Happy New Year

2009: a lot of fear, and a lot of expectations - in the USA and all over the world. In other words, the perfect recipe for great fun and greater, subsequent, disaster. [Signaled by b0sh].

Update: if by any chance you are tempted to go to despair.com, and you discover that you can pick 12 demotivator posters to make your own 2009 desk calendar, I want you to know that - yes - the desk calendar is $13, but - alas - there is a minimum $20 order so that you will waste half an hour picking the 12 pictures and then you'll realize you wasted your time. Damn.

GROSS!

2008's 15 grossest stories posted on the Consumerist. From a mouse baked in a hot dog bun to diapers in backseat pockets on a plane. And worse.

The Spirit of Christmas

I'm going to create Man and Woman with original sin. Then I am going to impregnate a woman with myself as her child, so that I can be born. Once alive, I will kill myself as a sacrifice to myself. To save you from the sin I originally condemned you to.

TA DAH!

Some things are just part of human nature...

E.g., right-wing people cannot do satire.

The National Money Hole

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

The Onion's take on current bailouts.

What about some acid techno...

...from Hong Kong...



...this girl rocks.

Paname

I was listening to a beautiful Italian song (Paname, by Litfiba) when I wondered "what the hell does this song mean?". It is contained in a highly political album and it speaks about revolutions. Well, I thought maybe it refers to some historical event in Panama. No way. (Incidentally, album predates US invasion by one year). I finally figured out that "Paname" is another slang name for Paris!

PS DO NOT search "Paname" on YouTube because there is a new version made by the same singer, but this time he's like 45 years old and it's soft and cheesy. You deserve the original.

Ponzi scheme

Given all this fuss about Madoff's crack (man! you must have a granite reputation to do shit so big, for so long, and no one suspects you), I finally set out to discover who is Mr. Ponzi of the Ponzi scheme. Turns out he was an Italian (unsurprisingly) and defrauded millions of dollars a century ago from the citizens of Boston.

Yodel Yodel

Switzerland joins Schengen (if you are passionate for Euro legal quirks and oddities, this BBC article is a pearl), but careful: a referendum in a few months could undo everything.

Socialist Market Economy

In order to increase the chances that Hangzhou is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, China is apparently planning to cut off buildings that are too high. Comments:

- Hangzhou is really beautiful, I've been there, and the Chinese say "up there there's Paradise, down here there's Suzhou and Hangzhou" ("上有天堂，下有苏杭").
- When you are on the lake, the modern/smoky city center on one side of the lake is actually ugly, and I understand the point
- We finally understand the meaning of social market economy: you are free to build whatever you want, horizontally
- This could be the first case ever of 3-d eminent domain.

Giving in to the rising dark tide

And so, yes, the Web President bought a netbook. My wife Yi was flying to China where she will reside for some time, so I got her what could likely provide us with videochat at the lowest cost and inconvenience - a lightweight, cheap, strong computer with integrated webcam, the HP Mini 1030NR (see specs).

I am really excited about it. Beside the fact that it looks so cool, it has a 16Gb flash drive disk, that makes it a little faster and a lot less noisy, heavy and breakable than a comparable computer with a spinning hard disk. You may argue that 16Gb is little, but who cares with 8Gb SD flash cards at $27? I can keep my movie library in my wallet.

Note: netbooks are not for the light of stomach - in case of SNAFU one has to connect a USB optical drive in order to be able install Windows from CD, because the netbook has no CD/DVD drive!

Greed is Good

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed - you mark my words - will not only save Tildar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation of the USA. Thank you very much."

So wrong yet so right. Food for thought.

We pwned France again

Hahaha

I did not find any English-speaking sources for this, but this year's vintage will re-establish Italy as world's largest grapes producer. France stole that position from us 10 years ago.

[PS: "pwned" is not a typo]

Great Christmas presents

Who could resist the temptation of a "Lincoln Shot First" Tee-Shirt? I have so far, but it would make a pretty darn good present. I got the idea from my favorite webcomic's blog.

UPDATE: Microsoft is selling 80s t-shirts!

Welcome Post

Good morning,

this time I am starting a blog without a precise plan because every time I do I end up not updating it. This time I want to create the blog as a dumpster, to dump everything I deem interesting into it. Since I have already 1100 bookmarks in my browser, that should not be too hard...