johnsonroad.net

Favstar.fm bookmarklet

[EDIT: The original post appears below, but @timhaines updated the bookmarklet code and published it right on Favstar.fm, so the version below is outdated and less functional than this one.]

Favrd‘s great. It’s put me in touch with hundreds of funny, intelligent people who primarily want to make your day better through comedy. It’s missing some features, though. [EDIT: see below...]

Favstar.fm provides one important feature that Favrd’s missing: the ability to see a person’s Hall of Fame: their all-time most-favored tweets. (example: my Favstar page) When I’m vetting a new person to see if they’re making attempts at comedy, I like to check out their best material (so far) right away by going to their Favstar page.

[EDIT: As @ucmike and @davegorum pointed out, the URL http://favrd.textism.com/person/username/top does the same thing. Sorry, @textism! I don't feel that bad, though, since that feature isn't really documented anywhere.]

This bookmarklet: Twitter -> Favstar (drag it to your bookmark toolbar) lets you conveniently switch from someone’s Twitter page to their Favstar page. @lionelster did all the heavy lifting on this. All I did was a search-and-replace on the Javascript code he wrote. Please forward all appreciation to him.

One side effect of this unceremonious bastardization of his code is that it won’t switch back to Twitter from Favstar the way his original bookmarklet will switch back to Twitter from Favrd. Sorry, I don’t know Javascript well enough to fix that (yet).

Louis CK on being spoiled by modern technology

“You’re sitting on a chair in the sky.”

[via kimproper]

teaser for The Girls

I’m an extra in Rob Matsushita‘s new film The Girls. You may recognize the male voice in this teaser trailer.

Can you protect me now?

To demonstrate how poorly cellphone companies protect our privacy, John Hargrave got the home address of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg (it wasn’t difficult), grabbed his bullhorn, and paid him a visit.

To give you an idea about how easy it was to get this information, the only thing that John did was sign up for one of those “free cell phone records” listings and scan it for the cells and home addresses of the CEOs from the big three: Randall Stephenson of AT&T, Dan Hesse of Sprint Nextel, and Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon.

[Zug.com via Consumerist via @sblaufuss]

World Market: “We’ll get around to being responsible eventually.”

Apparently it's backordered.

Broken & Entered

Last week I performed a role in the staged reading of Broken & Entered, an excellent new play by Madison playwright Kurt McGinnis-Brown that was selected as a finalist in the 2009 Wisconsin Wrights project. Lindsay Christians in 77 Square declares:

…After three nights of engaging, intelligent plays read by fine local talent, I can’t help but feel optimistic about the future of regional drama. More than just a boon to state playwrights, Wisconsin Wrights also provides the chance to experience exciting new drama as it’s being made.

All of us, from the actors, dramaturgs and directors to the vocal audience, full of commentary and ideas in each talk-back, were part of the process.

[Source: It's unanimous: Wisconsin playwrights deliver]

Little Caesars + Death Metal = Awesome

I can think of few things more demeaning than being made to stand next to a street holding a sign for your workplace, nor a more awesome use of that opportunity than this gentleman’s:

[via @pagecrusher]

Torture strengthens Al Qaeda.

Take it from a senior interrogator who had daily contact with Al Qaeda combatants:

“One of Al Qaeda’s goals, it’s not just to attack the United States, it’s to prove that we’re hypocrites, that we don’t live up to American principles. So when we use torture and abuse, we’re playing directly into one of their stated goals.”

Waterboarding = Torture, says conservative talker

Chicago conservative talk show host Mancow Muller used to dismiss waterboarding as just “having water poured on your face” and “no big deal.” Then he experienced it.

According to the sergeant that administered the torture, most people last about 14 seconds. Mancow panicked and stopped it less than 6 seconds after the water started hitting his face.

Here’s an idea for everyone who supports the use of torture (I refuse to use the ridiculous euphemism being parroted by the mainstream media): you want it to be used in America’s name? You have to know exactly what it feels like. Anyone who issues an order for this torture to occur must experience it themselves before the order is valid.

In addition, I believe that as long as this torture remains an option to be used against “enemy combatants,” boot camp for all military personnel should include being waterboarded. This will help psychologically prepare our soldiers for what an enemy would justifiably do to them if they were captured.

There was a time when US POWs were treated with dignity and not tortured, expressly because the enemy knew we obeyed the Geneva Conventions and deserved humane treatment.

On Memorial Day 2009, let’s remember the principles for which our fallen have died. Let’s hold accountable those among us who violated them.

review for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Lindsay Christians at 77 Square reviewed our production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Rob Matsushita’s excellent trailer generated a lot of excitement for this show: