Time to Drop Some Links

We got some unusually large surf this last weekend and Tradewinds HD captured some in some rather gorgeous HD.

Haley Viloria Contortion - need to have your mind messed with just by watching some one do yoga? Yeah, this'll do it.

Congratulations to Santa Cruz's Luke Rockhold for his dominating win over Chris Weidman this last weekend at UFC 194! Some highlights from the fight.

Here's Where Gun Laws Stand In Your State - this helps sort out what states to avoid like the gun plagued wastelands they are (oh hai, Texas and Floriduhhhhh). Careful though, this site may make you think we live in a giant beehive with their hexagon state shapes.

Walk Around the World at Verdenskortet - a Danish landscaping project that's global in scope but not global in scale. This is really kind of awesome!

Patriots' Tom Brady not in the mood to answer questions on Trump - Starting to see why so many people find Tom Brady to be a near complete asshole who just happens to be really good at football.

We may not be our associations but we definitely can and should be judged by who we choose to call friend. Calling a screaming fascist your friend ain't too fucking smart.

Samuel Bernier and Andreas Bhend Collaborate on the next next-level Ikea hack - they take two Frosta stools apart and use a 3D printer to make a few choice bits and voila, they end up with a rather slick looking kid's balance bike!

The 25 Most Florida Things that happened in Florida in 2015 - read these and weep from laughing so hard.

Feynman's Trick to Learn Anything Faster - famous physicist Richard Feynman has always kept a "Things I Don't Know" notebook and actively seeks to add to it while answering the things he's already written in it.

Verizon Exec in Charge of TV Services Admits She Cut the Cord - when you can't even keep your executives as customers, your business model is dying rapidly.

Instagram Husband - if you are one, run, if you know one, give him some running shoes and hold the door for him.

And, finally, a few of my own photos from the last couple of weeks

Google took a storm photo and applied some filters to it and dropped me a note about it. I like the effect it added to what was a wild, stormy day out on the coast.

 A quick snap of a surfer on his way out to test his mettle in the thumping winter swell from this last weekend. This is pretty much straight out of the camera without any cropping or filtering, kind of proud of that.

And this last shot was on a late afternoon walk along West Cliff, we'd just watched a SUPer catch a nice wave past us and I noticed how pretty the sky was above Cowells.

A Big Bucket

I'm going to try and keep this post open and adding to it all day long. The general idea is to try and capture most of the best stuff that passes by my digital stoop, sometimes I'll comment, sometimes I'll just arch a brow and move on. I'd love an easy means of grabbing and adding here but I think this is going to be fairly labor intensive and I'm likely to forget all about it by noon anyway.

Changed my profile background image this morning to this....

And not because I have any special affinity for New York City, I really don't though I've spent enough time there. I just dig on the perspective, the details and the coloring.

Dropped a few comments on posts that I'll not add here as out of context comments aren't really helpful at all.

I deeply enjoyed the sad irony of this The Daily Show bit with a racist profiling jackwad radio wanker.

Heard about the 28 year sentence getting upheld for one Mark Ciaverella Jr. a Pennsylvania judge convicted of literally selling people into privately owned prison, adults and children as young as ten. I'm not an overly vengeful man but I think this guy should die for the lives he's ruined for his own greed. As my co-worker says, there are crimes worse than murder and I think stealing other people's years for your greed is worse. Murder just leaves a dead person and an empty hole in the lives of their family. Putting an innocent person in jail for a long period of time ruins their life and steals their years. Blog post on it is here.

Just came back from my morning pedal at work. My 7th work ride this week which means I've basically found an extra 30 miles of riding! Best part is I set a new PR for my 4 mile blast by shaving 3 seconds off my previous best, now down to 14:22 for 4 miles on a single speed cruiser! Hoping to convert the single speed into a 6 or 7 speed this weekend so I'll be even faster next week.

Which lead me to look at and sign up for Fitocracy (you can go find their site if you want, I'm not giving them clicks). A social website for people working out, or some such. Only thing is, upon signing up, I found out I've instantly got "friends" and "groups" that the site decided I needed in order to be fulfilled. Amazingly enough, all the "friends" they forced on me just happened to be the fucking assholes who started the site. That's right. Sign up and you're instantly their "friend". Shocking that they have more than 100,000 "friends" isn't it? And the groups they shoved me into? Let's see, Running - FAIL, Over 40 - Wow, figured that out all by your fucking selves with my birthdate?, Welcome to Fitocracy - oh boy, a bunch of fucking idiots asking stupid questions!, Couch to 5K - again, running? fucking FAIL!

After a little bit of figuring out how to remove the jackasses from my fake friend list and then another bit of time getting out of the stupid ass groups they decided I needed to be in. I pretty much hate the site, the concept, the people and even the name (Fitocracy = douchocracy). I'm not sure why I haven't deleted my account and moved on yet. Maybe I just like to slowly peel bandaids off....Yeah, deleted the account. Can't and won't put up with sites that behave like assholes like that.

What else? I'm sure there's plenty more I could add as I started this a few days ago now and nothing has slowed down since. It never does. Learning that has been an important life lesson for me. Knowing that the merry go round will always be there, always spinning, regardless of whether you are there or not, regardless of whether you are watching or not. This can be comforting or upsetting depending.

Tuesday Morning Wrap

Sully cheers me on to the finish!

The more things change, the more things stay the same. This grey MondayTuesday morning I find myself at my old desk in the bowels of a big cement box. And I now find myself trying to gather up the threads of projects I started months ago and had to put down when my contract ran out.

Lots of upsides to starting a new contract, like benefits including retirement stuff, vacations, sick days and the ability to go to the doctor to see if we can figure out what's up with my knee and how to cure this annoying Adderall acne-like crap (which is ridiculous since I haven't in taken Adderall in three months!). But hey, I'm all about the good side today.

Here's What You Missed

Here's a recap of recent Twitter finds you may have missed in the blur of posting.

The 6 Weirdest Things Women Do to Their Vaginas

Passwords are like underwear...

Vibram Five Fingers running "shoes"

Anthem Blue Cross to raise rates by 39%

Job losses comparison Bush vs. Obama - the source for the graphic above.

Miley Cyrus' 9 year old sister launches lingerie line

John Murtha passed away, so did Capt. Phil Harris.

I wrote To Helmet or Not To Helmet over on NorCal Bikers.

Understanding what's scarce and what is not - breakdown of Jeff Jarvis' post by Techdirt.

In other news, Celine Dion is headed back to Vegas after Barbra Streisand couldn't be lured in. Sarah Palin is a fucking retard, satirical use of the term here, according to Stephen Colbert. I'd add that she's a hypocritical fucking retard but why beat a dead pig with lipstick on?

I'm sure there will be more stuff I forgot, there always is, but this'll do for now.

Weekly Wrap Up

This was a pretty good week overall, both professionally and personally. And it was a bountiful harvest from the internets, starting with the big, beautiful bold graphic of Gina Carano for the ‘Body Issue’ cover pic of ESPN The Magazine - apparently MMA fighting does a body good, damned good.

Pack Smarter, Tastier Lunches for Kids (or Yourself)

Examine Hand Gestures and Smiles to Detect Lying - I've become a big fan of the show, Lie to Me, and have started to really pay attention to visual cues as a means of gauging truths or untruths being said. Fascinating stuff, really.

Partisan Political Contributions by U.S. Companies - an interactive site that lets you see exactly where companies sent their political donations.

Monsterlist of Halloween Projects Has Hundreds of Halloween How-To Guides - I will be spending a good chunk of time on this site for the next couple of weeks.

Who’s Your Boss? - Understanding Leadership Styles - I work in an educational bureaucracy, it is, on an operational level, a giant and neverending clusterfuck of rules, budgets and the Peter Principle on crack.

Kashiwa Mystery Cafe - this is a cool concept cafe in Japan. I don't know how well it would go over here but I really like the idea of it.

How to Build a Polished Concrete Desk - file this under things I'd like to do if I had the time, space and need.

12 Coolest Steampunk Gadgets - I love steampunk, I love gadgets. Put the two together and I might just nerdgasm on the spot.

Free MP3 Download of the Week: Dear God: Black Landlord - sort of a hip-hop punk ska sound like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones crossed with Dr. Dre. Very catchy!

Links from the Intertubes!

First up, an explanation of how tech support really works via XKCD.

What Does the Internet Think - get an answer about what the internet thinks about anything you care to ask it. A cool rough polling system.

20 Reasons to Ditch Soda - they had me at "a 21-year-old woman, drank up to three liters of cola a day and complained of 'fatigue, appetite loss and persistent vomiting.'”

Someone’s gone and hacked a “don’t worry be happy” Billy Bass fish to read out tweets…

Five Reasons Parents Need to Stop Saying "Good job" to Their Kids - can you say "praise junkie?", I thought you could.


10 hot news items you might've missed: Damned atheists, quivering seamen, perverted iPod

Stand Up for Health Care Reform - via the LiveStrong Foundation. The campaign centers around two main tenets:
No American should be denied health insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

No American should lose their insurance due to changes in health or employment.

Good Stuff via Twitter

Contained within are some of the excellent links folks have posted on Twitter and I'm going to try and collect and share them with you.

Report: Nine Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted on Twitter - I retweeted this post so it works!

The Global Debt Ticker - this will make you feel slightly better about owing $20,000 and then you realize just how ridiculously enormous this number is and then you'll feel sad.
FaceBook software accurately guesses on sexual orientation by profile analysis - small sample of tests so far but the software guessed ten out of ten the first time through. Does not work on lesbians or bisexuals yet.

Schwarzenegger: Far fewer than 100 state parks will close - I'd like to see that far fewer number as close to 0 as possible.

Amazing photos of a dust storm sweeping over Sydney via PetaPixel - these are some crazy photos!

All the Interbike you need to totally feel like you are missing out on the best and most awesomest bike show in North America (even if Gary Fisher thinks Las Vegas is a terrible place to hold the show and I agree).

Life Magazine feature on UCSC from 1970s - and you think its a hippy-dippy school now?

Link Round Up

Because I've got no time right now to write out a "real" post, here are some good links or blog posts I've come across recently.

XKCD Tech Support Cheat Sheet

Sakhr's Blackberry app puts spoken word Arabic/English translator in your pocket - now if they could just do the same thing for Spanish and put it on my iPhone.


Pointless Babble Is In The Eye Of The Beholder - Twitter may be pointless to many but there are a whole bunch of us who find it to be both useful and often highly entertaining. And, by some measure, the vast majority of spoken human interaction is "pointless babble" so what's the point of denigrating Twitter as mostly pointless babble?

Scalia says there’s nothing unconstitutional about executing the innocent. - this absolutely ridiculous statement from one of the Supreme Court Justice's presiding over our nation made the rounds recently and will likely never go away. It is, quite possibly, one of the dumbest things ever uttered. Part of the fundamental basics of our legal system is that it is better to let a hundred murderers go free than execute one innocent man. That Scalia has no problem with executing a known innocent man is the clearest sign I've ever seen that he should step down from the Supreme Court immediately, he's not upholding the law any longer.

The real US healthcare issue: compassion deficiency - initially read over on Confessions of a Libertine.

Hemcrete: Carbon Negative Hemp Walls - they are, among many other positive attributes, fireproof so please keep your jokes about smoking your walls to get stoned to yourself. Hemcrete is "waterproof, fireproof, insulates well, does not rot [when used above ground] and is completely recyclable. In fact, the manufacturers say that demolished Hemcrete® walls can actually be used as fertilizer!"

The Good Stuff Wrap Up

The internets are stuffed full of awesomeness, some of which I have had the good fortune to see and appreciate.

I thought I'd tag my Google Reader Shared Items and pass along some of my recent favorites, just in case you missed them.

JK Wedding Dance - via Amy. If this doesn't make you smile then you may just have a stone for a heart.

Is it Cheating or Collaboration? - a discussion of what we are really teaching our kids in schools, rote memorization or the ability to figure stuff out.

Skater vs. Gangbanger - this video has been removed from YouTube as it violated some rules or something. The video depicted some skaters jumping down a set of stairs when a couple of loser gangbangers started hassling one of them. The one 'banger had a tiny little gun that he kept sticking in the face of the skater. At one point the skater grabs the gun, disarms the guy and then proceeds to beat the holy shit out of him. Which is fine by me and shows that most of these tough guy 'bangers are pussy cowards who can't fight.

Is It A Crime To Watch The Naked Erin Andrews Video? No, But It Makes You A Total Jerk - the film was made illegally, some wanker used a pinhole camera hidden in her hotel room, but it isn't illegal to look at. Though, since it was shot under such pretenses, you'd be a better person if you didn't feed the troll who did make it by viewing it. I wanted to look because Erin Andrews is gorgeous but I did not because I'm trying this new thing where I try not to be such a jerk.

Bake Cookies on Your Dashboard - when life hands you heatwaves, make cookies on your superheated dashboard.

Want to keep your wallet? Carry a baby picture - the article says that 88 percent of the wallets with the baby picture in them were mailed back. That is incredibly impressive.

And finally, Buy Pro Camera Gear on a Student Budget - good advice on how to stretch your dollars when buying camera gear. The shortened version is, buy bulk sale used stuff from people to get the one piece you want and then sell the other bits off individually to recoup your initial investment.

Link Round Up

Michael Savage Threatening Sites That Connect Him To Rockstar Energy Drinks? - Michael Savage's family profits from every can of Rockstar sold. If you buy Rockstar then you are directly supporting Michael Savage and his ugly hate-based rants.

Voted Most Likely to Get Her Kids Beat Up on the Playground even though her underlying motivations are honorable. She is fighting against the regular distribution of sugar laden foods in public schools but going about it in the most abrasive and hyperbolic way possible (which is odd since she's in public relations and should know that you get far more traction with kindness than screaming).

Bicyclist Harassment Ordinance Passed and, as Levi Leipheimer tweeted, this should be a national law against the random, stupid harassment and harming of people on bicycles on our roads.

PETA wishes Obama hadn't swatted that fly because we don't have quite enough flies for all of their bullshit.

Pimp my ECO Ride: Win a Strida Folding Bike - pretty much what the link says. Jump through their easy hoops and get a shot at winning a very, very cool folding bike.

iPhone 3.0 Update: Hidden Features and includes some rather useful stuff. Got an iPhone then you should give this a read.

And, finally, the Skull Face Motorcycle Helmet. Yes, there is a picture, click the link to see it. I tend to think its stupid rather than cool but part of me does think its kind of neat.

Some Good Stuff

Have come across some good stuff on the internets lately and wanted to share.

Need some more wild in your life? Check out Nick Brandt to see some spectacular images of Africa. He has a fantastic eye and has captured a whole host of animals, panoramas and the feeling of the wildness of Africa. Truly inspiring photos.

The other is referenced in the post below. Texts from Last Night provided me with more laughs in a few hours yesterday than I can remember in a whole week. I could post a dozen that made e laugh out loud but I'll just post a choice couple.
"(416): I just jerked it to the same porn two nights in a row... and she says I have problems with commitment..."
"(512): i just sat at a stop sign for 10 minutes waiting for it to turn green. i need to STOP SMOKING THIS SHIT."

Via Amy's Reader Feed, Looking Into the Past is a Flickr pool of old pictures held up where they were taken. Trust me, it is very cool.

And, lastly, SuperCook lets you enter in food you have and then kicks out a bunch of recipes you can make. It is pretty awesome.

That's all I've got for now. I've got some calls to make, trails to ride and hearts to break (just kidding on the last one).

Cool Stuff from Teh Intarwebs

The best thing about the internet is that it is a juggernaut of awesomeness, of productivity, of hacks, of tips, of tricks and of just plain cool stuff that other people have poured their time and love into.

Here are some things I've found recently that I think are cool enough to pass along.

Closr - want to put a zoomable image on your site? This place has cool widgets to make it easy.

Amazon's 773 Free Mp3s - yes, I realize that Amazon is the devil and a discriminatory evil corporation. But free music is free music, it doesn't help them.

13 Tips for Improving Outdoor Portraits - pretty self explanatory.

Make Ubiquity Your Ultimate Firefox Commander - if you haven't added Ubiquity to your Firefox then you are missing out. Load it up, rock it out and marvel and how freaking awesome your browser can be.

Still Tasty - curious about whether some food in your fridge is more dangerous than edible? Still Tasty breaks down shelf lives for you.

Pricay Choice - helps you opt out of advertising online, tracking cookies and other marketing flimflammery.

A Field of Light Sabers Powered by Ambient Electricity - this is just friggin' cool.

Install a tip out tray in your kitchen - convert that stupid fake drawer in front of your sink into a really useful tip out drawer. Easy and awesome.

Some Interesting Stuff I've Read or Seen Recently

Otherwise known as the link dump.

Morford's latest: Outrage Fatique hits home, its too easy (and plays directly in their gameplan) to just tune out the scandals, hypocrisy and stupidity of our government leaders.

The zeroHouse is very green, off-the-grid and cool looking too. No electrical hook ups, no sewage hookups. I want one.

Next up is a video of Time-lapse photography at Vikings-Packers game. Pretty cool to watch a day in the life of Lambeau Field.

And here we can learn how to
Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800 which doesn't include the hours of work to get this Frankenputer working.

Here are some cool Ipod skins to Steampunk-ify it.
Gelaskins: Steampunk because everyone knows if its cool it becomes cooler when it gets Steampunk'd.