New tree skirt #huskers

New tree skirt #huskers
Originally uploaded by mdesive

A remnant of fleece I found at Hobby Lobby. This wasn't what I planned to do
with it (not that I really had a plan) but I guess that's what I get for
decorating the tree while the game is on

If the founding fathers had Twitter

I laughed out loud at this one - especially John Hancock using a large font for his email sig:

We Hold These Tweets To Be Self-Evident [COMIC] 

Geek and Gamer Girls [Video]

Possibly slightly NSFW (though no worse than the original by Katy Perry) but I love this song. Besides Seth Green, keep an eye out for Stan Lee and Katee Sackhoff.


Geek and Gamer Girls - Director's Cut - Watch more Funny Videos

via Bonnie Burton

Thinking about ideas

I love Seth Godin's blog. The posts are often short, making them easy to read during a busy day, but they almost always hit me in the gut. He's usually referring to business, but his thoughts often stretch quite easily to writing and the rest of my life. This morning's post was a list of where ideas come from. I've included the ones which spoke most loudly to me here (with my notes in brackets). Click the link for the entire list.

1. Ideas don't come from watching television [I think mostly this is true, although once in awhile, something on TV will send me down the path to an idea]

2. Ideas sometimes come from listening to a lecture [This is true for me. I especially like the TED Talks]

3. Ideas often come while reading a book [Boy, do they ever!]

8. Ideas fear experts, but they adore beginner's mind. A little awareness is a good thing [I find when I've started researching a subject I know little-to-nothing about, I'm soon bursting with ideas. Further down the road, when I'm more familiar with the subject, the ideas are fewer, so I have to agree with this one. This might make me tempted to be a dabbler, but I find that you need to keep learning in order to bring those ideas to reality]

9. Ideas come in spurts, until you get frightened. Willie Nelson wrote three of his biggest hits in one week ["Spurts" of creativity or activity are when I do my best work]

10. Ideas come from trouble [What's that old saying? "Necessity is the mother of invention" I think creative thinking is best when it solves a problem]

16. Ideas come out of the corner of the eye, or in the shower, when we're not trying [The shower! My fountain of ideas :) ]

picture by qisur (Ramunas Geciauskas)

Skype Hits New Usage Record. So glad I could help.

I'm usually an early adopter, but I drug my feet on Skype. The only real reason I hadn't used it was that we didn't have a webcam or working microphone on any computer in the house and I just never got around to addressing that issue. Since our Thanksgiving trip didn't work out, I was pushed into action at last. Sunday night I finally got all the needed equipment together, signed up for a Skype account and made a test call, which worked perfectly the first try. Yay! Now I'm just waiting to actually use it...

Then I came across this story on Mashable today:

Skype Hits New Usage Record:

"With an IPO looming, Skype is touting a major new milestone: 25 million concurrent users. The number was reached on Monday for the first time, and the company says it represents a new all-time high"

Glad I could help. :) On some level, I feel like I've finally joined the 21st century.

photo by gurdonark (Robert Nunnally)

How Missy keeps me company while I work at the computer

How Missy keeps me company while I work at the computer
Originally uploaded by mdesive
Every now and then my posture slips and Missy takes advantage of it :)

How do you do Buffy without Joss???

Warner Bros. Rebooting Buffy; Joss Whedon Has "Mixed Emotions":

"I always hoped that Buffy would live on even after my death. But, you know, AFTER...I don't love the idea of my creation in other hands, but I'm also well aware that many more hands than mine went into making that show what it was. And there is no legal grounds for doing anything other than sighing audibly."

At least he has a little sense of humor about it: 

"This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths—just because they can't think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself."

But, seriously, no Joss Whedon, no Sarah Michelle Gellar? I doubt I'll be seeing this movie. I don't see a link yet at IMDB. Can we hope Warner Brothers is not that far along with the project and could still decide not to do it? I'm crossing my fingers.

Disclaimer: Back in the day, I was a big fan of the original Buffy movie and was horrified the WB was going to make a TV series out of it. I had the same "Get your hands off!" reaction I'm having now. So, I might be surprised in the long run, but I will remain doubtful for now. I don't think they can manage to turn me around twice.

Ever wonder where the explosives come from in video games?

I love the show Dirty Jobs. This is a great spoof:

Dirty Gaming Jobs - Johnny Placement

PC Games - E3 2011 - Half-Life 2

If other directors made The Social Network

I still haven't seen The Social Network (I have to wait for it on video) but this is hilarious:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

via Nathan Bransford

More Social Network Parodies

I want a snuggie! But not just any snuggie...

I think the Snuggie is one of the stupidist inventions ever. Half of it is because of the name. I mean, I have to smirk every time someone says "I want a Snuggie," or "Would you like a Snuggie?" or "Do you have a Snuggie?" or any variation I haven't thought of here. However, tonight I found one I actually do want:

This is just freakin' made of AWESOME!

If someone has taken the hint and wants to give me one for Christmas (hey, my birthday is coming up, too!), or you just want to get one for yourself, Hot Topic seems to have them.

via Meljean Brook

An Ounce of Prevention by Wallace McRae

I was going through some old papers and found a photocopy of this:



I love Google Books! It keeps me from having to keep those old photocopies in some file or box where no one (including me) will ever see them again. I also have a strange love of cowboy poetry that I can't explain.

Arrrrr! It be a pirate doodle!

Yes, it's another Google Doodle, but this one has pirates! The doodle marks Robert Louis Stevenson's 160th birthday today.

Oddly, I've had Treasure Island on my TBR (to be read) list for about 30 years and somehow have still never read it. I think that's what Nathan Bransford would refer to as a gap book:

"We all have our "gap" books, those books that everyone in the world has read and talks about all the time and look we are really meaning to read them but we're all very busy and there are a lot of books to read and no one could possibly be expected to read them all and why do I have to defend myself aha;sldkjf;aj"

 I guess I need to get on that.

Beware the Raffle Snake!

via GoComics

Playing with X-rays

Google has another clever doodle today (it's hard not to post EVERY time they have a special doodle), to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the discovery of x-rays, and GeekDad has an easy way you can "play" with x-rays with your kids:

 "While it’s not so simple to do x-ray activities with your kids at home or in the classroom, there is a related activity tied to an interesting discovery made in 2008: you can actually generate x-rays by simply ripping a piece of clear adhesive tape off a roll. That’s it. Just regular household tape. Of course, you do have to do it in a vacuum. But even if you don’t have a vacuum chamber handy, you can observe a similar effect by taking an ordinary roll of tape (clear or duct tape works well) and ripping it off the roll in a totally blackened room. Give your eyes time to adjust, and you’ll see a flash of blue light — the same kind of emission, except given off in the visible spectrum." via GeekDad

Is there anything duct tape CAN'T do?

Bonus: If you click through the logo's link, it takes you to the search page for X-rays, and the very first image in the smple of image searches is this:

(Unfortunately, the link to the image itself no longer seems to work correctly. D'oh!)

Time Management for Writers #nanowrimo

My friend *lizzie shared this on her blog the other day:

So, there's just one thing you all should say to me during November: "GET BACK IN YOUR ROOM!"

YouTube

Keeping you from embarrassing yourself? There's not an app for that

From Mashable:

Don't Drink and Facebook: New Plugin Mitigates the Fallout: "The deal is simple, download the plugin [for Firefox] and customize the settings for a variety of social media sites — from Facebook to MySpace toTumblr (for the bloggers among us) to e-mail accounts like Gmail or Hotmail....Set your hours of intoxication, and if you try to sign on to one of those sites during those times, you’ll be asked to pass a test."

Okay, great idea, but...

"This plugin doesn’t work on mobile devices, which means that when one is out and about — Android or iPhone in hand — one’s only protection is one’s own common sense. Good luck with that."

So, it only works if you've made it home before you try to update, or if you stayed home to get drunk in the first place. Um...yeah.

photo by Lethargic Avenger

Remember, remember...I almost forgot!

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Hulloa boys, Hulloa boys, let the bells ring.

Hulloa boys, hulloa boys, God save the King!

via Wikipedia

Photo by heatherbuckley 

It's raining (regency) men!

video via Risky Regencies (yes, I've been hanging on to this one for awhile)

NaNoWriMo Angel

I found this calendar with a great quote when I was poking around last week for a calendar to use for NaNoWriMo. I ended up going in my own hacked-together DIY direction to track my progress, but this was too cute not to share.

#NaNoWriMo Day 2: Full of FAIL

Well, I've got a big, fat goose-egg of a wordcount tonight. Plenty of excuses. None worth sharing. 

I WILL do better tomorrow!

Do you know where to vote tomorow?

Okay, NaNo-ers, on your marks, get set...

Go!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkins by LilGirl and Auntie Erin

It's Talk Like Jane Austen Day!

What an amiable and agreeable thing, to speak like our dear Jane today! 

Since it's so close to Halloween, I thought I'd share a video that mashes up the holiday with Jane's work quite nicely:



The book trailer for the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, was perhaps more fitting, but it's not for the squeamish (I have one foot in that camp), so I'll just link to it here for those more stout of heart.

Check out how you can get free tickets to Haunted Hollow!

I know it's last minute, but if you're interested, Haunted Hollow has free tickets here.

Happy Halloween!

Bwahahahaha!!! }:)

Zombie apocalypse hits Sears!

Sears has embraced its "Zombie Side" with a special website - you can view it in English (if you're shopping for your zombie friends) or Zombian (if you are a zombie). They've even got some helpful videos:



I tend to exercise just like this!




I think I've been on an elevator with this guy...er, zombie




Don't let your zombies get cold!

Sometimes costumes are TOO good

see more Historic LOL

Behold the power of Lord...er, I mean...Lady Vader!

I'm pretty strict about my rule on not putting pics of LilGirl on the Internet, but last night, hubby got by with tweeting this one because she's wearing a mask. It got retweeted by the official Star Wars Twitter account, which was pretty cool. So here's her 15 seconds (if that) of (fairly anonymous) fame:

http://twitter.com/#!/starwars/status/28936718957

Doin' it all for my baby! Doin' it, doin' it...

For your Halloween week viewing pleasure!

Would you give up your ipod to stay out of jail?

Apparently, this guy's got his priorities confused:


see more Failbook

Houston, we have a check-in!

I don't use Foursquare, but I'm always interested in hearing about the more interesting check-ins. This is one badge not too many people will unlock:

You'll be humming it all afternoon

I'm always amazed when people can rewrite lyrics so well (it's a talent I absolutely don't posses).

JoT 1458: Bye bye polycarbonate pie as sung to Don Mclean's American Pie.

So, pumpkin seed oil is really interesting...

This is just craaazy and cool:

"The oil in pumpkin seeds has a very rare quality. In a thin layer, it's green. In deep pools, it is red. Pumpkin seed oil is one of the most dichromatic substances in the world."

io9 has an explanation here.

What did I learn from NaNoWriMo last year?

If you're thinking about trying NaNoWriMo this year, I'm over at Heartland Writers Group today talking about what I learned from NaNo last year.

Friday Fun: Zombies in Plain English...yes, again

I know I post this every October, but I still love watching it, so here we go again:

Want your kid to read? Let them pick their own book!

According to the Kids & Family Reading Report Online Press Kit:

"Nine out of ten children say that they are more likely to finish [a] book they choose themselves."

Um, no offense, but "Duh!"  

Finding a book on your own, whether by chance or through the grapevine, is half the magic of reading books. Amazon counts on this. Teachers and parents tend to forget.

In fact, I've started to realize the more I push a book, the less likely my daughter is to want to read it. Gee, I have no idea where she gets that (I once gave a book report in high school for an assigned book in which I mostly listed the reasons I didn't finish it.)

Report via @gregpincus via @glossaria

Grover takes on Old Spice. Awesome!

You may remember my earlier near-obsession with the Old Spice ad campaign and the subsequent spoofs (like this and this, plus a remix). My friend Cheri LaClaire found one more & posted this video on her blog last night (addressed to me, no less). I love it!



If you're not familiar with the original commercial, you can watch it here.

Want to mutiny against your teachers? Call on Capt. Jack Sparrow!

Cute story! I wonder if Captain Jack would help me start a mutiny at work (not that I need or want to, but, hey, if it'll get ol' Jack to show up...)

Captain Jack Sparrow to the rescue as Johnny Depp arrives at Greenwich school: "When nine-year-old Beatrice Delap wanted to organise a mutiny against her teachers, she knew who to call on. And it took just one letter to enlist the aid of the world's most famous pirate: Captain Jack Sparrow."

Target targets me (and hits the target)

I mentioned to Hubby how disturbing this commercial is (as in, hitting too close to home) because this is how women think when they buy hats, and probably some other items (been there done that).  

Hubby replied that men buying hats think [in his best Hulk voice] "Sun bright. Hat shade."

I find it interesting that most commercials want to get us to think what this woman thinks, while this commercial just shows her thinking it. But then, this latest series of Target ads has been focusing on these odd little moments in life and this kind of fits into that, even though it's a little different form.

The sad thing is, most of the time I buy a hat and then NEVER wear it, because I totally don't wear hats (Don't tell hubby. I just got him to order me a couple hats online. But they're really cute! And they were really really on sale. And if I wear them, I'll have a really great life! Right? Right?)

Penny, you're in my spot

Bill Prady posted this picture via Twitter yesterday. Kaley Cuoco broke her leg recently, but is now back at work on The Big Bang Theory and she got to sit in Sheldon's spot!

If you're not a fan (Gasp! You should be!) and you don't yet understand the significance of Sheldon's spot, watch this.

Sometimes, you shouldn't add "in bed"

We had Chinese food tonight, and all was well until we opened our fortunes and did the usual game where you add "in bed" to the end:

My fortune is a little disturbing with the addendum:

Hubby's is even more so:

Come visit Stonehenge with me!

Isn't this awesome! I was checking out the Seven Continents of Street View in the Google Maps Street View Gallery and I found that you can walk around (virtually, anyway) within Stonehenge! Not as good as really being there, but maybe the next best thing. :)


View Larger Map

I also spent way too much time wandering Pompeii. There are a lot more places to wander if you visit the gallery.

Good Grief! 'Peanuts' Turns 60

And I still read it almost every day...



To celebrate, I think LilGirl and I will sit down and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. Here's a clip:




Thanks to Jade Walker for the heads up!

Friday Fun: Rowan Atkinson's Invisible Drums

via Epic Win FTW

Check out Google's Yabba-Dabba Doodle

The Flintstones first aired on TV 50 years ago today and Google is celebrating with a cute doodle. 

Why was I banned? #bannedbooksweek

By poesygalore | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Check out more about Banned Books Week.

Happy National Punctuation Day!

Today is the 7th Annual National Punctuation Day - check out the official site.

The Savage Chickens are celebrating with a new cartoon
(once you're there, scroll down to see their earlier punctuation-related cartoons).

And check out "another" of my "favorite" funny "sites" - The "Blog" of "Uneccessary" Quotation Marks

Friday Fun: Social Network parodies

The Social Network comes out next week. I listened to the audiobook of The Accidental Billionaires (the book the movie is based on), and I have to admit although the book was interesting, I'm not sure how compelling a movie it can be. I fear endless montages of dramatic typing, but I've heard good things so far. I'm sure I'll see the movie, I'm just not sure whether I'll shell out the money for the theater or wait for it on video.

As soon as a full-length trailer came out earlier this summer, parodies started cropping up, recounting the "histories" of other social media companies.

First, the official trailer for The Social Network:




And now, the parodies. Trust me, they're worth sitting through. :)

Twitter...



YouTube...



...and MySpace

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip


Are you planning to see The Social Network? Would you rather see any of these other movies instead (or as well)?

A good tip. Make note of it:

Do Not Post Pictures of Strippers on the Hood of Your Cop Car on Facebook: "It's a tale as old as time whenever Facebook was invented. Officials from the Moncks Corner, South Carolina police department won't release the name of their boundary-deficient police officer, but offer that he is an officer no longer." (via Gawker)

Whoops.

There's that saying "To err is human, to really foul things up you need a computer." These days, as long as you have a camera phone, you can even skip the computer.

via TWiL on FriendFeed

Watch the full moon rise as the sun sets tonight!

According to Gizmodo, we're in for an awesome show at sunset tonight (if it's not too cloudy by then). Our local (Omaha) sunset is at 7:21pm

How to Watch the Super Harvest Moon Twilight Show Today: "Prepare for the Super Harvest Moon! For the first time in two decades, the Sun will sink as the full Moon rises exactly opposite to it on the day the summer ends, creating in a strange 360-degree twilight show." (via Gizmodo)

If you're not in Omaha, and you want to figure out what time the sun will set in your area, you can just go to Google and search "sunset" (without the quotes) and the time of your local sunset will appear above the search results:

History wishes it could really be this rad

see more Historic LOL

Ooooh! Somebody with money go bid for something...anything...for me! :)

Stargate Props Auction – September 25th and 26th: "Ever dreamed of owning your own Stargate or other items from the Stargate SG1 and Atlantis series? Well now is your chance. This upcoming weekend (September 25 – 26) a live auction will be held at the Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, Washington."

Via How-To Geek ETC

Flickr Find: To Infinity and Beyond #starwars

Day 20 - To Infinity and Beyond
Originally uploaded by Mugen Toys

Interesting: Why is Facebook blue?

Big companies spend a lot of money to figure out just the right color scheme for their logos and websites, but Mark Zuckerberg's decision for Facebook's color scheme was simple, according to Darius A Monsef IV at COLOURlovers:

I once asked Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook why he chose blue for his site design... "I'm color blind, it's the only color I can see." ...and now 500 Million people around the world stare at a mostly blue website for hours each week.

The rest of the article is pretty interesting, as well. Check it out: The Most Powerful Colors in the World

via Mashable

So, Is Proofreading Impotent?

I've had this marred for quote a wheel, but just got aground to wretching it this weakened:



via Rachelle Gardner's blog.

I love this from the comments: "He who trusts his spellchecker has a fool for a proofreader."

The joy of bubbles

My friend *lizzie shared this video on her blog. It's so calming! Watch in full-screen if you can.

Friday Fun: Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and....wait a minute...

By agan harahap 

Tech in 2014?

I want one of each of these, especially the mirror!

Phone or tablet? You may not need to decide. Awesome!




Even though I have no idea of the likelihood of Sweden winning the World Cup in 2014, I thought the note at the very end was cute.

via Unplggd

Emily Dickinson vs. Death (XKCD Comic)

Love it!

The Carriage:

Here's the original poem, in case you're not familiar with it.

Darn it, I KNEW I should have learned Morse Code!

Beyond Texting : Savage Chickens – Cartoons on Sticky Notes by Doug Savage

Real-life Mario?

see more Hacked IRL - Truth in Sarcasm

It's Deadwood's amazing annual migration of bag chairs!

Oh, it's not? Well then, it must be in anticipation of Sha Na Na playing in Deadwood tonight.

To see what the street looks like right now, check the webcam!

OMGDonuts!

OMGDonuts!
Originally uploaded by mdesive

I have no idea where these came from, but I just had to share

The Secret of My Geekery

TWiT is the biggest part of how I keep up on tech news. Now you know my secret. Okay, so it wasn't such a secret. It's easy to listen to TWiT at work, in the car, on my phone...now if I could just pipe it into the shower... (you only think I'm kidding). Today's LA Times Technology Blog features a profile of TWiT's helmsman Leo Laporte:

Podcaster Leo Laporte, the everywhere man | Technology | Los Angeles Times

Star Wars as old silent film

I love the bits with the Imperial March on the old-timey piano.



via The Daily What, via Chris Brogan

Oooh oooh oooh! [jumping around] New Pirates of the Caribbean teaser!

For your Saturday morning viewing pleasure:

Pee Wee in Sturgis on The Tonight Show

Here's the finished product from the bit Pee Wee was filming in the earlier post:

Continuing my string of vicarious virtual attendance: Sturgis

Pee-wee Herman is ALL OVER Sturgis events this year. I really wish I'd been able to go. Here's Pee-wee leading the Legends Ride:



More about Pee-wee at the rally here.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Inception

I haven't seen Inception yet (I'll probably wait for it on video) but I keep seeing mashups of it with other movies. One of the best I've seen so far is this one (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure has always been one of my favorites).

Felicia Day on TWiT!

If you've read this blog at all, you know I'm a fan of Felicia Day and a big fan of TWiT.tv. This past week was like Christmas because Felicia Day was on not one, but two, TWiT shows!

Friday Fun: Old Spice Guy Remix

My answer to Mike's question: You could have just mashed up your own answer ;)

Wed Pic: Vampires Do Not Sparkle!

A coworker attended a local sci-fi con last weekend and brought back this nifty pin for me:



:-)

I don't know what it's about, but I think I want one

Yes, that's Wil Wheaton with Felicia Day. My view of Wesley Crusher has always been more brotherly than ohh la la, and I think that's why I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around this picture (yes, I realize he's supposed to be Fawkes here, not Wesley, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to my subconscious self). Cover his head and it would be fine - I'd probably buy that book. :) (It's a little like getting on Facebook and coming across a picture of someone you used to babysit when they were a toddler, except now they're all grown up and chugging a beer. You "knew" they grew up but you didn't know (ya know?). It takes some mental adjustment.)

Apparently, the romance cover image plays a part in Season 4 Episode 3 of The Guild, but the episode won't be out until next week, so I have to wait with everyone else who wasn't at Comic-Con to see what this is all about. [pout, pout, pout]

Meanwhile, The Guild has released the music video they premiered at Comic-Con:

I need to get over the Wesley thing by the time the poster comes out because, really, that'd just be geektastic to have on my wall. Maybe I should go watch more of Evil Wil Wheaton on Big Bang Theory to scrub some of Wesley out of my head (after all, EWW is kind of hawt)

Jane Austen's Fight Club - I would sooo watch this movie!

via Mashable and AustenBlog