The Observational

Gifts

Admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:08:13 +0000

The rise of Internet subscription businesses like Netflix, Amazon Prime, MLB.tv and Spotify have created great new gift-giving opportunities.

The downside of this strategy only becomes apparent a year
later. For some reason the gift of “I am not canceling that service you use and love” doesn’t have the same impact as “you get free movies for a year!”

First Response

Admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:11:30 +0000

I haven’t been involved with many emergencies in my life. One time I was a witness to a fairly minor car accident and called 911 to report it. Another time I was hiking in Hawaii and there was a tsunami warning, but the waves were pretty small.

Still, I like to think I understand what an emergency is. My understanding is apparently different than the makers of the “one sheet at a time” paper towel dispensers.

Exorcism

Admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:14:40 +0000

Over the past couple years the Internet has started to feel very civilized and polished. Thanks to Word Press and Tumblr everyone who wants one has a slick-looking blog, and thanks to Instagram everyone’s photos look like they’re out of a glossy faux-vintage Urban Outfitters catalog.

But the Internet hasn’t lost all of its charming idiosyncrasies. I’m pretty sure whoever came up with “MAILER-DAEMON” never expected that it would one day be sending emails to his grandmother when she typed in an incorrect email address. If I knew anything about websites I’d change my demon’s name to “CONFUSED POSTMAN.”

Social Drinking

Admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:24:32 +0000

One negative of Foursquare is that it makes it a lot easier to justify drinking alone.

I mean I don’t NEED a glass of wine with dinner on a Tuesday night, but at least I didn’t just check into Christopher’s Tavern like my buddy Steve…

Bootlegging

Admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:30:16 +0000

In the 90s, concert venues were extremely paranoid about people sneaking in tape decks and cameras to make illicit recordings of the show. I’m not sure what they were afraid of. Even if I could have smuggled in my aunt’s VHS camcorder, what was I supposed to do with the tape?

Now, everyone’s phone can not only record video and audio, but is capable of instantly sharing the spoils with the world’s 2 billion internet users on a website built for this purpose.

Surprisingly, all the people involved seem pretty chill about this development. I guess they realized that some teenager’s grainy video with terrible sound was never much of a threat in the first place. Or maybe everyone who cared about this problem already died of an aneurysm during the Napster era.

Stasis

Admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:02:27 +0000

So realistically, are we supposed to continue tweeting forever? What’s the long-term plan here?

via @jimmykimmel

Red Alert

Admin — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:37:25 +0000

If NYC were SimCity, the next disaster after earthquake and hurricane would be giant monster attack.

-via WS

Weather Alert

Admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:05:17 +0000

NJ Governor says “stay away from Jersey Shore” because of Hurricane Irene, but MTV convinced most of us long before today.

via Bartunde

Ghost Town

Admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:08:05 +0000

Google+ sure has become a ghost town. Kinda reminds me of this one time I was in the Magic Kingdom at like 1am and I kept riding Space Mountain over and over. It was the future but there was no one there.

Bed Bath and Beyond

Admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:54:34 +0000

At a certain age, twin-sized sheets should come with a gift certificate to match.com.

via @lori_paulson