March 17, 2005
Scrobbler
Following the thread of "neat audio-related web things," I now have an audioscrobbler. I haven't listened to enough music yet to make the really cool stuff work yet, but it's a neat idea.
Posted by Ben at 07:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 13, 2005
Spam: Irritation, Poet
I hate spam, but I have to admit I sometimes get quite a bit of enjoyment out of those random keywords that sometimes come at the end of the message. They occasionally make a strange kind of sense, a sort of postmodern associational poetry. Here's a highlight of today's crop:
"verse sisters marshes Talladega. sanction redeclare wondrous bolted bovines filer,
contents remover espousing swinging steeples. securing
offense. commanders conclusive risen, assails tract. abdomens attaches
Seidel aplenty obsoleting. atoms Ripley meson Oriental. havens vehicular grandly affair appall zigzag!!"
This comes from the pen of Andrewplunkett, who wishes to inform all of us that "--------- Karen takes 16" Horse C0ck ---------."
As far as I can tell, this is a recounting of some historical event. There's a city with a religious center ("steeples" and "verse sisters"), under siege ("sanction"). Their supplies hold out so miraculously that even the clerk taking inventory of the herd ("filer") is impressed ("redeclare wondrous bolted bovines").
Then we have this:
"contents remover espousing swinging steeples. securing
offense. commanders conclusive risen, assails tract."
It's unclear at first who is removing the contents, so there's moment of chaos, but then we perceive that the army has attacked and is engaged in an iconoclastic raid on the church ("assails tract"). Perhaps the city is Constantinople?
Then we see designated a few of the heroes of this battle, including Seidel, who "abdomens attaches aplenty obsoleting." and a squad named after subatomic particles (seemingly an anachronism, but it could be a clue that these forces are those of scientific reason assaulting the church).
We are left with a visceral impression of the citizens futilely trying to escape the oncoming chariots of the enemy ("havens vehicular grandly affair appall zigzag!!").
All in all, quite an interesting work. I wish I could compliment the bot who put it together.
Posted by Ben at 03:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 09, 2005
Score one for the good guys.
Accountants and executives get fined for stealing from their companies, but what about the kids? What if they want to get put on probation too? Internet piracy: finally, a white-collar crime for the whole family.
Posted by Ben at 01:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 23, 2005
Ah Mortality
I'm a sucker for old Slate articles. This highlight is a review of the silhouette iPod campaign with the priceless tagline: "Because I'm the one with the eternal soul here—it's my stuff that's just transient junk."
Posted by Ben at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack