Everyone knows that every commercial that involves computers whether as a point of focus or in the background, except those for a specific brand of computer, show a Mac of some sort. Well, it’s moved on to spokespersons’ makeovers. Consider the following:

Copyright ©2007 Mars

I heard about it on NPR and had to look for myself. If nothing else, this seriously cracks me up. NPR was discussing the inherent prejudice and racism in the concept of Uncle Ben and how it started in a time when many spokescharacters were racist, sexist or the like. The guest they were speaking to was talking about how many of the others have been since replaced. Mars (the company who owns Uncle Ben) evidently decided that giving Ben a promotion was the answer to any questions of impropriety.

I don’t really have an opinion either way regarding the underlying political issues. I just think it’s hilarious that Uncle Ben now has an iMac.

Dear Adult Swim:

are you guys ever gunna make
the fix available to Mac users?

you guys are Macophobes

[ladyRei]

..

Here’s the funny thing:
Williams Street is run completely on Macs
We can’t see The Fix either

Until we get it on Flash
Watch the old timey TV

The only processor in the world capable of causing a hallucination so intense that you’re convinced that four or five of you are dancing amongst iridescent glitter.

Intel Core 2 Duo. The world’s best acid trip.

Hey everyone!

The Summer Sessions. The dates are as follows:

Session I: 19-21 May 2006.
Session II: 16-18 June 2006.
Session III: 14-16 July 2006.
Session IV: 11-13 August 2006.

I apologise for this post being a bit late on the uptake for the first session, but most of you who could make it are already aware of the plans.

And here they are!

Some of you may remember the weekend hack session held last summer. It was a total blast and we got quite a bit done. This year, we’re going to change things up a bit. Since we’ll be getting together over the course of four months, we can get into some major projects, as we’ll be back together every four weeks. The big change, however, is the learning opportunity we’re going to create.

I want to hear feedback from all of you. Those of you that have something to offer, let me know what you’d like to teach. Those of you who are interested in learning anything in particular, let me know. We’ll get ideas and interests and break off into smaller groups during the sessions. Again, taking advantage of being back together every four weeks, we can work on smaller projects as a learning experience over the course of the summer. Speaking for myself (and maybe others!), it will provide an opportunity to contribute where there might not otherwise have been one.

There isn’t any set plan, except to keep it flexible. I know some of you won’t be able to make it to all of them, which is another reason I need the feedback from all of you. Since there are specific things that some of you have already expressed interest in, I want to make sure that, if possible, you make it for the same session as whoever has that information to offer.

Remember, this whole concept is still a work in progress, and will be for the entire summer. Please give me feedback! I know all you can give me for now is what you know and what you want to know. We’ll all have a better idea as to how we want to work things after Session I.

UbuntuDetroit.org underwent some major maintenance and currently has no content to speak of. My plan is to get to that during the first session. Further updates will be posted there once I get everything settled in.

I was pointed to the idea of a Code Camp. Our Summer Sessions inadvertently follow the Code Camp Manifesto (http://blogs.msdn.com/trobbins/archive/2004/12/12/280181.aspx). Once I get the information posted into UbuntuDetroit.org, I am going to post our dates on the scheduled Code Camp Wiki page: http://www.bostondotnet.org/codecamp/default.aspx/CodeCamp/CodeCampSchedule.html

———————————–
The Code Camp Manifesto:

1. By and For the Developer Community

Code Camps are about the developer community at large. They are meant to be a place for developers to come and learn from their peers. Topics are always based on community interest and never determined by anyone other than the community.

2. Always Free

Code Camps are always free for attendees.

3. Community Developed Material

The success of the Code Camps is that they are based on community content. All content that is delivered is original. All presentation content must be provided completely (including code) without any restriction. If you have content you don’t want to share or provide to attendees then the Code Camp is not the place for you.

4. No Fluff - only Code

Code Camps are about showing the code. Refer to rule #1 if you have any questions on this.

5. Community Ownership

The most important element of the Code Camp is always the developer community. All are welcome to attend and speak and do so without expectation of payment or any other compensation other than their participation in the community.

6. Never occur during work hours

We need to understand that many times people can’t leave work for a day or two to attend training or even seminars. The beauty of the Code Camp is that they always occur on weekends.

———————————–

With that, I’m looking forward to seeing all of you who are coming this weekend for Session I. For the rest of you, you’ll be missed, but I hope you can make it for the rest of the sessions (or to one at least!). Please feel free to send me an email with any questions or if you would like to attend: kattni@gmail.com

See you soon!

So. Refresh, refresh, refresh.

The roommate was home, so I was continually checking in with him. He kept telling me that the UPS guy doesn’t get there until 3:30 or 4pm, and that he had not in fact arrived yet. So, I left work early to go home and wait (or go home and not wait).

And, wouldn’t it figure, there in my complex was the UPS guy. Facing the wrong way.

See, we’re in the back of my apartment complex. So, to pass the UPS guy somewhere before my building, facing towards the front of the complex is not a good thing.

And being who I am, I decided to stop.

“Do you have a package for me? I live further that way.”

“I don’t think so, but let me check.”

“I have a tracking number…” (At which point I pulled out my laptop and opened the email with the tracking number in it. Amusingly enough, there was open wireless, so I even opened the tracking page and showed him that it was out for delivery.)

“I don’t have it,” he says, “But let me give you the number to the office in Pontiac and you can call them and ask. Tell them you talked to Mark Oswald.”

So home I went, with my little piece of paper and called the UPS office. I was transferred to someone in shipping (or something like it) and Patty answered the phone.

“Hi, Patty, I have a problem. My online tracking info shows that I have a package out for delivery, but I just spoke with Mark Oswald who does the route for our apartment complex and he said to call you because he doesn’t have it.”

So Patty goes into the system and checks around a bit, asks a couple more questions, and finally comes to her conclusion: “I don’t have a record of your package even having an arrival scan. So that probably just means that your tracking information is wrong.”

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the online information just a publicly accessible web interface containing the information in their system? It had an arrival scan and “out for delivery”. So… How, if it’s pulling information from their system, is it just not there.

I didn’t figure trying to argue system design with Patty was really going to help anything, so I just said ok. She said to call back again tomorrow and they would see what the deal was.

I think they just lost my package. Which, thankfully, isn’t my fault according to Dell, but at the same time… I want my laptop. : (

Feh.