Archive for May 2006
May 30, 2006 - 04:03 PM
"My cat ate your domain name."
Via
Overlawyered:
Morgan Stanley sought arbitration over a disputed internet domain, registered by a cyber "squatter" (similar to the same idea from real estate) – a teacher who used the domain in classes he taught. He then blamed it on his cat, named Meow.
No,
really:
According to Complainant, the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to its MORGAN STANLEY mark. Further, it alleges that Respondent has no rights or legitimate interest in the disputed domain name. . . .
Respondent alleges that it is a cat (sic: the domestic pet). According to Respondent, it allows Mr. Woods (a human) to use the domain name registration in providing a service.
. . . [Respondent] adds: "I do not in my private or my business life do anything in bad faith. I consider the statement an insult and a deformation of my character."
(Dang... I hate it when my character gets deformed.)
Mr. Meow lost the arbitration, and "mymorganstanleyplatinum.com" was returned to its rightful owner.
May 30, 2006 - 11:40 AM
Well, seeing as how I've gotten some mileage (at least seven – count 'em:
seven – pageviews) on the previous Da Vinci Code post, I'll follow up with this convenienty-posted-today bit from James Lileks – who
wasn't particularly impressed with Brown's book:
The writing, as others have noted, is bad – not unbearably so, but reading the book is like being borne along by a rushing stream of flat ginger ale. You're certainly going somewhere, but the medium of your conveyance lacks distinction. . . .
Those ancients: they revered everything. They worshipped the circle! Also the square. And, according to a 10th century French monk, the rectangle had certain mystical connotations as well, and that's why our beds are rectangular. Up until the Council of Sealy, convened by King Quoil, everyone slept in circular beds like the ancient Zoroastrans, beds from which no one ever fell . . .
And There's More! Go over and read the rest; Lileks lampoons the book as only he can.
I also wanted to note today that it's not a very good idea to put a mannequin in your passenger seat to fool the police while you
zoom up the HOV lane.
(Photo from the Local6.com "Strange stories, images" slideshow... I don't know if a link to the pic will survive, so I've mirrored it here.)
I mean, if Mike & Carol Brady didn't fall for those kinds of shenanigans, will the Colorado state troopers? I don't think so.
A man whose makeshift mannequin failed to fool police monitoring the high-occupancy vehicle lane on Highway 36 was sentenced Thursday to hold a sign alongside the highway reading: "HOV lane not for dummies."
Okay, enough outside links for today. Perhaps I'll actually write something tomorrow...
May 24, 2006 - 03:57 PM
I just finished The Da Vinci Code – listening to it anyway. (The unabridged audio book version was very nicely read.) Having heard so much about this book, I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Brown's work deserves much fuss, from at least two angles.
First off, let me say that I would recommend the book. At one or two points, I found myself getting an enjoyable tingle from an unexpected plot twist. Brown provides characters one can care about and identify with, and a story line that's gripping.
I'll admit that it seemed to be off to a slow start somewhat, but that's just because in the back of my mind I was thinking, "I
know this is going to get interesting with the Grail & Jesus topics... let's get to it already!"
But after a short while I found myself listening to it while making dinner, cleaning up, or putzing around in the morning. Maren thinks that me walking around getting our stuff ready for the day (lunches, etc.) while listening to it was cute. Hey, who am I to argue?
I was, as with any enjoyable book, disappointed that it ended. But I will say I was satisfied with the ending.
If books carried ESRB- or MPAA-style ratings, I would probably give this one M and PG-13. There is some brief sexual content (not explicit). No major violence, but some bullets fly and punches land. No strong language that I remember.
So, there's the reason in my view for one aspect of the fuss: it's a darn good book.
Okay, here's the other fuss: it's fiction, but it sure doesn't sound like fiction. All of the explanatory parts – and there are
many – sound more like a documentary than creative conspiracy-theory fiction.
The book falls soundly into the latter category, but may easily be mistaken for the former by people that would love to believe what it says about Jesus, the Catholic Church, and the Holy Grail.
And
what a conspiracy. It makes some major claims about those topics, and others, that are downright upsetting for Christians. Remember, people: this is
fiction.
Unfortunately, Brown doesn't present it that way nor give (in my opinion) nearly complete enough disclaimer about it. He leaves it in quite a grey area. I seriously consider that he might believe the claims in the book, or perhaps he wants the world to believe it and is purposefully vague about where the truth/fiction line is.
There seem to be quite a number of things that are historically inaccurate or possibly downright false. Some are more obvious than others. I won't go into examples for fear of spoilage.
So, I recommend you check it out of your library (if you can get it) or borrow it from a friend. Put on your "very large grain of salt" hat, and sit down for a good read/listen. When you're done, start looking on the web for the other side of the story so you can decide what's true and what's not.
This entry at Wikipedia is a decent start, but by all means, (1) don't read it until you're done the book – it's spoiler heaven (or hell, I guess) – and (2) check out the "external links" part of the article for more complete critical analysis.
And then, when you're on steady ground about what's true and what's not, spread the word and remind people that may be otherwise mistaken, that it's a work of fiction. Point them at your sources.
I'm going to start looking for audio books of Brown's other Langdon book,
Angels and Demons; and I look forward to the third in the trilogy which will be coming out next year (or so).
May 23, 2006 - 02:55 PM
I can't believe I forgot the funniest bit in
that last post. Thanks to Rene for reminding me! I guess it takes two to tell a story properly sometimes.
They asked us where we went on our honeymoon, and we answered at the same time:
She: "Paris"
Me: "The Grand Canyon"
Uh... oops.
We came up with a quick cover story about how she wanted to go to Paris, I to Arizona. Of course, we explained, she won and I was still bitter... but we had a darn good time in Paris. ;)
As it turns out, I was right in my guess that my brother in law & new wife were undergoing "timeshare-itis". Thankfully, according to comments, they managed to get out without signing their savings accounts away, plus they scored a few nights & dinners.
I'm upset on two counts: First, they got more free stuff than I did (apparently, so does everyone else... Disneyworld?!); second, I have no relatives with a timeshare in Vegas that I can mooch off of.
The injustice of it all.
May 19, 2006 - 01:22 PM
In
a post at Elena's Rose Cottage, she talked about her son and his wife getting room & board in exchange for listening to a 'two-hour presentation'. If it's what I think it is (timeshare or some such sales), then they are getting a good deal. I may be mistaken though; it would be strange that marketers could make enough sales to make up for the costs of the pitch. But then, my impression is that margins for timeshares are exorbitant. And you shall see why.
I've been in one of those 'presentations'; it was kind of fun. My friend Rene and I did it in Cancun – we were on vacation as part of a group. She and I went through a timeshare tour and sales pitch in exchange for discounted tickets to the ruins at Chichen Itza (or Xcaret... I forget).
The person who set up the appointment for us said we'd be better off if we pretended we were married... so we did. We were used to the idea of people in Mexico thinking we were, since every street vendor in Cancun called us newlyweds trying to sell us blankets for "the hoochie koochie" later that night. (For the record, for family members and other concerned citizens, there was neither hoochie nor any other kind of koochie going on.)
The tour & presentation were fun. The salesman pushed really hard, but we kept finding reasons to say no — it was a game, really.
It wasn't hard at first (well, duh, what did we want a timeshare for?), but the more things he threw at us to make it a better deal, the more stuff we had to come up with to counter the pitch. The funny thing is, we had him down to half price just trying to get the heck out of there.
Well, no, the funny thing was that there were a few moments where we actually
considered it. Probably while he left us alone for a few minutes to simmer... normal salesman technique, of course. The property was beautiful – we were very impressed and thought of what a great place it would be to stay. And, the more we said no, the cheaper it got... so when it started getting ridiculously cheap, we started wondering if we
should do it, and find some way to share the costs & alotted time. [
Looking back now, I kind of wish we had... ahh, missed opportunities - Ed.] Anyway, if he was that eager to sell at half price, you know the margins are out of this world.
We had a blast though. It was one big improv while we sat at the table in the 'sales room'* after the tour. I had my HS ring on my left ring finger, turned backwards to look like a band. We made up "our life" on the spot, mostly... though I'm sure we prepared a bit ahead of time. We were newly married that year, and just starting a business so we didn't know if we could afford a timeshare. Besides, honey, who would watch our dog while we are away? :)
It being an impractical idea, though, we kept declining until they more-or-less graciously said "well,
fine then" and let us leave. We walked out, discount vouchers in hand, feeling a bit dizzy from the high-energy atmosphere of the sales room.
We felt a little bad about the deception, but we rationalized it away pretty well. We had a great time on the tours. It was nice to get away from the drink-and-be-merry atmosphere of Cancun and see some amazing ruins. (If you ever go to Chichen Itza, go during the spring or autumn equinox for a
really cool sight.)
If I can find & scan the pictures from the trip, I'll Flickr some of them and post an update.
Postscript: While searching for a pretentious name for a dog (I found a doozy, no?), I found out that
indeed, people do sell everything on eBay.
* They pitched to all of their customers, separately, in the same room. All of the sales guys, and some of the pressure-ees, clapped when someone made a purchase. Reminds me of the Filthy Filter scene in The RM – *DING* "A sale! A sale! We got another sale! Hyeeahh!!"
May 19, 2006 - 05:10 AM
Two very recent headlines on tech "news" site
digg are making me wonder if I'm in the wrong business:
Monday the 15th:
Creative sues Apple over iPod interface
Friday the 19th:
Apple sues Creative for iPod patent infringement
"Nanny nanny boo boo."
What a waste of time. Unless you're a corporate patent lawyer.
Yes yes, short post... I'll add more later if I can.
UPDATE: As promised. Here's more. Yes, it's still a rip-off, but I did put up a whole new post as well. So "mleahhh".
I really like this site, Overlawyered ("Chronicling the high cost of our legal system"). They have a bunch of great/maddenning stories, including:
When is a plane more like a boat?
And a recent favorite of mine,
Paraplegic Activist Leaps From Wheelchair, Runs From Police:
Laura Lee Medley was making a regular career of filing claims against various Southern California entities complaining of violations of her rights as a wheelchair user under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Placed under arrest after police sniffed fraud, Medley leaped from her chair and led authorities on a brief chase which ended with her capture . . .
Yep. Wrong business, I tell you...
May 8, 2006 - 01:04 PM
Back in February 2004, Russian playwright Anton Checkhov was welcomed by an audience at a brief reading at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York City. He had an interesting story to tell about his welcome to the United States - apparently, President Bush gave him a cowboy hat:
I cleverly realized that if I had a new hat I would not need my old fedora . . . I removed my fedora, signed it with my autograph and presented it to the president. He accepted in [sic] most graciously. I was feeling very clever. He then turned to his aid and said, ?Put this on the shelf next to Putin's signed hat'. Putin... Putin... Putin is an idiot, a nincompoop. I actually did the same thing that idiot did, and the other nincompoop did it first."
If you think that's odd, you've missed the
really strange bit: Checkhov died in 1904.
It's not a ghost story... but a very well done joke - on the audience,
and the Barnes & Noble employees:
Improv Everywhere Mission: Anton Chekov
Take a look - I guarantee* you'll get a few chuckles out of the story. And while you're there, check out the
missions where they dressed 80 people up in Best Buy employee colors and stationed them in the store. Or the one where they slowly checked 60 backpacks & purses with cell phones into a book store 'bag check' counter and then proceeded to call them all in various combinations ("Cell phone symphony").
I wish this kind of thing happened around here. I love it.
*Or I'll refund your last month's subscription to LTF... or something...
May 5, 2006 - 02:32 PM
We had a family reunion last week, sort of. My wife's little brother got married, and it brought the whole family together.
This always prompts friendly political discussions (no, I'm serious). I enjoy them since I normally learn a lot from the well-thought-out opinions of my elders (
cough,
ahem,
etc.).
I was reminded again – I don't think about politics much these days – just how sick I am of both parties and their alternating between spending more than we have, bashing the other party, and getting nothing useful done. I'm tired of the noise.
There isn't a viable party I want in power in 2008 - not in Congress or the Presidency. In my opinion, the GOP is lying left and right, spending us out of house and home, and jerking around the little guy in favor of big business (so what else is new).
The Democrats, on the other hand, seem to spend their time bitching about the administration and telling us how
they can do a better job with those CUNNING PLANS! they talk about that (1) they don't describe – the masses wouldn't understand, you see – (2) no one
else under the sun has thought of for twenty decades; and (3) they can't act on until GWB lets the left side of Congress out of gitmo.
I keep hoping something else will show up to save the day in '08. I read
this Glenn Reynolds column today, and I have some renewed faith on that front - he believes that the media revolution could actually loosen the logjam.
The two big political parties of today seem a bit like the three big auto companies in the 1960s: Outdated organizations producing a product that consumers aren't that happy with, unworried about outside competition. Competition and consumer dissatisfaction dealt the Big Three a serious blow. The Big Two may want to start improving their own products before the competition arrives.
Let's hope for an american political version of Honda to show up and give our incumbents a run for their money.
