K-Squared Ramblings

“Lost” linguistics

As a linguist, I’m highly disappointed in the castaways of “Lost.” In the time they’ve been on the island, not one of them has truly attempted to either 1) learn a few words of Korean or 2) see if Sun or Jin is open to being taught a few words of English. Instead, in painfully true-to-life (but rapidly aging) fashion, they’re relying on the highly effective (*snort*) method of talking really loudly and slowly. Mostly we see this with the English speakers, but last episode it was great to see Jin doing it right back in Korean.

What really disappointed me was that, from what I’ve seen, last week’s episode should have included less crosstalking comedy and more communication, simply due to Jin’s counterpart being Hurley. He’s not a linguist as far as we know, but he is the Guy Who Gets Things Done ™. He has a hefty dose of common sense and “aha” ability, and the wherewithal to act on what he perceives. If any of the major characters were to try to compile some sort of papyrus dictionary, it would be him. And considering that the need to communicate with the Koreans has actually been articulated, unlike the need to take a census or build a golf course, if this weren’t TV, by now he’d probably have either been doing it or found someone else to. Admittedly, though, if he had, we may not have gotten to see that, on the island, the Talk Really Loud method of intercultural communication is universal. Which is comforting, in an odd way: we may not understand each other, but there’s at least something in our communication mechanisms that’s the same.

Clue plate special

Before leaving for Comic-Con, we went to Ruby’s for lunch and discovered that they’d stopped wrapping up their burgers and started serving them on plates. If you’ve seen a Ruby’s burger, you know what a bad idea this is. If you haven’t, these burgers are easily 5″ in diameter, made with 1/3 pound of meat or an oversized veggie patty, and generously topped. I have problems holding one together, and my hands aren’t exactly small. I had ordered a mushroom burger, which promptly and repeatedly fell apart, sometimes on the plate and sometimes on my lap. We not only told the waitress but also filled out the comment card, in pen, and mailed it. Since then, I’ve made a point of asking for my burgers wrapped and sending them back to have them wrapped if the kitchen forgets. Putting my meal back together in between bites is not, in my opinion, a worthwhile way to spend my time.

Well, the madness is spreading. We went to Togo’s the other day and received our sandwiches on plates. Thankfully, they were less messy, but it irked me. What chain is going to be next? Fatburger? Johnny Rockets? Red Robin? God forbid, In-N-Out? Or will they catch a clue that not everyone is willing to trade personal cleanliness for “restaurant atmosphere?”

(And speaking of restaurant atmosphere: to all you managers out there, the Anxious Clown should not be your business model. Just because not all of us customers are Wednesday Addams, that’s no reason to think we all appreciate perky waiters with 29 pieces of flair, or will order food we don’t want just because said waiters suggest it. Please recognize that some of us are (horrors!) turned off by overattentiveness, and would much prefer to eat in peace. We will come back, but please know that this is in spite of your best efforts to impress us, and that our undergenerous tips are not meant to spur the above-mentioned waiters into greater hyperactivity–as any true service employee worth their tips should be able to tell from our reactions. If they can’t tell, maybe they’re not as great as you thought they were.)

Subtle Update Hint

Something that could help with the ever-shrinking window between turning on a new (Windows) computer and getting hacked by some automatic probe is to just make downloading security updates part of the setup process. I installed two Linux distributions this weekend, Mandrake 10.1 and SuSE 9.2, and both did this.

What I liked about the SuSE installer was the way the option was worded. The setup utility asks you if you want to “test your Internet connection.” It tests the connection by downloading the latest release notes and checking for updates! (Unfortunately, it somehow chose an old mirror of the SuSE site—not the one I used during the installation—and the process failed.)

The Lost Compass

We re-watched Pirates of the Caribbean a few nights ago, and noticed that Jack Sparrow also has a compass that doesn’t point north, just like Locke on Lost.

Clearly, Locke’s compass points to the Isla de Muerta! It’s in the wrong ocean, but they were off-course…

Fast work

Three days ago I created a bunch of new spamtrap addresses at work and posted them in hidden places on websites where no one would actually see them. Today, two of them received requests for help moving large sums of money out of Nigeria.

Yesterday afternoon, I signed up a couple of sites with Project Honeypot. One of them has already been spidered 6 times (though two of those were Yahoo).

Time Slots on BlogExplosion

Since joining BlogExplosion, I’ve noticed something interesting about surfing it. First, I tend to see many of the same blogs over and over. Second, when I’m actually reading these blogs, by the time I log out all my new credits have been used up by people looking at mine. This leads me to this conclusion:

The only people who see this site through BlogExplosion are the people who are logged in at the same time I am.

If you have a routine where you spend a half hour on BE every evening, or 1 hour every Tuesday, or whatever, chances are the same people are seeing your blog over and over again.

Just to experiment, a few days ago I took 10 minutes late in the day and logged in from work. I don’t think I saw a single familiar blog.

So what’s the answer? Vary your BE routine as much as possible. Don’t assign your spare points when you surf, pick a random time, log in for 1 minute and just assign them. Make a banner and assign points to it the same way. Talk someone into signing up with you as a referrer, and get a share of their points.

Otherwise, you’ll get the same audience every time… and chances are they’re either regular readers by now or they’re tired of seeing you.

CBLDF Eisner Tribute

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has unveiled the artwork for its 2005 membership card, and it features Will Eisner’s classic character, the Spirit.

The timing is unfortunate, so soon after Eisner’s death, but it serves as a tribute to one of the most influential artists and storytellers in the history of comic books. (If you’ve ever heard of the Eisner awards—one of the most prestigious awards in comics—he’s the Eisner they’re named for, not the Disney guy.)

The CBLDF is dedicated to defending freedom of expression in comics. Artists get sued for parodies, retailers get arrested for for stocking R-rated titles (because everyone knows, comics are only for kids), customs agents confuse satire with piracy, and irate parents complain about Superman as “violent soft porn.” Really. It’s amazing what gets challenged, and the lengths to which some people will go to impose their own views of what’s acceptable on everyone else.

Browser Switching Revisited

There’s a new anti-IE site on the web: Digital Proof [archive.org]. Rather than tell you why you should switch to browser X, or why you should pick one of browsers XYZ, it just collects links to other people’s articles about why you should switch.

The advantage I can see for this campaign is it can collect a wide variety of perspectives. After all, everyone who chooses to install something other than IE has their own reasons. Some want the security, some want the more modern capabilities for design, some want the better usability, some want to promote marketshare diversity, and so on. No one argument is going to work on everyone.

On the other hand, I suspect the target audience is unlikely to wade through all the articles available, even with a top-5-rated list on the home page.

(via Mezzoblue Dailies)

The Server Knows

Not surprisingly, Apple’s websites were hammered yesterday on news of the Mac Mini, iPod Shuffle, and iWork:

The Apple web site, which runs on Mac OS X, experienced some slowdowns but was largely available. Apple’s online store (also on Mac OS X) struggled, however, experiencing outages and lengthy response times. Faring even worse was the official site for MacWorld Expo, which runs on Windows Server 2003, and was offline for hours following the show’s keynote address by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

The article at Netcraft includes graphs to illustrate the response times (or lack thereof). I don’t think anyone needs me to point out the irony in running a Mac site on Windows… or the ability of the “small” Mac audience to take down a Windows-based server.

Ruining it for the rest of us

The last time I bought Ny-Quil, there was a remark on the receipt about it being a restricted quantity item. At the time I assumed people were abusing it somehow, but I never got around to looking it up.

Now I know why. Apparently, pseudoephedrine can be used to make methamphetamine, and some states are considering further restricting sales of over-the-counter drugs like Ny-Quil and Sudafed—making people ask a pharmacist, for example, so sales can be tracked more easily. (At present, California only restricts the quantity bought in a single purchase, which is completely non-intrusive to people who just want to breathe comfortably for the next week.)

Y’know, I have no problem with limiting the quantities purchased (as long as the limits are reasonable), and I can live with standing in line at the pharmacy if I have to—but some of the suggestions are to require you to “show identification—and even enter [your] addresses in a law enforcement database.” Excuse me? What do the police care if I have a cold? New! More government scrutiny of your life, brought to you by the War on Drugs(tm)!

As to the likely success of this effort, consider this quote Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, kids!

Maybe it was the lack of coffee sleep, but seeing this:

made me think of kids donating their Hot Wheels cars or Tonka trucks, or maybe tricycles, to a worthy cause.

I shall call it…Mini Mac

Holy crap, ThinkSecret was right about pretty much everything. Apple has just announced a $499 miniature Macintosh. Daring Fireball had suggested the price might be unrealistic, given what happened with the iPod Mini announcement last year (ThinkSecret predicted $100, it turned out to be $250, and the audience was underwhelmed because their expectations were set too high… or low, depending on your point of view.)

Check out the photos. I’ve been looking from time to time at what’s available in the small form factor market, but for the most part PCs are still clunkers compared to the G4 Cube (remember that?), and the Mini makes the Cube look gigantic. The specs for the Mac Mini look virtually identical to this generation’s PowerBooks.

I keep having to remind myself I’m specifically looking for a new PC—we’ve got a PowerBook and a G4 tower, and the machine that needs to be replaced is a (non-upgradable) Celeron that dual-boots Fedora Core and Windows Me. Otherwise I’d be seriously tempted.

The iPod Shuffle, on the other hand, is just silly. I think its main effect will be to remind people why they went with the regular iPods in the first place.

Thank you, spammers

Comments on this site are now moderated. After a week of daily spam runs that have managed to get past other blocking methods, I’m tired of messing with it. At least with moderation, they won’t show up on the site.

This means that when you post a comment, it will not show up immediately. One of us will have to get the moderation notice and approve the message before it will appear.

I apologize to those who want to make actual comments on our posts. Just one more thing for which you can thank the spammers.

Update: It turns out it could have been much worse. The run of about 15 comment spams that showed up this morning turns out to be the few that made it through out of a total of 357. Over the course of 20 minutes this morning, a network of 126 zombies posted nearly 360 junk comments to this site, and 95% of them were rejected immediately. On one hand, it gives me a bit more faith in the countermeasures, but on the other hand, the scale of the attack is just staggering.

Black Mamba

Another license plate sighting:

BTRX KID

It took me a few seconds, but I finally placed it.

A CS Carol

Interesting subject line from a spam that hit today:

The spirit of customer service

It was a pharmacy spam, but for some reason I immediately thought of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol.

Imagine the ghosts of customer service past, present and future visiting some CEO and convincing him that they need to provide a decent experience to their clients.