Don't do drugs

Okay, if you want to be vaguely amused and terrified at the same you may want to check out this Canadian PSA. Courtesy of Brian Beutler via his blog. I'm hoping people will tape their reactions to this PSA the way people do with 'two girls and a cup'... which by the way who cares? Yeah, Oooohh! Gross! Whatever, get over it! It's old news.

Moving on though, Paul had a good start for a PSA, the gist of it would be be afraid to do anything because you're head could spontaneously detach itself from your body. It would feature Eric Szmanda a.k.a Greg Sanders from CSI. Long story, but serious CSI fans would probably get it.

Aww snap!

Alright, sorry to get a little uncouth here, but I love this article.

While on this sucker punch bender, I might as well through this classic in there.

Giving Thanks

I had planned on writing this yesterday, but the festivities consumed more of my day than I expected. In spirit of the holiday, I want to give thanks to those who understood all the assy irony in the writing in my last blog. I am thankful that I was able to spend yesterday with my family and some very dear friends. The list could go on and on, but most of all...

I am thankful for web comics.

Noooooooooooooo!!!!!

I can handle the war on Christmas. I could handle a war on Easter. Hell, I could handle a war on my very own birthday. But this has gone too far! Who would impose a war on Thanksgiving? Read it here.

People are now arguing that Thanksgiving is no longer the religious holiday it should be. Now I won't get into my religious views, I won't be that guy (so to speak...) but why can't this holiday be about acknowledging the positive elements of your life however precious little or grand they may be. And if I were to choose to send my gratitude in the direction of the people around me who have made an impact on my life, is that really such a bad thing? This is a personal opinion, but regardless of your religion or lack thereof if you can spread happiness and give and be gracious shouldn't a Christian view that as doing God's work? Not a lot of things are black and white but a good person is still a good person if they don't share your theological perspective.

So it boils down like this, maybe you naysayers should be thankful that people are still thankful, who exactly they are thanking is moot. How is that for a start? Why don't we stop finding things to cry about and start thanking people who are truly in touch with the reason for the season, and that is thankfulness.

I found this recent article from Reason amusing. Although I'm not sure they have their heads around the idea of economic Darwinism, which if I understand correctly is much like pole theory. It nevertheless made a valid and humorous point:

I have always supported the honest entrepreneur, especially when pitted against the stupid. It is good for society when money is not left too long in idiot hands. It is God's way of getting money into smarter folks' pockets. For the less religious among us, I call it Economic Darwinism, and it is often done one crumpled $5 bill at a time. As the old saying goes, "A fool and his money are soon parted."

Nobody gets it. I thought it was funny.





If you don't get it that is a chipotle burrito, wrapped in tin foil... and we are dressed as robots

fyi

Due to being a little under the weather blogging may be infrequent. I will see if it is possible for my counterparts to pick up my slack.

Well, I'll be....

And to think Paul hasn't even posted anything yet...





... no wonder I don't have any readers.

Well said comrade!

Although I already have the utmost respect for Ted Leo, today my adoration for him grew immensely. I think this news blurb on his website has made my entire week. I felt until recently that few people seemed to share my preconception that the movie Across the Universe is in every way atrocious. How can people not see that? And if you don't... in accordance with Ted Leo... YOU ARE DEAD TO ME.

This, my friends isn't even what has me all revved up. No no no, what has really got me going is what he has to say about Bono. Anyone who knows me personally and knows me well is undoubtedly aware of my boundless detestation for Bono, and I whole heartedly agree that there is a special place for him in the hell that I, too, wish existed. I won't linger too long on my feelings towards this man, but just to give you an idea a friend has a stick figure diagram that I drew of my plan to crush Bono's spirit on their refrigerator.

Anyway, what I intend to accomplish on this post is to give kudos to Ted Leo. Thank you for saying exactly what I was thinking and exactly what needed to be said. I think he's a real stand up guy and I'm afraid if you don't agree, you also are dead to me. So here's to you, Sir! Keep on fighting the good fight!

A gift exchange done right

Sufjan Stevens is already in the Christmas spirit. Any musicians out there may be interested to know, Sufjan is having a little gift exchange, or to be more specific he is having "The Great Sufjan song xmas xchange". In exchange for the rights to one of his songs, he will receive the rights to yours if you are so lucky as to be chosen.


I think I feel the urge to break out my banjo and get the band together.

Happens to the best of us

I found this rather humorous, enjoy.

Today’s Acknowledgements

Congratulations to Megan McArdle for her debate on vouchers making the NY Times.

I bid sweet adieu to the Blood Brothers, as pitchfork put it "You were very loud, and we will miss you back".

And a big congratulations to Amsterdam on your recent banana prosperity.

This is truly a tale as old as time. That's right, economists have solved the mystery of dating. Well, maybe not quite, but they have made some interesting observations. This particular study tries to determine what it is that makes someone desirable
Fisman says:

To really understand what people prefer, you need to pair men and women randomly in an experimental dating service and document the decisions they make. And so for a couple of years at a local bar just off the Columbia campus, I ran a speed-dating experiment with two psychologists, Sheena Iyengar and Itamar Simonson, and fellow economist Emir Kamenica. Some of our findings confirm well-worn clichés. But others surprised us.

The study found that many of the age old stereotypes still hold. Men seem to prefer pretty women who are less successful and intelligence than themselves. Women seemed to value intelligence and ambition, no surprise there.

Although the article is interesting it doesn't seem to control for the fact that there may be a bias in the selection of participants. Having never felt the urge to participate in something such as speed-dating, I am curious as to whether the kind of people who are more likely to participate in this sort of activity would have different preferences than those who would not. Maybe one day an economist will figure out what it is all of us enigmatic ladies want.

Need some advice...

A close friend of mine recently found out she is having a baby. I want to set some money aside that the kid can cash in when it's 18. I was thinking bank shares, CDs, or savings bonds. The issue is the American dollar is tanking, so I am considering investing overseas. If anybody has suggestions, lay them on me.

Seriously?

There is no place I expect to get tasered more than my own home... while sleeping. This is absolutely priceless.