random web findings

2006-12-18T01:45:00.000-06:00

Online Tour of the Whitehouse

The Vermeil room is quite fetching. Also, check out that Green Room which, "Thomas Jefferson, the second occupant of the White House, used as a dining room with a 'canvas floor cloth, painted green,' foreshadowing the present color scheme."

Excitement lies behind every door.

2006-07-27T00:40:00.000-05:00

Cats that look like Hitler

The name says it all.

2006-07-18T11:47:00.000-05:00

Celestia

"The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Celestia runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X."

2006-07-18T11:46:00.000-05:00

Icon War

Who will be victorious when the Icons no longer live together in peace?!

2006-07-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

Manatees of Jacksonville

Check out these artsy pretty sea cows.

2006-06-28T03:23:00.000-05:00

Build Your Own Gonk Droid

If you're like me, you like to walk about pretending to be a power droid, saying "GONK." Here is a site instructing you in building your own! Lemme know how it turns out.

2006-03-09T00:31:00.000-06:00

Bunny

I like it.

2006-02-20T18:03:00.000-06:00

Sing Along with JFK

JFK Speeches + Accordian + Chorus = Fun fun fun

I like the Ask Not Waltz and Trumpet.

Evan found this one. He's a clever lad.

2006-02-15T00:38:00.001-06:00

PBF
Perry Bible Fellowship
a comic strip for you

2006-02-01T19:20:00.003-06:00

Public Service Campaigning at its finest (not quite funniest). Check out the articles on Smoking and Self-Esteem!

"Tobacco damages your health. Effects of tobacco use can include tooth loss, chronic bronchitis, heart disease, strokes, premature aging symptoms like hair loss and wrinkles, dizziness, dehydration, and cancers of the lung, mouth, throat, bladder, pancreas, and kidney. The list of diseases caused by smoking has been expanded in addition to diseases previously known, as well as reproductive effects, infertility, and sudden infant death sydnrome."

"Having good self-esteem decreases your susceptibility to prolonged depression and other unpleasant emotions like guilt, anger, jealousy, or even mental disorders. " Hahah

2006-01-27T00:21:00.001-06:00

Oh no she didn't!

Ranger Roster

Oh yes. For the cheesy sci-fi lover in us all. Stop by Code 7R's Ranger Roster. They've got skills. You know, like pike skills, healing skills, fixing beds skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

2005-12-27T11:18:00.000-06:00

Opacity.us - Abandoned Photography

This is awesome, for any of you urban spelunking/exporation aficionados out there. Great photography of abandoned places. Cheers.

2005-12-17T00:15:00.001-06:00

Google Transit

Another one from Google. It gives you directions using public transportation rather than driving directions. Only Portland is available right now. As Katie Holmes would say, "It's kinda neat."

2005-11-16T02:03:00.000-06:00

Google Base

Wow. I have a feeling this is going to be a pretty big deal, even if it doesn't make sense yet. Post just about anything into Google's massive array of servers and make it available for everyone. Hmmm...

2005-11-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

findagrave.com

I was reading a book today and the author said this was one of her favorite sites. I was delighted, as I, too, love this site, and I realized I had not posted it on here yet! You can search by name, claim to fame, profession, location, all kinds of things. A handy resource with bios and pictures.

2005-11-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

del.icio.us/jdanger

I must say, I'm quite impressed by the addictive nature of this site. del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site where, instead of bookmarking in your own browser alone, you bookmark to a page that everyone can see. Somewhat like the nature of random web findings, but with very frequent updates by many, many people. Also integrates directly with that kick-ass browser Flock.
Anyway, check 'er out. :-)

2005-11-06T05:48:00.000-06:00

How much alcohol can you get into a Jell-o shot?

They did it for science

"The Experiment:
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the highest possible concentration of alcohol attainable in a Jell-O shot, while still maintaining the structural integrity (i.e., the gelling properties) of the gelatin."

2005-10-30T13:59:00.000-06:00

Holy Bibble

More fun with the Bible.

2005-10-27T19:06:00.000-05:00

subservientchicken.com

Have it your way

2005-10-24T18:01:00.000-05:00

Make Your Own Stamps

Always wanted to send out postcards with stamps with your own likeness or that of an unfortunate, unsuspecting party? Well, now you can.

Flock

2005-10-23T00:08:00.000-05:00

This thing is fucking awesome. It takes my favorite web browser in the world (Firefox) and syncs it up with Blogger and del.icio.us. So, all your favorites not only stick with you, but you can share them, too. Anyway, just download it. It rocks my socks.

http://www.flock.com/developer/

2005-10-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

Busted Tees!

No, seriously - who let the fucking dogs out?

2005-10-19T00:56:00.000-05:00

Homeless or Jesus?

This is much harder than it seems. Object of the game: identify if the picture is of a homeless person or of Jesus

2005-10-13T02:40:00.000-05:00

Let's Make a Deal Applet

You have three doors. You choose one. The game show host shows you a goat behind another. You can stay with your door or change doors. I first thought (like most) that there's a 50/50 chance of getting it right then. There is not, however. You win 2/3 if you change your door. Odds of winning by not switching are only 1/3. Interesting.

2005-10-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

blingo.com

"How Blingo works:
1. We pick a bunch of random winning times.
2. Search at the right time and you win. No registration required.
3. Then tell us where to send your prize"

Google with prizes. I think it's cute.

2005-09-29T01:37:00.000-05:00

Online Etymology Dictionary

Simple way to find the origin of words. Amusing and educational!

Vivify: 1595, from O.Fr. vivifier (12c.), from L.L. vivificare "make alive, restore to life," from vivificus "enlivening," from L. vivus "alive"

Nobodaddy: c.1793, William Blake's derisive name for the anthropomorphic God of Christianity.

Gonzo: 1971, Amer.Eng., in Hunter S. Thompson's phrase gonzo journalism, from It. gonzo "simpleton, blockhead." Thompson in 1972 said he got it from editor Bill Cardosa, and explained it as "some Boston word for weird, bizarre."

2005-08-24T09:13:00.000-05:00

Sloganizer

I like slogans. Do you like slogans? Everyone likes slogans. It changes every 30 seconds. Aww

2005-08-22T07:21:00.000-05:00

2001 The Space Odyssey Explained

"You are free to speculate as you wish, about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of '2001'" -Stanley Kubrick
Here is one group of peoples explanation. Although if you just read the books by Arthur C. Clarke, it's pretty straightforward, and this is sorta... quirky-off, meant to be amusing. Part III is pretty funny.

2005-08-16T12:07:00.000-05:00

Digg.

You can digg it. It's a tech/geek/news site that has been promoted to my home page that has hot new links all the time. Kinda like Slashdot, but for the more ADD crowd. Gimme links, gimme gimme!

2005-08-08T19:29:00.000-05:00

White House "Lost In Space" Scenarios

Nixon's speech to be read called "In Event of Moon Disaster" along with memos from NASA with suggestions of things to say if the astronauts were to kick it and be lost in space or stuck on the moon. "Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace." Hilarious.

2005-07-13T12:38:00.000-05:00

There Goes The Bride

I should have seen this site a long time ago. Might have saved me some time. Heh.

2005-07-13T12:34:00.000-05:00

GraphicJunkies

This is a trip, and since I'm big into a photography kick right now, I found this to be quite interesting. It's a collection of photographs from an officer in Atlanta while on duty. Pretty cool stuff.

2005-07-07T16:50:00.000-05:00

Google Earth!

This is by far the coolest thing I think I've ever seen, technologically. You can browse the entire globe of satellite imagery and zoom in to street level in most cities. Find your house, your neighbors, where you grew up...it's like Google maps on crack. Blau.

2005-05-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

Drive Me Insane!

You can spy on people around the world at this site, and click the buttons to turn their lights on and off.
What can I say? It's the internet at its finest. Thank you to Mr. Stephen Brown for finding this.

2005-05-02T18:53:00.000-05:00

Time Traveler Convention

I'm doing my part to publicize this so that in the future time travelers will all know about the bitchin' party at MIT. Let's get the word out, folks! And don't forget those refreshments. It should be fun for you and the time travelers.

2005-05-01T08:21:00.000-05:00

Rubik's Cube Solution

Here is a pretty good reference for anyone wishing to learn how to solve a Rubik's cube or increase their speed. It's easier than one would think. Give it a go! :)

2005-04-30T03:38:00.000-05:00

Prophecy of St. Malachy

There are mottos attributed to each pope from the prophecies of St. Malachy. Whether it's all forgeries or not, it's still very interesting, and the list is growing short. This Pope right now is the second to the last named.

"In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, & Judex tremêdus judicabit populum suum. Finis."

In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge his people. The End.

2005-04-16T03:29:00.000-05:00

213 Things Skippy Can't Do

Poor Skippy was bored in Bosnia. Worth a reading and a chuckle.

76. "Teddy Bear, Teddy bear, turn around" is *not* a cadence.

83. Must not start any SITREP (Situation Report) with "I recently had an experience I just had to write you about...."

105. I am not allowed to bum cigarettes off of anyone under twelve.

177. I am not to refer to a formation as “the boxy rectangle thingie”.

2005-01-25T23:23:00.000-06:00

Squashed Philosophers

Handy dandy reference with condensed works of Philosophers. Simple and quick overviews of each one.

2005-01-09T23:20:00.000-06:00

D.A.R.E Essays

Check out the indoctrination of the youth as well as their funny catch phrases.

Alison's letter is classic.

2005-01-07T00:54:00.000-06:00

Prime Pages

Prime nimber research, records, and resources.

2004-12-15T15:15:00.000-06:00

Google AdSense

OK, normally Marjie and I post links up here, and it's good fun as we find random web things. Today, I started this Google AdSense program, and thought it might be interesting to post their little ad tower on the column to the right. (It's posted under the archive there.)

For some reason, they decided our site was related to Latino AOL, truck driving and mobile text messaging. Why? I have absolutely no clue. Well, check it out anyway. Click things.

2004-12-08T21:27:00.000-06:00

ESPN Bottomline

Go here to download a super duper ESPN ticker at the bottom of your screen. Yay. And when you click on the top stories going by or the scores it gives you a nice little article about it. Stever the Wise says, "Make sure you customize it so you don't get US soccer scores and shit" or something like that. It is my new favorite distraction methinks.

2004-12-07T10:34:00.000-06:00

I used to believe

Childhood beliefs and misconceptions.
Trust me on this one; I'm just too groggy to be witty right now. :-)

2004-11-23T22:18:00.000-06:00

Surprise!

Check out this film.
It is a random web finding!

2004-11-18T15:59:00.000-06:00

BillyCorgan.com

It goes without saying (but I'm saying it anyway), that this should have been posted here long ago. A good way to read Billy's musings and bloggery and keep track of what is coming up in the future music and bookwise. :) Any Smashing Pumpkins or Zwan fan should love it. I know I do.

2004-11-10T23:42:00.000-06:00

Brick Testament Yet another time-consuming, yet great, religious site. Stories of the Bible told with Legos.

I find the stories very enjoyable to read in this format. There is also merchandise, if you wish to give $27 of your hard earned dollars for the Holy Trinity to sit upon your desk as a "novelty" item.

This is the best one: Second Circumcision. It brought me to tears. Heh

2004-10-12T13:16:00.000-05:00

Douglas Coupland

I recently read a post on Marjie's blog that said I'd be Dan from Microserfs if I were a character from a book, and naturally I picked up that book and started reading it. I'm still fascinated by Coupland's take on the world of Microsoft geeks (I use that term affectionately) in the mid-90s. Then, lo and behold, I found out the guy coined the term "Generation X." Cool beans. Anyway, check out his site.

2004-10-08T22:40:00.000-05:00

Objective: 4 Kidz

Holy Shit! This site is not only funny, but super fun! You can watch Baby Jesus cry if you haven't accepted Christ yet, and you can play dress up Lambuel. You can even dress him up as that John 3:16 dude who used to go to all the major sporting events. I wonder if they know that guy went crazy and started hurting people before he died. Anyway, Help Lambuel through the maze to church while avoiding temptation along the way! r0x0r!

2004-10-07T09:48:00.000-05:00

404 Research Labs

Ever seen the old "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error? Before it was all "prettied" up by Micro$not, these used to result in 404: Page Cannot Be Displayed. Usually very bland and simple, but the links showcased on the site above have the most creative 404 errors on the 'net. My favorite one so far is the 404 Club. Check 'er out.

2004-10-04T01:48:00.000-05:00

The Parking Lot is Full

One of the best durn comic strips ever. If you haven't already perused the archives, you most definitely should.

My two favorites:

Here
& Here

2004-09-25T01:57:00.000-05:00

How to fold a paper crane.

Sadako Sasaski died before she finished folding her thousand paper cranes. Her wish was not granted. Her friends finished them for her, and buried her with them. So here's a link to how to fold paper cranes, in the event that you find yourself wishing for something. Really wishing, that is.

Sadako

2004-09-22T08:22:00.000-05:00

A Matrix & Ghost In The Shell Comparison

I think I found this on Wired News the other day while reading about that new Matrix Online game (which looks like it's going to rock, btw). It's a scene by scene comparison of the two movies, and it seems that the Matrix took A LOT of its inspiration from Ghost In The Shell. And, now that Ghost In The Shell 2 is coming out, this is even cooler.

2004-09-17T01:10:00.000-05:00

Flash Gear

This just rocks. Four little Flash applications (currently) that you can edit and reuse on your own site. They have a hit counter, a chat room, a painting app, and one where you can insert moving eyes into any picture. I'd put one of them on the post, but unfortunately, it's wider than the blog will allow, and I still haven't quite figured out how to tweak my template to make it fit. ;-)

2004-09-14T13:30:00.000-05:00

Blather

I found Blather about six years ago when googling abstract nouns. It came up under "solitude." Blather is a tons of words linked together. Any time you type what you think/feel/ramble about any word it makes links of all of your words used to all the other words that are available for posting abouts. It is great fun, and can consume endless amounts of time if you just feel like writing little bits here and there about whatever comes to mind, or whatever you end up linking to with your own words. It's grown quite a bit in the years I've been watching and posting in it. It is fun. Everyone should blather. If you are looking for a specific word to blather about just type in blather.newdream.net/first letter of word/word.html. Example: blather.newdream.net/m/marjorie.html

2004-09-12T22:17:00.000-05:00

Crystallographic Polyhedra

More fun with shapes than you can shake a stick at. View the majestic Hexakistetrahedron or the fine Rhombic Dodecahedron while you play God and resize and rotate the shape. :) My personal favorite is the Tetrahedral Pentagonal
Dodecahedron. Simple and fun boredom killer for a good 15 minutes.

2004-09-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

Cooking for Engineers

Ah, the site I've been waiting for. The most analytical and logical approach to cooking I've found yet. Perfect for the anal engineer side of all of us, especially pertinent to people like myself who get frustrated by many aspects of cooking on a daily basis.

2004-09-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

MySpace

Shameless plug (as I have my profile posted here), but an exceptionally cool site. Excellent way to meet people (my extended network is 3,536,927 people), share ideas, join groups and make a rockin' page if you're up on your HTML coding skillz. :-)

2004-04-15T19:01:00.000-05:00

newsmap

I coworker of mine suggested this site to me, and since I first laid eyes on it, it's been my home page.
Here's the description from the site itself:

"Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator. Treemaps are traditionally space-constrained visualizations of information. Newsmap's objective takes that goal a step further and provides a tool to divide information into quickly recognizable bands which, when presented together, reveal underlying patterns in news reporting across cultures and within news segments in constant change around the globe.
Newsmap does not pretend to replace the googlenews aggregator. It's objective is to simply demonstrate visually the relationships between data and the unseen patterns in news media. It is not thought to display an unbiased view of the news, on the contrary it is thought to ironically accentuate the bias of it."

Rad.

2004-03-24T14:19:00.000-06:00

First Interview with Linus Torvalds

In a surprise return to the blogging world, I bring you a link to the first interview Linux Journal conducted with Linus Torvalds regarding (of course) Linux and its future. Seems like he had quite a bit of insight into this whole Linux phenomenon when this interview took place over 10 years ago.

2003-05-26T04:48:00.000-05:00

Ars Technica

Excellent news site about the state of affairs in the computer industry. Reminds me a bit of slashdot.

2003-05-26T04:46:00.000-05:00

Is Religion Dead?

Interesting forum discussing the contemporary relevance and purpose of religion

2003-05-21T16:46:00.000-05:00

Urban Adventure.org

In the spirit of urban spelunking and exploration, I've found another site for you all to enjoy...

2003-04-09T18:53:00.000-05:00

Propaganda Remix Project

If you're as sick as I am of our civil liberties getting stomped out for our nation's conquests of oil and power, you'll appreciate this site -- a showcase of "remixed" old war propaganda posters with a World War II look.

2003-04-07T05:30:00.000-05:00

Utility Tunnels FAQ

Ah, for so long I thought I was the only one crazy enough to be interested in this stuff. As it turns out, there's a whole underground culture focused on the art of "urban exploration", which basically means exploring urban pockets where the public isn't supposed to go. One such example is the steam tunnels at Oregon State University (I've been down there a few times) -- harder than hell to get into, incredibly interesting to explore.

2003-03-03T20:28:00.000-06:00

Music CD Settlement

I'm sure you've probably heard of this before, but if you've bought a music cd from 1995 to 2000, you are eligible for compensation from a class action lawsuit filed against the RIAA. Hey, free money can't hurt, and it's a great way to stick it to those greedy bastards who charge close to $20 for a damn CD these days.

2003-02-26T19:37:00.000-06:00

BeaverBoard

I just got an e-mail for this site from one of my mailing lists at OSU, and it seemed kinda interesting. I guess it's a big forum/message board for OSU students. Maybe you'll like it.

2003-02-26T19:26:00.000-06:00

Wayback Machine

This jewel of the web, partnered with the Alexa search service has archived most web pages on the internet back to 1996. Type in a site, and see what it looked like in years past. They also provide the service of collecting sites on momentous occasions, including September 11, and Election 2000.

2003-02-25T22:09:00.000-06:00

A Guy's Guide to Geek Girls

Per Trinity's request, and in response to my previous posting about the Girl's Guide to Geek Guys, this site has a great commentary on geek girls along with snippets from a comic called General Protection Fault, all about the topic. Enjoi.

2003-02-25T22:05:00.000-06:00

ADBUSTERS

As of yet, my favorite counter-culture magazine. The anti-ads are amazingly good, and I appreciate the frustrations with corporate America. They describe themselves even better themselves:
"We are a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century."

2003-02-25T22:01:00.000-06:00

Factory Farming

Score one for the vegetarians...this site illustrates the atrocities of the factory farming of animals. Interesting to look at, even though I'm still quite the omnivore. Hey, I always said -- give me something that looks, tastes, smells like meat, I'll give up eating animals. Hopefully they're getting close to that one.

2003-02-25T19:25:00.000-06:00

Soma FM

Grade-A, high quality, high fidelity chill intelligent music. Put it on as background music when you do, well, anything. These guys do a great job of digging up the really obscure chill beats you'd find at those snooty independent record stores that really kick-ass, but you're too afraid to ask about. Give them your support as well, as they're still reeling from those (rant)goddamn RIAA bastards trying to inflict their multi-fanged venomous pain into all those webcasters that have been merely trying to provide us with great music for free.(/rant) Power to them.

2003-02-25T19:21:00.000-06:00

Neworder.box.sk

Under the pretense of a security advisory organization for the IT world (which they actually manage to do), this hacker-friendly forum and news organization offers not only the latest security hole information, but tools to help you...eh...test those holes. h4x0r 4 l1f3. ;-) Check out astalavista.box.sk while you're at it for all your cracking/serial needs. Hehe.

2003-02-25T19:16:00.000-06:00

Phone Losers

If you know what the acronym H/P/A means, and if you've been a bit of a phone phreaker in the past few years, you'll appreciate this page. Half humor, half tips on phucking the system. 31337, b4by.

2003-02-20T19:14:00.000-06:00

Oregon Hang Gliding

One of the librarians at the Valley Library runs some hang gliding training sessions this summer. Sounds quite interesting.

2003-02-20T19:09:00.000-06:00

A Girl's Guide to Geek Guys

This is a sweet page for the geeks in all of us...basically a girl's guide to the care and maintenance of a relationship with a geek. Pretty funny. :-)

2003-02-19T11:52:00.000-06:00

Rebirth of the $2 Bill

I've always been intrigued by the reasonably rare bill, and collected them occasionally. Now, it seems, the treasury department is reissuing these bills. Can't tell off hand if they'll be the new design, but I imagine so.

2003-02-18T21:02:00.000-06:00

Bell System Memorial

For my first post, I'd like to highlight this site, of particular interest to phreakers and phone history enthusiasts alike. I can't quite remember how I stumbled upon this page, but it's chock full of telephone goodness, explaining in great detail most aspects of the Bell System history, as well as offering pictures of old telco advertisements and schematics of Western Electric phones -- back when they had bells as ringers and couldn't be broken.

2003-02-18T20:56:00.000-06:00

welcome to my random web findings site. here, I'll be posting notes and gatherings from the web for your enjoyment, amusement, and or shock value. enjoi. :-)