|
Today's Fortune: |
   
|
Saturday, October 27, 2001
The batteries in our universal remote just died, and it lost all the codes I programmed into it. Also, I lost the manual that listed all the codes. So I got on the computer, thinking the internet would save me. But it didn't. Zenith's website is useless. Apparently the model number for my remote control is listed in the manual, but not anywhere on the remote. There are some numbers listed inside the battery slot: ZEN5SLBBA EIA343 SK64-002. Which I thought would be the model number, but is apparently the serial number for this particular device. Actual model numbers for this line of universal remote are ZEN100 through ZEN700. I thought since my remote's serial number starts with ZEN5, it must be model ZEN500, but according to some instructions I found posted on a bulletin board on Zenith's site, which I wouldn't have found except that I searched Google for "Zenith Universal Remote" and found a page with a link to Zenith's bulletin board, according to those instructions, the ZEN500 can't control DVD players, but my remote controlled our DVD player until just over an hour ago. So the point is that I was able to use the codes in that manual to program the TV and VCR back into my remote, but I can't get the AUX button to control the DVD player like it used to. Apparently only the ZEN700 controls DVD players, but when I tried entering the codes the ZEN700 uses to control DVD players, the light on the remote flashes in a way that means I entered an invalid code. There's another way to find codes for a device, which is by cycling through all 300 code combinations, and which I did. It took me ten minutes, and none of the combinations worked. All in all, I've spent over an hour trying to reprogram the remote, but I can't make it control the DVD player anymore. In that hour, I could've gotten up from the futon and manually controlled an entertainment device 211.7 times, rendering this labor saving device a useless piece of crap.
.: posted by andy 10/27/2001
Friday, October 26, 2001
Surprisingly, I am 49% geek, according to this test. I answered most of the technical questions no, but I guess I got by on technicalities like having Monty Python's Holy Grail memorized.
.: posted by andy 10/26/2001
Thursday, October 25, 2001
The mosquito-sprayer-truck just drove by my house. Those trucks could be almost as effective as a crop duster in distributing bad mojo. I hope my local government recognizes this.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/25/2001
The Jews and Philistines(they will be philistines for a while, until I get over them giving out candy in celebration of 9/11) aren't going to get along for a long time, and that's too bad. But the Irish Catholics and Ulster Unionists are making progress, and I think that's just great. Now as long as the fringe Republican and Loyalist groups keep themselves under control, maybe I'll go and take a vacation in Belfast. I'm sure they'd like some american dollars in their pockets. No links today, if you don't already know about this you're not interested anyway.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/25/2001
Shimon Peres may leave Ariel Sharon's coalition government, which would collapse the coalition, and then I'd be happy. Ariel Sharon is a vicious schemer and has no place leading the Israelis.
I got your slippery slope right here.
.: posted by andy 10/25/2001
That's his last name. His first name is Loc. He's Vietnamese.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/25/2001
I'm sure it's just coincidence, but talk about something that could look really bad in the hands of propagandists.
As for agents of doom spreading anthrax in the seven days they have to live, or wearing the full protective gear at all times where there is exposure (pretty unlikely for the full cycle of isolation of anthrax, producing it, packaging it and putting it in the mail; not to mention never being able to return to the apartment or whatever that was used to package it...), I doubt it. I mean dying a painful death for the cause is good and all, but isn't sticking around to do more havoc better? A more likely modus operandi would be to get vaccinated, or keep Cipro on hand.
I'm kind of curious why National Guard members from the Ft. Hood area were activated and shipped out. The news story said they were sent to Arkansas. I guess that's where they'll get trained on how to use rubber hoses to control the ration lines.
So is your boss really named Ha, Jeremy?
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 10/25/2001
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
At Andy's invitation, I am making my initial contribution to his website with the following point concerning the anthrax scare. At the college where I teach there was a scare this afternoon concerning several piles of powder found in a room in one of the buildings. Panic buttons were pushed, and we had police, fire and hazmat teams everywhere. As I pointed out in an email to the college community, anthrax spores are very small objects that float freely through the air. Can one assume that a bioterrorist will dump a pile of spores with the risk of breathing them in? These people are fanatics, not idiots. A risk from packages I can see. A risk from an open pile is a bit farfetched. If you observe someone dumping powder while wearing a full hazmat uniform, get nervous.
.: posted by George 10/24/2001
Jeremy walks into his boss's office...
Jeremy: Hey.
Boss: My name's not "hey."
Jeremy: It's pretty close. It's "Ha."
Boss: . . . .
Jeremy: Anyway....
I wonder if that wasn't the right thing to say...
.: posted by Jeremy 10/24/2001
Let me start with this.
As it turns out, the man that runs jesus.com is from Denton, Texas. Or at least he went to school in Denton, or something. I found this out listening to Brian and Gary talking Monday night. Don't worry, Brian's new website is supposed to be done next week, which just happens to be when his pre-release party for his new album is. It's a costume party, seeing as it's on Halloween, and there are drink specials for people in costume, as well as $50 for best costume. My brother is also having a huge Halloween party, on Saturday instead of on Halloween, though. I don't know what I'm going to be yet. I was thinking Osama bin Laden, since I have a beard coming in nicely; but that would be cliche and a little too political. I was also thinking about going as Brian Houser a.k.a. Beerman, bleaching and dieing my hair red, trimming my beard to a mustache, and getting a white straw cowboy hat. I think it would go over really well at the release party, but it would be mocking a friend.
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 10/24/2001
I have to remember not to ever take any books on airplanes anymore, ever.
.: posted by andy 10/24/2001
And I almost forgot, there's also "Anthrax and 767s plowing into skyscrapers are pretty scary, but you're not scared, are you?"
.: posted by Jeremy 10/24/2001
The polls on CNN.com are so dumb. Today's is "Would you support the U.S. bombing campaign if it lasts through the winter?" But in reality, they always come down to "Do you want to kill terrorists?" Or, "Do you want to kill a lot MORE terrorists?" And the results are always the same. 81% want to see dead guys wearing turbans on their TV, and 19% live in northern California, or are Quakers. They just manage to find a new way to word the poll every day.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/24/2001
Monday, October 22, 2001
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that all of your engineer buddies fall into the pencil-neck category. All their lives they've probably been picked on, and now every time they have an opinion, you tell them they're wrong. They probably go back to their cubes and cry. You're like the alpha male of BPMicroSystems. No wonder they won't lay you off.
.: posted by andy 10/22/2001
I think I just figured out why it always seems that my job is so bland. It's because nobody here will argue with me. I'll put forth some strong opinion, and whoever is listening will just nod or shrug and start talking about something that interests them. It makes for less friction, but it's also boring. I guess they feel they don't know me well enough to argue with me. I wonder how that makes me look... coz I always argue with everybody else's opinions. Maybe they think I'm a jerk, or maybe they think that that's just what I do. I don't know...
.: posted by Jeremy 10/22/2001
I have a job interview with UNCG tomorrow. Computer Consultant IV Trainee. The salary is about the same as I was making at DKC. Not bad I guess, especially considering the job security involved in working for a university. But I had all these big plans to go back to school full time and only have a part time job, and now the opposite might happen. I feel kind of derailed right now.
.: posted by andy 10/22/2001
Funny you should mention Civilization III. I've already sort of made a half-hearted pact with myself not to buy the game if I get accepted to UNCG.
.: posted by andy 10/22/2001
Sunday, October 21, 2001
Just when Andy thought all his distractions had been used up, and that he would finally be able to focus on learning something from a university... his old nemesis reappears.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/21/2001
So I was watching Memento, like Andy more or less recommended, and I was thinking, "yeah, Carrie Anne Moss sure is pretty hot." And then she turned out to be not so great. But then I thought, "screw it, she's still hot, and not a bad actress either."
.: posted by Jeremy 10/21/2001
Google
DrinkBoy
Modern Drunkard
DMOZ.org
The Agonist
Metafilter.com
Fark.com
RobotWisdom.com
Memepool.com
Plastic.com
news.google.com