Quote of the Day

Tiffany:

The Cheesecake Factory always looks like a mosque to me. Only, a mosque out of Willy Wonka or something. Sort of an Oompa-Loompa faith community.
I have never really thought about it before, but now that she mentions it, the Cheesecake Factory does look like a Willy Wonka mosque! I guess I’ll have to remember not to order bacon on my burger the next time I visit.

Chad Vader

“Life is hard when you’re Darth Vader’s less-talented, less-charismatic younger brother and you manage a grocery store.”
I love the Imperial March on acoustic guitar.
[Via Eric via IM.]

Miscellany

If only I had room in any of my bathrooms for one of these.

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Just when you think there might be some hope in this world that the tide of sexual immorality would take a turn for the better, something like the Shame On You Kit pops up. How about never putting yourself in the situation to have to have a “Shame On You Kit”?

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As a satisfied customer, I highly recommend KnowledgeNews, which today had a bit on the differences between viruses and bacteria. I loved this analogy:

Imagine it this way. If just one of the 10 to 100 trillion cells in your body were the size of a baseball park, the average bacterium would be the size of the pitcher’s mound. The average virus would be the size of the baseball.

A thought on taxes and wages

There’s a movement afoot by the Democrats to get the minimum wage raised again. Despite historical financial evidence to the contrary, raising the minimum wage does not help those at the low end of the wage spectrum, as our nation’s leftists would like us to think. Raising the minimum wage means businesses are less likely to hire more workers, due to their increased costs with the raise in the minimum wage.
Contrast this with the fact that, according to today’s Political Diary, Germany is set to cut its corporate tax rate to thirty percent, down from thirty-nine percent. Once it does so, the United States will have the highest corporate tax rate of the industrialized world.
How does this affect the minimum wage? I’m glad you asked. It seems high corporate tax rates, according to a “new study by American Enterprise Institute scholars Kevin Hassett and Aparna Mathur…is for the most part paid by workers in the form of lower wages.”
Ergo: cut the corporate tax rate, workers’ wages will rise.
You can not get even odds in Vegas that the Democrats would sign on to such a policy.

Happy Birthday, my love

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday, and I didn’t get around to posting birthday wishes for her. One of the dilemmas for married guys–at least, I hope this is a dilemma for married guys, or else it’s just me–is the older we get, the harder we find it to pull off those grand, romantic gestures for our beloved.
Such was the case yesterday.
I thought a lot about what I wanted to say, but couldn’t get thoughts converted to bits on the screen. So here is what I’m left with:
Kel, I love you more now than when we first said the words sixteen years ago. I love you more now than when we exchanged vows and rings fourteen years ago. I love that you’re my best friend, and you love me even when I’m not very loveable. I love that you’re the mother of our son, and how awesome you are at being a mom.
I hope you had a good birthday.

More miscellany

Liechtenstein is 200. The total population of the nation is a little over half of that of my town.

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In the market for a new mortgage? Be sure to check out the Mortgage Professor, who has a list of “Upfront Mortgage Brokers”. These brokers promise the transparency of disclosing “the loan’s wholesale price (the interest rate and points), plus the markup, in writing and in advance.”
[Via Newsweek, June 26, 2006.]

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A thought on why Honda rocks:
Last week, during swim lessons, I had a moron moment and forgot to take my Pilot’s key and fob out of my swimsuit pocket. An hour later, after drying off the tyke (the lessons were for him, in case you were wondering), I went to change in to some dry clothes and had one of those Seinfeldian “Oooohhhhhh” moments.
Just out of curiosity, I hit the lock button on the fob. Twice. I heard the Pilot’s horn blast a single note.
And I smiled.
It’s still working, with apparently no ill effects. So is the little keychain LED light my sister-in-law got as a stocking stuffer for me two Christmases ago.

Miscellany

The federal government is apparently looking at creating a national SMS alert system.
[Via MobileTracker.]

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Congratulations to Kyle MacDonald, who, one year and fourteen trades later, bartered a red paper clip for a house.

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Making sure you tipped the right amount after the fact doesn’t do your server much good, does it?

Happy Birthday, Lee!

I’m so glad that forever shall I be five months younger than mi amigo, who apparently is already feeling the effects of age, having to recycle his birthday blog post because he cannot muster the mental faculties to create something original. 😉

Va l’Italia!

In recognition of the nation with the better food, better skiing, and better people winning the World Cup, I thought I would share my favorite French joke. (Blame FranX, as this came up in an IM conversation with him this evening.)

Q: Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees?
A: Because the Germans like to march in the shade.

Miscellany

John points to a 94x magnification of Velcro being pulled apart. Wicked cool.
You can also see Scotch tape being ripped, more Velcro, still more Velcro, and Equisetum strobilus, all worth a look.

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How much do I love Default Folder? Its functionality should be built in to OS X.
(I was just using it quite a bit today, lots of saving in different locales, etc., and I thought a shout-out was in order.)

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After months of waiting, I found it. Part of a pint was consumed this evening. It was yummy. Retrophisch™ Recommended!