Home Alone

There are two things that suck about being single: getting a ride to/from the airport, and being sick.

I'm not going on a trip today. And I only have one shot of NyQuil® left.

Electronic Recycling

That's right, eco-pals, a serious post! Many of us geeks generate a lot of electronic waste in the form of old PCs, cellphones, PDAs, and so on. But finding an electronic recycler in your area can be such a hassle! Well, thanks to our trusty friend, the intarwebs, I've found a site that will accept these devices and recycle or re-use them for you.

The good news? They pre-pay the shipping, so it costs you nothing. The better news? You might even get a "reward", their term for how much they'll pay you for your junk. You can't get much easier than that.

So if you have unwanted computers, cellphones, laptops, or flat-panel monitors to dispose of, please check out My BoneYard.

Germs and You

I "Can" Has Cheeseburger

Trekking Mahlzeiten, a company known in some circles for producing a wide variety of ready-to-eat foods (primarily for outdoorsy types) has announced possibly their greatest innovation yet: the cheeseburger in a can.

I wonder if you can use them to make a McPizza when you go camping?

Caption Contest

I can haz peanutz and crackerjax?

Pizza Styles

Everybody likes pizza, right? There are different styles of pizza, but there are way more than you might think, mostly due to local variations. If you're serious about pizza, you'll be interested in the list of regional pizza styles.

Caption Contest Winner

This week, it's Andy. Nice job!

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• 10 stunning ultra-geeky home cinemas.


• 10 incredible old computer ads .


• 10 gadgets for smokers that don't want to quit.


• The 10 greatest dicks in American history.


• End of the World: 10 Disasters that could end it all at any given second.


• People re-create live action versions of Garfield comic strips at Lasagna Cat. Yeah, I don't get it either.


• Another unfortunate headline.


• The Every Day Normal Guy Rap Song.


• What do you get if you take stuffed bears, turn them inside-out, and then re-stuff them? Some sort of weird mutant stuffed bear-like things.


• Awesome compilation of some unusual origami.


• New parents get some awesome tips with Do's and don'ts with babies.


• Take some famous art, mix in some internet-speak, and you get understanding art for geeks.


• The wooden bicycle project.


• Everyone is blogging these days, even starship captains from the 24th century. Captain Picard's Journal.


• Another entry in my defense of strange cooksperiments: the meat house. Check out the recipe and the photo gallery.


• If you don't laugh at this, I just don't know about you. Fartman.


• Dog versus balloons.


• "My cousin's girlfriend told me about this video where every urban legend is true..." Urban Legend ER.


• If you've been around the internet, you'll get the websites-as-people jokes in the internet party. (Language NSFW; use headphones.)

Friday Game

You're observing the medical cat scan and attempting to identify the items found within the patient. Sound easy? It is... at first. But try to keep up as the scan gets faster and smaller with each level.

Try your hand at Crazy Cat Scan.

Black Mesa on Line 1...

A theoretical physicist named Gordon calls up the conspiracy-theory radio show "Coast to Coast" to discuss a strange government man that seems to be stalking him.



People, THIS is how you do a phone prank!

Does anybody really know what time it is?

No, seriously, does anybody? If you're using a Tokyoflash watch, you probably don't. They seem to specialize in designing watches that make telling time so much work that you might just give up.

Browse their unusual designs at Tokyoflash.

My choice, of course, would be the Active Reactor watch.

Handpresso Unboxed

An update to an item in last week's Activity Corner. Just because I think it's so cool.

Unboxing Handpresso

I'll have to check back and see how it works in their real world tests.

Bus-tastrophe

I was at the Park-and-Ride, waiting for my bus, and talking on the phone. "On the phone" meaning I have my wireless headset on, speaking to no one in particular. I see my bus approaching and head towards it.

As I'm walking by one of the bus shelters, a woman suddenly comes out of the opening, oblivious to my presence, and practically runs into me. Seriously, inches away. At the exact same time, responding to my conversation, I bark into my headset an emphatic, "Oh, holy CRAP!" The woman doesn't see my headset and, of course, thinks I'm talking to her.

I board the bus. The woman climbs on right behind me. And sits across the aisle.

Most uncomfortable bus ride ever.

Time for Some Stories

Some people have a way with words. They can tell a story about the most inane thing that's happened to them and make it sound incredibly interesting.

Then there are the other people. The ones that have inexplicably unusual, weird, and funny stuff happen to them, and they just tell what happened.

Dave Secretary is such a person. I hope you have plenty of time on your hands, because it will take quite a while to read Time for Some Stories.

Tie One On

Not many geeks wear ties these days. I suspect it has something to do with the generally relaxed dress codes at the types of companies where geeks typically work. Which is a shame, because it's easier than ever to wear your geek credentials, in-your-face style, with these awesome Star Trek ties.

Caption Contest

*cough cough* Riiiiiicooolaaaaaa

How safe is you PIN?

Here's a nice security scare for a Monday morning. Everybody's PIN Number Revealed!

Caption Contest Winner

This week's winner is Andy.

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• The Top 10 real life Star Trek inventions.


• Speaking of Star Trek, you know they're making a new movie, right? About the early days of the classic Enterprise with a young Kirk and gang? Well here are pictures of the cast.


• Can the font you use affect the grade you get on papers?


• Hey Alanis, this is irony.


• Cool animated of image of how a sewing machine bobbin works.


• NO


• You can get manhole cover doormats. That is, if you can figure out how to buy them.


• The French love their espresso so much that they created a portable device you can take on a hike, or wherever. It's called the Handpresso and features one of the best corporate/product logos I've ever seen.


• The FBI has a renewed interest in the infamous D.B. Cooper hijacking case. Check out their complete case files.


• There's a new TV show called Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant. I think everyone's first reaction is, "Holy shit, Scott Baio's 46?!"


• Keeping track of your life is one thing. But doing it at such a level of detail and with such awesome design skills can only mean one thing: the Feltron Annual Report.


• You can watch full episodes of TV shows on FanCast.com. It's run by ComCast, so it's probably legal.


• Last week I linked to the SpringFlex as a way to get in shape at your desk. While you work your upper body with that, pump those legs (to power your keyboard and mouse) with the Gamercize.


• Or, to heck with all that pesky exercise, just replace your arm with a tentacle.


• Gallery of military aircraft cockpits.


• High dynamic range images are computer-manipulated to show some amazing effects. Check out some of the results on the Japan HDR Flickr pool.


• The Arrow of Time.


• As a gamer, I got a hearty laugh out of the ten golden rules of online gaming.


• Holy crap, a gelotologic seizure can be contagious?!

Friday Game

I'm not exactly sure how to solve this one, since I haven't been able to figure out how to beat it yet, but I do know it has something to do with helping yourself (not to give too much away up front).

Point your brainy bits at Cursor*10.

If you figure out the trick, show off in a comment.

More LotR Geekiness

Hot on the heels of this post where I linked to the Lord of the Rings dioramas made of candy comes news of a geek that's created Minas Tirith with LEGOs.

More proof for the Nuclear Toast Greater Internet Theory.

Spider-Toast

Check out all the amazing artwork (including the awesome bread one above) from Gallery 1988's show Tribute to Stan Lee.

Hip Office

Everyone where I work has a laptop. They walk around the halls with them, take them to meetings, even catch up on email while they're eating lunch in the cafeteria. I'll frequently see someone standing in the hall, balancing their laptop on one arm while laboriously hunt-and-peck typing with the other hand.

This sort of one-handed computing, not to mention the health effects of sitting at your desk all day, promise to be eliminated by the new LINDO hip office.

Although I'm not sure that the poorly-translated doctor's warning at the top of the page does anything to promote the product. Is it healthier to take your monotonous sitting screen job with you everywhere, literally attached at the hip? Or, as in the second picture, sitting in a chair? Presumably, it's good for you to sit in other chairs.

Japanese Cats

The Japanese love their cats, but unlike us North Americans, they 1) breed them to have wee tiny ears, and 2) they like to dress up their cats in costumes.

You can mock the costumes while you admire the attention to detail and craftsmanship. I have no idea what the page says, but the pictures provide all the information we need. (You can even try clicking on some other parts of the page to see dog-related items.)

Have fun exploring at what I think is called Pet Office.

A Geeky Lord of the Rings Christmas

Us geeks really like our Lord of the Rings. But there's a wide chasm between "liking" and "building dioramas".

Over the Christmas holidays in 2006, Dave and his siblings decided to recreate the Battle of Helm's Deep. Using candy. The results are awesome.

So this past Christmas, they continued their new tradition, building the city of Minas Tirith and the battle of the Pelennor Fields. The results are even more awesome. (And mad props for actually using "biotech" in context.)

Ah, my people, they're an awe-inspiring and frightening bunch, aren't they?

Caption Contest

Eyes up here!

Bug Wrasslin'

Those crazy Japanese and their (to us) weird TV shows. Many of them revolve around competition, and this one is no different. Other than the fact that they set their sights on smaller contestants. Check out the video results of Japanese Bug Fights.

Caption Contest Winner

This week the prize goes to weebat.

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• The term "Chav" is a derogatory British stereotype, as seen in 31 awful chavved-up cars.


• I only meant to check this out, but ended up staying for the whole thing, because it's so horribly cheesy. It's the crazy 70s Turkish Star Trek rip-off.


• Goatse is an internet legend. Which is why the interface loading elements on Impossible Pictures is so funny to me. Please say you see it too!


• Something that amuses me to no end, because it's so hilariously stupid: AAAAAAAAA!


• If you're =really= into cascading style sheets and corresponding browser behavior, then you need the fix for IE 7.


• As Seen on TV - The 10 Most Laughably Misleading Ads.


• As you may or may not know, Bill Gates is stepping down from the top position at Microsoft. To commemorate the event, the gang put together an awesome movie of Bill Gates' Last Days at Microsoft.


• Environmental awareness (and the high cost of gas) is driving up demand for electric cars. (Ha ha, nice pun, right?) Anyway, you might be surprised how many companies are gearing up for the race. (Ha ha, there's another one!) 27 electric cars [sic] companies ready to take over the road.


• A list of 100 "funny" quotes.


• "Tying the knot" may be an expression for getting married, but one artist imagines a more literal theme with her wedding bands.


• Art for geeks: the winners of the Second International Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest.


• The effect is seriously creepy: double vision.


• Man, there are children's books for everything these days. Mommy, why is there a server in the house?


• This is totally awesome (yes, I'm a superhero nut): steampunk superheroes.


• The officially overused 2008 List of Banished Words.


• Cereal is dope.


• Oh, SkyMall, what won't you innovate next? Keep in shape whilst blogging with the SpringFlex.


• Do you know what a bibliophile is? You can't forget if it's a tattoo.

Edit: Kudos to Kent for pointing me at Business Time.

Friday Game

With the first primaries behind us, the race for the presidency is on. But why race when you can fight for the position?

This awesome game throws the candidates into a Mortal Kombat-style arena. Can you take your candidate all the way to the top? Their special powers are hysterical, and you'll never guess who the big boss is at the end.

It's Kung-Fu Election. FIGHT!

Found!

In this "Hallway Sock" post, DK pictorially captured a wandering sock in the office.

I found the other one. It seems to have made it as far as the parking garage:

Text Adventures

Raggs is stuck at a job with no internet access (what? and where's that fodder, Raggs?), so we don't get our normal IM fix. She's resorted to texting me on my phone.

Now, let me first point out that I'm a cheapskate and each text costs me fifteen cents, something I bitch about constantly. So when my phone beeps and it says "New Message", I sigh loudly and roll my eyes as I open it up:

Oh lord so bored. 15 cent poetry productions, inc.

Keeper.

What the Fugly?

What possesses a woman to have a wedding cake made into a likeness of herself? We've all heard stories of "Bridezilla" and seen the reality shows, but this story just takes the cake when it comes to vanity, narcissism and selfishness.

It brings a whole new meaning to "eat me". And what part of the cake do they save? I foresee a probable pants-crapping moment in the future when some unsuspecting guest heads to the happy couple's freezer for an ice cream sandwich.

Link to CNN story with pictures.

Geekorama

The Consumer Electronic Show is going on this week in Las Vegas. If you're a geek following sites like Engadget and Gizmodo, you're awash in news of all the new high-tech goodies about to come on the market.

NuclearToast to hardware designers: You know what the world needs? Yet another gadget to dock an iPod in. STOP IT ALREADY.

Panasonic 150-inch plasma screen? Yes, you read that right. It's eight feet tall and eleven feet wide. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a cold shower.

Caption Contest

Years after the tragic tight-rope walking incident,
all that remains of the daredevils are their shoes...

A Towering Project

Here's a pretty cool project. Take a bunch of geeks, give them each a level of a tall building to design, and do it in "pixel art" style. The result is Goon Tower.

Caption Contest Winner

This week's winner is Ash. Well done!

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• It's the new year, and that means (for many, anyways) self-loathing for all the discarded resolutions. Feel even worse about yourself reading about The Legend of Cliff Young.


• Proving that geeks can datamine any graphical information, Very Small Array compares friends in two locations with his Year in Review.


• From the same folks that bring you teh lolcats, a new site for dogs: I has a hotdog!


• Celebrate your unmonitored childhood after reading geeks with kids.


• Take mug shots from smokinggun.com and convert them to glamor mug shots.


• The love mattress. Seems too practical!


• Can someone with no flight training safely land an airliner? (No.)


• Combining low-tech images with web technology nets us the human calendar.


• The human Tetris video is full of awesome.


• LEGOs plus Beowulf equals Then came Grendel... He bore God's wrath.


• For anyone who's ever asked the question, "Why can't I have 'New Folder' on my wall like I do on my desktop?" comes the answer: Now you can. ("Neuer Ordner" is German for "new folder". Mouse over the numbers-in-squares to see action pictures.)


• Packing tape art. Wow.


• Keep up-to-date with accidents on carnival and theme park rides at the appropriately-named Ride Accidents.


• It's a mashup of Billboard's top 25 pop songs of 2007! United state of pop!


• How to toilet train your cat.


• Talk about dedicated. Here's a guy who saved all his trash for a year.


• The world's neatest Monopoly boards.


• A great illustration of an exotic trophy room. How many do you recognize?


• The ten best rollercoasters on Earth.


• Take clips from The Matrix, add audio from Fight Club, and you get the awesome Matrix Fight Club.


• More Hello Kitty horror: Hello Kitty contact lenses.

Friday Game

Wow, this game is simple and yet can be amazingly frustrating. All you have to do is click on the green circles and keep the cat from reaching any edge circle. Block the cat, you win. Otherwise the tricksy feline will outfox you and get away.

Try your hand at Chat Noir.

Stuffed Toast

My friends Ash and DK got me this really cool plush toast critter for Christmas:



Here's what his tag has to say about him:

No. 116
Name: Toast
From: Bakersfield
Toast is a heal [sic] from a loaf of wheat bread so he is always getting left behind. Toast doesn't care though, he is a tough gogetter [sic]. He doesn't wait around for anyone anymore. He likes to just get out there and try new things and see what adventures the day has in store for him. He is always positive about every situation and never gets upset.

He's from BAKERSfield, get it? Ha ha ha ha! Oh little plush toast, you are my new best friend. Now we just need to get you a nuclear symbol tattoo...

Inventive Cuisine

Let me just say that I've gotten a lot of flak from my friends for my McPizza cooksperiment. But if there's one thing the internet has taught me, it's that there are people who will try anything. In that spirit of wild abandon, and in an effort to deflect some of the food-related criticism directed at me, I give you the bacon cheese baconburger.

First Post!

"First post" is an internet convention on many forums. I guess getting first post on my own blog is kinda cheating, but hey, it's January 1st, right? Another year, another month or two of writing the wrong number in every date.

Happy 2008!