I'd like to take a moment to salute two oft-forgotten colas: Like and OK.

Like was a stab at making a caffeine-free drink that tasted... uh... like cola. You get it? Good. I never actually drank Like, but I suspect it was artificially atrocious. At least Pepsi Free had a cameo in one of the most important movies ever.

Then there's OK which I also missed but at least seemed a lot more interesting. After reading a bit about it, OK seemed like an attempt to capitalize on slackers and teens and future Facebook users. But at least they tried. Each can featured a design by artists such as Daniel Clowes, their marketing campaigns were transparent (calling their feedback line gave you a warning that "your comments may be used in advertising or exploited in some other way we haven't figured out yet"), and the whole thing feels like it was alternately trying too hard and pitch perfect. Apparently, though, the soda didn't taste very good. Too bad. Maybe it was just OK, which is starting to get a little too anti-product and is giving me a headache.

I could go for a Tab.

By a show of hands, who is a fan of popcorn?

Who eats it more than once a week?

Who eats it 3 or 4 times a week in probably-too-large quantities?

I just raised my hand three times.

Yes or no?

For me, it's an unequivocal NO. In caps, even.

Vacation ends soon,
Back to the daily grind. Sigh.
I need a year off.

There wasn't a Ping.
Any excuse would not fly.
Let's say, "Dog ate it."

In the matter of spiders, do you fall on the side of "itsy bitsy" or "eensie weensie"? For spiders, I'm fully a "itsy bitsy" man, much like the yellow polka dot bikinis.

With all this talk of "bucket lists" and the like over the past few years, I definitely got to thinking about the things and places I wanted to see and do before I pass on. (Plus, I'm getting older; this happens.)

One of them, inexplicably, is skydiving.

I have never done it, and frankly it'll take up a ton of nerves for me to do it. I'm afraid of heights in uncontrolled circumstances (tall buildings are fine; being on a trapeze is not.) I'm not a big fan of falling. And helmets crimp my cool hairdo. But somehow through all of that, skydiving still sounds like a thing that could be thrilling and exciting to me.

Has anyone out there done it? Am I nuts?

I recently stopped to get gas at one of the few old school gas stations left (though I suppose they're still somewhat common in rural areas). The pumps didn't have digital counters, let alone credit card readers. I had to pull a handle on the side in order to start the pump (twice, actually, "because it's old" one of the employees told me). And even the attached convenience store was old school. Old wood flooring that looked to be from at least 60 years ago and poor lightning. After getting used to have TV screens blaring the news and ads at my gas pump, this taste of yesterday was actually kind of refreshing.

When was the last time you used one of these old pumps?

You know how lots of people have ringtones that sound like old-fashioned rotary phones? From back when phones actually had bells in them?

Do teens know what that sound is supposed to be?

I'm serious. Is it really that different from having a ringtone that sounds like a telegraph or, say, a virtual keyboard that sounds like a typewriter?

... that to have several days in a row where it's comfortable enough outside to leave the windows open and the A/C off is a real blessing after this absurd summer we've had weatherwise thusfar.

Are your windows open tonight, or are you in the middle of the country blasting the A/C?

Paul asked yesterday if anyone watched the pilot episode of Melissa & Joey. I did. I wanted to see Clarissa explain it all to Joey.

I was a bit taken aback. This is an old school sitcom. Multicamera, shot primarily in the living room and kitchen of the house. Apparently filmed in front of a live studio audience (but clearly punched up with a laugh track). And, essentially, this is Who's the Boss? for 2010 (as I'm sure many others have pointed out).

It's definitely a "safe" sitcom, very much a throwback to the mid-90s. Back then, it would have been just one in a pile of other similar shows. Now, though, it's actually unique since it still follows that formula when every comedy show is shot like The Office.

However, don't get me wrong. Being unique doesn't equal being good. Because it's not. Like... Joey signs on to become a nanny and less than a few hours later, he's able to go out onto the roof and talk to the troubled daughter like they were best friends. To the viewers, this discussion was the first encounter they'd even had! Some really sloppy writing on the pilot, to be sure.

The acting pretty much sucks outside of the two main characters. No surprise there.

All-in-all, it's one of those shows that I certainly won't hunt out, but I may stop on to watch for a minute or two like I used to with "Blossom" and "Clarissa Explains it All."

Whoa.

(Feel free to watch the pilot episode now.)

I've been starting to get a bit weary of reading articles about how ebooks are going to kill books like mp3s have killed CDs and streaming options are killing DVDs. So what do I do? I throw together a piece on the very same topic, adding to the mess.

Even though I've long been a collector of all sorts of physical media, I do welcome a lot of the changes that have come about. These days, the majority of my purchases and consumption of music come in digital form. They don't take up physical space and 320k is plenty high-enough quality for most of the music I listen to. That said, I will still buy the occasional physical item that's for a very special album or is a truly unique piece. Like a re-released piece of vinyl by a long-forgotten jazz artist. I bought a $25 copy of the vinyl that was one of only a hundred with hand-drawn art by the lead musician and came with a digital download card. It's a frameworthy piece, a great album, and it helps pay a talented musician who probably didn't make enough money on his work the first time around.

In terms of movies, I buy almost no movies anymore. It's partially due to the fact that between Netflix and the public library, I'm able to get 90% of the movies I want to see, but realize I probably won't watch again anytime soon. It's also partially due to frustration with the idea of replacing a DVD collection with the superior Blu-Ray format. I suspect that over the next five years, I'll buy a few dozen Blu-Rays (once I, um, get an HDTV and a Blu-Ray player) of very select favorite movies that are available in special editions. But otherwise I'll be satisfied with rentals and streaming choices.

Lastly: books. ebooks have been on the horizon for almost two decades now -- I was a part of an "online publishing" group on GEnie back in the early 90s that included ebook publishers. But it wasn't until the Kindle and similar devices that these things really started to take hold.

Let me put it like this: I really, really love the idea of a good ebook reader. Traveling with a huge selection of reading material in the size of a single large paperback? Freaking awesome. Being able to search through dozens of cookbooks for a particular recipe or ingredient? Killer. But the DRM restrictions that keep an ebook from being as functional as a physical book? Phooey. Plus, books suffer more than any other medium when you take away the design elements you get with a physical version. While I like the trend towards more minimal living over the last few years, I think there is value to physical media serving as a discussion point or functional decoration or statement of one's personality in one's living quarters. Personally, I don't trust someone who doesn't have books on display in their house.

In summary, my middle-of-the-road conclusion is this: yay for digital media! It's changing a lot of things and that's pretty exciting. But there's still room for physical version of media, particularly for "special" items that we can appreciate as a collectible or statement of our personality and interests.

There has to be at least one Pinger out there amongst the 2.2 million people who watched the first episode of Melissa and Joey, the exciting (?) new ABC Family show with Melissa Joan-Hart and Joey "Whoa!" Lawrence. Anyone? Anyone?

I have to admit that it looks horrible. And Joey Lawrence without hair looks odd. He needs the hair.

A recent link on Digg pointed me to yet another compiled list of 20 old cereals which, admittedly, wasn't much more interesting than prior compiled lists of old cereals. But this time I noticed that a large number of these cereals were made by Ralston.

Big bad evil Google led me to Ralston's site which in and of itself was retro: it looks as if it hasn't been updated since 1999. Ralston is a brand of the unfortunately-named Ralcorp, and now mostly churns out store-brand cereals. My guess is that Ralston had a bunch of generic cereal shapes available and went after licenses to make things like Urkel-O's a little more, uh, appealing. When that all dried up, store brands were the hot thing. Totally makes sense.

Most importantly, though, is that I remember having almost all of these cereals as a kid. Morning Funnies was arguably the most depressing, with its grouping of multiple comic stripes on the front - and wow, I'd forgotten entirely about Marvin - and generic cereal inside. But really folks: The Family Circus sells cereal.

Just to show you how far we've come in 24 years: one of the key articles in the 1986 issue of Antic, the magazine for Atari ST owners, debated the use of GOTO in BASIC programs. I can't quite imagine something like this being in a modern computer magazine. Also: I can almost not imagine printed computer magazines.

1. My musical, movie, and literary interests are quite similar (though they've expanded).
2. I still set my alarm to a prime number.
3. I still prefer staying up late to getting up early.
4. I still get nostalgic when visiting my college's campus.
5. I haven't aged. I'm like Dorian Gray.

This is easy. You're ordering food online for delivery or pick-up. Thus, you have a very precise list of what you want to eat. How difficult would it be to give people the option to view complete nutrition facts for their meal while they're ordering?

Not very, I'd wager. It seems like a natural thing. It doesn't have to be forced on the user but it would be a nice alternative to looking up nutrition info on an Excel spreadsheet masquerading as a PDF.

This summer I decided, out of simplicity, to mostly have a uniform at work: a solid color polo and shorts or other pantaloons. I augmented this lineup with more formal buttondowns and the like, but polos are easy and not a big hassle. I ended up buying polos from three different places, and found that the polos handled the rigor of frequent wear in different ways.

The bulk of my polos, as is the case with most of my basics, were from Lands' End. These ended up being the most consistent and durable overall, with only a bit of color fading. They also held up well to baby spit-ups. But the collars on almost all of them curled quickly despite the alleged presence of no-curl collars. Opps. Nevertheless these were my winners, and at $15-$25 I'm sure I can get another season or two, at least, out of them.

I bought a couple of polos from Target. These were much brighter and were appropriate for summer only, really. The good news is that they did pretty well with wear similar to those from Lands' End; the bad news is that the colors faded pretty badly on one shirt. But, hey, they were $10. I can get one more season out of at least one of them.

Finally, there's the polo I bought at Kohl's. A bummer: it shrunk, the color faded, the collar curled, and the thing is pilling like there's no tomorrow. I can't wear this to work pretty much ever again, so it'll be relegated to "around the house" status. Fifteen bucks.

All told, I think going with this core lineup for clothing made choosing what to wear for work way the hell easier. I'll likely shoot for it again next summer. Coming up next on the Ping: fashion tips from Carson Kressley!

Wondering: are stupid 911 calls truly on the rise, or are they just showing up in the news more?

For instance, a guy called 911 to say hello. One guy called 911 to ask for a ride to a liquor store. A woman thought 911 was a dating service. And if you think the Blue Angels are loud when they're buzzing by for an air show, don't call 911 and complain about it.

(Oh and, did you know that you should call 911 instead of using Twitter or Facebook in an emergency?)

1. Ryan Now doesn't consume meat, dairy, or eggs. Ryan Then still did, sometimes in quantity.
2. Ryan Now is looking to cut back his amount of "stuff" (and is having trouble, but...). Ryan Then was seriously addicted to media consumption in the form of physical DVDs and CDs. Ryan Then would get 3-4 packages a week. Ryan Now gets 1-2 packages a month.
3. Ryan Now has owned a house for ten years. Ryan Then was looking to move out of his apartment.
4. Ryan Now only maintains a few websites regularly. Ryan Then had close to ten sites he was updating on a regular basis.
5. Ryan Now runs. Ryan Then had running shoes, but didn't run.

Wackiest story I've read this year? Maybe: a dog bit off his owner's toe while he was drunk, actually saving the man from the spread of Type 2 diabetes throughout his body. No, really.

Something I realized after lunch with coworkers yesterday: at home, I refrigerate ketchup - as I always have. But restaurants never (well, in their dining areas) refrigerate ketchup. Why?

It turned out not to just be something I did because my mom & dad did. Heinz actually recommends it:

Because of its natural acidity, Heinz® Ketchup is shelf-stable. However, its stability after opening can be affected by storage conditions. We recommend that this product, like any processed food, be refrigerated after opening. Refrigeration will maintain the best product quality after opening.

Wow, though... any processed food? Are there refrigerators big enough for that?

I'm not sure I really need to refrigerate ketchup, in the end. Do you?

I'm not a typeface nerd like someone whose name rhymes with Maul PacAleer. Me, and others like me, might benefit from the So You Need a Typeface poster (you can see the full image at Lifehacker).

I'm hoping that Comic Sans MS is nowhere to be found on the flowchart.

Have you ever wondered about the difference between a book and a Kindle? Well, thankfully, Green Apple Books has put together a nice self-explanatory video:

In my life of work, I never wear a tie. In my personal life, a tie is rarely called for. In fact, I wear a tie maybe three times a year. The last time I wore one? I think it was last Christmas.

I don't mind ties all that much, though I hate wearing a suit with a passion. It's just that the situation rarely calls for one. And I'm still not great at tying one.

How about the rest of you tie or non-tie wearers? How often? Last time?

Last week Chuck D from Public Enemy released a new solo album.

He also turned 50.

Bravo, Mistachuck.

(But come on... that Ping title is awesome, no?)

Kleenex recently debuted their latest product: disposable hand towels for the home. The reaction from some parts of the web?

"A nightmare." "The trees are weeping." You get the idea. And that was my initial thought too: what a ridiculous waste... and, you know, cotton towels are washable and reusable.

But then my lovely wife pointed something out that I had totally missed. Kleenex makes disposable tissues too, right? Right. How many people right now are up in arms about not using a handkerchief? After all, they're washable and reusable too... yet handkerchiefs have been relegated to fashion accessory status; using a handkerchief for blowing one's nose is considered unhygienic.

As Wikipedia notes, Kleenex were originally marketed as makeup removal tools - but a marketeer at Kimberly-Clark was convinced to try promoting Kleenex as safe alternatives to those nasty ol' handkerchiefs. And we know how successful that was... so I'm wondering if this is just the first step in the long, slow decline of the non-dispoable hand towel.

(As an aside, don't miss the official product FAQs, featuring questions no one ever ever ever asks such as, "Why did the KLEENEX® Brand create KLEENEX® Hand Towels?" and "How can I find out more information and/or introduce this new innovation to my family?")

There was a slight dust-up in some circles of the interwebs this past weekend: if tumblr or Posterous went under, so would all of the blogs and stuff hosted there... just like GeoCities! The same's true of flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, and all of those other popular sites. And you know, I used to be really concerned about that. After all, web hosting is relatively cheap.

But you know, times have changed. I've come to a place of acceptance with these services: I know that flickr won't be around forever, so I have backups of all of my photos. As a matter of process I tend to write blog posts offline in Pages, so I have copies of those too. And videos... of course I have the originals. In other words... it's not the end of the world.

The Ping? Oh, we host it ourselves.

This may be more amusing for some Pingers than others: when was the last time you ate a steak?

For me, it's been so long I can no longer remember - but I'm going to guess that it was around 2000 or 2001. While I eat meat, I just don't go for steak all that much.

A while back Ryan told us that Sunday was "Catch Up on Chore Day" around his house and it generally happens that way around my house, too. In my house even!

I chose to take care of some chores this morning and found I kept procrastinating on one of them. I'd easily find other tiny tasks to do, or a website I needed to check out, or something else. That chore? Folding and putting away laundry.

Man, I hate it. I don't know why. I don't mind doing the actual washing and drying, and getting the clothing in and out of the machines, but one of the most important parts just bugs me. I can't wait until we invent a machine that'll do this for me.

I'm also not a fan of cleaning up dog poop, but to be honest with you I think I prefer it to putting away clothes.

What's the longest plane ride you've been on?

Mine's at about 20 hours in the air plus layovers.

Here's a good idea: SnapGoods, a site where you can borrow gadgets for a small fee. If you need an iPad to test out a website, for instance, you can just book one for a day and there you have it. While there are a lot of tech gadgets here there are some other random things - like bikes and guitars.

I really dig this. It's only in NYC for now but I hope it'll expand out. I've got $9 burning a hole in my pocket to try out an iPhone 4 for a day!

Ryan and I were talking about star ratings in music management applications today when I admitted that I never use stars.

To me, they're not worthwhile. My main argument against them - besides having another piece of metadata attached to a music file - is that if I have a song in my library I at least like it. If it's not there, I don't like it... simple. I did try rating songs for a short while but found it to be tedious and kind of not useful.

In contrast I find play counts to be very useful if only to demonstrate that I really have been listening to the same 10 songs over and over. Why, I'm like radio!

What about you? Do you rate songs?

I'm a huge fan of goofy "As Seen on TV"-type ads, that's for sure. I loved the supercut set to The Beatles' "Help." But I saw an ad online today that tries so hard, it ends up failing:

I mean, you'd think a video about deodorant spray you can use on your buttcrack would be gold, but these guys try so hard. The testimonial near the end is so bogus and forced, it just feels ridiculous. And to show they were clearly going for the "Hey! Look at us! We're kitchy and hilarious!" demo, their site even references the ad and how "funny" they tried to make it.

Sorry. I'll pass. Now share some of that Sweet Simplicity...

You know -- the Progressive Woman (does she have a proper character name?) was kind of interesting the first time around. The concept was neat and well executed and she was funny and charming. But as soon as she became a recurring character (in other words, the second time she was used in a commercial), she got awfully annoying. And I think her lipstick got brighter.

Now, she's as annoying as the Geico gecko, ensuring I'll never use Progressive for auto insurance. (Eh, who am I kidding. I'd be too lazy to change even if I liked the Progressive Woman.)

I've always been curious about what's on the website of Captivate, the people who pump silly stats, polls, news, and weather into building elevators' screens. And boy, I'm glad I checked it out:



This has been fixed. Well, the asdf headlines have. But the awful design and HTML entities? They're still there. Quality!

Michael Jackson has been gone for over a year now. How're you feeling about it?

I imagine most of you have heard this, but yesterday we had an honest-to-God earthquake in the DC area. Sure, it was only a 3.6 magnitude, but it was the largest the area has ever seen.

We live a pretty decent distance from where the quake originated, but it was enough to wake me up. I gripped my bed and laid there thinking, first, "Shit. Our basement's going to explode." A few seconds passed and things were calm and I then thought, "OK... was that real? Or was that my Exploding Head Syndrome." I decided it was and went back to sleep. It wasn't until I woke up and turned on the news that I saw it was an actual earthquake. Craziness!

It's about as minor as they come, but I've gotta say that for someone who's never been in one before: it was kind of neat to experience once in a non-life-threatening kinda way.

I'm on a road trip at the moment (hence this missed Ping) and there's one thing I do back home I've noticed other people aren't doing in traffic. Do you play trombone while driving? No... wait.

Let's say you approach an intersection with a green light and you're turning left. There's a left turn lane. When you approach the intersection, do you stay behind the white line of the turn lane, or go past it into the intersection itself?

I always go into the intersection; that's how I learned to drive and it's definitely how people drive in Chicago. But in the south I've seen many people not do this and just stay behind the line. They may still turn when they have the opportunity, but if that passes, they'll need to wait for the next light.

Today's site you can get entirely lost in: Labelscar, which touts itself as "the retail history blog." I spent far too much time looking at information on old malls and shopping centers here, and I suspect you will too.