essays & effluvia: December 2004

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Happy Festivus!

"There must be a better way. And, out of that, a new holiday was born. A Festivus, For the Rest Of Us!" — Frank Costanza, Seinfeld

What is Festivus?

Festivus is a holiday held on 23 December of each year. It was created by Mr. Frank Costanza, father of Seinfeld character George Costanza. Frank became tired of holiday commercialism and wanted a holiday for the ordinary person. From this thought Festivus was born: "A Festivus for the rest of us!"

Festivus does not have all the commercial trappings of Christmas and Hanukkah, instead it approaches the holiday as a time to bring the family together and 'bond' with one another.

Festivus begins with the decorating of the Festivus pole, followed by dinner (at which time begins the airing of the grievances). Festivus is brought to closure by the feats of strength competition. And through it all, the family celebrats Festivus with a plain aluminum pole as a decoration.

The Festivus celebration includes three major components:

1. The Airing of Grievances

The airing of the grievances takes place during Festivus supper.

Each member present discusses a grievance they have with someone else present at the table.
This list of Grievances Worksheet will help you get your grievances organized.

2. The Feats of Strength

Once dinner is completed, the feats of strength takes place.

This is when the head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant and usually consists of some form of wrestling. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned.

A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead.

This Official Challenge Card makes challenging someone for your Feats of Strength easy, and fun too!

3. The Festivus Pole

During Festivus, an unadorned aluminum pole is displayed in opposition to the commercialization of the decorated Christmas trees and because the holiday's creator, Frank Costanza "finds tinsel distracting."

Decorations should be kept to a minimum. The idea is to keep the cost down.

About the Festivus Pole:
Material - an aluminum pole works well
Height - about 6 feet tall
Diameter - about 2"

Building a stand for your Festivus Pole: A simple stand can keep it upright (a couple of 1x4 boards work well).

via Soupuser
http://www.souperuser.com/festivus/

Posted at 09:29 AM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

HearUsNow: a Consumer Resource

Consumers Union has released a new telecommunications and media online resource: HearUsNow

Its worth checking out.

The site offers in-depth reading on over 60 consumer related telecom issues. Consumer tips on what to do before you buy, understanding your bills after and making companies listen when you are unhappy (from phone services to copyright rules on digital content). There are also 7 different ways to make a difference in less then 2 minutes (see "Get Heard" on the left bar and click the red link). Hearusnow.org gives consumers the ability to work for change on an individual level and provides hundreds of resources to join efforts already going on across the country.

And there is a fun movie to watch, a spoof on a current TV show, but more importantly puts media consolidation (a somewhat dry topic) in to a nice, easily digestible, package.

You can help spread the word by going to HearUsNow
http://www.hearusnow.org/

Posted at 05:18 AM in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

The Graphing Calculator Story

A very funny explanation as to how a former employee of Apple kept breaking INTO the building to code software: He ended up creating the Graphing Calculator:

"This is an old story, but I've only told it in person before. Now that I've put it in print, I thought you might enjoy it.

"It's midnight. I've been working sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. I'm not being paid. In fact, my project was canceled six months ago, so I'm evading security, sneaking into Apple Computer's main offices in the heart of Silicon Valley, doing clandestine volunteer work for an eight-billion-dollar corporation."

The story behind the Macintosh Graphing Calculator is at
http://www.PacificT.com/Story

Be sure to read the simple explanation as to why this never made it to Windows (at the very end) . . .

via interesting people

Posted at 06:27 AM in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack