Barak Obama’s Facebook Feed
Now I don’t have to get all my political news from The Daily Show – I can pop online and read Slate, as well!
Friday Morning Straight Dope Smackdown: Fishin’ Edition
Followup: Did Cecil exaggerate the decline of the world fish supply?
Anyone who knows Straight Dope knows Cecil does not exaggerate, bitch. Bonus: The expert cited through much of the article is named Dr. Worm.
Who are the people in your neighborhood?
This week, not far from my own place of residence, a woman was beaten and relieved of her diamond necklace and her (because this is relevant to the story somehow) 7 carat, $90,000 diamond wedding ring. All this went down in the parking lot of a grocery store she’d patronized for years.
She sent an e-mail out to friends and family after getting her story to the press; that note got forwarded on and on until it came to my boyfriend. Being A Concerned Boyfriend, he then sent it to me.
Yes, there were photos. Gruesome stuff.
I’m so glad she’s okay, and I shudder to think how much worse it could have been.
In the e-mail, she wrote:
I have found out about terrible incidents at Tom Thumb parking lots, CVS parking lots, malls … All of these in nice areas of town by people you would never suspect!!!!!!
It concerns me that people living in one of the most dangerous cities in the nation can’t comprehend there is danger around them. True, the woman in question lives in fairly affluent neighborhood. Speaking for myself, I feel less safe in the wealthier parts of town. Why? Because the people who live there live in a bubble of security, which is excellent for would-be criminals.
In the six years I’ve lived here, I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons about safety. I’ve been fortunate to never suffer any violent crime, and I hope I never do. One thing I was always told, growing up in some not-so-good areas, was to always be cautious. Perhaps being naturally introverted has helped, as I don’t tend to chat up strangers, and generally don’t respond well to their conversation. I don’t know. At the end of the day, you just never know what sets people off, or what makes you, or anyone else, a target for crime.
Having said that, I’d like to remind the people of my fine city of a few important things:
- Being rich doesn’t mean you deserve to get robbed, or beaten, or both.
- Wearing an expensive piece/s of jewelry doesn’t mean you deserve it, either.
- Feeling safe in your neighborhood doesn’t make you stupid. It makes you human.
Also, I am never reading the comments on a local news story again. People are total pricks.
Fairey: In (deeper) Trouble
Apparently the lying-under-oath, Photoshopping-legal-documents thing caught up with the ‘artist’ of the famous – and somewhat incorrect, lately - HOPE poster. That’ll get you every time.
Related: The long, sometimes frightening history of Fairey’s plagiarizing past.
After the poster’s release, I admit I was on Shepard’s side and thought AP needed to step back. After doing a little more research on his career, however, I’m ambivalent. I can’t put my finger on why, exactly. I guess something about taking historically significant works of political art, stripping them of all meaning, slapping on a shitty logo and reselling them to make money for yourself – without once ever mentioning the history of said image – just rubs me the wrong way.
Slumming it
When I decided 2010 would be The Year of Change, I got more than I bargained for.
One car problem led to another, which lead to me standing on the side of the road this morning, in record-breaking freezing temperatures. I’m focusing so much energy on saving money that the wisest thing to do, transportation-wise, would be learning our public transit system and using it for work. That frees up untold hundreds in gas and car insurance, plus no new car payment (since this one is clearly destined for the junk yard).
Still… up at 5:30 to catch a 7:30 train, then hanging out at the station for a 5:53 back home? Not my idea of fun. On the upside, I’ll get a lot of reading done, will finally have time to do sudoku (wonderful sudoku!) and will inevitably meet some very, uh, interesting people.
It will be an adventure! Yeah, that’s it. An adventure.
Surrounded by idiots, all of the time
If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind.
- Player Piano
After long holiday
Getting back to work was easy, even after eleven days off. I’ll need all this energy in about twenty minutes, when I’m back at my old apartment, packing books, sweaters and shoes – and the millions of trinkets, dishes and assorted junk that I can’t live without.
Exhausting, just to think about it.
A lesson for the New Year
There are plenty of good reasons for fighting,” I said, “but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too.
- Mother Night
(Especially for all those people spouting bullshit like this.)
So, I failed NaBloPoMo.
I regret nothing. I was so busy tacking chicken livers on to fishing hooks and exploring the woods with three rambunctious boys that I lost all track of Internet obligations.
Fuck it. I had a blast. Camping rocks.