educating eric

I loved this toy. Man, did I love this toy. My nephew has a newer version of it, and it's almost as cool... but there's something spooky/endearing about seeing the exact toy from my childhood appear in an online museum, entitled (somewhat uncreatively) as Electronic Toy, 1975-1979 If the starting bid on a 10-day auction weren't over $50 right now, I'd consider getting one... but Ruth wouldn't appreciate my bringing more junk into the house!

Okay, I don't remember if I linked to this article already or not... but there it is: an interview with Ginger Alexander (among others). Now, reader, I have one question: What's the draw to Ginger Alexander? Seriously, I'm curious! You're here because either 1) you're a friend/relative of mind who's fascinated by my daily musings, or 2) a search for "Ginger Alexander" brought you here. So, what makes Ginger interesting to you? Go ahead and comment -- Blogger makes it easy. My Ginger-related hits are starting to outnumber my Kari Byron hits, and I'm just wondering why. Thanks!

Sadly, when I changed hosting and moved my sites so they appear under their own domains (like www.lexmarked.com ), it broke most of the existing search-engine links. Despite helpful error pages and the like, my visits have dropped off to practically nothing. I wonder how long it'll take before that coveted "Google juice" returns? And, in the meantime, how will people track down my rebate-related advice?

Eeek. What more can I say? Check out the latest blog posting from G e n e r a t i o n W h y ? Eeek.

From the Star Tribune story Legal or illegal: How do you tell? : "When Roxanna Barr applied for a meat-processing job at Swift & Co. in Worthington, Minn., last month, she walked into the interview room with a Social Security card and a green card that authorized her to work. "Sitting at a table opposite the Swift interviewer, Barr was asked first was asked whether she was 18 years old and then, 'Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?' "Barr said yes and showed the required two documents to prove it. And that's all Swift, or any employer, can ask for. "To ask for more identification, say a driver's license, is grounds for charges of discrimination. "'I don't think your average person understands what employers can and cannot ask,' said James Hamilton, Swift's human resource director in Worthington, 'or that large penalties and fines are administered if you ask for more.'" The advantage I have in...

Just a quick head's up that I'm changing over my template to match my actual site ( www.emlarson.com ), so this will be a bit messy for a day or two. (I've been working in a test template, which is fine, but at some point you need to bite the bullet and apply it to some actual content, you know?) UPDATE: Ruth mentioned that I made the huge mistake of using the b-word (the one that starts with "b" and ends with the three-letter description of a felled tree), which is a horrible thing to do when it comes to AdSense. So, I fixed that right-quick! Yikes!

Just came across the article from Wired News: Jobs vs. Gates: Who's the Star? . The author's answer? On the evidence, [Jobs is] nothing more than a greedy capitalist who's amassed an obscene fortune. It's shameful. In almost every way, Gates is much more deserving of Jobs' rock star exaltation. Sounds harsh... but some of us are old enough to remember the days, a couple decades ago, when Apple ran the show in the school system and served as the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room. Apple IIs on every desk (at a time with Commodore 64s would have served better for pennies on the dollar), right?