12 Steps To Get Over Your Internet Addiction
By Sujan Patel with 9 Comments
1 out of ever 4 people are addicted to the internet (source: oh lets just say Wikipedia). With the rise of social bookmarking sites like Digg, Stumble Upon, Netscape it is easy to get lost in the internet, the following are a few tips you can do to fight the irresistible urge of the internet:
1. Have a cup of coffee in the morning and read my newspaper like you used to, before the Internet.
2. Eat breakfast with a knife and fork and not with one hand typing.
3. Get dressed before noon.
4. Make an attempt to clean the house, wash clothes, and plan dinner before even thinking of the Internet.
5. Sit down and write a letter to those unfortunate few friends and family that are Internet-deprived.
6. Call someone on the phone who you cannot contact via the Internet.
7. Read a book…if you still remember how.
8. Listen to those around me and their needs and stop telling them to turn the TV down so you can hear the music on the Internet.
9. Not be tempted during TV commercials to check for email.
10. Try and get out of the house at least once a week, if it is necessary or not.
11. Remember that my bank is not forgiving if you forget to balance my checkbook because you was too busy on the Internet.
12. Remember that you must go to bed sometime…and the Internet will always be there tomorrow!
11 Of The Stupidest Laws
By Sujan Patel with 14 Comments
1. It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle. – Alabama (Acts 1980, No. 80-434, p. 604, §11-104.)
2. Dominoes may not be played on Sunday. – Alabama Acts 1953, No. 230, p. 297; Code 1975, §13-6-1.)
3. Bear wrestling matches are prohibited. – Alabama (Acts 1996, No. 96-468, p. 581, §1.)
4. Owners of flamingos may not let their pet into barber shops. – Alaska (GJB § 20.10.010)
5. You may not have more than two dildos in a house.- Arizona
6. Honking one’s car horn at a sandwich shop after 9 PM is against the law. -Arkansas (Code 1961, § 25-74)
7. No one may “suddenly start or stop” their car at a McDonald’s. – Arkansas (Code 1961, § 25-156–25-158)
8. Bowling on the sidewalk is illegal. – California (9.26.010)
9. Throwing missles at cars is illegal. Colorado (Ord. No. 21-1999, § 12, 11-17-99)
10. No person shall pretend to sleep on a bench on the boardwalk.- Delaware (§ 198-30)
11. If you want to read your favorite book in public to your friends, do it before 2:45 AM. – Georgia (Ord. of 5-1-2001, § 1; Ord. of 12-4-2001, § 2)
31 Of The Worst Predictions
By Sujan Patel with 4 Comments
1. “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
2. “Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons.” — Popular Mechanics, 1949
3. “I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year.” — The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.
4. “But what…is it good for?” — Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
5. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
6. “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” — Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but believed to be an urban legend.
7. “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” — Western Union internal memo, 1876.
8. “The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” — Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876.
9. “The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” — David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
10. “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility.” — Lee DeForest, inventor.
11. “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C’, the idea must be feasible.” — A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
12. “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” — H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
13. “I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” — Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone With the Wind.”
14. “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.” — Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.
15. “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” — Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
16. “Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” — William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, British scientist, 1899.
17. “So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’” — Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.
18. “If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.” — Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M “Post-It” Notepads.
19. “It will be years — not in my time — before a woman will become Prime Minister.” — Margaret Thatcher, 1974.
20. “I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone.” — Charles Darwin, The Origin Of Species, 1869.
21. “With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn’t likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market.” — Business Week, August 2, 1968.
22. “That Professor Goddard with his ‘chair’ in Clark College and the countenancing of the Smithsonian Institution does not know the relation of action to reaction, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react–to say that would be absurd. Of course, he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.” — 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard’s revolutionary rocket work. The remark was retracted in the July 17, 1969 issue.
23. “You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can’t be done. It’s just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training.” — Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the “unsolvable” problem by inventing Nautilus.
24. “Ours has been the first, and doubtless to be the last, to visit this profitless locality.” — Lt. Joseph Ives, after visiting the Grand Canyon in 1861.
25. “Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.” — Workers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
26. “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” — Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
27. “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.” — Albert Einstein, 1932.
28. “The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives.” — Admiral William Leahy, U.S. Atomic Bomb Project.
29. “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” — Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
30. “There will never be a bigger plane built.” — A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.
31. “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” — Attributed to Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, but known to be an urban legend.
6 Ways To Be Annoying Online
By Sujan Patel with 17 Comments
1. Make up fake acronyms. Online veterans like to use abbreviations like IMHO (in my humble opinion) or RTFM (read the fucking manual) to show that they’re “hep” to the lingo. Make up your own that don’t stand for anything (SETO, BARL, CP30), use them liberally, and then refuse to explain what they stand for (“You don’t know that? RTFM”).
2. WRITE YOUR MESSAGES IN ALL CAPS AND DON’T USE RETURNS SO THAT EVERYONE HAS TO SCROLL ACROSS THEIR SCREENS TO READ EVERY LINE. ALSO USE A LOT OF !!!!! TO SHOW THAT YOU’RE EXCITED ABOUT BEING HERE!
3. When replying to your mail, correct everyone’s grammar and spelling and point out their typos, but don’t otherwise respond to the content of their messages. when they respond testily to your “creative criticism,” do it again. Continue until they go away.
4. Software and files offered online are often “compressed” so that they won’t take so long to travel over the phone lines. Buy a compression program and compress everything you send, including one-word e-mail responses like “Thanks.”
5. Upload text files with Bible passages about sin or guilt and give them names like “SexyHousewivesI,” then see how many people download it. Challenge your friends to come up with the most popular come-ons.
6. Join a discussion group and tie whatever’s being discussed back to an unrelated central theme. For instance, if you’re in a discussion of gun control, respond to every message with the observation that those genetically superior tomatoes seem to have played an important role. Within days, all discussion of gun control will have ceased as people write you threatening messages and instruct others to ignore you.
Old Wise Sayings
By Sujan Patel with 1 Comment
Always remember you’re unique, just like everyone else.
Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
Don’t squat with your spurs on.
It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.
Don’t be irreplaceable; if you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.
If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield.
Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
Duct tape is like the force; it has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
Experience is the sinking feeling you have made this mistake before.
