Month: October 2005

My Outsourced Life:

Esquire writer hires two Indian firms to manage his personal and professional life   [via Waxy.org Links]

 

http://www.smartmoney.com/esquire/index.cfm?Story=20050909-outsource

 

Honey has completed her first project for me: research on the person Esquire has chosen as the Sexiest Woman Alive. (See page 232.) I’ve been assigned to write a profile of this woman, and I really don’t want to have to slog through all the heavy-breathing fan Web sites about her. When I open Honey’s file, I have this reaction: America is fucked. There are charts. There are section headers. There is a well-organized breakdown of her pets, measurements, and favorite foods (e.g., swordfish). If all Bangalorians are like Honey, I pity Americans about to graduate college. They’re up against a hungry, polite, Excel-proficient Indian army. Put it this way: Honey ends her emails with “Right time for right action, starts now!” Your average American assistant believes the “right time for right action” starts after a Starbucks venti latte and a discussion of last night’s Amazing Race 8.

If all goes well my outsourced blog writer will be filling these pages with content with informative, funny and inspiring content by 2007.

Ozocar:

Now you can be driven around New York City and not put a strain on the environment. Ozocar is a new car service that uses only hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius. The cars are all EVDO-equipped so that you can check your email from either your own laptop or the iBook supplied in the car. It is also GPS-equipped so that you can also check your progress through the city.

[via Luxist]

Next time I have to go to JFK, I’m definitely going to take this service. I get car-sick in all Lincoln towncars and their cousins the Crown Victoria, etc., so this would solve that problem as well as help out the environment just that little bit. Now if they can just get that taxi fleet upgraded, I’ll be all set.

Am I being overly optimistic that these drivers didn’t go to the same driving school where the emphasis is put on hitting the gas and brake as hard as possible regardless of traffic ahead?

Now, I never liked the idea of spending up for Monster Cable since the physics just don’t support their whole business, but this quote is just ridiculous on several fronts.

Basically millions of people every year walk into Radio Shack or Circuit City and ask the help for “wires” and because they usually don’t even know what they are trying to do, and only have a vague idea of connector shapes at best, the associate will proceed to walk them over to the Monster Cable section and charge them $89 for a six foot S-Video & RCA set. And because of this shady practice, the CEO of said shady company is enriched to the point where he is spending $1000 over retail for two (Apple!) PowerBooks that have colored glossy finishes to match his Lamborghini and Ferrari!. How many things are wrong here? And why does anyone need a Ferrari and a Lamborghini — pick man, you can only drive one car at a time.

http://www.coreyh.com/corey_henderson_web_redacted.html

I present my résumé.

Another story to your body:

Motherfxxxer is beautiful and so was his set. He seemed to have a better feel for the sound system then Ellen — everything bumped harder, as he struck this phenomenal balance between vicious and pleasant. Matt stuck to 4/4 house, minimal enough to make me feel the good kinda space and caustic enough to taint that space with paranoia. By the time he went on, the dancefloor was clearing off — it seemed like he was playing four times the quality to half the crowd. He brought out some big-gun track, massive stomping funk, and the place was packed again.

He set it on fire.

[via fourfour]

I had plans to attend this show, but was out of the country. Not that I would trade a paid trip to Italy, but I do wish I could have gone.

Really, I’m just trying to get credit for being an early, eager Matthew Dear fan.

What is a LifeGem®?

The LifeGem® is a certified, high-quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life.

The LifeGem diamond provides a way to embrace your loved one’s memory day by day.  The LifeGem® is the most unique and timeless memorial available for creating a testimony to their unique life. 

Your LifeGem memorial will offer comfort and support when and where you need it, and provide a lasting memory that endures just as a diamond does.  Forever.

You can take your dead relative or pet’s cremated ashes, send them in and have a diamond made from the carbon. I don’t really have a comment about these in particular, but I do want to reference something I read a long time ago in Slate about the psychological aspects of commemorative, RIP t-shirts. The idea being that a t-shirt will naturally fade and wear and fall apart after not that long a time and that the time roughly coincides with the appropriate amount of time we humans ought to spend actively grieving for a loss.

Seems to make quite a bit of sense and I would caution that before you go and get a diamond made (or any other permanent memorial like a tattoo) that it could prolong your natural emotional response to death.

While I’m already convinced there is a connection between Bush’s low approval ratings and terror warnings, this particular one is really pissing me off. Are we supposed to buy that this is a coincidence? The republican party having near daily criminal indictments has nothing to do with subway terror alert banner headlines?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/07/newyork.subways/index.html

I’ve added an Upcoming.org badge to the left nav (down at the bottom). It shows all the events I’m either going to or interested in. Check it out.

Tonight!

Hurricane relief benefit concert OCT 5th at the Somerville Theatre and
we want you to come.

The event is NEW MUSIC, NEW HOPE, NEW ORLEANS, a Boston hurricane
relief benefit concert featuring Apollo Sunshine (2005 Boston Music
Award winner), Mieka Pauley (2005 Boston Music Award winner), Protokoll
and other artists.  Doors open 7pm – music starts at 8pm.  Tickets $12
on sale now at the box office, concert website and with Ticketmaster
soon.  Please visit www.bostonkatrinaconcert.com to purchase tickets
and find more information about the bands, the cause and the event.

The funds will be donated to the American Red Cross and the Tipitina’s
Foundation for Artist Relief, which supports displaced artists and is
helping to rebuild the New Orleans music community.  All profits, not
just a portion of the profits, will be donated to relief efforts.

Please help by getting your tickets early online and spreading the word
to all your friends and neighbors. 

All the best and see you on October 5th