I’d started to grow weary of spammers post-dating spam messages so they show at the top of folders sorted reverse-chronologically until I started thinking about the idea. Sure, 90% of the spam in my Yahoo! account ends up in the Spam folder (as opposed to about 99% in my Gmail account and 10% in my Hotmail account), but how ambitious could a spammer be? I mean, it isn’t enough that they want to clutter your mail folders with unsolicited messages about diplomas, stock quotes and ED drugs, but now they want to supercede all messages of value on the off-chance that: a) the message would somehow land in the Inbox and b)  a user would forget the default sort order and say to him/herself “Wow, this must be important. It’s at the top of the list.”

But then I got to thinking: What if I’m wrong? What if these messages are ACTUALLY messages from the future? What if the geriatric future Don actually placed an order for V14gr4 or C14l15? I mean, I’ll be 60-years-old in 2038 (provided that the Mayans were wrong), so there’s a chance that I actually could be interested in said pharmaceuticals. AND maybe copyright laws change in the great Pfizer Inc. v. Pf1z3r 1nc. case of 2021 and the pharma giant was actually forced to change their product name to Vee Fourteen Gee Are Four?

With that in mind, it goes without saying that this sexagenarian me might’ve placed the order for a batch of erectile dysfunction drugs. Or, in developer speak, maybe:

Error 1110: Call to private Member function is not responding.

As a result, the future version of UPS, which I must assume is UPS v2.0 (or United Parcel Starfleet) has dispatched a hover-truck and courier bot in brown Lycra shorts to deliver the resolution to the above error.

Or maybe by 2018, pharmaceutical companies will develop technology to pre-determine erectile dysfunction for years to come (a true “Minority” Report by Mr. P. K. Dick — pun intended) and the 40-year-old me pre-ordered V14gr4 for the 60-year-old me without any indication to the 30-year-old me save for a shipping ticket in my spambox. Hell, this might not be spam at all. It might be the future telling me to click that link in my email, register my email address for some bulk list and save the elderly Don from embarrassing, shameful situations in my hovering moon-based bachelor pad.

Click those links, people! Click them like your (sex) life depends on it!  Your future you will thank you!

My company, ERA404, was hired to redesign the blog site for John Hodgman, author of Areas of My Expertise and More Information Than You Require. The site features over 500 original blog postings, 12,000 comments, information about his books and appearances, images, cartoons, and quotes from the books.The blog was designed to have dynamic themes based on the author’s book covers.

I, along with most designers, have always loved the Tazo Tea identity, packaging and campaign.

The other day, on my way to a meeting, I ran into some Starbucks salespeople in Washington Square Park giving away free, cold Starbucks drinks (double-shots of espresso in each!), as well as $5 gift cards and packages of Tazo tea. They were trying to attract NYU students with the disposable income associated with inflated prices (hey, as long as it’s sustainable, I don’t mind), but were happy to give me their free samples too. Read more

A big apology to those that have tried posting comments on [d]online, specifically those interested in the Flash File Uploader.

Apparently the last Captcha plug-in that I installed was no longer working which made the blog susceptible to a bunch of spam. As a result, I just deleted the 150 comments. If yours was in there, I apologize. It’s now gone. Feel free to repost and I’d be happy to address them.

I highly recommend the WP-reCAPTCHA plug-in, if you don’t currently have it.

I noticed a number of the pedestrian bridges on 14th Street are wrapped with barricade tape printed with “Personal Space”.  Above, you can see me observing my own personal space, with special thanks to Mike‘s Pearl camera. A cursory search of the interweb reveals no mention of if this is a publicity stunt for a TV show or movie, and I happen to know for a fact that the publishing industry isn’t interested in viral/guerrilla marketing campaigns (or anything requiring much of a budget other than flashmobs) so I’m certain it’s not a book. Anyone have a clue what this is? Or is it just some Parsons kid with an account at ULINE.

A little side-note: Apparently, according to this link (second row, third column) I can give a pearl necklace to anyone I want. 😉