Back in the day, when enviromentalism was all the rage (i.e. late 80s early 90s), many stores offered 5 cents off your grocery order for each bag that you reused or if you used a canvas tote. I have a feeling that this strategy might be a bit more effective in bringing back the demand for those PBS tote bags.

Quoth CNN:

...a RAND study which says the government should postpone a decision on installing the devices until they are more economical and reliable

Oh, I see, we shouldn't install them until they work. Smart idea.

Um...yeah. I've always wanted to drive a dune buggy slot car.

But this takes the cake.

I found out that the way I hold my pencil is called the quad grasp, or at least it is by this page:

A quad grasp is similar to a tripod grasp except the pencil is held between the pads of the thumb, index and middle fingers, with the first knuckle of the ring finger supporting the pencil on the side.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any other info on it, even with the search term "quad grasp."

More fun with the Anagram Server:

Jason's name:

WORN BANJOS

My sister (formal first name):

A BREECHING HILT

My sister (short first name):

LIGHT BEAK

My dad (formal first name):

JIM, BASH LEG

My mom (married name):

GAIL, NAB JOHN

My mom (maiden name):

FOIL AWAKENED JAN

I heard about this on NPR on my way to work. Score. I only have 2-3 drinks per week. Maybe I'll have to start upping it...

No. This is not available in the company store. Stop asking!

It is an article about JFK, so I have to post it.

Additionally, Jason and I were discussing this very issue this weekend after watching a summary of about 6 inaugurations on CSPAN. This article gives a good treatment, and I agree that JFK stood at a good time to make a great speech:

The reason that presidents have such trouble recreating the "idealism" of that 1961 address is because the inimitable idealism wasn't really Kennedy's. It was ours.

The world was changing quickly, and a young, handsome, well-spoken man stood confidently at the helm. It is easy to be idealistic when you have confidence in your leader, and your leader has confidence in his actions.

Yeah, I know. I am part of the north-east libereal elite. At least I didn't go to an ivy. Nothing is worse then paying a lot to be at a disadvantage.

This is actually the pattern of many a blog.

Just hit the next blog button on the top of my page.

It's that pattern, or way too many graphics (usually involving anime) or writing that I am too old to understand.

I learned about flour bombs today:

Almost any finely divided organic substance will produce an explosive mixture in an air suspension...Very fine flour is dangerous in air suspension as it too can explode. As the flour does contain a significant amount of oxygen in its organic make-up, the effect can be greater than a simple fuel-air explosion.

Now I don't have to say "I don't know."

I know this is old, but hell, it is soooo much fun.

I know how I will be spending my lunch.

Unfortunately my name anagrams to:

I'M A BLAND HAG

Wonderful.

Excellent!

Borat is awesome.

"I looked at Brett and said, 'Why do I feel like I'm in the middle of a bad "Saturday Night Live" episode?'" Jaymes said.

No, SNL is a lot less funny.

Some of these words and phrases really brought me back.

Damn it. I need those 2.68 microseconds.

I just took the Jung Typology Test. I came out at an INTJ, which has been my type every time I've taken this test.

Strength of the preferences %

Introverted: 100
Intuitive: 22
Thinking: 89
Judging: 56

Damn--I am really introverted, even more-so than I expected.

I like this idea. Maybe we should start to hold God responsible for some of the acts that he takes:

Centuries of uncritical worship have clearly produced a monster. God knows that he can sit passively by while human life is wantonly mowed down, and the next day, churches, synagogues, and mosques will be filled with believers thanking him for allowing the survivors to survive.

And don't give me the Job line: all of this is a test and we should hold our faith through even the worst. What kind of all loving, all compassionate God would fuck around with people like God lets the Devil fuck with Job? It makes God look like little more than a kid with a magnifying glass playing in an anthill.

And you never see God reward the faithful with $$ after they survive horrible circumstances with faith. Maybe he ran over budget...

Dude. I so want this. Anyone interested in going halvies?

Robert Willits, "director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System of eight libraries in Jackson and George counties," speaks out about the Daily Show book:

"We're not an adult bookstore. Our entire collection is open to the entire public," Willits said. "If they had published the book without that one picture, that one page, we'd have the book."

I wonder if they have censored pictures of Michelangelo's David, or refuse to allow Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five to circulate (it has a line drawing of boobies--hee hee).

Since when do public libraries decide what pages in a book are acceptable? Are we going back to banning On the Road and Huck Finn because it will put "bad ideas" in kids' heads?

Mmmmmm. Raman.

Great poster from Think Geek that includes the following phrase:

If A Pretty Poster And A Cute Saying Are All It Takes To Motivate You, You Probably Have A Very Easy Job. The Kind Robots Will Be Doing Soon.

This is a very good idea. I have a bunch of old cards that I don't just want to throw away.

We've been putting our monitors, as they are replaced by LCDs, up on Freecycle, but getting money for them would be even better...

My job is changing. As a result I am going to be put in more of a research role instead of project management. My reason for posting this: I currently read Slashdot regularly, and was wondering if any of you know of any other science/technology sites that cover the latest and greatest.

School districts that teach intelligent design are doing nothing but showing kids that half-baked ideas with no scientific backing can be legitimate science. Will they have to teach ESP as a valid economics predictor?

Yes, I am still alive.

Since my work has a shutdown between X-mas and New Year's Day, I have been away from my primary location for posting. I was back Monday, but remembering what the hell your job is after being off for a week can take a couple days.

Oh, and I highly recommend spending X-mas away from your family at least once. It has a very freeing feeling.

Excellent song lyrics:

"She's living in LA, with my best old ex-friend Ray" --Operator (That's Not the Way it Feels), Jim Croce


"Then I heard the guitar player say, 'Vamoose, Jose's on his way'" --Come a Little Bit Closer Jay and the Americans