The Simpsons Maker - AbcArcade.com

The Simpsons Maker - AbcArcade.com: "The Simpsons Maker"

I sent a few of you a link to this a while back. It still makes me laugh. Make your own Simpson's character.

What does your browser reveal about you?

Terminally Incoherent » Blog Archive » What does your browser reveal about you?:

"What does your browser reveal about you?"
Firefox vs IE

I often tend to judge people based on the type of browser they use. Believe it or not, the choice of your favorite browser reveals a lot about your personality.

IE 5.0:

You only use your computer for IM, email and Myspace. You stubbornly refuse to upgrade that ancient Win 98 box that you are using because you don’t need some fancy computer and in your opinion the one you have works just fine. You also probably don’t use antivirus or antispyware either. You just let your son/nephew/friend clean it out every month or so." ....

And its pretty accurate look of the definition of the browser I use.

Firefox 2.0 Beta:

You are a developer by day and open source developer by night. Either that, or a huge Firefox fan. You are all over Bugzilla reporting all the issues you encounter with the browser. You have probably summited at least one patch to an open source project at some point in your life. You love to tinker with your applications, and you don’t mind running beta software on your machine. After all, it is fun to discover new bugs, and to work little kinks out of the new cutting edge programs.

And this one is for M and D.

AOL Suite:

You most likely either still use AOL as your dialup ISP. Either that, or you somehow figured that you still need AOL even after getting broadband connection. Someone told you you can actually use the internets without starting AOL but you haven’t figured out how is that possible. It seems really difficult though, and you suspect it might be illegal.

And yes, I stoled this link from guitarchick9. http://guitarchick9.livejournal.com/ C, this is a test of whether you and your hubby actually read my blog (and whether you read the posts all the way to the end and in really, really small print)

Snopes

I told a few of you about snopes. They investigate urban legends and email forwards. It researches whether they are true or not and then documents their research.

http://snopes.com/

Examples

Claim: Monkee Mike Nesmith's mother was the inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid.

Status: True.

Origins: Bette Nesmith Graham
A guitar's all right Michael, but you'll never make your living by it
Bette Nesmith and young Michael
(she was divorced from Michael's father in 1946 and remarried in 1964) came up with the idea of using a small bottle of tempera waterbase paint to correct her typing errors while she was an executive secretary with Texas Bank & Trust in Dallas in 1951. She supplied bottles of the fluid to other secretaries at her workplace (under the name "Mistake Out") for several years; then, in 1956, she improved the formula, changed its name to "Liquid Paper," and set out to trademark the name and patent her product. After IBM passed on her offer to sell Liquid Paper to them, Bette started marketing the product on her own. Liquid Paper, Inc., did not become profitable for several years, and it was not until the mid-1960s that Liquid Paper correction fluid began to generate subst...

http://snopes.com/music/artists/nesmith.htm


Claim: Static electricity is the cause of an increase in gas station refuelling fires.

Status: Multiple — see below

* Static electricity can cause fires at gas stations: True.
* Static electricity was actually the cause of a number of gas station refuelling fires: Undetermined.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2002]
....
http://snopes.com/autos/hazards/static.asp

Your Mom Goes To College [Napeon Dynamite Quote]

I'm I the only one that thinks this t-shirt is funny?

http://www.snorgtees.com/yourmomgoestocollege-p-198.html

They've got some funny tee-shirts at this site.

Chuck Norris Facts

For those who haven't seen the Chuck Norris facts. Here are a few. These were picked as the favorite by none other than Chuch Norris himself (as the story goes .....)

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.


• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.


• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.


• Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.


• Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.


• Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.


• Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.


• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.


• There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.

Bruce Schneier Facts

Bruce Schneier Facts a take off of the Chuck Norris Facts
http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/1

Funny stuff, but only for people who appreciate computer security and cryptography humor (a much smaller group of people than I'd like :-(

My favorite of all ........

Bruce Schneier can solve NP-Complete problems in NlogN time.

Google maps + all locations in the Movie Napoleon Dynamite

Google maps + all locations in the Movie Napoleon Dynamite

http://www.dynamitemap.com/

Does anyone feel like a road trip? ;-)

Shakepeare sonnets reviewed by order of the court

Funny punishment for a crime through the "sensitivity through poetry" program.

"Some guy from New York, who has been ordered to remain anonymous, has been instructed by the courts to conduct a line by line discussion of each of the sonnets.

...

If you've ever wanted to learn what Shakespeare was really saying in his spine-tingling poetic cycle, you’ll be hard pressed to find a friendlier, more forthright guide or one as jargon free.

Shakespeare wrote for the masses and, believe me, there's no one more "masses”"than Some Guy From New York!"

-http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=81

EXPLICIT: May not be appropriate for younger listeners

Original site (Easier to download from)

http://www.fiddleandburn.com/bardny/

Voice Recognition

Warning: Nerdiest post yet.

I've always thought it would be cool to use a voice recognition interface to a computer. The question has always been what would I do with it (and a bit of AI)? Well in previous years continuous voice recognition wasn't up to snuff, it was hard to get data from different sources including the web that was machine parsable/understandable, and AI was terrible.

Most of these restrictions are now at a level where this may be possible.

Continuous Voice Recognition - Now 95+ % if you are willing to wear a voice canceling microphone - a pain but doable.

Data from multiple sources - web services, and XML.

AI - hmm, still researching this one. Also perhaps I don't really need AI, just software that can parse the english language with a specific set of commands.

How would I use it?

Voice Control
1) Over Phone
2) from hands free device - cordless noise canceling mic?

Calendar Data - Google Calendar
1) Alarm Clock
Wake me up tomorrow at 6:00 am to go to the park
2) Reminders
Remind me on Thursday to buy a birthday present
Remind me to pay my water bill tomorrow evening
3) Add a birthdays to the calendar.
4).Ask questions
What bills are due this week?

Movie Listings (xml source????)
1) What is playing at Rio at around 10 pm?

Email - Google Email
1) New email notifications
2) Read email messages to me

Map Data - Google Maps
1) I'm at Eubank and Montgomery Where is the nearest Sonic?

Note Taker - with tags
1) Keep track of todo lists
2) Ability to tell it random but interesting facts I may want to later recall
3) Add Items to grocery list

Home Security Monitor
1) Has the repair guy been to my apartment yet?
2) Asks repair people to identity themselves and notifies them that they are being video and audio recorded - web cam goodness along with motion sensors and voice/facial recognition

Phone Number lookup
1) What is the phone number of my car mechanic?
2) What is the phone number of Chili's?

Search for files on my computer
1) Show me my todo list
2) Show me receipts generated for purchases online from radio shack

TV Listings?
1) What time is Smallville on?

Tape Shows
1) Tape Smallville

RSS Feeds
1) Notify me of updated blogs from friends

Christians and Politics

A friend of mine, "C" sent me an article from the NY Times about why Churches should stay away from political agendas. I don't know if I agree with this view or not. I do agree that the Republican party can and do do stupid immoral things at times and Christians back them because they also push Christian goals. Then, they deny that anything immoral is happening because they believe so much in the good things that the leader is doing. But are some evils, ie abortion, so evil that Christians should back the party no matter what else they do, or what else they believe? This article was very timely as several of us where pondering the question recently of if Jesus where around physically today (and an American), would he vote? I don't know what I think the answer is yet, and I highly suspect that it is some how the wrong question, but I'm starting my research with these articles. Being that I'm cheap and don't read books, I'm going to start listening to the free original 6 part sermon linked to at the bottom.

Article being discussed
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/us/30pastor.html?_r=1&ex=1154404800&en=c2f83bd1edc3c799&ei=5087%0A

The Myth of the Christian Nation - More background and a link to his book
http://www.whchurch.org/content/page_676.htm

Free 6 part audio series about why the pastor believes what he believes
http://www.crossandthesword.org/

Why english teachers die young

Stupid forward I received. Stupid... but very funny.

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country.

Here are last year's winners....

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room- temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. Instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. Traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m., at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Uncommon Business

Interesting blog about people making good money in unconventional (ie strange) ways.

http://uncommonbusiness.blogspot.com/

Paintball Equipment

I got one too many welts playing paintball yesterday. I've been looking into more safety/protective equipment.

I was surprised by the number of items out there for this.

• Body Armor - For stomach, back, and side shots
• Neck Protection - Could you imagine getting hit in the throat?
• Gloves - But getting hit in the hands was pretty common but I'm going to use some cheap gloves I already own
  
• Complete Head Mask& goggles - I actually have a welt on my forehead
• Complete Exo-skeleton - for the completely paranoid out there
  

There are some other non-safety items I need they include

• CO2 Tank
• Holster for holding additional Paint or Air
• Paintball sleeve - I have plastic paint ball plug but it takes the first 10 seconds of the game to put it away so you don't loose it - you could be dead by then. The sleeves are cool because they are attached with an elastic band, you just pull them off.
  

GPS Info

I'm looking for a portable (non-in dash) Car GPS Receiver. Feature list I'm looking for

Requirements

• 2d and 3rd Maps
• Complete US Maps can be loaded all at once, ie don't need to load maps per region
• Good POI (Point of Interest) Database
• Touch Screen
• Easy interface
• USB connection to computer
• Good Maps
• Audio voice giving directions
• Accurate Directions
• Good battery life
• Battery Powered and Car Charger
• Multiple destinations\way-points
• Quickly updated instructions if I pass the correct road or destination
• Knowledge of U-Turns (I'm king of U-turns.)
• *Small enough to carry in pocket or backpack
• Compass

Nice to have

• Read street names (ie "Turn left on Pine street in one mile") not just "Turn left 1 mile"

*I'm interested in hiking with a GPS as well, but am considering getting a simpler GPS with better battery life for this purpose.

Update:
Best GPS Reviews http://gpsinformation.net/
NuVi http://gpsinformation.info/nuvi/nuvireview.html
Quest http://www.gpsinformation.us/quest/questrev.html
I3 http://www.gpsinformation.org/i3/i3.html
I5 (no link yet)

NuVi discussion forum
Magellan RoadMates

The problems with the Nuvi I've seen is that they only offer 1 via point, which I'm assuming means specifing a particular route that you want to take as part of its calculations, but it does allow multiple way points. Once you reach a point you can tell it to proceed from there to a different one. Also while it sounds as if it isn't good for geocaching because it may not show GPS cooridantes on the map. Just on a separte page. Also its unclear if you can put GPS coordiantes as a destination on the map. It also provides no trackback feature to allow you to follow your path back. It also doesn't appear to have a built in compass screen. It only has a battery life of 4-6 hours and is not waterproof but but that is forgivable since its primary for car use. Battery is built in and can't be replaced (I'd at least like to be able to carry a backup pair of batteries if possible).

Postives for the Nuvi included tiny size, best GPS chipset in general use, 3d, says street names, rechargable battery (unfortunatly no-removable).

Some of the new roadmates appear to be direct competitors for the Nuvi and new models are coming out now for a lot cheaper than the Nuvi. I'm looking into those now.

TravelMate 760 & 860 T http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=51884
Bigger than the Nuvi, but still hand held with similiar features. One huge plus of these devices is that since they run Windows CE they can be tricked into running other apps for CE, divx players, and support for http://www.oziexplorer.com/. Which is the coolest moving map program for hiking I've ever seen. Just scan in or download any map, upload it and the software will help you calibrate your position on the map. It doesn't do routing but it moves the map under you and points you in the direction of your next waypoint.

Don't get any of these from normal sites, the prices vary a ton on the web
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Garmin_nuvi_350_Personal_Travel_Assistant,__11841514/sort_type=price

A fetus crying ?????

You have to put up with a stupid commercial first. All I can say is wow! It doesn't have any audio of the baby, but the video looks good.

"When sound was played through the uterine wall of this fetus' mother, the fetus startled and turned the head.

Then the fetus showed all the characteristics of crying: an open mouth, increasing head tilts, a quivering chin and several irregular breaths before exhaling and settling with a turn of the head, mouthing and swallowing."

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/media/fetalcryingvideo.html

Christianity vs Humanism Comparison

Differences between Christian World View and Secular Huminism

http://www.aboundingjoy.com/humanism_chart.htm

Motorcyle information

NM Motorcycle Manual

Motorcycles listed by seat heights

Beginner motorcycles

Motorcycle Safety Foundation Documents

Motorcycle Safely Foundation Rider Course Handbook (Course Curriculum)

NM DMV Practice Tests

Invisible Children

NOTE: If you care about this topic email, blog, or send a link to these events to your friends. If nothing else just send a copy the text below. I don't know the same people you do and everyone can help to get the message out.

Watch the story of the Ugandan Civil war and the children kidnapped from their beds by the rebel soldiers during the night. Join the Global Night Commute this Saturday April 29, by making the trek to sleep in your local city to commemorate the children in Uganda which travel miles every night to hide away from the Rebel armies who seek to kidnap and forcibly recruit them. Help get the message out showing the press and government officials that its time to put pressure on the Ugandan government to end this war.

Facts

• NORTHERN UGANDA CALLED THE WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN THE WORLD TODAY BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF ATTENTION
• 1.7 MILLION PEOPLE FORCIBLY DISPLACED AN ESTIMATED
• 20- 50,000 CHILDREN ABDUCTED TO FIGHT AS SOLDIERS
• TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN COMMUTING NIGHTLY 130 PEOPLE DIE PER DAY IN NORTHERN UGANDA DUE TO VIOLENCE

Who is going from your city?

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMovement/globalNightCommute/

Watch the whole video on line
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753930210643

Order the DVD
http://www.invisiblechildren.com

How can you Help?
1. Sign up for the global night commute in your city (Sign up early so the scale of this event is known to the press in advance and others you know will know you are going.)
2. Order a DVD, buy a bracelet, or contribute money to the cause
3. Email or blog about the topic - if nothing else copy my blog entry in its entirety into your blog or email and send it out. I don't know the same people you do. Help get the message out!

Various Religions and Christian Denominations by Region

Religion Map of the United States

Web Hosting Service

I'm looking for a place to host a web site. These are the basic requirements

Runs on Linux
Mysql databases (at least 5, but 20 or more would be good)
Perl support
PHP support
Ability to run cron jobs
SSH Access
SFTP Access
Ability to connect to outside sites using wget from cron
Preferably < $10 a month What am I going to call my new web site? TopherCentral of course... just kidding. I'm not sure what I'm going to call it yet. Besides creating a page which aggregates blogs of everyone I know, I'm kicking around creating a place where anyone can submit me an article of a Christian blogs from any where on the net and I'll link to them with discussion boards. Possibly a kind of Christian Slashdot. Or maybe a community of communities site. For example why do sites like slashdot only relate to one theme with one type of reader. Why don't they create a site where anyone can make a new community based sites. Well the obvious answer would be money but if the new sites were ad supported it could be designed to pay for itself.

Update:

I found this page thefreecountry with a lot of links to hosting sites. After I narrowed down possible candidates from their list I did my own up to date research below.

This is the list of hosting services I'm looking into

• liquidweb
• Too Expensive
  
• go-daddy
• Blocks out going connections :-(
  

These are the most promising

• bluehost
• $6.95 a month
• 10 GB site size
  
• 250 GB/mo max transfer (what happens if you go over?)
  
• 50 mysql databases
• Size Restriction on databases?????
  
• PHP support 4 or 5 my choice w/ optional zend optimizer
  
• Perl 5
• Python
• Ruby on Rails
  
• SSH Support
• Don't know if they block outgoing connections
• Streaming media support
• 5 addon domains
• 20 parked domains (what is this????)
  
• 20 subdomains
• Don't support mod_php (do I need this?)
  
• Free Domain name
• Cron support
• Web stats
• ability to change MX records but must call support (Do I need this?)
  
• Bunch of free click to add apps
• Nifty FAQ page to go to instead of calling their support

• ipowerweb - Business Pro Package
  
• $7.95 a month for 1 year - Business Pro Package
  
• 10 GB Storage
• 250 GB Monthly Transfer
• No mention of SSH Support
• crontab support
• Perl
• PHP
• mysql
• Limits on number of databases?
• Limits on database size?
• Free subdomains 200
• External domain name pointing unlimited
• Don't know if they block outgoing connections

• websitesource - all in one plan
• Annual $7.83/mo for all-in-one plan.
• 5 GB Size
• 50 GB per Month Transfer
  
• 5 MySQL Databases
• Max 200 MB per database
  
• SSH Access
• 5 Database Users
• Crontab
• Can do outgoing connections (includes a similar program to refeed)
• Perl 5.6.1
• PHP 4.3.4 with Zend Optimizer
• Pay extra for additional bandwidth used (a little scary, I want a cap).
• Streaming Media Support
• Extra apps with easy set up (free apps any way but it would save time)
• Free web stats package
• fancy web stats package additional $10 set up fee
  
• Free domain
• Unlimited URL Forwarding
• Unlimited Domain Parking
• Unlimited SubDomains

• midphase
• $7.95 Month
• Host only 1 domain name
  
• SSH May be extra
  
• Perl
• mysql
• mysql user count?
• mysql database count?
  
• Python
• PHP
• crontab
• Unlimited bandwidth don't pay extra (how can they do this?)
• Web statistics package extra?
• Free domain name

• 1and1 - Business Plan
  
• $9.99 a month 1and1 business plan
  
• SSH
• PHP 3,4,5
• Perl
• cron support
  
• 50 mysql databases
  
• 100 MB limit on database size (total or per database?) This seems too small.
  
• 200 subdomains
  
• 100 external domains (what is this?)
• ability to set DNS settings through a GUI
• Space 100 GB
• 1000 GB - monthly Transfer Volume
• Don't know if they block outgoing connections
• includes 3 free domain names