I’d change my company name

Mammoth Erection is a rather unfortunate name for a construction company (work safe, don’t worry). Link via Davezilla.

The page cannot be f**king displayed

You know you pamper your dog too much when…

…you buy him one of these.

What is the worst search engine?

Google, the smartest engine of them all, tells all.

Spring Break is over, studs are off, so the snow’s back

Typical Central Oregon weather. The date that everybody in the state had to have their studded tires off is April 1st. I had mine off on the date. I woke up this morning, and drive to work on 4-inches of the wet, sticky, white stuff on the road. Cars in ditches all over the place, and I slid around a few times, too. The snow is still on the roads, and the mountains got a bunch of snow over night. Wish I was still a skiier.

Floppy RAID

This has absolutely no useful purpose, but still shows that given freely available toys and a bit of free time, geeks will do just about anything just to try it.

Stay the hell out of the ocean

Otherwise these giant squids will get ya. Amazingly, the one that was caught was only a kid, and was going to grow up another 150 kilograms (for a grand-total of 300 — or 661 pounds). Link from Dave Barry.

“The Mother of All War Websites”

This site’s title is boastful, but I’m starting to agree with them. I’ve been, generally, hesitant about posting war sites just because there hasn’t been just a one-stop-shop for a bunch of stuff. It is loaded with war video feeds, online webcams, and links to worldwide reporting from the war. One of the links seems to be a Reuters feed from Baghdad. You can watch CNN life feeds (the stuff that’s not on the air) from their satellite.

I doubt this site will stay up for too long, so enjoy it while it lasts.

“please reply to this urgant message”

This has happened to me before, and anybody with a dash/hyphen in their Yahoo! usernames probably has, too. Usernames with hyphens in them are not allowed anymore on Yahoo!, but folks who had them from before can still have them (technically, I have one with a hyphen and a space, probably compounding the problem even more). Regardless, you’ll often get these lunatics who will try to coerce you into giving them your password….like this IM conversation I just had with a “Yahoo Games Admin” (yeah, right buddy).

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: hello jake sorry to bother u are u online right now if u are please reply to this urgant message

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: are u thier sir?

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: jake please reply sir this is a yahoo games admin and i need to talk to u

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: well when and if u can just reply with us back so we can speak with u one on one and not through email ty

jake-ortman: who are you and what can I do for you

jake-ortman: I’m very rarely on Yahoo! games any more, and an admin would never chat via IM, but I’ll hear ya out.

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: sir, this is not about yahoo games

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: and yes i am to an admin

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: we are having kids crack yahoo ids, they are looking for ids that we do not allow anymore, i am just telling u, like u know your id has a – in it and we do not allow ids with the – in them anymore

jake-ortman: yes, I know that, and I’ve been approached from wackos trying to get it from me.

jake-ortman: but don’t worry, I’m no dumby 🙂

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: lol

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: good

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: ty for your time sir

jake-ortman: np

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: we have put ids on our program so they do not get cracked into

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: and so that we do not delete them

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: and your password does not fit with our updated infomation

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: so if u would like we can put your yahoo account in out program

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: for safe assurance

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: we dont have to, it is just another way for us to help out our yahoo users

jake-ortman: And I’m sure to do that, I’ll have to give you my password, right?

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: well, yes but this is up to you

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: i understand with the other poeple you have run accross that u do not feel like this is legit

jake-ortman: this isn’t legit…a Yahoo! rep would NEVER ask for my password via IM.

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: well sir this is a new safe way to retrieve your password in case something happens

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: i was not trying to get your password i was just informing you about our new program and we have put your name in our database

jake-ortman: you said “so if u would like we can put your yahoo account in out program”….so you’ve already put it there? I didn’t say you could.

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: ok sir

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: i have tried to be polite to you

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: i am sorry about whatever comsuptions you have about not believing i am an admin

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: ty for your time we will not be using your name and i can take it out

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: ty for your time

jake-ortman: e-mail me from a yahoo corporate e-mail account, and then I’ll believe you.

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: ok sir

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: you will have an email in your account with-in the next 24 hours

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: ty for your time

jake-ortman: BTW: What’s your Yahoo games username/profile?. I have a buddy who’s a Yahoo games admin, and can’t find your lllliiiilllliiiilllliiii username/profile in there. Besides that, according to http://profiles.yahoo.com/llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii … you’ve been a member for a whole two months. You’re not going to become a Yahoo! games admin in that amount of time.

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: for a whole two months what

llllliiiiillllliiiiilllllliiiiii: sir i am kind of busy

jake-ortman: What is your profile on Yahoo? It’s obviously not the one you’re IMing me from, because if that were the case, you’re lying to me.

Still waiting for a reply on that one (not holding my breath).

Regardless, he’s been reported to Yahoo.

Microsoft says to take aim at Google

Full Story (basically an attempt at getting a better share price for MS). But can you imagine Microsoft trying to convert the 30,000+ Linux-based boxes that Google uses to Windows-based boxes? You know Microsoft had a bunch of trouble converting Hotmail from FreeBSD to Windows, right (despite their pretty white paper on the process)? It only took them 5 years to do, and they only had about 3,600 servers to migrate. Try doing 10-times as many.

My guess is this just some joke, but we’ll just have to see.