Susan Jacoby of the Washington Post recently lamented on The Dumbing Of America. She claims that Americans are not only becoming more and more ignorant, but increasingly proud of that said ignorance. “Anti-Rationalism” and “Anti-Intellectualism” are part of the new American Way – do you agree?

Personally, I think it’s one of the defining characteristics of what I call The IM Generation. The people entering today’s workforce have been weened on insta-culture, and simply do not pay attention to the basics… like, oh, spelling simple words correctly. Take a look around… I’ve noticed far more misspellings and simple grammar mistakes in the news, on billboards, commercials, etc. in the past 5 years or so then I’ve ever seen. Signs, often literally, of the vanishing attention span of America.

Please welcome the newest member to the Blogroll: Life On The Left.  I think the initial list of topics — crafts, food, fun, politics, raw, vegan — are a good indication of what to expect. :)

Raise your hand if you remember the game Marble Madness. Uh huh… 1, 2… ok. Well, today’s Flash Friday should help you get your nostalgia on…

Contour takes the Madness and gives it a great twist. Instead of moving the orbital sphere itself to the destination, you must raise the ground beneath, and let gravity nudge it to the goal.

This one’s all about planning and timing.

Looking to do some spring cleaning & rearranging?  Check out myDeco’s 3D Room Planner.  “Try real 3D furniture in your room, choose paint, wallpaper, flooring and accessories.”  Click the Get Started link to begin.

Yo, you want your picture on the internet?! Just slip me a fiddy…

What a “deal.” -snicker-

UPDATE: The Google censors have removed the image (from all angles) the day this was posted! Luckily the folks at Gawker took a ton of screencaps for posterity.

Pickup a free sample of Quaker Simple Harvest.  Choose either the Dark Chocolate Chunk Granola Bar, or the Maple Brown Sugar with Pecans Hot Cereal.

The Onion has been a little stale as of late, but they struck gold with this headline:

Black Man Asks Nation for Change

“The time for change is now,” said the black guy, yelling at everyone within earshot for 20 straight minutes, practically begging America for change.

His Onion profile page lists him as “Pro-hopes, also supports dreams” LOL

Boy, there’s enough crap on Break.com to keep you occupied for a week…

While there, I found this hockey video – dubbed “The Worst Fight In Hockey History”.
Warning: Not for the squeamish!

The Worst Fight In Hockey History – Watch more free videos

You’ve probably heard about Barack Obama‘s speech on race, delivered in Philadelphia earlier this week. If you have about 1/2 hour — you can watch the entire speech here.

Say what you will about him, but the man is an orator. Kudos for coming out and saying that most whites are the descendants of immigrants, who’ve had to work for everything they’ve got. Also of note is that whites should stop worrying about “losing” jobs to minorities or immigrants, when jobs are being genuinely lost — never to return — to dirt cheap laborers overseas. If he’s sincere, that’s being an American.

Thanks Chris

I had a barium swallow on Monday… and I’m still trying to recover. I almost forgot what life was like outside the bathroom.

In any event, it was actually kind of cool to see your inner workings. Here’s an example of what I saw, live as it was happening:

A St. Patrick’s Day song (?) from the ever-irascible Irishman, Denis Leary.

Thanks Mom

This depiction of Facebook is almost entirely accurate (careful kids, the language is quite NSFW).