Pages Tagged “Tweets”
Blog Posts
- Hypothetical Jack-Boots
As usual, the people who yell the loudest about hypothetical jack-booted government thugs are perfectly happy with actual jack-booted government thugs as long as they’re aimed at someone else. Note also that the small-government, local-is-always-better anti-Fed/states’ rights crowd is totally happy with the feds overriding the state and city government in Portland, even while they […]
- Rational?
“I’m rational, unlike you, and if you look at this supposed problem rationally, you’ll understand that it can’t possibly be real because I politically disapprove of some of the proposed solutions.” — Just about every conservative comment on climate change I’ve seen on Quora.
- Individuals or Groups?
I often see conservatives say that they see individuals where liberals see groups. But it doesn’t track. Conservatives are regularly willing to exclude whole groups of people, then allow exceptions. On the same issues, liberals often allow groups, then exclude individuals. Put another way, liberals want to ensure everyone eligible is allowed access, and conservatives […]
- That’s Not Your Conscience
If your conscience is telling you to refuse someone medical care because you think they’re icky, maybe it’s not your conscience that you’re listening to.
- What Religious Freedom Isn’t
One more time, religious freedom means you get to practice your religion, not force other people to follow yours. This isn’t complicated. Imagine for a moment that [insert religion you don’t like] lobbies the government to force you to follow their rules on behavior, dress, etc. You see where this is going, right? Because you […]
- Musical Nostalgia in a Nutshell
I used to hear this song everywhere! This really takes me back! 😀 (one verse later) Oh, yeah. I hated this song. 😒
- Forgotten Edge
There’s nothing like finding an edge case, thinking “Oh no, I didn’t take that into account!”…then checking the code and realizing that you already did.
- Question of the Day
Do tire stores ever hold blowout sales?
- Those Sneaky Aliases
After looking through zillions of bounce messages for patterns, “unknown or illegal alias” is now my official favorite way of saying an email address doesn’t exist.
- Cacheback
You know you’re a programmer when you misspell “cash” as “cache.”
- Double Bill
Goo Goo Dolls and Lady Gaga should (but won’t) play a double bill. But there must be a food court with a Burger King and a Dairy Queen next to each other.
- Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day
Consarn it, tomorrow’s Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day, and I’m plumb unprepared!
- Sent From My…
Maybe “Sent from my iPhone/Droid/whatever” *is* worth including…as a spelling disclaimer. (Sent from my G2)
- NyQuil Regret
NyQuil Regret (n): the moment during a sleepless night when you realize you should’ve taken the damn blue^H^H^H^H green pill.
- Adobe MAX 2010 in Tweets
Running commentary on Adobe’s annual designer and developer conference in Los Angeles. Photoshop reigns supreme, plus Flash fans and a Star Trek surprise.
- No Earthquake Watch
The heat wave has people freaking out again… There is no such thing as an “earthquake watch.” Unlike tornadoes and hurricanes, they strike without warning and cannot be predicted (so far). There’s also no such thing as “earthquake weather”…and I say this as a lifelong Californian.
- Iconic Imagery
iTunes 10 has shed the CD imagery in its new icon. And yet a floppy disk is still the universal toolbar image for “save.”
- Pop Stars as Fish
Ace of Bass, Death Crab for Cutie, Sushi and the Banshees, and other band/singer names adapted to life under the sea.
- Vanity Plates
If you’re going to get a custom license plate, be creative. What’s the point of putting “WHITBMW” on your white BMW? I can SEE that!
- Lesser Plays
As a spinoff of the “lesser books” meme on Twitter (taking a classic book title and making it mundane, trivial, or otherwise lesser), someone started in on “lesser plays.” I came up with a few: Less Miserable (admittedly this one’s a gimme) Spring Just-a-few-more-minutes-before-I-wake-up. The Importance of being Ernie. Eleven Mildly-Annoyed Guys The Prince and […]
- Central City Comic Con
I stopped for coffee on the way to Anaheim Comic Con. Yes, actually, I am wearing a Flash T-shirt. Why do you ask?
- OH NO3S!
Vanity license plates seen recently: “OH NO3S” and “UVULA”, the latter on an old yellow-on-blue CA plate with wide letters.
- LOST Commercials Explained
Theory on LOST’s weird commercials: They figure anyone still watching doesn’t need to be convinced, so they might as well have fun.
- Great Quotes With “Dear”
Here are some of my contributions to today’s Twitter meme, #greatquoteswithdear. You can probably figure out how the game works…
- Midday Thunderstorm & Rainbow
Going to lunch in a thunderstorm, plus a photo of the rainbow at the end…at (appropriately enough), the Irvine Spectrum.
- Rain
Rain (when we get it) is usually silent four stories above ground, but today gusts of wind have been spattering it against the windows.
- Y2K10
1. SpamAssassin has been marking mail from 2010 as “grossly in the future.” It’s been fixed in the beta for months, but they issued an emergency update over the holiday. Of course, if they’d done the test by using math instead of pattern matching, it wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. (via […]
- New Year’s Eve & Avatar
10 years ago I had just started working at an Internet provider and was very glad they didn’t want me in the server room at midnight for Y2K. I just ordered tickets to Avatar in IMAX 3D. It actually *was* cheaper to see Xanadu on stage, even including parking! Made it into Avatar. Got surprisingly […]
- Late Night
Staying up until midnight for New Year’s Eve was a BIG DEAL when I was a kid. Now it’s a typical day. (I need to try to sleep earlier!)
- I’m Not Even Supposed to Be Here Today!
Walking into Best Buy wearing a bright blue shirt. On Christmas Eve, no less. This could get interesting. 😯 As it turned out, it didn’t. Either people weren’t quite so desperate and panicked as they often are that close to Christmas, and paid more attention, or the shirt has faded past the point of confusion. […]
- Züm Züm
I saw a car this morning with the license plate “ZU SHNL.” It took me a minute to realize it was “zu schnell” – German for “Too fast!” (It was a Mazda.)
- Misdirected
Got a compliment on good tech support 🙂 … but it was intended for another company with a similar name. 🙁 I alternate between finding it amusing & annoying that I get spam for local businesses in Brazil. It’s a bit of a drive from SoCal. It’s sad to get Christmas cards for someone who […]
- Card Usability
Usability question: Is it better for a form to auto-detect the credit card type from its number, or have the user select it as an error check? (Consensus on Twitter and Facebook was to have the user select it.)
- Twitter is…
Twitter is never having to say TL;DR
- MMM…
Found a bottle of cinnamon in the lunch room and added it to coffee and a hot chocolate packet for a makeshift Mayan mocha.
- Manic Monday
First, some linkblogging… The Spam Primer has been “completely revamped.” Mars Express Orbiter catches video of moons Phobos and Deimos. And then the “fun” started. Me: I’m going to focus on project X today! Computer needed for project X: I’m going to lock up today! Me: Argh! Someone thought it would be a good idea […]
- Tim is Running Out!
Two emails in a row: “Time’s running out…” and “Tim is now following you on Twitter.” Misread the first as “Tim’s running out…”
- That’s, Um, Not Relaxing
Yow! “Perfectly Relaxing Songs” don’t work so well when the volume changes drastically between one song and the next.
- Monday Morning
I’m not sure light drizzle counts as “wind and rain,” but since I’d like to have water next year, I’ll take what I can get. (We did finally get some later in the day.) You know you need coffee when you bring your travel mug from home and leave it in the car.
- Cylon Spammers
I’m seeing a lot of word salad spam comments this weekend. It’s entertaining to read them in the vocal style of a Cylon hybrid.
- Flooded!
Wow…nothing like flood damage in the office to start a Monday morning. Fortunately people were in over the weekend & caught it. Ooh, neat! Server problems too! (Not flood-related.) But wait, there’s more! They had to shut off the water line to the coffee maker! Can the entire office manage on a tiny 3-cup coffee […]
- Dissonance
Contrast in the waiting room at the car dealer’s service department: A sad death scene in the movie on TV vs. polka-sounding video game music from a few chairs over.
- Wednesday Bits and Bytes
I’m trying to remember when the BOFH attitude prevalent on antispam mailing lists didn’t bother me. It’s weird how suddenly reporting spam turns into a bad thing because someone (else) might make money with that knowledge.
- Dodging Furniture on the Freeway
Gee, that was “fun.” It’s not every day you get to dodge living room furniture on the freeway at 65 MPH. To clarify: It was an easy chair, sitting in the middle of the road. The pickup in front of me slammed on its brakes to avoid it. I slowed down and tried to move […]
- Star Wars Band Names
Take the name of a real band and alter it to make it a Star Wars reference.
- Black Friday Question
When did “Black Friday” change from a behind-the-scenes retail term to a plastered-everywhere marketing term?
- Google It!
Whenever my site gets hits from Google’s Italian site, my brain insists on reading it as “Google It!”
- No Reply Possible
Don’t you love it when your “Sorry, you sent your complaint to the wrong company” email bounces because the complainer left a bogus address?
- Found Shell Beach
Listening to the Dark City soundtrack while scanning a roll of old photos. Just picked up a photo of the sign for Shell Beach.
- Coffee Saving Time
Since the time change, coffee has been running out an hour earlier. Coincidence?
- Bad Polls
Facebook polls need a “This is BS” option. Too many are based on false premises or are of the “Threat or Menace?” variety. 🙄
- To Do? Too Late!
I thought of several things to add to my to-do list on my way to work this morning. I just opened my list & can’t remember any of them. 🙁
- Galaxy and a Twist
Awesome, indeed! @BadAstronomer says: Awesome awesome AWESOME pic of the Milky Way’s heart, by 3 magnificent observatories. Meanwhile, in a brilliant move, I have just twisted my shoulder funny 5 minutes before driving home. At least it’s the left shoulder. Still: Ow!
- Seanchan Programmers
A tech list is discussing EAGAIN errors, and I keep misreading it as EGEANIN.
- Link: Retro Up Posters
Cool: Retro posters for Up by Paul Conrad (via The Beat).
- Traffic Spike on the Balloon
6 years ago I titled a blog post “Offensive Driving.” It’s getting a traffic spike from people searching for a particular “handbook.” Blame Balloon Boy.
- Errand Observations
The Spectrum food court has ripped out the planters. I guess they realized they needed the floor space after they chopped off one end. It’s Halloween, so Target has the Christmas decorations up!
- There’s a Slogan for That
“There’s a ___ for that” is the new “Got ___?”
- Driving Green, Parking Green
What genius decided dark green on black was a good way to mark up parking spaces? To make matters worse, some of the spaces actually are 20-minute spaces…only they’re labeled on the ground, in the same color green paint. I was almost into the space before I noticed. Judging by the commercial, Ford’s hybrids are […]
- Why?
Got a tech support question consisting of a single word: “Why?”
- Vampire Castle
Castle as a “space cowboy” – “Didn’t you wear that, like, 5 years ago?” They so should have called this episode “Castle-vania!”
- Droidmark
I wonder if Lucasfilm will try to assert trademark over the Motorola/Verizon Droid?
- One Letter Off Movies
Another Twitter meme: come up with movie titles just one letter off from the original, tagged #oneletteroffmovies. I posted these on my other account on Friday. New Dork Stories Annie Get Your Gum Fight Clue There should be an Oz sequel called All About Ev. Reaching a bit, but Key D’argo (Farscape) Ok, I keep […]
- Sci-Fi Remakes
There was a meme running through Twitter today to come up with movie titles for #scifiremakes. Here are my contributions. Shaka Sulu Schindler’s Arcology Obi-Wan Hur Droids on the Side Shuttlecraft 54, Where Are You?
- Misandroid
Oh noes! A computer environment (Android) designed for smartphones isn’t a good fit for a netbook? Stop the presses!
- This fog is so bright, you’ve got to wear shades.
Weird: I had to wear sunglasses while driving through fog. The layer was just thin enough to produce major glare from the sun without dimming it.
- Star Wars Holiday: So Bad It’s Worse
XKCD on the Star Wars Holiday Special True. Absolutely true. Update: It’s true. All of it.
- Books on Nooks
With Barnes & Noble’s new eBook reader, you could read a Nook book in a book nook.
- Green Fail
Sorting junk mail. Found “go green” renewal offer from gym that I canceled YEARS ago. They used to just spam me, now it’s paper. GREEN FAIL.
- Moz-something
A good tech support one-liner from (The customer is) Not Always Right: A Flock Of Explorers On A Safari Singing Opera. Me: “Alright, so what browser are you using to view your websites?” Customer: “Mozzarella Firefox!”
- Morning
Morning: The time of day when you can set up coffee but forget to turn it on, or walk past a mailbox with a Netflix envelope in your hands.
- Teh Internets Wait
This seriously (srsly?) needs to be a lolcat caption. Spam subject of the day here! “Teh internets wait”
- Frustrations (And a Few Bright Spots)
Hard disks should not sound like buzz saws. Slashdot article “FOSS Sexism Claims Met With Ire & Denial”…gets met with ire & denial. *headdesk* Listening to lightsaber sounds from across the office. I think my coworker w/ the new Android phone found an app for that. Vertical Horizon’s Burning the Days is growing on me, […]
- Optimus Prime(s)
Realized why the Japanese name for Optimus Prime bugs me: “Convoy” implies more than one vehicle. Maybe it’s a translation issue?
- Tropical Depression
According to NOAA, a tropical depression is “not to be confused with the condition mid-latitude people get during a long, cold and grey winter wishing they could be closer to the equator 😉”
- Android FTW!
I wasn’t planning to have a donut today, but T-Mobile just sent Android 1.6 to my phone. I’ve had it almost a year now, and it’s actually a better phone now than it was when I bought it! How cool is that?
- The Trouble With Trending Topics
Problem: Twitter trending topics are quickly flooded with in-jokes & spam. There’s no context if you don’t already know what they’re about.
- Crepe on TV
There’s a TV on the wall of the crepe cafe where I’m having lunch, bigger than the TV I have at home. Right now it’s showing a live view of the kitchen. This might be more interesting if the kitchen weren’t open to the dining area. I can see the same thing (from another angle) […]
- How *dare* I try not to run over people!
Got honked at because I actually stopped before turning right at a red light & paused half a second to see if the pedestrian at the corner would step in front of me.
- About Those Robots…
I don’t know how I missed this easter egg before: In Firefox, type about:robots into the location bar. (via @Aeire & @IsobelWren) If you’re a science fiction fan, you’ll get a kick out of it!
- Smoke
The “Mind the Gap” monster in Neverwhere sounds a lot like the smoke monster on Lost now. Speaking of smoke, I’ve been trying to figure out where all the crud in the air is coming from today. Norco maybe?
- Eyestrain
Yes! Realized eyestrain was a problem and finally got the PC set up on my original monitor. Bigger is nice, but more importantly, it’s NOT BLURRY! Still not sure how I went 1.5 months without fixing the refresh rate on the temporary monitor. Usually the flicker drives me *consciously* crazy.
- A‘a or Pahoehoe?
Probably the influence of the Hawai‘i sign across the street, but I could swear the song on the radio was “My Kind of Lava”
- Arctic Lairs
Ah, the Onion! Melting Ice Caps Expose Hundreds of Secret Arctic Lairs. I’m trying to remember whether Dr. Impossible had an arctic base.
- Venti Schmenti
So what do you think… Would it be a bad idea to bring this travel mug to Starbucks?
- Man-Eating Bird
Fossils linked to Maori legend of man-eating bird The giant Haast’s Eagle, which died out at least 500 years ago, was originally thought to have been a scavenger, but new analysis of fossils indicates that it was a lion-level predator…making it the probable basis for the Maori Te Hokioi legend.
- Smartphone Radiation
Wow! Glad I didn’t move to a MyTouch! The G1 isn’t in the Top 10 Radiation-Emitting smartphones list, but it’s not exactly low either. The MyTouch, on the other hand, is #1.
- Shock & Wave
Weird: Routine Coast Guard training exercise spooks press because it’s 9/11. I wonder how many people were freaked out by the shuttle landing’s sonic boom because of the timing?
- Spit-Take Spam
Spam subject: “I have Salvia! Join me :)” — I misread this as “saliva”…and almost did a spit-take (really!) In general, though…I don’t want more spam, but a wider variety would be nice. The funny stuff is mostly sex, drugs and watches (with occasional acaí).
- Fire by Satellite
From @ThisIsTrue: AMAZING false-color NASA satellite pic of the damage caused by LA’s Station Fire. Yes. Yes it is. (Full size on the linked article.)
- Cashew! (Gesundheit)
Who puts cashews on Hawaiian pizza? Apparently Red Brick Pizza does. They kindly made a cashew-free replacement for it.
- Phoenix Rhyme
I still think this Aimee Mann lyric should be: Got out of Phoenix Just in time A box of Kleenex For the rhyme …instead of the real words, which finish with “for the ride.”
- Powerless at the Mall
How an outdoor mall dealt with a lunchtime power outage. And some Apple observations.
- Link: Station Fire Photos
LA fire pix at Flickr. An impressive round-up.
- Too Short a Season
Pushing Daisies DVD box proclaims: “The Complete 2 Second Season.†I know it was short, but I’d swear it was longer than that!
- Bad Timing
I keep putting off washing my car, then finally getting to it right before a freak storm…or the arrival of a giant cloud of ash. *grumble*
- Mt. Wilson Fire Status (Sep 1 2009)
Mt Wilson still intact for now! Status, Towercam. Image from Mt. Wilson Observatory Towercam at 12:06 pm. Observatory website still up, but towercam very slow. Mt. Wilson Towercam showing lots of smoke: 12:21 was the last image I could get. Definitely cooler today, but humidity & smoke since the wind changed make it feel worse […]
- Grog!
Argentina news warns of the dangers of Monkey Island “Grog.” (via @GreatWhiteSnark)
- Skipper Dan
“Weird Al” Yankovic’s song “Skipper Dan” has been stuck in my head on-and-off all weekend. Living near Disneyland makes it that much more funny.
- Ada Pong
Just realized the “busy” animation in the ada (desktop Twitter client) titlebar is actually a miniature game of Pong.
- Watch This Spam
Spam subject: “With our watches precious minutes will go slower.” So it’s a selling point that they don’t keep time correctly?
- Magenta Sunset
Watched the sun set, its disc tinged almost magenta by the smoke plume from the Morris fire near Azusa stretching along the horizon.
- Hero, Headlines & Spam
Just learned “Holding Out for a Hero” is cowritten by Jim Steinman. Explains why it keeps turning into “Good Girls Go to Heaven” in my head Writing for Twitter Spam vs SPAM. I suspect it’s way too late to close the barn door on this one. Kinda like “hacker.”
- Competing Clanks
Standing in the movie theater lobby, listening to competing CLANKing from Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation.
- Launching LOL Spam
Does anyone actually start off email to friends with “Dear Friend”? All right! I always wanted one of those! “Delivery Status Notification 81% 0FF.” (spam subject) Who can resist at that discount? “Get rid of pests for good!” – if only it would work on the spammers themselves. That’s it! Time to find another surgeon! […]
- Spamming Tech Support
A real “white hat SEO” wouldn’t spam their sales pitch to a tech support contact form.
- Trying Sherpa for Android
Testing out Sherpa on my Android G1 phone. Not terribly impressed.
- Tori at the Greek
Missed the opening act, but here in plenty of time for Tori Amos. Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, turned out to be a great concert!
- Comp Bits
Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a power-only USB cable before. Would be nice if it was LABELED as such. Ugh. “Refurb Madness.” Bad pun. Stay in the corner.
- Daily Halo Pics!
Just discovered there’s an Atmospheric Optics Picture of the Day!
- The Evil Carpet of Evil
The new carpet seems designed to keep hallways clear by maximizing eyestrain. I fear a photo won’t do it justice. HP Lovecraft might.
- Visual Migraines Suck
Visual migraines suck. But they’re better than getting the actual headaches. Nausea abating, so going for the leftover chicken tikka masala
- The Network PC Returns
So if I’ve got this right, Google Chrome OS is essentially booting your computer directly to a web browser? Thin clients really are back.
- Stalker Watch, Immortality, Fast Food Crossover
Spam subject: “Your watch will find you no matter where you are.” What if I don’t want Stalker Watch to follow me around? @BadAstronomer writes a short-short story: Beware of what you wish for… Immortality is boring. Waiting for food at Rubio’s. Employees are trying to get the lyrics straight for the latest Jack-In-the-Box commercial.
- Out with the Old
OK, I think the new server is tested enough for now. Time for lunch. And, I think, a walk. … Odd: I just watched two people tossing things over the edge of the roof of an office building in the distance for several minutes. … I’ve just turned off our oldest internet-facing server. I’m not […]
- ATM Design: Shelf?
It sure would be nice if this ATM had at least one horizontal surface so I could set down my drink and not have to mess with my wallet one-handed.
- 6SS
Six-String Samurai is a seriously weird movie.
- $2 Bill
Just got a $2 bill in change. Haven’t seen one “in the wild” in years.
- DMOZ Contact Unknown
So is dmoz.org dead or what? Applied to edit a category, got the “reply to this to confirm” message, replied…and got user unknown. Update: I re-sent my confirmation from another address and it went through. Apparently their server doesn’t like mail from pobox.com. But instead of saying so, it gives a bogus “user unknown” error.
- Enviro Oddities
Top 10 Odd Environmental Ideas (Time via @ThisIsTrue). Some are disturbing, but I like the staple-free stapler.
- Coffee Cliché
Realized I’m doing the cliche coffee+laptop+wifi thing…except I’m at home with coffee I brewed myself and using my own network.
- Pushing Daisies Finale Mini-Review
Pushing Daisies had a satisfying don’t-call-it-an-ending. Looking forward to the comics.
- Pandemic Question
Why didn’t WHO declare A(H1N1) flu to be a phase 6 pandemic several weeks ago when it first met the published criteria?
- Why, the NERV!
Spam from “Gendo Ikari” selling lava lamps. The mind boggles. Edit: I guess that orange goo in the finale wasn’t Tang after all.
- Planning for 90s Nostalgia
One day, someone will take a collection of popular songs from the 1990s and turn it into a nostalgia musical. Update July 2016: I was wondering if this had happened yet. I suppose you could count “American Idiot,” but apparently the album was intended to tell a story, so it’s not quite the same as […]
- BOB This Way!
Sign taped to light pole: “BOB →” Huh???
- Goodbye Ed and the :-) Key
Pair of spam subjects: “Say goodbye to ED” and “A person is missing!” Well, yeah, after Ed left… Just noticed the android virtual keyboard has a key for 🙂 when typing text messages.
- Coyote in the Office Park
Walking across an empty lot, listening to “Gold Dust,” just saw a coyote sauntering across the lot.
- Boot Test
Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Servers are like that when some daemon was running in tests but wasn’t set to start on boot.
- Flash 500
500th post and a Flash drink over at Speed Force.
- On Benadryl
Real Life Comics on allergy medication. Oh, yes, I’ve been there.
- Sure it is
I love 419 scam emails that start out by saying that sure, most of the messages like this are fake, but THIS one’s real!
- (Almost) Forgotten Election
Before: Totally forgot about the special election today. No biggie, the lines will probably be nonexistent even in the evening. After: Basically no line, but there were a few people voting. The polling place volunteers were playing poker to pass the time between voters.
- Talk About “Engaging” the Borg
Star Trek meets reality: when we registered at Robinson’s May for our wedding five years ago, the barcode scanner was called a phaser.
- Short Copy
How to Write Copy for Short Attention Spans reminds me of advice from usability guru Jakob Nielsen
- S. Darko
Good grief. Donnie Darko direct-to-DVD sequel comes out tomorrow. I liked the original, but nothing in it demanded a sequel.
- Roomba Path, TV Campaign Advice, and…NINE
Long-Exposure Shot of a Roomba’s Path Shows Beautifully Organized Chaos (src: SignalTheorist) Things to consider when running a “save our show” campaign & what NOT to do. (via @johannadc and @mikesterling) Whenever I get order #9 or take-a-number, I imagine the disembodied voice saying “Number 9…Number 9” from the Beatles’ song Revolution 9
- Cardassian Reality TV
Every time I hear an ad for “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” It sounds like “Keeping Up With the Cardassians” Does the Star Trek universe have reality shows?
- Zap, Tom said shockingly
Weird: Apparently Tasers were named for a Tom Swift invention, as in “Thomas A. Swift’s electric rifle.”
- Satellite Market, Fast Food Options, Ada and More
Last night I learned that the Satellite Market near Disneyland is still there, but the Sputnik-style sign has been replaced. Old & new photos. Side salad vs. fries study: Adding a healthier option caused people to choose the unhealthy option more often. It’s made me a lot more aware of what I order for lunch. […]
- Self-DMCA, Antivax Anger, Specter Switch
Warner Music issued a DMCA takedown notice to an official Warner Music video channel. I think I need some popcorn. From @david_colquhoun via @BadAstronomer: Guardian science editor’s daughter gets measles. He’s angry with the anti-vaccination brigade. I nearly mistyped “foreign” as “foregin.” It sounds like an appetizer you should eat before drinking gin. Senator Arlen […]
- Wolverine in 6 Words
Heals fast, super-sharp claws, grumpy.
- Ringworld Manhattan
Nice! Here & There: A horizonless projection in Manhattan – BERG (via Warren Ellis)
- Google Goats
It’s official: Google mows goats – er, mows with goats. Google’s Mountain View headquarters has fields that need to be kept clear of fire hazards. This year instead of mowing them, they took a low-carbon approach: they hired a herd of goats to eat the grass for a week. “It costs us about the same […]
- Name That Flu!
Some ideas for the #namethatflu event on Twitter (on the idea that swineflu isn’t quite right, but H1N1 is too clinical). Total Flunacy OMGWTFBBFlu!! (Though I have to admit #hamthrax is a good one) Looks like Hamthrax has been chosen by the Masters of the Fluniverse
- Vienna Teng Observation & Concert
Lunchtime observation: Why is it that whenever I put Vienna Teng on random on the iPod, “Passage” always seems to come up when I’m driving? Evening: Just saw Vienna Teng in concert at the Roxy. Fantastic! Opening act The Paper Raincoat was good too.
- Carbs
Bread bowl pasta: in case you had any doubt that the low-carb craze was over.
- Social Side of Swine Flu
Sad, but true: XKCD tackles the social component of swine flu. Update: Things haven’t changed much in the Covid era, have they?
- Amazon Annoyance, ATM Stupidity
Grr. Amazon wants to stop paying me because they think I’ve been buying search keywords to link to them. No, I haven’t. Update: Two days later, they responded: it’s a bad form letter, and even if I were buying keywords, they’d only stop paying referral fees on those links. More concerned than usual about person […]
- Stealth Mime
Today I saw a guy dressed like a mime, standing by an actual glass wall.
- Irony Double Dose
@BeaucoupKevin says: I’m not crazy about DailyKOS, but this short piece about the Texans who want to secede is dead on Irony: normally I walk to lunch on Fridays, but time crunch had me driving today. Apparently it’s “car-free Friday.” Oops.
- Geocities Fading Away
Farewell, Geocities. It was nice knowing you. (Wait, no it wasn’t!) In a message on Yahoo!’s help site, the company said that it would be shuttering Geocities, a free web-hosting service, later this year and will not be accepting any new customers. Update: I wrote a bit more on the fandom side of things over […]
- Social Bots
Amazing how many “people” are sending Facebook messages to the postmaster account, offering helpful links to resources for *ahem* improving uptime. On a related note: Google’s Social Graph thinks I own Cute Overload. It seems to treat all LiveJournal syndication feeds as one profile, and I linked to K2R’s LJ feed with XFN.
- NASA and Aliens
If NASA really knew about aliens, wouldn’t publicizing it be the best way to solve their chronic budget problems?
- We’re Here For You!
A Washington Mutual with a gigantic “Welcome to Chase†banner. Californians, remember those “Elvis Schmiedekamp Is Here For You†ads from ~2001?
- Coffeechocolatea
I’m trying to make 8-hour old coffee palatable by adding both chai tea and hot chocolate mix. It’s…palatable.
- Does That Have a Hyphen?
Why is it that Firefox consistently truncates the title “Google Analytics” at the worst possible spot?
- WaMu, Bees and Vortex
WaMu building has taken down its sign. Giant Chase banner at street level. Guy w/ sign by side of road: “Homeless kind soul stuck in vortex.” I get the 1st half, but WTF does “stuck in vortex” mean? Downward spiral? From @ThisIsTrue: possible cause identified for honey bee colony collapse.
- Questions
Is the glut of vampire novels a result of more people WRITING them, or more publishers ACCEPTING them? Google employees ask the all-important question: Will It Lens?
- Ticketmonster & DMCA Yourself!
Ordered tickets to see Vienna Teng! Amazing how Ticketmaster can turn two $15 tickets into a total of $50. Associated Press sends nastygram to their own affiliate for using AP’s official YouTube channel. (via @ThisIsTrue)
- Apple Sax
Apparently the key to getting a story posted on Slashdot quickly is to mention Apple and software patents in the same virtual breath. Spam subject: “Your Saxual power has gone somewhere, Dont trifle with this!” Imagining a jazz player who can’t play the sax anymore…
- Organic Air!
From @WholeFoods: Try this week’s Sure Deal: 365 Everyday Value Organic Air – only $6.99! Didn’t President Scroob have one of those? Update: The original link is gone, but it’s archived at the Hoax Museum.
- Walking
Trying to get back into habit of walking to lunch once a week. Of course, the weather picks today to heat up. I’m thinking maybe Jamba Juice. Breeze really helps – when it’s not blowing past fields of mulch.
- San Diego: Enlarge Your Convention Center
San Diego is getting worried about the size of their convention center
- Back to WP-Mobile
I’m really impressed with the new version of WordPress Mobile Edition. It handles both the low-end and high-end (iPhone, Android) devices cleanly and efficiently. I was using a three-tiered setup with WP-Mobile for basic phones, WPTouch for iPhone and Android devices, and of course the regular theme for desktops, but it seems simpler to drop […]
- Fluttered By
Just discovered Butterfly Boucher is doing a show in LA at the Troubador tonight (with Ten Out of Tenn). Sadly, it’s too late to plan on going.
- Spam from Elvira
In the spamtraps, I found a message from “Elvira” telling me, “It’s awful.” Now I’m waiting for “Tom” and “Crow” to tell me, “It’s terrible.”
- 2010
I just scheduled something for 2010. It feels weird – almost as much “living in the future” as hitting 2000 was.
- Inner Dragon
Spammers are running out of euphemisms. Seriously, “Release your inner dragon”…?
- Snakes on a Song
Best thing about Snakes on a Plane was the Cobra Starship song at the end. Thank you, iPod for reminding me!
- Banner Update
Finally updated the blog banner to something that was actually taken in the same state! (The old one was in Hawaii.)
- Pop-Ups & Cake! 11111!
Glanced up at server monitors. It was 11:11:11 on the 11th, tiled 3 times. OMG!11111111 Cake Wrecks: The Problem With Phone Orders. Now back to work… How appropriate: BNL’s “Shopping” in background of a Kohl’s commercial! Also: the pop-up summary bits on the LOST rerun are seriously annoying. Fortunately I’m managing to tune them out.
- G1 Fun
Fun climbing office staircase with the G1 and watching as WiFi networks appear and disappear.
- Castle: First Reaction
Watched the premiere of Castle. Could definitely watch more of this. Yeah, it’s Murder He Wrote as a cop-buddy show, but it’s fun so far.
- Email Confusion
Why do people email me to tell me email is down? WHY? What makes them think I’ll receive the message? Obligatory User Friendly comic (Jan 28, 1999): Just as confusing: A spammer sent me this urgent message: “We need to remove cupboard, come on!” Uh, yeah, I’ll get right on that…
- Noises Off at SCR
Saw Noises Off at South Coast Repertory. Hilarious. Also brings back memories from high school and college productions.
- Cloudy Connection
A cloud device in an area with a flaky connection really underscores the importance of offline sync.
- Night Sky
There’s something to be said for a night sky with so many stars that Sirius doesn’t stand out quite so much.
- Digital Disadvantage
Disadvantage of going digital: no film canisters to carry quarters.
- WordMess
Must remember: No pasting from MS Word into WordPress. It’s faster to paste plain text and redo formatting than clean up Word’s mess.
- Spamisch
Excerpt from weird mixed German/English comment spam: “Dear me, that evil car sensibly stung out of this suspicious slot tipps.”
- La Mancha
Home from seeing Brent Spiner in Man of La Mancha. Very good. Update: Here’s a friend’s review of the production.
- Pressure
Weird: air pressure inside the building is pushing the doors out a few inches.
- Comment Barrier
Pet peeve: Blogs that require you to register locally in order to comment. Yes, that means you, suvudu.com and androidcommunity.com
- Rain!
Rain! Walked out the door this morning and saw clear blue sky, so I wasn’t convinced… but RAIN! (We seriously need it.) *sigh* Google maps informs me that my usual route home is solid red. Rush hour + OMGWTF water from sky! Surface streets it is.
- Mixed a Day?
Having one of those weeks where I keep thinking it’s a day later than it is.
- Wicked Spammers
Spam subject: Wicked in the Sack. Come on, spammers, leave Elphaba out of this!
- CentOS List Hijack
Pissed off because some a-hole with a centos.org address posted multiple copies of a racist antisemitic diatribe to the CentOS announcement list. CentOS sent an apology to lists. Said spammers forged the sender’s address to get past moderation. Look back, name doesn’t match address.
- Sticker Found on a Light Pole
- Tax Dancer
Amusing: Someone hit this post after searching for “dancing tax preparer.” Is it really that common?
- Stock Photos Never Die
Ha! One of the pics from the “Unsolicited Commercial Love Story” is being used in the QOOP ad on the Flickr homepage!
- Pinhole Bridge
Cool: A 6-month-exposure photo showing sun trails above a bridge, made using a pinhole camera made from a soda can.(from APOD)
- Moody Weather
Morning: t-shirt, sweater, heavy jacket. Lunchtime: just the t-shirt. Slight difference in temp…
- Geekery: WiFi and Presidential HTML
Hmm. I’ve used internet cafes while travelling, but have no idea wher to find one w/in 20mi of home. WiFi hotspots, OTOH, are everywhere. Political geekery; saw a bumper sticker reading </bush>. Only prob: tag should be <president name="bush">. Did I mention geekery?
- LJ Shakeup
Oh, fun. Time to look up a LiveJournal archiver, just in case… Gawker: The Russian Bear Slashes a Social Network Not Dead Yet: LiveJournal will be run by the US arm with software development in Russia. Hmm… LJ archive tools CNET: LJ Deletes “about a dozen” jobs LJ Press release
- Translation Fail
Google Translate on a misdirected tech support request in Korean: the product did not change down on the wind. I wonder what that’s about?
- Nightmare Revisited
Listening to “Nightmare Revisited.” All-American Rejects were not the best choice for “Jack’s Lament” Amazingly, “What’s This” is worse. A song all about the thrill of discovery with NO ENERGY. Are they thinking about what they’re singing? Korn is knocking “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” out of the park. *whew* OK, this album is definitely improving. […]
- Watching Helvetica
Some thoughts on watching Helvetica, a documentary about the typeface.
- Zune Fail, Comment Win & Holiday Creep
Weird: Zunes all over the world froze up at the same time overnight. Comment win: “like she was going to rip his arm off and beat his spleen to death with it. Not him; just his spleen” Just a quick store run – yeah along with everyone else in town. More holiday creep! I still […]
- Green Lots & Venus
Walking to lunch. Vacant lots are actually green! Spotted Venus at 1 in the afternoon! Thanks, Sky Map app!