Friday, December 05, 2003

Slashdot | Stealth Inflation

"The New York Times on the Web explores the topic of incorrect bills and numerous surcharges with names like 'assessment', 'handling', 'restocking', etc. David Pogue quotes Business Week magazine, where it says that such small charges $100 million annually for hotels, $2 billion for banks and $11 billion for credit-card companies. Users of landline phones, cell phones, checking accounts and credit cards are starting to suspect that such huge revenue might imply the mistakes are made on purpose. Is it just another conspiracy theory, or are we becoming victims to the stealth inflation?"

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

From fark.com: Creator of credit card dead at 88. Will be snipped up into little pieces by giant scissors

sacbee.com -- AP State Wire News -- Joseph P. Williams, creator of first large-scale all-purpose credit card, dead at 88

I love this site just for the comments like these...

Sunday, September 21, 2003

No more email at work??
A real legend... (Steel Pier Diving Horse rider)

Atlantic City Memory Lane: "' Sonora Carver, died on September 20, 2003. She was 99 years of age. She was blinded riding the diving horse, but continued to ride for 11 years after she lost her sight. Her autobiography, 'A Girl And Five Brave Horses', was made into a movie by Walt Disney Studios, several years ago. The title was 'Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken'.' "

The poster from the movie..

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Judaism 101 (for Boomers):

As a general principle, Jewish holidays are divided between days on
which you must starve and days on which you must overeat. Many Jews observe no fewer than 16 fasts throughout the Jewish year, based on the time-honored principle that even if you are sure that you are ritually purified, you definitely aren't. Though there are many feasts and fasts, there are no holidays requiring light snacking.

Note: Unlike Christians, who simply attend church on special days (e.g.
Ash Wednesday), on Jewish holidays most Jews take the whole day off. This is because Jews, for historical and personal reasons, are more stressed out.

The Diet Guide to the Jewish Holidays:
Rosh Hashanah -- Feast
Tzom Gedalia -- Fast
Yom Kippur -- More fasting
Sukkot -- Feast
Hashanah Rabbah -- More feasting
Simchat Torah -- Keep feasting
Month of Heshvan -- No feasts or fasts for a whole month. Get a grip on
yourself.
Hanukkah -- Eat potato pancakes
Tenth of Tevet -- Do not eat potato pancakes
Tu B'Shevat -- Feast
Fast of Esther -- Fast
Purim -- Eat pastry
Passover -- Do not eat pastry
Shavuot -- Dairy feast (cheesecake, blintzes etc.)
17th of Tammuz -- Fast (definitely no cheesecake or blintzes)
Tish B'Av -- Very strict fast (don't even think about cheesecake or
blintzes)
Month of Elul -- End of cycle. Enroll in Centre for Eating Disorders
before High Holidays arrive again


There are many forms of Judaism:
Cardiac Judaism -- in my heart I am a Jew.
Gastronomic Judaism -- we eat Jewish foods.
Pocketbook Judaism -- I give to Jewish causes.
Drop-off Judaism -- drop the kids off at Sunday school and go out to
breakfast.
Two-Times a Year Judaism -- attend service Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

You know you grew up Jewish when:

You've had at least one female relative who drew eyebrows on her face
that were always asymmetrical.

You spent your entire childhood thinking that everyone calls roast beef
"brisket".

Your family dog responds to complaints uttered in Yiddish.

Every Sunday afternoon of your childhood was spent visiting your
grandparents.

You've experienced the phenomena of 50 people fitting into a 10 foot
wide dining room hitting each other with plastic plates trying to get to a
deli tray.

You thought pasta was the stuff used exclusively for kugel and kasha and
bowties.

You watched Lawrence Welk and Ed Sullivan every Sunday night.

You were as tall as your grandmother by the age of seven.

You never knew anyone who's last name didn't end in one of 6 standard
suffixes (-man, -witz, -berg, -stein, -blatt and -baum).

You were surprised to find out that wine doesn't always taste like 50-
year-old cranberry sauce.

You can look at gefilte fish and not turn green.

You can understand Yiddish but you can't speak it.

You know how to pronounce numerous Yiddish words and use them correctly in context, yet you don't exactly know what they mean. Kenahurra.

You grew up thinking it's normal for someone to shout "Are you okay? Are you okay?" through the bathroom door if you're in there for longer than 3 minutes.

You have at least six male relatives named David.

Your grandparent's furniture smelled like mothballs and was as
comfortable as sitting on sandpaper.

You thought that speaking loud was normal.
Chowhound's Los Angeles Area Message Board: Ultimate Restaurants 2003 Results

Thursday, August 28, 2003

I can't believe that someone stumbled onto my message board
and is posting SPAM!!!!

The Pseudotech Message Board

Friday, July 11, 2003

Pitiful...

I got this garbage in my Yahoo mailbox - it looks like a Yahoo login screen but here is the text alongside...

This is really pathetic. And very stupid.


Dear Yahoo! User,


The Yahoo! Inc. is prepared awards for yahoo users,The prize is get a bigger mailbox store.4MB storage - up to 10MB Free. Only 1000 users gets the prize.Now, Be quickly!! Take one's chance.

Please fill in your Yahoo!ID and your Password and then submit this form by clicking the Send button.This is everything that you have to do to get extra mailbox store. After your submission we will send a email about the competition.

Monday, April 21, 2003

Courtney Love's Dad - Henry "Hank" Harrison... writes into the blog, Red Sea Pedestrians
(refuting Courtney's claim that he's anti-semitic)

Friday, February 07, 2003

Absolute proof that automatic translation of languages is many many years away from being taken for granted....
What a cute! Natsuko has a weblog!

Thursday, January 30, 2003

Might be interesting to go to the "Ask a Librarian" section, participate in the live chat they have during government hours, and ask, "So, what are you wearing right now?"

Recorded Sound Reference Center (Library of Congress)
Home Despot

Wednesday, January 08, 2003

Saturday, January 04, 2003