Just for fun, I installed a WordPress plugin to tell me what the total word count is on my blog. I’m kind of astounded.
Early Louis C.K. Standup Comedy From the 1980s and 1990s
Early Louis C.K. Standup Comedy From the 1980s and 1990s.
This is a great series of clips that show the development of Louis CK over the years. The final clip shows a remarkable growth in confidence and command of his material. He’s also a hell of a lot funnier.
What I really like about the series of videos is you can see that Louis CK quit trying to be a “comedian” and decided to be himself. In the early videos, he’s a joke-teller with an okay hit rate. In the final video, he’s Louis CK, a storyteller. His stories flow out of his experiences, his personality and his view of the world. Somewhere along the way, he decided to become harshly honest, as well as insanely, coarsely funny.
Sutil Bashes Hamilton …
So, let’s see: Sutil is convicted of what I would guess is the UK’s version of a felony offense and calls Hamilton a coward because Hamilton didn’t see it (or didn’t want to get involved).
It seems that there was enough evidence to convict Sutil of the crime without Hamilton’s testimony. So perhaps what Sutil really meant is that Hamilton is a coward for being unwilling to perjure himself. Because if Hamilton saw it and Sutil was guilty, Lewis did him a favor by not testifying.
Sutil made multi-million dollar efforts to settle out of court and has issued a contrite apology, so it’s plain that he is guilty of the crime. I don’t know what Sutil expected of Lewis.
Pinterest Is Not A Virtual Pinboard
This is an interesting analysis of how Pinterest, brands and users can create new branding opportunities that can be tightly associated with lead generation and actual purchases. The idea is that Pinterest allows a very tight connection between the products a person likes and a purchase opportunity. It also allows people to associate with each other based on a common brand or product affiliation.
I like that the author calls Pinterest an “interest graph” in contrast to Facebook, which is a social graph.
I initially shied away from Pinterest because it seemed so heavily dominated by women who posted frilly girl things. Then my wife mentioned that it was a better version of kaboodle.com and that clicked it for me. Now, I can use Pinterest for non-girlie, non-frilly, sweet things like scotch and shower heads I might want to buy.
Articles like this one are enjoyable to me because they take my awareness of a web site to a different level. It will be interesting to see how far Pinterest takes the info they gather.
VW Considering F1 Entry
So, if VW enters F1, will their cars have a little flower vase in the cockpit to soothe the minds of the drivers?
snork snork
Why Wedding Photographers’ Prices are “Wack”
I like reading in PetaPixel the different perspectives photographers and their customers have on the value of photography. It reminds me that customers want everything free, fast and better.
Our concept of value for various kinds of services comes in the context of a global economy where there is not only continual downward pressure on prices but also the desire for faster, better and free is not so unrealistic.
What isn’t considered, though, are the unseen factors like total costs of doing business, equipment investment, pre-event prep and post-event editing. I like that this photographer took a snark-free approach by rationally laying out the expenses faced by photographers.
Analog Finger Gestures for Digital Books
A video showing how the hand movements we use with physical books could be applied to a panel interface for digital books.
Firefox Running on My Kindle
Thanks to my Irish Mozilla friend.
F10 BMW M5 Crash
This is a picture of what could be the first crash of the new BMW M5. Another example of More Checkbook Than Talent.
Amazing Videography of Birds In Flight
I haven’t learned how this series of videos was shot but it’s amazing. There’s a part of me that wants to know but another part of me that just wants to enjoy it for what it is.
Unlimited listening on Spotify will vanish for U.S. early adopters next week
I’m not too upset about this. I’ve not been overly impressed with the service or with the privacy issues. I’ll just stick with my Rhapsody subscription.
Unlimited listening on Spotify will vanish for U.S. early adopters next week.
40+ Super Secret OS X Lion Features and Shortcuts
“Super secret” is a bit hyperbolic but it is true that finding out about these short-cuts can be challenging.
Kodak declares bankruptcy: The company that captured the 20th century (Photos) – BlogPost – The Washington Post
Inevitable but kind of sad. But hooray for evolution, competition and innovation.
Survey: 53% of BMW drivers using their horn at least once on every trip
Survey: 53% of BMW drivers using their horn at least once on every trip.
LOL I have to admit that I can’t refute this study.
Test of WordPress Facebook Plugin
This is a test post of gigantic proportions.
Ferrari Boss Thinks Felipe Massa Sent His Brother to Drive for Second Half of the Season
Ferrari Boss Thinks Felipe Massa Sent His Brother to Drive for Second Half of the Season.
Talking to Italian press over lunch, Montezemolo rated Ferrari’s season and revealed that the 2011 car will be launched in the last week of January, ahead of the first pre-season test.
Asked to give a report card for Massa and Fernando Alonso, he answered: “Nine and a half to Alonso. He did not win, but [the score is] from the point of view of results, character and relationship with the team.
“Less than a seven for Felipe Massa,” he added. “For some reason we have a problem with the brothers of our drivers arriving during the season. It happened with [Michael] Schumacher, [Kimi] Raikkonen and now Massa. I think Felipe got a bit tired mid-season and went home, sending his brother to drive. He gets a seven minus but he has promised to come back next year.”
As for Ferrari: “Eight. You do not get full marks when you don’t win, but it was an exceptional year for commitment and determination.”
So, Felipe scores a 7 — one less than Ferrari — and gets destroyed publicly by Montezemolo but his praise of Ferrari is high. Gosh, Luca, you dick, maybe having him lay down for Alonso killed his motivation to drive for you. When you ask one of your drivers to hand his testicles over so another driver can be gifted a win (“I am faster than Felipe”) , you should expect that to be a motivation-killing experience.
I am not a fan of Felipe because I don’t think his talent is worthy of the Ferrari badge but I do like him and I think Ferarri treat him like crap.
I Drive A Shit Fetcher
I drive a shit fetcher.
Every morning, I get in my shit fetcher and drive to Starbucks, where I buy coffee and something to eat. Other times I go to the mall or the grocery store in my shit fetcher and buy bags of shit and put them in my shit fetcher.
I go on a lot of shit fetching trips in my shit fetcher. Sometimes three or four in a single day.
Then I bring my bags of shit home. As the week goes on, I use shit up with a 70% efficiency rate. I put the 30% of shit I don’t use in a couple small cans. One can is for shit that can be recycled. The other can is for shit that lasts forever.
When those cans fill up with the shit that comes from my inefficient use of the shit I bought and fetched, I put them in two larger cans of shit I keep outside.
Once a week, I put those cans of shit out by the curb. Then, much larger shit fetchers come by my house to empty the cans of my recyclable shit and the shit that lasts forever. Then, those huge shit fetchers take my shit and the shit of my neighbors to vast holes that are filled with years worth of shit.
These vast shit holes make places like Milpitas smell like shit in the summer.
Sometimes I take shit I no longer want to be seen in or don’t use anymore and give it away so that less-capable shit fetchers (i.e. poor people) can wear or use my unwanted shit. Amazingly, I can deduct this so that I have more money to fund future shit-fetching trips.
My shit fetcher is nicer than some other people’s shit fetcher. There are people who have shit fetchers that are nicer than mine. But everyone has a shit fetcher. Even poor people. We all need something to fetch shit with. It’s what we do.
How much we spend on our shit fetchers can sometimes indicate the level of commitment each of us has to fetching shit. I have a nice shit fetcher and let me tell you, I have fetched a shitload of shit in my days.
Amazon has this great shit fetching service called Amazon Prime. You can click on the shit they have listed on thousands and thousands of pages and get it fetched for you. Your fetched shit comes in two days by UPS because Amazon Prime gives you free two day shipping. You know, so you can get your shit faster. The best thing is that someone else fetches your shit and brings it to you. Amazingly, the UPS shit fetcher is large and brown. The driver of the shit fetcher is smaller and dressed in brown clothing. This is almost incomprehensibly ironic.
Sometimes I take my shit fetcher to work. I drive to work so that I can fetch a days worth of dealing with other people’s shit.
But I put up with this shit so that I can fetch cash to pay for all my other shit fetching activities. Sometimes while I’m working or fetching more shit,I fantasize about telling some shit-for-brains coworker to go fuck himself. It feels delicious and glorious to fantasize like this. But I’ll never do shit like this because doing so would result in a quick loss of cash, which would seriously undermine my shit fetching capabilities.
Some of the shit I fetch in my shit fetcher is stuff I eat. This turns to shit too. Then you sit on a shit sender and flush the shit that was once the shit you fetched at the store. That shit disappears down a tube and we have no idea where all that shit goes.
This shit fetching cycle is what we are all about. It’s what we do. We like to think that we are proponents of freedom. What we really do is convince other people to fetch shit like we do. We call those people “emerging markets.” What that really means is that their economies are getting big enough that a). we can make shit cheaper there and b). we can sell shit more profitably there. We will stop calling them emerging markets when all of their people have the ability to sustain the shit fetching cycle on an ever-increasing scale.
Fetching shit is what we do our whole lives. Getting old is nothing more than an ongoing state of diminished shit-fetching capacity. And when we die, we will soon be forgotten by all the remaining shit fetchers because, holy shit! there is a lot of shit fetching left to be done.
Going Old School Shaving
A friend of mine from Michigan has written several times on Facebook about his experiences with using the old fashioned method of shaving: a safety razor, a bowl for emulsifying the shaving cream, a brush made of badger hair and either a glycerin bar or a cream concentrate. I decided to buy an entry-level bowl and brush set to use with my Mach 3 cartridge razor to see if I liked the experience.
The entry level kit was $12 and delivered about that much value: it was difficult to generate foam and the synthetic brush didn’t apply the foam consistently. Yet it gave me enough of an experience that I wanted to upgrade.
There are a number of ways to calculate the value of shaving with a safety razor and bowl-generated creme: Experience, Quality, Financial and Time.
The Experience of shaving this way is an intangible item. But I would generally characterize this approach to shaving as more sensual or pleasurable. There is a distinctly different experience associated with whipping up a batch of your own shaving cream and feeling a single-blade razor on your skin. The safety razor I purchased, the Merkur Futura, is heavily balanced at the head. This was at first disconcerting to me because cartridges are so light. What I’ve since discovered is that because of the weight of the shaving head, I don’t need to press down on the razor. The weight of the head keeps the shave close and smooth.
I like the experience because it leaves me feeling more balanced when I start my morning. I think this is because it’s not pre-processed like just about everything else in my life. I work up the later and brush it on my face. I’m a n00b, so it takes a while but I notice that as I keep doing it, I get better and quicker at it. But there’s only so much speed you can bring into this kind of shaving. In comparison to a cartridge and canned cream shave, this approach is slower. I’ve found though that I feel more focused and balanced after I shave this way.
The Quality of the shave is different. First, using a glycerin bar or cream is better for your skin than the aerosol shaving creams. Second, though it seems counter-intuitive in an age with 3- and 5-blade cartridges, a single-bladed safety razor gives you a closer shave. In fact, your skin will feel irritated for a while as your face adjusts to the new experience. Third, safety-razors are, for the most part, more expensive than a cartridge razor. There’s a higher level of manufacturing quality to them. And that enhances the experience. Fourth, having a quality brush made of natural hair will enhance the quality experience.
There is a higher financial investment in razor, brush and bowl but blades are quite inexpensive. So depending on how much you spend on a safety razor and a brush, you could spend $50 or $100 or more. But blades bring the total cost of ownership down. I estimate that I will break even on my up-front investment in about seven months.
The aspect of time is perhaps the key downside to old-fashioned shaving. We use canned cream and cartridge razors because they are fast and convenient. Shaving with an old fashioned kit is not fast. It is primarily about the experience and the quality of the shave. So, for many, the fact that shaving in this way takes more time will dissuade people from jumping in.
I have been very happy with the experience and I encourage you to try it out if you find it intriguing. There are many online resources available to assist your exploration.
Awesome Picture of Man and Stingray
Stingray attacks man
Originally uploaded by DoctorJB
