internet

Full Google Circles Walkthrough (with audio)

Welcome to Google Circles, the exciting new social networking platform from your friends at Google. If you’ve used Google products in the past, you’re going to feel right at home with Circles! We’ll help you keep in touch with your friends, share your life experiences and have fun, all with a user interface that you’ve come to expect from Google. Let’s take a look at some the key features that set us apart from the other social networking platforms.

Zero Set Up. Thank you for sharing all of your information with Google over the years. We really appreciate it! Now we’re going to return the favor by building your Circles account for you with a single click. We’ve safely stored your name, date of birth, address, social security number, sexual orientation, credit card numbers, fears, hopes, dreams, blood type, communicable diseases, body mass index, fingerprint, perversions and the name of your pets. Once you click Sign Up your Circles account is automatically created with all of your current information.

Building Your Circle. Other social networks scan your contact lists for your friends, but that can yield a lot of false positive results. You’re not friends with AAA or your dentist’s receptionist, right? Google Circles goes one step further by scanning your previous Google searches for names and automatically adding them to your Circle. Remember that time you searched Google for Brianna Mansour? Surely you remember Brianna, you both lost your virginity to each other in high school. You searched for the phrase “brianna mansour dead in car wreck please” on April 16th, 2006. Well, you don’t need to search for Brianna anymore because she’s in your Circle, and she’s doing great! This is just one example of how we can help you build your Circle thanks to the extensive records we’ve been keeping. You’re welcome!

Staying in the Loop. We can also use your daily search history to craft perfect status updates. You don’t even have to do anything, just go about your daily life and Google Circles will handle the rest. Based on your Google searches over the weekend, we’ve created the following status update for you –

Today I’m taking the 6 Train to 33rd STREET LEXINGTON, and walking to 570 SECOND AVENUE – AMC LOEWS KIPS BAY to see “Gnomeo & Juliet 3-D” (1 ticket). Then I’m walking to the nearest Old Navy for size 44 x 28 pants. What do herpes smell like? Then I’m going to eat lunch at McDONALD’S MUST HAVE BALL PIT KIDS BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Privacy. We take privacy very seriously.

Raise Your Voice! Are you one of the millions of satisfied Android or Google Voice users? Try syncing your phone to your Google Circles account and get ready to have some fun! Randomly throughout the day we’ll record your phone conversations and post them to your page, so you and your friends can listen to your personalized audio time capsule! We call these Voice Updates. Who were you talking to yesterday? Did you talk about Google Circles? Maybe you had a conversation with someone stationed overseas! I’ll bet you hope we randomly recorded that one. We’ve recorded one of your conversations and posted it to your Circles page as an example, take a listen:

Google Circles Voice Update

Come Full Circles. We’ve spent years working on Google Circles, building the platform from the ground up with the help of your personal data. We couldn’t have done it without you! Over the next few months we’ll be rolling out even more advanced features that will change the way you think about social networking, privacy and the legitimacy of some of our competitors. We think you’ll agree that Google Circles is three hundred and sixty degrees of fun.
For more info: The Next Web | Anguished Repose | Rusmore

Twangy Wacky Country Music Presents: ODDLY ENOUGH

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been updating the site every Tuesday and Friday! Yes, congratulate me, thanks so much. And the site is picking up steam! All without mentioning “Charlie Sheen tiger blood winning breakdowns #teamsheen,” “hot lolita springbreak fuck adventures” or “iPad 2 specs unboxing Steve Jobs death grip.” None of those hit-generating phrases were mentioned, and they never will. This week, let’s take a look at some of the stories that haven’t been getting as much play – let’s mine Reuters’ Oddly Enough for content and feel great about ourselves.

If this was a news magazine show, this first story would come fully equipped with twangy “this is wacky” country music. The kind of music that’s usually associated with crazy Christians handing out doomsday tracts to cosplaying pirates, or an exposé of an old tyme general store that sells nothing but antique whoopie cushions. Oh ho ho, people sure are dumb and this “aw shucks” diddy should really drive that point home.

Why is this headline asking a question when it clearly has all of its facts straight? Man Speeds With Wife on Hood of Minivan? Yes. Fact. Man speeds with wife on hood of minivan. Have some confidence in your reporting Reuters Oddly Enough, you’re doing great. We’ve all been here – living in Manteca, smoking some meth on a Saturday morning, wife is bitching about something or other (ooh, go pick up some sea salt from Trader Joe’s even though we have a full canister of regular salt just sitting in the pantry, ah duh duh duh). You know what? I’m Christopher Carroll, 36, and I’ve got things to do, and none of those things involves purchasing exorbitant salts for my wife. And now we’re fighting.

Oddly enough, this horse owns 90% of the tri-state area. CRAZY RIGHT?

Now again, if this was a news magazine show (a classy one like Hard Copy or A Current Affair), the twangy country music would kick into high gear once the reenactress playing Christopher Carroll’s wife climbed onto the hood of the minivan. Like, overalls with no shirt underneath, blowing into a brown jug marked XXX, spitting chewing tobaccee into a rusty Folgers can levels of twang. Yee-hawwwww, we’re goin’ for a ride darlin’! A 40 mile ride at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour with your wife clinging to the hood of a minivan, Death Proof style, and you’ve smoked as much meth as Tarantino has snorted coke this morning. I did some detective work of my own and verified that Manteca, CA really is 40 miles from Pleasanton, CA, where Christopher’s wife finally rolled off the hood. Thankfully no one was hurt becau- twang-a-lang doopity-doot-doot-twang faaaaaart.

California Woman Sues After Slipping on a Banana Peel. This happens every few years, right? Some old Looney Toons comedic staple happens in real life, like an Acme safe falls 100 stories and liquefies a pedestrian, or a man sees an attractive woman and his heart literally pounds itself out of his rib cage, grows angel wings and flies up to heaven. Banana peels can be just as deadly. Just ask Ida Valentine, 58, who was minding her own business at her local 99 cent store when all of a sudden whoooa-whoooa-whoooa, arms flailing backwards CRASH into a shelf of leaking Duracille batteries and expired baby food.

Now she’s going to sue the everloving shit out of the 99 cent store, Chiquita, and gravity to the tune of $ALLTHEMONEYINTHEWORLD.99. And she’ll probably win because, your honor, if it pleases the court, we’re going to play a few rounds of Mario Kart. And we’re going to PROVE, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ida’s experience at the 99 Cents Only store is not an isolated incident, as seen here at the Coconut Mall, Rainbow Road and even the lowly Luigi Circuit. Bananas littering the roads; karts (sic), motorcycles and adorable dinosaurs spinning out of control and sometimes into oncoming traffic. When asked for comment, Ida Valentine’s lawyer replied, “It’s bullshit that whoever’s in first place gets stuck with bananas and green shells while the rest of the losers tied for 12th place get blue shells and lightning bolts. Nevertheless, despite these unlawful circumstances, I’ma gonna weeeeeen!”

Hidden Kafka Papers Revealed to Israeli Court. According to the giant byline, “Writings by Franz Kafka and his friend Max Brod which have been hidden away for decades have been brought to light at an Israeli court and could reveal more on the life of one of the 20th century’s greatest authors.” After visiting the Franz Kafka Museum in Prague last year, I’m totally okay with knowing less about the life of one of the 20th century’s greatest authors. The first few rooms of the museum were pretty typical – newspaper clippings and photos documenting Kafka’s life in Prague. A few rooms later you’re walking down a stairway into hell, featuring rooms filled with oversized filing cabinets and telephones that never stop ringing (Kafka didn’t love his office job). There’s a circular room in the middle of the basement that you can peer into through small slits and watch a film of skin being slit over and over. Oh, and a tiny model of a man being crushed in a vice. It’s like walking through Eraserhead’s apartment. When you finally reach daylight, there are two statues standing in front of the museum – men facing each other, peeing into a pool with rotating hips. Here’s a video walkthrough (not mine).

Will these hidden papers add another wing to the museum? Maybe there can be a dark room where a gun is held to your head while you watch 8mm abortion documentaries. Or they could build a planetarium where the night sky is ripped in half by a half man half insect that descends from the roof and flicks your ear for an hour, vomits on you and then eats your skin. Way to go Kafka! Your museum is batshit fucking crazy.

My invitation to Nicki Minaj’s 40th birthday party.

As a prominent figure on the internet, I receive a lot of special offers and freebies. And this isn’t just because my email address is plastered all over the place and spam robots find it and… ok that’s exactly why. I get a lot of spam. But this amazing advertisement for Urban Nightlife Org snuck through the spam filter, and intrigued me with its subject: Nicki Minaj 40in|Free Birthday Parties|New Wknd Events… At first glance I thought I was invited to Nicki Minaj’s 40th birthday party, which didn’t sound right for about a thousand reasons (her age, she probably doesn’t have my new email address, etc), but I clicked anyway. And this is what I got. The longest advertisement for… I don’t know if this is one place or just an advertisement for being a young urban professional that likes to party. Which, hey, I’m all for that. But the amount of graphics, along with the sheer length of this email is just incredible. This is somewhat SFW, unless your job has something against partying (oh, and I removed all of the links because they looked shady as shit).

Texting With Charles

Inmates have cell phones and they’re texting, clicking “like” icons next to their favorite rodeo all-stars and reviewing products on Amazon that they totally didn’t buy. The Department of Corrections is like, “This is a huge problem” and then an inmate is like, “Can I borrow your phone for a second? I need to check this lottery ticket and if I win I’ll give you $150,000” and the Department of Corrections is all, “Slide to unlock good sir.”
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Last year, one guard claimed he made $150,000 smuggling phones. He was fired but never charged with anything. Richard Subia, of California’s Department of Corrections, says smuggling cell phones to convicts isn’t a crime. “It’s very frustrating to me that we have people who work for our organization that are willing to risk the lives of their fellow employees,” he says. “It creates another risk for the employees and inmates in our facilities, as well as the public at large.”

The most notorious inmate caught with a cell phone is Charles Manson. He was caught with a flip phone back in March 2009, then again this past January with yet another cell. Prison officials say Manson called and texted numbers in Florida, New Jersey and British Columbia.
– http://www.npr.org/2011/02/08/133591495/calif-law-calls-for-stricter-prison-cell-phone-rules

David Berkowitz just asked me to the prom!

So, it’s probably time for me to come clean – every day around 4:30 in the afternoon my phone tri-tones and there’s a text message from Charles Manson waiting for me. I don’t know how he got my number. Maybe I’m one number off from Squeaky Fromme? Maybe he thought he was texting Dennis Wilson and got me instead. Regardless, he’s delightfully erudite, and will talk for hours about the environment, his favorite television show (Rizzoli and Isles), and the number of inmates he’s attempted to skin and live inside over the years. Our first conversation went a little something like this:

Charles Manson: 20thousnd sicopath dune buggies all look @ me like G.O.D.
John: Who is this?
Charles Manson: im your minds eye 3rd eye path way to I AM
John: Holy shit, is this Charles Manson?
Charles Manson: yup :D

Sometimes the playful side of Manson would come peeking out as if to say, “Hello, I’m a big ol’ bearded pixie, and I’m about to carve truth doctrines into your funny bone.”

John: How’s it going Charles? Today sucks, hope all is well with you.
Charles Manson: there ar 3 orientals with hachets comin over the hills
John: Oh my god, totally. Today this guy at my job was like ‘did you sign Gloria’s birthday card?’ and I was like, ‘No, I didn’t even see it’ and he said she already opened it. So pissed.
Charles Manson: WHO IS TH MAN ON THIS SET /.. WHO CONTRLS THE LITE ON THIS SET? CLARK GABLE? fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
John: LOL I know!
Charles Manson: fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffarts

I was very careful to keep topics centered on Charles Manson’s favorite subject – the life and times of Charles Manson. Current movies, music or pretty much anything that happened after the Sharon Tate murders were off limits. He did know all the words to Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” though, which I thought was strange. Also, he took chain letters VERY seriously, and was convinced that if he didn’t forward them to 5 friends, something terrible would happen to him and everyone he loved. And then, almost as quickly as our daily back-and-forth started, it was over. Our final conversation (while unbeknownst to me at the time) would be undeniably chilling…

Charles Manson: i’m a jackal sunspot, these walls dont contane me – coo coo ca who? coo coo ca YOU ;)
John: That’s pretty deep Charles. Something on your mind?
Charles Manson: i have x’d myself from ur wrld. l8r
John: All right, but don’t be a stranger Charles. Shine on you crazy diamond.
Charles Manson: FWD: FWD: Fwd:Send this message to 5 of your friends and you will have unbelieveble sex tonight! If you break this chain, you’ll never have multiple orgasm again!
John: You got it Charles. You got it.

Santa Claus Conquers the Elians (like Gonzalez)

Can you believe that it’s 2010 and little kids still believe in Santa Claus? This came to me as I was running through the mall the other day, trying desperately to return a shirt without looking at anyone or saying more words than, “Don’t want, you give money.” There, in front of Victoria’s Secret and a kiosk that sells nothing but remote controlled helicopters, was Santa. And in front of Santa was a long line of rosy-cheeked cherubs and their nervous parents, hoping that if they focus their brain power hard enough their child won’t have a reality-bending panic attack before their picture is taken. Meanwhile, I’m having my own reality-bending panic attack in line at Old Navy because everyone in front of me is attempting to buy something without a price tag on it. It’s Old Navy. Whatever it is, just assume it’s $6.99 and LET’S GO GO GO.

Yes predictive Google image search, I was searching for images of Santander.

In a world where kids have access to the internet, how can Santa still exist? And I’m not talking about that “ooh the glorious spirit of St. Nickleclaus that lives inside each and every one of us” bullshit. I mean, the concept of a man entering your house in the middle of the night, depositing toys and videogames on your living room floor (for free), and then leaving before your parents have the opportunity to either call the police or beat him to death with a yule log. It doesn’t add up! And I guess that’s where the magic and wonder of Christmas comes in, but I was a pretty jaded kid. If the internet existed when I was 6 (shut up, I know it existed you nerds), chances are pretty good that my parents would find a history trail of hastily spelled Google searches and cross-referenced Wikipedia articles proving that what Keith Malcolm said at recess was true – Guns N’ Roses are the best band ever, and Santa Claus isn’t real.

So kids still believe in him; does that mean mall Santas with real beards are still a thing? When a mall Santa has a real beard it’s a sign of authenticity – this man is serious about spreading holiday cheer. The same cannot be said for mall Santas that are 350 pounds and constantly talking to children during the off season. “Ho-ho-ho, it’s August and now my sleigh is this van, boys and girls! It’s like a workshop on wheels, filled with hobby horses and jack-in-the-boxes and eight tiny reindeer or whatever… don’t tell your parents that we’re friends, ok boys and girls? HO-HO-OH GOD MY HEART!” It’s funny because he’s fat and there’s implied child rape.

So, ‘tis the season, I guess. My favorite Christmas tradition is when my father pulls me aside and apologizes for lying to me about the existence of Santa Claus. Every year, without fail. And this is going back, like, more than 20 years now. I’m leaving out cookies for Santa and carrots for Rudolph and my father’s stomach is just knotted with guilt… I’m lying to my son in the name of commercialism! ARGH FUCKING CHRISTMAS I HATE IT! My poor father. I was pretty ok with the whole Santa isn’t real thing once I realized that I could still ask for Star Wars figures and Nintendo games and get them. But not the Lego Monorail, because it was like $150,000.