greyduck.net

Looking For Quacks In The Pavement

Category: Geekery

  • Neither An Isotope Nor A Rare Earth Be

    Maybe I’ve simply seen “Hamlet” too many times, but while enjoying lunch at the Pizza Schmizza near the office this afternoon I looked up at the TV screen and saw a news crawl about the poisoned spy and the first thought that flashed through my mind went something like this:

    “Polonium? What, is that the chemical element that gives trite advice, entices lesser elements to spy on its isotopes, and ends the last of its half-lives in a misadventure while eavesdropping on the Danish royal family?”

    (For the record: No, Polonium was so named by M. Curie as a political statement. Those wacky scientists!)

  • Thumbnail Theater: The Revival

    A long, long time ago I created my own little rendition of something called “thumbnail theater,” a tongue-in-cheek parody of a popular anime series. The original, by someone calling himself “Toasty Frog” (what’s up with the animal nicknames, eh?) was based on Evangelion, and someone else made one for Cowboy Bebop. I figured that I was best suited to take on the Tenchi Muyo OAV series.

    I probably figured wrong, but them’s the breaks.

    When I converted from version to version to version of the various site platforms here, Thumbnail Theater kept breaking. Moving to WordPress completely broke the archive, and for a long time I figured that’s where it could stay: broken and forgotten. Then, a few weeks ago, I decided to resurrect the project in a more useful form, namely as a static page hierarchy within WordPress. The rest, as they say, is history lunacy.

    At any rate, check out the TMTT revival currently in progress. I’ve reposted the six episodes’ worth of the first OAV, with the remaining episodes to follow as I get the chance.

  • Seals Of Violence

    If you look at the NaBloPoMo page, you’ll notice that some of the seals are a bit… forceful in the message they convey. “We here at NaBloPoMo enjoy nothing more than a good aggressive logo, apparently. Oooh, just wait until next year.”

    I can certainly play along with that spirit. Witness the following:

    Perhaps I’m just a total weirdo for finding the Seal Generator so darned amusing. I can live with that…

    (Note: Permission to use, granted. Permission to hotlink, denied. Be nice, kids.)

  • Yahoo: The black hole of email?

    My sister’s primary email address is at Yahoo, which I find amusing considering that for years she had an address here that she barely used. Maybe she’ll change her mind now.

    If you use Yahoo! mail as your main email account, you might not be receiving all of your emails. […] Since about October 16, 2006 they have been “overly aggressive” in blocking emails.

    I was wondering, this morning, why my server logs report indicated a bunch of strange SMTP errors. Eventually I traced it down to a bunch of deferrals from Yahoo’s server. Normally I don’t correspond with anyone on their system, but Sis and I have been in touch lately. Or, apparently, we’ve nearly been in touch. Maybe she’ll get my reply, maybe she won’t…

  • Timeline: Another feature that will bore you all.

    It’s not like I need more self-absorbed nonsense on this site, but you know what? I’m just that kind of nonsensical self-absorbed guy. So, as I remember dates and get the urge to plug them in, I’ll be updating the new Timeline feature, powered by the now-functional Timeline WordPress Plugin. Huge thanks go out to David Gagne for making this nifty little tool.

    (What? You wanted actual content, like I’ve been promising you for weeks? Hang in there. I’ll get to it. Honest.)

  • I No Longer Seek You

    Well, now. The IM system I’ve used the longest, ICQ, has locked me out of my account. Apparently there’s an ongoing (and officially unacknowledged) problem with hackers getting into their database, resetting passwords and removing associated email addresses, especially on older accounts (like mine, a seven-digit account number). I’ve only ever had a small handful of email addresses over the years, and none of them are working to do password recovery.

    ICQ’s support stance on this problem is, basically, “You’re screwed. Here, have a new ICQ number!” Thanks, but no thanks. It’s not like I was using the thing all that much. I’m just annoyed, not horribly inconvenienced. I suppose I could start using that Microsoft system a bit more, if necessary. (I know. I wasn’t going to create an account there, but it sort of came in really handy for my new job. My shame runs deep, I assure you.)

    So, any of you who might still have had me on your ICQ buddy lists… take me off and block that user ID. I can’t use that account anymore, and anyone who can is a hacker.

    (Before anyone chimes in with the snark: I don’t use the official ICQ client, my computer is squeaky clean, and there’s a history of this sort of thing happening at the server side. My geek cred is fine, thankyouverymuch.)

    Adding to the joys (ha ha) of Friday the 13th, I’m also home sick today. Either I caught a bug somewhere, or the mongolian grill did something to my innards. Whee.

Calendar

July 2026
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  

My Links