In the NaNoWriMo excerpt I wrote this weekend, my characters were avoiding doing anything by debating why “tricky questions” are so prevalent during interviews. By “tricky question,” I mean something that has nothing to do with practicality, but might win you a bar bet or provide suitable blogging material (for me). For example, I was […]
“Natalie can still get under my skin. Ever since the accident, she’s been employing her most potent seductive powers. I’ve managed to avoid her advances. Mostly. Today she pushed me too far. I kicked her out“ (gag.) I was watching a friend surf. She doesn’t have my zealous, guerilla attitude towards blocking advertisements, so this
There’s a fine line between clever and … Read More »
Sneaky Pete wants you to buy this book. Six months ago, I noted Coca-Cola was going to be introducing a mid-calorie cola, which I referred to as a product for “low-carb dieters who have been marooned on the distant asteroid where Diet Coke is unavailable.” After some minor success during the marketing blitz of its
Sunday morning, I was looking up the football game score for my alma mata on Yahoo. Go ahead, take a look. That’s not a basketball score, nor was it against football powerhouse Texas. (In that game, the week before, Rice gave up only half as many points.) It was San Jose State Spartans. Still, you
Why Does Rice (still) Play Texas? Read More »
The Wall Street Journal had another writeup about A9.com, Amazon’s search subsidiary, so I checked it out again yesterday. Today, when I popped over to Amazon.com to look for some books. I’ve long since tuned out any iconery on the top right and left corners, but the change in logo caught my eye after a
A9, pi, and the integral of e to the x Read More »
I had a weird dream last night. In the dream, I made a gazillion dollars because I wrote a program that automatically generated wholly truthful and accurate status reports. (This is especially funny if you ponder the irony of designing software pointing out software ironies.) It was based on MadLibs, rendered in a template like
Whomever writes the Sunday’s Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer careers section has a sense of humor, taking advantage of the slow Labor Day weekend. The “What This Job Pays” column for the week of September 5, 2004 featured the job of … a Rodeo Clown. Qualifications: Called the unsung heroes of the rodeo, clowns
Rodeo Clown/Product Bullfighter Read More »
My Sunday paper will arrive in five hours. Using my psychic powers, I will predict its contents. The Sunday paper will contain 60% advertisements, 10% comics, 3% “Parade” and local weekly magazine, 5% TV section, and 22% news content. The ads Aaron Brothers is having a 1-cent frame sale. For unexplained reasons, I will receive