Forgery on the rise...

OK, crap...it's 4:45 and I'm just sitting down to try and write something to post. [sigh] Why do I do this to myself? Normally, I try to jot potential topics down on indeterminate numbers of little slips of paper, sometimes that helps the writing process, but then I run the risk of misplacing said slips of paper. Other times I'll start a notepad document with little bullet points, since I barely leave the house during the week, and it's just as easy to go over to the computer to type in a thought or topic...

Today, however, was a complete bust. Apparently, it's everything I can do to wake up, shower, feed myself, have a couple IM and phone conversations, and watch a half a dozen episodes of Law & Order spinoffs. (I'd forgotten that the (redhead?) ADA on SVU was fairly hot)

I did finally chat with Laura briefly before I went to bed yesterday, she's going to be on our side of the pond in mid March. Perhaps we can coordinate a meeting...but I think that would entail me going to Arkansas...and unfortunately, as I recall, that's a bit of a hike. I need to help her research buying an iBook or Powerbook to bring back with her.

Plans to See D and Mo tomorrow, possibly for coffee or something, it'll be good to see them...had a lot of fun doing the mallrat/dinner thing a few weeks ago.

Oh yeah, finally broke down (after about an hour more fruitless internet searching) and wrote an e-mail to the websters online dictionary people about the economics question that's been driving me absoultely batty for a week now. Here's what the e-mail said:


Hello Ms. Fabert;

I'm a recent fan of your reference site,
www.websters-online-dictioonary.org, and have been referring many
people to the site.

I have what I hope is a quick and simple question that I hope you can
answer, as this is the only contact e-mail I could find anywhere on
the site. If you are not the correct person to whom this inquiry
should be addressed, I ask that you please either forward this inquiry
to the appropriate party(ies) or supply a contact e-mail where I may
redirect the inquiry. Thanks for your cooperation.

In normal use of the site, I've encountered the "age check" page where
a password is required. I was able to determine the answers to
questions 1, 2, and 5 (Bono, three, and dijon, respectively), and was
informed of number 3 (Tonkin) by a friend. For the life of me, I'm not
able to find the answer to number 4, "The theory that physiology and
physics are drivers of economics (15 letters)"

Please help. I've chronicled our plight on my blog
(http://vueaskew.blogspot.com) and a number of us have been
exhaustively researching the matter, to no avail. Granted, none of us
are exceptionally acute researchers, and most of us are many many
moons removed from our days of education.

Might you or one of your staff members grace us with the answer to this query?

Thanks for your efforts in supplying a valuable service and
indispensible tool for the masses!

We eagerly await your reply, thanks again for indulging a few word-geek fans!

Respectfully,

-Gene Chang



One completely useless thing I did do involved some odd commercials I saw on TV while watching the L&Os. Since I'm such a sucker for marketing, I feel that that makes me uniquely qualified to comment on it. I've always been a fan of clever advertising, and one of the last times I was at the resort, I happened across one of Skip's trade magazines. Only had about a minute to flip through it beafore Iw as distracted by something else, but it had some absolutely amazingly clever ads displayed...don't remember what it was called, but it was gorgeous...nice heavy paper, excellent print quality, the whole deal. Gotta have a closer look and remember to ask him about it. Anyway, saw these two ads that definitely kind of drew you in, and offered websites.

The first was esuvee.com. The commercial features these CGI stylized buffalo/wooly mammoth-looking things, with headlight/grille type facial features. Turns out it's a PSA/public awareness campaign for SUV rollover prevention. The site itself looks good, but is pretty vapid when it comes to content: basically the message is keep your tires inflated, don't overload, and don't speed. Is this really such a massive killer, maimer, or such a source of concern though, that all this money needs to be spent on basic, common-sense messages? Don't get me wrong, ultimately, I admire the efforts put forth, like I said the site looks good visually, and the commercial was very nicely done, as it got me to go and look at the site, but I was definitely let down when I got there. But who the hell is paying for all those national TV spots? Site srates that the "esuvee safety campaign is sponsored by the offices of the Attorney General and consumer protection agencies of all 50 states..." Lovely, government funds. Couldn't the money be better spent elsewhere? OK, gotta stop now, I'm starting to sound like Michael Moore or Ralph Nader or something...oh, and the "sound off" (I read that to mean "turn the annoying sounds off") button doesn't work...guess they must have run out of site development funds to enable that feature.

The second one is less of a kvetch, more of a fun little distraction. The premise of the commercial starts off showing typically misspelled knock-off product: Kalvin Clein clothing, Ray-Boon sunglasses, Rolek watches, Cucci watches, etc. Reminds me of the "Sorny" and "Magnetbox" product placement on an early Simpsons episode. They go on to show various cars with Union Jack-adorned roofs, white mirrors, racing stripe-adorned hoods, bumpers with extraneous foglights, while the narrarator goes on about the newest of hot counterfeit products, the new Mini Cooper. the site seem pretty new, there appear to only have been 3200 visitors (can that be right?!), the reader's submissions page only seems to have about 20 or so photos, and the mock cops-style film clip is dated 02-15-05. Hrm...

A presumably government agency is introduced, the CCC, or Counter Counterfeit Commission. They've allegedly been around "for some time" and have shifted their focus to the especially heinous crime of Mini counterfeiting. The absolute absurdity of the commercial is both endearing and hilarious, and some of the examples are pretty well done, complete with testimonials from "consumers" who'd been "had" by these shysters. The site they refer you to is counterfeitmini.org. I've always loved just about every aspect of the advertising surrounding the reintroduction of the Mini, probably as much as I love the car itself. It epitomizes cute, the performance versions kick ass, and they're relatively cheap for what you get. Never mind that when I went to BMW's Mini site some time ago and "built" a Mini to my preferred specs, the sticker price doubled the base model's MSRP...I must really like a fully-equipped vehicle. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a girl car, and the only way I can justify having one would be to get a serious girlfriend/fiancee/wife, ostensibly buy it for her, but then "borrow" it all the time to go autocross or otherwise race it. Hrm...

Anyway, the various mock Minis (and here, I especially like the two motorcycles duct taped together at the bottom left of the first page there) inspired me to fire up Photoshop and play around a little, to see if I still had any skills in that program. I haven't done any serious tweaking in it in some (9? sheesh...) years, and I definitely don't know a lot of the current version's trick new features, but it IS fun to play with. I did a quick inventory of pictures of my car, ran a quick Google image search, and in a couple hours, cranked out the following: (Don't make fun!)



I know it's hideous, but it's tongue-in-cheek, and gave me a chance to polish up my rusty-ass Photoshop skills a little. Heck, I might even do up one of the Land Cruiser...if anything, that one should be easier since it's basically the same shape as the Mini to begin with...trying to get some of those shapes properly "Free Transform"ed into the proper forms was a pain in the ass.

So I submitted it to the "Citizen Watch" portion of the site, let's see if they publish it...

So yeah, this is what I do instead of being properly productive. Nice, huh? Oh well, it just took me an hour an 15 minutes to come up with this entry...I should keep track of how long it takes me to crank these out, I'm sure the information could come in handy someday...