Two (And More!) Great Cartoons

I found two great cartoons while browsing through some of the links on BoingBoing today. One of them was the classic One Froggy Evening, the cartoon that introduced Michigan J. Frog on a public replete with malaise, begging for something new. It's a great short: wonderful animation, terrific story, a subtlety to the artwork that's likely lost on the children it targets, and it's all done with no dialog. If there were ever a case to be made that modern animation suffers, this would be Exhibit A. Case Closed!

But more importantly, I found Tree for Two, the cartoon pictured above. The Big Cartoon Forum lists this as a significant Sylvester cartoon, but for me it's so much more.

I used to have this cartoon on betamax. And, not surprisingly to anyone who knows me, I used to watch it constantly. And, not surprisingly to anyone that knows me, I knew all the parts of this cartoon: the dialog, the comedic timing, the flaws in the tape -- all the nuances you pick up with repeated viewings. Then, one day, my mom taped over this cartoon with Another World, or something equally crappy, and I was distraught, thinking I would never see it again. It wasn't that I loved this cartoon so much, but because there was a small piece in it that I'm positive slipped right past the censors. And I don't want to ruin this cartoon for anyone, but once I tell you it'll be stuck in your brain forever, like the arrow in the Fed Ex logo. But at the same time, I've been waiting since my teens to show this to someone! So, with my humblest apologies to Sylvester fans the world over, here it is:

At 1:48 into the cartoon Sylvester quite clearly says "What the fuck". Now it might be a coincidence. But it's clear as day. And, hilariously, somewhat appropriate to the situation.

The BoingBoing post references Cityrag as compiling a video list for the 50 greatest cartoons of all time, and it's definitely worth a look. Funny how it hadn't occurred to me to look for cartoons on YouTube before now -- but this should not come surprisingly to anyone who knows me.

Link to One Froggy Evening
Link to Tree for Two
Link to 50 greatest cartoons on Wikipedia
Link to 50 greatest cartoon video list on Cityrag (via BoingBoing)

10 Ways

One of the most difficult things about this blog is finding things to say about some of the sites I come across. 10 Ways seems almost to defy description. At its heart it's about experimentation with a visual medium, but it definitely transcends the static pictures it plays with. The image above, from Information, uses the idea of photomosaics to suggest that images underlie other images. Philosophy aside, I could spend hours here.

Link to 10 Ways
Link to 10 Ways:Information

Psychic Tests

Though not a big believer in psychic phenomena, I do have a few experiences that leave me scratching my head. Plus, I like spending my time fooling around with this kind of stuff. And who isn't curious about ESP?

There are a number of different tests here, mostly "guess the card" and remote viewing. They do a good job of breaking down the odds of how well you've done, and then you get to rank yourself against others at the end. I think I tend to do better when I'm really drunk or really tired, so I'll post an update if I'm successful at completing the tests in either of those states.

I also heard a rumour that they'll pay you for research if you exceed the norms, but I can't say with any validity whether this is true.

Link (via Linky & Dinky)

Virtual NES

I think people forget to hearken back to our halcyon days of youth, where graphics were cumbersome and sound effects were tinny, but where gameplay reigned supreme. I had an old-school Atari 2600 which, at the time, was the zenith of home video game systems -- and sure beat the hell out of our Telstar console. But next to systems like ColecoVision, it was a definite step down. A few years later, Nintendo would emerge as the leading video game console, crushing the other competitors under its flimsy white and grey plastic heels.

I remember renting NES consoles every weekend and staying up all night playing games. And although I do find it kind of disturbing that I can now play upwards of 350 NES games in java on my computer, I do like the idea that I don't have to scrounge through yard sales, pawn shops, or classified ads to look for used cartridges.

(My NES currently sits under our TV, right next the PS2. My Atari console is still MIA.)

Link

10 Minute Mail

Need an e-mail address fast? This site has taken over from Mailinator as my new favourite disposable e-mail site. 10 Minute Mail provides you with an e-mail address that expires in 10 minutes -- but you do have the option to renew your address for another 10 minutes if the mail you're expecting hasn't arrived. Perfect for those times when you need to register for some crap-ass service but don't want to give up your real address.

Link

Holiday Excuse Generator

It's that time of year again. And in addition to working, volunteering, and living your life, you've also got to squeeze in shopping, social functions, and parties with every group of friends you have. So if you need an excuse to help keep your sanity or prevent alcohol poisoning, this one's got you covered. It has the option of sending your excuse out once it's generated, and has some cute eye candy to keep you interested while it's finding your perfect excuse.

Link

Make Your Own Ginger Ale

Believe it or not, I found a recipe to make your own ginger ale. Using only five ingredients, you too can be sipping delicious homemade ginger ale in front of a crackling fire. It sounds super easy and like a lot of fun -- I'll post an update if I try it.

My mom has a ridiculous story of my grandmother and her homemade rootbeer, but I didn't see any soda-like confections coming out of her kitchen. Maybe she was a closet bootlegger.

Link

Update: It turns out I posted too soon. There are all kinds of WikiHows on brewing your own soda pop, and they all use the same techniques. Maybe I should have a pop-tasting party at my place this summer.

Link to cream soda recipe
Link to rootbeer recipe
Link to cola recipe

Hungry for a Month

This guy decided he was going to spend $1 a day on food for a whole month. Nothing super special to the writing, but it's a really interesting idea. Y'know, like lent or something, except you're giving up food instead of M&Ms. But I guess M&Ms are food, so you'd better hope they cost less than a dollar and can feed you for a day.

Link

All the TV You Need

sI found some links similar to this a couple of months ago, but they got taken down because of Fox and their stupid complaining. The complaining didn't solve anything, of course, because the links were still out there waiting to be picked up by someone.

And now someone's picked them up. Go quickly and watch all your favourite Simpsons, Futurama, and Family Guy episodes (among others)! Then mail me a DVD of them, would ya?

Link

Free Online File Conversion

Zamzar is a very user-friendly site that provides a file conversion service for files up to 100Mb in size. It's very easy to use: browse to the file or files (multiple files have to be the same type), choose the filetype you want to convert to, provide your e-mail address, and blammo! The files get e-mailed directly to you! And with even stupid Hotmail -- I mean Windows Live Mail -- offering 2Gb of space right now, this shouldn't cause anyone any hardships.

Link

The Hug Shirt

One of the coolest uses of modern technology I've heard about, and one that I hope will pave the way for cooler and even better stuff.

The hug shirt is designed to transmit a hug from one wearer to another. There are sensors under the red parts of the shirt that record things like body temperature, pressure, duration, and heartrate. The data is then transmitted by Bluetooth to your cell phone, which is then sent to your friend's phone, and by Bluetooth to his shirt.

Wild enough for you? This is definitely one of the better arguments in favour of me owning a cell phone.

Link

The Art of Willard Wigan

I was fortunate enough to see a micro-miniature show at the Dunlop Art Gallery in 1997. I'd actually seen some of the works on the internet before I saw them on display. It was bizarre to think that sculptures that small could ever be created.

Then I found Willard Wigans. The work he does is baffling, and rich with ten times the detail of anything I'd seen either in person or on the internet. Pictured at right is King Henry VIII and his six wives, all in the eye of a needle. For something so amazingly finite, it's almost as though you could look at it for hours and continuously find something new.

Willard has photographic prints of his work for sale, but for me it's enough to look at the pictures on his website and let my eyes bug out in wonder. (NB - not that I need any help in letting my eyes bug out.)

Link

Two Winter Time Wasters

This first game, Snowcraft, has been around since 1998. I remember spending my lunchtime playing it while I worked at SEDA. I eventually completed the game, but it was very frustrating. In fact, this game is as frustrating as it is fun.


The object is to defeat the green team by hitting them with snowballs. It takes three hits to remove a player, and they do pause to wipe snow off themselves when they're hit. To move your players, just drag them around the screen. Release the mouse button to throw a snowball: the longer the button's held down, the further you can throw.

In Snowball, you use the arrow keys to control a snowball rolling down a very long hill. It gets larger and harder to control as it rolls, and you can absorb dogs, people, and other objects as you grow. Hitting a tree with reduce your size, and hitting a house will stop the game. You can see my best score in the picture.

Two simple, addictive games for your continued amusement. If I don't hear from you I'll forward your mail.

Link to Snowcraft
Link to Snowball

Dark Side of the Rainbow

This is what the internet is all about.

Remember a few years ago when A&E played The Wizard of Oz and told you exactly when to start your copy of Dark Side of the Moon? And it seemed like a really cool idea, but you didn't have a copy of the album because you always thought Pink Floyd kinda sucked? Well now someone has kindly done all the hard work for us and simply uploaded the movie complete with Pink Floyd soundtrack to Google Video.

I've read about this a lot in the past, and although Pink Floyd maintains that it's all just coincidence, fans have compiled more than 100 links between the movie and the album. I hope it's as interesting as I've been led to believe.

Link

xkcd

I have to admit that I've been addicted to this web comic since the first day I saw it. The art might not be that good, but the comics themselves are as clever as anything I've seen. I read through the archives on the first day, and there was a startlingly good mix of gut-shaking funniness and tear-jerking poignancy.

I think this cartoon is my favourite. And pretty much sums up my life's philosophy.

Link (via BoingBoing)

Dicewars

I guess it's time for playtesting to be over.

This is a highly addictive Risk-type game played with dice instead of armies. The number of dice on your land determines the strength of your attack: if you roll higher than your opponent, then you win the territory. Armies are replenished randomly at the end of your attack, one per connected territory.

There's a lot of luck involved, but maybe that's part of its charm. It's definitely part of the frustration. Although you can play with up to eight computer opponents, be sure to try some of the lower levels: it's sometimes a lot tougher to defeat two or three opponents than seven.

Link (via Games1.org)

When you want a restaurant in your home

Sometimes what you want from a restaurant is not someone else doing the cooking (although I always seem to want to have someone else do the cleaning!), it's a specific dish that the restaurant makes. Of course, it's irrlevant to those of us in Regina to have access to Olive Garden recipes, but there is a host of other things to be found here - so search away.

http://www.copykat.com/

Because you need to know.

I was going to give you all this link
http://cmgm.stanford.edu/pbrown/mguide/index.html
because I think it's something everyone should know. But then I thought of who might or might not be reading this blog, and I've decided to go with this:
http://members.tripod.com/~spows/cow.html

Snowflake Maker

In the middle of a scorching summer heatwave, nobody wants anything more than to think about an ice-cold winter. Which is why this post about the snowflake maker is coming at just the right time.

I suppose you could make real snowflakes yourself using the method they show you, but what good would that be? You'd have your kitchen table littered with tiny scraps of paper, hundreds of snowflakes hung from pipe cleaners, and no way to display them to thousands of people a day. No, this is definitely better and more convenient.

After you're done cutting your masterpiece, the site allows you to e-mail your snowflake out to people, or even to download an EPS to use in your own projects. You can also visit the gallery, where similar options are available for more than eleven million snowflakes! For what it's worth, the one in the picture is #11985365.

Link

Warn the World

There may come a time when you need to serve notice on someone. Maybe that time is now. Or not, I'm just sayin'
http://www.shipbrook.com/onnotice/

So you think you can dance

Lordy Day I'm easily amused:
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/7870150.html

12 Myths About Hunger

This excellent page from Food First debunks 12 common myths about hunger. There are some fascinating and startling statistics here, and it does a very effective job of driving home the point that the majority of starving people in the world are doing so not because of environmental or market forces, but because of someone's greed.

Myth 1:
Not Enough Food to Go Around

Reality: Abundance, not scarcity, best describes the world's food supply. Enough wheat, rice and other grains are produced to provide every human being with 3,200 calories a day. That doesn't even count many other commonly eaten foods - ­vegetables, beans, nuts, root crops, fruits, grass-fed meats, and fish. Enough food is available to provide at least 4.3 pounds of food per person a day worldwide: two and half pounds of grain, beans and nuts, about a pound of fruits and vegetables, and nearly another pound of meat, milk and eggs - ­enough to make most people fat!

link

The MIT Blackjack Team

Four years ago, Wired ran a great story on a bunch of math wonks from MIT who used an amazingly clever blackjack strategy to clean Vegas out of millions of dollars. It's a bit long, but definitely worth the read.

The Wired article was actually adapted from the novel Bringing Down the House, which is available for download as an ebook (or, I suppose, as a regular book; but like Cory Doctorow, I prefer being able to read things on my Palm).

"One mistake can cost a team a large amount of their expected advantage," Lewis says. "We had these charts calculated out that could tell you what a single error in play costs in terms of profit."

After passing the BP exam, Lewis moved to real world application. During Lewis' first weekend in Vegas, the team made $100,000. He was hooked and soon became one of the team's premier players. Personally, he didn't have problems with the ethics of the venture. "It isn't really even gambling. It's no different than the stock market. We use our brains to earn a profit. It isn't illegal. And it isn't cheating."

Link to Wired story
Link to Bringing Down the House ebook

Homebrew Mosquito Trap

We've all heard the joke: the mosquito is [insert province/state]'s official bird. Here in Saskatchewan it's just short of being true, and quite frankly, I'd do anything short of hanging a big bucket of blood outside just to keep the pesky little critters off me. So you have to understand how intrigued I was when I read about this DIY mosquito trap.

I've mentioned Hammacher Schlemmer before because of the cool stuff they carry, and I'd seen this mosquito trap there long before I caught it on BoingBoing. My friend Wendy has a similar contraption called "Skeeter-Vac" in her backyard, which I believe she picked up at Costco. It runs on propane to generate the carbon dioxide, and, as far as I remember, it does a decent job of keeping the outdoors relatively mosquito free. But it's expensive, and I'd prefer to spend my hard-earned cash on slurpees during those sweltering summer days.

The instructions for building the DIY trap are very simple, and I was able to put one together in less than 30 minutes. The most time consuming part, especially if you're a perfectionist like me, is getting the water to 40 degrees Celsius. We already had most of the necessary materials lying around the house, so my total cost was $1 for two huge sheets of construction paper from Dollarama.

Although there's nothing preventing mosquitoes to come flying out of the bottle, they're thankfully too stupid to know that. The carbon dioxide apparently gives them direction into the bottle, but once inside there's nothing to provide them with direction out. I'll post in a week or so with what my results are: personally, I'm wondering how this stacks up against more natural solutions, like bats and dragonflies.

Link (via BoingBoing)

Edit Aug. 10/06: Well, I regret to inform everyone that this experiment has failed miserably. I did not catch a single mosquito, but I did catch three daddy longlegs, some kind of crazy-ass beetle, and half a bottle of dandelion seeds.

Final tally: Mosquitos 2, Deron 0.

Cool and Frustrating Puzzles

I came across these Grow puzzles a couple of years ago, but they were weird and I didn't spend a lot on them. Returning to them now, they're still weird, but brilliantly weird: like the guy you meet on the subway who does your math homework for a pouch of Pop Rocks, not like the guy you meet on the subway who carries a duffel bag with his wife's severed head in it.

The premise of all these puzzles is the same: there are a number of items along the left and right sides of the screen that must be activated in a certain order. The twist is that different orders give misleading results. A lot of times you'll think you're making progress only to find you're straying dawn a misleading path. In Grow 3, for example, the tornado attaches to the windmill to provide the globe with electricity; but if the tornado is activated too early, it destroys the windmill -- and then a misleading "bonus" pops up, suggesting you've done the right thing.

These puzzles are perfectly crafted and great fun to watch, even if you're not trying to solve them.

Grow v2 (via Kent's Blog)
Grow v3
Grow RPG
Grow Cube

Update: It turns out the all knowing, all seeing Wikipedia has a link to Grow and a mysterious fifth puzzle called Glow Ornament. Solutions for all the puzzles are also listed, so don't look too closely or you'll ruin the fun!

Link to Wikipedia article

Free Text Messaging Service

I think I may be one of the last people on the face of the earth without a cell phone. The problem is that I want the gadgets but I don't want to be in constant contact. I leave my house to get away from the phone, not to take it with me.

"You should get a cell phone," my buddy Rob said, "so I can text you." Texting has somehow become the "killer app" of cell phones, which I find especially hilarious because cell phones already have a brilliant and perfectly natural method of communication built in. But texting is fun, so they tell me, and in some places it's far cheaper than standard cell phone rates, so that explains much of its popularity.

But even without a cell phone, I can use txtDrop to text message my friends for free. The site is very straight-forward, with only three fields to fill out and a button to push. Now I'm half-way home: if I can find a good site that will let me receive texts, I may not need a cell phone after all (but I will need a wireless card for my Palm).

Link

Simple (and Surprisingly Accurate) IQ Test

There are a number of IQ tests out there, and I've probably tried them all. Most are gimmicky, and nearly all of them artificially inflate your score.

But this test provided me with the same score I received when I took my Mensa application tests. It consists of 38 true/false questions that must be completed in 13 minutes. You apparently get bonus marks for completing the test quickly, and there's a break after the 19th question so you can relax before tackling the second half.

I'll send a postcard to anyone who can guess what my score was.*

I'll send a prize to anyone who can beat it!**

*Family and close friends excluded from this offer; you'll get a phone call.
**Screenshot verification may be required. Prizes are expensive, especially now that I'm out of work.

Link

Snacksby

A few years ago I had this idea for a countertop recipe appliance that would synch to the internet and pull down recipes based on what you have in your cupboard. Like a lot of great ideas I've come up with, this languished into obscurity, and I started using AllRecipes.com for my cooking needs. (And, FWIW, AllRecipes.com remains a pretty good, if hard to navigate, site.)

But today I chanced across Snacksby, a recipe site that gives you options based on the ingredients you enter in a field at the top of the screen. It looks to be a fun site, with different recipes tagged with "snackonomies" like vegetarian and low-calorie, and even provides ingredient substitutions if you're out of cloves or something. It also knows about measurements, so it won't pull up a recipe requiring a dozen eggs if you've only got two.

There's a link on the front page from comments to a review at LifeHacker:

Great idea but completely worthless at the moment given that they currently have less than a dozen recipes in there and are relying on users to fill the database.

Fair enough; but as another commenter posted, user-edited content is pretty easy to get. And once this does fill up, it'll be just what I'm looking for!

Update: check out this great message letting me know that they couldn't find a recipe for me!

SNACKSLET
You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot
so inoculate our old chicken stock but we shall eat relish of
it: I found you recipes not.

YOU
I was the more decieved.

SNACKSLET
Get thee to a grocery. Why wouldst thou be a
cooker of nothing? I am myself indifferent honest,
but yet I should accuse me of such things that it
were better my mother had not borne me: I am very
gluttonous, revengeful, ambitious, with more recipes at
my beck than I have cards to write them on,
imagination to give them shape, or time to cook them
in. What should such gourmets as I do crawling
between earth and heaven? We are arrant chefs,
all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a grocery.
Where're your cookbooks?

YOU
At home, my lord.

SNACKSLET
Let the pantry doors be shut upon them, that they may play
fruitless nowhere but in'r own kitchen. Farewell.

YOU
O, help him, you sweet heavens!

SNACKSLET
If thou dost cook, I'll give thee this compost
for thy dinner: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as
snow, thou shalt not escape famine. Get thee to a
grocery, go; farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs
cook, cook for a fool; for wise men know well enough
what illusory meals you make for them. To a grocery, go,
and quickly too. Farewell.

YOU
O heavenly powers, restore him!

SNACKSLET
I have heard of your garnishes too, well enough; God
has given your dishes one face, and you make them
another: you salt, you drizzle, and you accent, and
put ketchup on God's creatures, and make your wantonness
your diet. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath
made me hungry. I say, we will have no more meals:
those that have already, all but one, shall
eat; the rest shall starve as they are. To a
grocery, go.

Exeunt

Oh, Snacksby!
Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.

Link

Sudoku Combat

Like I really need another diversion in my life.

I often find myself playing sudoku on my Palm with this excellent software. It's a very addictive game; when I gave Heather my Tungsten|T for her birthday, she said, "Yay! Now I can play sudoku!"

So now there's Sudoku Combat, a simple site that pits your /\/\4D 5K!11zorz against some random opponent. The game is very easy to operate: type in a name and start the fun. It must set a cookie in your browser, because your settings and ranking are saved when you leave the site.

There are about 100 different avatars to choose from, and some are pretty funny. There's also four levels of sudoku to provide a challenge, from "easy" to "evil". And if you don't feel up to a head-to-head challenge, you can always choose to play by yourself.

Now, I'm not very fast at solving the puzzles, so most of the people I played handily kicked my ass. But it was still a lot of fun, and I expect it to eat up a lot of my free time in the coming weeks.

Link

Golf-Ball Finding Glasses

A lot of the links I put up on FeedMonkey come from me talking to people. The conversation usually goes, "Did you hear about the Grateful Dead's drummer's signature found on a zucchini grown in Rhode Island? Oh, I'll send you the link." But part of the reason I started this blog wasn't just to highlight the things I find interesting, but also to provide a catch-all location I could point people to instead of sending a link.

I'd browsed through Hammacher Schlemmer before, and I think it's an interesting site with a bunch of cool stuff. I found it while I was looking for wedding gifts, but I didn't post a link to it because I didn't understand how it differed from any of the other similar stores out there, like the Sharper Image. Well, I still don't think it stands out in any respects (with the exception of offering this awesome R2-D2 robot that I totally drool over at every opportunity), but my dad was interested in hearing about their golf ball finding glasses. So here's the link.

They look like an ordinary pair of sunglasses, but they're specially polarized to block out long wavelength light -- that's green and brown light to lay-people like you and me -- and allow shorter wavelengths to filter through. The pictures look impressive, and my dad tells me he's never seen anything similar advertised on the Golf Channel. The price is a little steep at $40, and probably rooted in the tradition of over-priced golf accessories, but with a box of good golf balls clocking in at $58, you'd really only need to find eight stray ones to make your money back.

Link

SuperDickery

In spite of what it sounds ike, this isn't another internet porn site. Instead, it's a site dedicated to the greatest underwear pervert of all time, Superman. And in particular, how much of a dick he is.

The main part of the site is a collection of comic book covers culled from Lois Lane's ("Superman's Girlfriend") and Jimmy Olsen's ("Superman's Pal") titles from the '60s and '70s that make a highly compelling case for Superman being a dick. But the site doesn't stop there -- it also chronicals a bunch of other crazy comic book crap, from ridiculous inventions to hilarious (and apparently unintentional) sexual innuendo to monkeys. Monkeys!

But I think my favourite section shows all the super powers that Superman's had over the years, including Super-Landscaping, Super-Mathematics ("Where I come from it's called regular mathematics" quips the site's creator), and my least favourite, Super-Ventriloquism. At one point Superman could use his Super-Ventriloquism to sound like anyone and to project his voice anywhere in the world. I am not making this up.

A friend of mine recently asked me why they didn't just call the site SuperDick.com. Well, as you see, it's already taken; as is SuperDick.net and SuperDick.org, but they do get less racy as we digress through the domains. In the end, a SuperDick is just what he is, while SuperDickery really describes his shenanigans -- and that's what makes the site fun.

Link

Time-Wasting Pepsi Game

This game is quite a lot of fun for being a one-trick pony. It's not something that's going to bring you back again and again once you complete it, but it's a great waste of time if you're, say, struggling at work on a Friday afternoon. As a bonus, leave your sound on at the end of the game: he never stops drinking! After 30 minutes it becomes one of the most deeply repulsive sounds I've ever heard.

Link

Build Your Memory

I've been using mnemonic techniques like this for years -- ever since I saw Harry Lorraine on Amazing Discoveries, actually. And while they make for fun parlour tricks, like memorizing 20 (or more!) license plates on my walk to work, I haven't actually achieved much success with them. When you read about top memory experts, they all use these techniques or slight variations, so I'm probably just not practicing enough or using them consistently.

But for people unfamiliar with these memory techniques, this is a well-documented and easy to understand resource with lots of examples, allowing you to jump right in and start improving your memory immediately. And yes, these tips will allow you to perform dumb stunts like memorize the order of an entire deck of cards, as well as not-so-dumb stunts like remembering the names and phone numbers of the 15 people you met at last night's dinner party.

Link

Google Maps Pedometer

One of the great things about Google is how most of their cool stuff is released with SDKs (software development kits), allowing both talented and not-so hackers to provide new and exciting things based on Google's technology. We've already seen some interesting stuff through use of the search engine (Googlewhack, Googlefight, Googlism, et al).

Gmaps Pedometer is a cool hack of Google Maps that allows you to record the distance you travel through various checkpoints. It's great for runners (like me) because it allows you to find the distance on non-standard routes, like running paths through parks or around a lake. It's also got a completely useless calorie counting feature that I don't recommend, and a route saving feature that I do. In fact, check out the 4km route I've been running with my dog.

Link

Birthday Calculator

I'm not sure who this Paul Sadowski guy is, but he's got an interesting birthday calculator. It tell you all sorts of information about your birthday: ordinary stuff like your day of birth and zodiac sign, and not-so ordinary stuff like the phase of the moon and date of conception. Too bad it doesn't have place of conception: I'd love to see how many people have "Back seat of mom's car."

I also recommend the Name Calculator page for those people into numerology. Not that anyone is.

Link to Name Calculator
Link to Birthday Calculator (Thanks, Lee)

My son's shirt

My son has a t-shirt that reads "Every day I think people can't get more stupid. Every day I'm proven horribly wrong".
And he's right. Check this out:
http://www.patentlysilly.com/

Judy Blume: Pervert

Could it be that the saccarine-sweet author of Superfudge, Double Fudge, and Fudge-a-Mania is a pervert?

Well, probably not. But let's face it, I primarily know Judy Blume as the author of such delightful childhood tales as Freckle Juice; Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; and the aforementioned Superfudge. In spite of the kind of homogenous uniformity of shmaltzy childhood literature, these books tend to stand out. Maybe not as focal points, but at least as memorable titles. Even if you yourself didn't read them, you sure as hell know someone who did.

Being a boy, I spent far more time talking about how Spider-Man could totally kick Batman's ass than seeking out new Judy Blume books. But in spite of my limited exposure, I honestly thought it was the same kind of watery tripe you'd find in, like, The Babysitter's Club, or Flowers in the Attic. So I was very surprised to find Blume's Forever listed in Playboy's top 25 sexiest novels, and I was even more surprised to read this:

Not surprisingly, since every post-Boomer generation can pinpoint its first sexual memory in the pages of Forever, it is also the title most frequently challenged by fundamentalists, prudes and puritans.

Sweet little Judy Blume is banned? And this book is a seminal, if you'll pardon the pun, sexual icon? Still, I don't think I'll read it. The text is a little juvenile, based on the except, and I think I'm more of a Tropic of Cancer or An American Dream kind of guy these days. The book may have inspired a generation in its day, but reading about "Ralph" tonight only made me chuckle.

Link to Playboy's Sexiest Novels
Link to Forever on Amazon

Edit: Thanks, hilariously to Judy Bloom who pointed out that I was misspelling Judy Blume's name. I'm likely to get fewer hits now, but at least I'll look more professional.

Grow Your Own Pineapple!

Regular readers know that I love pineapples. Of course, the only regular readers this blog has also happen to live in my house. But this does little to invalidate my original statement.

Imagine my surprise when I learned I can grown my own pineapples! You Grow Girl has a brief but easy to follow tutorial on producing your very own pineapple plant from the discarded crown of the fruit. The best part is that it says all you need is lots of sunlight and a moderate indoor climate, two things which I think Saskatchewan can provide.

The downside of this scheme is that it takes two years to produce any fruit. There's a section that tells you how you can fool your poor plant into producing fruit after one year, but if the plant finds out it was tricked and comes after you with a cleaver or something, it's not my fault.

Link (via Kiddly)

Ice Shot Glasses

Elephant Staircase has two quick-and-dirty methods for making ice shot glasses for your next party.

Link

Lightsaber Building Tutorial

Alas, no blade. But the instructions for the handle are easy, cheap, and provides a fairly reasonable facsimile of the real thing. I mean, I'd buy one of these if I had the money, but this seems like a fun project and will go well with the Jedi costume Heather's supposed to be making for me. Until I get it, I don't think Hobo Jedi is going to be as big a hit on the Hallowe'en party circuit as I'm led to believe.

Link

Gross-out Twofer

After having read a recent story about a man who cured his asthma through regular infestations of hookworms, I was reminded of the story I read about a man who trepanned himself that made me pass out. I had the same effect from reading The Hot Zone when I got to the part describing how ebola victims bleed out, but I wisely stopped before I lost consciousness. Apparently I don't deal well with these sorts of things.

At least the hookworm story is an interesting treatment of the procedure and apparently provides some positive benefits, like the elimination of asthma and hayfever. Trepanation only gives you a good story for family reunions and first dates.

Link to hookworm story (via K5)
Link to trepanation story (via BME)

They're Made Out of Meat!

The post about Terry Bisson's short story on Boing Boing really brough back memories. I first read it about ten years ago. I love this story: it's haunting, it's poingant, it's brilliant, and it's short. It reminds me a lot of myself, actually. Without the glasses.

What I didn't know is that ths story is in the book Bears Discover Fire, and that you can buy this book for your handheld in a number of different formats. All you luddites can buy it in paper form, too. (FWIW, I feel comfortable bugging you about this as the last five books I've read have all been on my handheld.)

Link to text of story (via Boing Boing)

NO, not for the fashion

I am no fashion maven (as anyone who has heard my eleven year old daughter advise me on what to wear can attest to) but when a site has humour that appeals to me, who cares about the why. So here ya go:
http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/

Sex as a road to peace

I have an acquaintance that has this weird theory: if everyone in the world could have sex as often as they wanted or needed to, there would be world peace. He thinks that all conflict has to do with not getting any. I think his conflict has to do with not getting any, and that global military conflict has to do with power. His counterpoint to that is that the desire for power is part of the need for sex.

Sesame Street Videos on YouTube

This is great -- links to 47 Sesame Street clips! Includes all your favourites: Telephone Rock, Ladybug Picnic, We All Live in a Capital I, Ma-nah Ma-nah, and many others! Don't miss appearances by series regulars Oscar, Grover, Ernie and Bert, Cookie Monster, and, of course, Kermit the Frog! Thrill to special guest appearances from your favourite actors and musicians including Robert DeNiro, Natalie Portman, REM, and the late, great Johnny Cash!

But that's not all! Order today and receive a genuine Ginsu knife and a smokeless ashtray! Operators are standing by!!!!!!!1!!!one!eleven

Link (via MetaFilter)

Wicked Awesome Blacklight Tatts!

I ran across this a few days ago but didn't think a lot of it. I mean, it was cool and all, but I'm not really a tattoo guy -- even though I was totally jonesing for a tatt like the one pictured. Then, last night, I was talking to my friend Beth about this site and her eyes just kept getting wider and wider like I was unloading the coolest information she'd ever heard. I had to post the link.

The good news about these UV tattoos is there are 18 colours to choose from, and Crazy Chameleon claims the inks are organic, non-carcinogenic, and totally safe with MRIs. When completely healed, which can take anywhere from 12-18 months, the Titanium White tattoos are almost invisible and show up only under blacklight (the colour inks are always visible). Richie, an artist at Electric Soul Tattoo, has posted some pictures of tattoos in various stages of healing.

Richie says he's used the inks for four years on all kinds of skin colours with no problems. He claims to know of artists who've verified that the tattoos have kept their glow after six years. Crazy Chameleon says on their site that the inks continue to glow a decade later.

Richie also says that the inks have received FDA approval, but that's somewhat misleading. The FDA approval is only for tagging plants, fish, and other wildlife with the ink, not for use on humans. From the Crazy Chameleon FAQ:

According to our manufacturer's records, this ink received USFDA approval in 1995 for use in animals, plants and fish for the purpose of tracking migration, growth patterns; breeding habits etc. No other tattoo inks have received approval in this way. Many fisheries use this ink to "mark" the fish in oceans and the ones raised to stock rivers and ponds [the same ones we hunt and fish]. The Crazy Chameleon has on file a letter dated April 3, 1995 from the Division of Programs and Enforcement Policy, USFDA, and addressed the manufacturer of our ink that shows this approval.

Furthermore, our manufacturer is in the process of updating their FDA record status relating to this product to get it listed under FDA approved Tattoo Ink. They are also seeking from said agency an additional notification that is void of any confidential or proprietary information or data [trade secrets, amounts of materials and manufacturing processes] and thus making the papers appropriate for release to the general public.

The inks don't blend the same as regular tattoo inks, so it's recommended by Crazy Chameleon that you have an experienced UV artist do your work. It may also be advisable to not have this work done if you're concerned about possible health effects. But if you're just looking for a cool tattoo, this is a guaranteed mind-blower!

Link to tattoo pictures
Link to Crazy Chameleon

Multi-User Flash Games

At The Broth you work in a shared space with as many as ten other people at the same time, moving coloured tiles around and trying to create patterns. It can be frustrating, as most people are more concerned with tearing down rather than building, but it can also be a lot of fun to work on a shared design with two or three other people.

It reminds me a lot of Someone Keeps Stealing My Letters, another multi-user site that allows you to drag those plastic fridge magnet letters around. Same idea, but sometimes I find it more appealing to write words instead of just pushing tiles. I guess I've always been more literary than visual.

Link to The Broth
Link to Someone Keeps Stealing My Letters

Grocery Store Wars

Grocery Store Wars is a brilliant Star Wars spoof produced by the Organic Trade Association. There are enough in-jokes for even the most faithful Star Wars fan, and the film itself stacks up better in a lot of different ways than any of the prequels. Don't miss out on the "making of" videos -- they're also pretty good, but not quite as funny.

Link

Life After the Oil Crash

Dear Reader,

Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is not the wacky proclamation of a doomsday cult, apocalypse bible prophecy sect, or conspiracy theory society. Rather, it is the scientific conclusion of the best paid, most widely-respected geologists, physicists, and investment bankers in the world. These are rational, professional, conservative individuals who are absolutely terrified by a phenomenon known as global "Peak Oil."

Scary stuff here. Off the charts scary. Especially when he starts trotting out the statisitics like bodies at a murder scene: 10 calories of fossil fuels are required to produce one calorie of food; construction of the average car requires twice the car's weight in fossil fuels; current US oil requirements are 83 million barrels a day; and on and on and on.

This site is well researched, well written, easy to understand, and rich with links to supplementary material. But it's probably not something you want to read before bed, especially if you're looking for a calm and restful night.

Link

Fun Flickr Tools

Flickr can be a fun toy in and of itself, but what really sets it apart is all the tools available for people to do cool things with. I lean toward these ones at Flagrant Disregard as the most interesting, but as always, YMMV.

The card shown here was made with FD's Trading Card Maker tool. I think it would be hilarious to make a set featuring my family and friends, but I don't have enough photos!

Link

Buzz Bunny

This is another oldie but goodie that needed to be posted because, for the love of God, stop trying to change Bugs Bunny!

Did anyone watch Tiny Toons? Because Tiny Toons was good. And so was Animaniacs, although I never really got into that as much. But the Loonatics go directly contrary to the spirit of Bugs Bunny: he's not an action star, he's a pacifist (mostly). He doesn't wear a black jumpsuit, he dresses in drag -- and looks pretty damn fine while he does it, too. Most important of all, Bugs is freaking funny. These Loonatics characters are... well, let's just say that saving a city from being destroyed by a giant comet isn't really all that funny, while tricking Yosemite Sam into shooting himself in the ass is.

Bugs Bunny is an icon. He was voted the number one cartoon character of all time by TV Guide. He has a star on the Walk of Fame. He survived a world war, and his cartoons from the '50s and '60s are just as entertaining fifty years later. This is not a character that needs "updating", this is a character that needs respect. Turning Bugs into Buzz (or Ace, I guess, because of some copyright somethingorother) is the last refuge of the lazy, tired, unimaginative, hack writers that seem to be running around in so many places these days.

Anyway. This is a great bit of satire and you should watch it.

Link

Kids Helping Kids

The World's Children's Prize For The Rights Of The Child is a wonderful group that recognizes the work of individuals in the fight against the oppression of children. The members of the selection committee are youth that have been victims of land mines, the sex trade, child labour, or other extreme difficulties. Craig Kielburger is this year's winner, the first individual from a developed nation to be the recipient of this honour. It should be noted that all of the nominated candidates receive a portion of the $100,000 USD prize that must then be used in their fight for the rights of children.

In 1995, at age 12, Mr. Kielburger founded Free the Children, is the largest worldwide network of children helping children through education. I was completely inspired when I started reading about Mr. Kielburger's passion at age 12, and the drive he still has for his work 11 years later. If everyone had even half the energy and desire to do good as Mr. Kielburger does, this world would be a remarkable place.

Ballsy, Boneheaded or Both

In 1860 the postmaster general in New Brunswick decided to make 5 cent stamps in his likeness.
From the newspaper article:

At a time when only Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were considered suitable subjects for such an honour, Charles Connell defied convention, stunned his fellow colonial legislators and promptly lost his job by putting his portrait on the hot-selling five-cent denomination.

All of the stamps were destroyed, but now Sotheby's is auctioning off the proofs, and expects to get in the neighbourhood of $50,000.

Charles Connell's ego didn't seem to hurt his political career as he was re-elected to the New Brunswick legislature in 1864 as a strong advocate of Confederation and then became one of the new province's first MPs when he won a seat by acclamation in the federal election of 1867. He died, still an MP, in 1873.

Link to Edmonton Journal Article
Link to Article from The Canadian Philatelist

Prof's "Super Laptop" Scares Kid

I was talking with Rob today about how cool it would be to install a GPS transmitter in one of our servers. If it were ever stolen, you could hilariously walk up to the guy's front door and be all, "Excuse me, but, like, you've got our server...?"

It reminded me of this post on boingboing, where a prof goes into painful detail on not only the super high-tech security he has on his now stolen laptop, but the consequences that will befall said laptop thief should he ever be caught. It's funny just to imagine this kid filling his pants as each sentence ups the stakes of the crime.

Link (via boingboing)

Da Vinci Code Quest

Just like that Chris Kohler dude over at Wired, I got involved with the Da Vinci Code early. JCQ and I had stumbled across the webgame one lazy Saturday, and we did all right with it up to the point where it directly references the book -- which I found blatantly unfair. JCQ actually ran out and purchased the book that afternoon, and then we were able to complete the game.

The writing itself is... crappy. It's crappy, okay? But the story sucked me in so hard it left friction burns on my retinas. I couldn't put it down. I gave up TV. I was juggling my daily responsibilities so I could get back to reading the book.

Now the movie's coming out, and there's a renewed interest in the Da Vinci Code. So much so that Google has released a new webgame that ties in to the movie: 24 puzzles released until May 11, at which point they vanish. If you manage to solve all the puzzles, Sony Pictures is giving away nearly half a million dollars worth of swag -- but only to US residents, which is a total drag. It's swag drag.

Link (via Google Blog)

Cockroach-Controlled Robot

Garnet Hertz is a Fulbright Scholar, Research Fellow at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and is a doctoral student at the University of California Irvine. He's also originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and is just full of "way out there" ideas -- like Doctor Moreau with a technology fetish. His latest one is having a cockroach control a robot. There's a really funky video of the project posted at YouTube, but for you more literature-oriented people, he was interviewed by Gizmodo and talks at length about the reasoning behind this project and some of his other work.

Although it doesn't mention this anywhere, Garnet did actually receive some funding for this project from the Saskatchewan Arts Board. Which is good, because funding bodies should be putting money toward development of these cutting-edge ideas. And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

Link to YouTube video
Link to interview (via Gizmodo)

Playing The Game

The Game is difficult to describe, but here goes. Imagine yourself and five friends barreling around a major metropolitan city in a rented van for 32 straight hours while solving insanely difficult puzzles and engaging in an assortment of tasks designed to test your mental and physical stamina, an event combining elements of road rallies, scavenger hunts, and "Mind Olympics" competitions. That doesn'’t exactly describe the Game, but it'’s as good a description as any.

Matt Baldwin, the brilliant character who writes Defective Yeti, participated in The Game and wrote a wonderful three-part story about his experience. You remember The Game, don't you? It was based on a movie starring Michael J. Fox (Midnight Madness), and inspired a movie of the same name starring another Michael, Michael Douglas. Matt's stories are fun reading and really draw out the desire to jump in and start solving puzzles. If you're looking for more background to The Game, Wikipedia (big surprise) has a good article on it.

Link to The Game (via The Morning News)
Link to The Game at Wikipedia

World's Coolest Fireplace

Heat & Glo have developed what is quite possibly the coolest fireplace ever made. You plug it into a standard 220 volt outlet and give it a constant supply of water, either from a direct line or its own built-in reservoir, and this beautiful machine will give you fire.

The electricity splits the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen in the water, then ignites the hydrogen to produce the flame. Excess oxygen is released into the room, and the only by-product is water vapour -- no carbon monoxide detectors necessary.

Gizmodo blogged about this thing about a year ago, and the Heat & Glo website doesn't list any further pricing or availability information. It does say that each Aqueon is custom-made, and
prices the one in the picture at $49,900. I have to wonder if there are more expensive models out there. In any event, it's definitely drool-worthy, if priced far outside my limited means.

Link (via Gizmodo)

Pop Can Inventions

Creative (and inventive) genius Rob Cockerham has built an aeolipile out of a pop can. Yes, the masses can refer to it as Hero's Engine, but here at FeedMonkey it's all edutainment all the time. Rob's engine is a little impractical because, like Hero, I don't see an easy way to harness the power produced. But it's great science in action, and at the price of a can of pop, it's super cheap. There are some great pictures, too.

This reminded me about the trick of lighting a fire with a pop can and a chocolate bar. I also found instructions on building a propane stove out of a pop can, but it's not something you can do while out in the bush. But now that I have a Dremel tool, I may try it out for camping this summer.

Link to Cockeyed's Hero's Engine
Link to pop can fire starter
Link to pop can stove

How to Nap Properly

Men's Journal ran a piece on how to nap properly. Included in the article are tips on the lengths of time you should spend napping and some of the science behind sleep. Good stuff!

Link

Land of the Lost Tribute

FeedMonkey pal Godspeed over at Raversnet posted a tribute to the 70s TV show Land of the Lost.

What a blast from the past this was! I remember watching this show every Saturday, and it's like he says in the post: this was before VCRs, so if you missed an episode you were screwed. It seemed to add such urgency to the show that you'd get up at 6:00 a.m. just to watch cartoons! Ah, the halcyon memories of my misspent youth.

Link (registration required)

OMFG Google Calendar!!!1!eleven

My friends all know that I'm a huge Google apologist. Not that I think they're running their business in China very ethically, but for the most part, Google kicks a lot of ass. I use their e-mail almost exclusively, I use their newsreader, and I use their blogging service. Oh, and I use their search, too.

That's why I'm so excited that the long-awaited Google Calendar has finally been released! Now I need to figure out how to make it sync with my Palm Pilot.

Link

Paris in the Springtime (and throughout the year)

Eric posts a picture a day of the sights of Paris. He also has links to 54 other city picture a day blogs which are also worth a look. Not only is this a great way to see the world in a real way, not only through the tourism pictures, but it also encourages us to look at the simple beauty in our own cities and towns.

I haven't yet looked through all of the pictures, but this is one of my favourites. I think this is project worth pursuing in any city, town or village, so get snapping.

Love and Hate Shirt Update

Further poking around on the love and hate shirt theme leads to The Accordian Guy's blog, which in turn points to Neatorama. But more important than either of these is the link to Scott Kim on Wikipedia, who's been described at the "Escher of the Alphabet". Whose brain works like this? The work on his website has to be seen to be believed!

Link (Thanks Accordian Guy and Neatorama!)

Hanzi Smatter

Hanzi Smatter is a blog dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in western society. In particular, it features a number of tattoos of Chinese characters and what the actual translation of those characters is. Most times the translation is hilariously different from what the person believed it was supposed to be.

The problems come from the popularity of Chinese characters as tattoos and the fact that few tattoo artists can read Chinese. The complexity of the written language and liberal artistic license, where lines are changed or added to suit a particular design, can completely change the meaning of a character. The lesson, of course, is that the books lie. Be sure to check and re-check your symbol with real Chinese readers before you have "small harvest" etched indelibly on your shoulder.

Some people suggest that this misuse of the language is a slight against Chinese culture. But while Chinese characters have been viewed as trendy and exotic in western society for about 15 years, it's interesting to note that the trend among Chinese and Japanese youth is to get tattoos with western writing, and I sincerely doubt that the same accusations would be leveled for the misuse of English. Still, I can't help but wonder if they're having problems with homonyms and idioms that don't translate well.

Link (Thanks photogfrog!)

Sketch Swap

Sketch Swap is a neat little toy that you can spend a lot of time fooling around on, even if, like me, you can't draw a lick.

The idea is simple: you draw a picture, and a random person sends you one in return. Some of them are quite good, especially considering these people are drawing with a mouse. Others are... well, like mine.

It was inspired by the site File Swap, where you get a random file from someone for every file you upload. A similar concept, but Sketch Swap provides a lot more fun and immediate gratification.

Link to Sketch Swap
Link to File Swap

3D Tracking

The service 3D Tracking has a wicked GPS demo online to show-off their premium service. Their free service is interesting and more than worth the amount of money they charge, but the upgrade is enough to make geeks like me start drooling with the possibilities.

Right now, the demo's set up to show you how you could use this service to monitor a fleet of trucks, or something similar. But I'd like to see them open the software to allow casual surfers (like me!) to view anyone's public GPS data. What a hoot it would be to be able to track my friend through Europe on his vacation!

Link (Thanks, Godspeed!)

I Love & Hate You

This was on Boing Boing and I absolutely love it. If you want a shirt like this, you can buy one HERE. The site is in French, so it may not be as easy to navigate as it could be, but it's fairly self explanatory, and easy to use. The main concern I have with it, is the price. At 21 euros plus shipping it comes out to nearly $38.00 Canadian. Although it's probably worth it, it seems somewhat pricey for a t-shirt.

Bushco comedy and tragedy

The links might get old, but at least the humour doesn't. As long as Bushco want to stay in Iraq, we may as well try to milk as many laughs as we can out of this sad situation.

The New Yorker recently wrote a piece about Bushco's current talks of war toward Iran in response to their uranium enrichment program:

A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was “absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb” if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.”

One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ”

Get your laughs in now, folks, 'cuz it ain't getting any funnier out there.

Link to Rumsfeld
Link to New Yorker Article

Stuffy Librarians

The stereotype of librarians being "stuffy" and overly strict is evidenced in Sweden where students are not able to borrow books if they have underwear showing, or are wearing caps or toques. I don't think this would work well in North America. This gives American celebrities like Britney Spears, Madonna, and Eminem an excuse as to why they don't use the library. Unfortunately, this also would prevent Canadian celebrities like Cindy Klassen, Jarome Iginla, and Bob and Doug McKenzie from ever reading a book. I can buy that for the McKenzie boys, but I expect more respect for Ms. Klassen. Come on librarians, loosen up.

Phone Notify

This is a great little web gadget that I'm totally enthralled with. It allows you to send a computerized phone message to anyone's phone number -- even cell phones!

The text to speech engine is a little crusty, but you do get your choice of voices: entering a number between 0-9 in the VoiceID field provides a good mix of male and female voices, some of which are more understandable than others.

FeedMonkey does not advise using this service for any kind of illegal activity -- there's even a disclaimer on the site that threats and things of that nature will be reported to authorities -- but it's a great way to prank your family and some of your close friends.

There are two improvements I'd like to see: add a feature to phone at a specific time so you can set phone reminders to yourself, and get rid of that annoying IP address information at the end of the message!

Link