Quick question: does anyone know how we're going to pay for healthcare in the next few decades, or is everyone just putting their fingers in their ears and going "la la la" until the financial crisis is over?...
Do you know why Greece has blocked Macedonia's attempts to join NATO and the EU? Answer after the jump....
The remarkable thing about the news today that Rick Wagoner is resigning as the CEO of General Motors is that—at least, reportedly—Wagoner was asked to step down by the Obama administration. Incredible. Requests for people to step down are almost exclusively sent in the other direction: to public office holders....
I have to admit that Spider Solitaire on "hard" mode (4 suits) is addictive stuff. That is all....
Here's a post for those of you who are interested in the relative effectiveness of various forms of cardiovascular exercise. I've been tracking my outdoor running since I bought my GPS last August. That's about six months—but really it's more like three since it was too cold to run for...
Apparently this model was built in 1988 for whatever civic planning occured in Soviet Moscow. Incredible. See all the photos over at English Russia....
I just bought a rack that mounts over my rear tire. Somehow I have to find a way to strap two styrofoam boxes full of teriyaki take-out to said rack in a way that doesn't compromise the structure of the styrofoam or leak all over the rear tire. Once I...
I queued up The Fall a month or two ago on a recommendation from Mouser (I think). The story is sortof a mix of Pan's Labyrinth and The Princess Bride, where a narrated story unfolds in a girl's imagination, set against tremendously rich backgrounds and sets. In fact, this film...
We found these snack bars recently—they're high-protein bars made out of pressed almonds, walnuts, and macadamias. Unlike most protein bars, these actually taste fantastic, although they do make a bit of a mess if you're not careful with how you eat them. Found in our local Trader Joe's....
Friday's episode of All Things Considered contained a musical interlude by Avishai Cohen—specifically, a clip of Elli off of Cohen's 2006 release Continuo. NPR has the interlude in a flash player on their site. Cohen is an Israeli double-bassist with a great sense of composition—I'm still making my way through...
I haven't fallen in a ravine but my GPS shows I spent part of my bike ride earlier in the lake. P.S. If you ever go biking around here—OK maybe that's not going to happen, but anyway—be sure to check the topo data (or at least, you know, drive the...
Everyone knows the Middle East. Most are probably familiar with the Far East, too. But the Near East? Apparently it's notable enough that it has its own Wikipedia page, so that means ... well, it means practically nothing....
Seeing writers duplicate units—a particular common example is something like "...$50 dollars"—makes me cringe a little. But where I really went wrong was to consider what a square dollar was. $$50? What does that mean?...
Some new renters moved into a house down the street. At various points over the last few weeks they've had a Chevy Tahoe, a Nissan Maxima, an Infiniti J30, a purple bagged Chevy S-10, and a Scion xB parked in front of the house—and all were on 18+" chrome dubs....
This is the building I mentioned yesterday—it's the headquarters for Weyerhaeuser, a local timber and paper company. Say what you will about Weyerhaeuser1, this is an incredibly striking building. The one shot I got of the front captures the moodiness of the area when I visited on Sunday but it...
I had the immense pleasure of visiting the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection at the Weyerhaeuser headquaters down in Federal Way this last weekend. One of my colleagues recommended this collection after he saw my struggling little tree in my office a few weeks ago, and I happened to have some...
I cried for two straight hours because I was laughing so hard. I don't have the words to do the show justice, so you'll have to hunt down an episode on your own (they sell downloadable DVDs through their site). This was my first MST3K/CT/riffing event, and the only thing...
That's right, it's now a congresionally designated day of celebration. I was originally going to make some comment about Pi Day receiving official government recognition and is therefore uncool, but there's really nothing at all bad about this. Full text of the resolution is here under the link "H.RES.224.EH" (not...
First Crossfire, and now Jim Cramer's attitude. Nobody is safe from the claws of Stewart! Read all about the most recent event at its own Wikipedia article. Damn we're good at documenting the present. Oh and if you haven't seen it, Hulu has parts one, err, two, and yesterday's one-on-one...
So enjoy a flash video instead—this one has been making the rounds again lately. For those of you haven't seen it, it's an animation of a (typical) question posted to Yahoo! Answers, and an indecipherable response. Enjoy....
We're still not quite at the point of having genuinely universal power adapters, but it's nevertheless pretty cool that rectractable prongs are catching on amongst power supply manufacturers. Yes. This pleases me....
What's he going to complain about?, you may be asking. Will it be the six faux exhaust ports on the fender? How about the "turbo" badge ripped off of some other car's rear end? No, and no. Some of you may even think I'm going to go for the horrifically...
This Friday and Saturday, Cinematic Titanic is coming to Seattle. That's right—the brains behind MST3K will be ripping on a movie live. I'm definitely going to get tickets, but I haven't yet decided for which night. Anyone local going?...
I bought this today. It's a Novara1 Big Buzz hybrid/commuter bike—it's a few years old, has been owned by an REI employee, and I managed to pick it up in decent shape for about a quarter of the retail price with all the added stuff I got with it. For...
It's pretty depressing to be sitting 18" from a window and have to use a weather website to see what temperature it is outside....
I'm really sick of hearing that phrase. I hear it about once every day or two as some telemarketer calls my cell and plays the prerecorded message. It turns out I'm not the only one getting these. Unfortunately there aren't any notes on who is behind it, or how to...
It appears the city of Berkeley (yes, in California) has a law that prohibits any business with connections to the nuclear industry (reportedly weapons and power) from operating within the city. Incredibly important companies can apply for a waiver from the local authorities to operate in spite of their connections....
I'm looking at used bicycles again. I got distracted the last time I looked, and with the Porsche out of service about 50% of the time, it would be nice to have some form of transportation that doesn't chew through a gallon of fuel every dozen miles or so. Last...
I'm now completely convinced that the local auto parts store is only good for buying hub caps and steering wheel covers. I went to the parts desk earlier tonight and asked for some vacuum hose, and the guy behind the desk said, What? Vacuum what? Let me look it up...
I've removed the fuel tank in the 914 in order to inspect and fix the blower motor, and to replace the assuredly leaking fuel lines coming off the bottom of the tank. The biggest problems were the fuel lines themselves, which I had to cut through to remove from the...
