June 2008
63 posts
Even My Mom Knows What's Wrong With Yahoo!
Mom: I've got a question - just saw a pop up about Yahoo announcing a broad reorginization -
Me: Okay shoot.
Mom: my question - is What is yahoo - what do they do? I know people have yahoo email addresses - they have a search function, but I don't know what business Yahoo is
Me: Neither do they!
Mom: figured
(Also, I wrote about my mom on tumblr. This means I get a book deal right?)
Supreme Court Finds Constitutional Right To Own...
Three hours later, and I’m now the proud owner of a handgun. Pictures here.
The Internet Is A Bad Influence
Now we’ve done it: sparked the first-ever case of drop-out envy.
Out: Everyone went to the same six schools.
In: Everyone dropped out of school.
A Night Out With the Punks of St. Marks Place →
This article on the drunk young punks of St. Marks is beautifully reassuring. Every year the kids get older, but punk stays the same rage.
I love that these kids aren’t letting some old fogey tell them that punk is dead and that they really should have been there back in the day. That’s a universal mantra of bullshit.
In 1986, I heard that about Tompkins Square Park and CBGBs.
In...
Drop Out Of School Now
Writing about avoiding college and the merits of dropping out reminds me of something I wrote four years ago:
Fuck the Schools: Ever since I can remember people have complained that we don’t pay teachers enough. When I was young I thought this didn’t make any sense because teachers only worked two-thirds of the year. In my teenage years I decided this complaint was crap because...
Save The Internet: Stop Melinda Gates!
Steve Sailer points out something that should have been totally obvious about Melinda Gates “100% college attendance” buffoonery: her husband Bill didn’t graduate from college. Neither did Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison or Michael Dell. Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard.
Since I’m writing this on tumblr I should point out that David Karp dropped out of fucking high school....
Philosophers Must Be Forced To Be King
Actually, people calling Krucoff “boss” is one of my favorite parts of YM, so I hope this doesn’t take.
All The Children Are Above Average
Melinda Gates: The most dangerous woman in America.
Paul Krugman must read DealBreaker. →
George Carlin: On Self
Cogito sum, ergo, sum. Cogito.
I still think it’s better this way.
kabby:
“I think I am, therefore, I am. I think.”
As it turns out, it's pretty tough to find any... →
I'm not a horoscope person
This is exactly the wrong lesson. L’s horoscope is a contrarian indicator. In the late 1990s L magazine told me that I should write a book about search engines rather than try to compete with powerhouses like Yahoo and NorthernLight.com. So I wrote a book entitled “Notes Toward A Better Search Engine.” A couple of guys out in California read it, founded Google and you know the...
N+1 Throws An Internet Party
Last night I stopped by the party just in time for Gessen to deliver his speech, which I imagine was titled: “The Internet And What I Saw When I Was There.”
It was a short speech, that Keith delivered standing on a small table. He had to shout over the voices of his guests, who apparently couldn’t be asked to quiet down while their host gave a speech.
“I learned that the...
Avoid College For As Long As You Can
A few days ago, in response to a question from juliaallison, I said that high school students should not to go to college, at least not right away. One question a few young kids asked me was whether or not putting off college would hurt their chances for admission.
To the contrary, delaying college will actually improve your chance to get admitted to more competitive schools. You’ll have...
QQ: opportunity costs
dihard:
An opportunity cost is what you sacrifice by choosing one option or pursuing one endeavor over another. It’s one of the most basic principles of economics and here’s a little quiz from a book I’m reading, The Economic Naturalist, that tests your knowledge. (Explanation to come..)
Suppose you’ve won a free ticket to see an Eric Clapton concert tonight and you can’t resell it. You have...
WatchI’m totally crushed I didn’t make it to this Wednesday! Got distracted by Katie Bakes amazing birthday party.
Teen girls in bleak but beautiful New England town... →
You know who is mightily freaked out about this? High school guys, that’s who. Now they have to worry that their girlfriend is trying to get knocked up.
If you could give your high school self advice...
Don’t go to college.
If you must go to college, don’t go right away. Take a year or two away from going to school. You’ve spent most of your life taking classes and listening to teachers. Like most educated people, you’ve been trained to overrate the value of education. It’s time to try something new.
Most people waste their freshman year taking required classes...
Guilty As Charged
youngmanhattanite:
D&D cookbook talk. Entertaining to me, Krucoff maybe, and John Carney definitely.
If The Gays Can't Save Weddings, Maybe They Can...
In San Diego, the desperate to sell real estate agent will even pay for your big gay wedding.
Could Gay Weddings Fix Straight Weddings?
Whatever your opinion of gay marriage, the California Supreme Court decision makes it clear that we’d better get used to it. So far, much of the debate has been about abstract things like rights and traditional values, which is boring and not useful.
A lot less discussion has gone on about what gay marriage will mean for straight marriages. A few critics of raised the precautionary...
This Is A Great Day
Red wine makes you thinner and coffee helps you live longer.
And, of course, we’ve known for years that whiskey makes you smarter.
The Carbon Footprint Offset As A Service
This is really an act of charity for all of you. I’ve relieved you of the burden of trying to reduce your carbon footprint. Now, whenever you feel like you should be reducing your carbon footprint, you can think: “Oh, wait. This won’t do any good. Carney will just offset me. Might as well carry on with my normal habits.”
I’m making your life easier every day.
...
The Carbon Footprint Offset On DealBreaker
We’re currently engaged in a carbon footprint reduction offset program. Whenever someone tells us that they are trying to reduce their carbon footprint, we attempt to increase our own. The idea is that our offset makes their reduction pointless, so they should just quit trying.
Carbon Reduction Wine Consumption
Who Is Smearing Barack Obama's Supporters With The... →
Question: What Is A Marriage License For?
The only justification for requiring licenses to get married that I can think of is to prohibit marriages between people who we’ve decided shouldn’t be allowed to marry. Now that pretty much anyone can get married to anyone else, it’s hard to see what the purpose is. I doubt the government even gets enough revenue from the licensing to pay for the bureaucratic apparatus required...
Are You Ready To Be Liberated?
While writing a father’s day piece today, I came across a bunch of small essays I wrote four years ago. Here’s how one started:
“It was the morning after one of the nights from which you get awoken by your own self-loathing. I was passed-out in my living room, experimenting with the adhesive properties of vomit on hardwood flooring, when my self-loathing found me. Only it...
“Lately I’ve been wondering what an Obama White House might mean for the future...”
– So Mary Battiata writes in/on (?) the HuffPo. Via Kausfiles.
I don’t know about this. It kind of makes me uneasy! What is the differentiator between the Fox News baby mama drama and something like this? Is it because it’s about hope and change?
I’m not being trite, I’m really asking. Clearly I am... 