Jeff Milner

January 27, 2020February 8, 2020

NeverSSL.com

Here’s a great little travel tip from Marco Arment via his podcast ATP. When you don’t have cellular service but need to connect to Wi-Fi and can’t get your phone to get started, trying to connect to a non secure socket layer site will solve the problem. (This happens to me every time I go grocery shopping in the States and want to check with the better half if we need more milk).

Here’s the relevant ATP clip: overcast.fm/+R7DVAsQuw/12:17

And, as Arment points out, a sure address in which to connect that will always use just plain unencrypted http is Neverssl.com.

January 27, 2020

Kobe Bryant – Death of a Superstar

While the full details are not yet known, ESPN appears to have an early scoop on what happened in that fatal flight.

The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant that crashed Sunday was in a climbing turn at about 2,400 feet before it turned into a dive, a source told ESPN. According to flight-tracking data, the copter was in a 4,000-feet-per-minute descent when it crashed

January 25, 2020January 28, 2020

The New USA Space Force Logo

In December, the United States announced a new branch of the military, The Space Force. Today they released the logo for the new service and a lot of people are talking about how it looks like the logo from StarFleet.

President Trump appeared to unveil the new US Space Force logo — and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the "Star Trek" insignia https://t.co/XXb6HSkKmV pic.twitter.com/RNrymkfj8N

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 25, 2020

I did a quick search and as much as it tickles my biases to make fun of the logo, it’s fair to say Star Trek copied real life space organizations rather than the other way around.

This collection of Star Trek logos shows that Trek did a bit of borrowing from NASA and the United Nations.

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020

The Bad Review Revue

Dolittle: “Dolittle is a not a film. Dolittle is a crime scene in need of forensic analysis. Something happened here. Something terrible. Something inexplicable.” — Scott Tobias, NPR

Like a Boss: “Like a Boss is a truly terrible movie that wastes the talents of a good cast in material that would be beneath everyone with the exception of Rob Schneider.” — Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: “It’s a shell of a film, more machine now than ever. A twisted wreck of fan service, messy assembly of conveniences, lazy echoes and callbacks crashing into an aborted conclusion.” — Blake Howard, Dark Horizons

Cats: “Seeing Jennifer Hudson’s snot continue to glisten over her lips, refusing to be wiped away, made me Google, ‘Can you lose an Oscar?'” — Jordan Calhoun, Black Nerd Problems

Underwater: “By stealing everything from Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic [Alien], this watered down rip-off brings nothing new to the table. In the ocean, no one can hear you sigh.” — Asher Luberto, culturevulture.net

January 19, 2020

Live-Blogging The Princess Bride on First Watch

Westley and Princess Buttercup look at each other

Twitter user @uzbadyubi had never seen, “The Princess Bride” and when he finally watched it¹, live-blogged the whole thing creating this riveting twitter-thread:

https://twitter.com/uzbadyubi/status/1218630664754466817?s=21

Following along, it’s like watching the whole movie in less than 5 minutes. Check out the thread via Threadreader or on Twitter.

(via The Loop)

1. I do wonder though, did he continually pause the movie to take and post those screenshots?

January 18, 2020January 18, 2020

Sword in the Stone Removed by Disneyland Guest

If you’ve ever been to King Arthur’s Carousel in Disneyland you’ve probably imagined what it would be like to pull Excalibur, the “sword in the stone,” from its anvil.Image from my 2002 trip to Disneyland

Last week, using sheer brute force, a Disneyland guest successfully did just that, removing the iconic sword from its anvil “stone” in front of the King Arthur Carrousel. It was first thought that the sword was removed as part of a planned refurbishment but then a guest shed light on what really happened.

The sword is not removed for refurbishment. My friend Sam broke it last week on the 8th when we went to Disneyland. He literally ripped it out. The staff said that it was really old and that’s why he was able to do so. It was his first time at Disney and he’s a pretty buff dude, I told him if he pulled it out he’d win a prize and he just used brute force I guess lol. It was broken and jagged. The staff said they taped it off so no one would stick their fingers in and cut it on the broken piece left inside.

Unfortunately, the guest didn’t become king. The prop has since been updated with a shiny new sword and anvil.

Find photos of the ducked taped anvil and replacement sword at WDWNT.

(via BoingBoing)

January 14, 2020December 8, 2020

By Someone Whose Kids Won’t Die Fighting in It

McSweeney’s makes the case for war with Iran.

As one of the most important writers at one of the most important newspapers in the country, it’s my job to inform my readers why they should uncritically support the United States government’s most recent war. I understand that many of you might not want to get into another drawn out, costly conflict in the Middle East, particularly if you were one of the thousands of parents who had their kids die needlessly in the last few wars. But as someone whose kids won’t die fighting in the war, it’s important that you understand the flimsy, morally bankrupt justifications for war, and why it’s vital for you to throw more of your children’s lives at this one.

(via)

January 6, 2020January 7, 2020

Found Cat

From the best of Craigslist:

FOUND cat last night was stuck in between my fence screaming it’s head off. i brought it inside because it looks too big and healthy for a stray and dogs here escape often and will eat cats that get out. it is very thick and has little stripes and spots on its legs and big white round spots on the back of its ears, only thing that looks wrong with him is he doesn’t have a tail but it doesn’t seem like anything new. He is very vocal ( and mean!!!!) I think he is a tabby and bengals mix maybe some Maine coon because he is just so big and chubby. i took most of these pics last night so the lighting makes him look brown but he is actually more gray. He was very hungry. please if u r his owner contact me ASAP i can not keep him here because as cute as he is, he is CRAZY and has gotten into everything in the house in 1 night and is EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE!! Even though I am almost sure this is someoneones pet unfortunately if no one contacts me soon enough I will have to take him to a shelter. By Sunday night most likely I will have to take him in. Almost lost my fingers this morning trying to pet him. Has been growling and hissing and calling all morning He is just a big grouch. Please text or email.

When you see the photos, you might observe something peculiar about this lost little striped cat with the short tail.

The update made me smile:

UPDATE: thank you to everyone who told me this is actually a WILD BOBCAT!!!? Wtf!!! No wonder he was so grumpy!! I kidnapped him!! ? I am not from America and have never heard of bobcat, I thought all wild cats are much bigger than that!! I can not believe I brought it inside!! And he pissed all over my damn house so now I have to deep clean everything !! ??? well Anyway I am glad at least he is okay and not a lost cat. I have let him go already back near the trees where he came from, and he was not hurt or injured at all so do not worry!! I am also okay, no bites or scratches!! (Just pee ?) And if you are one of the people who told me nicely out of concern, thank you and have a nice day!! If you Are one of the people who was rude to me and tried to mock me for not knowing, you can have a bad day!!( maybeif he comes back I’ll send him ur way ??)Bye bye!

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