The World's Only Blog http://worldsonlyblog.com The First, Last, and Only Blog on the Internet Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:52:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 en Radio turns 100 today http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/24/radio-turns-100-today/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/24/radio-turns-100-today/#comments Sun, 24 Dec 2006 17:41:58 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/24/radio-turns-100-today/ From Wikipedia:

Reginald Fessenden
Reginald Fessenden:
The Ghost of Radio Past

On the evening of December 24, 1906 (Christmas Eve), [Reginald] Fessenden used the alternator-transmitter to send out a short program from Brant Rock, which included his playing the song “O Holy Night” on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible. On December 31, New Year’s Eve, a second short program was broadcast. The main audience for both these transmissions was an unknown number of shipboard radio operators along the Atlantic Coast. Although now seen as a landmark, these two broadcasts were barely noticed at the time and soon forgotten—the only first-hand account appears to be a letter Fessenden wrote on January 29, 1932 to his former associate, Samuel M. Kinter. There are no known accounts in any ships radio logs, nor any contemporary literature, of the reported holiday demonstrations. In addition, Fessenden does not appear to have made any additional broadcasts intended for a general audience, and was actually promoting the alternator-transmitter as ideal for point-to-point wireless telephone service. Still, in retrospect, it was an important glimpse of the future of radio.

BEHOLD! THE GHOST OF RADIO FUTURE:

Ryan Seacrest

Oh, Ryan Seacrest. What will it take to wipe that glassy grin off your faux-tanned California mug?

Originally reported by Slashdot.

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/24/radio-turns-100-today/feed/ That Other Paper finally launches http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/03/that-other-paper-finally-launches/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/03/that-other-paper-finally-launches/#comments Mon, 04 Dec 2006 06:20:52 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/03/that-other-paper-finally-launches/ After many months (and even more all-nighters), That Other Paper has finally launched.

That Other Paper | Austin's ONLY Paper

That’s right — Austin finally has a paper to call its own. Don’t believe me? Check out this highly accurate timeline of publishing in Austin.

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/12/03/that-other-paper-finally-launches/feed/ Interview with the ‘Alcalde’ about Four Kitchen Studios and self-employment http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/31/interview-with-the-alcalde-about-four-kitchen-studios-and-self-employment/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/31/interview-with-the-alcalde-about-four-kitchen-studios-and-self-employment/#comments Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:48:10 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/31/interview-with-the-alcalde-about-four-kitchen-studios-and-self-employment/ In an interview with UT-Austin’s alumni magazine the Alcalde, I discuss the inspiration for Four Kitchen Studios and the process of working creatively without a rigid hierarchy or division of labor. Here’s an excerpt from the introduction (penned by assistant editor Tim Taliaferro):

Four Kitchen Studios operates as a hub for quirky people with specific skill sets, a one-stop shop for companies desperately in need of talent. Between the four founding members there’s a freelance writer, a computer scientist/political campaigner, a cartoonist, and a graphic designer/Webmaster/writer. Then there’s the talent pool — a small army of freelance writers, editors, designers, comics, ninjas, and artists with other full-time jobs but on whom the founders can call when a project requires their expertise.

Read more about Four Kitchen Studios’ creative mission »

Some background info: Four Kitchen Studios is a creative solutions firm I co-founded with some colleagues from the Texas Travesty. Four Kitchens specializes in design and publishing for print and the web in Austin, Texas, and throughout the country.

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/31/interview-with-the-alcalde-about-four-kitchen-studios-and-self-employment/feed/ Let’s Get Some Shoes http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/23/lets-get-some-shoes/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/23/lets-get-some-shoes/#comments Thu, 24 Aug 2006 03:46:18 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/23/66

This guy is my new best friend. If only I knew his name…

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/23/lets-get-some-shoes/feed/ UT-Austin: Home of the NATIONAL CHAMPIONS (of drinking) http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/ut-austin-home-of-the-national-champions-of-drinking/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/ut-austin-home-of-the-national-champions-of-drinking/#comments Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:41:46 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/63 As if UT football recruiting needed any help this year:

Annual Princeton Review ranking of top colleges for partying, sobriety
by The Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Here are the nation’s top party schools and the most “Stone Cold Sober” schools as they will appear in the Princeton Review’s 2007 edition of “The Best 361 Colleges,” which goes on sale Tuesday:

Top 10 Party Schools

  1. University of Texas at Austin
  2. Penn State University
  3. West Virginia University
  4. University of Wisconsin-Madison
  5. University of Mississippi
  6. Ohio University
  7. University of Massachusetts-Amherst
  8. Louisiana State University
  9. University of Iowa
  10. University of California, Santa Barbara

It’s true. I used to study upside-down to practice my kegstand. And now the BORING part:

Top 10 “Stone Cold Sober” Schools

  1. Brigham Young University
  2. Wheaton College
  3. College of the Ozarks
  4. Grove City College
  5. U.S. Naval Academy
  6. U.S. Coast Guard Academy
  7. U.S. Air Force Academy
  8. Queens College
  9. Wellesley College
  10. Calvin College

Source: The Princeton Review (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/ut-austin-home-of-the-national-champions-of-drinking/feed/ Spam goes through the looking glass http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/spam-goes-through-the-looking-glass/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/spam-goes-through-the-looking-glass/#comments Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:29:59 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/65 I was getting pretty depressed about the diminishing quality of Viagra spam. There are only so many ways one can spell “Viagra” using non-alphabetic characters before it starts to feel a bit, well, cliché. But just as I had given up hope, those maverick geniuses in the unsolicited email industry delivered this gem:

Take the blue pill, and I show you how far the rabbit hole goes

Literary references in penis-pill junk mail!!! Lewis Carroll must be rolling in his grave. Or rolling halfway and getting stuck—’cause, you know, you can only roll halfway when you’re suffering from priapism.

Okay, so “…I show you how far the rabbit hole goes” is actually a reference to the (much less literary) film The Matrix. Excuse me for taking the high(-brow) road.

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/22/spam-goes-through-the-looking-glass/feed/ Send Senator Ted Stevens an Internet http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/send-senator-ted-stevens-an-internet/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/send-senator-ted-stevens-an-internet/#comments Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:37:31 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/62 Looks like the Bad Breath Dragon is at it again. This time he’s (she’s? they’re?) going after Senator Ted “the Internet is a series of tubes” Stevens.

At Send Me an Internet, you can send Senator Stevens your very own Internet (that is, email). Stick it to the Old Man and get your parody on.

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/send-senator-ted-stevens-an-internet/feed/ The Happy Clown? http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/the-happy-clown/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/the-happy-clown/#comments Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:25:11 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/61 Man, I don’t even know where to begin with this thing. I’m speechless: The Happy Clown.

There’s all kinds of funny going on there. It’s created by some cryptic person (or group?) calling themselves Bad Breath Dragon. Mysterious!

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/08/18/the-happy-clown/feed/ The Five Values of the Registrar’s Office http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/05/15/the-five-values-of-the-registrars-office/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/05/15/the-five-values-of-the-registrars-office/#comments Mon, 15 May 2006 14:03:20 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/05/15/60 I work at the University of Texas at Austin’s Registrar’s Office. As part of an effort to improve its image (or enhance performance, or Buzzwordy McBuzzwordson), someone sent an email this morning asking all of us to take an online survey of the “Registrar’s Office Values.” (As with most UT surveys, they hired SurveyMonkey. Why, you may ask, would a world-class university with a top-notch information systems team numbering in the hundreds pay SurveyMonkey when they could write a better survey script for free? That’s a rhetorical question. Ponder it whilst you watch your tax and tuition dollars flit away.)

The survey consists of just one question: What five values do you feel are important for a Registrar’s office to have? After seriously considering submitting five synonyms for “credibility” (and realizing that I’d probably be sent a very stern email about not being a “team player”), I opted for the half-serious, half-comedy option:

  1. customer service
  2. credibility
  3. legitimacy
  4. an unstoppable robot army sent from the future to approve grade changes
  5. a sense of humor

Hopefully #5 will be implemented before #4.

]]> http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/05/15/the-five-values-of-the-registrars-office/feed/ What lies in store for a lonely wanderer of the infinite void between dimensions? http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/03/24/what-lies-in-store-for-a-lonely-wanderer-of-the-infinite-void-between-dimensions/ http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/03/24/what-lies-in-store-for-a-lonely-wanderer-of-the-infinite-void-between-dimensions/#comments Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:51:31 +0000 Todd http://worldsonlyblog.com/2006/03/24/51 Iced tea and one free trip to the salad bar. ONE TRIP.

God speed, spaceman.

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