Archive for October, 2008
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[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 25, 2008 by admin in Popular Media
Saturday, October 25th, 2008Dystropia
–noun
a common or overused theme or plot device based on predictions of future human misery, squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.
I started this post in a dystopian future, but SkyNet firewalled my connection. I’ll be back.
Econopocalypse Tip #1: Living In Your Car
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 25, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Saturday, October 25th, 2008Mobile Homes: They’re not just for Hillbillies any more.
With global economic collapse descending upon us and people already living in L.A.’s version of Hooverville, learning how to not live in the house you never owned anyway might be a good start for your new lifestyle. Jalopnik offers Ten Cars You Can Live In After Your Home Is Repossessed, but the list isn’t very practical, and is a little weak on humor as well. Wikis to the rescue: This How to Live in Your Car Wiki not only covers the basics, but goes into finer details, like how to “safely defecate outdoors and make a poop tube”. Hmm. Too bad PoopTube.com is already taken. This Motive Mag piece also covers a lot of practical points once you’ve made the “mi casa es mi coche” commitment. And The Onion, so often disturbingly prescient with their satire, was way ahead on this one in the 2003 piece Living Out Of Your Car Is A Dying Art, which lambasts those that claim they’ll have a job and a home soon, pointing out that old pros knew how to keep “our chins up and our hopes down”. If you’re REALLY thinking ahead (and have $70,000+) the N55 Walking House is the perfect solution for those annoying floodwaters caused by all that global warming that doesn’t exist.
Peter Fox & Seeed Prove German Reggae’s Not An Oxymoron
[ 4 Comments ]Posted on October 24, 2008 by admin in Music
Friday, October 24th, 2008Two words you don’t often see next to each other: “German” and “Reggae”
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The lyrics are in German.
Found a translation here. |
If you’re in a funk today, check out the Peter Fox clip at left. If you’re not feeling a bit chippier by the end of the tune, call your doctor for an emergency dose of Zoloft. Your case may be terminal. I had heard of Seeed
Any Way The Benz Blows
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 24, 2008 by admin in Technology
Friday, October 24th, 2008Sure, I’ll race you. Soon as the wind picks up a bit.
Sure. Just when I start bellyaching about how great minds are wasting their resources on trivial concerns like radio-controlled golf balls, Wired magazine comes along with an eye-candy laden piece about alt-fuel race cars from the future. Who knew that all the major automakers occasionally turned their design people loose on radical vehicle design and actually made the results public? For more than just the pretty pictures in that Wired piece, check out the site for the Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge. I’m not even a “car guy”, but I’m getting a little reaction just looking at the Mazda Kaan, which uses an “electronic tire system powered by a sub-level electro-conductive polymer built into the roadway”. Also blowing my skirt up a bit is the Mercedes Benz Formula Zero Racer (pictured), which is propelled by electric hub motors, a solar skin and a high-tech rigid sail. Mommy, why can’t I just live in the future?
“That Wild Spontaneous Sex We Had The Other Night?”
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 24, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Friday, October 24th, 2008Our love was tainted…
“Well, I’m sorry to say we shared the gift that keeps on giving”. Personally, I’m eternally grateful that in spite of being an incredible slut over the years (c’mon, I’m a product of the 80′s, we were all a little wreckless) I tested negative across the board for STD’s after the last time I had sex. Which, for the record, was about 7 billion years ago at last count. Anyway, having experienced the anxiety around this topic, I really wonder about the effectiveness of a site like inspot.org, which lets you send an e-card (or an EEE-YU!card) to people you’ve recently had sex with should you discover you had an STD at the time. While I applaud (notice I didn’t say “clap”) the idea behind it, I just can’t imagine a person sitting in a dumbfounded state after discovering they have syphilis or something, saying to themselves “I should really let that one-night-stand know about this”. The site has suggestions for how to tell someone, like: “Try role-playing with a trusted friend…”. Right. You’re gonna tell your friends about your secret place, and everything that’s going on there. Or: “Remain calm. If you’re upset, a partner might think it’s worse than it is.” Like anything could be worse than saying “You know that night we spent together, when you didn’t even have an orgasm? Well now you’ve got the clap too!” Seriously, if the concept works, kudos to them. If nothing else, the site gives you an idea of which towns seem active enough for this to be a concern, so you could either avoid them, or, like me, ponder moving there…