Not wanting to be in the office today update

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article2999703.ece
Article by a woman that uses a male prostitute on a monthly basis to avoid the difficulties of a real relationship. A fairly interesting article. I was especially saddened by the fact that one encounter a month was enough to satisfy her needs.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourHealth/Your5MinuteGuideToHealthInsurance.aspx
Handy guide/set of tips for health insurance, which I personally find infuriating to deal with.


http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/01/repressed-memory.html
Interesting article on some research into the (non)existence of repressed memories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa
Weird thing to think about: a woman that died in 1951 lives on in the form of a very widely used line of cancer cells, which (I guess) would still have her DNA in them.

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/12/31/lifestyles/life/22725785.txt
The HDMI cable scam. Important for anyone buying a HDTV, because you WILL get hit with this by almost any retailer.

Hey

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVC1KMTOgwiSoMQyT2LwZc9HyAgA
The Lakota people withdraw from the united states. I wonder how serious they are. I'd be interested to see how it's handled if they really go forward with this.

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10286236
Economist's report on the state of Iraq.

I'm my own man of the year

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1690757_1690766-1,00.html

Putin is Time's "Man of the Year". I found this interesting, because a) I thought "man of the year" had to be a positive man, but it's actually just the man who most owned the year, with hitler winning in 1939, and stalin winning twice, in 1938 and 1942. and b) Because I find Putin fascinating. The man is very alien to the west, and seems to be extremely stereotypically "russian," what with being a killer KGB autocrat.

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5408
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3408
How to smoke pot and stay out of jail/how to not get busted when a cop stops you. Maybe this stuff is common knowledge to drug-users, but maybe not. Just part of fighting back against what I see as extremely perverse drug laws.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/12/les-chevaliers-de-l%e2%80%99ordre-de-la-terre-plate-part-ii-courtillots-geomagnetic-excursion/#more-504
A piece-by-piece destruction of an "academic" paper written to cast doubt on the scientific consensus of global warming. The paper in question basically abuses statistics and uses generally unsound science, casting doubt by any means necessary, so the author can continue getting keynote speech money at conservative/oil lobby conventions. So far every "skeptic" paper I've found has similar problems. Feel free to make me aware of any that are more sound that I've missed.

none

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/17438347/how_america_lost_the_war_on_drugs
Here's a real rarity: an article from the rolling stone that's worth reading. It goes through the entire history of the "war on drugs;" the different politicians and drug runners, the centers of the drug trade, the popular drugs, and most importantly, the variously ineffective methods we used in the fight.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/ITAPPMONROBOT.aspx
Fairly pointless little story, but I really like it. It's about a robot.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/opinion/18brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Good fact-light editorial about Obama as a person and a candidate.

Unknown title of vaguery

http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html
Article about the hard-case street alcoholic homeless, their massively disproportionate effects on our support systems, and some possible solutions. A very good read.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1564369,00.html
Article on the absolute nightmare that is the current media's reporting of science.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/10/29/071029on_onlineonly_surowiecki?currentPage=1
Article on the absolute canard you hear repeated so often that "tax cuts pay for themselves" through increasing economic growth generally.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=1691
Weirdest shit I've seen all day

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=10286050
Interesting article on the future of Iraq and Afghanistan from the economist. I'm not sure what the best thing to do is, but it seems to me like a premature pull-out will lead to a total collapse.

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10286409
Talks a little about what's going on with banks, central banks, and credit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4af9Q0Fa4Q
At 2:40 Ron Paul says he doesn't believe in evolution.

http://www.pantherhouse.com/newshelton/travoltas-pilot-assistant-almost-ready-to-go/
Some really creepy biotech shit: neurons put on a microchip, taught to fly a flight simulator.

http://www.slate.com/id/2175730/entry/2175733/
"American Lawbreaking" is an excellent series on slate that talks about the way we selectively enforce our justice system, the motivations for it, and the results. Very interesting, I thought.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mayer
A excellent (long) discussion/investigation into the CIA's torture program, their secret prisons, and the associated noise.

Wed 12/12/2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICUHk5XN64c&feature=related
Here we have rapper "Birdman" playing with absolutely outrageous amounts of cash. Like scarface level stacks of it. I wonder how close an approximation of his actual life that is.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071212/ap_on_fe_st/vodka_quaff;_ylt=A9G_R3rXJGBHFsAAPibtiBIF
Just a dumb news story on a guy that chugged a bottle of vodka when he couldn't take it onto the plane. A 65 year old party animal!

http://www.realclimate.org/
this isn't a single article but rather a website I find very useful for information on global warming, and what is and isn't happening with it. HERE is a link to their topical index, which is very useful when arguing about it on the internet, or looking at "skeptics" arguments as to why global warming "isn't happening". They also have a good basic primer HERE.

Another Day, Another Post

http://www.switched.com/2007/12/10/boy-saves-sister-from-moose-attack-with-skills-learned-in-warcra/
Kid Rescues sister from moose attack using abilities learned playing World of Warcraft. Would have been better if he'd used DOOM abilities. My dad was chased by a moose once.

http://www.trademork.com/worst-word-mashup-trademarks/
Worst trademarked combination words. Just read it, it's funny.


http://www.slate.com/id/2179621/
Ridiculously in-depth analysis of Knocked-up. I think I might disagree with the conclusions of the article. I enjoyed it though, and it talks about a lot of the male/female problem.


http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251179
an Article on John McCain. I was interested because he was basically dead to me after embracing Bush, and I wanted to know what was up with him. The illustration for the article is absolutely terrifying.

Today's Joys

I feed these straight into your brain.


http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001868
Line by line breakdown of the problems of the "lost" tapes of CIA interrogations.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3025835.ece
Scientists turn fruitflies gay, straight, or bisexual, with some genetic manipulation.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=vrPCkMSTH9A
John Mayer: Typical Ron Paul fan? Also featuring The Mac Guy.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/retire/planner.aspx
Handy tool for planning for retirement.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this in the long run, but I always want people to read what Glen Greenwald has to say. The problem is that he updates every day, and why the fuck would I link to a daily column every day? Moving forward, I'll only post it when he really blows the doors off the place, and if you actually are interested in what he says, you'll read it yourself.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=1676
Some of the craziest shit I've ever seen.

So, since this blog gets no readers and no use from me, I've decided I should re-purpose it.

I spend a lot of my time reading various articles on the internet, so I will collect the best ones here, for you to peruse at your leisure, should you be so inclined. The first few posts should be the best, since I'll be posting my past favorites.


http://www.hemmy.net/2007/12/07/bird-survives-vicious-hawk-attack/
No real value here, but it's pretty fucking metal. Bird horribly mauled by a hawk.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18802
Paul Krugman does a very good breakdown of what's wrong with american healthcare, as well as what's right, and what we should do going forward.

http://denisdutton.com/baumeister.htm
Fascinating article on the differences between men and women and the way their brains work, as well as the ways this affects our lives.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/12/lost_documents/
Greenwald lays out why everyone, regardless of what they want the government to do, should hate the bush administration: it is destroying the accountability of our government, and thus the rule of law. Without that, who knows what the next administration is going to do.

http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2002/tst070102.htm
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2003/tst122903.htm
Two examples, straight from the horse's mouth, of why I dislike Ron Paul.

http://www.rense.com/general63/bushm.htm
Our president, the innocent man-child.

http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10202728
Very short article on a truly ingenious system to save energy and thus the planet.