« Previous Day | Main | Next Day »

16 January, 2004

Find Water, Get A Shrimp

What a deal: If NASA Finds Conclusive Evidence of an Ocean on Mars, America Eats Free Giant Shrimp.

Long John Silver's announced today that it will give America free Giant Shrimp if NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project finds conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars by February 29, 2004. The out-of-this-world offer from the world's most popular seafood chain celebrates NASA's efforts to find traces of ocean water -- and possibly, evidence of life -- on Mars.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Old Soap Advertising

Lots of old soap advertisements at the Ivory Project.

This selection of 1,600 advertisements and related ephemera, 1838-1998, features a representative sample of print advertising for Ivory soap, one of the nation's longest-lived, branded consumer products. Complementing the Ivory materials are examples of advertising, advertising cards, soap wrappers, coupons, pamphlets, and similar ephemera produced for other soap brands and related products.

The ad shown here is from 1951, back in the days when people were so dirty they needed a brush to get themselves clean.

(via The Cartoonist)

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Trip Wonker

Here's a great optical effect: Trip Wonker.

A Trip Wonker is the single trippiest optical illusion known to mankind. Use it, and your whole world will start warping around. Walls will melt, spoons will bend, your hand will quiver,

Yes, it really does all of those things.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

What Christian Theologian Are You?

I've seen lots of those "what _____ are you?" online quizzes. But I never expected to find this one: What Christian Theologian Are You? It has only six questions, so it only takes a minute or two.

Me? I'm Karl Barth:

You like your freedom, and are pretty stubborn against authority! You don't care much for other people's opinions either. You can come up with your own fun, and often enough you have too much fun. You are pretty popular because you let people have their way, even when you have things figured out better than them.

I had not heard of Karl Barth, so I looked him up and found the Center for Barth Studies.

Karl Barth (1886-1968), the Swiss Reformed professor and pastor, was once described by Pope Pius XII as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. His great contribution to theology, church, and culture will take generations to appropriate and assess.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Donald Trump's Contributions

The Smoking Gun has a list of Donald Trump's charitable contributions for 2002.

There's something about this Donald Trump guy that rubs us the wrong way--and it's not the greed, arrogance, megalomania, or that golden swirl perched on his noggin. The, um, star of NBC's "The Apprentice" is, as he is always quick to note, a New York City billionaire who has more juice than Con Ed.

But when it comes to philanthropy, Trump is probably the country's least generous corporate baron. While fellow titans like Bill Gates and David Geffen have used their charitable foundations to make many significant donations, Trump is, by comparison, an absolute cheapskate. The Donald J. Trump Foundation's most recent tax return, filed with the IRS about two months ago, shows that the developer forked over a measly $287,000 in 2002

Posted on 16 January, 2004

The Website Mixmaster

Here's another one of those Web site messer-uppers. It's called Website Mixmaster, by Mina Naguib. Specify a URL for the layout, and another URL for the content. The program then mixes them up, and spits out the result.

Two examples:

• This blog's content, with Metafilter's layout
• Metafilter's content, with this blog's layout

(Thanks again, firq)

* * *

Update: Metafilter picked up on Mixmaster site, and somebody posted the best mix of all:

• The Onion's content, with the White House's layout.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

The New RIAA

Move over, RIAA. Here's The NEW RIAA.

Shown here is Willy Williams, Treasurer of The New RIAA:

Before landing at the New RIAA, Williams served as chief accountant for a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. As special assistant to Enron CEO Ken Lay, Williams pioneered the art of creative accounting, generating millions of dollars in undeclared income he quickly distributed to a network of Swiss banks through untraceable paths. Williams' work was so celebrated within America's CEO circles that he soon served similar posts at WorldCom and Tyco.

"Williams is the perfect person to guide the finances of the New RIAA into the future," says New RIAA President Thorny Thompson. "His experience will be critical in our deception of Congress and the American consumer as to the true costs of CD production and the unequal distribution of artist royalties."

Posted on 16 January, 2004

A High-Tech Razor

Is it possible that the product development people at Gillette have too much time on their hands? See: New disposable razor hums, makes hair stand on end.

Gillette rolled out a new high-tech, premium razor Thursday, a souped-up version of the Mach3Turbo featuring 62 patents and a tiny, battery-powered motor that emits pulses that work on the skin to prop up hair so it can be lopped off more easily.

But the Rolls-Royce device, expected to hit North American shelves in May, will also come with a Rolls-Royce price tag: $14.99 for the shaving system (including a battery), compared to $8.99 for the Mach3Turbo. A 4-pack of blades will go for $10.99, a 15 percent premium.

(via Gizmodo)

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Laser Keyboard

If this actually works, it could be a real breakthrough: A $100  Virtual Laser Keyboard.

The Virtual Laser Keyboard leverages the power of laser and infrared technology and projects a full-size keyboard onto any flat surface. As you type on the laser projection; it analyzes what you're typing by the coordinates of that location.

But it wouldn't work for me. I've gotten to the point where I can type only when I'm using one of those weird natural keyboards.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Generating Spam Poetry With Excel

I should have expected this. Thomas Kraus sent me a slick Excel app called Spam Poem Generator.

If you don't know what a spam poem is, click here.

The SpamList worksheet contains 735 spam subject lines. Specify your parameters, then click the button to generate a random poem.

If you like, you can add new spam subject lines to the Spam List. You can add them manually (boring and tedious), or use some type of automated method. I used a program called Outlook Express Address Extractor Pro. This creates a text file for each message in an Outlook Express folder. Then I used the Filename Lister utility from my PUP v5 add-in to generate a list of the filenames and put them into an Excel sheet.

Click here to download the Excel file (it's zipped). The workbook contains VBA macros, so you'll need to make sure that macros are enabled. The file is virus-free.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Ventriloquist Dummies

If you're a ventriloquist, you might get your dummies from ventriloquistdummies.com.

We have it all: ventriloquist dummies, ventriloquism books, replacement parts, videos, and much more. Whether your call yours a doll or a ventriloquist dummy, we have what you are looking for! 50+ years in the theatrical business. Ventriloquism is fun for everyone!

They have quite a few inexpensive dummies (under $50), but the pros will want a "vent doll," which costs considerably more. Shown here is Wilber. He's hand-made, and sells for $795.

The Pro Wilber doll is a one of a kind professional level 42" male ventriloquist doll that features a fiber glass body, a moving mouth, eyes that move left to right, separately blinking eye lids and a head that turns. The teeth and hands are individually shaped for a better look. Doll comes dressed as shown in a white collar shirt, gray wool vest, Khakis, and brown suede shoes.

By the way, John Wing wrote a book called Ventriloquism For Dummies, published by Black Moss Press (not from Wiley, the "For Dummies" publisher). The book cover uses the standard  black and yellow Dummies style. I wonder if they had to get permission from Wiley?

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Guitar Links

Here's a great collection of links to guitar-related sites: Guitars That Make Me Cry.

One of the links led me here, where I found this unusual double-neck guitar made by Mike Doolin. It looks like a Photoshop job, but it's for real.

(Thanks firq)

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Bob Schneider

The Presurfer led me to this weird Flash site called Wefail Lovers. I can't explain it, but I like it.

I eventually figured out that it's leads to (among other places) Bob Schneider's web site -- which is also pretty interesting. He's a musician. Dig around a bit, and you'll see a list of songs. Try to find the song named "Candyman."

You may not like the music, but the Web site has no shortage of creativity.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

19th Century Albinism

Interesting photos: Nineteenth Century Images of Albinism.

People born with the genetic condition albinism i.e. a deficiency of the skin, hair and eye pigment melanin, have been the subjects of public curiosity over the centuries. They have been purported to have all sorts of supernatural powers such as mind reading and they were at times even suspected of witchcraft. Entrepreneurs such as Phineas Barnum employed "albinos" to appear in his American Museum and as part of his traveling sideshow...

Photographic images of albinos (and others with physical anomalies) were widely marketed during the nineteenth century.

Shown here is J. Unzie.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Ripley's Videos

Here are ten short videos from Ripley's Believe It or Not. "Rubber Man" is pretty good.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Reefer Madness

Download your very own copy of the classic cult film, Reefer Madness (in the public domain).

The archetypal sensationalized anti-drug movie. This propaganda film dramatizes the "violent narcotic's ... soul destroying" effects on unwary teens, and their hedonistic exploits enroute to the bottom.

Its later audience for its campiness has far exceeded its original propaganda targets.

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Microsoft's Slogan

From the Microsoft Blog (at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer): Their slogan. His gripe.

Listening to the radio I sometimes wonder whether the announcer is going to run out of breath before reaching the end of Microsoft's long and winding "Your potential inspires us to create software that helps you reach it" slogan, the prelude to the "your potential, our passion" tag line.

I've never heard this particular Microsoft slogan, but it does seem kind of long and run-on.

(via Cloudy, Chance of Sun Breaks)

Posted on 16 January, 2004

Building Conversion

This is good: Not Fooling Anybody. A pictorial guide to building conversions. You know, like when a Hertz rent-a-car takes over a Dairy Queen building.

Posted on 16 January, 2004