popplers

Will no one think of the children?

Boston Globe headline: Kids get new weapon against predators using Internet.

[…] NetSmartz, which is available to all elementary, middle and high schools in the state, features the animated figure Clicky rapping and offering advice on how to spot Web users who use foul language, try to get strangers to meet them, send pornographic pictures or ask personal questions. […]

Rapping? Aieee.

Here's what "Clicky" looks like:

(At least it's better than Microsoft's @#$%ing paper clip.) The website offers the following Digital Rights Management sermon/ "lesson":

Clicky's Stolen Song: A Lesson in Digital Ethics

Captain Bootleg, an Internet pirate, has stolen Clicky's hit song. Nettie and Webster learn why it is wrong to steal music from others.

What a load of crap.

All the best tech comes from Down Under, Part II

As most of you already know, we love to cook and we love good kitchen tech. Recently, we were in the market for an accessory for the espresso machine that is called a knockbox. After brewing espresso, you're left with a "puck" of coffee grounds. To dislodge this from the portafilter, the barista lightly bangs the portafilter head against the bar of the knockbox, and the coffee remains fall into the box. We didn't have one of these doodads, so Chris was banging the portafilter against the side of the sink, which was denting and crudding up the stainless steel sink.

After doing lots of research at coffeegeek.com and espressoporn.com, Chris found the Holy Grail of knockboxes: the Sunbeam Bang Bang (alas, only available in Australia and New Zealand). Ultimately, we decided to purchase a Grindenstein (made in Australia, but they ship to the US).

Today, at deadpopstar.com, I read about Woodles, the penguin waffle maker. Yep, you guessed it: made by Sunbeam, and only available in "Australia and New Zealand and perhaps other nations blessed with the omnipotence of 240v power." Australia, Australia, Australia, we love you! Amen!

We live on the wrong coast, revisited

Via bOING bOING, another great zombie meet-up— this one in Vancouver! There are some particularly good photos, including these favo(u)rite pix.

I scream!

While our experiments may not be as interesting as those that the MIT researchers are churning out, we've been having fun with our new ice cream maker. We thought that the old one had given up the ghost, so we splurged on a new Cuisinart 1-quart ice cream maker. As it turned out, we were able to resurrect the old one by thawing the cooling disk and refreezing it, so now we have two. Several trips to the farmers market later (for milk, cream, eggs, and fresh peaches), we've made 3 batches of increasingly delicious peach ice cream.

We're still looking forward to trying some of Alton Brown's recipes from the recent Churn, Baby, Churn episode (his vanilla sounds particularly decadent, and even richer than Ben & Jerry's). Also trying to locate some recipes for my favorite Toscanini's flavors: Cocoa Pudding, Burnt Caramel, and the inimitable Chocolate Sluggo.

Beef, pork, chicken, or Wendy

An interesting news story on artificial meat, from a more reliable source than The Weekly World News. Maybe Rudy Rucker wasn't so far off after all.

[…] In a paper in the June 29 issue of Tissue Engineering, a team of scientists, including University of Maryland doctoral student Jason Matheny, propose two new techniques of tissue engineering that may one day lead to affordable production of in vitro - lab grown -- meat for human consumption. It is the first peer-reviewed discussion of the prospects for industrial production of cultured meat.

"There would be a lot of benefits from cultured meat," says Matheny, who studies agricultural economics and public health. "For one thing, you could control the nutrients. For example, most meats are high in the fatty acid Omega 6, which can cause high cholesterol and other health problems. With in vitro meat, you could replace that with Omega 3, which is a healthy fat. […]

J-pop Extravaganza (follow-up)

Slightly better background info on Puffy Ami Yumi.

Today is a good day to die.

Via McSweeney's: Klingon Fairy Tales.

"Goldilocks Dies With Honor at the Hands of the Three Bears"

"Snow White and the Six Dwarves She Killed With Her Bare Hands and the Seventh Dwarf She Let Get Away as a Warning to Others"

Free Cuddling

Alert reader Poz spreads the gospel of the Free Penguin Project.

Objective:

The starting point of this project was the question: "Why is it that on the one hand in the Linux® world all code of software is freely available and on the other hand the code to compile a soft toy penguin is still not open source?" This project will try to publish code that will enable people to sew soft toy penguins themselves provided they meet certain hardware requirements.

J-pop extravaganza

The adorable and energetic Puffy Ami Yumi were at the Somerville Theatre last night, and so were we. They're cute, they have their own cartoon, and they totally rock! Teen Titans! Go!

Dare to be stupid

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (IMDB:6.6|Rot:61%*)

Last night was movie night: Mr. & Mrs. Smith at the Strand Theatre with Sean & Chris. Didn't order cheese fries, so I don't know if the theatre's cheese-o-meter is still finely calibrated. (Previous visits have empirically demonstrated a correlation between the number of cheese containers served with an order of fries and cheesiness of film. Example: Almost Famous = 1 container; Charlie's Angels = 3. As I recall, X-Men rated a 2.)

*Note: The Rotten Tomatoes "Cream of the Crop" rating currently holds at 43%.

Yes, its plot is totally ridiculous, with holes big enough to drive 3 BMWs through. But there are more than a few entertaining sight gags, a plethora of cool gadgets, passably witty repartee, and explosions… lots and lots of explosions. As a cheap-ticket, burger & beer, movie-night movie, it has its moments and does just fine.

Erich Becker's review pretty much nails it:

While the dumbness of the plot and non-existent, lame-brain story may turn off a few, the promise of big guns, lots of fire, and Miss Jolie in a bra will pack the house full. A smart film? No. Fun? Hell, yes.

Amazon Recommends…?

Amazon Recommends...?
Originally uploaded by popplers.

Quickies!

Thursday Quickies:

• Via McSweeney's: Dear Mr. President
  
• BattleBots for the masses: combat robot kits for modding
  
• New York Times features Barbara Ehrenreich: Who Moved My Ability to Reason?
  
• Penguin promoted!
  
• mental_floss (which, sadly, seems like Games magazine for dummies): Six Degrees of Ken Jennings. Check out the magazine cover pic on their web site and see if you agree.
  
• Dinosaur news: Volcano + Asteroid = Mass Extinction? (I prefer this alternate theory.)
  
• Invasive exotics. Invasive exotics. ("I, for one, welcome our new cnidarian overlords." )
  
• Happy birthday, Poz!

Baffling.

Worst. Sentence Construction. Ever.

After decades in some cases, the ten known victims of the infamous BTK serial killer, now known to be 60-year-old Wichita, Kansas dog control officer and local church president Dennis Rader, will have the opportunity to speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves, Rader's victims.

(I should know better than to read MSNBC.)

Scenes from Paragon City

Hmmm.
Originally uploaded by popplers.

ROFL

Don't miss… David Wong 's A World of Warcraft World: 10 Ways MMORPGs Will Change the Future.

There are more people playing World of Warcraft in the U.S. today (two million) than had indoor plumbing 100 years ago. There are more people with blogs today (31 million) than had internet connections ten years ago.

Thomas Edison said it best: "Change happens with ball-flattening speed."

Walking and falling

I love The Onion: Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory.

[…] "Things fall not because they are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because a higher intelligence, 'God' if you will, is pushing them down," said Gabriel Burdett, who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and physics from Oral Roberts University.

Burdett added: "Gravity—which is taught to our children as a law—is founded on great gaps in understanding. The laws predict the mutual force between all bodies of mass, but they cannot explain that force. Isaac Newton himself said, 'I suspect that my theories may all depend upon a force for which philosophers have searched all of nature in vain.' Of course, he is alluding to a higher power." […]

Repulse Monkey

For various reasons, I left work quite late today. The parking lot was mostly deserted, but I noticed that there was a man practicing tai chi. I have no idea what form he was following, but it all looked very smooth and graceful. Suddenly, he clapped his hands together in front of him. I was momentarily puzzled, then I recognized the movement— Kill Mosquito!

Always a bridesmaid…

I haven't seen pix of the dresses that Donna et al. picked out, but I'm sure that they look nothing at all like the offerings at UglyDress.com, the archive of the world's ugliest bridesmaids' dresses. They probably don't look anything like this, either— but if they do, cool!

OMG!

Via Gizmodo: Hello Kitty halogens. Hmm, do I put them on the WRX or the S2000?

Honestly, though, if I'm going to buy the lights, I'd better spring for these badass rims, too. Only $960 (for a set of 4, I hope— I'll have to get Chris to translate).

I can't imagine.

27-year-old competitive eating champ, Takeru Kobayashi, downs 100 cha siu bao in 12 minutes. (This is the same fellow who ate 83 vegetarian dumplings in 8 minutes on Saturday.) Slightly more detailed coverage from The Standard.

Kumi Sugahara, a Japanese Hong Kong resident, said Kobayashi is her idol. ``He has been a long-time champion in Japan. He is a star!'' she said.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle…

Madagascar (IMDB:6.4|Rot:54%)

Went to see Madagascar at the Strand Theatre with Sean & K. last night. It was cute, if a little slow in spots. Definitely worth the $5 ticket; the theatre was air-conditioned, and my burger and beer were just fine. Best scenes in the movie: Grand Central Station, the riff on American Beauty, and anything involving the penguins.

Amusing

Lesser-Known Movie Prequels, by Sarah Garb.

Ocean's Three

Borderline-Inappropriate Dancing

There Are Plenty of Mohicans […]

Ai-ya!

Even when our hungry horde descended on Toronto's Dumpling House Restaurant and asked for one order of every type of dumpling on the menu (no joke!)— we didn't manage to eat 83 dumplings in 8 minutes.

Publish or perish

An oldie (but new to me) from the Annals of Improbable Research (Vol. 2, No. 5): How to Write a Scientific Paper.

Abstract

We (meaning I) present observations on the scientific publishing process which (meaning that) are important and timely in that unless I have more published papers soon, I will never get another job. These observations are consistent with the theory that it is difficult to do good science, write good scientific papers, and have enough publications to get future jobs.

Compare her face with some that I shall show

And I will make thee think thy swan a crow…

New York has gay penguins; we have Juliet and Juliet, the lesbian swans.

''If these two swans are happy together, they shouldn't have to have a guy," said Emma Stokien, a 15-year-old from New York. ''It's good to have the swans as a symbol of the acceptance in Massachusetts."

p.s. The Daily Show bit on the gay penguins is one of their funniest reports of all time.

Microcebus lehilahytsara

Sometimes, when I am truly irritated by the world around me, I Google for pictures of puppies. I look at the puppies until that pulsating forehead vein subsides a little. (This is how I keep from developing "Intermittent Explosive Disorder.")

In the spirit of channeling the web's calming, restorative powers, I bring you this story about two new species of lemurs. Awwww, lemurs. There, don't you feel better?

FCC poised to crack down on indecency: our tax dollars at work.

Still at work. Still screaming on the inside:

[FCC Chairman Kevin] Martin has hired lobbyist and activist Penny Nance as an advisor to the FCC.

As [Mediaweek]'s Todd Shields writes, Nance is a long-time anti-pornography activist and has worked as a lobbyist for groups that "push for Christian precepts in public policy."

Until recently a board member of Concerned Women for America, which describes its mission, in part, as "helping… to bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy," Nance also worked as a lobbyist for a group called the Center for Reclaiming America. On its Web site, the Center claims that it "focuses on five key fronts of the modern-day culture war: (1) Religious Liberties, (2) the Sanctity of Life, (3) the Homosexual Agenda, (4) Pornography, and (5) Promoting Creationism."

The site also says that its aim is to "defend and implement the Biblical principles on which our country was founded."

Article [I.]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

British invasion

While going through the paperwork that had been in the del Sol, I found a random fax from my former insurance agent, listing the VIN # for my old MGB. We loves Google:

the Yellow Peril

It looks like it got totally repainted somewhere along the line; the color looks "off" to me. Sadly, the side stripes (one of the car's most distinctive & best features!) are gone. Also gone are the black rubber bumpers (standard for 1979 model year US cars)— replaced with chrome. Here is what it looked like when I owned it, complete with stripes, rubber bumpers, spoked wheels. The color still doesn't look quite right in the second photo; this is a little closer to the Inca Yellow that I remember.

Amazingly, the car only has 84,000 on the odometer. It had 69,575 miles back on June 29, 1995 (different random piece of paperwork)!

p.s. Ugh. Someone mounted the atrocious luggage rack to the boot. My mechanic at the time (Bob Nicholson, Brittanic Motors) advised against installing the rack because mounting it involves drilling 4 holes in the trunk, which = 4 more places for leaks to occur. <sigh>

Poor impulse control

Intermittent Explosive Disorder: legitimate psychiatric problem caused by neurochemical imbalance, or scientific-sounding excuse for inexcusable behavior?

[…] " [Emil Coccaro, a leading anger researcher at the University of Chicago] wrote in a recent journal editorial: People who explode are not very lovable. No celebrity is likely to volunteer to be a poster child for Intermittent Explosive Disorder. And philanthropists are less likely to contribute to research aimed at helping people viewed as perpetrators rather than patients or victims.

The patients themselves can be problematic as well, resisting treatment even when surrounded by wrecked lives.

''People say, 'I don't have an illness, I have an anger -- It's not I who have a problem, it's you," said Ronald Kessler of Harvard University, who led the national study on how common mental illnesses are. […]

Grrr. Arrgh.

Mmmm… zombie cake. The thorax cake is even more outrageous:

"At this point, I took a break from the cakes in order to assemble the white chocolate rib cage in which all the organs were to be placed."

(She's like a zombie Martha Stewart! I already feel that my next Hallowe'en party will be woefully inadequate.)

Touched by His noodly appendage

Alert reader Mike preaches the gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

OPEN LETTER TO KANSAS SCHOOL BOARD

I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him. […]

Look how they shine for you

Picked up Cheryl and drove the S2000 to Great Woods for a long-overdue grrls' night out. Our free Coldplay tickets had arrived in the mail a few days earlier, and the radio station had called about the limo ride. (Alas, the limo ride was logistically inconvenient, so we gave it a pass— in order to partake, we would have had to drive an hour north to Haverhill to ride an hour and a half south to Mansfield.) But it was a lovely night to be driving around with the top down, and traffic wasn't bad at all.

Since we made excellent time on 495, we were already in our seats when the opening act, Black Mountain hit the stage. I think that Sarah Rodman over at the Herald pretty much nailed it with the somewhat harsh closing sentence of her review: Openers Black Mountain played a resoundingly loud set of psychedelic noodle rock whose merits were aptly summed up in the title of their final song, ''No Satisfaction.'' The seats were decent— they weren't under the pavilion, but they were on-center in the second row of the "open air seating". (And apparently they would have cost $50 each + fees if we'd actually had to buy them from TicketBa$tard— yikes!)

Coldplay was just as loud, but far more enjoyable. The sound during their set was still excessively muddy; I was definitely underwhelmed by the Tweeter Center's sound overall (both in volume levels and in fidelity). I thought that the lighting/ stage show was whizzy and high-tech, but often uninspiring. There were more than a few Blue Man Group Rock Concert Movement Number X moments that made me smile (Rock Concert Movement #78: The Fake Ending). But it was a great night to be outside under the stars, listening to a solid, unpretentious performance. I just wish that I'd remembered to bring earplugs.

What would Alton say?

I saw this goofy appliance on Accordion Guy's wedding weblog; Joey's comment (joking, I hope) was that he "need[ed] to put one of these on the registry."* Seriously, though, who has the counter space for this schwag? We have a coffee grinder and microwave (used daily), food processor and toaster (used semi-weekly), a food scale and KitchenAid mixer (used at least monthly). And I still wish that we had an island so that we had more "real estate" for chopping, staging, cooking, cleaning, etc.

*Ridiculous wedding registry requests is a separate rant; I won't go down that road right now.

Strictly speaking, the McMuffinator isn't a unitasker, but I think it belongs in the Counter Sculpture Hall of Shame, along with the Pop-Up Hot Dog Cooker, the tabletop S'Mores Maker, and the Pizzazz Pizza Oven. I think that there should be a separate Hall of Ridiculous Kitchen Gadgets for the Octodog, the Banana Guard, the In-the-Shell Egg Scrambler, and their ilk.

Conversely, the fine people at Microplane deserve to have praise and gifts lavished upon them for their awesome kitchen tools. (Their personal care products, on the other hand, give me the willies.)

Professor Xavier should check out this place

Sky High (IMDB:7.0|Rot:66%)

I made a deal with Chris and Sean last week when we went to the movies. I said that if we went to March of the Penguins on Saturday, I would go see Fantastic Four or "any crappy movie" that they wanted. (Going to see movies with Poz has taught me to negotiate up front for good movies, in order to offset things like The Musketeer. Alas, I failed to heed my own advice and went to see Van Helsing with them against my better judgment, but I digress.) In this case, however, the delay really worked in my favor. During the intervening week, Sean and Chris checked out Fantastic Four's abysmal rating on Rotten Tomatoes (26%, at last glance) and decided that maybe they'd rather wait for cable.

So, this left us in a bit of a dilemma. Of the 14 options at the cineplex, we'd already seen three:

• Star Wars (82%)
  
• Batman Begins (83%)
  
• Penguins (94%)

And you could not pay me enough to watch:

• Bad News Bears (44%)
  
• The Dukes of Hazzard (18%)
  
• The Island (39%)
  
• War of the Worlds (72%) (Yes, I know that's a pretty good rating, but Cruise + Spielberg = Bad)
  
• Stealth (11%) (Yikes—that's as bad as The Musketeer!)
  
• The Devil's Rejects (52%) (If I'm in the mood for a zombie movie, I'm heading to George A. Romero's Land of the Dead)

That left:

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (81%)
  
• Must Love Dogs (38%)
  
• Wedding Crashers (75%)
  
• Sky High

We eliminated the obvious chick flicks and a questionable remake, leaving us with our clear-cut choice.

Sky High is better than its mediocre showing on Rotten Tomatoes might lead you to believe. It's somewhat predictable, but it's funny and sweet and a little cheesy. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and if you return the favor you'll be entertained. Plus: Bruce Campbell! Lynda Carter! Superheroes! Sidekicks! Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald from Kids in the Hall!

Quote of the Day from Sean: "It's like City of Heroes meets The Breakfast Club."

p.s. Instant feeling of "Wow, I'm really old"… Nearly every single one of the songs in the movie soundtrack is an 80s tune covered by some band that I've never heard of. (The lone exception is They Might Be Giants, covering Saves the Day's Through Being Cool.)

Words, words, words.

Technorati sez that a new blog is created every 5 seconds, and that the number of blogs doubles (roughly) every five months. (Interesting reading here, with bonus points for the use of 50¢ word folksonomy.)

Amusing: What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression.

I'll take Nostalgia for $200, Alex

Alert reader Bonnie points us toward this CNN article: My 'Jeopardy!' experience. This AP writer's bid for fame and fortune sounds pretty similar to my own.

Feelin' anemic

The Globe had a local news story with this headline: American Red Cross offers concert tickets in blood drive.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Blood donors to the American Red Cross in five New England states could win tickets to a Rolling Stones concert at Fenway Park.

People who donate blood for two weeks starting Thursday will be entered into a drawing for a pair of tickets to the band's Aug. 23 concert at the historic ballpark in Boston.

Man, that is a looong time to donate blood.

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarves

I'm at work. That's the only reason that I'm not screaming right now:

Bush endorses 'intelligent design'

Contends theory should be taught with evolution

WASHINGTON — President Bush waded into the debate over evolution and ''intelligent design" yesterday, saying schools should teach both theories on the creation and complexity of life. […]

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
— Adam Smith (1723-90) Scottish economist. The Wealth of Nations, 1776.

The pen is mightier than the sword

Yay, 2005 Bulwer-Lytton winners announced! Dan McKay of Fargo tops the list with this oeuvre:

As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual.

Branding

Fun with the Google Logo Maker: obligatory self-promotion and other silliness.