Iowahawk delivers another classic. Excerpt:

Skip to 7.

7. Now that you know the facts, would you like to reconsider giving a donation?

If "yes," return to 1a; if "no," go to 8

8. Two words: Nancy Pelosi. You at least have to admit we're somewhat better than Nancy Pelosi.

If "yes," return to 1a; if "go fuck yourself," go to 9

9. If I actually did fuck myself, would that help you reconsider giving a donation?

If "yes," describe fucking self and return to 1a; if "no," go to 10

10. All right then. Thank you for your time.

Despite not being a registered Republican, I've received dozens of GOP fundraising phone calls and they seem genuinely perplexed by my hope that the GOP national party should go piss up a rope. However, I'm very polite as I tell them to remove my name from their list, and that I hope the current GOP leadership gets an incurable case of chiggers in their nether regions.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 02:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 174 words, total size 1 kb.

Fahrenheit 451, that is. And you've always gotten it wrong. So sayeth the author, Ray Bradbury. Excerpt:

Bradbury still has a lot to say, especially about how people do not understand his most literary work, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953. It is widely taught in junior high and high schools and is for many students the first time they learn the names Aristotle, Dickens and Tolstoy.

Now, Bradbury has decided to make news about the writing of his iconographic work and what he really meant. Fahrenheit 451 is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship. Nor was it a response to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose investigations had already instilled fear and stifled the creativity of thousands.

This, despite the fact that reviews, critiques and essays over the decades say that is precisely what it is all about. Even BradburyÂ’s authorized biographer, Sam Weller, in The Bradbury Chronicles, refers to Fahrenheit 451 as a book about censorship.

Bradbury, a man living in the creative and industrial center of reality TV and one-hour dramas, says it is, in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature.

“Television gives you the dates of Napoleon, but not who he was,” Bradbury says, summarizing TV’s content with a single word that he spits out as an epithet: “factoids.” He says this while sitting in a room dominated by a gigantic flat-panel television broadcasting the Fox News Channel, muted, factoids crawling across the bottom of the screen.

Eh, what does he know anyway?

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:25 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 262 words, total size 2 kb.

Ever go shopping and see something that looks like a good deal? You decide to buy the item and take it home. Later that day, you see the exact same thing for about 20% less somewhere else. However, you've already unwrapped and installed/used the item in question, so you're pretty much screwed.

Well, be screwed no longer (except for, umm, in the good way). I give you Frucall. Excerpt:

"It seems like a great deal, but maybe it's cheaper somewhere else?" I've said those words a lot, maybe not out loud but certainly in my head. The thing I love about shopping online is that I can instantly see if something is cheaper at another store. But, when you're out and about, how do you do the same thing? How do you keep your advantage? Well, if you take your cell phone with you, FruCall may just be the answer.

FruCall works off a very simple premise - barcodes. Almost every product has one. And if you were smart enough to set up a database, matching products to every published price available, well you'd have a database with which to comparison shop, just like the online sites we all use. FruCall has such a database.
...
The automated voice takes a little getting used to. It's a cross between a human and a speak 'n' spell. But once you get used to her strange voice, you soon get the lowdown on the bargains out there. She'll tell you the price range of the item you're currently looking at, new and used, and where to buy it. So, if you see a cool TV for $1000 and find out someone else has that same TV for $800, not only do you know of the deal, you can actually order it right there and then through your cell phone. You can also use the service using text messages and mWeb. Handy.

Did I mention that the Frucall account is free? Now go forth and save money.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 342 words, total size 2 kb.

I've been working with the health department these last 11 days to try and figure out the best way to isolate my dog for the required quarantine period. What we've decided is to build a pen inside of our garage. It's on a concrete slab and has four secure walls. My wife and I completed about 75% of the pen last night; my father-in-law will come by to help this weekend. Hopefully we can call Animal Control on Monday to ask for a pen inspection. If they sign off on it, my boy can come back home. It's going to be hard on bothm Diego and us, but I'm hopeful that all of us will work into a good routine within the first month or so.

I've been missing his doggie smile something fierce. And while I won't be able to wrestle him for another 169 days, I'll be able to keep him company, which should help. I hope.

Anyway, I'll start a new category pretty soon which will consist entirely of pet care during extended isolation. It should be tremendously popular to my readers.

Hey, what do you know? This is post number 2,000. Man, that's a lot of wasted pixels.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 02:29 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 214 words, total size 1 kb.