The Old New Thing

Non-Computer - The Old New Thing

Sorry, my kitchen is on fire

March 4, 2004 Mar 4, 2004 03/4/04
Raymond Chen
The other night my phone rang just as I discovered that I overheated my pan and the oil was starting to burn. I rushed to the phone, thinking it's the people I had invited to dinner, but no, it was some telemarketer. "Hello, is this Mr. Chen?" "Sorry, can't talk now, my kitchen is on fire." "Oh my God, sorry!" <click> I'll ...

Raymond's comment policy

February 21, 2004 Feb 21, 2004 02/21/04
Raymond Chen
Okay, I was hoping it wasn't going to be needed but it takes only one bad apple... Here are the ground rules. Things that increase the likelihood that your comment will be edited or deleted: If a wave of comment spam is under way, I may choose to moderate or even close comments until the problem subsides. More rules may be added later...

Sorry the posts are late lately

February 19, 2004 Feb 19, 2004 02/19/04
Raymond Chen
Somehow the server is in a wonky state and my autopilot script that posts a new article at 7 every morning is getting error 500 back (internal server error). So I'm posting manually for the nonce. Expect erratic posting times until the problem is resolved...

The social skills of a thermonuclear device

February 17, 2004 Feb 17, 2004 02/17/04
Raymond Chen
Somebody@somewhere.else described me as having the social skills of a thermonuclear device. I don't remember the incident in question, but I'll have to accept that it happened. I have a very low tolerance for laziness. If you come to me for help, I expect you to have done your homework. (Though I try to scale my expectations to your position...

So what's to do in Sweden?

February 16, 2004 Feb 16, 2004 02/16/04
Raymond Chen
Here is where Raymond gets to abuse his power as a blogger to get some free travel advice. I will likely travel to Sweden in mid-March, with a whopping total of five months of Swedish under my belt. I'm sure I will embarrass myself horribly, but that's sort of the point, after all. The question is, "So what's to do in Sweden?" I was ...

The Seattle Improbable Show (2004)

February 14, 2004 Feb 14, 2004 02/14/04
Raymond Chen
An overflow crowd attended The Seattle Improbable Show. It was, as expected, a rollicking good time. Mark Abrahams emceed and gave presentations, one on each of last year's Ig Nobel Prize winners, another chronicling various stages in the development of Project Grizzly. Other speakers were allotted five minutes (strictly and amusingly ...

Stories of going through airport security

February 13, 2004 Feb 13, 2004 02/13/04
Raymond Chen
I went through security three times at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport before my flight to Newark. My original flight was cancelled due to inclement weather in Newark, so I get rescheduled onto another flight that arrived three hours later. I thought to myself, "That's strange. Both flights are going to Newark. It's not like the ...

Improbable Research comes to Seattle

February 12, 2004 Feb 12, 2004 02/12/04
Raymond Chen
The lunatics behind The Annals of Improbable Research and The Ig Nobel Prize will be in Seattle tomorrow night, Feburary 13. The meeting schedule lists the AIR presentation as "8:00PM-10:30PM, Special Event: Annals of Improbable Research (open to all registrants), Sheraton Hotel, Third Floor, Metropolitan Ballroom". The AIR folks said "Open to...