Monthly Archive for June, 2009

Page 8 of 9

It’s a Bing Thing

Published on June 5, 2009 in Technology. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Soon, if not already, you will be yelling at the television because you are sick and tired of hearing about Bing, the new search engine from Microsoft.

I don’t know how much television time can be purchased for $100 million, but that is what Microsoft is investing to convince you that Binging is better than Googling.

Bing is being touted as a “decision engine.” What??? Never mind, that’s irrelevant and the reason you will be yelling at the television…

Since I’m an owner of Google,  I wasn’t even going to give Bing a shot (pew-pew, bingggggg) at getting my search engine business. Besides I like AdSense and without Google there is no AdSense and I would miss the monthly checks.

But Sergey and Brin never returned my email, and actually stopped me from using SerqeyBrin@gmail.com, and Bill Gates is a Prick, so screw ‘em. I tried Bing.

I read Offbeat Travel and how much she liked Bing.

Did you ever google something and find a whole lot of sites that have gamed the google system and have no content? I’ve researched small towns and ended up in contentless sites that have asked me to put in what I know of the city.

Yes. I. Have.

I hate those spam blog sites (splogs.)

Bing has a very cool feature that shows you a snippet preview of the site/blog  just by mousing over the result. It gives you a  pretty good clue of what the site contains without having to load the page. And splog sites are sloooooow.

I also like that Bing has a short preview of videos. My attention span is pretty short, sometimes that preview is enough for me.

The Smart Guy doesn’t like that he can’t find things yet on Bing. I think Bing will get better. Microsoft might have waited another week to keep the indexing machine running at full tilt to find the kajillion pages on the web, but then there would have been a uberdillion more. As soon as they have all those abandoned blogs indexed then Bing will get around more often and the search may improve. Then again, it may not.

I’m not 100% committed to Bing, but it’s the only other option I have in my search box. No Yahoo, Mahalo, Dogpile, etc. and especially no Ask.com because I hate their commercials and sponsorship on NASCAR.

I’m not crazy about the name Bing, but if they stick too it, they should do OK. Free tip: Try to avoid this Windows naming fiasco:

  • 3.0
  • 95
  • 98
  • CE
  • ME
  • XP
  • Vista
  • 7

Bing is not a terrible name, with the right tag line. Bing! The Found It Sound.

But please, please, stay away from using the term Binging.

Free tip to Google: Buy Twitter, it’s pretty useless, but people sure do talk a lot about it. I bet you could figure a way to get those little AdSense ads into my tweets.

UPDATE: I just ran across a vertical site that is attached to Bing, it’s Bing Travel. I knew Microsoft would screw it up.

By aggregating Expedia, Cheap Tickets, Cheapoair, Priceline and Booking Buddy on the Bing Travel site, travelers can not only search for flights and hotels but book without ever leaving the search engine.

My ownership in Google can only grow. Why would these sites buy advertising on Bing, when Bing is going to serve them all to me at once when I search for the best deal in Bangalore?

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Johnsonville Beer Brats and Bourbon Recipe

Published on June 4, 2009 in Empty Nesters, Entertainment, Family and Health. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .


johnsonvillebrats

Here’s a great midweek, it’s-gonna-thunderstorm, but-I-got-the-yard-mowed-and-now-I’m-starved dinner.
Six Johnsonville Beer Brats and a handful of Bourbon and a nifty Johnsonville Sausage apron.

Oh, what? You don’t have a Johnsonville Sausage apron do you. OK, it will still work, but you will have to be very neat. (Loser.)

Matt Rivera, my new best friend who does PR for Johnsonville Sausage, sent me the spiffy (codger talk for “totes”) apron. You know about my other blog, right? BBQandBourbon.com? I wrote something nice about brand X beer brats, and Matt found out and bribed me sent me this nice apron.
I bought the Johnsonville Brats.

Just in case you go looking for them at your local grocery store, here’s what the package looks like.

johnsonville
Here is the offical BBQandBourbon recipe using Johnsonville Beer Brats.

  • Start with a glass of your favorite bourbon. Consume.
  • Fire up your gas or charcoal grill.
  • Preheat gas grill to medium-low heat. (If charcoal, allow it to burn until white ash has formed on the coals.)
  • Pour another glass of bourbon. Consume.
  • Place links on grill 7-9 inches above heat source. Use tongs to turn links often, every 4-6 minutes. (Closing the grill lid while cooking helps minimize flare-ups.)
  • Consume bourbon until everything looks a nice golden brown. About the same color as your bourbon.

Put on plate, pour another glass of bourbon and consume.

Now if the thunderstorm isn’t looming and your local weather radio isn’t advising you to take cover immediately, and you want to serve some friends, here is another great recipe from Johnsonville Sausage:

  • One 11 x 9 x 2 3/8 inch aluminum foil baking pan
  • 2 – 3 beers
  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 medium yellow or white onion, sliced

Johnsonville® Brat Hot Tub Directions

Put a foil pan right on the grill, careful not to singe your knuckle hair, pour in the beers and add the butter and onions.  Then grill your Johnsonville Brats to a juicy, golden-brown perfection.  Serve immediately to your hungry guests and place any remaining brats into the steaming hot tub.  When folks are ready for seconds or thirds–or when stragglers show up late – grab a Johnsonville Brat out of the hot tub and enjoy!

And keep the Bourbon for yourself.

I Knew It, I Just Knew It. She’s Important.

Published on June 4, 2009 in Health, Money, Politics, Research and Technology. 0 Comments Tags: .


I knew she was on a covert, undercover mission and had to return home because of the new administration and the extreme danger she faced if she remained at her assignment.

Otherwise, why would she be so mysterious? Other than the fact that she is a single boomer woman writing stuff on the internet?

Now that her mission is over (obviously she accepted) and she has safely returned, she is beginning to carefully integrate herself back into a routine life until she is needed again.

Choosing to live the polar opposite of the life she left, she decided to accept the offer of residence in a small quiet village.  She needed that cone of silence and solitude.

Slowly, she reached the decision that her cover had held. It took time and a lot of reassurance by her handlers.  She even returned to the site of her assignment for a period to reconnoiter her former warm home and the cold streets.

Surprising those who knew her career, she began to make limited appearances at family functions to practice returning to a more open way of living.

Satisfied of her safety, but with some reluctance, she agreed to make the short trip to the nation’s capital to quietly accept the accolades for her service to her adopted homeland.

It’s not that she was living the life of avoiding contact with law enforcement, she just had to be careful. She might be called to perform a service of great national importance on a moment’s notice.

Certainly she had a code name.  Something like Hannah Vanna Montana! Which of course, sounds much better in the native language where she was stationed. As knowledgeable as I am on the ways of covert living, I would also know that when challenged she would need a response phrase, which normally takes the form of noun, participle phrase, verb, adjective, noun. Peter, while waiting at the bus stop, jumps the coffee barista. Rose, sitting in her office, erased audiotape.

She pretended to live a simple life in a foreign country, all the while living with the haunting feeling that in the coolness of an evening, the call would come.

Sometimes that feeling still washes over her unexpectedly and she is startled. (I read that on her Facebook page.)

Generally her life was easy. If you call never knowing what is around the next corner easy. She was a student of life and her surroundings. This is what she wrote. This is all she could write with a modicum of calm.

Nevertheless,  she revealed little about herself through her writing, preferring to talk about the wonderful and mysterious surroundings that were her world.

On the other hand, maybe her employment contract expired, she moved home, and she just has a hot date in D.C.

The truth is out there. Trust no one. I want to believe.

Wanamaker-Popp Wedding Announced

Published on June 3, 2009 in Family and Holy Shit! Lookit This!. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Here are some nice places for honeymoons.

Penguin Poop Percieved from Space Place

Published on June 2, 2009 in Education, Health and Technology. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .


I was conflicted: shall I alliterate or rhyme the headline?

If you know someone who is acting more important than they really are, a snappy retort is: “s/he thinks his sh*t doesn’t stink.”

Penguins are important. Yes, their sh*t stinks, but it’s also visible from outer space.

Cool.

The astronauts are cruising a few hundred miles above the terra firma and look down on Antarctica and see this giant reddish brown stain on the ice.

Yikes! Would you mention it to your fellow astronauts if you noticed earth had skid marks?

Turns out that Penguin poop can be seen from outer space-ace-ace-ace (echo effect is turned on).

Imagine the relief when you finally did tell somebody and they jumped up and down and were happy because that meant it was now your job to track the trail of Penguin poop?

You Forgot To Wipe

You Forgot To Wipe