January 31, 2005
Cool Links for Today
Ok, so today is one of those rare days on the Internet where there are a bunch of really cool links that have come to my attention. Here they are:
Smallest Pac-Man Game My high score, 145. Play here ->
Senator hot or not (thanks mew!)
ytcracker - geek rapper
This guy is going to 1000 bars in NYC this year. And he's reviewing them all. Where do I sign up?
Mind reading game! It really works!
That's it for now.
Pictures from Argentina
Alrighty, now that I've been back from Argentina for a few weeks, here are the pictures. I have some captionating to do yet, but that'll come in time. You're lucky I even have the pictures up!
It was a great time.
Cable Car
This is an article about a car in Texas that ran up a guide wire of a telephone pole, became airborn, and came to rest on the telephone wires. The wires apparently were caught on the right front tire (pictures are pretty funny). The car continued to run for about an hour until it ran out of gas.
According to the article, the driver jumped out of the car and ran to catch a bus!
January 30, 2005
This is TOO Funny
Having a penchant for piercings myself, I've gotten multiple body parts pierced in my lifetime. These include the top of my left ear, both of my earlobes, both done on South Street in Philadelphia,my left eyebrow with Snowdog down on St. Mark's Street in NYC one drunken night, and my tragus at the same place on St. Marks. There are still a couple of piercings that I'd like to get, and if you know me well enough, you know what I'd like to get pierced next. I think this may be the year.
Anyway, this kid and his story is so funny. Too funny in fact. You definitely must read this story.
Even if I had one of those, I don't think I'd get it pierced (the tragus hurt the most).
Car Alarm Key Cracked
Researchers at Johns Hopkins apparently cracked a code used by some 150 million car alarm systems that appear in newer Ford, Nissan and Toyota models. Also cracked by the same team, is the Speedpass by Mobil.
Full story is here.
Funny video site
I just found this site, http://www.transbuddha.com, that has some of the funnies videos I've seen in a while. Including this one of girls faces while getting a bikini wax. Ok, there is one guy in there, but otherwise, it's all women, and the facial expressions are pretty funny. I can't imagine what it would feel like.
Another is this crazy weatherman in Charlotte. He's just nuts.
Anyway, enjoy.
January 27, 2005
Nuclear or Nucular
Well, it's official, or at least semi-official. The President of the United States, is reinventing the English language. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary now offers W's jack-tarded mis-pronunciation of the word "nuclear" as an official pronunciation.
The next to fall: strategery.
Probably more at http://www.dubyaspeak.com, but http://www.dubyaspeak.com is a hilarious site regardless of if you're looking for other words that W has "heh heh" mispronounsticated or not.
I'll See Your $2, and Raise Handcuffs
With the explosion of poker (Texas Hold'em) popularity in the U.S., due largely to the World Series of Poker and Travel Channel's World Poker Tour, there are thousands of poker games occuring in the US at any given time.
Online sites such as Fishpond, Paradise Poker, and a handful of others have been cashing in on this craze.
Now, the police are too.
January 26, 2005
Budweiser Pulls Superbowl Ad
Everybody remember's Janet Jackson's boob popping out at last year's half-time show of the Superbowl. This year, Budweiser made a commercial for the Superbowl poking fun at it (click on wardrobe malfunction).
Budweiser is pulling the commercial because it's scared that it might offend someone. This after consulting with NFL and Fox.
And it's still available on the web anyway. I'm sure that it would have caused some controversy, but that's a Superbowl halftime tradition now right? Especially since US children are still traumatized by last year's halftime show.
Eagles on Path to Win
According to Flashnews, when a team with an animal mascot opposes a team with a human mascot in the Super Bowl, the two-legged mammal (human) usually beats the four-legged one.
However, animal mascot teams have beaten human mascot teams three out of the last six times they went head to head in the Super Bowl.
The article says nothing about humans versus birds though. Or even the majestic eagle.
January 25, 2005
Retro Keyboard
This guy Erik has created, as far as I know, the first old school typewriter keyboard. Apparently, his wife suffers from repetitive stress disorder, and so he picked up an old Smith Corona typewriter and PS/2'ified it. Viola: keyboard.
He's even got pictures for many of the steps that he took to create the beast. The best part, the carriage return works as the enter key should. The worst part, backspace doesn't work.
Awesome Basketball
So, I'm not sure if this is real or not, but regardless, it's gotta hurt the girl. And judging by those words, you might think it's some kinda porn or something. It's not. Definitely worth watching though.
Hello Kitty Ferrari
A large number of Asian girls and women are all into the cutesy Hello Kitty. To the left is a picture of a Ferrari that was photoshopped by Ryan Alexander for a friend. I'd say that it's pretty damn good photoshopping. Great work Ryan.
January 24, 2005
Is This Not Happiness?
Chin Shengt'an was a 17th century playwright who once found himself stranded with a friend in a temple for ten days because of a storm. While they were stranded, the pair compiled a list of the truly happy moments in life. These works were collected and named Thirty Three Happy Moments.
My contribution:
Knowing that the Philadephia Eagles are going to win the Superbowl. - "Ah, is this not happiness?"
January 23, 2005
Eagles Are Going to Superbowl XXXIX
My favorite football team, the new NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles are heading to the Superbowl. Today, they defeated Michael Vick and his Atlanta Falcons. It's about time. The fourth time is a charm. Bring it on. It looks like it's going to be the New England Patriots as of right now. We'll kick their asses too. That is, if they can manage to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. If anyone wants to make a bet on the Superbowl, let me know.
Bush Poo
Here is a funny idea. Basically, you take a flag of the shrub, and "claim" a piece of crap for W. It just recently made a news story on ananova. I think I may print out some of the flags, but I don't have a dog. I'd have to hijack other people's dog's poos. Then I'd have to buy toothpicks. Maybe I'll just hand some out to friends with dogs.
January 21, 2005
Fatboy Slim's Cover of "The Joker"
Here's a video for Fatboy Slim's cover of Steve Miller Band's The Joker. Starring all kinds of kittens. I think it's pretty funny. You might not. I think Blur could have been a bouncer in that video though.
January 20, 2005
Back from Skiing
I'm back from skiing and heading straight to bed. The drive was uneventful, however, there was a very very spectacular collision between Ji and Victoria. Simply breathtaking, and luckily I was spared the brusing. We all did laugh very hard though, as did the witnesses that were on the lift.
Going Skiing Today
Since the 55th Presidential Inauguration is today, I'm going skiing at Whitetail. That's an American thing to do right?
January 19, 2005
Bed Bath and Beyond Discrimiation
Ok, so today I'm looking for carafes, and an ad on the side panel of the Bed Bath And Beyond one features monogrammed coasters.
I thought it might make a good house-warming gift for my sister, but I guess they don't like people's whose initials are Y. WTF?
Maybe I'll just buy from Restoration Hardware.
I wrote this to their customer service:
I was looking at your monogrammed coasters (http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&sku=104713) and noticed that there was no letter Y. Is there a problem with the letter Y? My last name starts with the letter Y. This may be a simple oversight, but I think it is pretty egregious.We'll see if I get a response.
It's Snowing!
It's snowing like mad here. Just in time to EFF up the travels for all the Republican donors to come and wreak hell on my city.
January 18, 2005
Cactus Project
This is pretty disturbing. This has been dubbed art, but it's actually an experiment in genetics and design, etc. To boil it down to what it actually is, objectively, it's a cactus that has been genetically modified to grow human hair.
I'm at Work Again
Today is my first day back at work since going to Argentina. Lots of work to be done. I'm here patching machines, showing pictures from my trip, and wishing that I was retired. It's also going to be a high of 27&186; F here. That was a the weather in BA, but in C. Oh well. I guess that happens when you change hemispheres.
Here is a link to pass the time.
January 17, 2005
Bill Gates is SO HOT!
This is too funny. Bill Gates from around 1983. Striking his best geek pose. Via Monkey Methods. Andrew Chen of Monkey Methods notes that he uses GNU/Linux and Firefox. I do too. Although I also use Mozilla and some Win XP *gasp*.
January 15, 2005
January 14, 2005
Last 12 hours in Argentina
This begins my last 12 hours in Argentina. I've got to do a bunch of shopping before I go, so this may be my last post until I'm back stateside. I'll post pictures when I get back with captions and all that. Bueno.
January 13, 2005
Back from Mendosa (Days 7-9)
So, we're back from Mendosa. It's 1:37 PM here, and we got back a few hours ago, and then went to eat and run a few errands. The trip was very fun, but exhausting. I think I'm going to have to take a siesta right here on Ivan's couch for a few hours. I've gotten about 12 hours of sleep since Monday night. I know that's not out of the ordinary, but it is my vacation. Anyway, pics to come, blah blah. And by the way, Malbec is a fine wine.
January 11, 2005
Day 7 Argentina
Today marks my one week anniversary of being here in Argentina. It's 6:13 AM and I've been up since 5:20. We're catching a plane at some obscenely early time today to Mendosa, Argentina, which is Melbac wine country. Now I don't know much about wines, but I am trying to learn more. Anyway, I'm tired, and we have to go, so I'll write more maybe when we're in Mendosa or maybe when we get back.
January 10, 2005
Day 6 Argentina
Went to Club de Amigos today to join Ivan and Camila while they were taking tennis lessons. Some great pictures of that :) Otherwise, today I'm going to downtown BA and we're meeting up with Ivan's brother.
January 09, 2005
BA Day 5
Today was a pretty long day. We woke up, had breakfast (tostada and cafe doble), and then headed out to the "countryside" just outside BA. We had asado, which is a traditional Argentinian Barbeque. It was quite simply awesome. It consisted of ribs, pork, blood sausage and chorizo. Then there was salad (ensalata) and some kind of wine. After that, we went to Ivan's sister's house and swam for a bit and then I passed out in the hammock. Then we went transvestite prostitute spotting. Very very amusing. The words I learned today:
Dejate de joder = fuck off, or more literally, quit the bullshitting.
January 08, 2005
Day 4 Argentina
Day 4 here in Argentina... It has been the coldest day of my trip. It got up to 86º F. It may have been more, but that's what CNN said when I checked it earlier. We went to lunch today at a place called Miranda, and I tried the mollejos (sweet breads). It was like scrapple but not as salty and not so crispy. But otherwise, roughly the same. I don't know if I'd try them again though. I have pictures of what I ate for lunch and dinner today. I haven't uploaded them yet, but I will when I get a chance.
We're heading out to the countryside tomorrow to do some swimming and have a traditional Argentinian barbeque. I'll update more when we get back, and I'll be sure to take many pictures for all ya'll to peruse.
January 07, 2005
In Argentina
So today I'm walking around Palermo, and everyone's looking at me funny. I thought maybe it was my sunglasses, but Ivan pointed out that it's probably because I'm a rare site in Argentina (read ASIAN).
Today was the first day that I ventured off on my own, since Ivan had to run some errands. It was pretty amusing for me to go to a restaurant and order everything all by myself. The waiter was extremely accomodating and understanding.
January 06, 2005
A Typical Day Here
So I wake up around 9 AM (early for me), and then I get cleaned up for lunch. Lunch today consisted of a handmade pasta trio and Coca-Cola Light at a converted horse stable near a horse track. The pasta was incredible, and the restaurant itself was quite well kept, although it seemed that we had missed the party judging by the huge bows and the fog master 2000 fog machine carefully moved to the side.
Following lunch, there is a siesta period between roughly 2 PM and 5 PM where I usually nap.
Around 5, we go get coffee and a small sandwich and/or dessert. Twice we've gone to Nucha. Today, I had the Jamon something con queso (with cheese). It was essentially a toasted prosciutto sandwich, and very tasty.
Following that, we come back home and rest until about 10 PM when we get dinner. And then we're up for another couple of hours.
Today, it got up to 38º C.
Sounds good to me.
January 05, 2005
Someone Call IKEA
IKEA needs some english speaking people to go over the product names for them. This one especially.
Buenos Aires
I'm here in Buenos Aires, in Palermo. Ivan, Carmen and I just went to Nucha Cafe and had some coffee and cuadradros (square deserts). More coming soon. Jealous yet?
January 03, 2005
New Day, I Want A New Phone
This is the new phone I want. Dubbed the iPod killing phone, and code-named "Thor". Featuring a 3 GB hard drive and the "iPod"-like jog dial control. Looks to me like a BAMF.
Counterterror Information Sharing Stalled
According to GCN, the Department of Justice can only check about 0.7% of the 118,000 visitors to the United States in any given day. Apparently there are incompatibilities with the databases that the Department of Justice Uses and the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).
Only a small portion of the biometric data in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System can be extracted into the Homeland Security Department’s IDENT system, Fine’s report said.Full story is here.
January 02, 2005
Super Patriot Act
The Patriot Act is bad. The new legislation that the Pentagon and the CIA are asking the administration for is worse. They're asking for a more permanent retention policy for keeping suspected terrorists indefinitely even with no evidence. This includes most of the inmates that are currently being detained in Guantanamo Bay.
As part of a solution, the Defense Department, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, plans to ask the U.S. Congress for $25 million to build a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence, defense officials told the Washington Post.Some of these "inmates" have little or no evidence to justify their incarceration. I'm sure that the ACLU and other Civil Rights groups are going to have a field day with this issue.
The White House has no comment. Let's see how it shakes out. Judging by the current administration's track record, it sounds like this legislation will probably pass.
However, don't expect your elected officials to sit back and watch this pass. There is bipartisan opposition to the plan in it's current form.
January 01, 2005
Don't Bend the Laws, Rewrite Them
In a letter to House Republicans, written by David Dreier, R-California, there are changes that "would end a general rule against any behavior that might bring 'discredit' on the chamber."
Basically, the House Ethics Committee's rules hold House members to a higher standard than the law. If the proposal passes, the House Ethics Committee will essentially be moot, since a House member would have to break a law to break the code.
"A member . . . officer or employee of the House shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House."This is the clause that has been most widely used as a catchall for "behavior unbecoming of a House Member" such as taking bribes, fixing parking tickets and having sex with House pages.-- Code of Official Conduct, Rule XXIII, Clause 1.
Full Washington Post article is here.
Hangover Cure
So if you woke up with a hangover like I did this morning, you can try this hangover cure from soyouwanna.com. I'm not trying it, since it takes too much to make it, and I don't think I have cysteine in my spice rack.
Probably more believable is this poll.