Thursday, December 31, 2009

2010 is WAY more Fun to Say, for starts

I mean, Two Thousand & Nine, versus Twenty-ten? 2010 - it's got a rhythm to it, don't you think? It sorta bounces when you say it. I like that.

I don't know, for some reason, I'm feelin' a bit hopeful today about 2010,
not sure why...maybe 'cause seeing the cup 1/2 full is a better strategy for self-preservation & heart health, I don't know, but...

I'm gonna try and have a good one.

With that in mind, I thought I'd round-up some cool end of the year lists and videos to look at. So enjoy and...


HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Starting off with this fun video from JibJab
Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

and if your Toasting New Year's Eve...
There's an iPhone app for that!



Here's the Top 5 Live Video Streams to Celebrate the New Year













And from The Huffington Post
12 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade (in PHOTOS)






And here's an interesting one: A Decade in Food Trends: Organic farming, Locavores, Foam, Tapas






And from Mashable - Tweetup & Hashtag make the list of the Top Words of 2009.







Meanwhile Time Magazine has hired Mashable's founder, Pete Cashmore and he's dished up a list of the 25 Best Blogs of 2009.

And what do you think was voted the MOST POPULAR WORD of 2009?






After all the partying is done - let me save you some research - Guy Kawasaki's already done it for us! The Best Hangover Cures That Work are compiled here!










And now you're all ready to start the New Year right, with this handy cheat-sheet of 10 Words You NEED to STOP Misspelling (really, you do!)


I'm already busy compiling my list of Trends of 2010.

But, in the meantime, if you just have to see some more lists -

Try this: An actual TOP TEN List of TOP 10 LISTS of 2009 - Brilliant!
From Studio Manifesto, James Pew's

And if you STILL need MORE Lists - Time has this -
a virtual mine field of 'em!

So have a great night everyone, and The Best New Year Ever!





Monday, December 28, 2009

Does Homeland Security really know what it's doing?

Since the Christmas Day "terror attack" the Airline industry has been going mental, back-pedaling, after the fact, and trying to protect us NOW that it's already happened.

I think I heard that the new "Homeland Security" (hate that term, don't you?) crack-down on Flight Security insists that each passenger can only take ONE bag on board , which has to be stored in an overhead bin, and CANNOT BE ACCESSED FOR THE ENTIRE FLIGHT!

Plus, you can't use one of their crappy little airplane blankets any more either (weapons could be hidden underneath it), or have anything on your lap, AND no going to the bathroom, or reading a book in the last hour before landing (because THAT is the ONLY time a terrorist would choose to attack, right?).

Maybe they should work on beefing up PRE-FLIGHT Screening instead. I hear that episodes like this just don't happen in some places. I read that Israel's planes are very safe. What's their secret? I heard they have five security checkpoints in the airport before you even get near an actual plane.

That would be a hassle, I know, but maybe they could do some other stuff earlier, so that there isn't so much need for monitoring passengers who have already boarded.



Maybe they could develop new technology, so more could be done with ex-rays and scans, and there would be less of a need for the endless manual removal of toiletries by Airport Security Guards (who are underpaid, btw, and therefore are not usually very engaged in doing a proper job).

They tend to throw the stuff on the conveyor belt, or run the wand up and down your clothes, without ever really looking into your eyes to access your their state of mind, and intuit if there might be a danger present (like that old guy might be a terrorist).

I say we encourage research and development of more invasive spy-wear (did I just SAY that???), so that I don't have to freeze my bottom off when I ride on an airplane, yeah, that makes sense...a simple trade-off. Right.

Are these new regulations asking too much of innocent passengers? What do you think?

And BTW, one man working on his own is classified as a terrorist attack? Even though the act has now been "claimed" by a terrorist group, even so, are we certain about their actual involvement in it yet? I'm just sayin' - our government likes to keep us in a constant state of anxiety, no matter which party is in power. It's way easier to pass freedom-limiting legislation if the populace is all occupied with their "fear of another terror attack".



Thursday, December 24, 2009

Have you ever peeked at your Xmas Gifts?


When I was about 12 years old, I found where my Mom had stashed the Christmas presents (on a shelf in the closet, duh), and something came over me and I peeked.

I only looked at one thing, but I was SO sorry that I did...for so many reasons. First off, there was just the sheer guilt of what I had done, and feeling like a horrible person for doing it!
And secondly, the sweater she had bought for me was absolutely hideous, and I could tell without even trying it on that I would look awful in it! And third, and most distressing, was that now I was going to have to fake liking it as WELL as fake being surprised, all at the same time!


I've done my share of acting, but that was one challenging performance! My clueless parents had no idea - they were already looped on scotch by then.

Hey ~ it was Christmas Morning, in the 1950s! For me, 'twas a lesson well-learned!

















* * * * * * *

On the other hand, I saw Mike Huckabee interviewed lately, for his new book, and he said that when he was a kid, every year, right before Christmas, he and his sister would open all their presents, play with them, and re-wrap them.





This went on for years, until they re-wrapped a football that had gotten muddy.




Oops. The jig was up then...He never mentioned feeling guilt about it, but um..I'm not so sure I would repeat that story quite so proudly, Mike!


But, now tell me the truth - have YOU ever peeked at your Xmas gifts (let me know in the survey, or comments!).

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Cousin Kenny's Christmas Cuba Libre

We always had the family Christmas party at our house when I was a kid. My cousin Kenny, was a few years older than me, and the middle brother of three. It was 50 years ago, but I seem to recall that he was keen to be all grown up.

One year, when Kenny was maybe 13 or 14, he kept bugging my Dad to put some alcohol in his soda. Finally, since Kenny wouldn't stop bothering him about it, my Dad took him aside, handed him a soda and whispered in his ear, "Don't tell your Dad, I spiked it with Rum for you - your first 'Cuba Libre' - but keep it quiet."

I don't know how I found out, I think my Dad took me aside, cracking up, telling me that he TOLD Kenny that he had spiked his drink, but actually, he hadn't.

Sure enough, two hours later, Kenny was reeling around the living room, crashing into relatives, gifts and maybe even the Christmas Tree itself! He was LOOPED - or so he thought! I have this image to this day of him flailing around, with arms swinging everywhere! My Uncle Larry got FURIOUS with my Dad for giving Kenny alcohol! My Dad swore to Larry repeatedly that he hadn't given him any Rum at all!

Finally, it was all solved when my uncle smelled Kenny's breath and he was finally convinced.

My Dad's cheeks were probably hurting from grinning so much, he couldn't stop congratulating himself on his prank.

Kenny, on the other hand, was positively sheepish.


FORGET GOOGLE! SPEZIFY IT!!

I don't know about you
but I could spend
a LONG time noodling
around on this site ~

Spezify.com







Do a Search on ANY WORD or TRENDING TOPIC
a Person's Name, or
Any Subject Matter
a Famous Person,
a Concept, Anything
Here's what I came up with when I
searched "Christmas Lights" on spezify.com

it pulled up
a veritable cornucopia
of VISUAL IMAGES
as well as





Blog Posts, Tweets, any Reference to it at all.
Then click an image, &
it will enlarge and
display info about it







Then click the button in the bottom right

of the image
to get the source,
along with a link
to the original





SPEZIFY is based on a similar concept to TWITCAPS (pic below)
but Spezify draws from
the entire web while
TwitCaps only displays
uploaded Twitter
images, 24 at a time








Above, I searched the term "Christmas Lights" on TwitCaps
(The
TwitCaps Search Bar is on the top right) while...
My Spezify "Christmas Lights" search (above)
brought up images, blog posts & articles, too.

You can search a celebrity - like, say, Ashton Kutcher

& find images,
articles, and
blog posts.










or do a Search on a
concept, like "Peace"
(is that a COOL
image or what?)






...or Search
Nutcrackers









or Search Puppies
(so cute!)









...or Search
Kittens (aw!)








You get the idea! Okay, maybe
Spezify won't actually
replace Google or Bing any time soon, but I can still see
see the value of it for research, or just for fun.
What will you search? Tell me in the comments!
Hope you enjoyed this post, and
HAPPY SPEZIFYING, PEOPLE!

Note* Just click on each image to see a larger view!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Take The Christmas Card Survey!

In the Sidebar To Your Right ------>



Tweet Me Up Some Christmas Photos Twit-Caps!

Hey, this is WAY cool! Twit-Caps!
Ongoing Collages of Real-Time Photos
on any subject or keyword that is
being uploaded to Twitter this very minute.
Here I searched "Christmas Lights".

Also, you can search any topic and get results from the Twit-Cap archives,
capture individual images, and save them to your personal folder
or "meta-capture" an entire page of images.

Here I searched for Santa Claus.

The Twit-Cap Home Page offers up categories of "Newest Images" and "Most Popular", and you can Filter By Image Host or Language.

with "Newest Images" selected.

Check it out! What will you search?