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Google Is Starting to Get Creepy

If I were a stalker, I’d start using Google Maps to search the streets for ex-girlfriends’ cars. I just found mine.


View Larger Map

It’s the red one.

This seems to have been taken some time last summer, since we’re still a few weeks from green around here. For the moment, I’m content with a lack of snow on the ground.

I sometimes wonder if I reveal too much information here. I just showed what my car looks like and the block I live on. If someone wanted to spend five minutes sleuthing, they could easily get my phone number and exact address as well. They’re not on the site, but I’m very easy to find if you know how to look.

Or maybe I’m just flattering myself. The internet is a big place, and just about the only people who come to my blog already know me. (Other than my Woz post–I submitted that to reddit and got about 5000 hits on it.)

Also, after looking at everything in the “car” category on my site, I realized that I somehow never bothered to mention that I got a new car more than a year ago. So there you go. I got a new car about a year ago. It’s a ’99 Mitsubishi Mirage, and it’s in great shape for being nearly a decade old. Just for fun, I checked the resale value for it yesterday. It’s actually worth more now than what I paid for it last year!

Man, I’m all over the place in this post. Stalking, Google, information disclosure, and my car.

Things I Desperately Want To Say To Customers

Hi,
I’m [redacted] from [redacted], [redacted].com and I am having a problem with the website. When I try to open a pdf attachment file from mail it goes to a black screen then it asks me to log on again and then it crashes. I recently installed leopard 10.5. I need to open this pdf file. It is a [redacted] order. Do you know what is wrong?

Thanks,
Future Darwin Award Winner

FDAW,
I’ve seen this problem frequently before. It’s pretty common, but unfortunately, there’s no easy fix. The problem is that you are an idiot. Once the file is on your computer, it’s not our problem. I suggest you light your computer on fire or give it to your children–either would be a more worthwhile use. Please die. If this can’t be arranged, at least never contact us again.

Steve Wozniak in Nintendo Power

I went out in search of used Nintendo games yesterday. The second store was a goldmine of poorly organized collectibles, junk, rare unlicensed carts, and random accessories I hadn’t known existed. It was as if a garage sale had exploded in a game rental place twenty years ago, and no one bothered to clean it up.

After picking through a heap of vintage consoles and computers (think 128K memory on down), I discovered the January 1991 issue of Nintendo Power–with Megaman III on the cover. I bought it for a buck, and found this gem inside:

Steve “Mr. T” (seriously–I couldn’t even make that up) Wozniak showing his high score aboard the Concord between London and New York. Classic.