Random

Every time I see a squirrel squashed, a house painted yellow, or a discarded condom on a sidewalk, I wonder what sort of human might have perpetrated such a deed.

Was it someone angry, someone merely tasteless, or someone who simply hasn't been educated in even the most basic elements of human decorum?

I found myself with somewhat similar feelings on discovering that a human being, or beings, took to the Wikipedia page for Microsoft's Windows 8 and attempted to pervert the course of truth.

For a random visit to this page revealed this notice from the Wikipedia … Read more

Some stories make you wonder.

Some, however, make your eyeballs cease to move.

This, for example, is the story of a T-Mobile employee who says she was made to clock out to use the bathroom.

Which, to the average objective eye, seems a trifle inhumane.

Kristi Rifkin was employed by T-Mobile in its Nashville, Tenn., call center. It seems that, on the whole, she felt her job was relatively sweet music.

However, things changed when she fell pregnant for the second time.

As ABC News reports, her pregnancy was tough. On the advice of a doctor, she had to drink … Read more

I am sure that Samsung has set various sales targets for the Samsung Galaxy S4.

These might be along the lines of: more than the iPhone, a lot more than the iPhone and so many more than the iPhone that we'll end up buying Apple.

Everyone can dream. … Read more

Keith Richards wearing white headphones would be like Josh Groban wearing a skirt.

Or Steven Tyler wearing men's clothing.

Somehow, it wouldn't seem right.

Fortunately, it is unlikely to happen, because the Rolling Stone who once fell out of a tree has revealed he doesn't own an iPod. … Read more

It wasn't us, it was him.

Yes, that man with the weird ideas we hired from Apple. He made us do all those things that drove our customers away in droves.

So now that he's gone, please come back. We beg you. We'll be the old JC Penney. The one you all loved.

Although maybe you didn't all love it enough to keep shopping there, which is why we hired the man with weird ideas from Apple.

But we were wrong. You were right. Well, many of you. We think.

This seems largely the subtext of a new ad released by JC Penney.… Read more

Who among us hasn't -- just once in our lives -- put a couple of things in a test tube, a bottle, or our mouths and wondered what might happen?

Occasionally, this might have difficult consequences. But rarely does someone try to arrest us for it.

16-year-old Kiera Wilmot wasn't so lucky.

This student at Bartow High School in Florida allegedly thought she'd put a couple of household chemicals in an 8-ounce water bottle, just to see the reaction.

The reaction was that she was expelled and marched off in handcuffs, accused of felony possession/discharge of a dangerous weapon.… Read more

It's hard to know whether those who can't spell are stressed, oppressed by excess multitasking, or merely uneducated.

The people behind the highly nutritious Snickers bar decided to prove that it might be none of the above.

It is, they posited, merely hunger that drives you to ignorance.

So, as AdAge reports, Snickers got together with Google to see whether they could encourage better spelling of Google search terms, as misspelling was causing Google's servers to seize up and spew smoke and curses.

I made up that last part.

As part of the campaign, the Snickers-sponsored machines … Read more

Occasionally we sprinkle advice around here. It's intended to be both gracious and helpful.

Today's homily is for those who are paid by cell phone manufacturers to use their phones.

The advice is this: Please, please remember to use their phones.

I mention this only because of the latest telephonic faux pas committed by the very fetching Spanish tennis player David Ferrer.

It's the Madrid Open this week, so he thought he'd inform his almost 370,000 Twitter followers that he was so very, very happy with his new Samsung Galaxy S4.

Perhaps his competitive adrenaline … Read more

When real, normal people get a hold of Google Glass, they might be fascinated.

Equally, they might be underwhelmed. Their sense of underwhelment might increase with every mocking comment they get from other real, normal people.

In any case, Google Glass won't be thrust into the real, normal world for a year. Or even more.

Meanwhile, we have to struggle with the knowledge that tech personality Robert Scoble wears his in the public toilets. During the weekend, he even posted an image of his hirsute, unsuited torso, complete with head and Google Glass on nose, in the shower.

Though … Read more