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Archives for July 2002
Amazon’s Lost The Midas Touch
I’m usually amazed by Amazon’s uncanny ability to make recommendations by comparing my previous online purchases to the purchases of others.
On one level it makes me feel a bit less unique as a person to know just how similar my preferences are to those of the unwashed masses. I tolerate this feeling because I know that Amazon has proven to be a true friend, thoughtfully recommending books and music I often end up enjoying immeasurably.
My only real complaint is with regard to Amazon’s “Gold Box Offers” promotion. The site says that the offers “are assigned based on the stores in which you’ve previously shopped.”
I have never purchased any hardware or garden products from Amazon, yet my Gold Box consistently contains such items. Today I received offers for the following:
- Lifetime Folding Picnic Table for 4, Bronze/Sage
- Lafuma RSX La Napoule Recliner Lounge, Black
- Omni-Swings ‘N Things 537 Brazilian Amazona
- Lentek PC02G PestContro Deluxe
- Weitech 0675 Mole and Gopher Repeller
If I had purchased any pest-control products in the past, I might understand why my Gold Box contained two such products today.
I would expect such a highly-marketed promotion to be better targeted.
Happy Birthday Milton
Milton Friedman will be turning 90 this coming Wednesday. If you haven’t already read Free to Choose, please follow the preceding link and order the book immediately from Amazon. You are square for not already owning it and if you order it online you may be able to spare yourself the embarassment of being publicly seen buying something that should already be part of your personal library.
My friend Elise Rivera took an absolutely incredible photo of Friedman chillin’ in sunglasses a few months back when Cato was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Friedman looked so cool I couldn’t resist using the photo to throw together a late 50’s Blue Note records album cover featuring the birthday-boy himself. As you can plainly see, Friedman is just as cool a cat as Miles or Trane.
Happy Birthday Milton.
We’re Not Gonna Take It
My friend Gene Healy hit the nail right on the head regarding Sarah Jessica Parker’s appearance in Sex and the City:
Moreover, with each passing season, Sarah Jessica Parker looks more and more like Dee Snider, lead singer for Twisted Sister.
Documentation
I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the best way to create user-documentation for web applications and I think I’ve settled on using LATEX.
I can write the documentation in VI while I develop and I’ll end up with a nice typeset PDF. I can also create web-based documentation using latex2html, which will convert my latex files to nicely indexed HTML. All in all, it seems like a pretty low-effort cross-media publishing solution.
Anyone have any better ideas?
The Food Odyssey
So Erin and I decided to get out of dodge for the 4th of July. We celebrated our national heritage by embarking on a pilgrimage to the best junk-food establishments in the northeast.
- The Charcoal Pit - 2002.07.04 (Wilmington, DE)
- Jim’s Steaks - 2002.07.04 (Philadelphia, PA)
- The Mayfair Diner - 2002.07.05 (Philadelphia, PA)
- Jersey Freeze - 2002.07.05 (Freehold, NJ)
Mmmmm. Lard.
From an article on dieting in the online edition of New York Times Magazine:
If you work out the numbers, you come to the surreal conclusion that you can eat lard straight from the can and conceivably reduce your risk of heart disease.
Notes to Self
- Tagalongs are cookies. Tagalog is a language.
- Etymology is the study of the historical development of a linguistic form. Entomology is the study of insects.
That’s Thinking Different…
While I’m not generally fond of commercials, I have to admit I love Apple’s new “Switch” campaign. One of my personal favorites is the spot profiling Dave Haxton, a programmer, who says that Apples aren’t just for “pointy-headed intellectuals from California.”
I stumbled across his personal page today. This guy really knows how to “Think Different” if you get my drift.
I Don’t Understand Either…
Once…a king gave a feast for the loveliest princesses in the realm. Now, a soldier who was standing guard saw the king’s daughter go by. She was the most beautiful of all and he fell instantly in love. But what is a simple soldier next to the daughter of a king? At last he succeeded in meeting her, and he told her he could no longer live without her. The princess was so taken by the depth of his feeling that she said to the soldier, “If you can wait for 100 days and 100 nights under my balcony, at the end of it I shall be yours.”
With that the soldier went and waited one day… two days… then ten… then twenty. Each evening the princess looked out, and he never moved! In rain, in wind, in snow, he was always there! Birds shat on his head, bees stung him- but he didn’t budge. At the end of ninety nights he had become all dry, all white. Tears streamed from his eyes. He couldn’t hold them back. He didn’t even have the strength to sleep. And all that time, the princess watched him. At long last, it was the 99th night… and the soldier stood up, took his chair and left.
Who wants to go see the director’s cut with over a half-hour of new footage?
I Don’t Blame Him
From the Washington Post regarding President Bush’s colonoscopy:
Bush said he decided to transfer powers to Cheney out of extra caution because the nation is at war. Cheney will be “standing by” realizing he’s not going to be president that long.”
Bullshit.
Bush transferred powers to Cheney because he wanted anaesthesia, which you don’t actually need for a colonoscopy. But you know what? I don’t blame him. When my time comes, I want to be out cold.
