I’ve updated my userinfo.
Blog
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And Other Movementarians
The famous Black Israelites of Times Square in all their glory.
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Now We Know Who His Broker Is
(A mural in a bank). -
The Non-Plumber Brothers From Brooklyn
There’s a very famous Brooklyn restaurant called Lundy Brothers located in Sheepshead Bay. For years I kind of squinted at the weird stamped letters above the sign which seemed to read “E.W.I.L.”.
Apparently it says “F.W.I.L” which stands for Frederick William Irving Lundy (and not the separate Lundy brothers) , who founded the restaurant in 1934.In the later years there Lundy Brothers had a lot of ups and downs – from opening a branch in Manhattan (I think it’s out of business now) to closing its doors and not being able to pay wages to servers and chefs. And then reopening again. Now a part of the giant Lundy building is occupied by a mediocre Japanese food joint Momoyama, but it seems like they still operate in a part of the building. Also a towering addition behind the restaurant seems to be undergoing some renovations.
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Tally Me Banana
My wife owns a copy of “The Art Book“. I do not remember which one of us noticed the following brilliant example of art criticism:
Female torso, bananas, arcade that looks like two tunnels, train. Yep, that all adds up to exotic travel.
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So, It’ve Come To This….
I thought I’ve developed a bit of a strategy in buying computers for non-techie relatives and friends.
First of all I always tell them to get a laptop. The huge benefit of laptops for me is that it can be brought over for servicing. You can’t imagine how many hours of sitting at an uncomfortable “computer” table in a rickety “computer” chair away from my tools, network jacks, a plain, comfortable table and an Aeron chair this saved me while fixing stuff.
The Internet today reminds me NYC subway in the 70es: a place full of graffiti, foul smell, filth, physical danger and a general sense of lawlessness. Gone are the days when you could help your non-techie relative pick a computer, hook it up, install an email client and a browser and be done with it. Viruses still propagated mostly on floppy drives. Those were the times.
Now my process involves installation of an external backup, hardware and software firewalls, an antivirus, Adaware, Spybot Search and Destroy, getting all the windows updates and teaching the non techie how to maintain this bevy of protective tools. Oh, and most importantly, password protected all accounts and remove administrative privileges from the ones to be used on a daily basis. And set up Firefox as the default browser.
Did you read up to here? Sorry, all of that stuff is crap. It’s pointless. I have a relative’s laptop thoroughly screwed by Outlook viruses sitting on my desk waiting for my non-loving hand to proove that. The firewall stopped them from calling out, but it seems like one of the virii somehow had its privileges elevated and locked out the admin account. Arrrrrgh, this be driving me nuts!
The purchase of the laptop in question happened before my universal advise to people who just want to browse the web and read email became to get a Mac. I am tired of cleaning out computers infested up to the gills with the wiliest stuff. I am desperate enough to try Linux now.
I guess all I really need is Mozilla, Open Office, some CD player, wrap all of that in some kiosk-like windowing environment and I’m done. Or am I?
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Oh Yeah, That’s a Mystery
A Soviet detective would figure this out in a second – those people are using color copiers at work which cost them nothing. “Techno-maniac”. Hah. In Soviet times there were cases where people would pour out wine and soft drinks out of bottles stolen at work to get the deposit.
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Ever Onward I.B.M !
There is a moment in “Pirates of Silicon Valley when white shirt/black tie drones sing a part of “Our I.B.M Salesmen” song from the I.B.M’s official songbook:
“I. B. M., Happy men, smiling all the way.
Oh what fun it is to sell our products night and day.
I. B. M., Watson men, partners of T. J.
In his service to mankind-that’s why we are so gay”I.B.M employees were singing those songs for a long time, and this is a well known piece of embarrassing corporate lore. In fact a few people scanned or typed up different versions of the songbook in question. The official band was disbanded in 2001, but it looks like IBM recently created an official “Music Reference Room” where you can see photos and listen to the music clips.
So, I wonder, how long before George Lucas will publish the Star Wars Christmas Special on DVD?
