Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
How Exurban...
Awkward events last night led me to Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, PA, about 45 minutes west of Philadelphia. The adventure began with a drive through Anywhere, USA and ended in an OFFICE PARK. Or at least what looked like an office park in the dark. Now, when I think of local breweries, I tend to think of historic brick buildings, not the monotonous industrial architecture of exurban office parks (of course, this could be because my point of reference for local breweries is Great Lakes Brewing Company).
Scenery providing the entertainment for the drive included: strip malls, strip malls, and strip malls. The interior of the brewery was about as interesting as its exterior. And the crowd consisted of they type of people who...well, the type of people who live 45 minutes west of Philadelphia.
Granted, the food was pretty good. And if you like Victory, the location and atmosphere are probably of little importance. But, all in all, I was underwhelmed. The whole experience was so...exurban.
Scenery providing the entertainment for the drive included: strip malls, strip malls, and strip malls. The interior of the brewery was about as interesting as its exterior. And the crowd consisted of they type of people who...well, the type of people who live 45 minutes west of Philadelphia.
Granted, the food was pretty good. And if you like Victory, the location and atmosphere are probably of little importance. But, all in all, I was underwhelmed. The whole experience was so...exurban.
Robert S. Leshner's Puns of the Day
This afternoon Rob graced me with his presence, and a variety of [bad] puns. These will probably only be amusing to him.
Earth:
me: look at this number, it's Earth's mass, I don't even know what it is - zillions? Quadrillions?
Rob: yeah, it's massive
The Magnetic Fields:
Rob: what are we listening to?
me: The Magnetic Fields
Rob: it's not that attractive
Cleveland (while listening to STP):
me: you know, Scott Weiland is from Cleveland. Chagrin Falls.
Rob: man, Cleveland has a lot of falls and heights. Do you fall from the heights?
Upon leaving:
Rob: Hey, everything you've said, I've pundit.
Earth:
me: look at this number, it's Earth's mass, I don't even know what it is - zillions? Quadrillions?
Rob: yeah, it's massive
The Magnetic Fields:
Rob: what are we listening to?
me: The Magnetic Fields
Rob: it's not that attractive
Cleveland (while listening to STP):
me: you know, Scott Weiland is from Cleveland. Chagrin Falls.
Rob: man, Cleveland has a lot of falls and heights. Do you fall from the heights?
Upon leaving:
Rob: Hey, everything you've said, I've pundit.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Porn, via Nicole...
Nicole posed the question to me today, as came up in conversation with her people last night, is there braille porn?
Which raises the broader question, is there porn for the blind?
Research to be done at a later date.
Which raises the broader question, is there porn for the blind?
Research to be done at a later date.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Modern Love
How is it that though the Modern Love column in the Sunday New York Times is written by a different person each week, it always has the same tone?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Law Books
Last week I started a course at the Law School. Prior to entering said class, I was quite worried. I pictured it something like Legally Blond, where I'd be the only one in there with a pen and everyone else would have laptops. When I got there I realized that all the other planning students had pens, too. What a relief.
However, I was still intimidated by the textbook: A solid red cover with that "law book" look , the title Land Use Controls: cases and materials (Ellickson and Been, Aspen 2005), and really small print. Scary. Turns out, however, that chapter 2 is infinite kinds of entertaining.
I leave you with quotes:
"Note on planners' weighty informational requirements and limited cognitive capacities" (section heading)
"Good planners laid down master plans 10 yrs ago and said that the neighborhoods will produce 600 children. Actually, the neighborhoods are producing only 2/3 of that - perhaps because the residents ride bicycles so much."
"The 1980 plan states that 'it is functionally pointless to attempt reconstruction of the city...population of the US will soon be back up to 100 million, barring resumption of hostilities or unforeseen results of radiation exposure.'"
However, I was still intimidated by the textbook: A solid red cover with that "law book" look , the title Land Use Controls: cases and materials (Ellickson and Been, Aspen 2005), and really small print. Scary. Turns out, however, that chapter 2 is infinite kinds of entertaining.
I leave you with quotes:
"Note on planners' weighty informational requirements and limited cognitive capacities" (section heading)
"Good planners laid down master plans 10 yrs ago and said that the neighborhoods will produce 600 children. Actually, the neighborhoods are producing only 2/3 of that - perhaps because the residents ride bicycles so much."
"The 1980 plan states that 'it is functionally pointless to attempt reconstruction of the city...population of the US will soon be back up to 100 million, barring resumption of hostilities or unforeseen results of radiation exposure.'"
Monday, January 15, 2007
Gmail ads, strike 1*
*strike 1, because they will inevitably strike again
Today I got an email from the CPLN dept about lectures this week by prospective faculty members. For some reason mention of transportation planning and faculty searches results in Gmail presenting an ad for Why Mommy is a Democrat.** I could not help but click on that one.
Apparently, Why Mommy is a Democrat is "a different kind of childrens' book...that brings to life the core values of the Democratic party in ways that young children will easily understand and enjoy." A subsequent Amazon search for said book leads to other liberal childrens books such as King and King and It's Just a Plant: a children's story about marijuana. The same search also yields results for conservative childrens books: Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under my Bed!: "Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli*** with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland." This book is part of a series of Help! Mom! books that also includes Help! Mom! The 9th Circuit Nabbed the Nativity and Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper!
Me thinks I should start collecting these books now. They would greatly compliment the collection of sex books currently on my book shelf. And when I have kids in many years, they can read them at the tender age of 5 and decide their political party affiliation on their own.
**one of the speakers this week is going to talk about "Access to Choice" in transportation planning. Gmail may have misinterpreted this phrase as some sort of pro-choice thing, hence the childrens' book ad...which makes me wonder why mommy is a democrat. "Little Billy, Mommy is a democrat because their laws allowed me to abort what what have been your older sister." Go Mom.
***wtf is up with the broccoli??
Today I got an email from the CPLN dept about lectures this week by prospective faculty members. For some reason mention of transportation planning and faculty searches results in Gmail presenting an ad for Why Mommy is a Democrat.** I could not help but click on that one.
Apparently, Why Mommy is a Democrat is "a different kind of childrens' book...that brings to life the core values of the Democratic party in ways that young children will easily understand and enjoy." A subsequent Amazon search for said book leads to other liberal childrens books such as King and King and It's Just a Plant: a children's story about marijuana. The same search also yields results for conservative childrens books: Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under my Bed!: "Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli*** with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland." This book is part of a series of Help! Mom! books that also includes Help! Mom! The 9th Circuit Nabbed the Nativity and Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper!
Me thinks I should start collecting these books now. They would greatly compliment the collection of sex books currently on my book shelf. And when I have kids in many years, they can read them at the tender age of 5 and decide their political party affiliation on their own.
**one of the speakers this week is going to talk about "Access to Choice" in transportation planning. Gmail may have misinterpreted this phrase as some sort of pro-choice thing, hence the childrens' book ad...which makes me wonder why mommy is a democrat. "Little Billy, Mommy is a democrat because their laws allowed me to abort what what have been your older sister." Go Mom.
***wtf is up with the broccoli??
Frigerators
Ben and I decided we needed a blog a while back. Now we have one.
Currently: eating chunky apple sauce out of the jar. I wish I had someone to eat it with.
I also wish the apple sauce was cold. It's not because I just opened it, so it hasn't yet been refrigerated. Then I got to thinking, why do we REfrigerate things? The apple sauce has not been in the refrigerator yet, therefore when I do put it in there, it will simply be frigerated, not REfrigerated. I suppose once I take it out and put it back in, it will be REfrigerated, but not yet. I contend that we frigerate a lot of things. Refrigeration is overrated.
Also, it'd be nice if I had a bagel.
I have many other things to blog about, but to put them all in the first post would be uncouth.
Currently: eating chunky apple sauce out of the jar. I wish I had someone to eat it with.
I also wish the apple sauce was cold. It's not because I just opened it, so it hasn't yet been refrigerated. Then I got to thinking, why do we REfrigerate things? The apple sauce has not been in the refrigerator yet, therefore when I do put it in there, it will simply be frigerated, not REfrigerated. I suppose once I take it out and put it back in, it will be REfrigerated, but not yet. I contend that we frigerate a lot of things. Refrigeration is overrated.
Also, it'd be nice if I had a bagel.
I have many other things to blog about, but to put them all in the first post would be uncouth.
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