As a single man I’ve gone on many, many dates with women that were so completely full of themselves it took all of my strength just to be polite and make it though dinner. I’ve been amazed and irritated by the level of narcissism present in the young women I’ve met. I’ve always wondered how a nice girl from a nice family could end up thinking that she doesn’t need to be helpful, considerate, empathetic, concerned, or respectful. How can an otherwise nice girl think that her mere existence should make everyone around her happy, that she should always be the center of attention, and that everything she wants should be given to her on a silver platter with a side of loving adoration? I just read an entry on CNN that describes, “Narcissistic personality disorder“. I had previously read an MSNBC article titled “Princess fever reigns for generation of girls“. I’ve seen it on sitcoms and they almost always make comedy of the fact that a girl is self-centered or has an apparent addiction to praise and encouragement. The MSNBC article discusses the fact that Disney relies heavily on narcissistic behavior for their profits. (more…)

I wasn’t feeling well one day last week and thought I should stay home from work. After sleeping until about 9am, I shuffled into the living room and got comfortable on the couch with the TV remote in-hand prepared to relax and watch me some Discovery channel. I only watched about 15 minutes before the power went out. I later discovered that the power outage was related to the construction going on out front, but it wasn’t an intended outage. While digging to lay plumbing, the construction crew accidentally cut a power line. The power was out for a little over 9 hours that day. I had no Internet and I couldn’t even play a game on my laptop because the battery was nearly dead. I needed electricity. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the sun was streaming in through the sliding glass door. Two thoughts went through my mind: “If I only had a solar panel, I’d be able to charge my laptop”, and “If this was an emergency, this would be more than inconvenient”. So, I bought my first solar panel (pictured above). As a matter of fact, I just finished charging my cell phone with it, just to see how well it worked. So far, in my limited testing, it seems to work great. It folds up into a thin package that is smaller than a ream of paper. Small enough to drop into a backpack.

I rarely rave about anything. I’m just not the kind of person to lovingly gush about things. However, this video is one of the most well executed works of motion design that I have ever encountered. Excellent writing is paired with engaging motion graphics to provide one of the most educational and important motion graphics works that I’ve ever seen. Have you been confused by the credit crisis? Well this video explains it in a simple and visual fashion that is absolutely brilliant!

You can read the original article on motionographer.com

Yahoo Finance’s ‘Tech Ticker’ program features a video on their web site from an economist that echoes the same warnings we’ve been hearing for months: “The Worst Is Yet to Come: If You’re Not Petrified, You’re Not Paying Attention”. The facts that the economist cites in this video further reinforce the idea that we should all have a plan to deal with a greater economic downturn. I am not professionally trained in financial matters. I’m just a regular guy. But I’ve been reading the same advice from dozens of educated and professional resources, and below I’ve listed suggestions that I’ve been following. This isn’t a complete list of possible actions you could take, but these are the actions I’ve been taking. From my perspective the actions listed below have no downside, and they reduce my risk in the event that something economically terrible happens. There may be nothing we can do if things completely collapse, but there are some things we can do which might help lessen the pain for ourselves and our families. Saving money may be helpful if you lose your job, but in the event of an economic collapse, inflation can render your bank and savings accounts worthless. Do something with your money that helps it lock-in some level of value to you: (more…)

This is either sick or awesome … maybe a little of both. This guy lost his eye when he was 11. Years later, as an adult, he’s inserted an LED into his prosthetic eye, and it looks totally creepy! (via Great White Snark).

“This is the second notice that your automobile warranty is about to expire …”. I receive that stupid phone call at least once a week, and there have been times in the past year when I’ve received that call almost every single day for weeks on end. What makes this even worse is that I don’t have any auto warranty policy! I haven’t had one for a couple of years, so I immediately know the call is a scam. But nothing I do seems to be able to stop the calls. I’m on the national Do-Not-Call list. I’ve followed the prompts in the recorded message to opt-out several times. I’ve even pressed the option to speak to a representative just so I could complain about the persistent calls. Last week I became so frustrated that I agreed to talk to a representative just so I could actually yell at someone. But the calls keep coming. Well, apparently I’m not the only one being pestered by these scamming companies. MSNBC reports that federal investigators are about to file lawsuits after having received thousands of reports, some of them indicating fraud and unethical business practices. I hope the feds put all of the owners/operators in prison for this criminal and horribly annoying scam!

MSNBC is reporting the grim news about Social Security and Medicare. Here is an excerpt from their report:

Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, a year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner, trustees reported. Medicare is in even worse shape. The trustees said the program for hospital expenses will pay out more in benefits than it collects this year, just as it did for the first time in 2008. The trustees project that the Medicare fund will be depleted by 2017, two years earlier than the date projected in last year’s report.

At this pace, Social Security will be depleted in 28 years. Assuming that a person lives to be 75 years old, that means that anyone born after 1970 won’t receive benefits during the last years of their life. Our paychecks have money deducted for Social Security, but after 2037 we won’t be able to take anything out.

Chris’ Conclusion: This news reinforces the need to have your own retirement plan. Don’t count on the government to take care of you or your family. Have a 401K or invest in a Roth IRA, just do something and do it now. Every day you wait to invest is another sum of interest you’re missing in the long run. The math isn’t as simple as it looks. Sure, twenty years is twice as long as ten years, but the interest earned over twenty years is more than twice the amount of interest earned over ten years. So it’s not a day-for-day/dollar-for-dollar comparison. The earlier you start saving, the more money you save, but more importantly, the more interest you earn!

After spending the day at Kings Island, we arrived at the Newport theater at 10 pm, for a scheduled start-time of 10:50. We’d met some friends to see the digital I-Max presentation of Star Trek and I was very excited. We chatted during the long wait and finally, at 10:50 (according to my watch) the previews started. Right on time. We watched about 20 seconds of the trailer with no audio, which made us all worried that they were having technical difficulties. The picture flickered, fellow patrons began to boo the screen. Then strobe lights started flashing and sirens started to sound. The lights came up. Then an automated voice told us to evacuate the theater. “What?!” “You’ve gotta be kidding!” For a moment no one budged. A few people eventually stood and acted as if they might start to leave. Then a theater employee entered and said that the building needed to be evacuated. She shouted some info regarding refunds and then everyone stood and started to leave. We were really being evacuated! (more…)

I love this! Beaker is brilliant!

I just read this article over on the Perpetual Preparedness Blog that discusses whether the recent Swine Flu outbreak was a false alarm. Here’s an excerpt:

Again I hate to bash the media but it seems that most TV/Radio/Newspaper coverage has only two modes: “full coverage emergency” and “not worth discussing”. In just over a week swine flu has gone from “The End of the World as We Know It” to “never mind, just a normal flu, nothing to worry about”.

“Why should taxpayers who live in apartments, perhaps because they did not feel that they could afford to buy a house, be forced to subsidize other people who could not afford to buy a house, but who went ahead and bought one anyway?” - Thomas Sowell (via SurvivalBlog). I live in an apartment, and I’m saving for a house. However, I feel like I’m going to be paying for a lot of others’ houses through my taxes over the next … well … for the rest of my life.

This appears to be the end credit sequence for some sort of video, but it features some great outtakes from the Star Wars films. I’d never seen these before, so this was a real treat. I especially love the part with Boba Fett.

Years ago, when I was about 15, I made some Freddy Kruger claws out of cardboard, popsicle sticks, and paper fasteners. Then I attached them to an old glove. I painted them with metallic paint, and they looked great. The guy in the video above has gone a lot farther in creating some Wolverine claws. I think they look dangerous … and a whole lot of fun!

Jason just sent me a link to a great list he found on /film entitled, “11 Predictions that Back to the Future Part II Got Right“. Jason writes, “I never really thought about how amazingly accurate the movie was on many of the modern conveniences we take for granted everyday.” The hosting site, called “11 Points” also features an article about the 11 predictions that Back to the Future Part II got wrong, which is equally entertaining.

Kelly sent me a link to this CNN article about ammo shortages. That’s right, Kelly sent it! It was one of the top stories on CNN this afternoon. Just this weekend I finally found some .357 after hunting for several weeks. As the article mentions, .38 Special is exceptionally hard to find and when you do find it, it’s often more than $2 per round. It almost feels like the old days, when I used to hunt down hard-to-find action figures at toy stores across the city, only this time it’s ammo.

Flying is so much faster than driving. Traveling from Cincinnati to Orlando takes about 18 hours by car, but only two hours by air. The Wall Street Journal reports on Seven Modern Flying Car Designs. However, as much as I’d love a flying car, I’m fully aware that most people on terrestrial roadways are already dangerous idiots. They would be twice as deadly in the air. What may have been a minor fender-bender on land becomes a pair of plummeting fiberglass boxes of death when it happens 1,000 feet up. And don’t forget that those plummeting fiberglass boxes of death could land on houses, businesses, and pedestrians. However, I still want one.

Don’t eat raccoon poop. Better yet, don’t even touch it. MSNBC reports that a teen was blinded in one eye and a baby brain damaged after contact with raccoon droppings. A Health Department spokesman is quoted as saying, ” … parents should supervise children to keep them from eating raccoon feces.” Of course, shouldn’t parents already know that? But I don’t fault the public official for making such a ludicrous statement. I fault the public for creating a situation where that statement needed to be made!

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.”
- Attributed to James A. Michener, Francoise Rene Auguste Chateaubriand

I updated the Swine Flu map in a previous post. It now reflects current data. The number of cases has grown significantly, but not to any level that merits panic or even worry. Just enough to watch it and think, “Hmmmmm”.