Nov 30, 2004
Nov 26, 2004
Tech Stuff
Sandy McMurray is the brainiac behind Tech Stuff in Plain Language—my new sponsor. Sandy knows technology and he relays it in a readable way. He also writes about all things Apple at Hylton's Corante and does news for Cnews. He'll even answer tricky questions for you via email. I just signed up for his newsletter so I can stay on top of things. Thanks, Sandy!
Nov 25, 2004
Godzilla vs. the Mighty Mattress Mite
by Biz Stone
Recently, I ordered a new bed from IKEA. I will be notified by the delivery company when they are ready to give me an approximate date of delivery. At that point I will know, give or take a few days, the general date when I can expect to have a bed. Except for the occasional business trip to a hotel, I have not slept in a bed for over a year. I've been sleeping like Persian royalty of yesteryear—on the floor.
Now, just because I ordered a bed, that does not mean I can sleep in it right away. I'll have to order a mattress and box spring. Hopefully, I will get that accomplished in a more expedient manner. The floor has its charms, of course, but I tire of the experience to the point where I long for the days when I caught my z's on an Aerobed.
Aerobeds are comfortable and they seem futuristic. Years ago, when I lived in Manhattan and worked at Xanga, I used an Aerobed as my permanent bed because I convinced myself that it was superior to an old-fashioned mattress. After all, its not filled with billions of mattress mites. Theoretically.
"Mattresses are heavy, cumbersome, and filled with all kinds of junk." I told myself. Imagined conspiracy theories left me with questions. "Why are you required to buy a 'box spring' to go with it? What is that supposed to be, a foundation? What a scam." Also, I once saw an exposé about mattresses alleging that they are often filled with all kinds of suspiciously recycled stuffings.
To their credit, Aerobeds are quite ingenious. They're made out of some kind of strong, lightweight, space-age polymer—you just press a button to inflate them and it’s really fun to lay on it while its inflating. Unless of course you're too busy with your social life or important things to try that, like me.
Late night television had me completely sold. I mean, Aerobeds are available in twin, full, or queen size and they come with a light-blue fitted mattress pad that says "aero" all over it. It takes only a minute to inflate—just plug it in and go. Once its inflated, you can adjust the firmness by touching a button that releases air slowly to your preference. The touch of a button!
I slept on an aerobed every night for more than a year. They deflate easily, just open the release hatch, roll it up, and stuff it inside the duffel bag that comes with it. The bag has a shoulder strap on it so you can sling it over your shoulder for an overnight trip or just hang it up in the closet. It was quite convenient for saving space in a two grand a month, four hundred square foot apartment.
Still, it was risky. There was always the looming threat—the potential piercing of the Aerobed was a real possibility. What might happen in the middle of the night? Visions of the Hindenburg disaster flickered through my dreams. I would wake up and tell myself. "Its okay, Aerobed comes with an emergency patch kit. And there's only nominal amounts of hydrogen molecules inside." Thankfully, I never had to worry about over-inflating. Some kind of automatic regulatory system addressed that issue.
The best thing about sleeping on the Aerobed was the knowledge that when Godzilla came to Manhattan to fight the giant Mattress Mite—inevitably causing a giant tsunami and deluging New York City—I could float to safety on my futuristic space mattress. The thing is, that never happened. What did happen was I moved to Los Angeles for a while and adopted Brewster (a cat). He popped that sucker and I never patched it.
Nowadays, its all neither here nor there. No longer do I concern myself with box spring conspiracies and this I know: When Godzilla comes to San Francisco he will be so busy wrecking the Golden Gate Bridge he'll be too winded to climb Potrero Hill. So I'll be safely sleeping in my Noresund. That's the name of the IKEA bed. Not futuristic, I know. However, it does sound kind of viking like. Which is nice.
Recently, I ordered a new bed from IKEA. I will be notified by the delivery company when they are ready to give me an approximate date of delivery. At that point I will know, give or take a few days, the general date when I can expect to have a bed. Except for the occasional business trip to a hotel, I have not slept in a bed for over a year. I've been sleeping like Persian royalty of yesteryear—on the floor.
Now, just because I ordered a bed, that does not mean I can sleep in it right away. I'll have to order a mattress and box spring. Hopefully, I will get that accomplished in a more expedient manner. The floor has its charms, of course, but I tire of the experience to the point where I long for the days when I caught my z's on an Aerobed.
Aerobeds are comfortable and they seem futuristic. Years ago, when I lived in Manhattan and worked at Xanga, I used an Aerobed as my permanent bed because I convinced myself that it was superior to an old-fashioned mattress. After all, its not filled with billions of mattress mites. Theoretically.
"Mattresses are heavy, cumbersome, and filled with all kinds of junk." I told myself. Imagined conspiracy theories left me with questions. "Why are you required to buy a 'box spring' to go with it? What is that supposed to be, a foundation? What a scam." Also, I once saw an exposé about mattresses alleging that they are often filled with all kinds of suspiciously recycled stuffings.
To their credit, Aerobeds are quite ingenious. They're made out of some kind of strong, lightweight, space-age polymer—you just press a button to inflate them and it’s really fun to lay on it while its inflating. Unless of course you're too busy with your social life or important things to try that, like me.
Late night television had me completely sold. I mean, Aerobeds are available in twin, full, or queen size and they come with a light-blue fitted mattress pad that says "aero" all over it. It takes only a minute to inflate—just plug it in and go. Once its inflated, you can adjust the firmness by touching a button that releases air slowly to your preference. The touch of a button!
I slept on an aerobed every night for more than a year. They deflate easily, just open the release hatch, roll it up, and stuff it inside the duffel bag that comes with it. The bag has a shoulder strap on it so you can sling it over your shoulder for an overnight trip or just hang it up in the closet. It was quite convenient for saving space in a two grand a month, four hundred square foot apartment.
Still, it was risky. There was always the looming threat—the potential piercing of the Aerobed was a real possibility. What might happen in the middle of the night? Visions of the Hindenburg disaster flickered through my dreams. I would wake up and tell myself. "Its okay, Aerobed comes with an emergency patch kit. And there's only nominal amounts of hydrogen molecules inside." Thankfully, I never had to worry about over-inflating. Some kind of automatic regulatory system addressed that issue.
The best thing about sleeping on the Aerobed was the knowledge that when Godzilla came to Manhattan to fight the giant Mattress Mite—inevitably causing a giant tsunami and deluging New York City—I could float to safety on my futuristic space mattress. The thing is, that never happened. What did happen was I moved to Los Angeles for a while and adopted Brewster (a cat). He popped that sucker and I never patched it.
Nowadays, its all neither here nor there. No longer do I concern myself with box spring conspiracies and this I know: When Godzilla comes to San Francisco he will be so busy wrecking the Golden Gate Bridge he'll be too winded to climb Potrero Hill. So I'll be safely sleeping in my Noresund. That's the name of the IKEA bed. Not futuristic, I know. However, it does sound kind of viking like. Which is nice.
Nov 24, 2004
Pokr
I wouldn't be surprised to see someone organize an online game of poker by which the participants somehow play the game via tagged photos shared at Flickr. Don't ask me how it works, I don't even play. The only reason I even thought of it is because poker sounds like flickr. Flickr? I hardly even knowr!
Nov 23, 2004
Not So Farsi
Hello my Persian blogging compatriots! Farsi is definitely on our big list of languages we hope to support in an Iranian localized version of Blogger at some point in the future. I wasn't at the meeting in which the first nine languages to translate Blogger into were selected, but you can bet your fourth-most-widely-used blogging language that I'll be rooting for some Arabic alphabet, right-to-left, solar calendar action as we push forward in our localization efforts. Good times.
Culture Shocks
I did a radio interview with Barry Lynn, host of Culture Shocks a few weeks ago. Now it's online: Barry Lynn interviews Biz Stone (mp3).
Nov 22, 2004
So, Yeah
When I signed up for AdBrite (The Internet's Ad Marketplace), I sold some ads right away. I'm booked until December 2, but after that I'm open for business. I was so excited when people signed up that I instituted a makeshift system—in addition to the ad, I publish a blog post about the goods or services advertised. So far, those goods and services have been exactly the sort of thing I would have blogged about anyway, the ads merely brought them to my attention.
Swim or Die
What's up folks? How's your Monday feeling? Did you do your 6AM Yoga? Good work. So yeah, just checking in. They're finishing up installation of two swimming pool type things here at work. These are not normal swimming pools—from what I understand, they've got a current. So you just keep swimming until you die. Then, I presume, they just flush you into the ocean. I'm game.
Nov 19, 2004
Free Documentary Movies
This site gives out free documentaries: "Welcome to the Internet’s top resource for finding free documentaries. Just install a bittorrent file trading client and download our full length movies! The client and our movies are free and have no ads or spyware."
Sailing Anyone?
Sailtime is the next week-long sponser here at Genius Labs. It seems like a really cool idea too. "Fractional sailing" is for people who love sailing but can't buy their own fancy sailboat. Seems like a good way to try out sailing as well. Hmm.
Nov 18, 2004
Thank You, Booklist
John Green from Booklist has given Who Let the Blogs Out? a great review calling it "the best resource to date on the blogosphere." The entire review is up at Amazon right under the anonymous review from Publishers Weekly which was not so great. Booklist is clearly the more accurate of the two. Am I right or am I right?
Nov 16, 2004
John Cleese is Fed Up With TV and Film
Times Online: "Fed up with television executives and studios, the star of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers set up the website last month as a vehicle for his humour and personal philosophy. Cleese is promising to update the site every day with new sketches, pictures of his home life and biographical information." Nice.
Nov 15, 2004
LOST Alignments
In role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, "alignment" refers to the moral and ethical outlook of the characters. You've got your extreme characters who are good or evil, lawful or chaotic. Then you've got your middle ground peeps who are neutral because they are indifferent or conflicted. Any given character has one of nine possible alignments so this weekend, Livy and I picked two for each character on the hit ABC series, LOST. (We're cool like that.)
- Sayid - Lawful Good
- Jack - Lawful Good
- Hurley - Chaotic Good
- Shannon - Lawful Neutral
- Sawyer - Chaotic Neutral*
- Walt - Lawful Good
- Jin - Lawful Evil
- Sun - Lawful Good
- Kate - Chaotic Good
- Charlie - Chaotic Good
- Locke - Chaotic Neutral
- Michael - Lawful Good
- Boone - Lawful Good
Okay, so now that you have the alignments, watch LOST on Wednesday, November 17th at 8pm on ABC - my friend Greg Yaitanes directed the episode and he has assured me that this particular episode is "pretty juicy." Not sure what that means exactly. Do they find some Tropicana Homestyle on the island? I'm gonna tune in and find out.
*Livy thinks Sawyer is Chaotic Evil but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Nov 12, 2004
Captain Kirk Was A Blogger
I just realized that Kirk was a blogger. Every episode begins with a time-stamped blog entry, "Captain's Log, Stardate..." The show is really just for our benefit. In the future, Kirk's bosses on Earth will be using an RSS reader to keep tabs on the Enterprise crew and their shenanigans. So that means in the future, Shellen will be signing a deal with the United Federation of Planets to use Blogger for all their Captain's logs. Nice, get on that Shellen.
Nov 11, 2004
That's Right, The Beany
The Beany is artist Michael Nobbs' new paperback hand drawn journal and it's also this week's sponsored link. This self-published work "will be out as energy and inspiration allows." What a cool idea. I like the style of artwork, and I really like this guy's verve.
Rocking Natick
As in: "Dude, that rocks Natick!"
An explaination of the phrase. (Sort of.)
by Biz Stone
There is no mall in the snobby suburb of Wellesley, Massachusetts. To visit the cineplex, shop for the holidays, or buy in bulk, one must drive to the next town. That town is Natick. Route 9 is the quickest way to go. You can’t take this route without passing under a particular bridge. This bridge spans the town line between Wellesley and Natick and it’s the nexus that is the origin of a phrase which will soon make its way into permanent American vernacular speech.
When I attended Wellesley High school in the 1990s, many students subscribed to the idea that the residents of Natick had "big hair," drove only beaten-up Pontiac Trans-Ams, and rocked exclusively to the band Aerosmith. This is just how it was. They were asses.
On the Wellesley side of the aforementioned bridge, someone—in a fit of Aerosmithian enrapture—spraypainted the words, "Aerosmith Rocks Natick" in big, drippy capitals. You couldn’t drive to Natick without reading "Aerosmith Rocks Natick." You didn’t see it driving the other way, but going from Wellesley to Natick you were reminded every time that, in fact, "Aerosmith Rocks Natick." And what is wrong with that, pray tell?
Some years later, I recalled the bridge. I imagined that the author of the phrase had an overwhelming gusto for both the band Aerosmith and the town of Natick—two great tastes that taste great together. It is at this point that you, gentle reader, must make a leap of faith.
Somehow, I reasoned that if I replaced the word "Aerosmith" with any other word but kept the "Natick" part of the phrase intact, it would work towards recapturing the original level of enthusiasm the author felt when he or she created the masterpiece. If you don't believe me, try it yourself. Say, "I don't care what anybody thinks, I rock Natick." See? Don't you already feel like you could kick some wicked pissa ass at the local Dunkin' Donuts?
I began using the phrase for related scenarios and soon discovered that a fellow alumni of Wellesley High, Greg Yaitanes was also using the adapted phrase. In fact, he was using it profusely in his professional life it was serving him well. This only encouraged me to use it with greater frequency and it has served me well too. I highly recommend the phrase. It rocks Natick.
An explaination of the phrase. (Sort of.)
by Biz Stone
There is no mall in the snobby suburb of Wellesley, Massachusetts. To visit the cineplex, shop for the holidays, or buy in bulk, one must drive to the next town. That town is Natick. Route 9 is the quickest way to go. You can’t take this route without passing under a particular bridge. This bridge spans the town line between Wellesley and Natick and it’s the nexus that is the origin of a phrase which will soon make its way into permanent American vernacular speech.
When I attended Wellesley High school in the 1990s, many students subscribed to the idea that the residents of Natick had "big hair," drove only beaten-up Pontiac Trans-Ams, and rocked exclusively to the band Aerosmith. This is just how it was. They were asses.
On the Wellesley side of the aforementioned bridge, someone—in a fit of Aerosmithian enrapture—spraypainted the words, "Aerosmith Rocks Natick" in big, drippy capitals. You couldn’t drive to Natick without reading "Aerosmith Rocks Natick." You didn’t see it driving the other way, but going from Wellesley to Natick you were reminded every time that, in fact, "Aerosmith Rocks Natick." And what is wrong with that, pray tell?
Some years later, I recalled the bridge. I imagined that the author of the phrase had an overwhelming gusto for both the band Aerosmith and the town of Natick—two great tastes that taste great together. It is at this point that you, gentle reader, must make a leap of faith.
Somehow, I reasoned that if I replaced the word "Aerosmith" with any other word but kept the "Natick" part of the phrase intact, it would work towards recapturing the original level of enthusiasm the author felt when he or she created the masterpiece. If you don't believe me, try it yourself. Say, "I don't care what anybody thinks, I rock Natick." See? Don't you already feel like you could kick some wicked pissa ass at the local Dunkin' Donuts?
I began using the phrase for related scenarios and soon discovered that a fellow alumni of Wellesley High, Greg Yaitanes was also using the adapted phrase. In fact, he was using it profusely in his professional life it was serving him well. This only encouraged me to use it with greater frequency and it has served me well too. I highly recommend the phrase. It rocks Natick.
What, No Gold Toe?
iPod Socks: "Forgive us if we're stating the obvious, but here's how it works: Just slide your iPod into the sock to keep it safe and warm. Slide it out to dock or change playlists. It's as easy as... putting on a pair of socks."
Red Dawn?
Tanks Deployed in Los Angeles: "LOS ANGELES, November 9, 2004 - At 7:50 PM two armored tanks showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood." I like Westwood. There's lots of movie theatres and a good veggie restaurant called Native Foods.
Nov 10, 2004
Hmm
My new AdBrite "in network" ads started out strong with a link to a free Nintendo handheld. Now they are ads for "sexy singles." Interesting. Not sure if Genius Labs is into this. Maybe someone with something interesting to promote will fill the ad space soon. That is the hope. We shall see.
How I Got My Name
by Biz Stone
Somebody recently emailed me to ask how I got the name "Biz" and it occurred to me that people who stray over to my blog from a web search for "how to design a book cover" might wonder how I got the name. Or at least think to themselves, "Biz Stone, Genius? Stupid name. What a jerk."
How I Came To Be Called Biz
The name on my passport is "Christopher Isaac Stone." When I was a wee lad I tried to phonetically emulate the name my father—an auto mechanic with a Boston accent—called me. To my not-quite-yet-formed ear technology, it sounded very much like "Biz-ah-bah."
It wasn’t until many years later (okay, this year) that I realized why my parents would ask me my name and then laugh when I told them. I just figured I was a damn funny kid. Natural comedian.
So over the years, the "Biz-ah-bah" was shortened to the modern "Biz." I think it was third grade when the information went public. I had a birthday party and my mom said something like, "Okay Biz, time to open presents." George Donovan overheard it and I lost my copyright to the public domain.
Here’s Where It Gets a Little Complicated
My father is also named Christopher. When my parents separated, my mom didn’t want to hear the name of "himself" any more than she needed to, so she asked if it was okay if teachers and other officials referred to me as "Isaac." It didn’t make that much difference to me at the time because I was already used to Biz. Plus, the PH in Christopher threw me every once in a while. What? I was hooked on phonics.
So the Situation Nowadays Is This
Everybody calls me Biz—for casual intents and purposes it’s my name. But I ask employers to make checks payable to "Isaac Stone" and I use that name for most of my official paperwork like phone bills and secret government missions. Sometimes I tell people my name is Isaac when I just don’t feel like explaining why my name is Biz.
My mother tells people that it’s short for Elizabeth.
Somebody recently emailed me to ask how I got the name "Biz" and it occurred to me that people who stray over to my blog from a web search for "how to design a book cover" might wonder how I got the name. Or at least think to themselves, "Biz Stone, Genius? Stupid name. What a jerk."
How I Came To Be Called Biz
The name on my passport is "Christopher Isaac Stone." When I was a wee lad I tried to phonetically emulate the name my father—an auto mechanic with a Boston accent—called me. To my not-quite-yet-formed ear technology, it sounded very much like "Biz-ah-bah."
It wasn’t until many years later (okay, this year) that I realized why my parents would ask me my name and then laugh when I told them. I just figured I was a damn funny kid. Natural comedian.
So over the years, the "Biz-ah-bah" was shortened to the modern "Biz." I think it was third grade when the information went public. I had a birthday party and my mom said something like, "Okay Biz, time to open presents." George Donovan overheard it and I lost my copyright to the public domain.
Here’s Where It Gets a Little Complicated
My father is also named Christopher. When my parents separated, my mom didn’t want to hear the name of "himself" any more than she needed to, so she asked if it was okay if teachers and other officials referred to me as "Isaac." It didn’t make that much difference to me at the time because I was already used to Biz. Plus, the PH in Christopher threw me every once in a while. What? I was hooked on phonics.
So the Situation Nowadays Is This
Everybody calls me Biz—for casual intents and purposes it’s my name. But I ask employers to make checks payable to "Isaac Stone" and I use that name for most of my official paperwork like phone bills and secret government missions. Sometimes I tell people my name is Isaac when I just don’t feel like explaining why my name is Biz.
My mother tells people that it’s short for Elizabeth.
Automated Discovery
FlickrBlog: "The geniuses at FlickrLabs have been hard at work on many secret features which will be finding their way into version 1.0. One of the ones I'm most excited about it is the automated discovery of interesting images based on heavy duty analysis of user behaviour around the photos." Wicked!
AdBrite
I thought I'd experiment with AdBrite—it's a way for my readers to buy a text ad on my blog. So yeah, if you have something you'd like to promote to my astute readers, click on the "Your Ad Here" link and do it up.
Hylton Kicks It Up A Notch
Corante partners with CNET: "In what is a first-of-its-kind partnership between a blog media company and a major media company, we're thrilled to announce the unveiling of a collaboration between Corante and CNET."
Nov 9, 2004
Articles
I'm thinking about just pasting a bunch of old articles into my blog so they'll be there for posterity. So if I end up doing that, bear with me as you get a whole bunch of big posts. Some of them will be blasts-from-the-past like, "Self-Serve Ads: Small Is the New Big" from back in 2001.
The Future of Air Freight
By Biz Stone
Busses are designed to haul passengers. Semi trucks are designed to haul cargo. Why then, do we haul air-freight using aircraft originally designed for passengers? It's time to re-design.
Air Freight Now
There are currently two solutions for shipping products overseas: cargo planes and cargo ships. Shipping by plane is fast but very expensive. Shipping by boat is cheap but slow. There is no in-between (yet).
Most current "freight" aircraft were originally designed to transport people. Passenger aircraft requires more expensive features such as high speed, long runways, high altitude, pressurized environment, windows, exits, and docking capabilities. This all adds to cost.
Parcel is light. So even when a commercial airplane is packed full with parcel, it has not reached it's weight potential. It's important for freight companies to get the maximum out of every flight. They can't do this because current planes are not designed for parcel transport--all the major airframe manufacturers are focused on passenger transport.
The New Air Freight
Make room for the hybrids. Lighter-than-air crafts (LATs) are giant airships filled with helium gas. The helium (an inert gas) creates enough static lift to displace the weight of the cargo leaving only the weight of the craft to the dynamic lift--the wings.
With payloads measured in the thousands of tons, conservative cruising speeds of 150mph at 10,000 feet, and engineering that meets the needs of air freight--not tourists--these new monsters of the sky will glide smoothly and quietly in to take over the industry.
These hybrid static/dynamic lift behemoths will be the coveted third solution: cheaper than a jet and faster than a boat.
Seamless Integration
These rethought sky-trucks will be designed for immediate integration with current cargo shipping infrastructures. Built with existing aircraft tools and technology and with the ability to take off from a standard, medium sized runway and haul the same intermodel containers currently used with trucks, trains, and ships, the new hybrids will fit right in. They'll land in a conventional airport, detach their entire cargo bay for a fast delivery, slide onto another, pre-loaded bay and take off again.
Life After Freight?
Once these hybrids become the accepted third form of cargo shipping, they may be developed for other uses. Commercial travel via hybrid will be cheaper than airplanes and faster than land travel--as well as safer and quieter. Individual hybrids may be developed for special uses, possibly setting off a personal transportation revolution.
So if you see me flying over your house in my personal static/dynamic lift hybrid on my way to my next Genius Convention, don't be alarmed. It's only the future.
Busses are designed to haul passengers. Semi trucks are designed to haul cargo. Why then, do we haul air-freight using aircraft originally designed for passengers? It's time to re-design.
Air Freight Now
There are currently two solutions for shipping products overseas: cargo planes and cargo ships. Shipping by plane is fast but very expensive. Shipping by boat is cheap but slow. There is no in-between (yet).
Most current "freight" aircraft were originally designed to transport people. Passenger aircraft requires more expensive features such as high speed, long runways, high altitude, pressurized environment, windows, exits, and docking capabilities. This all adds to cost.
Parcel is light. So even when a commercial airplane is packed full with parcel, it has not reached it's weight potential. It's important for freight companies to get the maximum out of every flight. They can't do this because current planes are not designed for parcel transport--all the major airframe manufacturers are focused on passenger transport.
The New Air Freight
Make room for the hybrids. Lighter-than-air crafts (LATs) are giant airships filled with helium gas. The helium (an inert gas) creates enough static lift to displace the weight of the cargo leaving only the weight of the craft to the dynamic lift--the wings.
With payloads measured in the thousands of tons, conservative cruising speeds of 150mph at 10,000 feet, and engineering that meets the needs of air freight--not tourists--these new monsters of the sky will glide smoothly and quietly in to take over the industry.
These hybrid static/dynamic lift behemoths will be the coveted third solution: cheaper than a jet and faster than a boat.
Seamless Integration
These rethought sky-trucks will be designed for immediate integration with current cargo shipping infrastructures. Built with existing aircraft tools and technology and with the ability to take off from a standard, medium sized runway and haul the same intermodel containers currently used with trucks, trains, and ships, the new hybrids will fit right in. They'll land in a conventional airport, detach their entire cargo bay for a fast delivery, slide onto another, pre-loaded bay and take off again.
Life After Freight?
Once these hybrids become the accepted third form of cargo shipping, they may be developed for other uses. Commercial travel via hybrid will be cheaper than airplanes and faster than land travel--as well as safer and quieter. Individual hybrids may be developed for special uses, possibly setting off a personal transportation revolution.
So if you see me flying over your house in my personal static/dynamic lift hybrid on my way to my next Genius Convention, don't be alarmed. It's only the future.
Nov 8, 2004
Oh, Canada
Americans Flock to Canada's Immigration Web Site: "The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President Bush's election win this week."
Funny Monday
"When I die, I want to die like my grandfather—who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car." That and 24 more celebrity jokes over at Smilepop. They're not all funny but still.
Nov 6, 2004
Overheard at BloggerCon
"Let's use the whiteboard as a kind of wiki!" I might have to make this my last BloggerCon. Unless of course there's a way to donate enough money to guarantee that at least one vegan lunch is served. Two bags of chips, an apple, and three diet cokes does not a nutritious lunch make. As Yoda would say.
Vegan Podcasting
I'm at BloggerCon this Saturday and there's lots of talk about podcasting (subscribing to independent audio on your iPod). So I found out there is a vegan podcast. Nice. Listening to Larry Lessig right now.
Nov 5, 2004
Nov 4, 2004
Personal Home Page for Ken Jennings
Ken Jennings (.com): "No, I'm not an attorney. Due to the slander of being compared to a bottom feeder on national television a lawsuit for 2.2 mil USD is pending. Perhaps You-Know-Who on TV isn't as smart as you think he is."
Anonymous Cowards
If you are in the book business, then somewhere in your office there's a copy of Publishers Weakly (sp?). It is the industry leading magazine that costs $225 for a subscription. Oh yeah, and it's the exact opposite of blogging. That's probably why the 175 word, anonymous review of my new book started out disparaging blogs as "currently voguish online journals."
The reviewer (whoever he or she is) thinks that I emulate "the worst qualities of many of the unpolished blogs" I celebrate. Again with the blog bashing. But the funniest part of this quick post—I mean professionally written anonymous blurb—is the part that says my writing is "terminally in love with its own hipness."
You better check your hip-dar buddy because that deal is broke. In what universe does a book called Who Let The Blogs Out? with a forward by Wil Wheaton come anywhere near hip? Maybe I should put up a bounty to find out who wrote the review like this guy did. Hey Evhead, can I borrow some cash? It's for a good cause: revenge.
Update: Shite. I just remembered that the back of my book says it is a "hip and helpful reference." Whatevah, those PW guys are still suckas.
The reviewer (whoever he or she is) thinks that I emulate "the worst qualities of many of the unpolished blogs" I celebrate. Again with the blog bashing. But the funniest part of this quick post—I mean professionally written anonymous blurb—is the part that says my writing is "terminally in love with its own hipness."
You better check your hip-dar buddy because that deal is broke. In what universe does a book called Who Let The Blogs Out? with a forward by Wil Wheaton come anywhere near hip? Maybe I should put up a bounty to find out who wrote the review like this guy did. Hey Evhead, can I borrow some cash? It's for a good cause: revenge.
Update: Shite. I just remembered that the back of my book says it is a "hip and helpful reference." Whatevah, those PW guys are still suckas.
Nice Try!
U.S. Inspires World With Attempt At Democratic Election: "'Their wide-eyed earnestness was humbling,' Cruz said. 'Truly, my heart leaps up. I can only hope that, under such demoralizing circumstances, my countrymen would similarly rise together to try and make democracy work.'"
Nov 2, 2004
Arrested Development Blog
The Model Home: "I dressed as Buster for Halloween and no one noticed the difference. That hurt. So I put on my Krusty the Clown mask, but had an allergic reaction to that stinky mask rubber they use and my right eye swelled up, That hurt worse. Then I dressed as a 'nearly nude' and not a single trick or treater unless you count our neighbors who did a pity knock with their baby at 10pm."
Breaking International News
Medical tests carried out on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is, in fact, Willie Nelson. You gotta know when to run.
Pop and Politics
Real-time Election Journal: "It's your chance to talk back to the universe in one huge screaming mass. Tell us what the heck happened to you, and your community, on election day and beyond."
Nov 1, 2004
Cool Interactive Electoral Map
Check out this flash map at BBC News. You can zoom in on any US state and get the nitty-gritty. Slick.
The Ghoul Was
Boring. It was a bunch of old-fashioned talking heads. I wanted more scary castles and screaming and whatnot. Next year I'm going with some Vincent Price.
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