Paper just doesn't grow on trees, you know...

Happy Earth Day all!

A cosmically cool camera capture

This picture was just too cool to not post.  What is it?  According to the author of the post I originally saw this, it's "a giant blue hand reaching for a giant piece of cosmic smoked salmon".

Okay, he was just kidding.  Apparently it's a, ummm..., well, big sucker.  I can't explain it without cutting and pasting it.   Just visit the site for more information if you're curious (and I hope you are).

Huh?!? What!?! We coulda avoided these problems?!?...

Here's a news story from 1999.  That's right.  Ten years ago.  Why should that interest you?  Read on...

It's about how Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill easing restrictions on what banks could but more importantly, could not do.  From the story, "The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression."

I'm not going to pin the blame of our current economic crisis on this one act of congress, but it sure didn't help.  And I'm not going to blame one party, since it looked like most everyone was on board this piece of art.  However, there were a few dissenting voices.  Among them was Senator Byron L. Dorgan, D, ND, who was quoted in the story:

''I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010,'' said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. ''I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.''

Ummm... Yup.  I'd say we're doing a good job of forgetting the past, not learning, and shooting ourselves in the foot, if not the head!

More Peanuts anyone?

Peanuts is one of my favorite comic strips.  The Charlie Brown specials were also something I looked forward to every year.   I mean, who could forget his famous Christmas Tree?

I see that you can actually read Charles Schulz's entire strip starting from the October 2, 1950 strip up to the very last one on February 13, 2000 (a total of 17,897 strips according to Wikipedia).

Such a deal! (for college students)

If you're a college student and are looking for a great deal on the Microsoft Office Suite, look no further than Microsoft itself.

They are selling Office Ultimate 2007 for $60!  Of course, you'll need to prove you're a student by providing a valid .edu email address and proof that you're enrolled in at least a .5 unit course--at least they say they'll ask for proof.

Also, if you're more into software development (on the geekier side of computing), you can download some developer tools for free provided you can show proof that you're a student.  This one is a little trickier for me.  My university isn't on the list, but they do provide other ways to let me show I'm a student, although it does involve more steps. 

Definition of Cruel Irony

I'm at that age now where I need reading glasses.  Unfortunately, the pair I have at work has a screw that gets loose, and fairly often at that.  So to fix it, I have to grab a jeweler's or electronic's phillips screwdriver, you know, one of those really small ones so I can tighten that screw.  The problem?  There are two.  The first is that it's a really small, tiny, itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie screw.  The second problem is that I have to take the glasses off to tighten the screw.  This, of course, means that I can't see the small, tiny, itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie screw because I need the glasses to be able to see it clearly!  Oh, cruel, cruel world...

I didn't even know we were related!

This is just too cool.  I didn't even know the President was on Facebook!  Now if that Nigerian prince would just deposit that $3 Million that he promised me into my bank account, I could go visit cousin President...