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The opposite of original is…

the opposite of original

Found via AcidCow. Click the photo to see the source.

I think that “artificial” is also the wrong answer; its opposite is natural. “Copy” or “derived” would be better choices.

Post-2007 Android“, “Shia LeBoeuf“, and “Margaret Wente” should also be considered acceptable answers.

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Game of the day: “Zeno of Elea”

Screenshot of the loading screen of the game 'Zeno of Elea'.

Click the screenshot to play the game.

I found this new game, Zeno of Elea, by way of Andy Baio, who says “I can’t wait to play!”. I’m actually way too busy to get caught up in yet another game, but what can I say? They’re my Achilles’ heel.

If you try out the game and don’t “get” it, this may help.

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Meanwhile, in Japan…

2 photos: 1. Man on subway holding up and iPad and reading it with a look of intense concentration on his face. 2. A close-up of the first photo, showing the reflection in the window behind the man. It reveals he's reading hentai manga.

Found via CatsMob.

I’m sure that reflectoporn has always been a problem for manga readers on Japanese subways, but in the age of tablets with their bright, backlit screens, it’s so much easier to unintentionally share those unrealistically-endowed (and shiny!) drawings with your fellow passengers.

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If you need serious WordPress hosting, you need PressHarbor

PressHarbor logo.

I had a little problem with the text of my posts not showing up in my technology blog, Global Nerdy, earlier today. After trying the fixes I was aware of, I’d run out of ideas and decided to file a support ticket with my host, PressHarbor. Within an hour, they’d identified the problem: the “ShareThis” plug-in that I’d updated earlier this morning seemed to be incompatible with WordPress 3.8. They disabled it, confirmed that it was the culprit, and emailed me to tell me that my blog was back in business.

WordPress logoThat’s what I like about PressHarbor: they’re not just a web host, they’re a full-service WordPress host. They maintain the WordPress installations, make the necessary patches, tune the databases, and all those little things that you need to do to keep a WordPress installation running at its best so that I don’t have to. Better still, during the few times I’ve had to file a support ticket, they’ve been quick and helpful.

The other great thing about PressHarbor is that they’ve been able to handle it when one of my blogs — either The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century or Global Nerdy — has a hit. Recently, my post about how terrible Millennials are in the workplace, despite having been posted without much fanfare back in June, started getting pageviews by the boatload near the end of November. I ended up getting nearly a million hits last month, with nearly 150,000 on Friday, November 22nd alone:

Bar chart showing pageview statistics for the 'Accordion Guy' blog for November 20 - 27, 2013.

I’ve been with hosting services that would’ve melted under the click-rage-fueled deluge of visits by huffy twenty-somethings and the people who don’t think highly of them, but PressHarbor kept ticking along, smoothly switching into high gear without a hiccup. I just sat back, watched StatCounter climb, and enjoyed as my AdSense revenues literally paid the November rent on a two-bedroom Toronto apartment. (Annoying millennials is profitable, apparently.)

Yes, social media is still useful, since it pretty much guarantees that what you post will be seen as long as at least one other person is in your network. However, for long-term findability, Googlejuice, making money from ads and other things, and just plain old control over your content and how it’s formatted, nothing beats a blog. And in my experience with blog hosting, nothing beats PressHarbor. If you rely on your blogs like I do, you need PressHarbor. Drop ’em a line, and tell them Joey sent you.

Full disclosure: No, PressHarbor didn’t ask me to promote them. In fact, they have no idea I’m doing this. I’ve just been so pleased with them over the past month for being great at what they do.

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HoHoTO: Tonight at the Mod Club!

Screen capture of a Twitter window with the text 'It all started with a tweet'.

It all started with a tweet, and from that tweet came on of Toronto’s best annual charity events, HoHoTO. And it’s taking place again this year: tonight, in fact, at The Mod Club!

Since its inception in 2008 by a group of techies and marketing folk in Toronto, HoHoTO has thrown one of the best holiday parties and raised nearly CDN$300,000 for the Daily Bread Food Bank. If you’re looking for a good time tonight and want to support a good cause in the process, there’s still time to get tickets.

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Have you ever asked Google if it’s normal to do something?

Older woman and man at a computer, looking with shocked expressions at the screen.

When you type search terms into Google, it makes suggestions based on similar searches that other people have made. Here’s what I see when I go to Google and type “Is it normal to” in the search box:

Screen capture of Google's suggestions for the search phrase 'Is it normal to'. Suggestions are: 'Is it normal to have a white discharge', 'Is it normal to be sexually attracted to numbers', 'Is it normal to poop blood', 'Is it normal to spot while pregnant'

What I see when I type “Is it normal to” into Google.
Click the screen capture to see it at full size.

Google results vary from person to person because it uses individual factors such as your browser history. Here’s what someone else got when typing “Is it normal to” into Google. I wonder what sites this guy’s been visiting:

Screen capture of Google's suggestions for the search phrase 'Is it normal to'. Suggestions are: 'Is it normal to let her do that', 'Is it normal to hide skittles in your foreskin'

What another person saw when typing “Is it normal to” into Google.
From AcidCow.com. Click the screen capture to see it at full size.

(For those of you who live outside North America, Skittles are fruit-flavoured candy.

Bag of Skittles with some inidividual Skittles candies beside it.
Do you get any…odd suggestions?

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Recommended holiday movie: Zero Charisma (2013)

Still from Zero Charisma: Scott leading a fantasy role-playing gaming session with his friends.

If you’re lining up videos to watch during the upcoming holiday downtime and you’ve ever played Dungeons and Dragons or similar fantasy role-playing games, you might want to get your paws on Zero Charisma. If you’ve ever had to contend with a misanthropic overbearing gamemaster who’s never quite grown up out of that oh-so-painful adolescent fanboy phase and has no life beyond the GM screen, you’ll find Scott, the protagonist, oh-so-familiar. In the film, Scott’s world comes crashing down when all sort of unwelcome changes come into his life, from the return of his estranged mom, to the entry of a new, much hipper nerd into the gaming group, to a visit by a Gary Gygax-esque game designer.

Zero Charisma won an audience award at SXSW 2013, JoBlo.com calls it “like TAXI DRIVER for fanboys”, and Anitra both let out sighs of rueful recognition and guffaws when we watched it last night (she also noted some similarities between me and one of the characters). You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll want to make a saving throw.