Weekly Del.icio.us links...

Here are some links from our del.icio.us account. For more links, please visit our page at:
villagerwithwheel

Links:

• [Productivity] Looking for better morale? [Eff] You!

  Cursing at work is good for morale.

• [Sports] NFL Video Galleries - Brian Urlacher

  I love Brian Urlacher.

• [Celebrity] Suri's Upbringing: Scientology Means Tom and Katie Don't Say 'No' | Usmagazine.com

  This is stupid...nursing a child on corn syrup?

• [Health] Staph fatalities may exceed AIDS deaths - Yahoo! News

• [HowTo] Change the message on HP printers

  Someone try this and tell me if it works.

• [HowTo] From Google Reader automatically into Gmail

• [HowTo] HOWTO Find out why your flight is REALLY delayed - Boing Boing

  Good to know.

• [HowTo] Marshall Kirkpatrick » Open Sourcing My TechCrunch Work Flow

  How to effeciently use RSS feeds.

• [Howto] How I Use Google Reader

• [Science] Fury at DNA pioneer's theory: Africans are less intelligent than Westerners - Independent Online Edition > Science & Tech

• [Science] Slashdot | Monster Black Hole Busts Theory

• [Twitter] Marshall Kirkpatrick » Twitter is Paying My Rent

• [Twitter] Research, Promote And Monetize Your Online Writing: A Blogger's Guide To Twitter - Robin Good's Latest News

• [Wal-Mart] Wal-Mart rolls out 15,000 holiday price rollbacks - BloggingStocks

• [Web] Battle brewing between Pirate Bay, recording industry over IFPI domain coup

  The Pirate Bay loves to try and stick it to the man...

• [Web] Cyberwar: China Declares War On Western Search Sites

• [Web] Micro Persuasion: Bookmarklets for the Web 2.0 Jedi Master

• [Web] Remember to re-register for the do not call list - DIY Life

• [Web] The Associated Press: Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic

  Just a note - Bittorrent CAn be used for legal purposes - thank Zach for the link.

• [Web] Super Tips | Frank M Owen

• Delicious Links Builder by InternetDuctTape.com

  This list was created using Delicious Links Builder

Bacon and Chocolate?

Everyone's favorite directory of wonderful things posted an article on a bacon candy bar.

I love bacon.
But I do NOT like chocolate (actually, dark chocolate isn't too bad).

But, even if I did, would this really taste good? Just look at the box. It looks gross.

The whole description is a fallacy, there is no way that "a bite of the bacon was too salty and yearned for the sweet kiss of chocolate syrup".

Honestly, it looks like a piece bacon on top of a log of excrement (which Americans should eat more of).

Bacon and chocolate go together like peanut butter and ladies...

MICROSOFT OUTSELLS THE Wii

Microsoft, the world's most benevolent and loved company, and its Xbox-360 console unit finally outsold the wii for the month.

Halo 3 remains the top selling game.

Take that Steve Jobs.

Whirlyface Pedophile Update

Thai authorities caught Zach's best friend and future plaintiff in their country after Interpol released unscrambled photos of a man they identified as Christopher Paul Neil. Anyone with three first names is always a little shady, but I could tell there was more to the story.

Then I looked at the photos.....


Look familiar???



Yes, Christopher Paul Neil is none other than Mute Records multiplatinum recording artist Moby! I knew there was more to him than just a lot of crappy techno music.

PS: I know, its not really Moby, but they do look a heck of a lot alike, dont they?

A timeless frat quote...

I would like to thank Sean Wynn for his wonderful recollection:

"Conch is like spackle for my anus" - Some frat guy

Over half of D.C. workers take more than 30 minutes to get to work...

According to a post on Wonkette, only 44.9% of D.C. commuters get to their jobs in under 30 minutes. D.C. has the lowest percentage in that category in the country.

This doesn't mean D.C. has the worst commute, it is still NYC. The typical morning commute in the big apple takes 36 minutes. That sounds like suck to me.
Almost half a million people in the NYC area take at least 90 minutes to get to work. Reminds me of the people who drive into D.C. from West Virginia (which I think is just plain stupid).

MSNBC article: LINK

Can you believe that if it takes 25 minutes daily (50 minute round trip), to get to work, that it equates to 209 hours of commuting yearly?

It makes me want to stick to flying to work, at least I can sleep on the plane....

(I actually live off the exit pictured above.)

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and the Rollercoaster

Maybe one day i can dance like this.

Even if I can't dance, i'm just glad i had a better mother than this.

Cocaine prices up more than blue chip stocks...

According to an article at BloggingStocks.com, the average price per gram of cocaine has gone up 24%, from January to June. That average price in June was $118.70 per gram.

Meanwhile, back in the legal markets, the Dow Jones average is up 10.8%, the S&P 500 is up 7.98%, and the Nasdaq is up 14%, over the same time period.

Also according to the article, research shows that the government loses $31.1 billion in taxes due to the fact that marijuana is not legal. It is assumed the loses would be similar for coke.

Oddly enough, one of the few blue chip stocks whose percentage gain is higher doing better than the substance crack is made from is Google (GOOG), which is up 35%.

Moral of the story? If Zach was smart, he would have invested in that "hell of a drug"....

Bob Evans, not just for old people!

Bob Evans Restaurants are known for country cooking, "Breakfast is served all day", and old people.
Anytime I have walked into a Bob Evans Restaurant (even at night when they should be asleep), there are lots and lots of old people. I'd be willing to bet that turns off the young folk.

Ok, they don't serve alcohol. Maybe there is way too much gravy on a lot of their dishes. Yes, there is a sizable portion of the menu dedicated to Seniors.

But, you CANNOT overlook the Cobb Salad.

If you like cobb and you like salad, it is the way to go.

What is Cobb, you might ask? Pure deliciousitude.

The actual cobb salad that I dined on tonight is at the top of this post. Please see the Cobb Salad link above for the actual ingredients. Personally, I prefer a little Thousand Island dressing, but that's just me...

So, seriously, next time you hungrily pass a Bob Evans, don't let those AARP members scare you off, consider going in and getting a glorious bowl full of goodness. You should try anything at least once, but especially the cobb salad.

An even BETTER Halloween costume...

Better than my previous post about the best costume (involving poop)?

Yes.

A Dwight Shrute Bobblehead costume. It even comes with a giant spring!

Here's a direct link to the site: LINK

Now if only there was a matching Michael Scott bobblehead...

Colbert 2008!

I'm amazed that I was the first wheelie to post this, but our second favorite early evening faux cable newsman is running for president. You can find the article here.

Because he is running in both primaries, it will obviously split his votes between everyone who watches him (Democratic side) and those who saw him on the O'Reilly factor (Republican side). Either way, he has to be considered the leader of the third tier of candidates far surpassing those of the Prohibition Party, the World Worker's Party (whose 2000 presidential candidate I met), the Whig Party, or the up and coming (and impossibly contradictory) Scottish Prohibition Party.

When it comes down to voting, I suggest you ask yourself one question. Who do you think will control the bear population???

Thoughts After Playing Golf For My First Time

After nearly twenty-four and a half years, I played golf for my first time in the saintly city of Chesapeake where fire was created and the wheel was invented. We played at an eighteen hole course called Cahoon Plantation.

My first thought was this: I wish I had started playing earlier. It was relaxing, refreshing and I got a mean farmer's tan.
Sure it was frustrating at times and I sucked, but it was still enjoyable.

Then i read this article. It basically summed up how I felt before playing and once the novelty of playing for my first time wore off it still sorta described how I felt.

Golf seems like a rich man's sport. To get truly good at something, you practice and practice. Baseball, basketball and football are all sports that require minimal investment (bat, glove, shoes, ball) and you can practice for free by taking advantage of pick up games or throwing with friends. Minimal investment for golf requires clubs which are not cheap, course fees, shoes, balls and even appropriate attire depending on where you play. I'm sure you can make the same argument for some of my 'cheap' sports, but you get my point.

With basketball, football or baseball, if you are fairly athletic, you can join a game and do decent even if you haven't been practicing. Golf does not seem this way to me. You need to practice a good deal if you are to even casually play with your friends. Otherwise, you hold everyone up,lose balls and get call.

Another question that popped into my head was how athletic of a sport is golf? Its a good question. My friend pointed out that anyone can play golf and you don't need to be in shape. That is true, but there are other sports especially baseball's relief pitchers and designated hitters and football's kickers that don't seem to require being in prime shape.

My final thought is that I'll enjoy playing golf, being outside and relaxing but I'll also realize that I have neither the required time nor money to invest in this sport to be good.

Oops.

You never ever want to go to prison with the nickname "The Twirly Face Pedophile". Apparently this guy posted hundreds of pictures of himself molesting children all over Southeast Asia, using the Twirling tool in photoshop to obscure his face. Too bad he forgot about the Un-Twirling tool (a phrase for which he'll learn a variety of new meanings in the joint).

Just for giggles: is there a disclaimer in the (surely abusive) Photoshop EULA that states something along the lines of "Adobe Inc. does not represent that the 'Twirling' tool will make your terrible NAMBLA pron unidentifiable. You're on your own, sicko." If not, does this guy have a potential civil suit against Adobe?

Technology that can read your mind...

I want to highlight three articles that deal with the brain (all from Boing Boing):

1) Brain-computer interface for Second Life -
This article talks about a device that moves a Second Life avatar just by thinking about what you want to do. Attach the technology to your head and start your imagination.
Is this what video games will become? Thinking about shooting your enemy in Halo 3 will make it happen? It then changes from who has the fastest hand-eye coordination to who can think the fastest.
A few links from the article...Neurophilosophy, YouTube video example, article Keio University

2) Microsoft's Mind Reading Patent -
Microsoft wants to monitor brain waves to see how effective user interfaces are...

3) Mind gyms for cognitive fitness -
SharpBrains.com has a fitness regime for the mind to improve memory or concentration. The article mentions it would be good for corporations, children, sports teams, and old people.
Instead of going to the website, go buy a Ninento DS and play Ultimate Brain Games.

Now, read some of these and get smarter....


UPDATE: Headband that knows when you've been on your computer too long - LINK

Would you like a day without e-mail?

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights employer practices of banning e-mails on Friday or weekends. The average number of e-mails sent a day is projected to go up to 47% per employee in 2007. About 1/3 of those surveys felt stressed by heavy e-mail volume. There are users who check e-mail 30 to 40 times an hour.

As the article points out, no e-mail Fridays would promote more "face time" between employees. That is obviously something on the decline in society with the increased use of e-mail, text messages, blackberries/smartphones, twitter (ok, maybe that last one isn't true), and the like. I bet everyone has that guy (or gal) in the office who either e-mails you or calls you from the next cube over. Or, what I think is even worse, across the room within your line of vision. If you think I am kidding, I have seen a coworker pick up his cell phone and call someone at the other end of a large room...

Although I own a smartphone (Treo 700p), I am occasionally out of contact with my e-mail and I'm ok with that. I definitely do not send 30 e-mails a day. Then again, while waiting in the airport security line this morning at 5:30 AM, everyone around me had their blackberries out as if they had been receiving e-mails for the last several hours. Somehow, I doubt it.

Well, hopefully, if people become worse at personal interaction, at least they may become better writers??

I also wonder if facebook, linkedin, twitter, and other such social networking will help the e-mail problem or just make it worse? They could be an alternative and decrease e-mail traffic or they could just be another way to communicate and therefore another thing to check all the time...

A Very Special Editorial "Locks" - USF-BC National Championship Game to Torpedo BCS?

My first thought after watching the SEC and Pac 10 cannibalize themselves with Kentucky beating #1 LSU and Oregon State beating #2 Cal:

"If Ohio State loses a game, we could see a BCS Championship Game with Boston College vs. University of Southern Florida.

My second thought:

"If this happens, rabid SEC, Pac 10, and (misguided) Big 10 fans will immediately storm NCAA Headquarters (and possibly the White House and UN Headquarters) with pitchforks, torches, and giant foam fingers, demanding change."

And for once, they'd probably be right. USF and BC are having great years, and deserve their chance at the title, but if the monster SEC get's shut out of title game, they might secede again. And for better cause.

Ohio State has looked strong this year, but their schedule is ridiculously back-loaded. After feasting on the likes of Youngstown State, Northwestern, and Kent State, the Buckeyes have Michigan State, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan to close out the season. They'll be favorites by a touchdown in every game, but uneasy lies the head that wears the crown this season.

It should be fun to watch.

This week's picks:

• Tennessee +3 over TAMPA BAY
• New England -6.5 over DALLAS*
• GREEN BAY -3 over Washington.

* Cash in your 401k, borrow from your trust fund, and rob a 7-11 for this one. Tony Romo won't have to throw 5 interceptions to lose to Cobra Kai New England. But he will.

Last week: 0-2-1
This year: 6-7-1 (No worries. This is the 3-0 week that puts us back in the game. I hope.)