Comments(2)NYTimes going out of business!
How else would you explain that they have to resort to affiliate-spam to get subscribers? I’ve gotten about 50 of those in the last two days (and those are the ones who made it through postini).
Hum, whistle, sing
How often have you been in a situation where you heard a tune on the radio, but did not catch the title nor the artist? Still, parts of the song are in your brain and you keep on humming, whistling, singing the same segment over and over.
Looks like somebody is working on a solution. midomi allows you to record a small segment (if your computer has a microphone attached) and they use it to identify the song that matches the segment best.
I’m not a singer, nor a hummer (ho ho), but the three samples I recorded were identified correctly. Nice job. (via waxy.org).
Can you hold back the tears?
I couldn’t …
Pia and dad
For Teresa’s birthday Pia and I went to “El Farol” to join them for a little while. Luckily somebody had a camera handy and snapped the photo above of the two us.
RFjason’s offer
Remeber the story where some guy conducted an “experiment” on Craigslist, where he posed as a woman who solicited, uhhh let’s call it, male companionship and then posted all the responses he received online? If not, there’s a good refresher over at waxy.org.
Well, RFJason is back and this time he offers to fix whatever he broke during his experiment. How again are you planning to fix a broken marriage? A lost job? Weird stuff …
WordPress 2.1 “Ella”
In case anybody else out there is considering an upgrade to the latest WordPress version 2.1 “Ella”: I performed the necessary steps this morning without any problem at all. No differences in the public presentation of the site - everything still looks like it’s supposed to look. The admin interface is a heck of a lot faster - very nice and alone worth the upgrade. Still looking through all the other changes that went into 2.1.
Names and Numbers online
I did not know that the “Names and Numbers” phone-book/yellow-pages were published online and were fully searchable. Here is the Santa Fe entrypoint (pictured above) and by going here you can select other NM-areas. Even reverse lookups (using something like “505-123-4567″) seem to work. Also try to click on the address line in your search results: you’ll be presented with a Google Map window for that address. Handy!
Now does anybody know a free, publicly available listing for cell phone numbers?
Mystery notes
From my trip to Europe a leather jacket followed me home to the US. After I had bought the jacket, I went through all pockets and found the usual replacement buttons. In one of the top pockets I also found two mystery notes:
I looked all over for a “Made in …” sign, but couldn’t find anything that would tell me where the jacket was made. So, I have no clue what those notes say. World domination plans from a secret terrorist organisation? A cry for help, money from a minimum-wage worker? A shopping list? If you can figure out what it says, please let me know as well.
The weather man says “snow” …
… but I don’t actually believe him. There were too many situations in the past where snow (lotsa snow) was predicted and then nothing happened. There are some dark clouds on the horizon, but it does not “smell” like snow outside.
Anyway, I though I share the diary of a Denver Snow Shoveler with everybody out there (arrived via email the other day - thanks Christina and Peter!):
DIARY OF A DENVER SNOW SHOVELER…..
December 8: 6:00 pm. It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!
December 9: We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the whole world? Moving here was the best idea I’ve ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalk. This afternoon the snow plow came along and covered up the sidewalk and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life!
December 12: The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we’ll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we’ll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I’ll never want to see snow again. I don’t think that’s possible. Bob is such a nice man. I’m glad he’s our neighbor.
December 14: Snow, lovely snow! 8″ last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn’t realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I’ll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish I wouldn’t huff and puff so.
December 15: 20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4×4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife’s car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that’s silly. We aren’t in Alaska, after all
December 16: Ice storm this morning. Fell on my ass on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like hell! The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.
December 17: Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should’ve bought a wood stove, but won’t admit it to her. God, I hate it when she’s right. I can’t believe I’m freezing to death in my own living room.
December 20: Electricity’s back on, but had another 14″ of the damn stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Goddamn snowplow came by twice. Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they’re too busy playing hockey. I think they’re lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they’re out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they’re lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he’s lying.
December 22: Bob was right about a white Christmas, because 13 more inches of the white shit fell today, and it’s so cold it probably won’t melt till August. Took me 30 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to piss. By the time I got undressed, pissed, and dressed again, I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob, who has a plow on his truck, for the rest of the winter, but he says he’s too busy. I think the asshole is lying.
December 23: Only 2″ of snow today. And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she…nuts??? Why didn’t she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she’s damn well lying.
December 24: 6″. Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the son of a bitch who drives that snowplow, I’ll drag him through the snow by his balls. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling, and then he comes down the street at 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I’ve just been. Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was busy watching for the goddamn snowplow.
December 25: Merry Christmas. 20 more inches of the #$%@^#% slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. God I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she’s an idiot. If I have to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” one more time, I’m going to kill her.
December 26: Still snowed in. Why the hell did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She’s really getting on my nerves.
December 27: Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze!
December 28: Warmed up to above -20. Still snowed in. THE BITCH is driving me crazy!!!
December 29: 10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?
December 30: Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for a million dollars for the bump on his head. The wife went home to her mother. 9″ predicted.
December 31: Set fire to what’s left of the house. No more shoveling.
January 4: I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me, but I don’t like being tied to the bed.