Archive for July, 2009

Two Haiku Video Game Review: Left 4 Dead

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Team up with three friends
And fight off bloodthirsty hordes
Of killer zombies

You cannot survive
The zombie apocalypse
Without shotgun shells

Google Translate 1, Palin 0

Friday, July 31st, 2009

One of the two examples below is a genuine excerpt from Sarah Palin’s farewell address, the other is the same passage translated (through Google Translate) into Japanese, then Chinese, then German, then Estonian, then Arabic, and then back into English.

Which one is the original Palin speech?
Sample A:
“Here I will show the best kind of trip, the best prices in the United States. Peak, large, and jump to the middle of Sunday night, in addition to this in particular. Winter, when the marble is cold, beautiful and cold, it cannot be separated from the fermented dough, Cheechakos, or frozen conflicts in the street? Only 50 of the 100 degree heat, only two months ago from two months now, not in the Summer – blooming fireweed along the cold in the Summer and merciless river carvings, which brings to mind the noise and spit on the quality of the mother here. Alaska and all of nature, and life, and the future in the north and on the roads. Since this is a day to see. In these limits, we believe that the United States is now, the second problem is that of hope and opportunity, and very proud of the country.”

Sample B:
“And getting up here I say it is the best road trip in America soaring through nature’s finest show. Denali, the great one, soaring under the midnight sun. And then the extremes. In the winter time it’s the frozen road that is competing with the view of ice fogged frigid beauty, the cold though, doesn’t it split the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs? And then in the summertime such extreme summertime about a hundred and fifty degrees hotter than just some months ago, than just some months from now, with fireweed blooming along the frost heaves and merciless rivers that are rushing and carving and reminding us that here, Mother Nature wins. It is as throughout all Alaska that big wild good life teeming along the road that is north to the future. That is what we get to see every day. Now what the rest of America gets to see along with us is in this last frontier there is hope and opportunity and there is country pride.”

Shatner 1, Palin 0

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Hilarious stuff, even if Sarah Palin is an easy target.

Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

You may have caught these crazy Brits chasing cheese wheels down steep hills on SportsCenter this week, but this particular video compiles some of the best tumbles from the 2009 competition.

Mattress Dominoes

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

Recent world record for “Mattress Dominoes” (who’da thought there was a record?).

(via NoQuedanBlogs.com)

Amaze Your Friends!

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS WITH THIS INTERESTING TRIVIA:

black-box-spanish-fly

• BLACK BOX – Commercial aircraft “Black Box” flight data recorders are not actually black, they’re usually bright red, orange, or yellow. “Black Box” likely came from the WWII British Air Force term for any number of general “box” mechanisms inside the aircraft.

• SPANISH FLY – The legendary aphrodisiac “Spanish Fly” is not a fly, but a species of Blister Beetle (Lytta vesicatoria). Known since Medieval times, the Spanish Fly secretes the toxin cantharidin – when consumed and then excreted through urination, it causes severe irritation of the urethra and swelling of the genitals, which can generate “priapism” (prolonged erection) in men. However, cantharidin is highly toxic even in small doses and can cause permanent damage to the urethra and kidneys. Aphrodisiacs containing Lytta vesicatoria are banned in most countries for this reason.

• THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING – Thousand Island Dressing is indeed named after a series of islands: the Thousand Islands region of upstate New York, near Lake Ontario. There are varying histories about who exactly gave it this name.

• FRENCH TOAST – French Toast is not a culinary invention of the French, but has been around in some form since at least the 4th Century (there is a recipe for it in an ancient Roman cookbook). The name “French Toast” may have either come from the introduction of this food to England by the French Normans during the Middle Ages, or perhaps because it is a common way to render old/dry bread edible – French bread is notorious for drying out within a day.

• RANCH DRESSING – Ranch Dressing is named after the Hidden Valley (Dude) Ranch near Santa Barbara, California where it was invented in the 1950’s by the owner of the ranch, Steve Henson.

• GENERAL TZO’S CHICKEN – This common (American) Chinese food dish is named after Manchu Dynasty military general Zuo Zongtang. Despite the name, this dish does not exist in Hunan province, China – the homeland of General Zuo – and is likely to have been invented in the United States sometime during the early 1970’s.

Neill Blomkamptacular

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Neill Blomkamp’s debut film “District 9” comes out August 14. Here’s a peek at some of Neill’s prior works.

Alive in Joberg (the Blomkamp short film that was expanded to become “District 9“)

Tetra Vaal (”Third World Robocop”)

Yellow (for Adidas “Adicolor” shoes)