Wal-Mart best symbolizes America, a new poll finds
I mean, in a way, it’s totally correct: Wal-Mart does symbolize everything wrong with this country in one fell swoop. However, I’m so very saddened by everything in this poll, from the responses to the answer choices to the fact that it exists.
Blah. (Thanks, Yahoo! News)
But how will we ever buy products if we can see pores, veins, the natural color of teeth or – heaven forbid – stretch marks?!
According to Gizmodo, the French parliament is considering passing a mandate that would require all advertisers to notify the public whenever an ad has been through the Photoshop perfection engine. The penalty? Fines as high as half the cost of the ad campaign.
Part of me loves this. And part of me loves Mark Wilson’s quote at the end of the article:
“[…] the skeptic in us might see this as the lame excuse of someone not committed enough to rigorous cosmetic surgery.”
Will it only apply to skillful Photoshop work? Because sometimes, it’s damned obvious.
Readers, I’ve been blogging in earnest for seven years, as of today. Strange, I know, that it happens to fall on September 11th. So what was I up to seven years ago? Reading through the dead posts on my “nickblog” account on Blogger, it seems that I was:
I can actually remembering hammering out that first post on Blogger, if you can believe it. Just me and the 2400c/180 in my first dorm room. I had been writing for an indeterminate amount of time using Blogger and HTML-based web pages. (Probably back to at least 2000.) But I can’t find any of these materials, so we are going to have to call 9/11/02 the beginning.
So, happy blog-day to me. Thanks for reading.
You may remember that, after the global recession hit full swing, some curious news reports about creating a single global currency began to surface. Well, from rumors to a report by the United Nations itself, the single international bank concept is gaining traction. Here’s the latest from Bloomberg:
UN countries should agree on the creation of a global reserve bank to issue the currency and to monitor the national exchange rates of its members, the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development said today in a report.
Almoste makes me want to head up to Pittsburgh for the G20, just to hang out in hotel bars and listen in on the latest gossip.
Considering how many notices we are getting on campus right now about flu in the newest pig flavor, I do have to wonder what’s going on. As you might remember, I’ve been a bit skeptical of swine flu since we started hearing about it several months ago.
And now a history lesson from CBS in 1979:
Just strikes me as strange that as early as 1976, the government was freaking everyone out about swine flu and forcing vaccinations – and here we are again. Could 1976 have been a trial run? Could this all just be terrible mismanagement and a fear-obsessed media causing organizations (like my school) to run scared? Is this as sinister as I am starting to suspect yet again?
(Thanks, Digg.)
…to the “Hilltop” of Chestertown, if you will. Kate, Doug and I made a massive push to get everything redundant, unwanted or otherwise unworthy into storage this weekend, marking the official beginning of the 2009 move. I was exhausted by the end of Saturday, but pleasantly surprised by how much the three of us accomplished. Kate watched me run around like a total nutcase on Sunday, as I attempted to find a place for everything that had suddenly materialized. (On this, I think I was successful.)
So, Monday the 15th is the BIG stuff. Owen is going to take off work with us and we’re going to load up a U-Haul and be done with everything. Hopefully before the temperature reaches the customary mid-June 400º. I’m praying that my landlady continues her complete disregard for the fact that I’m moving out/haven’t paid rent for June. If I could save $425 for two weeks, I’d be thrilled.
Wish me luck. Photos to follow, rest assured.
Moving has taken the life out of me as far as blogging goes. I promise to be on my game (and keyboard) again this week. For now, view my current car obsession:
It’s true! Thank god for this mirror site hosting such a hot story.
It is Joanna Lumley’s 63rd birthday. (63!) Be sure to pay a visit to your neighborhood liquor store, offie (it looks like I meant to type “office” here – that works, too,) LCBO or – for the prepared – kitchen. I know that she wants us all to have at least one bottle of champagne in her honor.
The Eastern Shore is the hottest place I’ve ever lived. This is a fact: it is usually 10 to 20 degrees warmer here than it is at home in Western PA. It’s no end of fun to remind my family of this when they are buried under sixteen inches of snow or getting frost-bitten at negative twelve. And it’s really enjoyable to get Spring in the middle of March as opposed to the middle of May.
However, when summer strikes, it makes me want to die. I seriously wilt under the heat. I go delirious while pumping gas. I throw up during the first few hot days (no lie – it happened two years ago, last year and this past Monday.) My body is just not made to handle so much direct sun, so much humidity or so much sustained heat.
Thanks to NPR’s new energy grid interactive map, I am able to prove to you visually that this is not all in my head. When looking at the solar power potential map, I noticed that not only am I from a lighter shade of orange (lower solar exposure) but from an anomalous blob that is TWO shades of orange lighter.
Not that it helps at all on 100º days…