Month: September 2009

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Oh My!

I’ve been a fan of Stephen Fry – the British writer, comedian, actor, author, television host and film director – for years now. And as long as I’ve been a fan, Fry’s been… well, portly.

No more! Fry, who once topped the scales at 21 stone (294 lbs), has lost some 6 stone (84 lbs) in the past few months. The only problem is, he looks like death:

Stephen Fry

Thankfully, he’s not sick or anything. He claims to have had a change of heart whilst filming a BBC documentary about endangered species, which required him to take long hikes and other such physical endeavors.

Read more about it here.

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UX Evangelist on Apple’s Marketing

Here’s a good post by UX Evangelist, who wonders where Apple would be without Microsoft to beat up on:

It seems that for all of their, “Mac users are, ‘up here’ and everyone else is just, ‘down there'”, they don’t really give a good reason to use their product. Not once does one… get the impression from those commercials to get a Mac other than for the purpose of, “not getting millions of viruses.” You know, if I’m going to buy something, I don’t want FUD marketing techniques to sell it to me. Granted, if someone wanted to, they could go pull up Apple’s website to see what a Mac is really supposed to be about but doesn’t that defeat the purpose? How is someone going to look it up if they don’t have a computer to begin with? Oh, that’s right… chances are, everyone already has a computer with Windows on it. Once again, just where would Steve Jobs’ OS be without good ol’ Bill G’s already dominating the market?

More after the jump.

Continue reading “UX Evangelist on Apple’s Marketing”

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Best Restaurant Ever!

From the “Better Late Than Never” Department:

Lisa and I went to Myrtle Beach at the end of August, mainly because we got a killer deal at the Holiday Sands South hotel. It certainly wasn’t the Ritz, but it was clean, comfortable and on the beach… all you could ask from a $26/night hotel room.

Shortly after our arrival, Lisa and I stopped in the lobby to have a look at the hotel’s giant display of tourist brochures. A Chinese restaurant menu caught my eye from some reason, and when I took a look at it, I instantly knew why:

(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)

The back side of the menu (not pictured) had a giant list of standard American Chinese dishes like Lo Mein, Moo Shu pork and Hunan Beef. The front side, on the other hand, had a galaxy of opportunities: sub sandwiches, nachos, fajitas, burritos, crab cakes, catfish, country fried steak, meat loaf, burgers, spaghetti, fried jalapenos.. and best of all cigarettes! Yep, you can apparently order Salem, Marlboros and\or Winstons from this restaurant!

Sadly, we never got around to ordering from this place, but it sure sounds awesome!

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LGF doesn’t like me

Little Green Footballs is a blog run by a guy named Charles Johnson. I found the site shortly before the blog rose to national prominence due to his discovery of the faked documents used by 60 Minutes in a story critical of George W. Bush story on the eve of 2004 presidential election. I was intrigued by the blog, which covered many stories of Islamic extremism that mainstream news outlets seemed to ignore.

Like  most blogs, LGF has a “comments” section. Unlike many, you have to have an LGF account to leave a comment… and Johnson is notorious for keeping a tight grip on the total number of allowed commenters. After several months, I was finally able to sign up and get my own account.

But then Barack Obama was elected to the presidency, and ever since LGF has drifted over to the Left. Where the blog used to attack DailyKos and the Huffington Post, Johnson (for whatever reason) decided to turn on the Right.

After one especially liberal post, I left a comment asking when Keith Olbermann took over LGF. Imagine my surprise (or lack thereof) when I went to log in the past Saturday and got this message:

lgf

I guess Charles Johnson can’t handle mild criticism. That’s the only reason for blocking my account. The post didn’t have any foul language or name calling. As best I remember, it said only “Jeez – when did Keith Olbermann take over this blog?” And for that, I’m now no longer an LGF member.

Oh well… but since I’m no longer a member, I guess I can also say this: Charles Johnson has the world’s worst taste in music! Pat Metheny? Steely Dan? The Keith Jarrett Trio? God, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little!

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Mad Men: “Seven Twenty Three”

This episode begins with three mysteries: Peggy in bed with an unknown man, a radiant (but sad) Betty lying back on a chaise longue, and a bloodied Don lying on the floor of a cheap motel.

mad_men_s03_e07_01

We immediately skip backwards in time a few days and see a more dapper Don getting ready for work. He puts his tie on, brushes his shoes, and carefully combs his hair. He walks downstairs, where Betty and her interior designer are looking at the newly redecorated sitting room. The designer asks him about it, and Don jokes that “it’s hard for me to judge when I can’t see a price tag”. She shows him the pieces she has chosen, then Betty asks what will go directly in front of the fireplace. The designer says nothing goes there, that the heath is the soul of the home, and that people gather there regardless of whether there’s a fire or not. Betty asks Don what he thinks; he says it’s “fine”. She counters that all he does at his job all day is “evaluate objects”. He looks around the room again and suggests that they move the end table a lamp to the other side of the sofa. He kisses Betty and walks away, and after he’s gone the designer agrees with his assessment.

Continue reading “Mad Men: “Seven Twenty Three””

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Chantix: No Thanks

Serious neuropsychiatric events, including, but not limited to depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and completed suicide have been reported in patients taking CHANTIX. Some reported cases may have been complicated by the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal in patients who stopped smoking. Depressed mood may be a symptom of nicotine withdrawal. Depression, rarely including suicidal ideation, has been reported in smokers undergoing a smoking cessation attempt without medication. However, some of these symptoms have occurred in patients taking CHANTIX who continued to smoke.

Eh – no thanks. Sounds safer to just keep smoking!

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-27

  • OMG – real-life lesbian vampire killer! http://ping.fm/7UAmP #
  • Lisa… always keeps it interesting! #
  • Hope all my ATL friends are drying out! 🙂 #
  • Suddenly, I have no problem blocking "friends" on Facebook. #
  • Holy crap! Henry E. Davis is on Facebook! BEST BASS PLAYER EVER! "Love Hangover" rocked the bass! #
  • @diablocody What's your connection to ATL? Seen many South\ATL tweets from you. Originally from ATL myself… just curious. #
  • Nobody rocks harder than Huey Lewis! #
  • Take that, Tarheels! GO JACKETS! #

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Happy Birthday, Guinness!

Yesterday was the 250th Anniversary of Guinness Stout!

Arthur Guinness

Partygoers in Dublin, New York, City, Kuala Lumpur, Cameroon Yaoundé, Cameroon and Nigeria Lagos, Nigeria all raised a glass to Arthur Guinness on Arthur’s Day… something that should be an annual thing, in my opinion. We need a boozy holiday this time of year!

Guinness was my “first” beer, because it was new and obscure in the US in the mid 80s, and if you walked into a liquor store and asked for it, it was rare that the guy working the counter would ID you. I guess they figured teenagers only came in and tried to buy cases of Nasty Lite. Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUINNESS! TO ARTHUR!

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Stupid Elitism

There is a certain subculture in the United States in which everything “American” is inferior, and everything “European” is superior.

Part of this might be due to selective marketing. For example, only the best French films get exported to the United States, so people who enjoy “art house” films might think French movies are better than American ones. But that’s only because he or she didn’t see the 600 other, crappy French films released that year that didn’t make it to American theatres.

There’s also European “brand snobbery” going on. Certainly most people would consider Mercedes Benz or BMW to be a better car than the average Ford or GM product, but again, this is comparing apples to oranges. I don’t know anyone who would consider Renault  or Peugot to be better than Ford. Certainly the Renault Alliance gives the AMC Gremlin a run for the “biggest piece of crap car of all time”… and let’s not forget that the Yugo, perhaps the worst production car ever made – was made in Europe.

Continue reading “Stupid Elitism”

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Randomness Roundup

– Is that a piece of a spoon from Wendy’s in your lung, or are you just happy to see me?

Wendys Lung

– Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin was once found wandering outside the White House, drunk, in his boxer shorts, trying a hail a cab to get a pizza.

– A bar in the UK has installed a Breathalyzer near the door… but not for the reasons you might think. It’s to make sure that their patrons are smashed! Anyone leaving the bar at 3am with a BAC of less than .08 will have their cover charge refunded, and the person with the highest BAC of the evening wins free cover for a week.

– Rechargeable batteries are expensive. Which devices are better off with plain old alkaline batteries? Click here to find out.

– Megan Fox is beautiful… but the woman is crazy and amazingly stupid.