Slang from back in the day.
It's kinda cool how many of these I still use. I may wish I was old enough to enjoy more of the '80s, but I'm definitely a '90s kid.
Archives by Date.
April 30, 2007
a softer world, 4.27.2007
This made me smile, but most a softer worlds do.
a softer world (4.27.2007):
Technorati Tags: asofterworld, comic, humor
"Drunken Pirate" Gets Teaching Student Canned
The Smoking Gun reports about a teacher who was denied her degree because of the least scandalous photo on My Space. This is crazy-talk.
College Sued Over "Drunken Pirate" Sanctions - April 26, 2007:
Charm City v. Beantown
Faith had a run-in with some jackass Red Sox fans, this weekend. It's a shame, really. In my experience, the Boston fans that have come down to our beloved park for the Baltimore v. Boston series' have been polite, happy, and very glad to be here. One family kept complementing me, specifically, on how beautiful Camden Yards is (there's no question: take a look), as if I'd built it up from the Earth with my own calloused hands. Another man told me in line for concessions that it was cheaper for him to fly his family down from Boston, stay in a hotel for a night, see 2 games and get snacks in Baltimore than to get tickets and parking for one game in Boston.
But, Faith's experience was very different. Rude, inconsiderate fans who badmouthed Baltimore, O's fans, and her family. That's a dirty shame, and it's the same attitude that make the Yankee's series in Baltimore dreaded events. So, here's the challenge, Boston. Step up to the plate, and bring your best. I understand that a few bad apples can ruin a barrel, but this is absolutely your chance to prove that rude Sox fans are the exception and not the rule.
April 23, 2007
Red Velvet Curtain
MySpace PSAs
Two new Ad-Council PSAs try to warn of the dangers of posting too much info online. I called 'em "MySpace PSAs" because they rather specifically try to appeal to the MySpace crowd, but the second of the two is both a little more universally-applicable, and a lot more creepy. Go see, and let me know what you think in the comments below.
April 20, 2007
Aloha, good dude.
One of the finest tattoo artist, Mike "Rollo Banks" Mallone left us this week, taking his life after a long illness. The dude was a legend in classic Americana tattoo, and he'll be missed. I can't say it any better than Marissa DiMatta so I won't try, but I'll just turn you over to her.
April 19, 2007
Drawing on a whiteboard
A Slate article on the cool new ad campaign for UPS. You know, the ads with the guy drawing on the whiteboard? Awesome. Quick but interesting read.
April 18, 2007
Rock God
Stefan Olsdal of Placebo at the April 10th, 2007 show in Philly (Theatre of Living Arts).
Stef can rock harder than most, and while barely saying a word, he casts a presence that dwarfs even his own 6' 4" stature.
This is the first in a seris of concert photos I'll be posting over the next few days.
April 16, 2007
Columnits calls to "De-Fund Bush's War on Unmarried Sex"
Shelly Lewis of the Huffington Post calls for support of changes to the federal sex-ed program.
Having gone through the public education system, I'm in total agreement. Every iteration of the sex-ed programs so far have been backward-thinking and incredibly outdated, pushing abstinence through fear, and purporting misinformation about STDs, pregnancy, and healthy relationships.
It's absolutely time for a sex-ed class that takes into account the audience to which it speaks. Early classes, toward the end of elementary school could brace kids for puberty. Tell them what to expect. Middle school could explain the reproductive system, and warn of teen pregnancies. High school would handle STDs and basic sexual health. College would get into advanced sexuality.
Here's the key, though. The proverbial kicker that would make all of this better than what's currently in place: everything would have to be discussed non-judgmentally. It would leave out the ideas of "Jen got pregnant at 17 because she's a terrible person" and instead focus on what led her to that point, and what her life would then become. From school and partying to working for money and sleepless nights. But also to the stable job and potential reward she could get. STDs are described from an honest viewpoint, explaining symptoms and effects, prevention, and treatment.
Remove the focus on abstinence. It clearly doesn’t work. While I don’t discredit or judge those that want and succeed in waiting until marriage, it’s become more than obvious that teaching sex-avoidance is the opposite of helpful in a society of Pussycat Dolls, Sex and the City, and Bratz. But, Bratz are another issue altogether.
And a point that a friend brought up is simple. So simple that I nearly overlooked it. Stress self-respect from day one. We see society failing to do this on a regular basis. This is a great place to start changing that system.
Everything I hold to be true is a lie.
The Good Reverend does the math to show us that every time I masturbate, God doesn't actually kill a kitten. I'm not sure how my belief system will hold up, now.
April 13, 2007
A Softer World - April 13, 2007
About Clutches
I like cars. And, owning a WRX, I need to know a little bit about transmissions (WRX's are prone to shearing first or second gear). The one part I never really understood was the clutch. And in this video, that is explained. At least, it's the best explanation I've heard so far! Send me more if you have 'em.
This is sad.
Apple pushes back Leopard launch
From Apple.com:
CUPERTINO, Calif., April 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple today
released the following statement:
iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests
and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned. We can't wait until
customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a
revolutionary and magical product it is. However, iPhone contains the most
sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on
time has not come without a price -- we had to borrow some key software
engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS(R) X team, and as a result we
will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference
in early June as planned. While Leopard's features will be complete by
then, we cannot deliver the quality release that we and our customers
expect from us. We now plan to show our developers a near final version of
Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can
do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October. We think it will be
well worth the wait. Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we're
sure we've made the right ones.
NOTE: Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh and iPhone are
trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of
their respective owners.
As of this writing, this is neither on Apple's PR page, nor does it have a linkable article on Hot News. Anyone else find this odd?
April 12, 2007
Björk unveils the new visual concept for her upcoming ablum
Björk unveils the new visual concept for her upcoming ablum. Björk's albums always have a specific visual theme that ties to the musical theme, and this one looks every bit as wild as we'd expect.
April 11, 2007
MD Signs into law a bill that steps around the Electoral College
This bill, signed into law by Govenor Martin O'Malley yesterday, gives all of Maryland's electoral votes to the candidate that wins the national popular vote. This is fantastic, despite the fact that it doesn't actually work until enough states agree to do the same that an election can be won.
The electoral college is an archaic institution. While it was needed in days past, now that we can tally votes quickly and with relative accuaracy, there's no reason that the popular vote shouldn't be determining the election. Well done, O'Malley!
April 10, 2007
Set Fire to the Face on Fire
I took this at the Blood Brothers (with Celebration) show at the Black Cat in DC, 4.2.07. Great show!
John Grueber on Jeff Jarvis's "No Twinkie Badges Here"
Jeff Jarvis on the silly “Blogger code of ethics” story that made the front page of today’s New York Times.Here’s my proposed rule: Don’t be an asshole. Note that because my rule makes no mention of “blogs”, it can be applied to any medium.
The great thing about "Don't be an asshole" is that it's not restricted. It applies to absolutely everything
Link to Jeff's original article.
April 6, 2007
Big Shock
Redmond seems to be planning on going DRM free sometime in the near future. Shocker.
It's a good move, but it's like Microsoft isn't even trying to hide they're following Apple's lead anymore. Oh well. HOORAY DRM-FREE REVOLUTION!
April 5, 2007
Apple's stance on AppleTV hacks
Since the day the AppleTV came out, geeks have been taking them apart and modding them like crazy. Bigger HDs, full versions of OS X, added video support, all sorts of cool stuff.
Apple told Engadget that they aren't fighting back against the hackers, and they don't really care what you do, so long as you don't come crying to them when you break something. That's the stance a company should have on modding their products, I think. Well done, Apple!
The Complexifying Instinct
A blog post by Brent Simmons (admittedly, not a blog I normally read) about people's instict to make simple things more complicated. I'm not a Twitter user (well, I have an account, but I don't update it), but the concepts apply to way more than Twitter.
Taboo
Taboo, not the Milton Bradley board game, but a quiz developed to examine our individual feelings about societal morality poses some interesting questions. It's a short quiz, with pretty straightforward rules. If you are on the fence about something, go with the one you're closer to identifying with. It doesn't change the results that much.
My results are after the jump.
My results reflect my feelings about morales pretty well:
Moralizing Quotient: .04
Interference Factor: .00
Universalising Factor: .00
Yep, that's right. Do what you want as long as you're the only person who gets hurt, I don't care. And, I think it's immoral for us to push our morales onto other people.
April 4, 2007
The Male Dilemma
Related to yesterday's post about mate-poaching comes this article, also in Psychology Today. Well written, and well thought out, it explains some of the difficulties with being a man in modern society. While very tailored to western societies, I imagine that much of this is applicable to people all over the world.
It's a cool read, and it's pretty wild to think about. Essentially, it's saying that most men were not raised to think about things like emotional intimacy, availability, and listening. It was thought that if you didn't screw around, you made money, and didn't beat your kids, you'd be considered a good father and husband. But, in greater and greater amounts since the 1990's, women are expecting more from their men; things like emotional availability, more family time, and consitent passion.
What I think is interesting about this, is that it seems like what the women are asking for is exactly the same thing that men have expected from women for ages. Think about it, dudes. If your girl is quiet and unmotivated, you know something's wrong. If she's emotionally distant, you know something's worng, and you'll typically act accordingly. If it's when you're dating, it will quickly kill the relationship, and it won't take too long of constant emotional distance to kill a marriage.
The entire article is well written, and definitely worth a read. Take a look, for sure.
April 3, 2007
Regarding "the Line" in the workplace
I caught this little snippet on Newsvine. I agree with the commenter who said "if you didn't report it because it didn't bother you, then it's not sexual harassment."
Honestly, I think we're a little too sensitive about sexual harassment.
April 2, 2007
1 in 5 Relationships Start with 'Mate-Poaching'
According to this article in Psychology Today, one in five relationships start with "mate-poaching," where one partner was lured away from a standing relationship.
I heard in a psychology class that statistically, women cheat more often than men, but this is something entriely different. And, I'm not entirely sure what I think of it.
But, surprisingly given my feelings on the matter, I agree with the last paragraph entirely:
However, she says, it's worth noting that there are dozens of reasons why people are unfaithful. "The woman who is taking care of her husband with Alzheimer's and is seeing someone on the side isn't having the same kind of affair as the man whose wife just had a baby and who isn't getting as much attention as he used to."
Apple to Begin Offering DRM free music via iTunes in May
Turns out that the 'ol Jobserino isn't giving us the run-around. Which is pretty freakin' cool. The summary of the big news is that EMI took Jobs up on his offer to sell DRM-free music in the iTunes Store. The deal works out by having two versions of EMI music available for purchase. The $.99 songs in 128-bit AAC with DRM, and $1.29 songs in 256-bit AAC.
Apparently, the offer is open to every major and indie label. Freakin' sweet.
If you ask me, it's a no-brainer. I'll buy the $1.29 songs virtually 100% of the time. The higher quality alone is worth the price, but bypassing the DRM is fantastic. Being able to have copies of my music on several computers, all available to me? Yes. That's what I want. And that's what I'm alright with paying for.