August 2008
10 posts
“Dear: Sir/Madam,
We Apologize for the delay of your payment and all the...”
– I’ve had a recent uptick in 419/advance-fee/Spanish Prisoner/Fake Lottery emails. This one is particularly interesting in its floridity and creativity of spelling and capitalization.
That still doesn’t mean I’m sending them my information.
“Morgan resembles John Wayne, except African-American and in a CHP uniform. Every...”
– The Urge to Merge. Via the previously-mentioned How We Drive blog.
“As I watched the intricate social ballet that occurred as cars and bikes slowed...”
– The Traffic Guru, an essay on Hans Monderman by Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic.
How to Survive the Impending Zombie Apocalypse →
It’s a slow blog week, apparently, but this is awesome.
TSA: New 'Checkpoint Friendly' Laptop Bag... →
This is sort of an improvement in that the sleeve I already own (and like) is already basically perfect for this (it’s long discontinued so I can’t find a suitable image). The problem is that the TSA and the airlines want to count bags, instead of counting volume and/or hassle.
When I travel I have a laptop and a camera bag that have to come with me on the plane or else I’ll...
Sawing for Teens →
(Alternate Title: CARROST)
You can now watch “The Big Snit” online. God bless Canada and the NFB.
When Geeks Collide
Me: what time was that picture (sunset from the sunset room) on the wedding blog taken?
Engaged Friend: prolly around 7
Engaged Friend: i havent looked
Engaged Friend: hmm no exif it seems
Me: on August 1, sunset was 8:09pm EDT
Me: on May 2, 2009, sunset will be at 7:52pm
Engaged Friend: it's a generous definition of sunset and yeah, we've looked up all those stats
Engaged Friend: and i did the obnoxious math to determine how many degrees the sun moves a minute that day
Engaged Friend: so [the fiancee] eyeballed the basic height and noted the time, i did the math to determine the current number of degrees above horizon, then back calculated that for May 2
Me: if that photo was taken at exactly 7pm, the sun would be at the same angle at 6:44
Engaged Friend: i dont know exactly what time it was taken. notes are at home
Me: the obnoxious math done for you:
Me: http://www.susdesign.com/sunangle/
Engaged Friend: where were you friday?
Engaged Friend: :)
Me: at 7pm? Ray's Hellburger.
Engaged Friend: *sigh*
Engaged Friend: this is what its like to deal with people as literal as me. i need to send [the fiancee] a card.
“Taking some not-so-subtle jabs at his competitors, he defends his current...”
– The NYT talks to Steve Wynn about opening his new casino in lean times.