leo.notenboom.org

Lucky Number 7

2010-08-10T15:00:00Z

Once again on this 7th anniversary of Ask Leo!, it's time for the annual wrap-up of the odd and the weird questions that show up in my question bin.

Given that I have seven years of these kinds of questions coming at me, you'd think I'd take it in stride. I guess in a way I do, but still ... every so often I find myself just shaking my head and wondering ... what were they thinking?

As always, every question is a real question I've received via Ask Leo! within the last year, presented exactly as I got it (except that any potentially identifying information will have been removed). Each "answer" is the answer that I'd be oh-so-tempted to give...

And as a reminder, Ask Leo! is a tech site where I answer computer questions. How these questions get asked I really have no idea...

So here they are, directly from my "WTF" folder as I collect 'em all year long:

Year 6 of Wierdness

2009-08-10T15:00:00Z

Another year of Ask Leo! and the questions don't fail to inspire ... and dissappoint.

Here's this years collection of the odd, the strange, the off-the-wall quesions.

(For perspective - remember that Ask Leo! is a tech site where I answer computer questions. Makes some of the following even more ... puzzling.)

Michael Jackson, Billy Mays and Me

2009-07-09T21:19:18Z

The recent deaths of pop icon Michael Jackson and pitchman Billy Mays caught me be surprise. Not that their deaths shouldn't have been unexpected - they were - and by everyone, not just myself.

No, the problem, and the personal impact, relates to the fact that they were my peers.

Providence Marianwood - Family Story and Ask

2009-05-14T22:04:13Z

[I was asked once again to speak at the spring luncheon for Providence Marianwood, the long term care facility at which my father lived for his last 4.5 years. The keynote speaker for the luncheon was Robert Fulghum. I was also preceded by Gene Muren, whose wife Debra is a resident of the same wing that my father had been on, and who suffers from early-onset Alzheimer's. Debra was diagnosed at the age of 46.]

I want to thank Gene as well for sharing his poem and story. Debra's a familiar face to those of us who've spent any time in the Alzheimer's wing. I also have to echo Gene's characterization of the experience as both educational, and humbling.

My EADS luncheon talk

2009-02-05T23:36:58Z

This is the "Family Story" and "Ask" that I presented at the Elder and Adult Day Services luncheon on Februay 5th, 2009.
(Dr. John Medina of Brain Rules was the keynote speaker.)

I'm here to tell you some things that you probably already know.

Like my story.

A Store Goes Empty

2008-08-30T00:42:33Z

The doll shop is officially "between locations" right now - our brick and mortar location is not only closed, but as of today empty.

5 Years. And some things never change.

2008-08-10T14:00:00Z

August 10th marks the 5th anniversary of Ask Leo!. Technology changes, some things come and go, but one thing that never changes is the stream of the odd, the strange, and the downright ... ok, I'll say it ... stupid questions that show up in the Ask Leo! question queue.

As has been my tradition, it's once again time to clean the question barrel, so here are this year's collection of odd questions scraped from the bottom.

As always, every question is a real question I've received via Ask Leo! within the last year, presented exactly as I got it (except that any potentially identifying information will have been removed). Each "answer" is the answer that I'd be oh-so-tempted to give... [Warning: there may be "bad words" in some of the questions. You've been warned.]

New unit of measurement: The Bible?

2008-05-03T02:36:32Z

The Bible turns out to be a handy unit of measurement, particularly when you're trying to help folks some grasp large storage media or data transfer rates.

It doesn't matter whether you believe in what's in it, of course, it's just that most folks have seen one. I'd wager that most folks have a reasonable concept of its size, even if only in heft or "thud factor".

I used it as an example way back when as I tried to convey some concepts to my parents. This disk? It could hold X bibles! And this connection here, we can send the entire Bible in Y seconds! Wow!

A random copy of The Bible, text only, from project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org) "weighs in" at roughly 5 megabytes.

With that as a unit of measure:

Seattle Native Test

2008-05-01T18:42:55Z

OK, this is a test for everyone who claims to be a Seattle native/local.

What is this:

Seattle has no full time news radio station.

2008-04-25T02:22:39Z

Yes, yes, I know that the two heavyweights in the Seattle marker, KIRO 710 and KOMO 1000 both claim to be news stations. And yet...

KIRO changed branding some time ago from "News Radio" to "News Talk" to finally reflect more accurately what they really broadcast: News and Talk. More of the later than the former, I'm afraid. Fair enough, at least they're honest about it. (And I'm a fan of the talk part ... if that's what I happen to be looking for.)

The real offender, in my mind, is KOMO.

Why yes, I do live in Seattle.

2008-04-20T01:22:20Z

During my recent trip to San Antonio, I found myself in a small shop (gourmet dog cookies, if you must know) across from a Starbucks. I told the proprietor that I was visiting from Seattle, and she immediately said, "Yes, the home of Starbucks!"

Indeed.

It made me realize that I'm really, really from Seattle, because:

Geek is Good

2008-04-13T00:34:35Z

So my credit card company (or rather, the credit card company that issued the corporate cards used for my wife's business http://dollsandfriends.com) "upgraded" their card access web site recently.

Already you can see where this is going.

Half Century Mark

2007-09-10T15:00:00Z

50 years ago today, 9 months after a snowstorm hit the greater Victoria, B.C. area (or so I've been told), I showed up.

It's been quite the ride, so far.

An interesting thing to watch as you age are your beliefs and opinions. Some solidify (into concrete, if my father is any indication), and others meld and morph and turn into things you never would be predicted at an earlier age.

I think they call it growth. But I could be wrong. Or you may not agree. Whatever.

So, using this half-century mark as an excuse, I thought I'd jot down a few things...

The One Big Thing - In Your Way?

2007-08-31T16:43:04Z

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about what was coming next for her web site. She has a new site design. The design itself is ready to go, and I'd say that the "important stuff" has been moved into it, but not everything. A bunch of older content hasn't yet been moved. On top of that the older content needs updating as it's moved into the new design.

So she's been waiting to release the new website design until more (all?) of the old content has been revised and moved. And of course, that's just an overwhelming amount of work - all those pages. It's a big deal.

So naturally, since it's such a daunting task, it's not happening.

My response? Just do it.

No, not the old content migration. That is an overwhelming task.

Those "Other" Questions

2007-08-10T15:26:26Z

Today's the fourth anniversary of Ask Leo!, and that means it's time to collect up some of the questions that you didn't see me answer. You'll soon see why. We've got quite the bumper crop this year.

As always, every question is a real question I've received via Ask Leo! within the last year, presented exactly as I got it (except that any potentially identifying information will have been removed). Each "answer" is the answer that I'd be oh-so-tempted to give...

[Warning: there may be "bad words" in some of the questions. Y'all been warned.]

Enjoy.