Chris Hardie » onion

Links for the Week - May 20, 2008

Chris — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:53:31 +0000

These “links for the week” posts are a lame substitute for real blog posts, but I hope you enjoy them anyway. I’m working on some other entries about my experience with “power off day,” my preferred task list organization system (it’s NOT GTD), the difficulties of personal change in a vacuum, and more on media coverage of energy prices – so stay tuned. But for now:

Smaller Indiana, a social networking site for Indiana people, with an apparent trend toward IT/design professionals. It’s built on Ning, which I’m considering as a platform for a few projects. But mostly I’m just excited to see social networking applied at a more regional/local level – a great trend.
If you enjoyed Thought to Exist in the Wild, you’ll enjoy this bit of satire: San Diego Zoo, Prison Merge. Yeah.
The Emergency Party Button – oh yes, I will build this some day soon. They even got the music right.
What You Do Counts – National Geographic selected this film by an Earlham College student as a finalist
Someone took the time – a lot of time – to create an interesting map of humanity.
Wired says you can keep your SUV, don’t bother paying for organic food, forget about the spotted owl, etc. because reducing carbon emissions is the only real battle that matters. Hmm.

Links for the Week - March 26, 2008

Chris — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:12:53 +0000

What kinds of information the NSA is collecting about your communications – it’s not paranoia if they’re really after you. And they have really cool PDAs to do it with.
The Feminist Review – bloggers calling patriarchy as they see it
Geni – free Web 2.0 enabled online genealogy software
The Onion nails it again: You know what’s stupid? Everything I don’t understand – “God, all the people, places, and things I haven’t made the least bit of effort to comprehend should just die already.”
Get up to $15,000 for a project in your hometown – I love seeing this kind of use of the web.
Some E-Cards – for when you care enough to hit send

All online data lost after Internet crashes

Chris — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:16:53 +0000

Sometimes when people call us for technical support at Summersault, they tell us that in trying to troubleshoot a problem on their desktop computer, they have “deleted the Internet.” It’s always tempting to feign shock and horror, saying “that was YOU!?” and ask them to “get it back, oh dear God, get it back right now!” But then decency steps in and dictates that we walk them through steps to get their network connection working again.

So I’m glad that someone out there is having fun imagining what the headlines will be on the day when the whole Internet crashes and all online data is lost. I can just hear Tony Snow saying that “we deeply regret that a backup of the Internet does not exist at this time…we had always meant to get around to making one.”

What would it mean for your life?

Humor on the Net Roundup

Chris — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 14:29:11 +0000

A convergence of funny things going on on-line has hit me this week, so I should share some of those. First you have the “e-mail virus wars” that have broken out between the Bagel worm and the NetSky worm. The two apparently wage war on each other on your vulnerable desktop, including cursing, malicious uninstallation, sounds on your speaker, and more…follow the drama here. Then you have the Dishonest Dubya lying action figure, which, regardless of your political views, is just a fun toy to play with. Then you have your culturally insensitive parody of a Microsoft product. And finally, you have the latest issue of The Onion, with news stories such as “Virulent Strain Of Soy Flu Traced To Single Tofurkey” and “Jesus Demands Creative Control Over Next Movie”. Enjoy.