Tuesday, July 31, 2007

For the 'I Like Turtles' Boy, 17 Seconds Of Fame

"There was a time, not long ago, when a 10-year-old boy could head to a neighborhood fair, get his face painted like a Halloween zombie and blurt out something utterly inane to a local TV news correspondent and nobody would ever think about it again. Oh, there'd be an audience that night, much of which would chuckle and think "Whaaaaa?" But that would be the end of it.
The moment would not endure as a video snippet, posted on Web sites and viewed more than 500,000 times, nor would it inspire T-shirts, or parodies or remixes or mash-ups. It would not lead a company in, say, England to track down the lad and offer him -- or rather, his parents -- cash to turn his baffling three-word apercu into a cellphone ring tone. He would not hear from the Jimmy Kimmel show. A handful of strangers would not call hoping to send him pets.
But thanks to the Internet, Jonathon Ware is a 10-year-old living in the golden age of inanity, when the most random of utterances is celebrated and memorialized. And so anyone can savor Ware's rendezvous with YouTube destiny, a 17-second masterpiece of comic triviality that has turned him into that most peculiar of media creatures: the viral-video celebrity..."



More at washingtonpost.com

Sunday, July 29, 2007

This Is Why Your Server Is Cranky

From passiveaggressivenotes.com

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Zombie Food Pyramid

Via stumbleupon.com

Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Grim Reaper Takes The Shape Of A Cat

"PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours..."

More at ap.org

From kscakes.com.nyud.net:

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Classmates Ad Explained

"She married him??!! And they've got 7 kids??

That Classmates.com online ad, complete with its hyperactive punctuation, is so ubiquitous — more than 1 billion Web-site displays — that folks around the world know those faces: the serious, bespectacled young woman and the fresh-faced young man, forever linked in cyberspace.

They've even inspired parody pages.

But, in answer to the ad: Sorry, no, the two are not married and they did not breed a passel of tots.

They do, however, share an employment history.

Her real name is L.A. Smith, his is Bryce Lane.

Their high-school senior portraits are featured in the ad for Classmates.com, the site run by Renton-based Classmates Online that helps its 40 million-plus users find and stay in touch with old friends — particularly former school chums for reunions.

Smith is now 46, a writer, editor and artist in Bothell; Lane is 34, an investment banker in Bellevue.

Their imaginary online happily-ever-after tale began a little more than three years ago..."

More at seattletimes.com

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Metallica On The Simpsons

The Shining Cuckoo Clock

"Every hour Jack Breaks through the door and the famous line “Here’s Johnny” plays followed by the scream of Shelly Duvall."

Related: Jack Is not amused 

Related: The Shining Costume

From idealist.blinkr.net

Artist Chris Dimino

Friday, July 20, 2007

Dramatic Chipmunk

The Original:


Top 10 Dramatic Chipmunk Remix Moments:

Austin Powers:


Kill Bill:


More Remixes at uber.com

Even more at youtube.com

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Fans Recreate Comic Strip

"Fans of the xkcd webcomic have taken up the challenge laid out in one of the strips and are riding roller-coasters with glued-together chess-sets."

Click to enlarge

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Boston Loses An Icon: Mr. Butch Passes Away

"Allston, Mass. -

Mr. Butch, the charismatic, dread-locked, “honorary mayor of Allston,” died this morning after an accident on his motor scooter.

Mr. Butch, whose real name was Harold Madison Jr., was traveling inbound on Brighton Avenue on his scooter around 8 a.m. at a speed close to 50 miles per hour when he appeared to lose control of the vehicle, fly over the handlebars and strike a light pole, witnesses told police. He was taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He was 56.

As news of his death spread through the Allston Village neighborhood, friends remembered Mr. Butch as charismatic and friendly.

“That happiness was always there in him. That’s the only thing I ever saw of him,” said Toni Fanning, a friend of Butch who worked at Ritual Arts on Harvard Avenue. “I never knew him to be mean, I never knew him to be sad.”

Butch came into the public consciousness by hanging around the Kenmore Square area in the 1980s, playing guitar outside of the nightclub The Rathskellar (known as The Rat) and interacting with the local punkrockers who congregated there."

More at townonline.com

Mr. Butch's Wiki and Myspace

s g collins created a short film about Mr. Butch in 2002 called Searching For Mr. Butch. It's at postwar.nl (language NSFW)


Monday, July 09, 2007

Trophy Head Lamp

"Product Details:A new take on a cultural icon, this limited edition, hand-molded resin lamp is also a striking piece of art.

Product SpecsDimensions: 26"W x 32.25"H x 37"D
Materials:
Resin, Fluorescent tubes with dimmable ballast. "

More at gnr8.biz

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Man Robs Bank Disguised As Tree

"BOSTON (FOX25, myfoxboston.com) -- Police are looking for a man who robbed the Citizen's Bank on Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire on Saturday disguised as a tree!

The man walked into the bank with tree branches duct taped on his arms and demanded money from the teller. The teller filled the bag with cash and the suspect took off. A dye pack inside the bag exploded.

Manchester Police describe the man as a white male, between 45 and 50 years old, wearing glasses and a blue shirt."

From myfoxboston.com

Friday, July 06, 2007

Muscular Dog

Rare genetic mutation increases muscles, weight of sleek breed

"People mistake her for a pitbull with a pinhead, but Wendy the whippet is one rare breed.

So rare that the Central Saanich dog recently graced the New York Times. She also had several of her photos shown on The Today Show, all because of a rare genetic mutation that has led to her being the Incredible Hulk of dogs.

Wendy is a 27-kilogram rippling mass of muscle. Forget the so-called six-pack stomach: Wendy has a 24-pack. And the muscles around her neck are so thick, they look like a lion's ruff.

"People have referred to her as Arnold Schwarzenegger," says doting owner Ingrid Hansen, stroking Wendy's sleek black coat and white chest.

Wendy was recently part of a genetics study done in the U.S. on mutation in the myostatin gene in whippets, which resemble greyhounds in appearance. The National Institute of Health study reported that whippets with one single defective copy of the gene have increased muscle mass that can enhance racing performance in the breed, known for speeds up to 60 kilometres an hour."

More at canada.com

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Welcome to Kwik-E-Mart!


"The 7-11 at the intersection of Olive and Verdugo in Burbank has temporarily been converted into a Kwik-E-Mart. It was re-done late Saturday night and will remain a Kwik-E-Mart for the next month to promote the upcoming Simpsons movie.

Eleven 7-11s in the United States and two in Canada have been converted into Kwik-E-Marts as part of the promotion.

Golam, Burbank's friendly counterman, was having a lot of fun shouting, "Welcome to Kwik-E-Mart!" as each customer walked in. The other employees were rushing to re-stock cartoonishly pink donuts while the 7-11 rep made frantic calls on his cell phone demanding more Buzz cola, "Send me everything you've got! It's ALL gone. Everything."

More pics at laist.com

More pics at boredstop.com