Posted October 22, 2009 at 8:08pm
Apparently “foam” is one of the 10 worst dining trends of the last decade - chicagotribune.com
I’ve never seen “foam” on a dish but agree that it’s a bad idea. Infant barf is not appealing garnish.
Posted October 22, 2009 at 6:05pm
Surprisingly, concealed carry has a shot
See if you can spot all the contradictions in Eugene Kane’s latest column about concealed-carry.
He describes how back in the day, his own father and other men in their rough neighborhood carried concealed handguns peacefully and uneventfully, then paints todays concealed-carry advocates as “champing at the bit for the first chance to blow someone away.”
He sneers that “They are all apparently convinced that in an unexpected encounter with nefarious individuals outside their home, they will be able to summon up their inner Dirty Harry to save themselves or others from harm,” but exempts his father from such condescension.
Rather than try to refute statistical claims that concealed-carry laws result in violent crime reductions, he dismisses them with a cynical platitude.
Kane frets that “Police officers in some of the meanest parts of urban America aren’t excited about the possibility of going out on streets with no way of telling if the person being pulled over or stopped on the street is armed” — as if they can tell today, either in Chicago and Milwaukee or in the 48 other states where some form of concealed-carry is permitted.
Like his father, Kane has mellowed over the years but this flimsy column is just a half-hearted assertion of his own emotionally-driven preconceptions.
Cell-Phone Users Can't Spot a Clown on a Unicycle
People who walked in pairs were the most likely to see the clown [compared to solo walkers talking on the phone]. “So it’s not the conversation that’s the problem…” Hyman told LiveScience. “It’s something about a cell phone conversation is where the problem is.”
He speculates, as do other researchers, that when talking to someone in person you both can modify your conversation based on the environment, so if a clown, say, pops up you can both look up. …a cell-phone conversation is just harder to maintain; it takes more effort; it’s harder to understand the other person; it’s harder to get the timing right. It’s just a much more difficult task.”
I’ve always recognized that this is why a phone conversation while driving is much more distracting than live conversation in a car full of people. I thought it was obvious. Maybe I should be an Applied Cognitive Psychologist?
It’s funny, celebrity actors don’t get stopped as much as people on Food Network do, because it’s like—okay, you see Johnny Depp in the airport, you don’t know Johnny Depp. You’ve seen characters he’s played, but you don’t know anything about him. Those of us on the Food Network, that’s us, so millions of people assume they’re intimate with us. And because of that, they walk right up and bombard you with questions about why their pot roast is bad.
Posted October 20, 2009 at 11:39am
While the U.S. speeds plans for the ultimate bunker-buster bomb and President Obama prepares to send another 45,000 troops into Afghanistan, 44,789 Americans die every year from lack of medical treatment. National Guardsmen say they would rather face the Taliban than the U.S. economy. Little wonder. In the midst of the worst unemployment since the Great Depression, US corporations continue to offshore jobs and to replace their remaining US employees with lower paid foreigners on work visas. The offshoring of jobs, the bailout of rich banksters and war deficits are destroying the value of the U.S. dollar. Since last spring, the U.S. dollar has been rapidly losing value. The currency of the hegemonic superpower has declined 14 percent against the Botswana pula, 22 percent against Brazil’s real and 11 percent against the Russian ruble. Once the dollar loses its reserve currency status, the U.S. will be unable to pay for its imports or finance its government budget deficits.
— Paul Craig Roberts (via azspot)
Jim Cramer just told Chris Matthews that we are going to have a great retail season this Christmas. Given Cramer’s track record, I’d start preparing for a complete economic collapse somewhere around Thanksgiving, complete with people jumping from buildings, mass layoffs, hyper-inflation and bread lines.
EXCLUSIVE: Foursquare Launches in 15 New Cities
Whether or not you’re actually playing the incredibly addictive location-based game Foursquare [iTunes link], you’ve probably seen the buzz surrounding it and heard something…
Welcome to Milwaukee, Foursquare! I’m signing up for you tomorrow.
Oh look, now we Milwaukeeans can leave little annoying location updates as well (he says as if he’s not signing up for it right now).
I just hope people don’t pipe them into Tumblr via RSS. The LastFM weekly playlist updates are bad enough.
Before we get too obsessed with this silver balloon...
Let’s not forget what else happened in the news today: JP Morgan Chase reported $3.6 BILLION in profits in the 3rd quarter. Goldman Saches reported $3.2 BILLION. Major US Banks and securities firms are planning on paying $140 BILLION in compensation this year. Goldman alone will be paying $20 BILLION in BONUSES ALONE. That’s an average BONUS of $700,000 per employee. For fuck’s sake.
