It gets ugly out here, people. This is from Greatest Living Poet, also home to the infamous Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
Category Archives: technology
always use authorized mechanics, and RTFM
Stolen from EliseTalk, via Fark.
Of course, I’m one to talk. I use my manuals to even out my wobbly desk.
That blithe disregard of indispensable training materials bears not at all on my ability to produce such items, should you be in a hiring mood, by the way. I have, in fact, produced a procedures manual for an authorized Honda dealer and service shop, so I feel the pain of the poor sod who poured the sweat of his brow and the expense account of his employer into the production of the manual for the exquisite Lotus Elise which you see here.
I handed them the tire tools and opened the Owner’s Manual to the jacking instructions so they would be clear. We went over all the instructions and they assured me I was in good hands.
We (my father-in-law and I both left)
1 hour later I get a call about the “accident” and that I needed to come down…
Diebold, Die Bolder: electile dysfunction
from MSNBC, which I always wanted to hate but which has, too often, far, far too often, taken up the slack that CNN has left as it happily knits itself into a fluffy, news-free straightjacket.
Man 1, Machine 0.
That’s at least one vote that can’t be interfered with; too bad the same cannot be said of the others in the machine. Or, indeed, the rest of the US.
“He came in here very peaceably and showed his ID, then he got on the machine and just snapped,” volunteer Gladys Pezoldt told the Morning Call of Allentown.
etiquette 2.0: iPod protocol
We here at the ol’ raincoaster blog are big Miss Manners fans, as you can imagine. Nothing gets our shrivelled little heart beating like a logical, clever, witty and irrefutable etiquette columnist.
So we’re a little strange.
We welcome to this rarefied sorority Margaret Mason, who, almost unique among iPodders, retains the ability to think straight while blasting James Blunt into her cerebral cortex.
Here, and not a moment too soon, are her tips for iPod etiquette.
There was a time when iPod wearers gave one another pretentious nods of solidarity. Once, users offered strangers a chance to “jack in” by handing over a single earbud for a few moments of music sampling.
Though it takes a special sort of person to miss the “Want this? It was in my ear” era, all of us have proven adept at finding new ways to annoy one another with mp3 players. Here are some basic guidelines for enjoying your music without sacrificing your manners.
Consider earphones a social cue.
Wearing earphones is like hanging a “do not disturb” sign off your nose. Like an engrossing novel, they help you avoid interactions with annoying strangers on airplanes or subways. Unfortunately, they send the same go-away message at work. That’s useful if you wear them only when you’re on deadline, but your iPod is more likely to irritate co-workers if you hide behind it eight hours a day. Which brings us to the next point…Respect no-Pod zones.
Mp3 players are unwelcome at weddings, funerals, and other gatherings, and also in classrooms or places of worship. This holds true even if you’re a sullen 13-year-old with inattentive parents…
Boris Johnson on webcameron
Stole this from, obviously, webcameron, whose bizarre insistence on iTunes and other commercial players like Realplayer essentially takes what could be a community-building tool, ie video podcasts, and makes it into something that can only be accessed on an individual basis. I don’t see why they want people to put this on their iPods but not their blogs, so being me I have subverted that. (I note that the current one is embeddable, has something changed? The archives can’t be viewed this way it seems, or am I stoned on cold medicine again?)
Besides, I could use a powerful enemy. Hits are down; need a flamewar. Bring it!
UPDATE: They brung it. YouTube killed the video after the Conservative Party yelped about the fact that their message was being freely distributed across the blogosphere. Can’t have that now, can we?
BTW to all those people who ask me who the hell Boris Johnson is, check it out; he’s the blond one at the end with the bust of Pericles and the housekeeping style incredibly reminiscent of someone you know. Also, he will show you what’s in his drawers. Anything for the party, eh? Those Tories will do anything to get elected, I’m telling you.
raincoaster 