227 - Just a good ol' joke

Nervous Taxi Driver -
A passenger in a taxi leaned over to ask the driver a question and tapped him on the shoulder. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb, and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, and then the still shaking driver said, "I'm sorry but you scared the daylights out of me." The frightened passenger, apologized to the driver, and said he didn't realize a mere tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much. The driver replied, "No, no, I'm sorry, it's entirely my fault. Today is my first day driving a cab.... I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years."

226 - Deals of the day

I can't remember if I put this link out here or not. It's the deal of the day link. It has links to all the deals of the day on the net including all the Woots and a lot more. If your a complusive spender you'll want to stay away from this site.

Link - DOD

225 - What do you see?

The influence of culture and environment can have an effect on our visual perception. This theory was first explored by Robert Laws, a Scottish missionary working in Malawi, Africa, during the late 1800's.
Look at the picture below.
What you see will largely depend on where you live in the world. After you have examined the picture, look below the picture for a more detailed explanation.

What did you see?
.
.
.
.
What is above the woman's head? When scientists showed a similar sketch to people from East Africa, nearly all the participants in the experiment said she was balancing a box or metal can on her head. In a culture containing few angular visual cues, the family is seen sitting under a tree. Westerners, on the other hand, are accustomed to the corners and boxlike shapes of architecture. They are more likely to place the family indoors and to interpret the rectangle above the woman's head as a window through which shrubbery can be seen.

224 - Another bumper sticker site

I ordered these bumper stickers from this site. Maybe one day I'll actually start sticking them on something.

Althought the second sticker is an antigovernment sticker I think we need government. It just never seems to work very well.

Link - Bstickers

223 - More Woot and free stuff

Found these sites recently. I didn't realize Woot had a sellout site. The sellout site looks like it has mostly junk but you might find something useful every once in a while. This sometimes redirects to Yahoo. To get back to the Woot site click on the "find out more from Woot" link below the picture of the sale item.
Plus I found a giveaway software site. It says it's 'pay for' software that is free for a day, they will then try to sell it to you. Again, maybe not the most desirable stuff but worth checking on.
If anything, you can look at these sites, not buy anything and be glad of the money you saved.

Link - Sellout.woot

Link - Free software

222 - Klu Klux Khicken

Link - nonsequitur

221 - Can't see the whole picture? "Scroll down"

Link - Grimmy

220 - The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!!

A local TV station in St.Louis did an "expose'" on the BIG problem that could happen with cell phone service in a local emergency (big storm, etc.). They said, "You may not be able to make a call! The phone companies say there is not enough network capacity for everyone to call at once"!!!

Well DUHHHHH!!!! Guess what TV dummies, it's ALWAYS be like that. For land lines or cell phones. No phone network is built to handle 100% capacity. It could be. If you wanted to pay $500 a month for basic phone service. The capacity of all phone networks are figured on the peak hour of a normal day plus a little more. That works out to around 10% capacity. That makes phones affordable for everyone.

Then these TV pea brains went on to say about the only thing you might be able to do would be to send a text message. Of course not knowing that they just came up with the solution to an overloaded network (stay off the voice, send a text) they made it sound like this would be unacceptable.

Over the years this must have been the one hundredth time I've seen this fact "exposed". Must have been a slow news day.

219 - Digital television

Here it comes. Getting closer. The big switch. Finally the government is starting to put some information out about DTV. Here's a link that has a Q&A link about DTV and the coupons you can get for digital to analog converters.

Link - DTV

218 - What's your political persuasion

Here's another political test. Another test to see how you look at the political world. After you go to the site, click on 'take the test'.
My view of the political world is near Gandhi and the Dalai Lama.

Link - Compass

217 - Funny? (or not)

I actually had something very similar happen to me when I took my daughter to a dermatologist. To make a long story short, it was, "While your looking at this spot what do you think of that spot?" Answer? "I'm sorry, you'll have to make another appointment for that." True story. And we never went back to that doctor.

Link - Ziggy

216 - Blogger names

Sometimes I wonder where a blogger gets their name from. Weaponofmassdisturbance has a numeric handle, 42. I think I found where that came from.

Link - 42

Update aug 08 - 42 has deleted his blog.

215 - Email joke

I've seen jokes like this before but this is a new version of it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a dangerous virus being passed around electronically, verbally, and by hand. This virus is called Worm-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss, or anyone else via any means- DO NOT TOUCH IT! This virus will wipe out your private life completely. If you should come into contact with WORK, put your jacket on and take two good friends to the nearest grocery store. Purchase the antidote known as Work-Isolating-Neutralizer-Extract (WINE) or Bothersome-Employer-Elimination-Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should forward this warning to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Whew! Thank God I found five friends to send this to.

214 - More bumper stickers and t-shirts

Found this site which seems to be like CafePress.com with some new angles.

Link - Stickers and stuff

(Also, be careful. Friday the 13th is on Tuesday this month. That's today!!)

213 - Double your pleasure, double your pun

How old do you have to be to know what the title line means?
Link - Grimmy

212 - Visionary boss

Here's an article from the newspaper that compares two different working styles. Follow the link to get more info on how to survive in the workplace.

Visionary boss driving you nuts?
Office Coach by Marie McIntyre

Q. When my boss gives me a project, he never shares all the information in his head. Because of this, I often fail to achieve his vision of the results. Then I have to revisit completed tasks. He does this with other employees as well. For example, last week he asked several people to prepare PowerPoint presentations for a meeting. After everyone had completed their slides, he suddenly changed the format, so they all had to be redone. If I ask for information in advance, it's like pulling teeth to get him to give me the specifics in an orderly manner. I've started listing my questions with bullet points in an e-mail so he can type answers under the questions. Mr. Visionary says he wants me to think outside the box, but I believe he really expects me to read his mind. How can I work with this person?

A. You and your boss illustrate a classic difference in thinking styles. Creative visionaries focus on the big picture and overlook the details. They get excited about new ideas and love making changes. Sound familiar?
Organized implementers, on the other hand, like to focus on specifics and outline action steps. They plan ahead and despise last-minute changes. You seem to fall into this category.
Your manager's frustrating traits simply reflect the way his brain works. He doesn't impart details because he hasn't thought of them yet. He can't give facts "in an orderly manner" because he's not a structured thinker. For you, however, organizing information may be as natural as breathing.
Since Mr. Visionary is not likely to change, you're smart to focus on adapting. Your strategy of sending bullet-point e-mails is a great example of managing the boss." To be sure his views haven't shifted, try including some checkpoints in your project schedules.
Visionaries and implementers often make a terrific team, because they view projects from complementary perspectives. But unfortunately, as you have noticed, they can also drive each other nuts.

Link - Marie McIntyre

211 - Rhetorical?

rhetoric
1. using language effectively to please or persuade
2. high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation; "the grandiosity of his prose"; "an excessive ornateness of language" [syn: grandiosity]
3. loud and confused and empty talk; "mere rhetoric" [syn: palaver]
4. study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)

Link - Frazz

210 - Computer speeder upper

My PC was running a little slow and I saw this program referred to in PCWorld. Ccleaner, make your PC run faster. It's free and recommended by PCWorld. What the heck! Waiting for the other shoe to drop? It won't. This thing works great. It deleted over 1 gig of crap from my computer. My PC is now running like it was brand new. (XP new, not Vista new)
By the way, ccleaner stands for 'crap cleaner'.

Link - ccleaner

209 - More money for Cheney

Just what we need. Bush & Cheney threaten to attack Iran and oil prices go to $100 a barrel. I can hear the wheels turning in their little heads now. 'If we really attack, maybe we can get oil up to $150 a barrel before we're kicked out of office'.

208 - Our slip is showing

Come on dollar! Get your butt back up there!

Link - Mother Goose and Grimm

207 - Wireless schmireless

Follow up to post 205.
There's nothing like dealing with big corporations these days. I had my wireless service turned off for corporate reasons. Here's the story. I'm a retiree of SBC/ ATT/ Cingular/ Pacific Bell/ Ameritec/ Southern Bell/ Etc Bell. When I got my cell phones 5-6 years ago I went to a company store and asked for a plan for retirees hoping to get a discount. Hey, they had one. Great, so I've been fat dumb and happy for years.

Last Friday somebody, unbenoced to me, decided I shouldn't have this plan and shut my service off. So I call in on Saturday. Well guess what was going on Saturday. A system upgrade, they can't get to my records. The system will be back up on Sunday. I call on Sunday and find out someone put a note on my account, "when customer calls in tell them they have to sign up for a different plan". Great customer service there, isn't it!

I tell the service rep I want my old service back. Nope! "Call back Monday when the business office is open and talk to them". I call Monday. I want my old service back. Nope. Talk to Supervisor. Again, Nope. Well then what's the retiree discount on the service your trying to sell me? Supervisor - "don't have one".

Ok me, what's the next plan? Call the customer complaint line. Talk to three nice apologetic people. Can I have my old plan back? I'll check, I'll check, nope. What about a retiree discount on what your trying to sell me? "I'll check". Guess What! There is a retiree discount! Not much, but better than nothing.

So I negotiate for a plan that's got half as much as I had before for twice the price even with the discount. But I got a few credits along with the deal plus I didn't have to sign a new contract so all is not lost. Except my old inexpensive wireless plan.

206 - Weird usb devices

I was checking WOOT tonight and it lead me to this list.
Link - USB devices
The device that is (was) on woot (is) was number 6 on the list. I think guys
would go for number 9 while gals would probably opt for number 1. (smartass guy comment)
Woot changes every night and the list seems to be dynamic, as my posts can be.

Plus I found this site while wandering around. USB stuff, lots of usb stuff. Look at the lifestyle section.

205 - AT&T - your friendly wireless service

I've got two phones through Cingular... no wait... SBC... no wait... AT&T wireless service. Sometime over the weekend somebody decided I shouldn't have the plan that I've had for 7 years now and shut my service off on both phones. When I called the weekend 800 number all I got was 'we can give you this new plan or you can call the business office on Monday'.
Ever since the government broke up the Bell system in 1983 service just gets worse and worse. The jerks that run these companies couldn't care less about customer service. They just want your money and if you complain, well go somewhere else.
It's time to put the phone company back together again (it almost is anyway) and put it back in a regulated enviroment.

204 - Gala charity event

I went to an charity event last night that had a surprise guest speaker. Who was it? Bob Gibson. For the non sports fan, he's a baseball hall of famer. Number 45 from the St. Louis Cardinals. He's known for his few and brief public appearances so this was a special occurrence. He talked for 45 minutes and took questions from the audience for another 45 minutes. They almost had to drag him away from the speakers podium. It was a special evening.

203 - Up and down, round and round

If you like playing with virtual gears and pumps and valves etc, here's a site for you.

Link - Mechanisms