Killing Me Softly with His Blog

"The observant among you will probably be aware that the white person wet dream 'Be Kind, Rewind' is about to be released. This might be the biggest event in white person film since The Royal Tenenbaums."

--From #68 (Michel Gondry) in the list of Stuff White People Like from the blog, "Stuff White People Like"

Oh Heavenly God, I am so white! It's like the writer knows my innermost thoughts, feelings, and desires.

If this can't keep you late at work...

...taking advantage of that sweet sweet T3 line, I don't know what can: it's Audiotuts' 240 Free Albums, Tracks and Links for Music Mashup Lovers.

I'm sorry, and you're welcome.

Western Spaghetti

Behold one of the many brilliant and twisted films of PES:

Not Going to Lie

“I’m not going to lie: I used to smoke crack in there,” said one homeless woman, Veronyka Cordner, nodding toward the toilet behind Pike Place Market. “But I won’t even go inside that thing now. It’s disgusting.”

-- "Seattle’s Automated Toilets Go Way of the Box and Chain, New York Times, 17 July 2008

Wearing the Bacon Colors

Eyes on the prize, originally uploaded by nonesuch.

"I see bacon as a celebration of an American birthright. Four slices of Hormel Black Label, hissing in a cast iron skillet on a Sunday morning. To wear the bacon colors, to sport a bacon tattoo, is to announce your belief in the possibilities of bacon, in the American goodness rendered by a low-on-the-hog meat, transmogrified by smoke and salt."

- John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance

There are so many good, gleefully tasty nuggets in that quote, I can hardly stand it.

"Hormel Black Label."
Bacon: the meat that's "low on the hog."
"Wear the bacon colors."
"Belief in the possibilities of bacon."

Here's a link to the article, Bacon Mania, in Salon. John T. Edge is quoted in #7. I recommend the article for entertaining reading, even if you are not inspired to get a bacon tattoo. Full of good writing and information. There I learned that "Anthony Bourdain has called bacon the 'gateway protein' for its astounding ability to lure vegetarians back to the carnivorous fold." Good stuff.

The Downside

Downside of living alone #1:
When you cut your finger real bad, you're the one who has to clean up the blood with your bandaged hand.

So Corny, It's Got to Be Good

Click & Clack's As the Wrench Turns: "Campaign; Outsourcing"
Wednesday, July 9, 8:00 p.m. on WQED.

Setting the DVR now.

Robert Rodriguez Teaches You to Cook in Ten Minute Segments

How sexy is this?!?

10 minute cooking school Sin City breakfast tacos

Crazy sexy. Especially when he says, "Get some low-fat cooking spray... naaah, just kidding -- use butter." Ooh. Talk about sinful... you're killing me softly with your song, honey.

Amazon Subscribe & Save

Here is my shill/tip of the day:

Use Amazon's Subscribe & Save program.

By subscribing, you can get Olay Regenerist Night for $14.58 (which certainly meets or beats the lowest sale prices I've seen locally). In some subscription categories there's a plethora of products to choose from; in others there are just a few products or the products are only available in bulk -- I noticed this particularly for toothpastes. I don't want to commit to a specific toothpaste for the length of time it would take me to go through a 4-pack of big tubes. As a result, this Subscribe & Save progam doesn't work for all my toiletry needs.

When I find a product I want that's eligible for the Subscribe & Save program, I sign up for the longest possible interval between deliveries. (Delivery schedule: 1 unit once every 6 months.)

Then, when I need more, there's a page I can use ("Manage Your Subscribe & Save Items") where I see the following information for each product for which I have a subscription:

• Last ship date: June 18, 2008
• Estimated order placement date: December 18, 2008
• To skip the currently scheduled shipment but still receive the following shipment, click Skip this shipment.
• Running low already? click Send your next shipment now.

So if I'm running low on moisturizer, I click "Send your next shipment now" and the moisturizer arrives at my office door in about a week or so. On the same page I can cancel the subscription altogether by making it inactive.

Amazon says that the Subscribe & Save program is in "beta" mode, which is probably why it is not super visible on their site:

"In addition to being the second letter in the Greek alphabet, the word beta is also often used to describe a project or process that is being tested. With that in mind, we'd like to introduce you to a new program we call Subscribe & Save. During this beta phase we'll be making more products available for subscription ordering and gathering input from customers like you to ensure Amazon.com provides the best possible experience for online shopping.

"Even though Subscribe & Save is in beta, our program is completely functional, so feel free to browse our selection of eligible products and place new subscription orders through Subscribe & Save. But be sure to come back often, as we'll only be making our new program better.

Once it's out of beta mode, I hope it will have more options. I love the idea. The 15% discount and free shipping are awesome.

A "bit" difficult

For some reason it was harder than I thought it should be to find a chart that would tell me which size of drill bit to use for a particular screw (in my case, a #6 wood screw). Therefore, when I finally found a chart here, I decided to reproduce it on my blog for my convenience and the enjoyment of anyone reading. (Hi, Mom?)

  Screw Gage    Shank    Shank     Pilot     Pilot
   Number        Hole    Size      Soft Wd   Hard Wd
       0         1/16    .060      1/64      1/32
       1         5/64    .073      1/32      1/32
       2         3/32    .086      1/32      3/64
       3         7/64    .099      3/64      1/16
       4         7/64    .112      3/64      1/16
       5         1/8     .125      1/16      5/64
       6         9/64    .138      1/16      5/64
       7         5/32    .151      1/16      3/32
       8         11/64   .164      5/64      3/32
       9         3/16    .177      5/64      7/64
      10         3/16    .190      3/32      7/64
      11         13/64             3/32      1/8
      12         7/32    .216      7/64      1/8
      14         1/4     .242      7/64      9/64
      16         17/64   .268      9/64      5/32
      18         19/64   .294      9/64      3/16
      20         21/64   .320      11/64     13/64