IVL

Steve's Weird House

2006-11-16T14:46:00.000-06:00

Wow. Just... wow.

Cool virtual tours of Steve's Weird House.

Apparently girls, he's single!

Carve Your Own Pumpkin!

2006-10-17T12:02:00.001-05:00

Continuing with the Halloween theme today, I came across this little timewaster:

Pumpkin Carving with your Crappy Mouse :)

Have fun!

Mu-ah-ah-ahahahah

2006-10-17T11:19:00.000-05:00

It's that spooky time of year when the spirits roam around and creepy, spine-tingling things start to happen. The leaves are dying and starting their death procession from the branch to the ground, lying there to crackle under your feet as you walk by. Strange creaks and groans occur in the night, waking you from your peaceful sleep.

Ok enough of that. Just looking at this website, the Forbidden Crypts of Haunted Music, turns me into a Lon Chaney-esque narrator.

This is the site of a man on a mission tobring you the creepiest Halloween soundtracks ever made. You'll spend hours here listening to blood-curdling screams and ghostly chains rattling.

Have fun!

WhoCalled.us

2006-09-22T14:51:00.000-05:00

This is a brilliant site. Brilliant brilliant brilliant.

You're sitting at your desk, happily working away (ok maybe not happily, but you're at work anyway) when your cell rings. It's not your best friend's ringtone. It's not your mom's ringtone. It's the generic ringtone. Caller ID shows this number: 000-000-0000.

WTH?

Who is it? Well don't answer it. Instead, go to WhoCalled.us and check it out. According to "Karen" there, the Zero caller is a research marketer who persistently calls your number over and over and over until you answer. My advice is when you do cave and answer, scream very loudly and then hang up. It's very liberating :)

It's Splat-tastic!

2006-09-14T14:44:00.000-05:00

JacksonPollock.org has just killed several minutes of my time. It's kind of like popping bubblewrap.

I'm in full frustration mode right now and this site took my mind off of it for a little while. I like stuff like that.

Give a try.

Poplifeart.com

2006-09-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

Some celebrities are so creative that they can't sit still in their 'downtime' and have to carry on being creative in any form they can get their hands on. Some of these people turn to painting, sculptures or photography to express themselves.

PopLifeArt.com is a large compendium of such celebrities and their artwork and it's interesting to see another facet to their personalities. The image here is a self-portrait done by David Bowie.

Other artists included on the site are Ringo Starr, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, Dennis Hopper, Viggo Mortensen (his photography is simply beautiful), Johnny Cash and more.

The site lists galleries where the art is displayed and includes links so that you can peruse their work online.

Enjoy!

Chateau Guédelon

2006-09-03T16:34:00.000-05:00

Here's a good reason to move to France, if you're a history buff of any kind: Chateau Guédelon.

It's a living history project that sort of came about because a man, Michel Guyot, thought it would be interesting to attempt to build a castle using only medieval techniques. 13th century techniques to be exact.

And so, for the next twenty years, he and a team of about 45-50 carpenters, stonemasons and craftsmen will build this castle using only materials in the surrounding areas and without the aid of things like power tools and forklifts. Horsepower literally means horsepower as materials are brought in by carts

Tourists can watch it in action and after securing initial funding to get the project off the ground, the project now need only rely on tourism to fund itself.

I think it's just spiffy.

The little brown dress

2006-07-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

The fashion anti-statement was carried out by a performance artist named Alex who designed and wore a little brown dress every day for one year (yes, of course she washed it.)

Her statement:
I am making one small, personal attempt to confront consumerism by refusing to change my dress for 365 days.

In this performance, I intend to reject our sweat-shop-supporting economy of over-consumption, and the bill of goods that has been sold, especially to women, about what makes a person good, attractive and interesting. Clothes are certainly part of this image, and the expectation is immense. The economic resources required to regularly purchase newly-manufactured clothing in retail stores are staggering - a hundred dollars for one new shirt!

As a brand new working mom with a new family budget, these economies are coming sharply into focus for me. Even my beloved second-hand shopping requires time, effort, and energy that saps my attention from the more vital parts of my life - being with my family, making artwork, tending the garden, growing my community, keeping a watchful eye on the government, reading new books, learning new skills, singing new songs ... I intend to make good use of my energy saved!

On her site, there's a blog and photo gallery and while the project ended on July 7th, it's still kind of interesting to read her journal.

My Inner Nerd is Happy

2006-07-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to do nothing but post YouTube stuff but damn if it isn't a funny, creative world out there on the big, wide web.

What would happen if Captain Picard encountered Darth Vader?

Lame Fireworks

2006-07-05T11:35:00.000-05:00

I'm having far too much fun with YouTube and my crappy digicamera. These are some of the Fonner Park fireworks on July 4th set to a chunk of music from Depeche Mode's "Dream On."

The new Pirates ride at Disney

2006-06-26T08:48:00.000-05:00

The best (in my opinion) ride at Disney has undergone a refurbishment and a "Depp-ification." I felt a little mixed about that because the ride has been my favourite since I was little and sometimes you just shouldn't mess with perfection.

But after watching this ridethrough I think it might have turned out okay.

Where the hell is Matt?

2006-06-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Neatorama this morning. Matt evidently quit his job and travelled the world. Somewhere along the way he got it in his head to dance in various spots and put his quirky jig online. Well it caught the attention of a gum maker and now he's got sponsorship. To dance. All over the world.

I want one

2006-06-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

Remember that comedian who went on a bit of a rant about needing popup artillery built into your car so that you could blast away at idiotic drivers who cut you off or nearly cause you to wrap your car around a telephone poll because they're so oblivious to their surroundings?

Well this isn't a machine gun, but it's the next best thing:

Express yourself and communicate with other drivers with this cool device:

Includes a smiley face, a frowny face, and the phrase 'Back Off' :)

Your dog wants some shades

2006-06-13T12:29:00.000-05:00

Doggles. Hehehe. That's fun to say. Doggles. Yep, shades for your pooch. And these aren't just any shades, these are cooool shades. Your pup can be stylin'.

Doggles are superbly made sunglasses. For dogs. Do not adjust your computer, you read that correctly. Incredible though it sounds, many vets and dogtors agree that canine eyes need protecting from the sun just as much as ours. All Doggles boast rugged polycarbonate (shatterproof) anti-fog lenses with 100% UV protection, and are ggggreat for dogs with eye disorders such as pannus and light sensitivity. Doggles are genuine doggy-health must-haves, and most dogs will readily accept them after a short adjustment period.

This is the kind of stuff the hawesome blog Neatorama finds online. Funny, weird, interesting, random stuff. Check it out: Neatorama.

What's wrong with Gordie?

2006-05-23T11:12:00.000-05:00

Wil Wheaton found this YouTube video of a trailer for his old movie, "Stand By Me." Only in this trailer, young Gordie is a little... off.

Click here to see what's wrong with Gordie.

And if you enjoyed that mashup, here's another one:

The Shining... as a Romantic Comedy.

If anyone knows of any more of these let me know. They're hilarious!

Ghost Relations

2006-05-18T12:14:00.000-05:00

Ok so I love Disneyland and specifically, I love the Haunted Mansion. Most of all, I love the Interweb for letting people post cool as hell stuff like this blog about the Mansion and it's inner workings:

ghostrelationsdept.blogspot.com/

According to the header there, this blog is "a weekly blog with new, obscure or just plain odd information about the Disney Haunted Mansions."

Fun!

Timewasters

2006-05-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

Prepare to not get any work done whatsoever. Also, fair warning if you are at work, some of these have loud musical numbers to go along with them so you might want to hit that mute button :)

eskiv

splash back

atome

mumu

poom

troyis

block jump

tontie

circles

flow

Thank you to BoingBoing for killing my time :)

Improv Everywhere

2006-05-03T17:42:00.000-05:00

Two posts in one day! I am on a roll! :)

So these people decided to "prank" Best Buy. I say prank but I don't think it is an actual prank so much as a chance to cause a scene and have some fun. This site is dedicated to organized fun and according to their FAQ - they strive to "bring excitement to otherwise unexciting locales and give strangers a story they can tell for the rest of their lives. We're out to prove that a prank doesn't have to involve humiliation or embarrassment; it can simply be about making someone smile."

Their website is improveverywhere.com and you can read their hilarious missions there. But the one that caught my eye is their latest mission which targeted Best Buy. The plan was to get as many "agents" together as possible, dress like Best Buy employees, enter the store and help customers.

They've got pics and video of the event. Great stuff!

Starlords

2006-05-03T15:24:00.000-05:00

For your inner geek, Misshapenfeatures.com brings you, "Starlords" - a Lord of the Rings/Star Wars video mashup that's both clever and amusing.

The have several quicktime vids that blend the two monster franchises together seamlessly in joyous parody.

Off topic - I've been absent for a while. Sorry to the 2 or 3 of you who read this :) I'm trying to get back on track with all my blogs.

Transformers!

2006-04-07T14:15:00.000-05:00

More than meets the eye!

Serious kudos to Tonga for pointing me in the direction of this website that has prevented me from getting my work done :) :)

It's a fun little JAVA thing that lets you transform your face into some cool stuff! Different ethnicities is interesting. Your face as interpreted by the masters such as Botticelli and Modigliani - or even see what you'd look like as Manga anime :)

It's a great little timewaster.

Here's a mutated pic of me as a painting by Czech artist Mucha:

Movie Madness

2006-03-31T09:47:00.000-06:00

IndyKnow's doing something pretty special starting today - a Movie Madness tournament. It's a take on the NCAA brackets but with movies. It's going to last a whole month and it's going to rawk. We're looking for your favorite movie since 1980.

On Getindyknow.com there's bit old explanation of how it works and all that so I'm not going to rehash it here. Just go vote!

I'm watching the voting results and we've already got over 80 votes and it's not even 10am :)

So check it out, vote now and vote often and help us whittle down the list until we finally get to Central Nebraska's Favorite Movie since 1980. And if we're very very good, we might get to show the winner at The Grand downtown.

Doh!

2006-03-04T19:01:00.000-06:00

Thanks Wil Wheaton!

Dress Kevin

2006-02-22T12:31:00.000-06:00

Kevin is a young techie living in Yuppieville, New Jersey. According to his friends he is a hopeless disaster when it comes to picking out clothes to wear either to work out out for social functions.

As he says, "I didn't know what to wear, so I made a website."

He's turned to us, the wandering nomads of cyberspace (man I am just using ALL the outdated euphemisms today!) to help him figure out what to wear. You can visit his website, dresskevin.com, and actually view photos of his entire wardrobe down to his accessories and vote on what you think he should wear the next day.

It's fun. It's kitschy. It will kill some time so check it out :)

The Doteaters

2006-02-16T18:28:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Wil Wheaton for highlighting this spiffy site: The Doteaters.

I'm fairly geeky though admittedly not as geeky as Wil. I've played my share of D&D. I work with computers, I love Star Wars/Trek (well TNG anyway)... and back in the day I had an Intellivision. I wore out so many of those little overlays playing Dungeons and Dragons :)

Anyway, Doteaters is a Really Cool site that looks back at the history of gaming - from Pong to adventure text games ("You are in a maze of twisty passages...") and it also includes a handy timeline of videogames.

Check it out.

Mcvideogaming and Walt Disney

2006-02-09T09:45:00.000-06:00

I have a couple of links to share and neither of them have anything to do with each other. This first one is something I've been meaning to post on here and just haven't got round to it and the other one I just came across this morning and because I love Disney, it spurred me into action.

If you're a fan of The Sims, you may enjoy this little game of corporate politics and greed called "McVideogame." You're given a certain amount of money to either make or break a successful McDonald's franchise. You have to buy the products, the soy fields, create ad campaigns, keep your employees and customers happy as well as your board of directors - and you have to do whatever it takes, even if that means bribery. Check it out and see how long you can keep your McDonald's going.

The other link that's worth a look if you're any kind of a Disneyland/world fan is a virtual tour of the inside of Walt Disney's apartment overlooking the town square on Main street in Disneyland. It's a rare glimpse into his apartment and it offers a 360 degree view and commentary by Disney Historian, Tim O'Day.

I thought it was spiffy :)

Where's George?

2006-02-01T09:15:00.000-06:00

Today I got one of those dollar bills covered in stamps with the URL "wheresgeorge.com" all over it. I'd heard about this website a while ago and checked it out, then I promptly forgot about it because I did not have a cool dollar bill covered in stamps until now :)

According to the site my little dollar bill was entered into their system 128 days ago in Omaha and from then until now it has travelled 177 miles.

People leave little comments about where they got the money and what condition it was in. It's oddly fascinating, sort of like tracking a message in a bottle. You can enter in any dollar bill and let others start tracking its journey as well so give it a go sometime :)

The Ultimate Nerd

2006-01-26T16:52:00.000-06:00

I'm starting a new little feature here inspired by this guy. Gary Reighn has built the Home Theater of his dreams - and he apparently dreams of the bridge on the starship Enterprise.

Currently, Gary is in the lead here as the Ultimate Nerd. Now, being the UN is not an insult by any means. I love nerds. I AM a nerd. Nerds rule. On IVL, being the Ultimate Nerd is an honour :) So from now on when I come across a particularly nerdy site or person I will plug them here, and see if they can top Gary.

On a side note, if I could build the home theater of my dreams, it would be something like this "Death Star" cinema:

I love me some TNG, but I'm definitely more of a Star Wars nerd than a Trekkie.

A Nifty Find

2006-01-25T11:58:00.000-06:00

I have to thank Tonga for this spiffy find: Listen to a Movie.

It's a cool way for movie buffs (well not just movie buffs but I imagine the buffs would be the ones who actually would use this) to pass the time. You register on the site (quick and painless) and then you have access to a database of your favourite films in streaming audio. The audio quality isn't top of the line or anything, but who cares?

Right now I'm enjoying "A Clockwork Orange" as I while away the hours at work. The program runs in the background in the same way your media player does if you listen to tunes while you work.

Some other flicks you can pick include "Donnie Darko," "Heathers," "Rocky Horror," some of the Star Wars films, a couple of Harry Potters, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the first 2 Godfathers, and really just a large list of recent and older films.

Deffo worth a listen :)

What a cool chick!

2006-01-24T16:59:00.000-06:00

I just read an AP piece on this New York cabbie chick who keeps a blog about her travels around the city (and beyond.) It's really great stuff and offers those of us here in the ~~boonies~~ heartland a glimpse into life in the big city.

Check it out.

Filming the Net

2006-01-10T22:49:00.000-06:00

I saw "You've Got Mail" for the first time the other day. No I never saw it when it came out and making films about the 'Information Superhighway' was all the rage. I'm not really sorry I missed it because I found it mushier than a bowl full of well, mush. Total chick flick.

In the mid-to-late 90s a few movies came out that featured the Internet as a focal point. "You've Got Mail" was one, along with Sandra Bullock's "The Net" and "Hackers." So I got to wondering what other movies out there included the Web in more than just a cursory manner.

I've compiled a list - and I was going for ten movies but didn't make it - of films where the Internet is more than just a means to an end. What I mean is that the Internet was one of - if not THE main reason for the movie. So some movies you would think should be on this list aren't because the Net was simply used as a plot device to advance the story as in the Terminator films. Some people wanted me to include those but I didn't feel 'Skynet' really counted because it only existed to give AHnold a reason to go back in time and kill Sarah Connor. Skynet was probably a futuristic version of the Internet as it would be if it was run by machines. But it's not the reason for the film.

Know what I mean?

So here's a list, compiled from my own digging and some input from friends, of movies that feature the Internet:

"You've Got Mail." As mentioned already, YGM is a mushy bit of Meg Ryan fluff that uses AOHell's instant messaging and email to connect the two would-be lovebirds. I'm sure that the movie could have been made in some other way without using the Internet and it would have been just as mushy and sickly-sweet, but at the time the Internet was all the rage and I think Meg and Tom wanted to be hip.

"Wargames." Ok I had to go back quite a ways to fill out my list but I think "Wargames" can qualify because without young David using his trusty little modem to dial into the military computers, the movie would be pointless :)

"The Net." Sandra Bullock is an introverted hacker who works from home until she discovers a nasty little virus that leads to her identity being erased and she must race against greedy corporate bastards to save herself and stop the virus. It's pretty dated by now of course, like watching old cop shows and having a laugh when they pull out these huge bricks with antennaes that passed for mobile phones in those days (Ahhh but wouldn't you have liked to have had one back then...) but for a fluffy action flick, it's okay.

"The Matrix." This one was a pretty big "Duh" after spending ages trying to find films for this list. The Matrix IS the Internet, or a futuristic form of it anyway. Neo is the One who will save humans from The Matrix which was created by machines to placate humans while they farm us for energy. I think. I've seen the movie a bunch of times and I still get a bit lost in the mythology. And let me just say that seeing the sequels did not help. They were crap.

"Johnny Mnemonic." Say what you will about Keanu Reeves, but I think this silly little sci-fi is spiffy. Johnny Mnemonic IS the Internet, or at least a part of it. He jacks into it and downloads data to be couriered to whomever is paying for it. It's not the greatest movie but it's interesting and I love it for Henry Rollins' character. He cracks me up :)

"FeardotCom." Ok you knew it wouldn't be long before someone made a slasher flick using the Net as the hook. You just knew it. "FeardotCom" is it. Four murder victims are found in New York 48 hours after each logged onto the title website. I have not seen "FeardotCom" so I can't comment on the quality but I will say that I have zero desire to see it.

"Hackers." A young l33t h4x0r and his buddies discover a dangerous computer virus and must use their mad skillz to stop it while being pursued by both the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus. Yes I nicked that from the Imdb because I haven't seen this either. Remember some of these flicks come from recommendations from friends of mine. But it just sounds cheesy doesn't it? Any description that has to include the phrase, "evil computer genius" has to ooze the cheddar.

"Sneakers." I'm not sure if this one should count but I'll throw it in the mix anyway. It's more about espionage and decryption hacking than it is about the Internet. The group of computer geeks includes River Phoenix so I think that's probably why I saw it. I don't remember much else about the film.

"Max Headroom." Ok this was actually a TV show but it was so ahead of it's time. So far ahead in fact that the networks obviously couldn't understand it so they yanked it prematurely. They have a habit of doing that ("Firefly" anyone?) The show, set in a future where everything is dictated by television networks and ratings, followed Edison Carter, the Han Solo of journalism, as he dug up the dirt on the people who run the networks. He's aided by his alter ego, Max Headroom, who runs amok through their version of what could be the Internet, accessing data and helping Edison along while providing biting satire and general sarkiness. I still have the pilot on VHS and I break it out now and then. Wish they'd release it on DVD. It was a great show.

And that's my list. I can't think of a tenth movie (or TV show since I relented for Max) that features the Web prominently. Can you?

Phishers and Spoofers

2006-01-03T16:31:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to throw out a word of caution about devious little gits called "phishers" who send out mass emails that spoof some of the more popular websites out there like ebay, PayPal and Amazon.

They look very real and usually scare you a bit by saying that your account has been accessed by a third party and please go to the URL within the email and sign in to your account to fix the problem. Don't do it.

No reputable, big-name company online will ask for or require your account information via email. Even if the "from" address looks legitimate and they have the company logo splashed all over it. It is fraudulent.

I received two of these just today - one from ebay and one from PayPal. What I did immediately was forward them to each company. Ebay and Paypal both offer a special email address you can forward these things to and they will research it and follow-up with you, letting you know the actions they have taken. Amazon's is a little different - you need to sign into your account if you even have one with them.

Forward any suspicious "phishing" emails you might have received from ebay to:
spoof@ebay.com

"Phishy" emails from PayPal can go to:
spoof@paypal.com

From Amazon, visit this link.

So protect yourself from these spammy bastards.

Hello? Santa?

2005-12-23T11:06:00.000-06:00

Where does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?

In the dictionary, duh!

Santaspeaking.com is a fun little site for anyone with kids - or are kids at heart. Santa and Mrs. Claus blog about getting ready for the Big Day, kids can log in at noon, December 24th and watch live video of Santa taking off at the North Pole to begin his trek, check out Santa's very favourite recipes, or have him give you a call.

It's pretty sweet and for my part, I'm digging the fact that Santa's gone high-tech.

Just a little Christmas quickie post. Happy holidays everyone!

Ahhh Punk.

2005-12-14T13:11:00.000-06:00

Totally going to show my age with this post but these photos are too awesome not to share.

London Punks by Andy Rosen- 1976-1984

I don't really know who Andy Rosen is, but apparently he got to spend time taking cool photos of some of the best original punk bands (though I'm not quite sure how Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran qualify. I loved me some Duran but never thought of them as punk. But meh, semantics. They're beautiful shots anyway.)

Pix include Siouxsie, Johnny Rotten, Bauhaus, and a bunch of Live Clash shots.

Now pardon me while I take my leather and creepers out of the mothballs and wax nostalgic :)

Nifty little tool

2005-12-13T14:52:00.000-06:00

Ok all you technopeeps looking for new tune-age to rock your iPods with - check out this spanky little tool from the Music Genome Project - it's called "Pandora" and it will help you find similar music to stuff you already love.

I'm a big fan of Placebo - the coolest band no one around here has ever heard of - so I plugged them into Pandora and found I could check out music from bands such as 30 Seconds to Mars, Inhabited, The Style Council and Panic at the Disco. Their sounds are remarkably similar to my boys and I'm finding this is a cool way to get to know other artists.

Give it a go. See what you think.

What's in a name?

2005-11-30T12:55:00.000-06:00

Ever wondered just how many people call a carbonated soft drink "pop" and how many call it "soda"? Sure you have. I bet you were thinking about this just the other day. Well ponder this no more. Someone has created a survey that allows people across the country to state which term they use the most, and this person even made it easy for us to see what parts of the country each term is prevalent in (as well as notating that some people actually call the drink a "Coke." Go figure.)
Check it out:
Pop vs. Soda

This makes me want to see what other silly things I can dig up.

Ah here's a fun one in case you're a little bored at work and looking for a bit of amusement:

The Dialectizer - Turn any of your favorite websites into a parody of itself by translating the text into "Redneck" and "Cockney." This blog post has taken me about an hour to write because I stopped to play with this sucker :) Shortly, I will be passing the website on to coworkers and causing a general halt to everyone's productivity.

This isn't so much silly as it is interesting if you're etymologically-oriented like me:

Wordorigins.com - Just scroll about half-way down the page to get an alphabetized list of common words and phrases and how they came to be. I dig stuff like this.

And here's a bunch of word games for the heck of it:

Oxford Word Games - Everything from Malapropisms to Anagrams.

Here's a little game for those of you weirdos who prefer playing with numbers:

Sudoku Online - This little game seems to be sweeping the 'Net right now. Everyone's playing it, everyone's addicted to it. Except me. I hate it.

I heart the Interweb

2005-11-16T17:46:00.000-06:00

Let me tell you a story about how the Internet has A) changed my life a few years ago and B) brightened my day yesterday.

I never knew my biological father growing up. He and my mother parted ways before I was born and that's really all I ever knew. My mother married a wonderful guy when I was seven and I grew up calling him Dad and all was well with the world.

Until he passed away quite suddenlyin 1992. Gosh it's hard to believe it's been 13 years.... but I digress. I often wondered about my biological father throughout my life but since I had such a brilliant stepdad it was never really more than a passing thought. Then in 2001 I was poking around the 'Net and I decided - on a whim - to see if my biological father was online in any way shape or form. To my great surprise, he was. One quick search turned up his email address.

So I sent him an email. And he wrote me back. And from then on it's been fantastic getting to know him and meeting his daughter who's my half-sister. We keep in touch via email and instant messenger and have been able to meet up when he comes to GI (He lives in Montana.) Through him, I've met new family in Lincoln whom I just adore and who have welcomed my daughter and me into their lives as if we'd been there all along. That whim of mine to search his name on the internet was one of the best things I've ever done. I don't know that I'd have these wonderful people in my life now if not for the web.

The other cool thing that happened because of the awesomeness that is Google, is yesterday I hooked up with an old friend I have not talked to for almost 8 years. We met when I lived in England and worked in a pub just outside London. He was doing work exchange the same as me as the bartender there and we just hit it off and became such good friends until his visa ran out and went back home to Minneapolis. We emailed for a while but eventually lost track as you do.

Until yesterday when I ran his name through Google, on yet another whim, and I found him! So now we've reconnected and I can't wait to catch up with him and see if he ever found Mr. Right and all that good stuff.

So today I just felt like pointing out that the Internet is more than just cool websites, special interest stuff, spam and jokes - it can also change your life.

Creepifying

2005-11-11T13:16:00.000-06:00

I was sent this link yesterday and since then I haven't been able to rid myself of a rather large case of Heebie Jeebies. In trying to describe the content of these... cartoons I found myself unable to utter anything but, "It's just creepy" and "Guh..."

But I like the creepy. That said, view these at your own risk.

- Spooons
- Friends
- Nettles
- Cage
- Picnic
- Present

It's the general consensus around the office that "Cage" is truly disturbing. It's hard to pinpoint what makes these so creepy - the randomness of them all? The scratchy background music? Use of the word "teat"?

You decide.

Mad PS Skillz

2005-11-06T13:18:00.000-06:00

The first Photoshop contest I ever looked at was on Fark. Members are given a theme, an original photo and are told to Photoshop it to fit the theme. It's great stuff and remains my favourite part of Fark. Some of those folk have got some real talent.

The other day, Tonga sent me a link to Worth1000.com - it's chock FULL of photoshop contests and I've spent hours trawling through them and laughing my ass off.

Examples:
Theme: Where are they now?

So the thighmaster venture must have failed.

Theme: Frankenstein vs. Da Vinci (Monsters in Great Art)

Still giggling over this one.

Theme: 6 Degrees of "Lost"

John Locke Picard :)

So yeah check out Worth1000.com. It's... well, worth it :)

Haunted Web

2005-10-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

Since Hallowe'en is just around the corner I thought it would be fun to poke around the 'Net and find some spooky websites to visit to get myself in the mood. Unfortunately doing a Google on "Haunted House" or something similar turns up cheesy, "How to make your own haunted house!" type sites of which there are many.

One site I do visit frequently and have mentioned here before is Snopes.com. Snopes has an excellent horror section full of tales of the supernatural, hauntings, gore galore and much more. Very much worth a visit.

I've always been interested in the paranormal - not so much as someone who's a "true believer" or anything, but as someone who likes a good scare. There's something about the adrenaline rush you get when you're properly creeped out that I just love. I remember reading a ghost book that mentioned the Boreley Rectory as the most haunted place in Great Britain. It was demolished in 1944, but the site apparently remains haunted to this day. Along that vein, here is a website with a breakdown of some of the thousands of haunted places around GB and Ireland: Haunted Britain.

Now, in order to creep myself out properly in preparation for the IndyKnow investigation into our own Grand Theater, I watched 2 8 hour marathons of, "Scariest Places on Earth." On this show, hapless families set off for what they think is a grand adventure - most hoping to confirm their beliefs regarding the existence of ghosts - and they spend the night in places like Chillingham Castle in England, or Vlad Tepes (AKA Dracula) Castle in Transylvania. What they discover is far more than they bargained for. I love this show.

This awesome site illustrates the ins and outs of Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction. They've got the history, how the effects are done, sound loops and more - well worth the visit - but if you'd rather not spoil the magic, then don't go.

For a general, all-things-haunted website, I found one called Ghost Haunts that was fun to go through. They have ghostly photos, ghost stories, haunted places to check out, and links to other spooky sites.

Finally, no search for the scary would be complete without a stop at Fangoria. It's your one-stop shop for the gory, the scary, the latest horror movie scoops out of Hollywood and more.

Happy All Hallows Eve everyone.

Got Beer?

2005-10-17T21:46:00.000-05:00

I'm no beer connoisseur. In fact, I hate the stuff. Well, maybe hate is a strong word. I never could get the hang of beer. Back in high school when everyone else was doing the underage drinking thing, I didn't want to look like a douche so I'd secretly dump out my Budweiser and fill it with soda.

I never managed to develop a taste for it despite many attempts by my cousin to educate my palette with a wide variety of different brews.

I've tried everything from Corona to a Hefewiezen. Bock to Belgian. I've even had my very own beer brewed for me as a birthday present (Called the 12th of Maibock - isn't that cute?) None of it did much for me although I did learn quite a bit about brewing and different styles. I guess growing up with a dad who drank Coors and Bud being the beer of choice for underage drinnkers everywhere, I never realized how much work goes into brewing.

So why the hell am I talking about beer here? Because I wanted to highlight my cousin's website, BeerMe.com.

BeerMe could quite possibly be the largest source of beer and brewery info on the Net. Rick has catalogued and rated almost 18,000 beers and has nearly 10,000 brewpubs and breweries listed. (The site used to be called 'Beerismylife.com' ut someone made him change it. But beer really is his life :) )

So if you love beer, are interested in brewing, or want to know where the nearest brewpub is, check out Rick's site :) And should you ever want to try his stuff, Rick works for Gottburg Brewery in Columbus, Nebraska. Stop by and tell him I sent you :)

Winchester Mysteries

2005-10-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

I'm from Monterey, and if you're from Monterey then you know all about the Winchester Mystery House in San Francisco. It was always one of my favourite "touristy" things to do whenever we had visitors out from Nebbyland.

Here's an chunk of history from the Winchester house wikipedia entry for some background if you are unfamiliary with this cool place:

The Winchester Mystery House began construction in 1884, and was financed and built by Sarah L. Winchester, the heiress of the man who invented and manufactured the Winchester rifle. Construction continued 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, until her death 38 years later in 1922.

Sarah had lost her husband and also her only child, a daughter, who died in infancy 15 years earlier. Deeply grieved and seeking solace, she consulted a spiritualist on the advice of a friend. Known as the Boston Medium by those who follow this mystery, the medium, among other things, told her that there was a curse upon the Winchester family because of the guns that they manufactured which had taken so many lives. She told Sarah, "Thousands of persons have died because of it and their spirits are now seeking vengeance."

The direction from the medium is the reason she built her house in such a haphazard fashion and some believe it was to distract the spirits who were seeking her. She was reported to have slept in a different room each night for some time.

The house began as a simple farmhouse that Sarah purchased from a local doctor. From those uhmble beginnings the mansion grew to 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two ballrooms, two basements and three elevators. There are secret passages and stairways, and doors and halls that lead nowhere. The house also has many conveniences that were rarely found at the time of its construction, including steam and forced-air heating, modern indoor toilets and plumbing, push-button gas lights and a hot shower from indoor plumbing.

Sounds pretty cool eh? Well the reason for this long post is that I stumbled onto a blog by a guy who is/was a tour guide at the mansion and he's publishing his own photos from around the estate - some of which have never been seen by the public. It's pretty neat :)

You can also check out the official site for the Mystery House.

Famous Bloggers

2005-10-04T14:12:00.000-05:00

It's fun to stumble onto a celebrity blog and get a brief glimpse into their heads. I've a few that I check now and then:

David Duchovney's blog is not a bad read but he hasn't posted in a long time and I believe this one was mainly for him to tout his last movie which didn't do very well.

Then there's Moby. A friend of mine is a total nut for Moby and used to read his blog religiously. Then he started getting political and going off on rants until one day she got bored of it and she stopped going. But if you don't mind that sort of thing then check out his blog.

I've already mentioned Wil Wheaton, but he's famous, so he gets another mention. Plus he writes so well he deserves all the plugs I can give him.

Rosie O'Donnell blogs pretty regularly. She blogs in prose though so if you want to read goofy celebrity poetry, check Rosie out.

My favourite humourist, Dave Barry, has a fun blog. Mostly he just posts links to weird news which, while fun, can get tedious. I love my Dave Barry columns, but I only check his blog once in a blue moon.

The Boy Who Heard Music is a new-ish blog written by Pete Townshend (yes, THAT Pete Townshend.) I didn't know this but in addition to his rock legend status, he's a fine writer as well. It looks like this blog by him is a new story.

So there's a few of the famous who can be found online on a regular basis (well, apart from David anyway.)

NaNoWriMo

2005-10-01T22:02:00.000-05:00

November is National Novel Writing Month. To celebrate this, for the past few years there has been a sort of... well it's not exactly a contest so much as a test of endurance. It's called NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month.)

If you visit NaNoWriMo.org (as of this writing, the site is down - I'm guessing it's because today is the first day of signup and the traffic crashed the site. Keep checking it though, it'll be back) you'll find out a bit more about it. But the long and short of it is you attempt to write a novel at least 50,000 words in length in one month.

Of course, how good is a novel that's just cranked out like that? Depends on the writer. But quality is not the goal. Quality can come later. For me, the purpose of it is just to prove to yourself that you can do it.

I want to write a novel someday. I've wanted to do it for years and I've got drawerfuls of attempts at it. Outlines, character sketches, brief ideas for stories. But nothing ever worked out.

Last year I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time because I was intrigued by the idea of it. The idea of a deadline and having to make myself writer a certain amount every day was appealing. I thought it would be the kick in the ass I needed to do it. Instead I failed. I got up to around 6,000 words and then life intruded and time ran out. I was pissed at myself but I think I took it out on NaNo and said I'd never do it again.

I've had a year to mellow out - but more importantly, I've come up with an idea for it that actually appeals to me. So I'm going to try again. I'm going to blog it as I go like I did last year.

Wish me luck.

Saved by Syndication

2005-09-27T17:45:00.000-05:00

I have a list of essential websites that I check on a daily basis. With the advent of RSS syndication, this has gotten much less time-consuming now that I get a little popup telling me when one or more of them have been updated. No more do I have to spend precious minutes clicking a multitude of links in my rather long bookmark list.

It's heavenly. *Hugs RSS*

So here's my list of must-see website reads - some of the sites of course belong to friends and family, but there might be one or two you'd find useful or amusing.

(Links go to the site's RSS feed, so don't click them unless you want to add them to your aggregator)

1. Ain't it Cool News - Harry Knowles irreverent movie/tv/comics news site. I could do without the HUGE FONTS and plethora of exclamation points, but I gotta give them points for enthusiasm :)

2. Blogger Buzz - I kind of like to know what the gurus and honchos at Blogger.com are up to.

3. Boing Boing - A directory of wonderful things according to their title. I love this site and it's a new discovery for me so I get a little excited when they update. They showcase everything from someone's Flying Spaghetti Monster costume, to links to the coolest 'Hand Sports' videos (including pen twirling and cup stacking!)

4. Captain Wow and the Movie Blog of Doom - What kind of IndyKnow whore would I be if I didn't plug my fellow blogger's umm, blogs. :D The Captain is probably the biggest fan of the cinema that I've ever met (I thought I was a movie buff - he puts me to shame.) His blog's definitely worth the read.

5. CNN - I almost feel like I have to have something about national/world news in my aggregator otherwise I feel out of touch. Not good when you work for a newspaper eh? CNN actually has tons of RSS links and you can pick and choose. I went for the breaking news feed.

6. Defamer - Yeah ok I admit I like celebrity gossip. But this site does it with such a mocking, snarky attitude. It's good stuff.

7. Fark - The best part of Fark is the headlines. Members of Fark can submit any news story (but the weirder the better) and they can write their own headline for it. It seems to be a status thing to write the funniest headline which makes for daily entertainment when checking for updates. It might also be best to read Fark via an aggregator at work because there are a lot of boobies on the main page. Save that for later ;)

8. The GetIndyKnow Forums - The forums on GetIndyKnow are syndicated. This is so handy when forums have this option. I'm a forum geek and visit a lot of them so having this option rocks.

9. IMDb News - Movie news from the Internet Movie Database. This one is irksome because they don't even provide a short summary of the links - they make you click on them to get the story, so I'm just debating whether I should take this off my list.

10. MAKE - "MAKE is a quarterly publication from O'Reilly for those who just can't stop tinkering, disassembling, re-creating, and inventing cool new uses for the technology in our lives. It's the first do-it-yourself magazine dedicated to the incorrigible and chronically incurable technology enthusiast in all of us. MAKE celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend technology any way you want." - I couldn't describe MAKE so I borrowed their description. It's an awesome site.

11. PostSecret - I've mentioned them before but it's worth mentioning again. I wish they updated every day though instead of weekly.

12. Running On - My father's a runner. I got him started with Blogger as a Christmas present last year and as far as I can tell, enjoys posting about his daily runs. It's a nice, gentle blog :)

13. Slashdot - All the news nerds love. It's definitely geek central at Slashdot but if you want to keep up with the fast-moving technology world, Slashdot is essential reading.

14. The Cynic - Corey's the most cynical guy I know. A jaded journalist (ok maybe not jaded but he's been in the biz long enough to earn the nickname) from Florida, Corey takes the news and gives it his special cynical spin.

15. The Sneeze - Half 'zine, half blog, half not good with fractions. I don't know what to make of this weird little blog other than it's an absolute hoot to read and I'm very interested-at-the-same-time-grossed-out by this guy's Tree Brain.

15. The Unbearable Peanut - I just love the name of this little blog :) My cousin began blogging not so long ago. He's a very cool writer and his posts have been among the oddest/most interesting I've ever read online.

16. Touring with Tonya - I'm whoring one more time for IndyKnow :) Tonya's got the backstage passes to some of the rockingest gigs in the tri-state area. Her knowledge of rock music is extensive and diverse. Check out her blog and you'll get to read her concert reviews, CD reviews, see shots of the gigs from backstage, and just have a lot of fun.

17. Wil Wheaton - Yes I've mentioned my favourite geek before as well, but this is his RSS feed. Read up a little bit on this former child actor (of "Stand By Me" and STNG fame) and what he's up to these days (mostly lots of poker playing.) He's a wonderful writer so his blog is a really good read.

So there you have some of the things on my Feed list. Wasn't that fun? :)

Well blow me down me hearties!

2005-09-19T13:21:00.000-05:00

Avast! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day today!

It all began in 1995 when a couple of guys called Mark and John were playing racquetball and started yelling out encouragement and slags in pirate slang. Neither are quite sure why, but the concept snowballed from there.

And so with a little help from Dave Barry each year on September 19th, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day.

So take a little time out and confuzzle the colleagues and confound your kids, mateys.

I'm off to shiver some timbers.

...Actually that sounded quite rude. But I'm going to do it anyway.

OMG! FDL!

2005-09-16T18:49:00.000-05:00

Typing is a pain in the ass. The typos, the misspelled words, bad grammar - all of that is exacerbated when you come online and begin chatting. Granted your typing speed will pick up and you might progress from the 'hunt and peck' type to 'manic secretary' as you become more proficient. But speed does not a typist make.

Ok but you didn't plunk down your money on broadband just to improve your mad typing skillz. You wanted to meet people from all over the world and converse with them. The problem is that doing so requires you to damn near learn a new language.

Internet-speak is replete with acronyms, abbreviations and slang. It's just faster to type 'lol' than to actually spell 'laugh out loud.' (And if you want to laugh at me, I just typo'd three times while trying to spell out 'laugh out loud.')

Other acronyms such as, 'OMG,' STFU' (a personal fave), and 'FDL' all have their place in chat programs like messengers, IRC chats or even old telnet chats like this one where I've been an admin for over nine years. They facilitate conversation in a world where speaking out loud just doesn't happen. You are solely dependent on text to convey your meaning, tone and intent, all in real-time. So you end a sentence with a smilie ( :) or :( or :P ) to convey your tone. Or you might find yourself in an environment with several other people at once and the text scroll on your screen will be flying by all Matrix-like and if you don't keep up, you're going to be ignored.

Words are often distorted as well. 'Probably' becomes 'prolly,' 'program' becomes 'proggy,' and 'address' is 'addy.' I don't know why, or how those came about but I've used them.

If you want to explore this phenomenon, Wikipedia has a very good explanation of Internet slang. In fact, Wikipedia is pretty damn cool itself so spend some time there and poke around.

In other words, RTFM.

IM-ing

2005-09-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

Today I was having a conversation with my father. Normally that's not very unusual, but this time, we were having this conversation using Yahoo's new voice feature. We spent 45 minutes on the "phone" (it really is like making a phone call) and about 35 minutes of that was spent marvelling at the technology and saying, "This is neat!"

The quality was really pretty good, better in fact than it used to be because chatting through an instant messenger such as Yahoo or MSN isn't that new. It's just better. And the best thing of all? It's FREE. I am all about the free stuff, let me tell you.

I can talk with my peeps in England if I want to, for as long as I want to, all free. I'll be annoying my sister on a more frequent basis now as well as some of my good friends in Chicago, California and Florida. My aunt in Lincoln is getting into it. My father will be hooking up with his friend in Italy more often now. It's neat!

The benefits:

Free. I can't stress that enough.

Yahoo's voice technology is really clear, with little delay. I would liken it to using a mobile phone.

It will encourage you to talk more to your loved ones who live far away. It might even bring you closer to someone you've never even met - only ever exchanged some text messages with.

If the person you try to call doesn't answer Yahoo allows you to leave a voicemail they can pick up later. How freakin' cool is that?

Did I mention it's free?

The drawbacks:

Well it's not all that portable. Unless you want to lug around your laptop and try and find Wi-fi when you need to contact someone on your contact list.

You will need to download Yahoo messenger, and you'll need a microphone. My laptop has a mic built-in and when I'm on my desktop, I just use the mic built-in to my webcam. If you don't have a mic, they're pretty cheap - my father picked one up at Office Max today for 15 bucks.

Obviously the applications for this are far-reaching, from the perverse which I will leave up to your imagination, to the practical. You can conference in several people and have a meeting or you can have one-on-one chats with friends.

Or you can be sad like me and use it to "call" your daughter sitting in the next room on the other computer and ask her to bring you a Coke :)

Outbursts of Everett True

2005-08-26T12:50:00.000-05:00

For some reason, these comic strips from 1905-06 appeal to me :)

Show me the funny

2005-08-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

I love silly websites. Sites that really serve no purpose and some may even go as far as to say they take up valuable bandwidth. But damn they're teh funny. And yes I know I typo'd 'the' there, it's a Fark thing.

Here's a sampling of some of my favourite sites whose sole purpose in life is just to get a giggle out of you:

Stuffonmycat.com: Do you enjoy putting stuff on your cat? So do these people. Not so sure the cats dig it, but they do make for some damn funny photos. Submit your own pics and share the funny.

The Llama Song - Everyone sing!

IllWillPress: Oh that foul little squirrel Foamy's at it again in this collection of rude, vulgar, hilarious, stupid, silly, addicting flash 'toons. I'm particularly fond of the "Amityville Toaster."

Emotion Eric: I'll give him a mention because I once loved his site dearly, but he hasn't updated in a long long time :( I miss you Eric! People from around the globe request emotions for Eric and he does his best to act it out for you. Even though he's not around, there's still a pretty good gallery of teh funny to peruse.

I'll end with the Subserviant Chicken. Sure it's been around a while, and is sponsored by Burger King, but come on. How many people get a chance to order a chicken around?

Secrets

2005-08-21T10:39:00.000-05:00

Everyone has something hidden deep down in places you don't talk about at parties. A secret. A skeleton in the closet. it could be something fairly mundane, or maybe it's something that could get you into trouble.

The Web has come up with a place that lets you vent your secret anonymously in some of the most creative ways I've ever seen - via postcards sent to a P.O. Box.

Postsecret is a unique, interesting, addictive site that posts these secrets once a week. From the site: "Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before."

It's fascinating to see some of the secrets published. Some are sad, some scary, others funny... Some might even hit close to home.

Some secrets have even been featured in a music video by the band All American Rejects. The concept is interesting. I often wonder if the act of sending in a secret is cathartic for the sender - a way to get something off the chest without consequences. It seems to be anyway, from what I can tell. Anyway, check it out. New secrets are posted every Sunday.

New Blogger Feature

2005-08-17T10:41:00.000-05:00

So I'm trying out Blogger.com's new plugin that allows you to create your post in MS Word and publish it directly from Word as well. Seems interesting, though maybe the only real benefit of it is being able to look like you're doing work rather than getting caught blogging - luckily for me this blog is a new part of my job so *phew* I don't have to worry about that (

I also suppose being able to take advantage of Word's features might be a plus.
We'll see.

If you're a Blogger user check out their news section for instructions on how to install this plugin for Word and check it out for yourself - unless you're a Mac user. Then you're up a creek. Hehe.

EDIT>> Ok I've published it and discovered some weird formatting errors because I forgot that Word has character compatibility issues with Blogger. I'm sure it's a setting somewhere that needs to be flipped but until I find it, I think I'll just carry on using Blogger's editor.

Mooovies

2005-08-09T19:41:00.000-05:00

"What was that one guy's name in that one movie? You know.. He becomes sheriff of a town and everybody hates him because he's black, so to keep them from running him out of town he pulls a gun and pretends to hold himself hostage and the townspeople are so dumb they buy it?"

"You mean "Blazing Saddles"?"

"Yeah yeah! That's it. Who played the sheriff?"

Repeat after me: "The IMDb is our friend. The IMDb is our friend."

The Internet Movie Database is 'the biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet.' And they mean it. It's handier than a dictionary for folk like me who love movies and I can't tell you how much it's enhanced my movie viewing pleasure with things like trivia, common folk reviews, access to trailers, message boards and just tons of information about nearly every movie ever made.

Did you know that the role of Bart in "Blazing Saddles" was intended for Richard Pryor, but due to the controversial nature of Pryor's stand-up routines of the day and his background, Mel Brooks couldn't secure financing for the project with Pryor in that role?

Or how about this quote from the movie: "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!"

So visit the old IMDb and look up some of your favourite movies - or remember the IMDb the next time you're trying to remember the name of that 'one guy.'

It was Cleavon Little by the way :)

What is RSS?

2005-08-06T13:23:00.000-05:00

As you travel around the Net you may see little orange icons that say things like 'RSS 2.0' or 'Atom' or 'XML' and you might wonder what those are.

Those icons mean that the site you are visiting is syndicated. And THAT means that you can add the feed from that site into a news aggregator of some kind.
More on those later.

So what is it anyway?

Basically, it means you can add a website's 'feed' to some software that will automagically let you know as soon as that website is updated. RSS feeds are primarily used with blogs, news sites and podcasts.

There are numerous kinds of newsreaders you can use to keep track of a feed. Everything from using your email software, to using Firefox to collect the data.

My favourite one is called 'Feedreader.' It's free, quick to install and does everything I want it to do which is just tell me when something is updated. Sure there are better ones available but you have to pay for those and I'm a cheapskate.

Once you install feedreader (or similar) on your computer, you can then start adding feeds. You just add the web address (URL) of the site's feed and the software does the rest.

How do you know the feed's web address? Those little orange icons you've been spotting usually are linked to it.

For example, my icon in the right column is linked to my feed address which is invirtuallife.blogspot.com/atom.xml. Click on 'add feed' in your newsreader and paste that URL in and let the software do the rest.

From then on, whenever I add a new entry to this blog, you'll get a message letting you know IVL's been updated. Nifty!

A couple of tips:
Most (not all, but most) Blogspot blogs will have an atom feed (providing the blog author has turned it on in their settings) so if you have a favourite blogger using Blogspot, put in their URL and add the 'atom.xml' to the end of it to see.

Most major news sites such as CNN offer RSS syndication so you can get your breaking news as it happens.

So now when you see those weird little orange icons on a site, you should know what they mean :) I love syndication myself because it cuts down on time I'd normally be spending surfing to each and every website I visit on a regular basis. Now I just let FeedReader run and it lets me know when any of them have been updated and I can go on to do bigger and better things :)

Any questions or help with syndication, just pop me a comment.

Flame Warriors

2005-08-03T11:14:00.000-05:00

Are you an Enfant Provocateur? Or perhaps the Lonely Guy is more your style? I'm a bit of Netiquette Nazi myself and so because of that, we're going to spend a little time learning about the different types of Netizens you may encounter in Cyberland and how to combat them.

If you frequent message boards, forums, or chatrooms you are bound to run into certain types of people. Some aren't so bad, others you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

Take the Lurker for example. The Lurker is harmless because he/she does not participate. He merely reads. Occasinally someone may post something that rattles the Lurker enough to cause him to "De-Lurk" and actually say something, but it does not happen often.

Then again you have the Nitpicker. This user is usually quite prolific yet their posts rarely contain any 'meat.' Instead the Nitpicker will look for errors in other people's messages. Anything from spelling errors to factual errors are fair game to this annoying little twit.

Visit Flame Warriors and scroll through the roster on this site to see if you've met any of these types of people. Or indeed, to see if you are actually one of them yourself (and if you are, cut it out man, it's irritating.)

How do you fight these Warriors? Well each one requires a different line of defense. With the Lurker it's easy because you hardly ever remember he's there. But with Nitpicker it's a little more difficult, like trying to swat a fly you can't quite reach. Nitpickers know they are obtuse and annoying and they enjoy watching you writhe in annoyance. Perhaps the best way to deflect is to simply learn to live with the fly.

My favourite geek

2005-08-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

"TRAAAAAAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNNN!!!!!!"

One of my favourite movies is "Stand By Me." Rob Reiner did such a beautiful job tuning a Stephen King story into a movie - something most directors seem to have trouble with judging by all the cak adaptations of King's work out there.

One of the many reasons this film is so good is because of the work of a cute kid called Wil Wheaton. Of course Wil went on to star in some TV show after that. I hear it did pretty well :) (Just kidding, I'm a semi-trekkie.)

So it was kind of exciting for me to discover Wil has a blog and is actually pretty active in it. I've become a regular reader and it's been an absolute joy to read. I started reading it about the time one of his beloved pets died so that may have been what sucked me in. I felt bad for him :( But he bounced back.

The thing I enjoy the most about his blog is that my God, he's just a regular guy! Granted a regular guy who appears on CSI and gets to play in the World Poker Tour etc., and while that stuff's fun to read, it's the in-between posts about his everyday life I like the most because he writes so well.

Did I mention he's a geek? I have a soft-spot for geeks so that's probably another reason I like Wil's blog so much.

Mmmm Pie...

2005-08-01T12:40:00.000-05:00

"Pie is gooooood."

What the hell am I talking about you ask? I'm talking about pie. The kind of pie that inspires you and makes you sing of your devotion to pie. And donkeys.

Actually what I'm talking about is one of my favourite sites called Weebl and Bob. These are funny, short little Flash animations that were first seen in America on MTV.

The thing about these weird little guys is you either get them or you don't. And it's interesting to show this site to people and watch how they react to it. It's just pure silliness put out there for silliness' sake and if you believe humour should have some kind of purpose, you probably won't 'get' Weebl and Bob.

Anyway check out the famous pie 'toon and judge for yourself :)

Weird, but fun

2005-07-31T17:52:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple of sites I love for reasons I cannot really fathom. Both are so weird as to defy description, and yet so completely addictive that I must share them.

First - I wish this one came with sound effects.

I don't know what to call it, but it's the weird freefalling woman that's making the rounds on the 'Net and you can have fun flinging her about with your mouse as you see fit.

You could always supply your own sound effects. I do :)

And last - I honestly have no clue what to call this... thing. The site calls it, "La Pate a Son." According to Babelfish it means "The paste has sound." Umm, okay. Anyway just load it up (requires shockwave) and play.

Enjoy!

A site to remember

2005-07-31T14:16:00.000-05:00

Snopes should be required viewing for every single netizen out there. Snopes is the ultimate myth debunking site and very handy when you want to feel smarter than your peers:

Ever get an email from a well-meaning friend or colleague warning you of the dangers of opening your front door if you hear a baby crying or that children are being kidnapped by abductors who cut the hair and change the clothes of their victims? Your first stop before buying extra door locks and GPS systems for your kids is to go to Snopes and do a quick search.

When you discover that most of these tear-jerker, fear-mongering emails are hoaxes you can then politely tell your friend or colleague they've been duped and maybe we can put an end to the madness.

Aside from being able to laugh at your friends for being duped, Snopes is actually quite a fun site to poke around just for the heck of it. Everything from urban legends like Bigfoot to the origins of April Fools Day can be found there.

Fair warning however, is that if you're viewing Snopes at work, turn off your volume because some pages (not all) have stupid music playing on them (called Midi music for anyone interested.) You get the option to turn it off, but not before it blares out loudly and causes everyone in the vicinity to look at you and realize you're not doing any work.

Welcome...

2005-07-31T13:26:00.000-05:00

I suppose you want to know what this "IVL" thing is about eh? Ok, I'll tell you.

The rather dull definition of "IVL" is "In Virtual Life" as I've so thoughtfully included in the header at the top of the page. Newbies to the 'Net may not know that oftentimes users online tend to shorten words up wherever they can and the abundance of acronyms in cyberworld is greater than those used in the Army. IVL means the activities you get up to online, from email to chatting to surfing the web.

On the flipside of that, when chatting with another Netizen, you may find yourself having to explain that you need to leave the world of bits and bytes for a little while and tend to such mundane chores as mowing that patch of green stuff outside your home or running to this place called "the store" to replenish your supply of nourishment necessary for long spells back in your virtual life. Venturing away from your computer to attend to such things is referred to as "In Real Life" or "IRL."

So now the boring stuff's out of the way, on to the fun stuff. I spend a lot of time online. I work online, and I often hang out online in my spare time. I've been a devoted netizen for over ten years and in that time I've run the gamut on weird experiences and enjoyable amusements. I've been wanting a good place to have as a repository to share them all and now I've found it.

Lucky you :)

IVL