Today's Gmail phishing (as opposing to phisching, which is the attempt to hook a phisch) spam is more humorous than most. A lot of phishing emails one receives are for non-location-specific entities: Citi, Bank of America, eBay, PayPal, etc. This one is highly location-specific: Hawaii. I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. It amused me. Briefly.

It was a beautiful fall day here in DFW. The inside of the house was a pleasant 75 degrees Fahrenheit all day, the AC not running at all. We don't get too many opportunities to throw open all the windows here in the metroplex, so I took advantage. Few clouds in the sky, the sun shining bright, and I was treated to lunch by a friend, as thanks for a favor I was happy to do and expected no recompense for. Some good family time at dinner helped to wrap up a beautiful day. How was yours?

• For you baseball aficionados, Tiff has a great story on what happened when she gave tickets to some coworkers, and how they thanked her.
• Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, affectionately known as the MacBU, has its own blog.Via The Iconfactory
• Someone took the house I, and I'm sure thousands of others, would love to live in--Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater--and put it in Half Life 2.Via del.icio.us

Every year, an updated list of things incoming college freshmen, or graduating high school seniors, know and don't know circulate the Internet. Hugh points to the latest from Beloit College. I won't rehash the list here, but thought I would share some of my favorite points: + There has always been only one Germany.
Whenever I think about this historic event, I am always reminded of Dennis Miller's (and there's a personality a lot of these kids may be wholly unaware of) commentary on SNL's "Weekend Update", when he said, and I'm paraphrasing, except for the last line: "Today, East and West Germany announced their plans for unification. France has already announced its formal surrender." + A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents’.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it's much less so for them than their parents. + They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.
This has been true for a long while now, for many incoming/outgoing classes. + Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
Do they even know who Milli Vanilli were? + Reality shows have always been on television.
Unfortunately. Oh so unfortunately... + Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
I don't believe this is something that is new to this particular class. + Most of them have never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
Since when is there good airline food? + Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
And that is a crying shame. It was something of a rite of passage in my childhood to stay up so late that you were still watching when the anthem came on. Though these days, it's mostly because there is no end to the broadcast day. + They have always “dissed” what they don’t like.
Do kids this age still use that word?

• Thanks to the folks at Xerox, with help from Layer 8 Group, you can send a postcard, with original artwork by a child, to a member of the armed forces serving abroad: Let's Say Thanks. I sent one, how about you?
  
  [Via Susan via e-mail.]
• About.com has some good advice in its Back to School section concerning backpack selection for students. The first tip they offer, to get a bag with two straps instead of just one, to help balance the load across the body better, is why I'm a dedicated backpack guy.
• My new addiction is Armagetron Advanced, an open source 3D game of the lightcycle contest from Tron.

So with my spouse not all that interested in seeing it, I took in Miami Vice this afternoon. I went in with preconceived notions, thanks to hearing about/reading reviews and opinions from a couple of friends. I knew to not expect much character development, I knew to expect to not be able to understand every single word from the actors (they mumble a bit, especially in the early parts of the film), and I expected some decent action and good cinematography. After all, it's a Michael Mann film. Possible spoilers ahead. Do not click through to continue if you don't want to know anything regarding the plot.

Having gone in to the viewing with the above expectations, or lack thereof, I have to say I enjoyed the movie. In my book it’s certainly not as good as Heat or The Last of the Mohicans, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. There were some slow bits in the beginning, but it picked up and held a good pace the rest of the way.I thought they did a good job with the entire cast, from the headliners to the supporters. The only character that I thought was really too much of a characticature was that of Jose Yero. I thought Elizabeth Rodriguez as Gina was an excellent choice; she’s hot, handles a gun, knows her job, and still has a bit of mothering instinct. She does get one of the best lines of the film, when a baddie tells her to go ahead and shoot him; the detonator in his hand will still fire and they’ll all die in an explosion. Gina retorts:

That's not what happens. What will happen is... what will happen is I will put a round at twenty-seven hundred feet per second into the medulla at the base of your brain. And you will be dead from the neck down before your body knows it. Your finger won't even twitch. Only you get dead. So tell me, sport, do you believe that? And then, just as the baddie begins to respond, she pulls the trigger. Coming up in discussion with a friend who also saw the movie, I do wonder if more could have been done with Gong Li's Isabella. Her backstory was pretty weak. Just because her mother, working as a translator, died when she was 16, she couldn't go back to China, or wherever her nearest relatives might have been? My best friend is a Chinese-American, and I've learned a lot about how close-knit the family units can be, even the extended portions. I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, but I do think it's a bit of a stretch for a seventeen year-old Chinese girl to end up working for a South American drug lord. I did like her character's overall attitude. The same friend noted that it seemed like Tubbs didn't have much to do throughout most of the film. Makes you wonder why Foxx got top billing. (I know, I know, he's an Oscar winner now, blah, blah, blah...) Maybe that's why there was the Trudy-getting-kidnapped storyline, so he would have something to do. The locations were great. There's a shot in one part of the film, taken from above, of waterfall after waterfall after waterfall, on both sides, cascading down in to a river/lake, and it is breathtaking. I'm guessing this is in the Dominican Republic, where a good portion of the movie was shot. Seeing those falls would certainly be a dream vacation, although I'm sure it's not the Dominican Republic, they're in a South American country where they like to abduct Americans for ransom. (Having read notes on the filming, the Dominican Republic's not so hot, either.) I also like how Mann seems to be one of the few directors in Hollywood who can get gunfire to sound like gunfire. To be more precise, he knows how to get different weapons to make different sounds. He did this in Heat, with the big shootout in the middle of downtown LA, and he followed it up well with the dockside battle in this film. It seems like most directors don't care that a 9mm pistol is going to sound a lot different than a 5.56mm or 7.62mm assault rifle, or that those two rifles alone will have distinct sounds of their own. As I discussed with the above-mentioned friend, it's as if they have access to so many recorded gunfire sounds, and don't care to make the proper distinctions. This may sound like quibbling, but it makes a huge difference in the realism of the film. Granted, I seriously doubt I've seen every movie that features a Barrett .50, but I believe this one is the first that gets the sound of one firing right, not to mention showing what sort of damage a .50 caliber round will do to a typical vehicle. I'll grant you that Miami Vice isn't as good as Heat or Collateral, but it was enjoyable. Provided Mann did it, and used the same or mostly the same cast, I wouldn't mind there being a sequel.

Last evening, my bride and I had a date night, which included a viewing of Will Ferrell's Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Two enthusiastic thumbs-up, a Retrophisch™ Recommends. I laughed so hard at certain points, I cried. The out takes/"alternative scenes" at the end were worth the price of admission alone. My wife was right; the movie is so ridiculous, it's funny. Too often, comedy films are just outright ridiculous, and you're lucky to let loose with a few chuckles. Pure ridiculousness will only get you so far with the movie-viewing public. Pure ridiculousness in the hands of a master like Ferrell, however, will garner you big laughs. Such is the case with Talledega Nights, which even includes an exceptionally brief homage to the late Dale Earnhardt. (If you blink, you'll miss it; it's that fast. Fittingly appropriate, given the subject matter.) There's a lot to worry about in our world: Israel under attack in the Middle East; Iran and North Korea with nuclear power; Islamofascist terrorism; oil prices still way too high; our jobs; our families. Sometimes, we just need a good laugh, to forget about all the troubles for a couple of hours, and Talledega Nights fills the bill. Go see it.

In what may be the ultimate example of type-casting, there is a documentary under way about Helvetica. (It's a font, for those of you who don't know. Microsoft's Arial is a blatant rip-off wanna-be of it.) I am very tempted to nab a shirt. Director Gary Hustwit:

Why make a film about a typeface, let alone a feature documentary film about Helvetica? Because it's all around us. You've probably already seen Helvetica several times today. It might have told you which subway platform you needed, or tried to sell you investment services or vacation getaways in the ads in your morning paper. Maybe it gave you the latest headlines on television, or let you know whether to 'push' or 'pull' to open your office door.

Since millions of people see and use Helvetica every day, I guess I just wondered, "Why?" How did a typeface drawn by a little-known Swiss designer in 1957 become one of the most popular ways for us to communicate our words fifty years later? And what are the repercussions of that popularity, has it resulted in the globalization of our visual culture? Does a storefront today look the same in Minneapolis, Melbourne and Munich? How do we interact with type on a daily basis? And what about the effects of technology on type and graphic design, and the ways we consume it? Look for the film in 2007. [Via the Iconfactory.]

Photo mosaics have become popular; I have one of Darth Vader, made up of different scenes from Episodes 4-6. There are many tutorials online for making your own photo mosaics, but John Tolva has one where you create your mosaic with LEGOs. You'll need Photoshop, and a healthy bank account for all those LEGO pieces you'll be buying. [Via Photojojo.]

How close to you and yours does a convicted sex offender live? Find out, thanks to Family Watchdog. [Via Daily Dose.]

Happy Birthday to the United States Coast Guard, which turns 216 years old today.

The iPod cases from ifrogz look very nice. I like the customizable aspects of the design, but would love to be able to upload my own image for the Screenz. A Retrophisch-branded iPod case in "Gun Metal" Wrapz and "Thick Black" Bandz would rock.

Amazon Grocery is now out of beta after more than 200,000 people have used it to shop for food staples.

One of the recent winners of a Flickr Pro account speaks to my childhood.

This whole "Numa Numa" thing is out of control.

Tim Zimmerman:

What swims at 20 miles per hour, can carve out hunks of human flesh, and will attack anything that moves? The Humboldt squid. Brace yourself for a dive with the eeriest beast in the ocean. A fascinating read.

Jeff has an outstanding parable of the recent Hezbollah attacks on Israel.

Tiffany:

The Cheesecake Factory always looks like a mosque to me. Only, a mosque out of Willy Wonka or something. Sort of an Oompa-Loompa faith community. I have never really thought about it before, but now that she mentions it, the Cheesecake Factory does look like a Willy Wonka mosque! I guess I'll have to remember not to order bacon on my burger the next time I visit.

"Life is hard when you're Darth Vader's less-talented, less-charismatic younger brother and you manage a grocery store." I love the Imperial March on acoustic guitar. [Via Eric via IM.]

Liechtenstein is 200. The total population of the nation is a little over half of that of my town.

In the market for a new mortgage? Be sure to check out the Mortgage Professor, who has a list of "Upfront Mortgage Brokers". These brokers promise the transparency of disclosing "the loan's wholesale price (the interest rate and points), plus the markup, in writing and in advance." [Via Newsweek, June 26, 2006.]

A thought on why Honda rocks: Last week, during swim lessons, I had a moron moment and forgot to take my Pilot's key and fob out of my swimsuit pocket. An hour later, after drying off the tyke (the lessons were for him, in case you were wondering), I went to change in to some dry clothes and had one of those Seinfeldian "Oooohhhhhh" moments. Just out of curiosity, I hit the lock button on the fob. Twice. I heard the Pilot's horn blast a single note. And I smiled. It's still working, with apparently no ill effects. So is the little keychain LED light my sister-in-law got as a stocking stuffer for me two Christmases ago.

The federal government is apparently looking at creating a national SMS alert system. [Via MobileTracker.]

Congratulations to Kyle MacDonald, who, one year and fourteen trades later, bartered a red paper clip for a house.

Making sure you tipped the right amount after the fact doesn't do your server much good, does it?

I'm so glad that forever shall I be five months younger than mi amigo, who apparently is already feeling the effects of age, having to recycle his birthday blog post because he cannot muster the mental faculties to create something original. ;-)

In recognition of the nation with the better food, better skiing, and better people winning the World Cup, I thought I would share my favorite French joke. (Blame FranX, as this came up in an IM conversation with him this evening.)
Q: Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees? A: Because the Germans like to march in the shade.

John points to a 94x magnification of Velcro being pulled apart. Wicked cool. You can also see Scotch tape being ripped, more Velcro, still more Velcro, and Equisetum strobilus, all worth a look.

How much do I love Default Folder? Its functionality should be built in to OS X. (I was just using it quite a bit today, lots of saving in different locales, etc., and I thought a shout-out was in order.)

After months of waiting, I found it. Part of a pint was consumed this evening. It was yummy. Retrophisch™ Recommended!

Oh, if true, a tabbed Finder would rock. (Yes, I am aware Path Finder has this functionality already.)

You may have seen Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of LaGrande Jatte", not realizing what a masterpiece of impressionist painting it is. My first exposure to it, and I'm betting for lots of children of the '80s, was thanks to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Now, the famous painting has been recreated by those crazy cheeseheads.

It kind of sucks that the 1.0b1 version of a piece of software has crashed more on me in two days of use than the alpha verisons have in the past year. Update: I guess I wasn't clear in my above disappointment. For those keeping score, I've "downgraded" to Adium X 0.89.1.

Sometimes, it seems like the Starbucks growth pattern really is this bad, doesn't it?

Texas Rangers All-Star Michael Young became the 10th-fastest MLB player to reach the 1,000-hit milestone, cranking off a single in the fifth inning yesterday. Last year's AL batting champ continues to impress, and remains one of our favorite Rangers.

I should also note that while my little phisch will see a game on the tube and remark, "Baseball!", he's not to the point where he knows players' names.

LSU athletics director Skip Bertman was inducted in to the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Topping Bertman's impressive accomplishments are the five NCAA championships he led the LSU Tigers to, making them the dominate team of the 1990s.

I can still remember where I was and what I was doing when the Tigers won the first championship in '91. I was at my hometown church, in the gymnasium, buffing the floors, while my bride-to-be was cleaning the kitchen. Starting in high school, I took on the janitorial duties there as a part-time job, and the once-a-month gym floor buffing happened to take place the weekend of the College World Series finals.

Congratulations, Coach, and Geaux Tigers!

I would pay good money to see "The Running of the Congressmen."

You know the Oprahfication of America is out of control when Cookie Monster is reduced to introspection. McSweeney's:

Me love cookies. Me tend to get out of control when me see cookies. Me know it not natural to react so strongly to cookies, but me have weakness. Me know me do wrong. Me know it isn't normal. Me see disapproving looks. Me see stares. Me hurt inside.

You, too, can help Cory Doctorow remove his Apple tattoo. I join Gus in snickering.

Photojojo has a review of the Lensbaby 2.0, a $149 retro novelty lens for digital SLRs.

From the "Things That Make You Go 'Huh?'" Department, Tom gives us Mr. Martin Heidegger. After reading Heidegger's quote, I have the mental equivalent of wanting to get a bad taste out of my mouth...

In line with my smart-aleck nature, there are more good t-shirts I want, but I would need to perform a serious shirt purge first.

If you're not listening to The Onion Radio News, you're missing a good chuckle.

It's not a full-scale semi truck, or even a VW Beetle, but it is a real-life Transformer. [Via Firewheel Design.]

Brent informs us that Mississippi is very dog-friendly at its rest stops.

As Lee said when he pinged me via IM, "What a waste of a Countach."

For some reason, I can't believe John blogged iStache.

So I'm sitting here watching Spain play Saudi Arabia in the World Cup, and we're having more and more of the pathetic overacting by the players when they get tackled/kicked/knocked down. Can we stop this sad display, manly football men of the world? Look, I know it hurts like hell when you get kicked in the shin, but I thought that was the point of wearing those pads inside the socks that pull up to your jock strap. Yet these guys get tapped on the shin, they go down like a load of bricks, and writhe around as if their opponent just sliced off their lower leg with a sword. Razor's right; enough already. I've watched the team of thirteen year-olds my friend Gary's stepson plays on, and they whack at one another more than these "top players in the world", with less faked agony. If you want soccer to catch on more in the U.S., show us you all can act like men and take your licks. This goes double for the eliminated U.S. team.