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...otherwise I wouldn't know how to do important things, like how to pack a fresh brain for shipment to the New York Brain Bank. And most of the packing items can be readily found at your local supermarket and/or hardware store.
The NYBB has been thoughtful enough to include a downloadable PDF version (275 kb) for printing and offline perusal.
(Thanks to Kingblind for the link.)
Endgadget reports:
The Japanese Tomy Sleep Watch Doll has six sensors, can say 1,200 sentences and after learning its owners sleeping habits, irritates the crap out you when you change your sleeping times.
That is so, so, wrong.
del.icio.us tipped me off to this Flash puzzle called Gridlock. It's one of those deceptively simple games that draws you in with increasingly difficult levels. No doubt, it's been gridlocking productivity everywhere.
For those who prefer something less mentally taxing, there's Fly Guy. You're just a guy in a suit, waiting for the bus, but you can fly around and do stuff. Just because. (Thanks to my friend Eric for the link.)
Finally tired of listening to Lloyd Cole over and over and over again.
Now currently listening to the latest installment of Eternal Fusion. You should too.
Also of interest:
I'm due for another cleanoff of my hard drive.
It would seem that Drew from toothpastefordinner knows all about the rules of workplace snacking -- and their effects:
Currently looping in Winamp, and newly uploaded to Circadian Shift: The Outpost:
Moody, jangly mid-80s guitar pop for a rainy Sunday afternoon. sigh
(MP3 obtained via *SIXEYES)
Um, you might notice that my Spurl-powered feed of quick links in the sidebar is missing. I hope this is only temporary.
Meanwhile, you can check out said linkage via my del.icio.us page.
In the month or so after writing his "How to Be Creative" post, Hugh at Gaping Void has been making follow-up posts, expanding on his thoughts, and adding to the original list.
Now, he's gone and put it all together -- check out "How to Be Creative (Long Version)". This one's a keeper.
It's been at least a few months since I've done any real linking to business and technology news. I keep meaning to do something about that.
Anywhere, here are some things of interest that I fished out of my aggreagator:
September is nearly here, which means that a lot of university students are making the move back into dorms, apartments, and big old houses everywhere. (And in Toronto, many U of T students live in my 'hood, The Annex).
Just remember, kids:
You're welcome.
(photo is courtesy of Bore Me, where there are many more silly things to distract you)
How about 27 phrases you wish you could say at work? My favourite:
"6. Ahhh, I see the fuck-up fairy has visited us again."
That damn fairy seems to like hanging out around here...
Everybody and their grandmother are linking to this (and hence, you may have some trouble getting through on the first try):
Internet Explorer can make your computer unsafe. Why not switch to a browser that's more secure?
Remember, kids -- you can still use Firefox on a Windows PC where you don't have "install" privileges.
Get happy. Switch today.
I really need a nap.
Go check out the MP3 Blogs Aggregator. There are many nifty things to download. Too many to mention.
Clicking through some of the links in my blogroll (which is screamingly out of date, and I keep meaning to clean it up and put in some new links and...):
Don't know your Latte from your au Lait? This should help clear things up:
(click through to see the full-size pic)
(photo is courtesy of noise between stations; spotted via del.icio.us)
CNN reports:
Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground
(via del.icio.us)
Addendum 19 August 2004: Shared this links with some colleagues at the office. One remarked that the bear must have migrated south from B.C. Given its predilection for donuts and microbrew, I'm inclined to agree that the bear is likely Canadian.
Addendum 20 August 2004: Yahoo! also reports on the story, quoting one park worker as saying, "This is the first time I've heard of a bear drinking beer. He was obviously a party animal." However, astute readers of this blog from two years back will recall the tale of Mrki, the drunken Bosnian bear, who started to annoy the local villagers with his intoxicated "singing"; the locals resolved the matter by getting the bear to start drinking de-alcoholized beer.
I am sleep-deprived, my 9 AM meeting was cancelled, and I am hopped-up on caffeine and decongestants.
Trust me, kiddies: you do not want to mess with me today.
Ugh. I am coming down with a cold, hence the condition of wakefulness at this obscenely early hour.
BostonWorks: The Job Blog points to a couple goodies for fans of the movie Office Space:
I cleaned out my aggregator yesterday, saving the long lists of unviewed posts and of saved-but-not-blogged posts as a bunch of HTML files. The resulting data dump is taking up 33 MB of space on my hard drive.
So what else to do, then, besides do another post about music.
Blamblog has pointed me to an MP3 mix titled "Schaffel Is Stronger than Pride". As written in this MeFi thread:
"Often associated with the glam rock likes of T-Rex, Gary Glitter, and Sweet, the 6/8 schaffel beat (German for shuffle) is now adding a teutonic swagger to minimal techno. DJ and blogger Philip Sherburne puts together this excellent mix (92megs)."
I keep expecting to hear the Daleks screaming "Ex-ter-mi-nate!!"
On an entirely unrelated note, Brett also warns of the dangers of over-vigourous showering:
BTW, I've addressed my rapidly increasing deficit in hard drive space by purchasing a DVD-burner. Nothing like being able to offload 4 GB of data in one shot. Burn, baby, burn!
...and what better way to kick off the day than with a double-slice of late-80s BritPop goodness, via Circadian Shift: The Outpost:
Can't you see the light streaming in through your windows now? I know I can.
More info on the bands:
Retro downloads for Friday:
There's a new mix online over at mixoftheweek:
SkyHi by Entity, posted 2004/8/12 - length 77 minutes
It offers a tasty combo of 70s era jazz, blues, disco, and funk. Enjoy.
Jim from Blogs Canada (Hi, Jim!) dropped a quick note on the weekend to bring my attention to this news article:
Nunavut Tourism fires web-logging stafferA Nunavut Tourism marketing officer was fired last month after a local resident complained about a web site she ran in her spare time.
Penny Cholmondeley, known on the Internet as "Polar Penny," was surprised to learn on July 18 that she was being fired because of the online journal, or web log, she had kept since her arrival in Iqaluit in January.
The web log, or "blog," was easily found by typing the words "Polar Penny" into a search engine, and often topped search engine lists generated by people looking up a local business in Iqaluit, or for photos of Frobisher Bay.
During the six months she lived in Iqaluit, Cholmondeley regularly updated the site with details about life in the North, including photographs, anecdotes, and what she thought were personal opinions, including food and restaurant reviews.
Cholmondeley was baffled when executive director Maureen Bundgaard said that she had received an anonymous complaint from someone in town, and that she had to let Cholmondeley go, just before the end of her six month probation period.
As Jim notes:
There are some bizarre aspects to this tale and some unanswered questions. The complaint over which Penny was dismissed was apparently made anonymously. One anonymous complaint can get you canned? The nature of the complaint has not been made public either by Nunavut Tourism or Ms. Cholmondeley.
MetaFilter also ran the story, generating much discussion and speculation; some believe that Penny's former employers are idiots, whereas others just shrug.
What can I say? We've seen this happen before, and no matter how innocent you think your post may be, you can still get slapped upside the head for it.
I, too have pondered this before, although it's been from the (somewhat) comfortable perspective of not having had a job to lose. As I once said:
OK, a few simple rules are perfectly reasonable. For instance:
But what if you simply express an opinion on your blog which the powers that be at your workplace don't agree with? Where does the line of appropriate vs. inappropriate get drawn?
- Don't blog during work hours.
- Don't say anything slanderous about your colleagues or your customers.
- Don't disclose confidential information on your blog.
(Well, rules are perhaps easier made then followed -- I've gone and broken rule #1 several times already; and while I haven't said anything slanderous or disclosed anything confidential, I have expressed sentiments in recent months that may be a little too candid for some.)
I guess I'm in the 'shrug' camp, because -- let's face it -- there were employers who picked on, harassed, and even fired their employees for trumped up reasons long before the internet was around. Of course it sucks. But it happens.
Anyway, I'm sort of having trouble winding this screed up, so I'll just cop out and post a fistful of links like I usually do...
More thoughts on the perils of blogging and employment:
On the other hand, some people like living dangerously. Fuck This Job is an online community where they believe that "job blogging helps you better deal with those ass customers, stupid boss decisions and other daily crap you get at work everyday."
I have to admit, it sure feels good to let off some steam here in cyberspace.
Addendum 14 August 2004: Hotlinks points to this Washington Post article about the fallout from when a Capitol Hill mail clerk's blog gains widespread notoriety.
Addendum 16 August 2004: Yet another article on the subject; here's Blog slog can get you in trouble in the workplace.
Retro tune goodness from various MP3 blogs:
Addendum: Over Way Down Here, Bob has several garage rock links for you three-chord acolytes.
Graig picks up on The Online Film Critics Society's Top 100 Overlooked Films of the 1990s, and turns it into a meme:
Copy the list (attached below) and highlight those films which you've seen... add em up and if you're more than 35% then you have selective tase, 70% then you're a film buff. and 100% then you're in need of a life.
After you've done that, take the list into a text editor, remove the ones you've seen and print of a checklist for some movies you should think about renting.
Heck, I like me a good meme. Although, I was disappointed to find that I didn't perform particulalry well on this checklist:
Addendum: Spotted on del.icio.us, Psychology Today outlines their brain power diet.
Was cleaning out some comment spam in the archives, and came across this old post:
The other day, I was out at Bloor & Bathurst and I noticed a guy out walking with his black labrador retriever.
Now, black labs are hardly an oddity in The Annex (are people who have houses 'round here required by law to own one or something?), but this dog seemed different. He didn't so much walk as bounce down the street after his owner. I watched him moving along, head bobbing up-and-down furiously, and something didn't add up. Then I realized -- one of his front legs was missing.
He was such a sweet looking doggie. I wondered if he lost his leg when he was pup, or if this was a more recent mishap. Does he remember what it was like to run on four legs? Does he miss it? Does it make him sad or frustrated? Do other dogs notice, and how do they react?
Well, he seemed happy enough, bounce-bounce-bouncing along after his owner down the street. I had the feeling that he doesn't brood or rage against the universe over what fate dealt him. He just goes on, wagging his tail, moving forward as best as he can.
Sometimes, I think I'd like to be a black labrador retriever.
New word:
craptacular: adj. denoting that something is not merely crappy, but spectacularly crappy; n. craptacularessence
New term for the lexicon:
shoveltalker: n. One who lives by the maxim "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, try baffling them with bullshit."; v. shoveltalk, shoveltalking
Am presently listening to Eternal Fusion, an eclectic weekly online "radio" program, as recommended by dj martian. How eclectic? Check out the Eternal Fusion blog for playlists of the current and previous shows. Good stuff.
Meanwhile, thanks to Jimcat for sending along word of Clubbo Records, the greatest music label you've never heard of. Check out the anthemic 70s-era stylings of Rockfinger, the synth-powered 80s energy of Bleep, and the cutting-edge present-day work of The Lazarus Project. Much, much fun to be had all around.
On the visual side, Totally Fuzzy points to a Webjay listing of Avant Garde Cinema, including films by Hans Richter, Harry Smith, and Man Ray, plus Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali's (in)famous Un Chien Andalou. Many of the files are very big, so if you're on dial-up, don't even bother. Be sure also to check out the supplementary linkage from the Webjay list for even more goodies.
August already? Where did the summer go?
I've gone and posted some new files at Circadian Shift: The Outpost. Inspired by the weekend heat, and made possible via a purchase at Sonic Boom this afternoon, I present an urban music three-pack for your downloading and listening enjoyment:
As this blurbage from VH1.com explains:
The group that took Detroit techno to the masses via the British charts and the world's dancefloors, Inner City was no crossover act -- rather, an intense collaboration between a noted Chicago house vocalist and one of the most influential Detroit producers of the 1980s. Both Paris Grey and Kevin Saunderson were well-known for their contributions to the club music of their respective communities well before their 1989 debut album.
Fifteen years ago?? Jeez, I'm getting old.
Related linkage of interest:
Bob points to this Reuters item about an incident from Bush campaign HQ:
Unhappy Workers Should Take Prozac -- Bush Campaigner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A campaign worker for President Bush said on Thursday American workers unhappy with low-quality jobs should find new ones -- or pop a Prozac to make themselves feel better.
What struck me in particular was the advertisement that ran alongside the article...
