AT&T works in more places billboard - hacked

Freaking brilliant. Every day I feel better and better about unlocking my iPhone.

For those of you not in on the joke, click here.

Image from here via Digg.

Keming

Courtesy of here.

Southwest is at it again: were these girls "too pretty to fly"?

Oh, Southwest. What do you have against young, "attractive" women using your airline?

Recently, two girls (see photo, above) were escorted off a Southwest flight after pounding on a bathroom door ("HURRY UP IN THERE! I HAVE TO CHECK MY MAKEUP!"), yelling at another passenger and being generally obnoxious. After all this, the flight attendant only rebuked them, not the other passenger(s) involved.

Oh, yeah. And when one of them asked for bottled water when she got on the plane she was told she'd have to wait until they served the beverages to everyone else. *Pout*

Southwest says they were being disruptive and even went so far as to have them escorted off the plane by uniformed officers when they reached their destination. The girls say they were discriminated against because they were young, good-looking and (in one of the girl's own words), "Nobody else on the plane, really, looked like us."

The reporter asks, "Did being pretty get them kicked off the plane?"

Let me answer that question for you: HECK NO. Because at least one of the women involved looks less like she does in the first photo, and more like this:

Normally I try not to judge people on physical appearance. But when the whole incident is allegedly based on looks, you gotta take it into account.

You can see the full video at CNN's site.

Firefox memory leak: using 1 GB+ RAM to surf the web

This screen shot was taken today from my Core 2 Duo iMac with 2 gigs of RAM:

Yes, you're seeing that correctly. It's Firefox 2.0.0.12 using over a half the available memory on my machine. *sigh* I really can't wait for the final release of Firefox 3.

Top five reasons February doesn't suck

This brilliant list was pulled from the ShoeboxBlog (you know, Shoebox, that tiny little division of Hallmark).

The Top Five Reasons February Doesn't Suck:

1. The weather. No, that’s wrong.
2. Summer vacation is just around…no it’s not.
3. You can start wearing…wait. No you can’t.
4. Valentine’s Day was happy. If you were already happy.
5. It’s two days shorter than the other months. But not this year.

*sigh* At least in March Daylight Saving Time begins and we can start enjoying longer days.

Serbians torch our embassy, blame us

Turns out I was right: Serbians are jerks. They went and got their panties in a bunch (it's not widely known that most Serbian men wear women's underwear) over Kosovo's recent declaration of freedom from tyranny, terror and thongs. So what do they do? Blame it on us and storm our embassy!

According to my extensive background in international relations and diplomacy (*cough* Casino Royale *cough*) you aren't supposed to mess with other people's embassies. Especially when "messing with" becomes synonymous with "burning to the ground".

And you wonder why the good people of Kosovo wanted out? Fetchers.

Punctuation DOES make a difference

Courtesy of Duchess.

Hillary plagarizes part of her debate after bashing Obama for the same thing [Video]

Tsk, tsk Hillary. First Hillary calls out Obama for reusing part of a speech that was originally given by a friend of his. The lines were used with permission (and as a suggestion) by said friend. For me, a near non-issue: he should have credited the source.

Here's a video from last night's debate of Hillary using some lines from a John Edwards speech. Bad form Hillary!



It's amazing how much I can't stand this woman.

Original story here.

No. 500

This is it. My 500th post. Yep. It was going to be a big deal. I wanted to do something really special so I kept putting it off, waiting for some brilliant idea so I could really acknowledge the milestone in style, complete with fireworks and a visit from Lady Liberty.

I waited. And waited some more. It's been a few days and I have some ideas for posts saved as drafts, but none good enough for my glorious 500th post! So I continued to wait for the inspiration worthy of the occasion.

Then I realized I should just post something and be done with it.

So that's what I've done.

Happy 500th post, The Other Drummer. Here's to many more design changes, URL changes, posts about technology that nobody reads but that I love to write (anybody want a freelancer?), rants and the fictitious stories I kinda-sorta try to pass off as being legit (those are my favorite).

R.I.P.H.D.D.V.D.

The Second Format War has ended (the first being Beta v. VHS) with Blu-Ray coming off victorious. Toshiba, the main backer of the losing format, has bowed its head and backed out of the race after having lost millions in product development, promotion and advertising. (Hopefully Hillary will do the same.)

I was rooting for Blu-Ray if for no other reason than I like the name a lot better. "HD-DVD" is just too clunky to say.

I don't imagine this is going to drive a lot of new Blu-Ray sales. Of course, those waiting out the battle will be able to go out with the knowledge their purchase won't be for naught. Granted, they're sill paying a premium $300+ for the player and $30+ for each movie. Not something I'm ready to do. I'll wait until you can get players for less than a hundred and the movies come down to current DVD prices.

Of course, I will need an HD TV first. Hmmmmm.

P.S. This is post 499!

Thanks to Tombstone Generator for the pic.

Congraulations to Kosovo, the world's newest country

On behalf of America, or at least a few people I know, I'd like to personally welcome Kosovo and its citizens into the world. It's strange to think that yesterday they weren't Kosovoians. They were Serbians. And Serbia, as we all know, is entirely peopled with criminals. Apparently there were a lot of people who didn't want to be criminals. They are now Kosovoians. Good for them!

The downside of the whole "freedom and liberation from war lords and dictators" thing is that now I need to buy a new globe. *sigh*

I suppose it's worth it. Besides, check out the above picture! People joyously waving American flags in celebration! It's nice to see that everyone in the world doesn't hate us.

For more information on our former-Soviet-bloc brethren, see this CNN article.

TED Talks

I was recently introduced to TED Talks, although I can't remember by whom (Hugh?). TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It's an annual conference that, "Brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)." Don't let the acronym fool you - it covers much more than those three topics and every speaker is remarkable.

More from the site: "We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other."

I can't recommend TED Talks enough - I've never listened to one and thought, "Eh. That was a waste of time." Quite the opposite. I've embedded one of my favorites here. It's a talk by Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life. It's insightful and thought-provoking. Please take a few minutes to watch it.



You can subscribe to TED Talks through iTunes, or you can download them directly from the site, TED.com. They're available with the full video or audio only.

I went and got me one of them iPhones

Yeah. So as I reported earlier in the year, my wife was kind enough to give me a 16 gig iPod Touch for Christmas. I returned it, and have now purchased an iPhone which I promptly unlocked using this very, very easy (and fast) program. Honestly, I set the iPhone on the dock, clicked "Free my iPhone" and two minutes later it was unlocked. I turned it off, put my T-Mobile sim card in and ta-da. An unlocked iPhone that works perfectly.

Yeah. It's pretty cool. No new activation fee. Same "low" monthly T-Mobile bill. No contract. It's a very nice arrangement.

So huge "thank you" to my generous wife who is far kinder and generous a person than I am afraid than I will ever be - and for many more reasons than this gift.

UPDATE: And a not-as-huge "thank you" to Danny for letting me use his Windows machine to do the unlocking.

Republicans aren't going to win

Looking at this article in USA Today we learn that Skippy Obama has been raking in more votes than BOTH the Republican candidates combined. So, if we assume the race is going to go to a Democrat, as a moderate Republican I face a hypothetical moral diwemma:

Do I vote for the person I may want to win (McCain), or do I vote against the person I don't want win (Hillary) by voting for Obama?

I say hypothetical because I need to do more research on where McCain and Obama stand on the issues, McCain in particular as his website is the less comprehensive of the two.

One thing is for certain, I think I'd vote for Big Bird before I voted for Hillary.

More choice pictures of The Nose Picker can be found here.

Blast and wretch! Some TV shows won't be back until Fall - and other news

Chuck, in particular, is said to not be returning until Fall. @!#$$@#! Chuck is the ultimate show for geeks and wanna-be-geeks, such as myself. Brilliant little references to stuff only a geek would know and love (like a mention of "backseat perking" while playing COD4) make this show one of my favorites.

While Chuck my have the summer off, reports are saying that The Office has a script or two almost complete which means it may be coming back sooner than others. Same with 30 Rock. Nice.

In other news, some friends of ours forced us, under duress, to watch the Lost pilot this weekend. Maybe it was the fact that it's been built up so much, or maybe it was that I'd heard enough tid-bits here and there to spoil it but...it was good. Not addictive good, but good. I know Matt will be thrilled to hear I watched it but gnashing his teeth in unholy rage that I didn't instantly become a believer.

In other-other news, I'm quickly approaching my 500th post for The Other Drummer (this is post no. 494). Yay me. My sister in-law said she wants to throw a very exclusive party in honor of the event, but since she's in Idaho at school I'm doubtful it will happen, although I appreciate the sentiment. To that end, gifts and cash donations are always welcome. (I don't yet have a PayPal account, but if you wanted to give me money I'd set one up.)

Jumping back a topic or two, which shows are you most excited to see back on the air? Leave word in the comments.

Chuck image from here.

Apple could take a note out of Microsoft's book

Apparently Microsoft announced special edition, red, 80 gig Zunes to be available just in time for Valentine's Day. (Who knew?) However, the players are more popular than expected and there have been some delays in shipping. Here's an abridged e-mail from Microsoft to those waiting on their oh-so-romantic Zunes:

We wanted to provide you with an update on your order status. Due to some issues in our fulfillment center there remains a chance we will miss getting your Zune to you by February 14th. We are working hard to get your order to you as quickly as possible...

Our goal is to provide a smooth customer experience for ordering, customization, and delivery. We sincerely apologize for not meeting that goal in this specific case. We will be refunding the entire amount of your order, which you should be able to see on your credit/debit card within 7-10 days. We hope you love your Zune and that you will accept our sincere apology.

Dang. An official apology, full refund and they get to keep the product? I didn't get that kind of love from Apple when my new iMac broke. In fact, I had to wait a month to get it back, without any updates, and in order to get any kind of reimbursement I had to write a letter to Stevie J. himself and work through their "executive customer service". Even then, my experience was nowhere as good as this.

Get the full story here.

Writer's strike may be over

According to this article on USA Today as well as some other rumblings around the Internet, it looks like the writer's strike could be over as soon as Monday. Unfortunately, many shows won't be on for another four to six weeks. Lame. I'm having Chuck and 30 Rock withdrawals. Not so much The Office for some reason.

Oh yeah. And that could mean we see an Arrested Development movie coming out within the next year or two. NICE.

A friggin' huge shark

"I have to admit after being down in a sub and spending time looking at video feeds from ROV's, the crazy animals I see from the deep start to become commonplace. That is why the below video is absolutely off the freakin' hook! Dr. Eric Vetter was in a submersible off the coast of Moloka'i when a 6-gill shark, at an estimated 17ft, swam within feet of the sub." - Deep Sea News

12 hour days with no end in sight

Lots going on you know. Long hours at the office this week - big pitch coming up in addition to being insanely busy to begin with. Didn't get home until about 10:00 last night and tonight's not looking any better. But while I always prefer to spend time with my family, there's definitely a satisfaction that comes from working long and hard on something. It feels good.

That being said, The Other Drummer has been neglected. Poor blog. There's no time to write about my first experience voting (doesn't seem quite as anonymous as I'd expected...but then again, the poll worker never asked to see my ID so who's to say it was really me who voted that way?) and last night's Super Tuesday primaries (I'm baffled that anyone is taking Hillary Clinton seriously).

I will, however, be making updates to my Twitter feed (it's much faster than writing a whole post) so check that out here or in the sidebar of this here blog under "What I'm Up To".

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite posts: the place where I record the funny stuff we all say, the completely fictitious story about the first and second Thanksgivings, my fan mail, and my idea for a Broadway musical involving Don Cheadle.

Wish me luck, and see you on the other side.

Paperwork image courtesy of this site from across the Pond.

My five favorite Super Bowl Ads

In no particular order (although I liked the ETrade "Clown" the best):











Agree? Disagree? Check out all the ads at Hulu.com and let me know what you think.

Microsoft aims to buy Yahoo

Wow. Microsoft just kicked in Yahoo's door and offered them over $44 billion for their company. Three thoughts:

1. That is a LOT of money.

2. Does that mean Microsoft will screw up what Yahoo has managed to do well? Such as Flickr? And semi-well, like Yahoo Mail? I kind of like Yahoo. It's the one non-Microsoft and non-Google company out there and that, for some reason, is reassuring. Sort of, "If Google starts being evil, I can always jump back to a Microsoft alternative."

3. Isn't Microsoft a software company? Why the heck are they trying so hard to get into search? Granted, it can be a lucrative business, but it's not their business. Personally, I think they would be much better served by focusing on improving their software *cough* Vista *cough* and innovating in that arena than trying (repeatedly) to get into search. That's not to say Microsoft shouldn't have an online presence. They should. If I were Microsoft and saw what Google Docs was becoming, I'd be wetting myself on a regular basis trying to figure out a model to get their software to be available as an online app. But that's not search.

Here's a quote from Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, the guy who's going to replace Uncle Bill (or, as Fake Steve Jobs calls him, Beastmaster) when he retires:

"Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition." Let's stop there and think about who just said that. Microsoft, right? OK. Just wanted to clarify. Read on. "Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers."

Soooooo... being a huge, dominant player who maintains its dominance in a market through acquisition is bad, so we (Microsoft) are going to offer to buy (acquisition) the second-largest search company (consolidation).

Pot. Kettle. You know.

Thanks to Engadget for the image. More reading can be found here or here or just about any news site on the Internet.