Unfortunately it’s hard to see me giving Bill Gates bunny ears in photo due to bad resolution & boxes in background. I should have put my fingers higher. But Bill posed for photo knowing I would do bunny ears so kudos to Bill!

Thanks for being a wierdo for me Tony, and thanks to Bill for being such a good sport.

Look me up when you come visit the Zappos Lexington folks, I’ll buy you a beer.

…it’s okay dude, we know how you feel.

Actually, the setup was a wooden barrel board wall of the “Thrillarena” or “Wall of Death” It’s called Motor Drome Riding and it was popular in the 20s and 30s. Someone along the way said “Hey, let’s put lions in the drome” uhhhh kay… sure, that’ll bring ‘em in. And it did.

Jason Falls had me thinking about this post after I wrote it so I updated it. When you use Gimmicks, you must just keep cranking them out. You must start out with a dog in the sidecar, then a goat, then a friggin’ lion. But what do you do when the lion gets boring?

So if you’re dependent on gimmicks - keep your foot in it - cause if you slow down, you’ll be lunch.

images from thrillarena.com

How about an opt-out feature where I can pay you five freakin’ bucks for a year of peace and quiet? It’s unlikely. Nielsen media reports a 70% brand recall for gas station TV. Damn, that’s good. But I wonder how many are remembering the brand so they can avoid any product annoying them at the gas pump. “Never, ever buy friggin’ Dr. Pepper again.”

So I call out to you, the Hardware Gods of the Interweb….

I figure if we can mess with the electronic voting systems, we should be able to fk with these things a bit.

So, electronics wizards, how do you disable them without opening them or beating them with an object or getting electrocuted (and starting a large fire.)

Electronic pulse?
Handheld High Output Laser?
Freon-freeze+ gentle tap?
Secret series of keypresses? (that would be ideal!)

All ideas welcome.

Required Disclaimer, Of COURSE I am not condoning vandalism in any shape or form. This is just an academic discussion.

It took insight into an idea to form a framework, but it sounds like the whole thing was allowed to develop organically at times.

Hint… go watch the video first if you’ve not seen it.

Food Fuse Interesting up to the 2/3 point.

Rhino and Bird longer interview

Is it worth it?

Do you really need to reply to everyone while on vacation?

Chances are you don’t and the risks outweigh the benefits. In this blogger’s opinion. Some autoresponders can be set up in a smart way - such as sending the reply “only once.” But based on my experience, this is the exception. Most just flip them on and bolt, leaving everyone else to clean up the mess. If you were the one everyone depended on to protect the nuclear arsenal today, I could understand, but c’mon.

If you’re thinking of posting one today…think about this:

• Don’t autoreply to spammers: Your reply says a lot about your email set up. It can be used to increase the value of your email address to Spammers, and feeds the SPAM economy.
• Don’t start loops: his still happens, even in 2007. Some email programs are ridiculously stupid, and will auto-reply to auto-replies. Please make sure yours doesn’t. It just saturates the internet with crap, and makes IT managers have to answer the phone when they should be relaxing with family.
• Don’t reply to mailing lists: If you’re on a listserve, you could be sending your autoreply to lots of grumbling people who have no clue who you are .. you become the “wierdo with the autoreply.”
• If it’s broken, or sends tons of replies, it makes you look like a dweeb: Any autoresponder screwup makes you look like a dweeb. Wouldn’t it be better not to send them at all?
• It makes work for everyone else: Many of us get over 200 emails per day. We have to go through it. And we previously had you marked as an allowed sender. So you’re breaking trust, at least on the email side.
• Telling people about your tropical plans is snobbish.  It’s “nice” you’re going to the Bahamas or to Fiji.  But please keep it to yourself on your autoreply.  Otherwise I might just send an anonymous email to the border patrol about some alleged exploits you’re off to take part in on that little tropical island hop*.
• Thieves use autoreplies? Urban Legend? It’s probably unlikely. Keeping your departure and return time ambiguous is a good idea for lots of reasons… LOL. Making note that others may be in the office, but they won’t be checking your email won’t hurt anything. I can find out exactly who you are, where you work, and what brand of toothbrush you use in today’s world, but the chances of thieves using this is probably lower than some warnings make it out to be.
• Voice mail is very different than email and vacation messages are fine there, IMO. If I call you, and I need you, and I wait to HEAR your message, then I asked for it. Details about your absence might help those who REALLY want to reach you, so that’s the place for the info about your fancy trip.

*  C’mon.  I’m kidding.