Holy Crap, Turtles can Breathe through their Butts!

It's true!!!! http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011116.html

Though to be fair, not all turtles can do it. Still, it's pretty insane...!!!

Solar Power - dirty silicon and feed-in tariffs

Here's a really interesting article about the future of Solar. The man interviewed in the article is saying that California's doing the solar incentives all wrong. Instead of subsidies, Cali should do it via feed-in tariffs, which means that the user is paid by local utilities, say, 40 cents / kwh they produce. This would mean that a person who installs solar on their roof could reap $100s/month, and it becomes a money-making scheme for them. Capitalism kicks in, and solar is installed all over the damn place at a very fast and organic rate...!

He also talks about how semiconductor-grade silicon isn't necessary for solar panels. Less costly, "dirty" silicon is much more easily produced, which would mean cheaper panels available in higher quantities.

http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/992

Man, I keep <3'ing Obama

Here's an interesting article about Obama and his campaigning style. I'm such a fan of him... I'd love for an Obama-Edwards or Obama-Clinton ticket... why is it that the nominated candidate doesn't populate his cabinet with the other candidates? I suppose they may have legitimate differentiations on substance, but I would think doing so would lock in all of the votes the others had garnered during the primary process...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/30/obama?source=newsletter

Housing Collapse is Worse than Fed's been saying

So every now and then I get this bug to buy a condo. And so I e-mail my friend Stefan (and my friend Matt), and they spam me with news stories and analysis and commentary on why the real estate market is total shit right now and why it would be a horrible waste of my money to buy. Even though there's this cool LEED-certified building going up a block away called Arterra. :( [Guess I'll be waiting on that one.]

The basic argument is simple. Housing prices are dropping. So if I buy, not only am I carrying 6%+ on my mortgage, but I'm losing 10% on the value of the house. So that's a 16% loss on my money, vs. ~10% if I were to invest in the stock market. Since the costs of buying (property tax, mortgage interest, etc) exceed the cost of rent, it's completely a net losing prospect.

And then Stefan forwards me this article, which states that the existing home sales aren't down just 9%, as reported by the National Association of Realtors. Oh no, it's down 22%!!!! And California's home sales are down not 24%, but 37%!!!! Holy crap. So yeah, prices will continue to plummet as long as this trend continues, until the supply and demand curves reach their new equilibrium point. When will that be? I dunno... but if Stefan figures it out he's promised to tell me, and I'll tell all of you. But not till after I close on my green apartment. =D

Most Creative Homeless Guy

I just saw a guy at the Caltrain station holding a sign that said:

"Family kidnapped by ninjas. Need $$ for karate lessons."

I gave him all the money I had.

My Dad's going Vegan

I totally forgot to mention this... my dad's decided to try going vegan! It came as kind of a shock to me... I guess I figured that vegan was such an outsider diet that the only vegans I would know would be ones I'd met in SF. I suppose that was a rather silly bias for me of all people to have, huh.

My dad's doing it for health reasons, not necessarily moral ones... he wants to fight his diabetes, cholesterol, that sort of thing. It seems like a wise move... and a bold one. I'll be really interested to see how difficult it is to avoid animal products. Being a vegetarian is pretty easy... being a full vegan is a fair amount of work. As for me, I really don't think I could live a life without eggs and dairy... I mean seriously, no ice cream?! I'd rather die!!!!!!!!!!!!

No such thing as too much

My friend Lindsay just sent me this e-mail... I'm just going to quote her directly. I just want to officially state that I don't think you can do that too much, Josef. Though I suppose that's down to personal preference.

"I work with an Austrian man named Josef. He likes to use American idioms... but sometimes misses the mark.

Today he was really belaboring a point in a meeting, and stopped mid-sentence to apologize to everyone... "...and I'm sorry to be tea bagging so much."

Wow... wrong on so so many levels."

Master Cleanse: CNN weighs in

So CNN published this online article about the Master Cleanse, and it was largely critical. For example, they say "you never want to be too far from a toilet", which is true if you're doing the saltwater flush, but not true otherwise. And the saltwater flush only causes issues for like an hour.

Also, I'm not sure that I agree with the argument that any weight you lose you'll gain right back. That didn't happen to me. I probably lost 5-10 lbs, but I definitely changed my eating habits due to the fast. For example, I eat like 3-5 servings of raw veggies every day now as a snack, and get even more than that in my other food. I've also been snacking on a mix of plain yogurt, maple syrup, and grape nuts. And I've taken to eating lots of hard-boiled eggs. I guess my point is that the fast triggered me to take [more] control of my diet, and as a result I've been much healthier.

I still plan to do the Cleanse every 6 months or so. CNN didn't refute the MC's claims that it helps rest and reset the digestive system (which I experienced). Nor does it refute the skin-cleansing aspect (which I also experienced, and am still pretty zit-free from). And they don't even discuss the empowerment you gain from fasting, which is pretty substantial. Nor do they talk about how it changes your relationship to food; once you realize that you can survive 10+ days without it, suddenly an afternoon hunger seems almost quaint.

And lastly, there's something innately sustainable about regular fasting. Could you imagine if the entire US fasted 30 days a year? That'd reduce our food consumption by almost 10%...! Which would reduce the energy used for production and transportation, not to mention the reductions in water use and fertilizer, etc etc etc. Not that the whole US would ever do it... but hey, if we each do our part... eventually it all adds up, right? Right? =D

Wolfowitz to Resign

So Paul Wolfowitz is apparently going to resign at the end of June, according to a written statement released by the World Bank board of directors. He's basically in disgrace over the fact that he got his girlfriend a cushy job at the US State Dept making $180k/year, which incidentally is more than the Secretary of State makes.

What I want to know is... why the fuck do these people always get to resign?! He's basically lost the confidence of the World Bank board, and of most of the world itself. He also happens to be one of the chief architects of the debacle in Iraq, which on its own should be enough to guarantee that he never works again. And yet, for jackasses like Wolfowitz... for guys like him, who are part of that upper echelon of power mongers in this world... they never really get held accountable for the shit they do. They can be indirectly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, or even directly responsible for corruption... but they are never, ever fired.

Yeah, this is Bush's administration, which is notorious for supporting incomptence... remember the head of FEMA during Katrina, Michael Brown? Or Donald Rumsfeld 6 months ago. Or Alberto Gonzales now. Or the heads of the EPA, the Dept of Fish and Wildlife, NIH... the list goes on and on and on. Most you haven't heard about, unless you've been following the watchdog press (note: that's not Fox, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, or MSNBC... try salon.com, or the Nation, or most center or left-wing political bloggers).

The most annoying thing for me is that these jerks just end up with cushy consulting gigs that pay hundreds of thousands. No consequences... just more rewards. One day, I'd like for one of these assholes to get fired so hard and so fast his head spins round 360 degrees. I'd like him to be ostracized by the Washington crowd. And I'd like for him to walk away with such a taboo on his head that he never works again, except maybe at a minimum wage job at Wal-Mart. No 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th chances... no easy money on K street... no more golf clubs or international 1st class travel or giant mansions. Just $6/hour and the comfort knowing that he's where he is because he earned it. Now *that* would be justice.

Accenture's on the DJSI and FTSE4GOOD!

... wtf?!?!? It turns out Accenture's on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and the British parallel known as FTSE4GOOD. I'm so confused as to why... we're still trying to figure it out. Our carbon footprint is pretty huge from all of the travel... and to my knowledge we haven't made any corporate-level commitments to environmental or social sustainability, at least not publicly, at least not yet. But I take heart knowing that there are a lot of people working to change that... so yeah, while I don't understand what we've done to deserve a place up there right now, I do think we'll have earned a place there very very soon.

Jerry Falwell's dead

... and I can't be happier. I feel bad saying that, because despite how evil and fucked up he was, he was still a person with family and friends who loved him.

But seriously, let's not forget just HOW evil and fucked up he was. Check out what he said during an interview with Pat Robertson on the 700 Club, on September 13, 2001. They were talking about the 9-11 attacks that happened just 2 days earlier, when he said: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen.""

So yes... basically he said 9-11 was the liberals' fault. Damn gays and their alternative lifestyles... it's our fault Osama attacked!! .... Oy fucking vey. What a nutjob.

So yeah, I'm really happy to see this windbag leave us and face his judgment. I have no doubts that God will be rather harsh with him for spreading so much hate and discord in his time.

Edit: A great opinion piece on Falwell's legacy can be found here on salon.com, written by Alan Wolfe. I <3 salon.

Movie: Spiderman 3

OK, so I just saw the midnight sneak preview of Spiderman 3 at the Metreon. The theater was sold out, and we ended up in seats in the 3rd row. It was a little close, which made the action scenes hard to follow at times. And shits to the Metreon for crappy audio... the soundtrack was regularly pitchy throughout.

As for the movie itself... hmmmm. It was kind of a mess. There was so much going on, so many villians, so many little plots, and they were all poorly stiched together. The scenes didn't flow from one to the next very well, and a lot of the dialogue seemed written by a 10 year-old. Continuity was a problem... Harry Osborne has short-term memory loss at one point, yet he tells Peter "I wish I could remember more about my father." Wtf?! Did he lose ALL of his memories, or just the ones from the last 2 days?! It made no sense, and that's just one example of many.

The best parts of the movie were without a doubt the comedy bits... J. Jonah Jameson, Dark Peter when he's high on life, Harry Osborne when he's high on painkillers. Harry's line right after he breaks Peter's heart over MJ was phenomenal. The waitress walks up and asks, "How's the pie?", and his response: "it's sooo good." Not inherently funny, but delivered sooo well. And Venom's line as he's holding MJ captive and looking at her lasciviously: "My spidey sense is tingling. If you know what I mean..."

I think in the end, what made the movie work for me was the eye candy. James Franco and Topher Grace... O.M.G. Both are sooo hot. But after walking out of that theater I was shocked at the crush I've got on Topher Grace now. He looked incredible: fit, tan, great hair... and he was terribly witty with his lines. I keep fantasizing about how much fun he would be to date. I seriously had to google him as soon as I got back, and that's when I learned he's a total nerd, too... like me! hahaha. So while I crawl into bed for ~3 hrs of sleep before a day of volunteering at Habitat for Humanity despite my still-healing broken collarbone, I'll be thinking of him. Here are some pics of him to illustrate my points...

Sony Sorry About Bringing Dead Goat to PlayStation Party

This is from my friend Leah, who is in PR. It's inspired me to come up with a new game: invent insane PR stunts for Leah to try with her IT clients.

Note: this is a reprint of a Fox News story. Yes, I'm intensely embarrassed that I would refer to Fox for anything, as they are actively working to destroy US democracy. But alas.

==================================

Tuesday , May 01, 2007

LOS ANGELES — Sony Corp. (SNE) on Monday issued an apology for using a freshly slaughtered goat as a prop at its "God of War II" video game launch party in Athens, a publicity stunt that has outraged animal rights activists.

Sony hosted about 20 journalists at the March 1 event, which it called a theatrical dramatization with a Greek mythological theme.

The goat, provided to the production company by a local butcher, was part of the set dressing, the company said.

The U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper on Sunday published a story on the party, where female hostesses with breasts covered with nothing but body paint fed grapes to guests, who competed to eat the most "warm entrails" — a meat soup made to look like the goat's internal organs.
The Daily Mail's story quoted the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which said it was "outrageous" that the animal's death had been used "to sell a few computer games."

In its mea culpa, Sony said: "We recognize that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves."

The company said it has launched an internal inquiry into the circumstances of the event and that it will put measures in place to make sure it does not happen again.

Greek mythology-inspired "God of War II" for the PlayStation 2 console was the best selling game in the United States in March. The game has a mature rating, and Sony said party attendees were all over the age of 18.

While sales of the PS2 remain robust, sales of Sony's new PlayStation 3 are lagging those of rival consoles from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Nintendo Co. Ltd.

This is not the first time that the Japanese electronics maker's video game marketing has inflamed critics.

Last year, the company pulled a Dutch billboard advertising campaign for its the white version of its PlayStation Portable handheld player. It portrayed a white woman aggressively grabbing the face of a black woman and was dubbed racist by critics.

Bush on American Idol?

omg, seriously....?! Dubya and Laura were just on American Idol... thanking the audience for raising $70 million last week for African charities. Which is admittedly awesome for the AI audience to have done, but fucking shitballs, what the hell's the President doing on there??!?!?! Maybe if he didn't drop half a TRILLION on needless wars he could divert a couple $70 million to Africa himself.

Ugh.

Retirement Estimator

So this is pretty cool. It's an online calculator you can use to see how you're doing with your retirement savings. http://www.choosetosave.org/ballpark/index.cfm. I entered in all of my data (and I was relatively conservative, I believe), and got the following result:

RESULTS
Congratulations! Based upon all the assumptions you entered you have saved enough to allow you to replace 99.71 percent of your final wages.

Wow... hot damn! I must have done something wrong... but assuming 3% inflation, 5% wage growth, and 10% investment returns... ok, maybe those aren't as conservative as they should be. Where's Stefan when I need him?!