From BoingBoing. Via Japan

Ah. The Japanese Butt Biting Bug video. If you get it, you tell me about it.

Out, for a bit

Well. Metroid Prime 3 is out today, and I'm probably going to be playing it til my eyeballs explode. Catch up with guys in a month or so.

Republican Senator Locked In The Closet

Senator Larry Craig, (R-ID) arrested for sexual conduct and plead guilty to disorderly conduct three weeks ago.

Hey Republicans. It's ok to be gay. It's ok for everybody to be gay.

Shadow Cowboys

1 Poole Getting Ready
Originally uploaded by shadowcowboys

First game last night with DIE! and we won pretty soundly. 11-7(?) Your Frontier Psychiatrist's stats?
Batting average 1.000 with 2 at bats (kicks?)
Runs: 2
Falls: 1 (but it was the stupid horse's fault).

RSS in Plain English/ DotSUB

This post does double duty:

1) Watch this video to learn in Plain English how to start using RSS to use the internet more efficiently. I've been using Liferea for Linux and Google Reader for the past week or so to have my favorite sites delivered to me. It's simple, and fast, and the animation is charming (a hand brings in scraps of hand drawn pages to a markerboard).



2) The site that hosts this video, dotSUB.com is a free service for generating subtitles for video. It works like a wiki. Folks who watch the videos correct the subtitles in real time. This makes a pretty free resource if you need something translated, or just want to watch foreign video

Link

Enjoy!

P.S. If you get an RSS feeder, you can have my blog sent to you, rather than you having to come to it. Just click the Atom link in the bottom left.

File Under: Glad I Use Windows for One Program.

From Slashdot.

Skype for Linux users (whoever they are; Hello? No Video Call support?) discovered over the weekend that Skype reads etc/password and Firefox add-ons. What possible legitimate reason could Skype have for capturing that information? What harm could be done?

Considering a switch to an open source VoIP software.

Link

US Military "harshly interrogates" Whistleblower.

From Forbes, via Crooks and Liars:

"For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.

There were times, huddled on the floor in solitary confinement with that head-banging music blaring dawn to dusk and interrogators yelling the same questions over and over, that Vance began to wish he had just kept his mouth shut.

For his trouble, he says, he got 97 days in Camp Cropper, an American military prison outside Baghdad that once held Saddam Hussein, and he was classified a security detainee."

Link

Video: Avalanches - "Frontier Psychiatrist"

Origin of the blog name. With a ridiculously awesome (and completely literal) video for the Avalanches track.

"The man with the golden eyeball!"

Beautiful CC Cartoon Explains DRM

This cartoon is really really cool. And its released under a "Share and Share Alike" Creative Commons license. Grab it, mash it. From Red Hat Magazine.

Announced: Pirates Vs. Ninja Dodgeball

I can't think of a better theme for a game. I just love how it rolls of the tongue. "Pirates vs. Ninjas" sure, but throw that "Dodgeball" on the end and now you've got a party.

Because who didn't love Super Dodge Ball for NES? And who doesn't love the age old rivalry between these two zany groups of caricatures. Only problem is that ninjas will totally flip out and kill the pirates, so it's hardly fair.

Kotaku article: Link

Track Review "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. (from Kala)

If you haven't heard this song:

"Paper Planes" - M.I.A.

It's got a great sample from The Clash ("Straight to Hell") and a pseudo friendly terrorist vibe. Need a fake visa, no problem.

"i fly like paper get high like planes
if you catch me at the border i got visas in my name
if you come around here i make 'em all day
i get down one down in a second if you wait."

Then she asks you to "hit me on my burner prepaid wireless", and then ends up with the boasting line:

"I got more records than the KGB."

Perfect mix of nursery rhyme, gunshot effects, flirting with violence, samples, and ambiguous geopolitics.

In a perfect world, this song would be the "Hey Ya" of the summer of 2007. Or the "Since U Been Gone." Or "Toxic." Or "SexyBack."

This song will not leave my head.

Wired Takes The Piss Out of Lifehacking.

So I'm late to the game of Lifehacker. (And 43folders, etc.) I still think it's pretty cool to make yourself more efficient. (Just set up Ubuntu Linux on my computer, started using a feedreader, Remember The Milk).

But this humor columnist has a devestating satirical FAQ for the whole lifehacking movement.

Wired: Condense your day with the lifehack FAQK
Excerpt:

"A: [Lifehacking is] the practice of using clever little tips and tricks to make your life easier, more efficient or more productive.

Q: Really? That sounds kind of familiar. Hasn't it been around for a while?

A: Yes, previously it was known as Hints From Heloise.

Q: But life hacking is different, right?

A: Judge for yourself. As I write this, the top entry at lifehacker.com is '10 uses for lemons.'

Q: Yeah, but they're like cool techno-uses for lemons, like overclocking your Wii or shorting out surveillance cameras, right?

A: 'No. 8 - Freshen up your dishwasher.' "

Locals Only - !!! and The Field at the Rev Room

!!!, (or Chk Chk Chk, or whatever the hell you call them) are playing Oct 3 at the Rev Room.

I saw their sister bad (the sadly defunct Out Hud) at Whitewater Tavern a few years back. Elbow to elbow sweating, dancing.

Promises to be a real ass shaker.

Bonus! Opener The Field's From Here We Go Sublime is currently the highest rated album of 2007 by Metacritic. Dreamy ambient electronic shoegaze(?).

Dick Cheney = Flip-Flopper

Cheney in 1994 predicting a 'quagmire' if the U.S. invaded Iraq.




Cheney's office then tried to disavow the comments in this interview after it began making the internet rounds. Rationale?

"He was not Vice President at the time, it was after he was Secretary of Defense."

However, in an interview with Tim Russert in 2000 (when he was a vice presidential candidate), Cheney did support his 1994 comments.

Full Story Here: Think Progress

Most Disgustingly Delicious Wikipedia Category

Offal.

Mmmmmm. Anybody hungry? (also don't miss the Blood dishes category!)

Sony's Next-Next Gen Plans

From McSweeney's humor section.

A MEMO FROM
SONY COMPUTER
ENTERTAINMENT
AMERICA'S EXECUTIVE
VICE PRESIDENT
ANDREW HOUSE TO
THE NEW PLAYSTATION
NEXT GENERATION
DESIGN TEAM.

Awesome Ebay Tip from "Rule The Web"

I know, I know. I've been like a broken record about this damned book. But Rule The Web is one of the most remarkable books I've ever read. Written by Mark Frauenfelder (former editor for Wired, founder of Boing Boing [most widely read English language blog]). It's funny and smart.

I was initially skeptical (since I've surfed to the end of the internet like 6 times now), but check out this tip for eBay. Totally obvious, but I've never thought of it.

"Search for misspelled items to find a bargain on eBay. Bless our educational system for producing so many people who can't spell. Many sellers on eBay accidentally misspell the name of the thing they're selling. Go to eBay and do a search on "plam." You'll find lots of Palm brand handheld computers and cell phones for sale (as well as plenty of "plam" tree art jewelry). A "plam" is often bargain priced, because it doesn't show up when people search for a "palm" Pilot or Treo cell phone. Other words to try: "micorsoft," "snoy," and "dinsey." Even easier: go to the Misspelled Auction Search Engine ( misspelledauctions.com) and enter the correct spelling for an item, and it'll search eBay using multiple misspelled variants at once. Used in conjunction with sniping, this is the best bet for getting a great deal on eBay."

Link to Rule The Web on Amazon (only like 10 bucks!)

Manifesto

Hey ya'll. Since the beginning of 2007, I've sent out links to my favorite places to all my friends.

After reading Rule the Web, by Mark Frauenfelder, I've challenged myself to start recording all those emails for posterity here. The real question will be whether more folks will come here to get that information, or fewer.

Here goes, anyway.