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Stuff + nonsense. Updated daily. So far. Pretty much. Overwrought by Scott Knaster.
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Friday, April 04, 2003
All your base are the terrorists have already won
Don't try to be geek-funny in our country right now.
Talk talk
Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the first cellular phone call. Like many great technologies, it sort of happened accidentally. Here's a little interview with the "father of the cell phone". He seems to be a cool guy with a great perspective who's still curious and active at 74.
Thursday, April 03, 2003
L'idiot
The madness continues as French's Mustard feels compelled to issue a press release reminding us that "there is nothing more American than French's Mustard". This is hardly the first time our country has gone nuts in this particular way. In the '50s, fear of communism (and secret communists -- they could be your neighbors!) drove the Cincinnati Reds to rename themselves "Redlegs" until reason prevailed. And during World War II, sauerkraut became "victory cabbage". So I guess we have a long tradition of this stuff. Still, it would be nice to outgrow it.
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
Semi-foolish
I didn't see very many great April Fool's hacks this year. Maybe it's the war, or the economy. This one is excellent, and this rocks too. Those wacky cutups at Sun usually do something bizarre to Scott McNealy, like putting his car in the middle of a pond, but I can't find any info about what happened this year, if anything. My morning radio station is usually good for something, but this year only had a weak goof about part of San Francisco seceding from the rest. As with most April Fool's pranks, I'm amazed people fell for that. One women called up and ranted for a good two minutes about what a stupid, racist plan it was.
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a cool language concept in which you use part of something to refer to the whole. For example, when you say "the suits are ruining our cool company", you're using synecdoche by saying "the suits" when you mean "the uncool people who wear suits". Synecdoche is even more wacky: it also works in reverse, when you use the whole to mean part of something. So when you say "San Francisco beat San Diego in the opener yesterday", you're talking about baseball teams, not whole cities. Here's a list of some common uses of synecdoche. Send me more!1. A capital = its government: "Washington says the war is going well." 2. The court = a judge. 3. The bar = the profession of law. 4. All hands = all people in a group. 5. Lend a hand = help. 6. Lend an ear = listen. 7. The best minds = smart people. 8. The White House = the presidential administration. 9. Pilot calling "the tower" = air traffic control. 10. The crown = the royal family.How many languages use synecdoche?
Hooray, it's April Fool's Day
Have fun! Don't be fooled -- unless you want to be.
Monday, March 31, 2003
Play ball!
It's one of the finest days of the year: Opening Day for Major League Baseball! Everybody is tied for first place.
Sunday, March 30, 2003
List #2: Why I like living in California
1. Silicon Valley: geek homeland. 2. Great weather. 3. Still, everybody wants to live here. 4. You can be weird. 5. San Francisco. 6. Los Angeles. 7. It has its own element. 8. Disneyland. 9. It's enormous, varied, and beautiful. 10. People from all over the world live here. 11. Most people are tolerant of others.
