Learned during a trip to Italy: Italians really do say “mamma mia!”

As I stood in line at a local restaurant the other day, holding my coupon in my hand, it suddenly occurred to me that I was being used.

Let me backtrack. I received a special offer for the restaurant by email. The coupon that I printed out had a special code to make sure I couldn’t use it more than once. Maybe it identified me by email address or serial number or something.

As I stood in line, I realized that when the cashier scanned my coupon, presumably the cash register would contact some central database, look up my coupon code to identify me, and decide whether or not to approve my coupon. So really, all I was was a conduit or messenger for one machine to transmit a message to another machine.

It’s a bit primitive and inefficient, if you think about it. If the machines are going to take over the world, they need to come up with a better plan. But then again, they managed to get me to act as a messenger and deliver their message. Maybe it’s already too late…

It’s like one of those car accidents you can’t pull your eyes from, and then at 2:18, everything changes…

better…off…ted? ted?! argh!

Hmm…I agree with stupidityfordummies’ rant about people’s ignorance of FDIC’s insurance limits. Most people don’t realize that despite what all the news is saying, the FDIC does insure some accounts for over $100,000 per person. That drives me nuts, too.

Totally mesmerizing time lapse video of the 2005 Simi Valley fires.

via boingboing

there really is nothing we won’t counterfeit, is there?

via boingboing

yippee! happy hot dog day!

i’m always interested in trying to figure out the reasoning behind a lot of decisions…i’m still scratching my head over a restaurant i saw last weekend called “ninja sushi,” located in a non-descript strip mall. i mean, who exactly are they trying to target?

“hey, let’s try ninja sushi. sounds like a place with fresh sushi!” – bzzzz
“hey, let’s try ninja sushi. sounds like a place with authentic sushi!” – bzzzz
“hey, let’s try ninja sushi. sounds like a place with…ninjas…eating…sushi???” – ding ding ding!

i recently bought a new computer that came with windows vista. after tinkering with it and getting frustrated with how slow it was, i spent some time changing this and that setting, and researching and following a lot of advice on the net on how to speed things up. a few days later, and i was still frustrated, especially after running the vista resource monitor to try to figure out the source(s) of the slowdowns managed to bring my already slow system to a halt, i figured out a very simple and relatively pain-free way to really speed up vista:
step 1: format hard drive
step 2: install windows xp
step 3: there is no step 3!

There are crowds…and then there are crowds. Click through to see a video of this jam-packed Tokyo wave pool in action…

in a fit of creative desperation (i ran out of hot dog buns), i decided to wrap a garlic naan around a hot dog weiner. is this the start of something new? nope. i tried it without any ketchup to get the pristine taste of a naan dog…well…it’s not bad, but it’s not particularly great. i think the garlicy naan adds to the saltiness of the weiner and the result is a particularly salty-tasting hot dog. will i do it again? probably not…

next time you hear someone complain about the price of gas, maybe you should point out that the u.s. has some of the cheapest gas in the world. maybe if more people focused on being more efficient with our gas instead of driving hummers that extra 100 feet so you have the closest parking space at the 24hr fitness, we’d all be better off.

robert adler, inventor of possibly the most important invention known to man: the tv remove, died on monday, at age 93. he was a prolific inve—click…

according to the billboard top 40 in this week’s rolling stone magazine…
barry manilow
the who
meat loaf
tony bennett
george strait
rod stewart
alabama
jimmy buffett
bob seger…
are all in the top 40?!?