Folbot Citibot, Bagged
If you like adventure, exploration, freedom, water, and cool stuff, you need to get yourself a Folbot folding kayak. There aren’t many things I like more than my Five Fingers, but my Folbots are definitely one of them. The picture above is a Citibot in a backpack. It weighs about 30lbs, and is extraordinarily easy to transport. Here’s what it looks like in action: (Continued)
I’ve been very busy recently migrating an e-commerce site to a new shopping cart and host, so I thought I’d post a few recommendations related to hosting, shopping carts, and domains. If you want to have a website, you’ll need a domain (www.site.com), a “host” to place your site’s content on, and if you want to sell products you’ll need a shopping cart.
Getting a domain is very easy, and very cheap, although different domain “registrars” charge different amounts. Your best bet is probably to register new domains through GoDaddy. You can use GoDaddy to find out if the domain you want is available for sale. If you’re unable to find an unregistered/available domain at GoDaddy, you can try to buy a domain you like from the current owner, or browse lists of domains for auction at a place like NameJet. Once you’ve got your domain, you need a host for your content.
All hosts are NOT equal, by any stretch of the imagination. Many of them belong in the crapper, and plenty should be flushed down the toilet for good. I’ve used 7 different hosting companies over the last few years, and can only recommend two: Dreamhost is great for hobby sites you’re not that concerned with…not trying to make money with. They’re very cheap, set up is extremely easy, and there are plenty of “one click installs” for everything from WordPress to photo galleries. This site is hosted on Dreamhost, for example. BUT, Dreamhost isn’t known for reliability. Your site will go down from time to time with Dreamhost, and there is no customer service number…only email support.
If you’re looking for a solid host with99.9% uptime, able to handle bursts of traffic, sustained high levels of traffic, 24/7 customer service, etc., go with Pair. They’re WAY more expensive than Dreamhost, and don’t have all the one click installs and such, but they’re solid.
I’ve used a few different shopping carts. If you’re looking for something free, there are plenty of options, from OSCommerce to ZenCart. DO NOT go with companies like Network Solutions, where one company is your host and shopping cart, and offers you little to no control over either your hosting or cart. This may seem like the easiest option from the start, but stay away! Network Solutions is a horrible company for all that they “provide”. My recommendation for a really nice and completely customizable cart is Interspire. No cart is perfect, including Interspire, but it’s the best I’ve seen…and I’ve seen a lot of them.
So if you want to throw up a quick site or blog, GoDaddy and Dreamhost are a good combination. If you want a more reliable host for a high traffic site, you can still register a domain with GoDaddy, but choose Pair as your host. You won’t be disappointed!
I was sad to hear that David Carradine, who played Kwai Chang Caine in the 70′s “Kung Fu” series (and also starred in both “Kill Bill” movies), died last Thursday. Although I own all three seasons of “Kung Fu”, I’ve never met David Carradine, so my sadness quickly turned to a combination of curiosity and amazement over the manner of his death: He was found in his hotel room closet with rope tied around his neck and genitals, which he apparently did himself…but NOT to commit suicide. Very strange.
After reading a couple of articles on his death, I made a new discovery. There are people who like to strangle themselves for enjoyement. It’s called “erotic asphyxiation“. I hope David Carradine died a “happy” man.
The last Paul Krugman column, Reagan Did It, blames Reagan for the current financial crisis due to his signing the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act and deregulation:
Reagan-era legislative changes essentially ended New Deal restrictions on mortgage lending — restrictions that, in particular, limited the ability of families to buy homes without putting a significant amount of money down…There’s plenty of blame to go around these days. But the prime villains behind the mess we’re in were Reagan and his circle of advisers — men who forgot the lessons of America’s last great financial crisis, and condemned the rest of us to repeat it.
It takes two to tango, and many people argue that deregulation was not the problem, but institutions offering loans they shouldn’t have, individuals taking loans they shouldn’t have, and Wall Street repackaging and selling things they shouldn’t have.
The problem as I see it is that people are selfish, and most make decisions based on short term thinking. People would like to believe that humans are inherently “moral”, and many economists posit that people’s decisions are based on rational thought. But a quick look at the news on any day will reveal that people are motivated by their own selfish needs and desires.
The Alternative
So although the financial crisis couldn’t have occured without both deregulation AND irresponsible behavior, irresponsible behavior should be considered the normal course of human action. We need a system of checks and balances…regulations and laws. Otherwise we might go back to head hunting.
This is going to be the last post having to do with toilets for a while. I just couldn’t pass this one up. Where else but in Japan (the capital of space age toilets) does someone decide to print horror stories on toilet paper?
Well, it’s not as straight forward a question as you might think. When most people ask “who invented the toilet” they probably mean “who invented the flush toilet”? The most common answer you’ll find on the web is Thomas Crapper! Crapper didn’t actually invent the toilet though…he just made it better by inventing the “ballcock“.
Interestingly enough, the flush toilet has been around in various forms since at least 3000 BC! They were used in the Indus Valley Civilizations and by the Romans and Egyptians. Here’s a picture of some old Roman wall toilets: (Continued)
After some of the comments on my last Vibram Five Fingers post, I thought it would be interesting to delve a little deeper into the human foot and the horror of modern shoes. In the picture above you can see a pair of very healthy feet from a photo of an Iban man taken recently by Birgit Erath deep in the jungles of Borneo. This man has likely never worn a shoe, and you can see that his foot gets wider than “normal” toward his toes.
In the sad photo above, you can see a horribly unhealthy foot deformed from the old Chinese practice of foot binding. Obviously, our feet change dramatically based on the shoes we choose to wear, or not. (Continued)
New York Magazine is great for reading on the toilet, or any other time for that matter. And it was this article that convinced me I must get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. Let me first say that this is not a paid post. With that out of the way…these are the best shoes I’ve ever had in my life! Here’s my newest pair: (Continued)
Being that this is ReadingOnTheToilet.com, we’ve got to have at least a few posts about toilets, reading, and reading on toilets! Although I don’t actually read on the toilet, I was once told by a reliable source that reading on the toilet can cause problems with your sphincter. The Hemorrhoid Fact Sheet says reading on the toilet will make hemorrhoids worse, and several of these people seem to agree. Nevertheless, many people actually seem to enjoy it!
If you’re looking for reading material, here’s a list of the top 10 entertaining things to read on the toilet at work, if you don’t mind your co-workers wondering what the hell you’re doing in the bathroom. The Poop Report has plenty of other recommended toilet activities and is well worth the read. And if you’re wondering what celebrities look like on the toilet, you’re not alone.
In line with the last post on Twitter, Facebook, and the demise of the web, the New York Times has an article on the health effects of constant texting. Not only is excessive texting bad for your thumbs, but it’s also likely to be bad for your mental health!
So what do texting, Twitter, and other social networking sites have in common? They all encourage a high frequency of short and relatively meaningless “communication”…further dumbing down society. With constant low grade interruptions it’s no wonder so many people are diagnosed with ADD these days. According to the NYTimes article, the average teenager gets/sends 75 text messages a day! As a “punishment”, Reina was limited to 166 messages per day. Imagine that.
This obsessive, constant texting is not only bad for mental health and development, but it’s also incredibly rude. How many of you have been in the middle of a conversation with a real human being when they started texting…or for that matter, answering their ringing cell phone over and over again? I’m going to start a new rule: I won’t talk to anyone who answers cell phone calls or text messages in the middle of a conversation. Interactions with real people should take precedence over virtual communication.
Two years ago I gave up my cell phone. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made.
