Archive for April, 2008

Fecal Opportunity

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

carving of a dinosaur in fossilized poop

What you see above is a relief carving of a triceratops into the side of fossilized dinosaur poop! Now I don’t know if the coprolite comes from the dinosaur carved on the side…but does it matter?

This same site, tellmewhereonearth.com, sells jewelry made from moose and deer poop! Somehow I don’t think that’d pass muster as a gift for a significant other…

A Landmark Improvement

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

As if Google Maps wasn’t already useful enough, they’ve decided to integrate Street View with their driving directions:


(via Ze Frank)

Circular Argument

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

The North Richmond News reports that Richmond’s government is considering a change to the intersection of Laburnum and Hermitage. While said crossing is currently managed by traffic lights, officials are looking at changing the traffic pattern to a two lane circle similar to the Lee Circle at Allen and Monument.

Part of me thinks this is useful – after all, this could actually lead to fewer accidents and a better flow of traffic – but part of me is pissed off. I don’t care what benefits traffic circles may bring because driving through them annoys the crap out of me :-)

Is it chocolate? Is it safe?

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Watching today’s new episode of Good Eats, I noticed a reference to Texas’ “Safe Cupcake Amendment.” Yes, it’s real, and yes, there’s stupidity on both sides of the “issue.”

Made in China

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Ahem.

MAN CHAIR

Monday, April 28th, 2008

reclining leather chair

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay outta my price range, but way WITHIN my idea of an awesome place to park my tuchus.

Corn Juice, Corn Bottle

Monday, April 28th, 2008

If you can stand the loung-o-rific snooze tune playing in the background, check out this short video clip depicting the manufacture of plastic bottles from a mixture of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), recycled plastic, and plant sugars:

I researched this a little further and discovered that NatureWorks, the company which produces this plastic, is a joint venture between Cargill and Japan’s Teijin Limited. With Cargill’s involvement, I bet you can guess where those natural plant sugars come from…

Well just in case you can’t, NatureWorks fills in the gap on the home page telling us that corn is used. Okay, so maybe it’s not just corn – they say it comes from renewable sources “such as corn,” but all their PR-speak FAQs refer to corn. I’m fascinated by the possibility of plastic manufacture from renewable sources, but knowing Cargill’s impact on our farms and food culture, I can’t help wondering what adverse affects this product would have if it took hold in the packaging industry.

Superstition on Sesame Street

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

This is almost seven minutes, but it’s like fuel injection for your soul. Plus, the little kid waving his head around like a maniac is totally awesome.

Mario Kart Wii First Impressions

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

I’m not a huge video game player, but there are some series of games which I adore. Mario Kart is one of them, so today I purchased the latest title for the Wii.

This game is AWESOME.

The steering seems reasonably sensitive out of the box, the tracks are excellent (especially Wario’s Gold Mine), and the addition of motorcycles seems like a brilliant idea (it feels like way different steering dynamics to me). I was sure to purchase an extra wheel so Valerie and I can play the same way together, and I’m really jazzed about racing some of my friends who live elsewhere. This game has the potential to be another huge hit for Nintendo.

Baby Mama…Drama Not Included

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

I’m a huge fan of 30 Rock – Tina Fey’s razor sharp writing and comedy timing keep me entertained for thirty minutes every Thursday night. So I was okay with the idea of going on a date with my wife which included a viewing of Baby Mama, which opened last night. Until I watched it.

To be fair, the parts that were funny were EXTREMELY funny, and Steve Martin’s character was one of the funniest parts he’s played in years. But the rest of the movie was absolutely ridiculous. Cliche jokes, over-predictable situations, and stereotypical characters plagued the feature throughout, and I couldn’t help feeling like the lead actors were stifled by an underwritten script. But the script wasn’t written by Fey – it was written by Michael McCullers. McCullers has such stellar writing credits as the last two Austin Powers movies and Undercover Brother. w00t!

Two out of five, man, because this movie didn’t even meet the lukewarm expectations I barely had.