« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 »
November 24, 2006
You can't outstubborn a cat
Scott Adams asked his readers for some philosophical brevities. He received over 500 of them. From "To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid" to "All deaths can be linked to cardio-respiratory failure"
Blink wildly and then close your eyes really tight for an interesting light show. (Amusement Potential: 1-5 minutes). Other Things you can do with absolutely nothing
Just say 'No' to TV. Do it for your country
Thirty years ago, a pack of teenage friends could see the end coming. They were football jocks, mostly, guys who had bonded as freshmen and sophomores on the gridiron at Corona del Mar High School. When high school ended and they scattered to the winds, they wondered, what would become of those friendships forged?
So they made a pact, 17 of them. They would gather every Thanksgiving for the rest of their lives, wherever they were, to play some football. They persuaded a parent to buy them a bottle of champagne, tore off the label and affixed their pledge. They would play it till their legs gave out, till the last surviving man could pop the cork and toast the other 16.
It sounded nice enough. But there was no good reason to expect it would stick. This Thanksgiving, however, the jocks will celebrate the 30th get-together of what they call the Last Man Society. With few exceptions, for war deployments or personal crises, most have managed to make it every year. And so far, all are still standing. (LA Times Bugmenot)
Where To Buy Gelatin For Your Next Jello Wrestling Theme Party
Unrelated: It all started back in 1994 when several dozen Cheap Suit Santas paid a visit to downtown San Francisco for a night of Kringle Kaos. Things have reached Critical Xmas and Santarchy is now a global phenomenon
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Things To Do With Your Life Here
November 24, 2006 in Do Something with your Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
DONT WORRY IM FROM TECH SUPPORT
For all your im in ur cats doing ur thingz needs
Kitten and his box. (Loud YouTube. From blanketfort)
Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers
How to assemble a Christmas tree when you have two cats and a dog
Re-post: A swinging cat
Also: Sloth Pictures
A Drinking Cat Fountain provides pets with an enjoyable "falling stream" of water
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Animal Stories Here
November 24, 2006 in Animals | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Fruits of the Sea
What's a public space without an extended guide in mandatory self-correction and self-surveillance that reads like an IRS tax code? Other public space rules
Google building in Newport Beach
Orange County’s own full-service animal crap removal company, member of the Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists
Items found during California's Coastal Cleanup Day
A self-guided driving tour of John Steinbeck's Pacific Grove and many other Literary Locales, More than 1,000 picture links to places that figure in the lives and writings of famous authors. (From Bifurcated Rivets)
Turner New Zealand Restaurant, 650 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa. A list of Arabic restaurants in Orange County
Unrelated: One of these mornings
You're gonna rise, rise up singing,
You're gonna spread your wings, child,
And take, take to the sky,
Lord, the sky
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Links about Orange County Here
November 24, 2006 in Orange County, California | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 23, 2006
Hit by a meteorite
The complete line of Mercedes-Benz bicycles. (From Information Junk)
All about the Daimler DS420 Limousine
An Experiment by Marc Horowitz - 7 Days in a Sentra
The Car, the Hole, and the Peekskill Meteorite. (From Good Shit)
You can now give your Porsche an exclusive personal touch. Instead of the type designation, you can have a customized text in the same font placed on your Porsche. Texts can be made for all 911 models - Cayenne - Boxster and Cayman
The real Drift-King. The ultimate drift
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Automotive Links Here
November 23, 2006 in Cars | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, as read by a 6 year old
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"
The Modern Child Unfriendly Alphabet. (From Twisted twee)
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Children Links Here
November 23, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 22, 2006
I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
While working at the music and neuroimaging lab at Beth Israel/Harvard Medical School in Boston, I developed a quick online way to screen for the tone deafness. It actually turned out to be a pretty good test to check for overall pitch perception ability. The test is purposefully made very hard, so excellent musicians rarely score above 80% correct. Give it a try. (From Buzz)
Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major
Btw, It ain't cool being no jive turkey, so close to Thanksgiving
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Musicians and their Music Here
November 22, 2006 in Music_ | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
中华人民共和国
My first visit to China was short but overwhelming. I found the country completely modern, highly developed, vibrant & friendly. This was the first time that I traveled in a group (Sponsored by the the Rialto Chamber of Commerce), instead of on my own, and it allowed us to cram many sightseeing events & locations into a trip which lasted less than 2 weeks.
We visited only 4 cities, Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and (my favorite) Shanghai (with 18 million citizens). Here is my photo album from the trip. (It’s very colorful, and as usual, curiously random).
I have no doubt that the 21st century will be dominated by the Chinese, and that the sooner we learn the culture & speak the language, the better we’ll be. The most amazing feat is the relatively-peaceful transformation of the country from a Maoist world view into the capitalist system as it manifests itself today.
Of the many personal observations, I’ll just note here that we passed by thousands of high-rise apartment buildings under constructions, and that most of all the hyper-progress seems to have happened in the last 15 years. The cities are new, clean, crime-free and offer everything a westerner can imagine (except cheese). Traffic happens magically.
I’ll be back with many odd subjects later. Like always, I rely on others to express some of my interests with this series of links:
May Day vacation in Sichuan
Gilded Splendor – Virtual Tours of Liao Tombs (907-1125)
Minsk World is a military theme park located in Dapeng Bay, Shenzhen. Minsk World is unique in that the park grounds include the huge former Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk re-designed as a tourist attraction. It is the fifth-largest aircraft carrier in the world. (From Things Magazine)
Chairman Mao tea set, from a 5-part Slate series At Home in Shanghai
KFC is big in China and Colonel Sanders icons are eerily reminiscent of the old Chairman
Trailer to Bertolucci’s Last Emperor
The many historical capitals of China
The Nanjing Massacre (Warning! Grusome)
Mondophoto.net - 4200 Public Domain photos of China
Elsewhere: Hello, world! - A visual code for Google earth
Mega Machu Picchu (Approx. 60,000 x 26,000 pixels)
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Travel Destinations Here
November 22, 2006 in Traveling Places | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack
November 21, 2006
Rubik in Hebrew
Rubik's Cube Mario Pop Art Wall Hanging. Previously blogged by Gary Fixler – The Rubik's Magnetic Cube Project. Not impressive enough? See the video in action
How To Solve A Rubik's Cube In 5 Easy Steps. (Metacafe) If you could understand that then good for you.
In Cubic Checkers the cubes have four units, cubes rotates round two lines. This is "hierarchic" checkers. (Thank you, Vladimir)
The cube in Hebrew
In other news, the whole line of Dora Aquapets
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Links About Rubik’s Cube and Hundreds of Other Games Here
November 21, 2006 in Games - Rubik's Cube | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Yuppie ghettos
The Web Log of Brick and Garden Real Estate
Denver Lender, written by Phil Leto, a mortgage broker in Denver
The Gowanus Lounge
The Tucson Foothills
Geri Sonkin’s Long Island Real Estate Blog
Derek Pierce‘s REI Secrets
Mammoth Lakes Real Estate blog
Paul Dizmang‘s 417 Dwellings blog from Springfield, MO
A blog from Northeast Los Angeles
Eastern Connecticut Real Estate Blog
Michael Cohen’s blog about Hamptons real estate
Sam Chapman's Austin Real Estate News
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Real Estate Blogs as well as Grow-a-Brain’s Extensive Real Estate Archives Are Here
November 21, 2006 in Real estate Blogs | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack
November 20, 2006
Hipster Wigs
Rock & Surf Wigs
The Latest from Paris
Terror T-Shirt and American Gulag bracelets
The shoe wheel storage system
Laura Mercier's Eau Gourmande Collection. (From Cha Xiu Bao)
I should be back from my China vacation by now. This post had been pre-blogged for your enjoyment
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Fashion Trends As Well As Growabrain T-shirt Closet Collection Here
November 20, 2006 in Fashion | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 19, 2006
My banana and I
Vegiforms. For growing novelty vegetables, these 1/8" thick, clear plastic forms are very effective. Just fix a mold over a growing vegetable, and the vegetable will conform to the shape of the mold
The British National Fruit Collection
Meatballs blamed in positive drug test
Fruity Food pool on flickr
I am away on a short vacation to China at the moment. This post had been pre-blogged for your enjoyment
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Meat Eaters and Vegetarians Here
November 19, 2006 in Food - Meat & Vegetables | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 18, 2006
Crazier than a soup sandwich
Slang in the Great Depression. (From Information Nation)
“Eats like a fish”. Like Spoonerisms and Tom Swifties before them, Helenisms are their own aphorismic genre, with precise properties:
The phrase must be built of two well-known aphorisms or phrases, and these should usually be related in structure or meaning.
The phrase itself must be meaningful, and its meaning must be clear despite being an odd amalgam of its two constituent phrases
Learn English idioms
(From a thread What is your most colorful expression or phrase?)
What is a Tittle? A tittle is originally a small mark either on or in a letter, i.e. it may be part of the letter or it may be a diacritic (accent) near it
I am away on a short vacation to China at the moment. This post had been pre-blogged for your enjoyment
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Language Links Here
November 18, 2006 in Languages | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 17, 2006
First Frisbee
In Bridgeport, CT., the Frisbie Baking Company sold pies in metal dishes. Boredom led to recreation and the Frisbee was born - 1948. (From Slap’s blog)
First Garfield strip: June 19, 1978
The First Russian Laptop, made under the brand “Elektronika”. The production started in 1991 and lasted not very long due to the high price of the device - none of the common people could afford themselves such devices. The price for the computer was around $6000, that equals 25,000 roubles according to that time’s exchange rate, when the average salary across the country was 500 roubles
In the game of life, no one remembers the second bluegrass icon killed by a tractor. Blender salutes the songs, stars—and cannibals—who got there first. Famous Musical Firsts. (From J-Walk)
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual ‘First Ever’ Stories Here
November 17, 2006 in First Ever | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Powerlines Birds
Life in Los Angeles in the 20th century was not nearly as dull as you've been led to believe. (From Boyntonesque)
A Visit to Old Los Angeles and Environs
What's this webwork of streets between LAX Airport and the beach?
More: What are those birds hanging from power lines all over Hollywood and the West Side?
Twenty-five years ago in Los Angeles, California the Cosmic Baseball Association was founded by a small group of friends living and breathing the left coast's air as a professional association of baseball players, owners, and administrators worked through a labor crisis that prevented the playing of professional "major league" baseball
I am away on a short vacation to China at the moment. This post had been pre-blogged for your enjoyment
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Links About Los Angeles and Orange County Here
November 17, 2006 in Los Angeles | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
November 16, 2006
El Gaucho Goofy
Disney Children's records from the 50s and 60s
The skeleton dance, 1929
Aquarela do Brasil (YouTube) from Saludos Amigos (World premiere in Rio de Janeiro on August 24, 1942)
Damn, I’m no longer the first result when you Google for mouse orgy Disney Paris, but I was until the recent French scandal
/// Add it to your del.icio.us /// A Huge Depository of Unusual Disney Links Here
November 16, 2006 in Disney | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack