Entries from September 2007The Posts You Asked For

So I’m learning first hand what a frakking mess the American health-insurance situation is. And I’m not just talking about “Bush to poor kids: Drop dead.”
My wife and I are both professionals, and both capable of easily earning in the range of $30,000 to $50,000 per year in freelance and part time work, which is [...]

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When you’re riding in an elevator (or anything that has people coming and going), it’s inevitable that you’ll hear chunks of conversations between others, but that you won’t be able to join in on.
That in mind, I occasionally make use of this fact. I’ll be in an elevator with a friend (I did this a [...]

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The title of the entry from VaDocWatch says it all: “If you puke again, you’ll have to eat it.”

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For you physics people (or inventors): If a golf ball flies farther because it’s dimpled, why don’t bullets and hunting arrows have dimples?

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A little thanks, a few changes, some background, and some waxing technological.
First, thanks for all the suggestions; keep ‘em coming. I’ve taken many of them and considered all of them, all of which you should see reflected in the design now.
One thing I thought about is what people will see.
Some of you go to [...]

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I finally got the redone site up. Hope you like it. Things are probably still broken, but it’s about 2 a.m. and I am beyond caring at the moment. Let me know (what you think, what’s not working, etc.)

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…it’s — oh, wait, it is an overreaction. Yet another one from America’s screwed up public schools. From the Northwest Florida Daily News:
An investigator with the Department of Children and Family went to Destin Middle School on Sept. 19 to look into an allegation that a child had been having sex with an adult, according [...]

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I wrote a while ago about how Amazon.com shipped me 18 towels in 18 separate boxes.
Now comes another horseman of the packaging apocalypse, courtesy of Chiquita grapes.
No, it’s not individually wrapped grapes. But it’s close.
Behold Chiquita Grape Bites. One larger bag…

…hold five smaller bags (er, “Go Packs”), each of which contains about [...]

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The other idea I had was for Heinz Ketchup. You know how Hallmark had a brilliant marketing campaign a long time ago, “When you care enough to send the very best”?
The implication was clear: If someone sent you a non-Hallmark card, they didn’t think much of you. That brand of cardboard was a better brand [...]

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Have you ever gotten an idea for a commercial that you know would do wonders for the product? Me, too. This one’s been kicking around my head for a while.
Show a busy mall. Show a skeevy-looking guy — maybe someone like this:

He’s coughing or sneezing or both, covering his mouth with his hand. He’s [...]

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If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear, right?
Ha.
“Federal Agent Indicted For Using Homeland Security Database To Stalk Girlfriend,” is the headline. The story:
Benjamin Robinson, 40, of Oakland, Calif., was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose Wednesday in connection with allegations that he accessed a government database known as [...]

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One of these days I’ll go off yet again on how the homogenization of America is ruining so much. But for the moment I should mention this.
Next time you want to buy a book and are thinking of using Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, think twice. Instead, call your local bookstore.
Most people don’t think of [...]

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My wife bought us a new bathroom scale, and it came with one of those body mass index charts that tells you where you fall in the range of “emaciated” to “morbidly obese.” Foolish me, I weighed myself and checked the chart.
And thus I learned that I’m obese — or at least a Twinkie away [...]

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Hmm, here’s an interesting story… bizarre kidnapping, three men charged, mm-hmm…
[keeps reading]
Oh, “Greco said one of the men is nicknamed ‘No Nose’.” That’s a funny nickname. Let’s scroll down to see if there’s a pic–AUGH!!! OH MY FRAKKING GOD!!! JESUS MARY MOSES AND VISHNU ON A PLATE! MY EYES!!!

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I have a couple of pretty decent spam filters at work, and they catch about 90-someodd percent of what comes in. The rest is but a moment’s work to remove.
Because the software learns what “spam” is, as spammers try new tacks the software sometimes takes a few days to catch up. That’s when my spam picks [...]

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I finally won this stupid “Grow” game. I just needed to share that. If you have no clue what I mean, don’t sweat it.

The solution (select the white text to view):
Bolt, axe, logs, steering wheel, smokestack, battery, chip, alcohol burner
Update: I’m told that there are at least two solutions to this puzzle. I haven’t [...]

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My RSS isn’t RSSing. Don’t know why. If you care, it’ll be fixed soon, I hope.
Update: Fixed. Apparently it was a WordPress problem. Funny thing is, I deleted and replaced a file — that is, replaced it with an identical file — and now it works. Computers. Go figure.

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Newspapers, the conventional wisdom goes, are a dying breed — dying in the face of competition from the Internet (e.g., CNN.com and USAToday.com), bloggers, television, and even video games, all of which either compete directly as information sources, or indirectly for readers’ time.
Papers are frantically trying to “reinvent” themselves — they’re creating new media departments, [...]

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I’m offended! I’m offended! It’s the rallying cry of the whiny set.
Two news stories of note today.
First, Virginia Tech has “banned” the “Stick it, stick it in” chant that Hokie fans cheer when the team is approaching a touchdown. (I put “banned” in quotes because it’s unclear how you can ban 66,000 people from [...]

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Some people have it.

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