Go Speed Racer Go!
Permalink | May 31, 2007 by John in Auto, Entertainment
First look: Speed Racers demon on wheels (USATODAY.com)…
Looks like the Wachowskis are doing it right.
Comments Off
Fired for having a penis
Permalink | by John in Humor, Of a Personal Nature, Ranting and Whining
I worked for a small family-owned company where myself and my coworker were referred to as the office girls. Im not a girl. I’m certainly not THEIR girl. Women work in the office, men work in the trucks. Men are superior. That is where I worked. So, me being the independent, modern, twenty-something that I am… this didnt float well with me. When one of the supervisors not MY supervisor, mind you strutted into the room and said, “Okay girls, we need to get something straight.” I knew what kind of conversation that would be. Needless to say, he treated us like we were his office bitches and then left. I was a tad bit upset.
At first I chuckled. Then I remembered that I too was “laid off” once, ostensibly, for having a penis. I was the only male in the publications department at MACTEC in 1995-96. There was someone in a different department who was a troublemaker (this was my first job out of college so I wasn’t the PITA that I am now - I was just happy to have a job in a field somewhat near my degree). To get rid of this troublemaker they engineered a “lay off of 10%,” which meant four people, including me. Lo and behold, a couple weeks later, the wife of the company vice president, who was trying to start her own graphic design (well, glorified desktop publishing) business, “stepped in” to “pick up the slack” left by my departure.
So much like the guy in the story above, I was let go from a department full of women and replaced by a woman. In the end I was better off, of course, but it did set my career and goals back quite a bit as I started my only real period of unemployment since high school.
Comments Off
honest
Permalink | May 26, 2007 by John in Humor
I’ve always said I was honest to a fault:
- adhering to, agreeing with; expressing only the safest opinions.
- hurtful, sadistic.
I’ll buy #2, on occasion, but must add a third:
- cynical, skeptical.
Comments Off
“Where does he get those wonderful toys?”
Permalink | May 23, 2007 by John in Gadgets
I’m beginning to think I need a utility belt. Batman was always one of my favorite characters.
Okay, like most people I’ve had a cell phone for several years. No biggie. Last christmas I got an iPod to replace my old Rio Chiba, which initially I only used on long motorcycle trips. Now the iPod is my constant companion. Last weekend I bought my first digital camera, a little bitty Canon SD750 (7.1 megapixel). Today I ordered up a new phone, an LG VX8600.
Now all these little bits are about the size of a pack of cigarettes. I feel like I need something to carry them all. Not a “murse” or a fanny pack. I’m thinking, “Bandolier.” Or maybe a ScotteVest. I guess it will be easier once I start riding again. My textile riding jackets have plenty of pockets.
Comments Off
How to survive in a black hole
Permalink | by John in Interesting/Trivia
Theres no escape, but how can you maximize your remaining time? (via Kottke.org):
Falling into a black hole is a strange affair. Because the holes gravity distorts space-time, a far-off observer watching an object crossing the event horizon sees time for that object appear to slow down — a clock falling into a black hole would appear, from the outside, to tick ever slower. At the horizon itself, time stops, and the object stays frozen there for the remaining lifetime of the Universe.
This is fascinating, but it’s just so much mental masturbation.
Comments Off