While watching this I didn’t know whether to be impressed, shocked or annoyed.  In the end I found myself laughing.

Thanks to Sundar for the link.

This list has been surfacing on my Internet travels lately.  I like it.

How to Build Community

Turn off your TV
Leave your house
Know your neighbors
Look up when you are walking
Greet people
Sit on your stoop
Plant flowers
Use your library
Play together
Buy from local merchants
Share what you have
Help a lost dog
Take children to the park
Garden together
Support neighborhood schools
Fix it even if you didn’t break it
Have pot lucks
Honor elders
Pick up litter
Read stories aloud
Dance in the street
Talk to the mail carrier
Listen to the birds
Put up a swing
Help carry something heavy
Barter for your goods
Start a tradition
Ask a question
Hire young people for odd jobs
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share
Ask for help when you need it
Open your shades
Sing together
Share your skills
Take back the night
Turn up the music
Turn down the music
Listen before you react to anger
Mediate a conflict
Seek to understand
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this.

Um - ya.

Sometimes I’ve thought what would I do if I ever had millions of dollars.  Things like yachts and sprawling mansions never come to mind.  I usually imagine myself being a philanthropist (building schools) and traveling with my family (like to China or Prague).  Sometimes I imagine a really nice watch.

Today I saw something on Boing Boing that would the millioniare Will would purchase in a heart beat.  An ancient Roman D20.  Honestly, it’s way under valued at 18 grand.

Our friend Reni gave me a tip on this bee swarm happening in her front yard so I rode my bike over there to take some photos. She wasn’t kidding.

In her front yard, in small tree is was a 12-16″ long mad pile of up honey bees. I was a little nervous taking photos with all of them buzzing around me and never could get up the courage to get too close and steady for some great macros but I managed to snap a few with one arm extended.

I’ve never seen anything like this.

UPDATE: Reni reports that sometime between 1-2 pm today they all left.

Dawn and I are puzzled over the socks she had to wear going into surgery. I have several theories but am interested if anyone knows for sure why there are holes in these socks. And I should note that we’re pretty certain the instructions were to NOT put her toes through the holes.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to dig out my car in order to leave the house. I drove to the office today to pick up some gear and there was no one out expect for guys in pickups with snow plows attached. And you’d be surprised at how many of those guys there are in a small Midwestern town. In Seattle it’s cars with ski and snowboard racks. Here’s it’s pickups with plows.

I need to get to know some of these guys with plows, so that we don’t have to dig out three feet of snow from the end of our driveway (thanks Dawn) with a plastic shovel.

On one hand I am looking forward to some warmer weather. Mainly so I can start biking again. On the other hand I never get tired of fresh snow. In fact I’m wishing for one more big dump before Spring.

Since we don’t have cable or TV reception we’re a year or so behind on shows. Usually we don’t find out about them until they hit Netflix or friends. Flight of the Conchords recently showed up on our radar and I’m curious if anyone has watched this and what they think.

After I watched this video I added season 1 to my Netflix queue.

I haven’t seen The Kingdom yet (it comes out on HD-DVD next week and is sitting in my Netflix queue), but I caught this clip of the opening credits on YouTube.

I’m not assuming The Kingdom is anything more than an action thriller, but the opening credits are an impressive mini-documentary on US-Arab relations over the past seventy years. Impressive in creativity and style, as well as a very succinct explanation for the shit we’re in now.

A totally bizarre and entertaining look at growing a beard by dubstyle as posted on Flickr.