internet | occasional fish

Where I am

January 18, 2012 by Fred

I decided this was going to be the year I finally move out. I moved back home to New York in the summer of 2004, and that, amazingly, was almost eight years ago now. Of course, now I’m faced with the very real possibility that I don’t earn enough yearly to buy a place of my own, at least not anyplace nice, in New York. I’m looking at down payments I quite possibly can’t afford on mortgages I quite possibly won’t get, which run for decades longer than I quite possibly want to live there, and that’s even before property taxes and interest rates and monthly expenses. But still, I got in touch with a realtor in Queens a few days ago, and I’ve said I’ll try to call her tomorrow, even though that might prove difficult at work.

This was so much easier when I was just renting an apartment, and when I was dealing with central Pennsylvanian prices.

Beyond that, and all the talk on Twitter and elsewhere about SOPA and PIPA, it was a pretty ordinary day.

Monday various

November 14, 2011November 12, 2011 by Fred

I don’t think I’m actually going to be using this, and not least of all because I almost never use Chrome or its extensions, but this is interesting: Jailbreak the Patriarchy, an extension that gender-swaps all the pronouns. [via]
The YA Paranormal Drinking Game [via]
“It has come to our attention that Ayn Rand was in fact a self-serving sociopath. We regret the error.” Copies of the Atlas Shrugged DVD pulled because they (very mistakenly) called it a “timeless novel of courage and self-sacrifice” [via]
Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home will be a musical. That’s…interesting.
And finally, these Paranormal United States [via]

Thursday various

November 10, 2011October 23, 2011 by Fred

The Call of Cthulhu by Dr. Seuss [via]
Don’t trust anyone you meet online. [via]
Perks of Being an English Major [via]
Science fiction vs. literary fiction
And finally, Ira Glass’ sex tape:

For the most part, this is pretty SFW visually, although fairly explicit in other ways. I include it mostly because it’s a pitch-perfect parody. [via]

Wednesday various

November 2, 2011October 23, 2011 by Fred

â€œWhen Itâ€™s Not Your Turnâ€: The Quintessentially Victorian Vision of Ogdenâ€™s â€œThe Wireâ€ [via]
The Content Farm: “Informative articles about every topic, written by people with a passing knowledge.” [via]
War Dog:

Dogs have been fighting alongside U.S. soldiers for more than 100 years, seeing combat in the Civil War and World War I. But their service was informal; only in 1942 were canines officially inducted into the U.S. Army. Today, they’re a central part of U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan — as of early 2010 the U.S. Army had 2,800 active-duty dogs deployed (the largest canine contingent in the world). And these numbers will continue to grow as these dogs become an ever-more-vital military asset. [via]
If Housepets Were Libertarians
And finally…

X-Men: First Class Title Sequence from Joe D! on Vimeo. [via

Wednesday various

October 26, 2011October 23, 2011 by Fred

Mike Daisey remembers Steve Jobs:

Mr. Jobsâ€™s magic has its costs. We can admire the design perfection and business acumen while acknowledging the truth: with Appleâ€™s immense resources at his command he could have revolutionized the industry to make devices more humanely and more openly, and chose not to. If we view him unsparingly, without nostalgia, we would see a great man whose genius in design, showmanship and stewardship of the tech world will not be seen again in our lifetime. We would also see a man who in the end failed to â€œthink different,â€ in the deepest way, about the human needs of both his users and his workers.
Actress sues IMDb for revealing that she’s totally old and gross. It’s an interesting case, although I don’t think IMDB has a responsibility to lie in order to combat Hollywood’s unfortunate age- and sexism.
Mysterious paper sculptures [via]
I’m sure by now you’ve heard this, but it’s still pretty remarkable: Online Gamers Make Discovery in HIV Battle
And finally, learning the wrong lesson from 127 Hours.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30