Geeky Chic

I never thought that I’d say this, but, finally, a laudible use of RFIDs.

A recent SSRD post
forces me to ponder, instead of closing down parishes or allowing dioceses to  declare
bankruptcy to pay for the the abuse cases, perhaps the Catholic Church
should let its famous, rock star level clerics endorse products
again?  I remember with Pope John Paul II toured Mexico City a few
years back, they sold “Papas Fritas” in honor of his visit.  More
merch, more merch!

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There’s this eternal internal debate about whether I grew up poor. And
I think that answer is no.  Sure, I did not have money for braces,
and my mom went into considerable debt to send me to debate camp, of
all kooky things, but at least debate camp was on the radar, and my
grandmother subsidized my J. Crew habit back then.  It was always
about feeling less well off than my relatives.

Then again, the Chronicle points out what it takes to eek out a living in the Bay Area:

The figure that it takes for the single parent surprises me since my
mom’s income when I was in high school and college was less than my
tuition and board at Hopkins.

No, I still contend that I was lucky.

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Edit: I just visited Technorati because my referrer log showed that I had a hit from the search for “Folsom.”  I didn’t realize that Technorati now includes tagged flikr feeds in its search results.  Neato!

TK will point out that I haven’t engaged in any generational navel gazing in a while, but these two projections from a  Times piece on hotels
who attempt to cater to Boomers and Gen X make me feel a tad ancient
(for I associate business travellers with men with paunches, rumbled
suits, and tassled shoes):

•  Gen Xers will be the “majority of the business travel segment” in two years, when the oldest of them start turning 42.
• Bjorn Hanson, head of the hospitality practice at
  PricewaterhouseCoopers, predicts that this year, for the first time,
  they [Gen Xers] will spend more per capita on business trips than baby boomers do.

Funny, with the rise of Gen Y, the prognositicators said that we’d lose
all of our influence over the market (and for the most part they were
right in the late 90s, that’s how we got Britney and the boy
bands).  But perhaps, we are pushing the tide back as we’ve
shrugged off slackerdom for yuppiedom (as evidenced by one of my
friends who shared her plastic laundry bag of Bliss shampoo/lotion/conditioner loot from her stay in Seattle this week).

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Edit: I don’t want to make light of Hurricane Rita, but I spoke with a
friend in Houston, and her only complaints, thus far were the traffic
snarls and the probable loss of electricity over the weekend (my other
Houstonian amiga fled to Austin).  To extend the metaphor only to
traffic, SF will have its very own hurricane
this weekend, the confluence of a war protest, Love Parade, the Folsom
Street Fair, and four other huge events.  Get out your walking
shoes.

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Edit II: Ew, I didn’t know that they’ve applied eminent domain to patents.

This story regarding a stolen cellphone (by way of BoingBoing)
reminds me of one of my clients from the PD office.  I had to file a
motion to throw out the evidence because it was obtained through an
illegal search and seizure.  The police found crack rocks hidden
up her, uhm, rectum, and they had no basis for knowing that she kept it
there.

Oh, wait, I’m trying to remember; didn’t they pull this stunt in Jackass: The Movie (yes, I watched it in trash-topia, Ann Arundel)?

Ugh, SSRD, just sent me this link that discusses this horrible NYT article
regarding Ivy League women, and the “in 10 years, I want to be a mommy
or a CEO” mentality.  *Sigh*  This feels like Wellesley in
the 50s. This excerpt struck me the most:

If you’re going to give up your law career, why do it for babies?  There are plenty of better things…

I know that this is still up for debate, but this link on global warming from /. is hella scary folks.

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I’m also had a bizarre dinner with my father, his new(ish) wife, and
their baby Greta, yesterday.  He brought some friends along, and
they turned out to be my childhood neighbors, and the parents of a girl
with whom I went to grade school.  The father dutifully brought
his kids lunch every single day, so, when I met them at dinner, my
father’s friend was shocked, “This is your daughter?  How come we
never saw you [my dad] at the school?”  I answered for him, “He
wasn’t around.”

My father is supposed to struggling and everything, so I have no idea where he got the money for a $400 maclaren stroller.  I guess it’s the standard for fobs and yuppies alike?

Gross out link of the week (stolen from AG).  There seems to be a lot of disrespect for dead people this week.

Oh, how the tide has turned, Salon has two contrasting montages of the media’s approach
to the Hurricane Coverage; last week’s reporters going beserk at the
sight of human suffering, and this week’s spin away from Bush. 
Bill O’Reilly’s use of the deaths and suffering in New Orleans as an example of why
you should work hard and not rely on the government makes me want to
punch someone.

And what did the head of FEMA look forward to after being sacked?  A burrito:

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In case Imitation of Christ’s association with Chloe Sevigny isn’t enough to earn your disdain, may this new frock referencing this corpse be sufficient. God, I hate hipsters.

BB link of the week, Rolling Stone is printing Hunter S. Thompson’s suicide note: