Like Sluts

From a story on social media spam:

A typical lure cited in the suit: "You will be SHOCKED when you see this video. Simply "Like" this page to see the video." By clicking on a link, some users may unwittingly "like" the spam, a practice security experts call "likejacking." At least 280,214 users were tricked into interacting with spam.

Someone asks you to like something, sight-unseen, and you just give your like away?

Do you have anonymous, unprotected sex through holes in bathroom stall walls, too?

And people think I'm kidding when I call Facebook "the syphilis of internet software."

Memorial Day Thought

The best way to thank the fallen today is to accept the gift they gave you and live your life like a free man in a free country.

A gift isn't a gift if you leave it in the box. Take it out and use it.

How to Ruin A Video

[YouTube direct link] (Viewer #617,666)

Have a guy do an interesting and intricate act involving speed, skill, and dexterity, and then every time he does something cool, splice in footage of some slack-jawed judge, hostess, or audience member gawking at him.

Otherwise know one will know how impressed they should be by what they're seeing.

Damn... and I thought fakey-ass laugh tracks were annoying.

How to Succeed at Anything

From Approach Anxiety, the author wrote this specifically about approaching women, but I can't help noticing that it has more universal applications:

Fail. Fail again. Fail differently. Fail better. Fail harder. Fail quicker. Fail smarter. Fail clearer. Fail funnier. Fail badly. Fail well. Fail painfully. Fail on purpose. Fail by accident. Fail and learn. Fail without learning. Fail in the cold. Fail in bookstores. Fail in malls. Fail on the train. Fail on Valentine's Day. Fail your friends. Fail your family. Fail yourself. Fail everyone. Fail society. Fail again. Fail when you thought you were done failing. Fail and feel good. Fail and feel bad. Fail and wonder where you are going. Fail and know. Fail and feel sick. Fail and get embarrassed. Fail and hate yourself. Fail and love yourself. Fail and get hurt. Fail and get rejected. Fail when you didn't think you could fail. Fail and face your fear. Fail and get past your fear. Fail and find more fear.

And that's just for starters...

Why are you still reading this? Go fail at something.

Open Minded

After years of skepticism, I've finally accepted the fact that hot water makes better ice cubes.

What Bob Said

From BYTE:

I have never wanted a Facebook page. I like --- treasure --- the fact that I have lost contact with people I didn't like much in high school, or the first office I worked in, or I met once on a bus thirty years ago. It would frighten me to be suddenly invaded by those people. They are mixed memories, the way God planned them to be. And I am to them. Why drag around the emotional corpses of a lifetime?

If I wanted to talk to the dead, I'd hire a medium.

This Is Off-Topic, But I Can't Help Myself

Regretsy has a post highlighting a hobbyist whose "thing" is making needlework samplers out of Kanye West's tweets.

It's interesting just for the odd sense of unreality that viewing real-world versions of digital content gives you. Like sitting at a stoplight and feeling like you're rolling backwards because the car next to you is creeping forward.

But the point of this post is that the filthy rich and famous Kanye complains a LOT on Twitter, and every one of his posts should contain the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems.

Whiny bitch.

Slinky on a Treadmill

[YouTube direct link] (Viewer #1,219,034)

At first, I thought, "ok, this is kinda cool, but there's no way I'm gonna stay interested for over 3 minutes."

Well, turns out that, since the slinky kinda wanders all over the treadmill due to the vagaries of physics, I not only stayed interested, I found myself actually ROOTING for the little guy when he'd get too close to the edges.

"comeoncomeoncomeon YOU CAN DO IT!"

So I'm thinking this video might be sort of a Rorschach Test to see whether you prefer to see people succeed or fail.

So... are you "Team Walk" or "Team Fall"?

Only Fools Believe in the Foolproof

From BBC:

"If I were empress of the Universe I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached - a barcode if you will; an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals.
[...]
Anonymity would be impossible as would mistaken identity making it easier to place responsibility accurately"

A few things:

* She's obviously never seen the movie "Gattaca". There's no security system that can't be over-ridden, hacked or foiled, because a security system has to defend against ALL attacks. Attackers only have to get past one weakness.

* Mistaken identity impossible? My ass. Some human being has to have access to the database, which means that some human being can screw something up, either unintentionally, or with malice aforethought.

* That last phrase is very telling - "place responsibility accurately." It's a pretty safe bet that she intends to be the one in charge of what gets placed on whom, and with a well-carved-out responsibility exemption for herself.

For the good of the system, of course.

Take That, GEICO!

Gecko vs. teflon:


[YouTube direct link] (Viewer #34,997)

Lockerbie Bomber Dies, Finally

Via Fox Nation:

Scotland released al-Megrahi on Aug. 20, 2009, on compassionate grounds to let him return home to die after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. At the time, doctors predicted he had only three months to live.

A stimulus to Hell that's pitchfork-ready.

Battleship Warning

According to my most trusted movie review guy, don't bother showing up until the last 20 minutes.

Good Enough Reason for Me

This caught my eye.

JetBlue Airways released a statement late Thursday afternoon and cited "a computer glitch" as the reason behind the removal of an 18-month-old girl from a flight leaving Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday night.

The toddler and her parents were asked to get off the plane after they had just boarded the flight to Newark, N.J.
[...]
"We were put on display like a circus act because my wife wears a hijab," the baby's father said, adding that he thought his family was being profiled because they're of Middle Eastern descent.

Considering what people of Middle Eastern descent did, there's a reason to profile you.

If I walk into a bank wearing a ski mask, I probably shouldn't expect a friendly greeting, even if I'm doing it in Minnesota in the dead of winter when it's 50 below.

Fact is, EVERYONE profiles you, Mr. Middle Eastern Descent. They're just too polite to say anything. This sucks. Just like it sucked to be of Japanese or German or Italian descent in WWII.

There's never a good time to look like the enemy during a war.

I Really Hope This Is Just Me

Does that look like Obama herding people into a giant furnace?

Releasing My Inner Luddite

Call me old-fashioned, but it chafes me that internet software keeps giving me more and more pictograms to interface with, and fewer and fewer menus with actual words.

Couple more years, we'll be building pyramids and worshiping cats.

Can't Say No

I just really like the eyes in this picture.

If that were my daughter and she asked me for a pony, I'd be out back building a stable right now.

IT'S A BOY!

Been a long time since I birthed a blogchild, but after a lot of prodding and arm-twisting, I'm finally privileged to introduce:

Hunter of Atomic Monkey Action Squad

Let's peel back the blue blankie & see what we've got:
______________

Traditional sucky first post - Sadly, I've seen worse. He actually establishes his blog theme and runs with it. Oh well, they can't all be lousy.

A very nice tribute to his father - and the lessons he learned from the man.

A link to IMAO - a tiny little post like that normally wouldn't be worth mentioning, but this particular post he links at IMAO was a brilliantly inspired piece of work that he asked me to post for him. After reading it, I knew I couldn't let him stay a mere commenter for the rest of his life. Writing talent like that need to be placed on a hill to shine for all to see, not hidden in the dungeon of other people's comments.

Another link to IMAO - more good writing that I posted for him, just to build his blogger street cred.

The Zombie Apocalypse is the Best Case Scenario - He's not kidding. Well, he is, but... well, once you read it, you'll find yourself agreeing.

The Parable of the Talents, 2012 - the last thing I posted for him at IMAO. From now on, he posts his own goodies.
______________

Anyway, Hunter, you can pick up a Bad Example Family logo from this post, if you wish, for display in your sidebar. Like everything else in blogging, it's completely optional.

Meanwhile you can look forward - with either anticipation or dread - to occasional visits and comments from me.

Welcome home.

I Hate This, But for a Different Reason

Obama on gay marriage:

When I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage

This statement is pissing a lot of people off.

Some people hate the "fighting on my behalf" line.

Some people hate that Obama's now openly supporting gay marriage.

I hate that Obama cares that military folk feel "constrained" because "they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage."

For 6 years in the Navy, you know what made me feel constrained? Cramped quarters, uniforms, inspections, lousy food, and working conditions that were measured on a scale of uncomfortable-to-unsafe.

Oh, and every freaking word in the UCMJ.

Yeah, it was all pretty much a style-cramper from day 1.

But I volunteered, so anyone that feels sorry for me is an idiot.

Looking your way, Mr. President.

Private Means Not in Public

The Daily Mail frets about surveillance cameras that can actually zoom in to what you're doing on your smart phone.

As part of extensive police monitoring during the tournament, camera operators scanned the spectators looking for suspicious looking packages and aggressive behaviour.

They then chose to zoom in on one man who was texting - although it turned out he was simply writing about the poor quality of the rugby match.

Experts warned the fact that the cameras were able to do this raises concerns about breeches of individual's privacy.

You get no sympathy from me.

If you're in public, don't do things you don't want other people to see.

It's like complaining about how, when you took a dump on the sidewalk, someone took a picture of your ass.

Find a stall, dude.

While you're in there, do your texting, too.

I'm Going to Die Happy

A list of the 5 most common regrets of dying men.

Don't care.

What I care about is "how many people's lives did I touch and make better?"

I've got blogkids. Some quit, but they all LIVED, because of me.

I'm good.

Speaking of which...

Eh. It's late. I'll tell ya tomorrow.

For You Outdoorsy Types

Via There, I Fixed It:



Lumberjack's candle

I Just Want Freedom From YOU, Mr. President

Obama brags about how he would interfere with a woman's life from cradle to grave at someone else's expense.

Please, just leave her (and me) the hell alone.

At the very least, let me sign up to opt out of all this nanny-state bullshit. I won't pay in, you won't pay out, and I can get my goddamned liberty back.

Is that really so much to ask?

No Spoilers

For some reason, this reminds me a bit of "The Cabin in the Woods".


[YouTube direct link] (Viewer #31,956)

By the way, if you like anything Joss Whedon's ever done, like Buffy, or Angel, or Firefly, or Dollhouse - go see "The Cabin in the Woods".

Most horror movies just spring shit on you, because "BOO!" scares are easy.

This movie foreshadows.

Oh, you still won't see it coming.

But afterwards you'll think, "yeah, he warned me."

Ya gotta respect writing like that, because it's all too rare these days.

The Media Are Idiots

Admittedly, this news story is from a greasy British tabloid, but I've seen this same sentiment expressed by supposedly-responsible media outlets, too:

Technology-addicts regularly go 48 hours without speaking to anyone in person, a study has found.

A significant three per cent of adults fall into a so-called ‘digitally dominant’ group which will mainly communicate via text, email or video calls.

It suggests technology – from smartphones to iPads – is helping to kill off physical and social interaction among those obsessed with the devices.

What kills me is the picture and caption for this story:



The guy is holding an animated conversation with two other people.

Yeah. Isolated.

This whole notion is crap. E-mail is human interaction. Phone calls are human interation. Face-to-face is human interaction.

I'm still going with this sentiment:

Obama Trying to Create Master Race

The President talking to the troops:

"Gentlemen, for the gentlemen out there, who are not yet married, let me just explain to you, your goal is to improve your gene pool by marrying somebody who is superior to you."

No, you should marry a woman who makes you want to be a better man, and supports the efforts you make toward that end.

The way Obama phrased it makes him sound like he's breeding livestock.