Name that Whale

Oh lord, I must be sleep deprived, but this struck me as so funny, I had to resort to some very fancy peristaltic acrobatics to make sure I didn’t spray paint my monitor with coffee.

Greenpeace is having a Name a Whale contest.  They asked for names from the public.  They got 11 000 names, which were whittled down to 30, noble names from various languages, but one of which was Mr. Splashy Pants.  Guess which one currently has an overwhelming lead?

Results here, vote for Mr. Splashy Pants here.

 Saw this on Boing Boing.

Elevator Abuse by Lazy People

Just a small observation.

I just love people who get on an elevator and go up or down one or two floors.  I especially love it when they have a “busy” demeanor.  Yep, you were so busy you couldn’t walk up or down a flight of stairs.  Funny thing about stairs, they are always ready to go, no waiting required.  Even better are the people who are actually pissed off about how long the elevator took to show up.  I wish there was something that could be done about that.  The only thing I can really come up with is to hack the elevator software so it won’t accept a destination within 2 floors of it’s current location.  People could still ride the elevator to a destination one floor away, but they would need to ride it sufficiently far enough away first.  That ought to take their urgency down a notch or two (ha ha).  Seriously though, it’s inefficient use of the elevator, it slows everyone else down, and it bothers the living crap out of me.  I never ever use it for short trips, and I wouldn’t even use it to get to the 13th floor where I work except for some unknown reason all of the stairwell doors are locked from the outside at the ground level.  Why do that?  The elevators are public, there’s no security there.  What makes the stairs so dangerous?  They want us fat and unhealthy, for some reason.  In fact when you think about it, why are stairwells so hard to find and use in general?  They are almost always hidden away somewhere and generally the ugliest part of an office building.  If they looked good, were easy to get to and use, wouldn’t that make a lot more sense?  No electricity required, no moving parts to wear out, etc.  I know obviously some people can’t use the stairs for medical reasons, but if more of us able-bodied folks used the stairs more often I’m betting that number would go down from the health benefits.  I have no research of any kind to back this up, nor am I qualified in any way to comment, but it feels right doesn’t it?

Sorry for the rant folks.

EatMeCrunchy

In a display of Internet coincidence that is probably familiar to anyone who spends any amount of time online, Nikki and I were recently discussing her extraordinarily strong aversion to soggy cereal. It’s something we have talked about before (as any married couple can attest to, you usually end up talking about weird stuff like this at some point), but she recently wished aloud that somebody could figure out how to keep her cereal dry while delivering just the right amount of milk at the right time. I’m not afflicted with this syndrome myself, but I can allow that it’s probably a big deal for some.

Anyway, here’s the coincidence part. Boing Boing provided a timely link to a device that will probably change a lot of people’s lives for the better. It’s the aptly named EatMeCrunchy cereal bowl, which features a sort of a cereal shelf to keep it high and dry while you eat from the cereal that’s mixed just in time with milk. Here’s a cross-section image I stole without permission from their website.

EatMeCrunchy bowl

Brilliant.

Better yet, the whole thing comes apart and you just throw it in the dishwasher. Doubly brilliant.

Have a look for yourself.

Halloween Stuff

Some Halloween links for you today.  First off we have a mask that will make anyone pee themselves.

Jeezus H. Christ on a hockey stick, this is one scary assed Halloween mask!  It’s sick, wrong, creepy, horrifying and somehow mesmerizing at the same time.

I saw it on Boing Boing.

Also a cool Halloween trick is this tutorial on how to bleed realistically when “cut” with a knife.  It requires a bit of chemistry, but it looks pretty good in action.

Saw that on Neatorama.

I’m sure there will be more good Halloween stuff to come.

Colbert’s Running for President?

You gotta love the balls it takes to make fun of every politician in the US in one fell swoop. Stephen Colbert announced that he is running for President, as a candidate for both parties. I have no idea what this means, but I expect a lot of internet, nerd, geek, and apathetic votes to go his way. It will probably be a brilliant send-up of the whole process at the very least.

Saw this on Metafilter first.