Category: Thoughts

But it feels good. In reference to this recent bit of proposed legislation I sent this:

Senators Joyce and Jehlen:

Sen. Joyce recently filed a bill to give recent graduates a financial incentive to stay in Massachusetts. It’s a bad idea. Here’s why: it helps a few people to buy into the overpriced market, but it doesn’t solve the root problem of Massachusetts being unaffordable. In fact, it contributes to that problem by adding to inflation.

The bill also seems unfair. I make less than 135% of the median wage in these parts and graduated from college. If I threaten to pull up stakes and move somewhere cheaper, would you give me ten grand?

Instead of paying people to stay nearby, you should focus on making the area more attractive for everyone. Start with an increase in the amount and variety of housing available (i.e. cut back on construction delays and NIMBY roadblocks), improve transit and public safety, and work to foster community relations between locals and universities so that people have friends and social networks to keep them in town.

I encourage you to scuttle this bill and focus on something more useful to the commonwealth.

Thank you for your time.
Yours,
Aaron Weber
Somerville, MA

What is the world coming to? Headlines: Scientists Offered Cash to Dispute Climate Study… After a public school teacher was recorded telling students they belonged in hell if they did not accept Jesus as their savior, the school board has banned taping in class without an instructor’s permission… and worst of all, the Secretary of State has issued a statement that she thinks the Colts will win the Super Bowl.

I think there’s some kind of sarcastic statement in here, but as usual I’m just going to stick with “wtf?”

In reference to the annual Philadelphia Wing Bowl: “It’s all about Philly,” said the event’s commissioner, former Philadelphia 76ers president Pat Croce. “Where else at six o’clock in the morning will you get 20,000 drunk guys?””

Well, possibly Boston on St. Patrick’s day.

“Why didn’t Patrick Fitzgerald indict anyone for the substantive crime of revealing the identity of a CIA NOC?” Because the President did it, and Fitzgerald cant indict the president. That’s the legislature’s job. As Brad DeLong says, it’s time for impeachment.

I liked her in “The Aristocrats” and I liked her in “Jesus is Magic.” I haven’t yet seen her sitcom, but Slate seems to like it. It’s definitely got an angry edge that will leave it very little middle ground:

“She’s a white female, kinda Jew-y but totally hot, not out-of-your-league hot, just cute, long neck, really nice skin. She could easily pass for 20,” or so says a convenience-store shopkeeper (Masi Oka) in the episode “Batteries.” He’s giving this description to a cop because Sarah, who is 36, has just wrecked his store and stolen a four-pack of double-As. The cop gets on his radio: “Dispatch, we have a black male.” Force of habit.”

Jon Swift, a Reasonable Conservative, argues for a lower minimum wage: “It now takes an entire day for a CEO to earn what the average worker earns in a year. Many small businesses cannot afford to pay any wages at all let alone the artificially high minimum wage and America’s bottom-heavy wages are making it increasingly difficult for us to compete in the global economy.”

Note: sarcasm.

Norah Vincent’s book Self-Made Man is a sort of research report on men and the cultural roles they inhabit. Norah gets a personal trainer, some theatrical makeup, a voice coach, and a flattop haircut, and becomes Ned. Ned joins a bowling league, gets a hard-charging entry-level sales job, goes to a monastery and a men’s retreat. He goes on dates– actually, Norah and Ned both go on dates, for comparison.

Little or none of Ned’s experience is shocking or revelatory (dating sucks, men go to nudie bars), but they’re still insightful and thought-provoking. It’s one thing to know that a lot of men are afraid of being emotional or needy, and quite another to experience it, even vicariously, as Ned. And it’s brilliant to watch Norah become more and more familiar with the social roles and requirements of men. This is a hell of a good story, and it’s told with humor, humility, and style.

This is the video of the panda sneezing:

Sampled on Beauty and the Geek last week, here’s the “Ding Dong Song” by Gunther and the Sunshine Girls:

Some people claim that The Mono Project, which brings .NET and the C# language to Linux, is not ready for prime time. The CNET tech journos covering CES, arguably the world’s greatest electronics show, disagree: they say the best MP3 player in the show is one running Linux with a .NET based application stack. Congratulations, Miguel & team!