Life listed chronologically

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

  • Geek Misconceptions

    Kasia writes about something that annoyed me a bit. She points to “A Girl’s Guide to Geek Guys” and “The Guy’s Guide to Geek Girls, V2.0” and comments on some of the points they make.

    Let’s clear some things up.

    • The Star Trek thing.

      Star Trek is not a geek thing. Not all geeks like Star Trek, heck, most geeks I know never watch it. Would you people stop equating geeks with Star Trek freaks? Who the hell is Ivanova? The first guy to buy me a Star Trek mousepad as a cute gift would wear it as a collar in about fifteen seconds or less.

    • Branded tshirts.

      So people think geeks wear tshirts with brand names because they’re proudly displaying their loyalty? That’s cute and funny at the same time. T-shirts at conferences are free, t-shirts at conferences come emblazoned with logos and brand-names, ergo, geeks often wear tshirts with brand names because they’re free. Unlike the rest of you gap-labled yuppies, we don’t pay to advertise corporations.

      Unless you count my Free Software Foundation tshirt, I paid for that, but that was really more of a donation than a purchase. Sort of like the emacs manual, yah, i’ll ever read that!

    • Geeks can fix things.

      Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha — that’s all I’m going to say on the issue.

    [kasia in a nutshell]

    In general, I’ve always thought of myself as more on the geek side. But reading through the guide to geek guys it seems I was wrong. I’m barely geeky at all! Even though in humor, I just found that these were just so wrong and cliched that they weren’t even that funny.

  • Ever Wonder What the Worst Jobs Are?

    My friend Selma pointed me at this article from Popular Science that covers the worst jobs in science.

    The Worst Jobs in Science

    From fart sniffer to postdoc, the most torturous ways to make a living in science.

    October 2003

    Ah, science! Ennobling. Fascinating. Deeply challenging. Also, dangerous, gross and mind-bogglingly boring. We at Popular Science are sometimes brought up short by the realization that there are aspects of science—entire jobs, even—that, when you strip away the imposing titles and advanced degrees, sound at best distasteful and at worst unbearable. Having chosen last month our second annual Brilliant 10 — a group of dynamic researchers making remarkable discoveries—we turned to this pressing question: For the rest out there, just how bad can a science job get?

    The answer: Really, really bad.

    We solicited nominations from more than a thousand working scientists and culled the list for the most noxious. Then we voted. Which is to say, there is absolutely nothing scientific about the ranking of the worst jobs in science that appears on these pages; it is simply the collective opinion of a group of alternately awestruck and disturbed editors who rarely suffer anything worse on the job than keyboard- induced repetitive-motion syndrome. [Popular Science]

    Um. Ew. I don’t think I could ever see some kid saying they’d want to do any of these when they grow up.

  • Fanatical Apathy, The Guest Edition

    Peter Sagal will be taking over Fanatical Apathy for the week (while Adam Felber flees the RNC).

    [taps the microphone]

    Is this on? Hello?

    [blows into microphone]

    In the back, can you hear me? Yes? Okay. Good. Uh…

    [straightens tie]

    HAH! MINE! ALL MINE! MINE MINE MINE MINE! [Fanatical Apathy]

  • I’m not sure if this is real or fake…

    But either way it’s pretty damn funny.

    Doom 3 teenagers freaking out

    doom3freakout

    Cory Doctorow: This is a video of two teenaged boys playing Doom 3 — you can’t see the game, just their reaction. As Joey notes, these kids are screaming like hyenas as the boo-scareys lurch out of the Doom 3 shadows and leap on their characters. One of the kids actually gnaws a pillow when it all gets to be too much for him. Pretty cool endorsement for a game, actually. 7.8MB WMV Link

    Mirror Link (Thanks, Quentin!)
    (via AccordionGuy) [Boing Boing Blog]

     

  • Using Google as a Research Tool

    A LiveJournal user has used Google to figure out some stats about LJ users.

    21% of people who hate their lives use Livejournal
    [via] 
    [Waxy.org Links]

  • Maybe If I Share It…

    trevor-animatedMaybe if I share this with the world it will get out of my head. Those wonderful wacky people at weebls have a little cartoon that I’m finding more addicting than Badgers. I mean, Everyone Love Magical Trevor. He makes cows disappear than reappear! I blame ladysissyphususerinfo for my knowledge of this.

     

  • Damn Those Cobblestick Shuttlerunners

    Adam Felber gives us a transcript of an obscure event from the olympics. Here’s a snip of the beginning.

    Olympic Transcript [Obscure Event Edition]

    TOM: Welcome back, and we’re just in time for the 800 meter sideways cobblestick shuttlerun. With me, I have 1976 bronze medalist, Lucy Pinker. Lucy, what are we looking for today?

    LUCY: Well, Tom, Hungary’s Bidrai Malouva is the favorite in this event, having taken gold in Sydney.

    TOM: He’s more machine than man!

    LUCY: Uh, well, sure…

    TOM: But don’t count out the plucky American, Morgan Hurren. He gave Malouva a real run for his money in Sydney, finishing a very close 7th, and he’s been training exceptionally hard for this year’s games.

    [Cut to exciting video package about Hurren and his various trials and tribulations as he trained to rival the preeminent sideways cobblestick shuttlerunner in the world. Morgan turns out to be a startlingly down-to-earth kid, and you get the sense that maybe, just maybe, he’s got a shot here. He’s plucky.]

    TOM: And there he is, the Kansas kid who has the whole cobblestick shuttlerun world abuzz. [Fanatical Apathy]

  • Lions and Tigers and Bears… BRAAAAAP

    Those wacky animals are at it again.

    Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground

    story.sleeping.bear

    SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) — A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.

    “We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around,” said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 km) northeast of Seattle.

    The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers’ coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds. [CNN.com]

    I personally like that he was smart enough to avoid the Busch beer. He’s even got taste!

  • Oh, Yes. So Wrong.

    Thanks to those fine folk at Boing Boing for this link. I may have to destroy you all for it.

    Watchmen comic remixes

    watchmen

    So wrong: Something Awful re-captions selections from Watchmen.

    Link
    (thanks, Zed)
    [Boing Boing Blog]

     

    So wrong, but so funny. Hmm, what other comics to re-caption.

  • What Everyone Needs When They Go Out On A Blind Date

    Hmm. I wonder if I can use this service yet. I mean, if I had a date anytime in the next decade.

    ‘Escape-A-Date’ ringtones help you lie like an (unwired) dog

    Cingular Wireless recently introduced an odd new tool for subscribers. “Escape-a-Date” is touted as “the perfect service to use when you are afraid that your blind date may not be just right for you.” Users schedule a “rescue” phone call at a pre-set time which tells them exactly how to lie their way into speedy escape. Eight randomly-generated humorous scripts are offered, here’s a snip from one:

    Hey, this is your escape-a-date call. If you’re looking for an excuse, I got it. Just repeat after me, and you’ll be on your way!

    “Not again! Why does that always happen to you? … Alright, I’ll be right there.” Now tell ’em that your roommate got locked out, and you have to go let them in. Good luck!”

    [Boing Boing Blog]

    I remember doing this kind of thing to get out of meetings that were driving me insane.