If you haven't heard about Rebecca Black's song: Friday, it only has 57.9 million views and was uploaded on February 10th - a mere 17 days ago. (if you were wondering thats 3.4 million views a day)
The reason it's been so popular? It's so damned annoying! (I watched it only a few times for research)
Anywho, the entire reason I'm writing this post is to give a little love to Maddi Jane, a teenybopper who actually has a ridiculous amount of talent. Give her a watch/listen, you'll love the little lass.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
3.79 million square miles and 308 million people
When my father-in-law retired from Western Electric in the mid 80's, he went to work in a local nursery. While employed there, he befriended a gentlemen and his wife and they have since stayed in touch.
Well, this summer while he and my mother-in-law were on vacation in Florida - they decided to visit the couple. They chatted about many things and somehow the conversation came up about how the woman works at a local Publix and on many days in the summer a nice young girl comes to the store with her husband and they buy lunch. As people do, they get into conversations about where they are from and she mentions she is originally from Illinois but lives in Hawaii and visits Florida every summer for a time.
She mentions this to my mother-in-law because she grew up in Illinois. It turns out that the couple from Hawaii that comes to Florida every year is my mother-in-law's cousin!
Story 2
I happen to mention to a client that I am from Easton, PA. He says inquisitively "Oh, where in Easton." "Forks Township, just up from Lafayette College." I respond. "Really, where in Forks Twp.?!" I can hear his voice getting excited. I explain the neighborhood and he gets even more excited. It turns out that the house next to us is his childhood home!
On top of that, I know the current owners of the house (not because we are neighbors either), I worked with his father as a sales rep - he is a CPA in Pen Argyl.
Story 3
My wife's niece was studying abroad in London and took a weekend trip to Italy. While sitting on a train, she peered out to people watch and thought she recognized someone. She did - it was her great Aunt and Uncle from Illinois! Neither one of them know the other was there!
Do you have a small world story? I'd love to hear about it!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Ever wonder how an LCD display works? THIS is cool.
Bill takes apart an LCD monitor and shows how it works. He explains how it uses liquid crystals, thin film transistors and polarizers to display information.
Found here http://geekbeat.tv/how-an-lcd-monitor-works/
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
I just can't imagine: Video from the Sendai Airport in Japan as the Tsunami arrives
Watch outside under the closest terminal/walkway as the water rushes in.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Click to call phone numbers
Click to call phone numbers:
With the ability to call phones built right into Gmail, you no longer have to get out your phone and retype a number anytime someone sends you one in an email or chat message. Starting today, you’ll see that phone numbers appear as links, like this:
Just click the number, and Gmail’s dialpad will pop up, already populated with the number you’re trying to call.
Click “Call” and voilà! Of course, if you don’t already have the voice and video plugin installed, you’ll be prompted to do that first.
You’ll also see a little green phone icon next to numbers in your contacts which you can use to do the same thing.
Posted by Robin Schriebman, Software Engineer
Monday, March 7, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Should you buy a Xoom or an iPad 2?
Motorola's Xoom tablet runs on Andriod Honeycomb. This totally sucked me in because it was being designed for tablets and I drooled when I saw it in action. I had money in my hands and was ready to buy. But then something happened:
Tech journalists couldn't use the OS at CES.
Then the Xoom won't ship with flash support.
Then it will have to be sent back to have a 4G/LTE retrofitting.
They clearly rushed this to market and frankly, all of this scared the shit out of me.
Today, I'm staying with the iPad and hope that the competition forces amazing advances in iOS (and Honeycomb for that matter)
By the way, if you would like a peek into the design differences and marketing approaches of Motorola and Apple, take a look at these screen caps of the product pages. It really says it all, doesn't it?
Tech journalists couldn't use the OS at CES.
Then the Xoom won't ship with flash support.
Then it will have to be sent back to have a 4G/LTE retrofitting.
They clearly rushed this to market and frankly, all of this scared the shit out of me.
Today, I'm staying with the iPad and hope that the competition forces amazing advances in iOS (and Honeycomb for that matter)
By the way, if you would like a peek into the design differences and marketing approaches of Motorola and Apple, take a look at these screen caps of the product pages. It really says it all, doesn't it?
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Shocking video at the Franklin Institute
This is a demonstration in the Electricity exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The silver globe was plugged in and created static electricity and when we all held hands - the shock traveled through all of us!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Rail Jam: Pictures
EASTON, Pa. -- Centre Square was filled with snow from Big Boulder today. About 40 people participated in the competition. The competition featured a 130 x 40 foot ramp with 8 foot drop with a rail and more.
Downtown was packed with people from all over the area - it was a great event.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The most polite robbery ever
Authorities have made an arrest in a weekend convenience store robbery that a Seattle store owner found remarkable for the robber's politeness. Officers quickly identified a suspect from tips received after this surveillance video "went viral".
Sunday, February 6, 2011
How to tick people off
- Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 99 copies.
- In the memo field of all your checks, write "for sexual favors."
- Specify that your drive-through order is "TO-GO."
- If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.
- Stomp on little plastic ketchup packets.
- Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions "to keep them tuned up."
- Reply to everything someone says with "that's what you think."
- Practice making fax and modem noises.
- Highlight irrelevant information in scientific papers and "cc" them to your boss.
- Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.
- Finish all your sentences with the words "in accordance with prophesy."
- Signal that a conversation is over by clamping your hands over your ears and grimacing.
- Disassemble your pen and "accidentally" flip the ink cartridge across the room.
- Holler random numbers while someone is counting.
- Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you "like it that way."
- Staple pages in the middle of the page.
- Publicly investigate just how slowly you can make a croaking noise.
- Honk and wave to strangers.
- Decline to be seated at a restaurant, and simply eat their complimentary mints at the cash register.
- TYPE IN UPPERCASE.
- type only in lowercase.
- dont use any punctuation either
- Buy a large quantity of orange traffic cones and reroute whole streets.
- Repeat the following conversation a dozen times.
"DO YOU HEAR THAT?"
"What?"
"Never mind, it's gone now." - As much as possible, skip rather than walk.
- Try playing the William Tell Overture by tapping on the bottom of your chin. When nearly done, announce "No, wait, I messed it up," and repeat.
- Ask people what gender they are.
- While making presentations, occasionally bob your head like a parakeet.
- Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
- Sing along at the opera.
- Go to a poetry recital and ask why each poem doesn't rhyme.
- Ask your co-workers mysterious questions and then scribble their answers in a notebook. Mutter something about "psychological profiles."
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Greatest Gift
Scott is a man of few words.
Every single message he has ever left for me sounded just like this: “Hey Pappy, it’s Scottie. Give me a call.”
Despite his phone communication skills, we have managed to create a pretty amazing relationship after 36 years of brotherhood. It could be his independence, humor, or pure desire to have fun all the time that makes me want to hang out with him. It could be how simple things like fishing, hiking, or a long argument about politics seems to satisfy his needs.
Mostly, I think that what I love about him is that Scott has a pure heart without the right words to express what’s inside it. Well, that was true - until August 7, 2009.
In the 90’s Scott joined the Navy and served all 4 years in Nevada during the first gulf war. One particular day, after I hadn’t seen him in 2 years and hadn’t spoken to him in months – I placed a call that I remember clearly. It went just like this.
Me “Scottie, it’s Pappy!”
Scott “Hey man, what’s up?”
Me “Not much, I’m thinking of coming out there.”
Scott “OK, great. When?”
Me “Maybe the first week in March, how does that sound.”
Scott “Sounds, good – call me when you land.”
Click
And I did. And that was that.
We picked up like we had never been apart. I met his new wife, learned to make turkey jerky, caught tarantulas, scorpions, went hunting, touched an F-14 Tomcat, learned how to ride a motorcycle, and a million other things.
Fast forward to the summer of 2009. The construction company that Scott owned and ran by himself after leaving the Navy took him to Florida and eventually Texas. It was there that he told me he was going to join the military again - this time the Army. A few months later, I landed in Alabama with my mother and sister and we watched him graduate from infantry school.
Scott was 41 years old, and was in the top of his class for physical fitness even though it was killing him keeping up. After graduation ceremonies we went to a very nice lunch with 5 of our family members and Scott began to tell us this story:
“At the end of training all of us soldiers are taken miles away from the base for 5 days to play war games and prove you learned to be an infantryman. We carry our ruck sacks everywhere we go which weigh 30+ lbs. We sleep when we can and where we can - on the cold and wet ground - while crawling towards a faux enemy. One morning, we were taken on a 3 mile run for no good reason. It was exhausting.
We trained on reacting to “contact”, engaging enemies, walking in formation and sleeping in the mud. It was exhausting.”
I look up from my lunch and think “Wow, Scottie is really telling a great story here - and he’s passionate about it.”
He continues “After the 5th day, we began our last ruck march. 12 miles through the woods this time, no roads. It was the single most exhausting thing I have ever done in my life. My 40 year old body is beat down from all this exercise, not enough sleep and my pack feels like it’s 100 lbs not 35.
After 10 miles, we walked up a road that seemed like it went 90 degrees straight into the sky. They told us it was called “Stairway to Heaven”. From there we began our final march to Honor Hill and the most amazing thing happened: 100’s of soldiers lined the road to greet us and cheer us on to the end. They lit their flashlights with different color filters and shined them on the road and us and yelled things like “GO GO!” and “Yeah!” They all cheered and clapped as we ran by. For the first time in days, I had a burst of energy from the support of my fellow soldier and knowing I was close to the gates of Honor Hill, I ran the fastest I could.
We met our drill sergeants and for the first time they treated us like humans! They stopped yelling and actually shook our hands. Then an amazing thing happened: The drill sergeant approached me and awarded me my “cross rifles”, looked me in the eyes and said “Welcome to the Infantry, Soldier”.
And then Scott paused here.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the actual gold cross rifle pin he earned and said “Pappy, I want you to have this. You’ve always been there to support me and are a great friend and brother. You are a great example for our family and yours, and the second that I was awarded this pin, I knew that I wanted you to have it.”
And now you know the story of The Greatest Gift that I have ever received.
P.S. I planned on writing this post in 2009 when I got home but life got in the way. Then, this week I learned that Scott is probably being deployed to Afghanistan as a dog handler in the next few months. The dog will either be a bomb dog or a tracking dog - either way it’s the front lines. Right where an Infantryman belongs.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
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