LODEV.NAME

1. Ik hou, net zoals Denny al eens van een woordspeling. Hoe flauwer, hoe liever zelfs.
2. Ik hou, net zoals vele anderen niet geweldug van DT-fouten.
3. Ik beweer zeker niet vrij van zonden te zijn. Laat die stenen dus maar komen.

Wat doe je dan in zo’n geval, als je deze prachtige doelkans ziet?:

“Gaat zo eens kijken wat de buurt hier bied op culinair gebied.”

Welaan, dan denk je:

1. Thee is ook een soort drank, dus dat valt onder “culinair gebied”.
2. Er mankeert daar een “T”.
3. “T” klinkt als “Thee”
4. Binnenkoppen die handel:

“@de-persoon-die-de-vraag-stelde: T misschien?”

Om dan volgende reactie te krijgen:

“@lode Als je klaarkomt op mensen verbeteren op twitter is dat jou ding! Ik heb andere hobby´s! Maar val mij daar aub niet mee lastig.”

En dit komt dan van een persoon die op zijn blog proclameert:

“Het zei duidelijk, Twitter zit zonder zelfspot en humor! Op eieren moet je lopen voordat je een grap maakt. Zelfspot is voor mij nog steeds de beste humor die er is. Geen relativeringsvermogen: unfollow”

We zullen zijn goede raad dan maar opvolgen zeker? #unfollow.

Today Google unveiled their Public DNS service, a publicly available recursive DNS service much like OpenDNS. Google’s aim is to “provide end users with an alternative to their current DNS service.”

It’s a bit unclear what features one should expect, besides speed, that OpenDNS doesn’t already offer.

Quick comparison:

• Google DNS servers are a bit easier to remember: the nameservers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. OpenDNS uses 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
• uses the global load balanced infrastructure by Google, which usually works very well and fast (unless they accidentially blackhole a part of the net) – OpenDNS has a somewhat similar distributed, albeit a bit smaller infrastructure.
• Google explicitly does not provide wildcard results to redirect users in case of typo’s. RFC purists will agree with Google that “Sometimes, in the case of a query for a mistyped or non-existent domain name, the right answer means no answer”. OpenDNS takes the opposite approach by providing users with search results when a page is offline.
• Google doesn’t seem to offer a feature like SmartCache that can show you cached versions of a page after it gets knocked offline due to Slashdotting/Fireballing

I’m going to try out GPDNS on a few systems and check the performance, but I’m not sure if I will use it as my primary DNS service any time soon.

Google Public DNS is another step in the way of Google becoming synonymous with “the web” or even “the net”.
As Laurie put it:
“Dear Google: you are supposed to be a site on the Internet, not be the entire Internet all by yourselves. Public trust only goes so far.”

Others agree that this seems a bit creepy. (Of course, OpenDNS has got its criticisms as well. - Gruber likes Google better.)

One thing to remember – take out your tinfoil hat:

Whilst Google’s motto is “don’t be evil” and their mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, they’re primarily an ad company.

They make money selling ads. Any tool that better helps them detect user patterns helps them to deliver even more targeted advertising. When you’re using the Google DNS servers, it’s trivially easy for them to ‘watch’ you even when you’ve cleared all your cookies and aren’t surfing on one of the many top web properties where they’re present, be it through an acquisition (Youtube), an ad deal (Myspace), the advertising network used (Doubleclick / Adsense) or one of the many free tools theyprovide that provide useful information, but also feed directly into their giant database. (Google Analytics).

Jason Kottke and John Gruber believe Google’s motives are speed, speed, speed. Their privacy policy regarding Google Public DNS sounds OK, so this might be true. Their track record however is not completely flawless. I don’t want to sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist. I’m just imagining the possibilities… (Man, now I even sound more like Glenn Beck )

One step further to EPIC?

Friends, S08E09 – The One With The Rumor (2001):
Monica (Courteney Cox) “saves” thanksgiving for all the friends who can’t make it home.
Joey – whilst eating chips shortly before the big turkey dinner: “Let me explain to you how the human body works. I have to warm my stomach first. Eatin’ chips is like stretching.”

Cougar Town, S02E09 – Here Comes My Girl (2009):
Jules (Courteney Cox, again) “saves” thanksgiving for all her friends who can’t make it home or whose families have fallen apart.
Andy – whilst eating a hamburger shortly before the big turkey dinner: “Thanksgiving is a food marathon. You have to warm up. This is like stretching.”

Really, ABC?

Last year I was in the market for new earbuds, after my second pair of Sony In-Ear headphones broke down.
My buddy Denny (whom I see IRL about as often as he blogs, which is way too seldom) recommended the Bose® In-Ear Headphones. I took his recommendation (even though the little f*ckrs are quite expensive) and have been very happy with the choice.

Shortly before my last USA trip, Bose released a version of the same headphones with an inline microphone, the Bose® Mobile In-Ear Headset. It’s compatible with most smartphones with standard jack connectors (and supplies adapters for brands with non-standard diameters).

It works great on the iPhone. The inline microphone also works as a button to pick up and hang up calls. It also functions as a remote control for the iPod application. ¹

The best thing about it though is that on the new-ish unibody MacBook, the headset actually works as a headset, which is great for Skype.

I’ve been wanting to do this ever since the iPhone first came out. At the time MacBooks still had a separate line-in and line-out, meaning the microphone part of iPhone headsets was ignored.

The 15″ and 17″ Unibody models still have separate line-in and line-out sockets, but apparently the line-out has a dual function on this models too. Yet another reason to treat yourself to a new laptop or at least a new headset for the holidays.
Update: The 13″ MacBook and 13″ MacBook Pro are at an all time low price now at Amazon (including free shipping), just in time for a happy thanksgiving!

Cameron Moll has been getting a lot of link love for his latest post where he takes a stand against American Apparel.

The Los Angeles based clothing company is a favourite among designers for its high quality t-shirts that can be bought in bulk for screen printing. They pride themselves in being ‘locally produced’ (locally meaning the US) by well paid workers, as opposed to in a sweatshop in the far east. One well-known company that uses AA as a wholesale source is Threadless.

Cameron Moll is a renowned designer and author, known for amongst others his personal weblog Authentic Boredom, his book on Mobile Web Design, and the job site Authentic Jobs. I admire his work and count myself lucky for having viewed one of his talks in person. (Way back at @media 2006 in London.) Cameron takes offense at the advertising, which is “suggestive at best and explicit at worst”. He feels offended by this, and has decided to “put his money where is mouth is”. He will no longer use American Apparel as his source for t-shirts, nor buy any screened tee which is printed on AA materials.

American Apparel billboard by Flickr user @MSG

There are indeed some quite explicit ads, which I understand might be offensive to some, like Cameron. I completely respect that.

There’s more to this discussion though, as is evident in the comments that follow Cameron’s article. As you might know, Cameron was previously employed by one of the driving forces behind the campaign to amend the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, or as they call it “Preserving the Divine Institution of Marriage“.

While Cameron tries to “keep Church and State separate” in his blog posts and comments, I do feel this is relevant here.

On the one hand, if you look a bit further than the posters that seem to have been created by hormonally supercharged 16-year olds, you’ll see a company that, whilst being an “evil corporate chain“, cares for its workers and generally does the right thing.

Compare this to the writings, videos and ads you find in the LDS Newsroom devoted to Prop 8.

I’ll take over the top sleazy advertising over hateful half-truths and whole lies any day.