Category: Web

I guess this was shown during the CES keynote this year, but I just saw it for the first time while watching the keynotes for the MS Office SharePoint Conference this AM.

… now I’m just annoyed.

here’s Elmo!

After changing the batteries on her son’s Elmo doll, Elmo appears to be channeling Jack Nicholson.  The programmable doll is able to learn a child’s name and repeat it as part of a variety of phrases.  A glitch, however, makes it sound like it’s saying "Kill James".

Death-threat Elmo brightened my day a bit until I watched the CNN video.  What killed the buzz?  The mother is obviously angling for a cash settlement from Fisher-Price.  Fisher-Price offered to replace the toy and investigate, so why does the mother still have the toy which she states has her "distraught" and is causing her a "hassle"?  She clearly thinks she’s holding a little red lottery ticket.

C’mon lady, take the replacement doll and laugh it off!  Worry less about how your kid is affected by the doll and more about what he learns from how you handle the situation.

I coworker sent these to me… they’re too fun not to share:

There were a bunch more fun visual advertisements in the e-mail, I stuck a bunch in a cool advertising gallery on our picture site.  Enjoy!

… trying to absorb a whole new job is really taking it out of me.  Perhaps a little stop motion to get me going…

(thanks Jason for the vid)

… but rock stars have a shorter expected life span due to [gasp] use of alcohol and drugs.

If you have a choice in the matter, however, be a pop star in Europe… you’ll live longer.

You can read all the shocking details in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.  While on their site you can read other fascinating studies like “Drinking water makes you less thirsty” and “Playing in the street can cause injury”.

I’m going to need Babel Fish’s bimbo-to-English translator for this one.

Video: Miss Teen USA 2007

Natural history museums are cool.  Called “the dead zoo” by a friend, these taxidermic havens are filled with the preserved bodies of all sorts of creatures.  While not explicitly designed to scare small children, the exhibits can be, at times, a bit morbid.  Walking through a room of dead beasties makes me wonder… what do taxidermists do when they’re not busy cramming carcases full of sawdust?  

Sarina Brewer is a cross between a taxidermist an artist and Edger Allen Poe.  When she’s not working as a taxidermist for museums or working on wildlife rescue projects she recycles animal parts into fantasy creatures.  The results range from the fantastic to the truly bizarre.

Using reclaimed animal parts from road kill, victims of animal trade and animals that died of natural causes, Sarina creates taxidermic displays.  She does do traditional work, but the really cool stuff is, however, her “fantasy work”.  There is, of course, the classic  Jackalope… but even her squirrel liquor decanter can be considered tame as you browse deeper into her body of work.  Using her taxidermic skilz and fine art degree Sarina blends the animal bits into curious, fantastic and sometimes disturbing creatures. 

Creepy?  Yes.  But how cool would it be to have your own flying monkey?

Paula and I were chatting about getting change (for money) this morning and it reminded me of the old SNL skit for the Citiwide First Bank of Change… I had to, of course go find it.

Is this cool?

I showed this video of a “singing Tesla coil” to Paula and she just kind of shrugged.  It’s a solid-state Tesla coil owned by an EE student at U of I which is able to create tones by sending out sparks in precise bursts.  Day-um.

I think this thing is wicked cool.  Then again… perhaps this just tests if you are a guy.

My computer career started in IT support… I didn’t realize how long the role had been around.

Video: The first help desk ever

(Thanks for the video mom!)