Yowsa

Yahoo! resignation form letter

This should make things easier.

Blogs blogs blogs

On the "Vanity Fair" Blogopticon.

Amazon slipping

Two nights ago I finished the graphic novel "52 vol 1," which I had bought at a used bookstore. Then last night I got one of those spam recommendations from Amazon, suggesting I purchase "52 vol 3." Not volume 2, volume 3. Do they think I want to jump ahead like that. Now it's true, I did seriously consider buying volume 2 the other day at that same used bookstore, so it's possible Amazon took that into account. But still, they should really get on the ball.

Yahoo! layoffs

• Getting Fired at Yahoo!: A Twitter Blog

The Internet: The Great Equalizer

My father-in-law is a very smart man. Not only is he a university professor, but he is very handy around the house. Today our dishwasher backed up and he went to work trying to fix it. I served as his assistant plumber. After several trips to the hardware store and several failed attempts at a solution, I found something in the dishwasher manual that related to failed drainage. It was Greek to me, but I did a search on a particular term that led me to a better explanation. I quickly put this new information to the test, and voila, it drained.

I am now a hero to myself.

My father-in-law is still smarter and handier than I am. But here is a real life example of how lack of experience can be mitigated by this vast repository of knowledge.

Way to go Tim Berners-Lee.

Crash

As experiences go, schlepping your iMac to the Genius Bar at the Apple store and watching the tech type in "Massive hard drive failure" is not high on my list of must-do-agains. There's no  retrieving any of my stuff, the guy said. My computer will be returned to me with a totally new, and totally-without-my-data drive.

Luckily, I had just backed up some important items about a week ago. But the consequences of this near-catastrophe are just starting to hit me. Calendar items, passwords, addresses, software that was given to me...it's a bonanza of lost 0s and 1s.

By way of demonstrating what a  miracle of modern technology the hard drive is, the Genius at the Genius Bar showed me the inside of one. Apparently, there's a little needle that hovers a billionth of an inch (that's what he said) over a disk spinning 7200 revolutions per minute, writing and retrieving your data. If something interrupts this delicate little arrangement, like you breath on it, I guess, you're screwed. He told me he services people that wind up sobbing all the time; he said the other day, a woman threw her purse at him when he told her they would not be able to salvage her drive.

I took it like a man. Meaning I dashed across the street to Virgin and bought cds to console myself. But you really don't realize how much of your life is dependant on your computer until you lose it.

Oh well. It's true I wish I were dead, but wudduya gonna do? Except back up, back up, back up.

I thought this only happened to Windows users.

Complaint for Amazon

HELLO Amazon!?!?! A Dildo is a featured choice on Health & Personal Care Weekly Deals?

Funny mash-up

• Video: 300 Kitties

Mobile malcontent

Hear how cell phone carriers prevent phone manufacturers from adding on useful, even revolutionary features.

• Mobile Malcontent (On the Media)

Remember the Flash Mob?

Here's a great Harper's article dissecting the planned rise and fall of the hottest trend of 2005, the Flash Mob. By its inventor.