Caption Contest

The name's Phil... Phil McKrackin.

Drawings Pictured

This looks like it was a fun project. Take some children's drawings and reproduce them as photographs. It's Yeondoo Jung's Wonderland.

Caption Contest Winner

This week's winner is Hurley182.

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• The 25 best high-tech pranks.


• Most everyone has seen the 1978 Microsoft staff photo. Here's a reunion photo 30 years later.


• Technodelinquents: Teens in the UK are using Google Earth to find swimming pools they can crash.


• Never know when this might come in handy: Lady spins on an escalator.


• In today's high-tech living room, everyone needs a Remote Buddy.


• This totally cracks me up. Take a state-of-the-art iPhone and load a program on it that lets you rotary dial a telephone number. Now all you need to complete the ensemble is the Bluetooth Retro Handset.


• The USB-powered cell phone signal booster is actually pretty friggin cool.


• Turn portable data into a key ring with the carabiner flash drive.


• A golf club and a weedwhacker in one? Yeah, that's what I thought too. The gift for the golfer that has everything, the Big Daddy Driver.


• Some artists create with unusual media. Like using "energetic materials" such as explosives and rocket fuel. Check out the explosive art.


• Horde of puppies chases boy.


• The ultimate cleaning test: the postal system.


• Andrew Bush mounted a camera in his car, and took pictures of people their cars. The result is called vector photography.


• The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain rocks Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.


• Faces on money plus celebrity photos: money mashup.


• Give a three-year-old a digicam and set him loose, and you get My Kid Took These.

Friday Game

In order to fly, you need enough thrust to overcome gravity. While the idea of propelling yourself through the air using the power of farts is, admittedly, somewhat juvenile, you need a bit of skill negotiating the Puzzle Farter.

Tip: Double-press the up-arrow key to ffffffffffly.

Attention Firefighters!

There are stickers you can put on windows in your house to alert firefighters that the room contains children. There are also window stickers to let firefighters know that there are pets in your domicile.

But what about us geeks? We need stickers that indicate OUR children need to be saved! Won't somebody think of the computers?

Besides, it only makes sense, environmentally speaking. You don't want all those cables and batteries and circuit boards burning; they produce toxic gases and smoke.

Geek: Technology Inside.

In Soviet Russia, Collection Collects You!

Sergei Frolov lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, speaks (or at least types) passable English, and is very proud of his assemblage of mostly Russian electronics. The cornerstone, though, is his Soviet Calculators Collection. He even has a handy "Start surfing here" link on the main page.

While looking through the pictures, I had to admire the plucky "create our own version" mentality of the Soviet inventors and designers.

Caption Contest Update

Ah, apparently Blogger doesn't like "gif" images. So, unbeknownst to me, this week's picture didn't show up (since I'm so aloof and don't even view my own blog).

It has now been replaced with an image that does display.

The Romelette

Time for a new cooksperiment!

I was challenged (jokingly) by a friend to make something with Ramen noodles. So I decided to break a few eggs and make a Ramen omelette... a romelette!

First, all the ingredients, including fresh dill from Mom's garden.


Chop the green onions, drain the mushrooms, boil the Ramen, and beat the eggs (adding the dill).


Saute the onions and mushrooms in a little EVOO.


Add the Ramen, then pour in the eggs.


Combine the ingredients well, cook until firm, then serve (with the ever-present Tabasco).



Lab notes section:

• Technically, I guess it's a Ramelette, but if you spell it that way, you don't pronounce it right.


• Also technically, I guess it's not so much of an omelette, since I cooked it together rather than folding the eggs over the filling.


• As you might tell from the fourth picture, the eggs weren't too keen to mix it up with the Ramen. It took a bit of clever maneuvering to even out the ingredients.


• The noodles add an interesting texture/flavor to the eggs. I didn't use the "flavor" packet, so that might add even more, if you're so inclined.


• The noodles also add surprising bulk. It made two meals for me. Reheating in the microwave was easy, and the eggs didn't get rubbery like they normally do (when not Ramenized).

Would I fix it again? Probably not. I mean, it was quite tasty, but more of a novelty than a must-have.

Caption Contest

The art of being nothing.

Bacon Construction

Since bacon seems to be my secondary theme now, I present Baconhenge.

Caption Contest Winner

This week's winner is Anonymous.

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• Karaoke is a staple at some bars. There are even home units. But soon you'll be able to use this portable karaoke "toy".


• I want to buy some, even though I have no idea what this Japanese commercial is selling.


• It's amazing what you can find in your back yard. I dug up a Nazi bunker!


• Answer a few simple questions to find out How long could you survive in the vacuum of space? (1 minute 23 seconds for me.)


• Not sure if this is a bad how-to or a good anti-drug video. Driving on salvia.


• Bloody brilliant video called Requiem for a wardrobe.


• I don't normally link to stuff you have to actually read, but this was so funny (and so close to my heart) that I had to include RAS Syndrome.


• College plus megageeks equals MIDAS.


• Are you a fanatic for both Star Wars and LEGO? Then you'll definitely want the LEGO Death Star diorama.


• 4 amazing cities of color.


• Take a famous logo and an appropriate picture, and you have logos in the real world.


• The 100 greatest movie posters (according to him, anyway).


• Have some fun making up your own fake store receipts.


• The amazing Alaskan sign post forest.

Friday Game

The play of this game is nothing special: you pilot an Asteroids-ish spaceship and shoot everything that moves. The fun part is that you get to draw your own spaceship. As you level up, you can buy add-ons. It's fun to draw your new guns on your own spaceship!

Play Doodle Defender!

The Curse of Technology

It seems that the more we develop and depend on technology to live our lives and get our work done, the more time we spend wrestling with it to actually try to live our lives or get our work done.

You know how when a program crashes, you get that dialog that says (and I'm paraphrasing here), "Your program has gone tits-up and has to close. Would you like to tell Microsoft about it?" I always click the "Don't Send" button.

I would much rather this dialog have the option for you to enter two values: Time Spent Running the Program, and Time Spent Getting Actual Work Done. THAT would be valuable information about today's efficient technology worker.

Not that I'm upset or anything...

Bacon, Unbound

I seem to have a sub-theme running just below the surface of this blog, and it is bacon. Why fight the inevitable?

Everybody loves bacon. Even vegetarians have their facon. "But NT," you say, "cooking bacon is such a pain. How can I enjoy its tasty deliciousness when I'm not near a kitchen, or perhaps a Denny's?"

The answer, it turns out, is canned bacon.

Cell Phone Pics

Cell phones (or mobiles, for you cross-ponders) have transformed our lives in so many ways. One would be the ability most of us now have to snap a picture of moments that would previous have been lost forever.

Hey, Bladio! I saw that same car you blogged about in your post!


Proof that Raggs is a shoplifter. A successful one.


A co-worker's totally awesome wallpaper... of his view.

Caption Contest

I know there's a Ben & Jerry's around here... I can smell it...

Caption Contest Winner

This week's winner is Hurley182.

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• How to fold a t-shirt in two seconds. This technique is not new, but this video is much easier to follow.


• Gummi Lighthouses: When candy design goes terribly, hilariously wrong.


• See how others add that personal touch to their workplaces in Creative Cubicles.


• PC Keyboard Salt and Pepper Shakers.


• Laser pointers are fun, but after you annoy the cat and get thrown out of a concert for painting a spot on the singer's forehead, what can you do with one? How about turning your next social gathering into a disco party?


• What's one of the biggest problems to storing a bicycle? The handlebars! No information about price or availability, but these folding handlebars are awesome.


• Charlie the Unicorn is back with episode 2. Doesn't quite capture the quirky fun of the first one.


• If you're a gamer like me, then you're probably drooling over the Emperor workstation too.


• Speaking of gaming, here's a promotional short called I Love The World created entirely from game footage.


• Patching old, crumbling walls with LEGOs.


• The 50 best pun stores. (Seen it in Real Life: I stayed at #11.)

Friday Game

Here's a game you play against someone else online. It's meant for kids, which makes it all the sweeter when you crush them with your superior intellect. Or will you? Find out who's the better speller as you race against the clock with tutpup.

Coworker Roundup

• Co-worker complaining about the restroom. "I work with cavemen! Not flushing the urinal: bad. Leaving all kinds of remains in the toilet without taking care of business: inexcusable!"


• Co-worker does something amusing/embarrassing. "This better not show up on your blog!"


• Co-worker reflecting on the cafeteria running out of taco bowls, carrying his taco salad heaped on a burrito shell, tostada-style. "It's just like a taco bowl, just less bowl-y."


• Co-worker commenting on the latte cart and the dozens and dozens and dozens of donuts in the lobby. "We don't ask questions. If we're dead in an hour, then you know it was a trap."


• Co-worker responding to a question about his lunch date. "I said I was going out with 'a friend,' not 'A GIRL!'"

Punked!

It turns out that the "office worker goes batshit" video in last week's Activity Corner is actually a viral video posted by the director of the upcoming movie Wanted starring Angelina Jolie. I'm not sure who broke the news, but Cinematical gets my vote for best coverage, with a link to the director's own very, very Russian blog.

Spock Monkey!

It's better than a sock monkey. It's not illogical. It's Spock Monkey.

Order now for a free tribble!

Ceiling Cat!

If you know about ceiling cat:


You'll appreciate the papercraft ceiling cat a coworker put in our kitchen at work:


You can get your own ceiling cat at Tubbypaws.

Caption Contest

I want my baby back baby back baby back baby back...

Paint Me an Album

After Friday's game, this seemed just too appropriate.

Anyone with Windows knows about MS Paint, the computer graphics equivalent of finger painting. Yes, some people can do amazing things with it, but most of us can't. Which is what makes this next one fun... he's somewhere in the middle.

How well do you know album covers? Because Flickr user "last rites" does his best to recreate album covers (while not getting in trouble, by altering the band name and album title) in his cover art series.

Caption Contest Winner

This week's winner is Hurley182.

See the original image here.

Activity Corner

• Richard Cheese is a comedian lounge singer who makes cheesy covers. So take his rendition of Garbage's I'm Only Happy When It Rains, add some Gene Kelly, and you get this.


• Remember those old "choose your own adventure" books? Well here's one that might surprise you: Paper Pong. I actually "played" for longer than I care to admit.


• Origami meat. (It's actually a complete papercraft steak dinner, including plate and silverware. Awesome.)


• I watched this about a dozen times: narcoleptic cat.


• I like to try eating out at new places, but I think I'll skip this one.


• As a space nut, I got really excited about this picture of our galaxy from above.


• I don't know about "ever", but here are the 20 funniest newspaper headlines.


• Guide to New York jargon.


• For those that know about GTA IV, The Onion does it again. Liberty City Police Face Allegations Of Incompetence, Brutality.


• Take an ordinary picture (with potential, of course), draw a face on it, and you have Om Nom Nom Nom.


• I had friends on that Death Star.


• Hair hats? Yes, hair hats. I'm as amazed by the artistry as I am by the wtfness.


• 15 Of The Most Luxurious Swimming Pools On Earth.


• The truth about internet dating.


• Have you seen the security video of the office worker going berserk? Have you seen the recently discovered audio version?


• The hand wrench is just creepy.


• The snoring duck.


• The letter in the pond.


• The Haircut.

Friday Game

This is not the typical Friday game you've come to know and love here, but it still should be a fun exercise because it involves audience participation. It's the Random Band Generator Game. Here's how you play:

1. Go to Wikipedia and in the upper left "navigation" box, click "Random article". This is your band name.


2. Go to the Random Wodehouse Quote Page for a (duh) random quote. Use no more than 8 words at the beginning of the quote. You can use fewer than 8, just not more. This is the album title.


3. Go to the Flickr Explore page for a random picture. This is your album cover.

In the comments, post your band name and album title, and link to the picture (right-click on the picture, select Copy Shortcut, paste into comment).

This should be fun.

I'm Not The Only One

Becky, I feel exactly the same way.


From graphjam.com.

My New Sign

I got this sign as a present. It's nice, real metal and everything. But why did they get it for me?



The crest, a donkey with glasses, says, "E Pluribus Smart Assimus". Awesome.

He Won?

Word. Mad props, yo.

It's Not My Asphalt

The internet is the cutting edge of technology. It's also an archeological dig. Poking around forgotten corners, you can find sites that have been up for a decade (or more). These sites also confirm that weirdness on the internet is nothing new. And that people will collect almost anything.

Case in point: The World Famous Asphalt Museum. Marvel at the cutting-edge web page technology, and the state-of-the-art computer hardware on display. Oh, you must take the Grand Tour!

Small Moving Part

I'm just a wee, tiny cog in a huge, global machine. And nothing can quite destroy all your company's mission statements and feel-good HR hype like a dose of good old-fashioned reality.

My company has done away with paper pay stubs. Ok, no big deal, right? Except in the course of trying to get hooked up with the online systems that support this new paperless wondersolution, I'm stymied at every turn. After working here a year and a half, I find out that I need four separate accounts and passwords. Email, VPN, Payroll, and intranet. So far, I have the email one. At least I'm still getting paid, even if I have to look it up in my online banking.

I've been on the phone to the helpdesk the last few days, and they promise me they're "working on it" and "escalating the ticket". I kinda feel like Indiana Jones at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark:

Maj. Eaton: We have top men working on it now.
Indiana: Who?
Maj. Eaton: Top. Men.

And people are surprised when I say I hate computers...

Caption Contest

Dang it! The "Good" part fell down again.

Massive Association

It bills itself as the "massively multiplayer word association 'game'". And it is both intriguing and addicting.

It's pretty simple, really. They show you a word right above the entry field. Type the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you see the word. Then, on the right, you see how many (or few) other people had the same connection. Repeat.

Part of the fun is typing your association as quickly as you can, and the other part is analyzing the results.

Give Human Brain Cloud a try.

Caption Contest Winner

This week's winner is Anonymous.

See the original image here.