Author: Jason

Eye in the Sky

Random Thoughts

How freakin’ cool is this?

Google Maps.

I’ve been a long time user of MapQuest for getting directions. But in Google’s attempt to control the universe, they’ve put up this mapping tool. Its neat. Even more so, because over on the right side, near the top, there is a link labeled “Satellite” which switches you from boring cartoon like maps to actual satellite photos. Now, there is nothing to be afraid of, the pictures are 6 months to a year old, so its not like people can spy on you, and they can’t zoom in and peek in your windows. But, it does give you an actual picture of the place you are driving, so you can see parking, buildings, etc.

Awesome.

The Line Forms to the Left

Random Thoughts

I started laughing uncontrollably today. But it was one of those things that shouldn’t really be funny. As I’m sure you know, the Pope died. Its a sad but expected loss. His health had been dwindling, and the whole world knew he was not long for this place. Over on CNN’s website, they’ve been running constant play-by-play coverage, as they do with just about every story. And this article appeared this morning, mile-long line for glimpse of pope.

And I started laughing.

When I was a kid, my family took a trip to Disney World, and my experience waiting in lines has never ever been the same. While we stood in line for tickets, and me being a huge fan of School House Rock, I started singing “Elbow Room” and jabbed some poor guy in the kidney while I was claiming my space in the name of Manifest Destiny. But that’s not really why I was laughing… It was all the signs they used to have at the various rides.

So I’m reading about the pope, and the mile-long line, and the first thing I imagine is the Louvre museum scene from the movie ‘Eurotrip’. I picture people standing in line, and a mime-robot is there trying to entertain the masses and earn money to feed his robot family. Then I see the first sign, “The wait from this point is [240] minutes.” And the numbers are those stick-on numbers so they can change the sign as needed. At the front of the line was a standee, which looked like an archbishop with his hand put out to his side about waist level, and a word bubble hung over his head, “You must be this tall to view the Pope.” From there the scene went crazy… women holding screaming kids, people placing their belongings into cubbies before going to view the Pope, people coming out the other door some saying it was the best viewing ever while others were trying to play off that they slept through the whole thing. Finally, I turn to my friends and say, “Screw this guys, he’ll still be dead later, this line blows, lets head over to Lenin’s tomb and come back here when the line dies down.”

Hours later, I’m still chuckling. Yes, I’m weird.

Corporate Security

Random Thoughts

Its one of those things that on one hand I can understand, but on the other hand its really overstepping: Browsing the Internet from work and security. Now, I completely agree… block porn sites and other stuff that people should not be doing at work. But I’m a programmer, and there are a number of times that I come across the need to do something that I don’t know how to do. I check with my co-workers, and none of them know either… so I head to the internet. However, where I’m working now, they have a content review department. They log the urls of sites that everyone visits and they audit it for content. The more often you visit, the sooner the audit. Anything they deem “not good” they block. Many of the best programming sites on the net have ads to support paying for the site. The companies that pay the most for ads are those “scam-like” sites where their promise you “a FREE iPod*” if you punch the monkey. The review department bans any site with those ads. So, the more useful I find a website, the sooner it gets banned.

What?

I mean, I could understand if they reviewed the content, then banned it because its not work appropriate. But banning a site because of the people who buy ads on the site? Huh?

Whatever happened to monitoring people’s usage, then warning or firing them when they do something wrong? If someone wants to visit porn at work, you should let them, once, then fire them. But if they use the Internet in order to do their job better, why the hell are you trying to stop them? Why?

Spring Forward

Random Thoughts

I really dislike Daylight Saving Time. Its just such a pain in the ass to remember to change all the clocks, or in the case of my cable, to wait until it updates itself, which always takes about two weeks. Considering that we aren’t at war, nor do we really need to adjust time to avoid brigands jumping out horse carts on the way to work, why can’t we just split the difference once, jump half an hour in one direction, and call it quits?

If I’m ever elected President, I think it will be one of my first actions in office.

Bone

Reviews

‘Bone’ is a comic written by Jeff Smith. It ran for a number of years… ten I think. Not so long ago a 1300 page ‘Bone: One Volume’ edition was released, containing the entire run of the series for about $25. It would be worth it at twice the price.

What’s it about? The Bones, cousins, have been run out of Boneville. Fone Bone is the nice one with an overwhelming love for the book Moby Dick. Smiley Bone is a little bit lazy, a little bit crazy, and possibly a little bit stupid, but not in a dumb way. Phoney Bone is the reason they were run out of town, he’s greedy and sly, always with something up his sleeve. The three of them wind up in the Valley, and end up hip deep in a war between the valley folk, the dragons, and the rat creatures.

If you have the time, the inclination, and a spare twenty-five bucks lying around, I highly recommend ‘Bone’. You won’t regret it.

A Day of Fools

Random Thoughts

I don’t much get into the day as I used to when I was younger. However, I love to hear about what other people do to “pull one over” on their nearest and dearest, and even random strangers.

I stumbled upon a decent website dedicated to hoaxes. The Museum of Hoaxes and their list of the Top 100 April Fool’s jokes. Some entertaining reads.

Anyway… perhaps next year I’ll feel more foolish, or be in a fooling mood.

Hey You!

Random Thoughts

Yeah you! The one with his car right smack in the middle of the intersection blocking traffic trying very hard to not look left or right to see the faces of the angry drivers. Don’t get me wrong, man, I feel your pain. The traffic is slow and you have somewhere to be. But you know what? Part of the reason the traffic going your way is so slow is that down the road some other jerk-off from a cross street is blocking the intersection. When you come to an intersection that is a four-way stop or a traffic light, if traffic is flowing sporadically or barely at all, its best to wait on one side of the intersection until there is enough space or movement to allow your vehicle to make it all the way across. Not only is it courteous, but especially in messy weather, you not blocking traffic can save lives! That’s right. If you are blocking the way when an ambulance, fire truck or police car comes by sirens blaring, they’ll have to slow way down and drive around YOU! Those precious seconds could mean death for someone else. So quit being an ass and stop being part of the problem.

WordPress

Site News

When I first turned on this weblog, I was using a feature provided by my host. I had some problems with it. They wouldn’t let me make my own style, I had to use one of their selection. Then there was the problem with not having direct access to the files to be able to make my own backups.

Then I realized that they were using WordPress. So I went out and downloaded it for myself, turned off their feature and installed it myself.

I like it alot, especially with the stuff available now that I have access to it all. I’ll be playing around with the styles and stuff as I learn how to use it. So bear with me if it breaks every now and then.

Monster!

Random Thoughts

I borrowed ‘Dreamscape’ on DVD from my brother. This isn’t a review, but I’ll go ahead and say that I really like the movie. Normally when you pop a DVD in and it comes to the menu, ‘Play’ or whatever phrase they use for play will be the default. On Dreamscape, it was the Scene Selection.

The main menu had 4 options: Scene Selection, Special Features, Feature (Play), and Monster!

After watching the movie and going through the special features, I moved over and selected Monster! The screen goes dark, then the Snakeman’s head pops up and he goes “RRRrrraaaaaaa!!” Then it goes back to the menu. I selected Monster! again… Snakeman, “RRRrrraaaaaa!!”… Monster!, Snakeman, “RRRrrraaaaaa!!”… Monster!, Snakeman, “RRRrrraaaaaa!!”… Monster!, Snakeman, “RRRrrraaaaaa!!”… All the while, I just can’t stop laughing.

It just seems like such an odd thing to put on a DVD.

Monster!, Snakeman, “RRRrrraaaaaa!!”

Between Cups

Random Thoughts

There is this commerical for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that talks about the feeling you have between cups. They’ve been doing angles like things for advertising for a while now… “How do you eat a Reese’s?”, etc, etc…

Anyway, the new one focuses on how people feel between the cups. The woman in the commercial says she feels “contentment”. So it got me to thinking… why not just eat one cup, then put the other one in the freezer? Eternal contentment!

It probably doesn’t work that way, but its nice to dream…