Category Archives: Miscellany

Charlie Rose sacrifices face for MacBook Air

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Rosemacbook“Earlier today (Monday) Rose tripped in a pothole while walking on 59th Street in Manhattan. He was carrying a newly purchased MacBook Air and made a quick (but ultimately flawed) decision while falling: sacrifice the face, protect the computer. “In doing so, he pretty much hit the pavement face first, unfortunately,” they said. Luckily the MacBook Air survived the fall. “The Macbook Air is fine, he showed us the blood stains on it this morning.” 

I confess that when walking down stairs with my MacBook Pro, I sometime mentally rehearse how I might protect the laptop in the event of a stumble/fall.

Okay. I’ll clasp the MacBook to my chest, do a 180 mid-air spin, landing on my back.

I’ve got a problem with anonymous

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Masked2I made a mistake yesterday. I posted the email address of someone who had commented –anonymously– on an earlier post. When commenting on a Typepad blog, you’re prompted for an email address with a note that it will not be published. Since I rarely comment on my own blog, I failed to notice that assurance. So I deleted the comment and the email address.

But that’s the last time. If you’re not willing to back your opinions up with your name, shut the fuck up.

Is there ever a time and place for anonymity? Probably. Reporting child abuse. A break-in at the Watergate. Maybe a few others. But if we don’t know who you are, why should we believe anything you write or say?

In this recent incident, a man was protesting what he thought was unfair treatment by Missouri Farm Bureau. The commenter was basically saying the guy was wrong. But how do we know it wasn’t someone from Farm Bureau commenting anonymously? We don’t.

I’m a little better with “Name withheld by request.” If I know who you are and –for reasons I consider appropriate– I can make the call to withhold your name.

Step up, or step off.

Bigger Computer Monitors = More Productivity

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Jason Calacanis points to WSJ story that suggests size does matter:

Imac“Researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using different computer configurations: one with an 18-inch monitor, one with a 24-inch monitor and with two 20-inch monitors. Their finding: People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. The study concluded that someone using a larger monitor could save 2.5 hours a day.”

I think that balances out the 2.5 hours a day I goof off. [Thanks, David]

The ravages of time

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Stevethennow

When I showed this "then-and-now" photo to my life-long friend John, he posed the following questions: How are these two people different? How are they the same?

Are we essentially the same person at 60 that we were at 25? Or does a lifetime of experiences change us? I seem to recall reading that our personalities are fully formed at a very early age. So most of the changes are physical (and inconsequential)? The "me" in my head feels exactly like that younger version. And maybe that’s the answer to John’s question. The differences are all positive. If I had to pick one, I’d say I’m a little wiser. But only a little.

Look for an exit, I gotta pee!

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HighwaysignsMy friend Kay shares Barb’s knack for picking really good cards. She points out this one features three lanes and that she and I are in the middle. We left our idealism a couple of rest stops back. And we’re not ready to think of ourselves as bitter.

Had she designed the card, she would have put Idealistic Youth in the left land –the fast lane– and Bitter Old People in the right lane where they could drive for miles and miles with their turn signal on.

Learn how to be a cigarette-safe kid

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Smokingkids
President Bush is proud to present, in cooperation with the Flammable Pleasures division of RJ Reynolds, vital and wholly accurate information that can make YOU a CIGARETTE-SAFE KID!

  1. Keep Cigarettes Safe from Water! Water causes wetness, and wetness can keep your cigarettes from properly igniting and efficiently delivering scientifically calibrated doses of totally non-addictive nicotine into those sticky little air sacks way at the bottom of your lungs!
  2. Bedtime Smoking Smarts! After bedtime prayers, nothing relaxes like a cool drag from a hot Winston (brand) cigarette.
  3. Keep Cigarettes Safe from Breaking! A sturdy and stylish cigarette case is what all the cool kids have!
  4. Let the Buyer Beware! When choosing an adult to ask to buy you cigarettes at a cruelly authoritarian, liberal-managed convenience store that won’t sell tobacco to persons under 18, make certain never to speak to anyone who looks like s/he might be on the Federal welfare rolls – they will steal your cigarettes, leaving you craving (in a purely nonaddictive way) a smoke ! !
  5. Remember: Fresh = Tasty! Never forget that an important part of the exclusive appeal of cigarettes is their highly perishable nature; they stay smokably fresh for only three to four hours after their cellophane seal is broken.
  6. Keep it Clean! If your preferred brand is filterless, your fingers and teeth may become pleasantly discolored by stubborn, yet fashionable nicotine stains.
  7. Smoke Right, Smoke Safe! As you get older, the way you hold your cigarette will become increasingly important.

[Thanks, Angela]