Crypticalley ...of Twisted Neural Pathways

I'm shamelessly re-posting this from Reddit, but it's foo funny to ignore this Christmas.

About six months ago I posted a story about how American Express charged me twice for my rewards membership dues. Today I found they had pegged a periodic finance charge to my account despite my paying the statement balance in full each month. A short phone call sorted it all out and the charge was removed, but frankly I'm getting pretty tired of having to scrutinize my bills with the expectation that they will be wrong each time. That's two strikes already, next time they get booted out.

I was bored last night and came up with the following, inspired in part by xkcd.com, and complete with mouseover tool tips

If you've worked in corporate America (or a large corporation anywhere for that matter), chances are you have encountered the cube farm. I present to you Cube News 1, a short internet video series, self described as

a wicked and hilarious newscast
for cubicle dwellers everywhere

I noticed that the latest edition of Time Magazine(April 2, 2007) has a different cover for the US as compared to the rest of the world. The European, South Pacific, and Asian editions carry the cover story of "Talibanistan" and how radical elements are spreading in the north western frontier of Pakistan. The US edition is replaced by an article on why Christianity should be taught in public schools. It seems to suggest that Americans would be more interested in the whole state-and-religion debate yet again.

       

Thankfully, the US edition does carry the other article. On the flip side, at least most Americans aren't going to be faced with another image they might confuse with the Sikhs.

(March 21, 2007) Every now and then Dilbert gets it so right

It's early March, kind of late for a first ski trip this winter, but that's exactly what I was up to this weekend. After the snowfall on the previous Sunday, it seemed like the best chance to get on the slopes before warmer temperatures kick in. And my friend Pranav and I were not disappointed; it turned out to be one of my better ski trips.

Hunter Mountain is about 120 miles from Mt. Vernon and easily reachable by car. The town area has an abundance of ski and rental shops where one can pick up equipment at better rates than at the resort itself. Pranav checked out the rentals while I got my skis inspected, and then we set off to ski.

And ski we did, with an amazing deal as well. As we were making our way out of the parking lot, a guy pulled up in a pickup truck offering $20 lift tickets. Naturally skeptical, but finding authentic-looking passes, we decided to take a chance and bought a pair. We weren't too keen on his offer for additional tickets for the following day (not knowing if they would work), but he ended up giving them to us for free anyway. Turns out he had purchased a LOT of equipment from a local ski store and had no use for the coupons he had collected. Anyway, the passes worked fine, so we got 2 days worth of skiing at a fifth of the price! Pretty neat. The weather was warmer so there was hardly any ice from the Friday rain, and the slopes got a light dusting of snow each day to make just right conditions.

Pictures are online in the gallery and on Facebook. I also got a chance to take some video on the green and lower blue slopes. No vids from the steeper blues yet because the camera still distracts me a bit on those slopes.

Also, I just have to mention the "Last Chance Cheese" restaurant in the town. As you may have guessed, they have a good assortment of cheese. The also have an excellent gourmet burger and a huge beer selection for anyone so inclined.

Pranav wishes this was the paparazzi on skis:

On the icy blue slopes:

I'm sitting at Chicago's O'Hare airport as I write this entry. It is 10:25pm on a Thursday evening, my flight is delayed, and all I can think about is getting home. I also feel like punching someone in the TSA.

I'm seething because the TSA considers my moderately sized hair gel to be a security threat this evening. Oddly enough, it hasn't been a security threat for the last five weeks when I've flown in and out of the same airport. Ok. I will grant them the fact that the container was 5oz (I was mistaken, the limit is 3oz), but the lady inspecting my belongings was willing to let it go if I had a ziplock bag. Pray what good would a ziplock bag be against a real threat?? Perhaps it would prevent leaks and keep the contraption in working order? The ziplock bag limit is to ensure that the total quantity of liquids per person is less than a quart, but clearly a 5oz container is not larger; even an elementary school kid will tell you that. Maybe I should have opened it to show that it was half empty from my previous 5 weeks... I suspect that lady was just unhappy to be working the graveyard shift.

Seriously, the TSA needs to concentrate on protecting travelers, not hassling them simply for the sake of appearing to protect America's skies.