Monthly Archives: April 2003
The Whole Day Off!
Posted on April 30, 2003 6 Comments
Hey, kids! I’m taking the day off because my pal Ted is coming round the house (yes, THAT Ted), and I have to clean up the place and ram through some work before he gets here. Now, now, don’t cry. I’ll be back tomorrow, I’m sure, with even more pointless and random crap. See you […]
IndieCrit Review Up
Posted on April 29, 2003
There’s a new IndieCrit review up. I dragged myself off my sickbed to write it. If you don’t read it, I’ll just lay here and moan pathetically. Ow. Ow. Ow. See?
Meet Phlegm Boy
Posted on April 29, 2003
Some of you have asked: If yesterday was picture day, how come there were no pictures of me? After all, I am not notably modest — anyone who babbles on a site like this enjoys the delusion that people are interested in him. Well, the short answer is that I’ve been sick the last couple […]
More Book News
Posted on April 29, 2003
Another quick note: The Rough Guide to the Universe now has an official release date: May 12, 2003. Which is two days after my birthday. So send no presents! Just buy the book. Note the Amazon page to which I am linking says it will be released in July. That’s just wrong. And sick. Also […]
iTune This
Posted on April 29, 2003 7 Comments
I love me the iTunes music store, even though I can’t access it right now because Steve Jobs has initially limited it to Macs and iPods, and I have a PC and a Creative Nomad Jukebox. But it’s the first online music model that’s not mired in total stupidity: You pay a buck for a […]
Picture Day Part 9: Strange Room
Posted on April 28, 2003
And so, we come to the close of picture day here at the Whatever, and I hope you’ve enjoyed our little photographic excursion. I leave you in what I call The Strangest Room in The House: The story here is that the previous owner of the house decided he needed a bathroom in the basement. […]
Picture Day Part 8: Lawn Goes On
Posted on April 28, 2003
Every once in a while I note that I have a fairly big lawn. Here’s some perspective on that: The lawn goes out to the telephone poles you see there in the distance. I’m at one end, and from where I’m standing it’s about 500 feet to the nearest of the poles. Bear in mind […]
Picture Day Part 7: Woof!
Posted on April 28, 2003
See, now, this is a dog: By which I mean that you can look Kodi and say to yourself, “I believe this is an animal descended from packs of killers that brought down bears and moose.” As opposed to, say, a Shih Tzu, at which you look and say to yourself “This is what happens […]
Picture Day Part 6: Road to Nowhere
Posted on April 28, 2003
Jon asks: “Umm, where’s the fence? And the neighbor’s house that needs a paint job? How come I can’t see the car behind your neighbor’s garage with three flats and one wheel taken off? Why aren’t you showing us the crowded street with no parking spots available?” Actually, Jon, in that first picture (the one […]
Picture Day Part 5: Bust a Move
Posted on April 28, 2003
Athena, showing the world the “I’m Four Years Old and Mugging for the Camera” dance, which I suspect is taught to every four year old through the magic of educational television: Bear in mind I have some shots here in which the “cute mugging for the camera” level reaches the level of lethality normally reserved […]
Picture Day, Part 4: Cats
Posted on April 28, 2003 1 Comment
Here are the cats: Rex of course has been featured here before (he has his own page on the site, in fact), but this marks the first appearance of Lopsided Cat, who you’ll see to the left. Lopsided Cat is so named because his head is always tilted at an angle. The cause for this […]
Book Pages
Posted on April 28, 2003
A quick deviation from the Picture Day theme: Here’s the page on The Rough Guide to the Universe from Penguin UK. It’s already out there, so be sure to buy it if you happen to live there. Buy one for your neighbors, too. They’ll like you better then. Nothing on the Penguin Group (USA) Web […]
Picture Day, Part 3: Another Tree!
Posted on April 28, 2003
Since you were all such good sports about not screaming at the condition of my desk, here’s another pretty picture of a tree. This one’s in the front lawn, and I believe it’s a crab apple tree — it eventually provides small hard fruits which I am told are inedible (I haven’t confirmed this for […]
Picture Day Part 2: Office Horror
Posted on April 28, 2003
Allow me, if you will, to provide you a tour of my desk on this Picture Day. My filing system, needless to say, is opaque to the novice. Be that as it may, there is method to the madness. Current work is at the top of the pile to the right, closest to the computer […]
Picture Day!
Posted on April 28, 2003
You lucky, lucky people. Today is picture day, for the following reasons. 1. I just got a new 64MB Smart Card for my digital camera, which means I can take hundreds of pictures without worrying if I’m running out of memory. 2. I just got a Smart Card reader, which means I am no longer […]
Strawberry Shortcake and Penny Arcade
Posted on April 25, 2003 7 Comments
People who know I’m a fan of the Penny Arcade site have asked me what I think of the recent controversy there, in which American Greetings, the greeting card company who apparently owns some or all the intellectual rights to the Strawberry Shortcake line of dolls, threatened legal action against Penny Arcade if they didn’t […]
X Prime Followup
Posted on April 24, 2003 2 Comments
Mmmmm. Lots of activity here over the last day or so thanks to the “X Prime” posting, which received more than 100 comments (even once you subtract mine) — almost all of them engaging and interesting. I have good commenters. I’m so proud. It’d be Herculean task to compress all the ideas that are getting […]
X Prime
Posted on April 23, 2003 4 Comments
“Rick Santorum, the Senate’s third-ranked Republican who is under fire from gay-rights groups and Democrats, says he has ‘no problem with homosexuality – I have a problem with homosexual acts.’” — Associated Press In logical terms, you could write this as “I have no problem with X, I have a problem with X’ ” in […]
What Would Jesus Surf
Posted on April 23, 2003
Before I begin, I should note that as I start this entry, there are exactly 666 comments in the comment threads on the site. That’s some irony. So, I’m wading through my referrer logs, because I’m exactly the sort of geek who does that sort of thing, and I notice that one of the spiders […]
In Case You’re Wondering…
Posted on April 22, 2003
There is in fact nothing cooler in the world than having Fed Ex roll up to your house and deliver a big-ass box of free books. Nothing.
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying