Disqus - Latest Comments for weirdsmobile

Re: Weirdsmobile: Jupiter

B^2 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:21:06 -0000

It's really funny that you say that. I don't think you were reading Weirdsmobile back when it first started, but it was originally conceived as a blog community for people I knew who wanted to blog, but either didn't have the know-how to design/build their own, or wanted an outlet to blog anonymously.

I think it would be cool to go back to something like that. I guess it would depend on the level of interest out there. The landscape isn't what it used to be, though -- when Weirdsmobile started, there was no Tumblr or the huge amount of resources available for people to just jump in and start blogging. I'm thinking the idea that gave birth to Team Weirdsmobile has gone the way of the Model T, but who knows.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Computer Hell

B^2 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:32:06 -0000

Does BeOS count? :)

Fact is, I'm just not that adventurous. MacOS is what I know and love. I've made wholehearted attempts to go over to Windows, but in the end I keep coming back to Mac. I'm really not a computer hobbyist at heart -- if I could afford it, I'd buy the latest and greatest Mac Pro and that would be that!

Re: Weirdsmobile: Jumping The Gun

B^2 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:59:33 -0000

Well, I'll tell ya, I was hardly an early adopter when it came to an iPhone or any kind of smartphone device. I was pretty indifferent to them, because I truly believed I had no use for one. It wasn't until I bought Hannah an iPhone as an anniversary gift and started playing around with it that I got why people are hooked on Crackberries and the like. I guess it's actually kind of misleading to even call them phones, since that's one of the least-used features of mine. It's more like...a "lifestyle enhancement device." Wait, that sounds kind of smutty....

Re: Weirdsmobile: Jumping The Gun

B^2 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:54:17 -0000

Well, I guess it comes down to:

(a) Welcome to Apple. I've been using Apple products for 20 years, and that's just how it is. You get an iMac...the next year there's a faster, sexier iMac. There will never be an ultimate model of an Apple computer or iPod or iPhone that won't be upgraded. It doesn't bother me anymore. I'm glad that Apple is constantly innovating and improving their product line, and I just jump in whenever I'm ready to upgrade.

(b) I don't feel ripped off because the older phones don't become obsolete. There's a new iPhone and major new version of the iPhone software, but the new software works on older phones. True, my 1st-gen phone doesn't get all of the fancy new features that are made for the new phones, but everything my phone can get, it gets -- so much so that my old iPhone with the 3.0 software truly feels like a brand new phone.

As a matter of fact, I think one of Apple's chief strengths as a hardware/software company has been that they go to extraordinary (and unnecessary) lengths to support older hardware. There are decade-old Macs that can still run OS X!

It's an issue with all gadgetry, really -- if you're the kind of person who always has to have the "latest and greatest," you're always going to bounce between early adopter euphoria and the inevitable crash when the new stuff comes out. And of course electronics makers know this and capitalize on it. I figure, if you're going to own this stuff at all, you have to either be wealthy enough to keep buying the new models as they come out, or adjust your mindset to avoid the "latest and greatest" mentality. You just have to remind yourself that there's always going to be a newer/faster/cooler model around the corner, so there's no point in even thinking about that, or letting those pointless concerns deprive you of something you could really enjoy.

My old ass iPhone was perfectly usable when the next-gen 3G came out last year, and I didn't want the new features enough to dish out the bucks for a new phone. This year, though, the 3G S does have some compelling new features that do, in my mind, make upgrading worthwhile.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Jumping The Gun

B^2 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:06:24 -0000

I've been pretty happy with the iPhone's battery life, though I'm not as heavy a user as some. The first year I had one, I was working full-time at the dry cleaner's, and battery life was a concern because I was using the iPhone all day. Most of my use there was listening to podcasts (about 8-9 hours a day), some Internet use (maybe a half-hour a day) and a bit of talking on the phone (maybe an hour a day at most). If I remembered to recharge the phone the night before and started out at 100%, I had no problem getting through the day without charging.

Nowadays I don't use the phone as heavily, and I keep it docked for at least a couple of hours during the day for iTunes/iPhoto syncing, so battery life is rarely a problem. Over the past year, I've only had the dreaded "10% of battery life remaining" on a few occasions, usually when I'd forgotten to recharge the night before, or the (very unusual, for me) days when I was on the phone for several hours. I do use various power-conserving tips, like keeping the screen brightness low and only having the phone retrieve mail on demand, so that helps.

Battery life is, of course, a problem when travelling. That's when I'm least happy with the iPhone, since I can't carry spare batteries on the road. I have a car charger, so it's not a big issue on road trips (except during long trips where Hannah and I are both using our phones and have to trade off on the charger), but long plane trips are a problem. I generally spend any spare time between flights at one of those charging stations. If I flew more often, I'd invest in one of those airplane adapters.

So, I have no major complaints about the iPhone's battery life, but again, that's only because I'm a diligent servant of this thing and make sure to recharge it nightly. The fact that I've become enslaved to this gadget, I'm not sure how I feel about that, and I'm not gonna get into it!

Re: Weirdsmobile: Thots

B^2 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:12:52 -0000

I hear ya. I have mixed feelings about Twitter. I started out pretty skeptical about it, then got into it bigtime when I discovered the fake-celeb and comedian Twitterers, but after a while I got tired of the scene. Since then I've been drifting on and off.

What I'll say in defense of Twitter is that it really is what you make of it. It's like when personal weblogs first took off -- there were plenty of critics who jeered at the idea of a bunch of narcissists recording what they ate for breakfast. In other words, exactly what people say about Twitter now. But as the number of weblogs grew and people started using them for all kinds of different creative, informative, community-building purposes, the potential of that medium became obvious to everyone. Man, I wish there had been such a thing as buying stock in the concept of weblogs. I would be a wealthy man today.

I see Twitter as an extension of that idea. The genius of Twitter is that you basically create your own community. There are all kinds of people, voices, and interests on there, and you don't have to follow anyone you don't want to. Don't like the webcock and one-liner crowd? Don't follow 'em. Again, it's like with weblogs; early on, you could see the word "weblog" and have a pretty accurate idea of what that meant. Now, it could mean almost anything. It's more a descriptor of the platform than the content. Same with Twitter -- it's a platform, a way of saying things, but it's already way too diverse to be pigeonholed in terms of content.

I'm on Facebook and I like it okay, but I don't find myself saying much there. Part of the problem is that it is a network of friends and family -- and high school/college classmates, and distant relatives and acquaintances, and basically a big group of people you may or may not be able to express yourself freely around. As a result, I find it a little confining. It really is, for me, mainly a "here's what I'm doing" kind of thing. Whereas I feel a little freer on Twitter because most of the people following me there are doing so because of what I'm saying, and not just because they know me from somewhere.

Like I say, though, I'm sort of hot/cold when it comes to Twitter. I believe in the concept, but it also brings up the same kinds of issues regarding online social connections and openness and Dealing With People as blogging or any other Internet thing, except maybe even more so. And yes, it can be an incredible time suck, or if nothing else, a severe distraction. It's certainly not for everyone. Whether or not it's for me, or if it is, then how I want it to be -- the jury's still out.

Re: Super effective ways to cool the flames of anger

B^2 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:09:30 -0000

I've been trying to find ways to lessen my anger lately. It's usually road rage kind of situations that get me fired up. One thing that's helped me is to look back at anger incidents after the fact and think about the effects and consequences. Realizing that my angry responses (a) have absolutely no positive effect on the situation that is making me angry, and are therefore useless; and (b) accomplish nothing but ruining my day and making me a crabby asshole, at least gives me something to think about before getting angry next time.

I also think that, like the magic penguin, a lot of anger comes from artificially inflating the importance of things. I mean, in any kind of wider scheme of things, some dude cutting you off on the freeway is absolutely meaningless, yet in the moment it can be the greatest insult anyone has ever laid on you. Come to think of it, most angry situations in life stem from not being able to think beyond the moment. Whoever came up with that "living in the moment" idea should be sued for malpractice.

Re: Hey weirdsmobile!

B^2 — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:50:00 -0000

No problem! I like your content, and your Tumblr title was the clincher!

(Oh, and if my "follow" link isn't working, you can also do it from your dashboard, by going to the list of people you're following and entering my username (Weirdsmobile) in the form on top of the page.)

Re: Episode Seventeen: En Route From The Twoot

B^2 — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:02:51 -0000

Best Dr. Phil ever.

Re: I hope I don't break it...

B^2 — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:32:50 -0000

I'm seeing it!

Re: Twitter queue backup unjam

B^2 — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:46:45 -0000

That Shakespeare rap item reminded me of this Onion article:

"Shakespeare had the tightest flow in the history of the English language. His iambic pentameter couldn't be touched by the other MCs, although player-haters think he sampled heavily from Ben Jonson."

Re: Weirdsmobile: Podcast 17

B^2 — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:10:48 -0000

I hope you like it! We're all out of practice and rusty again!

Re: Weirdsmobile: Working On My Night Cheese

B^2 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:33:12 -0000

Ha! Yeah. "I heard you singing 'Night Cheese.'" Love it.

I totally forgot about that Seinfeld episode. Hilarious! I did once try the actual Da Vinci schedule, and I could see how it might work, but I don't know -- I love sleep too much! I'd be happy just to lose the daytime drowsiness.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Update

B^2 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:15:29 -0000

We did go to school with Stephen Woodworth (he was a senior when we were juniors), but I would like you, him, and most importantly, his lawyers, to know that Steven Woodworth (note the non-actionable "v") is unrelated to our former classmate.

There is a bit of a subconscious association, though. When I knew him in high school, he was a nerd who seemed completely oblivious to his nerdiness, so he was the butt of some jokes, especially among the journalism staff for some reason (there's a funny, or at least painful, story here that will have to be told elsewhere).

So years ago when I first created this "Steven Woodworth" character, I was envisioning a guy who had absolutely zero self-consciousness, and that name just popped into my head. I'm pretty sure "our" Woodworth has nothing in common with Steven other than that blithe unawareness of/disregard for his own uncoolness, a quality I actually respect.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Update

B^2 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:27:45 -0000

Yes! I'm not sure what it is, but when I think about updating my blog, I do feel like I ought to provide something more substantive than just a ridiculous photo I found on the web. But on Tumblr? Sure, why not! Man, thank God there are all these means now to efficiently and quickly spread useless crazy crap all over the world.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Last Night A DM Saved My Life

B^2 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:40:44 -0000

So true, about the people you play with. I guess I have the same conditions. I think I would have to be part of a group of friends who decided to play D&D, rather than trying to make friends with a group that plays D&D.

And yeah, since I stopped while it was still version 1.0, and the rules are at, what, 4.0 now? Too much catching up!

Re: just . . . jessabelle. - I’ll admit it, this is completely gratuitous. ...

B^2 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:31:14 -0000

Smoke! Okay, right. To me it looked like she was wearing some kind of maxi pad and he was pulling shredded strands out of it with his teeth. I thought, kinky!

Re: Normal, functioning people and grammar

B^2 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:14:29 -0000

I think maybe poor grammar/spelling online is like going out dressed in ratty sweatpants and an ancient t-shirt with holes in it. It doesn't necessarily mean you don't know how to dress well, just that, sometimes, you just don't care how you're presenting yourself to the world. There are a lot of cases where I'm astounded by someone's apparent laziness or shoddiness in some way, but that's just my own bias, assuming that everyone would care as much as I do about that thing. But then there are so many aspects of my own life that I can't be bothered to care deeply about (see sweatpants/t-shirt above), that probably horrify those who do care!

I do think there's some weird Internet aesthetic that's developed, that promotes deliberately bad grammar and spelling. I don't know if it maybe started with all the LOLs and BRBs from chat rooms, or from 133t-speak, but it definitely reached some kind of tipping point with LOLcat-speak, and now writing online like you have some kind of severe mental disability is the mark of being Internet savvy. I mean, people don't even write LOL anymore...it's devolved to "lawlz" and variants. Even though I find this kind of thing hilarious, it does make me wonder how far it's going to go. In five more years, are people even going to be writing in recognizable words anymore, or just weird gurgles?

Re: Where Ed Henry Learned The Importance of the Follow-Up - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

B^2 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:38:51 -0000

I guess Ed Henry's kind of a tool, huh?

Re: Any way to truncate long URLs in comments?

B^2 — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:36:32 -0000

Hi! I'm trying to get a before/after screenshot together, but I had to restore the comment that is causing the problem, and the "recent comments" widget on my sidebar (where the issue is) is taking a while to update.

The URL is indeed being truncated, but in such a way that it seems to still be pushing out the table it's located in. This does NOT happen in Firefox, by the way, only in Safari. So I'm confused about what exactly it is that is causing the issue.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Dirty Fucking Hippie

B^2 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:24:00 -0000

NOTE: I had to delete Kevin's comment because he included a long URL that stretched out the sidebar and distorted the layout of the page. I will repost it below.

FYI...please DO NOT post URLs here in their entirety. Use html tags to create hyperlinks. Thanks!

****
Kevin wrote:

For a good chuckle, check out Rick Steves' appearance at the 2007 Hempfest here.

I haven't been back to Iran since my family left in 1975, when I was six. I remember a few things, like going to American school (yes, American school!) and visiting friends and relatives. Not much else. I'm actually surprised what Steves is saying is so surprising to you. I thought already you knew about the issues he brought up in the Salon interview.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Dirty Fucking Hippie

B^2 — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:06:06 -0000

Well, I've read various accounts over the years of Iran's political history in the latter half of the 20th century, so I'm aware of the issues Steves talks about in his interview, but what's so fascinating to me is Steves' perspective as a travel writer instead of a historian or pundit or intellectual. I just haven't been exposed to very many accounts of Iran from an ordinary traveler or Iranian-on-the-street. I mean, Persepolis was terrific, but as a personal memoir its viewpoint is necessarily kind of limited. And a lot of other accounts of life in Iran are written by expatriates who focus on the theocratic oppression and aren't giving what I'd call a sympathetic account of what motivates the Iranian government and those who support it. It's just a different angle than what I've seen before, coming from a source I wouldn't have expected, and is therefore, for me, eye-opening and surprising.

Re: Weirdsmobile: Dirty Fucking Hippie

B^2 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:26:27 -0000

Yah, it's probably just my imagination, but now when I see him on TV, I can kinda see the pothead! I can totally see him kicking back with a bong and some mellow tunes. Frankly, if I traveled for a living and had to deal with airlines all the time, I probably would need something to chill me out.

I don't remember when it was that you left Iran. Do you remember anything about it? Have you been back since?

Re: Weirdsmobile: Dirty Fucking Hippie

B^2 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:23:30 -0000

Haha. Progress!

Re: Weirdsmobile: Dirty Fucking Hippie

B^2 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:22:07 -0000

Just got done watching the Rick Steves special. Even having read the history of events, it's so much more affecting to actually see the country and people and see the history, y'know?

What really made an impression on me from watching the show is that what Iranians are upset about is not America per se, but American imperialistic interference in their national affairs. I mean, for cripes sake, the CIA removed the democratically elected leader of their country and installed a fucking brutal despot. Gee, I wonder what their beef is? Yeah, they hate us for our democratic freedoms, all right.

You'd think it'd be a lesson to our leaders that the despotic theocracy Iran has now that is so problematic for us now is a direct result of our meddling. The fact that the neocons' remedy for this situation is...more meddling is just...just...