I’m a cliche, now

I just ordered a new pair of glasses at Wal-Mart because my old ones are rusting and disintegrating from two summers of getting splashed with decanoic acid, umbilical blood and fetid manure. I opted for larger frames since I think my small ones didn’t really fit my face before. They’re black, horn-rimmed plastic and kinda look like a more chic version of Clark Kent glasses.

I also recently got a haircut that was a bit shorter than the curls I’ve been rocking, so I anticipate looking like the proto-typical Ivy League pompous ass/hipster/pseudo-intellectual writer. When I even mentioned getting black horn-rims my friend Andy ragged on me for “giving in” saying “you can’t be an educated college student nowadays without nerdy yet hip plastic glasses.” He’s kinda right. Oh well.

I actually think the ‘new look’ will turn out sort of like a less attractive version of Jonathan Franzen (below).

Though to be fair, Jonathan Franzen is a less attractive Jonathan Franzen:

People are still confused to this day how the man has such a flattering book jacket picture when he looks like crap the rest of the time.

Lack of posts, I’m tired dammit

Sorry about the lack of posts to anyone checking my blog last few weeks. This summer I’m a herdsman at a dairy farm on Lake Ontario. I have to get up at 5 am and work 6 am-6:30 pm 6 days a week. I’m exhausted. If I don’t get to bed by 10 or 11 I’m wiped out in the morning.

I have a lot of ideas for posts stewing in my head and hopefully I can get them written down soon. 

Tim Russert: Buffalo Loses a Native Son

I was listening to the radio news today and heard the tragic news that Tim Russert died.

I grew up watching Meet the Press every Sunday before church and always admired his down home charm and fairness to guests. He was a solid journalist and always ended each show with “Go Bills”

He’ll be missed

The Purist of Sciences

(Click picture for larger image)

Funny cartoon from XKCD.com

Hey Facebook, turn down the sketch

Okay, so Facebook has always had a kinda creepy vibe, but for a while it was restricted to a few schools and seemed a hell of a lot less sketchy than MySpace. Then they let in high schoolers. That was annoying, but okay, fine. Random people without a network and people working for corporations can join now too. It’s totally open. Ugh, Fine.

But then two things happened that pissed me off. The advent of Facebook “apps” and worse yet, the targeted advertising.

I’ll crab about the less annoying feature first.

Let me be clear: I do not want to compare movie trivia with you. I don’t want a FunWall, SuperWall, and GraffitiWall. Nor do I want to see what Disney princess I am or remember fads from the 90s. I don’t want to play Javascript games on Facebook. FB was a big enough waste of time before all of this extra crap. It takes me several minutes to stroll down some people’s profiles.

I use Facebook as a way to stay in touch with people, especially those who move away. Now I get several emails a day from applications. I ignored 9 “Green Profile Plants to Save the Planet” invitations this week. They were unsolicited and from people I have not actually met in person. I have to decline trivia invites from old classmates I haven’t spoken to in over 5 years.

I think the most annoying about the apps is not just the email spam, but that the people who enjoy using these apps don’t realize they are annoying their friends because its insidious. My friend Kyle sends me “bumper stickers” now and then. I get a handy email telling me as much, then I click the sticker, only to be granted with “You need to install this application to see this sticker.” Really? I need to install each damn application just to see if what I was sent is worth installing?? How’s that for circular logic.

The whole thing is just a huge pain in the ass.

But the creepier addition to Facebook are ads tied to your profile information. According to their advertising page at http://www.facebook.com/ads/ advertisements can be targeted by script to users based on their profile information.

For example, since I am single, I list myself as such. The last few months I see my sidebar filled with singles ads. Apparently there are tons of hot college girls waiting to meet me! I’m getting a string of ads for dating services on my page and its pretty irritating. There are some other ads tied to profile interests but MEET BBW WOMEN IN YUR AREA is by far the most awful.

I’d say maybe petition or something but Facebook has slowly gotten worse and creepier since I joined in 2004, and they always ignore petitions and letters, even if there are millions of them. Zuckerberg is making millions on Facebook so he pretty much doesn’t give a shit that he sold out.

Finally, to those who ask: “why don’t you just deactivate your account?” Because flaws aside, its a pretty handy communication tool that has helped me stay close to high school friends even after moving away. I shouldn’t have to quit because he’s selling personal information to the highest bidder.

A good reason to not do drugs and party like a rockstar

What the @$%& is up with her skin?

Keep in mind Amy Winehouse is TWENTY. FOUR.

(Original article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/02/amy-winehouse-goes-to-see_n_104819.html)

 

 

Quick Thought: Re-definitions

Why are so many people terrified about re-defining marriage but okay with re-defining torture?

What affects our national credibility and honor more? What is more reprehensible, torturing enemies (many held indefinitely without being charged) or marrying homosexuals?