The TRUTH!

Recently xkcd's Randall Munroe decided to let the world in on a secret that us IT professionals had closely guarded. We've decided to let it go as long as he keeps making pithy comics about physics, raptors, and Ubuntu that we can email to each other as we lick our wounds.





This was doubly funny for me since only a few days before the comic was published, and old friend stopped into my office and immediately pointed at my computer screen: "Oh boy!" he said, "Google? THAT doesn't look work related!"
To which I responded, of course, "couldn't do my job without Google - are you kidding?"

It was only later I wondered just what he uses Google for, anyway, that makes him instantly think of recreation when he sees it.

I won't speculate....

RiffTrax: Plan 9 From Outer Space ENCORE

RiffTrax LIVE: Plan 9 From Outer Space

Tales of Terror: two favorites

Ah, Hallowe'en, by far my favorite time of year. Autumn leaves and wind, fresh crisp air, and on top of that, the best holiday America has to offer.
To get in the mood, I recommend a good horror story. Dim the lights, settle down in front of your computer, and get ready to be frightened.

I've been reading horror stories for about thirty-four years now, and was pleased to find out via recent googling that two of the stories that stand out from the hundreds I've read are available online. Enjoy, and for more, check out the final link to the Horror Masters online library.

The Troll - by T.H. White

The Upper Berth - by F. Marion Crawford

Horror Masters

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

This past Sunday, on a very blustery day, my wife Anna found some time for an errand that had been put off too long - picking up our Obama yard sign. She was excited to finally get it (so was I - we've never had a sign for a candidate in our yard, not in sixteen years of living together), and plunked it down in the yard the second she got home. Just in time for trick or treat, she thought to herself, then got into the shower to prepare for work, no doubt with a deserved sense of self-satisfaction. Ten minutes later she went to the bedroom window to look down on the lawn and admire the sign.
It was gone.
The wind had taken it (we can only assume it wasn't theft or vandalism - our neighbor's signs were untouched), leaving only the skeletal wire frame. Moments later I came home and was immediately dispatched to search the neighborhood for it, downwind of course.
Nothing. Not a trace of it.
I've checked: at the time we had a prevailing westerly wind, gusting to 36 mph. Besides the few blocks east of us, there's nothing else there but Lake Michigan. So please, if our sign blew onto the deck of your tugboat or freighter, or perhaps wafted high above the lake for hours before appearing in your yard in Michigan or Indiana, we'd like it back. It's blue.
Until then, the answer is blowin' in the wind.

Homer Street

homer_street_sign_close, originally uploaded by philosaurus.

Pictured: A modified sign for East Homer Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Bay View neighborhood. This is about two blocks from our old flat. A friend contacted me and recommended I go to this corner as soon as possible.

I did, and this is what was waiting for me. A resident raking leaves under the sign told me "some kids put it up in the middle of the night, with a ladder. They did a really good job, actually."

Sorry for the bad quality pic - blame my temperamental camera and the sunny day.


By the way, Google's Street View cameras haven't been to this corner yet. Maybe this sign will make it onto Google Maps.


Thanks to throbbingeye for the tip!

I'll always remember this week as the week the country was teetering on the brink of full-goose bozo, all-out screaming insanity.

I am counting the hours until Election Day...

They Call Me Fa-Breeze

My wife and I have been parents for almost a year, and as we plan a birthday party, I'd like to stop to propose that a new word be added to the English language, first in casual usage, of course, but with luck, to be eventually included in the O.E.D.

That word is SMELLUSION.*

Usage: Though they had barely cleaned the house, the scented carpet spray produced an effective, if temporary, smellusion of cleanliness.

Definition: smellusion (smĕl-lōō-zhən) n. An olfactory impression produced by an air-freshening device or scented spray that cloaks rank and offensive odors. [Deriv. from smell + illusion]

Smell ya later!

*I've checked Google and found three hits. I'd say that's pretty low by web-search standards. And none of the three individuals using it seem to be claiming responsibility for coining it, so I am at least claiming the right to define and promote it.

Update: Five results now. Those robots are busy these days!