OK, how about a year-end poll that really matters?
The Beard: Keep it? or Dump it?
Here’s what I look like with it…
click to enlarge
Here’s without:
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Speaking of Intellectual Property
And while I’m in this ranty mood… will the idiots who keep going around making sure all the books by Hillary Clinton, Al Franken, Michael Moore and anyone else they don’t agree with get turned face down in the book store, please, get a real job? (And, no, turning Ann Coulter books on their head like I saw the other night is not an acceptable response.)
I realize that, as a book store employee, my beloved spouse gets paid to turn them back over again, but it doesn’t make her happy.
And like she says: “When mama ain’t happy… ain’t no one happy.”
Posted in Rants 'n' Whines
3 Comments
Microsoft trying to get FATter?
At what point do you give up the right to charge people for something you’ve given away for free? I know Microsoft has an absolute right to charge removable media vendors to use the FAT file system, but what ever happened to contributing to the common good? Microsoft has allowed anyone and everyone free use of FAT technology since it was first invented in 1976. Now, in an effort to “open” its proprietary systems, they will charge makers of removable solid state media, such as compact flash memory cards, for preformatting them to the Microsoft FAT file system format. That’s 25-cents per unit (up to $250,000). Additionally, they will charge 25-cents per unit for each digital camera, video camera, digital audio player, multifunction printer, electronic photo frame, electronic musical instrument and TV.
But, please, don’t pile on poor Microsoft for doing what they have the legal right. All this is an effort to give other companies “the opportunity to standardize the FAT file system implementation in their products, and to improve file system compatibility across a range of computing and consumer electronics devices,” not to make a quick buck. In fact, that is the aim of their brand new Intellectual Property Licensing Policy–to give poor MS a way to share. Because, you know, they never could have let people use their technology for free until it became embedded into the very fabric of the industry before. That would be un-American.
Posted in Rants 'n' Whines
3 Comments
Monday Mission Ending
Looks like the end is near for PromoGuy’s Monday Mission. He’s going to terminate it in January after two years of meme goodness.
I have a whole category devoted to MM, as it was the only one of those types of weekly question/answer things I ever participated in. It gave me mucho Monday blog fodder before I just got too busy (or lazy) to do them anymore.
For all the fun you bring to the blogonetisphere, thank you, Promo.
Posted in Aortal, Monday Mission
1 Comment
What? Me Worry?
ME (singing loudly and off-key): OHHHH, I want to win the lotto. I wanna be rich! Filthy stinking rich! Give me wads o’ cash! I wanna be rich! Rich! Rich! Rich!
WHINY (singing in reply): Then I could hire someone to kill you…
Posted in Car Talk
2 Comments
Stop Dave Barry (Again)
I don’t think we have to worry this time. It doesn’t look like The Evil One is going to win Best Humor Blog at the 2003 Weblog Awards. He’s being pounded by a trio of blogs that specialize in political humor. They’re funny enough, I suppose. I prefer fart jokes. (That’s why my vote went to pickle juice.)
Just in case he makes a late surge…
Posted in Strangeness
2 Comments
Food TV Night
Just finished watching a special on the annual Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville, NC. Those people are nuts. Of course, it’s something my wife wants to do someday, so I’d never say that out loud…
Speaking of nuts… right after that show the Iron Chef USA came on. Usually, Americanized versions of foreign shows are pretty sucky. But when the whole point of it is to be stupid, well… let’s just say it plays to our strength… (Yes, it really stars William Shatner. I thought we were going to die laughing at the opening.)
Posted in Life, the Universe and Everything
2 Comments
Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
There ya go… now this is a cool contest. The producers of Red Dwarf are offering the chance for eight lucky geeks to do a commentary track on the Series V and VI DVD’s.
You must be over 18 and read the fine print (they’re not paying for a hotel), but you’ll be immortalized forever… or until they replace DVD’s with something else.
Posted in Wouldya Lookit That!
1 Comment
He’s Hooked, He’s Hooked, His Brain is Cooked
Ah, yes, video games. I used to play those a little. (Stop snickering, Schmuck.) Truth be told, I practically lived in the arcade for a couple of years.
How many quarters did I plunk down into the belly of a video monster? You know those little old ladies that feed the slot machines in Vegas? Amateurs.
To make a combo shot and explain both how nerdy I am was am and just how… um, actually that’s it… I tell of the time a couple of friends and I spent the entire night hopped up on Mountain Dew, going around to every Asteroids game in the city of Bangor in order to get the top score and proudly leaving as my initials: WHY.
When I became gainfully employed (“You want fries with that?”), the closing crew used to head to Friendly’s (which replaced the unfortunately-named Sambo’s) for coffee, but not without stopping at a convenience store to play Robotron or Joust for a bit. Remember when convenience stores and restaurants had arcade games to encourage young loiterers? Good times.
This flood of “gosh I really didn’t need to know that” brought to you by Michele and her Video Hall of Fame, Category 1: Coin-Op Games. Go make a nomination or vote or something. See the History of Arcade Games or the Killer List of Video Games for reference.
I’m going to go see if I have any Mountain Dew and Skittles in the house.
UPDATE: Ooh, I found an even better arcade history site at The Dot Eaters!
UPDATE 2: They have sound samples, too! w00t! Chicken! Fight Like a Robot
UPDATE 3: Time to vote! She’s split the games up into categories. So, the first poll is for the older, vector graphics games–Asteroids, Tempest, Defender, Battlezone and Tron.
Posted in Wouldya Lookit That!
8 Comments
A tapestry of rich and royal hue
Sgt. Grump found the neatest thing for a history geek. It’s called the Historic Tale Construction Kit. Using figures from the Bayeux Tapestry, you can create scenes to stir the imagination.
Like this one:
Click to enlarge
Leave it to one of my friends to make a statement like: “The only problem is that being based on the Battle of Hastings, you have limited types of objects to use.” Wotta geek.
Posted in Wouldya Lookit That!
5 Comments