Dumbass of the Day

Names withheld to protect the guilty. From e-mail:

Windows will not permit the opening and installation of the application:

Camino-1.0-MultiLang.dmg

It will not recognize the extension.


Ideas….work around

My reply:

http://www.caminobrowser.org/

Look at the page title.
Look at the header graphic.
Look at the system requirements.

Not trying to be rude, just pointing it out…

His response, irony included free of charge:

Now, I know one thing, never ask a Linux person anything.

Red FormanRed Forman Dumbass Rating: Kelso (Dumbass) Kelso (Dumbass) Kelso (Dumbass)

posted on 23 February 2006 at 2246computing1 commentstrackback

Why I Hate Friendster

Being out of college and not really into the whole bar scene (at least from a place-to-meet-people perspective), I have to rely on other means of meeting women, like friends’ introductions or online social networking sites like Friendster/Facebook/etc. I could write a whole essay about why Friendster sucks from a technical perspective — the servers are horribly slow, they didn’t confirm my e-mail address for almost a year, etc. — but I think this one screen shot sums things up pretty nicely.

Singles Near You: Courtney, 26, In a Relationship

posted on 16 February 2006 at 2310humour0 commentstrackback

Dumbass of the Day

Zeljko Tupic, a citizen of Belgrade in the apparently insular country of Serbia, which will be hereafter known as “The Country That Never Heard of Viagra”, was searching for a means to prolong his sexual, uhm, abilities, and hit upon the less-than-intelligent idea of shoving a slender pencil into his “member”.

Said pencil shifted during the dirty deed and lodged in Tupic’s bladder, forcing him to call an ambulance and putting a merciful end to his plans for the evening.

I volunteer to forward Tupic all my e-mail for two weeks, after which he’ll be plenty aware of the various “solutions” out there for people with his problem.

Red FormanRed Forman Dumbass Rating: Hyde (Dumbass) Hyde (Dumbass) Hyde (Dumbass)

posted on 15 February 2006 at 2158humour0 commentstrackback

Camino 1.0

Before I run off to work, I need to share this. Camino 1.0 has been released after lots of last-minute work. Go download it now.

RSS, spell-check, and a few other oft-requested features will make it into version 1.1. Hey, we had to release 1.0 sometime.

posted on 14 February 2006 at 1034computing0 comments

Matchmaking in Turin

Shaun, good luck with that whole Sasha Cohen thing. She’s pretty and all, but she’s a little…tiny for me. Funny article, though.

If I hear NBC say “Il Pomadero Volante” one more time, I’m going to shoot Bob Costas*.

*If Bob Costas turns up dead of gunshot wounds in Italy, it wasn’t actually me. Geesh.

posted on 13 February 2006 at 0850sports0 commentstrackback

Dumbass of the Day

Today’s winner is none other than the Vice President of the United States, one Mr. Richard “Dick” Cheney, who sprayed a fellow hunter with shot while hunting quail in Texas. I realise a $6,000 shotgun might not have a safety, but it’s common fucking sense not to point loaded guns in the direction of people!

Apparently more than one village needs to go looking for its idiot in Washington.

Red FormanRed Forman Dumbass Rating: Kelso (Dumbass) Kelso (Dumbass) Kelso (Dumbass) Kelso (Dumbass)

posted on 12 February 2006 at 2214humour0 commentstrackback

Hiring Managers, Take Note

Michelle Kwan and Janne Ahonen, according to various talking heads on TV, have “a big hole in [their] résumé[s]”. Why? Because both have five World Championships in their respective sports, but neither has ever won gold at the Olympic Games.

Does anyone really think there are any hiring managers out there who would say, “Gosh, you won five world championships in ski jumping, but our qualifications for this job specifically said ‘Olympic champion’. Sorry, Janne, but we can’t hire you”?

posted on 12 February 2006 at 1941sports0 commentstrackback

Apple Bug Friday: OS X Spell Checker

Lee came up with this entry for Apple Bug Friday, with my help: Mac OS X spell-checker doesn’t check spelling on focus change. It’s pretty annoying if you think about it.

posted on 10 February 2006 at 1745computing2 commentstrackback

Found: A Good Bluetooth Headset

After much hemming and hawing, in-depth research, and market study, the powers that be finally decided on a Bluetooth headset by going to dealnews and finding the cheapest one from a company that seemed mildly reputable.

This blog is now the proud owner of a Logitech Mobile Freedom headset. It’s not the best-looking headset out there, nor the lightest, but it was only $35 shipped (on sale, before a $10 rebate) and it came with an Official Eric Schwarz Endorsement.

Will someone please explain the idea behind spending $100 (or more!) on something that’s no better, features-wise, than a product costing one-fourth as much?

By the way, I heartily recommend this as a Bluetooth headset if you need one. It’s pretty painless to set up and the volume seems pretty good so far, although I have yet to use it in the car.

posted on 10 February 2006 at 1740sci-tech0 commentstrackback

Quote of the Day

From the local NBC affiliate’s story about a Mesa Airlines jet that diverted to Grand Rapids:

A warning light on the plane’s altimeter gauge, which measures altitude, came on during the flight.

This entry sponsored by the Department of Redundancy Department, which is responsible for redundant responsibilities.

posted on 09 February 2006 at 2210aviation0 commentstrackback

Geek of the Month Award

The award for February definitely goes to the guy who built this Babbage Difference Engine out of Legos. Notice, please, that the host for that site is none other than Steve Wozniak’s personal domain. For more on the difference engine concept, please visit Wikipedia’s Difference engine entry, which also talks about Charles Babbage, its inventor.

(via Gizmodo)

posted on 08 February 2006 at 2340sci-tech0 commentstrackback

Dumbass of the Day

The award goes to Norman Frey, a 46-year-old Colorado resident who thought it was a good idea to transport a large balloon filled with acetylene gas in the back seat of his car. Frey intended to use it as a fireworks display at a Super Bowl party. Only one problem: the balloon rubbed against the cheap velour interior of Frey’s late-1980s Oldsmobile and a static spark set it off, with rather predictable results.

Frey and his companion somehow managed to survive with no injuries other than ruptured eardrums. Their car, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Frey is facing a felony explosives charge (haha).

Red FormanRed Forman Dumbass Rating: Eric (Dumbass) Eric (Dumbass) Eric (Dumbass) Eric (Dumbass)

posted on 07 February 2006 at 1146humour0 commentstrackback

Big Brother is Watching You Drive

Not that you didn’t know that already.

Apparently this is sort of old news — the link here is dated September 2005 — but OnStar is now offering e-mail diagnostics. Who else is getting that e-mail? And what data are those people getting that they’re not sharing with me?

OnStar is nice and all, but no thanks. I’d rather not be tracked everywhere.

posted on 07 February 2006 at 0034car0 commentstrackback

As Dave Barry Would Say

Why the World Needs Guys, reason #1,850.

Oddly enough, this guy has apparently nothing to do with this guy, who is reason #1,851.

posted on 06 February 2006 at 2159car0 commentstrackback

Ninja Alert

Their new nemesis: Parrots

That sounds kinda like “pirates”, I suppose.

(via Dave Barry)

posted on 06 February 2006 at 2112humour0 commentstrackback

Building a Better Toaster

In case you have a lot of company coming, this six-piece radial-design toaster should help smooth things along in the kitchen. Pretty cool idea — each individual heating unit is removable and interchangeable. Seems like it would make for very easy repair and maintenance, which means we’ll probably never see it in the marketplace.

posted on 06 February 2006 at 1932sci-tech0 commentstrackback

Super Bowl O’ Fun

The “Stillers” won, as I had hoped. Wahoo!

The important part, though, was all the fun commercials. I’ll be updating this post with links as they inevitably show up on Google Video and the like.

Turner talked about his favourites already.

I gotta agree on the MacGyver one. That was hysterical. Unlike Chris, though, I gotta say the Whopperettes were fun. I’m a sucker for dancing girls ;)

“Magic Fridge” was utter genius, and it was the only really good Bud Light commercial. FedEx’s “Caveman” was pretty funny, especially the part at the end where he kicks the little dinosaur. Loved that bit.

Ameriquest has been consistently very good with their Super Bowl commercials over the last two or three years, and the new “Doctor” commercial was no exception.

Sprint now has two good commercials: the “Push It” dancing office dudes, and “Crime Deterrent”, which was absolutely hilarious.

Also unlike Chris, I thought the Emerald Nuts commercial was genius. The regular ones were just kinda ho-hum, but they went over the top on this one, and it worked a lot better. Loved the druid under the stairs, too. What a great touch. I kinda wish they’d post a list of rejected phrases for that commercial.

Now, here’s the big one that nobody seems to have noticed.

The Honda Ridgeline commercial with the mudflap naked lady. It aired twice, and I was pretty sure I saw this the first time around, but the second time I around, I was convinced. My buddy Andrew definitely saw it too.

The chrome naked lady shows definite camel-toe when she checks out the Ridgeline’s tailgate and bed area!

Talk about your wardrobe malfunction!

So that leaves my Top Five Records-approved Top Five as, in High Fidelity order, of course:

The Ridgeline commercial gets an honourable mention for thwarting the censors.

UPDATE: Thanks to AdJab, I now have all the above linked.

posted on 06 February 2006 at 0015entertainment0 commentstrackback

Scary Photo of the Day

Readers who are Harry Potter fans may find this particularly disturbing. If you ever wondered what Draco Malfoy would look like dressed up in drag, look no further. And apparently Tom Felton’s alter-ego goes by the name “Evanna Lynch” and (rather appropriately) plays a schoolmate of Harry’s who is not a snivelling little no-good slimy weasel.

posted on 03 February 2006 at 1522entertainment0 commentstrackback

State of My Tuesday Night

Some down-home redneck in a suit was giving a speech on every single TV channel for about two hours last night. It kept me from watching Scrubs and Love Monkey. The speech went something like this:

Blah blah blah I CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE blah blah WE ARE STRONG blah blah WAR ON TERROR blah blah blah WE WILL WIN blah blah OSAMA BIN LADEN blah blah blah blah blah ADDICTED TO OIL blah blah NEW-KYOO-LUR blah blah blah GOD BLESS AMERICA

Feel my pain, Jedi Master Yoda does.

On a serious note, will someone please remind me why the SotU needed to be a Tuesday? There was nothing happening on TV on Sunday night. Why not pre-empt that? People are more likely to be home on the weekends, too, so if more than five percent of the population gave half a crap, the speech would probably reach a wider audience.

posted on 01 February 2006 at 1048entertainment0 commentstrackback