Best Spam Name Ever

I would have posted this over at the GeoPDF blog, but I'm afraid that it just wouldn't go down right. I've been having to skim my spam folder because we've been getting some weird false positives on some really important email. I've gotten so that I can't even see the spam and just pick out the stuff that shouldn't be there. But this name stopped me in my tracks: Irreligious C. Traitor. What in Sam Hill is this cat trying to sell? GNUS, delete this article forever!

Photo Burst

What's up with the photos? I signed up with Flickr. My flickr photo url is http://www.flickr.com/photos/rantzilla.

One Hump, or Two?

John in Atlanta asked about the Camel Lamp's humpage. If this is a one humper

I'm guessing the lamp must be a two humper...

Ambrose's Antidote: ABRIDGE

ABRIDGE, v.t. To shorten.

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for people to abridge their king, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.

Oliver Cromwell

daily dose of w

I look forward to seeing [Tony Blair] at Chequers. And we sat next to each other at my first EU (European Union) luncheon -- NATO luncheon -- anyway, at the first luncheon with leaders I sat next to Tony.

GWB
20 Jul 2001
BBC Interview.

Dominic's Lillys

Dominic Thomas dropped with some lillys. He was afraid they weren't going to work. Three popped the next day (recorded here for posterity):

They went so crazy, in fact, that Celine split them into multiple vases and put some Alstroemeria in with them to keep them company.

When is lamp more than just a lamp?

Behold the glory:

This remains one of my favorite wedding presents of all time. Because of the dramatic lighting, you might not be able to distinguish the stack of books upon which The Camel strikes majestic repose! It's mostly Huxley...

Multitasking my Ass!

Holy smokes! A real post! Anyway... a while back I posted a rant on multitasking. ACM recently sent out an article called Multitasking: Attention at Half Mast that dovetails nicely. Some key passages:

"It became a management fad and it sounds great if you've got an ever-increasing workload to try to do two things at once but, in fact, it turns out you're getting less done overall," Toronto career coach Robert Steinbach says.

"When you're dividing your attention on two tasks, you're not really present for either."

In fact, by trying to do two things at once, you're really compressing the amount of information your brain can access for either task.

That's backed up by a study last April of 1,000 office workers, commissioned by Hewlett-Packard Co., which found the distraction of checking e-mail or text messaging while doing another task can cause someone's IQ to drop between 5 and 15 per cent.

What's the task-switching cost?

The real problem in multitasking "is resuming work after a distraction," adds Dave Crisp, president of leadership coaching company Crisp Strategies Inc. in Toronto.

Without a strategy for recalling what you have done, you'll end up wasting a lot of time retracing your steps to get back on track, he says.

That can mean hours lost every day, conclude researchers Victor Gonzalez and Gloria Mark in the computer science school at the University of California at Irvine.

Following 36 corporate technology and finance employees in Southern California through typical office work days, they found that workers could seldom go more than 11 minutes before being interrupted by a phone call, urgent e-mail or discussion with a colleague they tried to handle at the same time.

But once their focus was shifted, it took them an average of 25 minutes to get back on track with the original task.

The researchers calculated that interruptions that require a shift of focus consume an average of 2.1 hours of every working day, or 28 per cent of the average person's routine, according to their report, published in September.

As Zippy might say: YOW! As PSan might say: Santa-ma-bitch!

Ambrose's Antidote: ABRACADABRA

ABRACADABRA.

  By _Abracadabra_ we signify
      An infinite number of things.
  'Tis the answer to What? and How? and Why?
  And Whence? and Whither? -- a word whereby
      The Truth (with the comfort it brings)
  Is open to all who grope in night,
  Crying for Wisdom's holy light.

  Whether the word is a verb or a noun
      Is knowledge beyond my reach.
  I only know that 'tis handed down.
         From sage to sage,
         From age to age --
      An immortal part of speech!

  Of an ancient man the tale is told
  That he lived to be ten centuries old,
      In a cave on a mountain side.
      (True, he finally died.)
  The fame of his wisdom filled the land,
  For his head was bald, and you'll understand
      His beard was long and white
      And his eyes uncommonly bright.

  Philosophers gathered from far and near
  To sit at his feet and hear and hear,
         Though he never was heard
         To utter a word
      But "_Abracadabra, abracadab_,
         _Abracada, abracad_,
      _Abraca, abrac, abra, ab!_"
         'Twas all he had,
  'Twas all they wanted to hear, and each
  Made copious notes of the mystical speech,
         Which they published next --
         A trickle of text
  In the meadow of commentary.
      Mighty big books were these,
      In a number, as leaves of trees;
  In learning, remarkably -- very!

  And the books of the sages have perished,
  But his wisdom is sacredly cherished.
  In _Abracadabra_ it solemnly rings,
  Like an ancient bell that forever swings.

         O, I love to hear
         That word make clear
  Humanity's General Sense of Things.

Jamrach Holobom

daily dose of w

I want each and every American to know for certain that I'm responsible for the decisions I make, and each of you are as well.

GWB
20 Sep 2000
From Live With Regis.

Unfortunately, he's right...

Ambrose's Antidote: ABORIGINIES

ABORIGINIES, n. Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize.

daily dose of w

Bush: I talked to my little brother, Jeb -- I haven't told this to many people. But he's the governor of -- I shouldn't call him my little brother -- my brother, Jeb, the great governor of Texas.

Interviewer: "Florida."

Bush: "Florida. The state of the Florida."

GWB
27 April 2000
Interview with Jim Lehrer of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Ambrose's Antidote: ABNORMAL

ABNORMAL, adj. Not conforming to standard. In matters of thought and conduct, to be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested. Wherefore the lexicographer adviseth a striving toward the straiter resemblance of the Average Man than he hath to himself. Whoso attaineth thereto shall have peace, the prospect of death and the hope of Hell.

daily dose of w

The Bob Jones policy on interracial dating, I mean I spoke out on interracial dating. I spoke out against that. I spoke out against interracial dating. I mean, I support inter--the policy of interracial dating.

GWB
25 Feb 2000
Candidate Bush was referring to the official policies of Bob Jones University. From CBS News broadcast.