Free Cellphone Earbuds

March 12, 2004 | Comments (4)

Pledge to be sensible when you drive, and Avis & Cingular will send you free ear buds, regardless of whether or not you are a customer with Avis or Cingular. If you read their suggestions for safe wireless driving (e.g. don’t have your hand up against your ear while you’re driving so you can talk to Aunt Martha about her Chicken Pot Pie recipe), then you fill out a little form, and get free ear buds. Nice thing for them to do, and driving safely is a good thing to promote anyway. Yay free stuff!

Paper and CD Shredders

March 11, 2004 | Comments (0)

TechTV’s Andrew Hawn tested five shredders for sheet capacity, pages per minute, maximum operation time, and what things (other than paper) they could shred—like staples, CDs, floppies, and credit cards. For my money (and I just happen to be in the market for a shredder right now), I’m going for the Royal 80X for a mere $70. It’s funny—I always meticulously removed all staples before shredding stuff in the past. Strange that it seems that all of these can manage staples—ahh, all that wasted effort that could have been spent elsewhere.

Audio Clips of BBC Interviews

March 11, 2004 | Comments (2)

Wow, excerpts from BBC interviews with cool people like Chinua Achebe, Salvador Dali, Bob Marley, and Andy Warhol. There’s even one with William Butler Yeats (subject of my thesis “Women in the Cuchulain Drama Cycle of WB Yeats: Mothers, Daughters, & Whores”). I know what I’m listening to when I get home to my happy snappy DSL connection and nice speakers. This could take a while…

Baa Baa Keyboards

March 10, 2004 | Comments (0)

They come floppy.
They come in an anti-bacterial substance.
They come in lasers.
And now they come in wool. New Zealand sheep farmers have a co-op that is now producing wool keyboards that respond to small changes in pressure on the fabric. A keyboard pants suit may not be too far off, folks.

Disturbing Report “from the inside”

March 10, 2004 | Comment (1)

Just got an e-mail from MoveOn.org which reads:

"Salon.com has just broken a major story detailing how the Pentagon created a special office to manipulate intelligence data on Iraq and WMDs. It’s written by Karen Kwiatkowski, a military officer who watched this unit at work, telling us the inside story in her own words." Distressing reading, but that’s nothing new on this topic…

Comic Resources

March 10, 2004 | Comments (0)

Oooh, DC and Marvel Timelines…

Charlie and Bill

March 10, 2004 | Comments (0)

Whaddya know, Charlie Rose interviewed Bill Gates. The interview’s about an hour long, and they discuss Microsoft’s “disinterest in acquiring Walt Disney Co.”, as well as software research and the possibility of software subscriptions.

Purrs and Meows

March 8, 2004 | Comments (5)
Torin The LiB has a new feline in her life. Torin (“chief” in Irish) was adopted from the Marin Humane Society; he had been found wandering the streets. He’s around one year old, looks to be part Russian Blue, has little white paws and a white ascot on his chest, and has an affinity for olives (green, pimento-stuffed). Say hello, Torin.

Mr. Stewart, I salute you

March 8, 2004 | Comments (3)
And yet, another reason why I think Patrick Stewart is not only a great actor, but a stellar person as well. I listed one a while back. Here’s another. Stewart spoke out at the launch of an Amnesty International campaign on violence against women. He singled out Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill as “deeply offensive,” but also had the sense to speak out against some of his own former projects, though he didn’t name names. Stewart also told reporters, “The entertainment industry has been extremely irresponsible in perpetuating and stereotyping the violent attitudes of men to women. It’s a lazy and sensationalist approach. I condemn it entirely.” Mr. Stewart, I salute you. Thanks to Dr. Web for the link.

Holy Gifting, Batman!

March 8, 2004 | Comments (0)

Jessa Crispin (AKA Bookslut, AKA Violet Blue) posted links to these two great gifts for readers:

1) a stuffed bookworm
2) a “Reading is Sexy” t-shirt

She says she needs & wants both; I concur.