BLADAM - January 2004

DISCLAIMER: This is my personal blog. The blatherings here aren't (necessarily) the views of the current company I work for, companies I've previously blessed with my presence, my loving parents, the Illuminati, or anyone other than me, me, me!

Don’t like it? Go home and don’t come back.

There's the old joke of two folks eating in a restaurant who are (probably once again) kveching:

"Oy, this food is terrible!"
"It sure is! And the portions are so small!"

It's amazing and pretty disgusting to me how many folks apply a similar attitude on the Web. I think everyone has a right to complain, but if you don't like the food... don't spit in the kitchen, just stop going to the restaurant (and perhaps post a negative review somewhere if you wish).

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- Blathered by Adam on Friday, January 30, 2004 at 20:02 Permalink
- Filed under Geekery • Society
- Commented on by 3 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

No limits to human greed and obnoxiousness

Forget "evil," I am upset and angry that there appears no limit to simple human greed and obnoxiousness.

I've just deleted about the 20th piece of comment spam ("Nice blog, check out my casino link") on this blog. Of course, this pales in comparison to the 400+ e-mail spams I receive (150+ I must personally sift through) DAILY. But it irks and saddens me nonetheless.

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- Blathered by Adam on Friday, January 30, 2004 at 13:40 Permalink
- Filed under Geekery • Society
- Commented on by one person so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Two big, uh, points against Booble

I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV. But I did graduate from law school and I know a pretty open-and-shut case when I see one.

Booble, the "adult search engine" that is claiming to be a "parody" of Google, has been sent a takedown notice by the latter and has subsequently sent a defiant reply, perhaps just milking this for all the free publicity.

It's pretty clear to me that Booble's lawyers should have used training bras before filing their argument, because while they may be abreast of (mostly) relevant case law, they're nonetheless gonna be sadly deflated from a court loss.

Here's why:

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- Blathered by Adam on Friday, January 30, 2004 at 12:21 Permalink
- Filed under Geekery • Grab bag • Wackiness • Society • Law • Google
- Commented on by 6 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Can’t Buy Me Love, but CAN buy a girlfriend!

I just learned (via Kottke.org) that there's a new crazy trend on ebay for women to be selling themselves as "Imaginary Girlfriends."

I kidd you not. Yes, you, too can receive loving letters, occasional (oft pre-scheduled) IMs, and sometimes even other assorted, uh, goodies from some (supposedly female) mercenary.... for just $19.95 -- or in some cases, as much as $250 (!)

I don't know what's sadder: the sellers or the pathetically-eager buyers. On a deeper level, it's most sad that folks are apparently so desperately both craving connections and unable to attain such real connectedness. I guess this explains much of the "Reality TV" craze, too. Don't have a social life or real friends? That's okay, you can bond with and live your life through those 'real' people on the screen!

- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 at 17:44 Permalink
- Filed under Grab bag • Wackiness
- Commented on by 4 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Fascinating perceptions of online social networks

I was just chatting with a smart British friend of mine about the new social networking site, orkut.com, and it was like we were speaking a different language.

She simply couldn't fathom why anyone "would need a computer program to make friends," and, to my great surprise, she hadn't even heard of Friendster. This, mind you, is a highly-educated woman who works in technology for goodness sake. And here I thought that the only people who hadn't heard of Friendster had been living under a rock for the last few years.

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- Blathered by Adam on Saturday, January 24, 2004 at 17:25 Permalink
- Filed under Geekery • Society • People and relationships
- Commented on by 7 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

The New (much) Improved Friendster

Well, if you're as much of a geek as I am -- or even if you just are a geek wannabe and voraciously read the tech rags -- you've likely already heard about Orkut.com.

Well, I've had a chance to play with it for a day or so, and it's rather fascinating. Though clearly not-yet-perfect, it's still fun and quite a bit ahead of Friendster in many ways.

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- Blathered by Adam on Friday, January 23, 2004 at 14:24 Permalink
- Filed under Geekery • Society • People and relationships • Google
- Commented on by 9 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

The scale of justice?

Tomorrow, my body-fat scale arrives!

In the meantime, I've been a good boy and have managed to follow my trainer's recommendation to consume just under 2,000 calories per day... at least on average.

Oh, thank goodness for averages!

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- Blathered by Adam on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 at 1:00 Permalink
- Filed under Happy body • Food and nutrition • Personal
- Commented on by no one yet. Bummer. Check out the full entry page to leave a comment or trackback!

State of the Union? No, a campaign speech

I simply couldn't stomach listening to Bush live, so I skimmed the transcript of his speech and read commentary from others.

This is supposed to be a non-partisan and informational speech to the citizens of the U.S. about how our country is doing, right?

Yeah, right.

Two conspicuous absences, in my mind:
- No mention of the Palestine / Israel conflict.
- No mention of the environment.

Guess those aren't really important issues.

What a jerk.

- Blathered by Adam on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 at 22:17 Permalink
- Filed under Society • Politics
- Commented on by one person so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

Living a commercial (Or, “I love your hair!")

I go to the gayest hairdresser in the gayest part of town and -- as Seinfeld would say -- not that there's anything wrong with that. I wasn't even phased when the receptionist introduced himself to me last Halloween as "Penny. Penny Trayshun."

So why am I -- likely the only straight guy in the joint -- driving out of my neighborhood to get my hair cut at this place?

1) Bob, my stylist, is a hell of a cool guy. Interesting, reliable, talented.
2) He does an amazing job.

How do I know about #2?

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- Blathered by Adam on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 at 20:26 Permalink
- Filed under Personal
- Commented on by 6 folks so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

What was Disney thinking?

As you may have heard by now, Disney has begun field-testing its "EZ-D" DVDs that self-destruct after 48 hours.

Understandably, environmentalists are up in arms. But while I share in their disdain for this wasteful format, I have a different question to ask: What bozo set the price for these discs at $7 each?!

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- Blathered by Adam on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 at 14:53 Permalink
- Filed under Business and consumers • Marketing and advertising
- Commented on by one person so far. Visit the full entry page and join in!

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The magic number for the moment is 32. Neato.

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