I make a pot of tea each morning. I do this by using a coffee maker because it’s faster and weakens the tea a bit since I’m not boiling a tea bag in a pot. The reason for this is to reduce the strength of the tea and thus, my chances of a recurring kidney stone.
Since I use a coffee maker, I pour the water in the back, put the bag in the decanter and for kicks I throw a coffee filter in the filter tray. It doesn’t really need a filter since I’m just using that area to pass hot water through. All the action happens right in the decanter. Or, so I thought.
I don’t replace the filter every day. Again, nothing but hot water passes through it and it seems like a waste. After 5 days (when I do change it), this is what my filter looks like. This is water filtered through my PUR facet filter. Indianapolis, you’re drinking this.
By now we’ve heard that Apple’s got a little problem with reception in their new iPhones. They say a software fix is on the way that’ll correct much of the problems with reception indicators.
After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with an unusual reason for the computers’ demise: the school had overtaxed the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations.
Now, Dell has a lawsuit on its hands after millions of PCs they sold between 2003 and 2005 had faulty capacitors, that, over time failed miserably. The funny thing is that all computer do is math. Without that, they don’t do anything.
I think Dell has a new slogan: “Dell PCs. They don’t do math, just like every other American”.
Brandon ordered a pizza this evening. He didn’t want my chili, evidently.
The delivery person was an elderly gentleman, the second of such delivery guys who have clearly been over the hill for some time to come from the Pizza Hut on Emerson Ave.
My issue with that is that this defies all logic of who I think the pizza guy should be. It should be a pizza boy, not a pizza guy. I’ll be sexist and say I don’t even want females delivering pizza. When that doorbell rings, there had better be a pimply, grotesquely greasy 18-year-old standing there holding something that is allegedly a pizza.
When an old guy answers the door, I immediately assume this man can’t afford his medication or some other vital necessity and he has to deliver pizzas to make up for it. This results in a larger tip from me, which is even more bothersome. Then, I get to watch him saunter down my driveway to his car as he hobbles along. I’m left standing there with a barking dog and wondering if that poor soul is going to fall down and break his hip.
My god, what if that man fought in a war? What if he was the guy who planted a flag in Korea, Kuwait or Vietnam!? The guy that just left could have easily been old enough to have fought in Vietnam.
The result? When I order a pizza, I go pick it up from the store. I’m not paying a guy $3 to deliver a pizza up the street from me (they could throw it out the window of the store and it’d make it halfway to my driveway). Plus, I could drive around I-465 on $3. That, and I’m afraid an old guy is going to deliver it.
So, in conclusion, America is screwed because old people are delivering pizzas.
WASHINGTON — Ten people have been arrested for allegedly serving as secret agents of the Russian government in the United States, the Justice Department said Monday.
Eight of 10 were arrested Sunday for allegedly carrying out long-term, deep cover assignments in the United States on behalf of Russia.
Their job, according to the court papers in the case, was “to search and develop ties in policymaking circles” in the United States.
…
The U.S. government intercepted a message from Russian intelligence headquarters in Moscow to two of the defendants, Richard and Cynthia Murphy.
“You were sent to USA for long-term service trip,” the message from Moscow. “Your education, bank accounts, car, house etc. – all these serve one goal: fulfill your main mission, i.e. to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US and sent intels,” the message added.
I just got back in town from my two weeks at VU and today was the first day I got to see Indy’s new trash pickup system in action.
What I was Told:
Indianapolis residents will receive a new 96-gallon trash can. Put all your shit in the trash can and a truck will come along with a big mechanical arm and it’ll pickup your shit and dump it in the dump truck. The can will then be set down neatly in the same spot. This will improve safety and speed for the drivers, as they no longer require Public Works men to stand on the backs of trucks.
What I Just Witnessed:
Indianapolis residents received a 96-gallon trash can. Everyone puts all their shit in that can now. A newerish looking truck drove up to my driveway. Two Hispanic men hopped off the back of the truck, practically fell into my trash can to dig out the shit I threw in there and they threw it in the back of the truck. No arm, no increased safety and it certainly wasn’t faster because they have to go pulling shit out of a giant man-sized can.
So, let’s recap. 800,000 residents received a new trash can. That probably cost us about $10 million ($13 a can). The trucks got painted white and we replaced the two black men on the back of the truck with two Hispanic men. The labor costs maybe saved us, oh, $4 million a year.
That’s about a net loss of about $6 million. The new system is slower, more expensive and less safe because men are now falling all over themselves inside giant shit holes.
It takes 7 seconds for food to pass from mouth to stomach. A human hair can hold 3kg. The length of the penis is three times the length of the thumb. The femur is as hard as concrete. A woman’s heart beats faster than a man’s. Women blink twice as much as men. We use 300 muscle just to keep our balance when we stand.
The woman has read this entire text. The man is still looking at his thumb.
I just spent the last 2.5 weeks at Vincennes University working with an early college readiness program. The students had a good time, for the most part, and seemed to get a lot of the experience.
I’ve spent the better part of a week trying to figure out why I agreed to work there in the first place. Then, I ran across this comment on Digg today that pretty much sums it up:
The school system is a joke.
I spent 12 years reading textbooks and taking tests and learned nothing about REAL WORLD problems and how to overcome them.
How to write a check. How to pay bills on time and why it’s important. How to buy a car. How to buy a house. How to NOT get into credit card debt. How to change a tire. How to fix household items. How to get a job. How to keep a job. Communication skills and why they’re important.
These are all skills I had to learn on my own, because in school I was too busy learning how to factor a polynomial and building bird houses.
Autoshop [sic] was OPTIONAL, and 2 years foreign language REQUIRED. It’s great that I can say “Good Morning” in Spanish, but I still have no idea how to change the oil in my car.
I’m home-schooling my kids.
I agree with most of this, but not all. I don’t think the school system is useful today. The students we worked with at VU were on the right track thanks to Ben Davis Univ. HS, Arsenal and Center Grove high schools. They get a HS Diploma and an Associate’s Degree from VU before they’re old enough to drink. Frankly, HS diplomas need to be abolished and Associate’s made the norm.
Some would argue that school “teaches people how to think”, but that’s what everyone says about college. So, that can’t be it.
I’m not sure knowing how to change the oil in your car is all that necessary. Even if I knew how to do it, I wouldn’t want to. And home-schooling should almost be put on-par with child abuse. You end up with too many kids incapable of socializing and functioning with everyone else.
But, they’re a lot of practical things in life that schools don’t teach well or at all. Like financial management, how to live with dignity, respect others, etc. Hopefully, these are all things I helped impart on the students at X-Mester.
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