by Ethan Johnson
June 1, 2007

Several years ago, I was doing the "temp" thing in the Chicago metro area. My plan was to work 2-3 days a week, then interview for "real" jobs on my free days. Getting a full-time "temp" job ran counter to the plan. But one day, I was assigned to work for the Sears service center in Harvey, IL. My role was to help the technicians lift the air conditioning units so they could clean the unit, etc. When I wasn't out on calls, I was working in the warehouse area packing orders, and restocking shelves.

by Ethan Johnson
March 2, 2007

We're inching closer to the day when we buy our first High Definition television (HDTV). The process thus far has been maddening, as there is great disagreement in various circles as to which set represents the best value for the money. I had a random thought this morning: What if we could choose our bodies "off the rack" the way people argue about HDTV?

SFX: Harp music

by Ethan Johnson
December 29, 2006

A mix of self-serving agenda pushing, or random yet interesting links to close out the year (my comments and such in parentheses):

• Trainwreck: You should only read a blog for one of these reasons. (Site = my latest obsession.)
• Trainwreck: "Look, i consider myself as popular. Try to go up to the popular kids, and laugh at their jokes even if theyre not funny. thats basically what got me popular. just this year i turned popular, and I frickin love it! Hopefully, you can fake a laugh..."
• Dive Into Mark: How I would describe syndication in 10 words.
• Dive Into Mark: Have Yourself a Roomba Little Christmas. (Note: Methinks Woot will sell out of these things faster during the next Woot-off, although I personally cannot justify the expense.)
• Making Light: "I’m sorry. My background’s in the SF community, where our basic model is that a convention is the community coming together to enjoy and entertain itself, not some kind of hierarchical thing where some people are stars who get paid to come, and the rest are attendees who pay to come see them."
• Jules.ca: "Hey Canadian Retailers, Guess What? I managed to buy only half of what I wanted from Canada. The rest came from the US."
• Mobile Opportunity: The Cluetrain Manifesto revisited. (A must-read if you plan to spend any amount of time hanging around marketing blogs.)
• Kent Newsome: Top 10 Tech Stories of 2006. (I'm apparently not as "tech" as I might be inclined to believe. None of the top 10 stories really spiked up my heart rate/blood pressure/etc.)
• Pratie Place: Buying less, or nothing, or buying used stuff. "We didn't do this to save the world. We did this to improve the quality of our own lives," Perry says. "And what we learned is that we all have a lot of more stuff than you think, and that you can get along on a lot less stuff than you can imagine."
• Non Ugly Fats: (Via Trainwreck, where a commenter says...) "Now this really is a trainwreck. It’s amazing to see women who are told they are unattractive by mainstream standards form their own group just so they can be in the position of judging other people’s appearances. Fascinating!" (Scroll to the bottom of the linked page for the final dagger. Sheesh.)
• No Ugly Babies: "[Y]ou're kid is a fug! and probably will remain as such because of what you look like and not only is it just a fug, it's a fug with a stupid name." (Think judging teens/adults by their looks is bad? Welcome to the bottom of the barrel. Just sad all around.)
• Giles Turnbull: Why do people give up weblogs? (2004) "So perhaps the thesis might be that blogging is an idea whose time has not yet come. It's adoption by a small coterie of netizens does indeed signify just the first peak of a hype curve. But in the long run, given the right social conditions, blogging could find its way to being really useful. Unless, of course, Guardian journalists and the like over-sell it and tarnish its reputation forever in the ensuing trough of disillusionment."
• Juan Cole: Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2006. "Think Progress points out that in 1999, Governor George W. Bush criticized then President Clinton for declining to set a withdrawal timetable for Kosovo, saying 'Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.'" (Note to anyone who cares: Using BushCo's own words against them is only effective if they possess "shame". And by and large, they do not. I will cite any given press conference hosted by Tony Snow and assume that shall be sufficient.)
• Squidoo: The Z-List. (ENOUGH ALREADY.)
• The Perfect World: Gypsy's trying to purchase a suckling pig so she can saddle and bridle him and serve him forth with a roast rooster riding on top? What do you say to that? (Scroll down slightly for photo. Ultimate food pr0n.)
• Slobak: The Rachel Ray drinking game. "+2 sips = Provides an obviously wrong measurement, e.g. 'about a tablespoon' while she dumps in a half-cup of something." (I can't rag on any cooking shows anymore, because in the course of two episodes of my own I have committed any number of sip-worthy offenses. I even said "drink!" at one point but sadly it was edited out.)
• TPM Muckraker: Bush Admin: What You Don't Know Can't Hurt Us. (Note: A little somethin'-somethin' for everyone who thinks they've formed an ironclad opinion about something because they "know all the facts.")
• I Drew This: The Saturday Morning Worldview.
• Shelley Powers: Would you want this man as your judge?
• Gezellig Girl: Gift Idea - Easy Bake Real Meal Oven for manly Old Dudes. "I’m thinking this email is about to detail some kind of totally awesome new penis-operated spatula, maybe in some sort of strap-on style — or, at least it had better be." (Sub. Scribed.)

That's it for 2006 - I'll try to do better next year. <EM>

by Ethan Johnson
September 5, 2006

We just got back from a whirlwind vacation trip to Milwaukee and Chicago. During the first leg of the Wisconsin visit, I ran into Gander Mountain to check out plain t-shirts. I'm not into hunting or fishing, but Gander Mountain is great for good clothing, cheap. I hit the clearance rack and got two green t-shirts for under $7 USD apiece. Unfortunately, I managed to grab the two items that did NOT have price tags on them, never mind that everything on the rack was the same price. One of the clerks was a stickler for SKU numbers and insisted on scrolling through the computerized inventory screens until she found them. Meanwhile, I was shunted off to the side while the cashier rang up the other people in line.

by Ethan Johnson
August 22, 2006

Spend any amount of time in the so-called "blogosphere", and invariably the term "A-List" will arise. In short, an "A-Lister" is someone who is either held in high regard, or is famous for any number of reasons. In discussing the A-List, it is clear that A-Listers are believed to enjoy certain benefits above and beyond "Z-Listers" (notice that we jump from A right to Z - Hollywood is apparently more equitable in this regard). Unfortunately, I am not quite sure what yardstick is being used in dubbing anyone an "A-Lister". In this article, I will ennumerate and examine the qualities that define the "A-List". Yeah, you may want more coffee. Here are jump links to skip ahead to your area of interest:

What is the "A-List"?
The Trouble With A-Lists
So You Wanna Be An A-Lister
Conclusion

by Ethan Johnson
August 16, 2006

I'm pleased to report that FugIT 2006 was a smashing success. Many doubted that we'd get this turkey off the ground, which shows what "they" know about turkeys. Turkeys go into a roasting pan, like God intended. And roast we did! We roasted everyone who couldn't be bothered to come join us in scenic Moose, Wyoming. Honestly, if we talked any more smack out there, we'd have to move to a basketball court. The photos are already pouring in over at Flickr. Attendees should already know this, but tag your photos "Fugit" so other people can gawk at them and see what they missed. Jason took this great photo of this year's conference mascot: A sundial missing its pointer. Exactly.

by Ethan Johnson
August 2, 2006

Reviewed: Transamerica, Walk the Line, Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, Shopgirl, Super Size Me.

by Ethan Johnson
July 11, 2006

You may want to point that mouthful of potentially disastrous liquid away from your monitor.

Yes, this is a variant on my (in)famous series of articles at The Vision Thing called "All of Your Business Books Are Meaningless". I finally hit my saturation point with scandals real and imagined on the internet. As hard as I try to insulate myself from what I will call petty bullshit, some still gets past my filters and annoys me immensely. Let's get this over with: I will provide an overview of crap that people thought was so important when the story broke, but utterly amounted to less than a hill of beans. Oh, and to ensure interest, lemme say the magic word: Rocketboom.