Thanks to Google Adsense, this site may soon pay for itself, which would certainly be a great thing. I’m far from being able to retire on the income though. It seems it takes a lot of effort to make any dependable amount of money, beyond a few clicks here and there, it just feels a lot like work, which is really beside the point, isn’t it?
August 2, 2007
Ad Revenue
August 1, 2007
Central Park Fountain
The Central Park Resevoir Fountain was operational again as of yesterday. It shoots water 60 feet into the air, quite pretty to watch.
July 31, 2007
Reconsidering the Cell Phone
Wired has a bunch of reasons you might reconsider having a cell phone. I just got rid of mine a few months ago. My top reasons from the article:
It’s horribly expensive
Total Cost of Ownership. Apply that idea to everything, not just cars and mortgages. The fact is that most cellphones will cost you thousands over the life of the contract. Short of paying-as-you-go with a Wal-Mart crapdybar, you’re in it for a good $1,000, and about $2,000 or so with a smartphone.
And if you get a new cell phone, locking you into a new contract, you just perpetuate it even longer.
It enslaves you to a one-sided contract
This is the magic that allows the previous item to happen, but is sufficiently vile to warrant an entry of its own. Everyone is at it, but the most iconic example of how times have changed is AT&T: Ma Bell has reglued itself together with almost Marxian inevitability, but now has the advantage of having countless customers under astonishingly abusive contract terms. Take that, deregulation.
Market power anyone?
It makes you perpetually available
If it’s on, they can get you. If it’s off, they wonder why they can’t get you. It’s a lose-lose situation for your Zen.
This is perhaps the top reason. If you have one, it simply becomes an expectation that your are always available by phone. There’s no room for uninterupted serenity or leisure.
July 30, 2007
Types of Visas
I wasn’t aware that the US had so many types of visas. The only kind I’ve run into are the (controversial) H-1Bs, which are for people with ‘special skills.’
July 29, 2007
It takes a firm man…
Christopher Walken makes a chicken. (looks pretty tasty) Christopher Walken has a reputation for being something of a cook and apparently does quite a bit of cooking himself, since restaurants sketch him out.
Ghost Bikes
I’ve seen a few of these “Ghost Bikes” around the city. They’re white bicycles placed at the site of fatal bicycle accidents. It looks like this new site will be putting something up on the phenomenon soon.
July 28, 2007
Alli
I’ve been very curious about the drug Alli, the weight loss drug that is now available over the counter. The marketing claims that you can expect some modest increases in the amount of weight loss, provided you follow a fairly low fat diet. But we’re we’re talking – 15 grams per meal. That’s really a rather small amount of fat, the amount you would find in your average sandwich. If you go over the 15 grams in a single meal, Alli sees to it that you are punished with ‘treatment effects,’ essentially foul-smelling oil leaking out of your anus. After reading vile personal experiences such as “My body won’t stop leaking” and “Stinky treatment effects and you, a yucky story” I’m not entirely sure that I need to take the drug itself to lose weight. I just goes to show what people will put themselves through to lose weight. For my part, I’m sticking with exercise.
July 27, 2007
New Soul Food
Hungry in Hogtown, the excellent food blog, has a kool entry on a kool subject, kool-aid pickles. Don’t laugh, kids apparently love them.
July 24, 2007
Free Energy
I remember throughout my youth hearing how solar energy would someday take over if only they could improve the efficiency of the panels. Turns out they are getting very efficient, very quickly.
Ugly Outfits NYC
Ugly Outfits NYC is sort of like Overheard in NY in that it captures the some of the street theater I live for – spotting outrageously bad outfits.