Archive for 2009
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[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 3, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009A Collection of Humorous Graphs & Charts
Looking at yesterday’s Dow Jones chart probably didn’t make too many people happy, which is why I thought it might be nice to take a look at graphs and charts that WILL make you happy. A classic in this medium is the Percentage of Chart Which Resembles Pac-Man chart. Ingeniously recursive. For some reason, music-related themes are particularly popular; GraphJam has so many submissions in this category that it’s hard to find the actually funny ones. No worries, there are plenty of collections elsewhere, like this collection of humorous musical graphs (which somehow managed to omit a couple of important ones like Jay-Z’s 99 Problems and Classification of Young American Females According to Brian Wilson). As you might guess, the tech industry is also partial to this kind of goofing off, so we have collections like A Completely Unscientific (Yet Accurate) Look at Social Sites. And crappy graphs are such a familiar element of doing business that there’s even an online Crappy Graph Builder available to punch up your mind-numbingly dull PowerPoint presentation. No need to get all fancy and technical though, in the clip featured here, comedian Demetri Martin should have you laughing out loud with only an easel, a large sketchpad, and a some simple hand-drawn graphs. View video full size here if you prefer. Read the rest of this entry »
Even TED’s A-Twitter About The Twemendous Possibili-Tweets
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 2, 2009 by admin in Technology
Monday, March 2nd, 2009And You Can Twote Me on That
In spite of Twitter’s ten-fold growth in 2008, a lot of perfectly well-adjusted and otherwise hip people (including myself) have yet to integrate the service into their life in a significant way. If you’re not familiar with what Twitter actually is, the TED presentation by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams featured here here will give you a good overview. Even if you are familiar with Twitter, you may not be aware of Twitter’s effect on ancient history, or more recently, Hitler. And even more recently (and more seriously) you might not be aware of some of the the amazing tools at your disposal, like Twitterfall, where you can mindlessly watch tweets scroll by, or better yet, intelligently customize what you see. Or Tweetoclock, which lets you type in a Twitter username to find out when it’s best to tweet them. And if you’re using Twitter aggressively for marketing purposes, you’ll need Tweetsum, which uses sophisticated algorithms to generate a DBI (Douche Bag Index) to help you manage followers. My personal prediction (but I never saw Reality TV lasting this long, so ignore me!) is that Twitter, as it’s currently used, will become quite popular, but have a short life cycle. Or, as Evan Williams suggests, do something completely unexpected because users find a new use for it. And you can Twote me on that, to use some twerminology I just Twopyrighted. And regarding the buzz going around that Twitter has no viable business model? One of their key venture capitalists is just laughing.
Whatever Happened To The Econopocalypse?
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on March 1, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Sunday, March 1st, 2009Tips For Surviving The Coming Depression
Whatever happened to that Econopocalypse they were promising us? I’m from the generation who grew up thinking NORAD would mistake a piece of space junk coming over the horizon for a Russian nuclear missile, and we’d all die as a result of accidental “Mutual Assured Destruction”. So in spite of the fact that I’ve since somehow managed to become a disturbingly happy, emoticon-using 
utopian, when you talk about the coming apocalypse, I for one will be getting ready. Which is why I’ve rounded up some tips for you. There are plenty of lists like this one, which suggests ridiculously obvious things like accepting a job below your expectations, growing a garden, or managing your money better. And this one , which sounds like it must’ve been written by the same mortgage jockeys that got us into this mess. But I especially liked this one, which includes tips like “Stockpile Drugs” and “Buy a Gun”, or my personal favorite “Blow your credit cards”. You also might want to pick up some cooking tips from Clara, the sweet 91-year-old grandma that’s being exploited to create the Depression Cooking series on YouTube. Although you better hurry; I don’t see how we’ll have broadband if we’re standing in food lines. And for those motivated enough to keep looking for work, don’t be surprised if the interview process evolves to adapt to the new climate as well. See the clip featured here for some insight. Personally, I figure if I can survive cold war paranoia, eight years of Bush, and a culture that that seems to revolve around reality TV, I can survive this. See you in the dole line!
Kilocycles to Killer Cycles – Latest In Electric Bikes
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on February 28, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Saturday, February 28th, 2009Sticker Shock With evMotorcycles? Charge It!
My only friends who are into motorcycles are obsessed with Harleys and Ducatis, and laugh me out of the room every time I say I want a hydrogen-powered Suzuki Crosscage. Well they’d laugh even harder at my fascination with ELECTRIC motorcycles. Especially the solar-powered SunRed concept bike pictured here, which resembles a snail in appearance, but not likely in performance, if it’s anything like other electric bikes. The evDaytona for instance, does an amazing 0-60 mph in 2.7 seconds. The caveat, of course, is that it only has a fifteen-mile range, and costs 77 grand. For the more practical shopper, Best Buy – of all places – will be selling the Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle at several locations on the west coast beginning May, 2009. And at a much more affordable US$11,995. Feeling a little sticker shock? Why? You can always charge it!
Scientists Discover Purpose Of Internet
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on February 27, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Friday, February 27th, 2009As You Suspected, It’s For Wasting Time Between Actually Doing Things
It’s been pretty well-established that the primary purpose of the Internet is to waste time between actually doing things. So today, we’re here to help you out with that. Sort of taking things to new heights of purposelessness, we have the on line Soft Drink Generator, brought to you by the same people that brought you the Church Sign Generator, among other things. With an amazing variety of options, you can easily waste an hour creating the perfect personalized product, which you can then order as a refrigerator magnet or other useless object, and pay an insanely high price for it, with money you don’t have. If you want to waste time for FREE, Facebook is the probably the latest “best of breed” site for time-wasting. If you’re a Facebook user, and like me, prefer to use the status box for entertainment rather than actual personal updates that no-one cares about, telling everyone how crappy you feel today, you may occasionally run into a wall when trying to come up with a clever post. Not to worry! Without looking very hard, I found several “Facebook Status Generators” right away, the best probably being Generatus.com, which lets you customize gender and pre-filter words (it would at least be fun to find out your supposedly upbeat and witty friend is using one of these!). And back to reality: if you actually have a job, and if it happens to involve generating headlines or taglines for real media or products, you might find The Advertising Slogan Generator handy. Where else would I have found useful taglines like “Choosy Mothers Choose Ian” or “Men Can’t Help Acting On Ian” or “Promise Her Anything, But Give Her Dissociated Press“. And if we haven’t helped you waste enough time yet, you really should just follow our Monday De-Motivators. Or suggest a time-waster in the comments, if you know of a good one. Happy time-wasting!