Ads & Cookies

06.14.2011

Whenever there's a slow news week, one of the bullets that pops up in the technology arena is how websites install cookies for advertisers and how it can be a risk to your personal information and ultimately lead to identity theft costing you billions of dollars, personally. One of the joys of developing websites for the past decade plus is that I understand a little about how cookies work, so I don't jump on the paranoia bandwagon. In fact, I kind of like the ad-based cookies targeting what I may be interested in. I'd rather see an ad for a computer doohickey than a sewing machine.

There are some parts of these 3rd party cookies that I don't understand. I emptied out my cookie cache and opened up a non-commercial website. Above are the cookies sent to my computer when I go to my local NBC affiliate's website (WAFF). It sets cookies for 5 sites (revsci.net, doubleclick.net, scorecardsearch.com, adblade.com, quantserve.com) when I visit the front page. That's not just reading cookies to find out what ads I should be seeing, but setting them. There's nothing there that makes me worry about my personal information being passed around, but that's just useless crap cluttering up the browser.

Sometimes I go browsing and the adservers think I'm interested in an item when I'm not. A couple of months ago I was at LeatherUp.com looking at motorcycle gear. I was looking for a specific helmet, found it, and ordered it. For the next 2 weeks it seems every banner ad I saw was motorcycle helmets from LeatherUp. I got tired enough of it I went through and deleted cookies, which luckily got rid of the unwanted ads and replaced them with something of such minimal annoyance I don't remember what it was. Since then I go through roughly every other month and clean out ad-based cookies. If nothing else it narrows down ads to what I'm currently interested in.

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Summer Vacation 2011 - The Beginning

06.07.2011

One day back at ResGen, Bob Burruss mentioned how he missed being in school just for the chance to have a summer vacation. Back in the old days, when we walked in the snow uphill both ways to school, summer vacation was 3 months of freedom. No getting up early, no homework, no responsibilities at all. Get up at 10:00 AM, go to bed around 2:00, play in between. Sure, being a grown up with a job pays better, but that lost part childhood was one of the better parts of being a kid.

Last week at lunch with Jer, I mentioned how we should bring back summer vacation, or at least a form of it. Although I remember making a week-long Star Wars figure battle back in the trailer park days, it's just not feasible now. I'm lacking the desire for that, too. But I do miss doing those little things just for fun, and there are things that I put off because there's always something more important to do (New Year's Resolutions not withstanding). So I said to Jer that we should take a little time each day to do things for ourselves that would normally put off. Those little things that bring us joy that might take up half an hour, try to fit that half hour in.

The best I've managed so far is to catch up on some of my comic book reading - the Ultimate Comics line has just released a lot of trade paperbacks. I've been firing up the 3D gaming tutorials more often. After 6 weeks of poking around Unity, I finished the first book I was reading and am just over ⅓ through the second (screenies coming soon, I hope!). When I need some down time, I've been playing the iPad version of Ticket To Ride. Ticket To Ride is one of those games I've been wanting to try for years, but was unsure about the play mechanics. After watching the iPad versions How To Play video along with playing through the tutorial game, I'm having a blast with it! I now think every board game should have a video tutorial.

Revisiting summer vacation has turned out a lot different that I thought it would. 30 years of difference in interests will do that.

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Reading

05.24.2011

It's been a while since I found something good to read. When the power was out after the tornado(s) of April 27, I was looking for something to read outside of the comics I usually pick up for a quick fix. All I've read over the past 2 or 3 years, outside of those comics, has been either biographies or business/entrepreneur books. I used to be all about Sci-Fi fiction, but nothing has grabbed my attention and not seemed overly made-up; Ironic, since it's Sci-Fi and it's all made-up anyway. I scanned a shelf and came across Joe Haldeman's Forever War. This is a book I pick up and read every 5-10 years, and it had been long enough since the last reading that the details had faded enough for me to enjoy the book one more time.

For a book written in 1976, it's still among my favorites, perhaps only bested by Heinlein's Starship Troopers (movie series no withstanding). Forever War is a short book, barely 200 pages, yet I still soak it in with my snails pace reading and took 3 weeks to finish it. Looking back at my latest reading, I was amazed at how little action is in the book since it's classified as military sci-fi/space opera. I enjoy the book for the characters and how their environment changes, and within that the effect that tolls on the characters. Now I can look forward to forgetting details over the next decade and reading it again!

Once I returned to comics, I found a series that's been out for a couple of years but slipped under my radar. Marvels Secret Warriors brings back the Nick Fury I remember similar to the old Nick Fury vs SHIELD series. There's ample super powered shenanigans going on, but behind it all is covert conspiracy world domination at the ready shenanigans. Plus, I've always liked Fury. I don't care if he's David Hasselhoff or Samuel L. Jackson.

Of the 4 trade paperbacks published I'm working on #4 right now. #5 comes out Jun 29, with #6 scheduled for Sep 28. Amazon Pre-Order power to full!

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RIP Macho Man

05.20.2011

This morning Macho Man Randy Savage died in a car accident. The early reports are that he may have had a heart attack while driving, causing him to cross lanes and hit a tree. I've been a fan of Randy's for a long time. Mainly I hated him a long time before I liked him (even when realizing that I was supposed to hate him, and that made me like him even more). I got to meet Randy for a fleeting minute in '98. Below is my recollection of that night that I dug up from an old post some 13 years ago.

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Thursday January 22, 1998
WCW Thursday Night Thunder comes to Huntsville and the Von Braun Center
My brush with greatness...

"A defining moment." - Kevin "Big Kev" Lofty "No way!" - Ponytail McKay "Did you pee on yourself?" - Brandi Morgan "Oooh Yeah!" - Chas G. Poplin, II "Randy F'n Savage" - Me

My second major wrestling event to attend in Huntsville. Live, on national television. I wasn't as close this time (5th row instead of 2nd), but who am I to complain?

The first part of the story is how I came to get my ticket. On the way home from Jerry and Elaine's on New Year's Day, I heard on the radio the announcement that would forever change my life: "Coming January 22nd to the VBC, WCW Thursday Night Thunder! Yada Dada Dada. Tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 2."

The next day. I could manage that. Go in to work a little early. Go to the VBC. Get me a ticket. I've got a plan.

Huntsville didn't want to cooperate with my plan.

I got to the box office 15 minutes before it opened, thinking "Get there a little early, get my ticket, maybe even grab some lunch before I go back to work." I got there and there was a line. A long line. A line that you would find at Disneyworld. Where did all of these people come from? This is wrestling for god's sake. But I had made it this far, so I decided to get in line behind 60 or 70 of my close personal friends and see if they would have some good tickets left by the time I got up there.

As I reached the first turn in the line (only 3 more to go and I would be almost there!), a girl from the front of the line was going "Pssst" and pointing at me. Never one to pass up a Pssst-ing woman, I looked to see what she wanted. She asked me how many tickets I wanted, to which I said "One." Then I started trying to figure out who she was. Short, cute, no make-up. But she was getting a ticket for me, so who am I to complain?

I got out of line to meet her after she got the ticket, and then I remembered who she was. Mia. From Visions. I hadn't been in at least 6 months (ah, school days), and yet I'm memorable enough to be picked out of a line of wrestling fans. Cool.

I got my ticket and paid her for it (I wasn't used to giving her money while she had clothes on - that was a first right there) and was on my way to wait 3 weeks to go see wrestling.

Thursday Thunder night. I'm in the arena behind Mia, her boyfriend, and her sister. It was fun. I've gotten to be a regular hooter-and-hollerer, so I did my best. Looking at the tape of the show, I was even on tv twice (granted, it was only the back of my head, but I can point out the back of my head to anybody that wants to see!). The only bad [part was that I was far enough back on the floor that I missed some action when everybody got excited and stood on there chairs. I could have done the same, but 300 lbs standing in a chair can't be safe. Besides, that's why I had the vcr at home going!

My dream for that night was to get to meet Ric Flair. I've been watching the man on tv for close to 20 years. Mia told me before that some of the wrestlers had gone to Visions the night before, and some said they were going to go back that night. Cool! My chance to meet Ric. The Nature Boy. I would get to style and profile with the big boys.

Except Ric didn't come to Huntsville.

Damn.

But, never one to miss an opportunity like this, I went to Visions anyway. I got there and saw Louie Spiccoli. Louie is a recent addition to WCW coming from ECW in the Philladelphia area. I look more like a wrestler than Louie does. Then again, I take that as a compliment. After about an hour, more people showed up. Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake, one of Hulk Hogan's lackeys, was there. The 7'4", 470 lb Giant was there. And then there was Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Wrestler. Slim Jim spokesman.

Mia had her picture taken with all of them. She still had one shot left on the roll. Maybe. It was hard to tell. Still not wanting to completely miss an opportunity, I asked her if she would take a picture of me and the Macho Man. She said yes, but I would have to ask him. All I owuld have to do is make a coherent sentence in front of this guy. Sure, I could do that.

I went up and said "Macho!" like a 14 year-old kid, and he looked at me and started to shake my hand. I asked if I could have my picture taken with him and he said "Yeah. Sure." while he shook my hand and smiled (a lot like Clint Eastwood). There was a flash, I thanked him, and he said "Ok. Cool."

God but I hope that picture turns out. (As an addendum, I can tell you now, much after the fact, that it didn't.)

So I got to hang out with wrestlers in a strip club. That's a story I'll have to tell my grandchildren.....

Another Addendum (05.19.01) - I went with a group of guys back to the strip club for a bachelor party last night. The funny thing is that after not going to the club in 3 years, Mia still remembers me and trying to take that picture of me and the Macho Man! I'm so unforgettable.

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1 movie from the 70s, 1 movie from the 80s

05.19.2011

I managed an odd themed double feature this week: Michael Crichton written & directed movies. Chricton is best known, these days, as the writer of Jurassic Park and the creator of E/R. I know him better as the writer of The Andromeda Strain. Jerry also knows him beter as this, since Jerry had a copy of the book that was missing a chunk (I can't remember if it was 50 pages or 3 chapters - they just weren't included in the book). It seems Mr. Chricton also wrote and directed a couple of movies of which I have fond memories. Although now that I've seen them recently, maybe that's had fond memories :)

Westworld (1973) : This was a movie that got a lot of play on the early days of cable and TBS. Young me thought this was pure science fiction - an amusement park that you were immersed in the era you were visiting. The Wild West, Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe. Androids that couldn't be told from real people were the players there for your amusement. It was all so cool!

Oh, that reminds me, if you're a big nerd like I claim to be and haven't read it, go read Dream Park (1981).

Back to Westworld. Now when I watched Westworld, it was a little more cheesy than I remember, even for a movie on the verge of 40 years old. First, I completely forgot Richard Benjamin was in it. I'll always remember him as Quark. Second, James Brolin was in it, and whenever I see him I'm amazed how much his son Josh looks like him. And the blood F/X. Oh they're bad. Just bad. Red model paint bad. But I did manage to watch all of the movie, albeit likely for the last time.

Looker (1981) : I had no misconceptions about Looker. My memories of this movie stem from Showtime, and how (I'm pretty sure) this was the first movie I saw boobs. Not just random boobs, but boobs of someone I had seen on TV before, those of the Partridge Family's Susan Dey. Back before the internet, this was important stuff to a 12 year old. There was a plot I didn't remember, but there were boobs.

43 year old me noticed that there was a plot, a plot which unfolded neatly and pointed to whodunnit within the first 15 minutes. The boobs weren't was prevalent as I remember, more than likely thanks to that damn internet and the prevalence of boobs it gives. About halfway through the movie I gave up watching - between knowing where it was going and the late-70's acting it was just too painful.

All's not lost though. Looker still has a theme song that get stuck in my head. Go 80's female power ballads!

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