Blankbaby

Ninja Cat

It is a little known fact that I send Marisa lots of cat videos throughout the day, so why not share them here? Here's a ninja cat, via Laughing Squid.

Clang

The spaceship hit the atmosphere with a clang.

"That's odd," said First Mate Bishop, "ships don't usually clang at this high a velocity."

He glanced at the readouts on his glowing control pod and frowned. Something was wrong, and though he didn't know what that thing was it was a big important thing, and it wasn't good. Not good at all.

"Captain, something's wrong."

Capt. Drake Belleweather looked at his First Mate with a mix of annoyance and calm. Belleweather was almost always annoyingly calm, which mostly accounts for his rise through the ranks of the Imperium. It certainly wasn't because he knew what he was doing; mostly he just winged it.

"Yes, I heard the clang. Most unusual that clang. I don't recall ever hearing a clang like that before. Get me engineering. They know about clangs and things, one imagines."

Engineering, which on the I.S. Confident consisted of one human, Lt. Carothers, and one robot, General Robotics Engineer Mark V, was well versed in any number of spacefaring related noises. Bangs, wizzles, zaps, sproongs, whispers of air escaping a once airtight space were noise in their repertoire. Clangs not so much.

When the whistle denoting an incoming message from the captain sounded Engineering knew what to do. Carothers answered the call.

"Carothers here."

"Carothers, tell me what the hell that clang was. We're rapidly approaching the planet surface."

"Ahh, yes, Capt. You heard that too? I thought it might have been Ned's servos grinding again."

"Who the hell is Ned?"

I've been in some meetings like this.

Another clever one from Savage Chickens.

I want to be a super-villian

I've always wanted to live either in a lighthouse or a former missile silo. Scouting NY (one of my favorite blogs) checks out a missile silo home.

Neat, huh? I think so, though it is probably for the best if I don't spend too much time thinking about why living in such remote/extreme locations appeal to me (but I would totally turn the missile silo into a huge library. How awesome would that be?).

GE should still make advertisements like this

via todaysinspiration.blogspot.com

They are better than these silly dancing elephant ads.

Pile 'o tech

Scott of 2006 vs. Scott of 2011

As I continue to lose weight, I think back to where I was 5 years ago and remember that I'm about 100 pounds lighter than that Scott was.

Losing another 50 pounds doesn't seem too bad (though it won't be easy!).

Me in three (well, 60) of your words

A little while ago I asked folks to head on over to a wacky Web site and describe me in three words. Furthermore, I promised to post the results and here they are:

• anti-fruit & vegetable, moderate, and sharp
• aloof, witty, and introverted
• funny, interesting, and scottalicious
• clever, savvy, and erudite
• friendly, house-trained, and well-groomed
• zany, tall, and caring
• witty, dapper, and techie
• Gay, Large, and Stupid (I don't think this person is a Scott McNulty fan, but I could be wrong.)
• fluffy, puff, and marshmallows
• witty, smart, and conservative
• funny, smart, and brutal
• Unique, Hawaitastic, and prescient
• literate, mancandy, and blankbaby
• insightful, merry, and kind
• Philly, Food, and Writing
• smart, funny, and logical
• Savvy, Whimsical, and Gentle giant
• clever, friendly, and e-reader-addicted
• kindle, nook, and another kindle (This one is probably my favorite.)
• Knowledgeable, Enigmatic, and Shy

And that makes the top three words: smart, funny, witty. I'm blushing here!

November: a month of purchasing nothing?

At the start of this month I told Marisa that I wasn't going to buy anything that we didn't need.

I'm lucky enough to have a little bit of disposable income, and I enjoy being able to buy whatever bauble might catch my fancy at any given time (within reason). This isn't a problem, but as I looked around the apartment I realized I didn't really need any more stuff.

My resolve didn't last long, though. As you know I bought a fancy vacuum (which really sucks... get it?), but I thought that would be it!

Fast forward to today and I made a couple more purchases. To the right you can see the new graphics card for my Mac Pro I purchased today. I know what you're thinking, "Scott, why do you need a new graphics card?" So I can power this fancy new monitor
I also bought today:

Clearly, I have a problem.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: An Objective Look at My Seven Graduate School Rejections Compared to Other Historic Rejections.

Here's a fun Scott fact: I very nearly enrolled in an MA program after graduating from college (the Creative Writing MFA program at Emerson to be exact).

Why Emerson? I applied to a number of programs, but I was rejected by all of them... save Emerson. That made the choice easier, though in the end I decided to skip the MFA all together (I do often wonder what my life would be like if I had gone ahead and enrolled in that program... I would probably be living in Boston, and I definitely wouldn't be writing this blog post!

It is for this reason that I draw your attention to McSweeney's Internet Tendency: An Objective Look at My Seven Graduate School Rejections Compared to Other Historic Rejections. Been there, done that.

Smart Appliance Shopping

One of my favorite blogs, A House By The Park, recently posted about their process for buying appliances.

Their secret to success? Buying from a local appliance store, which matched online prices quoted over the phone. You might recall that's how Marisa and I got our fridge (creepily exactly two years to the day today!).

Buy local, jerks!

Apple changes press release boiler plate, the revolution is now mobile

Mac fans are nothing if not obsessive (much like the company they love), and so I've been reading Apple press releases for years.

For as long as I can remember they have all included a boiler plate paragraph at the end that starts with, "Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh." The sentences after that vary from release to release but they always started with that sentence. Take, for example, the press release announcing the iPhone 4. Here's the boiler plate:

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

I noticed today, while reading the press release about the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display, that Apple has nixed the computer revolution. Here's the new closer:

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

The first press release to use this boiler plate trumpeted iPhone 4 sales in late June.

Since I work in corporate communications, I know changes like these are never done lightly. It is interesting that the revolution has shifted from the computer to the mobile space, even within Apple's PR boiler plate, no?

I am no friend to vampires

This Facebook friend request came in last night. Clearly someone thinks I'm a teenage girl.

Plus I'm totally on Team Jacob (he's dreamy).

Death Star Watermelon

via blog.makezine.com

via hello.typepad.com

Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL watermelon!

Aww, we're cute!

I was on Attack of the Show for some reason

Above is the video from my appearance on last night's Attack of the Show. They had me on the Loop to talk Apple rumors before Apple's WWDC event that starts on Monday.

Luckily for me my segment was only a couple of minutes long since I seemed to have lost the ability to form coherent thoughts. I even called OS X 'the OS X,' like some sort of crazy old man ('Isn't your Apple MAC running the OS X or something? Where's my soup?').

Having seen Attack of the Show before I figured I was going to be one person on a panel during the Loop, which they often do. Imagine my surprise when I was on air, live mind you, and I figured out that it was just little old me and Kevin Pereira chatting about Apple rumors. Kevin did say he was a big fan of TUAW, which is always good to hear.

Thanks to the wonders of technology I didn't have to board a transcontinental jet to appear on AotS, but I did have to walk 5 blocks from my apartment to VideoLink, which has a satellite uplink thingie. I then sat in a green room for a few minutes (there was free candy, but I didn't have any) while I waited for my close up. One of the VideoLink dudes let me know I was ready to go, and I walked into another room with some bright lights, a camera, a table and chair, and a screen on which they would magically show Philadelphia's skyline. I even got to wear one of those in ear mics things, so I that the people on the west coast to talk to me.

A few minutes later and my second television appearance was over. (Note to John Gruber: I was wearing a Daring Fireball T-shirt under my 'ready for TV' shirt.)

When I was all done I walked into the green room to retrieve my umbrella and I was greeted by an older gentleman who was wearing a suit, though his coat was off. He was very busy looking into a mirror and applying makeup to himself. Looking up at me, with a sponge full of makeup in his hand, he said, 'How'd it go? You didn't shoot a booger out your noise or scream fuck, did you?' I acknowledged that I had not, in fact, yelled any profanities and anything that was in my nose at the start of my segment remained solidly in place until the end. He explained that he was a lawyer in Philly and he often appears on CNN to talk about legal stuff. I asked about the makeup and he said, 'I learned long ago if you don't do this you end up looking like a vampire on TV.' Since I hadn't applied any makeup to myself before my appearance I can only imagine I looked like a vampire (though vampires don't have reflections, so they can't be caught on film, right? Take that, Mr. Lawyerman!).

All in all, I had fun and I don't think I came off too badly. Here's to being on TV more often!

Breaking news: Clinton and McCain to make out!

This picture was taken just moments before John McCain and Hillary Clinton started to passionately kiss. Pollsters on both sides of the aisle are not sure how this will impact their candidate's campaigns. More news as the story develops.

My favorite photos of 2007

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I'm totally stealing this idea from Steve Garfield (you can check out his favorite photos on his blog). I give you my favorite photos of 2007 (I didn't take all of these, but they were all taken with my cameras so I think they count!).

Oh, and you might not be able to see the above slideshow in your newsreader of choice, so visit the actual entry to see it!

I'll have the ostrich on wheat, please

This weekend I found myself in Connecticut visiting my dear old friend Glenn (it is hard to believe that we have been friends for over 16 years now... where does all the time go?) and a good time was had by all.

Glenn, as of late, has been getting into guns. You know, going to the firing range and squeezing off a few rounds. As such, he has a new rifle that he needed to get fixed which is how I found myself in a gun shop for the first time ever. The gun shop was kind of neat, since I do think guns are interesting as artifacts (I would never own one myself, but it was an antique or something) but it wasn't anything too exciting (though I did meet a nice doggie).

The real fun began after the gun shop, as it often does. We went on a little adventure to see the Cabela's that recently opened up shop in CT. If you don't know what Cabela's is, you are not alone. I wouldn't have known what it was either, but I had attended a talk by someone who helped with the website so I was hip to the Cabela's.

It is a sort of outdoorsy apparel/accessories super store... and when I say super store I mean super store. This place is HUGE. Take a look at the pictures I took (some people thought it was odd that I was snapping so many pictures, but who cares!).

One of the coolest things, though, was the restaurant which serves all kinds of exotic meats. I was in the sandwich line, looking at the line up of elk, bison, and ostrich trying to decide what to get (I went with the ostrich) but I was shocked when the 4 people ahead of me all ordered tuna salad! I mean, come on people, live a little.

Anyway, I have to grab my Jerky Blaster and some Buck Lickers and get out of here.

Bald cats rejoice

I think that bald cats have suffered for too long! The taunts of shaggy cats as they walk down the street, the hesitant look from people as they reach to scratch the bald kitty's head only to realize there is no fur to scratch. This must be stopped! Thankfully, Kittywigs is here to help!

For the low, low cost of $50 you can get the follically challenged cat in your life a boost of confidence. And really, how can you put a price on kitty love?

Cute, Denny.

Have I told you lately that the political process in this country is broken (though it is great that I can post that opinion without fear that the government will track me down and haul me off somewhere unpleasant)? I'm watching the Democratic Debate on CNN at the moment and I am not pleased with what I hear.

Dennis Kucinich is part of the debate, though no one really thinks he has a chance in hell to win the nomination. We all know this, but that doesn't excuse his fellow Democratic candidates from patronizing him.

Kucinich was asked if people who voted for open trade with China should be held responsible for the various toy recalls and such. Kucinich answered with the obvious, 'Yes, they should be held responsible for the consequences of their actions. Senator Edwards voted for open trade with China, and he's a trial lawyer, he should know better.' I'm paraphrasing, of course, but that's the thrust of what he said. Edwards was given the chance to respond, and he said, 'Well, I don't know what being trial lawyer has to do with anything but...' Here's where Kucinich interjected with, 'Product liability.'

Now that's a zinger if I've ever heard one. What was Edwards' response? 'Cute, Denny,' he said with that bright smile of his and then went on not answering the question of whether he should be responsible, partly at least, for our troubles from China. It really turned my stomach because that phrase right there sums up the contempt the frontrunners have for anyone that says things we, the American people, know to be the simple truth. The truth ain't pretty, and as we all know it won't get you elected to be the next President.

Now, I don't agree with everything Kucinich wants to do but I damn sure think that his candidacy deserves respect. He's working just as hard, if not harder, than Hillary, Obama, and Edwards.

I'm just saying.

Philips DVP5960 DVD Player with HDMI, 1080i Upscaling, DivX Ultra, USB direct

I need a new DVD player. I think this one

looks cool. Thoughts?

The Daily Scott: now a part of Blankbaby

Awhile ago I had the bright idea of posting a picture of myself everyday, and The Daily Scott was created. Sadly, it wasn't so daily but I think the idea is still sound. I announced that the Daily Scott was moving over here and now it is complete. The dailyscott category now contains all the posts (and comments) from the old Daily Scott as well as the new additions. It makes much more sense for it to be here, I think.

Anywho, why not highlight some of my favorite Daily Scotts? I knew, dear reader, that you would be excited by that! Let's get started:

• I'm pretty (This picture was taken by my boss's boss. True story)
• AHHHHHHHH! (Product gone wrong)
• Neckerchiefs are in, I hear. (It is a good look, right?)
• John Goodman anyone? (It really is uncanny)
• Pondering Socks (Yes, I own lots of socks, and yes that is my desk at work)
• I'm handsome! (As a counterpoint to the pretty one)

Update: Bah! It looks like something went a little screwy with the importing. I'll fix it at some point tomorrow, but until then just imagine what I look like.

You might like George W. Bush, but his dad is pretty awesome

The dude is 83 and he parachutes into the reopening of his Presidential library. No matter what your politics are, that's just plain cool.

It is also interesting to note that he landed near the spot where he will eventually be buried. That takes some serious huevos, if you ask me.

Kitty Potter

Ain't Democracy grand?