OrWendy's gave me a sheet of coupons the last time I ate there, including one for a 25 cent chicken nugget.

I assumed that meant an order of nuggets. No, it's for one nugget. In other words, the coupon was a 0% discount.

Deceptive and douchey.

Browsing the internet on my phone is an experience which transcends to a much greater degree the interface of the traditional computer than one might predict at this point in history.

The Dems came up with a bill I didn't like, but by their powers combined, Congress has come up with a bill that I HATE.

"Nobody's "getting covered" here. After all, people are already "free" to buy private insurance and one must assume they have reasons for not doing it already. Whether those reasons are good or bad won't make a difference when they are suddenly forced to write big checks to Aetna or Blue Cross that they previously had decided they couldn't or didn't want to write. Indeed, it actually looks like the worst caricature of liberals: taking people's money against their will, saying it's for their own good --- and doing it without even the cover that FDR wisely insisted upon with social security, by having it withdrawn from paychecks. People don't miss the money as much when they never see it."

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/12/16/white_house/index.html

http://bostonreview.net/BR34.5/chomsky.php?chom

I don't really feel like talking about myself, am currently too depressed about politics to talk about it, and don't think people particularly care for my Youtube video posts.

So... go blog yourself. :-P

Youtube wandering produces results! Great success! Hit play all at once for interesting noises.

I like rock and roll but am not myself rock and roll. Noun, adjective.



I like the humanity in music more than I like the music itself, in a lot of cases.



Something about covers is revelatory to me. It reveals the singer through a lens I'm familiar with, or reveals a song in the same way.



Who wants to start a band?

I've been hearing arguments and counter-arguments related to climate research leak controversy, and here's my thought on the subject.

The leak does not prove that global warming is a myth. What it does demonstrate is that proponents of the theory are cheerfully lying to sway others to their point of view.

That's the most important lesson that I think anyone can take out of the whole business.

$100 at a time

After extensive (exhaustive?) research, I've made my first serious investment. I'm going to start putting $100/month into ETFs, starting with VTI. Numerous investment guides recommend starting with ETFs if you haven't invested before and want to start small, and VTI is a consistent ETF that is currently riding low.

Wish me luck!

It seems to be a law that whenever I'm able to check Woot just as it changes, it's something stupid.

My right ring finger hurts badly when I flex it. I can't figure out what I did to it.

I got a ton of stuff done today. I mean, a TON of stuff. And then paid for it in the evening.

I've been playing a lot of Modern Warfare 2... there are glaring imbalances in the game that take the multiplayer experience from "sublime" to "above average", but I doubt they'll ever be fixed.

Sleep.

Turns out Verizon shares your personal information with other companies, including marketers. It's called CPNI sharing, and you can opt out of it by calling 1.800.333.9956.

Also, I spell my name over the phone, and this is what Time Warner comes up with? Really?

Some idiot told me today that ADD has no physiological reason for occurring, and is a disease entirely made up by prescription drug companies.

I assumed he was full of crap, because 99% of people who claim to know some deep counter-intuitive truth about the world are full of crap, but I nevertheless took the time to look up the relevant research to explain to him how full of crap he was.

It turns out that science's best guess as to the reason for ADD symptoms is that ADD sufferers aren't very good at transmitting and receiving dopamine, the chemical responsible for rewarding us when something nice happens. Thus, ADD sufferers struggle to connect an action with its likely reward, and lack the motivation to focus. When we do a good job, we don't feel as good about it as "normal" people do - the rewards which come from our brains are smaller and less noticeable. This means that ADD sufferers constantly seek new sources of satisfaction in an attempt to satisfy their need for dopamine, a need which cannot be satisfied.

Without going into too much detail, this description corresponds extremely closely to my experience.

"The liberal 'everyone is equal' is not the solution for racism. It's precisely the cause of racism. In the absence of a proper definition for 'useless, annoying people', the racist or nationalist nonsense can become the best available method for approximating uselessness."

If you know enough about science to pass high-school physics, this will crack you up

"The persecution of witches across Africa, from Kenya to Johannesburg, is the terminus of irrationality. From the relative safety of a desk in the semi-sane West, it is too easy to forget that -- to believe that "critical thinking" is a game of intellectual one-upmanship, and that the "enemy" really is Sylvia Browne or John Edward or Peter Popoff. But they are not our enemies. They are merely promoters of an attitude. They tell us that the impossible is possible, and it would be asking far too much to expect them to imagine that, a world away, the same proposition has the power to make the intolerable tolerable; to turn famine to fate, a still-birth to a curse, and kin to kindling."

Kenyan "witches" burned by villagers

Seriously, this is mind-blowing.

Hans Rosling Shows the Best Stats You've Ever Seen

I keep becoming a better runner, yet don't particularly seem to be losing weight. I guess if I'm in good shape athletically, I really don't care too much about the shape of my gut, but it's strange.

I picked up two albums tonight: Dashboard Confessional - Alter the Ending and Say Anything - Say Anything. If you haven't listened to Dashboard Confessional recently, their new album will surprise you, and probably in a good way. They're more like rock 'n roll than singer-songwriter these days, and Carraba's whininess has improved a lot.

The Say Anything album is So. Good. I love Say Anything in general, but this album is so great. Max Bemis' voice will still make a lot of people say "meh", but the enthusiastic way he launches himself through every song on this album, shouting over layered melodies and rhythms, well, it makes me want to stand up and shout along.

I finished the single-player campaign in Modern Warfare 2 tonight. I played the entire campaign in the first game, so I had some idea of what to expect, but I was still pretty much floored by the experience that Modern Warfare 2's campaign gives you. Emotional, tense, exciting; it's a better sensory experience than a lot of films, and a good game on top of all that.

"Free market's strongpoint is exactly to get rid of the idiots, and reward those who are skilled. The free market did exactly what it supposed to do: left the idiots with the subprime loans and the idiots who gave subprime loans broken/bankrupt. The situation where such people lose everything is the proper outcome of any kind of fair system...

"By the 'crisis', the free market proved exactly that it's working: getting rid of morons. It's discarded and replaced by communism exactly because social people don't want to get rid of the morons."

The left side of my face is numb, thanks to the dentist. My wallet, however, is throbbing.

The distinction between text and IM really fades with my new phone. Each task is done in precisely the same way on the phone, so I have to remind myself that other people probably aren't ready to have an AIM-style conversation via text message.

"In a world where billions believe their deity conceived a mortal child with a virgin human, it's stunning how little imagination most people display.." -Chuck Palahniuk

In which I make beef bourguignon

I watched Julie and Julia last night. One of the key dishes in the movie (which is quite watchable if you like to cook) is beef bourguignon, which looked so good in the movie that I was forced to make it for dinner tonight. Since I was reading the recipe from the screen of my phone, I figured I'd take pictures to share.

After prepping all of my ingredients ahead of time (something I like to do, but rarely have time for) I browned bacon followed by stew beef in my brand-new iron Dutch oven.



I apologize for the picture quality; my phone's most obvious weakness is a poor camera.

Next, the pot gets filled with chopped carrots and yellow onions, which I tossed with the bacon fat and drippings from the beef. The result looked good enough to eat by itself.

Next, I combined everything I had so far, added some liquor, and dropped in a match. I may have lost a bit of forearm hair in the process. The liquor was supposed to be cognac, but you know I used something else...

Once the liquor had burnt off, I poured in one entire bottle of red wine and put the pot in the oven, which is where it is now. In one hour, more pictures will appear.

...

I apologize for the lack of further pictures. Company appeared and the food was SPECTACULAR, which distracted me from my purpose. Sorry!

Funny!



Serious.

http://gizmodo.com/5403322/racing-on-carbon-fiber-legs-how-abled-should-we-be?skyline=true&s=i