More a Twitter- than blog-worthy story, but I couldn’t get it down to 140, so here’s the long version.
I’m on the bus, on my way home, and a guy gets on. He’s mid-20s, tie, no jacket, and he starts asking the driver and many passengers if they know where business x is. The consensus seems to be that it’s on the route, and I think they even narrow it down to an intersection.
The guy keeps asking every new boarder, though, and occasionally one of them will say “oh, no, that’s down by [other stuff, quite far away].” My policy in these situations is to prevent the confused party from doing anything unrecoverably wrong but otherwise not get involved, so I Google business x on my phone, and find it is, indeed, at the intersection that had been suggested. Since the guy shows no sign of getting off, I figure he’s good to go. But he does not share my sanguinity, and continues his course of inquiry, mostly pestering the guy who gave him the best information. Finally, the informative passenger (I fancy with some impatience) says “Don’t you have [a popular model of smart phone]?” and the answer is at least somewhat in the affirmative, because Uncertain Guy pulls out a [probably more common but less sexy model of smart phone]. I think to myself “Finally, he can Google the address and relax.” But no. He uses his phone to call someone and ask for directions. And he still gets off the bus two stops (four blocks) early, despite the driver’s assurances that he’ll get closer.
Most of the reason I found this noteworthy at all was my shock and dismay that Uncertain Guy was using his phone as a phone. I was thinking something very like “You idiot, you have a perfectly good phone in your hand, and you’re using it to talk to someone?” And I’m still not convinced it was an entirely ridiculous thing to think.

Some months ago, my laptop monitor developed a one-pixel-wide vertical line. It was intermittent for a little while, and I did a little web research to find out how to get to the connectors and reseat them. With the intermittent nature of the problem I was unable to tell if the reseating made any difference, and eventually the line was there to stay. A few months later, it was joined by another. The intermittent period with the second was much shorter. My web research indicated that some Dell laptops of mine’s model and vintage (Inspiron 6000, shipped August 2005) had defective screens, and that Dell was extending the warranty for those screens to three years and refunding money to those who had paid for repairs. This, of course, did me no good, my machine being more than a year out of even the extended warranty, so I thought no more of it.
Then, a few weeks ago, the lines started multiplying more rapidly, and I thought, why not at least drop them a line? So I found the @DellCares twitter account and gave them a brief description of the problem. The representative asked for my service tag, which I forwarded via direct message, and shortly got back to me with the information that there was a chance mine was one of the affected machines, and that though they hadn’t seen the problem surface after so long, they were going to swap out my display. They offered me the choice of performing the installation myself or having a tech install it (at no charge to me). Fancying myself somewhat handy, I opted to do it myself. They shipped a new (well, refurbished) display overnight, with a pre-paid label for me to return my old display, and I made the swap. And now my machine is as pretty as new.
So, my thanks to Dell. I wouldn’t have been surprised had they said “Sorry, too late,” and I honestly wouldn’t have held it against them. Instead, they went above and beyond, and that is how a company builds loyalty in its customers.

“Bulk molasses has a specific gravity of about 1.3, and in cold weather thickens and becomes difficult to pump. When transferring cargo under the conditions noted, it should not be heated above 100 degrees F., in order to avoid sugar deposit.
Molasses tanks should be hosed down with sea water. It has been found that neither fresh water nor steam gives satisfactory results in the operation of cleaning the tanks and pipe-lines used in carrying molasses.”

Merchant Marine Officers’ Handbook by Edward A. Turpin and William A. MacEwen, Master Mariners. New York: Cornell Maritime Press, 1945.
p. 202-203

I was fascinated to learn about the South African origins of the Vuvuzela, that long plastic horn I’d seen at Seattle Sounders games. I wondered if there was an Americanized name for it, and looked in the Sounders Proshop. No dice. Then I realized I hadn’t seen any in Sounders colors this season. Some research indicates that there used to be an official “plastic Sounders horn“, but I guess no longer. I bet it’s related to the fact that they are internationally recognized as being loud and irritating.

A brave declaration by Bill Corbett led me to a history of the team’s name led me to a charmingly named meat conglomerate. Are you ready to be a ham fighter?