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August 31, 2001
"Parkerama" is going away, mostly
"Parkerama" is going away, mostly because some punk has already registered "parkerama.com" and has had a "temporary page" with no content up forever under that URL. Henceforth, this will be keelhauling.com. I don't think I have to worry about ICANN taking that name away from me, since I can't for the life of me figure out a commercial use for it, but maybe I'll make up a tee shirt or something just in case. Because there are entirely too many lawyers in the world. Parkerama is dead! Long live keelhauling! A suitable mixture of nautical and torturous, it has the right hint of piracy about it. A comprehensive site redesign is in, well, the design stage.
Posted by John at 01:41 AM | Comments (0)
Dilbert's ultimate cubicle. CNN article.
Dilbert's ultimate cubicle. CNN article. I like the "sun indicators", natural grass on the floor and the self-timing guest seat that calls your extension when a visitor has been sitting there for a pre-determined period of time, giving you an excuse to get rid of them.
Posted by John at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
D.A. Blyler, author of the
D.A. Blyler, author of the hilarious "Seven Vices of Highly Creative People", has a new list out: The Seven Habits of Sensitive, Celibate Men.
Posted by John at 12:04 AM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2001
I'm insane, you're insane, we're
I'm insane, you're insane, we're all insane! It was the voices in his head that made him do it, at least according to ex-FBI spy traitor Robert Hanssen's shrink. I wish I could sit on that jury, just so I could make little sock puppet motions with my hand and say, "Yeah, blah, blah, blah....guilty!"
Posted by John at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
One thing you've got to
One thing you've got to hand to Dubya's administration: they are not ignoring our treasured national landmarks. Think Mount Vernon, Pearl Harbor, the Apollo Mission Control Center, Alcatraz, and the Martin Luther King Birthplace... This week? A new one in Fresno!
Posted by John at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
This makes a pretty good
This makes a pretty good "To Do" list. National Geographic's 50 Places of a Lifetime. [via MeFi] 10 down, 40 to go...
Posted by John at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2001
Your Parkerama prediction for the
Your Parkerama prediction for the day: In just a couple of months, you're going to be very, very tired of two things. (1) Toyota Camrys, and (2) the song "Start the Commotion" by the Wiseguys. Toyota is embarking this week on a massive advertising campaign for the Camry ($160 million) with the goal over the next 60 days of exposing "90 percent of all Americans more than eight times" to their message ballyhooing the latest version of the most boring car ever to come out of Japan. And you're probably already familiar with "Start the Commotion" [Realplayer vid] from the Mitsubishi Eclipse commercial, but now the NFL has adopted it as their theme song and the start of the season is right around the corner. Give it a few months, and I'll be telling you I told you so.
Posted by John at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)
70 mph in a decent
70 mph in a decent car is a reasonable cruising speed. 70 mph on a big motorcycle seems downright slow. But 70 mph in a 3-wheeled vehicle seems insanely dangerous to me. Alligator-wrestling, chainsaw-juggling, snake-handling dangerous. Maybe I'm victimized by deeply buried subconscious memories of vicious tricycle wipeouts I endured as a child, but three wheels seems to me to be fundamentally unstable. Sure, standing still, it's steadier than a two-wheeler, but with a bike or a motorcycle you can lean into those curves - you at least feel like you've got some control. With three wheels it's stable, it's stable, it's stable, then one wheel comes up off the ground, accelerating upwards, and you either turn away from the rising wheel (which could, of course, be into ongoing traffic), or over you go. Still, with all my 3-wheeled paranoia, if I had the money to burn, I'd buy one. I wouldn't drive it at 70 mph, but at 1 cent per mile with a 40-60 mile range on a single charge, this little electric car is very nifty. Cool beats fear, hands down.
Posted by John at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2001
Things seem a little wacky
Things seem a little wacky to you right now? Wonder what's going on? Well, not to panic anybody or anything, but this is just a little reminder that the gates of hell open but once a year at least according to the Chinese lunar calendar, and this year, that would be now.
Posted by John at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
Julie is one of those
Julie is one of those rare girls who looks better with little or no makeup. She's just naturally pretty (she'll probably make me delete this if she reads it, but it's true). I don't think she believes me when I tell her she looks better with less makeup. But trust me, if that weren't the case, I'd be the first to let her know. Like these stars without makeup. Scary. Like, Halloween scary!
Posted by John at 09:08 PM | Comments (0)
Ever wanted to take a
Ever wanted to take a trip around the world? I know I have. But not like this. 61 hours and 23 minutes, 25,000 miles, changing planes six times. This sounds like a form of torture. Check out the new videogame version, "Virtual Stuck on An Airplane!" (sequel to the wildly popular "Virtual Stuck Behind a Bus!")
Posted by John at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)
What's your pirate name? Mine's
What's your pirate name? Mine's Bloody John Flint, ya scurvy dogs! [via Dean] Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For me, it's definitely the fighting. Like the rock flint, I'm hard and sharp. But, also like flint, I'm easily chipped, and sparky. Or so say the mages at fidius.org. Arr!
Posted by John at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)
In the late 80's, when
In the late 80's, when the music of the day was Bon Jovi, Milli Vanilli and Terence Trent D'Arby (yawn), along came a little band called Jane's Addiction, headed by visionary frontman Perry Farrell. Their most popular song, "Jane Says", about the trials and tribulations of a heroin addict has made its way through my sound system hundreds of times. Part of the lyrics are "Jane says, I'm going away to Spain, when I get my money saved..." Well, JA broke up the next year, but Jane made it to Spain. Fans of Perry Farrell or JA will love this article.
Posted by John at 07:04 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2001
Played a little golf over
Played a little golf over the weekend...
Posted by John at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2001
I put up a few
I put up a few Africa pictures. These are just the ones we shot with the digital camera function on the camcorder. Even on "Fine" resolution it's only 640x480, so the pictures are not great. We have half the slides developed, though, and we've got some awesome shots there. Will be scanning those in as soon as the rest are done.
Posted by John at 02:52 AM | Comments (0)
How did Dubya's firm campaign
How did Dubya's firm campaign assertion that "the Social Security surplus must be locked away only for Social Security" get turned into ""I've said that the only reason we should use Social Security funds is in the case of an economic recession or war"? And why doesn't the New York Freakin' Times call him out on this?? When did he "say" that? In the bathroom speaking to the mirror?
Posted by John at 02:50 AM | Comments (0)
You know, sometimes other people's
You know, sometimes other people's difficulties serve a very valuable purpose, that of putting our own into perspective. "Philip Staufan" speaks English as his first language, and can also speak French and read Latin. He is - probably - British. But other than that, he knows nothing about himself. Since being mugged in Toronto two years ago, his past has been a blank. So far, no one has been able to positively identify him. [Picture here and here]. This guy is living a nightmare. The situation is as fascinating as it is horrible. Without a legal identity, he can't travel to England to search for his true identity. He can't get a passport. He can't even get a job, and has been living on C$525/month welfare. The Canadian courts have been petitioned to grant him a "legal fiction" fake background, complete with parents and place of birth, so that he can then be granted official identification. The Guardian article is from June. [via MeFi]
Posted by John at 02:29 AM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2001
If I were in the
| If I were in the market for a new car, I'd have to give the Chrysler Crossfire a hard look. Looks like the offspring of a Prowler and an Audi TT. Very cool stuff from the Chrysler design team. Click on the picture for more details. |
Posted by John at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
When is it going to
When is it going to stop? On Tuesday, Excite At Home's independent auditors threw a flag on the company, questioning its ongoing viability without additional cash infusions. Wednesday, they fired the auditors. Nothing like shooting the messenger. Meanwhile, the stock (ATHM) is down to about 50˘. I'd say the writing is pretty much on the wall for what was the #2 portal company, right behind Yahoo. The article says my cable modem service will continue uninterrupted even if they go belly up. Riiiiight.
Posted by John at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
Micro$oft enlists dead people to
Micro$oft enlists dead people to lobby Congress for leniency. [via MeFi]
Posted by John at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)
The good wife's guide. [via
The good wife's guide. [via Solosier] Julie, you takin' notes here? Har!
Posted by John at 01:23 AM | Comments (0)
Twenty South Korean men chopped
Twenty South Korean men chopped off their little fingers on Monday in a macabre public protest hours before Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited a Tokyo shrine to war dead. On Tuesday a Peruvian man cut off a testicle to protest his low pay. This was a year after he amputated his own penis over not having a job. (The penis was reattached, the testicle was not so lucky.) I just want to ask, what the heck is going on here? Don't you people realize that body parts don't grow back? I appreciate commitment to a cause and all that, but let's face it, you do something like this and your stupidity is the news, not the issue you're protesting. And it's over in a week, and you don't have a testicle, or a little finger, or whatever any more. Knock it off! You're seriously grossing me out.
Posted by John at 01:07 AM | Comments (0)
I just want to note
I just want to note for the record that it is really, really hard to find good jokes. Even with 1,000,000,000+ pages of Internet to search. The "best of" joke pages out these have all, without exception, sold out to quantity over quality.
Posted by John at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)
Cool beachball for use on
Cool beachball for use on Mars. Hey, I already thought of that! Of course, the flaw in the plan that I ran into was the "V" shaped chasm... Hmmm.
Posted by John at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2001
Among the lost email archives
Among the lost email archives was this link, which came back today! [via Zannah at /usr/bin/girl] This company makes action figures. Of you.
Posted by John at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)
Snopes.com was referenced in the
Snopes.com was referenced in the previous post; it's a great site for reading up on urban legends. Covers a broad range of topics from the Coca-Cola formula to the scuba diver allegedly found in a tree after helicopters scooped up water from a local lake to douse a fire. Good fun reading, and educational, too!
Posted by John at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
I mentioned back on 6/29
I mentioned back on 6/29 that the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act allows financial institutions to share your personal financial information with other institutions without your permission. By now, the 7/1/01 deadline for notification has passed, so if you didn't receive any letters from your banks or brokers, you're out of danger. However, a friend forwarded an email to me this morning about the credit bureaus releasing your information as well. While the 1999 act doesn't change anything about how the credit bureaus deal with your info (and hence the email was somewhat erroneous), it did mention a toll free telephone number that you can use to "opt-out" of having the credit bureaus release your info for purposes of qualifying you for financially-based offers. So, if you want to reduce the junk mail volume of pre-approved VISA debit card offers, time-shares in Des Moines, or mortgage refinancing deals, you can call 888-567-8688. It only takes a couple of minutes to do, and you can take care of one additional person in the household while making only one call, you'll just need to know their Social Security number. Be sure to listen closely, the first opt out is only for two years, make sure you wait until they prompt you to press '3' on your keypad to opt out for good.
Posted by John at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2001
3-D Pong. [via MeFi] Nothing
3-D Pong. [via MeFi] Nothing more need be said...
Posted by John at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2001
The Smithsonian has unveiled a
The Smithsonian has unveiled a new interactive web project, History Wired, that lets you browse the various collections by topic, by timeline, or both. It's based on the famous (or infamous, depending on your personal preferences) SmartMoney Heat Map, "Map of the Market". I found it interesting only because it's new and different. The interface itself is too clunky to score high marks for functionality -- too much stuff popping up all over the screen for my taste.
Posted by John at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)
Man sues Veterans Hospital in
Man sues Veterans Hospital in Fargo, Minnesota, after they mistakenly remove his testicles. "Oops!"
Posted by John at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)
Passing through the airport shops
Passing through the airport shops in Heathrow, I saw many Smint candies, which aren't real big sellers in the states. Well, if you believe big ads generate big sales, all that may change soon. An ad visible from space? Why?
Posted by John at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2001
And yes, I'm getting the
And yes, I'm getting the Africa stuff ready to go up on the site. I shot 30 rolls of film, and 10 hours of videotape. This may take a little while, so please be patient. If you want me to email you when it's up, just let me know.
Posted by John at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)
Since we visited Malawi, I've
Since we visited Malawi, I've been keeping up on the news, and in general the news is not good. The AIDS epidemic has the people, who are 85% Christian, asking hard questions. Why us? Is this a punishment? This article by Alfred Mwenifumbo from the city of Lilongwe, where we visited, was published 5 days ago. The statistics are tragic, especially when you consider that the country only has a population of about 10 million.
Posted by John at 06:59 PM | Comments (0)
People sometimes astound me. On
People sometimes astound me. On our recent trip to Africa, we spent several days in Malawi, which is pretty much at the bottom of the economic pyramid with GDP per capita of less than $1,000 and an average life expectency of 37 years. We saw literally hundreds of people living subsistence lifestyles, not knowing where their next meal was coming from. We spent some time with a missionary, an old friend of Julie's parents, who has been in the country for 42 years. Now in his 70's, he still manages a school with over 300 students, arranges in-home meals for invalids, and distributes an average of one shipping container (think railroad boxcar) of donated food per day. I spoke to him at some length about the scope of the problem he was trying to address, with literally millions in need of basic food, shelter, medical care, with AIDS ravaging the population, wasn't it overwhelming? His reply: "Oh yes, we have lots of work to do."
Posted by John at 04:17 AM | Comments (0)
Rant: I can't believe Micro$oft
Rant: I can't believe Micro$oft Outlook 2000 doesn't let you turn off email HTML viewing in the preview pane. This has bugged me for quite awhile, as spammers are constantly pumping out huge rich-media ads via email, and Outlook gets "stuck" until the message is fully loaded - you can't even cancel out of it. And as Michelle points out, any advertiser who sends an HTML message with an image reference tagged with my email address as a query string will they know they've got a valid and active email address they can turn around and sell. Bleh.
Posted by John at 03:30 AM | Comments (0)
If you're going to take
If you're going to take the time to customize an error page for your site visitors who go astray (I haven't), it might as well be a good one.
Posted by John at 03:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2001
Brian K. West, a 24
Brian K. West, a 24 year old support tech for an ISP in SE Oklahoma, is being asked to "accept a felony conviction and 5 years probation", after reporting a security flaw to the editor-in-chief of the Poteau Daily News. Seems they -- or their ISP, a competitor of Brian's company -- left their web site wide open, without even password protection. Brian downloaded a page to test ad placement and, surprise!, he found he could edit the page. He didn't. He just called them to let them know, and the next thing he knew, the FBI showed up. Read the article, and if you have $10 burning a hole in your pocket, contribute to his legal defense. This is Big Brother run amock. I just don't understand this. The FBI isn't known for hiring morons. Where's the independent judgment these agents are supposed to use? [via Slashdot]
Posted by John at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)
Hey, they're giving away my
Hey, they're giving away my car. The eBay® Motors Route 66 Vintage Vette Giveaway is now underway. Register and win a 1961 Corvette. I've already registered; my car needs a playmate.
Posted by John at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)
The Economist, that paragon of
The Economist, that paragon of right-wing fiscal responsibility, casts an oh-so-very-British eye on the industry of illegal drugs, starting with a survey. I was surprised at how liberal (as in left-wing) their interpretations of the data were, and how openly critical they were of US anti-drug laws. Quoting from the article, US anti-drug policy is "...the world's most expensive drugs policy, absorbing $35 billion-40 billion a year of taxpayers' cash. It has eroded civil liberties, locked up unprecedented numbers of young blacks and Hispanics, and corroded foreign policy. It has proved a dismal rerun of America's attempt, in 1920-33, to prohibit the sale of alcohol." My immediate mental reaction here: [sound file].
Posted by John at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
A little knowledge is a
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I should be classified as a lethal weapon. You can modify your browser setting in your Windows registry to increase the number of simultaneous downloads of images and other large page components, which means your rich media pages will load faster. Of course, if you melt your PC trying to do this, I'm going to deny I ever told you about it. [via Michelle]
Posted by John at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
I have to link this
I have to link this little Flash movie (560KB). I love early Monty Python, and this is so very Pythonesque. It's weird, it's all in Swedish, and I have no idea what's going on, so take that all into consideration, please. Rabbits, flying fish, naked ladies dancing. [via FilePile] Filepile being what it is, I copied this over to my own server. I hope they don't mind.
Posted by John at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2001
And in the "I've always
And in the "I've always suspected something like this" category today, we have confirmed linkage of birth defects with living near landfills. I hope they complete more detailed studies quickly so we get a better understanding of the causes. Living on the San Francisco Bay, there are thousands of homes in our area built on landfill. I can see dozens of them in Paradise Cay right out my front window.
Posted by John at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)
I'm losing my mind. You
I'm losing my mind. You probably are too. And keeping an online journal like this one -- which I started precisely because I couldn't remember all the nifty things I came across in my web-surfing -- is only contributing to my mental deterioration. From the article, "...recent research suggest that sections of the brain that strengthen memory are becoming flimsy and weak in a generation reliant on computers. With an increasing reliance on computers for research and guidance, as well as Palm pilots and navigation devices, instead of exercising these parts of the brain, young adults just search the Web or punch some words into a gadget, say researchers." If eggs for breakfast, a high-stress lifestyle and cell phone radiation don't get me, apparently the Web is going to turn me into a vegetable.
Posted by John at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)
Set in the rolling countryside
Set in the rolling countryside 12 miles north-east of the historic Hungarian capital of Budapest, the Hungaroring is still the only circuit to host a grand prix in eastern Europe. The first race took place in 1986 before the collapse of the Iron Curtain. Animation by BMW. Once the popup loads, choose "Driver Cam" and turn the sound up. The animation is a little lame, but the sound of the V-10 in that WilliamsF1 BMW FW23 is right on. (Of course, the current - and previous year's - champion of that race is the Mercedes CLK GTR, and the street legal version of that car is probably the only thing that could make me trade my '61 vette, although I think the price tag on the Merc is about $1 million...)
Posted by John at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
Federal court to Micro$oft: "Request
Federal court to Micro$oft: "Request denied." No delay in the appeals hearing.
Posted by John at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2001
Hey, did anybody else notice
Hey, did anybody else notice that in the movie Planet of the Apes, Charleton Heston gives his son (Thade, played by Tim Roth) a gun? Wonder if that's in his contract as the President of the NRA...
Posted by John at 05:44 PM | Comments (0)
You like posters? We got
You like posters? We got posters, some as cheap as $15. Click on the [Gallery] link; it takes a minute to load, but it's worth it. [via Judith]
Posted by John at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
I saw the news earlier
I saw the news earlier this week that the World Wrestling Federation lost the rights to the moniker "WWF" to the World Wildlife Fund in a SmackDown match in the British courts. They'll have to give up their web site as well. But that's old news. The reason for this entry is that it reminded me of the Grudge Match website, which has somehow escaped mention up until now. Reminiscent of the MTV Celebrity DeathMatch show, the running commentary from the hosts is uniformly hilarious, and you can submit your own comments and vote on the outcome. Reading the lists of combatents under "History" calls up some vivid mental imagery. Pop'N'Fresh vs. Mr. Peanut, or Red-Shirted Ensigns vs. Stormtroopers. Or Michael Jackson versus The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince (hereafter referred to as "TAFKATAFKAP").
Posted by John at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)
Allen mentioned to me yesterday
Allen mentioned to me yesterday that a friend of his studies sharks, and was documenting the ability of bull sharks -- among the most aggressive toward man -- to travel upstream in fresh water rivers. Thousands of miles. I had no idea. I thought it was just the Florida coast where you could be mistaken for an appetizer these days.
Posted by John at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)
Hasbro's marketing team is pretty
Hasbro's marketing team is pretty smart. In setting up the initial release of a new video game that allows any two kids to battle each other if they're within 30 feet of one another, Hasbro went to the playgrounds in search of the coolest kids on the block, the "alpha pups". Then they distributed free copies of the game to those kids. This is brilliant marketing, but I find it a little creepy/scary as corporate marketing departments improve their abilities to focus in on the motive forces behind trends, fads and memes that dominate our culture. Don't miss this article. [via Rebecca]
Posted by John at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
Psychodelic Republicans is a good,
Psychodelic Republicans is a good, quick laugh. The Strom Thurmond trading card is especially eerie.
Posted by John at 01:15 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2001
Cyber Annie is set to
Cyber Annie is set to take the PC gaming world by storm, with a digitized version of Anne Robinson and her trademark catchphrase, "You are the weakest link. Goodbye." Activision is releasing the Weakest Link game for Playstation, Playstation 2 and PCs on September 28. Aside from the fact that I find that woman incredibly annoying and maybe second only to Janet Reno in the "I don't ever want to be that drunk" category, the news article linked above has a pretty neat digitized image of Annie. I think I'll stick to "You Don't Know Jack."
Posted by John at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)
Safely back from the African
Safely back from the African bush! On planes for 21 of the past 24 hours... sleep now, journal later.
Posted by John at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2001
Oh and by the way,
Oh and by the way, Travis won the GOLD MEDAL in the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS in the Junior mens pairs race. He's posted some pictures from the pairs race and medal ceremony. He also got a silver medal in the coxed fours. Wow. It looks like this:
05 Jr. Men`s 2--Final Race Time: 07/27/2001 16:13 PM
*** Race_is_Official ***
05 CSUS Aquatic Center- Boat A 07:48:35 Bice (2), Parker (1),
03 Penn AC- Boat B 07:51:52 Mattus (2), McNeely (1),
04 Mobjack R.C. 07:54:80 Sier (2), Holt (1),
06 Wyandotte B.C. 07:57:15 Stinson (2), Mullins (1),
02 Boston R.C. 07:59:16 Maltz (2), Kempner (1),
01 Steel City Rowing Club 08:03:70 Cashman (2), Cashman (1)
Congratulations, Travis!!
Posted by John at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)
Finally, after several tries, a
Finally, after several tries, a working Internet connection in Africa! Slow.... but working. We're at the Grace Hotel in Rosebank, right outside Johannesburg, South Africa. Just back from three days in Malawi which were simply amazing. So far we've met literally hundreds of locals, from sophisticated urban business people and college students, to tribesmen and women who have performed ceremonial dances for us, dined with us, talked to us and partied with us into the night. It's such an overwhelming mixed bag of rich cultural melanges, beautifully simple lifestyles, colorful dress and fantastic art on the one hand, with staggering levels of poverty, hunger, sickness, and hopelessness on the other. A local businessman, a friend of Julie's father from his days as a missionary in Malawi, played host to us at his farm for the first night, and then we checked into a local hotel and were escorted around by Brother Gerrard, a missionary who has been in Malawi for 42 years. I can't write too much about it right now, both because it's midnight (and my wakeup call is coming in six hours), and because I'm still mentally trying to get it sorted out. We have many staggering photos, especially from the native dances, which I'll post when I get back. Tomorrow morning we leave for Victoria Falls, then it's off to the game camps in the Okavango Delta in Zimbabwe. I doubt I'll get a chance to update this journal before I get back, but then that's what I said before. We'll see.
Posted by John at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
