The Puddler's Tale
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 2143 hrs
Mike posted this meme challenge over on his blog and said everyone had to do it. I don't normally go in for this sort of thing, but it's similar to a meme I was planning on doing. It also reminds me of reading the fortunes from fortune cookies and adding "in bed" to the end, because of the silliness that inevetiably ensues.
That said, I ended up with some very silly answers, as well as some with which I would strongly agree. Of the 4,154 songs on my iPod (really? Only 4,154? Hmm), below are the 24 songs that I ended up with.
If you'd like to play along (which you should because it's fun), here are the directions:
- Put your iTunes on shuffle.
- For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
- You must write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds.
How would you describe yourself?
Every Moment - Rogue Wave
Yeah, that's probably pretty true.
What do you like in a guy/girl?
Good Girl Gone Bad - Rihanna
Definitely true!
What is your motto?
I Crush Everything - Jonathan Coulton
Now you know why I can't have nice things.
What do your friends think of you?
Yoga Means Union - Ambulance Ltd.
You're my friends, you'll have to tell me what it means.
What do you think about often?
Par Linghade - Safri Boys
What do your parents think of you?
Video Tapez (ft. Del the Funky Homosapien) - AmpLive
What do you think of your best friend?
Lewis (Mistreated) - Radiohead
What do you think of the person you like?
The House at the Top of the Tree - They Might Be Giants
What do you want to be when you grow up?
In The Blood - Better Than Ezra
Um...
What do you think when you see the person you like?
Full Circle Track - DJ Dara
I'll bet that this isn't actually the name of the song. I still have a lot of MP3s with incorrect information. Correcting them is a long, uphill battle.
What song will they play at your wedding?
How Ya Want It - Jungle Brothers - DJ Panzah Zandahz
Wait, this wasn't played! My confidence in the validity of this meme is seriously shaken! This song is from the album Radiohead Remixed. Check the torrent sites to see if you can still find it.
What will they play at your funeral?
Lyla - Oasis
If anyone plays Oasis at my funeral, you can just kill me. Oh, wait. For the record, this is on a compilation album.
What is your hobby/interest?
Desolate - Maria Kalaniemi
From the damn cool album, Bellow Poetry.
What is your biggest fear?
KGBtv - rx
Nothing like lousy Soviet television to get your heart pumping!
What is your biggest secret?
No Surprises - Radiohead
This could be interpreted to be very true.
What do you think of your friends?
I Bless The Day - Cyba Space feat. Shanie - DJ Dara
Seriously, you guys are great!
What will you repost this as?
The Puddler's Tale - Stan Rogers
What is your theme song?
Na Hala O Naue - Keola Beamer
I had my fingers crossed for something cool like the Imperial Death March, but I have to say, I'm definitely not disappointed by this.
What do you think of your family?
Executive Transvestite - Eddie Izzard
Now I know this meme is lying!
What is your best friends theme song?
A Girl Like Me - Rihanna
What is your mood right now?
Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra
As in, "Damn this snow! I'm ready for a summer wind!"
If your heart could talk what would it say?
Whatever Lola Wants - Sarah Vaughn
I do have a hard time saying no to pretty girls.
What do your coworkers think of you?
Million Dollar Question - Radiohead
What does your future look like?
Lump - The Presidents of The United States of America
Well that about sums it up, doesn't it?
So there ya go. If you play along, post a link in the comments!
Bacteria vs. Viruses
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1605 hrs
I just saw a banner ad for Microsoft's antivirus product, One Care. The basic rundown is this: a bunch of viruses are hanging out and dividing, when all of a sudden, One Care farts on them (seriously, Microsoft, a green cloud?), thereby killing them. Yay-hooray, right? Well, there's one tiny problem: the viruses they show are actually bacteria. Take a look for yourself:
Obviously that last frame is one I threw on there for when this inevitably hits Google Images. Here's the original ad.
I asked Morah (who works with bacteria and viruses at her job) her opinion and she agreed that these seem more like bacteria than viruses. After all, they look like bacteria, viruses don't divide the way bacteria do, and this looks like it's supposed to be either on a blood agar plate (viruses aren't grown on that type of media) or on a wet mount under a microscope (to see viruses requires an electron microscope).
There are a number of major differences between bacteria and viruses, but lately, no one seems to be able to tell which is which. Things like MRSA and bird flu, have given the general public an increased awareness of the microscopic world around us. Unfortunately, much of what the public hears is factually incorrect.
Several months ago, MRSA was a hot topic here in Spokane, as it was across the nation. The local news anchors kept incorrectly calling the bacteria a virus, much to the chagrin of my wife and I (having working in T.V. news, I know that the anchors were probably just reading off of the teleprompter, so the producer who wrote virus instead of bacteria is to blame).
Explaining all of the differences between the two is beyond the scope of this blog (not to mention my own personal knowledge), but Dr. Greene offers a pretty good basic explanation:
Viruses are tiny geometric structures that can only reproduce inside a living cell. They range in size from 20 to 250 nanometers. Outside of a living cell, a virus is dormant, but once inside, it takes over the resources of the host cell and begins the production of more virus particles.
Bacteria are one-celled living organisms. The average bacterium is 1,000 nanometers long. All bacteria are surrounded by a cell wall. They can reproduce independently, and inhabit virtually every environment on earth, including soil, water, hot springs, ice packs, and the bodies of plants and animals.
Given their differences, it's really not very hard to keep the two straight, so there isn't an excuse!
It seems to me that large companies, such as Microsoft, should have the resources to do some basic fact-checking, and companies of any size upon which the public relies for information have a responsibility to disseminate information that is, to the best of their knowledge, factually correct.
Don't know who to ask? Surely you can think of at least one person you know who's married to a microbiologist.
Friday Funday CXCVI
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 2130 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
Ukulele - Blitzkrieg Bop [del.icio.us]
The Ramones + ukuleles = awesome.
Andreas Helgstrand - WEG 2006 Freestyle Final [del.icio.us]
I... I don't even know what to say about this video. The commentators are clearly in awe of the performance. I'm in awe that the crowd for this is so big. One of the commentators is audibly choked up when he delivers the best quote of the video: "Well it's not often that I'm lost for words..."
Compilation of Reporters Getting Owned [del.icio.us]
This is what makes live television great.
Human Snake [del.icio.us]
Very cool. This must have taken forever to shoot.
Werner Herzog gets shot by LA sniper during interview [del.icio.us]
Really, is there ever a time when Werner Herzog isn't being shot at?
National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 2135 hrs
I just wanted to point out that it's National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week.
Morah always says that, at the hospital, attention is paid to other groups of workers (such as nurses, doctors, and even volunteers) when they have their weeks, but when National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week rolls around, no one says anything.
So be nice to all of the medical laboratory professionals you know, which for most people who read this blog, is probably just Morah. Still, leave her a nice comment, or something.
Friday Funday CXCV
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1644 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
Moja-Mogi [del.icio.us]
I think the best way to describe this link is to call it interactive hair.
Cat Playing A Theremin [del.icio.us]
Just like the title says. Also, the cats in this video are some of the cutest in the world.
Maya Ball [del.icio.us]
A neat little Breakout-style game, but much more visually interesting.
Tropi Golf [del.icio.us]
A 3D golf game featuring monkeys! It's kinda tricky, though.
Sweded Tron [del.icio.us]
Everyone loves Tron. Now everyone should love this. It's pretty awesome (I especially love the "making of" footage at the end).
Totally Bizarre Advertising
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0912 hrs
We've all seen those annoying little Flash-based banner ads that entreat you to play some game in the hopes of winning an iPod or something similar. They range from actually fun (I once saw a "Wild West" shooting gallery one) to fairly odd ("outrun the gorilla!"), but below is one of the most bizarre I've ever seen:
As if the premise of a competition composed entirely of slapping a sumo wrestler's belly wasn't odd enough, the prize for out-slapping your opponent is that you will, "find out your crush's name!"
Wha?! How does that make any sense at all? I often wonder who comes up with this stuff, which leads me to wonder who pays for it. No self-respecting company could possibly think that this union is a natural one. Can you imagine if Apple had a banner ad like this? "Eat 50 eggs and win a free iPod horoscope!"
Friday Funday CXCIV
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1709 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
Creepy Girl from MotionPortrait [del.icio.us]
Really all you need to know is the "creepy girl" part.
Gershon Kingsley - Popcorn [del.icio.us]
I've always been a fan of the song, Popcorn, and here's a recording of it from 1969. Especially cool is this 2007 video of Gershon Kingsley, the song's composer, playing it on the piano.
The Coke Zero Game [del.icio.us]
It's a big hokey, but it managed to entertain me.
Wake Up Calls [del.icio.us]
This is a neat little game where you try to wake up as many butterflies as you can.
The Soulcage Department [del.icio.us]
This is the website of German animation studio, The Soulcage Department. Click on "Our Work" to see their videos.
Friday Funday CXCIII
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 0944 hrs
Friday Funday brings you some fun and interesting links from my travels around the internet. Funday links will open in a new window.
Links that are not safe for work appear in red.
FUNGTASTIC! [del.icio.us]
Even attempting to describe this photo would diminish the experience of viewing it. I should warn you that it's mildly NSFW.
The Artwork of Greg Stones [del.icio.us]
This is mostly up here for Emily, although I think everyone else will enjoy it as well. Stones has a lot of "normal" nude drawings, but the reason I've linked to it are for the significantly less quotidian images. From what I've seen, this one is my favorite, and this one comes in a close second.
Chris recites T-PAIN [del.icio.us]
What is it about white people reading rap lyrics that's hilarious?
Smack of Jellyfish [del.icio.us]
Prepare yourselves for one of the best websites evar. One day I wondered aloud to Morah, "if a group of lions is called a pride, what do you call a group of house cats?" I've always enjoyed collective nouns (I recently discovered that there are also sometimes special words for pairs of animals, as well as groups of 3), so this website is right up my alley. And since you're probably now wondering about it, a group of cats is called a clowder.
Leningrad Cowboys & Red Army Choir - Sweet Home Alabama [del.icio.us]
Were you sufficiently prepared for Smack of Jellyfish? Well, don't go getting all unprepared, because this is the single most awesome clip on YouTube (and possibly the internets in general). It's everything awesome about the '80s, all rolled into just over 2 minutes. No kidding, when I first watching this clip, I was transfixed.
The Ongoing Spam Battle
Posted by Thomas J. Brown at 1041 hrs
After a recent deluge of spam comments to my blog, I have decided to block all e-mails coming from the mail.com domain. While mail.com appears to be a legitimate service, I get enough spam coming from their servers to warrant blocking it. Adding further to the decision is the fact that I have never, in almost 7 years of operating this blog, received a legitimate comment from anyone using a mail.com address. If a legitimate user does come along with a mail.com address, well, that's just too bad for them.
What really irritates me is that a lot of the spam is coming from addresses at yahoo.com and gmail.com. It's also doing a great job of fooling MovableType's spam filter, so nearly everything is getting posted. The only protection I have against those types of spam comments are to carefully track the IP addresses and ban the ones that seem to be causing the most trouble. I don't like banning IPs, since they're so easily spoofed, but when 3 or 4 dozen e-mails all come from the same handful of IPs, it's time to do some banning.
So the battle continues. For now, I'm winning. I hate to think that a day will come when I have to make changes that inconvenience users, or worse, stop accepting comments altogether.
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