Lifestyle & Culture
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[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 30, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008Um, yeah. That’s a pun alright.
Who doesn’t enjoy a little rainy weather now and then? Well, me, for one. Especially when we say “rainy weather”, which, unlike “rainy afternoon”, implies the potential for eternal drizzle, fog, and toadstools sprouting from the lawn. That’s one reason that I’m going to have to buy a Fuck The Rain Umbrella, pictured left. The other reason being that it’ll look pretty funny in Google Earth photos. All of which reminds me that Winter is like, three days away now. I’m convinced that Winter means “endless season of low-contrast monochrome landscape that makes you want to die” in some ancient tongue. Go ahead. Snowboard. Knock yourself out. As this article on SomethingAwful.com points out, Winter activities all revolve around pretending Winter doesn’t suck. Like sledding: “…a great mixture between excitement, sitting, and being uncomfortably cold and damp. Sort of like losing your virginity…” So, this all highlights the fact that it’s time for my annual cry for help. If I don’t get out of Michigan by November 30, just shoot me if you see me on the street, okay? Alternately, you could donate to the Ian Gray Suicide Prevention Fund. No, that’s not a registered charity to help prevent people from killing themselves, it’s a PayPal account to prevent IAN GRAY from killing himself. All funds will be applied to my relocation, so even if you live in Ann Arbor and hate me, donating would achieve similar results, and be a little easier on my mom. Don’t hate. Donate.
Lifestreaming: Bored With Your Life? Live Someone Else’s
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on September 22, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Monday, September 22nd, 2008Lifestreaming – New Web Services make “Being John Malkovich” possible.
Burnt out on social networking sites? Alright, all you MySpace/FaceBook addicted luddites. Get ready for the next big thing you’ll get tired of next year: Lifestreaming. [My apologies to any readers who prefer real life to spending a few hours a day updating their FaceBook page. Just stop reading right now.] Big Brother probably never expected people to actively, even EXCITEDLY share their whereabouts not only in the past but in real time, now. I couldn’t possibly put it better than Damien Mulley, a blogger and writer for Ireland’s Sunday Tribune, who describes lifestreaming as: “…a dream come true for those that gloriously show off every facet of their life and the millions of lurkers who are willing to tune into such dross…Lifestreaming, like the movie Being John Malkovich, will allow you to climb inside the head of someone and experience their day via a digital smorgasboard of public text messages, blog posts, GPS-tagged photos and…a live video stream of them as they move around their world…” Yikes. It’s a little less dramatic than this of course. A simpler use of “lifestreaming” or “lifecasting” sites was well-explored in the Internet Meme timeline on Read the rest of this entry »
Inform Thyselves, Faithless Hordes
[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 20, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Saturday, September 20th, 2008Actually, you wacky atheists are a minority at 2%. Ha.
Assuming you’re American, this USA Today article points there’s a pretty good chance you don’t know much about the world’s religions. Why not take a look around for a minute? As Stephen Prothero, author of Religious Literacy
No Wonder I Can’t Get A Date
[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 13, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Saturday, September 13th, 2008But why are there so many single women in Appalachia?
And I thought it was my thinning Papa Smurf hair and “income impairment”. After viewing this interactive map though, it all becomes clear. Adjusting the slider to the age range I find acceptable (30-59; I think I’m being pretty darn open-minded on this!), the town I live in (Ann Arbor) has one of the largest blue bubbles in the US, with 40 extra men per 1000. My only solace is that there’s such a huge gay community here. Meaning either that number is actually skewed slightly, or I can still take a friend of mine’s advice and become bisexual, which, as she puts it, “doubles your chance for a date on a Friday night“. Fortunately, I already have plans to relocate to Albuquerque, which has a nice big pink bubble. By the way, note that there’s a little “link to this map” link in the lower right of the page. It lets you link to the customized map you created with your slider adjustments so you can more easily torture your friends. For more amusing maps like this you might want to check out the Who’s Your City maps on Richard Florida’s site. He’s the author of the bestsellers The Rise of the Creative Class
Careful Planning Enhances Procrastination
[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 6, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Saturday, September 6th, 2008With the right tools, ANY project can be delayed almost indefinitely…
It’s the weekend, and you finally have some time to organize some of those projects you couldn’t get to during the week. Why not implement a flow chart to get things on track? At left is a chart I resort to when I want things I don’t really need. Just substitute any phrase for “Pan Flute” (like, “60 inch Plasma TV” or “orgasm”) and voila! Decision made. I already saved two hours and a few hundred dollars today thanks to that simple chart. If you’re having trouble getting your project rolling, check out the Procrastination Flow Chart. Graphs can also be useful. Peruse the user-submitted graphs at GraphJam.com for useful analyses like Waking Time Spent On Boobies or this concise assessment of the information age. Thinking about upgrading to Windows Vista? Here’s a chart to help you. As we’ve pointed out before, even technologically impaired organizations like the RIAA use flow charts. See the RIAA Lawsuit Decision Matrix. This Things To Say During Sex diagram is not really a flow chart or a graph, but has some good advice all the same. And lastly, when you go back to work on Monday, remember: succesful BlameStorming doesn’t just happen. Proper planning is essential.