Google Voice Transcription Fun

I've left a few Google Voice messages for people recently, with varying levels of hilarity when it comes to the automated translation. According to Google, it's "not perfect yet."

Here's my transcription of a voicemail I left for Evan this morning:

Evan, Chad. Bagel. Coupon. Ok, that was four slow words for the google voice translate thing. i imagine they probably even screwed that part of it up. But now I'm going to say some random words to confuse it. That, which, for, the, to, and why. Bye.

My humor might be mediocre, but the Google Voice transcription is fantastic:

Hey Matt, Chad bagel. How. What. Okay, that was porcelain works for the google voice translation thing, but I imagine it. Probably make sure that part of it up so I know I said kinda more secure that wish for that to him alright bye.

Why not 3.4 to 5.7?

I'm actually liking the RTM version of Windows 7 for my VM at work. Of course, it wouldn't be a Microsoft product without a few head-scratching moments...

An Exercise in Contrasts

via Facebook:

A Match Made in Heaven*

*actually, quite a bit south of "Heaven."

Best error screen EVER.

When trying to jailbreak my 3.0 iPhone:

"In order to work, it requires Internet Explorer >= 6 to be in "standards-compliant" mode (know your oxymorons);"

Tag Soup

When someone impugns the integrity of your mother, you don’t say “Hey! My mother does not swim out after troop ships!” No, you impugn the integrity of their sister.

The Macalope

Photographer's Math

Egypt: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

GENEVA - The World Health Organization announced Thursday it will would stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. The policy shift came a day after Egypt began slaughtering thousands of pigs in a misguided effort to prevent swine flu.

AP article

P.S. I felt weird tagging this "lol," but I didn't exactly know what else to do.

The Origin of Swine Flu

I originally got this in an email from Gerardo, but I'm morally opposed to forwards—and besides, that's exactly what blogs are for!

[source unknown]

courtesy of xkcd

YES! thank u. as a fellow writer who doesn't really write, i notice that kind of thing. i also notice that he's unintentionally (it seems) grammatically incorrect and it bugs me.

Anonymous commenter on a blog I won't call out by name

For many people, even if Apple's prices are high, they're preferable to a typical Vista-based PC for reasons similar to why it's better to live in overly taxed Europe than under-taxed Africa.

MikeRT, Slashdot

Worth a (re)post

Some of you may have already seen this picture, but I just rediscovered it and wanted to share again.

My youngest brother Brent was but a high schooler in 2005, when Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith was released. He and a bunch of his nerdier friends decided, as Star Wars nerds are wont to do, to go to the premiere in costume. He's the second character from the left in this picture; can you guess who he is?

If you guessed "George Lucas, the director of the movie," you're correct. That's him "directing a scene" with his friends. He said he even signed a few autographs at the theater.

Congratulations, little brother; you've managed to out-nerd the nerds. Now that's Jedi.

Annals of Great Software Design: Lotus Notes

I've long been a fan of Lotus Notes for its user-friendly, functional UI design. One important concept in designing a great UI is to keep it as simple as possible. Here's an example from the latest version of Notes for the Mac:

Click it to make it big so you can fully appreciate the design aesthetic.

I appreciate the gigantic-ness of the dialog box itself, obscuring almost all of my desktop and encouraging me to focus on my meeting response. The tiny-by-comparison text area keeps the text relatively narrow and easier to read. The Text Properties button follows along as you type, ensuring that your ability to change text properties is literally at your fingertips. Of course, the ability WOULD be there—if the button actually did anything when you clicked it.

24: Mad Libs

I'm a big fan of 24; well, I have been for a long time, but this season is... iffy. As someone who works quite a bit with technology, I'm usually willing to let the occasional technological TV nonsense-speak slide for the sake of entertainment. I spent several seasons of 24 happily letting everyone 'send info to everyone's screens,' which, although it made no real sense, was inconsequential enough that it was OK. But this season's plot is centered around technological nonsense. Exhibit A, my favorite short blurb of techno-babble so far:

In case you didn't get that, the quote was:

We're going to have to tie the main servers together. I need an AVI motherboard but you're going to have to reconfigure it for a macro uplink.

I just couldn't let that one slide. It's like they just combined random words that are mostly from the area of interest to the conversation. To try and translate that into another vernacular:

We're going to have to marinate the carburetor. I need some V8 tires but you're going to have to retread them for a stick-shift lug nut.

If you come up with a good one, leave a note in the comments.

This is exactly what I was doing last night as I was blogging.

Like I've said before, this comic gets me.

This comic gets me.

A gentle reminder, courtesy of What The Duck.

Why I quit my first job