Friday, June 06, 2003



The British House of Lords recently debated spam.

Lord Mitchell asked Her Majesty's Government: What are their plans to reduce the growth in spam.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, I hope noble Lords will appreciate how I move seamlessly from corned beef to spam.

***

Lord Renton: My Lords, will the Minister explain how it is that an inedible tinned food that lasted for ever and was supplied to those on active service can become an unsolicited e-mail, bearing in mind that some of us wish to be protected from having an e-mail?

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, I am afraid that I have not been able to find out why the term "spam" is used, but that is the meaning it now has. It is a matter that should be taken very seriously because it not only clutters up computers but involves a great deal of very unpleasant advertising to do with easy credit, pornography and miracle diets. That is offensive to people, and we should try to reduce it.

Lord Faulkner of Worcester: My Lords, I can help the Minister with the origin of the word. It comes from aficionados of Monty Python, and the famous song, "Spam, spam, spam, spam". It has been picked up by the Internet community and is used as a description of rubbish on the Internet.

***

Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, do the Government have any plans to restrict unsolicited faxes? My fax paper is always being wasted by people who send me faxes I do not want. I do not know whether they could be called "corned beef" or something, but I have had enough of them.
These ants are taking over my house. These 'crazy ants' are charaterized by rapid and erratic movements. Thankfully, they don't sting.

A television show on a publicly-owned network is pushing Dutch sexual tolerance to the limit by telling school children they should consider prostitution as a career and also think about enrolling at a controversial Amsterdam sex school. The program is part of a series called: '[Expletive]: You do it like this', and includes explicit information about Amsterdam's ''Hanky Panky School.''
A rare bald eagle egg, produced by a pair of birds in captivity at Kentucky's game farm in Frankfort, was destroyed by state wildlife officials. The game farm had permits for adult eagles but not eaglets.

This is what happens when people are not paid to think.

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

Orbitz apparantly has eliminated their "Flex Search" option, which was the best tool ever for finding airfares. I'm crushed. Send e-mail to sitefeedback@orbitz.com and protest this - it may make some difference.

Update:
"Due to maintenance for 'My dates are Flexible' this service has been turned off temporarily. We hope to have it back soon."
In light of this, a e-mail blizzard campaign would be ill-advised. It worked for fundie asshats though.
The link in Matt's blog called itself "performance art". Tom Zafian, who is not noteworthy other than for this blog, sells old tapes of East VIllage performance art (is there any other kind?) at a site titled Not Performance Art. Strangely, www.notannoyinglypretensious.com is still available - I was sure he'd have it.
Anyway, my faith in the human race is reaffirmed in that I can't find another example of online performance art, even when looking.

Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Kayla wanted me to make her e-mail less spam friendly. While I'm here, I might as well blog something. Rent-a-negro is fun for the whole family.

"My friends still ask, 'how is that black friend of yours?'"
- A.P., Physician