Considering the fact that the following video has been viewed over 3 million times on Youtube there’s a good chance you’ve already seen it, but if not you need to check out these guys from Indiana University doing the 12 Days of Christmas. I know, I know, we’re all burned out on Christmas music but take my word that you’ll enjoy this. (Hat tip to Lex for pointing to this).
NPR taped its show Wait Wait….Don’t Tell Me at, uh, Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University last week and it features a guest appearance by Lewisville native and former West Forsyth H.S. and Wake Forest basketball star, and current NBA standout Chris Paul. Apparently Paul was the first pro athlete to ever appear on the show and he did a great job. Listen to it here.
I got my first look at a Nintendo Wii last night at a friends house and all I can think to write is "Cool!" and "Finally!" I’d pretty much given up on video games because I just couldn’t invest the time to familiarize myself with the controllers, with the plots and the bouts of vertigo that a couple of them can induce. To me what’s brilliant about the Wii is that it gives the kids (and gamers) something different than what they’re used to and it gives the adults (and other non-gamers) something that’s approachable and doesn’t require hours of practice just to get started.
For those not familiar with the Wii the biggest difference between it and the PS3 or Xbox 360 is that the controllers are wireless and the games are designed so that the players must physically move to play them. So if the game is boxing the players are essentially throwing punches at the TV, if the game is tennis or golf the players are moving the controllers with motions similar to those used when playing the real sports. Watching the boys play it last night I saw them literally break into a hard sweat and end the games panting as if they’d just run a mile.
Another difference between the Wii and other current game systems is that the Wii went with less processing power so the emphasis is definitely not on graphics. It was a risky, but brilliant move by Nintendo to focus on interaction and approachability rather than hard-core graphics. They’re going to own the non-hardcore gamer market unless Sony and Microsoft do something soon.
We hadn’t even discussed getting one of these for the kids since we figured the X-Box was enough, but now this thing is going on the wish list if for no other reason than I want to play it myself. From what I understand the backlog on delivery is long enough that if I put it on my x-mas wish list I might just get it in time for the holidays.
A company called Reware is selling a beach bag called the "Juice Tote – Solar Beach Bag" (see picture to the left). The idea is that you can re-charge your phone, camera, PDA, etc. while baking on the beach, or at the pool. While I was reading about the bag on their site I came across this little bit of verbiage:
Reware is a firm believer that globalization can have very positive
effects for people around the world by connecting people through
international trade, creating jobs and lifting economies. It can also
have crushing effects on local economies and the environment. So the
goal around here is to try and figure out how to use the benefits of
globalization positively, while remembering that local production
matters.Oh yeah, and we want to make high quality products that bring attention
to environmentalism while reducing environmental impact.It’s all a complex and fascinating challenge. The reality is that most
Virgin fabrics are coming out of China, which is good news when doing
business in Japan, Korea, or into the Chinese market. When that
happens, our Carbon Footprint is astoundingly reduced.At the same time, we love the recycled fabrics we use because many of
them are produced in the US. We then manufacture those bags in Texas or
North Carolina, we reduce our carbon footprint further and help local
economies.When it comes to the environment, we all need to think about the most
efficient way to make and distribute our goods. That’s why we like the
concept of localization, the idea that when you can, you buy materials
and use factories as close to your customers as possible, when
possible.We don’t have it all figured out yet (no one really does), but these
issues matter, and we’re having a good time doing our part to do things
outside the box.Have you seen a localized production process that works, or have
thoughts on this concept? Get in touch: info (AT) rewarestore (DOT) com
Who says the textile industry is dead in North Carolina? And who knew we’d be in bed with a bunch of tree huggers? Seriously though, if we can get more efforts like this going there might be a future for one of the Tarheel states venerable industries.
My wife would tell you that I’m touched in the head, but the title of this post actually refers to this video produced by Popular Mechanics about the new Microsoft touch technology coffee table. I’d seen the promos for the thing but figured it was just more overblown hype from Microsoft. After seeing the video I’m left salivating over the possibilities in the computer realm in the next 5-10 years. Really, you need to check it out. Here’s the link again.
Keep an eye on the news on June 15, 2007. That’s when the folks in Oklahoma will unearth a time capsule buried in 1957 as part of the state’s 50 year celebration, which makes this year a centennial celebration. Here’s the really cool part: they buried a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe in a concrete "coffin" as part of the capsule, along with a case of Schlitz beer, the contents of a woman’s purse and a container of oil among other things. Check out the Youtube video of the car being buried.
Update 6/19/07. Below is a picture of the car after it was exhumed and here’s a link to the Flickr photo gallery of the exhumation:
Since Esbee was nice enough to tell everyone to visit my blog to get their local Winston-Salem fix while she’s offline I thought I’d try and find a way to tie this to the Camel City. Hmmm, oh yeah, I remember touring the l ocal Schlitz brewery with my grandparents when I was a kid in the late 70s. According to this article, at the time it was built in 1970 it was the largest brewery under one roof in the US. Stroh’s took over Schlitz in 1982 and the factory was in operation until 1999. The free beer tasting at the end of the tour was the only time I ever saw my grandpa throw back some suds, and my granny wasn’t too pleased about it.
Just for kicks you can check out the satellite image of what once was the Schlitz facility here.
Some folks in London have started a campaign to provide free second-hand books to commuters on London’s tubes. Here’s their schtick:
The London Book Project is a free book exchange on a massive scale.
Using the London Underground as a high speed distribution network, we
aim to bring real literature to London’s commuters. Scrap the
freesheets – read a free book instead!Over the next two weeks we’ll be distributing thousands of second
hand books across the tube and we want YOU to get involved. If you see
one of our books, please pick it up! Then read it and replace with any
book of your choice. Let’s make the tube a giant, free library!
Found via Boing Boing.
Anyone that’s talked to me in the last year or two probably knows that I love-with-a-capital-L my Tivo. It looks like I’m going to have even more reason to love it in the near future. Amazon is teaming with Tivo to offer video dowloads from Amazon’s Unbox service straight to Tivo, and it looks like you’ll be able to rent or buy. They’re doing a limited test but they expect to roll it out to all Tivo subscribers in the near future. One limitation is that the Tivo has to be hooked up to a broadband network (luckily ours is hooked into our network) so Tivo users that still have their systems updated via dial-up will either have to hook their systems into their home network or go without. Here are details from the announcement:
To activate the service, subscribers will simply log on to
Amazon.com and follow a few simple steps to establish a link between
their broadband connected TiVo Series2(TM) or Series3(TM) box and
their Amazon account. Once the initial set up is complete, eligible
movies or television shows from Amazon Unbox can be downloaded
directly to the customer’s TiVo box. After the movie has been
downloaded, the title will automatically appear in the subscriber’s
TiVo "Now Playing" list with all of their other recorded shows, easily
viewed with just a click of the TiVo remote.Customers can purchase television episodes for $1.99, purchase
most movies for between $9.99 and $14.99, or rent movies starting at
$1.99. As an added bonus, all purchased videos are automatically
stored in each customer’s "Your Media Library" at Amazon.com for
future access and download.
Su-weet!
I truly hope this gets going, but I’m waiting to see it actually launched before I get too excited. I was stoked when Tivo said they were doing a deal with Netflix but that deal seems to have died on the vine. If the Tivo/Unbox service does indeed go off as planned and does work as advertised then our Netflix subscription might be going the way of all flesh.
Celeste’s cousin Richard Joye comes from a family of tinkerers and engineers. He and his two brothers are the kind of people that make me question my own IQ level (i.e. by comparison mine is dismally low), and just to prove it he’s built his own home-brew snow making operation. It’s cool enough that the local news station did a story on him. You can see it here (hopefully the link works). If it ever gets up on Youtube or Google Video I’ll update this post with the video.
We get to see Ricky and his family every year at Thanksgiving in Charleston, SC and he and I end up hanging out and having a bunch of drinks while our ladies go shopping. When the kids were little we’d have daddy-duty during our ladies’ shopping sprees so we’d take them to the beach and let them run rampant, go wading in the freezing water and stuff enough sand in their ears to make their heads weigh a pound more than normal. Good times!
There was that one year when Icehouse first launched and we didn’t realize that it had a higher alcohol content that "normal" beer. Nothing like puking in front of the in-laws, but that’s a story for another post.
Appalachian State, about 90 miles from my house, repeated as Division 1-AA (or whatever they’re calling it these days) football champs last Friday so people around here are fairly well a-buzz about it. Now I’ve found another reason that the Mountaineers should be proud: Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics fame was an undergrad there. A commenter on Dubner’s post linked to the App State Hot, Hot, Hot video on Youtube, something for which they might not be so proud.
A couple of my cousins are App grads and in my book they’re even more esteemed than Dubner (what up Wendy and Jody). I’ll have to ask them how they feel about Hot, Hot, Hot.
Befuddled 