Showing tag results for Non-Computer

Jan 16, 2004
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

Aw, poor guy, he's so depressed

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

I suspect Tanzi isn't going to get much sympathy from, well, anybody. Parmalat's Tanzi is "Depressed" Lawyers for Calisto Tanzi, the jailed head of now-bankrupt European food and dairy group Parmalat, claim that he is "depressed" in prison, constantly asking about his family. The lawyers have suggested that Tanzi be released from prison and plac...

Non-Computer
Jan 15, 2004
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

Google just keeps adding stuff

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

ResearchBuzz pointed out still more google search keywords like area codes, UPC, and whois. I'm still waiting for PLU, those code numbers on the food in the produce aisle. Here's a brief history of PLU codes for those geeky enough to care (like me).

Non-Computer
Jan 13, 2004
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

If you know Swedish, the world is funnier

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

As I was driving through Seattle the other day, I saw a sign for a personal storage company called "Stor-More". I then had to laugh because in Swedish, "Stor-Mor" means "Big Momma". It's not restricted to Swedish. On my trip to Germany last year, my travelling companions found several German signs amusing: When he told some German colleagues a...

Non-Computer
Jan 12, 2004
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

"Friends" is so trendsetting

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

The characters on the television program "Friends" are apparently trendsetters in the use of the word "so". [People with way too much time on their hands] spent a year going through transcripts from each episode of the first eight seasons of Friends, taking note of every single adjective... [T]he show's popularity peaked at the same ti...

Non-Computer
Jan 11, 2004
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

Is there an exclusionary rule in Sweden?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

According to Friday's Klartext (note: link valid only for one week, then it gets overwritten by the next Friday's Klartext), Vi ska börjar klartext med berätta att en åklagare nu ska undersöka om fler än två hundra poliser i Sverige har brutit mot lagen. Poliserna letade rätt på information om mordet p&a...

Non-Computer
Jan 9, 2004
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

Ten-year-old + Microsoft Flight Simulator = terrorist

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Apparently a ten-year-old who put Microsoft Flight Simulator on his Christmas wish-list became the subject of a terrorism investigation. (Warning: I suspect that link will go stale in a week, so read it while you still can.) As always, The Register puts a snarky spin on the story.

Non-Computer
Dec 31, 2003
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

How to stop delivery of telephone books

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Like many of you (I suspect), I don't use the paper telephone book. If I want to look something up, I go online. Yet every year I get a dozen different telephone books. I don't like them because a telephone book sitting on my front porch screams, "Rob this house! Nobody's home!" Besides, it's a waste of paper. So for the past few years I've been t...

Non-Computer
Dec 31, 2003
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

College football commercialized? What ever gave you that idea?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

This has got to be some sort of record for "Longest official name of a sponsored college football game": The Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl Presented by Bridgestone, which proclaims that "the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl Presented By Bridgestone is Nashville's Holiday Tradition".

Non-Computer
Dec 30, 2003
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

People with almanacs may be terrorists, FBI warns

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

The FBI has apparently released a bulletin advising law enforcement officers to be on the alert for people with almanacs: They might be terrorists.

Non-Computer
Dec 30, 2003
Post comments count0
Post likes count0

At least the Danes know how to count

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Even though Danish is impossible for me to pronounce, I do appreciate their stubborn resistance to decimalization. The number 71 is (I hope I get this right) "en og halvfjerdsindstyve", literally, "one and half-four-times-twenty", or more commonly, just "en og halvfjerds". (Those familiar with other Germanic languages recognize "half-four" ...

Non-Computer