Light Bulb

Argile: Senator Kennedy died. Sadness.

Sent at 8:56 AM on Wednesday

Sven: yeah, that was a bummer

last Kennedy standing

Sent at 9:00 AM on Wednesday

Argile: well, if Schwarzenegger has a son somewhere, he’s technically a kennedy

Sven: yeah…i guess i meant from his generation

usually kennedies are supposed to die young and violent

Sent at 9:04 AM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, good point

I’ve got training every wed. and thurs. for the next couple of weeks, from 8 – 9:30 or so

it’s for staff, not just fo rme

Sven: fun

Argile: which means the majority of it will be redundant and annoying

Sven: double fun

Sent at 9:07 AM on Wednesday

Sven: so i take it training got done early today?

Sent at 9:09 AM on Wednesday

Argile: it was orientation sort of stuff

Sven: gotcha

heh, you have training wed and thurs, i have class wed and thurs

funny how that worked out

Sent at 9:11 AM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, except I’m getting paid for my classes

Sven: shaddap

Argile: and I don’t have homework

Sent at 9:15 AM on Wednesday

Sven: yeah yeah yeah

Sent at 9:17 AM on Wednesday

Sven: so i ended up having to miss Rescue Me last night

Sent at 9:20 AM on Wednesday

Argile: because you were out with a smokin’ babe?

Sven: uh…yeah

if by that you mean, one of my roommate’s friends had some coupons for free bowling

i bowled a 118 and a 187, so i was happy

the 187 included 4 strikes in a row, so that was pretty friggin’ awesome

Argile: nicely done

Sven: thank you

i don’t suppose you ever ran into Anita Bonavita at college?

she was the one with the free bowling what-have-you, and she was  in the J-school

Sent at 9:25 AM on Wednesday

Argile: nope, she seems older than us

Sven: yeah, she is

she knew billy, so i figured i’d run it up the flag pole

Sent at 9:30 AM on Wednesday

Argile: yep, but I didn’t know many older students in the j-school

they keep that place pretty rigid in terms of classes

Sven: gotcha

no big deal, just curious

Sent at 9:32 AM on Wednesday

Sven: anyway, the important thing to take from this is that i got a turkey+1

Sent at 9:36 AM on Wednesday

Argile: an achievement to be proud of, definitely

Sven: so, any crazy shenanigans for you last night?

Sent at 9:39 AM on Wednesday

Argile: well, I was exhausted, so I was plannin’ on taking it easy

then, Katie calls and wants to go to the gym, so I go do that

then I’m relaxing, doing some reading and at 11:30 I get a call from a couple of people down at a bar who are too messed up to drive

so, after making clear that this is a one-shot deal, I wind up driving their punk-asses home

though it was pretty hilarious watching this girl stumble around her apartment in search of drugs

she was bouncing off of walls, into door frames, etc. She lit some incense and basically dropped it on the carpet, so I had to rescue that thing

Sven: wow

at what point does one finally say “i’m getting too old for this kinda shit”

Sent at 9:46 AM on Wednesday

Argile: I already have, the girl who has been causing these issues is now in Europe for 6 months

these two ppl decided to move back to town last week

they don’t have jobs, just doing the drinking and applying thing

Sven: how responsible of them

do i know either of them?

Argile: you remember that christy girl?

Sven: her?

Argile: ja

Sven: then that’s a yes

if memory serves, she’s kind of a psycho

Sent at 9:50 AM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, there’s not much left of her

she’s in the “does so many drugs she forgets to eat” camp

Sven: that’s pretty dangerous

her parents must be so proud

Sent at 9:52 AM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, they’re college professors, I think they’re still doing the “deny, deny, deny”

Sven: a very healthy method of dealing with issues

Sent at 9:55 AM on Wednesday

Argile: I use that all the time when it comes to things like bills

Sent at 10:03 AM on Wednesday

Sven: I never really liked paying bills…I don’t think I’m gonna do that anymore either

Sent at 10:05 AM on Wednesday

Argile: And I’m totally trashing the copier

Sent at 10:06 AM on Wednesday

Sven: sorry that took so long, my boss starting talking to me

Argile: it’s alright

“The average cell-phone customer in Sweden and Finland pay $11 or $12 a month” for their cellphones

sigh.

Sven: depression

Argile: Good article though: http://bit.ly/12PnG1

Sent at 10:30 AM on Wednesday

Argile: You know what’s fun? adding email contacts because I’m bored, that’s what’s fun

Sent at 10:45 AM on Wednesday

Sven: sounds like a real riot

Sent at 11:02 AM on Wednesday

Sven: i was just on a phone call w/my boss and a guy from fleetmatics, does GPS/equipment usage tracking

my boss is really interested in this, so i’ve been busy going over this stuff with him

kinda cool stuff you can do with it, really

sends an email notification if a truck or machine has been idling for longer than x minutes

notification if a machine or truck leaves a certain unauthorized radius

Sent at 11:05 AM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, because nothing raises company morale more than “I will be tracking your every move”

Sven: well, when you’re hemmhoraging cash, not much you can do

Sent at 11:08 AM on Wednesday

Sven: looking at our costs, and how much this program would cost…

their estimate is that this saves 10-20% on fuel costs

even at just 10%, it pays for itself plus $200 a month above

Argile: so it tells you that the truck is still idling, then you call the person to shut it off?

Sven: yep

Argile: is it you that gets to monitor this?

Sven: probably

but actually, my boss likes this so much, it sounds like he’ll get a kick out of calling a field guy and telling him his machine’s been idling too long

Sent at 11:14 AM on Wednesday

Argile: k, just remember that the time spent monitoring and reacting to the issues eats into the cost as well

Sven: sure…but consider how little i have to do around here…

Sent at 11:16 AM on Wednesday

Sven: if anything, it increases utilization of me

Sent at 11:17 AM on Wednesday

Sven: an asset that is currently under-utilized

although no one here is aware of that

Sent at 11:18 AM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, probably wanna keep it that way, too

Sven: that’s the plan

anyway, if you think about it, this no more invasive of employee privacy than monitoring internet usage

Sent at 11:21 AM on Wednesday

Argile: woo! numbers! http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1114

and yes, I’m essentially choosing to abandon our previous conversation

my ADD whimsy has led me onto more shiny things

also, monitoring internet usage can be hacked/defended against if the person knows better

Sven: which makes that “violation” of privacy more acceptable

Sent at 11:37 AM on Wednesday

Sven: you must be very tickled with that mac/pc article

Argile: just a little bit

Sven: my computer runs tiger

and i bought it before 2007

Argile: so you’re screwed?

Sven: i would be if i was planning on upgrading to snow leopard

as it is, i’m going to be buying a new computer anyway

eventually

Argile: also cool, I found a way to stream video through PS3 to TV from PC

Sven: that’s a lot of stuff involved in that stream

Argile: yeah, and you might think it’s pointless as the PS3 can play DVDs

Sven: but i’d be wrong?

Argile: but remember that netflix (and only a very limited version) runs only on xbox

well, yeah, the video stream carries plenty of data, but no more than what’s already streaming towards your computer

Sven: netflix only runs on xbox?

Argile: microsoft paid for exclusivity

which basically means that there’s a netflix app for the xbox while there isn’t one for ps3

Sent at 11:43 AM on Wednesday

Argile: however, streaming movies on xbox is heavily restricted: http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/05/upcoming-netflix-update-on-xbox-360-is-still-gimped-microsoft/

Sent at 11:44 AM on Wednesday

Argile: not to mention that the service I’m talking about includes: http://www.themediamall.com/playon#how-it-works

Sent at 11:46 AM on Wednesday

Argile: and before you balk at the price tag, consider a one time $40 payment vs. paying for cable every month

just turn on an episode on the computer and beam it to the living room, make dinner, etc.

Sven: neat

so…it’s just the streaming that’s exclusive to xbox, right?

Argile: yeah

Sven: you can still get an actual DVD from netflix and play it on a PS3, right?

Argile: oh yeah

Sven: ok

i was ready to panic for a second

Argile: erm, I don’t think they could change the DVD format to only play in certain DVD players

Sven: well, i sure wouldn’t know

Argile: particularly since netflix doesn’t make the actual dvds

you’d basically have a riot on your hands if microsoft managed to get every dvd publisher to make their discs exclusive to xbox

you’d invalidate everyone’s dvd players…

Sven: which would be funny, in a way

Argile: yeah, I think it would last about 2 seconds before anti-trust regulators smashed that to pieces

Sent at 11:53 AM on Wednesday

Sven: which would also be funny

what a show

Sent at 11:55 AM on Wednesday

Sven: sweet

one of our vendors dropped by with quiznos for us

i’m so happy right now

Argile: boo

I’m a take my lunch break now. going to read and eat nutrigrain bars

hurrah!

also – there were glazed donuts in the office this morning

Sent at 11:58 AM on Wednesday

Sven: he also brought us cookies

Sent at 12:02 PM on Wednesday

Argile: hah: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/08/25/Monkey-suited-man-arrested/UPI-46171251246255/

Sven: without even reading the story, i can already tell it’ll be awesome because of the words “monkey suited man” in the link

lousy australian pigs

why would you hassle a guy in a monkey suit?

he wasn’t hurting anyone

Sent at 1:25 PM on Wednesday

Argile: loitering outside of the store?

he might try to kidnap people, or the store might not want him on their property

for more stupidity, see: http://bit.ly/oW1mg

Sven: he was dancing for customers, and hugging them

let me tell you, i’ll happily frequent a store with a guy capering around in a monkey suit

Sent at 1:28 PM on Wednesday

Argile: uh huh, especially if the guy is a perv who just wants to get cuddly with you

Sven: you’re right

we should also arrest the guys dressed as mickey mouse and donald duck at disney land

i bet they don’t give you their real name if you ask them

Sent at 1:30 PM on Wednesday

Sven: and, in reference to your article, it’s  not surprising that businesses would rather spend a ton of money on legal fees, etc. than to make responsible changes to their business models

Sent at 1:34 PM on Wednesday

Argile: true. though it must be noted that mickey and donald are interviewed and background-checked, not to mention in a high-public area with police constantly in surveillance

joe Monkey was on his own, coulda been anyone, and the possibility of supervision was random

Sven: it’s still in a very public place

and the guy’s in a monkey suit, for chrissakes

that’s probably the most conspicuous outfit there is, not very conducive to child snatching

and trying to whip it out while wearing a monkey suit would be cumbersome at best

Sent at 1:37 PM on Wednesday

Argile: but why wouldn’t he tell the cops his name?

and if you say that it’s about the illusion of being a monkey, then he deserves to be in jail for being a moron

Sven: well, and this fact is lamentable, stupidity isn’t a crime

i don’t know why he wouldn’t tell them his name either

i agree, that’s weird and would have saved a lot of trouble

but if he had told them his name, would they have stopped hassling him?

Argile: they would have told him to leave, I’m sure

but if you cooperate, odds are you’ll be better off

Sven: sure

and once the cops were called, yeah that was going to be game over

the cops can’t show up and then leave him alone

but the fact that they continued to hassle him, set bail, and re-arrest him for trying to get on a train seems extreme

Argile: lol, they told him to leave town as a bail condition

they re-arrested him coming back into town after he’d left

Sven: yeah, but that bail condition makes no sense

at the end of the day, it’s just a guy in a monkey suit that didn’t tell a cop his name

i guess, when guns are controlled, cops have time for other matters that american cops really wouldn’t have the time or resources to bother with

Sent at 1:45 PM on Wednesday

Argile: http://bit.ly/OaCac

darn foreigners taking our internet…

Sent at 1:51 PM on Wednesday

Sven: yeah…

we need an internet wall

like the wall we need on the mex-ee-can border

patrolled by alligators

Sent at 1:55 PM on Wednesday

Argile: or meth addicts

Sven: yeah, those’re pretty scary

Sent at 1:57 PM on Wednesday

Argile: I think I’m getting west nile

Sven: oh?

Argile: yep, world’s all hazy, eyes are fuzzy, and visions of pharaohs are dancing in my head

Sven: textbook west nile symptoms

Sent at 2:03 PM on Wednesday

Argile: yep. also – I have a strong urge to go to hawaii.

Sven: you may want to see a doctor

Argile: and I’m listening to japanese orchestra music

Sven: that’s not so much a west nile symptom as it is more of a general insanity symptom

Sent at 2:07 PM on Wednesday

Argile: oh. well, what’s the difference between the two? You’ll end up died with either condition (or with no condition)

Sven: i guess

so why bother reforming health care?

it’s all just a stall anyway

Argile: well, yeah, politics and governments and all that are really just fancy ways of extending and “enriching” life

they’re not necessary

Sven: yep

i think it’s about time we resorted to anarchy

let natural selection work its magic on the human population for a while

Argile: wait, hold that thought.

I need to get a few guns and some body armor before we start this shiznit

Sven: hey, that’s not natural selection

that’s cheating

Argile: no, that’s natural selection because it means I’m smart enough to know how to bend the rules

thus, the ones who are better thinkers survive

Sven: you wouldn’t be a better thinker, just privvy to inside information

Argile: and, thanks to my superior intuition, I’ve managed to put myself in position to acquire said information

once again, natural selection

Sven: well, i can see i’ll just have to take care of you myself

and avoid telling anyone of this plan from now on

Argile: hey, man, I have easy access to a large stock of nerf weaponry

Sven: that will certainly be factored into my plan to bring about your demise

Argile: as well as loyal-to-the-death drug-addled friends

Sven: those i’m not as worried about

for there is no such thing as loyalty among habitual drug users

or at least, no person-to-person loyalty

Argile: hey, I’m known as the “chill” guy, ok? That carries some weight

Sven: eh

Sent at 2:19 PM on Wednesday

Argile: fine, but I’ve always got frozen pizzas and doritos laying around

so beware

Sven: oh, i’ll beware, all right

Argile: also, my japanese orchestra on last.fm just became japanese rock-pop for no reason

yet, I don’t have the energy to change it

Sven: poor downtrodden Argile

Sent at 2:24 PM on Wednesday

Argile: it’s alright, I’ve got an intriguing story idea bubbling in my mind right now

Sven: you always do

Argile: what’s funny is that a fair amount of videogame music is popping up on this station, and I can identify a lot of it

Sven: that’s cool…in a weird sort of way

Sent at 2:26 PM on Wednesday

Argile: If you take what happens here and apply it to banks, you start to understand why they sucked it up: http://bit.ly/ZRxLd

Sent at 2:40 PM on Wednesday

Sven: from the “excuse me doctor, but i think i know a little something about medicine” department

Sent at 2:47 PM on Wednesday

Argile: haha yeah. He’s watched “Varsity Blues” and knows all about the game

Sent at 2:48 PM on Wednesday

Sven: ever heard of the book “mistakes were made…but not by me”?

Argile: nope

Sven: my dad was telling me about it, sounds interesting

basically it explains how, even if one were to lay down the facts to mike brown to illustrate that he doesn’t know what he’s doing and is crippling the bengals…

it still wouldn’t register

sort of an exploration into the psychology of rationalization

where people can get to a point where facts no longer matter

simply because their brains won’t let them

despite the overwhelming evidence that Cincinatti sucks, even though they’ve had very talented players, would not have any impact on trying to get Mike Brown to stop doing what he’s doing

Sent at 2:58 PM on Wednesday

Argile: so the only logical solution is violent dismemberment?

Sven: well, i’m not sure about the “dismemberment” part being the only solution

once you resort to violence, there’s still all sorts of options within that heading

Sent at 3:01 PM on Wednesday

Argile: How about dropping a coffin on him? so that way he’s just about ready?

Sven: that works too

Argile: or maybe poor management skills don’t require injury, just a dunk tank

every time the opponents score points, in he goes!

Sven: that’d be pretty damn funny

Sent at 3:04 PM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, I’m thinking public humiliation would be a lot more effective than jail/firings for a lot of people

imagine if they’d forced Madoff to dance to Thriller in his underwear

Sven: that’d be some damn good TV

Argile: I think that it would have brought great joy to the world, while punishing the guy

or dump Mark Sandford into the ring against mike tyson

Sven: hard to believe no one’s tried to implement this sort of system

recently, anyway

i know public humiliation used to be common a couple centuries ago

Sent at 3:14 PM on Wednesday

Argile: yeah, bring back the stockades!

lol, a remix of a super mario RPG track just came on

Sven: sweeeet

Sent at 3:17 PM on Wednesday

Argile: nothing like such classic compositions as that

Sven: incredible that such pieces get repeat play

Sent at 3:20 PM on Wednesday

Argile: incredible that they don’t get more

Sent at 3:23 PM on Wednesday

Sven: er, yeah

that’s…what i menat

Sent at 3:26 PM on Wednesday

Sven: i don’t wanna go to class tonight

Argile: well, check some of these gems out instead: http://www.manolith.com/2009/08/25/worst-website-designs/

Sent at 3:37 PM on Wednesday

Sven: i think it’s more fun to read the commentary than actually visit the sites

Argile: same, because these truly are awful

Sven: i’d imagine you find these more offensive than i do

Sent at 3:41 PM on Wednesday

Argile: maybe a little bit, but christ…… just hideous

Sent at 3:43 PM on Wednesday

Argile: i have to keep clicking away b/c I’m going to laugh

Sent at 3:46 PM on Wednesday

Argile: look at that “Ling’s” site

scrap your husband?!

Sven: yeah…not sure i’m following that

Argile: just in the screenshot

of Ling’s cars, in the upper middle

Sven: no i saw it, i just don’t…understand it

and can you say “busy”?

holy crap, that’ll give a person an epileptic seizure

Argile: down in the right corner, you can go to Ling Tube

Sven: i won’t, thanks

Sent at 3:50 PM on Wednesday

Argile: read the banner under the title “I expose illegal and misleading contract and hire leasing websites” – Ling

ahahahah

Sven: perhaps she should start with hers

Argile: I would bet ling’s a guy

oh wait

good call

Sven: the weird animations representing Ling appear female to me

but i could be wrong

Argile: yeah, you’re right

I thought those were just random advertisement images

but most of them have speech bubbles with “My” in them

Sven: easy mistake to make

Sent at 3:54 PM on Wednesday

Argile: I wonder how much crap the author had to wade through to get these

Sven: one shudders to think

Argile: that giant dog with wings is so wonderful

also, that page has an announcement squeezed on there from may

so they actually still use it…