I feel like I’ve hit blogging gold. After all these years of meaningless toil it appears that the “World’s most popular blogging anesthesiologist” over at bookofjoe has visited my site – because I’ve scored a link.
Awesomeness.
Dedicated pie area
Oppression of pie eaters is everywhere – no longer can one take one’s pie eating break at work without attracting the scowls of colleagues. No more. Up with this we shall not put… with just a permanent marker there’ll be dedicated pie eating areas in all the least popular real estate in town…
Musical maturity
I thought this piece of Graphjammy goodness was too good to pass up after last week’s music debate.
I put U2 on the right hand side.
Nacho, Nacho Man…
Homer Simpson spawned a legacy of men wishing they could wear their dinner on their heads with such panache.
Well now you can. Thanks to this little tutorial all things are possible.
Fun with science
Squirt your (ex-)friends in the face with this “now that you mention it, it’s obvious” practical joke from Wired, it’s harnessing the awesome powers of science…
Cake that’ll fill the gaps
In honour of Tetris’s 25th birthday I give you this. A geeky Tetris wedding cake. Beautiful. No doubt my wife (and little sister number 1 – who made our cake) is thankful that we’re already married.
This is part of an article featuring geeky wedding cakes which also featured this Mario cake…
Extreme Segway
Segways are our future. So it’s great to know that in the future there’ll still be something like Motocross for bogans to enjoy.
Speaking of Motocross reminds me of an old motorbike racing game Paul (best man at my wedding – currently in South America and occasional reader) and I bought once where you could design your own awesome tracks and win money to upgrade your bikes… it was awesome.
Anyway, I found this at Gizmodo.
Spider man strikes again
David Thorne gained international (or at least internet) notoriety for trying to pay his bill with a drawing of a spider.
So he’s not the kind of guy you should send this sort of letter to. You’re really just asking for trouble…
There’s some pretty funny stuff on his site – but also some not so funny stuff. Be warned.
Here’s a sample from the string of emails he sent to his real estate agent…
“Currently I only have eight dogs but one is expecting puppies and I am very excited by this. I am hoping for a litter of at least ten as this is the number required to participate in dog sled racing. I have read every Jack London novel in preparation and have constructed my own sled from timber I borrowed from the construction site across the road during the night. I have devised a plan which I feel will ensure me taking first place in the next national dog sled championships. For the first year of the puppies life I intend to say the word mush then chase them violently around the apartment while yelling and hitting saucepan lids together. I have estimated that the soundproofing of my apartment should block out at least sixty percent of the noise and the dogs will learn to associate the word mush with great fear so when I yell it on race day, the panic and released adrenaline will spur them on to being winners. I am so confident of this being a foolproof plan that I intend to sell all my furniture the day before the race and bet the proceeds on coming first place.”
A bunch of links – June 5, 2009
- To be honest, I can’t understand why there’s still debate about abortion.
- Chinese Election
- Thoughts on Music for the Media-Gorged: Part 1
- How long is a million minutes?
- Best TV of the decade
- Getting Along
- Binder Clips As DIY Emergency Cuff Links
- Stop Writing Mid-Sentence To Ward Off Writer’s Block
- Joan or John? How Do You Minister the Gospel to the quot;Transgenderedquot;?
- What kind of discussion is this?
- No way back for dumped Symonds
- YouTube + Twitter + Facebook = YouTwitFace
- Ideas for uni ministry: Encouraging Bible reading
Blog Off: Update
Simone now has 19 posts (including a post that essentially amounted to her reposting my Sizzler toast recipe…)
Ben has 26 posts. All of them original.
I have 50. I’m going away for the long weekend though – so I suspect the others to put on a bit of a lead (remembering that I’m now on 0 after knocking over the 50 post handicap).
Crunch decision
There are dumb lawsuits and then there’s this law suit…
On May 21, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she had purchased “Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries” because she believed “crunchberries” were real fruit. The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said “berries” were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls, and that although the product did contain some strawberry fruit concentrate, it was not otherwise redeemed by fruit. “
It would seem there’s a legal precedent with a case involving “Froot Loops”…
The judge put the plaintiff in her place:
This Court is not aware of, nor has Plaintiff alleged the existence of, any actual fruit referred to as a “crunchberry.” Furthermore, the “Crunchberries” depicted on the [box] are round, crunchy, brightly-colored cereal balls, and the [box] clearly states both that the Product contains “sweetened corn & oat cereal” and that the cereal is “enlarged to show texture.”
Missing baby found in Sandwich
That would have been an incredibly fun headline to write… Especially because it’s actually not as bad as it sounds.
The story is a little sad – as any stories where children live in broken and violent homes. But not as disturbing as the picture that pops into one’s head…
“Police say John Fielding was drunk and had assaulted the infant’s mother before he sped off with his daughter. A short time later, Fielding was found in Sandwich, MA.”
That’s got to win points for misleading people…
Crap Sound 2
Wow. So I stirred up a hornets nest of angry female commenters (and one male), eager to defend U2’s honour.
And I regret nothing.
I thought about it, and for a while I decided that I was being harsh, that it’s wrong to judge people on the basis of their musical taste. But then I decided that’s exactly what I do. I am unapologetically prejudiced when it comes to Music. That’s why I own a T-Shirt that says “I hate the bands you like” and another that says “you have bad taste in music”… In fact. If you like U2 you should go to this site. Consider it an online support group.
I measure people – and how much I have in common with them – by what’s on their CD shelf, iPod, DVD rack or book shelf. And why shouldn’t I. You no doubt judge me on things equally superficial.
Will I not love you on that basis? No. Robyn had some Christian music CDs when we started dating – and some equally embarrassing music, and I have the Backstreet Boys as a musical skeleton in my closet. I still love her (and she me), though we disagree.
For those not reading the comments here’s some of what went down (well, what I said… other people can make their own points known in the comments – or on their own blogs)…
“Understanding that something is a subjective taste should not stop me objecting to the subjective taste of others.
I don’t like modern fashion – should I not be allowed to voice my opinion on that? Besides, I see providing all these alternative bands as a public service to my readers.
I wonder too, if the label “alternative” could just be applied to “those bands not trying to be U2″.”
Here are the things I’ve actually said about U2 (in the comments on other posts):
- “If you listen to U2 your musical taste is boring and your (clef) palate undefined.”
- “This article pretty much sums up why I don’t like U2 ”
- “They’re also not very good. Musically or lyrically. In my opinion. They are champions of inoffensive blandness.”
- “I’m happy for you to like U2. I’m sure you have reasons. I don’t like U2.”
- “It’s where I write my opinion. On things. Like U2. And how they should retire. They used to be cool. Now they’re old men. ”
- “I wonder too, if the label “alternative” could just be applied to “those bands not trying to be U2″.”
- “Why listen to one band that tries to appeal to every aspect of musicallity and becomes middle of the road when you can embrace diversity which lets you appreciate the whole road, bit by bit?”
- “There’s six bands in a list of five bands that I find more sonically pleasurable than U2″
- “Bono’s public Christianity makes him a bit of a sacred cow. But I don’t like to criticise things without offering solutions here are 5 bands that are better than U2. In my opinion”