Bryan Strawser

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Archives for 2003

Idiot TV Producers

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You know what? Michael Moore is right. There are many Americans who are ignorant of the world around them. And they’re all TV news producers. Two big bombs in Istanbul, and what’s the big story of the day? Following around a pervy slab of albino Play-Doh as he turns himself into the police. I was stunned to discover last night that Nightline not only covered the Jackson case in detail, but bumped coverage of the Whitehall speech, which was the most important speech since the Iraq campaign began and arguably the most important speech of the war, period. [James Lilek: The Bleat]

Tech Support for the Mob

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Everyone thinks they know what the mob is like. It’s something you learn from watching The Sopranos and GoodFellas, something that involves Joe Pesci, baked manicotti, and a dead guy in the trunk. But that’s not what I’ve seen during my two years working for organized crime. My sense is that the mob works a lot like GE or Time Warner. It’s more Jack Welch than John Gotti.

[…]

My job is a lot like managing any other venture. I make sure that people show up on time, that bills get paid, and that the customers and employees are reasonably happy.

But that’s not all I do. I’m tech support for the mob. From the moment I started this gig, I realized just how behind this gang is when it comes to technology. Forget about the paperless office. These guys are buried in pulp. But when they want to revamp their systems, it’s not like they can call McKinsey for advice. That’s where I come in. [Wired]

iPod Jacking

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Ok, this is just a bit strange.

Stay away from my iPod…

In a story on Wired, entitled Feel Free to Jack Into My iPod, an iPod owner shares experiences he has had with other iPod owners, namely the plugging of his headphones into a stranger’s jack. It began when a woman in her 30’s walked up to him while he was on a walk, unplugged her headphone jack from her iPod, and motioned for him to plug his in. They then listened to each other’s music for about 30 seconds. He has then shared with about a dozen iPod listeners, with most of the strangers reciprocating. According to the article, the practice has also cropped up in other communities. Listeners acquire tastes for different kinds of music, just like on internet/LAN file sharing networks. An interesting read.” [Slashdot]

Rupert

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Help me understand why this tribe just voted Rupert off of the show?

Unfuckingbelievable.

Gotta stick up for my fellow Hoosiers ya know.

AT&T Sues PayPal

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AT&T on Thursday fired the latest shot in the escalating Web patent wars, filing suit against PayPal and eBay. AT&T issued a press release alleging that the PayPal and BillPoint payment systems infringe on AT&T’s 1994 patent for the mediation of transactions by a communications system. Besides e-Payments, the AT&T patent purports to cover e-Voting, e-Auctions, e-Gifts, e-Donations, e-Wishlists and e-Referrals. e-Yikes! [Slashdot]

Fuck this web patent shit. Give me a break.

What Life is All About

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My employer for the past ten years has a serious commitment to the community – one that is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in donations – and measured in the thousands of hours that our employees donate of themselves each year to their local communities.

A few months ago I issued the challenge to one of the managers that works for me to find a local organization that we could donate significant time and financial resources to assisting. As we’re all in the criminal justice field, we were looking for a program for at-risk youth near the Greater Boston area — the closer to the city, the better.

We found it at the Boys and Girls Club in Somerville, Massachusetts today.

After three hours of basketball, poll, video games, and “Cooties”, my team has chosen to commit at least half a day of their time each month to this special group of youngsters. It’s the beginning of a relationship that I can only see improving in the months to come.

It’s amazing what good you can do with your time…

This Man is an Idiot

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THE MAYOR OF LONDON, Ken Livingstone, on the eve of President Bush’s State visit:

I actually think that Bush is the greatest threat to life on this planet that we’ve most probably ever seen. [Citizen Smash]

I concur.