Special Interest Group on CRAP » Amusements

Anniversary gifts

Kevin McCurley — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 05:03:18 +0000

There is a traditional list of anniversary gifts, and there is the revised list below.

Paper
Plastic
Caulking
WD-40
Duct tape
Styrofoam
P.V.C.
Gelatin
Latex
Naugahyde
Rayon
Spackle
Fiberglass
Oil
Salt
Cortisone
Vinyl
Ink
Plexiglass
Straw
Aloe
Terra-cotta
Teflon
Salmon
Silver
Soy
Balsa
Sponge
Cardboard
Soup
Terrycloth
Suede
Glue
Down
Burlap
Leaves
Glycerin
Wicker
Soil
Ice
Paprika
Spandex
Foil
Tissue
Cork
Velcro
Rope
Cast iron
Frosting
Gold

GoogleMeh

Kevin McCurley — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:29:01 +0000

If +1 is the equivalent of “Like”, then +0 is the equivalent of “Meh”.

Kevin McCurley — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:05:43 +0000

A few years ago I worked on a coupons project at Google, and I ended up getting on a mailing list from the Food Marketing Institute in order to understand manufacturer’s coupons. The email they still send me is pretty funny.

You can’t make this stuff up

Kevin McCurley — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 06:32:38 +0000

I suppose they are related…

Contextual advertising giggles

Kevin McCurley — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:33:47 +0000

I saw a photo posted on Facebook that was tagged with Andrei Broder and Prabhakar Raghavan (both of Yahoo research). It’s ironic that both have worked on algorithms for contextual advertising, but the ads on Facebook next to the photos were hilarious. One of the ads is for “rich dads”. I’m not sure if that was because of Andrei, Prabhakar, or myself (or some combination thereof). The second ad is for travel to Ghana, which may be caused by my rants about guys in Ghana calling me to try out 419 scams. Or maybe this is a new form of scam by the guys in Ghana? If so then the ad is chilling.

Testing on the toilet

Kevin McCurley — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:49:51 +0000

Where I work at Google they have a program called “Testing on the Toilet” where the put up things in the bathroom stalls for software engineers to read. I wonder what is next.

United frequent flyer scam

Kevin McCurley — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:45:31 +0000

Has anyone else noticed how the airlines have steadily devalued frequent flyer miles over the years? I just cashed in some miles to fly to Boston on United, and after much hassle with an arcane web site, managed to secure some economy seats. United has something called “Economy Plus”, but in reality, they created a new class called “Economy Minus” which used to be called Economy. When you go to check in, you are asked if you want to upgrade to “Economy Plus” from “Economy Minus”, at which point they wanted $148 for one way. I think…nah. I’m average sized and I have a wife to lean against, so there was no real value in this. Turns out that the “Economy Minus” section is full, so they wouldn’t give me a seat assignment, instead giving me a “Boarding Management Card”, which is more like a “Boarding Torture Identification Card”. Now I get to wait in the boarding area until they have verified that there is nobody traveling on this flight who is stupid enough to pay $74 for a seat that they are going to get anyway if they hold out like I am. I’ve played this game before (and ranted about it), but now it’s an established procedure so it’s merely an amusement for me.

Apparently United Airlines has forgotten that the frequent flyer programs were started in order to reward loyal customers, and have instead turned them into programs to torture customers they regard as unworthy. Warren Buffet once said that someone should have shot down the Wright Brothers and saved investors 100 years of agony. Airlines have repeatedly demonstrated a level of management incompetence that is truly amazing, and part of this is the unique ways in which they turn loyalty programs into disincentive programs. If you want to chuckle at their incompetence, read this.

Déjà vu all over again

Kevin McCurley — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:11:14 +0000

Does this sound familiar? It’s from 1929…

Creative cooks

Kevin McCurley — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:27:09 +0000

I like it that the cooks at Google are creative. Creativity breeds more creativity, and I’m lucky to have such good food at work.

Just the same … Fennel Ice Cream?

Just say no.

Would Jesus laugh at this?

Kevin McCurley — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:32:41 +0000

When my daughter first showed this to me, it really cracked me up. In this age of divisiveness over religion, we could use some more humor in the world. I’ve said before that some people take religion far too seriously, but I suspect that Jesus would laugh.