Lucky

Reverse-Engineering Online Dating

NOT that I would ever do this, but it was funny...

Social Pressure as a Power for Good

TMI: Leamur might have to move to CA after all

(Northern California, that is. Leamur is so not a So-Cal gal.)

But between the retreat to green a car and this way-cool vid of the FireDrums 2013 event...


...Leamur might be Going to California.


Meet you up there where the path runs straight and high. ;)

You Don't Have to be a Billionaire (or donate a kidney)

TMI: Leamur luvs orange cars...

...and this Ghia is a babydoll (for $30K, she'd have to be):


Here, he talks about how to choose a vehicle to convert:


Choosing a motor & etc:


Brakes & shocks and they offer a hands-on workshop! They're about 2 1/2 hours up the 5 from Sacramento. So for $500, plus airfare & rental, lodging, and meals, Leamur could hang out with a bunch of (other?) middle-aged hippies, greening a car. Just wow. :)


Mounting the adaptor/coupler, flywheel, clutch, your basic dry-run before installation:


Dr. Richard, where do batteries come from?


Battery installation considerations:


Soup to nuts:



http://ev4unow.com/index.html

Continuing the theme of transformation...

Why:


It can be done!


Just for fun!

The Douchebag Section at Goodwill - bwahahahahaha!

If I owned anything from Abercrombie & Fitch, or even knew anyone who owned anything from Abercrombie & Fitch, I would totally do this:


But of course, I'm not one of the cool kids, just an old hippie, I guess. Honestly, I thought Hollister had killed and replaced A&F ages ago. You know, like that thing from "The Thing"?

Of course, for me, the best use of that particular nightmare-meme was Gene Wolfe's "The Fifth Head of Cerberus". A must-read, seriously. It's like that Emily Bronte quote:

I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.

Gene Wolfe is that kind of awesome. And it seems unlikely that he has ever worn anything made or sold by A&F. Coincidence?

Lies, Damn Lies, and BP

A Must-Read: What BP Doesn't Want You To Know About The 2010 Gulf Spill

In a nutshell, sweet crude wasn't poisonous enough, so they added "Corexit" to make it more poisonous, but invisible.

TMI: Leamur has moral "tastes"

In graphs! Graphs, people!

Leamur has a moral foundation, and can now prove it with a graph:


Leamur is more satisfied with life than most Liberals or Conservatives:


Leamur is less psychopathic than you are, but just as deviant anyway:

The idea behind the scale is that psychopathy is thought to be continuously distributed in the population so that individuals have varying degrees of psychopathic traits which can be measured. In addition, the concept of psychopathy is often separated into two factors, each with emphasis on a different aspect of psychopathy.

The first type, primary psychopathy, more closely resembles the prototype description of a psychopath and emphasizes a lack of emotion as well as other personality features. Primary psychopaths are often described as glib, superficially charming, grandiose, lying, conning, manipulative, lacking empathy or guilt, emotionally shallow, and callous.

The second type, secondary psychopathy, describes individuals characterized mostly by deviant behavior. Features include a need for stimulation, proneness to boredom, impulsivity, irresponsibility, risk-taking, and poor behavioral control. Overall, psychopathy is often thought of as the epitome of immoral behavior....

Please note that psychopathy has been found to correlate positively with other personality traits such as extraversion, adventure-seeking, and other traits which are often valued in leadership and competitive environments, so higher scores may not necessarily reflect deviant or immoral behavior, but instead reflect more outgoing personality styles.

Leamur has a stronger preference for furniture over drugs than either Liberals or Conservatives:

Positive scores indicate a greater implicit preference for Drugs relative to Furniture, and negative scores indicate an implicit preference for Furniture relative to Drugs.

Your score appears in the graph below in green. The score of the average Liberal visitor to this site is shown in blue and the average Conservative visitor's score is shown in red.

[If I could digress for just a moment here: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAA!!!!! Cripes that's probably true. I am so effing OLD. OK, back to the graphs.]

Leamur is less Hedonistic and more Benevolent than you are. (But not more modest.)

The idea behind the scale is that there is an internal order and structure to values. Using various statistical techniques, Schwartz has found that the ten basic human values show a pattern of relationships... Political liberals have been found to endorse the "openness to change" values, while conservatives are more likely to endorse the "conservation" values."

The values are described by Schwartz as follows:
POWER: Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources
ACHIEVEMENT: Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards
HEDONISM: Pleasure or sensuous gratification for oneself
STIMULATION: Excitement, novelty, and challenge in life
SELF-DIRECTION: Independent thought and action - choosing, creating, exploring
UNIVERSALISM: Understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature
BENEVOLENCE: Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent personal contact
TRADITION: Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide
CONFORMITY: Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms
SECURITY: Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of self

That was fun. But seriously, this article about what this all means in the context of The Culture Wars in the U.S. is excellent reading and has the links in it to the fun & games above.

[Yes, Leamur really is making you click through to the article to get to the fun & games. Such a Puritan!]

"Growing your own food is like printing your own money."

Los Angeles:


Todmorden (Dafuq?!, you say? It's in England.):


A New York City apartment:

Maryland Public Television: Foster Care Stories

The program is interrupted at intervals by interviews with program administrators in Maryland, providing information about Maryland resources. The interruptions are a bit jarring (and repeats Kendra's story), but the information is worthwhile. The program originally aired 3 years ago, so the information isn't far out of date.

Watch Foster Care Stories: A Place to Be on PBS. See more from WMPB.

"Without hope you have no trust in anything or anyone."

This Op-Ed in the LA Times is well worth the read. This particularly stuck me: "...nearly 50% of all children who enter county foster care are 5 or younger."

Nearly 50 percent. Are 5 or younger.

I was talking to some coworkers recently about adoption and specifically, about adopting an older child out of foster care.

One coworker, married, has 2 beautiful young children, and her baby boy just turned 1 year old. She developed diabetes during the last month of her pregnancy. She was explaining how she had been telling her husband that she did not want to put her body through that again. She said if they want another child, they will adopt, but only a baby or toddler. She thinks that after that the children have been too affected, will be too hard to fit into the family.

The other coworker is still very young, still single. I think she basically agreed with the married lady, but also she was telling her that she understood my position, that the older kids need help, too. (I don't believe that it's too late to help them, too late to make a difference.)

But now I read this, I am armed for the next time it comes up: Nearly 50 percent. Are 5 or younger. They are not too old, to damaged already to become part of your family.

But me, I'll still want to help an older child.

Vance's View on Congress's Vacay

Here's that vid I couldn't post the other day:

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

A Place at the Table - Coming Soon

Opens March 1st at the E Street Ciname, showtimes not yet posted.

Take Part.

Jim Vance Speaks Out

On the Redskins' vulgar name:

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

I wish I could posted what he said last night, but it's not up yet. :/

Home Energy Improvement

Home installaton of solar panels:


Installing a home wind turbine:

You Say You Want a (Green) Revolution?

Watch Power Surge on PBS. See more from NOVA.

I am a Biohazard, and You Can Too!