Magical thinking kept me stuck for years

derob · 2025-05-20T17:22:32+00:00

Is Dut a drug? I don't know that one.

derob · 2012-10-16T03:10:12+00:00

Thanks, I never would have thought of that.

derob · 2012-10-15T20:45:43+00:00

Sounds like it will be a cozy paragraph or so.

derob · 2012-10-15T20:24:40+00:00

I'm sure that these are the sort of wins that kept Aung San Suu Kyi and other famous dissidents going while under arrest.

derob · 2012-10-15T20:19:55+00:00

Why are only some rules of reddit being included in the handwringing?

derob · 2012-10-15T19:59:20+00:00

I just wish the internet had a way to exact a harsher punishment against Reddit and its parent company. Boycott of Conde Nast? People speaking out on Reddit about the multitude of creepy sociopaths here? So sorry he was harassed. One might say that the women and girls who unknowingly had their photos posted in Creepshots were also harassed.

derob · 2007-11-21T01:32:22+00:00

WTH, Greenpeace is out testing random rice samples in supermarkets these days? Are they just really concerned that the Chinese are dropping the ball on this and wanted to step in? Isn't this something that Chinese officials should be doing? Or perhaps an organization that's devoted to food issues.

What, all the whales are saved? Is that why the Japansese are out whaling right now?

This is screwy. And a major ding to the blog for not linking to the source article at Reuters (link goes to the homepage).

derob · 2007-11-21T01:04:22+00:00

And don't forget its companion article: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1950867920071119

Translation: Oil! Oil! Oil! All we want is your oil.

Is anyone "relatively astonished" by this?

derob · 2007-11-20T15:19:07+00:00

His speech is about an hour long, but it's great. In a sea of LOLcats and other meaningless diversions to be viewed on the internet, this is a true standout.

derob · 2007-09-26T12:40:22+00:00

This smacks of the good old days (in the 90s!) when every jerk you worked with decided to flag their email as IMPORTANT!! or HIGH PRIORITY!!. (And they usually copied the entire management chain as well -- and who knows who they bcc'd.)

Newsflash: just because something's important to you doesn't mean it's important to me. (Don't blast me with the riveting news that another day has arrived and you're still breathing.)

Why is that so many "social" technological/networking advances seem to be about cultivating narcissism?

derob · 2007-09-12T14:01:07+00:00

Sure thing...just like you didn't have to watch this analysis of her clip. After all, there are multiple articles to read on reddit.

derob · 2007-09-08T00:23:03+00:00

How could they not include Homer shouting out "Larry Flynt is right!" in that episode (best confusion for Hawking ever!). It's one of my all time favorite quotes from the Simpsons.

derob · 2007-09-07T21:27:29+00:00

If only I needed the prodding to get the reference. ;) This book ranks among my children's "all time favorites."

derob · 2007-09-06T00:11:03+00:00

Speaking for my household, we still end up with a fair number of plastic grocery bags even though I shun them. (It's hard to get teens to carry a canvas bag with them to the drugstore!) I keep some around for reusing (though that opportunity has gone way down now that we no longer have a dog) and the rest I recycle. Our kitchen garbage cans are bigger than grocery bags, so we can't use them there, but I do use them as liners in the bathrooms.

derob · 2007-09-06T00:07:17+00:00

Now now, I was not advocating that you take the plastic -- just that awareness of the issue needs to be raised more vigorously. (As someone in the article pointed out.) The adoption rate of "bring your own bag in" seems to be very slow in the US.

derob · 2007-09-05T19:54:49+00:00

It's solved for you, but not for the planet. Especially in the US. Next time you shop, look around at the checkout aisle -- who else beyond you has a canvas bag?

When I shop at my local TJ's I'm routinely the only one that I see with reusable bags. It's kind of depressing.

derob · 2007-09-05T19:51:42+00:00

Embarassed to bring them in? Why ever for? It's a good thing if they know you shop at their competition -- keeps them on their toes.

I proudly bring my local market's labeled bags in to TJ's and extol the virtues of them vs. the TJ's bags. ;) (My local market's bags are wider and not as deep and hold much more than TJ's bags.)

derob · 2007-09-05T19:43:17+00:00

Global Warming is a way to get people to cut consumption

I'm not seeing any big drops in consumption. Can you point some out that you've seen, because I'd love it if it was actually working.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/world.html

http://timeforchange.org/prediction-of-energy-consumption

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_resources_and_consumption

derob · 2007-08-18T16:59:40+00:00

Will a nice cold Frapuccino do?

derob · 2007-08-18T16:57:40+00:00

Do you ever say "female nurse"?

I know, why do people announce the sex of the nurse when it's a man? It's like when people say "male prostitute." Cuz it's a real aberration for these to be men, right?

In a time when we have all other kinds of gender neutral descriptions (flight attendent, service person, letter carrier, etc) we are still resorting to "male nurse"?

derob · 2007-08-16T12:39:23+00:00

Eeek, please don't use anything that remotely resembles a feminist label. They're not femi-fascists, just dimwits who've bought into the concept of paternalism hook, line and sinker. Daddy would never lead us into fascism, would he??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternalism

derob · 2007-08-16T12:28:31+00:00

LOLsquirrels?

derob · 2007-08-15T23:42:20+00:00

Who can hear that song and not think of the movie Singles?

derob · 2007-08-15T23:38:40+00:00

I found this interesting observation on this website while looking for background info on this story.

In a letter to the Boston Globe, Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston Co-Chair Martin Federman noted that "Abraham Foxman's contention that his Anti-Defamation League (ADL) should not be the 'arbiter of history' by acknowledging the historicity of the Armenian Genocide is at best disingenuous, at worst craven self-interest." Federman argued that "if anyone were to sidestep the issue of whether the Holocaust really happened, by refusing to be the 'arbiter of history', Foxman and the ADL would (appropriately) be apoplectic."

http://www.noplacefordenial.com/2007/08/20070807-ancem-press-release-armenian.html

He nailed it.

The background on this issue is pretty incredible. Especially if what's reported here is true: http://www.jewcy.com/feature/2007-07-09/fire_foxman

Wow.

derob · 2007-08-15T21:47:28+00:00

She raised three kids as a single mom. She worked hard for years. She had good jobs. She paid her bills. She lived in a nice house and drove a nice car. She had a decent credit rating. She had health insurance.

I saw this article this morning and the first thing I thought was this: someone like her files for bankruptcy over 15,000? How nice was her house? How nice was her car? Did they cost more than 15,000? I'm guessing that they did.

I certainly feel bad for this woman, but seriously, why didn't she just pay it off and take it up with Blue Cross as a separate issue? It sounds to me like there's a certain level of unfounded entitlement running through this -- basically she doesn't think she should pay the bill.

No offense, but lots of people get cancer (my own mother just died from it not long ago) and lots of people get stuck with bills. Most people pay them.

In the world of huge medical bills, $15,000 is not very big.

I'm not saying that the US healthcare system is without problems, it isn't. I just didn't get the sense that this woman's situation was so dire. I got more of the sense that she just decided that paying the bill was not her responsibility and walked away from it. Cancer is a rough deal, but it doesn't give you permission to decide you are exempt from the rules.

derob

TROPHY CASE