You know what really irks me about this whole trend? People putting so much effort into buying the right lightbulb, while completing neglecting the obvious high-impact behavior of just reducing their own waste (because I've seen these same people with their environmentally-safe toilet paper go out and buy 3 cups of coffee from Starbucks and toss away all of that garbage). In a related vein, this sounds like a terrible idea. Why not just pay $9.99 and get the dvd forever?! Worst case scenario, you hawk it to a used cd/dvd dealer.
As a clarification, I think we should all try to do as much as we can to reduce our impact on the environment and while I think all of these new ways of doing so (consumer products, clean energy, etc. etc.) are great, we shouldn't forget about the common sense tactics we learned in elementary school. Things like turning off the lights/electronics when not in use, using as little disposable products as possible, and conserving water. Basics, people! Then when you've got that down, go ahead and get fancy.
Friday, May 30, 2008
It just keeps getting worse.
Hillary Clinton's campaign makes a very sad attempt to be hip with a t-shirt contest. Take a glimpse at the truly pathetic choices here (haha although I must say that the pantsuit-shirt does make me laugh).
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Homes etc.
Stable for sheep in the Netherlands.
Awesome rug from John Pour Home. Reminds me of studying foreign language in high school, when everyone puts yellow sticky notes on the nouns in their rooms to help them learn. Or at least I did.Stolen from residential architecture blog.
This sounds trippy and fascinating.
"Miracle fruit" apparently rewires your taste buds, making sweet sour, bitter sweet, and so forth, because of a component called miraculin. Interesting...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Esquire's Best Bars List
Great compilation of note-worthy bars by state. Sadly, I haven't been to any of the three bars in SF on the list, though I've heard many good things. Bourbon & Branch, in particular, I'd like to try. What really surprised me, however, is that I hadn't been to any of the Philly bars either. In fact, the only bars on the list I'd been to were in Delaware, New York and Maryland. Guess I'll have to work a little bit harder on my drinking...
Takes me back...
**From The Onion
Stolen Tour Bus Leads Police On Chase Of Historic Downtown Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA—Police were led on a reckless, high-speed pursuit past more than a dozen of downtown Philadelphia's most historically fascinating locations Tuesday, when an armed assailant hijacked a tour bus full of elderly retirees visiting from Cincinnati. "The suspect took command of the vehicle at Chestnut Street, home to Philadelphia's famous Carpenter's Hall, where the First Continental Congress met, and then fled north in the southbound lane of Sixth Street towards the Liberty Bell," said police commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, adding that the driver would have gotten a great view of Independence Hall at sunset had he had not careened off Walnut Street at 45 mph. "He then led police past several Victorian homes, including Edgar Allen Poe's residence from 1838 to 1844, where he penned such classics as the 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart.'" Police reports indicate the chase ended when the tour bus jumped a curb, slammed into a cheesesteak stand, and exploded in a ball of flames.
Stolen Tour Bus Leads Police On Chase Of Historic Downtown Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA—Police were led on a reckless, high-speed pursuit past more than a dozen of downtown Philadelphia's most historically fascinating locations Tuesday, when an armed assailant hijacked a tour bus full of elderly retirees visiting from Cincinnati. "The suspect took command of the vehicle at Chestnut Street, home to Philadelphia's famous Carpenter's Hall, where the First Continental Congress met, and then fled north in the southbound lane of Sixth Street towards the Liberty Bell," said police commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, adding that the driver would have gotten a great view of Independence Hall at sunset had he had not careened off Walnut Street at 45 mph. "He then led police past several Victorian homes, including Edgar Allen Poe's residence from 1838 to 1844, where he penned such classics as the 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart.'" Police reports indicate the chase ended when the tour bus jumped a curb, slammed into a cheesesteak stand, and exploded in a ball of flames.
Friday, May 23, 2008
The internet tackles one of life's most important problems...
Missing game pieces. Well, kind of. Anyway, did you know you can print out your own Monopoly money now? I just thought it was yet another neat use of the internet to take care of even the most minor inconveniences.
Simple pleasures
You know what's great? Sourdough english muffins with a little bit of cherry preserves and mascarpone. You know what else? Blood on the Tracks traveling via iPod into my brain. You know what else? Memorial Day Weekend. I get to leave work at 2 pm today and walk around in 70-degree sunshine. I'm not bragging, but sometimes I think it's important to be grateful for the little things that make one smile. Writing it down helps. What are you grateful for?
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Things I love about San Francisco, Part 562
Bay to Breakers!
Check the video for a glimpse of how I spent last Sunday. I don't think this could happen in any other city. FYI, there is a bit of nudity.
Check the video for a glimpse of how I spent last Sunday. I don't think this could happen in any other city. FYI, there is a bit of nudity.
Heart-warming in light of tragedy
Nicholas Kristof examines post-quake China and finds citizens willing to do their part to assist others in need, despite being relatively poor themselves. Additionally, he tackles the increasingly political (rather than dictatorial) attitudes of the Communist party leaders, particularly in the face of the disaster. Quite hopeful, I say, but we'll see what happens with the Olympics...
Stuff White People Like: Bumper Stickers
Though there is no conclusive evidence about the effectiveness of these stickers, white people show no signs of abandoning the campaign. In fact, there is a popular tale in white mythology that tells of an unenlightened man driving on the freeway who saw a bumper sticker on the back of a Subaru station wagon that said “Go Veg.” The sticker was so moving that he threw the hamburger he was eating right out the window and became a vegetarian on the spot. Two days later, he affixed the same bumper sticker to their car and the process began anew until enough people had changed their views to form what we now know as the city of Portland, Oregon.
Full post here. I've never understood the fascination myself, but then again, I don't drive a car. See entry #61 for a detailed description of how superior that makes me. ;-)
Full post here. I've never understood the fascination myself, but then again, I don't drive a car. See entry #61 for a detailed description of how superior that makes me. ;-)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
More quotations on a variety of subjects
"It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world."
— Oscar Wilde
"I would rather someone be wrapped in the Constitution burning the flag than wrapped in the flag burning the Constitution."
— James Colorado (not a famous person, just a regular one with articulation -- found posted on some SF-related sites)
"Art is the greatest stimulus to life."
— Nietzsche
"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."
— Carl Jung
— Oscar Wilde
"I would rather someone be wrapped in the Constitution burning the flag than wrapped in the flag burning the Constitution."
— James Colorado (not a famous person, just a regular one with articulation -- found posted on some SF-related sites)
"Art is the greatest stimulus to life."
— Nietzsche
"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."
— Carl Jung
Weather-inspired quote
"I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees."
— Pablo Neruda
— Pablo Neruda
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
75,000!
What a rock star. I love it. I mean, to get that many people revved up about politics, the same way they'd get revved up about Coachella or Burning Man or Glastonbury.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Bob Dylan images
Felt the need to change my desktop background and watched I'm Not There over the weekend. That's more or less how I got here. Enjoy. 
I think I'm in love
Obama gets tough in the right way, and tells Americans the truth. Swoon!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/19/barackobama.uselections2008
John McCain, that same Thursday morning, was giving a speech in part about the need to move beyond the partisan bickering of the last decade. Within an hour or two, following Bush's lead, McCain attacked Obama: "What does he want to talk about with Ahmadinejad, who said Israel is a stinking corpse?" The Obama campaign emailed reporters accusing Bush of launching "a false political attack".
Now here's the important part. In the past two presidential campaigns, that's where this would have ended. The Democrat "responded" for the record, but somewhat perfunctorily, while the Republicans got their point across: the Democrats are appeasers, the Democratic nominee wants to talk to terrorists and he won't keep the country safe.
Game, set, match. This is how Bush built margins of trust with voters over Al Gore and John Kerry on national-security questions. Invoke appeasement of Hitler, toss in Israel's safety: this is exactly the kind of thing that sent Gore and Kerry running for the hills. Even Bill Clinton, who knew better how to return a punch, would have tried to change the subject back to the economy.
But the current version of the story ends differently. Last Friday, in South Dakota, Obama gave an extended and aggressive press conference in which he hit back hard. Bush and McCain, he told Americans, "are trying to fool you. They're trying to scare you. And they're not telling you the truth." He ticked off the lies that were told about Iraq and the benefits that would redound from making war there, noting that not one of the promises had come to pass.
The headline that afternoon on the influential blog of Mark Halperin, of Time magazine, conveyed the takeaway: "Bam!! Bop!!!! Bash!!"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/19/barackobama.uselections2008
John McCain, that same Thursday morning, was giving a speech in part about the need to move beyond the partisan bickering of the last decade. Within an hour or two, following Bush's lead, McCain attacked Obama: "What does he want to talk about with Ahmadinejad, who said Israel is a stinking corpse?" The Obama campaign emailed reporters accusing Bush of launching "a false political attack".
Now here's the important part. In the past two presidential campaigns, that's where this would have ended. The Democrat "responded" for the record, but somewhat perfunctorily, while the Republicans got their point across: the Democrats are appeasers, the Democratic nominee wants to talk to terrorists and he won't keep the country safe.
Game, set, match. This is how Bush built margins of trust with voters over Al Gore and John Kerry on national-security questions. Invoke appeasement of Hitler, toss in Israel's safety: this is exactly the kind of thing that sent Gore and Kerry running for the hills. Even Bill Clinton, who knew better how to return a punch, would have tried to change the subject back to the economy.
But the current version of the story ends differently. Last Friday, in South Dakota, Obama gave an extended and aggressive press conference in which he hit back hard. Bush and McCain, he told Americans, "are trying to fool you. They're trying to scare you. And they're not telling you the truth." He ticked off the lies that were told about Iraq and the benefits that would redound from making war there, noting that not one of the promises had come to pass.
The headline that afternoon on the influential blog of Mark Halperin, of Time magazine, conveyed the takeaway: "Bam!! Bop!!!! Bash!!"
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