Author Archive: Paul Epps

Microwave Instructions

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“There are no microwave instructions,” my son says, looking over a frozen pizza box. I say, “You want microwave instructions? Put it in the oven and turn it on. Aren’t those pretty much the microwave instructions for anything?” Read more →

You Better Believe It

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These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views–but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades. — Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, ‘Un-American’ attacks can’t derail health care debate   The “facts” to which they refer turn out to be not facts at all but representations about the glories of ObamaCare: “Health insurance reform will mean more patient choice. . . . Reform will mean stability and peace of mind for the middle class. . . . Reform will mean affordable coverage for all Americans. . . . Reform will also mean higher-quality care.” What, you don’t believe it? You better believe it, or you’re un-American. — Best of the Web Today Read more →

Polite Acerbity

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I am learning to bring into [my voice] that polite acerbity that makes people feel that far from being welcome they are not even tolerated and are under continual and scathing analysis at every moment. — F. Scott Fitzgerald Read more →

Twitter: 2009-08-09

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RT @paulandstorm: [S] A proper diet is half the battle: Upper GI Joe. # RT @diablocody: I used to think grownups automatically knew how to take care of themselves. Flash-forward to my squalid adulthood. # "I'm sorry but business is business." #usefulphrases # "You ought to have thought of that before you got into this trouble." #usefulphrases # "I'm not the person to see about that." #usefulphrases # Read more →

Twitter: 2009-08-05

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What's better on a hot summer afternoon — iced tea or lemonade? Thanks to Arnold Palmer, I don't have to choose! # "AA can only help weak people because their ego is strengthened by the group. I was never a joiner." — F. Scott Fitzgerald # Read more →

Helping the White House Keep an Eye on Things

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From the White House Blog: Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to “uncover” the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions. There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care.  These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation.  Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov. Right. There’s no informed opposition to health insurance reform, only “scary chain emails” and “disinformation” traveling “just below the surface,” whatever that means. It all sounds very sinister though, so as agents of the government, we are encouraging all… Read more →

Carbon Emissions Reduction, Biden Style

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There is a permanently restricted area of airspace to the NW of the [Wilmington, Delaware] airport, around [VP Joe] Biden’s weekend house. The airport gets shut down every time Biden commutes home at taxpayer expense. What kind of plane does Biden, a tireless advocate of reduced carbon emissions (source), use for the 15-minute flight from D.C.? “Boeing 757,” was the report from the ramp. “You wonder how the government can criticize private companies for using light jets when they themselves ride solo in the back of a 757.” [Note: the shortest version of the Boeing 757 can hold up to 234 passengers plus a crew of at least 7 (source).] — Philip Greenspun Read more →

Twitter: 2009-08-01

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"Clean and sober Andy Dick ready to invade O.C." http://bit.ly/lGfMb #bottomstoriesoftheday # CPK now lists calories on the menus. Suicide! Even the salads are over 1000! # RT @diablocody: Intrigued by full-service "dental spa." Tired of making separate trips for tooth bleaching and anal bleaching. # Read more →

Overheard

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HER: You don’t sleep enough. You need to go to bed earlier. You know what’s the secret to my youthful appearance? HIM: Telling people what to do every minute? Read more →

Music is a Universal Language

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Don’t let the “science” and “pentatonic scale” stuff scare you off watching this. Think of it as “A Remarkable Demonstration of Music as a Universal Language.” Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus”, from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009. Read more →

The Capitalists Failed Us

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There are some things that one just didn’t do. That’s the way I was brought up. It’s not gray; it was black and white. Now the ethical standard seems to be if everybody else is doing it, I can do it too. Carry that over into the banking. Everybody else is doing these funny loans and having earnings grow faster, building up their margins, leveraging those margins. The more leverage A gets, the more leverage B feels inclined to get. So the system fed on itself and drove bankers to making decisions that they, presumably, should have known better than to make. I don’t blame government for this. I was at a meeting of CEOs, even though I haven’t been to one for quite a while, and someone asked me to sum up the morning. This was a bunch of bankers and other CEOs. They said, what do you think… Read more →

Silicon Valley Jobless Quit Tech

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SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Jobless workers in Silicon Valley are giving up on the region’s dominant technology industry and trying to switch to other fields, as the area’s unemployment rate spikes above the national and state average. Silicon Valley’s unemployment rate — which was below California’s average and largely tracked the national average last year — has soared, surpassing the state average in May. By June, the area’s unadjusted unemployment rate was 11.8%, worse than California’s 11.6% and the national rate of 9.7%, according to the latest figures from California’s Employment Development Department. Many of the jobless techies are targeting new gigs in the clean-energy or health-care industries . . . Some are shifting even further afield, looking for jobs in teaching or financial consulting. People are leaving tech as “more tech companies are offshoring and some are shrinking, plus people are burned out and tired from having been there and… Read more →

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