Stanford rules Cal drools!!!

real blogs of genius

[EDIT] i'm thinking that this whole readability test may be suspect. first, the possibly hacked embedding code. second, the fact that it's hosted on a movie review website...what's the connection between movie reviews and blog readability? third, i found a couple other blogs and related comments where people couldn't figure out how certain blogs got genius ratings (like this one) and others junior high (like our library blog at work). i'm not sure i recommend the test below except for fun. if you really want to know about readability, try this page: http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php#readresults
you can actually see my results. hm. now that i interpret the results, it appears that my blog is quite difficult to read. maybe that's how the first readability test works... [/EDIT]

I found out about this blog readability test from a library blogger, David Lee King.



If you go try it yourself, just watch out for the weird extra "cash advance" code at the end of the code you copy into your own blog. maybe the site got hacked.

somehow i have a hard time imagining that any reading level higher than that of an amoeba is required for true comprehension of this blog. of course maybe it's because i toss around words like 'amoeba' and 'comprehension'...

and 2 videos: transformers and harmonica hero

these two videos screamed to be streamed. enjoy.

taking the kitty to the bank

Found this at engadget. A Hello Kitty toy ATM. Awesome.


Even more awesome, as mentioned in the article, the Hello Kitty bank account where you can get your HK bank card, statements printed on HK paper, HK checks, not to mention a killer interest rate! Actually, I didn't really look at the interest rate part of it, I couldn't stop laughing at the prospect of immersing one's financial life in Kitty pink.

Of course, if you are interested in sinking your financial life in Kitty platinum, you could always pick up this bad girl, US price approximately $165K!

if only it actually worked...

once japan is done reveling in the postseason exploits of dice-k and oki-doki and the world champion boston red sox, perhaps they can get on to the more important matter of protecting themselves on the street by pulling 21st century ninja magic like this skirt that hides the wearer inside of a coke machine.


read more about it here.

Red sox book display

importance of the dewey decimal system

i know the dewey decimal system. i'm a librarian, naturally. this brief video explains why you need to know it too.

enjoy.

blog action day - more about lights

In honor of Blog Action Day, a day aimed at getting as many bloggers as possible all blogging about a single topic, in this case, the environment, I'm adding another post today about the whole CFL business. See my previous post for more about CFLs.

I noticed in my Sunday paper circulars that Rite Aid is having a sale on CFLs, apparently aided by the PG&E CFL program. In case you don't know, PG&E is trying to encourage people to convert their traditional incandescent light bulbs to energy-saving CFLs. But since many people (including myself at first) balk at the high initial cost of purchasing a CFL, they are subsidizing the cost of CFLs at participating stores. The idea is that if you can get your first CFLs for almost the same price as regular bulbs, why not give it a shot? Best case, you like them so much you decide to keep on buying. Worst case, they don't work for you and you give them away to a friend. It's a great idea and I'm glad PG&E is doing it.

Anyway, for the time being, the deal that caught my eye was that you can get a 3-pack of 100-watt-equivalent bulbs for $1.99. This is a pretty sweet deal. The other day I bought four similar bulbs for about 8 bucks. If I get around to it, I'll probably buy a bunch of these now and stockpile them and give a few away to my parents so I can get them started on CFLs.

Maybe you should do the same? Of course, unless you enjoy burning power and money.

lights

we've started to replace some of the light bulbs in our house with cfls (compact fluorescent lamps). if you don't know what i'm talking about, you either don't watch non-dvr'ed tv, listen to the radio, or you're dead. otherwise i know you've seen those commercials with the talking light bulb and the talking curly white thing.

i'm not going to explain the whole cfl thing, but i will post this sweet commoncraft video about new light bulbs. enjoy.


here's my take on this whole cfl business. if you're an environmental evangelist, your reasons for changing bulbs is clear. but even if you don't quite buy exactly what al gore is selling, you just can't get around the fact that the cfl is gonna last longer, meaning you'll buy less bulbs, change less bulbs, and pay less on your electric bill. that oughta make sense to pretty much anybody, regardless of your political persuasion.

i would be remiss to not point out that cfl's aren't ideal for every purpose. supposedly you get poor results if you can't leave them on for at least 15 minutes a pop. so closet lamps, or any room you don't stay in long may not be worth changing. also cfl's do have a warm-up time. we bought some ge 100-watt equivalent bulbs and they take about 1 second to turn on after you flip the switch. at first you get light about equivalent to a 40-watt bulb and over the next 60 seconds it gradually gets brighter to full illumination. so if you need instantly full illumination, you probably wanna skip the cfl. for almost anything else, go for it! you've really got nothing to lose.

one more thing to mention. don't forget that the cfl's contain a tiny tiny amount of mercury. if you break the bulb you've gotta be careful not to breathe it in. try to ventilate if possible. sweep up best you can, but don't vacuum and kick up more dust. wipe up with a wet cloth and put everything in two plastic bags and toss the works. of course if you don't break it, you need to recycle it. try earth911.org to find out how and where.

take 3

this time i changed the photos to be more nas-ish. music is the same.

same video, remixed!

i just used the remix option to make a new video with the same settings. i like the first one a little more.

my first animoto video!

this animoto site is ultra-slick. way worth a look.

crossword proposal

this is a neat story: this guy and his girlfriend do a regular crossword in the boston globe each week, so when he decided to propose, he asked the globe and they agreed to craft a special puzzle that contained the magic question "will you marry me" and her name, "jennie" and of course when she got to that section of the puzzle, he was ready with a ring.

i've recently gotten into doing crosswords and am learning a lot about the ways puzzles are constructed, so i thought this was really remarkable! watch the video and enjoy!

movie quiz! my shameful score.

i got all the ones related to movies i've seen, and missed all the ones from movies i haven't seen. no luck here, 71%. shameful. hopefully you do better.

71%The Movie Quiz

FilmCritic.com - Movie Reviews

sharing an umbrella

i get a kick out of musicians covering other musicians' songs, especially when they come from differing genres or styles. it's neat to see a musician appreciate another's work and also hear their unique interpretations.

that said, this mandy moore cover of rihanna's umbrella is pretty cool. i really like the original and this one is good too.

enjoy!

kneel for a bit and pick up a chestnut

ah, the power of hyperlinks...i first caught wind of the viral video of the filipino prisoners doing the "thriller" dance. which led me to the video of the same prisoners doing the "algorithm march". which led me to wonder where the heck something so bizarre could come from. which naturally led me to japanese television and this video:

so yeah, this video has had its day in the spotlight already, but it's definitely one of those that just gets better each time you see it.

i wonder if anyone has done an algorithm march video as part of the gmail video campaign...

new sharks logo!

ok, so i was concerned at first, and i had to do a double-take when i hit the newly-designed sharks site and saw the new logo. but i think i kinda like it! it's cartoony, yeah, and it definitely strays from the old (light) teal. but despite the cartoon feel, that shark is definitely mean looking. meaner than the old one. and i think that's good.

i can't wait to see how the logo plays out on the new jerseys and other merchandise. first, i guess i'm gonna hafta get a new window cling for my car's rear window.

all in all, i say good job sharks!

EDIT: so now the remaining logos are up. the full length logo, with a shark tail showing. this one is very cool. the main logos that will go on the jerseys, with teal and white backgrounds, which i think are going to look really nice. the only problem is this new lettering scheme. it's ugly. it definitely does not match the edginess and meanness that the new logo adds. if anything, it's weak and boring. and there's a new "shield" logo that looks like it belongs to a soccer team...or the l.a. kings...oh wait, pretty much the same thing. check them all out in a slideshow linking from the release article.

drama. furry.

so i'm a little behind the times on this one already, but this furry guy still makes me laugh. you can find way more fun on youtube.

i've fallen and i can't get up...

this post nearly made me fall out of my chair.



basically it's software to download to your nintendo ds at the ballpark so you can get stats, watch replays, place food orders, basically all the things we're being told we'll see at the upcoming cisco field, which is supposedly going to be the most technologically-advanced stadium in the league. oh, and not to mention that it's through your ds, just about the coolest handheld period. and while this limited edition seattle mariners ds lite is pretty cool, imo, the only thing cooler than a ds lite is an OAKLAND ATHLETICS DS LITE! i guess the bar has just been raised, seeing as how safeco field (8 years old already! amazing, i remember the demolition of the kingdome like it was yesterday) sounds like it's gonna take the title for now.

paging lew wolff and a's management: how do we get this at the coliseum??? and please don't say we'll just hafta wait for cisco field to be built...the least they can do is to give fans a preview now of some of the cool things that will be possible over in fremont (more than just text-message tickets).

found at aeropause via infendo. thanks!

the whole big band concert

i couldn't get enough of the mario & zelda big band thing so i found the entire (i think) video on google video. i haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet but the first part looks good. mario on guitar rocks. i hope this posts ok, it's supposed to be just under 2 hours. here goes nothin'.

enjoy!

zelda...brassy!

leave it to the japanese. i love it.

drummin' the mario

i really like drums. if you don't also after watching this video, check your pulse...you might be dead.

wind's nocturne & shii's song

i like this song. the cat video makes me happy and sad, because it's very cute, but so sad at the end. enjoy.

who's tom morrow?

that's fine and good for tom, but what about everybody else?


thanks to extralife for the find.

drinking away my insatiable cucumber appetite

just when i thought i would never be able to satisfy my cucumber addiction...

pepsi goes and does something to COMPLETELY REDEEM THEMSELVES!

pepsi ice cucumber

anyone in japan hook it up? i'm not sure i really want to drink it, but i think it'd be fun to have the bottle...

first heard about from energy fiend. thanks!

google street view is cool!

i just learned about google maps' newest feature: street view. basically, in selected cities, including san francisco, you can get a 360 view from the street level, just like you were standing in the middle of the street, and dizzying yourself turning in circles, admiring all the buildings. you can also follow a "walking route" of the street you're on.

to get an idea, here are a couple of links to spots in the city i mapped out. i first thought about mapping some of my fave sf spots: union square, palace of fine arts, the big phone. but then i changed my mind and decided to map out my wife's two favorite san francisco sites: the del taco on market and the coffee bean at the bottom of ghirardelli square.

here's del taco. i don't recommend this view in real life unless you have a death wish to be plastered on the front of a muni bus or taxi cab.

and here's the coffee bean & tea leaf. this view is OK. rarely ever fast-moving cars at this intersection. the red and white striped awning is the bean.

google has a really funny intro video to help you learn how to use the map. it's worth a watch.

so yeah, street view is really cool! it's just like walking through the city. only without the biting wind, the constant din of traffic as locals vie with tourists for supremacy of the road, and of course the oppressive stench of urban filth. give it a go!

library gorilla

allen county public library in indiana makes a lot of videos and posts them on youtube. here's a promo for their summer reading program. even though the video production itself is pretty tame, the overall effect is genius. consider this: a library could spend lots of time and money on a fancy production with professional equipment and the like, but if , like many libraries, all they have to highlight is a cramped teen space, a tiny collection, and a smattering of programs, what's the point? here are the messages i got from this video: the prize text tells me the summer reading program has tons of prizes and some of them are really cool. the text about programs and the kids playing ddr and chess tells me there are a lot of things happening during the summer, like shows and games and stuff like that. the kids running through the library tells me that there must be some kind of teen council that gets to be in the library even when it's closed...if i'm a teen, i think being inside a closed library is pretty cool and i want in on that action. the fact that someone got to wear the gorilla suit tells me the library must have a gorilla costume and i can think of tons of funny things you can do with a gorilla costume.
enjoy the video. the best part for me was in the middle when the gorilla slides across the smooth floor, i kept thinking, gee i wonder if anyone worried about the monkee biting the dust during that scene. needless to say, the outtakes did not disappoint.

forget retro, super mario in outer space

on the tail of the last post about the retro game store, here's some video from the recently announced super mario galaxy game for wii. i'm excited. are you?


thanks to extralife for the heads up.

super potato is good for you

found this video about a retro video game store in japan. if you're an old video game fan, or are a hardcore nintendo junkie (like me), you're gonna love some of the stuff you see. i especially like the old video game music you can hear in the background...definitely heard some old school super mario bros. in there. check it out.

Super Potato in Akihabara, HDTV
Uploaded by AkihabaraNews

willamette chimney cleaning company

this video from the decemberists caught my eye on youtube because of the screencap "willamette chimney cleaning company". why? because my alma mater, willamette university, is only the coolest liberal arts college in the country, and though the two aren't related at all, anything that will make people think "gee i wonder what 'willamette' is" and then type it into google, only to find that the number one result is wu, deserves a mention here.

beethoven doesn't care about kanye and other mashups

doing research for another blogging class and was looking for some fun links to demonstrate. mashuptown is awesome! and so are finding mashedup vids on youtube.

here's something delightful:
this link is to a post from mashuptown. the song is 6 songs, some you know, some you don't, all mashed into one. it's really quite nice. i'd link directly to the mp3 itself, but i think it's better if you get it from the source.

here's something to make your head bob:
one of my favorite disco anthems, a fifth of beethoven, mashed to golddigger by kanye west. enjoy!


finally, if you're wondering what all the fuss is about this whole mashup business, you might want to watch this instructional video from sue teller. she shows you how to mash and mix in that somethin' somethin'.


one.

it's just like a mini mall

kimmy and i bought a couch recently. we're waiting for it to arrive from the factory. i'm looking forward to it, but in retrospect, i wonder if our furniture-buying experience might've been more interesting had we shopped from this guy:

enjoy!

thanks to extralife for the heads up.

hamsters, hampsters, and robin hood

i remember sitting in my room in baxter the first time i got emailed a link to the hampster dance and i nearly fell out of my seat.

i thought a little blast to the past might be fun. enjoy this update:


and of course, a trip into the way, way back machine:

i wish i had these mad dancing skillz

it's unusual for me to post this often but this one absolutely screamed to be shared with the world. so here goes. i think i've watched this 4 times now and i think it actually gets funnier each time.
enjoy.

barracuda!

lately, our email servers at work have been assaulted by spam. i have to monitor three separate email accounts, and because 2 of them are public information points, i can't use the built-in spam blockers (which of course wouldn't help anyway). i have to delete between 50-75 spam emails a day just to get to my 3 or 4 real emails. but good news! apparently yesterday a heavy-duty spam blocker from barracuda was launched, and so far so good. i've only gotten 3 spam messages in 2 days.

i'm pretty happy about it so it makes me wanna sing this song at the top of my lungs. but i'll just let the 5.6.7.8's do it instead. enjoy.

earthquake?

i'm here working late at the library and my chair just shifted suddenly. i have a feeling it was an earthquake and the patron a couple feet away seems to think the same. i'm trolling news sites but so far no one on the web seems to be running any stories yet...

for the record, i'd say it was about 8:38pm, and i'm here in sunnyvale, ca.

never mind, google reader

sad to say, but i joined the RSS revolution quite late in the game. i had heard the term tossed around but never bothered to figure out what it was and why i should bother. i believe that it's a byproduct of this fact that i never really bought into the whole blogging thing, probably because i always saw blogs as just too tedious to constantly monitor. because they are. which is why everyone should be using news aggregators like bloglines to monitor their news and blogs for them. there's just too much good/bad/funny/interesting/enlightening stuff out there on the blogosphere to not be paying attention.

anyway, i joined into the revolution by using bloglines to monitor a handful of news feeds and blogs. i've been cruising along nicely until i was turned on recently to Google Reader, just one more way for me to link all my online haunts together, and for google to insidiously invade every facet of my life. the hype was good. the interface seemed clean. i made the switch.

i'm switching back. reader's just not working well for me. my feed menu keeps telling me i haven't read certain posts, but when i click to read, i stare at the google labs logo and then it tells me either the post is unavailable or not there at all. no old posts, no nothing. plus it seems like it's frozen on me a couple times. and i seem to have timed out somehow somewhere. i hear what all the proponents are saying, how it's got lots of great features and bloglines has been really static, essentially resting on its laurels living on name recognition alone. but for me at least, i'm already nostalgic for the ultra-simple interface and lack of super features, because it did what it did and i never forced it to do too much, and it always responded in kind.

so get ready bloglines! i'm coming home!

listen to the rap music.

One of many versions. Comments say this is ripped off, but I can't verify. This is the funniest of the 5 or 6 i've watched so far.

Tracked down first from ExtraLife.

tennis ball key...real or industry hokum?

I found this video on aol's video blog but wanted to embed it below so had to go to youtube. the video would have you believe you can use the air pressure stored up in a tennis ball to unlock your car door. it sounds like hokum or "mule fritters" (as i read recently on the web) to me, but overall it's a pretty funny idea. watch and see if you believe.

personally, i think this is a carefully crafted scheme by the tennis ball industry to get us to waste our money on buying tubes of tennis balls just to burn holes into. it's probably also good for PR to have people carrying around useless tennis balls in their pockets instead of just remembering to keep their keys when they lock their cars.

Funny picutre...that I don't remember taking

four chords song

i bought a guitar for kimmy a while back and we've both been trying to learn to play. we already knew this, but knowing that learning just a simple four chord progression, you can play a LOT of songs, makes it easy to build up confidence.

here's a demo:


i first found this on lukira.

me on flickr, at the bottom of the screen

if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the blog, you will see just a handful of pictures from my newly-minted flickr page.

i got the code for the slideshow from Paul Stamatiou's blog. Thanks Paul!

thank you very much

King Kitty, originally uploaded by ljcybergal.

i found this one on flickr blog.

scrimping on death

after reading this article on aol, i'm thinking about getting my bargain casket from costco. and now i'm not thinking about it anymore.

here's what one looks like. 18 gauge steel for $924.99, shipping and handling included!

i guess i'm thinking about it again.

apple iphone - it's alive!

kimmy says she wants one.


sj says they'll be coming out in june, 499 for a 4gb and 599 for an 8gb.

never too late...

found this article on aol news about a guy in l.a. who returned a library book he checked out 47 years ago. apparently the book had been misplaced at the time and he discovered it recently and decided to return it along with $171.32 in overdue fines.

better late than never, i suppose. what a heartwarming story.

extreme ironing goes international

today i learned about the new sport of extreme ironing. check out the bureau's site here.

not that i'm particularly interested in going ex-ironing myself, but i am looking forward (though i don't know why...) to seeing this taiwanese film, about 4 young men who set out on their own ironing adventures...