The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Friday, January 11, 2002

“Irony is hard, let's go shopping!”

A few weeks ago, I hacked the messages on our ATM: there are a bunch of places where you can change the messages it prints at the top of the screen, and the text it scrolls through while you're waiting for it to dispense its money. We've gotten complaints already!

Some Guy: What's up with the Unamerican shit on the ATM?

Devin: Unamerican?

Some Guy: Yeah, it says “SURPRISE SURPRISE, THE GOVERNMENT LIES!”

Devin: Uh… they do.

Some Guy: Yeah, but you're not supposed to say things like that! Especially not now!

Devin: Isn't that kind of the point of this country? That you're allowed to say whatever you believe?

So now I made some random chump actually think about it. My work here is done.

We got another complaint about the ATM as well: this other guy seemed very confused. “The ATM says `DESTROY CAPITALISM'—but then it charged me a service fee!” Irony is hard, let's go shopping!

Your Love Gives Me Such a Thrill, But Your Love Don't Pay My Bills

It's hard not to admire Jamie. He pretty much does what he pleases and doesn't suffer fools gladly. I'm catching up on his trials on setting up and now running the DNA Lounge, a club in San Fransico.

If only there were more people like him in the world.

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[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

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