Month: January 2001 (Page 3 of 4)

When I was an e-mail administrator, I waged constant war against junk e-mail clogging up the mailboxes of employees, both from outside and from the employees themselves agressively forwarding everything they received. Maybe I was unreasonably harsh with people who insisted that everyone they knew share in the knowledge that Kentucky Fried Chicken was raising headless, legless chicken blobs for human consumption. But I don’t think so.

Apparently, now we even have to worry about killer sponges.

Thought I would break up the all-text monotony with a picture. Location: Bozeman, Montana. Aren’t they cute? E-mail me to find out who they are.

Anyone who’s ever seen “Iron Chef” on the Food Network will probably enjoy this parody. I love the Food Network but for some reason I just can’t get into that show. Maybe it’s because the finished dishes often look like something you fished out of a drain trap.

I’ve been reading The Diagnosis by Alan Lightman, who wrote one of my all-time favorite books, Einstein’s Dreams. ‘Diagnosis’ is a harrowing look at the technological disconnects that contemporary American society thrusts in our faces every minute of every day, unless we are diligent in combatting them. Tough going, but worth it.

Throw away your cell phone. Put your pager under the wheel of a truck. Don’t e-mail someone if you can talk to them. Turn off the TV. Lower the volume. Taste your food. Get some sleep. Read ‘The Diagnosis’ and you’ll understand.

I hope to highlight great and interesting writing when I can. After all, this weblog is called words mean things. As a start, how about The Abolition of Work. Long and involved, but worth it.

A simple but upsetting truth: Burger King is the only fast food joint that can’t even manage to make its fare appetizing in its own commercials. The sight of the flat, processed paddle they call the chicken sandwich, sprinkled with green sawdust shavings and topped with questionable mayo-like product, is enough to send anyone running screaming to the nearest Tofu Hut. Or at least to McDonald’s.

“I was just letting that illegal alien from Guatemala stay in my house for two years out of compassion. I did give her a little spending money here and there, but it certainly wasn’t because she cleaned my pool for me (and a fine job she did, too, even with the nasty gunk in the filter). Yes, she also vaccuumed, mopped, cleaned, and did laundry and ironing. But an employee? No! She was a friend.”

Just surfing around on other people’s weblogs today, and I found that even the leader of the free world is into this trend. (Thanks to my new favorite weblog, my left nut)

Bonus anti-consumer link of the day, also thanks to MLN: blindwino “Market Target”

Blogger seems to have unblocked itself, at least for now. This is, as the Queen of Domesticity herself would say, a very good thing. It’s so easy to take things for granted until they are taken from us. Yes, maybe a stretch, maybe hyperbole, but still a good thing to reflect on in the new year.

Bring on Blogger Pro!

My office is filled with this stuff. It seems to hold a strange fascination for technical types. Why, I don’t know.