New Idea: Off-Topic Saturdays

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(Don't mind the code above, it's just a technorati claim code. Nothing to see here. Move on down for the actual post.)

Okay, so as my wonderful followers know, my blog usually stays focused on World and Technology news.

However, I often find other interesting things I would like to share with you all but they just don't fit the focus of my blog.

So I decided I might try to take one day out of the week(Saturday) to spotlight something other than world and tech news that has caught my interest and would probably catch yours too.

Enter: Off-Topic Saturdays.

So, what do you guys think?

1. Would this be something you'd be interested in?
2. or should I just stick with world and technology news?


Also, lets try it out with something simple for the test run.

This website is one that I frequent when I need to overload on cute.

Good Morning Kitten !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click it for instant cute overload.

It delivers you a daily dose of cute kittens. Every. Single. Day.

Alright, usually the "Off-Topic Saturday" will be more in depth about something interesting I found on the World Wide frontier.

So let me know what you think.

:D

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Posted in: Fun,off-topic

Incredible Rap Remix of Rebecca Blacks Friday

Alright, so I already had a post lined up and written for today, but I found this video and decided to bump that post over to tomorrow because it's so awesome. You know I think something is awesome when I go completely off topic.

This is an incredible rap remake of Rebecca Blacks hit song "Friday".

This kid has a lot of talent and I would definitely like to see more like this from him.

At any rate, check the video out:

They go by the name Sex Ray Vision. Look them up, subscribe to them, make them famous.

Okay, its not really a remix, but rather a remake. Insane.

FOLLOWERS:
I'm waiting for this video to explode, bets on when it goes viral?
I say within the next few weeks.

Also, I think he looks like an Asian Harry Potter when he's at the mic.

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Posted in: Fun,Videos

Funerals Of The Future: Webcams and Woolen Coffins

 Get buried, son.

Traditionally, most of us typically don't think about the end of our lives until, well, the end of our lives. Often times, the deceased have no say in how their funeral is held aside from a few small requests like clothing, open or closed coffin, etc.

After we pass, we don't usually have control over details like who's invited to the funeral, where we're buried, or what kind of coffin we're buried in. Usually that is all organized by the people we leave behind.

Well, now those people have a few more options to consider.

I was reading my local newspaper a few days ago and stumbled across an article about a funeral that was broadcast via webcam to friends and family that couldn't make it to the real deal.

At first I was shocked, how disrespectful right? Well then I thought about it more, and it's actually a pretty damn good idea. In this day and age, we can live far from our loved ones. What if you were from Europe and moved to America, then dropped dead? You couldn't expect that all of your friends and family bought last minute international plane tickets to attend your funeral. So why not let them be there in spirit by letting them watch via Skype?

On another related note, I was browsing through an online magazine I frequently read and stumbled across something even more interesting.

A company in Britain, which provides wool for many different products including the headliners in Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles, came up with a brilliant idea. Woolen coffins. (image above)

These coffins are eco-friendly and are quite sturdy. At first I thought it was a joke, but apparently the idea is spreading like wild-fire and the company has reported that it is currently their top selling product.

Pretty odd, huh?

Followers:
1. How would you feel about having your funeral shown on webcam?
2. How would you feel about being buried in a woolen coffin?
3. Do you like Beetle Juice?

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Posted in: Fun,Knowledge,News

Richard Branson And Google Set Out To Chart The Depths

While reading through a fellow bloggers post, YouTube TV, I came to the conclusion that Google is indeed changing the world in many ways. As you can read in Profusely's post about Google's new endeavor, YouTube TV, they are stepping their worldly presence up a notch.

I decided to see what else Google is diving into and came up with this:

What you see in the picture above is the Virgin Oceanic. It's a deep-water submarine owned by billionaire Richard Branson (the guy who founded Virgin Records, Virgin Galactic and much more. Click the link for his wiki page, he's a pretty interesting guy).

So it looks pretty futuristic, but in all honesty, there is nothing really interesting about some billionaires toy submarine, right?

WRONG.

Branson has just finalized plans to explore the oceans deepest trenches with that bad boy. Before the end of the year he plans to make his first descent into the Mariana Trench, which could swallow Mount Everest whole and is the deepest place on Earth.

What's even more interesting is that Google is teaming up with him and will receive topographical data that has never before been seen. They plan to add these findings to Google Earth, allowing users to explore these trenches from their very own homes.

Sounds pretty boss doesn't it?
I wonder what he's going to discover down there.
It has to be awesome.

See a video teaser of the project after the page break. It's pretty intense.

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Posted in: Fun,News,Technology

Are News Headlines Becoming Too Misleading?

It seems to me that nowadays more and more news agencies and reporters are pumping up their stories with headlines that are either biased or subjective. More likely than not, you'll be drawn in by an interested headline, read or watch the story and then realize that the headline was only slightly connected with the story.

I've seen many of these interesting yet misleading headlines in the past few days, but one stuck out to me for more reasons than one.

This story was posted to the "HealthLand" portion of the Times website.
In the times Twitter feed the article link is preceded by an eye-catching and even heart-wrenching line:

"Did veganism contribute to the death of this baby?"

However, once you get to the actual article the story is then titled:
Did Homeopathic Medicine, Breast-Feeding and Veganism Kill a Baby?
(the actual article can be found by following the title link)

Now what first bugged me about this variation in article titles is the imminent difference in immediacy between the two.

The first uses "THIS baby" and the second uses "A baby". Which one would you feel more inclined to read? The one that seems more personal right? Coincidentally, it was used as the bait in a twitter feed.



What bugged me second about this misleading title was the fact that the article provided NO PROOF that the baby's death was attributed to any of the three things accused: Veganism, Homeopathic Medicine, or Breast-Feeding.

Instead the article summed up a big fat case of child-neglect. The attribution of death should be rightfully placed with the parents.

This is one thing that will forever get on my nerves.
Anyone else feel this way?

Followers:
1. What do you think about misleading links?
2. How often do you find that a news article isn't what you think it is?
3. How about some examples you've seen in the last few days?
4. Sandwiches with or without pickles?

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Posted in: Fun,Knowledge,Opinion

April Fools' Joke "Gmail Motion" Comes To Life

So I'm sure many of you caught wind of Google's April Fools Day Joke, Gmail Motion. I'm also quite sure many of you probably wish it was a reality. I mean come on, it looks quite silly, but who wouldn't want to mess around in the office with something like that?

Though I wish it were real, I still knew it was a hoax while watching the introduction video to Gmail Motion. I don't know how I did, but it probably had to do with the fact that it was April 1st and everything must be questioned on that day. On a side note, the video also looked quite satirical and that raised some flags for me as well.


Anyways! For those of you who were disappointed that this wasn't a reality(myself included), you have no need to be disappointed any longer!

After the guys from Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) at the University of Southern California saw the video they sprung into action. Using a Kinect, the team recorded the gestures used in Google's prank video and wrote a code that actually works.

Check the Kinect hack in action here:
Click for ICT's Gmail Motion video

If you haven't seen the original from Google:
Click for Google's April Fools' prank: Gmail Motion

And if you think you can handle putting together something yourself,
get the ICT code here.

I know Gmail Motion is silly and would never catch on because it simply isn't practical, but I love the fact that we live in a world where people can turn some crazy ideas into reality.

What do you guys think?

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Posted in: Fun,Knowledge,News,Technology

Top 100 Toys: 1920s Through 2000s

I was recently browsing through Time Magazine's website and came across an article that really brought me back to my childhood. The article is titled All-Time 100 Greatest Toys and covers toys from every decade from the last century starting in the 1920s. You can find the original article by following the title link.

I've chosen my favorite toy from each decade and will share them with you in this blog post. While I wasn't alive when the majority of these toys were released, I still played with some form of them when I was a kid.

Prepare for nostalgia blast off....5....4....3...2....1

edit: having a little issue with my layout. The "read more" link is hard to locate. Click that, the title of the post, or this text link to get the whole post. :)

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Posted in: Fun,Knowledge,News