February 20, 2003

I'm gonna go Pliocene on your butt.

I'm a pissed, primitive proto-hominid with limited cranial capacity. And you're about to get a butt-whuppin' -
Australopithecine Style!"

Well, it made me laugh out loud.

February 19, 2003

Cool-2B-Real - Not Cool and Not Real

As I was eating lunch today, I read an article in the Times Dispatch about the wooing of female, teenage vegetarians. No, this isn't about the guy geeks in the Computer Club wooing the lady geeks from the Literary Magazine. It's about the growing number of young women adopting a vegetarian diet – about 28% of women 12-19 – and the beef industry that wants them back. Since a large number of teens use the Internet, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Cattlemen's Beef Board teamed up with Circle 1 Network to create Cool-2B-Real.

Cool-2B-Real isn't alone in it war on tofu. Kids visiting BurgerTown learn about the marvels of meat as well as skills for a future career – such as how to safely handle raw hamburger meat. Cowsnus.com has fun cow facts, featuring teens and the cows they care for – at least until the cows are slaughtered. However, Cool-2B-Real's insipid blend of entertainment and factoids takes the cake.

If you must know, I was enjoying a few slices of grilled flank steak with my lunch. I am not a vegetarian and haven't been one for a while. However, Cool-2B-Real provoked my gag reflex 4-Sure. I imagine that the site seemed credible in a meeting room with burly ranchers on one side of the table and Silicon Alley hucksters on the other, viewing a Powerpoint slide show of day-glo comps and stock photos. However, the 'Net savvy aren't buying it. Instead, vegetarians, bloggers and ad-busters are having a field day with the site.

Cool-2B-Real poses as a lifestyle site. Yet, only the severely dazed could not notice the snow job being attempted on visitors to the site. Aesthetically, I am bothered by the site's use of "Big Head Stock Photos" – those annoying photos taken from above the subject. I'm also appalled that "internet professionals" can't get anything on the page to line up. Most discomfiting is the mix of entertainment and propaganda – you can play games or get beef recipes or chat or read vague pseudo-science on nutrition – a blend implying that we can only talk to children so long as we amuse them as well. I don't begrudge the Beef Industry making a case for their product; they enjoy the same rights of free-speech as anyone. I am appalled that the only way they attempt to present their message is by bedecking it with electronic baubles.

February 18, 2003

Not Really a Nerd

Paul Graham has an article on Why Nerds Are Unpopular. The story generated a huge (1100+ and counting) number of comments on Slashdot. While the picture on the home page bears a striking resemblance to a Fantasy RPG Club picture in my own yearbook, I was most struck by a few nuggets in Graham's article -

The mediocrity of American public schools has worse consequences than just making kids unhappy for six years. It breeds a rebelliousness that actively drives kids away from the things they're supposed to be learning.

... That wasn't the worst trick high school played on me, though. Since everyone in my school seemed to view college as a form of job training, I decided to major in the most impractical subject I could imagine: philosophy. Alas, I actually did.

[From Slashdot]

February 17, 2003

No Joke - No Punchline

I know I still have a link to Punchline in the left nav. Punchline's hiatus is looking more like a permanent closing. However, I miss one of the best urban papers since Throttle was on the racks. Punchline was also a victim of the current economy - done in, not by a lack of readers, but by a lack of advertisers paying their bills. I'll probably keep the link there, until I can overcome my state of denial. Or maybe they'll set a record for longest publishing hiatus.

February 16, 2003

Sleet

Since yesterday evening, it's been sleeting in Richmond. In the dining room with the sleet blowing up against the side of the house, the sound appeared to be coming from inside the room. I walked to the store for some dishwashing liquid...and beer; the sidewalks and street covered by a thick, gritty layer of ice. It was rough and solid; I didn't leave any foot prints stepping on it. As I walked, I could here a tinkling sound as the falling sleet bounced off the hood of my coat. I decided it was better to stay inside with a cool beer and a rack of clean dishes.

What Have You Been Doing?

Much against my will, I've been working sorta hard at the job. Somehow, I have become the "Bell of the Ball" for other people's meetings or more appropriately "Le Beau Des Réunions Hebdomadaire de Statut." For relaxation, I've installed Linux on an old PC given to me by Mike and his wife. I think I have one more install to go, before I can set it up as a server and muck about with Unix/Apache/Java on my tiny desk. I need some case screws and some HD mounting screws - about a dozen overall will do.