1. You ever wonder what it's like to be a sysadmin for an alt weekly? You want to find out? Send me your resume.

2. You ever see those ads on political websites showing the president making a monkey face or Hillary Clinton's eyes popping out of her head, and the ad says: 'Do you approve of the job this person is doing? Vote in our completely neutral and totally legitimate ballot.'

I've never clicked on one, so I don't know if they even register your 'vote.' I'm sort of half-curious about how the voting breaks down for those, but I'd be more interested to know how many people vote on those at all. [And also, academically, how many of the people who vote on those things actually vote with real ballots in November.]

I am not a big fan of Newsvine [I find it far too self-referential to be of any use] but they are running an interesting presidential primary poll. Get websites of varying levels of bias and neutrality, give them a relatively neutral ballot, and see what comes up [sample ballot: ].

What is interesting is not so much how the political sites are biased ['The Mitt Report' is 96% for Romney, imagine that] but how nonpolitical sites can be strongly biased in weird ways ['ClanTemplates,' which appeares to be some kind of gaming site? has Al Gore with a convincing lead, and I don't even think he's running].

- Z

We have a WiebeTech hard drive enclosure at work and I'm very impressed with it, so I ordered another one for my new home backup drive (e:zobar,40088) . Have you ever read an order confirmation email? Have you ever enjoyed reading it?

Hello from WiebeTech,

We just received your order and we think it's just super duper that you've chosen to do business with us.

If you check the shipping status of your products hopefully you'll see everything is squared away and ready to go (those are called "out-the-doorsies"). Sometimes everybody wants the same thing you want at the same time you want to have it and we run out of stuff (those are called "out-of-stocksies"). If you ordered an "out-of-stocksie" it makes us sad, but then we're happy again because we know that it will soon turn into an "out-the-doorsie."

So after all the money and shipping twiddle bits are set to go then all the products you ordered are built skillfully by hand in a magic realm called "Production" by clever little beings called "Wiebes." The Wiebes will carefully test and format every function and characteristic of your product(s) before carefully packing it and sending it off with a smile and a wave of their little orange hands. If you want to check on the Wiebe's progress with your order you can send an email to shipping@wiebetech.com. But don't worry, they will send you an email when it goes out the door.

When you receive your order don't forget to register it (www.wiebetech.com/registration) so the Support Wiebes can assist you with your product should you need it.

Also, we're on the edge of our seat wondering what you think of WiebeTech, our products, our people, our website or even of life in general. Would you mind just taking this little survey for us? www.wiebetech.com/survey it won't take but a minute.

We had the greatest time doing business with you. You are now our new best friend!

Thanks a Bunch!
WiebeTech, LLC

It's like Charlie and the Hard Drive Enclosure Factory over here. I'm picturing Laverne putting a glove on my enclosure as it rolls by on the conveyor belt and waves to the assembly line.

- Z

There are certain orders of monks who will spend weeks pushing colored grains of sand into vibrant, colorful, breathtaking circular designs. When it's complete, they say a few prayers and sweep it into the river.

I spend my time pushing molecules around on silver platters. Up, down, up, up, down - you can't see the patterns, but they are there. I don't get a broom, though. All I get are SATA errors.

Back up your data. Mahalo.

- Z

The Queen City Roller Girls - Steel Town Tank Girls game yesterday was fun, if you're the kind of person who likes watching house fires, say, or CNN. Watch as Tori Nado decks Sweets in the face and fails to get ejected.



- Z