I am the ghost of groovymother.com. Woooooo!

This is an old page from Rod Begbie's blog.

It only exists in an attempt to prevent linkrot. No new content will be added to this site, and links and images are liable to be broken. Check out begbie.com to find where I'm posting stuff these days.

Entries for Saturday, October 28, 2006

October 28, 2006

clubNAMCO.com :: Toys :: PAC-MAN® Moving Power-Plush

Wicked awesome (albeit pricey) “waddling” PacMan + Ghosts plush toys. (But what’s with this “NOT available to ship to addresses in Massachusetts” bullshit?!)

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Scenes from my life (No. 96 in an occasional series)

I don’t particularly like giving out my personal information when not absolutely necessary. I also try to avoid being a good source of data to datamarts. So on those principles, I have several supermarket loyalty cards for the two local chains in my glove box, all acquired under false names and addresses. When Joy & I go shopping, I pull one out at random, and that’s our identity for the day.

(I also trade them from time to time with friends, so in the datamarts’ eyes, I switch from junk-food-loving lactose-intolerant dog-owner to crunchy-granola family-of-four in the blink of an eye)

This recently led to a cashier looking at her terminal, and then asking me, “Is your name really Bubba?” (Oh yeah, I should mention that the names are always ludicrous, and frequently alliterative.)

This evening, as we did our shop, I realised that we’d forgotten to bring a card in with us. Hurrah! An excuse to sign up for a new card. (This is particularly easy at our local Shaws, as the customer service booth is before the checkouts rather than after, so I can go sign up while Joy frets about the amount of frozen shite in our cart and considers throwing in at least some fresh fruit, which may or may not get eaten)

So I get my form, fill it out and hand it over to the customer service person. Normally they just chuck it into a folder and give me my card, but this lady decided to double-check my details.

Her: OK, so that’s Lionel Q. Butterkinger?
Me: No, ButterFinger. Like the candy bar. Sorry, I just have bad handwriting.
Her: (Without batting an eyelid, amends my form to make the “F” in Butterfinger clearer). And that’s 17 Hershey Street?
Me: No, not “Hershey”—Hersey St
Her: OK, here you go. (Hands me card)
Me: (Returns to Joy, who always keeps a safe distance while I perform this nonsense) Tsk. They only have checkboxes for “Mr”, “Mrs”, or “Ms”. I wanted to be Sir Lionel Q Butterfinger.

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5 Myths About Turning Out The Vote - washingtonpost.com

“the idea that ever fewer Americans are showing up at the polls should be put to rest. What’s really happening is that the number of people not eligible to vote is rising — making it seem as though turnout is dropping.”

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Nintendo.com Games : Clubhouse Games

Attention DS-owning chums-of-mine: My Clubhouse Games friend code is 3866-2922-6013. Let me know yours’, and let’s get some virtual Texas Hold’em action going!

Frozen Bubble - the official home

Truly excellent open-source Bust-a-Move clone hits 2.0. Features, oh yes, internet multiplayer mode. My productivity hits new lows. (No Windows or OSX port yet, but hopefully only a matter of time)

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Irritating Game

“Which Uses 100% of Your Brain” Goddamn, this is tough.

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[Full-disclosure] RFID enabled e-passport skimming proof of concept code released (RFIDIOt)

“This program will exchange crypto keys with the [RFID-chipped] passport and read and display the contents therein, including the facial image and the personal data printed in the passport.”

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About This Site

This is an archive of groovmother.com, the old blog run by Rod Begbie — A Scottish geek who lives in San Francisco, CA.

I'm the co-founder of Sōsh, your handy-dandy guide for things to do in San Francisco this weekend.