Six Degrees of Wikipedia

Everything is related to everything.

Just as with the works of Kevin Bacon, there seem to be a few extensive catch-all links in the chain that act as major hubs for connections. Anyway, it's fun to play with.

Just Remember They're Out There

Ah, lax Internet privacy. How scary you can be sometimes.

My office break room has a little corkboard for pinning up coupons, places for rent, cars for sale, babysitters, and other miscellany for coworkers to share. While filling my mug with water I saw a business card tacked to the board for some guy's "Computer Consulting" business I hadn't heard of before.

On the card there was printed stuff like "Spy & Adware Removal," "Virus Removal," Upgrades, Repairs," and so forth—general computer-nerd stuff anyone doing A+ exam prep would know how to do. There was also "Pre-Purchase Consulting" which to me sounded suspiciously a lot like "You pay me just to tell you what computer to buy." The card had the guy's name and address, as well as telephone numbers and e-mail with a unique registered domain name, but no website. That piqued my curiosity.

My roommate's grandfather used to patronize another "computer consultation" business that habitually ripped him off pretty hardcore, taking advantage of his lack of computer savvy to overcharge him for work that really wasn't all that intensive (and they still managed to mess up his computer pretty badly). Interested as to how this guy compared, I took the business card back to my cubicle and plugged the address into Google Maps.

The business was obviously being run out of the guy's house—the address was a residential drive tucked away in a neighborhood. Thinking I would plug in the name of the business next, I clicked on "Web" to go over to the main search engine.

Google had the address's search results waiting for me, and by pure chance I noticed an interesting return a couple of rows down:

"Maryland Sex Offender Registry Search"

I had put in the guy's address, not his name, so I thought perhaps it was just an old listing that hadn't been updated. Nope. The list had been updated on March 24th of this year, and when I got to the address, there was his name.

So apparently this guy was at some point found guilty of felony sexual offense in the third degree. The list also had a three-letter code for the nature of the offense. In his case, it was CSO, or Child Sexual Offender. If I had to hazard a guess, he found it tough to find work after this charge stuck to him, so he was forced to go into business for himself, plying the only legitimate skills he had.

If the majority of computer consultants are either fleecing opportunists with the Ichthys as their logo* or guys like this, then I think I should look into entering that line of work myself, since I already have a reputational leg up on these folks.

*the aforementioned business my roommate's grandfather gave his money to

L'Chaim!

Found at the local gourmet/specialty beer shop. I don't care for alcohol at all, but I find myself wondering how this tastes.



Notice that it is kosher.

Edit: Super bonus! The blurb on the side of the He'Brew bottle! All grammar and formatting errors (such as beginning sentences with numerals) have been kept intact.

Ahem... *adjusts his monocle*

"In Jewish tradition, the number 10 demands Monumental gestures. As a publicity stunt for his 1956 film, Cecil B. DeMille got a Midwestern Judge to help erect hundreds of granite monuments of the Ten Commandments nationwide. 10 plagues finally let Moses' people go. Deut. 26:12 obligates Jews to give 1/10th of their earnings to charity. 10 generations span Adam to Noah and Noah to Abraham. 10 Sefirot in Kabbalah symbolize the core elements of Creation. Father of the Bomb, Robert Oppenheimer was blacklisted in 1953 for 10 years for his family's alleged un-American activities. 10% of Nobel Peace Prize winners are Jewish. On Rush's 10th album, Grace Under Pressure (#10 on Billboard), Geddy Lee sings of his parents surviving the Holocaust. After Sammy Davis Jr.'s 1990 death, the lights on the Vegas strip went dark for 10 minutes—the first time since JFK's assassination. A minion of 10 is necessary for communal prayer. Jack Black's parents joined a polyamorous group before divorcing when he was 10. In his Belief episode, Ali G confessed losing his virginity at 10 to an Italian supermodel. Mae West got 10 days in jail for obscenity for her 1927 play 'Sex'. She served eight, with two off for good behavior. 10 High Holy Days of repentance begin on Rosh Hashanah. 10 years after his Major League debut, Sandy Koufax refused to pitch Game 1 of the World Series on Yom Kippur. To mark 10 years of Schmaltz brewing, behold Monumental Jewbilation, HE'BREW's epic celebration of the most memorable moments in life. L'Chaim!"

Samurai Swordfight Not Included

It snowed a little last night. Most of it had already melted by the time I took the pictures below, but that's what I get for sleeping in (and being ignorant of the fact that it was going to snow overnight). It had been warm enough over the past couple of weeks to fool the cherry blossom trees into, well... blossoming, and with the ka-razy April snow we just got, I thought it'd be a rare opportunity to get some interesting photos. I'm pretty sure you don't see this very often.











Cool, huh? Now then, can we please be done with the cold weather for awhile?

I Would Call Mine "The Mischief Tank"

There's something about golf carts that make you want to do crazy shit in them. Think about it. Sit down in a golf cart, and what's one of the first thoughts to cross your mind?

"I wanna see what this sumbitch can do!"

Same goes with potato cannons. Upon picking up a potato cannon, nobody reviews a mental checklist of fun, safe ways in which the cannon can be enjoyed while wearing OSHA-approved safety goggles and under the supervision of a responsible third party.

"Man, think of all the stuff I could break, destroy, or otherwise damage with this baby. Awesome."

A scenario with golf carts and potato cannons? Too awesome for words.

Wwwwwuummmmnn, kshhhhhttt

Man, see, it's stuff like this that makes me want to make movies.

I found the first RvD back in 2003, soon after getting back from Kuwait and catching the moviemaking bug. I didn't know there'd been a sequel, however, and it looks like I didn't miss it by too much; it pretty much just came out.

I still have my Apple Production Suite installed on my G5... hmm.