links for 2007-06-14

I weep for the future

Nanny statism run amok:
No running on playgrounds. (The second paragraph of the article is the one which will fill you with utter disbelief.)
No microwave popcorn allowed. (Maybe.) Granted, I know former coworkers who were too…um, challenged to pop popcorn in a microwave without burning it, thus endearing themselves to the entire office by way of the clouds of smoke pouring out of the device and bag, but I don’t think a blanket ban is the answer.
Both via Cam.

Sweetheart, if you still need an idea for a Father’s Day gift for me…

The greatest, gutsiest Father’s Day gift set I have ever seen:

Stop and think: what does it say when you give your father a Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker set for Father’s Day?

  • “Dad, you are the genocidal embodiment of evil, but I will eventually redeem you”?
  • “Dad, you tortured my sister and cut my hand off”?
  • “Dad, I’d rather throw myself down to certain destruction than acknowledge you as my father”?
  • “Dad, cut back on the smoking”?

[…]
Freud would have had a field day.
I share Bruce’s sentiment, or would, were I at Wallyworld:
I, of course, bought one on the spot.
So, honey, if you happen to make it to Wal-Mart this week before I do…
(Via And Still I Persist.)

links for 2007-06-13

links for 2007-06-12

Hasta la semana proxima

Well, dear readers, after being gone for a week on a family vacation, I’m now leaving in the wee morning hours–in six hours, to be precise–on a mission trip to Juarez, Mexico. It’s an annual thing our church does, and this year I decided to go as one of the adult volunteers. It’s really a mission trip for the youth of the church, with something around a 65-35 breakdown of youth to adults.
Normally the trip is to build simple homes for the poor of the area, but this year we’ve been asked by the mission sponsor, Amor Ministries, to build some duplex housing for attendees of the local Bible college.
So you won’t be seeing any updates from the phisch bowl for a bit, as we will have little power available, little running water (which we don’t drink any way, we bring our own drinking water), and absolutely no Internet access of any kind. Mobile phone coverage is even spotty, and insanely expensive.
It’s going to be a blast.
See you next week.

links for 2007-06-01

  • The latest brainchild of Jason Calacanis, it’s a human-optimized search engine. This means it will supposedly return more relevant results than Google, as SEO ad sites will be weeded out.