Entries from June 2003

Which Is Sicker?

Posted 06/26/03

You decide. Is it…

A. From Japan or B. From the UK?


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Why I Love My High School

Posted 06/26/03

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/95470p-86440c.html


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Wait Wait Wait!

Posted 06/18/03

USA Today ran a headline (below) “Fast-food chains face warning — Must post addiction notices.”

A new law? Nope. Just aggressive reporting. Seems a law professor at George Washington University is sending out his own demand to McDonalds, Burger King, et al.

Maybe if you send some letters to Congress demanding that they show some intelligence, you can get a headline, “Congress Faces Warning: Smarten Up!”


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Sen. Hatch Isn’t An Idiot — He Just Plays One on TV

Posted 06/18/03

According to U.S. Senate resident genius Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the entertainment industry should find a way to destroy the computers of people who illegally download music.

Of course, first Congress would have to exempt the music industry from penalties — you know, in case they destroyed someone’s computer by mistake. But according to CNN

[Hatch] endorsed technology that would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, “then destroy their computer.”

Brilliant.


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Not a Headline You Often See

Posted 06/17/03

There are just so many problems here…

ES+T Cover


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Of Course They’re Related

Posted 06/14/03

Surprise.com offers and odd suggestion for someone interested in the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team. (Click the picture for a full-size version.)


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Could Be Worse — Could Live Here

Posted 06/13/03


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You Gotta Get This Thing

Posted 06/13/03

And I thought the Bloomin’ Onion was cool. Comes now the OctoDog, which turns any frankfurter into a octopus. Behold:


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Maybe He Was Chewing Gum at the Same Time

Posted 06/13/03

President Bush yesteday became the first person to fall from a Segway — a vehicle designed to be inherantly stable and easy to control. “I didn’t think it was possible,” said Segway inventor Dean Kamen. “We’ve had trained monkeys riding these things for months without a problem.”

Oops!


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Off With Their Heads

Posted 06/12/03

According to the San Jose Mercury News, to control its fire-ant populations, South Florida officials are releasing, I kid you not, decapitating phorid flies that apparently exist specifically to decapitate fire ants.

ant.jpg


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Is It Art? No!

Posted 06/12/03

I hate the Museum of Modern Art in New York because it has exhibits of “art” — “art” that consists of, for example, a large square canvas painted solid blue.

Is that art? No.

Taking the absurdity a step further, we have “minimalist” “artist” Martin Creed whose “art” includes such wonders as the one pictured below, entitled “some blue-tack kneaded, rolled into a ball, and depressed against a wall.”

art.jpg

Here’s Martin himself, obviously laughing at the Brits who awarded him £20,000 and the Turner Prize for his work “The Lights Going On and Off.” It consists of a room with two blinking lights.

martin.jpg


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Brass Letters

Posted 06/12/03

How do you make it look like your staff is better than they are? Easy.
Do what Timothy Parker does (he runs a crossword-constructing company: Give awards to your staff, then claim to have an award-winning staff!

Check out his Master Puzzles site where he lists several of his constructors as “Winner of the Bernice Gordon Award for Crossword Constructing Excellence.”

What he fails to mention is that he gives out that award!

Here’s how to do it yourself:
1. Go to a friend and have him say aloud, “[Your name here] is one of the smartest people in America today.”
2. Amend your résumé, bio, Web site, whatever to read, for instance, “Andrew Kantor has been called one of the smartest people in America today.”

Bingo — instant qualifications!


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Yeah, I’d Pay $8 to See That

Posted 06/12/03

According to CNN, regarding those high-school girls who attacked their classmates as part of a “hazing” incident…

As part of their agreements, the former students also agreed to perform community service and obtain counseling, and promised not to exploit the event through book or movie deals, said school attorney Lawrence Weiner.

Book deals? Movie deals? Even Lifetime couldn’t make a 90-minute movie out of that. (Could it?)


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P&G in Financial Trouble?

Posted 06/11/03

I think Proctor & Gamble is in worse financial trouble than it’s been saying. Let me explain.

Because I own my own domains — kantor.com and whizkid.com — when I have to give out an e-mail address on a Web site, I often use an address that identifies the site, like “tvguide@whizkid.com.” That way I can tell who’s selling my address.

I did that very thing at a Proctor & Gamble site — one for Tide detergent. It was an “I Love Tide” promotion, and I used the address “ilovetide” @whizkid.com to get a free sample.

Lo and behold, it wasn’t long before the spam below was sent to that address from “Andie@yahoo.com” (actually a company at officialtvoffers.net).

Apparently, P&G is desperate enough for money that it’s selling my address to trailer-trash companies like this.

(From now on, any mail to that address goes to the webmaster and president of P&G — aglafley@pg.com and piregistrar.im@pg.com.)

tide.jpg


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Dirty Plates?

Posted 06/11/03

Well, at least we know what the deer in Minnesota do for fun. (No joke. See it at the Minnesota Dep’t. of Natural Resources Web site.)


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It Can Also Converse in Six Languages

Posted 06/10/03

The folks at Nalgene refer to their GoCup as “travel mug.” I guess that’s in the sense that the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is a “boat.”

The GoCup


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Great Advice

Posted 06/10/03

Once again from the Dispatch — this time it’s advice for avoiding monkeypox. One suggestion: “Avoid contact with prarie dogs or Gambian giant rats that appear sick.” (Emphasis mine.)

Technically, according to Rat & Mouse Gazette (you can’t make this stuff up), they’re African Giant Pouched Rats — 28 inches long and 3 1/2 to 4 pounds of solid muscle.

rats.jpg


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The Best They Could Do

Posted 06/9/03

For lack of anything better, the folks at Serca had this praise to heap upon the fine products from Quaker:

quaker.jpg


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Dinglewhat?

Posted 06/9/03

From the Columbus Dispatch, Sunday, June 8, 2003. If you ask me, she’s still a bit shellshocked over her new name.

The Dingledines


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