Author Archives: Jeff Porten

Not ashamed to admit that the latest episode of Doctor Who made me cry. Twice.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@jeffporten If you’d like to lose your love for the episode listen to an upcoming Incomparable. Although parts I loved.

@GlennF Just because I listen to you, doesn’t mean I have to *agree* with you. Besides, I have to *wait* to hear it? Harrumph.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@jeffporten We were live last night!

@GlennF I’m supposed to listen live? Can’t do that, Johnny Carson is on. Then the Star-Spangled Banner followed by snow static on my iPod.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@jeffporten Thus ends the broadcasting day in the eternal tuner of the staticky mind.

@GlennF If that means I get to sleep with Kate Winslet, I’ll take that Mental Disorder for $1,000, Alex.

@GlennF Many blind people with Asperger’s Syndrome have said that I remind them of Jim Carrey.

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
How is it that Bento doesn’t sync with iCloud?

@danfrakes How is it that Bento and FMP haven’t figured out how huge the market would be for usable turnkey DBs on the iPhone?

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
@jeffporten <headshake>

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
Dr friend looking for time-tracking app that *doesn’t* use timers. Wants to choose category and enter time (eg, “consult, 15m”). Recs?

@danfrakes If that were my client, I’d probably suggest the Calendar app. Then sum everything up with AppleScript.

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
@jeffporten @SoaDMTGguy He wants: +, category, name, time, Done

@danfrakes @soadmtgguy Or this could be a FileMaker to Go app in a very short amount of time.

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
@jeffporten @SoaDMTGguy Billings and harvest are overkill, yes. I was also thinking FM or Bento.

@danfrakes @soadmtgguy Wouldn’t recommend Bento, but haven’t used it for years. FM since he may want some custom reporting in N months.

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
@jeffporten @SoaDMTGguy I don’t have FM, but I just used Bento for iphone to set up exactly what he wants. Question is summary reports.

@danfrakes @soadmtgguy If Bento can export these days, have him contact me if he wants an FMP db to do summaries.

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
@jeffporten @SoaDMTGguy It syncs with the Mac version…over a local WiFi network <headshake>. FM is probably a better bet.

@danfrakes @soadmtgguy Or Numbers? More clicks, but a hell of a lot cheaper than hiring a guy like me.

Dan Frakes @danfrakes:
@jeffporten @soadmtgguy Yeah, the minimal clicks thing is the key here. He’s a Dr., wants to be able to tap, tap, tap, move on.

@danfrakes @soadmtgguy I have FM & FMToGo. Biggest part of the estimate would be the reports; the rest is cake.

Nate Silver @fivethirtyeight:
Fun simulation today: Obama loses OH, but wins FL, but loses ME 2nd district. 269-269 tie. yfrog.com/ob12nxup

@fivethirtyeight The red states in that picture are the ones that will be in flames in that scenario.

Melody Kramer @mkramer:
I want to start a dating service for people featured in physics problems.

@mkramer Dick is approaching his date at 0.92c. How much older will he be than Jane when he arrives?

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
A post about Rory Williams with spoilers from last night. If you’ve seen Angels, you can read it. blog.glennf.com/mtarchives/008…

@GlennF Hard to comment on your blog when you don’t allow comments…. But I think you got them all.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@jeffporten Did I turn them off? Used to be available. I think I had spam attacks.

@GlennF PS — how old is that pic of you on Yahoo Pipes page? Long before I met you/knew you, but I recognize the picture! Very odd.

Scholle McFarland @schollem:
@jeffporten @GlennF I think that was for a story Glenn did for me!

@schollem @glennf It’s weird. Like having a flashback to the 27-year-old self I forgot I had.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
The Loop: “Verizon Wireless customers will not be charged for any unwarranted cellular data usage” bit.ly/Si9HIO

Lex Friedman @lexfri:
@GlennF I linked you to my very own article saying that many hours ago. Then you called me ugly. #Awesome ;)

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@lexfri DID YOU HAVE THE PRECISE STATEMENT FROM VERIZON REP

Lex Friedman @lexfri:
@GlennF Yes.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@lexfri Reading is hard.

Lex Friedman @lexfri:
@GlennF And so are you. Wait.

@lexfri @glennf Another mental image I will have to spend hours scrubbing from my brain.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
People are apparently freaking out about “end of world” b/c major media ignoring it. NASA scientist helping inform: wny.cc/ShMiqY

Jason Snell @jsnell:
@GlennF major media also ignoring alien invasions, implosion of sun, cancellation of Firefly, rapid evolution of Death Cucumbers.

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@jsnell Yeah, but kids are apparently freaked out because it’s on the Internet and there’s no refutation

Dan Moren @dmoren:
@GlennF @jsnell I mean, I remembering being freaked out by the same rumor when I was in 7th grade. And I didn’t even know about the Internet

Glenn Fleishman @GlennF:
@dmoren @jsnell Oh, Dan, when I was a kid, it was the risk of global thermonuclear war.

@GlennF @dmoren @jsnell Especially if you played chess with computers.

Dan Savage @fakedansavage:
Smokers who take one last drag before boarding bus & slowly exhale smoke as they walk down bus looking for a seat = lowest form of humanity.

@fakedansavage In fairness to we smokers, we usually have no idea that smoke is in our lungs. Can’t feel them anymore.

Alex Abboud @alexabboud:
With city & casino biz in long decline, Atlantic City reinvents itself #everythingdiesbabythatsafact philly.com/philly/busines…

@alexabboud The regional conference idea isn’t bad—close to and lots of transportation from NYC and Philly.

@jeffporten @alexabboud Better than prior idea of “let’s make AC stop being a shithole.” That’s not something they can control.

Dan Moren @dmoren:
Just sitting here, pretending a sesame breadstick is a cigar. The usual. cl.ly/Jq6l

@dmoren Olive Garden’s “unlimited cigars” promotion was surprisingly unsuccessful.

Peter Cohen @flargh:
BREAKING NEWS: Yahoo CEO Mayer gives birth to a baby boy, sacrifices it to Huitzilopochtli to guarantee Yahoo’s continued survival.

@flargh Perhaps he was suffering from a brain cloud.

Emily Jacobi @emjacobi:
More specifically – my birthday is the end of December & I want to plan a trip that maximizes chances of seeing Aurora. What would you do?

@emjacobi Can’t remember if time of year matters, but hinterlands of Canada for “roughing it”, or cruise ship for comfort.

Lex Friedman @lexfri:
And now Sierra learned an important life lesson: Don’t stick pomegranate seeds in your nostrils.

@lexfri I think she’s supposed to spend a month in hell for each one she got in there.