Edible.com - Very strage edible stuff...

This site contains very strage edible stuff that you might never generally think about eating.

Below is a brief list of some of the items available.

• ANTLIX LOLLIPOP
• CHOCOLATE COVERED GIANT ANTS
• CHOCOLATE COVERED SCORPION
• GIANT HORNET'S HONEY
• GIANT TOASTED LEAFCUTTER ANTS
• and more...

Photographing a Wedding and then an Earthquake

Xanga reports: "Can you imagine what it was like to have been photographing a wedding in Sichuan, China when 7.9
earthquake hit and shakes for three minutes with the entire church crashing down?"

There are some really interesting shots on this page. I am pretty sure the bride and groom appreciated these candid shots of them. ;-)

Low-Cost Multi-touch Whiteboard using the Wiimote

Using infrared (IR) light pens and the Wii Remote, it is possible to create very low-cost multi-point interactive whiteboards and multi-point tablet displays. Johnny Chung Lee, Carnegie Mellon University. The software can be downloaded at http://johnnylee.net.

How to Make a Cheap Multitouch Pad

Multitouch Mini (MTmini) a Cheap Multitouch Pad

Website:
http://ssandler.wordpress.com/MTmini
MTmini discussion thread: http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread...

Materials

• Cardboard Box
• Piece of Clear Flat Sturdy Material (ie. Glass, acrylic, plexiglas)
• Paper (ie. printer paper, tracing paper, almost any paper)
• Webcam or Video Camera (I use a Philips SPC900NC)
• Computer (dual core recommended, but not needed)
• Optional Picture Frame

Total Cost: $5 - $50

Finger Tracking Software

• Touchlib: http://nuigroup.com/touchlib
• Set touchlib to use front illumination xml file.

THERE WILL BE A MAC VERSION OF THE TRACKING SOFTWARE SOON. ALSO A PACKAGED VERSION WITH TRACKING SOFTWARE AND EXAMPLES/DEMOS COMBINED.

Other Software/Demos

• -Windows Mousedriver: http://nuigroup.com/touchlib
• -Smoke Demo: http://nuigroup.com/touchlib
• -MultiKey Application: http://ssandler.wordpress.com/my-soft...

Coming soon:

• Photo Application
• Ripples
• Wall Pong Game
• Physics Demo

How's it Work and What Conditions are Necessary?
For this to work, all you need is a room with (at least) some light. The results will be best when the room lighting is even (no bright lights shinning from one direction onto the multitouch pad).

When you place you fingers on the surface, shadows are created where your fingers are. The webcam sees these shadows and sends the image to the tracking software which tracks the shadows as they move around. It's really that simple!

For more information, visit:

• http://ssandler.wordpress.com/MTmini
• http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/1 731/
• http://www.nuigroup.com/forum
• http://www.nuigroup.com

The Torch Flashlight

Wicked Lasers sells the Torch which advertises itself as the The World's Brightest Flashlight. Here is an excerpt from their web site: "Currently being reviewed by The Guinness Book of World Records, The Torch is the world's brightest and most powerful flashlight. This flashlight is easily capable of melting plastic, lighting paper on fire within seconds, and if you want, frying an egg or a marshmallow on a stick! At 4100 lumens, The Torch is 100 lumens more powerful than The Polarion Helios, the former most powerful flashlight. Looking to buy a bright flashlight? This flashlight torch will not disappoint you."

Here is a video of the flashlight cooking an egg.

15 great gadgets you can't get in the U.S.

ComputerWorld reports: "As Americans, we think it's our birthright to always have the latest computers, phones and electronic gadgets, but the simple fact of life is that there's a whole world of digital devices out there that are off limits to us.

It's ironic in this age of globalization, but it's true: Some of the world's best digital devices stay at home. Regardless of whether the maker is too small for exporting or vendors don't think it will sell overseas, the result is the same: You can't buy it here."

We have some great gadgets here in the U.S., but there are several that will never reach our shore. Check out this article to see some of the gadgets that you can't buy here.

Q&A: William Shatner Mugs in His New Memoir

Newsweek.com reprots: "William Shatner would like you to know that he is so much more than 'Star Trek''s Capt. James Tiberius Kirk. He is also, in no particular order: Shakespearean actor, B-movie star, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner for his role as Denny Crane on 'Boston Legal,' musician, celebrity pitchman. And serial memoirist. His latest tome, the first to extend beyond his experiences with 'Star Trek,' is called 'Up Till Now' and chronicles his life from a modest Canadian childhood up to his latest gig, a self-spoofing Priceline.com spokesman. NEWSWEEK's Brian Braiker recently caught up with the unrepentant cheeseball and tireless huckster."

It has been amazing to see William Shatner trying to reinvent himself. Although he never seems to escape that he plays Capitan James T. Kirk of the Star Ship Enterprise. I wish him well, but I know I will have a hard time seeing him as anything else.

El Caminito del Rey (Amazing Footage)

Originally built in 1901, this walkway now serves as an approach to Makinodromo, the famous climbing sector of El Chorro.

IMHO: I would not personally be able to make this video, so to me that is what makes it so amazing...

As gas prices soar, thieves grow brazen - Oil & energy- msnbc.com

msnbc.com reports: "Bobby Lee Julien, who’s driven a fuel tanker for 27 years, was near the end of his route. It was 3 a.m. when he pulled up at a stop sign off State Highway 225 in Houston."

I was literally thinking about this subject the other day while paying $4+ per gallon for regular gasoline when filling up my vehicle. I was wondering if a locking gas cap would really stop someone from stealing my fuel or would they just pry it off.

This article shows the beginning of how far criminals are really willing to go to steal gas.

Pork and Beans (Weezer)

Watch the official video for "Pork and Beans" from Weezer starring some familiar YouTube faces. New Self-Titled "Red Album" out June 3rd, 2008!

IMHO: I have never been a big fan of posting music videos, but since Weezer is paying homage to some Internet video icon I thought it was okay.

Powers of 10

10 Days of World of Warcraft (Day 4)

I am finally getting a little more comfortable with WOW, and not losing every battle. To advance up through the different levels you have to kill a lot of things, and then loot the corpses.

I just made it to the forth level with my Paladin character, it only took an hour and half or so. I was told that you make it through the first ten levels very quickly, then it starts getting harder.

Note: There are "!" (exclamation marks) at the bottom of the screen to tell you what to do, or why something is happening. Until you're comfortable with the dynamics of the WOW world, I would heed the information.

10 Days of World of Warcraft (Day 3)

I discovered the first skill that you master in WOW is the art of dying. The problem is that this goes against the objective of the game, which is to make the other poor dumb bastard dye for his country (to paraphrase Patton).

If you're an experienced first person game player the controls should be easy, what is hard to master is the dynamics of the games (understand all the weapons, armor, what to attack, etc...).

Like anything if want to become good at it, you have to practice, practice, and practice some more. If you want to get good at WOW you need to get ready to make the time commitment, otherwise you're wasting your time.

10 Days of World of Warcraft (Day 2)

Well today has kinda of been a flop for playing, other obligations hindered my quest. Although it was not a complete lost. I was given some good reference sites to check out and read up on.

• www.worldofwarcraft.com
• www.thottbot.com
• www.wowwiki.com
• www.wowhead.com

For anyone taking up the quest to really learn how to play WOW, I highly recommend you have a friend show you the ropes. I am lucky to have someone explain the controls, and intricacies of the game.

It will be overwhelming at first, but like anything you have to learn to crawl to walk then run. In WOW you will be doing a lot of walking, running and fighting...

"What doesn't kill us [you] makes us [you] stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche. This quote should be the mantra of WOW.

There is only one way to fail in WOW like life. You need to remind yourself to "Never give up. Never surrender." (a lot of people attribute that quote to the movie Galaxy Quest, but I not sure if that is where it originally came from).

10 Days of World of Warcraft (Day 1)

I have avoided online gaming for a long time, mostly because of the time commitment. Although, I am going to break that tradition, and try a free 10-day trial of World of Warcraft (commonly known as WOW).

Millions of people have been playing online games for years and maybe decades before me. I have personally played many different types of off-line games (like Zork) to some online early text-based MUDs (Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension).

The following entries will be my online journal of my advantures. You might ask why try to keep an online journal, well this will be a 1st person perspective of a total noob to WOW.

Day 1 - The installation

I was shocked that the installation required 4 CDs just to start the game. Then after I logged in for the first time after creating my account I had to download a 490MB+ update. Then after I logged in for the second time I had to download another 490MB+ update. I am on my third download, this time 900MB+. Oh joy, more patches, this time 5MB, 15MB. At last I can begin playing.

For those of you left who have never played WOW before (like myself), make sure that you set aside about 3 hours for this installation. I would also ask a friend to introduce you to the basics of this new world.

Below are some basic concepts that you will need to understand when starting to play WOW:

• First you select your Realm, which is a server on which you play. Each realm is the same as the others in terms of geography. Although some focus on player-vs-player (PVP) combat, while others focus on player-vs-environment (PVE), and role playing.
• Second, you select your character attributes, which includes factions (Horde [montsters] or Alliance [humanoid]), race, gender and class.
  

Once you start playing you wonder around aimlessly getting killed for other peoples pleasure. I was killed within about 10 minutes of wondering. Hopefully I will find my body soon so I can continue to wonder around aimlessly until I figure out what is happening...

Finding High Yield Saving Accounts

Is your bank paying .5% interest (or less) on money that you have in savings? Looking for places you earn more interest on your money?

Then check out the following sites for recommendations.

• High Yield Reward Checking Accounts
• BestCashCow.com
• Bankrate.com

Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC: Iron Man and Batman

Historic Blockbuster Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past

MUTO (Wall Painted Animation)

A weird short film by Blu. Its an ambiguous animation painted on public walls. Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden

The X-Files: I Want to Believe Trailer Has Arrived!

FirstShowing.net reports: "The very first trailer for The X-Files: I Want to Believe has finally arrived! The buzz for this movie is definitely going to pick up with this trailer. It really doesn't reveal much, but still the perfect amount to start up discussion surrounding what the heck actually happens."

If you're an X-Files fan, check out the video on this site.

Iron Sky (teaser)

In 1945 the Nazis fled to the moon. In 2018 they are coming back.

Note: The film is in pre-production and thus the teaser does not contain any actual footage from the film. It is meant as a demonstration of the style and feeling of the film.

STRUCK

On his way to work one day, Joel (Bodhi Elfman) is impaled through the chest by a three-foot arrow. But it doesn't harm him. And it won't come out. So Joel has to learn to deal -- both with his newfound protrusion and his own painful loneliness. He tries to go to work, to date women, but no one seems ready to accept his strange flaw. Little does he know, his life is about to change forever...

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Two professional engineers illustrate the proper care and practical benefits of cats. None of the cats, humans, or engineers were mistreated in the making of this film. They were however, slightly annoyed.

Moving 2.0: More than 30 services to help you relocate

Webware reports: "Sometimes I feel like people might think we talk the talk, but don't walk the walk when it comes to using some Web services. Believe me when I tell you we use this stuff every day, and over the last month, nothing has been more useful to me than Craigslist. Why? I was moving, and I did 95 percent of it using a single service to find movers, boxes, people to buy and take away old furniture, and most importantly--a place to live."

New ways to move using the web...

CCTV boom has not cut crime, says police chief

Times Online (UK) reports: "Billions of pounds spent on Britain’s 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras has not had a significant impact on crime, according to the senior police officer piloting a new database.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said it was a “fiasco” that only 3 per cent of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV."

I guess technology is not the answer to all the world's problems... ;-)

Magenn Power Floats Balloon Wind Turbine

DailyTech reports: "While interest in solar power is picking up, another technology is also gaining a lot of attention. The chief problems with wind power are consistency and strength of the winds. Some areas simply do not get strong winds regularly and even areas that do can go days without experiencing strong winds. One solution is to build turbines at higher altitudes land areas."

This seems like a cool new technology, but I still like wind turbines more. I think the greatest problem with this technology is the density in which you can place the devices next to each other without crashing into one another.

Star Wars vs. Sports

Greg proves that Star Wars fans and Sports fans are alike.

The Empire Strikes Barack

The second installment in The Obamacles: a unique chronicling of the 2008 presidential election.

Japanese Pay Less for More Health Care

NPR reports: "Everyone in Japan is required to get a health insurance policy, either at work or through a community-based insurer. The government picks up the tab for those who are too poor.

It's a model of social insurance that is used in many wealthy countries. But it's definitely not 'socialized medicine.' Eighty percent of Japan's hospitals are privately owned — more than in the United States — and almost every doctor's office is a private business."

There are several socialized heathcare plans out there, and some are better then others. I don't pretend to know which one is the best, but I do know that heathcare should be a human right and not a benefit for those who can pay for it.

Secret Seats on Airplanes

Everyone knows that getting an exit row seat will result in more leg room and comfort. But NBC Travel Editor Peter Greenberg knows that there are plenty of other secret seats that can be just as good.

Algae as Biofuel (Could this a Ultimate Biofuel?)

Algae to be Refined Into Cost-Effective, Non-Polluting Biodiesel

Can algae -- the green slime that forms on the top of stagnant pools -- reduce greenhouse gas emissions and be the source of a new renewable bio-fuel? The Holy Grail in the renewable energy sector has been to create a clean, green process which uses only light, water and air to create fuel.

Vertigro Energy is a joint venture between Global Green Solutions and Valcent Products. Vertigro's algae-to-biofuel technology mass produces algae and extracts algae oil. This oil can be refined into a cost-effective, non-polluting diesel biofuel. The algae derived fuel will be an energy efficient replacement for fossil fuels and can be used in any diesel powered vehicle or machinery. In addition, 90% by weight of the algae is captured carbon dioxide, which is "sequestered" by this process, contributing significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gases.

The Vertigro technology was developed in response to a huge unsatisfied demand for vegetable oil feedstock by biodiesel refiners and marketers. Biodiesel, in 2000, was the only alternative fuel in the United States to have successfully completed the Environmental Protection Agency required Tier I and Tier II health effects testing under the Clean Air Act. A U.S. Department of Energy study has shown that the production and use of biodiesel, compared to petroleum diesel, resulted in a 78.5% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

For more information, please visit: www.valcent.net

Tips to improve your Gas Mileage

fueleconomy.gov reports: "Here are some tips to help you reduce the amount of gas you use. If you are already following these tips, you are probably getting the best gas mileage your car can deliver."

Here are some great general tips for saving gas and saving money...

Still Alive Rubens Tube

A Rubens Tube is a classic physics demonstration. The device is simply a tube with a source of propane on one side, a speaker on the other, and a bunch of holes along the length. When the speaker outputs certain tones, the sound waves bouncing around the inside of the tube set up standing waves with areas of high and low pressure. The higher pressure areas force propane out faster and makes a larger flame.

"Still Alive" is a song with lots of sustained, computer generated tones that happen to be of the right frequency to react with our tube.

Gremlins take on a Dragon

Watch Peter Jones in the BT Business advertisement as he battles to keep his IT systems under control.

R2D2 Projector

Check out this Star Wars R2-D2 DVD projector.

Make sure to watch the video on the web page.

Silicon Valley Fight Club

This is just weird. Geeks fighting geeks...

Uno electric unicycle gets spiffy new body, still terrifying

Engadget reports: "Last we saw the Uno electric unicycle it was looking very much like the prototype it was, but as you can see above, it seems that the teenage engineers behind it have been doing anything but slacking in the ensuing months. As Motorcycle Mojo reports, the third incarnation of the vehicle recently made its debut at the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto, with it sporting some custom-made wheels, a stylin' new body, and a few changes under the hood as well."

This is the coolest unicycle ever...

The 5 Best Mass Transit Systems in the World : Environmental News Blog | Environmental Graffiti

Environmental Graffiti: "As we all put our thinking caps on for this “save the environment” thing, and Americans begin to scream under the weight of rising fuel costs, one of the best ways around leaving a giant carbon footprint, or paying an arm and a leg, is to take the bus. Or the train. Or a subway.

After all, why take a car? CNN filmed people paying for gas yesterday like it was news!

So, without further ado here are the five best places for you to be shacked up on this planet if you want to have somebody else take you from place to place."

It was good to see that U.S. has two of the best mass transit systems according to the article. The U.S. has fallen behind in a lot of areas these days, especially mass transportation.

America’s dirty little oil secret: Plastic Bottles and Bags

businessshrink.biz reports: "With oil prices surging to almost $120 a barrel on Friday April 25th, 2008 the sky is certainly looking like the limit. There are analysts and speculators that are now saying they don’t feel that $200 a barrel oil is unrealistic at this point. It’s definitely easy to question who is making money here, who is laughing all the way to the bank as the price rises and who might be responsible for the meteoric price rise in the barrel of oil. An unfortunate truth to who is helping the price levels stay high could be looking back at you in the mirror."

I need to finally give up my use plastic bags and water bottles. I think I will finally breakdown and buy my own reusable shopping bags. Read the article if you want to feel guilty...

Model of Efficiency

Nova reports: "Two decades ago, physicist and energy expert Amory Lovins came up with a notion he called "Hypercar," a general class of vehicles so fuel-efficient it might, Lovins hoped, radically reduce oil consumption in the U.S. and worldwide. A tailpipe dream?"

This video gives a good introduction to how inefficient modern cars are and suggest how they can be made more efficient.

The death of the coupon

MSN Money reports: "Grocery chains, food and drug manufacturers, and even coupon marketers themselves are going electronic. The concept is almost as simple as scissors and the Sunday paper: Visit a Web site, type in your loyalty codes, and find all the coupons waiting for you, electronically, at a store's cash register or on your cell phone."

With the high cost of gas, the weak dollar, and the economy going into recession we need to learn how to save more money. This article shows you how to clip coupons electronically.

Official Guide to the Summer of 2008 � FirstShowing.net

FirstShowing.net reports: "As of this moment, this upcoming summer (kicking off on May 2nd with Iron Man) looks quite promising. There aren't as many sequels as 2007, which is good (and also bad), but there are quite a few movies that look absolutely incredible - The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones 4, and Wall-E, to name a few. To kick off the new year and start some early buzz for the summer, we're publishing the Official Guide to the Summer of 2008 - in trailers. Below you will find a chronological listing of the best upcoming summer of 2008 movies and links to their respective trailers. It's a list you need to check out and save for reference when we start nearing the end of April, to help you decide what to see this summer."

I have been pretty disappointed with the movies I have seen so far this year, but summer looks very exciting.

Customer Servicing

On a related note, check out these funny customer service related videos:

• Internet Helpdesk
• Switching Phone Companies

Harmless Computer Practical Jokes (Updated)

I wrote the original article a few years back, and its turned out to be one of the most popular articles on my site. I don't like to rehash old content, and I should have released this on April fool's day, but no use crying over spilt milk. A lot of the text below is from the original article, but I have added new content and updated some of the older content.

I have to admit I love to play a good practical joke on my friends as long as its harmless. The problem is, how do you make sure that you don't hurt the victim, computer, or its data.

Below are a few suggestions for some computer practical jokes. If you have any other suggestions, please post them in the comments:

Notes: Perform these practical jokes at your own risk, I am not responsible for the results. I would never recommend using any of these tricks then leaving the victim to their own devices. You should stay close, hopefully laugh with them, then help them to undo what you did.

Keyboards and Mice:

• Remove the ball from the computer's mouse on the older mechanical mouse. If its the newer optical mouse, stick a small piece of tape over the optical sensor.
• Unplug the mouse and/or keyboard from the back of the computer. If its a wireless keyboard or mouse remove the batteries from the device.
• If several people in your office use wireless keyboards and mice and they are in close proximity to each other, you can reprogram the wireless receivers, to pickup the other user's keyboard and/or mouse.
• This trick is just mean, and can be a little tricky to reverse. Remap the computer keyboard to Dovark layout.
• From the Start menu open the Control Panel folder
• Open the 'Regional and Language Options' applet
• Click the 'Keyboards and Languages' tab, then press the 'Change Keyboards...' button
• Press the 'Add' button
• Check 'United States-Dvorak' then press the OK button.
• Under 'Default input language' section at the top of the 'Text Services and Input Languages' dialog, select the 'United States-Dvorak' option
• Press the OK button

Cables

• Almost every computer is a rat's nest of cables, removing or unpluging the right cable (power, network, keyboard, etc.) can cause frustration for the computer user.
• Any good computer user will have a surge suppressor power strip where their computer is plugged into. Some of these power strips have a breaker, sometimes they manually allow you to blow the breaker. This will basically make the power strip a useless piece of junk until the breaker is reset. (Warning: make sure that all the equipment is off before you blow the breaker)
  

Desktop

• This is a cool little trick, its called the 'Broken LCD Screen'. All you have to do is replace the background of your victims desktop, and it looks like they have a broken LCD screen.
  
• Open up MS Paint (under Start menu | All Programs | Accessories)
• From the File menu select Open. Then paste the following URL into the file name field: http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3028/crackedscreen1920x12802mj.jpg
• From the File menu, select 'Save As Background (Stretched)'
  
• This trick will drive the end-user mad, they will try to click on the desktop and believe the computer is frozen when nothing works. I have seen people reboot their computer several times before they figured out what is wrong. Use with caution, save all the user's work before using this trick.
  
• Take a screen shot of the computer's desktop (press PrtSc screen button). You might want to try taking the screen shot with open application windows, it might add to the realism.
  
• Then open a graphics program like MS Paint (under Start menu | All Programs | Accessories) and Paste the image into the application. Save the file into the C:\WINDOWS\ directory as a bitmap file (.BMP) and set it as the desktop background. (Note: if you're using MS Paint there is a command under the File menu to do this.)
• Then remove the icons from the users desktop, put them in a another folder under the user's 'My Document' folder. Or, you can right-click an empty space on the user's desktop, and uncheck 'Arrange Icons By > Show Desktop Icons' (Note: you may have to cycle through [press Alt-Tab] an application that fills the screen to force the desktop to refresh it self)
  
• For extra realism, you can hide the taskbar at bottom of the screen. (Hover the mouse over the top edge of the bar until you see the up/down arrow, then click and drag the taskbar to the bottom of the screen)

Miscellaneous:

• Turn the speaker volume up real loud on their computer and walk away.
• Try playing with the computer settings, such as the monitor, cursor, mouse and keyboard configuration in the Control Panels.
• Change the startup or other event sounds (such as changing the new mail sound, to something like the sound of someone passing gas [you know what I mean])
• Embed the following link into an email, and send it to your friends (http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/891/3dtetris8yi.swf). I promise they will hate you after you send it.

Items for Sale:

• Phantom Keystroker: Attach this evil prank device to your victim's computer and it makes random mouse movements and types out odd garbage text and phrases.
• Annoy-a-tron: A little device designed to annoy people with a nearly undetectable intermittent beep. This device has a magnet attached, so it can be placed on any metal surface.

10 Most Disruptive Technologies

eWeek reports: "Gartner analysts at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Las Vegas discussed what they believe will be the most disruptive technologies through 2012. Disruptive technologies are those that force changes in industry models, business processes, vendor types, products and services, as well as the all-important user model. Take a look at this list and tell us whether you think something has been omitted—or just plain doesn't belong. This list is ranked in order from least disruptive to most disruptive."

Several of these technologies listed in this presentation given by Gartner may sound new and cool, but many of them are older then you think. For example, augmented reality is probably the grand father of these concepts (roughly about 20+ years). Then you have concepts like Ubiquitous Computing, and virtualization (both roughly about 10+ years).

Yochai Benkler: Open-source economics (TED Talk)

Law professor Yochai Benkler explains how collaborative projects like Wikipedia and Linux represent the next stage of human organization. By disrupting traditional economic production, copyright law and established competition, they're paving the way for a new set of economic laws, where empowered individuals are put on a level playing field with industry giants.

Lab Improves Li-Ion Batteries by 30 Percent

PC Magazine reports: "A couple of problems faced by the widely-used lithium-ion batteries are the risk of overcharging and the subsequent degradation of charging capability. Research for the improvement of lithium-ion has reached a milestone in Argonne National Laboratory where longer battery life and a 30 percent increase in storage capacity have been achieved. To be able to prevent overheating and combustion, researchers replace cobalt oxide electrodes (which easily overheat) with manganese oxide--a more stable material."

The problem with battery technologies is that advances in this area are painfully slow.

Famous Failures

"If you have never failed, then you have never lived..."

Music and Life - Alan Watts

Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance

Red Skelton's "Pledge of Allegiance" was first introduced on the Red Skelton Show on January 14, 1969. It has since been twice read into the congressional record of The United States and has received numerous awards.

Google App Engine Now Open

PC Magazine reports: "Google on Tuesday announced its new Google App Engine, and opened a preview version to the first 10,000 users to sign up. The service essentially does for Web apps what Google Blogger does for bloggers: provides a hosting solution for Web developers to build their apps on top of, integrating with other Google services and sparing developers the trouble of server maintenance and scalability. Basically, Google wants to be your (free) sysadmin."

Google is providing a web infrastructure for application developers to host their apps. If you're a Python web developer, you may want to check this out (this offer is limited to the first 10000 people who sign up).

Dial D for Disruption

Forbes.com reports: "Spencer is the inventor of Asterisk, a free software program that establishes phone calls over the Internet and handles voicemail, caller ID, teleconferencing and a host of novel features for the phone. With Asterisk loaded onto a computer, a decent-size company can rip out its traditional phone switch, even some of its newfangled Internet telephone gear, and say good-bye to 80% of its telecom equipment costs."

Learn about an open-source program called Asterisk that is making waves in the telecommunications industry.

Suddenly Last Supper

Popped Culture reports: "There's nothing like a couple thousand years of of repetition and an iconic painting by an Old Master to get story to get lodged inside the heads of the creators of pop culture. Leonardo da Vinci's 15th century depiction of Jesus announcing that one of his 12 disciples would betray him is so iconic that it has been co-opted by those wishing to give weight to their parodies, tributes and caricatures. As many of the pictures as possible are linked to a more detailed version."

Several humorous paraodies of the last supper.

Microsoft Building `Containerized` Data Center

eWeek reports: "Microsoft is in the process of building the industry's first container-based data center.

Microsoft first said a year ago that it was considering the idea, and now the concept is coming to fruition, Michael Manos, Microsoft's senior director of Data Center Services, said April 1 in a keynote address at the AFCOM Data Center World conference here."

I have heard of companies playing with the idea of container-based data centers for the last few years. Its nice to see them finally using them.

Clifford Stoll: 18 Minutes With An Agile Mind

Clifford Stoll could talk about the atmosphere of Jupiter. Or hunting KGB hackers. Or Klein bottles, computers in classrooms, the future. But he's not going to. Which is fine, because it would be criminal to confine a man with interests as multifarious as Stoll's to give a talk on any one topic. Instead, he simply captivates his audience with a wildly energetic sprinkling of anecdotes, observations, asides -- and even a science experiment. After all, by his own definition, he's a scientist: "Once I do something, I want to do something else."

Photos: How data centers are cooling down

CNET News.com reports: "California data centers from the Oregon border down to Bakersfield now demand as much as 500 megawatts, which could grow by another 50 to 70 megawatts within the next 18 months, according to Mark Bramfitt, program manager for customer energy efficiency at Pacific Gas & Electric."

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data centers use about 2 percent of U.S. energy consumption. That may sound small, but that is a lot of power being used. Personally I work with servers all day, so I get to see these technologies in action.

Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer

Wired Reports: "Internet griefers descended on an epilepsy support message board last weekend and used JavaScript code and flashing computer animation to trigger migraine headaches and seizures in some users.

The nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation, which runs the forum, briefly closed the site Sunday to purge the offending messages and to boost security."

There is no defense against an attack like this unless you turn off all scripting and other browser technologies like Flash. Although by doing this you will disable most or all the functionality of popular web sites.

What Does a Computer Virus Look Like?

What Does a Computer Virus Look Like? - News and Analysis by PC Magazine: "A Romanian artist and MessageLabs, a computer security services company, have teamed up to provide renderings of what the world's most deadly malware might look like."

Check out the slideshow, the concept of the artwork is interesting. Although, the article does reads like an April Fool's Joke.

Google Docs getting offline access

Webware reports: "Google Docs' word processor is finally getting offline access. Using the free Google Gears extension, users will soon be able to read and edit their files even when they have no Internet connection.

The Gears-enabled version of Google Docs will roll out to users over the next few weeks, starting Monday. If you don't have access to the feature, just keep trying, Google Docs product manager Ken Norton told me. You'll know you have the feature when you see a little 'offline' menu item in the upper right of your document window in Google Docs."

This technology has the potential to start a whole new standards war in the near future if it takes off the way a few companies are betting it will...

Google: April Fools' Day Hoax

Below is a list of previous Google April Fools' Day Hoaxes:

(2007) Google: TiSP (Toilet ISP): Google's new free in-home wireless broadband service.

(2007) Google: About Gmail Paper (New Feature): Gmail, you can request a physical copy of any message with the click of a button, and we'll send it to you in the mail.

(2006) Google Romance: "A place where you can post all types of romantic information and, using our Soulmate Search™, get back search results that could, in theory, include the love of your life. Then we'll send you both on a Contextual DateTM, which we'll pay for while delivering to you relevant ads that we and our advertising partners think will help produce the dating results you're looking for."

(2005) Google Gulp (BETA) with Auto-Drink: A line of "smart drinks" designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty.

(2004) Google Copernicus Center: Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at our lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007. This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen.

(2004) GMail was announced on April 1, 2004 and people thought it is another hoax!

(2002) PigeonRank: The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University.

(2000) Google MentalPlex: Search technology that read user's mind to determine what the user wanted to search for. No need to actually type in the search query.

Other April Fool's sites:

• Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes
• Mr. C's Top 12 Internet-Based April Fool's Day Pranks
  

After 38 years, a new type of memory to hit market

CNET News.com reports: "Why will the world want PCM? Performance, says Numonyx CTO Ed Doller. PCM chips can survive tens of millions of read-write cycles, he said, or far more than flash. Reading data to PCM chips takes 70 to 100 nanoseconds, or as fast as NOR flash. Data can be written to the chips at a rate of 1 megabyte a second, or equivalent of NAND flash. There is also no erase cycle, making it similar to DRAM."

Its amazing how long this technology has been in development, let hope it works out.

Design Coding Rap

The Poetic Prophet (AKA The SEO Rapper) is back with another marketing rap. This time he describes how web standards and proper design can affect the ranking and conversion of pages on your site.

Parody: MacBook Air

A parody of Apple's MacBook Air commercial. The song is "New Soul" by Yael Naim. The film was created by THE BUREAU (www.umdbureau.com)

Reasoning Behind Owning a PDA

Photos: Treasure trove for the pocket-protector set

CNET News.com reports: "Long before Craigslist, eBay, and niche online merchants made it easier to find out-of-the-way oddities, stores such as American Science & Surplus were sourcing and selling obscure, hard-to-find electronic and mechanical components to geeks and artists. Seventy-one years ago, the company's founder listed discarded optics and military equipment in the back pages of Popular Science magazine."

This looks like a very cool place to shop, I could spend hours here just roaming and looking around.

Images: 100 miles per gallon or bust!

CNET News.com reports: "Carmakers are already charging batteries, tuning engines, and inflating tires to get ready for DARPA's Progressive Automotive X Prize contest, which will deliver $10 million to the winner whose car can exceed 100 miles per gallon. At the New York auto show last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency unveiled Progressive Casualty Insurance as the sponsor of one of the most interesting auto contests to date."

I want these cars now, this would be 3 to 4 times better gas millage then I am currently getting.

Beethoven's 5th Argument

No cue cards, no teleprompters, and no second takes--legendary funnyman Sid Caesar pioneered live television sketch comedy with his 1950s sitcoms Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. This classic sketch is "Argument to Beethoven's 5th," Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray play a married couple in a argument with pantomimed action and the dialogue is classic music.

The Onion: Are We Giving Robots Too Much Power?

Panelists discuss whether controversial decisions by the Robot Congress and President Executron indicate robots have too much control over our lives. (More coverage at: http://onion.com)

Did You Know 2.0 (official update to "Shift Happens")

An official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, this June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com -- Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE.

"Battlestar Galactica" Top Ten List

Top Ten Reasons to Watch the New Season of 'Battlestar Galactica'" from "The Late Show with David Letterman.

Images: Intel to build first six-core chip

CNET News.com: "Intel shows off its first six-core processor, called Dunnington, which will be available in the second half of 2008. Dunnington is based on the 45nm high-k process technology and is composed of 1.9 billion transistors. It contains a 16MB L3 cache, is socket compatible with the Caneland platform, and is made for virtualization."

See what 1.9 billion transistors looks like...

Photos: Flying car readies for takeoff in New York

CNET News.com reports: "Need to get to another city really fast? Just drive your car to the nearest airport, take off, land in your destination city, and drive to where you want to go. That's the scenario envisioned by Milner Motors as it unveils a prototype of its AirCar, coupled with its ElectriCar, at the 2008 New York auto show."

I would love to see one of these flying car concepts go into production. If they do, I wonder what the affect on air traffic if they became popular.

U.S. Postal Service goes green with free mail-in recycling service for electronics

TechRepublic.com reports: "In 10 metro areas across the country, the United States Postal Service has launched a new pilot program that allows people to submit old inkjet cartridges, toner cartridges, and small electronics for proper disposal and recycling via free pre-paid mailers that customers can pick up at Post Office branches. If the program is successful, it could be expanded nationwide by this fall."

I think this is a great idea, I hope they expand it.

Last Message from Arthur C. Clarke- A Voice from Beyond

Visionary, Arthur C. Clarke's recording from December 2007.

New Math

For those of you who didn't know, they used to teach mathematics a little differently. Here's how they do it now.

How to Not Be Seen

Here are two modern parodies of a famous Monty Python's skit called 'How Not To Be Seen'

How to Not Be Seen (WoW)

WeGame.com - WoW Videos

How to Not Be Seen (Halo)

Is vinegar the secret ingredient for biofuels?

CNET News.com: "To make ethanol, you want to make vinegar first, according to ZeaChem.

The biofuel start-up, which has moved from Colorado to Silicon Valley, says it has come up with a method of making cellulosic ethanol that results in close to 40 percent more fuel per ton of wood chips than competing processes. By 2010 or so, the company hopes to be producing ethanol commercially for 80 cents a gallon at wholesale. That could translate to anywhere from $1.10 to $1.50 at the pump, depending on a host of factors."

I have a new fascination with green technologies in general. What's interesting about them is the different types of thinking required to develop it, and overcoming the many obstacles a start faces.

How To: Terminate a Terminator (Updated)

Wired.com reports: "With the arrival of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on British TV screens, it's clearly time to consider just how to deal with murderous and very determined androids from the future.

This might look easier than our previous movie-based challenge, 'How To Stop A 500-foot Monster' (and its sequel), but the rules are a bit different. With giant monsters, you can count on the authorities to wheel out the F-18s and Abrams tanks pronto. When a Terminator kicks down your door at 2 a.m., it's just you and whatever you have on hand. While a 120-mm M829A1 round might swiftly convert a Terminator into scrap metal, I don’t believe that even DR readers keep a suitable cannon in the house."

You can never too prepared, learn how to protect yourself from the terminators... ;-)

Simon's Cat 'Let Me In!'

A hungry cat resorts to increasingly desperate measures to get indoors.

Simon's Cat 'Cat Man Do'

A hungry cat resorts to increasingly desperate measures to wake its sleeping owner.

Food Fight

An abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the use of foods from the countries in conflict. For a breakdown of the actual battles portrayed in the video, check out the official cheat sheet (breakdown of the foodstuffs)

How to Score Free Airline Vouchers by Reserving Overbooked Flights

Dumb Little Man reports: "Airlines like money and it turns out that the best way for airlines to make money is to ensure that there are as few empty seats on a plane as possible.

When a person doesn’t show up for a flight, the seat is left empty and an empty seat is a lost opportunity for revenue. As a result of this conundrum, airlines employ fancy statisticians to figure out how many seats the airline needs to overbook just to make up for the no-shows."

Interesting uses of a common airline practice of overbooking flights to get free travel and other perks. Although, you have to be careful using this advice because it can create other conflicts in your travel.

Top 10 Amazing Chemistry Videos

Wired.com reports: "Fiery explosions, beautiful reactions, and hilarious music videos are great reasons to be excited about chemistry. Here are some of our favorites."

Do not try these experiments at home...

How to Use Predictive Text Swearing

A genius bit on the history of predictive text swearign and why it's so hard to text pottymouth phrases.

The Waldo Ultimatum

His identity erased. His past stolen. His whereabouts unknown. Where the hell is Waldo?


The Waldo Ultimatum - Watch more free videos

Hollywood: Tron To Triumphantly Return To Theaters In 2011 (And In 3D!)

Kotaku reports: "It's been over twenty five years since the original Tron flick took drive-in theaters by storm, but it looks like Tron fever may be sweeping the nation again in the next decade. According to film site Dark Horizons, Disney has plans to release a 3D sequel to the video game film, using the same technology in previous 3D efforts such as Chicken Little and The Nightmare Before Christmas."

I watched the original movie in the theaters when it first came out in the 80's.

Photos: Peering into energy's future

CNET News.com reports: "Not your typical hybrid, this Mack dump truck was part of a huge display at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) 2008 in Washington, D.C. The battery is the blue box to the left of the exhaust pipe."

I have seen more innovation in energy based technologies in the last few years then I have seen in the last few decades.

Get Free Music!

PC Magazine reports: "To all the oldsters who say that kids these days are spoiled for refusing to pay for music, I say 'bah!' Free, legal music has existed forever—or at least since the invention of the radio—and you folks had good radio stations and programs to listen to, back in the pre-Clear Channel era."

If you're looking for free music, then check out this article.

Chevrolet Volt Concept

Cars.com talks with a GM representative about their all-electric concept car, the Volt. GM promises that the car, which is still years away from production, will plug right into an outlet in your house.

Microsoft Takes Office Live Workspace Worldwide, Adds New Features

PC Magazine reports: "A day after announcing that it is opening up its SharePoint online services to businesses of all sizes, Microsoft on Tuesday expanded its online service for sharing and viewing documents, Office Live Workspace. Stopping just short of removing the 'beta' tag from Workspace, Microsoft has expanded availability worldwide and added some new capabilities: an activity panel, notifications, direct links, and multi-file drag-and-drop uploads."

Its looks like Google and Microsoft are going head-to-head in the online collaborative tools market. Personally I think there still a lot of room for both of these tools to really grow, vs. products like email or instant messaging services. There as not been any innovation in those markets for years (IMHO).

MSI's Stirling Engine Cools Motherboard

PC Magazine reports: "The concept of a Stirling engine--a closed-cycle regenerative hot air engine, as Wikipedia succinctly puts it--was invented in 1816. MSI has slapped one on a motherboard in 2008, 192 years later."

This is a very cool idea...

Cracking Open the Apple MacBook Air

Check out TechRepublic's Photo Gallery, they rip apart a MacBook Air and show you the inside. Here is excerpt from the article: "The Apple MacBook Air is thin, light, and a testament to what good engineering and design can accomplish in a notebook personal computer. This latest TechRepublic Cracking Open Photo Gallery explores the technology of this ultra thin notebook."

Jack Nicholson Hillary Clinton Video (Parody)

This is a video response to Hillary Clinton Ad Featuring Jack Nicholson



Here is one more...

Ruby on Rails vs ColdFusion (Commercial #8)

A programmer friend sent this one to me...

David Blaine Street Magic (Part 4)

This is the forth installment of this parody in the 'David Blaine Street Magic' series.

David Blaine Street Magic (Part 3)

This is the third installment of this parody in the 'David Blaine Street Magic' series.

David Blaine Street Magic (Part 2)

This is the second installment of this parody in the 'David Blaine Street Magic' series.

Note: Tthe first one of these videos was too vulgar IMHO to post in my blog. It had too much cussing for my taste.

Images: First U.S. spy satellite photos--ever!

CNET News.com reports: "For all the Pentagon's crowing about its success in hitting a defunct spy satellite with a missile last week, it's had very little to say about the satellite itself. But then, those Defense Department types aren't in the habit of giving away details about classified projects."

It's interesting that we now have access to better satellite data then what was available only a few decades ago.

Electron filmed in motion for the first time - LiveScience- msnbc.com

msnbc.com reports: "Scientists have filmed an electron in motion for the first time, using a new technique that will allow researchers to study the tiny particle's movements directly."

It looks a lot different then what you might expect it to look like.

Researchers discover gene that blocks HIV

physorg.com reports: "Stephen Barr, a molecular virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, says his team has identified a gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection in a cell culture by preventing the assembly of the virus.

'When we put this gene in cells, it prevents the assembly of the HIV virus,' said Barr, a postdoctoral fellow. 'This means the virus cannot get out of the cells to infect other cells, thereby blocking the spread of the virus.'"

This is great news, I hope its as good as it promises to be...