I know the game was several days ago now, but I still wanted to throw ac couple of thoughts out there since it was Klinsmann’s first game and a rare appearance for a handful of the guys that played Wednesday night.
This post is a perfect example of the random, dumb crap I end up reading about as the result of one question of curiosity I ask myself. It also highlights the stupid stuff that gets argued over in Washington–as if we don’t have enough of that these days.
It started with my pondering dollar coins in the US and why they weren’t more popular. I knew they were available, but it didn’t seem they got any attention beyond novelty. I ended up at the wikipedia pages for the Coin Coalition and a gropu called Save the Greenback.
The Coin Coalition wants to phase out the use of pennies and dollar bills in favor of increased use of dollar coins. The group is backed by vending machine companies that want to decrease the maintenance costs associated with the dollar bill slots on the machines. Save the Greenback, backed by companies that produce the “paper” for dollar bills, obviously wants to continue the use of dollar bills.
Is it just me, or does it seem like this is a stupid thing to have large lobbies and advocacy groups for. With all of the major problems this country has, this seems so freakin trivial.
For what it’s worth, I agree with the Coin Coalition. Pennies annoy me and they’re what end up filling my pocket the most, and I’d personally prefer to have dollar coins instead of bills. Add to that the finding by the GAO in 2000 that full implementation of the dollar coin could save $500 million a year for the government.
So what does this all mean? Nothing except we devise stupid problems for us to argue over. That and maybe I’ll start my own little grassroots movement to expand the use of dollar coins in the country. Oh and most concretely, I find and waste time reading about dumb things when I fall down the wikipedia trap.
So I’m about a week into using Google+ and I have to admit that I’m a big fan, bordering on fanboidom. While everything is not perfect with the service, there is a whole lot that I really like so far.
If you didn’t watch the US Women defeat Brazil in the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals today you missed one of the most exciting victorious in US Soccer history, men’s or women’s. Just a couple of quick thoughts on the game.
If you haven’t heard yet, Google is wading it’s way into the social network scene with Google+. Find out more about the service here and check out this really cool Wired.com article on how the new venture was born.
Now, I’m totally geeked about G+. I’m not certain why since I don’t use Facebook near like I used to, but I’m giddy to get an invite (thanks to my brother for continuing to try to hook me up). I think part of what makes me want to use G+ is that it isn’t Facebook. No more Farmville or daily horoscope notifications from people is a really nice possibility.
As with many things in life, no one can express this sentiment better than XKCD can. Yes, they are that freakin’ smart and funny.
I’m a huge proponent of the seeming growing movement away from traditional internal combustion engines in cars toward alternative fuels, particularly electric vehicles. Like all burgeoning technologies, there are hurdles that have to be overcome to make the tech commercially viable which goes a long way towards making it widely available and accepted.
Researches at MIT may have hit on a discovery that could move us one step closer to electrics being more common than internal combustions. Apparently, they’ve invented a liquid lithium ion battery that is rechargeable or refillable, much cheaper, and much smaller than traditional EV batteries. Some of the primary problems with current EVs is that they batteries are too big to make the cars efficient, and recharging the batteries isn’t convenient enough.
I’m sure there are some problems with this new tech as well, which they didn’t highlight, but it sounds like a really cool step in the right direction.
The country seems to be progressively getting fatter. One thing that often gets blamed for our increasing waistlines is high fructose corn syrup, one of the most commonly used sweeteners in a lot of things these days, particularly soft drinks. There’s at least one corn growers association out there arguing that corn syrup is essentially the same as cane sugar and other natural sweeteners and is no more harmful on us.
Check out this article from Lifehacker for some pretty straightforward information on the differences between sugar and corn syrup. When it comes down to it eat glucose, not fructose, and try to eat fiber when you’re eating sugar. Read the article to understand that last bit. Pretty cool stuff.
After he allegedly raped her, Lorena Bobbitt cut of her husband’s penis and then threw it out the car window into a field as she was driving down the road.
A woman in Bangladesh, Monju Begum, decided to up her self-defense game when she cut off her alleged attacker’s offending appendage and gave it to the police down at the station as proof of his assault.
I have to wonder what the reaction of the officer that took her report was when she walked in an plunked a severed penis on the counter.
Coming off the debacle of a game against Spain I have to admit that I was really worried about our chances in the Gold Cup. The team that played last night looked nothing like what we saw last week. I recognize there is a different level of quality between the opponents, but the whole attitude of the US team was completely different. A couple of thoughts from the game. Continue reading
