IF OBAMA HATES TEA BAGS, HE'S *REALLY* GONNA HATE THIS

Obama hating on tea parties:

Fuck Obama Day (right sidebar)

via Friction & Harmony

Hey... he did it first:

And second.

WHY I LOVE THE INTERNET

Bloggranddaughter Mrs. Who of House of Zathras complained of being out of toilet paper.

On a whim, I Googled "virtual toilet paper".

Found this.

I tell ya, we live in an age of miracles. Celebrate it.

THEY'RE CHILDREN, NOT BILLBOARDS

Great pictures of the Oklahoma City Tea Party posted by bloggranddaughter Rave of Quid Nunc.

However, there were two pictures that bugged me. Little kids carrying signs.

As much as I love the tea parties, I find the use of children as props a little distasteful. I didn't like the anti-war yahoos doing it, and I don't like it from folks on the right.

Don't get me wrong. By all means, take the kids, show them what "free speech" and "peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for the redress of grievances" means in practice.

But don't give them signs to hold with messages that they're too young to understand.

Just give them a nice flag or colorful balloon, slather them with sunscreen, and have a fun day, instead.

MARRIAGE!

Blogson Johnny-Oh! of Closet Extremist announces his impending marriage May 9th.

I haven't met "Sweetie" (which I believe is short for Sweetevnia, indicating the possibility that she's a Russian mail-order bride), but I know she's got herself a good man - once she's got him properly trained in the fine art of "yes, dear".

Johnny, feel free to borrow Love Notes as needed.

Congratulations.

THUMB TYPING TUTOR

I was curious what a good typing speed is for two thumbs on a full-qwerty phone keyboard, because I figured it'd be WAY slower than 10-finger.

Apparently not.

These guys are doing 35-70.

Huh.

Anyway, if you want to learn how to touch-type on your phone keyboard, here's a nice tutorial that promises to get you up to speed in 2 weeks, assuming you can already touch-type on a normal keyboard.

COOL CANS

Physics Geek links a video that demonstrates how you can quickly cool a can of carbonated beverage by using a can of expensive compressed air that you should really save for cleaning your computer. You'll also need to drill a hole in a tupperware container, use up some electrical tape, and I hope you have a pair of gloves handy.

Feh.

This is a lot cheaper & requires fewer tools. Forgot where I found it, but I've tested it successfully:

Big mixing bowl, enough water to cover the can, lots of ice, lots of ordinary table salt.

Combine & stir for 2 minutes.

Heat transfer rate is greatly increased by increasing the relative velocity of the cooling medium.

By the way, you might want to wait 20 seconds before opening the can.

Why 20 seconds? Because that's all the longer it takes for a can of soda to settle, no matter how vigorously you shake it. I've tested this one, too. (Credit: Penn & Teller's "How to Play in Traffic").

Please note that the 20 second rule does NOT apply to bottled soda.

10 YEARS ALREADY?

For the 120th time, roses on the 9th.

You'd think she'd be getting tired of them by now.

THEY COUNT FUNNY

Help me out with this.

The last numbered Windows program was 3

Then Win 95 - that's 4

Win 98 - that's 5

Win ME - that's 6

Win 2K - that's 7

Win XP - that's 8

Vista - that's 9

And yet the next version of Windows is called Windows 7, not Windows 10

WTF?

YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT

Squeez-Bacon

[Hat tip: Lynn of Violins & Starships]

ADVICE FOR AN IDENTITY CRISIS

Bloggranddaughter Rave of Quid Nunc is contemplating:

A) A blog name change

B) Blogging her attempt at weight loss as a form of motivation

First, my standard disclaimer:

Rave - it's YOUR blog, and you can do whatever the hell you want to with it. Consider other people's opinions for what you think they're worth, but it's YOUR decision. Your blog is a reflection and extension of YOU, and its sole purpose is to bring you happiness. It is of use to you only so long as it fulfills this mission.

Now, my opinion, to be taken with a grain of salt.

A blog name is the name you give yourself, and so long as it reflects the essence of you, there's no reason to change it. I've only changed my blog name once - from Bad Money to Bad Example, and although the catalyst was changing my blogging software and site host, the fact is I was liberating myself, because Bad Money was a conceptually limiting title. It was perfect when I started, because my blog mostly revolved around graffiti currency. Over time, who I was expanded and evolved quite a bit, and a more broad-based, conceptually-encompassing title was appropriate.

In your case, you're considering changing your blog name from something broad to something narrow. In a sense, this might be good, because it reflects your desire to narrow your focus on a particular goal. However, I fear that over time you might find that this has a chilling effect on your desire to blog about anything EXCEPT weight loss, making your blog less useful to you in the long run.

My suggestion is not to change your blog name, but to change your tagline.

Or in your case, add one.

Because a blog name says who you are. A tagline says what you're trying to do. In my case "Bad Example: A celebration of things kids shouldn't try at home".

So consider changing your banner image to say "Quid Nunc: One Fat Chick on a Mission" or "Quid Nunc: Gee, I Hope I Don't Lose My Boobs Over This". If you want to really emphasize how important your weight loss project is, go ahead and make the tagline font larger than your blog name font. Then put all your weight-loss-related posts in a single category with a link to that category in your sidebar.

But a blog name change?... I don't think it's appropriate. You are so much more than just a weight loss program. You are a whole person. A wonderful, delightful person. Please don't change the person when all you're really doing is just changing the person's direction.

Having said that, however, I say again: it's your blog - do what you want. If you think a name change is the way to go, I will support you completely and cheerfully update your link.

WHAT IF IT WERE BUSH?

I read this story in the Washington Post, and couldn't help noticing that nobody picked up on it. Obama recently had an "online townhall meeting". Five of the people he chose "randomly" to ask him their softball, ass-kissing questions were Obama fans with a paper-trail of support:

They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008.

If Bush had packed an audience with such ham-handed disregard for veracity, don't you think the MSM magpies would STILL be talking about it?