Archive for March, 2008

They’ve got the ‘scare’ quotes in the wrong place

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

They should be around the following word.

Sing Joy Spring

Monday, March 24th, 2008

I didn’t note the arrival of spring, but Maggie’s Farm did.

Happy Easter!

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

I can’t offer you any physical Easter eggs, but I can send you here and here to find virtual Easter eggs.

Related: you wonder why Microsoft software is so bloated?

A little late for St. Patrick’s Day, but …

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Here’s one place to go if you like Irish drinking songs.

I guess I keep up with it

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

myresults-newsquiz.png

Take the test – it’s pretty short.

Via Bits & Pieces

Update: I didn’t make it clear at all, but this is a quiz about how well you know current events. I guess I should have titled it something like, “I read the news today, oh, boy.”

Arthur C. Clarke, RIP

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Arthur C. Clarke is dead. It’s all over the internet, but I first found out about it via email. Like Billy Beck, I prefer his short stories to his novels. But then, I like short stories, particularly older ones from the field.

He made other contributions besides his fiction. I think I’ll note the occasion by digging out my button with the paraphrase of his Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.”

Phone troubles

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

First, I got a spam text message on my cellphone, advertising a Texas Hold’em poker website. It had a corporate email address in the “from” field, which I presumed was spoofed. I certainly hope I don’t have to deal with more of those, but I’m afraid it’s a harbinger of things to come.

Then, I looked at the phone’s display a few minutes later, and saw that I’d missed a call from my daughter. The phone hadn’t rung to let me know, which is something that happens from time to time. Given that she was going to call me today concerning getting together for dinner, I figured I’d best call her back immediately.

She hadn’t called. Why the phone told me she had, I have no idea. The phone log doesn’t have any entries for today. If it’s going to start lying to me, maybe I need a new phone. Of course, if she’d been about to call me, I could claim that it’s a psychic phone, and I wouldn’t need another one. The problem is, a psychic phone could send out text messages in my name before I get around to it, and who’d know the difference?