Summary: enter the Konami code (up up down down left right left right B A Enter) outside of a textbox, and you get lens flares with clicks and down/up keys. Interesting! Looking through the static javascript, you can see the easter egg code, pasted in here (yes, it’s gonna run off the page):

onloadRegister(function(){var secrets=[38,38,40,40,37,39,37,39,66,65,13],ii=0;function fn(evt){var kk=evt?evt.keyCode:event.keyCode;if(ii==-1){return;}else if(secrets[ii]==kk){++ii;if(ii==secrets.length){new AsyncRequest('/ajax/lensflare.php').setReadOnly(true).setMethod('GET').send();ii=-1;}}else if(ii){ii=0;}}

Must resist the overwhelming urge to do bandwidth testing, nmap scans, Linux hacking the entertainment system, playing Left 4 Dead, and streaming video. I am only traveling places Virgin goes to from now on. Now if they just had complementary massages, free alcohol, and a place to lie down and sleep.

Just read the suggestion that Babson administration wants to “continue to encourage social distancing and discourage congregating.” Yikes. I do not want this. As my students would say: Do. Not. Want. Go away virus!

Yikes.

Reading my good friend Debbie’s blog zed equals zee, it became clear that for her, writing about her passion for independent music is truly just that: a passion. My blog has pretty much no topic focus, and therefore serves basically as a space-unlimited Twitter feed.

And speaking of time…I just ran out. Carter woke up and a mouse ran across our kitchen floor. Simultaneously. Gotta go. Sigh.

Wish I had more time…

More about that “more posting” part later. I hope.

Holy crap. This is my 100th post. Wow.

Awesome. The Apple MacBook Air comes with No CD-DVD Drive. Totally fuckin’ rad. And Steve, being the nice guy that he is, isn’t charging a dime for it!

Car companies like doing this a lot. Take, for instance, the Subaru Impreza. By itself, “Subaru Impreza” stands for your basic Japanese econo-box car (albeit with all-wheel drive, woot). Append the letters “WRX” to the end, and you have yourself a car that every boy racer has wanted for over a decade. Go another step further and append “WRX STI”, and you get fans of the marque drooling for a test drive.

Impreza < WRX < STI:

Some car manufacturers are a little more subtle. Honda does the DX, LX, EX thing. Toyota? LE, SE, and XLE. BMW has M. Audi has S and RS. Mercedes has AMG. You get the picture. Do this for every product in every flavor, and it becomes hard for the average buyer to find that one special product to really spend their money on.

Enter Blackness. Yes. Black. Everyone is on board with black now. Makes it easy for the discerning buyer (you) to spend an extra dollar or two

The original may be Johnnie Walker Black Label whiskey. Of course, they have Red, Green, Gold, and the coveted Blue labels as well. But we’re concentrating on black for now.

Mercedes recently got on the bandwagon with their comically-named Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series super-coupe. Oh, they also had the SLK55 AMG Black Series supercar. Still, it seems like a seriously premium product deserving of the “black” label.

Well, how about the Odyssey Black Series golf clubs? First, click the link and marvel at its similarity to the CLK 63 AMG Black Series web site. Looks like “black series” makes it impossible to not use a black background and dark colors. But back to these premium clubs. I don’t play golf, so I have no idea. But I do know this: these must be better than Odyssey’s non-Black Series clubs.

Cars and clubs not your speed? How about clothing? Ralph Lauren has the Black Label Resort Collection for your buying pleasure. They take the idea of “black” to new level. Reading the description, “… new styles in bright whites and blue accents define the season’s chic look”. Hmmm. No black to be found. But still, better than the “regular” Ralph Lauren.

Since you’ve got the whiskey, the car, the clubs, and the shirts, you must be going on a trip. No travel is complete without luggage. To the rescue is Samsonite Black Label, complete with their very own domain name. No information as to how these are better than the other crap they sell, just know that you get “bespoke style as unique as you are”. Awesome.

Now, if appending Black Label/Series to regular products just doesn’t make you stand out enough, why not try on some Black Label clothing courtesy of Rita DiLorenzo. No appending anything here. The whole shebang is just called Black Label. Now that’s exclusive.

Of course, Black Label-ing products can’t be just for the well-dressed. What about the geek/tech market, you ask? Don’t worry, AMD has you covered with their super-l33t AMD Athlon 64 X2 Black Edition 5000+ processor. So far as I can tell, this gets you a regular CPU with an unlocked clock multiplier in a black box. Oh, excuse me, that’s an all-black collector’s edition box. Since you are part of the club, you can download cool graphics and stickers for your water-cooled transparent case right here.

Now, if that isn’t just the right set of blackness for you, don’t forget to get EA’s Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Black Edition. Certainly, a great message to send to our African-American gaming youth.

Don’t want to drive, wear, pack, play, or process your specialness? How about eat? Ghirardelli makes a Black Label Chocolate Sauce to set the tone at your next holiday party. For that extra something, try Wheeler’s Black Label Vegan Ice Cream! Awesome website.

And for that extra oh crap punch at the morning breakfast table, why not strap on some Hormel Black Label bacon? Honestly, I never thought I’d be typing the words “black label bacon” and uploading a picture named “blacklabelbacon.jpg”. Oh, here it is:

There you go. We’ve reached the pinnacle of product differentiation through naming schemes. Repeat after me: black label bacon.

What. The. Fuck.

But seriously, where can I get some? What’s next? Products with other colors? Pink? Red? Nah.

Semester start: August 30, 2007
Last post: September 30, 2007
Semester end: December 21, 2007
Today: December 25, 2007

Ah. I see a trend. But really, I haven’t had too much to write about in the past months. If I blogged about daily life, it’d go something like this:

• Working.
• Working @ Home.
• Playing with my son.
• Doing housework.

Rinse. Repeat.

But now, the holidays are here, and work slows down a little. (Not really. I have two papers to write, and a grant to propose, and some research to get done. But hey, whatever.) Maybe it’s time to start the ritual again.