Archive for May, 2011

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Volunteer from Home


21 May

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Posted in Technology | 2 Comments »

I love the new micro trends– micro-fiction, micro-payments, micro-lending and micro-volunteering. Micro-volunteering used to be running SETI@Home, or similar programs that used your computers power while you weren’t. I signed up for it early on and still love the concept.

Now, though, micro-volunteering has taken the next step with Sparked.com. At Sparked, you sign up indicating your interests and skills, then you look for challenges posted by charities- places where they need your help. A challenge takes a couple hours max.

No matter how busy you are, how hard is it to volunteer from the comfort of your computer chair?

Colleges and Credit Cards


20 May

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Posted in Finances, School | Comments Off

I remember being shocked last year, when I saw a college freshman’s student ID card was also a credit card- a regular Visa card that could be used anywhere, not just on campus. So I wasn’t too surprised by this thread about student loan money being given out on a credit card.

Colleges, especially state colleges, keep having their budgets cut, so they’re looking for money from everywhere, including credit card companies.

Do I think this is good for teenagers getting their first taste of freedom, not really, but the solution isn’t yelling at colleges, its teaching teenagers about credit.

MythBusters (ep 166)


19 May

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Posted in Mythbusters, Science, Technology, Television | Comments Off

I love tire spikes. However, I thought the point of spy car spikes was that they were concealable (not realistic, I know) and there’s no way Jamie’s spikes could have been hidden.

I liked that the stationary gun was confirmed. I’d bet that if Adam had a second round with it, one where he was already familiar with how it worked, he could get results very similar to the aimed gun.

 10 degrees is not that cold. You’re above 0. I did feel bad about the blizzard. But I loved that the spinning bullet was confirmed under the correct conditions.

The Voice (3)


18 May

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Posted in Music, Television | Comments Off

Watching The Voice is very different from watching American Idol for us in one very important aspect- we appear to be hearing the same performance as the judges/coaches.

 On Idol, there are performances we think are awful and that the judges love or vice versa. There are occasionally performances so far to one side of the spectrum or the other that we agree with the judges, but in general, if we enjoyed it, the judges will hate it.

 On The Voice, even on the close calls, we are managing to pick the same person to go through as the coaches.

Just watched: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief


17 May

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Posted in Movies | Comments Off

We watched Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief the other night. I happen to love both Sean Bean and Kevin McKidd, so it was great to see them as Zeus and Poseidon. It was a fun teenaged action adventure movie that we both enjoyed very much.

However, it did get my husband started on a rant about the tropes used in young adult literature. I didn’t have the same problem as I felt the story was meant as an introduction to Greek mythology, not something aimed at those of us who have been studying it for 20 years.

Sunday Nights


16 May

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Posted in Television | Comments Off

We are watching both Game of Thrones on HBO and The Killing on AMC on Sunday nights right now. It makes for a rather intense and depressing 2 hours of television. While they are very different shows, both are incredibly well acted, and I am invested in knowing what happens next. (I can’t say I’m enjoying them, as the stories are a little too dark for that word.)

However, it really does mean I need to find something fun and distracting to do before bed on Sunday nights, in order to avoid thinking of depressing subjects as I fall asleep.

The Voice (2)


15 May

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Posted in Music, Television | Comments Off

I know you’re expecting a roller derby post. I’m sorry. I missed the bout. I was in a plane flying across the country.

Watching the first of the battle rounds on The Voice, we had to wonder, shouldn’t they have built a save in there? What happens if you accidentally put up two amazing singers the first night? Possibly your strongest two singers, and you have to get rid of one of them? We wondered this especially about Adam Levine’s two. Is that part of the gamesmanship, of having the coaches compete against each other? That sucks for the singers.

I’ll still be here after the rapture


14 May

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Posted in Pets, Religion | 1 Comment »

There is a belief among some that one week from today, the rapture will occur. This might cause a dilemma if you are a devout Christian and animal lover who worries that your pets might not have a soul (and therefore won’t be taken with you).

Never fear, atheists are willing to come to the rescue. There are at least two different services who, for a fee, are willing to promise you that one of their network of non-Christian volunteers will come and get your pet, promising that it will be taken care of for the rest of its life.

Living the High Life on Less


13 May

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Posted in Finances, Home Ownership | Comments Off

This thread comes from an article about how to live a six-figure lifestyle on $30k/year. One thing this article does not address is cost of living. Nor, on his biggest purchase, does he offer definitions.

And it really is the housing purchase he talks about that gets to me. There are houses available in my neighborhood for $85k, when most of the houses average over $200k. But they are manufactured homes, or in such bad shape that you can’t move in right away, or they are tiny. That’s what I really want to know- how big is his “big home”?

MythBusters (ep 165)


12 May

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Posted in Mythbusters, Science, Television | Comments Off

I love it when they do a whole bunch of mini-myths, like the sound effect section with Adam and Jamie. It’s funny that they have to bring in an “expert” when it comes to the punches, as their expertise is with movie special effects. I guess special effects and sound effects guys don’t talk a lot.

Physics thought experiments are also fun.Newtonwas a genius, and you really wouldn’t believe how well his laws hold up to just about everything. However, I don’t think it ever occurred to him to take jet engines and flame resistant material into account.

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