage. i’ll show you a picture:
here’s another angle:
so i get home around 6:00 and text jed, my friend i own the house with. then i took these pictures. then i walked over to our neighbor’s house to see how bad it was on there side. then i was almost attacked by a dog the size of a bear. the good news was that it turned our there was basically no damage at all to his shed. he even offered to help us out on the weekend with his chainsaw and try to clean it up. i told him we’d buy him pizza. he laughed at me, kind of the way a grown-up laughs at a kid asking if they “want to play.” cool. then i went inside and, if i remember correctly, beat koon (another roommate) in ping-pong, over and over.
let’s be clear about one thing at this point: i am not a lumberjack. i am not a ‘jack’ of very many things at all, unless they have some sort of keyboard attached. i looked and i could not find a keyboard anywhere near this tree. the more industrious of you out there might have been able to grab your handsaw (scissors or exacto knife) and start going to town, but that’s not really my forte. my forte involves something technological and a warm, soft chair. or maybe a book. if we’re dealing with something that involves any sort of “engine” or “manual labor,” we’ve left my expertise far behind.
given my inability to do anything and the fact that it seemed the tree had already done about as much damage as it was going to, i was perfectly content to wait for jed to come home around 11. then we could come up with a “battle plan” (using that term makes me feel like i am more important than i am) and maybe get up there and help him throw a tarp over the sunlights. that’s right, i’m not afraid to go up on the roof. with backup.
so i had to do some work last night (which was cool cause i work with my computer…my specialty) and before i knew it i was looking at my laptop and it was midnight. i’d been in my room with the door closed but i’d expected jed to be home by this point - weird. walking across the hall to brush my teeth, i see jed on the couch. investigation is called for. it doesn’t take long to find out that he’s been home a while and has been outside with ryan (another roommate…i know, there are a lot of us) and they’ve been chopping at the tree. wow! let’s look at another picture (from this morning):
from another angle:
as far as i can tell, they did this in the middle of the night. without power tools. what is even more baffling to me is that no one asked for my help. i didn’t even know these things were occurring! perhaps jed and ryan are even smarter than i give them credit for and they knew that my involvement would not only add little value but perhaps jeopardize the safety of all participants. refer again to the above-mentioned lack of expertise.
i hope one of their computers breaks so i can feel useful and fix something. until then, i’ll be indebted.
slate’s “fix it” series: healthcare and the environment
if you’re not into the other day’s wireless power, here’s the next best thing.
a disturbingly realistic fake baby. please don’t buy this.
how many elements can you name? i got to 27. i love educational games like this.
surreal story of 2 UVA students kidnapping a chinese national right here in tysons corner.
an ambitious plan by DC to place up to 400 of the neediest homeless people in the district.
a scary description of some possible upcoming problems with the water supply.
hard-to-really-understand story of a gang of 3rd-graders trying to kill their teacher. seriously. maybe.
slate’s “fix it” series: our national finances (is anyone reading these??).
potentially a great prank lock.
the japanese have definitely got us beat in decorating UPC codes.
some banks are foreclosing on properties and then refusing to take possession in order to avoid taxes.
craigslist has a blog - i’ll be adding it to my RSS.
first cuts in half-century: AP will not test in CS AB, and a few languages.
i dig this a lot - a St Louis construction company is building 10 homes to a variety of sustainability and green standards in order to test their energy use and long-term cost.
the 20 most famous unsolved mysteries of the globe.
from national geographic: a look at china’s “instant cities,” the manufacturing centers of the world.
i can’t wait for LED light bulbs to cost less than $30.
what do they do at harvard? they create eye drops that probe the brains of mice. wtf.
not only do today’s children not play outside, they don’t actually even care anymore.
mail options: here’s a site to try to stop junk mailings and this is a service to collect all your mail and serve it to you on the internet (it’s even got automatic check-deposit).
“leading historians” are ranking bush as dead last. shocker…
australians have fashioned a device to let girls pee standing up. next up: cancer.
best of CL: stoners talking to stoners about pizza.
post article about “passive houses” which have drasitcally reduced energy loads.
4 factors solar is not a more significant energy source in the US.
michigan school system pursues grants to use renewable resources.
U of Washington experiments with tracking people using RFID.
an article faulting the press’s coverage of presidential candidates’ “character” instead of issues.
reusable envelopes.
christian sex-help.
bulletproof hoodie.
alligator blood heals.
use waste-CO2 to make plastics.
videos of MRI madness.
new light bulbs will not fix the environment.
the controversy of the message t-shirt.
neo-liberalism caused the current credit-crisis recession.
pj o’rourke’s take on the new 7 deadly sins.
what iceland can teach the US about green power.
can a photographer be forced to cover a same-sex wedding?
my home town is opting for lasers over fireworks.
DC police gain access to more than 5000 closed-circuit cameras in the city.
fairfax county schools finds an association between race and “morality.”
shock of the century: high school students cheat. a lot.
microsoft wants to give you directions that avoid traffic.
power grid control networks are easy to hack.
great books about new york. and 12 songs.
32gb flash drives. wow.
the ten worst human experiments. be warned: this isn’t easy stuff to read.
the 50 funniest comedy sketches.
the possible role of microcars in the american commute.
the biggest construction projects in the world.
short essay on power in china.
adobe’s new site with training videos.
why you can skip the newseum.
looking for sensitive military gear? try ebay.
scientists use illegal meds to improve concentration.
an essay on effective behavior modification for children.
a different (better) kind of insulation should now become cheaper.
ben stein made a movie about intelligent design. not an intelligent choice.
people have an seemingly-irrational bond to other people with the same name.
earnest hemingway talks about symbolism in creative works. awesome.
sexiest printer ever.
tommy murphy’s next mousepad.
the future is cloudy.
at the beginning of the year i applied to a few law schools, all in california. i’ve been waitlisted at UC-Hastings, but accepted to U San Deigo and Loyola in Los Angeles (and still waiting to hear from USC and Santa Clara). between the beginning of the year and now, though, my conviction that law school is what i want has slipped. especially considering the average annual tuition is around $35K and with other costs balloons up to almost $60K a year. to go to school. i actually pretty strongly believe i would enjoy the law school experience but at what cost…
i’ve also been meaning to apply here for a month or so (as staff, not as a student). i’m not afraid of being the IT guy as long as i’m on a cruise ship. the september itinerary leaves from amsterdam and ends up in hong kong. sign me up. i would love to do this for a year or two, but i’m not sure it’s something i could turn into a career.
i also think about going back to teaching, though i don’t think i’d want to be in a math classroom. i’ve thought about completing a bachelor’s in english (and considered getting a master’s) to be able to teach that, but i worry about being motivated enough to complete the courses. i also, of course, still don’t want to pay for it.
so, here i am at 30 with 2 mini-careers behind me and no idea where to go next. the real problem, i think, is that the things that i’m good at are all things i’m not super-interested in and all of fantasies require skills i don’t have. if i really could have my dream job, i think i’d play piano and sing in a bar. and travel. with a laptop and a camera. and see what happens.
we’ll see what happens.