We're pretty used to the relentless march of civilization, whether it's building new structures in previously undeveloped areas, or tearing down old buildings to put up new ones in their place. But, occasionally, there are places people settle that end up being abandoned for one reason or another.
And often, it seems, there are hotels in these places. Check out this photo-tour of 16 Abandoned & Decaying Hotels From Around The World.
You've seen signs like them before, but now there's a Flickr group set up specifically to show Stick Figures in Peril.
This week's winner is Apohle (with honorable mention to MrDomino).
See the original image here.
From the Holy $@#%ing Shit department comes word that, in order to help drum up support for Internet Neutrality, a sexy girl named Tania is offering to deflower virgins that help defend the 'net. That's what I call putting her money where her... um... well, you get the idea.
I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices cried out, "Hells yeah!" from their mothers' basements. Seriously, this is likely to unleash a tidal wave of geek rage against The Man, the likes of which have only been imagined before.
Check out the for reals at Don't Stay a Virgin.
Edit: Just let me say that if this is a hoax, the backlash from geek virgins will make the coming zombie apocalypse look like a day at Disneyland. Also, I looked up the country code of the contact phone number; it's for Belgium.
This game is maddeningly easy and fast-paced. It doesn't have any instructions, but I figured out that you just pass your mouse over the little rectangular faces it calls "Doeos". Collect as many as you can, as fast as you can, testing your reflexes as you try to adjust to their locations. How far can you go in Doeo?
As a gamer geek, I read gamer forums. And sometimes you come across gems that go far beyond the boundaries of any game. This is one of those gems.
(I couldn't think of a way to make this post without taking over the whole front page of my blog, so I got all tricksy.)
Even if you don't remember the long-ago men's cologne, you'll still love the story. Do you remember Hai Karate?
After you read the story, check out one of the classic commercials.
I don't normally follow up on previous posts, but since a couple of people have asked, here's an update on the Asian Couple I posted about previously.
First of all, I made that post the day they returned from their long hiatus. And that was the only day they showed up. Until this week.
They both got on the treadmills, first walking a bit as a warmup, and then SPRINTING. True to form, ten minutes into the sprint, the young woman started grunting and moaning. I actually laughed out loud.
Luckily, the TV was loud enough that they didn't hear me. This time.
Ah, the Atari 2600 game system. Many gamers cut their teeth on, as far as I'm concerned, the first successful and generally available game console. Sure, the corners of those square joysticks cut into your palm, but you and your friends still played away the hours.
Harken back to those days of yesteryear with a look at some "classic" Atari videogames.
(Thanks to Kent for the tip.)
It turns out that when you do something (or post links to something) somewhat regularly, people start pointing you to more of that thing. Since I seem to frequently point to bacon-related goings-on in the world (and if you doubt it, type "bacon" in that field up there and click "search blog"), Kent enlightened me with the following:
Bacon caramel
Bacon vodka
Yummy!
I normally try to keep things light and entertaining here, but as a closet environmentalist, I see Earth Day as a way to help raise awareness. We can't all plant a tree, but we can all do more to save energy and recycle.
Now excuse me while I use a lot of electricity to go surf the internet.
Start with a picture of yourself as a child, reproduce it with yourself today (as best you can), and you have Youngme and Nowme.
A series of puzzle levels where you move a boy with a blue hat to the exit. You're playing against yourself for the best time and fewest number of moves. It's Puzzle Boy.
I saw a license plate surround on the vehicle in front of me inscribed with the following message:
"Drive it like it's stolen"
The faux-outlaw vehicle was a friggin' MINIVAN.
Either the owner trying really hard to keep his current family-man reality in touch with his rebellious, defiant roots, or he plays way too much Grand Theft Auto.
Keeping in my theme of pointing to other people's funny stories, here's one about two geeks that know each other in an online game but actually live thousands of miles apart.
True story: I once ordered Hess a pizza from his local Papa John's and had it delivered to him on his back porch, where he was stuck with his laptop after his roommate accidently locked him out of the house and he was starving. He didn't have any cash on him so I told him if he'd give me the number of his neighborhood pizza place I'd call it up and order him a pizza, pay for it with my card and he could just paypal me the money later. He thought I was kidding until the pizza actually showed up. The best part of the whole thing was explaining to the guy on the telephone why I was ordering a pizza from him in LA from a North Carolina area code with a NC State Employees Credit Union bank card. If you ever have the chance to call 3000 miles away to order a pizza on behalf of someone else I highly recommend it. It's one of those moments that really makes you say "ain't technology grand?"
My friend Ash is crazy. I assume that people who don't know her think she's fallen on her head a few too many times.
I don't normally link to other blogs, but I just have to point you to two of her recent posts. First, the awesomely hysterical story of her coworker's spontaneous combustion, and her confession about elevator farts.
Sometimes, people who are adept at technology (and, by extension, the internet) forget what it's like to deal with people who aren't. Especially when one of those people is your mother.
And yet, sometimes technology allows your mother to be exactly who she is, even if she's miles away.
You'll probably waste a lot of time reading the funny and poignant messages at Postcards From Yo Momma.
When you commute by bus, you fall into a regular pattern with a set of fellow regular commuters. Every so often, something happens that stands out from the routine.
First, over the past two weeks, there has been a somewhat-regular new commuter. The guy is dressed for blue-collar activity, wearing work boots, dirty work pants, and a heavy hooded overcoat. What =is= unusual is that he has a folding chair. I don't know what kind of job he has that requires him to bring his own seating, but he does.
Then, this morning, another new rider boards the bus. It was very chilly, so this guy stood out for two reasons. One, he was just in shirt sleeves; no coat or jacket. Two, he was carrying a laptop. That's all. No bag, no case, no papers, no power supply, just a laptop. Like he just got ejected from a meeting on the side of the road or something.
Keep 'em coming, Metro, I need more blog entries!
It's no secret that I'm a fan of that show about a bunch of airplane-crash survivors on that island. Which is why I get such a kick out of the most-asked question on Lost.
This week, I'm gonna have to go with Hurley182's caption.
See the original image here.
Regardless of your political affiliation, you need to buy this t-shirt. Right now, before it's too late.
This week's game is really a two-fer. They're puzzle games, but kind of unusual for a couple of reasons. They're finite, with a fixed number of levels, and once you solve a level you know what it is, so there's not a lot of replayability. Also, the puzzles are very unique, and you may get quite stumped on a few levels. Just try a different approach (or ask for help in the comments).
All you have to do is find the star in Hoshi Saga and Hoshi Saga 2.
Have you seen the movie Dodgeball?
The kitchen where I work has the standard bulletin board, where interested parties put up flyers for dance lessons, house cleaning, condos for sale... the usual. A flyer just recently went up for a dodgeball league. It has the best dodgeball picture ever on it. To see a crappy cell phone picture of the flyer, click here.
Poor guy. I wonder if he knows his picture is all over the place (and now on the intarwebs)?
One problem with the intarwebs is that it can intensify your hatred for creative, talented people. Such as Pat and Todd. They're two roommates that are both very artistic. They share a whiteboard and use it to make collaborative drawings. First one guy draws, then the other, back and forth until they fill the thing up. Then they start all over.
Prepare to be amazed and amused by their Marker Bored.
A co-worker starts a conversation with, "You know what I hate?"
I, of course, reply with some smartass things people might hate.
"No. What I hate is going into a bathroom stall and seeing the remnants of the previous struggle."
Yuck.
"But you know what I hate more than that? Sitting down, and the seat's still warm."
Jonathan Lee Riches is an interesting case. He's currently in prison, and as some sort of twisted revenge, he's turned the Justice system back onto itself through over 300 lawsuits against the widest range of defendants you can imagine. One example: Suing Ben Affleck and Jenifer Garner for paying their taxes, which were used in turn by the Justice Department to pay for his illegal incarceration.
Check out the cases and their unbelievable claims.
No winner this week. I guess the picture was too tough! Better luck next week.
See the original image here.
While there are no instructions to Dice Wars, it's pretty simple. Each territory has a number of dice on it. When it's your turn, click your territory, then click a neighboring enemy territory (preferably with fewer dice on it) to do battle. The computer rolls the dice, and if you roll higher, all your dice but one move into that territory. Lose or tie the roll, and your territory is reduced to one die. Continue until you win, lose, or give up.
You might want to start on two-player at first. But be warned, it's addictive!
Play Dice Wars.
What's the first thing most people do when they open their cell phone and look at the screen? If you said, "Wipe it off," you're right. People are inclined to do the same thing after finishing a call, as well.
Weebat told me a story about someone whose cell phone was broken. Every person he handed it to, every single one, proceeded to wipe off the screen. As if that could begin to fix the problem.
Let's face it, cell phones spend a lot of time mushed up against your head, which contains some of the oiliest skin on your body. They also spend time sitting on strange tables, or in the bottom of your purse or backpack or pocket. They can get pretty disgusting. What's a mobile, always-in-touch person supposed to do?
Duh. Clean the damn thing.
There are these cool alcohol pads in the supply room where I work. You know, the ones designed for cleaning your computer monitor's screen. But they work great on cell phones. They're effective at disinfecting the device, and also for getting your caked-on facial grease off the screen (and the less-often-cleaned but more gross keypad). All you have to do, once you get one of these amazing packets, is:
1. Turn off your grody phone.
2. Alcohol pad the crap out of it. All over.
3. Turn on your spiffy clean phone.
Tip 1: Don't try using the hand sanitizing kind of cleaning pads. They contain lotion and will majorly defeat your intended purpose, which is de-gunking your phone.
Tip 2: Don't forget the camera lens! The lenses on some phones are recessed and take a little extra attention, but it'll be worth it when you clearly catch that prize-winning picture!
Tip 3: No, you don't have to turn your phone off, but don't blame me if you accidently call Lichenstein while you're cleaning it.
This has been a public service announcement from the You Don't Have To Scream When You Open Your Phone Foundation.
We've all seen them when you go to a site and follow a link to... nowhere. The dreaded Page Not Found. In old-school technical lingo, it's a 404 page (so named because of the HTTP 404 error returned to your browser).
Not all of them have to be boring, though. Here are 17 brilliant 404 pages and why they are cool.
UPDATE: In a strange coincidence, I was checking my blog control panel and I noticed that this is my 404th post on the site. How crazy is that?
Well, here we are again, another April Fool's Day. Apparently I've already played a prank on myself, as I woke up with the world's biggest cowlick on the side of my head. The only thing left to try is the iron and some peanut butter...
In honor of this day, I point you to the Top 10 April Fools' Pranks for Nerds.
Update: The iron hurt, but the peanut butter worked!
