Links and stuff
Most of the time I neglect the blog because I’m lazy. The past couple of weeks I have a real excuse: I was moving and my computer was either packed away in boxes and/or Qwest screwed up connecting our internet phone service. Twice. And I had to rewire a phone jack. In the meantime I’ve been surviving on scraps of internet gleaned at work in between frantic fits of running around trying to put out all of the fires.
I could go on about all of the problems I had with work and with The Move and with getting reconnected to the internet but that’s boring and you don’t give a fig. (Note that I’m trying to get into the habit of swearing less; the toddler is starting to echo everything I say and I was surprised to hear a perfect little “No shit!” echo the other day.)
Since problems are boring, here are some fun links I found once we got the internet back:
Leopard vs. Crocodile? Pick a side before you click the link, great pics.
Great explanation of why Fannie Mae (a nickname for a giant quasi-governmental mortgage lending agency) is going tits up; the same blogger has a follow-up post on what the recent Fed bailout means for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that is also quite good. I found this link via the occasionally kooky but always interesting Philip Greenspun. On a related note, don’t miss Phil’s explanation of why it’s a bad idea to compensate managers for any metric that they can control.
How to be a good fake wine snob.
How the brake system works on a cable car in San Francisco. Written in a conversational style, and no, it’s not boring.
A speech Patton Oswalt recently gave to a group of graduating high school seniors. No, I don’t have a clue who Patton Oswalt is. The speech is funny in parts, downright boring in others, but if you are impatient, scroll down to the bottom and read the last 6 (very short) paragraphs. Via waxy.org.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:14 am
Ooof. Thanks for the Fannie/Freddie links, John. And as to Greenspun’s point, that’s best modified twice: 1) as an accounting metric under their control and 2) executives, not managers. I’m a mid-level manager, and I should be judged on some of those metrics. Not all, though. [For example, the push to make quarterly profit targets when doing so results in sub-standard deliveries.]
[Patton Oswalt is a highly sarcastic comedian, one I enjoy until he gets to talking about religion. Unlike fellow atheist Lewis Black, his jokes about religion don't amuse me at all.]
July 21st, 2008 at 9:20 am
“funny in parts, downright boring in others” pretty much works as a description of Oswalt’s standup, too. When he actually knows what he’s talking about (basically himself, science fiction movies, comic books, etc.) he’s very funny. If he gets going on the big stuff (politics, religion, etc.) his act can get as grating as his voice is. (He was the voice of the main character in Ratatouille (sp), and he wasn’t doing anything to alter it.)
Although some of his shots at the Bush admin are funny even to a righty like me, when they’re not totally BDS-driven.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:40 am
Patton Oswalt is Spence on King of Queens!
Also, just because I watched the movie last night, he’s the blackjack dealer and scuba diver at the very beginning of Magnolia