January 2008
38 posts
TripIt is awesome →
You know what I really like? TripIt.com. It’s amazingly simple. You take all those travel confirmation emails that you get from your travel agent, hotels, car rental agencies, etc, and you just forward them to plans@tripit.com. That’s all you have to do. You don’t have to sign up for an account. You don’t have to log on. You just forward those emails. You can do it right...
IT Support - Global Fail
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0922 AM] -- Automatically generated message: Your support request has been received and has been queued. We are working on your problem and will respond shortly. Please wait until the next available agent is assigned to your case. (Please type your support needs in English only. Chat is available 24 x 7).
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0923 AM] -- Automatically generated message: Detailed system information has been uploaded to the support specialist.
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0924 AM] -- Brian Duchek says: hello.
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0928 AM] -- Brian Duchek says: Did you know that if this chat session fails, I get redirected to a phone number that hangs up on me when I tell it I'm having problems with email?
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0929 AM] -- Brian Duchek says: I simply can't believe how miserable that makes me feel.
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0936 AM] -- Brian Duchek says: So my problem is that I can't get email from facebook.com to join the HP network there. I'd like to connect to other HP employees in my spare time when not at the office, but the emails appear to be blocked.
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0937 AM] -- Brian Duchek says: By the way - it's been almost 15 minutes and I have not received a single response to my messages. I'm wondering if this application is working correctly or not.
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0938 AM] -- Brian Duchek says: At this point, I don't have time to wait around and see if I get a response. I consider this effort to receive IT support a complete failure.
[Thursday, January 31, 2008 0939 AM] -- Automatically generated message: A Support specialist, Pablo (C-MSG) O has been assigned to your case.
MythBuster vents about common tech headaches,... →
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
They’re about as far from myths as you can get, but MythBuster Jamie Hyneman nonetheless took it upon himself to explore seven tech headaches that many of you are likely all too familiar with in the latest issue of Popular Mechanics, and he’s offered a few suggestions on how companies could fix ‘em. Those headaches include the ever-popular cordless...
PlotKit - Javascript Chart Plotting | liquidx →
From the office
Pod people stopped by my office last night, and deposited large boxes of hardware. I can only assume they are agents of Tim Burton. Seriously, look at the font on that box. “Workstation” as rendered by Edward Scissorhands.
@jchenry: isn’t that a great game?!?
Resurrected the family weblog at http://seattle.duchek.name Considering bringing his SLR back from the dead next.
“I presume the next page provides instructions for tuning female response to...”
– #7 Posted by Pantelope
Jigonometry (jig oh nom’ uh tree) - art and science of ascertaining the proper weight for a lead-head jig. Example: “Riggin’ this here Mr. Wiggly shadtail with the right lead-head calls for a bit of jigonometry.” Marine Terminology
@zechariahs: I say, “code until you hurl!” Do your dreams come color coded & indented with auto-completion yet?
“Even the people who claim that they have build some big multi-million dollar...”
– Five whys - Joel on Software (posted so that I don’t loose too much geek-cred while I blather on about music and lyrics)
Song lyrics | Daniella lyrics
WatchJohn Butler Trio - Daniella lyrics | LyricsMode.com
Please translate this unusual page from a book →
I’m not sure what language this is written in, but I don’t think it’s a “Bizarre Japanese Sexual Harrassment Training Manual,” as suggested by the person who posted the page. (I’m guessing it’s Korean.) Can some explain what is going on here? Link (Thanks,
Shanti!)
IE8 Version Targeting causes quite a stir →
Readers of the venerable A List Apart will already have read about IE8’s new version targeting (and Eric Meyer’s accompanying opinion piece) — and the announcement has elicited quite a few heated reactions, collated here for your convenience: Microsoft’s own announcement drew both positive and negative comments Jonathan Snook welcomes the change Anne van Kesteren is not a fan A Mozilla developer...
WatchNow who’s complaining about Schlomo? Oh, all you people still are. Dang.
BBtv -- Gale Banks: Diesel and DIY →
In today’s edition of Boing Boing tv, we continue our ongoing series of conversations with automotive engineering guru and multiple land speed record-holder Gale Banks, known to many as the godfather of speed. Today — Banks shares insight on diesel and the DIY revolution.
Link to video, Discuss on tv.boingboing.net.
See also:
Extreme Diesel Truck Racing
Car Hacking with...
Things that suck: traffic. Things that don’t: The John Butler Trio
Sunning and snowing at the top of Snoqualmie ridge.
has friends that don’t know when to use twitters direct message feature…
sold his Taurus. Long live Bunsen!
The Internet Party →
What Happens When Google’s Parents Leave Town for the Weekend
Fluid: Wrap your favorite web apps in their own... →
With Fluid you can give your favorite web apps their own contained Safari-powered space on OS X. Once wrapped, the applications get their own icon, their own place in the Dock, and their own lifeline, so crashing your general purpose browser won’t take down your Fluid apps. It’s neat and free. Check it out. (If you’re not on OS X, Prism does something similar for Windows and Linux powered by the...
Selling his 95 Taurus on Craigslist (offers: 0) and Expo (offers: 2) - this is such a MS town.
Feverishly working on carving out baby’s room
Too Wired in a Wireless World? →
When traveling, I always notice I need to pack extra cables and wires, transformers and adapters.
The luggage I pack is sometimes filled with so many wires, cables, power supplies and other do-das that I am quick to wonder if something about all this is a bit fishy.
Do you have more cables now as a result of all our “wireless” devices or less than when we were “wired”?
Picking up a convertible crib
You Suck at Photoshop #2 →
Here’s another episode of the combination Photoshop tutorial / comedy routine, “You Suck at Photoshop.” This time, Donnie Hoyle shows you how to remove an object from a photo (a cat) and replace it with another object (a stain). NSFW dialogue Link
Ingenuity under your desk →
Van Mardian at Declutter Your Desk has sparked inspiration with a really clever way to deal with all the cables, connections and peripherals that make your desk a mess. He attached a pegboard to the underside of his desk and tied all those boxes and wires into a clean layout hidden from view. I especially like how he made the pegboard removable, so you don’t need to crawl around on your back to...
@zechariahs Took what? Red/blue pill? A pregnancy test? Your vitamins? ;-)
Tiny houses -- slideshow →
Wired has a lovely slideshow of tiny, perfect houses. Since I left Toronto in 1999 (where I had an illegal, 2,000 sqft warehouse space), I’ve lived in progressively smaller apartments and flats, and I’ve come to love it. I think the key is to be absolutely ruthless about getting rid of stuff that you don’t need anymore — for example, I’ve started to give most of my...
Tiny houses -- slideshow →
Wired has a lovely slideshow of tiny, perfect houses. Since I left Toronto in 1999 (where I had an illegal, 2,000 sqft warehouse space), I’ve lived in progressively smaller apartments and flats, and I’ve come to love it. I think the key is to be absolutely ruthless about getting rid of stuff that you don’t need anymore — for example, I’ve started to give most of my...
still trying to restore order to the house after too long away from the cats for their liking.
@zechariahs “warm” is technically a relative term