So I may be late to the party, but I've really discovered podcasts. I now have 24 podcast subscriptions.
My list is as follows:
Cook's Illustrated
Epicurious
Food Science
KEXP Music That Matters
KEXP Song of The Day
NPR: Economy, Education, Environment, Fresh Air, Hidden Kitchens, Kitchen Window, Live Concerts, On Health, On Science, Satire From The Unger Report, Science Friday, Second Stage, Technology, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, World Cafe Next
Simply Ming
The Economist
This Week in Technology
What You Ought to Know

If you're not into podcasts yet, I highly suggest looking around on iTunes or Zune (I own a Zune and love it) for stuff that interests you and learn more about what's going on in the world.

Let me predicate this post by saying that this is something I've thought of in the past. However, now, that I'm studying economics, it's allowed me to apply this thought to the global economy. Also, I'm watching Wall-E.
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To the people who are being replaced by machines: SHUT THE FUCK UP!

If you lost your job because a machine could do it, good for you. Your children will live a better, more creative, life than you will. Machines are much better suited to perform repetitive tasks: making clothes, building cars, etc. Now, I understand that if you want a really great piece of clothing, or a great car, being built by hand is better. This is not necessarily because humans perform the job better. This is just because, in mot cases, companies that use machines to replace humans usually are satisfied with an inferior product. If the company who wanted to replace a human with a machine really cared about the quality of their product, they'd buy a better machine, and make sure to give better specs.

Humans are better suited for creative tasks. This is an amazing feat of our kind! We can think between the 0 and 1's, the ons and offs, the true or false. We can create amazing things: other humans, fire, math, science and machines. If we were left to our own devices we would be forced to invent those things for ourselves, and we have!

So let's say we take away the need to work a blue collar job just for survival. We would have a lot of free time. And let's say all our jobs, that were just repetitive tasks, were taken over by robots. And let's also say we still need money to pay for goods and services in order to survive. Well, what, you say, do we do to earn money? Well, we'd be forced to get an education, and to be creative and invent. We'd be forced to change technology in society and advance, constantly. We'd be forced to improve old technology, as well. We'd become a society obsessed with advancement within three generations!

So, if you've been replaced by a robot, or fired for any reason that inhibits the advancement of technology, good for you! In fact, quit your job, and go get reeducated. Do this for your children, so they don't have to suffer the same hell as a blue collar worker like you. Do this for society, because you're holding it back. Do this for yourself, because you don't want to be stupid your whole life.

Advance yourself, advance society.

Sometimes, especially, when cooking all night, your s'mores end up tasting like garlic. This isn't good fusion.

Product Reviews
Garden Burger Meatless Riblets
www.gardenburger.com
Review by Erin Pavlina



Meatless RibletsGarden Burger has really outdone themselves with this product. The meatless riblets are outstanding, but if you don't like products that taste too much like real meat, you'll want to stay away from these beauties.

RibletsThe riblets look like a rack of four boneless ribs. You heat them in a bag in the microwave or you can barbecue them on a grill. The tangy and smoky barbecue sauce that covers the riblet is incredibly delicious. The riblet itself has the same texture as meat, and for a moment you may wonder if you got the right product. The fact that this product tastes and looks so much like real ribs may be a little disturbing to some people, but if you miss the taste of barbecued ribs, you'll get over that fast.

These would be great to take on a barbecue or picnic. Or put the riblet on a sandwich roll with some red onions and romaine lettuce. This is one of the best fake meat products I've ever tasted. I couldn't find this product at my local health food store, I had to get it at a mainstream store, so look around for them. You can also visit the Garden Burger website to find a location near you. The riblets will impress even the non-vegans in your life!

THIS IS WHY I HATE SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN!

Disclaimer:
I have not been following politics regarding this election like I should. And I will admit that I haven't read the proposal for the Gas Tax Holiday. However, I feel the need to comment on this because this is the internet and, like most bloggers, I feel my opinion should be voiced here.

I was listening to NPR while drifting off to sleep last night (in hopes to make my brain smarter, overnight!). I was listening to a story about the Gas Tax Holiday and how 230 economists signed a letter that read, if I may paraphrase, OMFG NO!!!11 THIS IS A FUCKING BAD IDEA!

And what did Senator Clinton have to say about the opinion of economists? Why she said, "I'm not going to put my lot in with economists," and went on to say that it was an elitist opinion. Article Here

So as my subject line says, when did expert opinion become elitist opinion?

Mike and Mindy are in Seattle! Fuck yes!

The crowd flocking to see Dane Cook at the Key Arena added 45 minutes to my drive home, and made it a bitch to park. That makes me near genocidal.

Now if I could only find a large group of people...

I missed my friend and I'm glad she's back :)


I've got a regular problem
So my standard break from life is in order
I'm having trouble making sentences
I'm older but I don't feel any smarter
You see I don't know what I said to you
And now you're pissed at you know who
And I guess I deserve it
I wish I could waste my time without wasting all your time
I try to leave a good impression
But it's hard when my obsession's in a pint glass
And when i'm only 28
It's not attractive to complain about my sore back
Yes I can bitch until my eyes are blue
And you're in bed with someone new
And I guess you deserve him
I wish I could waste my time without wasting all your time
You say I'm fixable
A classic case, lack of will
Well I say I don't wanna try
I'd rather stay here all night

I've got a motivation problem
So my standard break from life is getting longer
Spent over 30 hours in this bed
In two days, I guess I could've phoned her
But now that I'm awake
I'd rather take a drink
And walk down to the lake
And beg the sky for lightning bolts
I can't waste my time without wasting all your time
You say I'm fixable
A classic case, lack of will
I say I don't wanna try
I'd rather sit here all night

[21:38] Phill: I hate Scan-ton
[21:39] Phill: Scran-ton
[21:39] Mike: the only thing I really like about scranton is The Office
[21:39] Phill: haha is that where it takes place?
[21:40] Mike: yeah, haha
[21:40] Mike: you didnt know?
[21:40] Phill: Nope
[21:40] Phill: I don't watch the office
[21:40] Phill: It makes me want to cry
[21:40] Mike: when I told people I went to Scranton last year they were like "ooh, say hi to steve carell for me!" and i was like what the fuck are you talking about
[21:41] Phill: people watch that show because they can relate and it makes them feel happy that they can relate to something on TV. I watch it and I can relate and it makes me wish I couldn't, and it makes me want to drink until the world comes to an abrupt halt and I ride a mechanical bull into oblivion as nuclear winter embraces me.
[21:42] Phill: the mechnical bull isn't a metaphor
[21:42] Mike: hahahhaa
[21:42] Mike: that sounds like one of the stories in haunted
[21:42] Mike: i just got mad at myself for forgetting the wine in front of me
[21:43] Mike: and now i'm drinking it, and now the mad is subsiding and it's being replaced with joy. but for a while there was an awkward mix of the two

[11:50] Me: if requiem for a dream fucked dawn of the dead and then left dawn of the dead in a gutter bleeding and dawn of the dead had a bastard child and that bastard child donated semen via chair fucking and quintein tarantino picked it up and raped minney mouse with it and she got pregnant but then had an abortion and that abortion managed to live
[11:50] Me: that would be Pan's Labrynth
[11:50] Me: I should write film reviews.
[11:51] Mike: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
[11:51] Mike: ok
[11:51] Mike: i need to see it based on that
[11:51] Mike: all the reviews make it look not as fucked as you say
[11:51] Mike: which is funny
[11:51] Mike: although I have not read what the Onion has to say yet
[11:51] Mike: I should pick up an Onion
[11:51] Mike: fuck now i want a sandwich

After 7 months of insurance company bullshit, my car is going to get fixed!

Thursday, I went on a planned hike with 3 others. We planned to hike Ape Caves outside Vancouver, Wa. What was supposed to be a roughly a one and a half hour three mile hike turned into a six mile hike and a night spent in, according to the weather man, one of the 20 worst storms in Northwest history. At the beginning of that, I never thought I'd be wet and cold and cuddled next to a guy (Gosho) in the back of a truck to avoid hypothermia. And some advice, don't ever buy cheap space blankets, they don't do shit. And another thing, if it's raining outside, that doesn't mean it'll be dry in the cave. Fuckin' cave dripped water like a rain storm.

( It was pretty fun... )

Check this out, and the cast list.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0850253/

Finals are over, fuck yes. Time to go crawl into a bar.

My upstairs neighbors just started fucking at 10:36 and I decided to post it and record the time. By the time I could log in to LJ, it was over.

It's been a while, hope you missed me.