Category: Culture

Twaining day

Mark Twain, the writer who brought the world Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and The Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, died 100 years ago.  You might be questioning the significance of this fact. Twain was a prolific memoir writer, but none of his diaries have seen the light of publication. Because he didn’t want them to. For 100 years. There’s something a little arrogant about assuming that people will still care about you in 100 years, but this is still pretty cool. Clearly he wanted everybody he wrote about to be dead.

The creator of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and some of the most frequently misquoted catchphrases in the English language left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910, together with handwritten notes saying that he did not want them to hit bookshops for at least a century.

That milestone has now been reached, and in November the University of California, Berkeley, where the manuscript is in a vault, will release the first volume of Mark Twain’s autobiography. The eventual trilogy will run to half a million words, and shed new light on the quintessentially American novelist.

Scholars are divided as to why Twain wanted the first-hand account of his life kept under wraps for so long. Some believe it was because he wanted to talk freely about issues such as religion and politics. Others argue that the time lag prevented him from having to worry about offending friends.

One thing’s for sure: by delaying publication, the author, who was fond of his celebrity status, has ensured that he’ll be gossiped about during the 21st century.

May 26, 2010

Pacmania: Google’s Pacman costs world billions

As reported the other day, to celebrate Pacman’s 30th birthday Google created a playable Pacman version of its logo. It’s now permanently available. The playable logo is estimated to have consumed 4.8 million man hours globally.

RescueTime is a program that monitors online usage. They extrapolated their data to reach that figure.

Here’s the baseline:

Our average Google user spends only 4 and a half active minutes on Google search per day, spread over about 22 page views. That’s roughly 11 seconds of attention invested in each Google page view. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but next time you do a search, count to 11- it’s a long time.

Here’s what the study found:

The average user spent 36 seconds MORE on Google.com on Friday.. Thankfully, Google tossed out the logo with pretty low “perceived affordance” – they put an “insert coin” button next to the search button, but I imagine most users missed that. In fact, I’d wager that 75% of the people who saw the logo had no idea that you could actually play it. Which the world should be thankful for.

If we take Wolfram Alpha at its word, Google had about 504,703,000 unique visitors on May 23. If we assume that our userbase is representative, that means:

  • Google Pac-Man consumed 4,819,352 hours of time (beyond the 33.6m daily man hours of attention that Google Search gets in a given day)
  • $120,483,800 is the dollar tally, If the average Google user has a COST of $25/hr (note that cost is 1.3 – 2.0 X pay rate).
  • For that same cost, you could hire all 19,835 google employees, from Larry and Sergey down to their janitors, and get 6 weeks of their time. Imagine what you could build with that army of man power.
  • $298,803,988 is the dollar tally if all of the Pac-Man players had an approximate cost of the average Google employee.

    • May 25, 2010

    Totally awesome weekend project: Iron Man Suit

    If only I had time on my hands, and didn’t have to resort to blogging in the five minutes between lectures, I would totally try to duplicate this project. This guy, Anthony Le, built an (almost) working Iron Man Suit. Actually, he built a War Machine suit, because War Machine has more cool toys.

    It cost US$4,000, is held together by “high impact urethane” and more than 1,500 rivets. The helmet was formed from clay and finished with resin. The spinning cylindrical gun is controlled by a button in the suit’s glove, and can fire paintballs. The motorised helmet opens and closes. Here it is in action (I think, I haven’t watched this yet).

    May 25, 2010

    God Hates Rock Stars

    More Backwards Masking Unmasked to come, in the meantime, beware…

    Via Pleated Jeans’ 15 examples of bad Christian propaganda.

    Fred Phelps from Westboro Baptist appears to have read a little too much Jacob Aranza. His angry mob will be protesting at Black Sabbath’s Ronnie James Dio’s funeral…

    “This rebel had a God-given platform – for decades – which he should have utilized to publish the truth of God. Instead, he used that platform – for decades – to teach rebellion against God, in the form glorifying atheism, promoting the devil horn hand sign & other such idolatries.”

    Apparently the word “sorceries” in Revelation actually means “druggies.” So Dio was also a sorcerer.

    May 25, 2010

    What? The Devil is wrong with country – part 2 – FAQ

    Jacob Aranza is a man who believes in offering solutions to real world problems. He’s a man of the people (unless you’re a rock star or country muso). His second book features a chapter of his questions and answers from readers of the first book. Lest you wander into rock and roll temptation here they are… though sometimes I think Mr Aranza pulls his punches, so I’ve given my own answer to the questions below.

    WARNING: May contain traces of bad theology for the sake of satire. Bad theology is easy, I can see why the new atheists take the Bible out of context so often, they can pretty much twist it to say whatever they want.

    Several people have asked me if Mr Aranza has anything to say about their favourite 80s band. If yours missed out (from a pretty comprehensive list) then don’t un-despair just yet.

    Question: I know what you say about the groups in your book is true, but you didn’t mention my favourite group. What about them?
    Aranza’s Answer: I may not have spoken about your favourite rock or country group, but if their goal isn’t to glorify God and help build his kingdom, then their music will hinder and distract you from serving God, and can easily provoke you to rebel against God.

    My Answer: You know what, if they’re your “favourite” they’re an idol. Sing the Psalms. They’re the only inspired songs (except for a few in the New Testament, you can sing those too). 

    Question: The groups I listen to don’t sing about Satan, sex, or drugs. What’s wrong with listening to them?
    Aranza’s Answer: Just because a group doesn’t openly sing about immorality doesn’t mean their music is approved by God. If the music you’re listening to doesn’t come from the heart of a spiritual Christian artist you are opening the door to carnality, humanism, and demonic forces. It will distract you from serving him, feed self-centeredness, and eventually breed rebellion in your heart. Just because something appears to be good doesn’t mean it is good.

    My Answer: Well, ask yourself “could I dance to this song” if the answer is yes then the music is a stumbling block – and no true Christian would create a stumbling block for their brother (or sister).

    Question: I don’t really like what a lot of rock groups sing about, but I don’t listen to the words. I just like the music. Isn’t that OK?
    Aranza’s Answer: It might be OK if you didn’t have a spirit or a brain. You may not realise it, but you are more than a physical body. You also have a mind and a spirit which both respond to music. Your mind is like a computer and absorbs what it hears including words to music. It can’t be avoided since your brain takes and stores the information you hear and receive through your senses. Your spirit also responds to music because God created music as a spiritual force. If you are a Christian, the Spirit of Christ dwells in your spirit, making you sensitive to God’s voice and will. When you listen to music that isn’t inspired by God it dulls your sensitivity to God. Eventually it will breed rebellion in you. It’s a lot like smoking cigarettes. They will make you an addict and give you cancer, killing the life in you. This is Satan’s ultimate plan for music, no matter how innocent it might sound.

    My Answer: Does it have drums? Drums are a sure sign that this music is the Devil’s music. Drums lead to tapping your feet, tapping your feet leads to dancing, and dancing leads to premarital sex and babies born out of wedlock. Is that what you really want?

    Question: What about instrumental music?
    Answer: Concerning this subject I would like to quote someone known to have specialised in instrumental music. While I was speaking in Louisville, Kentucky, the pastor shared with me that Phil Driscoll had been there the previous week. Phil Driscoll was in secular music for many years as a writer and instrumentalist making up to $450,000 a year previous to his conversion to Christ. Phil shared that he felt the spirit of whoever was playing the music was the spirit that would influence those who listened to it. I agree with this.

    I might add that there are plenty of instrumental albums produced by Christian artists, from jazz to classical, and from pop to easy listening. There’s no excuse for listening to secular music anymore. Whether [or not] the music has words, the spiritual force behind it will affect you.

    My Answer: Instrumental music is the most dangerous part. The Bible clearly shows us that playing instruments leads to death. Especially the tambourine. In Judges 11, Jepthath’s daughter plays the tambourine and dances, and her father puts her to death. In 2 Samuel 6 the Israelites dance around playing tambourines and other instruments – and God strikes Uzzah dead. Tambourines and dancing are bad. Despite what the Salvation Army and Timbrel Praise will try to tell you.

    Question: I don’t like non-Christian music but I work in a place where it is played al day long. What should I do?
    Answer: You can start by expressing your views to your boss. Let him know that the major themes of the music are sex, drinking, drugs and satanism. Try to get them to play instrumental music and offer to bring in your own instrumental music. They’d probably like the Christian instrumental music and wouldn’t be offended because there aren’t any words. If you can’t get rid of the secular music, then be sure to keep a song in your heart that you sing to the Lord. Ask God each day to protect you from the negative forces behind this music. No matter what happens, have confidence that God will give you the power to be victorious in this situation.

    My Answer: Ask yourself “what would Jesus do”… not gentle Jesus meek and mild, but Revelation Jesus. Quit your job, and purify the office with fire.

    May 23, 2010

    Costner pays his dues

    Most of us are sick and tired of actors and celebrities using their fame to try to change the world, but keeping their money in off shore tax havens. I’m looking at you, Bono.

    And now, a man renowned for a role in a terrible movie set on the ocean is making a move to save the ocean from a terrible fate. It’s such a compelling story it can only come out of Hollywood. Costner’s shot at redemption comes after he sunk more than $20 million of his own money into researching and developing an oil skimming device. The device is called “Ocean Therapy” and BP are so desperate to try anything that they’re lapping up this machine that laps up oil, in large volumes. The full story is here.

    Placed on a barge, it sucks in large quantities of polluted water, separates out the oil and spits back 97% clean water.

    “It’s like a big vacuum cleaner,” said Costner’s business partner, Louisiana trial lawyer John Houghtaling.

    “The machines are basically sophisticated centrifuge devices that can handle a huge volume of water,” he said.

    Costner has spent $40 million of his own money in the last decade trying to develop new technologies – which I think is really cool. He’s putting his money where his mouth is, and he’s so sure these things work that he’s built a mini army of them. Perhaps he wants to start his own ocean utopia…

    At least 210,000 gallons of oil per day is gushing into the sea from the ocean floor where the BP rig exploded April 20. The oil company has tried several novel solutions, but none has worked so far to plug the leak.

    The company is skimming the oil, spraying it with dispersant chemicals underwater and trying to burn it on the surface.

    Nineteen percent of the Gulf’s lucrative fisheries are closed, billions of beach tourist dollars are at stake and dozens of seagoing species are threatened.

    Costner has 300 of his Ocean Therapy machines in various sizes. The largest, at 21/2 tons, is able to clean water at a rate of 200 gallons a minute – faster than the well is leaking.

    May 22, 2010

    How to mug somebody

    If you’re an aspiring criminal looking to move into the world of person to person transactions then learn from this guy. Mugging is a two step process.

    1. Check for Ninja Schools
    2. If no Ninja schools can be found (which is likely, they’re probably invisible) don’t do it. Just in case.

    The coolest thing about this story is that it happened in Australia.

    The [three] thieves were assaulting a German medical exchange student in Sydney, but the alleyway where they struck was next to a school for ninja warriors.

    One of the pupils raised the alarm after noticing the attack…

    “We just ran outside and started running at them, yelling and everything,” said ninja master Kaylan Soto who instructed his students to take action.

    “These guys have turned around and seen five ninjas in black ninja uniforms running towards them. They just bolted.”

    May 22, 2010

    The Aranza Challenge

    Having read the twitter like summary of Jacob Aranza’s indictments of bands from the 1980s I challenge you, dear readers, to come up with 140 character summaries of what’s wrong with modern music, and particularly modern rock.

    For example:

    Nickelback: Materialistic, bleached hair, derivative. Steal riffs from other bands. Messianic complex.

    May 20, 2010

    More Backwards Masking Unmasked Unmasked

    Well readers, I apologise for the delay between drinks on the Backwards Masking front. There’s life in that dead horse yet, and today my new horse arrived in the mail – “More Rock & Country Backward Masking Unmasked. Which promises, at the outset, to be just as edifying. But comes without the signature of a member of the QTC faculty on the inside front cover. Sadly. Though I may ask our principal to sign it. The first one will be worth dollars on ebay. Tens of dollars. If we ever launch our “Brisbane Presbyterian Relics” store…

    But I digress.

    Before moving on to book two, I promised to tell you why Olivia Newton-John is to be avoided, and I don’t feel like I’ve done justice to book one yet… here is a bit of Jacob Aranza’s story – the last chapter in the book.

    I can never really remember not being around music. My sisters sang, and so did my brother. My sisters were even going to record an album at one time, but my dad thought it would lead to their dropping out of school, so he didn’t let them. They dropped out anyway! As far back as I can remember they were listening to Frankie Valle, Neil Sadaka and others playing similar music. I was always more influenced by my brother who was listening to the Beatles, Poco, Jefferson Starship and the Rolling Stones. He once spent the night outside a concert hall just to get tickets to a Rolling Stones concert.

    The crowd that I ran with was just beginning to get into people like Janis Joplin, Black Sabbath, The Guess Who, Led Zeppelin and, my favourite, Jimi Hendrix. Although I had never seen him in concert I treasured every picture, poster of album that I had of him.

    What we’re dealing with here people is the genuine article. A convert from the clutches of the dark and dangerous Rock and Roll.

    I believe we could have titled it the “Age of Black Lights.” Because of the fluorescent lighting fad we bought black light t-shirts, black-light posters, black-light pants, black-light shoes… you name it and we either had it or could get it!

    Awesome man. Black light fever.

    Psychedelics were in and words like “far out, heavy, solid and wow” were in their prime. It seemed like the whole world was taking acid, snorting THC, and dropping mescalin.

    It may be that this book doesn’t translate well from the 80s – but hearing someone talk about the words that used to be cool when they used to be cool is always fodder for laughs… it’s a cheap shot. But it’s hard to imagine “solid” ever being the height of rock and roll rebellion.

    “With rock and roll in my ears, and drugs in my mind, I was trying to understand my role in this messed up world… I was living with my dad and stepmother who was a ‘backslidden Pentecostal woman preacher.’ My friends and I were into the street gangs and we thought stealing and violence were where it was at.”

    But it gets worse. Much worse.

    As if all this wasn’t bad enough, they had just started integration in the schools. Because our school was 90% Mexican a lot of integration was to come its way. By the time it was all over we ended up with a school that was 60% Mexican, 39% Black, and 1% white! Our school already had problems with drugs, sex and violence. All integration did for our school was put the match to the fuse of a bomb that was already there.”

    You know what it was. It was the white people. That one percent. They must have introduced the school to rock and roll…

    But then a preacher arrived, took control of a chaotic situation. And converted 1,000 troubled teens within a week.

    “Our school turned into a revival center! instead of carrying knives and chains, they began to carry Bibles! You could see T-Shirts throughout the classrooms that read “Read your Bible – It’ll scare the hell out of you.”

    I can’t help but think that shirt would have been better off capitalising the Hell.

    Aranza converted, but faced Mormonism at home, he moved out, to live with his mum. Who ran a pub. He poured beers. But started preaching to the patrons. And “God kept me straight every day that I lived there.” He didn’t get drunk, or listen to rock and roll once.

    Olivia Newton-John

    Aranza doesn’t like our (Australia’s) Liv. How dare he.

    “Olivia Newton-John who had been looked on for years as a clean pop singer, set pornography to music with her recent hit “Physical.” A segment of the song says “I took you to an intimate restaurant, then to a suggestive movie, there’s nothing left to talk about unless it’s horizontal.”

    In case you’re confused, at this point, Aranza helpfully lets you know that horizontal means “laying down”…

    These lyrics are basically the reason young people were experimenting with sex in the early 80s.

    To close, here’s Aranza’s take on some of your favourite bands – Twitter style…

    AC/DC: Sexually charged, on a highway to hell.

    Adam and the Ants: Adam, leader of the group, represents rebellion, absurd fashion, and bisexuality.

    Aerosmith: Singer impregnated his girlfriend, married her, was arrested for drugs in high school, and their fans get carried away.

    Allen Parsons Project: Have a pyramid on their album cover, which causes an out of body experience, and they wrote an album about VD.

    America: Singer found God, quit band, lost record deal because the record company said “your fans don’t want to hear about Jesus”…

    Beach Boys: Involved in meditation, believe in reincarnation, sing about girls.

    The Beatles: Drugs, sex, the occult and a messiah complex. Have children out of wedlock. Sponsored Monty Python.

    Bee Gees: Look wholesome, but like drawing naked people. Swear lots. Believe in reincarnation, smoke pot.

    Black Sabbath: Satanic name and imagery, including the “rock and roll”/devil salute (incidentally popularised by their singer – who replaced Ozzy Osbourne – James Dio, who died this week).

    Blue Oyster Cult: Have the word “cult” in their name. Believe in aliens. Question the cross with their logo.

    Richie Blackmore (formerly Deep Purple), Rainbow: Conducts seances, records his music in a haunted castle. “Blackmore’s music and message are certainly not that of a rainbow but rather a “lake of fire.”

    Blondie: Bimbo, drug addled, sex addicts.

    David Bowie: Gay man, married to a lesbian, drug addict. Says “rock is the devil’s music”.

    Eric Clapton: Former heroin addict, world’s greatest guitarist. Treated drug addiction with acupuncture.

    Captain and Tennille: Vegetarians, believe in reincarnation and karma.

    Alice Cooper: Eats animals, sings about dead people, named after a witch.

    John Denver: Messiah complex, looking for meaning in spirituality.

    Doctor Hook: Sing about perverted sex, and drugs, and sex and drugs.

    Eagles: Satanic, friends of satanists. Give drugs to teenagers. Based on media reports, conspiracy theories, and hearsay.

    Earth, Wind, and Fire: Believe in reincarnation. Have a spiritual ritual. Think all religions are the same.

    Fleetwood Mac: Sing about witches, especially a “witch in Whales(sic)”. Not Jonah. The country.

    Pink Floyd: Encourage rebellion (we don’t need no education) – “Mind control? They have it over the minds of millions of young people as they encourage rebellion against authority in the school classrooms.

    The Grateful Dead: Used to be called “the Warlocks.” Sing about destructive habits. Do drugs. Confusing lyrics. “I’m sure some people will be grateful when their music is dead”…

    Hall N’ Oates: Possibly gay, like witches. Not wholesome.

    Jimi Hendrix: Drugs. Plays guitar with his teeth. Sets things on fire. Likes to “hypnotise” people with music. More drugs. Thinks rock is fun. Died from drugs.

    Billy Joel: Does drugs, compares music to sex.

    Jefferson Starship: Singer named bastard child ‘god’, did drugs, called rock “church,” sing about drugs. Warning to those wanting to fly in the Starship: “Flight pattern ends in death.”

    Jethro Tull: Suggested Jesus doesn’t like denim, but prefers corduroys. Swear when singing about Jesus.

    Elton John: Sings about rebellion, disguised as wholesome music. Sings about prostitution and sniffing glue. Possibly gay. Outed by Bob Larson (the exorcist? Possibly).

    Janis Joplin: Born in Texas. Died of a drug overdose (possibly related?).

    Judas Priest: Bad name. Incorrect message of salvation.

    Kiss: Evil, wear makeup. Sex addicts. Possibly satanic.

    Led Zeppelin: Delved into occult. Use backwards masking.

    Meat Loaf: Thinks rock is supernatural and claims to be possessed on stage.

    Bette Midler: Likes pot, flashed her audience.

    Iron Maiden: Playing with occultic fire.

    Barry McGuire: Started “protest music,” starred in Hair, became a Christian.

    Jim Morrison: Messiah complex, died at 27, flashed his audience, promiscuous.

    Nazareth: Into the occult and demons.

    Ted Nuggent: killed a raccoon, scraped it off the pavement, cooked, and ate it. (This is literal, not a metaphor).

    Ozzy Osbourne: Claims the help of the Devil. Treated for rabies after eating a bat.

    The Police: Take drugs, sing about Zen. “Watch out for the Police.”

    Prince: A man who wears a bikini. Swears. Sings perverted songs.

    Queen: Name comes from homosexual slang, Freddy Mercury wears makeup and tight pants.

    Patty Smith: Sings about horses. Probably a lesbian. Doesn’t want Jesus to have her sins.

    REO Speedwagon: Sings about infidelity. Got into music to meet girls. Claim to have a “cult following”…

    Rolling Stones: Equate sex with dancing. Do drugs. Talk about the Devil. Singer has rubber lips.

    The Who: Break their guitars. Follow eastern religions. Do drugs. Have fans.

    May 20, 2010

    YouTube Tuesday: Colbert v O’Reilly

    Not really all that funny unless you happen to be a Colbert fan who knows a bit about American television. I know I’m a day late. But essay due dates wait for no man…

    May 19, 2010

    Slayer goes to Church

    I really need to stop watching YouTube videos on the subject of Christian music and Rock and Roll. But this is brilliant. Look what happens if you dub a Slayer song over the top of people doing stuff “in the spirit”…

    Via Jesus Needs New PR.

    May 15, 2010

    Highlighted thinking

    Amazon has released a look at the passages most highlighted on the Kindle. I reckon this is pretty interesting data. This gives a little bit of insight into the thoughts of nerdy people who buy e-book readers. Do people highlight things because they are profound? Or because they agree with them? I don’t know, but worryingly on both counts – the Shack dominates the top ten, it scores five of the top ten results and nine of the top twenty…

    They’re all pretty pithy philosophical mantras representing a protestant view of the world – valuing hard work, success, sacrifice, trust, relationships, and a sense of the spiritual.

    Here are the top ten, and their books…

    1. Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell) – “three things—autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward—are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.”
    2. The Shack (William P Young) – “Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.”
    3. The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown) all caps are his – “WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OURSELVES ALONE DIES WITH US; WHAT WE HAVE DONE FOR OTHERS AND THE WORLD REMAINS AND IS IMMORTAL.”
    4. The Shack – “Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself—to serve.”
    5. The Shack – “Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me.”
    6. The Shack – “Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perception—what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. So check your perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms—what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn’t make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don’t want to trust them more than me.”
    7. The Lost Symbol – “Katherine had been fascinated by McTaggart’s book The Intention Experiment, and her global, Web-based study—theintentionexperiment.com—aimed at discovering how human intention could affect the world.”
    8. Outliers – “Outliers are those who have been given opportunities—and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”
    9. The Shack – “To force my will on you,” Jesus replied, “is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy.”
    10. Have a Little Faith: A True Story (Mitch Albom) – “Be satisfied.” That’s it? “Be grateful.” That’s it? “For what you have. For the love you receive. And for what God has given you.”

    A little analysis

    E-book platforms are more common in the United States than they are here – they’re not necessarily just for geeks (if it was a Venn diagram the Geek side would cover slightly more territory than the “keen reader” side (I can’t back this up with research – it’s all hearsay).

    Eight of those ten quotes are from books related to Christianity. The one at #7 has probably been highlighted so that people can look up the web address later.

    The two Outliers quotes are essentially outliers – but they’re both to do with success and career satisfaction, and a quest for meaning in that sphere (though arguably in all spheres in #8).

    The rest represent what I think is a mix of Christianity, philosophy and psychology, #10 could be drawn from either Buddhism or Christianity with a zen like push for contentment (and thankfulness), #9, #4, #3 are about how we treat others (with the implication that we should serve them), #4 and #5 are about relationships, #4, #6 and #9 are about power dynamics, and #5 and #6 are about trust.

    It’s interesting that these, and the next ten on the list, could almost be defined as being quotes about happiness and the meaning of life – and a number of them tie that to fulfilling relationships and service of others. What I haven’t told you is that quote #1 (about career success) was highlighted by 37% more people (1749) than number #2 (about grace) (1270).

    May 15, 2010

    Yo-Yo, wassup

    This guy is my hero.

    K-Strass is a so called “Yo-Yo” maestro. If you only watch one YouTube video that I post (ever) make it that one.

    He pulled an elaborate hoax on five breakfast television shows, claiming to have won a series of yo-yo competitions, and to be representing a children’s not-for-profit organisation. You can read a news story about his appearances here.

    In each case, producers at the television stations received an e-mail from Joe Guehrke, saying he represented Strasser and ZimZam Yo-Yo, “the world’s first ‘green’ ” nonprofit toymaker.

    Guehrke told the stations that Strasser, whom he called a “master yo-yo artist,” would be in their area to bring his environmental message and “zany sense of humor” to kids.

    Guehrke wrote in one e-mail to a TV station that Strasser was a dynamic talk-show guest who comes “equipped with a roster of amazing yo-yo tricks, juggling and fun tips about how kids and adults alike can take small steps to make the world a greener place.”

    The e-mail solicitation stated that Strasser was a runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1995, grand champion at the Pensacola Regional and was nominated for the Walt Greenberg Award in 2000.

    There is no Walt Greenberg Award in yo-yo, and there is no evidence Pensacola ever hosted a yo-yo tournament or that Strasser won a rookie of the year award.

    But the solicitation was good enough for the bookers on the TV stations.

    Some more videos…

    In this one he announces a charitable inner city program called “Yo-yos for Hobos”…

    Here’s another appearance… where he leaves his phone on…

    Yo-Yo Master Pulls Hoax on Morning News Show – watch more funny videos

    Here’s a story on his appearances…

    May 14, 2010

    Ironing Man

    Tony Starch is Ironing Man.

    May 13, 2010

    Hacking Hawkings

    I hereby launch a conspiracy theory into the wild.

    Respected theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has a degenerative muscle disease that means he communicates with the aid of a machine.

    In recent weeks Hawking has made two slightly controversial claims – claims that if not made by a respected theoretical physicist would be laughed off as science fiction. Firstly, he claimed that we shouldn’t seek aliens out because they’re unlikely to be friendly. Secondly, he suggested that time travel is possible under certain parameters.

    I think that it is plausible that some science fiction geeks have hacked into Hawking’s computerised voice box forcing him to make such outlandish claims.

    May 13, 2010