Cubey Terra » Uncategorized

TerraVend system is offline

Steve 'Cubey' Cavers — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:56:43 +0000

If you own and operate a TerraVend vendor, you may have noticed that it’s switched itself off. This is because there is a communication problem between the system’s in-world server and the web server side of things. In short: It’s borked.

I’m looking into possible ways to fix this, but until then I hope I can ask for your patience. Sorry for any inconvenience.

If you’re looking to try or buy Terra products, you can still do that at Abbotts Aerodrome!

Phhht

Cubey Terra — Tue, 04 Mar 2003 14:04:00 +0000

Is it a bad sign when you turn on the computer and it goes phhht and smells of burnt plastic? If so, then I’m sorry Sabine, but I think I just killed your computer. Oops.

Rest in peace. 1995 – 2003.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep

Cubey Terra — Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:25:00 +0000

Geek culture has a new teen idol. Like most Internet fads (remember the “All Your Base…” phenomenon?), this one doesn’t seem to have any reason. I personally don’t get these fads. The “Hatt Baby” site was fun for a while, and if you think way back you’ll remember the Hamster Dance (“Doo do-doot doo doo do-doo…” etc.). And there may have been dozens of others that I missed — or ignored.

Now it’s Ellen’s turn. Apple has release a series of TV ads they call “Switch”, in which real people talk about switching from PC to Mac. (As an aside, does that ever happen? Personally, I think that once you’ve been possessed by the Microsoft demon, you’re doomed to serve the evil master of Redmond forever. I digress.)

A controversial ad in the Switch series features a teenage girl named Ellen Feiss, who appears to be, shall we say, a little… er… groggy. Some even conjecture that she’s sampled a bit of the happy herb. I’ve seen the ad on Apple.com, and I’m not sold on the drug theory. She just seems like a typical, sullen, red-eyed teen. Yet somehow, based only on one 30-second ad, this groggy girl has gained a loyal following amongst teenage geeks. Websites about Ellen Feiss have sprung up all over. Here are only a few:

http://www.deepmonkey.com

www.allyourtv.com

http://www.cafeshops.com

http://www.wemakedotcoms.com

http://efeiss.flatsoda.com/

Am I missing something? I mean, sure that “beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep” bit is kind of endearing, but how do you go from that to selling Ellen Feiss t-shirts and coffee mugs? To steal a line from Mr. Shatner (as I am wont to do)…

GET A LIFE, WILL YOU PEOPLE? I MEAN… FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, IT’S JUST A TV COMMERCIAL!

That’s all I really have to say. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch a taped episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

About my recent facelift…

Cubey Terra — Fri, 09 Aug 2002 10:28:00 +0000

Those of you who read this blog regularly, if there are such people, will notice a few changes. I spent a few hours last night in a frenzy of HTML markup, giving this site a facelift. You’ll notice two major changes, apart from the new layout, which I admit is too wide for many screens. I’ll trim it down in the coming days.

Firstly, I changed the title from “Automaton: a blog of a cubicle dweller” to simply “Cubicle Dweller”. As a technical writer, I enjoy making things more concise. It’s one of the few things that bring meaning to my life.

Secondly, My name no longer appears on the site. This is something that has been brewing on my mind for several days now, prompted in part by a blog entry on Chris Taylor’s blog, DailyBlah.com, and in part by a blog entry on Escribitionist.com.

There seem to be three kinds of bloggers out there: those who don’t care much about privacy and anonymity, and put their name and photo all over their blog, like Chris Taylor; those who wish to be anonymous, and avoid revealing their name, photo, or other details, like Escribitionist; and those who really haven’t thought about it and do a mix of both. If you have visited my site before, you know that I was more like the first of those three. Now I’ll just remain semi-anonymous… for a while.

Anyway, if you haven’t visited here before, hello. I’m usually at least a little more entertaining than this. It’s an off-day when I can’t muster even just a little bit of sarcasm.

If you’re a returning reader… um… hi… again.