Steven Brown's blog

Well, there goes my intended superhero name...

Dang.  So close.  Gotta re-jigger my tights.

Magnetar

Only Apple knows how to do down time...

Something?  Or nothing?

Apple - Back Soon

The Apple Store doesn't just go down...

UPDATE: It was just a beauty sleep...it's all pretty now.

In the news...

All good news stories have "in bed" in their headlines:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297527,00.html

And really, it's nice to see things finally getting better:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/world/middleeast/21iraq.html

As a matter of fact...

The woman asked: "Can it be that you have come from outer space?" to which Gagarin replied: "As a matter of fact, I have!"

Gagarin

First words upon Gagarin's return to earth, to a woman and a girl near where his capsule landed. (12 April 1961)

(image and story via  A Soviet Poster A Day)

Visit Scenic Mordor

This is certainly one of those real-life images that brings you to a sort of reverse-uncanny-valley.

Tungurahua_taschler_big

(via the Astronomy Picture of the Day)

Fun and Games

We sent in the army
They sounded alarms, we
Saw it coming from a mile away
We kept it off radar
Cause we had to say our
Intentions were to save the day

Why did you fail to see?

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
They were shocked and they were awed
And they were blown in half
Fun and games, we were just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun would be a powder keg

We kept it all long-range
And made a regime change
You'd have thought it would have been a gas
When it got ugly
We sat around smugly
Because you bought our little joke en masse

Don't look at me that way

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
We knew your sons and daughters
Would be blown in half
Fun and games, we were just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun would be a powder keg

Put a smile on
We're the ones that you selected
Leave that dial, son
Because we just got re-elected
In a while our
Bill of rights will be rejected
And all the blame will be deflected
The forests will be unprotected
The nation's poor will be neglected
Creation myth is resurrected
A new salute is genuflected
The Gallup poll will be respected
A gallows pole will be erected
And all this will go undetected

And while you all slumbered
We sat and crunched numbers
Of all the casualties we could afford
There's no need to draft them
You could hear us laugh then
The poor and black all need the room and board

Did I say that out loud?

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
And now our very nation
Has been blown in half
Fun and games, we were just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun would be a powder keg
Oh yeah (oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah)
We knew this barrel of fun would be a powder keg
(Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah...)
It's a powder keg
(Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah...)

 - Barenaked Ladies

I couldn't have said it better...

http://stevenf.com/2007/09/a_matter_of_200.php

I'd certainly buy his shirt.  If he had one.

A Jobsian Compromise

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/

This letter is just brilliant.

It's a seemingly honest explanation of the reasons behind the price drop, a gentle "f*ck you" to the whiners, and a crazy brilliant solution/compromise that will sate most while raising Apple to some sort of customer service Valhalla.

And certainly, many those $100 credits will go to items that cost muccch more.

Bravo!

Oh My God.

Oh Jeremy:

There will be questions, of course, and we’ll do our best to answer them once the event is over, but as the clock ticks down, I have one piece of advice: no matter who you are, get your wallet ready. Dreams are about to come true.

Two words: Disney iPod.  All my dreams will come true.

(Really?  I mean....really??  This is out of control, people.)

Because in the 70s, spelling shit backwards was COOL.

Back in my day, Tobor was the go-to gift for the discriminating Mom looking to please.  "He picks up his space stuff."  He was "telesonically" controlled by this loud-ass clicky thing.  CLICK!  Our black space knight was moving forward.  CLICK CLICK and our metal man Tobor was turning in circles!  I don't see Asimo doing that.

UPDATE!  OH YES YES!

If you were really lucky (and baby, I WAS) you had your buddy Tobor AND you had the Fonz Pinball.

What is the current-day equivalent of Fonz Pinball?  He was a primetime TV star.  Chandler Bing Air Hockey?  Dwight Schrute Beer Pong?  I'm not sure there's anything even close.

(pictures and memories via PlaidStallions)