Category: Uncategorized

Over at my friend Lisa’s site — On the Face — there’s an article about Miriam Libicki’s autobiographical comic book series Jobnik! (“Israeli slang for someone who did their mandatory army service in a low-prestige job – like clerk or a truck driver”).

Lisa writes:

Raised in a religious home in Ohio, Miriam immigrated to Israel as a teenager and volunteered for service in the IDF. Classified by the army as excessively emotional and sexually ambivalent, and possessing poor Hebrew skills, she was not considered suitable for a job in Intelligence or as a medic, so instead she was sent to do clerical work at a base in the middle of nowhere. “The service was unbelievably boring, but I don’t regret it, mostly because that experience was the inspiration for my comics. Army service exposed me to an aspect of Israeli society that I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.”

A sample:

To see more, there are five-page samples from each book in the series at Miriam’s site.

Based on the picture on the right, Sir Richard Branson either:

• lost a bet
• is celebrating the fact that phone number portability has finally come to Canada.

Time to start investigating my options! All right, mobile phone service providers — which one of you wants to cut an influential Canadian blogger a deal?

If you’re thinking about switching, Torontoist has a little “how-to” article.

File this under “we always believed it, but now experiments have confirmed it”: here’s a snippet from an Online Journalism Review article based on an eye-tracking study whose purpose is to drive better news article layout and design:

George Brett knows you’re staring at his junk, dude.

Although both men and women look at the image of George Brett when directed to find out information about his sport and position, men tend to focus on private anatomy as well as the face. For the women, the face is the only place they viewed.

Well, duh…

Here’s the not-so-obvious and somewhat disturbing follow-up:

Coyne adds that this difference doesn’t just occur with images of people. Men tend to fixate more on areas of private anatomy on animals as well, as evidenced when users were directed to browse the American Kennel Club site.

After reading that I had these two reactions:

• Euuuuuugh!
• I think I just came up with an idea for website that’ll make me rich!

[via Kottke]

Shutdown Day: March 24th, 2007

“It is obvious that people would find life extremely difficult without computers, maybe even impossible,” reads the site for Shutdown Day, “If they disappeared for just one day, would we be able to cope?

Shutdown Day takes place on Saturday, March 24th, 2007 and challenges everyone to see if they can survive for 24 hours without their computer. The site contains more information about this one-day exercise, a survey where you can indicate whether or not you’ll take part and a link to this video with people abusing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of laptops in some kind of posturing that’s meant to approximate rebellion:

Speaking as a programmer, a technophile and an Asian, I would like to formally denounce Shutdown Day. It’s obviously some kind of wacko protest thing created by Neo-Luddites. I probably will spend the day away from my computer, but only to round up these techno-peasants so that they can be put to work in the Coltan mines.

A Modest Proposal

You want a day I can get behind? No Poetry Day. Modern poetry is self-indulgent crap written by NEMS (non-essential members of society), and many of us go for months without poetry with no ill effects. We could take turns standing in front of a group of our peers and even say how long we’ve gone without poetry, AA-style. It would rock.

As for those who would counter me with Audre Lourde’s line, “Poetry is not a luxury!”, I would gladly agree: luxuries are things people want and will pay big money for. Poetry is neither.

Think fast: what’s wrong with the pie chart titled Should we let US troops land at Shannon on route to Iraq? taken from the Irish Times, shown below?

Look closely: although the graph’s text correctly reports that 67% of the respondents said “no”, the graph’s graphics make it appear as though the “no” votes are in the minority. Pictured below is a proper rendition of the data, which took me mere seconds to do using Excel:

Not being familiar with the editorial slant of the Irish Times, I cannot say for certain whether it’s a FOX News-like selective view of the truth or mathematical illiteracy (a.k.a. innumeracy) on the part of the graphics editor. Indymedia Ireland thinks it’s the former.

A link on the nerd-friendly social news site Reddit pointed me to entertainment lawyer Jeff Cohen’s page at Global Talent Associates’ site. Readers of a certain age might recall him as the guy who played “Chunk” in the 1985 film The Goonies.

Here’s a then-and-now set of photos of Mr. Cohen:

Here’s a song that celebrates a cornerstone of my personal philosophy as well as yesterday’s shift to daylight saving time, Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think), written in 1948 by Carl Sigman (music) and Herb Magidson (lyrics).

The Guy Lombardo Version (1950)

I’m going to share two versions. The first version [3.0 MB MP3] is the one that popularized the song, the treatment by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1

You work and work for years and years, you’re always on the go

You never take a minute off, too busy makin’ dough

Someday, you say, you’ll have your fun, when you’re a millionaire

Imagine all the fun you’ll have in your old rockin’ chair

Chorus

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink

The years go by, as quickly as a wink

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Verse 2

You’re gonna take that ocean trip, no matter, come what may

You’ve got your reservations made, but you just can’t get away

Next year for sure, you’ll see the world, you’ll really get around

But how far can you travel when you’re six feet underground?

Verse 3

Your heart of hearts, your dream of dreams, your ravishing brunette

She’s left you and she’s now become somebody else’s pet

Lay down that gun, don’t try, my friend, to reach the great beyond

You’ll have more fun by reaching for a redhead or a blonde

The Specials’ Version (1980)

The second version was the one that ended on on my mix tapes in high school — the ska version [4.2 MB MP3] by The Specials, from their album More Specials. Here are their lyrics:

Verse 1

Hello, I’m Terry, and I’m going to enjoy myself first!

It’s good to be wise when you’re young

‘Cos you can only be young but the once

Enjoy yourself and have lots of fun

So glad and live life longer than you’ve ever done

Chorus

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink

The years go by, as quickly as you wink

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Verse 2

Get wisdom, knowledge and understanding

These three, were given free by the maker

Go to school, learn the rules, don’t be no faker

It’s not wise for you to be a foot stool

Here’s a YouTube video of a Specials concert in which they perform Enjoy Yourself:

Todd Snider’s Version (2004)

I don’t have a copy of country artist Todd Snider’s version (from the album East Nashville Skyline), but I do know that he used two out of three of Carl Sigman’s original verses and wrote his own third verse:

Verse 3

You worry when the weather’s cold

You worry when it’s hot

You worry when you’re doing well

You worry when you’re doing not

It’s worry, worry all of the time

You don’t know how to laugh

They’ll think of something funny

When they write your epitaph

Enjoy the tunes, and enjoy yourself! Remember, they’ll be available for a week, after which they’ll vanish.