Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Information Overload

I need to go on a diet. My information intake is tremendous. It hit me today that I'm overdoing it. I check tons of newsites each day. I'm on nearly a dozen mailing lists. My cell phone rings incessantly.

What this adds up to, is that I get home from work, and I get nothing done. Or at least, not as much as I could/should.

My name is Badger, and I'm an information junkie.

I've seriously got to trim the fat. Just checking my news site list takes me a couple of hours a night. Burning through my inbox is a neverending chore, I almost don't want to check it.

What I need to do now, is go through my information sources and ruthlessly cut them out of my life. My delicious, wonderful info sources.

Too much interesting content. Too much going on. Too much to keep tabs on.

Anyone out there have any good advice on where to start?

Monday, August 29, 2005

I'm not much on alarmism...

But check this out. I haven't done much blogging on the economic side of things, as I'm completely unqualified for that sort of thing. However, I consider myself fairly proficient at basic math, like addition and subtraction.

So follow my math here:
  Housing bubble will possibly burst next spring
  Oil prices continue to rise (Thanks Katrina!)
  Unsecured consumer debt is at an all-time high
+ Banks to double the minimum payments on credit cards in Oct.
------------------------------------------------------
A Really Ugly Situation


See? I'm not too terrible at math. You just gotta know when to carry the twelve.

I can't forecast the markets, I'm just a normal joe, but it's a bit worrisome.

My advice is: get your stuff in order. I'm getting an ugly vibe, and I've been my luckiest when following my nose. Build up some savings. Make some preparations. I don't mean digging out an underground bunker and hoarding consumables, but expect some serious economic distress to come down within the year. If you're overextended in your spending, make some changes. If your investments are starting to smell funny, think about moving them into a more secure vehicle.

No one's paying me to say this, I have absolutely no incentive to share this stuff.

Preparing for the worst can't hurt. I've got 10 bucks that says it's gonna get ugly in about 6 months.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Blogger hacks are keen.

Google is such a force for evil. My comments are now poppable. It's keen.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

If you've ever liked Vincent Price...

Go rent The Last Man on Earth.

Mr. Price survives a worldwide plague that wipes out the human race and turns them into zombies/vampires. His old friends and dead wife stumble to his door at sundown, calling his name: "Morgan... Come out... Come out!" All that's left for the last man on earth is to turn up his record player, and hope the mirrors and garlic he's hung around his boarded-up house hold out.

Bleak at best, the film is less optimistic about the fate of us puny humans than 28 Days Later, and has an ending that tastes like the end of Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

Good stuff. While some of the dialogue is weak, and the science is hokey ("Perhaps that bite from that vampire bat has made me immune to this plague!") the mood is wonderfully apocalyptic.

It's like watching Night of the Living Dead, only with less chicks screeching and freaking out.

Sidenote: This is supposedly an adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel "I Am Legend." Anyone read it? Any good?

Bye.

Woo!

Yay! SortaRunnerGuy has decided to post semi-regularly!

Yet another innocent victim of the blog meme.

The great part is, whether you like it or not, he's smarter than you. It sucks. Sucks big time.

http://halfamonth.blogspot.com/

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Stop what you're doing,

and read this Right Now.

That is, if you read comics, write comics, draw comics, or have ever been remotely interested in comics and their distribution.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

The Escapist

One more thing. Thought that gaming and writing were mutually exclusive talents?

Maybe you were wrong.

My new favorite site:

http://www.ssiworld.com/watch/watch-en.htm

I don't know about you, but I could watch this stuff all day.

In other news? My daughter has been swimming more than walking lately.

Finished Transmetropolitan. Warren Ellis is a whacked, whacked man.

Went to the comic shop today. It was a mixed experience. I got League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 1. They were flooded (burst pipe) earlier this week, so all their new stuff on the shelves was destroyed. In some ways it was an improvement.

Do yourself a favor and look over these essays on self-publishing by Dave Sim:

http://www.amptoons.com/howto/sim/index.html#self

Good day to you.