Looking for anacondas or titanoboa?

Then this is your post. But feel free to stick around for a while: you might like what you see. I do some posts on humor, politics, culture, Monty Python, science, ReTweets, potentially embarrassing tidbits, and some sports… let me know what you’d like to see more of.

You can also learn more about me and the site (and it’s ramblings) by clicking the links in the upper right.

For those of you that are wondering about this post’s prominent presence on the front page: turns out a not insignificant portion of my traffic is due to the titanoboa post, and I’d like to keep them around to increase the amount of conversation around here.

Those of you showing up because of that post: I’d love for you to stick around and chat a while.

Just because

I dunno… but this just sat right tonight. Good night cap. Enjoy.

(Danke: Lillian P.)

Friday Monty

“You try to tell the young people of today, that… and they won’t believe you”:

Happy Friday!

Never-ending consolidation

William Saletan on the universe’s newest unstoppable force:

Some GPS makers, Wortham reports, are responding to this trend [of declining GPS sales due to smartphones] by selling GPS as software for smartphones instead of selling it as hardware. Others are adding phone service to their GPS devices. Good luck with that. But the bottom line is that no matter how this fight ends—smartphones with GPS, GPS with smartphones, or add-on GPS software for your smartphone—only one device will remain. Consolidation is inexorable.

What will the smartphone eat next? In no particular order, my money’s on credit cards, car keys, flashlights, flash drives, books, television sets, and laptops. Some of these functions are already being absorbed. And one of these days, somebody will figure out how to add a stun gun. Just try not to hit the wrong button.

We’re almost there… check out this stun gun disguised as cell phone:

"Naughty, naughty, naughty! A 950,000 volt stun gun cleverly disguised as a harmless cell phone. Gain the tactical advantage over a would-be attacker with the Pretender Stun Gun! come see it now at www.defendfirst.com/pretender-cellphone-stun-gun.htm" (Photo by Defend First)

“Gettin’ it outta my system”

Insta-classic from David Horsey.

Milestone!

10,000+ views! Thanks for stopping by.

Wine without the snobbery

Hosted by John Cleese. It’s a pretty fun look at wines for the novice:

Guilty pleasures

A twofer: Matt Damon and making fun of Matthew McConaughey:

Oh Mitch… why did you leave?

“Damn gravity… got me again”:

Stop. Read. Think.

Meister Eckhart:

MEISTER ECKHART met a beautiful naked boy.
He asked him where he came from.
He said: “I come from God.”
Where did you leave him?
“In virtuous hearts.”
Where are you going?
“To God.”
Where do you find him?
“Where I part with all creatures.”
Who are you?
“A king.”
Where is your kingdom?
“In my heart.”
Take care that no one divide it with you!
“I shall.”
Then he led him to his cell.
Take whichever coat you will.
“Then I should be no king!”
And he disappeared.
For it was God himself–
Who was having a bit of fun.

(Legends. #1)

I’ve been tempted before…

But now I cannot resist. A friend of a friend is doing great things in the blogosphere. And I cannot not share this (suck on that double-negative).

Premise: He’s creating an unsustainable blog per day for a year.

#88:

Written by spurned highschool lover Chaz (and read by lover-spurner Brianne and a few of her friends), this emotional roller coaster of a blog really shows Brianne whats what, and why she is the royal bitch that she is. Brianne is obviously not happy about this… but can love prevail in this epic blog of highschool angst, woe and teenage sex?

It’s all in the comments…

Seriously… it’s all in the comments. Brilliant. An excerpt:

I dumped her like two days ago…

It’s true… I dumped her ass and she was all like “No, you can’t do that” and I was all like “Watch me Brianne!” And I left and made out with Cynthia, her best friend, right in front of her to show her how much i hate her guts. GOD, what a BITCH!

POSTED BY CHAZ AT 7:44 PM

15 COMMENTS:

briannestephenson said…

Okay, first off chaz, you royal d-bag, you didn’t dump me… I DUMPED YOU! WHY DON’T YOU GROW UP!

JULY 7, 2009 8:33 PM

briannestephenson said…

AND you never, NEVER made out with Cynthia in front of me… that is totally bullshit…

JULY 7, 2009 8:36 PM

Chaz said…

Ohhhhh! Look who’s crawling back! Just had to come find my blog where i’m just telling the truth about you, Brianne! I’M TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT BRIANNE HERE EVERYBODY! LOOK AT WHAT A FUCKING BITCH SHE IS!

Eat me Brianne! I soooo dumped you.

JULY 7, 2009 8:37 PM

briannestephenson said…

oh really, crawling back? Is that what you think I’m doing right now? Crawling back? to check out what stupid as shit stuff you’re going to write on your blog? Yeah. I’m crawling back chaz. As soon as I go make out with Derek.

JULY 7, 2009 8:47 PM

So much angst… so little time.

ReTweet: “Appliance Protest”

This is clever. Via Sully:

Iranian twitterers are claiming victory in a coordinated series of blackouts during Ahmadinejad’s televised speech yesterday:

The protesters had earlier pre-arranged a call for Iranians to plug in heavy power load household devices such as dryers, irons and toasters at 9:45pm local time, as Ahmadinejad’s speech began. Online Twitter feeds claimed blackouts were achieved in East Tehran, Sari, Tabriz, Isfehan, Rodehen, Saghez, Lavasan, Ahvaz, Khoramshahr, Dezfol, Jahrom, Khomini Shahr, Shahin Shar, Folad Shahr, Kashan and some of Rasht.

Some sample tweets:

Iron Tactic tonight: Call for Black Out During Ahmadinejad Live at TV, Tehran Time 21.30…

Yes It Worked!

Ghazvin went in Black Out, People Chanting” Death to Dictator” on the roofs in many cities…

Whose neighbor?

This is really an excellent post by Ta-Nehisi. I have to say I have very little experience with race issues and their complexity, and he has opened up a new world for me with his blog. It’s been a pleasure to read and learn: especially after moving to the South (the NW doesn’t seem to have the same attitudes or concerns as exist elsewhere in the country… I don’t know the post off the top of my head but TNC himself said while on a trip out West that the feeling was so different: that he wasn’t constantly reminded and confronted by race). Anyway… give it a read.

A commenter on his site, JH, sums up my interaction with TNC’s blog quite well:

Every now and then I think you’re starting to fall off, and then you write something like this. Damn good post. Thanks.

And another:

JH: Agreed. TNC: I knew you were circling around something really good in the past couple of days with this train of thought, watching you get at the words is always a pleasure. Absolutely nailed it. Mental tastebuds are TINGLING.

That last one, by kekemen, really hits it, I think. That’s what the whole point of blogging versus other mediums is: that you get to play with the ideas, out loud, in public, until they coalesce into something substantial.

Gradually getting rid of the bomb

Obama’s done some good this weekend. Yglesias:

The numbers announced Monday, Mr. Cirincione notes, amount to a 30 percent reduction in the nuclear arsenals of the two countries that possess 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.”

In other words, that’s a roughly 28 percent reduction in the total number of nuclear weapons in the world. It’s also a powerful signal to the French, British, and especially Chinese that the United States and Russia are serious about reducing arsenals and that the Obama administration really wants to pursue a nuclear-free world. The fact that the US and Russia contain such a large proportion of global nukes is, after all, a bit of an anachronism as in pretty much all other respects China has clearly replaced Russia as the number two geopolitical player and in some domains the European Union has set itself up as a more-or-less independent great power. It would be very plausible for the Chinese (and much less plausible, though still possible, for the Europeans) to decide they need to react to this situation by “leveling up” and building their own arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons.

Steps that give the Chinese confidence that they don’t need to do that, that the US and Russia are prepared to level down, will do an enormous amount to help build a more peaceful, more secure world. Not only in terms of the US-China relationship, but also in terms of India’s thinking about its nuclear needs and therefore Pakistan’s thinking and therefore the general problem of proliferation around the world. These reductions, if they come to pass, will be a huge deal.

How important is the MLB All-Star game?

Depends on who you are. For the Dodgers, it’s worth 4 to 5 times(!!) more than a current regular season game. Sky Andrecheck crunches the numbers:

I calculated that the Dodgers have a 39.0923% chance of advancing to the World Series. After a regular season win, this chance increased to 39.2781%, while after a regular season loss, this chance decreased to 38.8368%. On average, this resulted in a change of 0.215% in probability to advance to the World Series and hence, a 0.108% change in probability of winning the World Series (0.215% times 50%). Thus, a regular season game is worth about 0.108% in championship probability to the Dodgers (only about 39% as important as an average game). An All-Star win however, will increase their chances of winning the World Series from 19.5462% (39.0923*.5) to 20.0387% (39.0923*.5126), a difference of 0.4925%. Comparing this mark to the .108% for the regular season game and we find that the All-Star game is not only worth more than a regular season game to Los Angeles, it is worth vastly more than than a regular season game. In fact, the All-Star game is worth somewhere on the order of 4 to 5 times more than a current regular season Dodgers game.

A fuss was made over Chad Billingsley bowling over the catcher during a Dodgers-Padres game this past weekend. Would Billingsley have done so at the All-Star game? Likely not. But this analysis shows that if there is one game the rest of the season in which LA players should sacrifice life and limb, it is Tuesday night’s “exhibition” contest.