You don't need to grow a beard to enjoy one

I thought this was cute - It's a full head ski mask-ish winter hat that has a faux beard / moustache combination. Beardhead comes in Lumberjack (brown) as seen here, Viking (yellow), Pirate (black) and Grandpa (grey).

This is why I loves the internets

Oh! Oooh!! Remember the random album generator game I mentioned a ways back? You know, with the Wikipedia and the quotations and the Flickr photo?

Well now the new My Album Generator does it for you and produces a nice image with the band name and title so you can share with your friends!

Awesome.....

Because the DVD rental business isn't in enough trouble

DVD rental box stores are in major trouble for a variety of reasons, the least of which is the emergence of online rental-by-mail (or now rental-by-download) services like NetFlix. I mean, why rent from Blockbuster when you could keep a (certain quantity of) NetFlix video as long as you want and rent as many movies as you want within a month for a set fee.

Well now the greedy bastards at 20th Fox Home Entertainment plan to launch a DVD program that creates two classes of DVD movies. One is a premium retail version that contains extras; the second is a stripped-down version for rentals. "Slumdog's" rental DVD, for instance, carries only the movie and some trailers. The retail version has special features added including deleted scenes and commentaries.

An industry representative said, "The main thing is that studios have to add value to get customers to buy and they aren't buying. Numbers have been falling through the floor."

Well now they're not likely to rent either. Hey movie industry! Want more people to buy DVD movies? Lower the prices! All this will do is motivate more people to....... you guessed it - download more pirated content. Dumb-asses.

Name changes should include acronym checks

The Iowa House approved changing the name Iowa Department of Elder Affairs to Department on Aging. Think about that for a moment.

Those who are on-the-ball will quickly figure out that the acronym for new name would be D.O.A. Interestingly, some older lawmakers didn't like the acronym while younger people thought it was hilarious.

This has been an Ernest contribution.

PadMapper is a very nice mashup of craigslist rental listings and Google Maps. There's really not much more to say here. It probably only works for listings that include an address though - which not all of them do (note to craigslist listers).

Wow, I bet Darlene would have liked to know about this nifty tool many weeks ago when she first started looking for a place for our spawn to live.....

Where is it edition 59

Time for a new Where is it?

Click the image for a bigger view. Name the city. That is all.

Note to non-Canadians

This is not what Canada looks like.

At least, not the part where I live.

Except for the snow.

And the outfit.

But there's no freaking igloos.... OK?!

"Welcome to Canada"

Many folks don't know this, but when you come to Canada, you're welcomed by a talking beaver. No.... not an animatronic beaver puppet.... a real live beaver.

It takes a kicking, but keeps on robot-ing

I am a huge fan of robots. My dream-future has plenty of robots in it. Smart robots. We have a long way to go. But in the meantime, there's modular robot.

Go ahead..... kick it. Break it apart. Modular robot will find its pieces and reassemble itself. It is a wee bit clumsy though.....

That's progress

Here's a statistic that made my eyebrows twitch.

We’re likely less than two years away from plug-in hybrids that will run entirely on an electric charge for about 65 kilometres (40 miles), before needing to start the gas engine and start drawing from the fuel tank. The vast majority of drives are within that 65 kilometre range. US Department of Transportation data says that a 65 kilometre range for a car would reduce commuter gasoline requirements by 94% (and 97% if drivers are able to charge up at work).

That's pretty awesome.

Olivia at 9 months old

For anyone who's curious, this is Olivia at 9 months old. Isn't she adorable?

Can you figure out what's happening before the end?

A neat little short (well, around 10 minutes long) about a guy who uses holographic tools to build a world for the woman he loves.

Has prohibition failed? A serious look

Here's a great, balanced article on the drug wars. Guess what it recommends?

Yeah..... legalization.

What is it? Edition 3 - solution

My pal Bernie was very close, but nobody got the answers I was looking for.

The drawing itself is a droodle, a combination doodle and riddle.

This particular droodle is found on a Frank Zappa album cover.

Want treatment? Agree not to bitch online....

Remember back in December when I mentioned that you can now rate your doctor? Well, now some doctors in the US are fighting back. They're asking patients to agree to a waiver (a gag order) where they agree not to post negative comments online.

The creator of Medical Justice, Dr. Jeffrey Segal says, "Patients are hungry for good information" about doctors, but Internet reviews provide just the opposite. Some sites are little more than tabloid journalism without much interest in constructively improving practises, and their comments can unfairly ruin a doctor's reputation."

His company provides doctors with a standardized waiver agreement. Patients who sign agree not to post online comments about the doctor, his expertise and/or treatment. Doctors are notified when a negative rating appears on a Web site, and, if the author's name is known, physicians can use the signed waivers to get the sites to remove offending opinion.

John Swapceinski, co-founder of RateMDs.com, said six doctors have asked him to remove negative online comments based on patients' signed waivers. He refused. "They're basically forcing the patients to choose between health care and their First Amendment rights, and I really find that repulsive." In fact, he's planning to post a "Wall of Shame" listing names of doctors who use patient waivers.

Now some would argue that posting doctor reviews online is not an appropriate way to warn against bad doctors. But in our jurisdiction, where finding a family doctor is extremely difficult; changing doctors once you have a doctor is damned near impossible, what other choices do we have?

More iPhone tricks

Something new iPhone users might find unusual is that with all of its bells and whistles, the iPhone can make it take a few clicks and swipes to get to a regularly used phone number.

There is a trick however, to getting fast access to your most dialled phone numbers. First, set the Home button (if it isn't already) to your phone favourites when you double click the home button. If you go to Settings then navigate to General then Home Button, you’ll find the options. All that's left is to add your most used numbers to the favourites in the phone and you're set.

Journey into the nano world

Have you ever wanted to go on a journey on a nano scale? Now you can. It's more illustration that pictures, but it's still pretty amazing.

There are several journeys to go on at the café. Just choose your language, click the suitcase and start exploring.

Some real zoom-zoom!

Here's some great stunt driving of a slightly tuned-up Subaru WRX.

Sometimes it's better to wear your critics

I don't know if you've heard of Yelp.com, but it's basically a restaurant rating system online that has become rather popular.

One pizzeria in San Francisco decided to put bad reviews from Yelp on their workers' tees rather than ignore them. That's pretty sweet.

"Let's give it a spin and see if it's got any rhythm"

Here's what happens when you put a beat box artist in the kitchen.

911-mcnuggets

Ever been to a fast food joint and they ran out of what you wanted?

Call 911. Latreasa did.

“This is an emergency, If I would have known they didn’t have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one,” Latreasa L. Goodman told police. “This is an emergency.”

McDonald's was still quick to make amends, by offering her a refund and a free meal.

She's still being charged for abusing the 911 system.....

An Ernest contribution.

More fun than my HS electronics class

I took electronics in high school, but nothing was as much fun to watch as this video from Makezine. In this episode, the capacitor's secrets are revealed and in this previous episode, it's all about LEDs.

You know..... if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Good for safety or just another money-grab?

For the most part, what were once just red light cameras at certain intersections have recently been converted to speeding cameras too. What some folks may not realize is that the speeding sensing isn't just done while the light is changing from green to yellow to red. It's monitoring speed at all times, even while the light is green.

The Calgary Police Service posts a FAQ regarding this new capability as well as a list of current locations.

While cutting down on speeding is nice, I wish Calgary's Police Service would concentrate more on playground and school zones in our city. I have a pair of such zones right in front of my house and the way they're treated and enforced, the city may as well just take the signs down.

Some massages get hot

One of the funniest blog posts I've read in a while. I won't spoil the surprise, just go read it already. The whole blog is quite good actually. It won as best Canadian blog for the 2008 Bloggies. I'm not surprised.

Warning - contains sexual content.

Walk in closet

A rather funny Heineken commercial. The hostess shows the girls at the party her walk-in closet, but that's nothing compared to what the guys are about to see.

Then there's this reply by Bavaria beer. Same premise.... slightly different outcome.

A house that really lets the sun shine in

I've always liked architecture, especially radical designs and this house is a great candidate for awesome house of the year.

One look and the house looks rather normal (for a wood clad house), but give the owner 6 minutes and the roof and walls roll back to reveal a glass house. This is so cool.

What is it? Edition 3

Time for a new one. What is this (this is only a partial picture of the full object)?

I'll go easy on this one - you can tell me what kind of object this is, or you can tell me on what this particular one is found on.

TV just can't compete anymore

Over the years, my relationship with TV broadcasts has changed. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as someone who didn't watch TV. At least, I didn't know of anyone fitting that description. TV watching was a privilege in our house - not a right (at least for me), so I think I was shaped by that context. My favourite TV shows were any comedy, science fiction or science fact show and cartoons.

At one point in my life (in my 20s and 30s), I watched a lot of TV - probably at least an hour or two a night on a slow night. News, comedy, prime time hits, ending on nights I could manage to stay up with Letterman.

Now, I only watch a few shows a week and know a lot of folks who don't even bother to watch TV anymore. Most of the TV shows I follow only get seen once they come out on DVD, with the exception of Idol (thanks to Darlene), the original CSI show and any Montreal Canadiens hockey games I can fit in. And that's about it.

It seems I'm not the only person whose life has seen TV slip away as a regular source of entertainment, based on this article Why TV Lost.

"Gotta love mammoth"

Imagine if Twitter existed thousands of years ago.....

Facebook photo spamming

A friend of mine just came up with a new Facebook meme. He gets the credit, I get the glory.

It's called 'photo spamming'. It's where you go onto someone's Facebook page and make obvious or mundane comments on their photos.

I suppose it's a fun way to be annoying without doing any real damage.

So for example, someone could comment on this picture in one of my Facebook photo albums: "Karl taking pictures of snow-capped mountains while driving... yeah!"

Credit to Andrew Phung for the concept.