Innovation like this could very well be what saves the economy, and the planet.

This may be my very first Not Safe For Work (NSFW) link, but if this isn't an economic indicator, I don't know what is. Again, it's NSFW.

Costco Reviews

So apparently a while ago, as a spoof, I came up with these "true testimonials" of Costco shoppers. Having found them over a year later, I think they're pretty funny, and though I have no memory of writing them, I'm going to repost them here.

Actual Testimonials of Costco Shoppers

"The sales got me so hot, I had to pour McDonald's coffee in my lap to cool off!" -Anna Q. Pendleton

"Finally, we have an answer to the question: Where Would Jesus Shop?" -Mike Huckabee

"Costco is SO great that not recognizing it would make Santa Claus himself vomit in rage" -Hershel Bartlet

"It was always my dream to create a fantastic play, and with Costco's help, I'm making it happen! Who knew you could buy monkeys AND typewriters in 4,000-packs at the same store?" -Arthur D. Miller

"As a smoking hot woman, I found this store to be so impressive I'd seriously consider making out with any guy I saw shopping there" -Jessica Peterson

"I was lonely, so I started hanging out at Costco hoping to find a wife--and wouldn't you know it, I found three! That's Costco for you..." -Mitt Romney

"Costco and the Dalai Lama can combine to form the perfect store...and the Dalai Lama." -Chuck Norris

"You go to a neighbor when you need a cup of something. You go to the corner when you need a pint of something. You go to the grocery store for a gallon of something. But Costco...Costco is where you go when you need a crate full of boxes full of 3-packs of something. And for me, today, that something was vacuum cleaners. Thanks, Costco!" -Samantha Hirsch

My BurgerMap

www.awesomeopolis.com/burgermap

BurgerMap Philly is here! Around 40 Philadelphia burger-serving locations rated and reviewed by yours truly on a color-coded Google map. This is an idea I've had for a while, but only recently got to work on. Right now it's a Beta version in the sense that I'm still playing around with it, and also in the sense that I don't have nearly enough burgers rated.

Comments? Suggestions? Suggestions for future burgers to rate? Disagreements? Post them here.

I have the feeling I'd be MUCH better at meeting women if this technology existed. Largely because my competition would plummet, but also because I think I'd get reasonably favorable reviews.

Does anyone else find strange humor in the fact that, to save money, the University of Washington Communications Department has eliminated individual telephone land-lines for faculty members?

This is a pretty cool picture.

My Neighbors

In lieu of hearing my opinions, read this (Too Poor to Make the News), or even just part of it. If you're too lazy, it's a New York Times guest piece written about how invisible the poorest Americans have become.

The media is flushed with stories of rich and middle class people who have fallen from grace, but the working poor are losing their jobs and homes in disproportionately greater numbers as they crowd into trailers and tiny apartments and sleep on the streets. They're hard to count, hard to see, and are becoming invisible, but there's almost 40 million of them, more than 1 out of every 10 Americans, and when designing policy or making donations or arguing around the watercooler, it's important not to forget them. The gap between the middle class and the uber-rich may be shrinking a bit, but the gap between the middle class and the poorest certainly isn't as their standard of living falls to third-world levels. Unharnessed economic potential and millions of families hang in the balance as we argue about Main Street and Wall Street...but the streets aren't just places of business. They're homes and beds to far too many.

[Incidentally, this kind of makes me mad at John Edwards...he was in a prime position to help these people and do something about it--more than just handouts and stopgaps--and he had great ideas and energy, and then he screwed it all up...it's not just his own life and marriage on his shoulders. Am I crazy, or do others feel like he let a lot of people down too?]

This guy is a great FML waiting to happen, and so is the next guy who breaks into the first guy's car.

Lilly, on the subject of children, before she started learning how to drive: “So cute!”

Lilly, on the subject of children, while taking driving lessons: “they are darting, dashing, short and completely oblivious fractions of people.”

HoagieFest

I'm really excited for HoagieFest 2009. In fact, I am immediately endorsing this Fest. Read about it here at Awesomeopolis.

This comic has a rather xkcd quality to it.

This one, from the same series, is something I've always thought but never had the time or courage to put into comic form.