A new website uses twitter posts to glean information about when a person is not home. I’ve thought about this in the past - not necessarily about twitter but about all the other ways we let people know that we’re away from home (and might not be coming back for a while either). Think about it: do you have the newspaper delivered while you’re away, allowing them to accumulate in your driveway? Does your mail start to spill out of the mailbox if you haven’t checked it for a while? Do you put vacation pictures up on facebook while you’re still on vacation? Do you set your facebook status to “leaving for a one-week trip to Canada?” Do you change your voicemail message to reflect the fact that you’re not home?

Link: Please Rob Me

The song “Blessa” first got me into this group. Their album Causers of This is moody and melodic (the two m’s!!). It’s great for working or gettin’ busy. Giggity! Anyway, check ‘em out if you get a chance.

Other songs of note: “Minors”, “Lissoms”, “Thanks Vision”, “Talamak”, “You Hid”

Questions! That’s right - if someone sends you an email involving a task, make sure you send back questions on every little detail. Also helpful are the “should we” types of questions, as in “should we put a link to x on this page?” Since it’s likely no one will have a real answer to THAT question, you can be sure that a reply will take a while, and that reply will probably have questions as well. It’s the perfect way to make sure that a trivial task takes almost an entire day to get done.

I’ve figured it out. There is actually a downside to on-demand programming (tv, movies, etc) - choice. I have to choose what I want to watch. This really hit me when I was surfing the channel guide on cable and saw that Arrested Development was on. Now, I already have every season on DVD; why would I choose to watch it on TV with commercials? Because - there’s still the TV experience. The TV experience: allowing someone else to choose the programming for you. Watching that programming, warts (commercials) and all, and not having to make a decision. Even falling asleep, knowing that that content will still be blaring out at you. Waking up to a TV that’s showing you infomercials. On-demand is constant, unchanging, and it ends. TV, real TV, never ends.

…especially if you don’t have your own office, are surrounded by other people, and HAVE A FRIGGIN’ CAMERA AIMED RIGHT AT YOUR SCREEN.

Link: Banker Caught Looking At Nudie Pics On Live TV

So let’s see - I’m trying to fix the mess you guys made of the copier, and you’re following me around, giving me unsolicited advice….and then you tell me to smile? Who the fuck are you? And then, when I don’t smile, you remark “oh, you’re frustrated.” Well, lady, I wasn’t frustrated before, but I’m getting there now. How about this - you leave me the hell alone and I’ll fix the problem. Deal?

In all seriousness though, I did like this movie I Love You, Man. Paul Rudd has really come a long way since, uhh, what was it, Clueless? Jason Segel is great; I really liked him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall as well.

First, outsourcing our prisons to Mexico? Now, selling ad space on freeway road signs? Next thing you know, we’re going to have politicians who wear their endorsements on the backs of their suits. Actually, given the latest Supreme Court ruling that corporations can donate to campaigns, that might make sense. Prepare yourselves for next year’s State of the State - brought to you by Pepsi. It’s going to happen.

Link: Governor gearing up to sell ads on freeway electronic signs
Link: Serious or not, Arnold Schwarzenegger knows public opinion
Link: Supreme Court overturns ruling that prohibited corporations from running campaign ads on own dime

I’ve been listening to their new album, Dark Rift, and find it suitable for both working out and for programming. It’s basically electronica, with some pop thrown in. My favorite song on the album is probably “Goth Star”, but the other tunes are really growing on me. Altogether, the whole album is enjoyable — a rather rare phenomenon these days.

Songs of note: “Solid Gold”, “Trance Doll”, “Cyclical Cyclical”, “Dark Rift”, “Dimensional Rip III”