Large Silent Sinister Menacing Floating Presence

Thanks to Gary and Chuq, I blew water out my nose when reading this. Highly entertaining.

Honey, can you take the AmEx out of the freezer?

The March 3 issue of Business Week features a blurb regarding controlling your credit card usage. In the past, the solution to credit card overusage has been to cut up the card–which leaves you stuck in the event of an emergency. A tip from the book Good Advice for a Bad Economy suggests that you put your credit cards in a sandwich bag full of water, then stick the bag in the freezer.
This way, you have access to the cards in the even of an emergency, but “impulses must wait for the ice to thaw.”

Something rotten in the state of Japan?

Gibson offers a “readymade” novel to anyone willing, founded upon this news item from Tokyo.

Banana Junior 6000

Tech gear lust can begin at an early age. For me, in 1985, I wanted a Banana Junior 6000. (Thanks to Gruber for the link.)
My personal favorites are “Fritos,” “Toaster Ovens,” and “I Think.”

tchotchke

Lee was not familiar with the term, so I pointed him to Webster’s, which defines it as a noun, Yiddish in entymology etymology, and means “trinket” or “knickknack.”
As I told Lee, the word saw a jump into the mainstream during the dot-com glory days, when those companies would give out all kinds of logo-emblazoned crap at trade shows, conventions, expos, and to anyone the marketing people ever came into contact with. Maybe too many tchotchkes is yet another reason why so many of them dot-bombed.
That said, I do appreciate a quality tchotchke, like the metal Apple luggage tag I received from them last year at MWNY.

Those lovable French…

Brian informed me that Rush’s stand-in nailed the French today:

Q: What did the leader of France say when Germany invaded?
A: Table for 100,000?
Q: Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees?
A: The Germans prefer to march in the shade.

R1

Michael has me gear-lusting after this. I’ve always felt more like a rice rocket kind of guy than one who’d straddle a hog. I’d like it in Liquid Silver, please.
Of course, my wife thinks I’m crazy…

54321

I just saw the motorcross commercial on Fox Sports (Southwest) for their show “54321.” The motorcross biker clapping at the end, after the doofus crashes the gate–just seems like something Dan would do. 🙂

What a great kid

Mark Newhouse’s daughter Jordan donated a 14-inch ponytail to Locks for Love on Valentine’s Day, and Mark has documented the event in the form of a QuickTime movie:

“Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children across the U.S. under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss.
“It takes ten to 15 donated ponytails to make one hairpiece because Locks of Love only uses lengths of 10 inches and longer. 80% of donors are children.”

Four-eyes

A little over two weeks ago, I joined the ranks of the bespeckled:

my new glasses

Eyemasters wanted $90 for the non-polarized clip-on sunglasses for them! Thanks to a tip from my dad, I picked up slip-on polarized lenses at Sam’s for 13 bucks. They don’t conform exactly to my lenses (they overlap slightly), but you can’t beat the performance for the price:
my new sunglasses

I have an astigmatism; according to my optometrist, I could have foregone getting glasses for another year, maybe more, but I decided to go for it now, while I have vision insurance! Sitting in front of computer screens 10+ hours a day, for both work and fun, as well as lots of reading for pleasure, helped spur the decision to get them now. I wasn’t really surprised; my dad’s worn glasses since I was a small child, and my mom has to wear them to read and drive, so it was inevitable.
The style is Chaps 51 by Ralph Lauren, just in case you’re so dazzled by them you want to rush out to get your own pair.