Channeling Fred Flintstone

Brontosaurus Rib with BBQ Corn, jalapeno poppers and cheesegrits cake.
Mmmmmm.

TBG at 4Rivers

Happy

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676694051320005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219608640344181598136297747713099605187072113499999983729780499510597317328160963185950244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881710100031378387528865875332083814206171776691473035982534904287554687311595628638823537875937519577818577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989 Day.

TBG, contemplating pie for dessert tonight.

Travelers Blues

I should be on final into Jax right now.

Instead I'm sitting on the runway at EWR. For the last hour.

On my last nerve.

On Being A Glasshole

-or-

I got them early adopter blues

-----

Preface: pls pardon the lack of formatting and illustrations.

I'm sitting at a NJ Dunkin' Donuts writing this on the Blogger app on my iPad, which lacks some of the subtlety of the PC Blogger app.

I'd normally eschew dining at a place with such an egregiously grammatically incorrect and misspelled name, but the only other place nearby is Fourbucks, sorry, Starbucks and after 6 weeks of that in Sochi, well, I'd rather drink rainwater out of the gutter on Bourbon Street than give the Seattle mermaid  my money. But I digress...

-----

I was, briefly, a Glasshole.

I got an email last week from The Google (the G-Spot? The Big G? Need to come up with a properly mildly derisive term for Google) inviting me, for a relatively obscene amount of money, to join the Google Glass Explorer's Club, with all the rights and privileges (like getting thrown out of bars and clubs, or attacked on the street for invading someone's soi disant privacy) thereof.

Stupid expensive, because I could build at least two well-appointed AR-15s, buy a dozen Mosins, or go hafsies on an FN-SCAR if I could find some poor fool that wanted to waste the big wad of cash that Google wants for a pair (?) of Google Glasses.

(Hm. That's uncomfortable to write too... That singular-plural paradox- a 'pair of pants' vs 'a bra'. GGlass is one item. One unit. How 'bout we call 'em 'Glosses'?)

So... Google gets you coming and going... Kinda like them forcing you to get a G+ account in order to comment on YouTube a few months ago. To throw that big wad of your hard-earned rubles (53,650rub) at them, you have to have a Google Wallet. Fortunately for me, I already have a GWallet. It goes well with my G+ account, my GLicense, GMail, GCondoms, and will help immensely with my GLobotomy this summer.

When you do throw your money at them, they have the good sense to really deliver... Like the very next day. I ordered it on Thursday afternoon and got my Glosses on Friday morning.

Yay.

I had had a conversation with The Big Hat (now the 2nd Biggest Hat after our buy-out) regarding Glosses last fall. He had mentioned that it'd be good to get them into the hands of our propeller-heads back in development to see if there is anything they could be useful for in the scoring/timing/stats/sports technology area... We have several folks that applied to Google for Glosses but so far I'm the only one to get one. 

I had to give them a test flight... I got them configured, figured out how to control them- how to get data into and out of them, how to do searches, emails, and took some pictures and videos...

All without leaving my office...

To tell the truth, I was a little hesitant to walk around even in the relatively safe environs of the office mainly because a significant portion of our staff are suspicious to the point of cutting a piece of opaque tape on the built-in cameras on their laptops. They'd most likely freak to see The Office Ogre walking around with a video camera stuck to my forehead.

And this is the problem I have with that kind of mentality in people...

These people freak out when they see new technology that could possibly be used to eavesdrop on them, but have no problem with the thousands of CCTV cameras they walk around and under every day. 

It thinking about this, I did an informal survey as I walked around Jax Airport, EWR & Manhattan yesterday... I stopped counting at 1500 cameras around 3:00pm.

When you stop to look for it, there are an obscene number of cameras watching us at any given moment.

As I write this, I'm in the view of 4 cameras inside the store, there is one that can see me through the front window, one that can probably see me on the ATM across the courtyard, at least 4 more watching the courtyard outside, and no doubt several more at the other stores and restaurants that I will pass by.

What prompted this was a piece on CNN last night that showed video inside the club in SanFran (Molotov) that was made by a girl wearing Glosses as she was attacked, verbally and physically, for wearing them.

People complained that their privacy was being compromised and that they were having their oh-so-precious rights violated. You can see on the video several of those unobtrusive clear hemispheres mounted in the ceiling, each containing a CCTV camera...

I guess those don't count when one is concerned with privacy violations. Hypocrisy much?

I monkeyed around with the Glosses on the weekend... They are cool.

I shot a little video riding my bike (dangerous- need video display blanking app when doing this)... I shot a little video playing the Dark Menace.

They would probably, in the right environment, be more useful (or useful more often) than a couple home-grown ARs... Perhaps not as soul-soothing, but from a opportunity-to-use standpoint I'd get more mileage from Glosses...

They have been factory-reset now and the Chief Propeller Head has them...

I'll be interested to see what he is able to come up with.

I have a new toy to play with...

I got a Google Chromecast unit for Christmas... It's been sitting on the shelf waiting for my return from the Far Side of the World. When I get back from this trip I'm going to see what kind of trouble I can get into with it. 

(Can you say "copyright violation' children? I knew you could.)

Onward, through the fog...

TBG

Dessert

...it's not just for breakfast anymore.

One For OldNFO

Look what someone left just laying around...
I wonder if they left the keys in her..?

On Two Wheels...

A quick pro-tip for Motorcyclists:

Unless you are wearing a full-face helmet, no matter how tired you are, do not yawn.
A large flying insect WILL, regardless of the law of averages, fly in your gaping maw and hit your epiglottis at terminal velocity.
This makes safe motorcycle handling difficult, and will lessen your enjoyment of breakfast immensely. 

Here endeth the lesson.

Cloudburst

Just waiting out the 1:15pm mini monsoon...

Recovered Post: NBA Finals 09 -- Orlando TWSS

I was checking under the hood on Blogger this morning and found some posts that got hung up under the chassis and were never formally posted... Like this gem from back in 2009...

Rios: "I don't share my bananas with anyone."
TBG: "That's what she said."


Other fun quotes...
Sean: "...the rats are going to outlive us."
MichaelM: "Them and Cher."

Good times, good times...
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Damn.

It's bloody damned cold.

Update 1:20 AM Saturday 1/15/2011:
Lovely- I Mobileposted this message on Monday 1/10 afternoon, and it finally made it to the website on Friday.
Blogger is doing a great job of processing posts from my cell phone.

I'll just leave it for future reference...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Flying Assholes

Y'know, I thought it would be hard for a US-based airline to beat Continental for being overall Asshats, but Delta has overtaken them and is in the running for The Most Shitty Airline In The World.
In the last 2 years Continental has gone downhill badly, becoming unpleasant AND overpriced, with crappy gate and ticket attendants...
Delta calls with shitty attitudes in all personnel, flight crews and terminal staff alike, non-existent customer service and a most uncomfortable ride...

There was a Leprechaun two rows behind me bitching about legroom, so you can imagine my discomfort.
Congrats, Delta.
Your airline is a steaming pile of rhinoceros feces.

More to come, I'm sure.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
(Edited to correct egregious spelling errors)

TSA @ PIT

DEFCON: Ugly.
Looooong lines at primary and sooper-secrit alternate checkpoint.
Entered TSA Line at 6:10, exited at 7:01. Included backscatter and prostate exam. Oh joy.

On to CLT & JAX..

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

the Kids

Kyle & Hunter

Traveling Music

From IBC to Rosie's, 7 or so blocks, dodging drunks and cops.
Listening to:
No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant
Crime of the Century - Supertramp
I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band - Moody Blues
DixieChicken - Little Feat


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Exploitation

Following the Massachusetts wake-up call, Yours Truly wonders how Rahm "Twinkletoes" Emanuel and the rest of the puppetmasters that are pulling Urkel's strings are going to take advantage of the situation...
I mean, these are the guys who live by the mantra "Never let a crisis go to waste" ...
TBG -Watching & Waiting.

Another New Year...

...Another Winter Classic.
Fenway Park is the venue this year.
1:00pm New Years Day...
This is going to be interesting.
TBG - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Defense Condition: Jumpy

Is this how things are going to be for the next few months?

Boy, I can't wait for the big overhaul/review of TSA/DHS process and procedures commanded by Nobel Peace Prize winning apology-monger B. Hussein Obummer.

We pulled out of the gate on time this morning to the strains of the mid-cabin flight attendant yammering at the I-only-fly-once-every-two-years yokels back in steerage as the pre-flight briefing played.
Something was amiss back near the over-wing emergency exit.
The plane stopped out near the taxiway and waited while all three FAs wrestled with the Serious Problem.

I could hear several voices in the fray, seems like someone a few rows back didn't shut off some device in their carry-on and said device was beeping.
(Beeping! On an airplane! Heaven forbid!)

15 minutes of accusations and threats later, the captain informed us of the situation over the loudspeaker.

"Uhhh...From the flight deck, this is uhhhhh the captain. Uhhhh... There seems to be some kinda device in someone's bag in the overhead, and uhhhh.... In an abundance of caution, uhhhhhh we're gonna wait until the flight attendants find uhhhhh the device and turn it off so there won't be any uhhhh danger to the aircraft's operation. Uhhh thanks and we'll be on our way shortly."

Another 5 minutes goes by and the accusations are flying hard and fast.
"Whose bag is that? Do you have a cell phone?"
"Is there some kind of game in this bag? Please open it so we can see the contents!"

One of the FAs finally went up and called the flight deck. After a moment he got on the overhead.
"Well, we can't find it so were going back to the gate." he announced to a chorus of groans.
We hear another FA call up to him: "Wait a second..."
She comes up and they get on the phone with the flight deck.
After a short chat she looks back to mid cabin and gets a thumbs up.
She whispers into the phone again...
Another thumbs up.
They hang up.

"From uhhhhh the flight deck..we uhhhh got our issues resolved. We're good to go. Uhhh...thanks for your cooperation."

The solution slowly creeps forward by word of mouth.
One of the passengers by the window noted that the beeping was coming from the cabin speaker and was in synch with a flash he could see outside. Seems that there is a noisy relay on either the dorsal or belly strobe on the plane and when they shut off the light, the beeping stopped.

Lovely. Shrimply lovely.
Update:
We've just landed, 25 mins late.
I have 10 minutes to get to my next gate.
Next time I'm driving.

TBG - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Please, Sir...

5:01 AM - JAX TSA Security Checkpoint is packed.

At Mag and Bag:

XRay-Girl and TSA Guy look at the pic of my bag after it passes through the XRay machine.

TSA: "You gotta lotta electronics in your bag..."
TBG: (No answer...There wasn't a question proffered.)
TSA: "We're gonna re-scan yer bag."
TBG: (No answer... Again, no question.)
TSA: Rescan bag.
TSA: "We're gonna swab yer bag fer explosives and stuff..."
TBG: ...
(TSA Guy looks at me for a measured second or two, then looks around for a higher level bag-poker I guess, and gives the old raised eyebrow.)
TBG, TSA1 and TSA2 adjourn to the mass spectrometer/gas chromatograph.

TSA1 and TSA2 hold a short confab and begin rifling through my backpack-carry-on bag.

Everything is in smaller bags inside... All my headphones, adapters, power cords, USB cables, etc are in a pouch. A handful of flash drives and memory cards are in another small pouch.
There is a bag with my backup external hard disk too. Another has asprin, Ambien, wetnaps, contact lenses, and various OTC meds. Yet another has pens, Sharpies, a laser pointer and a couple Atwood tools.

They take out my EEE and swab it, feeding the swatch into the Magic Machine, the swab the inside of the all the bags, putting each swab into the mass-spec in turn.

TSA2: "You got quite a bit of stuff in there."
TBG: ...
TSA2: "Y'know, this might go a little faster if you'd cooperate."

Really? Look, I've got time. I know exactly what's in my bag, and I came prepared for delays... I just want to see how much additional foolishness is going to foisted upon us Poor Traveling Bastards.

I know this is going to light a fuse, but I'll do it anyway...

TBG: "Y'know, this might go a little faster if you actually asked a question."
TSA2 gives TSA1 a WTF look.
TSA2: "Acting odd?"
TSA1: Shrugs shoulders.
TSA2, looks at TSA1 as one would examine a bad cheese, then slides my half-unpacked bag over to me.
TSA2: "Have a good day sir..."
TBG: "You too sir."

Assholes.

TBG - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Thank You, CrotchBomber

Lovely- as I'm off to my next several destinations *I* get to be subjected to a few more pokes, prods and cavity searches because YOU couldn't keep it in your pants.

Off to BeanTown...

TBG - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Happy Solstice!

(Photo- The globe in the lobby of the Vancouver Convention Center, home of the Vancouver Olympics IBC a/k/a Hell with a Data Feed.)

I woke up and saw my shadow...
That means we're in for another 13 weeks of winter.
(Although with my luck it probably means another 52 weeks of rain, snow, sleet, and glowbull warmening.)
TBG - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ