Tag: See Also: Facebook
Overloaded Cell Network? Send a Text
BoingBoing explains why SMS messages are more likely to get through than phone calls or mobile data during a large emergency. (Short version: They’re async, so the phone or tower can retry later, and they’re momentary, so they don’t tie up a channel like a call would.)
The article doesn’t bring it up, but I’d add the magnifying effect of social media. If that SMS message happens to be a status update to Facebook or Twitter, you can tell a lot of people outside the area that you’re OK (or not) at once, even over congested airwaves or wires.
Update 2024: I wonder how well RCS fares under the same circumstances, and how well it falls back to SMS. Especially since it looks like fallback is an app feature, not a service feature, so I can imagine some third party apps forgetting or not bothering to implement fallback.
Also, the social media aspect no longer applies now that the networks have discontinued post-by-SMS.
The Saga and the Franchise
I suppose it’s silly, but after thinking about it for a bit, what really bothers me about the Lucasfilm/Disney deal is that by continuing the movie series with Episodes 7-9, they are undermining the distinction between the Star Wars saga and the Star Wars franchise.
Originally posted on Facebook
Everything Clear?
I think someone’s confused about the concept of step-by-step directions. (Not to mention the definition of “above.”)
(Originally posted on Facebook and Google+)
Bored?
I’ve got a handheld connection to a worldwide network of information, communication and entertainment, and the signal’s solid. If I’m bored waiting in line, it’s my own fault.
Delivery Confirmed…Somewhere
I’ve lost some confidence in USPS’s delivery confirmation service.
Even though we put mail delivery on hold while we were on vacation, USPS claims that delivered a package at 4:08pm on Saturday.
So, either they didn’t honor the mail hold and delivered it…in which case who knows where it is now…or they did honor the mail hold and falsely marked the package as having been delivered…in which case who knows where it is now.
At least it wasn’t anything important.
My suspicion is that it was “delivered” to the local post office, and that they haven’t sent us the accumulated mail like they were supposed to. Which means now I need to figure out which office handles our incoming mail and get there during business hours.
Update:
That package I mentioned finally showed up — three days after the end of the vacation hold and five days after delivery confirmation tracking claimed it had been delivered.
So now I know that delivery confirmation doesn’t actually confirm delivery. I wonder what it does confirm.
Deep Fried WHAT???? A Night at the Fair with Al’s Brain, Melissa Etheridge and a Ferris Wheel
We went to the Orange County Fair on Saturday afternoon. Most years we end up going to at least one of the Pacific Amphitheater’s summer concert series, which includes fair admission, so we just combine it into one trip. This year it was Melissa Etheridge, and we also had another goal: Al’s Brain.
We started by grabbing some water and (in my case) a chocolate milkshake (because I wanted some ice cream, dangit! and drinkable made it easier), then wandered through the arts and crafts displays, where they showed prize-winning jewelry, crochet, display models, dresses, origami, etc.
Al’s Brain
Then we made our way to the back of the fair, where they had set up a portable theater for Al’s Brain (in 3-D!). There was a huge sand sculpture out front of “Weird Al” Yankovic holding out a brain in his hand. An animated question mark and exclamation point would occasionally pop out the top of his head, and smoke would pour from his ears.
“Weird Al” has actually had a long association with the Orange County Fair, often doing free concerts on multiple nights during the run. We’ve seen him there at least twice, possibly three times. One year there was a “Weird Al” museum of sorts. This year, he got involved in a short 3-D educational film (comedic, of course) about the brain.