Lifestyle & Culture
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[ 3 Comments ]Posted on March 11, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Lifestyle & Culture
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009When It Comes To Water, The Choice Is Clear
I think it was WC Fields who said “Water? Never touch the stuff. Fish f*** in it, you know”. In spite of the fact that bottled water makers continue to suggest that their product is somehow pure, there’s really no assurance this is true, and oddly, L.A. tap water often beats out bottled water brands in blind taste tests. Add to this the fact that it takes 17 million barrels of oil annually to package and transport America’s bottle water consumed (tap water has 1/100 the environmental impact of bottled water) and you have a big loser all around. It also is ironic that it takes 3 liters of water to package every 1 liter of bottled water, and that while people fret about the economy, they pay $0.89 to $8.26 per gallon for bottled water, while tap water costs a mere $0.002 per gallon. Duke University did an insightful study that outlines the drawbacks of bottled water; they took the results seriously enough that they’re petitioning congress. If you still really want bottled water and your local tap water sucks, see if maybe your area has a product like NYC’s Tap’d, or until Segway creator Dean Kamen’s amazing Slingshot purification system catches on, consider finding your own home water purifying
Whatever Happened To The Econopocalypse?
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on March 1, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Sunday, March 1st, 2009Tips For Surviving The Coming Depression
Whatever happened to that Econopocalypse they were promising us? I’m from the generation who grew up thinking NORAD would mistake a piece of space junk coming over the horizon for a Russian nuclear missile, and we’d all die as a result of accidental “Mutual Assured Destruction”. So in spite of the fact that I’ve since somehow managed to become a disturbingly happy, emoticon-using 
utopian, when you talk about the coming apocalypse, I for one will be getting ready. Which is why I’ve rounded up some tips for you. There are plenty of lists like this one, which suggests ridiculously obvious things like accepting a job below your expectations, growing a garden, or managing your money better. And this one , which sounds like it must’ve been written by the same mortgage jockeys that got us into this mess. But I especially liked this one, which includes tips like “Stockpile Drugs” and “Buy a Gun”, or my personal favorite “Blow your credit cards”. You also might want to pick up some cooking tips from Clara, the sweet 91-year-old grandma that’s being exploited to create the Depression Cooking series on YouTube. Although you better hurry; I don’t see how we’ll have broadband if we’re standing in food lines. And for those motivated enough to keep looking for work, don’t be surprised if the interview process evolves to adapt to the new climate as well. See the clip featured here for some insight. Personally, I figure if I can survive cold war paranoia, eight years of Bush, and a culture that that seems to revolve around reality TV, I can survive this. See you in the dole line!
Everything’s Amazing & Nobody’s Happy
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on February 22, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009Louis CK on Conan O’Brien
I love this Louis CK bit on Conan O’Brien. I feel like he’s been following me with a hidden mike…
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Thanks Donna Ryen!
Are You A Facebook “Friend Whore”?
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on February 14, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Saturday, February 14th, 2009Or are you just REALLY popular?
I was picking on a friend recently about the fact that he had over 300 friends on Facebook. I asked him “Honestly, how many of those people could you or would you call for lunch this week?” He had to admit the number was a little lower than 300 people. Which got me thinking: what is a normal number of friends to have on Facebook? I’m reasonably well-networked in real life and have done a fair amount of events planning, so I’m acutely aware that a reasonably sociable person has less than ten close friends, and a range of acquaintances that typically extends to around 150 people. I’ve only used my Facebook account regularly for a few weeks, have around 60 “friends”, and am about to start adding and deleting with a little more focus. According to various small-scale studies, having an excessively large number of friends on Facebook suggests that one may have poor social judgment or be narcissistic. Any attempt to establish an optimal number of Facebook friends will have to factor in things like age, social class, and whether the person was an early user, when Facebook was college-only. These early users may have hundreds of friends, in spite of the fact that they rarely use the site. And then there are trophy friends to consider. How many friends do you have? What are they really worth? Well, according to this article, about 37 cents.
Faceboom: Over Forty On Facebook
[ 4 Comments ]Posted on February 11, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009With the recent spike in users over 40 on Facebook, I’ve watched some funny things playing out, so I thought I’d share some important notes with the boomer crowd. First of all, “LOL” does not mean “Lots of Love”. So when you post something like “Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that [...]
With the recent spike in users over 40 on Facebook, I’ve watched some funny things playing out, so I thought I’d share some important notes with the boomer crowd. First of all, “LOL” does not mean “Lots of Love”. So when you post something like “Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that grandpa passed away last night. I’ll let you know about funeral arrangements. LOL“, it comes across a little differently than you intended. Much like the story going around recently in which the guy shares: “my 8-year-old sister proudly declared that she knows that ‘WTF’ means ‘Wow, That’s Funny’ and has been using it all over the internet“. When you’re using Facebook, just rememeber, you’re not grandma, and you’re not an 8-year-old girl. “Poking” someone isn’t dirty, but it’s not especially purposeful, either. And that “Wall-to-wall” thing? Yeah. Everyone can read it. Stop typing sweet nothings to your best friend’s girlfriend. We all find it pretty amusing, but people get killed over this sort of stuff. And lastly, drunk Facebooking is just like drunk e-mailing or drunk dialing. Only worse, for two reasons: 1.) You can “Facebook” somebody without having their e-mail OR their number, and 2.) Everyone is watching. Anyone have an amusing Facebook story?