Thursday, April 30, 2009

More hype than hog

Influenza A H1N1!

Haha..... did you flinch?

Yeah, I know..... it's lame. But it's fun.

For me.

More hype than hog..... I kill myself sometimes. No pun intended.

My other title would've been Aporkalypse now.......

OK, I'm gonna stop editing this post now.

Hadopi is pretty dopey

The anti-P2P 'Hadopi' law in France (the "three strikes" law that could have your internet connection cut if accused of 3 baseless infringements) has some opposition from inside France's own cultural contributors. BoingBoing has more.

Not well-known police behaviour

This video captures two police officers in Denmark stopping (helmet-less) cyclists, give them a hug and put a bicycle safety helmet on them.

This really put a smile on my face. Even if it is a setup, this is a major public relations coup for Danish Police. "C'mere, let's have a hug. Oh.... and let's get this helmet on you because we care."

Can you guess who committed the crime?

Here's a fun game to play when you're bored. Pick the Perp gives you a lineup of 5 people and describes a crime. You try to pick who perpetrated the crime from the lineup.

I guessed correctly 11 times out of 30.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The big guys don't want competition

A community based ISP in Wilson, North Carolina offers all-in-one internet, cable and phone service to compete with the big guys (Time-Warner).

Check out this deal. Expanded basic cable (81 channels), 10 Mbps (download and upload), and a digital phone plan with unlimited long distance to the US and Canada, all for $100. Better yet - every single cable channel plus all premium channels, unlimited phone service, and 20Mbps internet for $170. Time-Warner is trying to lobby the North Carolina senate to pass legislation outlawing community ISPs because they can't compete. Muffin.

Let's see, I pay $200 for some premium channels, 600 minutes of long distance in Canada only after 6pm and on weekends and 3Mbps internet.

Greenlight! Come to Calgary!

Image modified slightly to fit better.

The right to copy

Most consumers feel that when they buy a music CD, they have the right to rip the music off of the disc and put it on their computer(s) or their mp3 player(s). There exists plenty of free software to do just that. The entertainment industry doesn't make a huge deal about this task, but they do occasionally put root-kits on their CDs or copy protection which your CD-ripping software may or may not be able to circumvent. Oh and by the way, if there's circumvention going on - it's technically illegal thanks to the American DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and if the Conservatives have their way, thanks to the Canadian Bill C-61 (soon to be tabled again - assuming there's no election on the horizon).

Now consumers are also seeing the benefit of being able to rip movies from their legally bought DVDs onto their computer(s) or portable devices. But pretty much every commercial DVD has copy protection on it. This makes all DVD ripping software illegal by the terms of the DMCA, which forced software companies like RealNetworks to remove titles like RealDVD off of store shelves. This isn't only unfair for consumers, it's a waste of time when you consider that there are plenty of freely available alternatives on the internet that will do the job as well, with no enforceable law to stop them.

Anyway, RealNetworks is in court trying to get a judge to reverse a prior decision and allow the software to be sold in the US. It's a real battle (no pun intended) with the studios. Read more about it here.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Hey Stephen! How 'bout a little help?

So here's what I'm wondering lately. I know the government of Canada said they're going to make some changes to EI benefits to help the unemployed a little. But what I want to know is, what is the government going to do to help deal with the 356,000+ jobs that have been lost since October 2008 (273,000+ since January 2009).

Enquiring minds want to know..........

Don't steal other peoples' friends...

... and other relationship rules for Facebook users. Fun video about Facebook manners.

An Ernest and Plesz-ant contribution.....

Exclusive Facebook group

Namely: World Leaders.

Brilliant.

Monday, April 27, 2009

I guess we were cool

Sometimes when you're young, you're surrounded by greatness and cool and don't even realize it. I was watching a CBC newsclip on the Clairtone stereo company. Back in the 1960's, only America, Germany and Japan were anybody in the home entertainment equipment business. Then along comes this upstart Canadian company - Clairtone. Suddenly, owning a Clairtone was cool and was the epitome of 1960's style. The history of the company can be found here.

Little did I know. We owned one. A T7 component amp. I asked my mother, we may still have it at home (the model pictured). It was shaped like a cube with a tilted front panel. It had these funky triangular knobs for tuning and adjusting volume, bass, treble and balance. All the remaining functions, like selecting from audio inputs and adding 'loudness', etc. were done via these trippy flip switches across the top of the front panel, with little indicator lights when they were selected.

The real story comes to the front

In a Canadian court battle that has expectedly not been covered by big media, lawyers for isoHunt, a search site based in Canada that helps find torrents, have launched a petition to get the legality of their site decided in Canadian court once and for all. This after big entertainment has been threatening them endlessly with lawsuits. This has severe legal implications in Canada, as isoHunt is basically arguing that their site is no different (although more specialized) than Google or any other search engine. Ruling against them would be tantamount to suggesting that all search engines violate copyright law because they enable the discovery of material that infringes copyright.

I suggest that the entertainment industry be careful else the very tools they use to find supposedly illegal material online could be rendered illegal itself, making the job of finding the stuff much harder.

[Update] It turns out that the Pirate Bay trial result in Sweden has opened the same can of worms. As Cory Doctorow said on boingboing:

"When The Pirate Bay was ordered shut down by the Swedish courts because it linked to infringing torrents on the Internet, many people pointed out that Google links to whole mountains' -- whole planets' -- worth of infringing stuff. Now, to make the point, comes The Pirate Google, a Google mashup that finds torrent files: "The intention of this site is to demonstrate the double standard that was exemplified in the recent Pirate Bay Trial. Sites such as Google offer much the same functionality as The Pirate Bay and other Bit Torrent sites but are not targeted by media conglomerates such as the IFPI as they have the political and legal clout to defend themselves unlike these small independent sites."

But all of this just goes to show once again that people are missing the point. Thanks to technology, including the massive capacity of hard drives and the high speed of the internet, there is no longer any control over distribution of content. Let me put it another way. There is nothing you can do, short of outlawing technology, that will prevent people from easily and quickly getting copies of stuff. Because that's what technology has made possible. So what the entertainment industries need to do before they completely lose touch with reality (assuming it's not too late already) is to acknowledge that there is no longer a future in making money from content distribution, because technology has put that power in the hands of those who can do it best - the consumer. Sorry guys. Your gravy train is derailed. Find a new way to make money from your consumer..... you know... one that doesn't involve suing them.

Where is it - Edition 62

It's time once again boys and girls, to play your favourite game on Karl's little blog, called Where Is It? For those of you just joining us, the rules are simple. Click the picture for a bigger view. Look it over carefully and name that city. Place your answers in the comments.

Good luck to everyone.

P.S. Now the link works......... DOH!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Calgary house selling for $52,000

I've probably mentioned that the real estate situation in Calgary is pretty outrageous before, but Darlene found something that takes the cake.

A playhouse selling locally on Kijiji for $52,000.

I have to admit - it is very impressive.

A great heist story

In the next issue of Wired magazine will be the untold story of the world's biggest theft of diamonds from the Antwerp Diamond Centre.

Because the alleged mastermind of the robbery was recently released from prison, Wired have graciously put the story online.

Will we continue to teach handwriting forever?

When I went to school they made a big deal out of learning handwriting, to the point of traumatizing some kids. Oddly, this continues today, even though the occasion for writing by hand becomes rarer by the year. Traditionalists will find the concept hard to fathom, but if you look at writing in culture over time, you'll find an interesting story being told.

A college professor and freelance writer presents a history lesson and thinks it's time to put this skill to rest as a mandatory subject in school.

Looking at photographs

If you're a fan of great photography, you'll have lots of material to look through using this site as a starting point.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

This tastes like chicken

A collection of brand name rip-offs.

The McDuck is just wrong on so many levels.

Box lovin' cat

I thought for sure I had blogged about this before, but I couldn't find any trace of it via any search. Maybe in an alternate universe....

...anyway, if you love cats and the crazy stuff they do - this is for you. This is about a cat from Japan named Maru. Maru loves boxes - is mental for them - loves to dive right into them. If you're new to this story, maybe start with these videos here, here and here. Once you get a sense of how box-crazy this cat is, check out the big box video.

Think of it as a world-wide giant bulletin board

Remember folks. The internet is forever. The internet is for everyone. Anything you post could come back to haunt you.

Like when a police officer in the UK wrote "Rob Ward can't wait to bash some long haired hippys up @ the G20." That's the kind of crap people get fired over. It's one thing to state your disagreement with a group's stance (which I'm guessing is verboten in the police force in the first place), it's another to state your willingness to physically assault said group as part of your job.

When you log onto the internets, there should be a message box that appears stating "By posting information on the internet, you acknowledge that everything you write is viewable by the world, and can be used against you in a court of law."

An anniversary at the Moose

I ushered at Loose Moose theatre last night. Micetro Impro is my favourite Friday night format because it's every improviser for themselves. They get teamed up in random groups by the director to perform. Each team gets points for their scenes as voted by the audience. As the points accumulate, certain performers get a lead on the others and the one with the most ends up winning the night. It's a wonderful format because you get to see various magical combinations form and also because it is very plausible in this format that a junior improviser can win the night - great for building their confidence.

Anyway, last night a couple (literally - they're married) of alumni participated in the show. Rebecca Northan and her husband Bruce. It was their 3rd wedding anniversary. Rebecca was her usual playful self and Bruce portrayed an absent-minded waiter part in one scene that was perfect. To think that they shared themselves with the audience (and the other performers) on their anniversary. That's so cool. There were even spankings on stage (I'm not kidding - Andrew said and I quote, "My ass in on fire!") and it was one of the funniest presentations I'd seen in a while. Although you'd have thought that veteran Rebecca was a shoe-in to win, Andrew won the evening with some fearless performances.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Progress

Here's something to ponder. Something occurs to me about that post I just published about growth in Las Vegas.

Imagine trying to do what I just did in the space of 5 minutes to produce that post and the picture, if it were the year 1989. Getting access to satellite photos were the domain of the military and government officials only. Making the kinds of changes I made to those photos would have taken many days of manual effort with specialized photographic equipment. Sharing my discovery with the public would have only been possible if I were a well-known journalist with a solid background in science and/or geography. Even so, the TV program or magazine article necessary to share this data would not have been available around the world.

Just goes to show what technology has made possible.

Vegas explodes

Here's a set of satellite photos taken over 25 years that shows the pace of urban growth in Las Vegas from 1984 to 2009.

Each picture on the page can be selected to see a bigger perspective of the Las Vegas area.

[Update] I took the 1984 and 2009 photos and shrunk them down, then applied some exaggerated contrast and colour saturation to distinguish the urban areas from the desert.

Bison facts

Some interesting facts about bison (calling them buffalo is incorrect). In 1800, there were an estimated 60 million of them in North America. In the next 100 years, they were slaughtered to the point that by 1899, some say there were less than 1000 left. They were slaughtered for their tongues, bones and hides, but their meat was never used by European settlers. The other reason they were slaughtered was to force natives to move to make room for new settlers, as bison was the natives' source of food.

Today there are more than 500,000 bison, half of which are in Canada.

Bison is a very nutritious source of protein, having less fat (per 100g cooked, lean meat) than beef, pork, chicken, or even halibut. It has more iron, fewer calories and less cholesterol than beef too.

The fun I could have in the lab waiting room

If you like sour candy, I mean really sour stuff and you like to gross people out, then this is for you.

Sour Candy Body Fluids looks like a urine specimen container and a blood specimen vial, but they contain sour lemonade and sour cherry respectively. Available from Think Geek. Where else?

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Macs not immune from their users

Mac users typically go around bragging about how wonderful their computers are. That and how they are practically immune from malware.

Well that last part isn't likely to remain true for much longer. Macs are slowly becoming an attractive target for malware and although the security of the operating system may prevent certain types of infections, nothing can stop the purposeful infecting of ones computer by the user through the downloading of pirated (and unfortunately, infected) software. Which is how the current Mac trojan horse is getting around.

Where once there were no trees, now there are millions

One of the things about Calgary that I always found interesting is its flora. Specifically, the fact that prior to foreigners settling here, Calgary had practically no trees. It was just bald-assed steppe, man. Almost every tree you see was planted by one of the new settlers, first along the river banks, then further out. When new homes are built in this city, there is a requirement (I think) to plant at least one tree in both the front and back yards. Calgary has also been on a campaign to plant extra trees (with property owner picking up the tab of course). Today there are several million trees within the city limits.

If you want to see what Calgary looked like back then, just visit Nose Hill Park, which with the exception of a few isolated strands of short trees is an example of our 'native' flora'.

"... and that's why they're doomed"

Cory Doctorow, who is (in my eyes anyway) a Canadian superhero of the internet, wrote a fantastic article explaining the recent history of entertainment industry and the governments and lobbying groups that prop them up.

It's a great read, but if you're too busy to finish the whole thing, I can sum it up for you in a few words. In a world where citizens expect transparency in their government, the kinds of back-room deals that result in things like the DMCA (in the US) and Bill C-61 (in Canada) are eventually doomed to failure.

Developers + city hall = unstoppable force

Did you ever hear the story about the farm in South Central Los Angeles that over 12 years grew to become the biggest urban garden in the US (13 acres)? It became threatened by developers and city hall alike in 2004, when the property owner

Well, the story was made into a movie.

"The film documents the farmers' struggle against the city's back room deals, and exposes the underlying issues of money, power, poverty and racial discord."

The property has been undeveloped since at least 1980. In case you're wondering, the farm was bulldozed in 2006. It sits empty to this day.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Why did you get 'that' doughnut? That's more of a dinner doughnut...

Darlene and I were at Tim Hortons for a little light breakfast today. We shared an everything bagel with cream cheese and we each had a doughnut. She had a raspberry filled doughnut - you know - the kind with powdered sugar on the outside. I had a walnut crunch. She asked for a bite of mine because she had never tasted one before. After sampling my doughnut, she said, "It's OK. Moist. Chocolatey. Nutty. But it's more of a dessert doughnut, not a breakfast doughnut."

I wasn't aware that there were 'types' of doughnuts suitable for one meal versus another. Anybody wanna weigh in on this one?

Happy Earth Day

Be nice to her.

As a paper source 1 acre of hemp = 4.1 acres of trees

Here are some fascinating facts about hemp. Example:

"For thousands of years, 90% of all ships’ sails and rope were made from hemp. The word ‘canvas’ comes from the Middle English word “canevas” which comes from the Latin word cannabis. (Webster’s New World Dictionary.)"

"In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs. (U.S. Department of Agriculture Archives.)"

Holy train loads Batman!

I found this article that lists the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the world.

Now unfortunately, the numbers don't mean anything to me, as there's nothing to compare them to, such as a natural gas power plant. I did manage to find a site that shows some values for comparison between coal and natural gas and oil here. If those figures are to be believed, coal produces almost double the amount of CO2 and 2500 times as much sulfur dioxide. But is that regular coal or brown coal? Who knows.

Anyway, the fact from the article that really got me was how the Scherer power plant in Georgia, US gets its coal.

"Scherer burns through an average of three train-loads of coal per day - coal hauled in from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, 1,800 miles away. At any given time, BNSF has thirty-six different two-mile long coal trains somewhere on the ten-day round trip between Wyoming and Georgia."

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

This sign is hilarious

The small print says, "Also, the bridge is out ahead".

This sign was in the Seth Godin video in the post below...

If you think it's broken - it is

Seth Godin, someone who I consider to be very clever, gave a speech 3 years ago about 'things that are broken'. The topic forms the basis for his web page 'This is Broken'. The concept? If you think something is broken - it is. Meaning something could have been designed better if only the creator of that thing was paying attention.

Industry attacking those who spend the most on music

Yet another study, this time in Norway, that concluded that downloading infringing copies of music strongly correlates buying above-average amounts of music.

A boingboing article.

Mother warned me about 'delicate' Russian girls

So..... assuming it's all true, an armed man tried to rob a hair salon in Russia. But one of the hair stylists took him down, locked him up, then turned the tables and had her way with her new sex slave for 2 days.

He filed a complaint with police asking that Olga be brought up on charges for committing "actions of a sexual nature" that left him with injured sexual organs. She filed a complaint asking that Viktor be charged in the salon robbery.

An Ernest contribution.

Galileo figaro magnifico

This could be the geekiest thing I've discovered on the internet to date. Bohemian Rhapsody, played by electronic devices. In this band:

Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound
Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar
8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass
3.5 inch Harddrive as the gong
HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals

I'm at a loss for words. Which if you know me...... doesn't happen often.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Shuffle the collection = new playlist

In this week's playlist, I decided to keep things non-specific and throw up the first 15 songs Winamp played (in shuffle mode) from my personal mp3 collection.

Enjoy.

Pictured is Murray Head.

More discussion about the electric car future

One of my blog readers, Mark, continued a discussion about electric cars offline (via Facebook actually). He agreed to let me put our discussion on the blog:

Mark: Hey Karl. I had an idea about your posts regarding electric cars. When and if we get to the level of battery advancement you mentioned, and considering how the modern day consumer is gouged for gasoline now, I can see us being similarly gouged when taking trips and our cars' batteries need to be recharged. It may only take a few minutes to charge a battery, but what will happen when a person finds themselves far away from home with the need to recharge? What kind of situation might they find themselves in to have to rely on a recharge facility? I can see these recharge stations taking advantage of motorists who can't go any further without charging up. Your thoughts?

Me: Well, people who own electric cars are going to have psychological / geographical boundaries until a recharging infrastructure is commonplace. For example, if I were to buy an electric car right now, I would only be able to stay within the Calgary area (or the total range of the car divided by 2 - minus a few kilometres for a safety margin) and I would get nervous as my risk of running out of juice increases. But as recharging stations become common, it would be less and less risky to go further from home and I would be less nervous about venturing farther out.

As far as getting gouged is concerned, I fully expect that the price of electricity will rise period as more people have to charge their cars, but this is as much a supply versus demand thing as it is stations taking advantage. Competition ought to solve that. Case in point, theoretically, a station in Banff National Park that gets its own electricity from wind and/or solar etc. might be able to offer their juice cheaper since they're getting some or all of it off-grid. Time will tell. In fact I'd consider owning/operating such a station. I think as more people get their car's energy from the electrical grid, this grid will need an overhaul to accommodate everyone and I foresee electricity charges being dependent on not only how much you use, but when, and if you offer any surplus energy back to the grid in times of need (such as if you have a fully charged battery in your car). This is because one of the inherent weaknesses of the grid in its current state is its lack of storage capability. Any energy produced while people are sleeping and factories are shut down is totally wasted. But you can't turn wind off, or more importantly, back on when you need it.

I know these guys!

Almost two years ago, Will Ferrell and a few other Hollywood types founded a comedy video web site called Funny or Die. The idea is that comical folks (professional or not) could submit videos to the site and allow site users to vote on whether the video was funny and deserved to stick around, or die and be relegated to the site's 'crypt'. The very first video posted was The Landlord, featuring Will Ferrell and a foul-mouthed 2 year old landlord, which I blogged about. I've mentioned other videos from the site too.

Fast forward to today. Some friends I know from Loose Moose and a few of their buddies got together and made Juantourage. Pictured is my friend Andrew (playing Tortoise). So far, it's doing pretty good on the site. Go check it out and vote.

Language may not be suitable for young people, or workmates (NSFW).

Awesome tech you didn't even know was there

You know how countless application developers are inventing apps that make use of the accelerometer in the iPhone? Little do most people know - the accelerometer has been around the Apple universe long before the iPhone came along.

It first debuted in the iBook and PowerBook in 2005 under a different name - the Sudden Motion Sensor. It existed back then to protect the hard drive by automatically locking the disk if the Sudden Motion Sensor detects being bumped, dropped, thrown, etc. Every Mac laptop has this device built in.

Now some enterprising folks have developed anti-theft applications that make use of the little-known feature.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Paid with love

Imagine a world where you pay for stuff with hugs and kisses and other acts of kindness and love. Too bad it takes a vodka company ad to show it to the world.......

I mean seriously - imagine that. That would be so awesome.

My rant for the day on streaming video

Here's another example of what's wrong with present day copyright law.

I'm reading an American blog, which in one post has embedded video clips from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This is a show that is broadcast on Comedy Central in the US, but on a different channel in Canada, in this case, The Comedy Network. When I click the play button on the clip, It starts to buffer the video, the Comedy Central logo appears in the player window, then a notice appears; 'In Canada, Comedy Central videos are available on The Comedy Network'.

Now, it's maddening enough when I click on a video and get the 'due to copyright this video is only viewable in the United States' message. And yes - before you offer that all I have to do to watch this material is to use a web proxy based in the US - I already know that and that's not the point here. But in this case, I'm actually told that though I can't watch the material because of copyright, I can just stumble my way to a home grown TV channel web site and can watch it there. Of course, I have to go looking for the clip myself - there's no magic bullet helping me find it with one click. But it gets worse.

I go to The Comedy Network, find the clip(s), start to play one, when I hear audio from some other content blaring from my computer speaker. I pause the clip I'm watching, switch to the tab with the American blog with the video player that won't play me anything. Lo and behold, the player is playing an advertisement for one of the Comedy Central's own programs. Isn't this a nice slap in the face. Hey non-American! Due to copyright agreements, we can't show you any clips of our material. But here's a freaking advertisement of more material we won't let you watch!

That's irony. But it's the kind that really pisses me off.

IKEA funeral

Darlene and I have a wickedly dark sense of humour. We were talking about funerals yesterday and she went on about how she wanted to be handled if she died before I did.

She said that it would be her preference to have some fun at the wake attendees' expense by being shown in a cardboard or shoddy wooden box instead of a proper casket. But on the side of the box would be an IKEA logo. With the (fake) name of the product stencilled on the side as well. She said we'd have to invent a good fake IKEA name for her casket.

I offer Dårgön (I call her 'Dar' - get it?).

"You call yourself a Beefeater?"

I wonder if you can join the Beefeaters if you're a vegetarian?

Yeah I know...........

Saturday, April 18, 2009

What is it about light?

Recently, it occurs to me that many of the things I enjoy all have something in common - light.

Let's start with fire. I love to watch a fire burn. A controlled fire, thank you - don't worry, I'm not setting things ablaze with abandon. Bonfire, fire pit, fireplace..... tell me where one is and I'll be there.

Lightning storms. Totally enthralling. In Kingston we lived on the 5th floor of an apartment building with a fantastic view of incoming storms from the West.

Stars. So awe inspiring to lay back in an area with little light pollution and look at the stars.

Meteor showers. Yep, been there, done that too. Many times. At four in the morning on a work day no less.

Home lighting. I have always been fascinated by the unlimited variations of lighting sources and tend to slow right down when I hit the lighting zone in Ikea and other stores with a variety of lighting on display.

Sunrises and sunsets. One of the reasons I like the seashore so much - unobstructed views of the magnificent palette of colour displayed by our sun and our atmosphere. My favourite colour - that blue-white hue that glows in the Western sky just before the sky goes completely dark at sunset.

City lights. Put me in a hotel with an expansive view of city lights and I'll be reluctant to leave (such as the view I had in Vegas late January). One time in my youth, I spent the entire night on top of Mount Royal in downtown Montreal walking back and forth between the various look-outs with the great views of downtown Montreal and the outlying areas.

Laser light shows. If you haven't seen a classic rock laser light show in a planetarium.... you haven't lived.

Fireworks. When Montreal had the Benson & Hedges International Fireworks competition (back when cigarette companies could sponsor stuff), I was in my glory. Unlike other venues, Montreal put the show right in the middle of La Ronde amusement park, which is on an island right in the middle of the St Lawrence River (the old site of Expo '67). The Jacques Cartier bridge spans the river just 100 metres away from the firing point and the bridge closes to vehicle traffic so you could walk onto it and watch the spectacle from the bridge deck. You don't get a better view than that.

The picture here has two of my favourites, the sunset colours and city lights. And yes, that was from our hotel room in Vegas.....

Retro chic geek gift

My mom has (had?) a kitchy collection of salt and pepper sets. That may explain my attraction to geeky or modern looking ones in my own life.

For the geeky one in your life, how about a set of Rubik's Cube salt and pepper mills?

Best wry intro to a gadget

Unfortunately, I had coffee in my mouth when I read this:

"It’s nice being clean. It’s a shame then, that being clean is just so much damn work. Like, you get in the shower, and then you’re supposed to STAND there. Stand! And you have to be rubbing soap on your body and shampoo in your hair, and if you try and do that in opposite directions at the same time, it’ll make you fall over and you’ll crack your head open and die. And that would be bad."

This was the lead-up to a description of an automatic human washing machine being marketed in Japan.

Dude..... you might want to slow down here

Here's a neat gadget sold in Europe that knows the location of all speed cameras in Europe and alerts you when you're entering a speed zone going too fast.

I wonder how long it will be before this functionality is available as a software upgrade for your standard in-car GPS device?

Friday, April 17, 2009

How babies are made

Ever wonder how babies are made? Ever scramble to explain it to your kids?

I think this video might satisfy their curiosity..... at least for a while.

Eco-print

Here's an idea that solves so many problems. The printer uses coffee and tea dregs which the user places into the 'ink' case on top of the printer. Since you move the ink case back and forth to print, the device doesn't even need electricity.


This is without a doubt the greenest printer idea ever.

Gift for the hunter on your list

12 gauge shotgun shot glasses.

Gives the phrase "getting loaded' a whole new meaning.....

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Classic online videos

Here's a collection of 100 videos that have been popular at one time or another on the internet.

You know - just in case you think you might have missed something.

A different kind of green transit

Public transportation doesn't have to be ugly, as is shown by these European tram lines, paved with green grass.

Come get your beating

A Baptist pastor is brutally man-handled (putting it mildly) in Arizona for insisting on his 4th Amendment rights.

Wild story - told on video.

Courtesy boingboing.