Elephants!!!

Click it... worth the bandwidth.

And You Think You Feel Old!!

Great picture, and some interesting information about sealife around Alaska. But here is the best bit of the story...

Not only was the Fish just under or over 100 years old... it was pregnant!

LiveScience.com - Strange New Creatures Found in Antarctica

An Antarctica octopus! He is a cute little fella, too!

The Wilhelm Scream

The internet was created to pass information freely around the world. Though it, doctors can treat people thousands of miles away from their location. Grandmothers can say hi to their grandkids scattered across the globe. Someone in deepest Africa can watch a local TV show from Lake Charles, LA.

But this... THIS... is why the internet was created. Strange little stories you'd never hear otherwise, put in a place where everyone in the world can see it!

I've actually heard of this before. It's one of those strange things that make you think a bit. Some bit player in an old movie made a scream, and now that same scream is in hundreds of movies and TV shows.

It's an odd sort of fame... and I doubt they ever knew anything of it.

I gave a homeless kid a camera - The Something Awful Forums

Let's consider art. If you listen to the fancy types, it's about so many mystical things like talent, or skill, or maybe some incredible something that us normal types couldn't possibly have.

Sometimes art is simple. Sometimes it's just view point. Sometimes it's just timing. Sometimes it's even in editing. In the link someone with no training other than the most basic few minute course took a few amazing pictures. Out of many pictures they got back from a homeless kid we got a filtered few.

Everybody can do art. Even untalented hacks can, in the right situation, and the right moment, create true art.

Ignore the labels.... look at the work. Ask yourself... does it say something to you? Did it move you? Did it inform your view?

I don't believe in magic. But I can't think of a better word for the wrong person, at the right time, with the right view point, creating art.

OK... done with the fancy stuff for now. I'll get back to the strange animal stuff and geeking out on tech soon. This is my art moment. Even as a hack, I can have one. You too.

Photoshopped Animals

Nothing useful, educational or anything but just silly, unless you really need a lesson on how that phrase "But the picture looks so real, it must be!" is total bull.

But hey, it's fun!

List of gear for A-stan - Afghanistan Blog

As any regular reader of this site knows (Hi, Mom!), I tend to stay away from political stories. But sometimes the best thing to do in order to get some perspective is in the minor details.

This person lists the things you want to have before going to Afghan. I'm sure much of the same could be said of Iraq.

This is a perfect picture of what our troops are dealing with. Whatever side of the war you are on, this is something you need to know. And if you have loved ones there, read this for stuff you can put in care packages.

I was in the military, and I was just on a ship, but I know that it's odd the things you find useful, or important, when you are cut off from your home culture.

Welcome to Mama's Fish House Restaurant and Inn - Maui, Hawaii

I had a really good time when my pal Pat took me on his vacation to Hawaii. Many, many good memories. Watching Blue Man Group in Vagas, hitting the beach in many awesome places, going down the road to Hanna.

But one of the stand out events was eating at this place. The food was awesome, the help was incredibly nice, and the location was lovely.

If you are ever in the area, eat here. Really. If you don't, you've missed a true landmark.

The Long Tail

I tend to worry when a new tech phrase starts being used, mainly because it's just a matter of time before the term gets misused by the mainstream media and also because most of them are names for things I've been dealing with for a very long time already.

But there is one that I think is very valid, and the name fits perfectly to what is going on. The Long Tail is the term. It's about how, counter to how you would normally think, Places like Amazon and other online retailers are making just as much, or more, money selling items that aren't popular as they are on their best sellers. In other words, even though Harry Potter might sell millions, they also make lots of money on books that just sell a few copies... but there are thousands of books that sell just a few copies, so that adds up to just as many sales as with the top sellers.

Of course, this isn't something regular stores could even see. There is only so much self space, so you have to put all good selling items up. But an online store doesn't have to worry about that. They have several ware houses of stuff, and infinite 'space' to display their items.

Soon, in a world where every book ever published, every TV show ever made, and every movie ever produced is all available to anyone with a net connection, the long tail will be a real money maker. And more importantly, when companies can see ways to make money off of items that don't make the top ten, I think we will see more of them making products that are just expected to fit there.

I look forward to this, because it seems to me during my life time so far, the trend has been moving the other way around. The movie business was more and more about the block buster. Wal-Marts would only have the best selling books and DVD's, and they more and more were becoming the place where people got them.

That bothered me, because in general, I can't stand most best sellers, be it movies or books. I like the odd ball stuff that mall movie houses don't show. I like funny little books by people even I've never heard of.

Refugees Find Hostility and Hope on Soccer Field - New York Times

A wonderful story about refugees in a sports program, and the Coach that runs the team.


L0ts of little stories in this article make this a great read. There was the team they played against who ended up donating to them needed cleats and such, and others... but don't let me tell you. Just read the story.

Can a White Beetle Lead to Better Whites?

This story is interesting on several levels. First of all, you have a bright white beetle. But then you have a bit on the science of color, and how thicker materials are easier to make a brighter while, due to how white needs to reflect all light, and a beetle's shell is very thin.

And then you even have some strange math, as one of the reasons for the brightness of the beetle is due to some randomness of the makeup of the shell.

That is what I love about science... check out a simple white bug, and you find incredible things.

Some Considerations...

I've been slow in posting, and during a particularly boring task at work today, an idea stuck me. And idea I has before, really... I just hasn't acted on it as much as I should have.

This weekend I'm doing to do a post or two on some current tech topics, but aimed at people like my Mom. I think that I've not done so as much because the stuff I read go into such topics in depth, and after reading a writer better than myself plum the depths of a topic, it's hard to think you have anything to offer on the subject.

But I think I do. I grew up as a geek in a world where I was most often the only geek. Often, the only person that would even let me talk on such things as a typing machine that would check spelling and sending letters over phone lines was my Mom... even if she didn't really believe some of the wilder ones I told her.

So, in honor of the first person, or victim, of me babbling about tech, this weekend I'll hit a couple of topics and try to explain things that us big city geeks find everyday and normal to a degree that, say, a retired teacher and still active Mom from Merryville, LA could understand it.

That isn't in any way to belittle retired teachers in Merriville. I know for a fact that at least one of them still has a lot to teach me.

Burn The Spring Chicken!

I've been in other countries and I've seen some ... rather odd... translations before. This menu takes it to a whole new level.

Check out the menu, and enjoy the Cowboy Leg! And don't worry if you are on a diet... there is always the Rurality Salad.

What is Worse Than Snow?

THE COLD!!!!

It's been in the teens or single digits (sometimes NEGATIVE single digits) since Friday. Another weather related lock down for me!

Text to Speech... Amazing!

I've listened to computer generated speech for years now, and it is always horrible. Yeah, if you pre-process (basically, know exactly what it needs to say before you start), or allow all sorts of accent coding, you are lucky if you can understand what is being said.

I just spent 20 minutes playing with this page. I know nothing about this... accept that it works. yeah, there is some delay between hitting the button and hearing the talk, but it ain't long.