Washington Post is running a poll for the worst idea of the Aughts. It's a close race between the vaccine phobia (my vote if worst is defined by stupidity and idiocy), torture memos, housing bubble, prosperity gospel, and in first with 21%, compassionate conservatism.
Housing prices always rise Plenty of mistakes and delusions brought on our financial crisis, writes Greg Ip of the Economist, but none so much as the belief that housing prices can only go up.
[Hat tip: Mun!]
Dawson, did you hear the sad news? Brittany Murphy died.
I was quoted in a New York Times article published last Sunday.
In part 3 of his latest thought provoking and entertaining conversation with the Sports Guy Bill Simmons, author Malcolm Gladwell summarizes his thoughts on why (American) football has "been ruined for [him]" and "increasingly of the opinion that it is screwed up -- on a moral level -- in a way that no other professional sport is."
Think about it. The league has a salary cap (which limits players' pay), minimal health insurance for retirees and no guaranteed contracts. In other words, the owners reserve the right to limit the pool of money available to players, to walk away from contracts whenever they please and then hold no long-term responsibility for the health of the players whose contracts they have limited and declined to honor. Coal miners aren't treated this badly. And now we strongly suspect a fourth fact: that some significant percentage of ex-players, as a direct result of playing professional football, will suffer from dementia in their 40s and 50s, in addition to all the known and significant other health risks of the game (severe arthritis, substantially elevated risk of heart disease, etc.).
This list captures the hive-mind of all of us in the digital generation. Some excerpts below that made me laugh and sometimes nod my head in agreement.
8. Do you remember when you were a kid playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.
11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
14. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
20. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
29. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
32. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
33. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
35. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
40. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
44. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
52. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
54. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than with Kay.
The estimated total of all the gold mined by humans in our existence would fill a cube sized 82 feet a side, or roughly one third of the Washington Monument. Platinum is even more rare and discovered much later (18th century). All the platinum in the world would fit a cube 20 feet a side.
[Via]
Pure gold shaped into a model of Japan's Mount Fuji by Ginza Tanaka. This went on sale for $135,000.
A holiday flask perfect for the alcoholic curmudgeon. $50 here.
Okay, after reading this article about contaminated tap water, I don't care how good the New York City water is, I'm getting a filter. I mean, damn, look at that photo. I need to protect the temple that is my body.
Reason #9. They pull off a killer Jason Mraz cover on an ukulele which makes it cool, even if you don't like Jason Mraz. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMWX--UJZ4&feature=player_embedded]
I know this video has circulated around to every corner of the Internet and posted on every blog. I was so resistant to this for so long and I don't remember who finally compelled me to watch it, but I'm posting it here as a sort of PSA or act of community service for that ONE remaining person who might not have seen this yet. Turn up your speakers, enjoy and if you aren't Asian then feel that pang of jealousy that your future child will never be quite as cute as mine (Spoiler: Because I'm Asian). I win. The End.
This "situation" is so surreal. Also, I'm enjoying how MTV's Jersey Shore has reignited the Long Island versus New Jersey battle in the comments of my most recent entry about Jersey Shore.
[Via]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqVlukSIQUo] This puppy thinks it's cute and after my ninth viewing of this video clip of him playing with an ice cube, I've concluded that it isn't nearly as cute as my old Golden Retriever Rudy that I grew up with. RIP RUDY.
The first season of Parks and Recreation in my humble opinion was abysmal. I mean, I laughed more watching Antique Roadshow. But this second season, wow. I don't know if the P&R writers started taking funny steroids or what, but its sophomore season has been phenomenal. All the characters are developing in such a natural yet hysterical manner, especially Ron and Tom (played by Aziz Ansari), who slayed me with this line in a recent episode when trying to give Christmas gift advice to Mark:
Women love diamonds, even the super left-wing chicks who saw Blood Diamond and cried. When they get one, they’re like "Yea! Give me more blood diamonds. Make them extra bloody."
Dare I say it, but I actually prefer Parks and Recreation over the comparative The Office.
Aggressive rifle action.
Sold out at 
Yup, love 
Freaking