A Cult it's OK to Join

Cult of Mac Blog.

Not Drudge

Noted Now.

Jamaica Pond at Night

Driving along the back of the Jamaica Pond last night around 10PM, I saw a beautiful full moon.

I seemed like I could get a good shot of it AND the pond if I crossed the dividing line of the road and pulled over to the curb, facing the oncoming traffic.

So I did it.

The next thing to figure out was how to get a timed exposure with my Canon S400.

I took a while, but I figured it out and steadied the camera to the frame of the car, held in the shutter, stayed as still as I could, and nothing happend!

Ah, you've got to release the shutter, and then the camera makes the exposure.

I think it came out pretty good.

The Results Are In: Nikon D70 wins over Canon 300D

Nikon D70 Review, April 2004, Phil Askey

(The Nikon) D70... (is) a camera which is a significant step ahead of the EOS 300D in terms of build quality and feature set and a match, and in some instances better from an image quality point of view.

Nikon have achieved three major improvements with the D70 (compared to the competition / the D100): (1) They have improved the performance of the camera, with its instant on availability, very fast shutter release, superb continuous shooting and image processing speed and smart use of its buffer. (2) They have maintained build quality while still delivering a smaller and lighter camera, the D70 doesn't feel much less well built than the D100 but is lighter, it certainly feels much more like $1000 worth of camera than the EOS 300D could. (3) They have improved image sharpness and detail, while we could niggle about moiré the compromise between artifacts and sharpness is worth it, in many instances the D70 delivering more detail than our previous benchmark, the EOS 300D / EOS 10D CMOS sensor.

Nice review.

Nikon D70 Discussion Forum.

Silly Adam Mesh, Foolish Choices

Adam,
I'm dissapointed in your final choice.

You should have listened to your parents.

You should have let all the bikini girls stay, instead of judging them based on their looks.

That little dog is going to drive you crazy.

--Steve

So much for the idea that men would be less shallow than women on NBC's Average Joe.

Chris Rock Calls Laura on Her Cell Phone

He knows her cell phone number since it's his old cell phone number.

Terror Kitten Caught in Jamaica Plain

What would you expect to catch in a racoon trap when you use Fancy Feast as bait?

You catch a kitten!

I came home to find a kitten sitting inside the racoon trap that the racoon catchers have set up in the backyard.

It's a cute little kitten. Awwwww.

No pictures though.

Running to get my digital camera would have delayed the poor kitten's freedom.

When I saw the kitten in the trap, the first thing I thought of was opening the cage and setting the kitten free.

So I approached the cage and started trying to calm the kitten with what I imagine is calm kitten talk, "Hi there kitty, awwww look at you in the racoon cage. Why did you go in there. Everything will be alright. Just hang on while I open up the racoon cage door for you."

The kitten seemed reasonably calm as I opened the racoon cage door.

Then, whoooooosh!

The kitten was gone in a flash.

As I looked insode the cage I saw what had attracted the kitten to the racoon cage: Fancy Feast cat food!

Maybe the racoon catchers guys should switch to something that will only attract racoons?

That's hard to do when it turns out that racoons eat almost anything:

Raccoons will eat just about anything. Although this statement is generally true, raccoons do have definite preferences. Generally speaking, they like peanuts, sweets, fruits, bread, peanut butter, and especially cat and dog food.

D'oh!

George Bush Doesn't Read the Newspaper

The O'Franken Factor: Al Franken's blog.

Jump into the River

WXRV had a commercial making contest and all the finalists are over here.

Kurt Schulz video was my favorite!

Turbo Tax for the Web is FREE for young people and old people!

I know it's hard to believe, but I used TurboTax for the web to do my mother-in-law's tax return this year.

What's cool about it, is that using the software, and filing online is FREE!

Federal returns are free for everyone who qualifies, and State returns are Free if you live in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, or Vermont.

It's all because of The Intuit Tax Freedom Project.

You've got to be OLD (62 or older) or YOUNG (22 or younger). Based on that scale, I'm middle aged. :-(

$25 OFF at PrintingForLess.com

I'm going to start using PrintingForLess.com to get a ton of Postcards and Greeting Cards printed.

They gave me a special code so YOU can get $25 off your first order!

This is what they offer:

Highest quality four-color printing of postcards, business cards, brochures, catalogs, stationary, envelopes, posters, and much more. All of their jobs are processed on industry-leading Heidelberg presses.

Input the unique ID below in the "Promotional Code" field of the order form while completing your order and you will see the discount applied in your email receipt.

Your ID code is: RP13NR4GS (input in "Promotional Code" field)

The Homer Calendar

Counting the Omer.
It's a Passover thing that no one does.

A leveling indictment of bigotry in the art world

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art.

Take a romp through the last two thousand years of Western Art with the Guerrilla Girls as your guides. Find answers to questions like these: Who put all those naked men in the classical sections of museums? Why did nuns have more fun in medieval times? Did a girl have to cross dress for success in the 19th century? How far does a female have to go from her home to become an artist? Why were the modern Masters more interested in painting prostitutes than Suffragettes? Read about the fascinating lives of the women artists who were able to make it, despite incredible social obstacles and sexist art historians. Art history classes around the world are using it as a textbook. Make your professor use it, too!

The girl who wants to remain anonymous, was talking about these girls, after we watched a very funny video of her and a friend dressed up in gorilla suits, splashing each other by a pond, and then dancing in the woods.

I hope to get the video posted up here.

You're Overdrawn!

Be the first on your block to max out your own personal Trump VISA card.

I'm Bleeding Money For This City

This girl I work with, who wants to remain anonymous, says that "she's bleeding money for this city" because of all the parking tickets she pays to the City of Boston.

We had lunch together and I found her very quotable. So much so that I wrote that quote down on a napkin.

She also said, "We're not wrong 'cause there is no right."

That quote rocks!

We went to Natick Center and ate lunch at a cute bakery called Bakery on the Common.

After I placed my order the girl at the counter said, "Let me get your number."

To which I replied, "OK. I'll give you my number, but I'm not sure my wife would be happy about it."

With this, I turned to the girl who wishes to remain anonymous and asked her what town we were in. She told me Natick.

I said, "The girls here in Natick are pretty forward."

We all had a good laugh at that.

These Earings Are Cool

Mondera Platinum Round Diamond Stud Earrings (H-I/SI1, 1 ct. tw.)
They are cool because they have a bezel setting, are made out of platinum and are one carat!

Bezel is the new prong.

Platinum is the new gold.

Why does the kitchen clock think it's an hour ahead?

When I woke up yesterday, my Atomix official United States atomic clock hadn't adjusted itself for Daylight Saving Time, as I thought it would.

So I took it off the wall and changed it to an hour ahead.

I wondered why it didn't keep track of the time change, but decided not to pursue it.

This morning my Atomix official United States atomic clock said it was an hour later than it actually was.

So I had change the clock again, and then make a trip to Google to see what was going on. I found this:

Simple To Use, Always Accurate.

1. Insert a single AA battery to power this clock for 2 years.
2. Set the clock to your time zone using the enclosed instructions.
3. Now, forget it! Your clock will automatically find and keep the official U.S. time, even adjusting itself for daylight savings.

So I guess I thwarted the clock's attempt to adjust itself.

I'll we watching this clock in the Fall to make sure it does what it's supposed to. If it doesn't, I'll have to make a trip to The U.S. Naval Observatory Time Service Department to check out the United States Atomic Clock to see what is going on.

Here's the current time.

This Group Blog Magazine Thingy is Worthwhile

Anita Sharpe explains what worthwhilemag.com is all about:

This is what Worthwhile is all about: passionate, purposeful work; spending our days doing what makes us come alive. And, in the process, leaving the world a better place.

It's got worthwhile posts like this one by Halley Suitt:

I remember reading the book, Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow by Marsha Sinetar a long time ago. I remember feeling both cynical and hopeful that she was probably onto something. She wrote the book in 1987.

I can think of a lot of jobs I've hated since 1987. And a lot I've loved. My question is, "Okay, if I do what I love, WHEN EXACTLY will the money follow?"

Ha!

My Stupid LaCie DVD doesn't know it's in the United States

Just got this message after burning my first DVD and then mounting it:

Since this is the first use of a DVD disc, the drive region code must be initialized before playing.

New drive setting: [ ]

TechTV comes to the rescue with this list:

Following is a list of region codes and their corresponding geography:

1. Canada, United States, US Territories
2. Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East (including Egypt)
3. Southeast Asia, East Asia (including Hong Kong)
4. Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, Caribbean
5. Russian Federation, India, Pakistan, Africa (except Egypt), North Korea, Mongolia
6. China
7. Reserved
8. Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, and so on)

Region 1, Region 1, Region 1!

Red Sox St. Patrick's Day Green Jersey

Can you get these green Red Sox Jersey's anywhere in Boston?
via [ Scott Knaster ]

This has got to be the year

Go Sox!

Eating Egg Matzo Has Rules?

On the box of Manischewitz Egg Matzos is says this:

According to Ashkenazic practice, all egg matzo may be eaten only by the young, infirm, or aged. If you are of Sephardic ancestry, consult your rabbi.

Challah is taken.

Oops.

I already ate it, don't have a rabbi, and am not exactly what you'd call young, but I'm not aged and infirm either.

Maybe I should switch to the unsalted?

Oy vey!

And can anyone explain to me what "Challah is taken" means?

TiVo Improves Students Grades

TiVo addicts just can't seem to say no.

Now this from the story about a guy who owns six TiVo's:

"Before we got the TiVo, my son was getting Cs and Ds in school because he was staying up late to watch his shows and going to school half-awake," said Cambron, a television engineer in Kansas City, Mo. Now that the Cambrons can time-shift programs, his son is getting enough sleep, and his grades have risen to As and Bs.

Ha!

Critics give it mixed reviews so it's gotta be good.

Jersey Girl reviews.

Dan Saltzman: Weekly Dig review.

We saw Jersey Girl last night.

I liked it and was surprised to see that stapler guy from Office Space in it as one of George Carlin's buddies.

Office Space was also the midnight movie.

Office Space Cafe, a half-baked idea.

Office themed bars have been baked but an Office Space cubicle format restaurant for when you want to just go ahead and, uh, eat by yourself... yeah... Full internet access and phone line. You can also bring a date to feel like you are having an illicit inter-office affair. Or maybe you really are having an inter-office romance and want a change of venue. Wait staff act as hot or annoying co-workers. Placemats look like TPI coversheets.

Office Space Script.

The Laugh Track

A short history of the laugh track.
Ha, Ha , Ha.
via [ J-Walk ]

The State of the News Media 2004

The Open Internet

Thus there would be two Internets, in a sense. There would be the big media, the handful of places where large audiences assemble, and where huge multi-platform news organizations would deliver news on demand worldwide in sophisticated ways, perhaps better than they do now. And then there would be the open Internet - the water cooler, bloggers and clamoring citizens, off in their niches, in chat rooms and grass roots organizations, creating movements and confounding the establishment. And the Internet would be home to both. As of 2004, the signs are pointing in that direction.”

That's what we're creating.
via [ Metafilter ]

Sam Bisbee's New Stop-Motion Music Video

You Are Here [ 18-Mb Quicktime ]

It's like a deluxe hifi flip book. There's no cgi here- it actually is thousands of individual photos shot with a Canon digital camera- printed on a desktop printer then stacked and shot stop-action style.

via [ J-Walk ] from [ Bob Ligenfelter, via studio2f ]

Sam Bisbee

How Did I Miss This Yesterday?

New Kids to reunite for one-time show.

In a special, one-time-only show at City Hall Plaza, the New Kids on the Block will reunite for a free performance on June 14th at 4 p.m.

“We’ll be selling American flags with a New Kids insignia that reads, ‘In Joey We Trust’.

Hanging tough!

Daylight Saving Time Starts Sunday Night

Daylight Saving Time has it's own website.

And I've been calling it Daylight Savings Time!

Disney's Big Bahama Blunder

Disney's abandoned "Treasure Island"

Known to the locals as the only "Ghost Town" in the Abacos, it used to be a major tourist attraction. Disney's huge cruise liners would actually stop near the island to drop people off for a day o' fun. But being the brilliant masterminds that they are, Disney failed to do their research about the area before they invested over 30 million dollars in the place.

Interesting story that I hadn't heard before.

Barry Talks!

The Official Weblog of Barry Briggs.
I'm working on a project with his brother-in-law and hear that Barry writes a must-read blog.

Whoa! Bush is a Failure

MoveOn.org's 'Bush is a Failure' TV ad. [ mpg ]
Watching TV last night, this ad from MoveOn.org came on.

Memorable.

Take it off the stove! Take it off!

The good thing about cooking with gas is that you can regulate the temperature immediately. Unlike an electric stove, when you lower the temperature on a gas stove it shanges right away.

On an electric stove you've got to be careful since the burners stay hot after you shut them off.

Guess what?

On a gas stove the burner grate stays hot too!

The other night after heatung up some delicious leftovers form Dogwood Cafe, my wife placed the leftover container on the stove, right on top of a burner we had just been using.

All of a sudden it started melting and smoking.

That's when I started yelling, "Take it off the stove! Take it off!"

Yikes!

What a mess.

Good thing the food still seemed ok. I guess all the plastic melted away.

Unless it melted into the food.

Stop Well Water

Why do they want us to stop well water on our way out of the Best Buy parking lot in Dedham?

Shrek 2 for OS X?

Nope.

But close. It's Shrook 2 for Mac OS X.

They call it The most advanced news reader for Mac OS X, but that's them speaking.

Howard Stern Taken Off The Air!

Life Without Howard.

WXRK radio in New York, Howard's HQ, begins the day this morning with a statement from the general manager saying that because of recent action by the FCC and Congress, Infinity Broadcasting cannot risk its licenses and its shareholders' equity and so it is regretfully taking the Howard Stern Show off the air.

It is to be replaced by Cross and Lopez, a new team whose mission is "morning fun without filth." They play Beyonce and promise to recap last night's American Idol! "We are building a better, cleaner morning program."

"Gift Certificates to the Olive Garden coming up!"

Ha!

Total Mentions for Bush vs. Kerry in the Blogosphere

patriotically.com.

Is he really in Boston?

Virtual Bostonian.

blogosphere.us

Trends: Last 24 Hours.

Don't attach the final battery cable to the battery!

How To Jump Start A Car.

Connect the negative cable end (black) to the negative battery terminal on the booster car (marked with a "-"). Finally, attach the other end of the negative cable to an unpainted metal surface on the engine of the dead car. Find an unpainted bolt or bracket that is as far from the dead battery as possible. This will provide a solid ground while further reducing the possibility of igniting any hydrogen gas.

I was just reading a book in a bookstore and they had this very important step wrong!

I think it was this book, How to Mow the Lawn: The Lost Art of Being a Man.

It's a 1.99lb baby!

JVC Interlink 7310

Are The Get Up Kids the new Squeeze?

The Get Up Kids.

Squeeze.

Finally, an alternative to Rush Limbaugh and Jay Severin

Air America Radio is on the air.

If Air America Radio is not broadcasting in your area yet, you can listen online.

DVDRhelp.com & VCDhelp.com

This site will help you to make your own VideoCDs, SVCDs or DVDs that can be played on your standalone DVD Player from video sources like DVD, Video, TV, Cam or downloaded movie clips like DivX, MOV, RM, WMV and ASF.

ffmpegX

Video/Audio encoder for Mac OS X.

LaCie d2 8X DVD +/- RW Drive

LaCie needs to do a better job of documentation for their Rewritable DVD drive.

PACKAGING
1. The front of box says:
DVD-RW & DVD+RW
8x DVD+-R, 4x DVD+-RW

The side of the box says:
d2 8X DVD +/- RW FW Drive

That's confusing. Especially for someone new to DVDs.

On the LaCie web site it has this info:

DVD speeds (Write, Rewrite, Read) :

DVD+/-R: 8x
DVD-R: Disc-at-Once, Incremental recording, Multi-border recording
DVD+R: Incremental recording
--
DVD+/-RW: 4x
DVD-RW: Restricted Overwriting
DVD+RW: Random recording
--
DVD-ROM: 12x
--

I think I get it that the drive does a speed of 8x when it's writing on a DVD.

What's Incremental Recording?

What does Restricted Overwriting and Random recording mean?

Inside The Box
Inside the box the glossy insert shows the contents. This should include a LaCie Optical User's Manual and a LaCie DVD Utilities CD-ROM.

I only got a Roxio Toast 6 Titanium CD.

After opening and inserting the Roxio Toast 6 Titanium CD I see tat that's where the LaCie documentation is located.

Hmm. The glossy insert needs to be updated.

Installing DVD Drive support
Over on the LaCie website are the most recent LaCie DVD drivers.

Right now, the LaCie DiscRecording Support for Mac OS X 10.3.2 or later (March 22, 2004), is the most recent.

That's a very different description than the insert in the box which calls it LACIE DVD DRIVE PROFILE.

Once you get it installed, you are supposed to see Disc Burning: Vendor Supported in the system profile window. Guess what? Doesn't say that.

It says Apple Supported/Shipped.

Come on guys. Let's update the website to include all this info.

Also, how about a message board?

UPDATE from Roxio:

From: support@lacie.com
Subject: Re: CDDVD information request from Steve Garfield
Date: March 31, 2004 6:26:56 PM EST

The LaCie Discrecording.pkg is the correct file. Apple has supplied us with a new version from the Feb2004 profile.

I'm sorry for any confusion this caused.

UPDATE #2 from Roxio:

From: support@lacie.com
Subject: Re: CDDVD information request from Steve Garfield
Date: March 31, 2004 6:26:57 PM EST

You should have only received the one Toast Titanium CD. We no longer ship the software on three CDs. The one CD includes Toast Titanium for OS 10.2 and newer, Toast Lite for OS 9.1.x, 9.2.x and 10.1.x and the manual for the install of the DVD recorder. Our documentation has not been changed to reflect this.

After installing Toast you will also have a Toast manual in the Toast folder.

I'm sorry for any confusion this caused.

UPDATE #3 from Roxio, RE: Disc Burning: Apple Supported/Shipped:

From: support@lacie.com
Subject: Re: CDDVD information request from Steve Garfield
Date: April 2, 2004 5:09:09 PM EST

Hello,
Yes that looks OK.

AAADD, Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

Down memory lane, with a few detours

Recently, I was diagnosed with AAADD, Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests: I decide to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, I notice there is mail on the hall table. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table and notice that it's full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mail box when I take out the trash, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table but there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk, where I left the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm off to wash my car.

Hey, there are some bills here that need to be paid...

Seinfeld is back!

Go to Jerry's apartment and watch Seinfeld and Superman.

It's an Amex promotion and very funny.

Don't miss the Oh Yes! Wyoming Sing-A-Long.
via [ Lost Remote ]

Action Comics #1.

Lindsay meets her favorite Bush twin

One Of Those Posts:

Me: "you're my favorite Bush Twin."
Her: (Staring, blinking) "what?"
Me: "um, I don't know, nevermind."
Her: Staring. Too drunk to speak. Starts to fall over, but guy friend catches her. I haven't seen someone that drunk since college! Like father like daughter, I guess.

Cheers!

TV for the rest of us?

konspire[2b].
via [ Doc ]

TiVo: Watch Commercials While Skipping Commercials

TiVo to Launch Interactive Ads

Many TiVo users use the service to skip commercials, but now they'll get commercials while skipping commercials.

Wait a sec. Will I be able to skip the commercial that shows up while I'm skipping a commercial?

Steve Garfield's Google Search

Google Personalized Search.

Google Personalized web search delivers custom search results that are based on a profile you create describing your interests. Your results can be instantly rearranged by dragging a slider at the top of the page to go from no personalization to full personalization or anywhere in between.

My interests are:

Movies, TV, Photography, Radio, Television, Arts and Entertainment, Automotive, E_Commerce, Food, Investing, Internet, Multimedia, Mental Health, Cooking, Gardens, Home Improvement, Personal Finance, Pop, Rock, New Age, Parody/Humor, News, Autos, and Technology.

And I enjoy long walks on the beach. ;-)

D'oh! Just got this message:

Sorry, Google Personalized does not currently support Safari.

Safari browser doesn't work with Google Personalized Search. :-(

Don't Eat That!

Fast Food Calculator
via [ Rex ]

Your Cell Phone is Toxic!

Toxic [ mp3 ] is now one of many TruTone LabelTone ringtones, authentic titles from recent chart toppers.

Now Playing in Japan

This site in Japan uses Now Playing, a cool app that gets its data from the currently playing iTunes song.

Now Playing Themes.

See what themes other sites are using.

UPDATE:
I installed it. Take a look over there on the right to see what I'm listening to in iTunes.
via [ Born Properly, Takeshi in Japan ]

What? Me Worry?

Looks like I'm really worried huh?

I'm just acting.

Did a few pick up shots for the corporate video I starred in as TapeBoy!

With all this acting I'm doing, I'd better put together a new web site to keep track of it all: Steve Garfield - Actor. ;-)

Make your iChat status message display your current iTune

Now Playing in iChat AV.

Sorta like Localfeeds

Universal Hub.
Tapping into the Boston blog-geist.

Bikini Models and Music!

Agua Con Gas.

Boom Chicka Wow Wow!

Can you put up a boring post?

I need to buy some more seltzer water. I like seltzer water. I used to buy Polar Seltzer but now buy San Pellegrino. I guess that it's because I went to Italy a few years ago and had fun ordering acqua con gas, water with gas.

Jeff promotes a new meme.

Free web photo album generator

JAlbum.

Do You Want To Buy A Bridge?

Mark Ebner joined Scientology to write about it.

"If you really want to enslave people,
tell them that you're going to give them total
freedom."

-- L. Ron Hubbard

Ebner wrote Hollywood Interrupted with Andrew Breitbart.

Ebner just said on WRKO that Michael Moore didn't really get that gun the day he opened an account in Bowling for Columbine, but he's WRONG!

Michael Moore tells the true story.

Andrew Breitbart has been online sidekick to Matt Drudge on the Drudge Report for five years. .

Murder at Jamaica Pond

"Hey Toine, come on back. We gotta go!"

Twoine keeps walking away from her as he looks towards the water. He's got a large rock in his hand.

"Toine! We gotta go. The car is back that way."Toine shoots her a look over his shoulder that says he'll do whatever he wants and edges quietly towards the water.

Toine has his eyes focused on the two ducks swimming in front of him.

He raises his arm while the ducks happily swim around, not knowing what it about to happen.

Toine pulls back quickly and fires the rock directly at one of the ducks.

The rocks misses and the two ducks alight from the water and quack noisily away from the danger that is Twoine.

Twoine turns to walk back to the car with the girls.

At this point I step in. I walk between Toine and the girls.

"Hey Toine," I say motioning with my hands at my chest, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Toine looks at me with a crooked smile.

[ contine the story in the comments ]

Grandmother’s Mincemeat

The Whipple Company, established in 1899, and is famous for “Grandmother’s Mincemeat”, but also produces jams, marmalades and jellies.

Box Grandmothers Mincemeat - Whipple & Co Natick Mass.

Grandmother's Mince Meat Blotter.

What is mincemeat pie made of?

Mincemeat.

Grandma's Old Fashioned Mincemeat Pie.

Does your dog stick his head out the car window?

If so, he needs Doggles to protect his eyes.

Woof!

Mass RMV is slow too

When you perform an online transaction with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, the completion screen displays this message:

Please note that your transaction may not actually be processed for several hours. In the meantime, the transaction ID above confirms that the system has received your request. Please print this screen or write down your transaction ID for future reference.

Once your request has been processed, the Registry of Motor Vehicles will send you a confirming e-mail message. It is important that you save copies of all receipts and transaction screens.

If you do not receive an e-mail confirmation within three (3) business days, your transaction may not have been processed.

Hmm, another skinny quill pen using guy backend processing system.

UPDATE:
Received confirming email at 1:47:17 saying that my online transaction was completed at 1:44 PM. So it took them about four hours to complete the transaction and notify me.

Critter Control Update

I just saw a guy throwing a ball up onto my roof.

I went out to see what was going on.

"That's the way we close the squirrel traps for the weekend," he explained.

Cool.

Maybe the Celtics should look into signing this guy?

So I asked him what he did with the terror squirrel that he caught this week.

He said that he brought it to Revere! So if you live in Revere, watch out.

I asked him how pig the possum was that they caught in the trap while we were away.

He told me that it was the size of a medium dog! It was the biggest he had ever seen.

McDonalds Clothes for fat kids launches

Burger giant plans clothing range

US fast food giant McDonald's is to launch a range of children's clothing in North America and western Europe.

Looks like McDonalds is designing clothes without those constricting sleeves and necks found on regular clothes.

Let the fat run free!

My top 12 favorite songs

1 Aerosmith - Walk this Way (local)
2 The Atlantics - Lonelyhearts (local)
3 Boston - More than a Feeling (local)
4 Brice Springsteen - Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
5 Elvis Costello - Welcome to the Working Week
6 The Faint - Agenda Suicide
7 Frou Frou - Breathe In
8 Jethro Tull - Hunting Girl
9 Nick Lowe - Cruel to be Kind
10 U2 - New Years Day
11 Waltham - All I Want Is You (local)
12 Well - Bring It On (local)

Physical Attraction Test

Search for people who you find physically attractive.

My results:

It's official: You're "picky." The fact is you are drawn to the most beautiful of the beautiful. You know what you like in women and are more selective than most men your age. Your tastes seem instinctual. You'd make a great casting agent, because you have a good eye for women who have "star quality."

Good thing she looks like my wife!

It's another meme, courtesy of Lindsay.

I don't think that my call is important to them

I've been on hold with my sports club for quite a while now.

This is the message I keep hearing:

Your call is important to us. Your call is important to us. Your call is important to us. Your call is important to us. Your call is important to us. Your call is important to us.

I tend to disagree.

Maybe if you had picked up the phone right away, I'd agree that you think my call is important to you. But after being on hold for what seems like three days, I get the feeling that you don't care.

Comcast is slow

I'm sitting here wondering if Comcast has computers over there, or are they still using those skinny guys who write with quill pens:

The enrollment process for recurring credit card payment can take between 30-45 days, therefore you will need to pay your current statement balance with a different method (i.e. one-time credit card payment). You also may need to pay your bill next month using an alternate method if enrollment is not complete prior to the start of your next billing cycle.

Seems to me that this transaction should be instant and not time lapse.

Off On A Tangent Graffiti Over Route 9?

Wow!

Letter James is a very creative web app that allows you to personalize tons of photos with your own text.

Mark my words: These will be showing up all over the web. It's a meme in the making.
via [ The Presurfer ]

John Kerry Answers Questions from The Gadflyer

The Gadflyer: Not long after taking office, President Bush installed a T-ball field at the White House. Some say T-ball is an apt metaphor for Bush's entire life. You're a hockey player. Will you install a hockey rink at the White House, and if so, what does hockey symbolize for you?

John Kerry: I don't know if it's a metaphor for his entire life, but I can tell you that when it comes to building a record to run on, he's been swinging at that tee for four years now with the same broken bat and America's getting tired of hearing the whiff.

I love the challenge involved in playing hockey. Wayne Gretzky was asked why he was such a good hockey player and he always said, "You know most guys go to where the puck is. I go to where the puck is going to be." For me, I think that's also a statement about life and politics. It's about which issues you choose to fight for and how much you're willing to look toward tomorrow's challenges today.

It's over at The Gadflyer: Reply All.

Couric and Carlin: A new comedy team

Katie Couric and George Carlin were discussing the Janet Jackson Superbowl controversy.

Here's what they said as best I can remember:

Carlin: They had a commercial for a four hour erection, during the Superbowl.

Couric: They said to see your doctor if that happens. [ pause ] That's a great straight line. [ pause ]

Carlin: If you have a female doctor that would be great.

Everything Is Shiny and New and Buzzing With Possibility

Lindsay's weblog has been redesigned and she's happy about it:

I can't decide if the chemicals this redesign releases in my brain make it my new child or my new boyfriend, but I'm flying on some sort of oxytocin/endorphin/tylenol cold cocktail that's making me literally jump up and down and blanket Ben's non-erogenous zones with kisses while saying things one usually associates with cigarette-y afterglows.

Very happy.

It looks great!

Go read what she's written there.

Bass looking for new comedy groups in Boston

Chicago City Limits and Bass are inviting new comedy groups to audition at one of five open mike nights throughout Boston or to send a video tape to them directly. The winning act at each of these competitions will win $500, and earn the chance to compete for the grand prize of up to a $1,000 ($750 Judges Prize and $250 Audience Award) awarded during the opening of the Red Triangle Comedy show on May 26.

The Bass Red Triangle Comedy Tour open mike nights in Boston are:

Thursday, April 1: Clery's

Thursday, April 8: Dick's Last Resort

Thursday, April 15: Bell in Hand

Thursday, April 22: Copperfield

Thursday, April 29: The Milky Way

Beer and comedy. Nice.

Mean Girls

Tina Fey's new movie.
via [ Fallon Fey ]

Sam Adams 101

MG 755: The Organizational Life Cycle: The Boston Beer Company - Brewers of Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

This semester, Bentley, a business university in the Boston area, is taking it one step further with an experimental new course called, "MG 755: The Organizational Life Cycle: The Boston Beer Company - Brewers of Samuel Adams Boston Lager." On campus, the graduate level course, which filled up within two days of its being announced, has been nicknamed, "Sam Adams 101."

Mmm... Beer.

No "hello, how are you?"

My old friend Shilo from WMWM just IM'd me to test out his iChat audio feature.

The iChat dialog asked me if I wanted to accept an audio chat, so I clicked ACCEPT.

Next thing I heard was Shilo, "So are you on a PC or a Mac?"

I'm on a Mac

Are you on dial up?

I'm on broadband.

And it went on and on.

I broke in and asked him if he was going to say something like, "Hi Steve, How are you? I know that we haven't spoken in over three years."

We laughed about it.

Over the past few years we have kept in contact through email and IM's, but haven't actually spoken.

He felt comfortable enough to just start in with his techie questions in the audio iChat.

That's ok, but I think it would have been different if he'd called me on the phone.

Trapped! Like a squirrel in a cage!

Maybe I should go into the squirrel psychology business.

After I told the squirrel catchers to put their cage up on the roof, BINGO!, we caught the squirrel.

[ dance the happy dance ]

I'm soooo happy that the squirrel, who was terrorizing us, has been caught.

When it got into the house we were seriously concerned that the terrorist squirrel would eat away the insulation of our electrical wiring.

Once they get in the house, they snack on the wiring, exposing it, which can start a fire and burn the house down!

The trap is still set just in case there are more members of the terrorist squirrel cell in the area.

Squirrel Message Board.

Sample some sounds, record a track, be a DJ.

Break in the Road.

An animation in which you roam a virtual city with your microphone to search for beats and melodies you like.

After you've recorded your sounds, take them to your virtual home and try mixing them into a tune.

When you're done, you bring your mix to the club to see if the crowd likes what you've done.
via [ Presurfer ]

Frank Lennon For President

Red Sox Fan Running for President.
His platform:

1. Affordable, quality health care for all Americans

2. Campaign finance reform

3. Scrapping our income tax code

Go Frank Go!

Marua is still missing

Maura Murray - Missing since Monday Feb. 9th.

Apprentice Wannabes

Frank Borges LLosa wants to be on the next Apprentice and has set up a site to keep track of other Apprentice Wannabes like Jamie Hazan.

Seldom has mythology arisen so quickly about an event as it has with regard to the election results in Spain.

Outside View: U.S. misread Spain's election.

In his first news conference, the new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, emphasized that combating terrorism would be a top priority of his government. Spain has been resolute all along in helping the United States identify and disrupt al-Qaida cells in that country. Now that Spanish blood has been shed on Spanish soil by the terrorists, that resolve is likely to be strengthened, not weakened.

But just because the Spanish people are determined to combat radical Islamic terrorism does not mean that they have an obligation to endorse the U.S. intervention in Iraq. The election results confirm that a majority of Spaniards make a distinction between those two missions. That is not surprising, since large majorities around the world have made a similar distinction. Indeed, it is a distinction that seems to elude few people-except for a majority of conservatives in the United States.

The War on Terror and the War in Iraq are two different things.

IM ZORK!

Waxy shows us that you can play Infocom games over IM.

Send an IM to InfocomBot or InfocomBot2 and you'll end up in a maze of twisty passages that look alike.

via [ Bob Congdon ] by way of [ Boston Blog Search ]

What's that Noise? IT"S A SQUIRREL!

The terrorist squirrels have bored thier way into the house!

They are crawling around in the space between the 2nd and 3rd floor.

Yikes!

I have a call in to the varmint removers to get over here pronto.

They were telling me that the had everything under control. The squirrels footprints showed the path they were taking up to the roof.

They set up a strategic trap, right in the little squirrel highway.

Well guess what?

The squirrels decided to go airborne.

Yesterday I saw a squirrel doing a high wire act, running all the way along a wire, straight to my roof.

Time to bring out the ladder boys.

Racer Tank

Adam Plus Eve features Hot Girls as models for their underwear.
via [ Sama ]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Loved it. Hated it.

Lindasy loved it and points out that you can stream the entire soundtrack for free.

My mom hated it and told me that people walked out on it.

Might have something to do with the difference in their ages.

Hung in iTunes

Jack just sent me this email:

Tip: Apparently your buddy William Hung has some music in the Apple music store.

Yup!

He's right.

William Hung at the iTunes Music Store. [ This link launches iTunes on your computer and takes you to the Willaim Hung isle, if you don't have iTunes installed, you are taken to the iTunes download page ]

It's an iTunes EXCLUSIVE!

under God

Restore our Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Atheist dad ready for date at top court California man to argue against 'under God' in pledge.

Michael Newdow will stand before the highest court in the land for 30 minutes on Wednesday and defend his view that the words "under God'' should be struck from the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Battle Over the Pledge

The William Hung Story

Now the American Idol website has part 1 of a 2 part video about William Hung: William Hung. A Man. A Life.
I had a calculus professor in college like the one in the video. I had to transfer to another class because I couldn't understand a word he said, and that was just when he introduced himself to the class, nevermind the calculus.

The Official Website to William Hung

Looks like William Hung has an official website now.

Shouldn't it be "The Official Website of William Hung" or "The Official Website for William Hung"


Preorder William Hung's new CD 'The True Idol' at Amazon.com

I Am Spatacus

Well, not me.

Goran Visnjic is.

Man with half a brain is a detective

USA NETWORK | Touching Evil.
Watched the premier episode last night.

That has nothing to do with the TV schedule since TV doesn't control me, I control TV.

It was on a last week.

Touching Evil is an amazing show that'll help me since Monk is over for the season.

Do photographers have rights?

The Photographers Right: A downloadable flyer.

The general rule in the United States is that anyone may take photographs of whatever they want when they are in a public place.

Go ahead and take a picture of that accident, those children, that celebrity, that bridge and those law enforcement officers.
via [ Randomize ]

New additions to Boston Photobloggers

I just made four additions to my Boston Photobloggers weblog.

Check them out.

Wireless-B Internet Video Camera

Can I use a Linksys Wireless-B Internet Video Camera on my local Apple Airport network?

10 oz Pilsner Beer glasses piss me off!

To:
John Harvard
John Harvard's Brewhouse
Framingham, MA

Dear John,
You disappoint me.

I went to your John Harvard's Brewhouse restaurant in Framingham on Friday. When I took a look at your beer menu, I was excited to see that you had a Belgian beer on the list.

Belgian beer is THE BEST. I found that out on a trip there a few years ago.

I happily ordered the Belgian beer and my friend Rick got one too.

A while later the beers were delivered and I was terribly disappointed. I only got a 10 oz beer served in a 10 oz pilsner glass.

I HATE those glasses!

I expected to get a PINT.

All your other beers are served in PINT glasses.

What happened?

I suggest that you do something to fix this right away.

Choose one:

1. Inform your wait staff to tell customers that the Belgian Beer is served in 10 oz Pilsner glasses and not the standard PINT glasses.

2. Start serving the Belgian beer in PINT glasses like all the other beers and adjust the price accordingly.

3. Serve the Belgian beer in a special glass to differentiate it from all your other beers. That's how they do it in Belgium where each brand of beer has it's own glass.

Thanks for your prompt attention to this matter.
--Steve

Beer Collections: Glassware.

iGlassware tells the bartender when you need a refill.

UPDATE: John Harvard's Responds

Mr. Garfield,
I'm sorry to hear that you were disappointed by the glassware in Framingham
recently. The beer in question is 10-11% alc/vol and should be treated with
some caution, hence the smaller glass. While the glass itself my be
objectionable, the serving size would remain the same in any case.
I will look into the availability of other glassware for special beers in
the future.

Thank you,
Tim Morse
VP Brewing Operations