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Do you hate those automated voice menu systems that banks, cell phone providers, and other companies make you wrestle with? If so, consider this: Find-A-Human (hat tip to Neal): Find-A-Human gives you the procedures to short-circuit a company’s automated menu system and skip straight to a Real Live Human.
Rarely does my company do anything that the mainstream media would deem exciting enough to report on — and I can’t really blame them. Most of our work is either pretty nitty-gritty technical with a near-zero flashiness factor, or it’s so fringe that most people glaze over as it’s described. However, every now and then something Really Cool™ gets rolled out. Like the ULTRA. To quote from an article on ajc.com:
Georgia Tech researchers have come up with what they believe may be the answer to the roadside bombs that have become the leading killer of American troops in Iraq. It’s a tougher vehicle built to better protect troops from the blasts that have claimed hundreds of lives.
Known as the ULTRA AP (Armored Patrol), the high-tech prototype was unveiled last week at the three-day Modern Day Marine exposition at Marine Corps Base Quantico. It was designed and built over the past year by more than 20 researchers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute with $3 million from the Office of Naval Research.
ZDNet’s “Emerging Technology Trends” blog has a good overview of the project and some pictures. The ULTRA is a funky looking vehicle to be sure — but as with most things GTRI, the design is functionality first, aesthetics later ..if at all. I got to see the ULTRA up close (even sit in it) at the Modern Day Marine Expo last week at Quantico, where it was unveiled — it screams “Mad Max” to me :)
Emperor Misha over at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler posted a piece about the “news” streaming from the “occupied territories” — including a link to a fascinating 18-minute video clip that examines some raw footage that was clipped, edited, and provided to the world media by the ever-eager-to-whine “Paleoswinians”. It is a must-see.
(If the link doesn’t work, let me know — I’ve got the clip and can make it available)
Another email from my sister (trust me, I get a bajillion) — but this one had a lesson that was, shall we say, particularly timely. So I’ll share.
The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just read straight through; you’ll get the point.
1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world. 2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners. 3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America. 4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. 5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress. 6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.
“I don’t want a president exactly like me,” Paone answered. “You know, I’m all for screwing or whatever, but I like that Bush has always been with Laura and is kind of boring. Clinton was a party animal who worked in as many ladies as he could, and look what that got us: A nuclear North Korea, Saddam spitting in our faces and Osama bin Laden having plenty of time to do whatever he wanted. Thanks, anyway. I’ll take boring any day.”
A step outside the box for NRO.
