Ploafmaster General

It's Friday, and so far I'm not in a huge thinking mood, so I hope you find this awesome McSweeney's goody as humorous as I did.

Ladies and gentlemen, the (IM)AGNA CARTA.

What you see above is a relief carving of a triceratops into the side of fossilized dinosaur poop! Now I don't know if the coprolite comes from the dinosaur carved on the side...but does it matter?

This same site, tellmewhereonearth.com, sells jewelry made from moose and deer poop! Somehow I don't think that'd pass muster as a gift for a significant other...

Our current model of space shuttle has ben in service almost 7 months longer than I've been alive. Don' you think it's time for some alternatives?

It must be Nostalgia Day here at the 'General, because I can't help but run in to little blasts from my past. BEHOLD, Garbage Pail Kids:



This came from Flickr user Mauricio Montoya, who has an entire set dedicated to the fabulously disgusting trading cards.

Oh childhood, where did you go?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br9K8qnD5E0&hl=en&w=580&h=485]

Check out my fresh uploadz.

Jack Donaghy: Don't you watch the news?

Liz Lemon: The Food Network doesn't have a news show.

30 Rock, 4/17/2008

According to Jon Baliles on River City Rapids, the Ukrop's grocery store at Grace and Harrison by VCU is shutting down. I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, students and nearby residents are losing access to a Richmond business and now have to either shop at Kroger (blech) or drive (if they can) to Carytown to shop Ukrop's. On the other hand, while the Grace Street location was a dramatic improvement over Community Pride, the store was never quite up to snuff compared to other Ukrop's stores. In fact, even though I live on the south end of Seminary Ave., I typically drive to the Carytown location because of the better selection (especially produce).

Ah well, it was a grand experiment while it lasted, and an alternative to the cold confines of Kroger.

The New York Times has a rather interesting slideshow featuring clever re-imaginings of the Olympic symbol for the sake of protest.

Ever since I got Dave into Flickr he's been digging through all the pictures he can find. Several days ago he discovered Sean Wood, an Aussie living in Tokyo, Japan. This guy is incredible.

The earliest of his posted work on Flickr comes from his DSLR, but the vast majority of his work lately is made up of film shots taken with medium format, rangefinder, and panoramic cameras. I've never been so inspired by what's possible with film as I have after looking at these. Additionally, with both film and digital, Wood has exceptional talent for capturing candid moments of genuine human expression.

He's highlighted a subset of his work on his beautifully simple (yet unfortunately slow) website, 50mm, where you can see the images much larger than allowed on Flickr.

Wow...you'd think I've never done this before...

My earlier attempt at farting out a post for the sake of it backfired. It turns out I created a "page" rather than a post. And only just now realized it. So it's gone.

Good riddance, too, since I finally got my act together so late at night to deliver a real post (the one prior to this) anyway.

That most excellent website, The A.V. Club, has an interview with original MythBusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage. It's interesting to see how little they expected of the show at the time the the filmed the pilots. The whole thing is well worth the read.

Apparently the Germans aren't known for good service in restaurants, but it looks like 's Baggers restaurant in Nuremberg has solved that problem by removing the wait staff entirely.

This clever eatery provides touchscreen ordering and service via steel rails. You really have to check out the video at the top of this BBC article to get an idea of how cool this looks.

When you know that Weird Al Yankovic wrote the song, do you really need further explanation?

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8710797866388017148&hl=en

This is the second day that I'm staying home sick. Yesterday I went in to the office but left around 9:30. I've got some vicious cough that's loud enough to be heard in a 30 foot radius, and my voice is going.

I think the only place I'm going today is Walgreens to pick up some Mucinex.

I finally have my film pictures from Paris, and let me tell you...I still can't shoot to save my life in overcast weather. I only uploaded 14 of 246 pictures. Sure, there are some other okay ones, but either Valerie took a better digital version, or my picture was just too boring.

I must say, the anxiety of shooting that many rolls without knowing how they're going to turn out is tremendous. This makes me want to take that class (and eventually get a DSLR) all the more.

Radiohead, according to iPodNN, has decided to take a seemingly novel approach to its next single.

Fans will be able to purchase the individual musical components of the song "Nude" from the iTunes store and create their own remixes. It was already an exciting prospect to name your own price for the original release of the album, and I think this concept for their latest single is both a nice way to keep up the buzz and provide an interesting level of interaction with the fans.

Fresh snaps up on my Flickx0rz. Check it.

I didn't get close to as many keepers as I'd hoped, but that's mostly because of overcast weather for my outdoor shots. I'm realizing that I'll have to lower the shutter speed a notch or two for better exposure, or open the aperture if need be.

It feels good to be back in Richmond, home, and emotionally settling. While I have a less-than-delightful cubicle move today, I still plan to post when I can - it's been so long after all :-)

Anyway, here are some tidbits to catch us up:

1. My dad is buried in the same cemetery as the great Vince Lombardy.
2. There's a horrible new yipping dog across the street that doesn't know what noise ordinances are.
3. The 8-year-old can of Jones Soda "Whoop Ass Energy Drink" that I keep at my desk is still leaking at the top. Slowly. And that nasty jank still smells like crushed Flintstones vitamins.

That oughtta have me covered for a little while.

My headphones finally are failing me.
The wire inside the plastic sheath is frayed
causing a mad'ning drop of all that's said
and sung. I chose the 'phones on rules, all three
of which are practical. Less than twenty
dollars but feeling still as if well-made,
and I'd prefer it if they only weighed
a few ounces, and good sound quality.

Can anyone suggest replacements good
enough to meet all my criteria?
I can't use ear buds because I still need
to hear the knocking of team mates who would
visit my cubicle. I just want a
decent set to wear around my head.

Well it appears that most Americans will end up seeing some kinda hot cash injection from Uncle Sam by the summer time. Because Val is way more practical than I, we'll likely stuff ours in savings (and thus counteract the intended purpose of economic stimulation). Others, however, may have grander things in mind.

While trying not to count chickens before they're hatched (no legislation has actually passed as of this writing), what do you plan to do with your money?

That is all. For now.

Hooray for 2008! The leap year makes my birthday on Election Day, so I think I'll take the day off to vote, then bitch-and-moan about the government :-)

Of course, I'm really excited about the Summer Olympics. I love watching the gymnastics, the decathlon, et al., and I'm really curious how it's going to work out in air-poisoned Beijing.

I'll have a bit of catch-posting coming shortly. My travels are winding down as I write this on Thursday morning from a Holiday Inn Express in Fort Pierce, Florida. Today, after checking out Stuart Beach with Val's family, she and I will head north to Jacksonville. We'll be back in action (and Richmond) by Friday night.

Today is the day after Thanksgiving, and in my eyes, the REAL start of the Christmas Season.

I love Thanksgiving so much that I can't really pay attention to Christmas until after the November holiday passes. This means no Christmas music, no Christmas shopping, and no Christmas recipes until the fourth Friday of the month. It helps, I feel, that Advent doesn't begin until after Thanksgiving (is that always the case?).

Of course now that Thanksgiving has indeed passed for this year, I've got my Christmas play list ready on the computer and iPod, and I'm looking forward to the hymns we'll be singing in Church starting next Sunday. Perhaps I'll even work on some traditional Italian desserts for this time of year...