The real point of the internet

According to “Avenue Q”:http://www.avenueq.com/, the bawdy Broadway satire of Sesame Street, the internet is for “porn”:http://www.focusonthefamily.com/. But if you’ve been around long enough in this web-tastic world, you know that the internet is really just an elaborate vehicle for the dissemination of funny pictures. There are the thousands of “lolcatz”:http://www.acc.umu.se/~zqad/cats/ pictures, the “overly cute”:http://cuteoverload.com/ pictures, and now, for some reason published in Russian, the “transportation pictures”:http://onliner.ws/2007/04/09/idiotskaja_chelovecheska_logika.html. I’ve put my favorite below, but it’s well-worth looking at all of them, and then e-mailing them to loved ones. There’s nothing people like more than an inbox full of hilarious pictures, especially if it means they miss an important dental appointment because of it.

The how-to video repository

http://sutree.com/ is an online collection of free tutorial videos. The videos are usually hosted elsewhere and the links contributed by users, but SuTree adds an element of ranking and community discussion, in addition to putting all of the videos in one search-able database. The subject of the videos is widely varied but with a little looking around you can learn such useful things as how to "grow your own potatoes":http://sutree.com/play.asp?s=fgxacpamoqtaanpapdfhs, "perform a perfect breast stroke":http://sutree.com/play.asp?s=fdlreasjuiicknczcngmf, "draw a horse":http://sutree.com/play.asp?s=yuyxgkttdrhlqxpnnbaww, or "fold a t-shirt":http://sutree.com/play.asp?s=hmqiqntueickhefrfusgh (super cool and embedded below).

The Amazing Nintendo House (aka my dream home)

Sometimes you see something so amazing that your jaw drops and can’t be lifted back up for a few minutes. Such was my viewing of this Nintendo house, created by a fraternity at Carnegie Mellon University. Every single feature, from the Zapper staircase to the Game Boy on the side, is carefully crafted and simply a visual masterpiece.

This structure solves a problem that I’ve pondered for ages: how can I demonstrate how much I truly love gaming just from my home decor alone? Now, I have something to aspire to. Not enough pictures of this fine structure exist, but take a look at the “Flickr album”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/7891513@N07/ for more awesome shots! Thanks to the folks at “Destructoid”:http://www.destructoid.com/fraternity-s-nintendo-funhouse-college-is-useful-again-update–31102.phtml for unraveling the mystery of this fine house’s creation!

VideoVets: interviews with veterans

http://moveon.org have teamed up to create a 30-second TV spot focusing on "bringing the troops home" from Iraq. The project, called "VideoVets":http://pol.moveon.org/videovets/ will be composed by Stone, himself a veteran, from the most popular interview voted on by the viewing public. My personal favorite interview is with Sgt Sam Schultz of the Indiana National Guard. When he arrived in Iraq, he was given a white Chevy pickup truck as his primary fighting vehicle which he later modified to carry a machine gun in the bed. Says Sgt Schultz: "It's important to end this war, because we are the wrong people to fight this war... we're doing more harm than good."

Thanks to the folks at “Truthdig”:http://www.truthdig.com/ for their “article”:http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/stone_moveonorg_join_forces/ about this project.

Watching from the skies


Caracas law enforcement officials, hoping to lower their world’s worst crime rates, have bought 3 mini-airships equipped with cameras to look down on the city. The 50-ft long (15 m) vessels will be operated by remote control from a brand-new zeppelin command center in downtown Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Apparently to further to deter crime, the floating camera platforms will be painted with phrases like “We watch over you for your security” in red letters. Big Brother references aside (it’s just too easy) maybe this will actually help the city to overcome its horrendous public safety records. The murder rates were so high that the government apparently stopped publishing the records last year.
More about the zeppelins at “the BBC”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6576413.stm. The picture is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Budgeting for Your New Job


If you’re nearing graduation and about to step into the work force, changing your job, or just plain curious of the available salaries out there, then try “Salary.com”:http://www.salary.com. This site gives you the median salaries of the jobs you’re interested from the place (zip code) you specify. If that’s still not enough for your budgeting purposes, use “this calculator”:http://www.surepayroll.com/calculator/calc_paycheck_netpay.asp to enter in information like your salary, deductions, and some other (clearly defined) stuff to get a rough estimate of your take home pay. For my whopping salary, the after tax estimator was only $50 off. Still not enough? With some quick info entered into turbotax (“here”:http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax_help/tax_calculators/tax_estimator.jhtml) you can generate an estimated tax return. If it works out that you’re just not making enough, learn the best ways “to get promoted”:http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Get-Yourself-Promoted&id=500734, “how to switch fields”:http://www.jobprofiles.org/library/guidance/switch-careers.htm or, contrarily, “how to get fired”:http://careerplanning.about.com/od/workplacesurvival/a/get_fired.htm.

More Microsoft news – color barcodes

Microsoft has recently announced the development of a system to encode more information onto their DVD discs and games by using a “system of colored, triangular barcodes”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6570871.stm. These are not meant to replace the black and white, linear barcodes that everyone knows and loves. Instead, disc owners can use a camera phone to read the data stored in the code and access online materials, extra downloads, or other game-related features.

Microsoft to offer Windows cheaply to developing nations

Despite Microsoft’s “criticisms”:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/16/gates_hundred_dollar_pc/ of the 100 dollar PC that was being developed for denizens of developing nations, the megacorporation will begin to produce a special version of Windows to be sold for as low as three dollars.

This version, known as the Student Innovation Suite, contains the bare bones features of Windows XP, Microsoft Office, math tools, and other basics. This version will be targeted towards middle and low income families as determined by the World Bank by 2008. Read more about it “here”:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/19/microsoft_windows_xp_starter/.

First aquanaut emerges from two weeks of underwater living


Lloyd Godson, an Australian marine biologist with the “BioSUB project”:http://www.biosub.com.au/ has been living underwater for two weeks. His home was this “underwater room”:http://www.biosub.com.au/Down%20under.htm fully-equipped with internet access, an electricity-generating exercise bike and an algae farm. Some of the stuff on board was pretty innovative, including the “‘biocoil'”:http://advbio.cascadeschools.org/Biocoil.html photosynthetic bioreactor developed by a high school in Idaho. From what I can gather, the point of the experiment was to show how people can create sustainable ecosystems underwater and live without bringing all their gases/needs with them. Now this is me thinking out loud, but could this be the key to living in similarly hostile environments like space?
There are a lot of interesting things to learn about this, so start out by reading this “TreeHugger post”:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/04/man_underwater.php about the project before it started and “this one”:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/04/man_resurfaces.php about the end of it. There’s also this “short report”:http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1900699.htm from ABC Australia.