Thursday, 04 June 2009

  • How the Xanga Team can Keep Their Jobs

    Xanga is a great place, and I always appreciate what the team members are up to. And I'd blog more often, but a lot of the tools that I want have never been implemented. Since the Team seems to be content on not updating services and slowly erroding in to the past, here is my wish list...
    1. I know Asia is your primary market at this point, especially Hong Kong. But quit ignoring everyone state side.
    2. An app for phones. You gave Hong Kong users mobile Xanga access, but you don't support XMLRCP or an open API. Every other major blog service has this ability. Do you enjoy being second rate? By mobile, I can update about 20 other blogging services, but not Xanga. God forbid you make it easy for people to use your service.
    3. The ability to save drafts. If I'm working on future posts, I have to do it in a text editor, G-mail, etc... This is unnecessary. To keep overhead down, give drafts a 30 day lifespan that is renewed upon modification.
    4. The ability to flag posts for future publication. I have tons of posts written up, and it would be lovely to have an automated way to publish them and the photos that go along with them.
    5. Either let Pulse pull in Twitter or let it push to Twitter. We want integration, not segregation.
    6. The ability to have my own domain
    7. With #6, make it flexible like Wordpress, or just give up now
    8. More supported HTML and Javascript code - I want my profile picture and header to change, but I can't connect that to code. Provide code, allow code, or just ban it all together. But don't do it hemipygus.
    9. With #8, some of us would like to use Google Analytics. Do you not trust Google? You have heard of Google, right?

    Read more...

Thursday, 30 April 2009

  • Swine Flu - It May Taste Like Pumpkin Pie

    This post has something for everyone.

    Swine Flu. I've been waiting for this moment (queue Phil Collins music) - something is finally more news worthy than Twitter! And if things go right for the flu and wrong for us, it might be more popular than Twitter. I prefer the days when Mexico provided cheap labor, lessons in crossing rivers, tequila, and coyote-related story plots for the 4th season of Weeds. Oh when will season 5 be upon us?

    I think it is interesting how companies and venture capitalists fail to distinguish the difference between a community and a business model. Twitter is a great community, but it is about as good a business model as hemorrhagic fevers, laser engraved hot dogs, or the Brady Bunch. Brady Brunch - did they ever market morning snacks?

    I'm not sure why the Brady Bunch made it in to that last sentence, but it did, and now we all have to deal with it. Oh, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. I'm glad that is as far as my Brady Bunch references go, because I never liked the show. They could have had the "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha Morning After Pill". Be sure to take it with food or a Brady Brunch.

    After the flu dissipates we can rebuild society according to the Georgia Stones. In the post-swine flu world, my new name is Usul.

    My grandfather Victor remembered the influenza pandemic of 1918. He was 9 when it struck. He once told me about how he took food to the homes of sick people. He also used to bootleg tequila from Mexico in to the United States. He'd load it in to the car, cover the stash with pillows and blankets, and then he'd have my mother and her sister pretend to be asleep on top of the blankets. No border patrol guard had the nerve to disturb two innocent sleeping Caucasian girls.

    Once in Mexico my grandmother hit and killed a cow. They didn't report the accident though, because it would have counted at as a criminal offense not a civil offense (unlike car wrecks in America). So they slipped money under the cow and left.

    After that incident, every year on the exact day of the fatality (I tried to make a cow pun there, but cow-tality didn't seem to hold up well) my grandfather would mail my grandmother a card that just said "Mooooooo" inside. They called it Cow Day.

    Speaking of cards, in Wal-greens I found this card and purchased it for myself. Aside from the cards I make, this is the best card ever. I've never made a better investment in my life.



    With this card no day or moment is ever less than exciting. Feeling down? Open the card! Feeling upset? Open the card! Want to feel even more awesome? Open the card again!

    I think the movie "Fast and Furious" should have been called "More Fast, More Furiouser". That title matches the command I imagine Vin Diesel has over the English language. At least Vin Diesel had the good fortune to be in Pitch Dark. Too bad all of his other movies have sucked. It is like being born as a Spartan child and then pushed off a cliff, except Vin didn't get pushed - he voluntarily jumped.

    Today I realized that the standard password I use is 17 characters long. If my password were a hot girl, she'd almost be of age. If you think that is strange, then think about how strange it was when I managed to slide that in to conversation with Laura.

    Sometimes she* looks at me strangely when I talk. (* = Laura, not the password girl)
    Currently
    300
    By Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
    see related

Thursday, 19 March 2009

  • I just flew in. Boy, are my arms tired!

    As many of you know, for Valentine's day Laura purchased stand-up comedy lessons for me from the San Francisco Comedy College. One of the perks of taking the classes is that you have access to the open-mic nights. And what is the point of taking the classes if I don't take advantage of all the opportunities they offer? So last night I performed at my first open-mic night.

    1. It was my first time to ever "entertain" a crowd (on purpose) on a microphone
    2. I had a 3 minutes time limit
    3. I'm actually not chewing gum in the video, though it looks like I am
    4. I forgot to look towards the people on the right-hand side of the stage until about 2 minutes in
    5. Only one joke bombed - And I knew it would
    6. I moved around a bit too much
    7. Yes, I harvested a lot of this from my blog
    8. Overall, It went perfect

    Your moment of Zen:

    If you're in the SF area and want to see my next stand-up set, drop me a line, and I'll send you the details.

Monday, 16 March 2009

  • Reading Glasses of Kool-Aid

    I've always loved to read. Many of us do, but I rarely make time to read. Over time, I've managed to buy more books than I ever have read books. I have magnificent shelves filled with finely sorted books that have perfect spines. Only a few books on my shelves have scoliosis - Fahrenheit 451, Timequake, Walden, and my collection of Calvin and Hobbes.

    I am on a quest to narrow the amount of time I spend in front of a computer monitor once I'm away from work, seeing as my job in IT consists of little else than staring at monitors. At the end of the day, I want my mind to be better. Though the internet is a vast landscape, I often find its oasises spaced too far apart and that I'm bored in route between them.

    I'm as fluent with the depths of the internet as anyone, but I feel as though I'm a stranger to the depths of chapters in books. I've been snorkeling too long, so I've set out to read more. I now receive subscriptions to Wired, Play, Geek, and the New Yorker, and I read each issue in full. It is a good feeling, though I am drowning in the New Yorker.

    You never realize how often "weekly" is until there is a visual reminder of it. And I almost feel shame as I look at the slowly growing stack of New Yorker magazines that seems to arrive before I can finish the previous issue and think to myself "Surely, You can read these faster than they arrive." (Hurray, self-efficacy!)

    I'm also breaking the spines of the books on my shelves.

    We (Laura and I, not me and my book shelves or magazines) ventured to the City Lights Book store, a brisk fifteen minute walk from our apartment, on Friday night. By far the best book store in San Francisco, it reminds me of the beloved Shakespeare & Co in Paris. Though City Lights is bigger and more clean, they both seem to have the same guiding principles. And City Lights is owned by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the last living beat poet.

    From City Lights, I purchased Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test". It is a smooth read. The words seem buttered. A passage can be read with such ease, that I'm always convinced I must have missed something. And Wolfe's style seems to be a blend of Arlo Guthrie and Hunter S. Thompson. Also, Wolfe must have been allergic to commas. He either removed as many commas as his editor would allow or he used few enough commas to not cause anaphylactic shock.

    Currently
    The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
    By Tom Wolfe
    see related

Saturday, 14 March 2009

  • Anything Flavored Review

    A few weeks back, I had a chance to try ten flavors of the Harry Potter Anything Flavor Jelly Beans produced by Jelly Belly. The idea of anything flavored jelly beans is a novel concept, but if you think about it, the majority of things in life are not edible for a good reason. They taste gross.

    candywarehouse_2041_118956263

    It is strange what people won't do, but will do. Under sane conditions, you would not try these flavors. You wouldn't order vomit flavored food from a menu. But if a company makes a novely gift sample pack, you'l find yourself having a tasting party with five friends.

    The taste of these candies is so uncanny an disturbing, you will quadruple check the list of ingredients. The other strange thing is - for some reason - we've all tasted these in real life somehow, which might be more disturbing.

    Dirt - This had that dry, soil taste you remember from being forced to eat dirt on the playground as a child. Like when you did a back flip out of a swing, caught your foot on the chain, ate a mouthful of dirt, and knocked yourself out during recess (true story). Or one of those real attic boogers that you fish out of your nose on a dry day.
    Scrumptiousness: Bearable, better than real dirt

    Grass - It tasted like a freshly mowed lawn smells with an additional hint of Dirt. Unlike eating from lawn, there is a lowered risk of dog poop being involved.
    Scrumptiousness: Better flavor than dirt

    Booger - The great news is, if you like this flavor, you don't need to buy anything in order to please your taste buds. You are your own factory.
    Scrumptiousness: Oddly familiar

    Earwax - Just like the real stuff. A bit sour. Find a Q-tip, and you can make the equivalent of a popcicle. The only downside, you ate this on purpose and not on accident when nibbling on your significant other.
    Scrumptiousness: Somewhat edible

    Soap - Now you can experience the taste of minimum wage at a Bath & Body store. The flavor attacks your taste buds with the same overload your olfactory receives when you're within a hundred yards of such a store. It also tasted like the flavored candle I once took a bite of on a dare.
    Scrumptiousness: Over-powering

    Black Pepper - I'm confused why they put a fairly normal taste in a sample filled with fairly gross flavors. It tasted peppery. Imagine that.
    Scrumptiousness: You can finish this

    Earthworm - A nice play on the flavor of Dirt. It could use a slimey finish though. Not as meaty as you'd expect.
    Scrumptiousness: Interesting, but nothing to write home about (blog instead)

    Vomit - Want to feel like a bullimic soccer mom for a day or a bird being fed? Pop a bunch of these. They have the same acidic, regurgitated taste as the real stuff. Except it is going down instead of coming up.
    Scrumptiousness: You might taste this both directions

    Rotten Egg - This is the only flavor I could not swallow. I tried, but after 5 seconds, I made a mad dash for the trash can, spit it out, drank a mojito, and still suffered flashbacks for the rest of the evening.
    Scrumptiousness: What the dead hooker in the trunk smells like

PopeOnABomb

  • Visit PopeOnABomb's Xanga Site
    • Name: Seth
    • Birthday: 8/8/1981
    • Member Since: 4/7/2003
    • True Lifetime

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