The Wheel of Fortune One-Letter Solve
By Brian | November 11, 2010
It’s been years since I watched Wheel of Fortune regularly, but this came across my news feed today and gave me quite a chuckle:
This, to me, addresses the true magic of the Wheel of Fortune game. If you’re looking at a puzzle and you don’t know the answer, it seems impossible that anyone else could ever figure it out. Once you solve it, though, it seems just as odd that everyone else in the world doesn’t see it too. I mean, seriously – “I’ve Got a Good Feeling About This.” What else could it be? It’s so OBVIOUS…
Categories: Primetime TV | 6 Comments »
Unlikely Twins, Part XXVII
By Brian | November 7, 2010
I’m pretty sure that each November 7th, at least one of these guys looks at more than just their horoscope for guidance:
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| Billy Graham, Preacher of Faith |
Leon Trotsky, Former Leader of Communist Russia |
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One of the Downsides of the Holiday Season…
By Brian | November 7, 2010
Two questions leap immediately to mind. First, can they sing better than he can? And second, will the Justin Bieber Singing & Fashion figures sell more or less than the Tickle Me, Elmo series? Somehow, having Elmo kick his ass would be strangely satisfying to me…
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Seriously, Apple? Daylight Saving Time?
By Brian | November 6, 2010
You would think that by 2010, all of our smart phone manufacturers would have figured out Daylight Saving Time. I mean, maybe not the really old phones – the ones that were built back when sundials were still all the rage (i.e., the 1990’s), but the modern ones should be OK, right?
Turns out, a small, little-known phone manufacturer called “Apple” still hasn’t gotten it quite right:
Apple iPhone users in the United States must . . . remember to delete and then reset their phone’s alarm clock — otherwise they may be an hour late for work on Monday morning.
A glitch in the iPhone’s operating system will cause recurring weekday alarms not to ring on time on Monday morning because of the end of Daylight Saving Time, which occurs at 2 a.m. on Sunday in the United States. The phone’s alarm app doesn’t recognize the time change and will ring an hour late if users don’t go into the program and manually reset the alarms.
Users who depend on the iPhone to wake them up should create one-time alarms specifically for Monday morning, said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison. “We suggest customers set non-repeating alarms for now and reset after November 7 to resolve the issue,” she told CNN.
Later this month, Apple will release an updated version of its mobile software, iOS 4.2, which will permanently fix the problem, Harrison said.
I’m not sure what’s more embarrassing – getting Daylight Saving Time wrong in your operating system, or releasing a fix for it a couple weeks after it’s needed.
Maybe the guy in charge of Daylight Saving Time was the same guy in charge of keeping the iPhone 4 prototype under wraps…
Categories: Tech Talk | 4 Comments »
Unlikely Twins, Part XXVI
By Brian | October 31, 2010
Both of these writers have October 31st birthdays. Accordingly, one produced haunting poetry, and the other’s output was, well, cringe inducing…:
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| John Keats, Writer of Beautiful Poetry |
Vanilla Ice, Writer of Ice, Ice Baby |
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The First Photograph of a Human
By Brian | October 28, 2010
Megan McArdle just pointed me to this picture, which purports to be the first picture ever taken of a human being:
According to the blog post it came from, the picture was taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838. Louis Daguerre invented a process called Daguerreotype, which creates an image by exposing a chemically treated metal plate to light for ten minutes.
What’s really interesting about this picture (to me, anyway) is that the street was very crowded and busy when the picture was taken. But all of the people, horse-drawn carriages, etc. were moving, so they didn’t make any impression on the metal plate. Only the one gentleman, who appears to be having his boots shined, stood still enough for long enough to be captured. Everyone else around him was, unknowingly, a ghost – disappearing in the final daguerreotype. But this guy’s image was preserved forever – the first human being ever caught on film.
And, because the Internet can sometimes be as awesome as a daguerrotype from 1838, here is an image lifted from Google maps, showing the same street corner today (lifted from the same blog post:
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 7 Comments »
Unlikely Twins, Part XXV
By Brian | October 27, 2010
It would be impolite of me to say anything bad about one of these October 27th birthdays, at least according to the other one:
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| Emily Post, Expert on Manners |
John Gotti, Expert on Murders |
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Stephen Fry on Language
By Brian | October 26, 2010
I like this very much, although I think loyal reader, Jason Bennion, will not be such a big fan. Or maybe I’ll be surprised…
Jason?
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 4 Comments »
And now…a Muppet News Flash
By Brian | October 20, 2010
Someone on Facebook pointed me to this. I don’t know if it’s the complete collection, but it’s certainly an excellent sample:
I know – 100%, world-class cheese. But it still makes me smile.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program…
Categories: Primetime TV | 2 Comments »
Unlikely Twins, Part XXIV
By Brian | October 18, 2010
Both musicians, both born on October 18th, but that’s basically where the similarities end…
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| Wynton Marsalis, Musical Icon |
Zac Efron, High School Musical Icon |
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