June 2007
22 posts
“You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any...”
– from the new weight-loss drug alli’s side effects webpage. What kind of company, besides one completely driven by solely profits, would sell a drug that requires that you bring an extra pair of pants to work in case of an adult-size “accident”? For hilarious commentary on their...
Bookmark this: Corporate Consumer Contacts →
A government website that gives you phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, and websites of all major (and even some minor) companies
“Every now and then, clap twice rapidly. If the instructor asks why, tell him/her...”
– from the snarky and sarcastic “50 Secrets to Acing Every Exam You Ever Take.” While most of these “secrets” are pathetically unoriginal, I thought this was funny. Which one is your favorite and why?
“Just as I sometimes think that the story of my inner life is inscribed in the...”
– Michael, from 2 Blowhards
The 7 wonders of the world (of literature)
I was pointed to a brief “Ask Yahoo” article that outlined the seven basic plot structures that govern the vast majority of written works. They are:
[wo]man vs. nature
[wo]man vs. man
[wo]man vs. the environment
[wo]man vs. machines/technology
[wo]man vs. the supernatural
[wo]man vs. self
[wo]man vs. god/religion
I agree completely. I couldn’t think of any more....
A Google exec's account of a drive-by in San Fran →
The rich and poor: how much does the growing...
Consider the following snippet from a long NYT article about John Edwards’s poverty stance:
It’s not that the poor are getting poorer, or that more Americans are falling below the poverty line, so much as it is that poor Americans are falling further and further behind those who succeed [emphasis added].
I wrote a 49 page paper on the working poor in my suburban town. I have done volunteer...
“Why rely on geography as the primary mechanism for districts and electoral...”
– Seth Godin, from his recent post about how our style of elections in general is outdated. Do you think we should rely on geography or rework the system? What ‘state’ would you pick?
Get the most out of Google
Dumb Little Man wrote a post with tips and hints for better searching on Google. Here are the ones I found most interesting and/or the ones I had never heard of before:
Wildcard. The “*” symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you’re trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can’t remember the exact lyrics. [can’t * me love lyrics] will return the Beatles song...
Our problems (and solutions) are mainly global...
A friend pointed me to this interesting post. Having done volunteer work in and visited 5 continents (and soon to be 6), I can more readily grasp the importance of the following sentiment:
“The major challenges facing humanity today are global – climate change, accessible fresh water, ever decreasing bio-diversity and over population. Problems that call for global solutions and these...
The Onion: With All Due Respect, I Choose Not To... →
“If James can come remotely close to what he did Thursday night, the series might...”
– from the supposedly non-biased Associated Press’s article on last night’s game.
Perfect for some of my school friends: dozens of... →
Excerpt from an interview with several Ocean's 13...
INTERVIEWER: On the subject of charisma, you've each been called the last great movie star at one point or another. Are we really running out of movie stars, and is that, like, a problem?
CLOONEY: The last real movie stars were probably Redford and Newman. And things were different then. There wasn't this amazing amount of magazines and information about them.
DAMON: We didn't know anything about them.
CLOONEY: There was mystique. They're 60 feet high, and you paid your buck and a half to go see them. But that's gone. People know everything about everybody now.
PITT: Jaws came along and proved you could make huge money with blockbusters, and it set this thing in motion that has lowered the subject matter. People like George have been getting good stuff out there, but it's an industry that pushes people out on the big stage too fast, before they're ready, and it eats them up as well. It's a different kind of arena now.
BARKIN: Think about it. Do we know anything about Robert Redford's children? Does he even have any?
DAMON: I worked with him, and I don't know.
PITT: I have four, if you haven't heard.