I'm done with you, Consumerist.com

Consumerist.com made the outrageous, false, and inflammatory claim that irregardless is a real word. Dictionary.com also says this:
"Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so."

BOOOOooo, Consumerist.com

Seeing Things

I've seen some good things in the last few days. One was the Eels, who were great live. I was surprised that they were just two guys.

The second was a Smart car, which someone must have brought over here themselves. I think it's only in Europe right now. It was pretty tiny. And cool.

I almost busted up some cars in the downtown rush hour getting a picture to send to P, who is a tree hugger.

Garrison Keillor, Advice Columnist?

Sep 22, 1998 salon.com

Dear Mr. Blue,
I find I have no desire whatsoever to write, either creatively or otherwise. This makes it hard to meet girls in odd clothing or even to be invited out to events where people say unusual things. How does one break the news without offense to intellectual friends that he has not the slightest impulse to assemble words in long, long strings?
Mr. Black

Mr. Black, you are doing the right thing by refusing the call of literature, but why make a big announcement about it? Look authorly and tell those unusual girls that you're at work on a memoir about your troubled youth in the Sufi commune in Santa Fe and it is much too dark and grievous to discuss at a party, and let it go at that. People will respect your privacy and they will also accord you the blatant adulation that is the reward of every writer. To create a fiction about being a writer is an artistic act, and it is the surest way to meet a thrilling woman whose odd clothing suddenly falls from her tanned and sinuous shoulder as she puts her soft cheek against yours and whispers, "You are so beautiful and I am a fool for you. Meet me on the terrace, under the long, long strings of ivy, and tell me unusual things."

healthcare system in rwanda

i wonder what my friend m.s. thinks about this:

real information

i've been frustrated in following the '08 presidential campaign news because of the overall lack of information offered up by each candidate and the non-issues on which the media seems to focus.
this website is a really good tool for matching you up to the candidate who agrees with you the most on the issues you care about.
first, you give weight to different issues to designate which ones you care about, and to what extent. then, you are given positions on each issue to which you mark how much you agree or disagree.
the output is a % ranking of how much each candidate represents your positions. the ranking is based on those candidates' voting records and positions they have publicly taken on each issue.

enjoy!