“Over two years, the iPhone 3G will cost $160 more over the original iPhone. This includes the unlimited data plan plus the additional $5 SMS plan you need to get to match the original’s 200 included messages.”

— IPhone 3G: iPhone 3G’s True Price Compared

“The arguments for eating less meat are myriad and well-publicized, but at the moment they’re irrelevant, because what I want to address here is (almost) purely pragmatic: How do you do it?”

— The Minimalist - Putting Meat in Its Place - NYTimes.com

“Passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity,” TSA said in a policy statement. “This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers.”

— TSA to let polite terrorists fly without ID

“I might have been over-intellectualizing this, but I worried that drinking bottled water would only contribute to an insidious trend. It was becoming normal to pay high prices for things that used to cost little, or nothing. Such as television reception (now we have expensive cable). Or basic telephone service (now we have cell phones). The shifting baseline means that instead of collectively fighting problems-such as bad service or bad quality-we accept them and move on: to the private sector. The city of Baltimore, after fifteen years of trying to remove lead from public schools’ water fountains, in 2007 gave up and switched to coolers of bottled water.”

— Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It | AlterNet

I find this terribly ironic… A weak economy and people are buying more TVs?  Even if they are “cheaper” than the alternatives, you’re still buying a TV.

“

Fact: The probability that a Ph.D. recipient under 35 will obtain a tenure-track job has fallen from 10% in 1993 to 7% in 2003.

Seven percent.

Unfortunately, these numbers just don’t add up to my satisfaction… So what’s going on?
Fact: The probability that a Ph.D. recipient under 35 will obtain a tenure-track job has fallen from 10% in 1993 to 7% in 2003.

Seven percent.

Unfortunately, these numbers just don’t add up to my satisfaction… So what’s going on?

”

— With Honors. Without Options? | Wired Science . Correlations | PBS

“Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime
Where we’re working in a mine for our robot overlords
Did I say overlords?
I meant protectors.”

— Jonathan Coulton - Chiron Beta Prime