The most valuable supply of worthlessness on the web
Information you have no need for. Ever. Usually about me, but possibly about other trivial crap in the world.
If you are a long-time gamer, you reallllllly need to watch this. I’ve not finished it, but I can’t quit laughing at every failure this guy has in this modified Super Mario Bros. ROM. I wouldn’t have to patience to play it, but it’s great to watch. Definitely not safe for work (NSFW). Video runs over 20 minutes.
[tags]What Mario would be like in hell[/tags]
Sometimes, you just need to stick to the disposable stuff.
Japan’s leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday.
The electric bidet accessory of Toto’s Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka. The bidet sent up smoke in 26 other incidents, the company said.
So be careful how you clean our backside. On the other hand, fire is an extremely effective manner of cleaning and disinfecting. I suppose it all depends on how much you value quality sterilization.
[tags]Bidets catching fire in Japan?[/tags]
Hoping to cash in on some of the still unclaimed money floating around in the media-everywhere int4r-web thingie, Adobe has announced the imminent release of Adobe Media Player to the, ummmm, complete lack of notice to users everywhere. So what’s so great about Abode Media Player, and why should we be excited? Well, let’s see what the experts have to say:
Bruce Chizen, CEO at Adobe Systems Inc., commented that: “Adobe Flash has revolutionized the distribution of video content across the Internet and Adobe Media Player builds on this leadership position,” with regard to the company’s aspirations for the introduction of its newly integrated media player.
. . .
“Adobe has created the first way for media companies to release video content, secure in the knowledge that advertising goes with it,” said Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey in a Reuters report. “Control is something that media companies absolutely get high on,” he continued on the subject of media company reticence concerning the release of their content to the Web.
That’s right. Thanks to Adobe, you’ll now be able to get your media, secure in the knowledge that you’ll not miss out on your advertising when you receive your content. And if this product holds to the standard Adobe product features set, you can count on it being large, slow, intrusive, and possibly annoying.
I will give credit for one thing though – as much as I despise advertising, I do think having advertising tied in with the content distribution will get more premium content online for the enjoyment of consumers online. Not much more, but I believe it will help increase premium media distribution. It’s just dumb to proclaim how great it will be because it can force advertising in with content when sharing with end-users. Sell to them based on features they want – non-intrusive, lightweight, speed, ease of installation and use, and so on. Of course, Adobe might not be doing that in this case given the difficulty the company faces in producing applications that meet any of those requirements other than maybe ease of use.
[tags]Adobe announces new media player, Rest easy knowing you’ll not miss your advertisements in future distributed content[/tags]
Just got back from a week-end at my mother’s doing cleaning and home improvement work for her. I got the pleasure of finding some tripped breakers in the electrical box outside, 2 dead computers, a dead cable modem, a non-working internet connection once I got a working cable modem (yes, I have multiple cable modems), and poor cable signal to the television. So I’m not exactly in the best mood now. I have to spend tomorrow figuring out what, if anything, can be done to get the computers working again. I think we took a lightning strike that blasted some electronics, but I’m not sure.
On the other hand, I help my mother get some work done around her house, got my wife’s van clean, spent some time with my entire family, and had dinner with a beautiful woman. She’s a long time friend of mine that I’ve gotten to see little of this past decade, so it was really fun to catch up with what’s going on with her. That made my week-end good, which made for the return to all the house problems extra frustrating.
Look for some updates tomorrow as I catch up on geeky news, and maybe make a comment or two about Imus (briefly – he’s done worse, why get fired now?).
This might not be quite as funny if you aren’t a computer geek, but I’m sure at least a few of these will be recognizable to even non-techies. The Programming Blog has a long list of things computer in movies can do that computers in real life just can’t seem to manage.
4. All monitors display inch-high letters.
5. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA or some such governmental institution, will have easy to understand graphical interfaces.
6. Those that don’t have graphical interfaces will have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.
27. Searches on the internet will always return what you are looking for no matter how vague your keywords are. (See “Mission Impossible”, Tom Cruise searches with keywords like “file” and “computer” and 3 results are returned.)
Some of the things in the movie can be done by real computers, but that breaks part of the list if you consider that. They also left off the Wargames computer feature of the computer being able to talk to the user no matter what computer the user is on.
[tags]Things computers in movies can do[/tags]
I like reading The Register. Sometimes, the humor stuff is as worth reading as the real stuff.
If surgery was like Wikipedia: Surgipedia.
Several surgipedians have gathered in an operation theater. On the table lies an unconscious man whos left leg looks dark. Surgipedian #1 grabs a sheet prepared by the patient’s doctor that details the problem.
Surgipedian #1: “Whoa, he’s been lying here for 26 hours, we sure got a backlog again. It also says on this that he has a ‘claudication’ and a ‘chronic venous insufficiency’ in the left leg”, looks at right leg, “and we are asked to do a ‘leg segmental arterial doppler ultrasound exam’. Whatever that is. His leg looks pretty good to me”.
Surgipedian #2: “You looked at the wrong leg. It says the left one”.
Surgipedian #1: “I looked at the left and it’s looking totally normal!”
Surgipedian #2: “The left from his point of view! Do you know where your left leg is?”
And more, as it goes on for a little while. I love Wikipedia, but this made me chuckle anyway.
[tags]If surgery was like Wikipedia[/tags]
I’m 
generally not a big believer in conspiracy theories. I actually believe JFK was assassinated by a non-governmental wacko without prompting from government representatives who wanted the President gone. I believe that we Americans were actually surprised by the attack on Pearl Harbor, and that it wasn’t some Presidential plot to get the US into war. I don’t think President Clinton had all those folks assassinated to cover up crimes committed by him and Hillary. And I most certainly don’t believe that President Bush knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks, nor that the government or some all-powerful private entities somehow planned, orchestrated, or covered up facets of the attack and let the attack proceed in order to (among other ridiculous claims) destroy the World Trade Center. However, there are plenty of people who believe those conspiracy theories, and a lot of them especially believe that last one.
Rosie used to just be funny, in my opinion. I remember watching her stand-up stuff around 20 years ago and enjoying it. Now, she’s gotten too wacky for me to listen to her. She’s free to spout her views. I’m free to look elsewhere for something to occupy my time. The above link ties back to a boycott-The-View-because-of-Rosie’s-nonsense bit, which is where the Rosie tie-in comes from in my posting here.
[tags]More 9/11 conspiracy theorists show their silliness, Calls to boycott The View because of Rosie’s zany political spews[/tags]
Medical mistakes happen. It is an unfortunate facet of reality. It is especially unfortunate when you are the one who suffers because of an error. Just ask this veteran about how unfortunate those errors can be.
An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.
Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed June 14 at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it could harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.
But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages. He still hasn’t had the other testicle removed.
“At first I thought it was a joke,” Houghton told the Los Angeles Times. “Then I was shocked. I told them, ‘What do I do now?'”
My recommendation for what to do now is get the other one taken off. But use a sharpie, a magic marker, or some durable paint to avoid wrong site surgery the second time around.
[tags]Surgeon removes wrong testicle, Hey Doc – can you just swap those out down there?[/tags]
Well, today is the 35th birthday of telnet. It’s also a day to commemorate the passing away of telnet, in a way.
Although original development on telnet took place back in 1969, the protocol was not formalized until RFC 318, released April 3rd, 1972. The passing away of telnet is being called out as a result of Microsoft leaving telnet out of Vista. Of course, if you have to have telnet, you can install it manually if you’d like.
Thanks to Wired security blog 27B Stroke 6 for the telnet birthday reminder.
[tags]Happy birthday telnet, RIP telnet[/tags]
The sixth of several posts on buttons I need to have so I can wear them to work.
[tags]Buttons I need[/tags]
Well, at least for married men. What you are looking at there is the condom dispenser, available for purchase from Canoe Online. Dimensions aren’t given on the page, but looking at the height vs. width vs. depth, I’m guessing it will hold either 6 (half a box) or 12 (full box). In either case, all you married men can get one, load it up with a lifetime supply of your favorite condoms, and never again have to worry about where the rubbers are when that special day comes around once every few years. (via CrunchGear)
[tags]Condom dispenser holds lifetime supply for married men, Keep your condoms looking good while you aren’t using them[/tags]
The fifth of several posts on buttons I need to have so I can wear them to work.
[tags]Buttons I need[/tags]