18 posts tagged “vox hunt”
Show us a great April Fools' Day joke.
I'm not a big one for practical jokes. In Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, humor is codified, for the sake of an intelligent computer's understanding, as "Funny Once", "Funny Always", and "Funny Never". Some things are funny only the first time, some are always funny no matter what, and some things just aren't funny at all. For me, practical jokes usually fall in the "Funny Once" category, although if they're mean-spirited or cause stress for the person being pranked, they immediately go in the "Funny Never" bucket.
WARNING: The rest of this post is sort of geeky. If you don't consider yourself kind of geeky, you may find it funny.
That being said, I do appreciate when an April Fool's joke doesn't harm anyone AND manages to be "Funny Always". One example that I recall is when a former boss of mine sent me some cut-sheets for some new electrical components he was thinking of buying, and asked me to review and provide my input.
Yes, these are cut-sheets for "Write Only Memory". Just as you'd infer, where "Read Only Memory" devices have data on it that can only be read (and not written to), "Write Only Memory" devices can only be written to (and not read from). Some of the uses suggested on the cut sheet for Write Only Memory:
- Don't Care Buffer Stores
- Least Significant Control Memories
- First-In, Never-Out (FINO) Asynchronous Buffers
- Post-Mortem Memories (Weapons Systems)
It took me a little while to figure out what the hell the stuff was supposed to be, but I chuckled quite a bit as I started reading the descriptions and looking at all the hard work that was put into these cut sheets.
As promised, I spent some time over the past week putting together a Greasemonkey script to reorder the modules on the new Vox homepage.
After the feedback people left, the new order I ended up using is:
Left Column Right Sidebar
1) Posts 1) QotD
2) Comments 2) Vox Hunt
3) Neighbor Activity 3) Team Vox News
4) [This is Good] Explore Box 4) Tips Box
5) Vox MSN Advertisement 5) Themes Box
6) Advertisement
7) Find your friends box
Want to install this script for your own use? First install Greasemonkey, and then get the script here. (Instructions to install Greasemonkey can be found here.)
As always, if you have any comments, feedback, or suggestions, or notice any bugs, please leave me a comment or send me a note. I'll do my best to stay on top of any issues that arise.
Also, to those people who left me feedback but didn't get the exact order they wanted - I'm willing to make a custom version of this script just for you with the modules in the alternative order that you wanted. Please leave me a comment as to whether you still want the order you suggested, and I'll send you a PM with the location where you can download/install your custom version of the script.
Enjoy!
Show us a sign.
If you're interested in signs, why not join the Signs of the Times group and share some with the rest of us sign-lovers?
Share your cell phone ring tone.
Submitted by Ross.
Usually my phone is on silent+vibrate, so it's not often I hear it, but lately I've had the first 20 seconds or so of this song as my ring tone. It's tame enough that it's not going to piss anyone off if it plays while I'm not around to answer the phone, but loud enough that I'll be able to hear it and get to it in time.
Show us your To Do list.
A couple of years back, I adopted Gina from Lifehacker's todo.txt as the new way of managing my GTD next-action (to-do) list. After getting it up and working on my computer, I started tailoring it for my own personal use, and ended up with a personalized copy that resides on my webserver. The back end is still a text file, so I can use the command-line shortcuts to add, delete, cross off, prioritize, and search for items. I can log into my shell account via SSH from any computer to update the list.
However, in addition to the text-based views of the information, I also wrote some php to display the todo list in a tabular format that could be printed to a single 8.5" x 11" piece of paper (for quick print-out), as well as a .pdf formatted to 3x5" index cards (one card per context) so I can continue to use my Hipster PDA system (when I have time to print new index cards at home). This means I can also view my todo list from any computer with an internet connection and a web browser, without the need to have SSH on the computer.
My next revision of this whole thing, when I have some time, is to modify the web interface so I can also add, remove, update my todo list via the web browser. This will be helpful in case I'm away from a computer with SSH for an extended period of time.
And for those of you asking "Why don't you just use an existing web-based todo list, like Remember The Milk?" - I like having total control over how I manage my todo list, as well as how I archive the items I've finished and crossed off. I have a whole mechanism in place that takes my completed actions and moves them into something I can use to generate the inputs to my work's performance review (where I have to list major accomplishments I've done that year), and it comes in really handing to be able to grep my text-based archives to show exactly when I completed a task. Plus, it's just fun to monkey around with this stuff and roll-my own solution. That way, when I wish something was different so that it better suited my needs, all I have to do is make the changes myself.
Video: Show us an impressive athletic feat.
Show us your favorite way to stay warm on a cold autumn day.
Submitted by Ross.
I'll leave the non-PG answers to this question to other folks in my neighborhood - I'm sure at least one of them is up to the challenge.
My FAVORITE way to stay warm involves curling up on the couch with a good book, a blanket, and a cup of Irish Coffee, preferably while a fire crackles in a fireplace nearby. But since my house right now only has a gas fireplace, my supply of Jameson's is dangerously low, and I'm at work, I guess I'll have to settle for this today:
Video: Show us a clip from your favorite cooking show.
This guy takes the cake (pun intended) when it comes to cooking.
Show us a skull and crossbones.
Glad this vox hunt isn't sponsored by Pirates of the Caribbean 3! Or maybe Vox is just easing us into a week of PotC3 sponsorships :)
I have no info on this picture. I found it through google image search about 30 pages in (yeah, I have no life during my lunch breaks). It was taken from infowars.com at this link. If anyone has more info, please leave it in the comments.