Quod Erat Demonstrandum

Would have loved this as a kid. A little tempted to get it NOW....

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 00:53:24 -0500

Would have loved this as a kid. A little tempted to get it NOW. on Flickr.

Holiday Construction on Flickr.Drilling tiiiiny holes in a...

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:06:19 -0500

Holiday Construction on Flickr.

Drilling tiiiiny holes in a washer: predictably difficult.

My Extremely Quick Take on the Instagram Kerfuffle

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:38:04 -0500

My Extremely Quick Take on the Instagram Kerfuffle

Look at the facts, get over the regional bias and acknowledge that someone outside of Dixie might actually be good at football.

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:48:28 -0500

Look at the facts, get over the regional bias and acknowledge that someone outside of Dixie might actually be good at football.:

schadendfreude:

The haters won’t like this complete 12-game analysis of ND, Georgia, and Alabama’s schedules.

(Mostly because they don’t like reading)

Let’s see what happens, shall we?

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:39:42 -0400

Let’s see what happens, shall we?

Another philosophical Q for you today: Are we obligated to humor peoples’ beliefs that are...

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:52:39 -0400

Another philosophical Q for you today: Are we obligated to humor peoples’ beliefs that are facially lunacy but aren’t really hurting anyone? To what extent? Examples: “otherkin,” or the belief that your body is inhabited by more than one person, etc.

TRANSCATS: Human Privilege: Yes, it Exists

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:47:15 -0400

TRANSCATS: Human Privilege: Yes, it Exists:

transcats:

As a newcomer to Tumblr politics, I thought that a good place to start my blog would be to write about, what I believe is, a largely overlooked social justice issue. There is a lot of talk about privilege and oppression and the effects that it has on all of our lives, but the scope of these…

This is not satire.

#LOL

My letter to Fr. Jenkins regarding ND's "our money is sacred" lawsuit against HHS.

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:44:42 -0400

Father Jenkins,

As an alumnus, I am greatly disappointed that the University has chosen to place such a high value on the sacredness of money. How is it, exactly, that the University asserts a right to choose what employees do with their compensation? How is health care compensation different from salary compensation? Would you also propose that the University has the right to prevent employees from spending money on condoms? How about donating money to Planned Parenthood, which provides health care services greatly in excess of the abortion services for which social conservatives have made them infamous? If as an employee I make a political contribution to a politician the Church disapproves of, does the Church then get to dock my pay for my next check? To what extent does the University seek to control their employees’ lives?

Notre Dame purchases health insurance for its employees. Health insurance is used to pay for “health care.” Not “some health care” or “a subset of health care.” Health care. Last I checked, the University did not include a medical school, and thus is not qualified to determine what health care is or is not. That is a matter between an employee and his or her doctor.

I suggest the University’s leadership reduce its apparent focus on the sacredness of the flow of money out of its coffers to its employees, which reminds me uncomfortably of Christ’s disapproval of the money changers in the temple, and increase its focus on caring for the poor and disenfranchised, as we are all charged to do by Christ Himself.

In Notre Dame,

Jarett T. DeAngelis, MS ‘08

Open Letter to the Washington, DC DMV Due to Epic Stupidity on Their Part

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:30:32 -0400

Hi,

Can you help me make sure I understand this correctly? I went to the DMV today to get my license converted to a DC license and was really confused by what I was told.

My address is in Zone 6, a large area that encompasses Navy Yard, Capitol Hill, Eastern Market, etc. Residents of Zone 6 may request a residential parking permit that enables them to park their vehicles on streets displaying placards such as “TWO HOUR PARKING ONLY, ZONE 6 RESIDENTS EXCEPTED.” Typically spots on these streets are not metered, but parking enforcement will nonetheless come around to ensure that the two hour time limit is being respected for vehicles not displaying a Zone 6 parking sticker. Metered spots, as far as I can tell, rarely allow for residential free parking, as that would sort of defeat the purpose of the meter. So if you live in a given zone, you get a permit for that zone, and you may park in the spaces not explicitly allocated for revenue generation with a meter.

Good so far?

EXCEPT.

If you happen to live on certain blocks which appear to be chosen at random, you are effectively barred from leaving your car on any street in the city in which you live if said street is not metered. Mine, for example — which is surrounded by streets that have nothing but meters. Which makes a whole lot of sense — I live at 1100 1st St SE in a large apartment building and am a block away from the baseball stadium. The city is going to want to gather revenue from people parking for baseball games. Sure, this is entirely logical and sensible. So instead of parking right on my block, I should park, say, a few blocks away, or even out beyond Eastern Market around the Potomac Ave Metro station. I’m okay with this. It’s a consequence of living in a large city with a lot of people and a lot of cars.

Except I can’t. Ever. No matter where I put my car, I will be ticketed for leaving it beyond the time limit SOMEWHERE, because it exists in a parking no-man’s-land. Because of the vagaries of the RPP system, it is ineligible for a zone sticker ANYWHERE, and since there exist no streets anywhere in the city that are neither explicitly metered nor marked with a zone sign, I can’t put my car in my neighborhood, or even outside my neighborhood, or even on the opposite side of town.

There is no functional reason for this that I can discern. It’s not like I live in the middle of the very busy northwest, where cars have to be strictly corralled and controlled. I’m in a neighborhood that actually has a fair amount of available space all around, with a lot of quiet streets with very little activity and often quite a few open parking spaces at night. Sure, baseball games change this — but only at select times, and certainly not in locations as far away from the stadium as Potomac Ave.

What I am trying to understand is this: Who made the decision that people who live two blocks away from me can park their vehicle anywhere in Zone 6 — north, south, east, west of their houses by a mile or more — and yet people who live on certain blocks cannot safely put their cars anywhere in the city?

Moreover, why is the city leaving such a massive sum of cash on the table? The cheapest private lots I can find are in the neighborhood of $120/mo. The city charges $35/year(!!!!) for a residential parking pass. Do you understand that I would be willing to drop $500 or more a year on the DC government to have the peace of mind to know that I can safely park my car SOMEWHERE near my apartment building without worrying about Enforcement ticketing me?

This seems utterly nonsensical to me, which makes me think that I HAVE to have understood what the DMV agent told me incorrectly. Could someone please write back and explain this to me so that it makes some kind of sense?

Thanks in advance,

Jarett DeAngelis

Note the flag.

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:52:07 -0500

Note the flag.

Yup. mrhz: LOL

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:18:17 -0500

Yup.

mrhz:

LOL

VALMASSOI FOR PRESIDENT thefuckwouldisaywhatfor: [trigger...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:37:23 -0500

VALMASSOI FOR PRESIDENT

thefuckwouldisaywhatfor:

[trigger warning: hackneyed, overused phrase]

At the end of the day you’re not going to know any more of my political opinions than I choose to share, which is basically “Let the fucking gays get married and shut your homophobe mouths.” But then again I still describe my favorite boots as ‘faggy’.

I am left-leaning enough to want the world to be a better place and smart enough to realize how utterly fucked people who share my opinions are. All I want is for people to keep talking, because it’s a hell of a lot easier to watch Dancing With The Stars or fucking Glee than it is to educate yourself about American history or global politics, but if you’re at least chit-chatting about the world then you’re thinking about it, which is good.

And I’m old enough to know that for some people, that’s as far into the pool as they’re willing to dip their toes, and that is okay. Not everyone is an activist. A lot of people are just trying to live. Personally, I just want to have kids and raise them well and ensure that the entire planet isn’t a cinder by the time they learn to tie their shoes.

Everyone who thinks they’re right about what should or shouldn’t be happening needs to go outside and look around. The whole world is teetering on the brink, but we still have to live in it. And that means getting along with people who don’t share our opinions in the ways that are as beneficial to the largest number of people possible, because it’s a ‘global community’ now, right? For better or worse we’re all in this together, and that means straight white guys, black feminists, Libyan orphans, Pakistani fathers, Muslim women, hardcore Christians, Chinese factory workers, college undergrads, baby seals, plankton and Kim Jong Il.

We can’t all be happy at once. Ever.

The best we can hope for is that we move forward, toward as many good things as we can, for as many people as we can.

The more we talk the closer we get to figuring out what those things are, and the more you think you’re “right” the more you’re missing someone’s point.

Nobody’s right. We’re all just stumbling along, trying not to die.

(But we will, and we should probably come to grips with that.)

Fight for what you believe in, but understand that not everyone can or will share your passion. That doesn’t make them bad people. The most hardcore Ivy League Young Republican has nothing in common with your average bone-deep militant feminist, but in the eyes of a run-of-the-mill Egyptian revolutionary they’re both asshole Westerners who don’t know shit about the world. All three of them need clean water, though. So whose cause is “best”? Or “correct”? Now ask the average 20 year old Japanese secretary how she feels about the Sudanese secession. No answer? Ask someone from the new republic of South Sudan. The entire world is in turmoil. Fix what you can. Not theoretically, but physically. Make sacrifices. But understand that other people are doing exactly what you’re doing, even if it’s completely in opposition.

Some people will straight up disagree with the things you hold dear. If you can’t change their mind, well …

You can at least try to understand where they’re coming from. It’s what you’re asking of them, after all.

Everyone’s beautiful to someone, right?

And the last pure Communist with the best ideas about how to live apparently got nailed to a tree, so keep that in mind.

It’s rough out there.

fuckyeahdementia: oh math jokes, you’re so funny

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:31:24 -0400

fuckyeahdementia:

oh math jokes, you’re so funny

Shit NDNation Says: FJM'ing the NDN Board Ops

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:34:19 -0400

Shit NDNation Says: FJM'ing the NDN Board Ops:

I have to admit, this was pretty fun.

nderpnation:

So, in the continuing saga of @starkruzr vs. the NDN Group Think Leaders (We’ve always been at war with Eurasia!), I’ve decided to FJM the longest screed they wrote to him:

We’ve been collectively watching ND football for longer than 50 years.

There are 4 of you. That’s claiming that on…

dammitpoot: Hahahahahahaha

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:10:31 -0400

dammitpoot:

Hahahahahahaha

Speaking of @OakND1:

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:49:23 -0400

Speaking of @OakND1::

thegoldensons:

We heard through the rumor mill, though missed the opportunity to congratulate him outright… but we’d like to congratulate Oak and his new job with the Irish.

oaknd1:

So, to make a short story entirely too long: I have accepted a position with the newly formed Fighting Irish Digital Media team, a part of Notre Dame Athletics. My role will be to roll up my metaphorical sleeves and push UND.com to be as great as it can be. Additionally, I will be heavily involved in the strategy behind ND Athletics’ various social media tactics.

…

“This is my dream job,” written in strong tags, sums it up perfectly.

This is a big win for the university. Strong tags don’t give him enough credit.

Wednesday's Thought Experiment

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:28:31 -0400

Remember Quantum Leap?

“Theorizing that one could time travel within their own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap Accelerator… And VANISHED.”

This was a story about a guy who would jump into a point in other people’s lives, needing to “put right what once went wrong” in order to try “leaping” again to get to the point where he could get home. At one point, he leaped into his OWN life at the age of 16, trying to save his father’s life among other things.

So, here is the question: if you had the opportunity to leap back into your own life to any age you wished, being who you are now and retaining all the knowledge you have now, and then just live forward from that point until your natural death, would you do it?

The most common objection to this goes something like, “but my life experiences have made me who I am!” Yes, that’s sort of the point. You retain all of that. You would be a 25 year old (or 30 year old, or however old you are now) in the body of a 10 year old or 20 year old or whatever. But now, you get the opportunity to make different choices with the benefit of hindsight.

Shallow lulz to be considered for this: at the VERY least, you could get fabulously wealthy by investing in Google.

Thoughts?

From UnitedLiberty.org, cc: @drgitlin, on Obama and the Petroleum Reserve

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:29:33 -0400

“Eventually a clever entrepreneur will surely invent an engine that is fueled by some clean burning, abundant, cheap resource. But isn’t it more likely that will happen in the garage of their parent’s house, and not in some government controlled, taxpayer funded lab?”

Well, uh. No. That’s actually not how science and engineering usually work AT ALL.

http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/8334-obamas-decision-to-release-oil-from-reserve-is-too-little-too-late

I know the folk story of the guy who invents cold fusion in his basement, having had little to no formal education, is a compelling one that makes us all go “‘MERICA, FUCK YEAH,” but there isn’t a whole lot of reality to it. Guys like Thomas Edison are outliers, not the rule.

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH THE SPACE PROGRAM: Invented by government nerds. Remember this.

iOS users, pimp your jailbroken apps

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:07:20 -0400

iOS users, pimp your jailbroken apps

Meijer Supermarkets apparently trying to tell us something about...

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:01:52 -0400

Meijer Supermarkets apparently trying to tell us something about the average quality of Italian food in the Midwest.