Jersey has always seemed to be the topic of many “state” related jokes. I once thought it was because those of us in the Northeast needed a state to pick on – that maybe it wasn’t as bad as everyone seemed to make it out to be. The pot shots at toxic waste, oil refineries, and other such industrial scars couldn’t all be true. The Sopranos are “from” there, after all – who doesn’t like Tony, besides the FBI? Granted the women are known some how maintaining the big Texas style, Aquanet enhanced hairstyles, but not all the jokes can be true. Having spend about ten hours in the Garden State, I’m inclined to believe anything bad, that someone says about NJ. After all, and I’ve said this before, a cliche becomes a cliche for a reason.
Continue reading “The Garden State” DOT can suck my left testicle
All posts by Randy
Boink Boinkity Boink Boink Boink
It seems to me that one of the on going themes of this site are the Rants against stupidity. What exactly is stupidity? To me, it’s something that runs contrary to common sense. It’s one thing to break with traditional views or to “go against the grain” but I’m talking about obvious (sometimes even painfully so) stuff. For example, if you were to go into your boss’ office, declare that your job sucks ass and throw a monitor to the floor, while dancing in glee at the shower of sparks that you’ve created, this make you unique (and my hero!). However, when you later find yourself fired and possibly arrested, but you don’t know why, well that’s stupidity.
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got airport security?
Today I heard on a local radio station that there was a new policy going into effect at CT’s own Bradley International Airport; BDL was to be tested along with a few other airports as part of a new airport security process. For those of you that aren’t from the northeast, BDL is a small but international airport – nothing that’s even 1/4 as big as JFK or LGA in New York nor Logan in Boston, but it does get some traffic. For example, when a jet as large and as fast as the Concorde is diverted from the NYC or Boston airports for whatever reason, BDL will get it. Since it’s got all of the international procedures in place and the fact that jets of these speeds require longer runways, BDL is perfect – the place is surround by tobacco farms and a Honda factory building, it’s so rural. It does get all of the normal airport traffic of the major carriers and some independent, but for the most part it’s a nice small quiet airport.
Continue reading got airport security?
StyleXP
I’ve been trying out this particular product for a while now, waiting for it to screw up – it’s rare that I get pleasantly surprised by an application. First, what is StyleXP? Simply put, it allows you to apply a “skin” to Windows XP. What’s a skin? I know you won’t ask that, so lets move along. Now some background. For years, there’s been applications that would allow you to change the way your Windows desktop looked and worked – applications would take over the Window itself, or offer a shell replacement, and that would allow you to put a custom look and feel on your desktop. The most commercial and memorable one, to me anyway, was Norton Navigator for Windows 95 – and it nominally sucked.
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ARGH!
I hate this! I had a perfectly good Rant all in my head this morning, probably from watching Good Day NY – they tend to have a story or two a week that sets me off – and I completely for got what it was! It just popped into my head and then got washed out by a venti iced chai tea latte at Starbucks. I’m at a total loss! If I ever remember it, I’ll get it in here, but it’s probably gone forever. Anyway on non-Rant unrelated note, the last of the porn shops, Peep-o-rama on 42nd Street and Times Square is being closed. It has been there for as long as I can remember – call it a testimony to former mayor Rudy Guliani. I can’t say I’m overly thrilled with the last “landmark” going, but I also love the “new” Times Square so it’s all good, I ‘spose – besides, porn is probably cheaper online these days.
Warning: Road Rage Ahead
Let me dispel a myth straightaway: I don’t have road rage. In fact, I’m usually anti-rage when I’m behind the wheel. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I can get just as frustrated as the next driver, but I don’t suffer from this white fire of rage that burns through all reason, that causes people to hit other people with their cars, or shooting people indiscriminately, or stalking people that once tailgated me. If anything, if given the choice between “normal” living and driving, I’m more prone to have rage in the day to day issues… this is usually a good thing because if I did suffer from the typical issue of road rage, there would have been a statewide Maxima hunt already.
Continue reading Warning: Road Rage Ahead
Hey, can I bum a patch off ya?
I’m a logical mammal. Too much so, probably. Like right now, I’m on the train with my earphones cranked so loud it hurts, and yet I can still hear the annoyingly loud people that are sitting across the aisle from me. Logically, it would be easier to smack the offending party upside the head with a fiberglass fishbilly, resulting in a resounding and self-satisfying *thud*. Ethically, morally, and legally this is impractical. OK, well maybe just legally as the other two -ly words there are subjective; I know “legally” has some staying power with me because holding cells are no fun at all.
Continue reading Hey, can I bum a patch off ya?
iPod Saga, Part 3: The Happy Dance of Joy!
Well, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t get service from online companies. There might be a great deal of slackers out there, but PCConnection is not one of them! I gave them a call about the new news from Apple on the iPod line and the new price differences that are going on out there. I first called Apple retail, just to check to see if they had any avenues to go through. They were very polite and very sympathetic but there wasn’t anything they could do – this was expected.
Continue reading iPod Saga, Part 3: The Happy Dance of Joy!
Sending Contacts to iPod
PC-based iPod owners, here’s a tip for you. As I’m sure you know, 1.1 of the iPod software can store contacts as part of it’s storage. They show up in the menu as a storage item; depending on your software, you may or may not even have automatic synchronization for the contacts. I didn’t want anything automatic, of course being an untrusting Geek, so I wanted to figure out to get my contacts on the device on my own. It’s simple actually: the iPod wants vCards (.vcf’s) and Outlook can export them, if you ask it nicely.
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iPod Part 2: The Jolly Rogering
If Moore’s Law is something that can be proved to be correct every six months by new CPU designs and speeds, then Randy’s Law of Technology can also be proved to be correct randomly throughout the years. What’s Randy’s Law of Technology? Steve, of FurryGoat.com fame, first identified it: If there is a new or relatively successfully technological product on the market, and Randy should opt to buy it, Randy will be fucked by said purchase, within two months. No lie. It’s on going. The iPod is just the most recent, and some how more painful, proof of the Law.
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#1[T1:Starfire) Chat Room Drama
I know, two entries in two days – either I must be bored on the train or this week’s book is boring and I’m tired of sleeping through stations. Fact is that I wasn’t planning on another Rant so soon, but as usually, life throws a curve ball when you aren’t looking forward. Better a curve than a sinker or a slider, but still, it’s the randomus-interruptus that makes the world go round. Last night it was a chat room.
Continue reading #1[T1:Starfire) Chat Room Drama
Say Hello to iPod — Say Thank You to XPlay
The iPod is the coolest gizmo that I’ve seen in at least four years. I mean it’s incredible. Pricey? Sure. Snobby? Well yeah, since the iPod requires FireWire (rare on most PC’s) and iTunes2 which requires Mac OS 9 or higher only – the $399-$499 price tag doesn’t help any either. Elegant? You better believe it. So what make it so good? Design. No other way to describe it. IBM had a spurt of great design some time in the 90’s. Remember the butterfly keyboard? Great idea, but who could have foreseen notebook screens growing to 14″ and 15″, allowing a near full size keyboard? And the TouchPoint (or whatever they called it) – that mini-joystick in the center of a keyboard that buried the trackball but got itself buried by the touch pad common on most notebooks today.
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Eureka Street
Today’s review is on Eureka Street, by Robert McLiam Wilson. This novel takes place during the “quiet” time of the mid 1990’s, that followed the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It centers around two Irish lads, one Christian, the other Protestant, and how they have survived in such turbulent times.
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To Too Two Too Two To Too Too
Happy Fourth of July!
On to today’s Rant. To. Too. Two. Notice the difference in the spellings? That’s right they are three different words there. Most of the people I share cyberspace with seem to have lost sight of that. Not too much with the Two. Most people know what that means and just use 2. Never mind that while writing, numbers under ten should be spelled out – that’s a gripe and it’s one that even I don’t adhere to as often as I should – I guess most people forget that syntactical rule. And using a 2 in place of to, well, I know that’s just ‘net shorthand; no gripes there at all. But, yeah, two should usually be left in it’s proper form of “two”.
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The Master Plan
I’ve always believed I have a unique perspective of the world. I know there’s a whole huge world that surrounds me and I’m a proton that lives in an atom that’s on a dust mite that’s part of a dust bunny that sits on the smallest cog of the great machine known as Earth. Ok, that’s not entirely true – I’m more of an electron, as I have a mostly negative charge and I fancy myself to be in motion at all times, but you get the point. Anyway, I’ve found this to be a unique perspective among Americans my age. Most of my peers consider themselves to be the center of the universe, never mind that there’s other nations in the world besides America. This constant belief of one’s own importance is something that seems to be a common theme for us yanks – the only reason why I would distinguish myself is that I realize that there’s much, much more to the world besides America; I just don’t live there. There’s a point to this babble, trust me…
Continue reading The Master Plan