….or is the whole “Elf on the Shelf” phenomenon simultaneously stupid and creepy?
“Hi, kids, you’re being watched all the time!” I guess that prepares them for a lifetime of NSA surveillance…
Archive for the ‘Stupid’ Category
Is it just me…
Wednesday, November 27th, 2013Bad Idea Jeans.
Thursday, October 31st, 2013Available scents are claimed to include:
Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it in action. But even if this does turn out to be real, and not a hoax, I still think it is a damn stupid idea. (Anyone remember the iSmell?)
Also:
Almost as cool as making the theme song to “The Wire” (the Season 5 version) your ringtone … almost.
Oh, bullshit. Everyone knows the Season 1 version (with the Blind Boys of Alabama) is the best version.
Edited to add: I have been challenged to provide support for the above statement.
Here’s a handy page that contains YouTube versions of the theme song from all five seasons.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
Friday, April 19th, 2013The weather here yesterday was spectacularly crappy.
Today is beautiful. The sun is shining, the temperature is moderate – a perfect spring day.
For various reasons, including how nice a day it is (as well as some others that I don’t want to touch on just now) I thought it’d be fun to go down to the state capitol and take some photos.
So I loaded up the Honda with shovels and rakes and implements of destruction the big Nikon with the camera bag and lenses, as well as my tripod. Headed downtown to the capitol, got rockstar parking, and went inside to see a man about a racehorse before I started shooting. (Officious guard: “Sir, where are you going?” Me: “CHL holder.” OG: “Oh.”)
(For those who don’t know, the Texas capitol has a separate line for CHL holders that bypasses the metal detector.)
Anyway, get back outside, set stuff down, take out the camera…
…and the GD battery is dead. And, unlike my SD1000, I don’t have a spare Nikon battery.
Oh, well. I’m going to be down in that general area with the camera tomorrow as well, so I’ll plan on taking my photos tomorrow.
(And I stopped by Precision Camera on the way home so I could fix the “no spare Nikon battery” problem.)
(I’ve been meaning to mention this, but Precision Camera’s new store is really swell. Parking is a vast improvement over the old store, there’s much more space to move around and for them to display stuff, and the men’s room would get three stars if I was rating it for the SDC.)
My humps, my humps…
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013Back in February, French President François Hollande visited Mali. While he was there, “grateful Malian authorities” gave him a baby camel.
This was, of course, a bad idea. “… the animal screeched constantly, and did not seem to enjoy the president’s attempt to pat it on the head.”
So he left it in the care of a local family.
The authorities in Mali are upset and embarrassed.
Oh, the things you learn…
Monday, April 1st, 2013…reading the newspaper.
A couple of local idiots blew up their apartment last week, and now face “third-degree felony arson charges” to go with their third-degree burns. (I kid: apparently, their burns were only second-degree.)
How did they manage this? They were making BHO.
No, not “Barack Hussain Obama”, but “Butane Honey Oil”. I’d never heard of BHO before (not being a stoner), but the Statesman goes into an astounding level of detail about the process. Apparently, you put pot in a pipe with coffee filters at one end, screw a drilled cap on to the other end, and spray butane through it. The butane supposedly extracts the THC, and the butane/THC mix drips out through the coffee filter into a catch vessel (like a Pyrex pie plate). Then you can evaporate off the liquid butane, and viola!
What’s left is a concentrated oil, which can have a THC content of 40 percent or more, he said.
Back in the bad old days, when I was young, I would have had to do much more painful research to figure out the few details of the process that the Statesman left out. (Not that I was a stoner: I didn’t smoke then and I don’t smoke now.) Kids today have it easy: they can go watch idiots do it on YouTube.
(I got a kick out of the YouTube commenter who pointed out that that mask will do sweet FA for inhaled butane. I also got a kick out of the suggestions to use glass instead of PVC. Of course, if something does go wrong and these South Austin engineered rigs do explode in your hands, it won’t make any difference: the doctors will still have to dig fragments out of you.)
The Statesman does not detail, but I assume that something went wrong in the process of evaporating off the butane. Probably “didn’t do it outside, away from ignition sources like pilot lights”.
In related stories, “Using butane to extract THC from pot risky, experts say“. Gee, you think so?
Dude, I’m sorry. I don’t wish burns and hospital stays on anyone. But if you’re lighting a smoke while messing around with butane? Think of it as evolution in action.
Don’t be evil (part 2)
Wednesday, March 27th, 2013Great idea. Why don’t we have it?
One word: Intuit.
This doesn’t come as a great shock to me, but I stopped using Intuit products years ago: TurboTax was DRM infested, and the Mac versions of Quicken became steaming piles of crap. I haven’t seen anything that would make me want to go back to using an Intuit product again, ever.
Don’t be evil.
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013This isn’t about Google Reader or Google Keep (though I do like this take on the latter). I ran across this story on the Y Combinator Twitter feed the other day, and this is the first chance I’ve had to blog it; I would like to see it get more attention.
In brief, there is a company called the Knife Depot that sells knives online. I have never bought anything from the Knife Depot, but that’s just because I haven’t been buying a lot of knives online; I certainly have not heard anything bad about the company.
The Knife Depot also had a Google Adwords account, which brought in “a good slice of its revenue”.
The Knife Depot sells what are commonly known as “assisted opening” knives. These are not switchblades, but knives that can be opened with one hand by applying pressure on a part of the knife. (The Knife Depot blog has a good video explaining the difference between “assisted opening” and “switchblade” knives.) Obviously, “assisted opening” knives are very useful things if you’re missing an arm, or frequently operate in situations where you only have one hand free, or have certain physical disabilities, or just like knives. “Assisted opening” knives are legal pretty much everywhere in the United States, including New York City (in spite of what the criminals who run NYC believe).
However, somebody in the Google Adwords department got bent out of shape and told the Knife Depot: either stop selling “assisted opening” knives, or lose your Adwords account.
Note that Google didn’t just say “you can’t advertise these knives using Adwords”. Even if the Knife Depot agreed not to use Adwords to advertise “assisted opening” knives, Google would still yank their Adwords account if they continued to sell those knives on their site.
The Knife Depot, being good and honorable people, told Google to take their Adwords account and stick it where the sun don’t shine.
“So what?” you say. “Google is a private business and can set whatever policies they want for Adwords. Why get bent out of shape over this?”
Here’s why: at the same time Google was threatening the Knife Depot, Google continued to allow Adwords advertising of “assisted opening” knives from other vendors. Like Amazon. And Wal-Mart. And Bass Pro Shops. I believe Google is still allowing Adwords advertising of “assisted opening” knives from those vendors, based on the results of a Google search for “Kershaw knives” done as I was writing this post.
Yes, this is hypocritical and evil. So much so that the Knife Depot blog entry quotes an email from a Google employee who called out the policy discrepancy, requested an explanation of why other vendors were allowed to use Adwords and the Knife Depot was not…and never got a reply.
I’ve had it in my head to do a post about Android/iPhone based on some things said in recent podcasts. I may still do that, though time has sort of gotten past me. The key thing that bothers me is that some people seem to prefer Android/Google because “Google does a better job of knowing about me”, without realizing that’s a problem. You are giving your information to a company that, to be polite, hasn’t proven it can be trusted with it. The Knife Depot is just example #947 of why Google hasn’t proven that.
I commented to someone, back a decade ago, that we didn’t have to worry about the government or big corporations invading our privacy without our consent; we’d happily give up our privacy for 75 cents off a box of Pop-Tarts. It is worse than I thought ten years ago; now we’re giving up our privacy for…what, exactly? A substitute notepad application? A free copy of The Da Vinci Code?
Face Palm Sunday.
Sunday, March 24th, 2013Gee, wouldn’t that depend on what charges Jesus was being prosecuted under, and whether any of those charges are capital crimes?
Mmmmm-hmmmm.
And maybe Christians make this distinction because Jesus didn’t kill his eight-year-old son for insurance money. Maybe Christians make this distinction because Jesus didn’t rape an 11-year-old girl and her mother and set their house on fire. Just saying.
I am not a lawyer, but to the best of my knowledge:
- The state of Texas does not have a blasphemy law.
- If the state does have a blasphemy law, it probably would not pass constitutional muster and could not be enforced.
- If the state of Texas did have a blasphemy law, and if such a law did pass constitutional muster, I seriously doubt that it would carry the death penalty, and if it did, that also probably would not pass constitutional muster. If the Supreme Court is unwilling to allow the death penalty for raping a minor, how likely would they be to allow it for “blasphemy”?
I think it is worth having a discussion about the death penalty. I know I keep threatening to do this, but I still want to write an essay about the death penalty, my qualms about it, and why I still believe it should be an option.
And part of that context is that horrible people do horrible things to other people, and forfeit their right to be a part of society. It is worth debating whether that forfeit should be a lifetime behind bars, or a needle in the arm. But by framing this in the context of “would we do this to Jesus?” without considering that Jesus committed no crime under Texas law – indeed, rigging the game so that Jesus has already been convicted of a non-crime, and the jury is only supposed to consider punishment – well, my feeling is that Osler and Bishop are framing their challenge in a dishonest way.
Jesus taught a lot of other stuff, too. Like
and
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
If ministers want to visit prisons and provide religious council to the inmates, even the ones on death row, that’s awesome. More power to them. But their dominion is the heavens, not Earth. As a friend of mine used to say about some folks, “Jesus may love you, but I think you’re s–t wrapped in skin.”
Edited to add: Mike the Musicologist made a good point, which I am ashamed to admit I missed. This whole debate is stupid for another reason: Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to redeem mankind’s sins is the central concept of the Christian religion.
You can sit there and debate whether Christ should or should not have gotten the death penalty. But without the crucifixion of Christ, you don’t have the redemption of mankind from sin. Without Christ getting the death penalty, you don’t have Christianity (or Catholicism). At best, what you’ve got is Judaism where Christ is an important prophet of the Second Coming.
Christ has to die. That’s the entire plan. And this debate ignores that point.
(Mike’s point reminds me of another one I’ve been thinking about for a while. Namely, Judas gets a bum rap, and is probably sitting on God’s right hand in heaven. Without the betrayal by Judas, there’s no trial, there’s no crucifixion, there’s no resurrection, and again there’s no Christianity. All Judas did was set in motion the plan that had been in the works for thousands of years. Judas was doing what he had to do to fulfill the plan; blaming him is like blaming the last snowflake in an avalanche.)
Edited to add 2: You know, I bet the idea that “Judas got a bum rap” is probably one of the many heresies (like the Manichaean heresy) that existed in the early church. But I have yet to find an example of it in practice, or even a name for it.
Star Trekkin’, across the universe…
Friday, March 22nd, 2013More:
This is a story I am not proud of. In my defense, I was younger and dumber at the time.
A long time ago, I worked for the IRS; I was a “data transcriber”, which meant I typed in information from tax forms.
One day, they called all of the employees in the Austin service center together for a special assembly. It turned out the purpose of this assembly was to sell us on purchasing US Savings Bonds…and the powers that be had decided the best way to do this was to show us a “special episode” of “The Golden Girls” that had the characters explaining how wonderful savings bonds were. I don’t believe this was ever broadcast; I think it was something the government commissioned from the producers of “The Golden Girls”. I am willing to bet everyone got paid for their work, and I am also willing to bet that it was more than $60,000 even in 1986 dollars.
Quiz show.
Friday, March 22nd, 2013…
Random notes: March 21, 2013.
Thursday, March 21st, 2013Here’s your obit for Herbert Streicher, aka “Harry Reems”, the male star of “Deep Throat”: NYT. A/V Club.
Oh, look! New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is re-thinking his hastily passed and poorly thought out gun control measures! It couldn’t have anything to do with his declining popularity, could it?
But gun control works!
I have not had time to go through all of it yet, but the NYT special section on “Museums” looks interesting. Call this a bookmark.
Here’s the LAT‘s second day article on the Bell convictions.
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I’ll see you in the national recording registry…
(Also: The Ramones first album! “Einstein on the Beach”! “South Pacific”! “Sounds of Silence”! The “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack?)
No longer Hot Wheels?
Monday, March 18th, 2013As someone who has been spending a lot of time with small children recently, as well as being a professional child myself, this HouChron article piqued my interest: “Are moms to blame for stagnant Hot Wheels sales?”
More:
That’s…dumb, at least from my viewpoint. My childhood was a while back, but I don’t think moms ever get the toys their kids play with. At least, the male children. The girls: moms probably get Barbie, and maybe some other toys. But I don’t think moms ever get G.I. Joe, or Spiderman, or, yes, Hot Wheels.
Just for grins, I sent this to a mom I know who has boys and a house full of Hot Wheels. Her response: “Whoever said that at Mattel is full of poop.” As she went on to point out, moms get what kids ask for, within reason. The moms I know don’t buy everything their kids want, but if they’re out at the store and the kids behave reasonably well, they don’t have any problem buying one or two Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars as a reward. Even an unemployed but indulgent uncle can pick up a couple of Hot Wheels just so they don’t come over empty-handed.
(As a side note: my recollection is that Hot Wheels when I was a child sold for about $1, in 1970 money, or $5.98 in 2013 dollars. Today, Hot Wheels at my local grocery store sell for about $1, or 17 cents in 1970 money.)
(Also as a side note: I played with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars interchangeably. Hot Wheels rolled more smoothly, but Matchbox cars were more realistic.)
More:
Setting aside the incomplete thought at the end of the sentence, I understand what she’s driving at here. I support the idea of giving kids toys that encourage what I’ll call “imaginative play”. But when I watch the kids I know play with Hot Wheels, they are playing with them in imaginative ways. My own childhood memories match that: I remember building tracks, both with the Hot Wheels track sets and with household objects, and playing with Hot Wheels in an unstructured, unguided, imaginative way.
(The HouChron writer mentions things like Magna-Tiles and Legos. Magna-Tiles are before my time, and I don’t know any kids who have those. Legos are great; I loved Legos when I was a kid. But what I see now is that Legos are moving away from unstructured, unguided, imaginative play, and in the direction of structured, guided, not imaginative play. For example, Harry Potter and Star Wars Lego kits.)