Brent P. Newhall's Blog
Misc – Sep 2008

26 Sep 08 – Jonathan Coulton

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Last week I blogged about Geoff Smith, a "geek musician." Today, I'm going to blog about arguably the biggest geek musician, Jonathan Coulton.

He's undoubtedly best known for composing the end credits song for the game Portal, "Still Alive," though he also wrote the programmer anthem "Code Monkey." They're both great little songs.

He's written much more music than that. In fact, he's written dozens and dozens of songs, thanks to a friend suggesting that he write a song a week. So he did.

Whereas Geoff Smith has a Beatles vibe, Coulton's a bit more like They Might Be Giants. His songs are quirky, but usually have a neat twist or emotional theme despite the odd theme.

For example, "Skullcrusher Mountain" is a love song, sung by an evil mastermind to the girl he's kidnapped. There's an odd, desperate sadness to it. "Code Monkey" is about a programmer's love for a co-worker, which he can't quite bring himself to do anything about. "Flickr" is composed entirely of photo titles from Flickr, and after a while does give you a feel for the breathtaking number of hobbies and interests out there.

Best of all, he offers all his music as standard MP3 downloads off his site, for $1 each ($10 per album). You can also listen to previews of each, and he offers a rotating set of his songs free.

The songs are fun and poignant. Worth a try.

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22 Sep 08 – Scam from Golden Living (formerly Beverly Enterprises)?

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Today, I received a letter from "Golden Living (formerly Beverly Enterprises)." This company runs nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I twas originally sent to a "Mary Newhall" near me (and I'm from a small family with no nearby relatives named "Newhall"), but was redirected to me. It reads:

DEAR FRIEND:


OUR RECORDS INDICATE THAT YOU ARE THE OWNER OF THE FUNDS
REPRESENTED BY THE ITEM LISTED BELOW.  NO TRANSACTION OR
ACTIVITY HAS BEEN NOTED FOR A SIGNIFICANT TIME.  IF YOU
HAVE AN INTEREST IN THESE FUNDS AND WISH TO PREVENT SUCH
FUNDS FROM BEING REPORTED TO THE STATE, PLEASE COMPLETE
THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES:


*  PROVIDE YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBER AND
   SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
*  OR TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBER IF YOU ARE A BUSINESS
*  SIGN AND RETURN THIS INFORMATION PROMPTLY TO THE
   ADDRESS BELOW FOR PAYMENT
*  IF PERSON RETURNING FORM IS NOT THE ADDRESSEE, PLEASE
   ENCLOSE A COPY OF THE WILL OR POWER OF ATTORNEY TO
   SHOW THAT THESE FUNDS ARE RIGHTFULLY YOURS.


   GOLDEN LIVING (FORMERLY BEVERLY ENTERPRISES)
   1000 FIANNA WAY
   FORT SMITH, AR  72919-4118
   ATTN:  T. J. STIGA

This is followed by fill-in fields for signature, SSN/tax ID, address, and phone number. Certainly smells like a scam.

What's interesting is that the company itself is certainly legitimate, and the included address is indeed the registered address of the business's headquarters (according to Forbes). It looks like one of its employees is running a scam through their headquarters.

The letter includes no other contact information (e.g., phone number) for this "T.J. Stiga," which certainly arouses my suspicions, besides the fact that disbursing funds like this should involve much more rigorous procedures than just sending a letter saying "give us your SSN and we'll send you money from this person's account."

What's even more interesting is that a quick Google search reveals a T.J. Stiga living at 2100 S V St, Fort Smith, AR, with a home phone number of 479-782-8576, as well as a Facebook page. I'm tempted to call him up.

Anyway, if you see a letter like this from "Golden Living," beware.

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11 Sep 08 – The Orwell Diaries

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The British group 'The Orwell Prize' is now posting the diaries of George Orwell online, exactly 70 years later. So, on September 10th 2008, they posted Orwell's entry for September 10th 1938.

Fascinating. His entries up to this point have mostly logged the nature and people around him. Little of surpassing genius; just a little diary of weather and such.

Comforting, in a way, to know that such a great writer penned such ordinary diary entries. On the other hand, I fully expect it to eventually tilt towards genius.

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9 Sep 08 – Discover Card's Hard Sell

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I have a friend. Her mother, sadly, has Alzheimer's and lives in a nursing home, so my friend manages her mother's finances for her. For convenience, my friend often answers the phone as her mother when her mother's financial institutions call. Otherwise, she spends several minutes explaining the situation to a confused phone rep.

So recently my friend got a call from her Mom's Discover card about a large charge. No problem; it was a proper charge. But then the Discover representative asked if she wanted to sign up for some extended insurance plan. My friend politely declined.

My friend was then subjected to a hard sell that went on for minutes. The Discover rep kept insisting that she really did want this insurance plan, using phrases like, "You want to be protected, don't you? You want to keep your money safe, don't you?"

My friend was frankly astonished at this tactic, which is clearly aimed at preying on old peoples' fears of losing their money. And it just went on and on. We all know how quickly one can wear down an old person's resistance. It was remarkably unprofessional, especially from a financial institution.

It's a terrible discovery about Discover.

(OK, sorry, bad pun.)

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8 Sep 08 – Cool Words of the Month

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I like to open the dictionary to a random page and note down cool words, once a month. It's a good writing exercise, and it introduces me to new words. I also rediscover words that just look neat or sound beautiful.

This month's cool words:

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5 Sep 08 – Polymeme - Unusual News

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Polymeme is a website devoted to "intelligent content that lies beyond the usual echo chambers of tech news, celebrity gossip or American politics."

This doesn't mean off-beat stories; Polymeme specializes in articles about subjects we care about, but from perspectives we don't normally see. For example:

The only drawback is the sheer breadth of subjects—much of it is bound to appeal to only a relatively small audience. But it's a great opportunity to broaden one's mind.

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