Google Strikes Again

I haven’t been a big fan of RSS in the past, but I find myself using it more and more nowadays, due to exactly one new development: Google Reader.

It solves the two major problems I had before: 1) missing articles because of feeds with a small history, since Google does the aggregation frequently and keeps a longer list of articles, and 2) it remains synchronized when used from multiple locations, not tying it to a particular program install on a specific machine, so I can use it from home, work, and while traveling without any redundancy.

Edit: Though to be fair, Google probably wasn’t really the first, as there have been other web-based aggregators. Google’s interface and integration into the rest of your account certainly makes it a lot easier to use, though.

Fuck Winter

Oddly enough, the exact same thing has happened to me two out of the last three days now:

It’s been rather cold (below -20°C in the mornings), so I decided to take the train instead of walking. After getting to the platform and buying my ticket, an announcement that there would be a delay due to a breakdown came on. So I waited. And waited. And waited…

And then even after the trains started arriving, they were so filled up with the backlog of people that I couldn’t even get on them. Not wanting to be That Rude Guy shoving his way on ahead of everyone else, I had to let three trains go by before one with enough room arrived. In the end I wound up waiting over 40 minutes on Monday and 30 minutes today, for a train that normally runs every 5 minutes.

It only takes me 20 minutes to *walk* to work, but the problem is that you’re trapped. Even after you’ve already spent 15-20 minutes waiting and are tempted to start walking, a train could arrive any moment now and then you’d feel really stupid for walking and stumbling through snowdrifts and facing the freezing wind over the river when you could have waited just a little longer…

Update: And apparently there was another problem today, as there was a train waiting at the station the entire time I walked past, with a ton of people still on the platform. The train’s reliability lately has taken a serious nosedive. Fortunately it’s a lot warmer today, so I was walking anyways.

Ssssshh…

Well, it’s about time to upgrade. My PC has served me a lot longer than it normally would have; its major parts are now over four years old, and I’ve tended to upgrade every two or three years. The video card is also becoming unstable, and I have to underclock it by a fair bit just to avoid crashes in the middle of games, but it’s not worth replacing it alone when the rest of the system would be underpowered in comparison. My poor, overworked Linux/HTPC box is also hungrily awaiting the hand-me-down upgrades it will inevitably get.

So, what shall I replace it with? The Mac Pro is a nice machine…
Continue reading “Ssssshh…”

Spamford And Sons

Subject: I will guide you to your first million;))

Whoa, no thanks. I have no idea what I’d do with that many smilies.

Subject: Full of health? Then don't click!

You’re right, I should save that health pack until the boss fight.

Subject: Forget about annoying 30-40 minutes before sex.

Hey, what have you got against foreplay?

Subject: Fifth Third Bank reminder: mail from Fifth Third Bank.

Sorry, but I’m actually signed up with the Thirty-Fourth Seventeenth Bank.

Subject: Wanna read the conversations your husband, wife, and kids are having on Yahoo and MSN?

Sure! I’d love to spy on both my wife, and, uh…husband?

Subject: PUSH PUSH PUSH

Why? Am I in the middle of labor? I hate sudden surprises like that…