With Apologies to TINA

America goes from Alaska to Argentina, we are just so self centered as to not have an actual adjective.

Looks like I won one heart and mind.

Cool Service at Lowe's

I was checking out after getting a new fridge for the condo, and saw something really cool. Because the unit was a floor sample, I had to check out at the customer service desk to get the immense price reduction. Up there, I noticed multi-lingual signs -- not just English/Spanish -- which is de rigeur at home improvement stores -- but also Russian, French and what I thought was Korean. Pretty cool, eh?

But that's not all. They have a service called Language Line, that will translate dozens of other languages, including Gujarati, Hindi and Bhojpuri. That's pretty amazing. I don't know how useful it is to Lowe's in terms of attracting business, but I'm more likely to go there just because I know they have it.

No Rhyme or Meter, but Poetry Nonetheless

YOU HATERS OF ANOTHERS THOGHTS ARE BITCHES. I KNOW NONE OF YOU GET SEX. I KNOW NONE OF YOU LIFT WEIGHTS. I KNOW NONE OF GOT MONEY. I KNOW NONE OF YOU GOT A LIFE. WHAT KIND OF BITCH CRIES ABOUT CAPS? THIS FORUM IS FOR FOLLOWERS. B!TCHES WHO CO SIGNS ONEANOTHERS THOUGHTS. @#%$ SUCKERS IF YOU WILL. I WOULD LOVE TO VISIT YOU B!TCHES DOWN IN YOUR RED NECK ,COUNTRY, FARMING PART OF ILLINOIS. BUT YOU ARE YELLOW BACK COWARDS. I AM A REAL MAN WITH REAL THINGS TO SAY. YOU WHO HATED ON ME ARE ALL @#%$ SUCKING, DADDYFCKING,COWARD ASS,CAPS OFF BITCHES. YOU CANT KICK ME OFF THIS FORUM I CHOOSE TO LEAVE. GO SUCK NICK SMITHS @#$@ AND TELL HIM HE'S GOOD. YOUR IN LOVE WITH SKINNY ASS WHITE BOYS WHO GET BEAT DOWN. YOU MUST HATE BIG BLACK MEN DOWN LOW. YOU ALL ARE FAKE ASS FANS. THATS WHY YOUR ALL LIVING LIKE YOU DO. YOU LOSERS. DONT EVEN RESPOND B$TCHES. IM GONE. IM GOING TO COME DOWN THERE AND @#%$ YOUR DREAM GIRLS YOU HILLBILLIES.

Mind Blowing...

article on the Dharavi slum in Mumbai.

It is an aerial view of Dharavi, considered Asia's biggest shantytown, two square km (0.8 square miles) of open sewers, muddy lanes and ramshackle tenements that is home to almost a million people. But strip away its squalid veneer and Dharavi bares a unique entrepreneurial spirit, and multi-million dollar micro-businesses, that breaks all the stereotypes of a slum.

Capitalism is a hell of a drug.

Bad Dot

Well, it's happened.  An Indian-American has been revealed to be a giant douchebag*.




*Dinesh D'Souza and Ramesh Ponnuru excepted, of course.

Mac Rumors leaks iPhone Sales Training

manual.

Jessica Biel is

the number one hottest thing in Hollywood, a fact proven by the linked post over at What Would Tyler Durden Do. She looks hot in a robe and a towel on her hair taking out the trash.

Woah -- Punjabi Mexican Americans?

Sepia Mutiny has a really interesting post on intermarriage between Punjabis (South Asians from the Punjab region) and Mexican women in the early 1900s. This is absolutely fascinating to me. And there's even a book about it. I guess I'll put in on my list.

Bamboo Flooring

We just ordered flooring samples for the house. We are probably going to go with bamboo because of its hardness, aesthetic and because it is an environmentally responsible choice. "Environmentally, it’s hard to argue with a wood-substitute that matures in three years, regenerates without need for replanting, and requires minimal fertilization or pesticides." Bamboo is also thought of as quite a luxurious surface by folks in India, because it provides a warmth missing in a place where many floors are marble or granite.

Another option for us is FSC-certified wood. This wood is more like the standard and exotic species more commonly used in the US. But the wood comes from trees harvested sustainably.

Finally, a third option is a hybrid approach. Weyerhauser has come up with a flooring system made from fast-growing eucalyptus trees. "Lyptus® Eucalyptus trees are grown on plantations certified to Brazil’s national sustainable forestry standard, CERFLOR. This standard has been mutually recognized by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), an international organization that endorses credible sustainable forestry programs." This looks like a promising alternative in a reasonable price range.

Teen Tests Internet's Lewd Track Record

OK, so I admit, even I fount it somewhat creepy. But I thought it was all in good fun.