Microsoft BS 3.0

This kind of thing drives me crazy:

Windows Vista is Microsoft's most widely anticipated software release -- and the most important OS upgrade -- since Windows 95. The company is staking its entire future on Vista, a fact evidenced by a $500 million advertising campaign that will spread the Microsoft message to 20 countries.

Not that an OS release isn't a big deal, but why does every major product from Microsoft have to be pitched as a "bet the company" proposition? Microsoft has long since passed the point when it was the scrappy little software company it would like to be perceived as, and with Vista getting bundled with new PCs the same way that XP and its predecessors were I hardly think that sales of Vista or Microsoft's continued profits are really in question. It's high time that the media quit buying into the hype, and Wired of all publications ought to know better.

Overheard

One teenage chick to another: "I take it back! You only look thirty percent like Larry King!"

Wow, this is cool

Yes, you can make your own.

Quite a Delivery

Apparently today is Jackson Pollock's birthday, and judging by this cartoon he made quite an entrance.

Videogames with an agenda

There was a brief article in our local paper about Ian Bogost's work in what he calls "videogames with an agenda", but they didn't provide any web addresses (sigh). Turns out his site's not hard to find, and looks like it might be interesting...

Truth in advertising

Not necessarily true, but very funny.

This blog gets suckier and suckier, but the comments section seems to get increasingly popular.

Who's electable?

Bob Harris has an extensive post up taking on Hillary Clinton, and he points out a number of things that I certainly agree with-- number one being her positions on Iraq. (A digression-- are we really talking about the 2008 election already? Jeebus.) However, he also falls into the trap of declaring her "unelectable." This is the same garbage we heard during the last go-round, when everyone somehow settled on John Kerry because he was allegedly "electable."

So, a word to everyone out there, whether you're a pundit, blogger, consultant, or just the loudmouth at the end of the bar. I don't want to hear whether you think someone is "electable" or not. I want to know what the candidates' positions are, who excites you and why. Try to excite me. I don't give a rat's ass whether you think other people will like what Hillary or any other candidate will be popular with voters. Her popularity at this point is neither relevant nor terribly helpful.

Tying the pieces together

Aah...Star Wars. Here's a fun attempt to connect the prequels to the original trilogy. I think my favorite bit is this, if only because it's such a stuffy way to say "bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home".

In his home-built hotrod aircraft, with no formal fighter pilot training and no decent instrumentation, Luke can regularly score centre-hits on 2-metre targets in complicated zero-altitude maneouvres.

This is bad

Hoo....

Honesty is important

3000 / 4 = ???

Is this supposed to make us feel better?

Ira(q|n)

Save us, Jeebus. Sy Hersh has been talking about the administration's plans to kindle a war with Iran for a while, and now I'm seeing other people also weigh in along the same lines. Meanwhile, Congress is finally starting to ask the right questions, but I have my doubts that they'll have the cojones to really stand up and do what's necessary.

These people are starting to remind me of some of the nitwits I knew in junior high who would go around trying to pick a fight by bumping into some poor sap and saying, "C'mon, push me back! Push me back!" The big difference of course being that in junior high at least the bullies did their own pushing. How was it Eminem put it?

Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way

Soviet bus stops

There's been talk in Athens of prettifying bus stops, but I don't think we could top some of these soviet bus stops in our wildest dreams. (courtesy BoingBoing)

Do they have irony in Alabama?

It wasn't so much the sight of the Hummer parked in a spot clearly marked "SMALL CARS" as it was the "Protect Our Environment" license plate that made me wonder.

Words of wisdom

I don't care one way or another who gets into Coopertown, but this made me laugh:

Just think, if the Rock n’ Roll Hall-of-Fame had a drug restriction its only members would be Debby Boone and the Singing Nun.

That's why they call it Rage

Bugging out

They've been doing construction on or near the building where I work now for a number of months. For the most part it's been a nuisance, with a lot of noise and the occasional shakes and vibrations. The brown noise back in the spring/summer was particularly lovely. All along we've known that we were going to be more directly affected, since the plans show a hallway plowing right through our office space. Initially we were told that we would be able to move to some offices higher in the building before the demolition started, but the athletic department welshed on us, so just before Christmas we had a massive reshuffling to try and get out of the way of the jackhammers and drills. The plan, or so we thought, was for the crew to get as much as they could done over the break so that there would be minimal disruption. There would still be construction noise, but we were assured that we would have a dust-free environment and a reasonable environment to work in.

We came back Tuesday after the break, and found that not only was it ungodly loud (jackhammers, remember?), but everything was covered in a fine white powder. So much for the dust-free environment. In addition to the dust and noise, it was also warm and stuffy. Still, most of us seemed to be able to tolerate it okay. I escaped for a few hours to work remotely, and had tentative plans to do a mix of remote and on-site work for the duration. Since I was gone, I missed the billowing smoke that triggered the fire alarm that afternoon.

Wednesday was the day that finally drove everyone out of the office. I arrived to find the hallway shrouded in a haze of white, and dust pouring down through the air intake vents in the ceiling. Turns out it's not actually possible to create that dust-free environment. To make matters worse, we found out a little later on that the dust problem was only beginning, and that when the drywall hanging starts it would be even worse. We all agreed that we could put up with noise, but the idea of inhaling pounds of sheetrock was not cool.

So, for the next two weeks (give or take) you're as likely to find me and my colleagues at home as on campus. Fortunately, the nature of our work makes it fairly easy to work at a distance. I have to say, though, that there was something vaguely upsetting about everyone packing up their computers and heading their separate ways. It can be nice to work from home, but there are definitely added headaches in operating mostly by email and IMing.

Oh, and as for the construction crew, architects and athletic department (especially the athletic department)? You all suck.

Happy New Year

Chandra had planned for us to spend New Year's Eve with some friends drinking mimosas and being generally social, but other events intervened so we ended up spending it at home watching movies/tv and drinking fomosas (faux-mosas?). Surreal moments-- Carson Daly talking about how pensive the crowd seemed to be while shots of the crowd showed them woo-hooing their way into the new year. Is it possible to "woo-hoo" in a pensive way? Then there was Dick Clark slurring the countdown, and getting behind halfway through it. Somehow he caught up in time for the important bit. Dude's a pro, I'll give him that.

Now it's off to take down decorations, and have one last day of relaxation until we hit the grind again tomorrow...