Weather.com

Besides being ~40° too warm by their estimation right now, Weather.com is also confusing 'drizzly, foggy, miserable and overcast' with 'partly cloudy'.

To You

May loneliness end soon, and routines recommence.

Night of Other Thoughts

“So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever.” ~Peter Pan

Obviously

Fox News makes you stupid. Viewers polled were found to be consistently misinformed and to believe the following:

91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)

I am Outdone

Wine bottle Christmas tree by Megkat. My Starbucks tree doesn't come close, but to be fair, for the size of my apartment, I'd have to use mini bottle of wine to produce this same idea. Or, find a bigger place. And I would totally be proud that I drank the whole tree's worth of bottles. Perhaps someday in the future.

Porn Genre Collide

Kaylene Kau's prosthetic tentacle arm. Because a description isn't the same as a picture.

..via Gizmodo

Aten

Everyone needs some belief to treasure.

Fair and Balanced

As per conversation today, here's another example of the ridiculous, albeit nothing new:

Ten percent of all Muslims are terrorists.

Of course, makes perfect sense. Half a percent of the American population totally equals 1.57 million people. Or, it's half the population. Same thing.

Really, it's like letting the evangelist preach. While drunk. On television/radio. You never go full retard. Lacks credibility.

..via Huffington Post

I hate Facebook

"The more I read Ayn Rand's work, the more I'm convinced she was just a psychopath who found a way to make not giving a shit sound admirable."

A friend wrote this on her wall recently. Or, more aptly, someone I haven't hung out with for over a year and half but know and see occasionally. But, since I make a concerted effort to rarely log in and even less to update, I am responding here. This makes me both sad and tired, because all I can't help but interpret it as is 'Everyone who enjoys or agrees with Ayn Rand's work is incredibly apathetic and should be praised for it.'

I get it. It lacks emotion in the way it seems the majority of people feel the need to sympathize with everything. Rand pushes empathy over sympathy, as one is truly understanding and showing you share an emotion versus just pretending you understand or care. And from the outside, that can be seen as psychopathic, and yet it gets under my skin. To someone like myself, it seems a lie to sympathize when you have to basis to feel the emotions that could be attached. I can say 'that sucks' with the best of them, but there's no point I can say 'it's ok, we've all been there, it'll get better' if I have no idea if that is a possibility to be there.

And not giving a shit? That makes no sense to me. Every single protagonist in a Rand story gave up everything for their beliefs. Every single one, that's kind of the trend. Love running a railroad but hate who you're giving the profits to because they are worthless bastards? Give it up, even though the book spends chapters on how hard it is to do so. Love architecture but not the way someone tells you it has to be? Become famous for your style for a while, lost it all, rescue your mentor who sold out and then do your thing no matter the money in the end. Love capitalism and a certain roguish fella? Get shot in back and die trying to escape a country imposing it's values.

All of that sounds like not giving a shit.

And yes, I think I've done this argument a thousand times since first reading Rand at 16. I've written papers I've done debates, I am not such a believer I don't understand the flaws of Objectiism, and this is doubtfully going to be the last time I bitch and moan about it. But I can't help but feel when someone posts things like the original statement, they walked in already expecting to have a perspective on the material, and don't see the intent behind it.

Selfishness does not mean not giving a shit. Not blubbering over how life begins/ends does not beget a miracle. Yes, liking Rand means being selfish and figuring out your own self-worth and desires so you can then use your talents correctly. Or if you don't have any, learn something, but damnit, do the job well. Being a psychopath normally precludes passionate love affairs, which, with little digging, you'd see happened with Rand, so dissuades that argument.

I get this is a rant. It was only meant to be as such, and it is lacking in eloquence and better thinking. I get worked up over simple things, but I cannot understand how those simple things are possibly misunderstood. I cannot fathom interpreting the world as others do, if this manaes to work me up this much at 1am when I should be sleeping.

I think I choose also being a psychopath who does not give a shit, if it puts me in the same boat as Rand. Better than crying over the Bronte sisters any day.

Go Starbucks!

Starbucks says “disposing of the cups is the top environmental concern of its customers. The angst over the problem has reached the highest levels of the company.”

Supposedly, eco-focused CEO Howard Schultz has promised that by 2012 all Starbucks cups will be recyclable.

Guess I'll have to start using plastic bottles for the next Christmas tree......and get more room in my car to carry all of the recycled cups.

What your stuff reveals about you

We consume books, movies, music, and visual art primarily to fulfill the internal emotional needs that are fundamental to our personalities. But we also make choices about art based on a desire to carve out identities for ourselves—to articulate the stories of our lives. By the same token, we look for those stories in others. We also feel intuitively that we can judge others by their tastes. Unfortunately, those judgments are often wrong—largely because we pay attention to the wrong things. It pays to learn how to spot the real clues.

I think I would end up about 2/3 Taste hunter, 1/3 Self-medicator based on the info in this article.

Upcycling!

So, I drink espresso. A lot of espresso. Yes, if I were smart or followed all of my own ideals on recycling, then I would be using a reusable cup instead of the throw away ones. However, that's besides the point.

The point is that I felt it was a waste to leave all of the cups. So instead, I decided to do something completely unnecessary, and created a Christmas tree. This really is better than some of my past Christmas trees, which were really just other fake trees that had nothing to do with evergreens either. Instead, this year, I totally can say that I wasted an afternoon poking holes and super-gluing 45 cups together. Personally, I like it.

..Thanks for the inspiration.

Gabriel Dawe Installations

Art by Gabriel Dawe. I absolutely love how the yarn pieces remind me of a lot of the simple things I used to do when I was a kid, but on a much better, much more OCD style. And the pain pieces blow my mind. Having stepped on too many straight pins to count, I can clearly visualize exactly how the pieces would feel. I love it.

Grenada's Underwater Museum Update

So, back in 2007, I had seen an art installation by Jason deCaires Taylor and posted about it, but recently saw an update on how some of the art has fared over the last few years since it was put in place.

Buy Nothing Day 2010

So, I failed at Buy Nothing Day. Foodstuffs were a requirement, although I managed easily on the normal avoidance of superfluous objects I don't really need. Instead, I opted for: Silk Light plain soy milk, Orowheat Health Nut bread loaf, mild cheddar cheese, Cheerios, Crispix, and one 6 pack of unbuttered, unsalted, unflavorful natural microwave popcorn.

Upon reflection of my shopping list, I really need to get back into snack food and junk stuff. If the worst thing I have on my list is cheese, I really need to rethink my priorities.

..

Also, the best method to counteract the super-over-abundance-Thanksgiving belly is to totally go run 4 miles. And then follow up the next day with a brisk 3 miler in 55° weather. It really feels amazing. Retail therapy cannot even begin to compare.

Things I Want #8523

Sure it costs € 7990, but the KudOctopus from Kudoke has got to be one of most amazing watches I've ever seen.

I'll Be Gone by Rimantas Lukavicius

Watch the video by Rimantas Lukavicius. Thank me later.


..via Behance

...

My favorite charity with my almost favorite drink

A 64-year-old single malt Scotch whisky in a unique crystal decanter has sold for a record price of almost £300,000 at an auction in New York.

The decanter, crafted by famous French designer Lalique, holds 1.5l of the rare The Macallan whisky.

All the proceeds will be given to the clean-water group charity: water.

On a complete side note, if you need to pick a charity to ever give money to, choose charity: water. They have a great cause and need all the help they can get. Not that I can sway you, but I've given to them for years, and they deserve everything you can give.

So.....When you're busy

You're busy. And I've been busy. And lazy. And distraction and sleepy. Free time has been a mix of running and crafting. So, since I am incredibly lazy, a realllllllly long post of things I have found to post.

Doctor Who named best Sci-Fi show. Hell yes!!

What real T-Rex's look like. Feathers and all! Wait........what?

The Insanity Virus:

The idea has sparked skepticism, but after decades of hunting, Torrey and his colleagues think they have finally found the infectious agent. You might call it an insanity virus. If Torrey is right, the culprit that triggers a lifetime of hallucinations—that tore apart the lives of writer Jack Kerouac, mathematician John Nash, and millions of others—is a virus that all of us carry in our bodies. “Some people laugh about the infection hypothesis,” says Urs Meyer, a neuroimmunologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. “But the impact that it has on researchers is much, much, much more than it was five years ago. And my prediction would be that it will gain even more impact in the future.”

What if country size was equal to population size?

Last, check out my Amazon wish list for the most awesome pair of scissors ever!

OR musicians/philosophers/railroad tycoons/stopping the motor of the world

Leave your belongings behind. I'll meet you at Galt's Gulch. Plane optional.

Never Turn Right

Right is evil. Left is the correct direction.

Seriously, why?

Yes, why? Why do I still live here? Dallas sucks.

Top 15 American cities for outdoor activities

Right? RIGHT?

..via Natalie Dee

I am Old

I am not a big radio fan. I listen to NPR and the local NPR affiliate music station, and rarely ever listed to any other channels, since they are all Clear Channel owned and haven't really ever changed much. I wasn't a fan of Nirvana in high school, still not a fan of it now.

This morning on the way to work, I flipped over to the Oldies station and was astonished to hear The Eurythmics Sweet Dreams (Are made of This). I would at least hope that the Oldies station would confine itself to play music that is at least older than I am, seeing as how I'm not yet even 30. Obviously, anything over 27 years, is now eligible to be considered an Oldie, mixed in with 60 year old music.

Some days......Work just wears you down

Amazing Super Powers

Stop-Motion Light Painting

Light Drive from Kim Pimmel on Vimeo.

FYI Nicole

Dear Stomach,

When you have consumed fewer calories for the day than you have spent, you are supposed to feel hungry. 200 calories of toast for breakfast is less than 350 calories spent running. After said running, your job is to tell the brain that you need fuel to keep the engine going, especially since you didn't bother to eat dinner last night.

Dear Brain,

Be smarter than Stomach. You're running the show, act like it. Decide food is a good option to have earlier rather than 6 hours later. Then act on that decision.

Thanks in advance,

Nicole's Well Being

On a side note, waiting did result in a rather fabulous dinner of Tilapia en Papillote with veggies, herbs and garlic bread!

White America has Lost Its Mind

About 12:01 on the afternoon of January 20, 2009, the white American mind began to unravel....

What was going on? Had decades of sucking down so much high-fructose corn syrup not only made Americans incredibly obese, but also messed with white brain chemistry to the point that some sort of tipping point had occurred?

Not a bad theory, but no, there's a simpler explanation, with two parts: For the first time in their lives, baby boomers are hard up against it economically, and white boy is becoming outnumbered and it's got his bowels chilled with fear....

At the same time, the baby boomers are getting older. At 80 percent white, boomers have gotten pretty used to dominating nearly every field of endeavor in this country since they came of age—politics, business, education, the arts—just about everything but MTV programming.

Maybe I grew up to be more tolerant of other races. Maybe it's my apathy. Maybe it's my belief that the Tea Party is the single most frightening and yet ridiculous 'organization' I have ever seen. Maybe, despite my whiteness, it's my core belief that voting for Obama was a much better decision than voting for McCain. Whatever the reason, I love everything Steven Thrasher says in this article.

..via Village Voice

Europe by Stereotype

AlphaDesigner's Maps of Europe. Above, Europe according to the USA. Below, Europe according to gay man. More at his Flickr site.

I can't even begin to understand

...but I can't stop laughing.

Need More Coffee

..thank you.

The Social Network

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross OST for The Social Network.

Free five track sampler! I have no interest at all in seeing the movie (considering my feelings for Facebook in general), but hey, free Reznor!

This is only the beginning.....

A system of self-organizing traffic lights could reduce congestion, according to European researchers. The key is allowing lights to switch from green to red in a decentralized, chaotic way, instead of following a regular programmed pattern.

And then they become sentient, and the very first step is a Hackers type congestion as they work together to destroy the world.

...via PopSci

Blood Drive

Activision today announced Blood Drive, a new vehicular-based, zombie-slaying title that pits cars against waves of the undead as part of a TV game show being filmed in a Las Vegas-inspired desert city
Really, the only question needing to be asked is, 'what took so long'?


..viaG4TV

We Need This at Work

Public Restroom Rules

I am 12.

Cruise Ship 'Rocked'

So, back in 2006 I went a cruise. It was with friends, almost free, and ports of call were in Mayan territory, so I was fantastically happy. First port of call we went and saw ruins, and figured the second day would be a relaxing day at the beach (also known as I hide under a giant umbrella and get drunk day). The next morning we were woken by ship-wide announcements that the port trip was cancelled due to gale force winds. We spent the day rocking from one end to the other in a way that my mother known at the time, her hands would have been white from wringing them together. Despite common sense, perhaps due to the nature of the rocking; my night previously; or maybe because I knew I did not have to drive anywhere, I chose the option of getting smashed. It was a wise decision as the drunk people walked with the boat's rocking rather than against it, and yet I see a clip like this and just shudder. If we were already at gale force winds, and the worst we suffered was outside access locked down and a few chairs lost, imagine what kind of winds and sea they are facing knocking over forklifts.

Why I'll live longer....but not the longest

But even after controlling for nearly all imaginable variables - socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, number of close friends, quality of social support and so on - the researchers (a six-member team led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin) found that over a 20-year period, mortality rates were highest for those who had never been drinkers, second-highest for heavy drinkers and lowest for moderate drinkers.

Also, in other booze-related stuffs, vodka under a microscope:

I Tried

Tomorrow (today???) is metaphorical D-Day. This is all I can muster.

Goodbye Old Friend

Time of Death: 01:00 CST. Rest in peace.

There is a limit

Ok, so, I get it, you are a Christian. You became born-again, you now believe. It is incredibly important to you in every single way.

Do you really need to make every single Facebook post about how God or the Word makes you stronger and how everyone else has problems because they just don't believe enough or say God Bless every time they post?

I get having things you believe in. I'm the poster child for a lot of stuff, and I thrust my beliefs upon people I know rather than letting them choose. It is a concession for living in any manner not as a hermit. Perhaps it is my own fault, for not being religious. Perhaps I need to expand my own perspective out to also include things I find either tacky or distasteful. But in any case, it is wearing, and another reason I rarely log onto places like Facebook.

(And on a side note, the recycling bin is 20 feet away. Consider it free exercise, rather than making me bust you for paper and water bottles.)

Well Done, Digg

Digg V4: The Broken Covenant (aka Selling Out to “The Man”)

Seriously, Digg v4? You just destroyed the entire point of your site by making it non-user driven. You are now the equivalent of CNN or Fox News; a website so full of making money that actual reporting of anything is now minimal. Way to sell out, dipshits.

Sherman, TX

Ah, Sherman. You're not far from me, you have so little of interest to the normal person, and you've cost me $500 due to my incompetence at, you know, seeing. However, your complete pragmatism at having all kinds of giant buildings full of roundness, rust and fantastic graffiti somewhat wins you back over in my heart. Somewhat.

Patrice: Ain't Got No/I Got Life

Great re-imagining of the musical Hair's Ain't Got No/I Got Life songs. As this is my favorite musical and I've heard the songs countless times, it threw me off to have the words rearranged, but nonetheless, fabulous.

Original 1979 movies clips of Ain't Got No and I Got Life.

MIT Tardis Prank

Pranksters at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology placed a replica of a famous British TV time machine on the roof of a campus building.

The prank involved the TARDIS, an old-style British police call box used for time travel on the long-running British sci-fi program "Doctor Who," being placed atop Building 7 on campus late Wednesday or early Thursday, The Boston Globe reported Friday.

Photos stolen from bbcamericangirl and Bostonist

Does your language change how you think?

When your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information, it forces you to be attentive to certain details in the world and to certain aspects of experience that speakers of other languages may not be required to think about all the time. And since such habits of speech are cultivated from the earliest age, it is only natural that they can settle into habits of mind that go beyond language itself, affecting your experiences, perceptions, associations, feelings, memories and orientation in the world.

Fantastic article about how your language forces you to think certain ways, due to conformities in gender, geographic location, color, etc. Do read, and see how I will now use this for all excuses for my own ignorance.

This is why I don't eat rice

Scanning Electron Microscope picture of a maggot. Dude, imagine that face every time you eat a mouthful of sticky rice.

Choi + Shine

Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape. Seeing the pylon-figures will become an unforgettable experience, elevating the towers to something more than merely a functional design of necessity.

Absolutely love these. Imagine the way the city would looks if something so simple could be changed from the normal boring pylons to something more whimsical. Giants, everywhere, watching over the city and providing light.

Looking at You Misspellings Chain and McGrossness

Yes, I am biased. I live in a soulless state without the benefit of independent, good coffee shops near where live or work. But, perhaps due to past employment and the idea of who the usurpers were, I had a lot more issue with the 'consumer' winner in coffee tasting over the last few years.

Let me clarify. I hate normal coffee. During my employment at Starbucks, I worked my ass off to become certified for 'Coffee Master' (and within a few weeks after my quitting I would have obtained it), because to me, it was a goal to attain. That said, I have strong opinions on African versus Indonesian coffees, even if I am not a regular partaker. My drink of choice is a triple espresso, also known as a 'Tripplo' by correct coffee connoisseurs (versus my 'Trippio' without a lid I'm given by local barista's), which I then tarnish with fake sugar and enough cream to not burn myself.

And then I chug, since I hate the flavor, and this is the best I can create.

However, I still will give credit to Starbucks for their drip coffee over Dunkin Donuts (I have a disgust over the spelling) or McDonalds (I have a disgust by the thin veiling of Frappuccino being called a 'Frappe') and have been disappointed over the last few years. If the goal IS to make coffee that tastes like cardboard, I'd suggest DD or McD, or even Starbucks 'Breakfast' bleand. Ooooh, yummy.

According to the rest of the survey, if I only liked fast food, I'd do well trying Panera Bread and Five-Guys. Since I'm not a fan of fast food (other than coffee), guess this study is meaningless and I'm just writing a lot of BS.

Logic

Finally figured out why Natalie Dee is banned at work, while the rest of the Sharing Machine Comics are accessible. All makes sense now....


Not that I'd have time to find a new job. I'm just bitter and tired.

Freeze 2.0

For the most politically-incorrect art show of the day,Freeze,by Florian Jenett and Valentin Beinroth. Guns made from ice, coke, licorice and food coloring.

Finally, economical, practical and the only way I'd like to be buried

Inventor Donald Scruggs to the rescue; he would have us spinning in our graves with Patent 2007/005958, "A series of burial containers having means by which they can be pressed, agitated, screwed and or self bored into a receiving material, provide low cost interment methods with hermetic sealing, security locking, plaque and memorial markers and built in flower and flag receptacles."

Read Ayn Rand

One man drove 12,238 miles across 30 states to scrawl a message that can only be viewed using Google Earth. His big shoutout: “Read Ayn Rand.”

Nick Newcomen did a road trip over 30 days that covered stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. First, he identified on a map the route he would need to drive to spell out the message. He put a GPS device in his car to trace the route he would follow. Then, he hit the road.

“The main reason I did it is because I am an Ayn Rand fan,” he says. “In my opinion if more people would read her books and take her ideas seriously, the country and world would be a better place — freer, more prosperous and we would have a more optimistic view of the future.”

Drum Light

Sound activated drum light. For use when there isn't another type of drum you can use. Personally, I miss those days, over half of my life ago, long before my shoulder was jacked and the only option became a fake drum light or Wii bowling versus the real thing.

Up and Coming

I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.

Charles M. Schulz (1922 - 2000)



Expect the worst, not disappointed, right?

Mila's Daydreams

I am not one of those girls that are obsessed with babies and how cute they are. Anyone who knows me understands this is not my thing. Ooohing and Awwing and making funny sounds at infants just isn't something I ever understood. That said, I actually think the idea of Mila's Daydreams is adorably cute. I think it is more the imagination of the shots and inventiveness of the use of fabric, but hey, let's go instead with the cute baby being the hook.

2010 Bulwer Lytton Award

For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss--a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil.

--Molly Ringle, Seattle, Washington (2010 Winner)

Given annually for the worst first sentences of a novel, and this is definitely a winner.

New World Order

Possible new 11 species found off Canada, including this super cute tiny octopus. Yes, I love octopi, almost more than I love jellyfish. And, I hate water, so I am an incredible hypocrite, and completely fine with it.

Guerra de la Paz

Artwork created from fabric by Guerra de la Paz. Beautiful designs, and clothing that even though it would be hot as hell, I would absolutely love to wear the designs created. I can only imagine some of these creations being used for fantastic cosplay. For the non-costume based, still utterly wonderful.

Fujitsu finally makes the list

Major corporations downloading the 100 million Facebook pages off Bittorrent. Including Fujitsu, somewhere in then top largest 60 companies.

Yes, I have been pretty down on my company lately. I'm in the epicenter of a soon to happen quake of implementation of a new system, and it has been hard going trying to bring the impact down as much as possible. But overall, I've had a good time of it at this company compared to some other jobs I've had, and while there is a multitude of things to complain about now, hopefully this will change in the future. That said,I really think there are a ton of people at my job that complain for no reason other than to hear themselves complain, or that they don't understand they are not being asked to do too much work, as they get paid for it. So, in general, this rather makes me laugh, that now all of the wonderful whining and complaining is available publicly, and while it probably is some peon downloading it, I can't help but wish it were the new CEO, and preferably one with a vengeance for anti-company information.

Mostly just for the comedic effect.