Saturday, January 28, 2006
Did the Chinese discover the Americas first? I hope so. Columbus was a chode.
The Chicago Public Radio show "This American Life" is going to become a series on Showtime. Also, Michael C. Hall (David on "Six Feet Under") is getting his own show on the network in which he plays a serial killer who works for the the Miami police department. He could always, always pull of creepy.
The new album from The Spinto Band is a listener.
First mendhi, Bollywood film (see "Ghost World") and music (Timbaland/Magoo, DJ Shadow, that ugly bitch who sang ), now Indian hair: The amalgamation of Indian culture in America. NPR lays it down:
Hair sacrificed from Indian women as a part of a religious custom has found a huge market
in America, especially LA:
"Tiripati temple is where most of the Hindu offerings take place. The hair trade is a boon for the temple, now commonly known as the richest temple in India. Much of that money is coming from places like Los Angeles, where advertisements for Indian hair dot utility poles and storefront windows across the city."
The Chicago Public Radio show "This American Life" is going to become a series on Showtime. Also, Michael C. Hall (David on "Six Feet Under") is getting his own show on the network in which he plays a serial killer who works for the the Miami police department. He could always, always pull of creepy.
The new album from The Spinto Band is a listener.
First mendhi, Bollywood film (see "Ghost World") and music (Timbaland/Magoo, DJ Shadow, that ugly bitch who sang ), now Indian hair: The amalgamation of Indian culture in America. NPR lays it down:
Hair sacrificed from Indian women as a part of a religious custom has found a huge market
in America, especially LA:
"Tiripati temple is where most of the Hindu offerings take place. The hair trade is a boon for the temple, now commonly known as the richest temple in India. Much of that money is coming from places like Los Angeles, where advertisements for Indian hair dot utility poles and storefront windows across the city."
tags: online banking, recipes, car trouble: diagnosing, real estate
Some frankly dubious evidence has come to light arguing that 2 -3 million Irishmen worldwide and 1 out of every 50 New York Irishmen are descendants of the Irish king Niall of the Nine Hostages.
How to get your estate to stay within your family: put it in a trust.
A real estate blog from the NYT.
Yummm. Twice-baked baked potatoes.
Car not starting? Having trouble diagnosing whether it's the starter, the battery, or the engine? Try visiting this online cough clinic for your car, which has sound clips of typical car ailments.
Which online bank account is right for you. A brief guide.
A small orchestra and a few actors put on a theatrical show to emulate Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Fantastic beyond belief.
How to get your estate to stay within your family: put it in a trust.
A real estate blog from the NYT.
Yummm. Twice-baked baked potatoes.
Car not starting? Having trouble diagnosing whether it's the starter, the battery, or the engine? Try visiting this online cough clinic for your car, which has sound clips of typical car ailments.
Which online bank account is right for you. A brief guide.
A small orchestra and a few actors put on a theatrical show to emulate Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Fantastic beyond belief.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Kevin Federline bops head, grimaces, jams to his own vibe: PopoZao
Kevin Federline jams to his new Brazillian single in his studio. Just watch it. There's no need todescribe it.
Watch and pass it on. Get the whole song at Stereogum.
I think sensible internet users have a responsibility to spread this video not
only to support the claim that Kevin Federline started as the down-sydrome
zygote of Vanilla Ice, Marky Mark, Donny Osmond, a cucumber, anthrax,
some vagina crust, and whatever else was up in Mommy Federline's punani at
the time of conception, but also to encourage the filming of similar videos in the future.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
golden globe speeches, will arnett on conan, and youtube
I hate Firefox for fucking crashing. All the time. In the middle of posting, eating, humping, brushing, douching, scratching, cooking, biting, delousing, twisting, showering, walking, sleeping, shitting. Fuckity fucky motherfuck.
Anyways, youtube is a video hosting web service. I first heard about it when the "Chronicles of Narnia" video hit the internet. Here is a nice greasemonkey script for Firefox that allows you to download youtube videos. You can also just edit the youtube link like this.
Conan does an interview every once in a while in which he and the guest just click on all cylinders. I see these a few times a year, but they probably happen more often. This happened when he recently interviewed the very gifted Will Arnett of "Arrested Development". Here is the video link.
Also, Golden Globe speeches from Steve Carrell ("The Office") and Hugh Laurie ("House M.D."):
"Wow, I, uh, I really did not expect this so I didn't write anything. However, my wife did and handed me something. Um, I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for this great honor. I would also like to thank my wife, Nancy, for her constant support and for being so beautiful tonight. That's true. Thanks also to Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant for creating such a wonderful, ground breaking piece of television and to Greg Daniels for his talent, courage, and sheer audacity. This is good, thank you. Uh, also to my wife, for giving me two wonderful children as painful as her labor might have been. Thanks also to an excellent cast, crew, and writing staff all of whom I am indebted to. If were not for you, I would not be here right now. I don't know about that. Steve Sower, Michelle Bowen, Matt Labog, Holly Berell...Nancy, my precious wife, who put her career on hold in support of mine and who sometimes wishes that I would let her know when I am going to be home late so she can schedule her life which is no less important than mine. To my parents for not making me go to law school. And finally to the love of my life, my wife Nancy. Thank you very much. This is a very great honor."
- Steve Carrell (video link)
"Oh my goodness, thank you so much. Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this. This is absolutely terrific. On the way over here I made a list of all of the people who deserve to be thanked. (pauses) It came to 172 names. (looks up) Um. You ready?
Uh, well I thought obviously can't do that so I wrote down the 172 names, put them on little individual pieces of paper. I have them in my left-hand trouser pocket. I'm just going to draw out three at random, and everyone else can just lump it.
Ughh. Gonna give it a shake. (draws out the first name) I'd like to thank the script supervisor Ira Horowitz. (tosses paper on floor). (draws out second name) I'd like to thank the hair stylist Diana Akree. (draws out third name, looks at it, then tosses it to the ground in disgust). Oh, to hell with that. (draws out another name). I'd like to thank my agent Christian Hodell. (looks at it closely) That's not my handwriting. (pauses) Oh, he's good..."
- Hugh Laurie (video link)
Anyways, youtube is a video hosting web service. I first heard about it when the "Chronicles of Narnia" video hit the internet. Here is a nice greasemonkey script for Firefox that allows you to download youtube videos. You can also just edit the youtube link like this.
Conan does an interview every once in a while in which he and the guest just click on all cylinders. I see these a few times a year, but they probably happen more often. This happened when he recently interviewed the very gifted Will Arnett of "Arrested Development". Here is the video link.
Also, Golden Globe speeches from Steve Carrell ("The Office") and Hugh Laurie ("House M.D."):
"Wow, I, uh, I really did not expect this so I didn't write anything. However, my wife did and handed me something. Um, I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for this great honor. I would also like to thank my wife, Nancy, for her constant support and for being so beautiful tonight. That's true. Thanks also to Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant for creating such a wonderful, ground breaking piece of television and to Greg Daniels for his talent, courage, and sheer audacity. This is good, thank you. Uh, also to my wife, for giving me two wonderful children as painful as her labor might have been. Thanks also to an excellent cast, crew, and writing staff all of whom I am indebted to. If were not for you, I would not be here right now. I don't know about that. Steve Sower, Michelle Bowen, Matt Labog, Holly Berell...Nancy, my precious wife, who put her career on hold in support of mine and who sometimes wishes that I would let her know when I am going to be home late so she can schedule her life which is no less important than mine. To my parents for not making me go to law school. And finally to the love of my life, my wife Nancy. Thank you very much. This is a very great honor."
- Steve Carrell (video link)
"Oh my goodness, thank you so much. Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this. This is absolutely terrific. On the way over here I made a list of all of the people who deserve to be thanked. (pauses) It came to 172 names. (looks up) Um. You ready?
Uh, well I thought obviously can't do that so I wrote down the 172 names, put them on little individual pieces of paper. I have them in my left-hand trouser pocket. I'm just going to draw out three at random, and everyone else can just lump it.
Ughh. Gonna give it a shake. (draws out the first name) I'd like to thank the script supervisor Ira Horowitz. (tosses paper on floor). (draws out second name) I'd like to thank the hair stylist Diana Akree. (draws out third name, looks at it, then tosses it to the ground in disgust). Oh, to hell with that. (draws out another name). I'd like to thank my agent Christian Hodell. (looks at it closely) That's not my handwriting. (pauses) Oh, he's good..."
- Hugh Laurie (video link)
Private Warriors
Blimeeee. Blimey! I've never been much of a "Frontline" watcher. But then I saw "The Secret History of the Credit Card" (which you can watch online on PBS's website, in addition to 52 "Frontline" other episodes) and I became interested. Soon after came "Is Walmart Good for America?" Then, last week, a harrowing, raw look at the privitization of the American military in Iraq. Military contracting is an extremely high-risk occupation, one that many ex-Army, Marine, Navy Seal, and Air Force professionals pursue for financial reasons. The three-person Frontline crew responsible for producing, writing, filming, and narrating this film were the first to interview those in charge of running military operations in Iraq for private contracting firms such as Blackwater USA, Halliburton subsidiary KBR ("the Dick Cheney one"), AEGIS, and Erinys (British).
The military has contracted the provision of fuel, food, sanitation services, construction services, transportation services, and security to these firms, who do everything from providing American soldiers with several different types of ice cream after their meals to protecting the US Ambassador and other officials. They are of course compensated handsomely, for Iraq is one of the most violent, dangerous, conflict-ridden places in the world. It is where a 2-mile stretch of road from the Baghdad airport to the US-controlled Green Zone — so-called Route Irish — is often referrred to as "the road of death" due to the constant threat of snipers, insurgents with grenade launchers, and suicide bombers. It is where even journalists who were against the war in Iraq and are against the US-held occupation of Iraq are sometimes threatened, kidnapped, held for ransom, and murdered. And it is where, on a sunny March day in 2004, four American Blackwater security guards were helping transport supplies for the catering firm ESS, entered pro-Saddam Fallujah, were attacked by insurgents, shot multiple times, burned in their cars — their charred, lifeless bodies beat in the street —and finally dragged through the streets and hung from a bridge for all the world to see.
The military has contracted the provision of fuel, food, sanitation services, construction services, transportation services, and security to these firms, who do everything from providing American soldiers with several different types of ice cream after their meals to protecting the US Ambassador and other officials. They are of course compensated handsomely, for Iraq is one of the most violent, dangerous, conflict-ridden places in the world. It is where a 2-mile stretch of road from the Baghdad airport to the US-controlled Green Zone — so-called Route Irish — is often referrred to as "the road of death" due to the constant threat of snipers, insurgents with grenade launchers, and suicide bombers. It is where even journalists who were against the war in Iraq and are against the US-held occupation of Iraq are sometimes threatened, kidnapped, held for ransom, and murdered. And it is where, on a sunny March day in 2004, four American Blackwater security guards were helping transport supplies for the catering firm ESS, entered pro-Saddam Fallujah, were attacked by insurgents, shot multiple times, burned in their cars — their charred, lifeless bodies beat in the street —and finally dragged through the streets and hung from a bridge for all the world to see.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
literally totally ridiculously awesome cool nice
Looking for a job? Be careful about posting your resume online at Monster.com, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs. Identify theft is a common problem.
gap, (all right, up to 60% off), express (eh, moving on), aeropostale (giddy yup: $10 shirts), and urban outfitters (giddy yup, but lots gone already) sales
A rise in the number of young Japanese men who become shut-ins, sometimes not leaving their homes for years: link.
Cubs tickets go on sale on Feb. 24.
So the shield? 24? deadwood? the wire? grey's anatomy? (I've seen this one. It's like Felicity but about doctors. Relationships develop between interns and doctors in a hospital. Everybody's gonna sleep with everybody else. Then it'll end. Balls.)
Syriana? Munich? Walk the Line? A History of Violence? I saw "In Her Shoes" (good if only because that's what I've always imagined Cameron Diaz was like) and "Me, You, and Everyone we Know" (miranda july, what was this? you can't just throw together disjoint dialogue and camara shots and sounds and expect them to make sense together.)
10 home buying mistakes.
3 hours about Lincoln on the History Channel! 3 hours! Oh boy!
gap, (all right, up to 60% off), express (eh, moving on), aeropostale (giddy yup: $10 shirts), and urban outfitters (giddy yup, but lots gone already) sales
A rise in the number of young Japanese men who become shut-ins, sometimes not leaving their homes for years: link.
Cubs tickets go on sale on Feb. 24.
So the shield? 24? deadwood? the wire? grey's anatomy? (I've seen this one. It's like Felicity but about doctors. Relationships develop between interns and doctors in a hospital. Everybody's gonna sleep with everybody else. Then it'll end. Balls.)
Syriana? Munich? Walk the Line? A History of Violence? I saw "In Her Shoes" (good if only because that's what I've always imagined Cameron Diaz was like) and "Me, You, and Everyone we Know" (miranda july, what was this? you can't just throw together disjoint dialogue and camara shots and sounds and expect them to make sense together.)
10 home buying mistakes.
3 hours about Lincoln on the History Channel! 3 hours! Oh boy!
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Halal sugar
Diabetes is an epidemic and Asians — Chinese, Korean, and Japanese — are particularly susceptible. 14% of Asian American children are overweight, while only 7% of their parents are. The American diet does not harmonize with the Asian body.
A scientific study: Are hybrids worth it?
A pretty cool site where you can look up the sale prices/market values of homes near your house.
The definition of Halal meat.
The American population is slowly but imminently approaching 300 million.
10 ways to avoid high hospital bills. Like bring your own kleenex so you don't get charged $129 for a "mucous recovery system".
A scientific study: Are hybrids worth it?
A pretty cool site where you can look up the sale prices/market values of homes near your house.
The definition of Halal meat.
The American population is slowly but imminently approaching 300 million.
10 ways to avoid high hospital bills. Like bring your own kleenex so you don't get charged $129 for a "mucous recovery system".
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
wasn't going to post today, but there was some stuff i wanted to get out there:
free ipod shuffle when you open a 1-year CD with Netbank.
the college admissions essay that started it all.
7 home buying tips.
a soduku tv show.
free ipod shuffle when you open a 1-year CD with Netbank.
the college admissions essay that started it all.
7 home buying tips.
a soduku tv show.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Hello moto
The chances of getting tickets to the Oprah Winfrey show are slim. To summarize: take 45000 tickets per season, or 300 some tickets per taping, subtract the tickets given to relatives of the crew and guests, VIPs, friends of the crew, and so on, add in 8 million viewers a day, many of them unemployed housewives in Burr Ridge with little to do between manicures and DVDA with their gardeners, and you get hundreds, thousands, dare I say trillions, of people trying to get tickets to a taping of the show.
Whatever. I never wanted to read his book anyway.
The flu-prevention concoction known as Airborne.
Since when do Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze colloborate on anything? They co-wrote wrote a screenplay for "Where the Wild Things Are."
Text books bound in human skin are still in some libraries.
GM lowers the price of their entire line of vehicles.
How and when to cancel a credit card.
A list of the top 10 online banks.
Whatever. I never wanted to read his book anyway.
The flu-prevention concoction known as Airborne.
Since when do Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze colloborate on anything? They co-wrote wrote a screenplay for "Where the Wild Things Are."
Text books bound in human skin are still in some libraries.
GM lowers the price of their entire line of vehicles.
How and when to cancel a credit card.
A list of the top 10 online banks.
Friday, January 06, 2006
David Silver, oh dj, oh rapper, oh actor, oh string theorist
I think I posted this before: Some Hasidic Jews participate in a circumcision custom in which a mohel sucks blood from a baby's wound to "clean" it. Not suprisingly, the custom has become a controversial issue as it poses a health risk to the infants on which it is performed. In the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, the ritual has led to three cases of neonatal herpes.
New insights on the genetic evolution of cats.
I just saw "The Elegant Universe," a NOVA special based on the book of the same name by Brian Greene, the famous physicist from Columbia University and, coincidentally, second string to the more talented, more intelligent Brian Austin Green. The series is meant to be a layman's introduction to string theory, the notion that all matter and all forces in our universe are composed of tiny "strings" of energy, smaller than the smallest atom or any known subatomic particle. Some physicists believe that String Theory is the all-encompassing "unified theory" that Einstein spent his last decades trying to find.
Mayor Daley profiled in the times.
Home inspections and buying a house. What a seller must tell
a buyer. More about home inspectors.
New insights on the genetic evolution of cats.
I just saw "The Elegant Universe," a NOVA special based on the book of the same name by Brian Greene, the famous physicist from Columbia University and, coincidentally, second string to the more talented, more intelligent Brian Austin Green. The series is meant to be a layman's introduction to string theory, the notion that all matter and all forces in our universe are composed of tiny "strings" of energy, smaller than the smallest atom or any known subatomic particle. Some physicists believe that String Theory is the all-encompassing "unified theory" that Einstein spent his last decades trying to find.
Mayor Daley profiled in the times.
Home inspections and buying a house. What a seller must tell
a buyer. More about home inspectors.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
installment loans: annuities
Ahhh. I got so caught up in china and banking and real estate and bird flu and indie rock that I haven't posted anything about mathematics in a long time. As this is a Math Blog, let's get to work children.
For those of you with student loans, if you've ever wanted to calculate how much interest you'd pay on your loan over your payment period, I'll go over how. This is simple shit people, things you learned in high school but probably are a little rusty on (unless you are a CPA, broker, etc.).
Say you have 5 $4000 loans that you consolidated back in June at an interest rate of 2.57% to be paid in monthly installments over a 10-year period. Let's first calculate your monthly payment amount.
This type of loan is called an annuity (where you pay off a loan in installments). Here, the principle is $20000 (P), on which you will pay back the lender at an interest rate of 2.57% (i) per year for 10 (n) years, in 12 (q) equal payments per year. The monthly payment M is:
M = Pi/[q(1-[1+(i/q)]-nq)]
Plugging the numbers in we get M = $189.18.
To get the total interest payed over 10 years on this loan, calculate Mnq - P, which is $2701.60.
For those of you with student loans, if you've ever wanted to calculate how much interest you'd pay on your loan over your payment period, I'll go over how. This is simple shit people, things you learned in high school but probably are a little rusty on (unless you are a CPA, broker, etc.).
Say you have 5 $4000 loans that you consolidated back in June at an interest rate of 2.57% to be paid in monthly installments over a 10-year period. Let's first calculate your monthly payment amount.
This type of loan is called an annuity (where you pay off a loan in installments). Here, the principle is $20000 (P), on which you will pay back the lender at an interest rate of 2.57% (i) per year for 10 (n) years, in 12 (q) equal payments per year. The monthly payment M is:
M = Pi/[q(1-[1+(i/q)]-nq)]
Plugging the numbers in we get M = $189.18.
To get the total interest payed over 10 years on this loan, calculate Mnq - P, which is $2701.60.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
polygamist yupster post about indian tshirts and seoul real estate
There is a debate going on in the real estate world concerning the 6% sales commision that agents earn for simply listing a house in the MLS (a listing service), helping a seller price a home (which one can hire an appraiser to do themselves), negotiating (which I think is helpful but one can hire a lawyer to do it for less), and filing paperwork for closing the sale. On a $250,000 house, is that really worth $15,000?
A tshirt blog.
The power of Seoul on the Chinese. Speaking of South Korea, aren't they like totally fucking shattered by the recent Hwang Woo-suk debacle?
Whas a yupster? Apparently a "yuppie hipster". And Newsweek, always hip to current trends, has finally realized that people are buying indie music.
In India, public displays of affection, or even sitting on park benches together, is discouraged, sometimes violently.
I hate hunters. Neanderthals. They know we raise meat on the farm now, right?
A new HBO series will begin this year starring Bill Paxton as a polygamist living on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. I guess Chloe Sevigny will be one of his wives. I don't yet know whether she will be giving Bill's character blow jobs at the end of every episode.
A tshirt blog.
The power of Seoul on the Chinese. Speaking of South Korea, aren't they like totally fucking shattered by the recent Hwang Woo-suk debacle?
Whas a yupster? Apparently a "yuppie hipster". And Newsweek, always hip to current trends, has finally realized that people are buying indie music.
In India, public displays of affection, or even sitting on park benches together, is discouraged, sometimes violently.
I hate hunters. Neanderthals. They know we raise meat on the farm now, right?
A new HBO series will begin this year starring Bill Paxton as a polygamist living on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. I guess Chloe Sevigny will be one of his wives. I don't yet know whether she will be giving Bill's character blow jobs at the end of every episode.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Tip: n. the price that “one American is willing to pay to induce another American to acknowledge inferiority”, and other things
(Pedro Figari)Larry David on "Brokeback Mountain" in the times.
Why America tips.
A very good article on health insurance in America by Gladwell. Why it is the way it is. (a repost)
New insight on cancer. Cancer is genetic, but there is more to the story.
For those in the Chicago area, get your tickets to oprah. I've been trying for a month now, still no luck.
Some ways to save money:
-Best buy has buy 1 DVD, get 1 free for certain TV series. Link.
-Buy 64 20 oz. drinks at Wendy's, get a free RT ticket on Airtrans (expired 12/31)
-Take out a low-interest loan and buy a home. It's is easier now, though not any less expensive.
-Get a Citi credit card (5% cash back on drugs, gas, groceries, 1% on everything else, up to $300
annually).
-Open an ING-direct savings account and earn 3.8% interest.
-Go to the library to get books and movies. At my library, nonficiton DVDs are free, and popular DVDs are $1. I'd highly recommend Frontline: Is Walmart Good for America?,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, Chicago: City of the Century (American Experience), Frontline: Secret History of the Credit Card, The Sea Inside, and The Weather Underground (!!!!!). I'd recommend Collateral, Fever Pitch (if you like baseball), and Closer.
