Thinking in vain...

Gives me nightmares. At least it did Monday morning. I tend to have the most vivid dreams if I wake up early and then go back to sleep. Unfortunately for me, Monday that meant a nightmare.

My nightmares have 3 general themes:

1. I'm walking/standing on some extremely high precipice or something - either a bridge or a mountain or a ledge and I'm desperately trying not to fall off.
2. I'm attempting not to drown in water.
3. Michael Myers

Monday would have been the third theme. I hate these. I can sometimes figure out the symbolism in the first two. This third I got nothing. Sometimes I catch a few minutes of a movie on TV, sometimes I don't. Monday I saw nothing.

It started out innocuous enough, I was taking photographs of a 30-40 year old crime scene. Well, I guess that was kind of ominous. I'm not sure why I was taking photos, but there I was. Several of my coworkers were there, which led me to believe that the crime scene was in one of our offices in another city (Richmond specifically but I've never been there or seen it). Well, the other give away was the fact that they were asking me what I was doing and I told them I was taking pictures for our boss.

The crime scene was at the end of a very long hallway and I was taking photos at the other end from the actual scene. And there was yellow carpet. Horrible yellow carpet. And ugly white walls.

At this point, a acquaintance/friend of mine was standing behind me. Apparently not totally weird in my dream state as he lives in Richmond. I believe it is now at his suggestion that we stay the night and see if the killer comes back or we stay so I can take pictures of ghosts or something. I'm a little fuzzy about this. I'm also a little fuzzy as to why I said yes as that would be insane behavior on my part.

Jump to that night. We're hiding in a tiny, tiny hallway where we can see the crime scene. Oddly enough - no camera. You can reference the diagram I drew. Yeah, I drew one. Don't judge, I did it rather quickly when I couldn't make what it looked like make sense in words.




So there we are, hiding. And then all of a sudden - there he is. Yep, it would be Michael Myers. Apparently, this is his crime scene. So he's standing there looking down at the carpet and then he slowly turns his head and looks at us. Cue the horribly creepy music.

We make a snap decision to jump up on to the partition, since it doesn't go all the way to the ceiling and run for it. He lifts me up, I run to the other side, slumped of course since the ceiling's like 3 feet above where I jumped. When I get to the other side, I jump down land on some grass (???), manage to hurt my leg and all of a sudden I'm now in the neighborhood I grew up in, which is not in Richmond.

I'm not sure what happened to my friend. He's no longer in the dream. More than likely he sacrificed himself to give me more time to get away. I'm not sure he'd do that in real life. Either way, it made me sad. But it made me sad when I woke up because, remember, I still have a deranged lunatic after me.

I am now inside my house waiting to see if he also teleported and followed me. My sister is in her room asleep... and I decided at some point to run outside the house to save her if he's followed me. I look out the window and yep, he's there.

Holy sh*t. I run for my life out the back door, to the front yard, across the street all the time looking behind me to see that looming figure that manages to keep up with me no matter how fast I run. I then run into the backyard of my neighbors and see all of them in their kitchen. I, of course, run to the back door and scream for them to open it. When he does I beg him to let me in and call the police.

This is when my alarm goes off and I realize I just killed my neighbor's entire family. That is, I guess, if I'd stayed asleep. And of course, I killed my friend.

Freaked me the hell out. I was terrified to look out the window for fear that he'd be standing there.

I have MLK Day off. I'm going to enjoy it.

Oh, and also lay on an ice-pack and watch The Discovery Channel because I fell down my steps this morning and attempted to run yesterday.

The video I first saw here. And all I got is a "WTF?"

Best advice regarding the video from The Joe:

Don't let the aliens get you too! Smack a scientologist today!

And he pointed me to Scientology Lies... just in case, I assume.

Just... wow, go look.

I don't know how old this video is. Maybe it's not very old. Either way, it is extremely amusing to college-aged girls.

Either way, this kid is PRICELESS.

I wondered if this would still be funny now that I have gotten some sleep... and yeah, it's still amusing to me.

This is the blood pressure cuff from the ER last two Saturdays ago.

Take a look at the graphics. The guy in the box is a normal adult. Then there's a bigger guy, then, I presume, a giant... with a deformed right arm. So giants with deformed right arms have to have the blood pressure cuff on their leg.

My mother said that was for men with large biceps. I don't think she thought it was funny as I did.

10AM Tides Me Over 'Til I Can Get Out to My Anarchist Compound

Boss: What's your password? I want to sign in and test the new system we set up.

Office gal: 'Detonate.'

Boss: [Silence.]

Office gal: What? I like typing 'Detonate' and hitting 'Enter'! It's extremely satisfying!

60 East 42nd Street
New York, New York

via Overheard in the Office, Jan 7, 2008

toothpastefordinner.com

It goes with the coat...

The original post is tagged for removal (see):

HAUNTED TV - Toshiba TW40 40
HDTV television I am selling my 5 year old Toshiba HDTV because I am a college student who is unable to transport it to another school. It is rather large because its a projection and weighs about 100 pounds. It works fine, has a nice glossy screen and is in good condition.

There is one caveat that I must bring to the buyer's attention: This TV is almost certainly haunted by the spirit of a 1970's-era baptist pastor named Klent Kloom. He is harmless, but the buyer should be comfortable with cries of "HALLELUJIA"" (sic) at unearthly hours of night. I am unfamiliar with exorcism and cannot find a good reference on the internet. ...

But the best part the experts that the author of the article found to help with the haunted TV in the event that he couldn't sell it. He used Profnet, an online service that "connects reporters easily and quickly with expert sources at no charge."

Expert #1 Dali Wiederhoft, vice president of Estipona Group Advertising in Reno:

"Try wearing an aluminum foil beanie while watching the TV. It won't do much for the shouting minister, but it'll keep his head warm and it helps with reception."

Expert #2 self-described Baptist-in-recovery Neil Gussman of Philadelphia's Chemical Heritage Foundation:

"It is quite impossible to exorcise a Baptist preacher from a hallelujah-friendly venue. To get Kloom out of the TV, the new owner only has to play three consecutive French-language films and Kloom will find a stadium sound system to in-dwell."

Last and possibly best—expert #3 Brian Olson of Video Professor, Inc., a Colorado-based self-paced computer software tutorial company, i.e. a tech guy:

"Those old Toshibas are pretty big," he wrote. "Maybe a preacher is really inside the darn thing. He needs to open the back and check. If it is indeed haunted by a Baptist preacher, I'd donate it to a Baptist Church and take the tax deduction."

Article here.

Best part - the frog needed "grounding."

"Ten people subsequently won the lottery which drew crowds to the house - and then they started losing. So I have had to ground her. I promised one day to take her to the seaside, and her dream has come true."

Read the rest.

I know, I know. I've got a million things to post. Well, not really - but you all know me. I do have a back-up, it's just been a busy week.

Thank you to everyone for your sweet and supportive comments and emails. You guys are awesome. :D

He's doing much better now - he'll be in a rehab center for the next 2 weeks and then he should be able to go home. My week also got a lot better and I'm going to try to catch up on my sleep. But now, off to the nursing home!

VENIAMIN'S HUMAN SLINKY

Sent to me by iSkew

Facebook Ads Make You the Star -- And You May Not Know It

But are Facebook users aware of the results of their so-called social actions? "When you become a fan of Blockbuster, nothing tells the [Facebook member] what that means," says Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester Research. Indeed, when you add Blockbuster's Movie Clique application, there is no notification that you are allowing Blockbuster to use your name and profile picture in a display ad. Owyang suggests that Facebook ought to inform users up front and make it very clear what "becoming a fan" entails, or change the system to an opt-in model. Currently, there is not even any way to opt-out of participation in Social Ads, other than by avoiding associating yourself with any corporate brands on Facebook.

Whole article here.

I dreamt I got punched in the nose last night. This girl punched me hard enough that it broke it. When I woke up it still hurt and I had to double-check whether or not my nose was actually broken.

I was also taking dance from Anjelica Huston. Possibly ballet. But then I couldn't get down the stairs from her third floor studio because they were too steep.

There's a good 4 other scenes in this dream but I can't remember them.

Yes, yes... I'm a day late. :p

I hope everyone had a relaxing day yesterday. I'm always a little sad when the holiday season ends. Oh well, back to reality.

I'm still recuperating a bit from New Year's Eve. Wasn't doing *exactly* what I wanted, but I made the most of it. And I suppose it's really about being with good friends and that's really what I was doing. Although, I'm a little worried to see the collection of pictures from the other night.

Anyways, enjoy. :)


[Image from The Chalkboard Manifesto]

I'd never seen this. Maybe because this is the kind of commercial that gets shown on channels I don't watch ala ESPN.

ESPN has cooler commercials than the History Channel.

The first time I saw this commercial was in the theater last Saturday. Apparently no one else had seen it either. It came on, the whole theater got quiet and then when the first guy jumps into the "pool" the whole theater went "Ooooh." And that's not an exaggeration.

[Image: Biblical scenes as seen via Google Earth; by The Glue Society]

Found via BLGGBLOG, via The Creative Review

Don't Make Me Come Down There and Rescue You
Police helicopter hovering with spotlight on suspect, over loudspeaker:

Stop running. You can't get away. Just give yourself up. Stop running... No, don't go in the water. You won't make it across. No, don't-- Yeah, it's fucking cold, isn't it, dumbass? Just get out of the water!

American River Parkway
Sacramento, California

Overheard by: Ree

via Overheard Everywhere, Dec 17, 2007

I read that as Antichrist and I was *really* confused.

Head of the local council Etelka Repas said: "It is crazy - I would have thought it was impossible to steal an entire beach. It was cleaned up and covered for the winter and then suddenly this week we saw that it had totally disappeared - beach and all."

Via Ananova

toothpastefordinner.com

An elderly Hindu priest who claimed his right leg had magical powers was attacked by thieves who chopped it off... Meanwhile Kondaiah, who was discovered in a drugged state with his leg missing, is said to be recovering in hospital, although he is far from happy about what happened to him.

Read the rest of the article.

Since Every Sandwich aka Fred is always scaring me into wanting a bunker in the middle of nowhere with defensible high ground, I thought he'd get a kick out of this Christmas list.

Check out number 5 and number 8, DANGER ROOM'S 2007 Holiday Gift Guide

Took me a while to get around to posting this.

Seems we've had a little mini-version of Boston. The local community college tried to do some guerrilla marketing to promote their design program (perhaps even better would be to graduate students who knew the difference between CMYK and RGB?, but I digress).

They have a website, a myspace page (who befriended me the first part of the week) and they created some bomb scares.

First off... really? Terrorists using bright pink boxes?

Secondly, the guys did a crappy execution with some packing tape. Guerrilla marketing doesn't need to be sloppy. Perhaps if the execution of the idea had been finessed they wouldn't have looked like home-made bombs to all these people. Other than that, it was a neat idea and I liked it.

I was still getting calls today about how my old agency had a bomb scare.

Me: Were they pink?
Them: Well, yes.
Me: Those aren't bombs.
Them: But they said on the news...
Me: Those weren't bombs.


(image gets bigger when you click it, also - their website has screen grabs of the now-seemingly-pulled previous articles.)

So, I leave tomorrow for a wedding in Pittsburgh, I'll be back sometime Monday.

If you've ever been to Pittsburgh, I'd love to know some things to do while I'm not at the wedding.

Oh, and pray for no snow. I mean it, I don't want to die on my way back.

I may have messed up my blog. I was playing with the Blogger in Draft and then I switched back, which wasn't a good idea. So I took off the pop-ups and other such till it calms itself down.

But I am *so* going to make these.


via Czeltic Girl

Last night I saw the one of the new Hummer Helps commercials. I hadn't read anything on the campaign and I didn't get that it was supposed to be rescue workers - I just thought it had fake newspaper clippings.

Course, when I was looking for the commercial on YouTube, this was the first result - which I thought was hilarious.

On the other hand, this may mean that it takes geniuses to follow my round-about insane logic... or it takes into account the links I post which usually have to do with pretty pictures from space.

via Make the Logo Bigger

I've never seen the Declaration of Independence used to sell dating services.

Although, I will point out that even though inalienable may technically be an alternative way to spell it, it's actually "unalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence.

I'm just saying.

Or deficiency, whatever.

If someone spells something wrong in an email, I will sometimes spell it wrong back so they don't think I'm calling them out on their mistake.

Yeah, I know... very weird.

Martin Waugh's Liquid Sculpture. If anyone feels the need to buy me Christmas presents, the 8x10 is affordable. ;) (I'm just saying.)

via Geekologie

I think most everybody has seen these, but I nearly fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard.

So I'm used to the annual fight over whether or not advertisers should say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas... I say both, whatever.

But the new TomTom commercial, the one where the girlfriend/wife gets out of the car in the middle of a traffic jam and runs into the store to by her husband/boyfriend the GPS system.

When she gets back in the car, she says: "It's an early holiday present."

What?! No, it's not an early holiday present, it's an early Christmas present. An early "holiday" present sounds completely ridiculous.

Unless I've missed some big underground movement I don't think anyone who doesn't celebrate the three holidays of choice goes around putting up family trees or giving holiday presents.

Oh I would so use these... all the time. I have too many post-its now anyways.

Well, I'd use these if they stayed put and didn't leave an icky residue.

via Geekologie

Just go read it.

Collegiate Quidditch takes off — figuratively, at least

Yes, this is cool. But I just had to point out one thing.

Its long arms and a face shaped like a giant squashed bean mean it resembles the alien movie character E.T.

It doesn't look like E.T., it look likes Johnny 5.

I'm just sayin'.

via Reuters Oddly Enough

I get several emails all day long from a friend of mine's mother. Chain letters, cutesy images, that kind of thing. Whatever is making the email rounds. I like it because I get to see what's going around and sometimes they're good for a giggle.

But this is hands-down the WEIRDEST thing I've ever gotten.

My favorite math teacher from high school passed away yesterday. He went to my church. He made math fun. And it takes a great teacher to make Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry fun.

He taught me how to fold a sweater in under 3 seconds. I wore his everyday because his room was cold.

He used to threaten to turn all the lights off and run around the room if we didn't settle down.

He'd play with people when they fell asleep.

He was a teacher that inspired other people to be teachers.

Are cats in the UK just smarter or weirder?

Cat's daily routine baffles owner

A cat is baffling his owner by wandering off at night before expecting to be collected by car every morning at exactly the same time and place.

I believe this post to be a public service announcement. I have to use Google's image search with the search terms "feminist tattoo" and "feminist fist."

If you never have to do this, I wouldn't recommend it.

Since my last unwanted text message, I've gotten two more, still coming from 362-45. One from distancevyu@remanchester.co.uk on 11/01/2007 at 10:08AM

Hey it's Abe)Watch and wait everyone dreams of getting a tip like this see SHTP

And from Major@tugaloo.com on 11/06/2007 at 6:32PM

(sup u)Hey, meet locale singles goto: (www.smsformessage.com)

And I'm paying $0.15 for these. But now, I find that I can file a complaint through the FCC.

Several people have come here googling these unwanted text messages, so hopefully this helps as well. I'm not sure what it will do, but at least I'm doing something and have an official reference number.

UPDATE: There are a TON of people getting spammed with this message - I hope you are all filing complaints. :)

I had a friend in college who had the best cow story. Her and her boyfriend (and several other people) were driving down one of the more rural roads in our area. As my friend looked over at a cow field she managed to see a baby cow take off running down a hill. However, this baby cow wasn't as sure-footed as he needed to be. He tripped, catapulted forward and rolled all the way down the hill.

Just sit with that visual for a second.

This might beat that. Except... well I hope these people have insurance... and the cow died instead of getting his ego bruised.

Couple Escapes Injury When Falling Cow Hits Minivan

Now I'd heard of the Rock Boat and then I heard about Ships & Dips... but what, now does EVERYONE get their own cruise???


Found via Make the Logo Bigger via Twitter.

Yeah, that's right, here it is. Got this on the 20th.

*If you listen, hit stop after it's finished or it'll loop. I can't figure out how to make that stop yet.

At least the time in which I have to give out candy. I had over 75 kids... thank god most of them were young and cute. I always buy more than enough candy.

On to watch The Live Ghost Hunters.

New Slowsky's commercial... and as usual, it doesn't disappoint. At least not me.

is brought to you by me (of course) and my favorite run-down house.

The image at left is originally a color slide which I developed on a color enlarger with the magenta turned up too high... a happy accident.

One of these days I will brave the no trespassing sign and go inside. I will give adequate notice so that in case I fall through a floor someone can come rescue and then arrest me.

Enjoy.

And I didn't get a picture. I tried too. I didn't realize what the license plate said until I passed him to get into the other lane and then he was driving waaay to slow for me to try to get behind him again.

His plate said:

I EMBALM

Swear. I can't believe someone would have that on their license plate... anyways Happy Halloween!

Check out the "Top 15 Most Famous Freaky Ghost Photos."

God that was painful to watch.

I mean for god's sakes the game isn't over if you've still got 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

And kind of ugly... and it's definitely not a jetpack.

A US company have developed a car that can easily beat traffic jams - it can fly.

At the touch of a button the Transition from Terrafugia four-wheeled car extends a pair of wings either side of its main body.

Chief operating officer, Anna Mracek Dietrich, said: "It will take just a few seconds to transform and will be fully automated after the command is given in the cockpit. We're currently sold out for at least the first year, approaching the first two of production".

The Transition will use low-cost electronics and feature GPS and auto-pilot weather radar.

The prototype, which runs on super unleaded petrol, cruises at 120mph and lands at 65mph.

The estimated hourly fuel burn of four gallons equates to 30mpg in flight.

Terrafugia - which means escape from the earth - are selling for £74,000.

The company hopes the first car will be ready by next December.

ananova.com

Via Coast to Coast AM

You ever chew gum so long it makes you nauseous?

****

It's a small world. Sometimes too small.

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Does my picture REALLY have to go with a news release about me?

****

Anybody know a good program - online - that will work with iCal? I read of a good one somewhere on a blog I trust and now I don't remember it.

****

I need a haircut.

****

I forgot the rest because I didn't write them down.

Thanks to Myspace I have been informed of the sequel to National Treasure... National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Now... I'm a dork. I admit it. I like the first one. It's silly and mindless and fun and deals with the weird crap I love. I like watching it. I also like watching it on Sunday afternoons when I have nothing to do and I pop it in so I can nap.

So that said, sequels tend to suck... and people will make sequels to good movies that don't need sequels. And despite the fact that the original cast is all in the movie, something tells me this might suck.

And yeah, there wasn't really any major point to this post... although on the topic of movies, I saw Breach last night and it was awesome.

Is this Pope John Paul II waving from beyond the grave? Vatican TV director says yes

By NICK PISA - More by this author »
Last updated at 21:21pm on 15th October 2007

This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave.

The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing, was spotted during a ceremony in Poland to mark the second anniversary of his death.

Details appeared on the Vatican News Service, a TV station in Rome which specialises in religious news broadcasts.

Service director Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of John Paul II, travelled to Poland after hearing an onlooker had photographed the image.

Father Cielecki said he was convinced the picture showed the former pontiff.

"You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II," he said.

The pictures were being broadcast continuously on Italian TV and also posted on religious websites, some of which crashed as thousands logged on to see for themselves the eerie figure formed by the flames.

The bonfire was lit during a service at Beskid Zywiecki, close to John Paul's birthplace at Katowice, southern Poland, on April 2 - the second anniversary of his death.

Hundreds had attended the ceremony. Gregorz Lukasik, the Polish man who took the photographs, said: "It was only afterwards when I got home and looked at the pictures that I realised I had something.

"I showed them to my brother and sister and they, like me, were convinced the flames had formed the image of Pope John Paul II.

"I was so happy with the picture that I showed it to our local bishop who said that Pope John Paul had made many pilgrimages during his life and he was still making them in death."

via The Daily Mail

So as usual these past few months... I'm about a day late and a dollar short.

Yesterday was Blog Action Day and I meant to post something but I was swamped fixing a direct mail that wasn't the right color and the pill was too shiny and, well you get the drift.

I have a very large stack of newspapers sitting in my kitchen [insert would-be photo here] that are accumulating until I can get to the recycling center and my post was going to focus on finding alternative means to deal with my problem. But I didn't have time, so here's the first search result on Google.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

I saw Mr. Las Vegas. He's from my hometown.

:)

When I get home my new, shiny iMac will be waiting for me. :)

Found via Marty Feldmanize Me

My mother just called me to tell me that there was a man in a ski mask and a shot gun walking through my neighborhood the other day and they haven't caught him yet.

I guess I've now got bigger things to look out for during my 6:00am walk than the neighbor's dog not being on a leash.

Yes, I work on one and it makes my life easier... and I love all the cool gadgets, but that is not why I love Apple today.

Flashback to 3 weeks ago and I had to give my shiny Powerbook back to my previous employer. I have an old Powerbook G3 with a 4GB hard drive and it hates me. I can't do anything on it without it crashing. I've always meant to fix it up but never have (one day I will).

Anyhoozle, so I went to buy a new computer. I found a refurbished iMac for a decent price and ordered it... that was on August 30th. And as I watch my order status the shipment dates for my mac keep getting pushed back. Finally on the 15th I get an email telling me that "due to an unexpected delay" my mac will not ship and it will now ship between the 19th and 20th.

The 19th came and went. No update on my order status. I checked all day yesterday... no change.

By this time, my sister (who is as equally as frustrated with the old powerbook) is trying to get me to call apple and get answers. I told her I was going to wait, they'd fix it.

Last night I got an email. I saw it an my heart sank. I figured my shipment had been pushed back again and I would really have to call. And I loathe calling customer service. Actually, I pretty much don't like talking on the phone at all (I worked 2 years in a call center for a bank and that's my excuse).

So I open up the email. They do not have the inventory to send me my refurbished iMac. Total WTF? moment. What am I going to do, I need that computer to work at home.

But I keep reading. They have canceled my refurbished iMac and are instead sending me a new* one for the same price. Yeah, that's right, and they're now shipping it overnight (for free). It is being prepared for shipment as we speak and I'll probably get it on Monday.

And that... is why I heart Apple.


*I'm not sure how "new" it is as it's a 17" and the new-new iMacs come in 20" and 24." Either way it's "newer" than the refurbished one.

**This experience is in stark contrast to Fred's problems over at the porch.

Listening to the radio this morning I heard a commercial for the Ellen DeGeneres Show. They were using testimonials and this was one womans:

I don't drink coffee in the morning, I drink Ellen.

I can't make this stuff up.

The Slinky is packed and ready to go.

Don't worry, I'll let you all know how much he enjoys his new home next Tuesday.

Our production person thought I'd be here forever. I sometimes thought that too... but onward to bigger, better and newer things.

p.s. I also had to give back my laptop... so until my new computer comes, posting will be sporadic or non-existent. But don't worry I will eventually return emails. Besides, I really want to take a stab at that logo.

Sunday Troy-the-GE-Guy decided to put a talk bubble on a photograph of Doug-the-GE-Guy and his son's baseball team that he coached. The bubble said "I like little boys."***

Troy-the-GE-Guy has been out all week. At some point Doug-the-GE-Guy went and got a Teen Beat and proceeded to tape pictures of well, certain people, and other Disney Channel stars all over Troy-the-GE-Guy's bathroom.

Needless to say it was a very interesting morning.

Oh, and The-GE-Guys are taking me out for a going-away lunch. How nice is that???




***Unnecessary Disclaimer: This was all a joke.

That space I leave between me and the car in front of me. On the interstate. When I'm going 70mph. It's so I don't die, not so that you can whip into that space and almost cause a wreck.

****

You wouldn't be riding your breaks so much if you weren't tailgating that poor person.

****

I'd so submit these people's license plates to that website for bad drivers, but for some reason I worry about my karma.

****

Remember the client I was never a fan of?

Well, he was told I was leaving and he goes, "Is it because of me?"

A jerk AND narcissistic.

Perhaps I love this commercial so much because I really, really, really wanted to be able to jump into chalk drawings like they did in Mary Poppins.

So last night at dinner it was brought to my attention that there was going to be a "double moon."

Apparently, according to my source, this is a mirage caused by something I can't remember and the Native Americans sometimes referred to it as a Corn Moon and it signifies the start of Fall.

Needless to say I was psyched. And well.... that's the moon in the photograph. It did appear exceptionally large on the horizon last night (this was about quarter to 10). But unfortunately no double moon.

I've googled it and there are some sites that say it's tonight - and they are pagan in nature. I only found one mention of it scientifically. Of course, I also found out that there was a lunar eclipse last night or rather this morning. Unfortunately when I see eclipse on the 28th I think "oh, it'll start tonight," not that it started at 4am this morning. So I missed that too.

Although, I am crossing my fingers that there *could* be this "double moon" tonight and I'll get to see it.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German left his dead mother seated in her favorite armchair at their shared home for two years because he could not face organizing a funeral, police in the southern town of Fuerstenfeldbruck said Friday.

The woman died of natural causes in the chair in July 2005 at the age of 92, a police spokesman said. A doctor called to the scene at the time gave the son a death certificate but he did not register the death.

Neighbors recently alerted police about the corpse. The man told police he could not bear to move his mother and said he never again entered the room where she was seated. Police have started an investigation for violating German burial law.

Via Oddly Enough

This was the first very quick attempt at capturing Starbucks' new "porch" advertising. I need to get a camera phone - or borrow an iPhone. I suspect it's easier to be stealth about these sorts of things if you can pretend you're doing something else and NOT pulling out an actual camera.

Bear with me. I tried to get all fancy this morning and messed everything up.

Update: Is the orange to light? Too yellow? Hmm.....

Update: Green too ugly? Why is that damn white bar still at the top?

CIA and Vatican edit Wikipedia entries

Someone using a US Senate computer altered a profile of veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas to complain she "interrupts" and is annoying.

Via The Sydney Morning Herald

Starving Snakes Eat Their Hearts Out

Aug. 20, 2007 — Certain snakes can survive without food for two years at a time, but not without paying a physical price, according to a new study that found some snake species will actually digest their own hearts and grow bigger heads to broaden prey options during periods of famine.

The study, which will be published in next month's issue of Zoology, is the first ever to examine starvation physiology in snakes.

Author Marshall McCue, a researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas, thinks intense snake hunger may even explain some of the more outrageous snake stories from recent years.

"Severe hunger might make snakes take greater risks than otherwise," said McCue, who then mentioned "last year's photos of the Everglades python eating the alligator and then lethally 'popping' open, or stories of escaped pet snakes eating unusual objects, like unused light bulbs."

For his study, McCue put 20 ball pythons, 22 ratsnakes and 20 western diamondback rattlesnakes through 168 days of starvation. Weight and other measurements were taken at regular intervals. After the 168 days, McCue chemically euthanized each snake and pureed it in a blender in order to better conduct chemical analysis.

At the 168th day, the snakes lost 9.3 to 24.4 percent of their initial body mass. They also reduced their energy expenditures by an average of 80 percent over the test period. McCue told Discovery News that the snakes usually were sedentary, wrapped up in provided "hide boxes," and only explored their environments when they thought a potential food source was around.

Measurements revealed the snakes actually grew longer during the fast. Growth especially was noticed in the head.

"Larger head bones mean that they can choose from a wider range of potential prey items," he said, noting that snakes cannot chew and therefore must be able to swallow whole animals.

The chemical analysis determined the snakes break down saturated fatty acids into polyunsaturated fats by "picking off bits of hydrogen for energy."

Intestinal fat, which he likened to "belly fat" in humans, as well as fatty liver tissues were among the first to be targeted. As a byproduct, water formed in the snakes' bodies, causing them to "bloat" by around 7 percent.

Then the snakes would digest their own heart muscle.

The heart breakdown initially surprised McCue, but he said it is reasonable given that "the lower energy expenditure allows lower circulatory demands, and therefore permits the heart organ to shrink."

Immediately following a nutritious meal, the snake hearts can quickly rebuild themselves.

Aaron Rundus, a University of Nebraska researcher who has also studied snakes, said he was surprised to learn snakes can survive without eating for up to two years, but, "I completely believe it, and the physiological mechanisms make sense given how successful these reptiles are at surviving under the worst of conditions."

Rundus explained to Discovery News that snakes are "ambush hunters," as opposed to "strategists," so they must wait for incredibly long periods before an unsuspecting victim may cross their paths.

McCue hopes future studies on snake starvation will lead to treatments that can increase food deprivation tolerance in other animals, including humans.

Via discovery.com

Aw, that's just not nice at all. I heart that gecko.

Via the caveman's crib (the after-party).

I thought I bought those little mini-bags of popcorn and didn't realize until after I popped it and started eating it that I bought the regular size.

And yes, you all needed to know that.

I went the back way to the airport yesterday (my sister was returning her rental car and I was helping in this transition) on our way I saw a VERY large yellow sign (picture soon, hopefully) with "Save Countryside" and a blogspot address under it.

I'm still over there trying to figure out their purpose and what's been going on - but I thought the sign was a great idea.

Oh, news on that protester. Seems her signs are now advocating for a hernia specialist. As suggested before, a blog is a good thing for her too. She could just hold up signs with the address.

Got this through the mail, let's just say "cool" wasn't the first thing I thought of when I saw the exclamation point.

But I'm intrigued now, so I may go.

Today is the intern's last day.

The GE guys had actually bought caution tape to use in some sort of prank on him. They wouldn't tell me what they were going to do.

Once I got the card, I told them they couldn't touch him and they told me I was too nice.

Oh, and he's now a fan of the pen tool.

It's probably not a good idea to ask me to spot you while you try to bench press 215lbs.

No worries, I didn't kill him, but my arms hurt.

While watching LA Ink last night I thought I saw a commercial for the new caveman series... or so I thought, the commercial was like a bad high school home movie of drunk cavemen at a party pointing you to cavemanscrib.com.

All I can say is I hate that effect where you grab the corner of a page and they want you to pretend like you're reading a magazine. Stop it... even if you know how it works it doesn't.

I'd never seen this commercial before, but it appears the sites been around a long time. Which makes me wonder why the hell I saw it.

Jetpacks sent me a GREAT 1970's PSA for escalator safety... You must respect the escalator!

Medeco Readies Assembly-Line Fix for DefCon Lock Hack...

Damn. I worked at Medeco for about 9 - 10 months helping convert their product catalog to digital files while I was in college. I remember thinking it was so cool when I was watching Law & Order once and they mentioned Medeco locks and how they were pick-proof.

Hope they fix this...

Tried a new sushi restaurant, aptly named Wasabi. This is where my friend, Richard, described wasabi as... a nose orgasm.

That is where I almost choked on the sip of water I had just taken.

Apparently Kevin Smith movies are not as big in Japan as maybe they should be.

This could lead to trouble... ;)

"Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator."

Can't fear the escalator if you make it look like a toy. Although, it is kinda pretty.

Via AdPulp, via flickr member aapglobal

I have never read a Harry Potter book - but I have seen the movies and I enjoy them.

I don't know if this is new or just new to me, but I loved it. I haven't had the time to watch all of them, but I'll get around to it.

p.s. It's about 8 minutes long...

To the person who was looking for the "giraffe headed-pig photo:"

If you ever find it, I hope you come back and post a link because I'm intrigued... and I couldn't find it either.

So I had to photoshop a scoreboard this morning. One of our clients wanted to put an ad in the local high school's sports program because they just finished building the new stadium.

And no lie, I just had an argument about what the scoreboard said. I showed it to our freelancer and she didn't think that having it say that the home team was on the 3rd down with 10 yards to go in the 4th quarter was a good idea because it shows that they didn't get very far. And I actually let myself be sucked into an argument about a hypothetical game. By the way, the home team is winning by two touchdowns, so I think they'll win the game no matter what.

I think I need to take a 15 minute break.

I can't help it - it's ridiculous and he has a British accent.

Saw the new AT&T commercial for their new broadband card. There's a British guy in a hole and in the middle of a lake demonstrating how you can now get internet anywhere. I laughed so hard.

I need to figure out a way to record these commercials because it's not on YouTube yet as far as I can tell.

I suppose I'm not the targeted demographic which seems to be young males, maybe that's why it freaks me out.





More here as they have a youtube account specifically for the campaign.

One of my favorite bands just "fired" their drummer.

This is an odd development. Although, their announcement to their fans was very nicely written... even if the PR people did tend toward the melodramatic. Era? Spiritual member? The cause? Really?

See what y'all think.

It is with a sad and heavy heart that we are announcing the band's extremely difficult decision to part ways with our longtime percussionist, and founding member of Carbon Leaf, Scott Milstead.

It has been a long, rewarding road full of memorable shows and great times making music together, but the time has come for some changes that we're confident will lead to greater happiness and fulfillment for all 5 of us going forward.

Scott is our brother and we love him dearly. He is forever a spiritual member of Carbon Leaf who has devoted his life and passion for music to the cause, and we are thankful for an unforgettable era.

We know this is a shock to the people that make Carbon Leaf possible - the fans - and we ask for your continued support and enthusiasm for the band as we look forward to envisioning Carbon Leaf for the road ahead.

A Jesus stain... I think it was a slow news day yesterday.

Watch video (Link launches Windows Media Player)

Read transcript

Heard about this on a local morning show - best part was that the parents have used the stain to help discipline their children.

Why can't I ever find stuff like this??

With all the crap they feed chickens now - wait, you know, forget that. Knowing my luck I'd open the egg and find a two-headed chicken.

Great, now I've grossed myself out...

Egg within egg a freak of nature

(click for bigness)

New claims that Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper contains a hidden image of a woman holding a child are provoking a storm of interest on the internet.

The figure allegedly appears when the 15th Century mural painting is superimposed with its mirror image, and both are made partially transparent.

(The title was sarcasm - my sister has her art history degree)

From the Telegraph UK, via Coast to Coast AM

Cingular/At&T has a new version of the "Battle" commercial.

At first I didn't like it - but then I saw it again last night and I've changed my mind... it's as awesome as the first.

If I find it I'll post it.

I also can't find the new back-to-school Best Buy commercials which I want to share because they are great. As you can tell, I watch a lot of TV and unfortunately YouTube is not cooperating with me to bring you all the commercials I get to see.