Archive: Posts from September, 2003
September 30th, 2003, 10 Comments »
I have a secret affection for The Gilmore Girls. There, I said it. It’s like an enormous weight has been lifted off me. I’m liberated.
But really, it’s a really funny show. The dialogue has some of the wit of Buffy at a West Wing pace. The acting is decent and the situations are pretty undramatic. The smalltown mundanity of it kind of appeals to me. I compare this with Six Feet Under, a show I really wanted to like but just couldn’t. Everyone on that show was utterly wacked, and every week there seemed to be some ridiculously melodramatic battle between them. I appreciate how well-adjusted the characters on The Gilmore Girls are.
To those doubters out there, I must cite a reference that truly impressed me in tonight’s episode (and I’m rarely impressed by television). In the middle of a scene, one character said to the other, “have we been here before?” and the other replied “I recognize that tree.” This is a direct quote from Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, not the sort of thing you usually hear on the WB.
Of course it helps that both of the female leads are hot brunettes.
10 Comments »
September 30th, 2003, 7 Comments »
For the next three days, I’ll be in lovely (who knows? I’ve never been there) Calgary attending and speaking at the Soceity for Technical Communicators conference. It’s going to be a party.
Can you feel the sarcasm? Technical writers (and I speak as an occasional one myself) are a frumpy and grumpy bunch. They also tend to be overly serious–they’re a tough room. Scott Adams hit the nail on the head when he created Tina the Technical Writer (she needs a fan site) for Dilbert.
What is there to do in Calgary, anyway? Any suggestions? I do want to check out the Barron building, a cool Art Deco office building that now houses a theatre and galleries. I just read about it in issue three of Toro magazine.
In short, I’ll be blogging only occasionally over the next few days.
7 Comments »
September 30th, 2003, No Comments »
A quality, disturbing Fark PhotoShop contest wherein the theme was childhood nightmares. They’re all pretty frightening, but I particularly like this one and this one. Ah, evil clowns and the monster in the closet, my strange bed fellows.
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September 30th, 2003, 5 Comments »
While searching for something related to the musical Chicago, I happened upon one of the following links. Coincidentally, I received a spam email for another such link. Is the universe trying to tell me something?
The following are three products for determining, in fairly creative ways, whether your spouse is cheating on you:
- Chatcheaters.com brings us the ominously named Spector. Spector is spyware tha apparently ‘records all their email, chats, keystrokes and Web site visits’. I particularly like the product endorsement stories from suffering partners.
- Of a similar ilk but far more fiendish is Lover Spy. “Using this very web site, you can very easily send Lover Spy as an e-greeting card. The e-card looks just like a normal e-greeting card but silently, this e-card will secretly install our award-winning spy software on their PC!” I find this hard to believe, and it certainly wouldn’t work for Linux or Mac users, who can apparently cheat with inpunity. I particularly like the box graphic, shown at left.
- From software to wetware: “the Original CheckMate Infidelity Test Kit will quickly and easily monitor your spouse’s sexual activity outside of the relationship by detecting traces of semen left in their undergarments after sex.” Sure, I suppose this works for women, but what if your man’s just a big wanker (literally, I mean)? More testimonials, of course.
You know who I feel sorry for? Private investigators. Used to be, you’d hire a gumshoe to keep tabs on your honey. Alas, another job rendered obsolete by technology.
There was also a story in the paper on the weekend about cheating Italians being hosed by their mobile phones.
5 Comments »
September 30th, 2003, No Comments »
Slashdot links to a story about David Bradley, the IBM engineer who, in 1980, devised Ctrl-Alt-Del and so set in motion the eventual destruction of civilization:
The original idea was simply to reset early PCs without turning them off. Microsoft adopted control-alt-delete to help ensure people powered down correctly, then to handle “administrative functions” such as the vital “end task” feature for computer software that crashes or otherwise gets stuck.
Bradley chose the control and alt keys because he needed two shift keys to make the operation work, and he chose the delete key because it was on the opposite side of the keyboard. He didn’t want people to hit control-alt-delete by accident.
I like how Bradley also says that “then it turned out that this reset was a problem-solver for people who were writing the programs and writing the instruction manuals.” They’re always blaming the technical writers.
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September 29th, 2003, 4 Comments »
Strictly for local readers: I’m speaking at a conference later this week in Calgary. As such, I need a laptop to do the Powerpoint thing. I have one option, but it’s hardly ideal (it’s my wife’s, and a lovely laptop, but she needs it to, you know, earn a living and such). So, does anybody have a laptop they want to loan or rent me for this Wednesday to Friday. My requirements are pretty minimal: It needs to be able to run PowerPoint, and I need to be able to transfer data to it (via floppy, CD or network connection). If you can hook me up, email me at darren at darrenbarefoot dot com.
UPDATE: Todd (from http://www.holycola.net, current broken and enjoying a holy coma) has hooked me up with a brand-spakin’ new laptop. He is a superstar.
4 Comments »
September 29th, 2003, 2 Comments »
You don’t have to be a Vancouverite to appreciate these panoramic before/after photos of Vancouver. The City’s Web site features photo comparisons of several downtown views between 1978 and 2003. You’ll need to use Internet Explorer, and you should scroll right after you click the 2003 button to see the fade in action.
The difference, predictably, is remarkable. In particular, the view looking west from the Cambie St. bridge is barely recognizable 25 years ago. Kudos to the city for undertaking a project like this–our tax dollars at work.
2 Comments »
September 29th, 2003, 1 Comment »
I was out walking on Friday evening, and was near a busy downtown intersection. I watched a racoon trot out from the bushes and hustle across the road. Just then, this Trans Am comes hurtling through the intersection. I turned away at the last second, but heard a sickening thud.
When I looked back, the racoon was still moving, sliding maybe thirty feet. It lay on its back, amazingly still alive. The bastard in the Trans Am drove off. I stood there for a second, unsure of what to do. I decided to call the SPCA, but before I could, the racoon stood up and staggered off into the bushes. I flagged down a police car not thirty seconds later, but the cop explained that it would take the SPCA at least a half-hour to get there, and the racoon would be long gone. True, I suppose. I can’t imagine it lasted very long after that.
1 Comment »
