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12 August, 2003

Worst Case Scenarios

This site tells you what to do when things go wrong.

Work is bad enough, but what if things go really wrong? Be prepared for the crises that lurk in the office, on the loading dock, in the lunchroom, and out on the sales floor.

It covers a wide variety of topics. For example:

  • How to determine if your date is an axe murderer
  • How to escape from a sinking car
  • How to stop a runaway golf cart
  • How to sneak out of a meeting

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Military Hand Signals

It's informative, practical, and very funny: Military Hand Signals

(via Ober Dicta)

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Mermaids

Vintage postcards featuring mermaids (and mermen).

(via Everlasting Blort)

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Bob Hope's Joke File

The Library of Congress has Bob Hope's personal joke file.

The complete Bob Hope Joke File -- more than 85,000 pages -- has been digitally scanned and indexed according to the categories used by Bob Hope for presentation in the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment.

They have seven of these scanned pages online. I looked through them all, and found no evidence of a joke. I guess they were rough drafts.

(via Love and the Happy Cynic)

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Soda Babes Wanted

The Soda King web site is looking for photos of Soda Babes.

Soda Babes are girls and guys who enjoy their beverages and want to let the world know it!

We want YOU to join the ranks of the soda babes by sending us your photos of you and your friends enjoying a cold fizzy one!

Here's a soda babe, with a bottle of Leninade.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Welcome To Your New Job!

You'll need A Career Handbook.

Step One: Find a desk close to a hot coworker

Sure, your first break isn't for another 45 minutes, but what's stopping you from daydreaming about that cute girl two desks over?

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Robotic Head

From Popular Science: The Man Who Mistook His Girlfriend For a Robot.

When David Hanson set out to build a robotic head, he saw no reason not to make it look just like a human.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Pointless Questions For Happy Robot

Happy Robot wants to play, so here are his five questions.

  1. What's the funniest clean joke you've ever heard?
  2. What movie title best describes your life? And which one best describes the life you'd prefer to live?
  3. Since when do robots have emotions?
  4. If you were a rabbit, which country would you like to live in?
  5. List all of the organizations and clubs you've ever belonged to.

By the way, his Robot Journal features a dummies guide to Liberia.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Pointless Questions For Eyeno

Yesterday I answered some pointless questions, and asked for volunteers to answer some questions of mine. The response was underwhelming. In fact, I got only one volunteer.

So here are five questions for Eyeno (who happens to be a fellow Whole Wheat Radio junkie).

  1. If you were forced to get a tattoo on your forehead, what would it be?
  2. Which of the Seven Dwarfs do you best relate to? And why?
  3. As a child, did you walk to school or carry your lunch?
  4. When is trash-pickup day for your neighborhood? And do you do anything special on this day?
  5. If you could trade places with any celebrity, who would it be?

Eyeno's blog, by the way, has an ongoing discussion about a particular experiment that he's performing. Check it out.

I originally said that I would post only one set of questions. I've changed my mind -- coming up with these questions is kind of fun. If you'd like to answer some questions in your blog (and would like some cheap blog hits), send me an email.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

A Razor With Four Blades

In the beginning, a razor had one blade. Then, all of a sudden, they had two blades. Then, not too long ago, three-blade razors became the norm. Guess what's next? Yep.

But, of course, there's a lawsuit over four-blade razors.

Gillette said the suit charges that Quattro, a four-bladed razor due to hit the market in September, uses the same technique to stack the blades in the cartridge as Gillette's top-selling Mach3 three-bladed razor.

Me? I'm holding out for a six-blade razor.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Stock Market For News

The World News eXchange is like a stock market of news events.

A unique world events prediction contest geared towards the international community and operated in partnership with leading news and information websites.

Here's a Newsweek article about it.

(via JD's New Media Musings)

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Disney's Disposable DVDs

From Wired: Cranky Callers to Target Disney.

Angry at Disney's plans to sell disposable DVD movies, environmentalists plan to dump their grievances on CEO Michael Eisner in a massive phone protest Wednesday. Hundreds of students from around the country will call Eisner to discourage the sale of these throwaway DVDs, and urge the company to abandon the product, according to the protest's organizers.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

The End of Outlook Express

From ZDNET: Microsoft abandons Outlook Express.

It might be the world's most widely distributed email client, but Microsoft has confirmed that it has no intention of further developing Outlook Express.

"[Outlook Express] just sits where it is," said Dan Leach, lead product manager for Microsoft's information worker product management group. "The technology doesn't go away, but no new work is being done. It is consumer email in an early iteration, and our investment in the consumer space is now focused around Hotmail and MSN."

So, Outlook Express joins Internet Explorer in the junk heap. Actually, that's good news. Now I have an excellent reason to try out Mozilla Thunderbird.  And I have absolutely no intention of switching to Outlook (even though I get it free).

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Who To Kill

This site presents you with two random characters (either fictitious or real). Then you decide which of the two to execute. Then, based on the responses, they generate a variety of statistics.

For example, the #1 most-killed character is Anna Nicole Smith.  The most spared character is Homer Simpson.

Note: No one really gets killed. It's just a game.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Ted Williams On Ice

From Sports Illustrated: What Happened to Ted?

Hall of Famer Ted Williams' head and body are being stored in separate containers at an Arizona cryonics lab that is still trying to collect a $111,000 bill from Williams' son.

The head is the weird part:

The silver can containing Williams' head resembles a lobster pot and is marked in black with Williams' patient I.D. number, A-1949, according to the SI story. Williams' head has been shaved and drilled with holes. Verducci also reports that, before the head was placed in its present location, it was accidentally cracked as many as 10 times due to fluctuating storage temperatures.

The photo here shows Ted while he was still alive (without the holes in his head).

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Searching For Numbers

What happens when you use Google to search for numbers? In other words, what site is ranked first for 0, 1, 2, 3, etc? Look no further. Here are the results for number 0 through 12...

0 = Netscape
1 = VH1.com
2 = learn2.com
3 = 3com.com
4 = Netscape
5 = Internet Explorer Home Page
6 = Netscape
7 = Opera software
8 = real.com
9 = ninemsn.com.au
10 = 10 Downing Street
11 = Yahoo People Search
12 = NASA Quest

Some of these, of course, make no sense.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Web Design Postcards

This is one of the best ideas I've seen in a long time: Postcards that contain web design tips.

Look through these postcards for coding, design and content tips for your own sites, and if one of the sites you visit regularly doesn't measure up, why not show them you care by emailing them the URL of an applicable card?

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Postal ID Plan

From ZDNet: Postal ID plan creates privacy fears.

A government report that urges the U.S. Postal Service to create "smart stamps" to track the identity of people who send mail is eliciting concern from privacy advocates.

The report, released last month by the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service, issued numerous recommendations aimed at reforming the debt-laden agency. One recommendation is that the USPS "aggressively pursue" the development of a so-called intelligent mail system.

Though details remain sketchy, an intelligent mail system would involve using barcodes or special stamps, identifying, at a minimum, the sender, the destination and the class of mail.

A few years ago, a plan like this would have seemed outrageous. It's still outrageous, but it's not at all surprising.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

White House For Sale

The White House Is For Sale.

Tracking the influence of private money in President Bush's re-election campaign. So far, donors have given Bush: $47,950,000

This Web site will track the special-interest contributions to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and analyze the record of favoritism, conflicts-of-interest and influence peddling related to those contributions.

(via Easy Bake Coven)

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Get a Unique T-Shirt

You can get a No Company Custom T-Shirt.

Through No Company you can send someone a custom made, one-of-a-kind t-shirt. Think about a person who you would like to receive this gift. Download the questionnaire and fill it out. Based on the information you provide about the person, No Company makes a shirt. In the mail, this person then receives the information you provided along with a t-shirt that has been made specifically for them.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

I Hate New York City

The official I Hate NYC site. Here, people share what they don't like about the Big Apple. For example:

Who could forget the everpresent garbage bags on the street and the beautiful aroma of chicken parts, feces, and often rotting fish gifted to the air and selected for your enjoyment

I've never been to New York City, and I have absolutely no desire to go there.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

Outhouse Springs Water

This is for real: Outhouse Springs -- truly tasteless water.

It started out as a fictitious product to demonstrate the power of outdoor advertising. But then...

With all the hype and exposure, it did not take long before consumers and retailers began asking for the water. Due to the tremendous demand generated by the outdoor campaign, July 14th Outhouse Springs bottled water is now available for sale exclusively at all 24 Piggly Wiggly supermarkets in the Charleston area.

(Thanks Daniel Manata)

Posted on 12 August, 2003

The Marriage Strike

From FOX News: The Marriage Strike, marriage is not as popular as it used to be.

According to a 1999 National Vital Statistics Report from the CDC, 7.4 per 1,000 Americans married in 1998. From 1990 to 1995, the marriage rate dropped from 9.8 to 7.6. Different sources render other statistics but the trend remains sharply downward.

Why is that? The top three reasons why men are reluctant to get married:

  • They can get sex without marriage
  • They can enjoy "a wife" through cohabitation
  • They want to avoid divorce and its financial risks

Yep, that pretty much tells the story.

Posted on 12 August, 2003

The Clown Hall of Fame

Yes, there really is a Clown Hall of Fame. Not only that, but it's an International Clown Hall of Fame -- and it even has a Research Center. The Center is...

... dedicated to the preservation and advancement of clown art. Represented by professional and amateur clown associations, it pays tribute to outstanding clown performers, operates a living museum of clowning with resident clown performers, conducts special events and maintains a national archive of clown artifacts and history.

I learned that there are three basic clown types: White Face Clown, Auguste Clown, and Character Clown.

Shown here is Barry "Grandma" Lubin, a 2002 Inductee into the Clown Hall of Fame.

Posted on 12 August, 2003