Friday, August 31, 2007
Shoulda Had a Warning Label....
Today I came across a fun little article: 17 Dangerous Cinematic Computers. HAL is an obvious entry, but there are a few here from much lesser-known movies. Notably absent: the real-life (more or less) NORAD computer from War Games.
The irony, of course, is that you need a computer to read the list.
I started thinking of a similar list of dangerous computers from television, but after Star Trek and The X-Files, I was pretty near stumped.
The irony, of course, is that you need a computer to read the list.
I started thinking of a similar list of dangerous computers from television, but after Star Trek and The X-Files, I was pretty near stumped.
Labels: computers lists science fiction movies
Monday, August 27, 2007
Wickedness on Wikipedia
OK, we all know that one of Wikipedia's best features is also one of its worst: Generally speaking, anybody can edit any article they want. This means that any person, company, or other entity can make additions or changes to make themselves look good or someone else look bad. So what do you do?
Well, if you're Virgil Griffith, you create the WikiScanner. With this website, you can see what changes have been made and who made them. Look up the name of any entry, and you can see both the before and after versions of the entry, and you can also see who made the entry, at least if it was made by someone working from an identifiable location.
Wired magazine apparently thinks highly enough of WikiScanner to refer to it and compile their own Hall of Shame. For example, some of the latest entries as I type this indicate that:
Well, if you're Virgil Griffith, you create the WikiScanner. With this website, you can see what changes have been made and who made them. Look up the name of any entry, and you can see both the before and after versions of the entry, and you can also see who made the entry, at least if it was made by someone working from an identifiable location.
Wired magazine apparently thinks highly enough of WikiScanner to refer to it and compile their own Hall of Shame. For example, some of the latest entries as I type this indicate that:
- Information on George W. Bush's alcoholism was deleted by someone at the Department of Homeland Security.
- General Mills erased information about research showing that refined cereal grains can be unhealthy.
- Focus on the Family removed a link to a website critical of the organization.
Sometimes the edits aren't really scandalous, just entertaining, such as when someone at the Department of Justice altered the entry on United States Congress to say that our eminent legislative body as the power "to go poopy." (Well, it may not be in the Constitution, but I sure hope they are allowed to!)
Of course, the last one demonstrates a point to keep in mind when you're using WikiScanner -- the shenanigans you see are not necessarily the result of a wide-ranging nefarious behavior by the organization in question. Sometimes it's just a rogue individual with excessive enthusiasm, too much free time, and employer-provided Internet access.
Labels: Internet websites Wikipedia
Saturday, August 18, 2007
It's Figaro! (without the opera)
One of the good things about working in a bookstore is that you're always coming across books that you might not ever come across just browsing as a customer. (That's also one of the bad things, unless you are seriously overpaid and get lots of vacation time.) Last week I came across
Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs.
Well, anyone who can work Homer Simpson into the same subtitle as Aristotle and Lincoln has earned my attention! Heinrichs doesn't tell you to vote Democratic or Republican, he tells you how to present your position and reveals the tricks others use to persuade us. After work, I read a couple of chapters before putting a copy in the employee hold bin. I also noticed that Heinrichs refers to his blog, http://www.figarospeech.com, so I checked it out. (figarospeech....figure of speech -- get it?) It's like short chapters from the book, based on current events. For example, he cites Karl Rove's use of "antonomasia." (Sorry, you'll have to go to the blog for the explanation, but it's not a satanic incantation.)
Also, on the home page are links to pages devoted to Pythonisms, Homerisms, and Yogiisms, to name a few. Check it out, and tell Figaro I sent you.
Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs.
Well, anyone who can work Homer Simpson into the same subtitle as Aristotle and Lincoln has earned my attention! Heinrichs doesn't tell you to vote Democratic or Republican, he tells you how to present your position and reveals the tricks others use to persuade us. After work, I read a couple of chapters before putting a copy in the employee hold bin. I also noticed that Heinrichs refers to his blog, http://www.figarospeech.com, so I checked it out. (figarospeech....figure of speech -- get it?) It's like short chapters from the book, based on current events. For example, he cites Karl Rove's use of "antonomasia." (Sorry, you'll have to go to the blog for the explanation, but it's not a satanic incantation.)
Also, on the home page are links to pages devoted to Pythonisms, Homerisms, and Yogiisms, to name a few. Check it out, and tell Figaro I sent you.
Labels: webistes language books
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Our Own Sicko
No, this entry is not about Michael Moore's movie. But the movie could have been about this entry.
We have a group of regular customers at our bookstore. Many of them don't buy a lot, but they are welcome as long as they don't trash the place, disturb other customers, sleep in the chairs, or otherwise cause trouble. From time to time we also have some homeless people who spend much of the day in the store, and again, as long as they are well-behaved, that's fine.
One guy, until recently, came almost every day, usually in the afternoon or evening. We know he was homeless, because after we close, we would sometimes see him sleeping on the bench outside the store as we went home, and the morning crew would see him there when they came in. I don't know the guy very well. In fact, I don't even know his name, but from time to time, most of us have had short conversations with him.
I should point out here that aside from the fact that he obviously hasn't bathed in a while, he's very inoffensive. We have never seen him drunk, or under the influence of, well, anything. He doesn't even fall asleep in the chairs. He's very polite and has never, as far as we know, asked anyone for money. He doesn't hang out on the corner asking for handouts, either. I don't know where he gets his food, but he really doesn't ask us for anything. Once I offered him some leftover chicken from an event we had, and he just asked if he could have some milk from the cafe. Unfortunately, the only milk we have is for coffee drinks, otherwise I would have bought it for him myself.
From the conversations we've had with him, it's apparent that the man isn't mentally disturbed or unintelligent; in fact, one of our associates said he seems bright and well-read.
There is one thing that you can't miss about this guy -- one of his lower legs is clearly, well...in trouble. It's bandaged and so swollen he has to cut his pants open, and he gets around with the aid of a walker. I am not exaggerating when I say the leg is probably almost a foot in diameter. I had thought maybe he had a condition like the Elephant Man, but that apparently isn't the case. One of my co-workers learned that he has an infection in this leg.
Needless to say, this man has no money for medical treatment. Without money or insurance, he can't get treatment because the condition is not life-threatening. So he just hobbles around, waiting until the infection gets bad enough that it might kill him, at which point some hospital will be forced to take his case. I'm not a doctor, but I would guess the "treatment" at that point will be to amputate the leg and put him back on the street, where he will then have even more difficulty in staying alive.
I just think there is something fundamentally wrong when we're spending trillions of dollars on bridges to nowhere, vouchers for private schools, no-bid contracts to provide our soldiers with inferior equipment, public relations campaigns for NOAA, and massively complex and costly highway exits that are neither wanted nor needed -- yet we can't treat an infection on one man's leg. In fact, if the guy is receiving public assistance, it would probably cost a lot less to fix his leg and help him find a job than to keep supporting him, which we will surely have to do if he loses the leg.
We haven't seen the gentleman for a couple of weeks, and we feared the worst until someone saw him at the bus stop the other day, leg still attached. If I see him again, I'm going to try to get to know him better.
We have a group of regular customers at our bookstore. Many of them don't buy a lot, but they are welcome as long as they don't trash the place, disturb other customers, sleep in the chairs, or otherwise cause trouble. From time to time we also have some homeless people who spend much of the day in the store, and again, as long as they are well-behaved, that's fine.
One guy, until recently, came almost every day, usually in the afternoon or evening. We know he was homeless, because after we close, we would sometimes see him sleeping on the bench outside the store as we went home, and the morning crew would see him there when they came in. I don't know the guy very well. In fact, I don't even know his name, but from time to time, most of us have had short conversations with him.
I should point out here that aside from the fact that he obviously hasn't bathed in a while, he's very inoffensive. We have never seen him drunk, or under the influence of, well, anything. He doesn't even fall asleep in the chairs. He's very polite and has never, as far as we know, asked anyone for money. He doesn't hang out on the corner asking for handouts, either. I don't know where he gets his food, but he really doesn't ask us for anything. Once I offered him some leftover chicken from an event we had, and he just asked if he could have some milk from the cafe. Unfortunately, the only milk we have is for coffee drinks, otherwise I would have bought it for him myself.
From the conversations we've had with him, it's apparent that the man isn't mentally disturbed or unintelligent; in fact, one of our associates said he seems bright and well-read.
There is one thing that you can't miss about this guy -- one of his lower legs is clearly, well...in trouble. It's bandaged and so swollen he has to cut his pants open, and he gets around with the aid of a walker. I am not exaggerating when I say the leg is probably almost a foot in diameter. I had thought maybe he had a condition like the Elephant Man, but that apparently isn't the case. One of my co-workers learned that he has an infection in this leg.
Needless to say, this man has no money for medical treatment. Without money or insurance, he can't get treatment because the condition is not life-threatening. So he just hobbles around, waiting until the infection gets bad enough that it might kill him, at which point some hospital will be forced to take his case. I'm not a doctor, but I would guess the "treatment" at that point will be to amputate the leg and put him back on the street, where he will then have even more difficulty in staying alive.
I just think there is something fundamentally wrong when we're spending trillions of dollars on bridges to nowhere, vouchers for private schools, no-bid contracts to provide our soldiers with inferior equipment, public relations campaigns for NOAA, and massively complex and costly highway exits that are neither wanted nor needed -- yet we can't treat an infection on one man's leg. In fact, if the guy is receiving public assistance, it would probably cost a lot less to fix his leg and help him find a job than to keep supporting him, which we will surely have to do if he loses the leg.
We haven't seen the gentleman for a couple of weeks, and we feared the worst until someone saw him at the bus stop the other day, leg still attached. If I see him again, I'm going to try to get to know him better.
Labels: homeless bookstore work health rant
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Free Meds! (with prescription)
Now, this is just way cool.
Publix Supermarkets is offering a free prescription drug program at all of its stores, which are located in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee. Seven different antibiotics are available through the program -- all you have to do is bring in a prescription for the and Publix will fill it for free, regardless of your insurance coverage. There also is no limit on the number of prescriptions you can have filled. (Well, except for any limits placed by your doctor!)
Publix Supermarkets is offering a free prescription drug program at all of its stores, which are located in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee. Seven different antibiotics are available through the program -- all you have to do is bring in a prescription for the and Publix will fill it for free, regardless of your insurance coverage. There also is no limit on the number of prescriptions you can have filled. (Well, except for any limits placed by your doctor!)
Labels: Publix medical prescriptions free business
