December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas!

I hope to hold off on blogging until the New Year; we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, enjoy the Pogues:

December 22, 2007

My Blog's Reading Level

cash advance

Eh.

Fire

Jesus Christ. I live in that apartment complex (my building was nowhere near the fire, thank God). Given that there were 15 (!) arson-related fires in the complex this past summer, I think this is cause for alarm. Springhill Lake needs to start giving answers about what it's doing to prevent future fires, and soon. I mean, would it kill them to say something on their website about the fire? Even something as perfunctory as "No one could have foreseen this tragedy, etc." would suffice at this point.

December 18, 2007

The Efficiency-Minded Person's Christmas Tree

Slate has an interesting article on the relative merits of real vs. artificial Christmas trees. Is it better to go out and get a tree from a tree farm that you'll keep for about a month, then throw out? Or is it better to get a tree you can reuse each year, but may be coated with dangerous chemicals and will wind up in the landfill anyway? I myself like natural trees but the wastefulness of it does get to me sometimes. Not to mention that I often find big trees (which tend to be the norm) a little garish and oppressive.

One possible workaround (based on this idea by Tyler Cowen) is to get something you can keep and use in your house, but also resembles a traditional pine tree. To wit, a rosemary bush: Cut properly, it looks like a mini-pine tree which you can decorate (as seen above), it doesn't dominate your living room, and after Christmas, you can use the rosemary sprigs for cooking. Who says ornamental things can't be practical as well?

December 17, 2007

90s Nostalgia Blogging

Letters to Cleo - Here and Now:



For those who can't decipher what Kay Hanley is saying in the refrain:
The comfort of a knowledge of a rise above the sky above
could never parallel the challenge of an acquisition in the
Here and now
Here and now
How simple is that?