chain chain chain, chain of foo

  1. Hurricanes are bad. Hypercanes are way worse.
  2. It’s not just the tech support and customer service rep jobs that have gone overseas. Your online teacher may well be in Bangalore too.
  3. BLOGGERS FLEE HURRICANE. THE BLOGGERS TOO ARE AT RISK. LET’S PUT RIBBONS ON OUR HOME PAGES FOR THE NEW ORLEANS BLOGGERS. FOLKS, I PROPOSE A BLOG AID CONCERT WITH KENNY LOGGINS. WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE…
  4. Scariest weather alert ever is behind the cut: dogs and cats, living together

Tales from the Picnic Table

the_friend and pbd told the tale of the person at work who thought B. was smoking pot because someone else was smoking cloves, and called her in to utter this line: “When you came back from lunch today you… …REEKED! of POT!” This same person was on a severe Atkins regimen that involved bringing in raw bacon and string cheese, microwaving the bacon, wrapping it around the string cheese, and eating the resulting delicacy for lunch. She had yellow eyes and blackening teeth by the time they both left that job.

A frightening Canadian folk tale was told several times.

Seventeen-year-old boys appeared and explained the world to us enthusiastically, then left.

I heard a number of stories about why you shouldn’t go to work in a bike shop. I think my favorite was the guy who bought the $5000 carbon fiber frame and then clamped a 9 pound lock on to it, removed the clips for regular pedals, and added fenders, a basket, and a bell. Also, not getting paid.

Good food was eaten, including: chicken with little Post-It™ notes all over it, hummade hummus, guacamole, my accidentally vegan potato salad, sweet potatoes, cupcakes, peanut butter PIE, and small irresistible appetizer thingies with salami and cheese in them. I hadn’t had cupcakes since the last child’s birthday party I attended.

the_silent_one and realitylost said they were looking at pumpkins but I think they were actually hunting an invisible bunny. What do you think?

Late in the evening, just before I left, the_silent_one and the_friend were sitting at the table in our conversation lit only by candles from a bit below. They were in a Georges de la Tour painting, and they were so beautiful.

Tales from Bozospace: The AOL Trivia Club

I’ve been using online computer systems since 1977 or so, starting with a very primitive teletype-and-paper-tape hookup to a school district computer in junior high school. Later I used university systems, bulletin boards, dialup Internet, and most of the online services.

For most of this time I didn’t use these networks socially. In the earlier years this just wasn’t technically practical. When I bought my first computer I was 25 years old, living in Los Angeles, and heavily involved in the music scene, so I didn’t feel the need for any additional social outlets.

However, I’ve always been a trivia nut. I did College Bowl at UCLA, and our team won and went to the statewide competition. When Trivial Pursuit came out I loved it and won a lot. I even liked the dumb trivia games in bars. So when I found the live interactive trivia games in AOL chat rooms I got hooked right away. There’d be maybe 10-15 people chatting and a game host and a scorekeeper, and you’d try to type in the correct answer before the host typed the “buzzer”, but just before! So that others couldn’t copy you. The hosts wrote their own trivia games. If you won you got some free time on the service.

and therein lies the tale

my academy, your academy

The Fall’s Hex Enduction Hour, which I recently got the re-release of, is even better than I remembered it. If you own just one Fall album, make it this one. And now, links:

  1. Pac Man on Trial (via waxy)
  2. Dog owner bites man.
  3. AAAIIIIGH! Cannibal squid!
  4. The “official car” of the Rolling Stones tour is the new Mercedes-Benz luxury minivan. Just retire, guys.
  5. Country singer tries to get away with promoting America’s childhood drug abuse gateway drug. Thanks, Gretchen!
  6. Jon Stewart versus Christopher Hitchens (quicktime).
  7. Nutcase Turkmenistan dictator sends his book into space.
  8. The Los Angeles Fire Department has some good information and advice about that “ICE” cellphone emergency contact thing you keep hearing about.