We are the Machine!

A cultural anthropology assistant professor put together this techy little number and put it up on YouTube. Now it's all the rage, still staying on the top of YouTube's charts and being one of the most blogged about videos of the year (and now I am joining that mass). What's slightly funny though is that he is surprised at the video's popularity, according to this column in InfoWorld even though the very video itself talks about how easily content can spread in today's information age. So you would think that he of all people would've seen it coming. Nevertheless, it is an interesting (although slightly nerdy) look at the evolution of the power of the word (no, I don't mean Microsoft Word) and the interaction between human and machine.

I'm not THAT old!

Ok, the past few months I've kept getting mailings from the AARP telling me to sign up...if I'm age 50 or older. Which I'm not. Does anybody else get these things or is it just me? I'm really tempted to try and sign up and just say "hey, you keep sending them to me, I figured I was so special you wanted me 25 years earlier. $25,000 of coverage ain't bad! Plus there's spouse coverage available, which I'm sure would be a huge hit with the ladies.

The only problem is apparently you have to pay them money for this sort of thing. But I'm sure for a 25 year old it wouldn't be much. Watch out AARP, here I come!

A Bad Idea Is..

Putting your camera through a wash cycle.

And a dry cycle.

Are you my buddy?

Ok, so I did Deborah's "true friend test" (I'm #1, hoo-rah!) and they made me sign up just to see the results (darn those websites that make you sign up). So I figured as long as I was signed up and all, I might as well make my own and make more people go through the same misery, mwhahaha!

So uh, yeah, click below to take the test...if you dare.



Create your own Friend Test here

Al Gore wins an Oscar!

If this isn't ludicrous, I don't know what is. First he invents the internet, now he wins an Oscar. Is there anything this man can't do???

Marketing Never Was Microsoft's Forte

This has got to be one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen....





If they made a commercial like this for Vista, I would immediately go out and buy a Mac with OS X. Speaking of which, did you notice how at the beginning, dudeman mistakes 386 for OS 2? Gee, and now Vista is getting criticized for looking like OS X. Did Microsoft ever come out with something unique looking? Oh well, good to see some things never change, I guess.

But the combo of a white "business" woman with ginormous glasses rapping about an operating system while taking her clothes off (settle down, it doesn't show anything, thank goodness) is...well, let's just say the entire marketing department must have been enshrouded in a smoky haze back then. (Which should be assumed anyway I suppose, since it was the 80's and it is Washington!) How Microsoft ever sold anything with this "promo video" I'll never know, but I guess even corporations have their awkward teenage years.

NFL Won't Let Church Show the Bowl that is Super

There is a difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The NFL apparently doesn't understand the concept. They told a church that they couldn't have a "Super Bowl" party because they were using a projector to show the game. An excerpt:

Initially, the league objected to the church's plan to charge a fee to attend and that the church used the license-protected words "Super Bowl" in its promotions.

Pastor John D. Newland said he told the NFL his church would not charge anyone and that it would drop the use of the forbidden words.

But the NFL objected to the church's plans to use a projector to show the game, saying the law limits it to one TV no bigger than 55 inches.

The church will likely abandon its plans to host a Super Bowl party.

Click here to read the full article...

I really want to see that TV law. Does it just refer to public places? If not, that means that I can't host a Super Bowl party either - my projector display measures 91". If so, that's still a ridiculous law and it should be changed to just mean businesses that are profiting from the event (i.e. restaurants, bars). C'mon, NFL, your fans understand spirit (some in more ways than one), why can't you?