Floating Donkey

Sometimes we take trucks for granted. We load them up and go not really caring if we overload them. When you're working with a donkey and a cart, that can be a problem. This video of the floating donkey will show you what I mean. Why is this so funny to me.... the landing.... poor thing.

Make Your Own Tank

As you know, I enjoy making things so I was kinda excited to see some of these make your own tank videos. Here they are in order:
1) Part 1, the Intro
2) Part 2, the Tracks
3) Part 3, the Engine and Weapons
4) Part 4, Transmission
5) Part 5, The testing

I don't really think I'll be building a tank anytime soon, but it's still pretty cool. When I found these things, I thought it may be a step by step guide on how to do it, but that would be way too complicated. This just gives us a general idea on how to build one. If you were to build one of these, however, I bet you'd get some funny looks from your neighbors.

Fake Ape Escape

In Tokyo they had a really cool animal escape drill in which a Zoo worker dressed as an escaped orangutan. This was a really neat idea to ensure safety, but it seemed to frighten some children. The great part of this is the pictures from the article.

Internet .... it's a Killer

I mentioned not too long ago about how China was cutting down on Internet addiction by shock therapy. Perhaps the idea is not as absurd as I first thought. A man recently died after a gaming marathon on the internet.
Even though it is not stated, my guess is the guy was playing World of Warcraft for several hours when this happened. This isn't the first case I've heard of this happening. I read about a year ago about a similar occurrence of this. If I'm not mistaken, in the last case the guy didn't even stop to eat, he ate at his keyboard and eventually died of heart failure. I also posted not too long ago about how addicting these Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) are. Maybe they're right, WoW is similar to crack and can also be overdosed on. I don't think it's really internet that's to blame, people just need to pace themselves when playing these games.

For Those of Us Who Can't

I saw this youtube clip of the toilet paper dispenser and folder. I'm not sure what's so hard about rolling it out for yourself, but I guess if you need help, why not. I wonder who decided it would be worthwhile to invent this. Anyway, they had to be pretty bored. And is it just me or does it mess up at the end.

Comedy at the Oscars

I didn't watch the Oscars this year, but I've heard some good stuff about them. I saw this skit that Will Ferrell and Jack black did about comedy at the oscars and thought I'd share. With these two guys doing a skit, you know it had to be good.

Stacking the Deck

If you want the authority on all there is about making a card tower, you may want to check out this guy's site. He holds several world records for card towers and some of this stuff is just amazing. To learn a little more about it, check out his FAQ page, it's really neat. I've tried making card houses, but I'm just not too good at it. He has a book called "Stacking the Deck" that apparently changes the way you look at houses of cards. It's not something I'm really that interested in, but if I were, or wanted a cool party trick, I'd get it.

Kitetastrophe

I read several weird articles on the news every day as I'm sure you've noticed, but this is the first I've ever heard of such death from kites. When I saw this, I had to read it twice to make sure I was reading what I was reading. I was thinking, "OK, kite festival in Pakistan, people die, probably because of suicide bombing". No, I was wrong. This sport is so competitive, that it's not uncommon for casualties to occur due to the stray bullets and sharpened strings. Yes thats right, they make their strings out of glass and sharpen them to cut others strings. Oh, what a world we live in.

Cello Quartet

Here is a really neat video of a Quartet on one electric cello. Many videos you see like this are fake, this one could be real however. I actually just watched a video the other day on how an electric violin's pickup can be modified to produce several different sounds, I imagine something similar to this is being done. I really enjoy how these guys work together though. I hear the cello is the most mellow of any instrument in the band.

Golf and Funeral?

I mentioned on Friday that I'll be going to a Cubs game in July. This will be my third year in a row going to Chicago (and a Cubs game), so I've been looking at some stuff to do that's not as ordinary as a normal tourist would do. In my progress I came across Ahlgrim & Sons Ltd. Funeral Parlor and Mini-Golf.
I can't imagine who thought this was a good idea, but according to the description it is. They claim it to be respectful to the departed and the mourning, but it seems a little strange to me. If you choose to have your arrangements there I guess you know what to expect though, so its not surprise. I may stop in their during my trip, if so I'll reblog this and include some pictures (of the course, not the customers).

Internet Intro Video

I remember back in my 8th Grade computer literacy class (back in 1992) we watched a video about something that could change computers forever called "The Internet". I found this CBC news video that aired in 1993 that was an introduction of the Internet to the public. As you can see the Internet has changed almost everything in the last 14 years. Thank you very much Al Gore!

Turn Your Cat into Rap Cat

I watched a news link last night about a controversy caused by the Checkers restaurant making their bags into costumes of "Rap Cat"(featured in this commercial). This seems like a horrible idea and people are saying it's cruel, I agree with the first part (I've never understood animal clothing), but I can't really agree that it's cruel. I really enjoy animals (although not particularly cats) but I don't see any harm, other than the cat being annoyed, in doing this. I wouldn't however suggest keeping this on the cat for very long due to the cat getting really mad at you. Here's a video I found on youtube of a cat dressed up in such a bag. As you can see the cat seems a little annoyed, but not in any pain at all. I rank this up there with feeding a dog peanut butter to watch the reaction. It's funny, but just not cool to do all the time.

Exponential Times

Sometimes you watch things and it takes you aback. You just gotta stop and think for a few minutes about what you just saw. That is exactly what I just watched.
I gotta say this started out really boring and I thought about closing it out within the first 30 seconds, but please watch it all the way through it's kinda scary (or maybe it's just the music). It seems like the world and technology are growing like crazy..... and by the way "Knowing is half the battle".

Jedi Umbrell

It's not something you often think of, but I'm sure that Jedi's don't like to be getting wet when it rains. For all you Jedi's out there who are tired of getting left out in the rain, you can now get you a Light Saber Umbrella. For all you other folks who want one, go ahead and get it too, I'm sure you won't get your lunch money stolen then.

Baseball is Almost Here

Today just happened to be the day I get excited about baseball season.... It seems like many things baseball came into play today. Here's a few:
1) I got my first Fantasy Baseball League invite
2) I bought tickets to the Cubs vs Astros game on July 13 (Wrigley Field)
3) I found out I'll probably be going to the Louisville Slugger museum in a few weeks. (pictured)

Also, with the weather turning warm, it seems like the perfect time to go outside and throw some balls. It won't be long at all until I'm out there on the softball field again, can't wait!

OS of Choice For Sci-Fi Characters

This is a great article that breaks down the OS of choice for our favorite Sci-Fi characters, or at least somewhat. They do a really good job of explaining why each character chooses his OS. I guess I'm somewhat in between Linux and a PC. I like Linux quite a bit, but theres a lot of small things that I can't get to work correctly, so I'm forced to use the PC.

SETI Finds a Lost Laptop

If you love aliens and you've been on the internet a while, you've probably heard of SETI. SETI is designed to use idle computing power in order to find Extra-Terrestrial life. It sends data received by satellites analyzing the sky to idle computers and allows them to scan it to see if any activity is detected then sends it back (or at least I think that's how it works).
Recently, SETI actually found something... a lost laptop. I'm not sure if this could be a security system built in or just a one time incident, but it may be worth enlisting your computer in the SETI army just for that reason.

Internet Addcition? Shocking!

I wouldn't consider myself an internet addict. I get online for several different reasons, but many times it's really boring.... I know what you're thinking.... "but you post these sites you go to on your blog everyday". You're correct, but I do it mainly to have something to do.
Ok, if I were an internet addict and moved to China, I could be up for a "shocking" experience. China is now treating internet addiction with shock treatment. It's strange how things like this get blown way out of proportion.

Wipe Your Harddrives

Computer garbage is becoming something we are seeing more and more. It seems as though "everyone" started getting computers around ten years ago. Those computers are now obsolete to todays standards and will need to be gotten rid of. When that is done make sure you format or destroy your old hard drive. Old hard drives can make identity theft very easy.
Think it's already dead? ...you're probably wrong, most the time data can still be recovered. Don't be afraid to take your hard drive apart and scratch it up, or drop it really hard. One of the most convenient ways to completely get all the info off your hard drive and still have it functional is by using the Department of Defense low level formatter. It rewrites over your data several times to ensure it's not recoverable.

Special Numbers

If you're any way like me and just love numbers, you may enjoy scrolling through this site and seeing how almost every number is special in some way. I really love math and math theories, that's why this site is pretty cool. It must have been a blast to create. Another thing about it is, if you don't understand it, you can click on the link next to the number and there is a thorough explanation.

Immigration Debate Way Back When

Watching the news over the last few years, we've learned about the immigration problem the US is experiencing. This problem isn't a new one and I never quite had thought about it the way this cartoon presents it. The Native Americans before us faced similar circumstances (except theres were more drastic). I really enjoy the buffalo (er wookie) in this video.

Indian Michael Jackson

I think one Michael Jackson is enough for the world, but it looks like there may be another on the rise in India. This is really a strange video, I watched it all the way through, but I don't really expect anyone else to. It gives you an idea of what popular music in India is like. I enjoy listening to music I don't understand, it takes away the obligation to pay attention to the message.

Eagle Man Lays an Egg

As you guys know I've posted some odd commercials in the past, but this one tops them all. There's a huge list of problems with this 30 second commercial.
1) What does an Eagle have to do with Car insurance?
2) A male Eagle (Assumed by "Eagleman") lays an egg?
3) Why did they stop all of a sudden?
4) Is it just me or does the eagle sound like he's had one too many?

Ok, I'll stop there, I could go on and on. Enjoy.... weirdest commercial I've seen, if you think you've seen a weirder one, do share.

Ink Your Baby

I'm not quite sure how to take this idea. I'm not much into tattoos (nor do I see anything wrong with people who have them), so I guess I don't really see any point in Baby Tattoos. This idea is just strange, however I am glad they wash off and I get some comfort that they're FDA approved, plus they're painless. It would, however be cute if you could get one custom made to look like one their parents have already. Anyway, all around weird idea, but I bet they sale like crazy.

Note: Yes I did have the stick on Superman tattoos when I was kid.

A Few Changes

I'm not sure if you noticed, but I made a few changes. I have renamed the Site to "Brian Green's Blog" instead of "Brian's Blog" to be a little more descriptive of who I am. I have also set up an email account for you to send ideas about posts, or if you'd just like to email me. The email address is briangreensblog@gmail.com. Ok I admit it, I changed the name because briangreensblog was an available email address and briansblog@gmail.com was not.
Anyway, nothing else has changed, feel free to comment still on the posts so everyone can enjoy your thoughts. Thanks again for all you guys who read and thanks to those who comment as well, I like to hear what you're thinking and know who's reading.

Survive in a Sci-Fi/Horror Flick

When I read this article, it reminded me so much of Peter's Overlord list, that I just had to blog about it. It's about how to survive if you're ever in a Horror movie. I couldn't stop laughing when I read this, because it's so true. Sci-Fi/Horror movies are usually very cheesy, but that's why I love'm.



Off topic extra: I love watching the Sci-Fi channel, it has some great shows (in fact I spent 4 hours of my weekend watching Jason and the Argonauts). However, the Sci-Fi channel has no shame at all. Despite its great line up of Stargate after Stargate, it can crank out some really weird movies. I often enjoy going through my DVR menu and reading the descriptions of them. "Dragon from outer space tackles medieval villages in the middle of a civil war". But you know what, they're usually really good nonetheless.

Hearing = Memory

I hadn't really thought about it much before, but now studies show that hearing effects your memory capabilities. For some reason this just makes sense to me. The logic behind it is if you can hear better, you don't have to think as much about what people are saying, and can apply more of your cognitive skills to other things such as memory.... sounds like a computer to me. I can't hear too well, then again, I forget alot too.

Broadband Nation

I remember back about eight years ago.... being on good old dial up.... dialing out and hoping I got the 24k connection instead of the 21.6k connection. If you dialed up on the weekends, it was really rough. After several busy signals, I could finally get on and then get kicked off soon after due to high traffic. I heard that some people were getting something called "DSL" and thought how nice that would be.
I'm glad times have changed and now it seems like everyone has broadband of some sort. CNET published an article yesterday about how Broadband in the US is going to pass the 50% mark. This means over half of internet subscribers have highspeed. Proof of this.... even my Mom got her DSL hooked up today.... Now, high bandwidth is assumed. Going back to dialup.... not an option.

Flute + Mario + Beatboxing

This is a really cool video of a guy beatboxing while playing the flute to a tune of Mario. Excellent job of combining 3 great things to make one really cool thing that is kinda weird. That's amazing that someone can do that and play the flute at the same time. If you go through his files, he has many other beatboxing & flute combos, including the sesame street theme.


I work with a guy that can beatbox fairly well too (the sound isn't syncing with the video well, but that's still him). Now if Ralph could only play the flute.

Dead for a Year Unnoticed

This story is one of the saddest I've heard in a while. A man was found in his house mummified a year after he died. I'm not sure how he was over looked for that long. It seems not only did his neighbors and family forget about him, but so did the utility companies. I'm not sure how one goes a year of not paying your electricity, water, and cable bills without them being turned off. He was found with the TV on, and was only found because of a report of a busted water line. Just an all around odd and sad story. It shows how our society completely forgets their neighbors and the elderly.

Work'n @ Google

I've been hearing lately how sweet it is working at Google. Apparently the building is amazing and so is the attitude of the people working there. I found this article that tells a little bit about the building in NY, but what's really cool are these pictures of the NY Googleplex. I haven't seen much of the real Googleplex in CA, but the East Coast one looks pretty sweet.

Technical Support of the Past

As someone who takes calls on a helpdesk, I can greatly appreciate this video of what technical support must have been like in the past. I apologize that this is in a foreign language, but it's still hilarious. Note: read the subtitles at the top, not the bottom, they'll make no sense (unless you know German fairly well).

Fishing Old School

Sometimes, you just want to go all out and fish like your ancestors did, ok, perhaps not, but one drunken Australian did just that. With a wee to much Vodka for courage Phillip Kerkhof decided it was a good idea to catch a 4 foot shark with his bare hands. He spotted the shark after some bait, jumped in a wrestled it to upon the jetty.
I know where you're coming from Phil, many times, I've watched the fish as they swim by my bait and I've been tempted to do the same as you.

BTW I love this picture.... I took it at the Chicago Aquarium and felt it appropriate for the occasion

Kid Wrestler Pwnd by Other Kid's Dad

At a wrestling match in Ill, a kid's Dad gave some "unexpected" help while his son was being put in a painful hold. I didn't think this news was much blog worthy, until I saw the edited video on YouTube. I know the situation isn't funny (especially if you're the parents of the kid gett'n pwnd), but the edited video is hilarious with its sound effects.

Holy Buckets! 2 Days in a Row!

A Minnesota man has won the $25,000 lottery two days in a row. The lottery officials seemed stumped by this occurrence because the odds of this happening are incalculable. When the winner's father found out about this, his response .... "Holy Buckets". I've never quite heard this expression, but I'm gonna start using it now.
I thought it'd be neat to try to figure up the stats of this on my own, but then I realized it's been so long since my stats class I can't begin to figure it out.... I'll run it by my favorite Stats teacher and see what he thinks.

Google Heard Him -- Amazing Story

I was looking over yesterday's top Digg stories last night and came across a very inspirational story I'd like to share with you. There's this guy named Aaron who had an idea, and thought about presenting it to Google to sale to them, however would back out for some reason or another at the last moment every time he considered it.
He finally decided to go all in and bought a plane ticket to CA so he could present his idea to them. This entire story has unfolded this week and can be found at Aaron's site (http://cangooglehearme.com/). Usually, I'll do most of the summarizing of the story in the entry, but this is something I feel like is better when read. There are also videos along the way to help enhance the story. The best part is, you can watch all this stuff unfold as the days go by. He seems to keep his progress updated regularly and has made a forum. Also, feel free to email him with your supporting words.

Batman Shuts Down School

It's not every day, you hear of a Batman sighting, however, in Arizona (aka Gotham City????), a school was "locked down" due to a report of Batman. It's strange how one kids reports seeing Batman and people believe him enough to lockdown the school. Don't they know he doesn't leave villains lingering around, he always gets his man.
Authorities did search for him, but found no one. Strangely enough, shortly after the search began, millionaire Bruce Wayne showed up to help.

I Choose You Pikachu -- to Plow my Snow

You don't hear much about the good old Pokemon anymore, but I'd imagine they're still big in Japan (the GBA games were great). I came across this article featuring a monster snow plow that is modded out to look like Pikachu. The funny part is, they didn't have to do much work. The article isn't too interesting unless you're into snow plows. It does have a built in GPS in it's eyes though.

Gollum does Barry White

I've never been much of a Barry White fan, however, this video of Gollum & Smeagol singing as him is shockingly funny. I'm not sure how anyone thought to put this video sequence to these words unless they were watching it at the same time they were playing this song, but still many clips were manipulated. Two things one wouldn't think to put together blended to make a great video.

Wikipedia Failing?

Since its debut the credibility of Wikipedia has been questioned several times. I bring this up because I found a link to a reallying boring article about how Wikipedia is failing (actually on Wikipedia, although I think it has been edited now and corrected that it is not failing). I really must disagree. In fact, if anything, it is more accurate than many sources because it is relevant and kept up to date.
I also came across another article that bothers me.... some colleges are not allowing it as a reputable source. This is absurd! I do agree as stated that it shouldn't be your only source, but then again, neither should the newspaper, or the encyclopedia.... sources should vary (although I use it as my main source of info, but I'm not in the academic world).
One of the arguments against Wikipedia being valid is the constant editing and the fact that anyone can edit it. However, this is the magical part of open source. If it's not right, people fix it, if people try to break it purposely, those people are banned.
Long live Wikipedia!

Piano Playing Cat

Because I've seen it on many of the blogs I've gone to, I thought I'd share this video of a cat playing piano with you. I'm not too impressed with this, because I'm not much of a cat lover.
To ruin your expectations though, I half expected it to break out in a mean jam, but it doesn't, however I will say, it does really well for a cat.

Making a Coffin for the Teacher

I'm not quite sure how to take this story, but see what you think. A Dutch teacher is dying of cancer and has asked her students to take on one more project.... building her a coffin. I just find this odd. Being that this is primary school (ages 4-11), it will probably be many of their first encounters with someone close dying. This lessons sounds much bigger than just wood work.

Year of the Pig Countdown

I don't find myself wondering who is my favorite pig, but after reading this famous pig ranking I did. With 2007 being the Chinese year of the pig, the retro crush site decided to come up with the top 35 pigs. Way to get #1 Porky!

Government Signs

The homeland security people have released several signs warning about terrorism. Since the signs are very vague, the nice people at safenow have decided to interpret them for us. I enjoy this one the best
"If you are trapped with no hope of being found, amuse yourself in your final moments with shadow puppets."

Vanilla Ice Rapp'n with Turbo Tax

If I wanted to promote a product, I believe the last person I would get to help out would be Vanilla Ice. For some strange reason, Turbo Tax thought this was a great idea. They're having a contest to see who can come up with the best rap for their software and Vanilla Ice is going to announce the winner. I saw his rap he did about it this morning on the news.... here's a YouTube link.
Vanilla ice is a strange fellow. I watched a special on him a few years back where they tried to revive him, but he really didn't want to take any of the people's advice and just wouldn't let them help him. I feel kinda bad for him, maybe this Turbo Tax publicity will help him get back on his feet.

Keep Your Data Wookie Safe

Ok, I guess what I could have said is safe with a wookie, but that doesn't sound as cool. Anyway, I enjoy looking at these silly usb devices and the different shapes and sizes of them. I think I actually blogged on one like a bowling ball once. Now we have the ultimate geek usb storage devices.... star wars usb storage devices.
Sure they seem really cool, but the prices seem just a little steep. I say, order one from tigerdirect and then go to walmart and purchase a Yoda toy, hollow it out and insert your usb drive.

Godzilla Science

This is a really cool site where people have put way too much time into discussing the science of Godzilla. I don't wanna spoil your fun or anything, but if he were real Godzilla would have some real problems. He couldn't walk or even stand. The go through his blood pressure and the different parts of his anatomy. It starts out kind of interesting, but it gets very geeky. I love the drawing beside where it talks about him producing radiation.

Another New Dollar

It looks like we may be in for it again. Trying to replace the dollar bill with a coin. It seems like it has been an ongoing thing for longer than I can remember. We've had the silver dollars, the Susan B Anthony, and the Sacagawea dollars that did not succeed (and whatever happened to the fifty cent piece) . This is the first I have heard of it, but apparently America is launching a new dollar coin and Americans don't seem to happy with it.
I'm not sure of the main reason for the hesitation, but I think one reason is the "wallet factor". The reason I don't carry much change is that it doesn't fit in my wallet. I often wear khaki pants and coins tend to fall out of my pockets when I sit. If I could fit it into my wallet, without it being inconvenient, I'd say it was a good idea. Why is it that we have to have 4 coins to buy a soda or to start the wand carwash. If you don't have those, you gotta stand at the machine for too long looking like a fool because you can't get it to take your dollar. What, my dollar's not good enough for the machine? I hope if they do plan on it staying around that they actually try to push the use... put a slot in the soda machines.

OCMS Rocked EKU

As you noticed, I didn't post anything on Thursday. As mentioned previously, I was at the Old Crow Medicine Show in Richmond, KY. It was a sold out show, and when I first got there, I was think'n "these are a bunch of College kids, who are just here for a party and have never heard of OCMS". I was really surprised. Most of the people around us had not only heard of them, but were fans and would sing along to the songs.
These guys really rocked it out. I listen to the cd's and mp3's I have quite a bit, but it doesn't compare to the show they put on live. I was quite impressed once again by the amazing harmonica Ketch plays. In fact at one time he had four in his hand and was still pulling them out of his pocket, he'd switch mid note without missing a beat. Alone, none of these guys would be too spectacular, but together, they do an amazing job of harmonizing and blend their instruments together to make a wonderful, and unique, sound.
I wish I could offer up some video or pictures for you, but they did not allow cameras in the building (I brought mine, but I wasn't brave enough to take it out). The concert ran from 8pm until around 10:30pm so I didn't get home until around 1:30 am, but the lack of sleep the next morning was well worth it. I look forward to going to another one of their concerts soon..... waiting until the March tour schedule is released.
Once again, if you want more info about them check out their wikipedia article or ask me and I'll loan you their cd.

Talking Urinals

I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not, but now urinals in New Mexico talk to you. First of all this breaks one of the primary rules of male restroom etiquette. Secondly, it seems a little creepy. Furthermore, it's very funny.... what's the target audience (the drunk) really going to think about a talking urinal. He's most likely going to laugh it off and not think much about it. However, if it does work and save lives, it's certainly worth it.

Gametastic Wiikend

So far, I have only purchased one game for my Wii since I got it. This was Zelda. I enjoy Wii sports and Zelda so much that at this point it doesn't seem like a good idea to get anymore games. My boss also has a Wii and he has purchased several games for it and went out of town this weekend and asked me if I wanted to borrow some games. I said sure and ended up with the following games which I will evaluate for you:

Elebits: This is a game that didn't get much hype, but just has a great feel for how the wii-mote has changed gaming. It explores the wii controller and shows you how revolutionary it is. The levels are highly addicting, but I found them rather redundant. The story line is a little childish, but that doesn't take away from any of the fun. My major problem was the whole clearing the level vs. running out of time. I may not have been good enough, but I cleared the level and it gave me the chance to continue so I did. I eventually ran out of time, but even though I "cleared" the level I was left with a feeling of defeat. I'll give it a 4 out of 10, mainly because I liked playing it, but I don't think I'd like playing it for very long.

Trama Center: I actually didn't get a chance to play this one, but my wife did and I played back seat driver. If I'm not mistaken it was a port of the DS game over to the Wii (but I'm not 100%). It seemed like it was a lot of fun. Many people may get annoyed at the cheesy between scene shots, but I found them humorous, although they were very long and too dramatic. I was also informed that it used correct medical terms, but inaccurately. But then again, not all of us know, and that effects the game play in no way. I didn't get to see too much of this, but the controls seemed to be a little confusing. It's not a bad game, but not a great game, this one gets a 5 out of 10.

Excite Truck: This has been one of the best games I played in a long time. I mentioned that I didn't get to play much of the other games, its mainly because I was too addicted to Excite Truck. I wasted much of yesterday and part of today playing it. I can't remember enjoying a game this much in quite some time. As far as a racing game, I really love it. It's very forgiving, so if you wreck you're not out of the race. It also has many different paths to go down, so there's lots of exploration. I really like how you can wreck and throw the other vehicles. With all these good points, it does have some bad. The controls are very touchy and that can lead to trouble real quick. The vs. mode was really bad. You can only play against your one opponent and the way the screen is split leads to some really bad vision problems. Despite its minor problems, the game rocked! I definitely buying this one, I give it a 9 out of 10.

Well that was my wiikend pretty much. I played a lot of Wii and hung around the house. Hope the reviews were helpful if you're considering one of these.

Bonus Review
Zelda: I bought this game about a month ago and have played it some, but not as much as I should have. I'm to the second dungeon and it seems much like the other Zelda games. I'm a Zelda fan, so I enjoy it, but I'm not sure how others would like it, but from what I've seen, people who haven't played Zelda before still love it. I feel its a great addition to the Zelda legacy and perfect launch game for the Wii. My only problem with it is when you go to play it, be ready to be there awhile. It seems like it takes awhile to get things done, however, you don't want to stop either. I give this a 7.5 out of 10.

Ode to the Eagle

I'm not too sure what these people were thinking when they threw together this Eagle video, but it sure is cool. This should be worth a good laugh, but it leaves us with several questions.
1) Eagles are good with kids?
2) Eagles have bad dreams?
3) Eagle Mustache?

Punchy

Here's a cool little skit that looks like it should be on SNL. It's called Punchy. It's a little disturbing but funny nonetheless. I think it'd be fun to pretend to have this "disease" around some people.

Kellogs Bad Idea

From time to time we'll see companies spring up with some bad ideas.... It looks like Kellogg's may have one of those. What were the marketers thinking when they came up with this one. And you know they had to get Lego's permission for the product. Couldn't someone say, "Hey, kids shouldn't try to eat legos, this could go really wrong".
Maybe we do need more hazards for kids nowadays.... I say bring back the yard darts!

Wii Fitness Upgrade

I have been playing the Wii now for almost 2 months and I can't tell that I'm any more in shape, but I'm having a lot of fun. I do admit though, when you play some of the Wii sports games (especially boxing), it'll wear you out. For those who are tired of being a wii-ney, you could use these weights. Could you use the regular weights around your house or cheap ones at Walmart, sure, but are you getting the full Wii experience.

Gratz Pujols!

Yesterday it was announced that Albert Pujols has become an American citizen. I know he will probably never read my blog, but hey, congratulations anyway. For those who aren't baseball fans, Pujols is a really great 1st baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. Other than being a great baseball player, he's a wonderful person. I've listened to his focus on the family interview with him and his wife twice now. He has some great story on how God has worked in his and his wife's life. If you're interested in listening to this interview, I believe I still have the mp3's somewhere.

Letterman on the Astronaut Incident

I read a little bit about the astronaut love triangle thing, but didn't care too much about it. I know some lady drove from Houston to Florida wearing diapers. That much doesn't make sense to me, so it pretty much turns me off to the rest of the story. She may have saved herself 30 minutes of the trip by doing this, but I can't imagine it'd be worth it. I also didn't care enough to read why she was in such a hurry. I did, however see this really cool top video "10 signs an astronaut is trying to kill you" on Letterman.

Vista Experience

Yesterday morning I decided to take on the endeavor of installing Vista. I have blogged negatively about it in the past, but actually had high hopes of the official release. First of all, let me say, with all things considered, I'm happy with Windows XP. It gets done what I want to get done and does so fairly reliably.
Ok, so I set off to install Vista on a separate partition so I could dual boot. That started out poorly. I found out that unlike previous versions where you just needed the windows CD, you must install windows completely first, then upgrade. Well, I found an article for a work around on that and got it installed. The first thing I noticed was I hated this allow/disallow screen that popped up all the time. This Mac commercial describes it exactly. Next I noticed my wireless didn't work with WPA at all. I looked on Dell's website and their forums for drivers for a wireless 1390 driver for an XPS M1710 and could not find a Vista driver (which works fine in SuSE Linux).
Now that I can't get on the internet its very frustrating to work with, so I decided to blog about it using Windows XP. I guess I also gotta admit I felt like a moron trying to navigate through their menus. That'll take some getting used to.
I beta tested windows XP before it came out and my first impressions were great. I was blown away at how stable it was compared to windows 98 machine and how much faster it ran on my 366 mhz 96mb ram laptop I had back then. I'm not so impressed with Vista, but I'll continue to mess with it and see how it goes. I want to like it, but I don't know that will be possible.

Get a First Life

Speaking of MMORPG's, a blogger recently posted a parody of "Second Life" asking people to "Get a First Life". Second life is just as it sounds an RPG where you simulate life. You can socialize, get a job, build a house, own land, all kinds of stuff. Obviously the maker of get a first life is trying to say, instead of living your life in front of a computer, do it in real life.
This page has been up for about a month now, and I thought about blogging about it before, but it was mentioned everywhere else already. Anyway, the new news on this story is that the maker of the first life page expected a letter from the second life people asking him to take it down. To his surprise the Second Life people enjoyed the parody and told him to keep it up. I think that's a great attitude for them to have. I tried second life for about a week (it's free and has low system requirements), and its ok, but I agree, its best to get a first life.

Edit: Here's a link to the comment from the second life people on the first life page creator's page.

MMORPG Fever

It's a chance to escape from the stress of real life, feel like you're accomplishing something, and socialize with people like you from across the world. Sounds like a great idea, right? I'm talking about the popular MMORPG's out there.
I can't really say anything bad about anyone who plays them, because I did for several years (Donnk Druid Karana server on EQ1 and Gnomeface Illusionist Kithicor server on EQ2). I still have an EQ2 account, but rarely ever play. These games are ultimate fun, however, are very addictive. It starts out as an hour per night, then quickly goes to two, then 4, then six, then pretty much your entire weekends are dedicated to it.
MMORPG's just keep getting more popular. I watched these online documentaries on WoW (World of Warcraft), and can confess, even if it sounds ridiculous, I'm sure they're true. It seems like many of the people I know, and even some of you guys play these games. I had a call a few weeks ago from a friend I hadn't heard from in about two years, I found out he runs a guild on WoW. It's good fun and I would recommend people playing them, but they're highly addictive so heed the warning.

Current Living Conditions

If you know me personally and have talked to me since Sunday you probably know my apartment got flooded by a busted water heater (that's why there was no blogs on Sunday).
Things are slowly getting back to normal, but its still very loud in here (due to the industrial equipment drying out the place) and we're living in half of the place while the other half continues to dry.
I mention this for a few reasons one is I want to give a shout out to all the people who have helped out and offered to help..... I really really appreciate it!
Another reason is I saw this picture and it was just the perfect cartoon for the time.... reminds me a lot of Sunday.
Here's also a video I posted on YouTube that shows the amount of wind and noise in this place. The story behind it is this: We had to get away from the noise last nite, so we went to Food City and bought a few groceries. As we were home unpacking stuff the bags started flying around.... it reminded me of the scene out of American Beauty, so I decided to record it.
I have another video I recorded of me attempting to talk over the noise and access the damage and tell the story. I didn't upload this one because it's really not too interesting, if you want to see it thought, let me know.

Evolution of Dance

This has been on the internet for quite some time now, but I just saw it tonight. I had it sent to me before, but for some reason didn't look at it. Anyway its called the evolution of dance. I kinda disagree with the title, but that doesn't make it any less funny. It is really just a reenactment of different dances of popular music since the 60's. Great performance, but no achy breaky??

A Cop Setting an Example

I took a class in college who's only topic was the everyday life of a police officer (it was a night class that seemed easy and I needed an extra elective). One of the stories that was told was about a police officer who was so dedicated to upholding the law that he once gave himself a ticket for running a red light (I still don't trust that story).
I had forgotten about that story (and that class) until I read this story about a Police Chief who wrote himself a ticket. I salute this guy and his noble deed. He is the chief and does leadership the right way, by example. If you're going to enforce something, the enforcer is no exception unless the job requires it (yes you, unmarked cop cars who pass me EVERY morning doing about 90 with Franklin Co. tags).

Space Junk Yard

I guess it's not really a problem we often think of, but there is a lot of stuff we have placed in space that is just plain junk. Whether it is lost equipment, non-functioning satellites, or that guy's camera that got lost the other day, there's lots of stuff floating several miles above us and its now becoming a problem.
It is estimated that 10,000 items over 4 inches long are just floating there, orbiting Earth. The multimedia presentation on the linked page is really cool, it actually has a map of this stuff.

Super Bowl Commercials

Every year on the day or so after the Super Bowl, I like to find a list of the commercials and check them out again. I thought I'd save you some work just in case you do the same thing.

In separate news, but to make this a two in one Blog entry, the commercials this year were scientifically proven to be mediocre. Scientists in California hooked up five men to an fMRI to watch their reactions as they watched the commercials. Compared to last years commercials the ones we saw last night didn't do so well.

Super Bowl Monday

As I was on my way home from work this evening, I heard on the radio about an online petition for making Super Bowl Monday a national holiday. The day after the Super Bowl is one of the most missed days of the year. People will call in, work extra shifts, or take a day of their vacation just to get off on that day.
Do I agree with the petition.... not really, but then again, I'm not too much of a party guy. I'm not too certain if these online petitions ever make anything happen, but I guess if you have that deep of a feeling about this, it's worth a try. I wouldn't mind an extra holiday every year.

OCMS Ride went Cheap

I'm a member of the Old Crow Medicine Show mailing list, so from time to time I get updates from the band (Recent News, Tour Schedule, etc.). Friday, I got an email saying they were auctioning off their old tour bus (which was a 99 Chevy Suburban). I checked the bidding and at that time it was priced @ $3000, but that was four hours from closing time. I went back and checked the auction after it ended and it only sold for $3550. It did have some transmission issues with it, but looked like it was in good shape.
I'm really surprised it went for so cheap, this band is probably going to hit it big soon, + that's a pretty good price for a Suburban. Anyway, I'll be at the concert in Richmond this Thursday, and it's gonna be great! I'm in the front row and it's a sold out show.

Another Hands Video

Here's another great hands video, although this is not of star wars theme, it is much higher quality. It's amazing what these people can do with their hands, and I wonder how many people were involved in the filming.

Wild Wookie

'Chewbacca' was arrested yesterday after head-butting a security guard.
This article has some pretty funny stuff in it, just because it's odd. The incident was witnessed by Superman :).

The guy should have known not to upset a droid:
"C-3PO: He made a fair move. Screaming about it can't help you.
Han Solo: Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a Wookiee.
C-3PO: But sir, nobody worries about upsetting a droid.
Han Solo: That's 'cause droids don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that. "

DDR to WV

Dance Dance Revolution is one of these "interactive" games that have recently become popular such as Guitar Hero. Recently teachers have wisened up and realized all video games aren't evil and can be useful. It was announced yesterday that in West Virginia schools they were going to be using Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) to fight obesity in every school.
Don't get me wrong, I'm soo for this movement, but I think it sounds kinda odd to implement. Is this going to be its own class, or part of gym? "Lets see today I have Biology, History, DDR, then Study Hall". Where was this stuff when I was in school?
With this implementation, physical fitness is up, and surprisingly after school fights are down. They now settle their differences the old fashioned way, with a dance off.

SuperBowl Shuffle

Just in case you haven't ever seen it, or haven't been around for the past 22 years, here's the video of the SuperBowl Shuffle from the 1985 Bears (SuperBowl XX). I vote the 2006-2007 Bears do this as well. Wanna find out more about this, check out the Wikipedia article. I didn't know they were grammy nominated, but how odd is it that Prince beat them that year for the grammy and he is also playing the Superbowl halftime show this year, which is the first time they've been back to the Superbowl since.

Groundhog's Day

Today is one of the most under appreciated holidays we have here in the US. I know what you're thinking, who cares about a stupid groundhog and if he sees his shadow or not, like that means anything. You're right! It doesn't make a difference whether he sees his shadow or not, that's not the point. The point is forward thinking. This is our ray of hope during this dark time of winter.

I like winter up until Christmas. Once its over, to me winter is no longer "magical". We only have spring to look forward to. Here we have Groundhog's Day in the middle of winter and spring to tell us, hey, in 6 more weeks there's a chance you can enjoy the spring-like weather.

Many people (ok, only girls) look forward to Valentine's Day in February. If there's ever been a worthless holiday that's the one. If you don't have love the rest of the 364 days of the year why have it on Valentine's Day. How did Valentine's Day ever become more important than Groundhog's day anyway?

This is way off topic from the web stuff I usually blog about, but not once today did anyone wish me a happy Groundhog's Day, nor was it mentioned. So, happy Groundhog's day to you, and hey, if the Groundhog is right (with a little help from El Nino), then its just about time to get those arms loose for baseball season.

Tecmo SuperBowl XLI

I spent hours as a kid playing the good ol' Tecmo Super Bowl game. Sure, I barely knew anything about football, but it sure was fun.
I think it's a great idea that someone came up with to simulate this year's Superbowl using Tecmo Superbowl. This way it's completely random. The announcer is really annoying, but I love the way he explains all the old players still being in the game.
I'll not ruin it for you as to who is the winner, but its actually a pretty good game.