UPDATE SOME MORE: In which I tentatively decide to believe in this again

Second update: Maybe it’s not a hoax after all? I give up.

Update: It turns out that this was a hoax. Bummer.

Original Post: Sip and Pay It Forward

Social science + Starbucks? Two great tastes that taste great together.

I was clicking along at MentalFloss and came across a tidbit in a blog post about Jonathan’s Card. Jonathan Stark has posted an image of his Starbucks card’s barcode on the internet. Anybody is able to download it and use it to purchase items with it. People are also able to refill the card. This twitter feed updates whenever there’s a transaction on the card.

This is pretty cool. People seems to reload the card quickly, although I notice that it seems to be in pretty small denominations. As an experiment, it seems to prove that people will pay to allow something like this to continue, although presumably the card barcode download is anonymous and there’s no onus on them to do so.

Steroid Liza

Gentle Reader, have you ever wondered what would happen if a tiny guy with a Napoleon complex channeled Liza Minnelli? Me neither, but I found out today. Without further ado, I present Steroid Liza, aka David Barton.

Actual Liza Minnelli, for the purpose of comparison

It must be awesome to answer to “Mr. Cartoon”

This New York Times article is about a famous tattooist to the stars (didn’t even know that such a thing existed), and features Tommy Hilfiger’s son, but I find if fascinating primarily for its insistence on repeating the phrase, “Mister Cartoon.” Good times.

In Russia, you don’t look like Jared Leto; Jared Leto looks like you

This really talented Russian cosplay (just learned that word today; where have I been??) transformed herself into Jared Leto. It was the most uncomfortable six minutes since I…

…nevermind, that’s private.

German, where have you been all my life?

I love language. I find it fascinating certain ideas are more easily expressed in one language than another. For example, there is no complete, direct English translation for the French phrase “l’esprit de l’escalier.” The phrase defines the act of thinking of a clever comeback when it’s too late to say it. You may be elsewhere, or maybe it’s just that too much time has passed. Whatever the reason, the phrase encompasses the regret one feels that this response was not thought of when it could have been employed.

German is another language that has given English these types of words: schadenfreude, zeitgeist, and my new favorite word ever, fremdschämen. This word means to be vicariously embarrassed for somebody else. I feel this all the time. It’s part of the reason that I gave up Ugly Betty in early season 3, and can’t watch sitcoms at all. I feel embarrassed for the characters on the show, and often the actors who portray them (I feel that 200 grand an episode is the least the producers can give them for having to play such stupid characters).

Oddly enough, I have a reality tv star to thank for bringing this word to my attention. Reality shows are another type of program that I usually avoid, unless they’re on HGTV or involve Tim Gunn. That means that I’ve never watched a single second of Keeping up with the Kardashians, although I’d have to be living under a rock not to know anything about these people. A Jezebel post entitled “Germans Outraged by Sexy Oktoberfest Outfits” featured a picture of Kim Kardashian in a sexy (but, dare I say it, not completely unadorable) dirndl.

Although it wasn’t linked to, the quotes used in that post came from this Wall Street Journal article. It quotes Ursula Fröhmer, a Munich tailor tailor who specializes in traditional folk costumes, who really doesn’t care for the modern spin that people are putting on tracht, traditional Bavarian clothing. She describes her reaction to these clothes in this manner:

“I’m overcome with fremdschämen, and I’m ashamed that I’m from Bavaria when I see things like that,” Ms. Fröhmer says.

Way harsh, Tai! Since I don’t have any historical connection to dirndls, I just appreciate when I see a cute one, nevermind that it may not be in keeping with tradition. I’m sad for Ms. Fröhmer that she has to watch her cultural costume become commercialized, but I’m happy that this occasion gave me a word for what I’ve been feeling pretty much all my life.

There’s some middle place between lashing and shrugging

The story of the Polish Neo-Nazi couple who learned that they were Jewish is really interesting to me. I wonder what it would be like to discover that you are the thing you hate. I applaud Ola and Pawel for turning their lives away from hated and crime, and think it’s fascinating that they now practice Orthodox Judaism. But some of the quotes that appear in this article about them make me uncomfortable.

“I’m not saying I don’t have regrets but it’s not something I walk around and lash myself over,” said Pawel. “I feel sorry for those that I beat up … but I don’t hold a grudge against myself. The people who I hurt can hold a grudge against me.”

And Ola said that while she wasn’t proud of her past, she wasn’t embarrassed either. Really? I could be embarrassed over it. They stopped being Neo-Nazis because they realized that they were Jewish, but they’re not embarrassed about the spewing hatred and beating up people part of the movement? Eh, these two seem like extremist joiners, so maybe they see any endeavor that advances their current belief system to be okay.

I’m going to watch the documentary when it airs, and maybe I’ll come away with a different understanding of this couple.

How to be alone

Here’s a great short film about how to be on your own. I love my own company, and I can’t always stand to be around other people. A lot of people I know can’t do anything on their own, which I think is sad, but the next time somebody asks me why I like to go off on my own, I’m going to show him or her this video.

Sitcom to follow

This is probably the best-case scenario when you find out that you were switched at birth, but I wonder if anybody has really pondered the awesome sitcom potential.

I didn’t realize that the plague, AKA black death, was still around (in this country? I’m pretty sure I knew it still existed in general). A lot of people, myself included, use the phrase “I had the plague,” to express a particularly unpleasant illness, but I’ve personally never meant that I had the actual plague. I think that everybody knows this, but I’ll apologize now if I’ve just rocked your world.

Scarily enough, rodents can carry and transmit the plague, a fact that I’m going to remember everytime I see those cute chipmunks that burrow near my house, despite the fact that most US plague cases are reported in the Western states. Can’t wait to avoid all rodents when I get to California in October!

Gross gross gross gross gross.

Same story, different aims

It’s amazing that Fox News has any quotation marks left, as they’ve used what seems like a week’s worth in this article about the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the state of Arizona.

Also, the Washington Posts’s take.