"A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: Duh."
--Conan O'Brien
"I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else."
--Lily Tomlin
More. (Not all of them are winners.)
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
NakedKnitting
NakedKnitting, a project to make a nude goodwill calendar for an under-funded hospital. 100% of sales profits will go to that charity. (There's scant information there yet. Maybe it's a bit premature to link to it, but it's a project by my friends Vicky and Laurie Jeffery.)
Anatomy of a bubble
Anatomy of a bubble.
Economic investment bubbles have been a scurge of mankind since at least the 1600s. We would do well to understand them better.
I think the real estate bubble has at least a couple years to fall yet, in most of the world.
Economic investment bubbles have been a scurge of mankind since at least the 1600s. We would do well to understand them better.
I think the real estate bubble has at least a couple years to fall yet, in most of the world.
Understanding god
How do you define God? Like this. A God I could understand, at least potentially, was infinitely more interesting and relevant than one that defied comprehension.
-- Robert J. Sawyer, "Calculating God", 2000
I can understand that sentiment, but is it really the function of god to be "interesting" to humans? Also, does one really expect god to fit, even conceptually, into the puny human mind?
Sure, one should try, absolutely. But lord, even just astronomical numbers boggles our tiny minds, and god must be almost infinitely bigger than those.
Sorry for not capitalizing "god". It's a feeble attempt to use it in a more abstract way than the personal, Christian, God.
Don't get me wrong, I don't consider god to be forever beyond our reach. I just don't think we'll stay human, really.
-- Robert J. Sawyer, "Calculating God", 2000
I can understand that sentiment, but is it really the function of god to be "interesting" to humans? Also, does one really expect god to fit, even conceptually, into the puny human mind?
Sure, one should try, absolutely. But lord, even just astronomical numbers boggles our tiny minds, and god must be almost infinitely bigger than those.
Sorry for not capitalizing "god". It's a feeble attempt to use it in a more abstract way than the personal, Christian, God.
Don't get me wrong, I don't consider god to be forever beyond our reach. I just don't think we'll stay human, really.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Andrew Sinclair-Day glass art
Andrew Sinclair-Day glass art.
I can't believe these are made of glass.
And how do you ship them??
The blue dragonfly I had to send notice of to my friend lysa of DragonflyBlue.
I can't believe these are made of glass.
And how do you ship them??
The blue dragonfly I had to send notice of to my friend lysa of DragonflyBlue.
Why Work site
Why Work site.
I am not sure exactly what they are advocating in practical terms, and it seems neither are they. But it's a subject which bears thinking about, rather than just reacting to. For example I remember this excellent old anecdote:
A rich man walked in a little fishing village and saw a fisherman sitting with his feet up, deeply relaxed, in the middle of the day and week, and the rich man was offended. So he went up to the guy and said: "Why aren't you out fishing?"
The fisherman said: "I got enough fish for the week."
"But you should get more."
"Why?"
"So you could earn more money to get a bigger boat and hire men."
"Why?"
"To earn more money yet."
"Why?"
"So you can sit back and relax."
The fisherman just looked at him under one raised eyebrow.
---
Jens points to the original story.
I am not sure exactly what they are advocating in practical terms, and it seems neither are they. But it's a subject which bears thinking about, rather than just reacting to. For example I remember this excellent old anecdote:
A rich man walked in a little fishing village and saw a fisherman sitting with his feet up, deeply relaxed, in the middle of the day and week, and the rich man was offended. So he went up to the guy and said: "Why aren't you out fishing?"
The fisherman said: "I got enough fish for the week."
"But you should get more."
"Why?"
"So you could earn more money to get a bigger boat and hire men."
"Why?"
"To earn more money yet."
"Why?"
"So you can sit back and relax."
The fisherman just looked at him under one raised eyebrow.
---
Jens points to the original story.
tr.im
tr.im makes the shortest short-urls ever by virtue of the short address, and also the widget is amazingly useful. You don't even have to copy the URL and paste it in, it gets it automatically from whatever web page you're looking at! Kool.
And you don't have to select and copy it either. Just one click. I like that. I'd like more engineers to think like that. Save clicks. It's only recently that youtube has the cursor already in the searchfield when I arrive. And Amazon still doesn't.
And you don't have to select and copy it either. Just one click. I like that. I'd like more engineers to think like that. Save clicks. It's only recently that youtube has the cursor already in the searchfield when I arrive. And Amazon still doesn't.
Fantastic Machine
I bought this on DVD a couple years ago after David Pogue recommended it. Now I see it's on u-toob:
Rancher's wife
[Thanks to signalroom.]
A successful rancher died and left everything to his devoted wife. She was a very good-looking woman and determined to keep the ranch, but knew very little about ranching, so she decided to place an ad in the newspaper for a ranch hand.
Two cowboys applied for the job. One was gay and the other a drunk. She thought long and hard about it, and when no one else applied she decided to hire the gay guy, figuring it would be safer to have him around the house than the drunk.. He proved to be a hard worker who put In long hours every day and knew a lot about ranching.
For weeks, the two of them worked, and the ranch was doing very well. Then one day, the rancher's widow said to the hired hand, 'You have done a really good job, and the ranch looks great. You should go into town and kick up your heels.'
The hired hand readily agreed and went into town one Saturday night. One o'clock came, however, and he didn't return. Two o'clock and no hired hand. Finally he returned around two-thirty, and upon entering the room, he found the rancher's widow sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, waiting for him.
She quietly called him over to her. 'Unbutton my blouse and take it off,' she said. Trembling, he did as she directed. 'Now take off my boots.' He did as she asked, ever so slowly.. 'Now take off my socks.'
He removed each gently and placed them neatly by her boots. 'Now take off my skirt.' He slowly unbuttoned it, constantly watching her eyes in the fire light. 'Now take off my bra.' Again, with trembling hands, he did as he was told and dropped it to the floor.
Then she looked at him and said, 'If you ever wear my clothes into town again, you're fired!'
A successful rancher died and left everything to his devoted wife. She was a very good-looking woman and determined to keep the ranch, but knew very little about ranching, so she decided to place an ad in the newspaper for a ranch hand.
Two cowboys applied for the job. One was gay and the other a drunk. She thought long and hard about it, and when no one else applied she decided to hire the gay guy, figuring it would be safer to have him around the house than the drunk.. He proved to be a hard worker who put In long hours every day and knew a lot about ranching.
For weeks, the two of them worked, and the ranch was doing very well. Then one day, the rancher's widow said to the hired hand, 'You have done a really good job, and the ranch looks great. You should go into town and kick up your heels.'
The hired hand readily agreed and went into town one Saturday night. One o'clock came, however, and he didn't return. Two o'clock and no hired hand. Finally he returned around two-thirty, and upon entering the room, he found the rancher's widow sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, waiting for him.
She quietly called him over to her. 'Unbutton my blouse and take it off,' she said. Trembling, he did as she directed. 'Now take off my boots.' He did as she asked, ever so slowly.. 'Now take off my socks.'
He removed each gently and placed them neatly by her boots. 'Now take off my skirt.' He slowly unbuttoned it, constantly watching her eyes in the fire light. 'Now take off my bra.' Again, with trembling hands, he did as he was told and dropped it to the floor.
Then she looked at him and said, 'If you ever wear my clothes into town again, you're fired!'
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
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