One hand fixes the other

I think M.C. Escher's stuff is really cool and trying to figure out some of his three-dimensional impossibilities are rather mind bending.

This is a neat take on his drawing hands.

More family friendly than any wardrobe malfunction

One time at band camp... oh, wait sorry.

This is probably way cooler than any band camp story, though admittedly just as geeky.

There are no borders in space!

One would think that the space race is over, but no, even with the International Space Station, the space race is still going strong.

You'd think that when the human race moves into space we could ignore all the lines we've drawn in the sand, literally and figuratively.

However the Asian space race is going strong with multiple missions to the moon, even though America and USSR have been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

• China launches first Moon orbiter
• Japanese Probe Returns First HD Video of the Moon

And India is apparently going as well.

With all the disease and poverty in the world, and even in Asia's back yard, you'd think that they could collaborate on this mission to the moon and spend the savings on improving the lives of their people in rural areas.

Guiness is cool

Here's a cool new commercial from Guinness in the same vein as the Honda commercial.

Good things come to those who wait.

Real Life Superheroes

"Real Life Superheroes are a group of people that have risen above normalcy and societal constraints in order to serve the public good while maintaining a unique personality and look."

I think they're brave just for going out in public in their "costumes."

How inspiring though to know that there are people out there taking action: patrolling the streets, picking up litter, cleaning graffiti and aiding residents in however they need.

Here's a definition of a RLSH from the welcome post on the Superheroes Anonymous website:

• A Real Life Superhero challenges the very meaning of “real life” and provides hope, inspiration and uncertainty to a world that has become too complacent with normalcy and mediocrity. A Real Life Superhero is someone who loves the world to such a degree that they are not content observing but feel compelled to act. And so in that way, they differ from just a “good person” and earn themselves the title “hero.”

A recent news story covering their first meeting in Times Square describes a couple of the superheroes:

• Street Hero wears a black mask, a black bustier and black knee-high boots. She was a former prostitute who now attempts to protect women who work the streets. She is trained in martial arts.
  "I do it on my own," she said. "Mostly after dark. Around the city."
• The Super fixes faucets and does electrical work for people in need.
  "I said to myself, if we have to wait around for the city or the mayor to fix everything wrong or dangerous in this city, it'll never get done," said the Super, who wore a red cape, a yellow shirt and a white mask.

Jason Clements has just poked you.

OK, maybe it doesn't have the same affect in a blog as it does on Facebook.

Not being a die hard Facebook user I've never really got the significance of poking someone. To me it was a useless thing with no real purpose.

However, after reading Dave McClure's blog entry on the subject it makes a bit more sense. I'm starting to see that there can be more background read into a specific poke to interpret it. Though to me the sexual connotation is still a bit strong for me to start using it too much.

I think it would make an interesting topic for a social or philosophical paper or discussion to study more.

The Red Sox may just win the World Series (again)

Not being a big sports fan I wouldn't normally mention the World Series in any of my posts.

However, being a bit of a pop culture and TV fan, the fact that Boston won for their league and will now play Colorado for the World Series is a big thing, especially in the World of 'Lost.'

Jack, a lead character in the series (along with his father) would say "when the Red Sox win the World Series" to mean something was very unlikely to happen, along the lines of "when pigs fly" or "when hell freezes over."

And now Boston could win for a second time in four years after their win in 2004.

Not sure the win will shatter the storyline though. I think one of The Others, maybe Ben or Tom, mentioned to Jack that the Red Sox had won the World Series while he's been stranded on the island (though not sure if they were joking or serious).

Can't wait for the season to start up again in the new year.

Is it Christmas?

The proliferation of Christmas cards and decorations on the store shelves for the majority of the year puts the date in question sometimes.

So, if you ever find yourself unable to keep track of the days and think it might be Christmas, just check out this site and get the answer.




And if you start feeling rejected by seeing 'No' too many times, just watch this countdown to no when you might see a 'Yes.'

Guess I measure up

According to the findings of the 2007 web design survey completed by A List Apart, I'm pretty typical when it comes to web professionals.

White: check
Male: check
30 something: check
Bachelor degree: check
Blog: check

Close to 33,000 web professionals answered the survey's 37 questions and around 70 per cent of the respondents fit the above bill of a white, 30 something male with a bachelor degree.

More research in favour of open source and social media

Many companies do not to have open blogs or wikis where anyone can contribute for fear that malicious or negative feedback will prevail.

And you may think that allowing anonymous contributors would lead to posts of malicious or false information, but according to the study infrequent anonymous contributors to Wikipedia are as reliable as registered users who update constantly.

And if a company is focusing on quality and serving their customers then they shouldn't have to worry. Sure there may be the odd negative or false comment, but I believe there is an altruistic nature of society as a whole and if a person has a good experience with a product or service he or she is going to share that good experience with everyone.

Onslaught and Amy follow Evolution

Dove has two new self esteem ads to follow the success of the viral ad, Evolution:

1. Onslaught
2. Amy - this one actually lets you replace the name with that of 50 other common names

“Amy can name 12 things wrong with her appearance. He can’t name one.”

Do not try this at home

This is what the North American commercials look like when they're rehearsing.

"Das sicherste Ensemble der Welt" literally translates to "the most certain ensemble of the world."

sicher can also mean "safe" though. So, you'd think the commerical is a bloopers reel for the final synchronized ballet, but it's actually demonstrating how safe they are.

Well done I'd say.

Mathematical proof to the existence of multiple universes

Turns out The One may not be that far off after all.

In the movie, Jet Li's character travels to multiple universes killing off his alternate self.

The premise of the movie is that there's only so much power in the universe to go around for each person and it's shared with your alternate selves.

So, by killing off your alternate selves the energy becomes more focused among those remaining to the point of almost god-like strength and intelligence.

And now there's a mathematical proof that the universe splitting into parallel versions of itself can explain the probabilistic nature of quantum outcomes.

Of course you probably have to kill off a couple of your alternate selves to have the brain power to understand the proof.

My very own missile silo

I want me one of these. And what a bargain at only $1.5 million.

Imagine turning this into a recreation facility / resort.

• You could have repelling and mountain climbing in the silos.
• Military and space themed guest rooms.
• Maybe even launch your own rocket into space and offer rides.

And in case of alien invasion or nuclear fallout, I'm sure you'd be protected in your underground bunker.

Spin class power

Supercomputers powered by bicycles. This is a cool idea. I'm sure lots of power can be generated from a busy fitness centre. Just hook up a few extra gears and straps to the equipment and voila, instant, free power for the fitness centre.

They could easily employ a rechargeable generator that charges during spin class.

It changes you

In The Brave One, when Jodi Foster's character is asked how you get over a tragic event in your life, she says, you don't, it changes you.

A pretty good movie portraying how someone copes with fear and how one doesn't overcome the tragedy, but how it changes who they were into someone else.

There have been comparisons between this and Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon, and there are some similarities; how someone who presumably wouldn't have otherwise, become vigilantes out for justice seeking vengeance against those who've wronged them.

I haven't seen Kevin Bacon's version yet, but I think Jodi Foster will win out. Death Sentence,seems to be more about the violence, the action, the machismo and catering to a guy audience. The Brave One, although perhaps a predictable Hollywood story, gets you thinking how something like that would change you. It's more of a movie that you will remember and not forget the minute you walk out of the theatre.

MOTOROKR Transformer

How cool is that. A MOTOROKR E6 cellphone modded into a still-functioning Transformer.


I gotta have one of these.

A challenge to graduates

The three lessons about growing up from Senator Barack Obama's commencement speech May 19 at Southern New Hampshire University:

1. The world doesn't evolve around you.
2. Challenge yourself. Take some risks in your life.
3. Persevere

Telecommute now becomes telepresence

Now you can be in two places at once.

A tech company in Waterloo has an employee living in Nova Scotia and yet his smiling faces still appears at the water cooler every work day.

Population clock

Want to see how fast the world population is really growing? Check out the population clock for the U.S. and the World.

As of today at 20:58 GMT, the world population is 6,616,179,912 (when I started this post). And just a few minutes later it's already jumped to 6,616,180,686.

The U.S. Census Bureau is predicting by July 1, 2008, the world population will be 6,679,532,264. That's over 70,000 in less than a year!

And I've stated before, the prediction is 9 billion by mid-century.

Do you really think that this planet can sustain such growth?

Check out the clock and you can watch it change as you watch.