May 31, 2012

Operating systems as a metaphor

From Cryptonomicon:
The friendliest and most sincere welcome he'd gotten was from Scott, a chemistry professor, and Laura, a pediatrician, who, [...] had one day divulged to Randy, in strict confidence, that, unbeknownst to the academic community at large, they had been spiriting their three children off to church every Sunday morning, and even had them all baptized. 
Randy had gone into their house once to help Scott wrestle a freshly reconditioned clawfoot bathtub up the stairs, and had actually seen the word GOD written on actual pieces of paper stuck to the walls of their house--like on the refrigerator door, and the walls of the children's bedrooms, where juvenile art tends to be reposited. [...] And it wasn't like Scott and Laura were deadly earnest types, and neither were they glassy-eyed and foaming at the mouth. They had after all managed to pass themselves off as members in good standing of decent academic society for a number of years. They were a bit quieter than many others, they took up less space in the room, but then that was normal for people trying to raise three kids, and so they passed. [...]
Randy hadn't the faintest idea what these people thought of him and what he had done, but he could sense right away that, essentially that was not the issue because even if they thought he had done something evil, they at least had a framework, a sort of procedure manual, for dealing with transgressions. To translate it into UNIX system administration terms (Randy's fundamental metaphor for just about everything), the post-modern, politically correct atheists were like people who had suddenly found themselves in charge of a big and unfathomably complex computer system (viz, society) with no documentation or instructions of any kind, and so whose only way to keep the thing running was to invent and enforce certain rules with a kind of neo-Puritanical rigor, because they were at a loss to deal with any deviations from what they saw as the norm. Whereas people who were wired into a church were like UNIX system administrators who, while they might not understand everything, at least had some documentation, some FAQs and How-tos and README files, providing some guidance on what to do when things got out of whack. 

May 29, 2012

Lil Mama

I was recently made aware of Lil Mama who is a judge on America's Best Dance Crew, a show I was also just made aware of.

Lil Mama is my new favorite TV personality. 

Lil Mama has a thick Brooklyn accent, making everything she says 250% funnier. Lil Mama is passionate. She is sassy. She regularly uses phrases like "that's dope" unironically.

Watch at 30:30



Lil Mama also likes to retweet fans' praises of her:

And then Mario Lopez gets in on the action. Start at 5:40



I could watch this all day.

May 25, 2012

This one goes out to my friends

Bacon tourism: real (allegedly)
Target audience: my friends
Expected time until the first email is sent proposing a trip to one of these festivals: 3.5 hours
Over/under on the number of "Bacon Queen" jokes that will be made in the thread: 4
At a bacon festival, there’s also the chance to mix with bacon royalty like Heather Lauer, author of the “Bacon Unwrapped” blog and the book “Bacon: A Love Story.” [my bolding] 
Read all about it Bacon Tourism: From the Davos of Bacon to Bacon Mecca
Contestants are asked questions like their favorite memory of bacon, their favorite kind of bacon and their favorite way to cook bacon (the most common answer is “naked,” incidentally).

May 22, 2012

Words that don't exist in English

But you wish you did.

Age-otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut

Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face badly in need of a fist

L’esprit de l’escalier (French): usually translated as “staircase wit,” is the act of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late to deliver it

More here: http://sobadsogood.com/2012/04/29/25-words-that-simply-dont-exist-in-english/

It happens every time

From Marginal Revolution:
Divorce lawyers and wedding planners have been gearing up for the Facebook IPO, waiting for the influx of wealth in Silicon Valley to stir up drama in romantic relationships, for better and for worse.
“When Google went public, there was a wave of divorces. When Cisco went public there was a wave of divorces,” says Steve Cone, a divorce attorney based in Palo Alto, near the social network’s Menlo Park headquarters. “I expect a similar wave shortly after Facebook goes public.”

May 21, 2012

On Rome

Ron Davison has a few interesting observations following his tour of London, Paris and Rome.
"As I came into Paris through the subway, I got the sense that I should stay on the alert for criminals; coming into Rome, I got the sense that I should be on the alert for the businessmen.
Rome is shabby. Broken sidewalks, pot holes, graffiti, and trash were everywhere. The Vandals invaded Rome and apparently never left.
 
What Starbucks outlets are to cities in Canada or the US, churches are to Rome – only bigger. I don’t think that we ever walked more than 3 blocks without seeing another fairly remarkable church. [...] 
Perhaps it is part of the make work mentality that the ruins have almost no signs; for information about what you are seeing, you are dependent on guide books and guides. Few objects have even simple labels."
More here

Tough guys

How many wanna be tough, down with the streets, know it all, testosterone oozing, Boiler Room worshipping, hard drinking, jacked bankers/lawyers do YOU know?
"A lot of these cats I wish would just forget the address to the gym. You know, everything is not for everybody. You don't see me going to motherfucking Wall Street, picking up a briefcase, and trying to type, do you?"
A seriously fun watch from the four-time national amateur champion, two-time New York City Golden Gloves champion and an alternate for the 2000 U.S. Olympic team with a lazy left eye from "a street altercation" involving a pool stick.




May 18, 2012

Promotion

I admire his confidence.


May 17, 2012

May 16, 2012

LA

During yesterday's gun swap, in which people trade their weapons for less deadly items like food vouchers, a 16mm military-grade anti-tank rocket launcher was exchanged in return for hundreds of dollars in food coupons at Ralph's. 


http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/14/military-grade-rocket-launcher-exchanged-in-la-gun-buyback/

May 15, 2012

The impossible cool



More here: http://theimpossiblecool.tumblr.com/

Choice

Hey guys, Snickers or Twix? Ralph Lauren or Armani? Cheerios or Lucky Charms? Motrin or Tylenol?




May 14, 2012

Overused phrase of the month

"Like it's your job"

- Drink water like it's your job.
- I eat at In-N-Out like it's my job.
- Laugh like it's your job.
- He parties like it's his job.

Don't most people hate their jobs?



May 10, 2012

On Montana

I completely understand why someone might want to live in eastern Montana today, but what could have possible seemed like an upside in the 19th century? It's 90 degrees in the summer, it's 30 below in the winter, there are hardly any trees, and rattlesnakes have been observed [...] Was life in the 19th century so painful that living wasn't even desirable? Pioneers worked for 13 hours a day, slept as soon as it got dark, bathed in their own sweat for six months, shivered and fought pneumonia for the six months that followed, and inevitably starved to death. That was as much as you could ever hope for; it was their version of a satisfying life. I have to assume that pioneers saw the inhospitable landscape of Montana and immediately realized that most of their settlement would die within a year, which actually seemed reassuring. "This is perfect," they no doubt concluded. "Maybe I'll be dead before Christmas!"

May 9, 2012

Huell, Legend

Huell Howser is a legend in California. His show has been on TV for decades and involves Huell marveling about rocks, tortillas, and socks. He gets very excited about mundane things and his "that's amaaaaazing" is legendary.



More here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l99Ek4YtTuw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6J0ojEq8Wo&feature=relmfu

May 8, 2012

May 7, 2012

Comparison?

Two songs from Atmosphere. Which one is better?



Latin in real life

Vatican ATMs use Latin.


Dead language my ass.

Hat tip: kottke.org

Shady's back

Big thanks to MotherLover for keeping the masses entertained.

Based on the number of page views, you all like his stuff. There were visitors from third world places like India, Russia and Oklahoma.

You can see more of his stuff here: http://jeremynunnally.tumblr.com/

May 1, 2012

DUI Test Perfect Score


Fingered by Passion

DJ Passion is a unbelievably kickass DJ in Germany. That sounds like saying the best Mexican food in Omaha or prettiest girl in Pittsburgh but the guy is genuinely good.

I showed up in his Twitter feed:

Mixes here: http://soundcloud.com/passion