By request...

In response to popular demand, here's a suitable-for-printing version of my rendering of  “Donut’s” McCain bumper sticker idea:  [Full Size Art Here]

At 72dpi, this will print 10.75" x 6.75" (allowing a little room for printers that don’t print all the way to the page edge).  The result is 3 copies (each 11" x 2.125") on an 11" x 8.5" page.  I've left the background white for folks with laser printers.


To print using MS Paint:

• Save the file to your drive. (Usually: right click-> Save link target as) Be sure you got the correct file. It's named im_as_loyal_3b.gif, and it's 75.35 kb.
  
• Open MS Paint
  • Open file: im_as_loyal_3b.gif
  • Page Setup->
    • Landscape
    • all margins = .25"
    • centering: Horizontal and Vertical ON
    • scaling: Fit to 1 page
  • Print it!

If I get any requests, I'll do another version for 2 to a legal size (14" x 8.5") page. Meanwhile, have fun!

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:19:19 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 140 words, total size 2 kb.

Prayers for Tigger

Meryl's Tigger has been having a rough time of it...

...but he's still hanging in there. (And isn't he gorgeous!)

Go send some good wishes.


UPDATE 080209 21:03:  March 15, 1997-February 9, 2008

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 21:44:42 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 36 words, total size 1 kb.

The shame is that he had to say this...

“The Prime Minister believes British law should apply in this country, based on British values.” - spokesman for UK PM Gordon Brown, quoted in The Daily Mail

...the question is whether anyone will believe him.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:56:49 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

Ain't it tweet

Innovative programming in the UK:

When digital radio station Oneword closed last month, it seemed that things couldn't get any worse for the broadcaster. But indeed they could. Gallingly, the temporary replacement on the old Oneword channel - a 1992 recording of birdsong, played on a loop - is causing more of a stir than its predecessor ever managed, with tens of thousands of listeners flocking to it. - Elisabeth Mahoney in The Guardian

A programmer friend once remarked, “If we broadcast a 1000-cycle tone^[1] for ten seconds every day at 10:02am, it would attract listeners, who would then complain if we stopped doing it.”

Via Charles G. Hill, who warns:

Citadel please note. And that goes for you too, Clear Channel.

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^[1] Which tells how long ago that conversation was. None of those “hertz” things in those days: Cycles-per-second all the way!

Posted by: Old Grouch in Radio at 18:24:07 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 1 kb.

TSA strangeness

Strange story via Slashdot:

“hhavensteincw” writes:

"Less than a week after it launched a new blog aimed at gathering suggestions from air travelers to improve airport security processes, the Transportation Security Administration changed a practice where some screeners were requiring passengers to remove all electronics, including Blackberries, iPods, and cords from carry-on luggage. Seems the TSA didn't know this was going on, and after the question was raised on its blog, it clamped down on the practice...”

Incredible?

It's an embarassment that the TSA does not know what's going on it its own house without this blog. Rogue screeners have been creating their own rules since the inception of the TSA, yet this is hailed as a major victory?

Please, figure out what's going on in your own house, clean it up thoroughly, then come brag to us about it. This is nothing more than a public relations stunt in which you've allowed things to deteriorate to the point where enforcing your own policies on your employees is considered an improvement. - anonymous comment

If this is a true picture of the level of management at the TSA, (1) it’s just as bad as some of us suspected, and (2) we’re in more trouble than we thought.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 17:38:37 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 204 words, total size 2 kb.

Follow the leader

“Donut” suggests a bumper sticker:


UPDATE 080209 19:35: Print your own!

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 22:02:34 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 14 words, total size 1 kb.

Want to feel *really* old?

The VW Bus is 60 years old this year.

DDB Paris nods to Bernbach's Classic Volkswagen campaign with this one, which celebrates the Volkswagen van turning 60 years old.
- Adland, February 3, 2008

Five more “tribute” ads (including full-size versions for the optically challenged) at the Adland link.

Via: AdPulp

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 22:53:04 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.

Restless night

Being kept up late by tornado watches and severe thunderstorms isn’t all that unusual around here.

What is unusual is that it’s happening in February. And it’s the second week in a row.


(And we didn’t get hit nearly as badly as some folks did...)

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 18:11:58 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.

Cutting corners

San Francisco Tragedy (?) dept.:

Rice A Roni^® has eliminated the almonds...
Guess they thought we wouldn't notice.
They were wrong.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:40:38 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

Not that we believed them before

The RIAA is asking the Copyright Royalty Board to cut “mechanicals” – the per-copy royalty paid to publishers and songwriters^[1] when a CD is sold or a song is downloaded – from the present 9¢ per song (about 13%) to “8% of wholesale revenue.” Meanwhile, the Digital Media Association wants the rate set at... 4%.

But remember, kiddies, it's all about the “creators” of music. Just keep telling youself that.


Via: Slashdot
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^[1] of which the songwriter gets about half.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 20:01:54 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 86 words, total size 1 kb.