Richard Smallbone

• Full body cavity searches for everyone: Tougher TSA bomb tests raise stakes for screeners. They’re going to start using real bombs. Imagine if people’s lives actually depended on you doing your job well. Unlike now, where it’s all just for fun. (0)

• You’re Pretty Good Looking (For a Camera): Limited Edition White Stripes Holga and Diana+ cameras. Best band merch ever. So much cooler than that stupid U2 iPod. (0)

• So I forgot to get milk. You don’t have to crucify me.: bagmata: The red marks you get on the palms of your hands from carrying heavy plastic bags (definition from slangsite.com). I heard this on the CBC this morning while sitting in my car at the cemetery eating a bagel. (0)

• Turn, turn, turn: Apparently your brain-sidedness can be determined by which way the figure appears to turn. She was turning clockwise for me, which means I’m right-brained, and in touch with my feelings and imagination. I just wanted her to slow down so I could get a good look at her rack. I think that means I’m low centre-brained. Link from Airbag. (0)

• iBrowse: As part of their “Road to Leopard” AppleInsider has a great history of browsers on the Mac from HyperCard to Safari 3. The screenshots of Mosaic and early versions of Netscape tickled my nostalgia bone. (0)

• Comedy Central hates Canada: Comedy Central is now blocking Canadian IP addresses (and I assume all non-US IPs). Trying to access any of the Comedy Central servers gets you redirected to the Comedy Network, the Canadian cable channel which rebroadcasts the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, but it rankles. It’s bad enough that we can’t get TV shows and movies through iTunes, but ABC, CBS and NBC also block us from watching full episodes (although Miro and Transmission still work very very well).

  I think Ben sums it up nicely: “Sumner Redstone, suck my big red Canadian balls” (1)

• Run for the Border: Taco Bell is opening stores in Mexico (it tried and failed in 1992). The company says of the Mexican stores, “It is a new fast-food alternative that does not pretend to be Mexican food.” I’m not sure if the more important word there is “Mexican” or “food”. (2)

• Steve lets you get to third base: Apple will release an SDK for the iPhone and iPod touch in February.
  My iPod 3G just died, so this is good news for me and my future iPod touch. (0)

• How much web can a web designer design?: Findings from A List Apart’s Web Design Survey. People who are interested in this kind of thing will find that it’s the kind of thing they’re interested in. I participated in this survey, so it may indicate that web design in Southwestern Ontario is conducted mostly without pants. (0)

• Making mountains out of a moleskine link.: Excellent ad for Citroën. Link from Moleskinerie. (0)

• Sarah Mensinga: Sarah’s back. I enjoy her character illustrations. Check her out. (0)

• My Friend, Steve Fossett: My Friend, Steve Fossett by Richard Branson (0)

Photos taken in September of 2006.

• Let my Wi-Fi go. And I’ll have a latte.: This column predicts that the Wi-Fi at Starbucks will soon be free. I find a couple of things interesting about this. One is that I actually wasn’t aware that Starbucks had Wi-Fi, or that it was un-free (I guess I’ve never taken my laptop to Starbucks). The other is that anyone would pay for the Wi-Fi anyway, since in most areas where there’s a Starbucks, there would presumably be an unprotected wireless signal nearby. I prefer to use the free Wi-Fi that’s available in most residential areas. It usually goes by the name “Linksys” or “Default”. (0)

• mmmmm….Family Day: We’re getting a new holiday! If you live in Ontario, you’ll now be getting the third Monday of February off as Family Day. I’d like to state now that I will be celebrating Family Day by dropping the kids off at their grandparents and getting drunk at a strip club. (0)

• Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Nobel Prize: Al Gore has won half a Nobel Prize (I wonder if they’ll take turns; weekends and holidays will have to be figured out in advance.) I’m surprised. I would have thought it would have gone to Bush and Cheney for spreading peace and democracy throughout the world. (0)

Autumn is my favourite season. The chill in the air, the smell of burning leaves, and clouds as sculpture. It was hot on Saturday, and there were no burning leaves, but the clouds were there.
This rusty old el Camino was waiting for us at our destination.

• Spark one up: I caught part of Spark this weekend on CBC radio, and grabbed the podcast later that night (not sure if this is available worldwide or just in Canada. You can listen online from anywhere.) They talked to the folks from Satisfaction, and to Khoi Vinh of subtraction, one of my favourite blogs. It’s like the real world is finally catching up to my online wanderings. I also love that they use Creative Commons songs and audio effects. (2)

Photo from WWII in Color

• “Fuck off, stupid”: This is my second Fake Steve Jobs link in a row, but this headline is possibly the best written on the internet ever: People say we’re getting arrogant. My response? Fuck off, stupid.
  “I’m not arrogant. I’m smarter than everyone else, and I have better taste. That’s not arrogant. It’s just true.” (0)

• New Shit Bricks!: The new Zunes (or “Shit Bricks” as we call them at Apple) (0)

• Have you been Greenwashed today?: Greenwash: a term that is used to describe the actions of a company, government, or other organization which advertises positive environmental practices while acting in the opposite way. (0)

I know Starbucks has some misguided policy based on the idea that when I order coffee from the drive thru, what I really want is to chat with you, like I’m a regular, like we’re buddies. But really, nothing makes me more uncomfortable than going through the motions of a conversation that you were forced […]