It's ok to give a guy a break

In January 1995, a research rocket was launched from Norway to study the aurora borealis. Boris Yeltsin was the Russian President and Russian officials, detecting the launch, mistakenly believed the incident signaled a US missile attack from a submarine. Yeltsin was brought the Russian nuclear-command suitcase and he was faced with the ungodly decision of launching a counter-attack against the United States. Long story short, he correctly decided the reports must be a mistake and life continued to along as usual. Thank you, Boris Yeltsin!

Very scary story, wonderful outcome. Again, thank you, Boris Yeltsin. Having said that, I've never seen this incident reported (on American television) without a wise-cracking addendum like "Phew - I'm glad he hadn't had his morning vodka yet" or "Thank god - it was early and he was sober."

I admit I have, at best, an 8th grader's understanding of 1990's Russian politics and I know Yeltsin was not a popular Russian president. But, I think it's frivolous and (I'm likely making up a word here - lol) unelegant to joke about something so serious. Actually, to joke about two things - a potential nuclear attack and a government official's drinking habits - in light of the gravity of the matter.

I don't really have more to add. It's just been on my mind recently - bothering me. You can read more about the incident here.

On a much, MUCH lighter note, Happy Holidays! :) lol

Wild Riversurfing

This is the craziest river-surfing I've ever seen - in Switzerland no less!

If you lived here, you'd be home by now

The perfect holiday gift for the office IT guy. Available at thinkgeek.com.

12 men, 12 nipples, 12 patterns

Artists Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg create online visual representations of data. (Have I lost you yet? I promise that will be the driest sentence in this post :)

They've created very cool visual studies of erogenous zones, breast shapes, male nipple hair growth patterns (hence the title of this post) and body parts mentioned in songs, arranged by genre of music. After a visit to their site, I now know "the tush" is the most-mentioned body part in Hip-hop music. No surprise there really. :)

In any case, I can't really explain the site. I'm not doing it justice. The website is coolly interactive. There's nudity. It has a minimalist design. Go check it out. You will not be wanting that time back later. ;)

http://www.fleshmap.com

Ode to the Lixvibrator

A vibrating tongue stud for the under-stimulated young bud.

In the mouths of an adventurous faction,
In the dreams of lonely men seeking action.

With a twirl and a lick,
he stood straight and proud quick,
introduced to exquisite quivering distraction.

The Lixvibrator - Vibrating tongue stud.
If you're really daring .... try the thrasher.

Speed Dating Your New Roommate

A group in NYC has started having meet-ups for people seeking a roommate. If you have a spare room or you need to move, you're welcome at these organized events, usually held at friendly local bars. What a great way to avoid sloshing through online ads and fielding fruitless calls. While my roommate days thankfully are over, a similar groups in So Cal would be spectacular. Someone should start a local version asap. http://roommateswantednyc.com/

Brush the cow

A corporate dairy company has installed giant brushes in 30,000 dairy farm barns across Sweden. It turns out that daily massages of milk-producing cows increase their milk yield significantly. Who wouldn't feel better after a good massage? More info here

Smell-a-vision dating site

Match got ya down? Had no luck with Adultfriendfinder? If you haven't yet discovered the easy breeziness of dating an escort (poor dear!) then maybe you should check out http://www.scentoflove.com/ It's an online dating site where you matched to a mate by scent. Does it work? I have no idea but I suppose every little bit helps. :b God speed - lovelorn!

Jet-Powered School Bus

This hot little number can reach speeds of 367 mph backed by a jet engine from a phantom fighter. 80-ft rear flames, 150 gallons fuel for a quarter-mile run - may the little ones never be late for class again. lol



The School Time Jet-Powered School Bus was created by Paul Stender.

So I'm standing on the beach

So I'm standing on the beach, wondering about all that oil that's spilled into the gulf. Actually trying to figure out a way to visualize the amount of oil.

I wondered - if there was an equivalent amount of oil just on the surface of the ocean, what would it look like? So I set out trying to figure out the following: how big would an oil slick be if the same amount of oil was neatly, tightly organized into a 1 foot deep slick.

If I'm standing on the beach, and the oil is 1 foot deep, would there be oil as far as the eye could see? Would it be 5 times that? 100 times that? I had no idea but wanted to find out.

I played around with the idea here for anyone interested but essentially, the answer I came up with is a bit less than 5%. Essentially, if I was standing on a ridiculously straight beach and looked forward, out to sea, about 5% of what I saw out on the water would be a 1 ft deep oil slick.

Just another way to put it all into perspective. It's just horrible!

Have you had your fun today?

Remember when we were in Africa?

I caught a screening of the 2010 documentary "When You're Strange: A Film about the Doors." Narrated by Johnny Depp, it has loads of live footage: on-stage, back-stage, in the studio, interviews and day-in-the-life - very little of which I'd seen before. This is a kinder, gentler documentary - not overtly critical - definitely a fan movie though the narrative delves quite frankly into Jim's drug demons. It covers all the infamous controversial events in the bands' history. I highly recommend the movie for Doors' fans and aspiring rockers, as it chronicles the rise and fall - and the causes of the rise and fall - of the band. RIP Jim Morrison!

First date resumes

Match.com is morphing into monster.com.

With the current unemployment rates, enterprising job-seekers are now using dating sites to mine for jobs - showing up to a first date with their resume in hand.

I was chatting with a friend recently about their online-dating experiences. Their profile described an affluent, well-educated executive in a technical industry and that was enough to catch the eye of a few job-seekers.

At the first (and only) meeting, their date demurely produced their resume and asked if there were any job openings at my friend's company. The scenario repeated itself two more times with other people.

So if you dip your toe in the realm of online-dating, be aware that this could happen.

Instant Snow

Tired of the warm weather? Check out insta-snow. lol

Tilt Shift Online - Very Lovable :)

Happy New Year! So you've recovered from the holidays and finally downloaded your pix onto your HD. I've been playing with http://www.tiltshiftmaker.com/ and love it. Especially appealing to large-format junkies. Enjoy!

BEFORE

AFTER