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United States, California, San Francisco, The Mission, English, Spanish, Casey, Male, 31-35.

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Thursday, April 25, 2002

Children and Meat.

"Take Our Daughters To Work Day" seems to have metastasized at our office into "Take Our [Screaming] Children To Work Day." Setting aside the social ramifications of changing "Daughters" to "Children" for a moment, they're nonetheless infringing on my celebration of "National Shut the Hell Up Month." (Link via The Roommate.)

We work at a pretty young company, so I'm not likely to see any High School Stereotypes walking around anytime soon, though I'd like to see some sullen teens who know how to work their computers better than their parents. At least they don't scream like the small ones do. (My High School Stereotype? The Goth. Duh.) (Link via Kris.)

In a strange coincidence, my father just called me from his work (he works for a large grocery store chain) on his cellphone. This is a strange enough thing on its own, but then he told me why he called: he's giving a Powerpoint presentation in about 15 minutes on a projector, and wanted to know why the meat in his pictures was showing up all black.(Link via Miss R.)

I thought about telling him that it must have spoiled on the hard disk overnight, but I figured he wouldn't have appreciated that right then.

01:26 PM PST (link)

Wednesday, April 24, 2002

When The Minutes Drag.

You know it's a slow day at work when I update the Diary. I got tired of online health tests and looking at local options for recycling computers and toast art. So sue me.

08:47 PM PST (link)

The Homoeroticism of Magnum Force.

"Eventually you lose the point, and people just say, 'There goes that guy!' 'Which one?' 'The one who said there was a point.' 'Oh? What was it?' 'I dunno, he just kept talking...'"

One of the greatest things about seeing Robyn Hitchcock live are the stories that he tells between songs. Like his music, it may not always make sense, but it's lovely to listen to. Plus the man can carve a mean pumpkin.

Oh, and someone we met at the show mentioned rumors of a new Soft Boys album in production, which I didn't find online. I saw that last year they rereleased Underwater Moonlight (with extra material too!), an album which has been sorely absent from my record collection. Until I can fetch it from the shop, there's always their live concert recordings in MP3 format.

11:02 AM PST (link)

Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Very French.

"No, that's not right," she said. "I wanted a latte. A double latte. With non...non-fat milk. And I wanted it hot. Make sure it's hot." I remember from my days of working in a coffee bar what 'Make sure it's hot' really means: 'I have no clue.' The barista took the incorrect beverage back to remake it. She waited for him, and looked up at the wall.

"That's a very weird clock," she said, actually cocking her head to one side like a cockatiel while she sized it up. "Very strange. It's a very...French...clock. Very French." The man behind the register came around the counter to look at it with her. She paused for a very long time, watching the hands go around. "I see the one, two and three, but the four is, like, this box sort of thing," she said. "The ten looks like a letter 'T'. And the nine looks like the symbol for pi...."

So I'm sorry to have to break this to the Japanese and Chinese, but your numbering systems are now French. Please adjust accordingly. Thank you.

01:32 PM PST (link)

Monday, April 22, 2002

Repeal Bohr's Law! Join the Brownian Movement!

Perhaps it should be pointed out that Feedback Instruments Limited (www.fbk.com), has nothing at all to do with the Flying Karamozov Brothers (www.fkb.com.) Thank you, Miss R.

The Brothers' current show, L'Universe, is a lot of fun. They're a great juggling team; they've thrown in a bunch of science humor and some performing arts technology out of the MIT Media Lab. And I love science jokes, clunkers and all.

Q: What's the difference between Max Factor and a Quantum Theorist?
A: Max Factor has models that work.

10:07 PM PST (link)