Honestly some of this article is over my head, but this quote really validates how I've been feeling about all this shit:
Is the reality of the modern, transactions-oriented model of financial capitalism indeed that large private firms make enormous private profits when the going is good and get bailed out and taken into temporary public ownership when the going gets bad, with the tax payer taking the risk and the losses?
We don't see any profits, but we all get to share the losses. Yay for us! I hate what we've become.
Heather Armstrong gets all political:
I get the feeling that people around the world are looking at this election as a gauge to see if America is finally ready to wake up and realize that we are not the only country on this planet. They are waiting to see if we are going to put yet another fundamentalist loon in charge of public and foreign policy, someone who doesn't think that global warming is in any way caused by humans, so screw the rest of you who live here on this planet, we need that cup of oil with breakfast in the morning.
People, go read this blog.
Baby Mama:
[noun] an unmarried mother who is not in a relationship with her child's father
Just a quick documentation of my first big ride on the new bike. Besides needing a new (comfier) seat, it was awesome. 14.4 miles total.
I know this panorama could use some work, but its my first one so give me a break.
I've been wanting a new bike for a long time, and I finally indulged this afternoon. I have a Cannondale mountain bike, but the frame is too large for me (20"), and it has been slowing falling apart over the last year. I didn't really want to spend the money to fix the derailleurs and the brakes, and replace the seat the was stolen (by worthless bastards). So I have been kicking around the idea of buying a new bike, but what I want is way out of my price range at the moment.
Today, I found this beauty on Craigslist for $100:
It is a mutt, but I love it. It has an Azonic 16" downhill/slalom frame and a Marzocchi fork. It also has an XT rear derailleur and disc brakes. Everything from the headset (FSA) to the cranks (Truvativ) is high quality, after-market stuff.
It also doesn't have a front derailleur, which means I probably won't be powering up South Mountain any time soon, but for tooling around town it is perfect - simple and fast. In a couple of weeks, we are moving to an apartment in Phoenix, which is just about 9 miles from my office. I am going to start biking to work after we move in, and I am going to give it a test run this weekend. Here is the route I plan to ride:
Merlin Mann: Might request a funeral in which everyone drinks heavily while Dave Grohl plays drum fills for 90 minutes. http://xrl.us/bh5ia
G and I fell in love with this song after hearing it on the Apple commercial (yeah, we're huge dorks). Genevieve transcribed it like it was 1995 in this post from a few weeks ago and now we just caught the video, which is equally impressive.
Ivory is a German Spitz that made her way onto the Loop 202 freeway this morning during rush hour traffic. I watched her dash across six lanes of traffic, miraculously making it across unscathed. Nobody seemed to care that this dog was now stuck on the median and it was only a matter of time before it was killed. So I made my way across the highway and stopped a few yards ahead of her. She ran right up to me. I asked her what she was doing out on the highway, and since she didn't have any good answers, I threw her in my truck and drove to work.
She had a tag on her collar, so I called the number linked to her license, and the lady who answered said she did not have any dogs. Phone numbers get re-used (which I think is retarded, but that's another story) so it was possible that the owners had just not updated her license with their new number, and now someone else had the number. I tried again later to make sure, but it was the same lady.
At this point I wasn't sure what to do, so I brought her home and got her some food. Later I took her to our vet, to have her scanned for an ID chip. Unfortunately she does not have one, but the vet wanted to call the number again, and I figured it couldn't hurt. Whoever answered the phone that time identified the dog, and said she would come down to pick her up right away.
Weird. Maybe the lady I spoke with is a little senile. Or hates dogs. Who knows.
Anyways, I was thrilled to have tracked down her owner, and although I was very sad to let her go, I was glad to have resolved the whole situation.
UPDATE
12 Feb 2008 5:30PM
I just called the vet, to make sure everything went smoothly with the pick-up, and it turns out they haven't come yet. Supposedly they are going to pick her up tomorrow morning.
Now I'm pissed. First, you let your dog get out and run around on the highway. Then, you can't even take the time to come get her when you find out she's been rescued.
UPDATE
12 Feb 2008 5:45PM
I was wrong. I must not have been pissed earlier, because NOW I'm pissed. The vet called me back and told me that the older lady (the one I talked to multiple times this morning, who insisted she did not have a dog) had called back and said that they weren't going to be picking up the dog because they didn't want it anymore.
Oh. That's nice. So you decide to don't want your adorable, loving, doe-eyed little doggie, and instead of taking it to a shelter like a human would, you just kick it to the curb like an ignorant piece of shit would.
Well, Ivory is spending the night at the vet's office, who assured me that she is comfortable and has food and a chew toy. She will be coming back here in the morning.
UPDATE
13 Feb 2008 5:00PM
Genevieve picked Ivory up from the vet this morning. Luckily, she was able to work from home today, so could bring Ivory to our apartment and take care of her.
She seemed to be a little more stable today. She was sniffing around, actually did some business, and even barked some. She was acting like a happy, healthy dog.
Around 2:30 this afternoon the "owner" showed up at the vet's office. Long story shory: Ivory is their dog, so we had to return her. The fact that our intuitions told us not to let her near these people again doesn't really matter.
I did speak with the guy who came to pick her up, and he was apologetic, thanked me for saving her, and assured me she would staying in a safe place. He also told me that he would get her license updated. Whatever.
I hope she is back with people that care about her and that she stays safe. That is all we can do at this point.
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Robotlab : bios [bible] (2007) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Interesting. A robot writing the Bible. Check out the sweet font its capable of creating. -
Things - task management on the Mac
Very sharp looking task management / GTD software from Cultured Code. Still in beta. Just what I need: One more layer of technology to seperate me from what I should actually be doing. -
Fluid - Free Site Specific Browser for Mac OS X Leopard
Fluid turns any website into a stand alone app on your Mac. So if you have a site that you constantly keep open, it can run in it's own little world outside of your browser. -
Yahoo! Design Pattern Library
Need some usability guidance for a web/interface project? Check out Yahoo's tried-and-true suggestions. -
Neatorama » Blog Archive » The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos
Follow the evolution of popular logos over time. I think "Kwanon" should have stuck with the original. -
aRILLO
I dig the sharp vector style here. Interface could use some work though. -
Pushing Paper Out the Door - New York Times
After filing a year and a half's worth of documents last weekend, going paperless sounds awfully appealing. The $400 price tag on the Fujitsu ScanSnap is, unfortunately, not quite as appealing.
