Eddie Izzard: the Death Star cafeteria

And it really is more fun to watch this Lego animation that someone assembled, than to watch Izzard onstage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw&feature=related

The Basics

You might know someone's who's going to have a baby.

Here are some basic instructions...
... very basic.

http://www.wackyarchives.com/offbeat/caring-for-a-baby-101.html

SLEEVEFACING => Vinyl LIVES !

New Word coined (info from WorldWideWords):

SLEEVEFACING

This curious fashion has reached the point this month
at which it has begun to be mentioned in the UK media.

On Facebook, people have taken to posting photographs of
themselves with their faces obscured by an LP record sleeve
to create an arresting visual illusion.

The Observer recently noted, "The main motivation behind
such 'Sleevefacers' is to create larfs (in some cases 'awesome
larfs'), while letting it be known they are groovingly cool enough
to collect vinyl."

The WOW Report is plangently enthusiastic about it:
"Sleevefacing's the sensation that's sweeping the nation.
Or it should be."


BTW, Urban Dictionary defines Larf as "a good time, or a good idea"

: A Luke Skywalker robotic arm for amputees

from a friend

On the site at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/video?id=221
is a good discussion, along with video of the device in use.

The inventor is the same man who created the Segway.

This could possibly result in other Bionic-type devices

that would help those who cannot walk on their own

regain that freedom and independence someday.

RE: quick, gimmie an ASCII dollar bill

I sent that dancing girl ASCII animation to a friend, who replied:

It's just like the Matrix.
If you stare into the code, you can see the people.

quick, gimmie an ASCII dollar bill

Just what you've never needed.

: Best slow motion balloon pop ever

You've seen slo-mo balloon pop videos before.

This one's much better.

For two reasons.

http://www.break.com/index/best-slow-motion-balloon-pop-ever.html

Just about the closest you'll get to Free Money

The Pennsylvania Treasury Department may have money that belongs to you.
Really.


from the PA Treasury Website:

Each year, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department receives millions of dollars in unclaimed property from abandoned bank accounts, forgotten stocks, checks that have not been cashed, certificates of deposit, life insurance policies, safe deposit boxes and other sources.

We maintain custody of this unclaimed property, while working hard to return it to its rightful owners.

The Treasury Department is seeking the owners of over $1 billion in unclaimed property. Since January 2005, we have returned nearly $314 million to over 225,000 owners.

=====

Go to the PA Treasury website (http://www.patreasury.org/). On the navigation panel on the left, find "Search the Database" under the Unclaimed Property header. Then enter your name. If the state has money that belongs to you, it'll appear in the returned search page, and it'll tell you if the amount is under or over $100

My mother was in the database, and received money from old stock that my father used to own.

Yes, there are forms to fill out and get notarized, and it takes about 2 months to process, but seriously, this is the closest you'll get to free money.

Mersey Beat Heavy Metal ?

.
When you cross The Beatles with Led Zeppelin, you get this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WfoccRna6I

---

Climb to the top of the charts! Play the word scramble challenge with star power. Play now!

Of interest to Musicians

From a friend of mine, who is a musician:
=====



Who knew that vegetables could sound so good?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GabHGlGm14


And from the same mad genius:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl6jEnGnHF0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3OxKdDxkpg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3S8O9HAr1g&feature=related

(plus several other hybrids, including carrot/apple and carrot/mushroom)


--

Three GIs storm the beach

This video clip shows how the Omaha Beach part of 'Saving Private Ryan' was done.

Three guys, a car, some props, and a ton of Green Screens and Digital Compositing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9cpOMYv0 I liked 'Saving Private Ryan', but I liked the x-rated version better... 'Shaving Ryan's Privates'

---

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Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser! Learn more.

fallout from the Tech Bubble bursting

As an HTML coder, he'd be easy to feed.
All he needs is pizza and mountain dew.

---

Oh, sweet, sweet irony...

Creation Museum Selling Mastodon Skull

DALLAS (AP) — A Texas museum that teaches creationism is counting on the auction of a prehistoric mastodon skull to stave off extinction. The founder and curator of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum, which rejects evolution and claims that man and dinosaurs coexisted, said it will close unless the Volkswagen-sized skull finds a generous bidder.
"If it sells, well, then we can come another day," Joe Taylor said. "This is very important to our continuing."

=====

A Creationist Museum... on the verge of Extinction?
You can't make this stuff up.

"password fatigue" and "pod slurping"

WORLD WIDE WORDS ISSUE 574 Saturday 9 February 2008

MACQUARIE DICTIONARY WORDS OF 2007

Forget the Oscars, it's time to open the envelopes in this final round of voting for the best words of 2007.

The Macquarie Dictionary asked visitors to its Web site to vote on their favourite words of the year in no less than seventeen categories (now you can see why I thought of the Oscars). If you're interested in the details, you will find them on the Dictionary's site (http://wwwords.org?MCQD).

The term receiving the most votes out of the 75 on offer and which therefore wins the People's Choice Award is "password fatigue", frustration caused by having too many different passwords to remember, which results in an inability to remember even those most commonly used.

The choice of the Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year Committee was "pod slurping", which is defined as "the downloading of large quantities of data to an MP3 player or memory stick from a computer".

The press release said, "The committee felt that the most important criterion for word of the year should be linguistic creativity and evocativeness, rather than simple worthiness or usefulness."

The earliest example of "pod slurping" I have in my database was in the New Scientist on 25 June 2005 in an article that was widely picked up by other media. The article quotes the US American security expert Abe Usher, who seems to have invented it. The Macquarie definition doesn't give the full context - the term refers specifically to using MP3 players such as iPods and other USB storage devices to steal sensitive corporate data. There is also the closely related but rarer "data slurping".

RE: Gong Hei Fat Choy !

Regarding "Gong Hei Fat Choy"... (which many people think means "Happy New Year")

When the kids were young (Blake was about 8 and Seneca 10), we went down to Chinatown for the first day of Chinese New Year. The kids got a thrill over the dragons dancing in the streets and the firecrackers exploding everywhere.

We stopped into a Chinese restaurant to have lunch. The owner came over to the table, and I said to him, "Happy New Year." He smiled and said, "Thank you."

A moment later, out of the blue, Blake said to him, "Gong Hei Fat Choy!" The owner was startled and surprised for a second, then told us, "Do you know what he said to me? He wished me Prosperity! And since he wished prosperity to me, I give prosperity back to him."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red envelope, which he handed to Blake. When Blake opened it, he found a crisp five dollar bill. Of course, Seneca immediately said "Gong Hei Fat Choy," and was rewarded with her own red envelope.

When the owner left, I asked Blake where he had learned that Chinese phrase. "Did you learn it in school?" I asked. "Nope," replied Blake. "I read it on the menu."

Gong Hei Fat Choy !

Feb 7th, 2008

It's the Year of the Rat !

check out Google's homepage:
http://www.google.com/

Moments That Revolutionized Music

Here's an interesting game: A global magical mystery tour of "Moments That Revolutionized Music."

It's an interactive music game on the Live Nation website. It takes you to places around the world, where you guess the moments in time that made rock n' roll history. Fifty Questions.

http://static2.livenation.com/akamai/seasonsgreetings2007/

=====

my score?
I got 41 out of 50
The games says I'm a Mega-Star!
Now, listen. I want a bowl of M&M's in my dressing room, but no blue ones, got it? I also want some spring water to drink after the show. I only drink Moona-Laguna spring water; it's only available in Hawaii, so you'll have to fly it in on a special plane, every day. I also want flowers in the bathroom. You can get me any type of flower you want, as long as the flower's name starts with the letter D. And if you get Daisies, be sure that there are exactly 23 petals on each flower. Or else I'll become very difficult...

"An" "interesting" "blog" "concept"

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

Jai Guru Deva Om-m-m-m-m

NASA to beam Beatles song into deep space

4 Feb marks 'Across The Universe Day'

By Lester Haines

Published Friday 1st February 2008 11:27 GMT

NASA will on 4 February beam Beatles' ditty Across the Universe into deep space to mark the 40th anniversary of the day the Fab Four recorded the song, as well as the launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer 1 and the 45th birthday of its Deep Space Network (DSN).

According to the press release, the transmission is being directed towards the North Star, Polaris, and will travel at 186,000 miles per second towards its 431 light year-distant target.

Dr Barry Geldzahler, the DSN's program executive at NASA's Washington headquarters, said of "Across The Universe Day": "I've been a Beatles fan for 45 years - as long as the Deep Space Network has been around. What a joy, especially considering that Across the Universe is my personal favorite Beatles song."

Paul McCartney enthused to the agency: "Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."

John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, chipped in with: "I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe."

If you want to participate in the intergalactic love-in, NASA is inviting citizens of Earth to play the song at the same time as its dispatch into the cosmos at 7pm EST (midnight GMT) next Monday. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/01/across_the_universe/

: Worst. Version. EVER.

+

Andy Griffith sings "St James Infirmary"

http://cheezefactory.blogspot.com/2008/01/andy-griffith-st-james-infirmary.html