Unsought Input

I thought this video was pretty funny. Look at the guys website for more stuff.

www.fortaxreasons.com 

Earlier we wrote about all the great job salary and pay data you can get at indeed.com. I noticed the cool web2.0 widget features they have so I thought I would add to the list, now with exciting graphs!

Where does he get those wonderful toys?

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I did a search to see how much Batman makes in Gotham City. It’s a good thing he’s got a trust fund, because $38K hardly puts spinners on the Batmobile and grills on the Boy Wonder.

Obviously waiting for his performance bonus

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I looked to see what the President makes in Washington, DC. Really this job is about the perks. Bush made much more money running oil companies into the ground and running baseball teams away from the pennant. But could he ignore the Geneva Conventions or invade a county for no particular reason? Nope.

But the cost of living is low, so…

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Did you know that Osama bin Laden is making about $32,000 in Northern Pakistan? That’s my best guess for where he’s employed, anyway - I also searched for him in Afghanistan and came up with the same number. You might think that’s a fairly low income for someone so famous, but keep in mind that prices are so much lower in tribal regions. At that wage he can afford a half-dozen posh caves and apparently evade the world’s only remaining superpower.

That’s not what she said last night

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Last but not least, here’s final proof that all those elementary-school insults were more than just childish taunts. According to the most scientific data available, your mom makes $41,000 per year working the street corner.

You know you want to just laugh or cry with these. For those of you who are internet ignorant of what cosplay is, basically people dress up as cartoon or video game characters (the key to this is that most of the characters who are cosplayed are animated) and walk around anime conventions or sometimes at Halloween as well. Basically one would expect to see this during Halloween but cosplayers take it one step further and dress like this for events and conventions all year long. It’s really a strange hobby and most people who do this spend a lot of time and effort to make their costumes better than anyone else as to always be “pwning n00bs”. I am planning to go undercover one of these days to a convention of supreme nerdlyness so I can get some insider pictures and also really cheap comics and candy. Here are some pictures I didn’t take.

I am sure most people will recognize this famous trio, Mario, his brother Luigi and Princess Peach. This one in my opinion is not so bad. This will be the highlight of our trip through cosplay and for that I apologize. (more…)

I recently stumbled on this site that tells you the average pay rates for jobs depending on where you live. Useful, right? Unfortunately for those who are taking the internet seriously, this site has been rendered useless. You might be asking your self how this is possible, the internet is infallible. I know, it’s a shock to us all. Let me just give you some average job salaries.

customer service in Ohio

$31,000

pizza delivery professional in Ohio

$33,000

pizza boy in Ohio

$86,000

First off, I don’t know anyone working at the local big box retail store that makes 31,000 a year. And second, let’s look the difference in title. Obviously that means a lot to your employers. I mean, if you are a pizza delivery professional you only make 33,000 a year but if you just shorten it to pizza boy you make more than twice that much. It must be sex appeal. You definitely sound sexier as a pizza boy.

Let’s keep going:

dracula in Ohio

$84,000

frankenstein in Ohio

$97,000 (more…)

Happy Dyngus Day everybody! Dyngus Day or Eastern Monday, or Wet Monday is a traditional Roman Catholic holiday primarily celebrated in Poland and by some people of Polish decent in the united states. The primary activities are decorating and rolling eggs, dousing people with water and whipping young boys and girls. Needless to say it should come as no surprise that this is a Polish holiday and Dyngus Day seems like the perfect name.

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By now everyone has heard about Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright and the inflammatory speeches he gave. But before I go on, stop and ask yourself, what have you actually heard?

Did you hear the speeches, or did you just hear that the speeches were racist and proclaimed hatred for America?

Did see the video of the actual speeches or did you hear a bunch of speculation over whether or not Obama has distanced himself enough?

Did you get to read the full text of the sermons, or did you just see tiny, tiny pieces, quotes taken out of context?

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We learned that men are clueless about women, just as we girls alway suspected.

Arthur C. Clark, author of 2001 A Space Odyssey, is dead.

So is Anthony Minghella. 

And a fun video, Japanese human Tetris game.

  Over on Neil Gaiman’s web journal there is all sorts of news about his newest novel, The Graveyard  Book, due out by the end of the year. If you weren’t sure, I am pretty excited about this whole affair with Mr. Gaiman being one of my favorite authors of all time. A quick little quote from his site quoting Kurt Busiek talking about the novel:

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK’s title is an homage to THE JUNGLE BOOK, since TGB is about a boy whose family dies, and who winds up being raised in a graveyard, by ghosts, and the other things that lurk there.

The boy, named Nobody (”Bod” for short), learns many things, discovers odd places and curious people, deals hesitantly with the world outside the graveyard and eventually has to deal with the forces that killed the rest of his family, and who are still looking for him. I won’t say much more about the plot, because hey, it’s not going to be out for months.

But I think it’s likely Neil’s best novel yet. It has a great deal of warmth, whimsy, dark fantasy (verging on horror), adventure, charm, suspense, monsters, ghouls, a witch, school bullies, policemen, ancient burial mounds, knife-wielding killers, dancing, mystery, trouble, a dash of romance, life lessons, and a creature named Silas, who is both what he seems to be and not. And the most endearingly dangerous and threatening ancient terror you’ve ever met. The story’s engaging, there’s a real sense of menace, and it builds to a strong and satisfying climax.

Either way, it’s in my things to check out list. If you are unfamiliar with Neil Gaiman’s work you can read American Gods for free on line. Personally, I like American Gods and it’s sequel Anansi Boys the best of his work. You can read the whole novel. In fact, I insist you read the whole novel. It’s free. The whole book. And it’s a pretty big book. You can read a few pages a day while at work or before bed. Whenever. But it’s free and it’s available and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

Which brings me to my next little subject, has anyone heard of Endless Reflections, the Sandman graphic novels? That link right before this sentence was something I stumbled upon which makes me think that there might be a TV series for the Sandman comics. How cool would that be!? If anyone has any news, please post in comments. I looked all over wikipedia and his site with no avail. I really hope this isn’t just a joke, I think this would be the coolest TV show.

I find in interesting that Seattle is planning on banning bottled water.  Recently we had a post on prescription drugs in the tap water which featured a video from Penn and Teller that told how ridiculous bottled water is.  I mean, you spend 8 dollars a gallon for bottled water, which to any normal person bitching about 3.50 at the gas pumps should seem relatively ridiculous.

Seattle decided to ban bottled water for it’s city workers as a branching off from the banning the use of plastic bags in the city.   I really wish this whole thing would catch on.  Obviously people are too stupid to think that paying 8.00 a gallon for bottled water (most of it just tap water repackaged or water that does not even meet tap water regulations) is a bad thing for them, much less for the environment.

Here is the deal.  Buy reusable bags.  Buy a water bottle and drink the tap water you already pay for by paying taxes.  Save the environment.  Save yourself some money.  It’s a win-win situation.  It just makes sense, don’t you think?

Jonathan Coulton is a folk rock singer-songwriter. He is also a former computer programmer and a full time geek. Coulton is known for his quirky irreverent songs about a variety of topics. He kind of sounds like a one man They Might Be Giants for a reference point. He first rose to fame with his laid back cover of “Baby Got Back” and has produced his own solo hits with songs like “Code Monkey” which was featured on Slashdot, Penny Arcade and the title song of G4 TV’s “Code Monkeys”. He is also a contributor to popular mechanics and a collaborator with NPR and the Daily Show’s John Hodgman. He also wrote the end theme “Still Alive ” from the hit Orange Box game Portal.

So visit Jonathan Coulton’s website and myspace to download free songs and also buy other ones. They are definitely worth it. And try and catch him at a show coming to your town.

http://www.myspace.com/jonathancoulton

Baby Got Back

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Some quick links for your consideration.

Barack Obama’s Oil Sense Act Legislation Bill

New Kevlar material that is flexible and thin, you can wear like clothing

A rare form of the Russian Tractor Spider

I think someone wants a little bit of attention. This one is from a local paper to where I live as well.

270 is the number of electoral college votes needed to win the president of the United States. Even though most people think that the presidential election is a popular vote it is in fact an electoral college. Simply put each state, based on its population, has a certain number of electors who cast their vote for president. The number of electors is the number of senators plus the number of representatives. So every state has a minimum of two electoral votes. These electors meet to cast their votes for president 41 days after the popular election.

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Here are more funny sweded movies

Kindly Rewind

Funny ones are “Labyrinth”, “Purple Rain” and The “Back to the Future” Trilogy.

Hollywood better watch out because why would I watch their lame movies when I can get the same entertainment value in 5 minutes?

Just when you thought it was safe to drink water you hear about this. This headline on yahoo.com today strikes fear into the hearts of all Americans who thought it was healthy to drink water. Yes, conspiracy theories aside, there was a five month probe to find out what was actually in our drinking water. And do you know what they found out? I think you might since I put in in the headline of this article but allow me to reiterate. They found prescription drugs and other stuff in minute concentrations in our drinking water. Minute. I.e. small amounts. Very small. But still present. And what do our utility companies say? Is our water safe? Should we be allowing our selves and our loved ones to drink this water? This aqua pharmaceutical cocktail that comes out of our taps and into our glasses, into our showers and baths and food?

First off, let’s talk about media hype. It’s built up around times when people are getting too worried about other things: war, elections, terrorism, etc, to distract everyday people like you and me from these intense subjects by worrying about something else. In magic it’s call slight of the hand. The magician makes you look the other way and does the trick while you are distracted. Then, viola! You didn’t even know what was happening and now it’s already over and you are just left to wonder how it was done without you noticing.

So, the media creates hype and fear about your drinking water while there are several other important things to be reporting to the good people of America about so that you are distracted. Yes, something in the water is very scary. You need water to live and you trust the water that comes delivered to you. So, I agree, it’s a scary idea that there is something in the water. (more…)