Category: Uncategorized

First saw this on an SD thread titled: For those who oversleep, Sonic Boom Loud Vibrating Alarm Clock $32 shipped (was $50). The product in question is the Sonic Alert SB300 Sonic Boom Loud Vibrating Alarm Clock with Large Display. The 2 distinguishing features it has that sets it aside from normal alarm clocks is powerful 12 volt bed shaker and a loud 113db adjustable tone and volume control.

You can get a older model, the SB200 for $7 cheaper. The only difference I can see is that the display isn’t as large.

Someone also pointed this Puzzle Alarm Clock. It wakes you up by firing four puzzle pieces up in the air, and then it is your task to get the pieces and put them back in the alarm clock – it won’t turn off until then. Cost is a little bit higher at $52. Someone mentioned, “That would piss me off so much in the morning, good idea though.” and another said, “I would kill that Puzzle Alarm before I’d even attempt to find the first piece“, that would sort of be my mentality too.

---

Random Crap:

Unflinching Triumph – not sure if this is video is a parody, but it appears staredown is a professional sport. Not as silly as the rock paper scissors, but come on.

Just saw the trailer for Renaissance awhile and was amazed at how awesome the animation was. Definitely worth a viewing.

I’ve seen this video before: Magic Hamburgers, but never really figured out how he did his trick. Since he’s wearing a short sleeve shirt, the only way I can think of is that the hamburgers are actually coming from behind the sign.

Human Pong – don’t remember if I posted this before, but it’s somewhat neat, though it could’ve been a lot faster. Do check out the ball when it escapes through the top.

Hit the nickel, split the balls (from Deadlock) – hilarious video about how a guy boasts that he can split a billiard ball by hitting a nickel, and some fool believes him.

Exactly what kind of tourists do they want? – Fancy sex on a fishing boat? Then visit the Lake Balaton resort, say Hungary’s authorities in a recently launched campaign aimed at attracting young people to its main lake resort. The tourism authority is sending around an email with an internet link http://abalatoninyar.fw.hu/ (NOT WORK SAFE), leading viewers to a short cartoon film which features a young blonde woman having sex with a married man on a fishing boat on the lake.

Someone on /. posted about how this new sitcom Nobody’s Watching was canceled, but apparently because after people watched it on YouTube and liked it, it was given new life. Here’s Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, if you want to watch the pilot.

Meet the Remote-Control Self (from /.) – Hiroshi Ishiguro is a busy man. Between his two jobs, countless meetings and presentations, his demanding schedule was eating up all his time. So he built an android version of himself to pick up the slack. Do check out the photos.

Parodies of the Mac Ads (from MS newsgroup) – There are three seperate parodies of the Apple ads in the video below, the third is my favorite, the trust fund line isn’t bad either. :-> Pretty funny parodies, yet completely in the same spirit of the Mac commercials.

Jon Stewart on Net Neutrality (from MS newsgroup) – “The internet is not something that you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s, it’s a series of tubes.” “And if you don’t understand that tubes can be filled, and if they’re filled when you put your message in it, it gets in line, it’s gonna be delayed by anyone who puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.” “Ten movies streaming across that that, internet, and what happens to your own personal internet? I… just the other day, got internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday, I got it yesterday. Why?” Haha! Yet another hilarious Jon Stewart piece. Here’s a follow up with John Hodgman: The Daily Show (TDS): Net Neutrality With John Hodgman

Australian motorist plays dead for car help – A driver stranded on a remote stretch of Australian highway Wednesday tried to summon help by playing dead in the middle of the road, a police officer said. A woman who was driving with her two children spotted the man and had to swerve to avoid hitting him, said Doug Backhouse, a detective with the Western Australia state police.

The 12 Differences Between Super Mario Bros. 2 and Doki Doki Panic (from RayAlome) – The 12 Differences Between Super Mario Bros. 2 and Doki Doki Panic

Yippee! Apparently moving to my new place has dropped my auto insurance at Safeco from $495 to $463. The reasoning being: The rating territory is corrected. Guess I live in a safer neighborhood now? *shrug* But this policy is for full coverage ($250,000 / $500,000 / $50,000) with $500 deductibles. For those who’ve seen my car, you know why I need full coverage (which means it includes Comprehensive and Collision), which added $223 to my total. I was thinking of removing the $5 towing & labor charge since I already have AAA, but I thought $5 for 6 months might be too much hassle to remove. Plus having a cheap towing backup isn’t a bad plan.

---

Random Crap:

Researchers using waves to write on water (from /.) – In fact, before coming up with their current design, researchers at Japan’s Akishima Laboratories were only able to get poorly-formed letters to pop up once every 15 minutes in their first stab at using waves to “print” on the surface of a specially-built pool.

To heal a wound, turn up the voltage (from /.) – The researchers grew layers of mouse cells and larger tissues, such as corneas, in the lab. After “wounding” these tissues, they applied varying electric fields to them, and found they could accelerate or completely halt the healing process depending on the orientation and strength of the field. That’s pretty neat!

What could possibly go wrong? – British police have condemned a role-playing game where contestants travel all over London armed with water pistols looking to “assassinate” other players, saying it could spark terrorism alerts. Haha! I remember playing this back in high school. It was a seniors only game, but the administrators got whiff of this, and demanded we stop or there would be consequences (there were about 50 of us, many who were the top of the class).

New York City’s cathedrals of consumer electronics – Most major brands have an American flagship store somewhere in Manhattan. These shops are without exception designed to be spectacles for the ear and eye, the kind of spectacle that makes consumers crack open their wallets and slap down some plastic. Where else can one find an 80 inch plasma TV, a 24-hour Genius Bar, and an “I Scored with the Princess” sticker within the space of a few blocks? Pretty neat read. Well, I stopped reading half way and just looked at pictures. It’s like Tokyo, but in New York.

Are you a woman going solo? Try a blow-up man – He fits in a car’s glove box, appears at a flick of a switch and when a woman has finished using him, she can just pull the plug and he deflates. He’s the “Buddy on Demand”, a blow-up man launched on Tuesday with the aim of making solo female motorists feel less nervous about driving at night. On paper, it may sound like making people feel safer, but you know the real purpose is to use the carpool lane.

So I just realized my ceiling fan can spin in either directions. I had always wondered for the longest time why I didn’t feel any wind when I stood underneath it. It hit me when I was standing in the hallway where you can look down into the living room (where ceiling fan is located) and gushes of wind were hitting me.

So it’s the $100 question of whether the fan should suck or blow. In a computer, the fans in the front tend to suck in air and the fans in the back tend to blow out air. However, my house gets really hot in the afternoon (especially during this heatwave). All the windows on my 2nd floor are opened for ventilation purposes.

So if the fan blew up, it’ll be pushing hot air onto the 2nd floor and hopefully that’ll escape some how.

On the other hand, the fan can blow down and cause air to circulate below it.

Which way should it blow? Up or down?

Did I mention how nice it is to have an ice maker and water spout on the fridge? I think I can finally stop buying Kirkland bottled water!

So thanks to the help from Tekman, Xyon, and Derek, I’ve successfully moved into my new place! It’s been a tiring week, transporting stuff back and forth, but my old apartment is basically empty besides some cleaning solutions, vacuum, paper towels, trash bags, and trash that I need to get rid of, which I’m planning to do next week. Oh how hot it was these past few week. I couldn’t have picked a worst day to move.

So I reserved a 14′ U-Haul truck several days ago and let me tell you, driving that is so scary yet so powerful at the same time. I feel like I nothing can hurt me, but I can hurt anything in my path. Though it was definitely more scary than powerful. I’d rather drive my Civic any day of the week. I did in fact damage something with it. I sort of crushed the rain gutter on the mail box center, but that was basically it. Total cost came to $52.xx, but it turns out they charged me $7 for the dolly which I didn’t use. Tekman and Xyon pointed that out when they saw my receipt, but when I was paying, I was too eagar to just get rid of the truck. Oh yah, we went to Anthony’s Home Port in Kirkland for all-you-can-eat crab and get to see out into the lake. Since Derek had plans tonight, their compensation dinner will have to wait.

So here’s the photos of what my house looks like after move in:

So after dinner, I came back and started building my bed, since I know if I set up my computer first, I wouldn’t have a bed to sleep in tonight.

I also made my first damage to the house while building this bed. When one of the sides tilted over and fell, it made 2 dents into the wall. Hopefully I can just paint over it like nothing happened. *Whistle*

Speaking of damage, I also made my first fix to the house. Do you see what’s wrong in the picture below?

If you had guess the blinds were on the incorrect side, you’re right. If you had guess anything else, please do let me know. Furnitue everywhere doesn’t count. ;p

Since I already build one bed and had experience on what not to do, I decided to build the second bed before I forget that experience. My plushies also needed a bed to sleep on.

And last of all of what I accomplished tonight, my office:

Oh yah, I setup my clothing and toiletries, but you wouldn’t be interested in that.

I promised pictures, so here they are: 2006-07-16 New House

I went there today to drop off some stuff and slowly move things over. The big things I’m planning to hire a moving company for, but the little things I think I can take care of.

Here’s a few selected pictures:

I also saw some rabbits:

Happy Birthday UngsungHero!!!
sorry, this post was queued and I forgot to post it last night.

---

Random Crap:

Street Fighter Ryu in Duck Hunt – this game rocks! I so want it!!! Here’s a mirror on YouTube.

I was reading an article on corn field mazes and was wondering, was the reason they decided to use corn fields, was because corn in every other language is known as maize. Maize ~ Maze?

Woman asks 911 to send ‘cutie pie’ deputy – Thompson said Dudash then called 911, asking that the “cutie pie” deputy return. “He’s the cutest cop I’ve seen in a long time. I just want to know his name,” Dudash told the dispatcher. “Heck, it doesn’t come very often a good man comes to your doorstep.” After listening to some more, followed by a bit of silence, the dispatcher asked again why Dudash needed the deputy to return. “Honey, I’m just going to be honest with you, OK? I just thought he was cute. I’m 45 years old and I’d just like to meet him again, but I don’t know how to go about doing that without calling 911,” she said.

Maine lobsterman pulls up rare lobster – Bette Spurling, who works at the oceanarium, said lobster shells are usually a blend of the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Those colors mix to form the greenish-brown color of most lobsters. This lobster, though, has no blue in half of its shell, she said. Bernard Arseneau, a former manager at the oceanarium’s lobster hatchery, said lobsters also have a growth pattern in which the two sides develop independently of each other.

Joke from /. (#15722508):

A redneck wanted to perform a vasectomy and went to the doctor, but the doctor told him to light up a cherry bomb, hold it and count to ten. The redneck didn’t understand how this would help, but trusted the doctor, lit up the cherry bomb and started counting. When he got to five, he put the cherry bomb between his legs and resumed counting in the other hand.

Suspected thief robs judge at own trial – Police in the central town of Coburg said that while facing her at the bench, the man pocketed a bunch of keys from the judge, who did not notice until he had left the room. Guess it’s hard to quite old habits.

Chicken lays mystery Allah egg – – A chicken in a Kazakh village has laid an egg with the word “Allah” inscribed on its shell, state media reported Thursday. Finally! We’re leaving the Christianity phase and moving to Muslim phase.

iPod Hi-Fi mini (from /.) – Just as the Mac mini has redefined people’s expectations on what a computer should be the iPod Hi-Fi mini brings all that is great in the iPod Hi-Fi down to a size that redefines what you should expect from your home stereo. Using the classic form of the original Macintosh, and state of the art audio components, the iPod Hi-Fi mini is all you every wanted in a hi-fi, and less. You can check out his gallery here.

Sony pulls controversial Dutch PSP ad – Sony Corp said on Tuesday it had pulled a Dutch billboard advertising campaign for the new white version of its PlayStation Portable video game player and apologized to anyone offended by the ad, which critics dubbed racist.

I’ve got the key!

(image from グ)

So I’ve begun to watch Lost Season 1 after many recommendations from friends and when I missed out on conversations cause I didn’t have the context. Anyway, at first I’m thinking Lost is like Jurassic Park cross Lord of the Flies. The story is somewhat interesting so far. I’ve only watched 3 episodes so far, but it’s just not addicting yet. My first complain is not enough people die. In the beginning, you had a whole bunch of people die from the plane crash. Well, that doesn’t really count since most of them were dead before the 1st episode started. I’ve counted 3 kills so far, so it averages 1 dead body per episode. 24 on the other hand had at least 10 kills per episode. The story is also not as fast pace as I would’ve imagined. Tons of flashbacks, but I guess that’s the main plot of this series, talking about each individuals story and how they ended up here on the island.

I did learn something interesting. Apparently Backgammon is the oldest known recorded game. Click on the link and you can read about its history.

I was going through Lost’s info on IMDb and following Dr. Jack’s (Matthew Fox) link, they’re apparently making Rambo IV starring Sylvester Stallone.

---

Random Crap:

Downloaded a preview/teaser of 秒速5センチメートル – 5 Centimeters Per Second (fansubbed by Triad). Here’s the torrent. I’ve also uploaded the video to my gallery. QuickTime had a problem playing the video in the browser, but you can download it here directly and play in your preferred video player. 5 Centimeters Per Second is Shinkai Makoto’s latest work. You might remember him from his other works such as 星の声 (The Voices of a Distant Star) or 雲のむこう、約束の場所 (The Place Promised in Our Early Days / Beyond the Clouds). The animation and soundtrack once again seems amazing. Although the preview/teaser is only 45secs, it was beautifully done. The title “5 Centimeters Per Second” refers to the rate that sakura (cherry blossoms) petals fall at. You can also visit the official movie’s site.

I’m generally not too much of a YTMND fan, but this was just too cute: Having A Bad Day? (from RayAlome). All the little puppies are so cute!

Sony ad casues white riot (from /.) – A new billboard advert for Sony’s white PSP has caused consternation across the US videogaming community. The ad shows a white model dressed entirely in white threateningly grasping the face of a black model. Next to them are the words, “PlayStation Portable. White is coming”. The ad can also be seen on the Dutch official PSP site.

Did you know they were making a Transformers Movie? Though the premise seems rather different from the original storyline.

Police arrest cement soccer ball pranksters – Police in Berlin said on Wednesday they had arrested two men on suspicion of placing cement-filled soccer balls around the city and inviting people to kick them. At least two people injured themselves by kicking the balls, which were chained to lampposts and trees alongside the spray-painted message: “Can you kick it?“ Though as evil as it is, it’s such an awesome prank.

Australian PM calls for “Big Brother” eviction – Australian Prime Minister John Howard called Monday for reality television program “Big Brother” to be taken off the air after an incident between contestants prompted an investigation into sexual assault. This article wasn’t too interesting, but I wanted you to see the actual video (from /.). What sexual assualt? It looked like there was a complete consensus to me.

Man prefers jail to being at home with grandpa – An Italian man escaped from house arrest and begged police to put him in jail because he could not bear living with his grandfather, his lawyer said Monday. The 30-year old, who could only be identified by his initials A.M., had been placed under house arrest for six months in the Sardinian town of Sassari after a scuffle with a policeman.

Japanese man eats record 53 3/4 hotdogs – A Japanese man devoured 53 3/4 hotdogs in 12 minutes Tuesday to break his own world record but Takeru Kobayashi said he really prefers tofu. What’s with Japanese men and being able to eat fast?

Piece of man’s skull falls off, draws crowds – Hundreds of people are thronging a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata to see a patient holding a piece of his own skull that fell off. Doctors say a large, dead section of 25-year-old electrician Sambhu Roy’s skull came away Sunday after severe burns starved it of blood.

Speeding fine? Just switch the road sign – Hopwood, 44, had been snapped by a speed camera breaking the 30 miles per hour limit. So he went to a 40 mph area, removed a red “40” warning sign, drove back to the 30 mph area, attached it to a lamp post and took a photo as “proof” that his offence of driving at 48 mph had not been so bad. Haha!

Alien Scare Screaming Girl – In order to frighten his sister this guy puts a very creepy child’s mannequin next to her bed in the dark and tapes her reaction. He was expecting her to be scared, but not that scared. She goes completely hysterical! I don’t know if I should laugh or feel sorry for the girl. Then again, as a brother who has a sister, I loved playing these type of pranks on her.

Is that other driver on the phone, or merely drunk? – Three accidents occurred during the testing, all of which involved cell phone users rear-ending the pace car. Phone users were also slow to brake, displaying reaction times 9 percent lower than unimpaired drivers, and slow to accelerate, with a 19 percent decrease in returning to speed after braking. This is viewed by the researchers as especially significant, since it has implications regarding traffic flow in high-density areas. In contrast, alcohol-impaired drivers tended to drive more slowly, yet more aggressively than other drivers.

ゲド戦記 (from MS newsgroup) – A new film from Studio Ghibli called Tales from Earthsea (Gedo Senki). It’s based of the Earthsea novel and I’ve heard many good things about it. Can’t wait to see this. You can watch the trailer here:
Trailer 1
Trailer 2

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Decathanerd.

Apparently, when SFHalcyon showed up to our camping trip on 7/2, it was his birthday. Liam, ChewyDenise, Jeani, and Karl went out and got him a little cake at the local store and we sang happy birthday to him.

Sigh… we’re all getting old.