Judson Laipply is one heck of a talented comic dancer. It brought back so many memories from Elvis movies to Justin Timberlake. What a trip. Thanks to my friend Joey for finding this, as he put it, “OHHH MAN, White men can dance, this is funny”. And he is right. Enjoy!
Tags: comedy, comics, dances, Elvis, Judson Laipply, videos, YouTube
A friend like you is rare.
You’re the person I always hoped to meet,
But shyly, I stand and stare.
As you walk past unaware, I pray:
“I wish you were my friend.”
A friend like you is true.
How we became friends I’ll never know,
But, now we two are part of one.
You look at me and I at you; we say:
“I’m glad you are my friend.”
A friend like you cares.
Time has passed, our lives so busy,
The greatest gift is the time we share.
A little time apart but no despair; you call today:
“I didn’t want you to feel alone.”
A friend like you is everlasting.
Opportunities arise, and change disrupts the merry duo.
One last hurrah, then the dismal parting.
My heart now is hurting, but come what may:
“I’ll always be your friend!”
—
Original work by Will Murray.
September 25, 2006, Sacramento, CA.
A rewrite of “Friends Like You”
Copyright (c) Will Murray. All Rights Reserved.
Redistribution permission granted to authorized RSS/Atom feeds.
Tags: Friends, original works, poetry, Will Murray
Threat Level: Critical Zero-Day Vulnerability
This threat is currently active and spreading in the wild. Most Windows-based computers, even if fully up-to-date with all the official Microsoft patches, are vulnerable right now unless certain actions are taken to protect yourself (see below).
What it does: Various websites, including advertising sites that generate advertisements appearing on trusted websites, become infected. These sites use a specific type of attack to slip through your computer’s security, leaving a big hole for your computer to be further attacked. Since some versions of Outlook and Outlook Express use Internet Explorer to display some types of e-mail, you can become infected just by displaying infected e-mails you receive.
What stops it: You can configure certain settings on your computer that will make it so the malicious software cannot run on your computer. Most of Microsoft’s workarounds may cause a few legitimate websites to incorrectly display within Internet Explorer. An unofficial workaround does not cause that problem, but it only works for people using Windows XP with Service Pack 2. An official patch is scheduled to eliminate the problem in a few weeks; an unofficial patch is available now. A good, up-to-date antivirus software package should also detect the malicious software; however, it is a good idea to check that no viruses have disabled your antivirus software before relying upon it to protect you.
Affected Software (as reported by Microsoft):
Additional affected software (as reported by Sunbelt):
Official patch/security update: None at this time. According to Microsoft:
A security update to address this vulnerability is now being finalized through testing to ensure quality and application compatibility Microsoft’s goal is to release the update on Tuesday, October 10, 2006, or sooner depending on customer needs.
Until Microsoft releases an official patch (scheduled for Tuesday, October 10, 2006), you really can’t “fix” this flaw in your computer. You can apply an unofficial patch (which should work until Microsoft releases theirs, but Microsoft won’t help you if the patch messes up your system), you can enact some workarounds that stop the problem before it can harm your system, or perhaps do both.
In addition to the workarounds from Microsoft mentioned below, SecuriTeam has discovered that Windows XP users with Service Pack 2 installed have another option (and it’s good for blocking many other types of attacks, so it seems like a good idea!). Simply enable system-wide enforcement of software-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and make sure Internet Explorer is not exempted. It’s easier to do than to pronounce.
Difficulty: Not Very Difficult
Impact: Microsoft does not list any adverse problems with enabling this feature. In fact, they state “Software-enforced DEP can help prevent malicious code from taking advantage of exception-handling mechanisms in Windows.”
The following instructions are based on one of several different ways Microsoft allows you to configure DEP. You must be logged on as an administrator to manually configure DEP on the computer. A restart is required after completing these steps.
sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.Once you have protected your system, visit ZERT’s vulnerability test page. NOTE: If your system is vulnerable, your browser will crash. If your browser crashes after following these instructions, carefully re-read the instructions and try again or try a different patch or workaround.
Until Microsoft releases an official patch, an unofficial patch that is not supported by Microsoft is available from the Zeroday Emergency Response Team (“ZERT”). ZERT is a group of highly skilled software and hardware engineers with industry liasons who develop emergency patches for vulnerable systems. They release patches only when they feel the risk of waiting for the vendor (in this case Microsoft) to release an “official” patch is greater than the risk of releasing a patch that may not be quite as polished and fully tested, but blocks the problem. Additionally, there are several links to additional good information about the threat. ZERT’s site is located at: http://isotf.org/zert/
Download the ZERT patch and view the instructions.
Once you have protected your system, visit ZERT’s vulnerability test page. NOTE: If your system is vulnerable, your browser will crash. If your browser crashes after following these instructions, carefully re-read the instructions and try again or try a different patch or workaround.
See Microsoft’s page under the Suggested Actions headings for updates to the following information.
Difficulty: Not Very Difficult
Impact: Applications that render VML will no longer do so once Vgx.dll has been unregistered. Generally, that should not impact your day-to-day web browsing very much unless a particular favorite site of yours uses VML; most sites do not use it… [Continue reading]
Check off the things you have done.
DO NOT include explanations!
[Bite me. I'll include explanations wherever I feel like it!]
Level 1
() Smoked A Cigarette
() Smoked A Cigar
() Done Weed
(X) Kissed A Member Of The Same Sex [father, grandfather, visitors from France, etc.]
(X) Drank Alcohol
SO FAR: 2
Tags: alcohol, art, California, cats, clothing, driving, EPA, Friends, ghosts, lungs, movies, porn, sex, space, spirits, thanks, time, travel, work, zoo
Purple and white globes of color
Deck the foliage green.
Fair are the flowers of the alyssum,
One of the fairest to be seen.
A mass of alyssum makes a beautiful blanket,
And the mass is made of many globes.
Each globe is made of tiny flowers;
Each flower is beautiful and whole.
When frost comes sweeping by,
Each flower must wither and die.
Seeds are left sleeping in the ground
To waken and burst into blossom next spring.
This world is made of many countries.
The countries have many cities.
Each city has many people;
Each person is different and whole.
All of the people put together,
Join to make a colorful blanket around the earth.
Each person must fade, but may leave a seed behind
To form another beautiful person.
—
Original work by Will Murray.
Ms. Owen’s English class, AGHS, 1986 or 1987.
Copyright (c) Will Murray. All Rights Reserved.
Redistribution permission granted to authorized RSS/Atom feeds.
Tags: flowers, original works, poetry, Will Murray
1) Two people you can tell pretty much anything to?
- Mom and Dad
2) Vegetarian?
- My compassion for animals says yes. My stomach says “MEAT!” My stomach nearly always wins.
3) Heaven?
- I don’t think the common “streets paved with gold, angels sitting on puffy clouds with harps, and St. Peter standing at pearly gates” has anything to do with the afterlife. But, yes, I do strongly believe in continued existence in some manner after our mortal body stops functioning. In short, yes.
4) Last person to be in bed with?
- Not a person, but my cat Nala was curled up against me several times last night.
5) What jewelry do you wear?
- None. I have a watch I rarely wear. I would wear my H.S. class ring, but I got it in 9th grade and it’s too small for my grown-up sized finger. 
Tags: quizes
A close relative of the deceased Star Trek Enterprise actress, Kellie Waymire, called me for insight on how to remove the actress’ name from several porn sites. There are no nude photos, but the sex sites use her name to lure people in to sell things. The call really touched me; it also made me mad.
Note: I discussed this blog entry with the relative, who would prefer I not disclose his or her name or relationship to Kellie. Therefore, I will refer to the relative as “Vee”.
The Internet is, like any technology, neither good nor bad. How people use the technology is what matters.
Kellie Waymire was a very likable and charming young woman entering the prime of her acting career. In addition to Star Trek, she was in 36 other TV shows and movies according to IMDb, and a regular or semi-regular in several of the TV series. Vee also tells me that Kellie was nearly always involved in some sort of community theater product or other stage work since from her middle school years through college. Kellie made friends easily, and there was hardly a place in the country where she did not have a nearby friend who would have willingly let her stay while she visited.
The week after she passed away, Kellie’s name hit the Lycos Top 50 at number 19. (The Lycos Top 50 is a list of the most searched for words or phrases on the Internet, and it is updated weekly.) At her memorial, over 500 people attended, including directors, producers, and co-stars. Kellie was admired and respected by her peers and fans. She was loved by her family and friends who were very proud of her. She continues to be missed by all who knew her or have come to know her through reruns.
After Kellie’s passing, Vee’s grief kept her away from the Internet for over a year. She did not want to know what people were saying about Kellie. She probably did not want to even think about it more than the dozens of times each day the loss probably passed through her mind. Other relatives continue to avoid Internet sites concerning Kellie, because the pain is still too much. During that time, several websites filled up with pages and pages of condolences from fans, friends, former college roommates, people who saw her on stage, people who worked with her. It’s all very overwhelming, even for someone like me who never knew Kellie.
Vee did eventually venture out into the Internet to see what, if anything, was out there about Kellie. It turns out there is a LOT of information. There is a Wikipedia entry for Kellie Waymire, and naturally, she is listed on IMDb (as most everyone in the move and TV industry are). She has entire message areas dedicated to her on several Star Trek fan sites. Kellie even has an “unofficial” fan club site that does a wonderful job capturing the beauty of Kellie’s life. Vee is deeply touched by these sentiments. Knowing Star Trek fans as I do (being somewhat of a fan myself, though not a rabid one), it’s fair to say that Kellie Waymire will live on in the Star Trek universe, and in the hearts of her fans, forever.
As one might expect, anytime you enter a celebrity’s name in a search engine, you will find links to nude pictures of the celebrity. It doesn’t matter that Kellie never was in any nude photos, but there are still plenty of links to sites claiming to have these sexy photos and porn clips. When Vee followed these links, invariably she found one or two pictures of Kellie (usually from some scene in a TV show or movie—hardly pornography), as well as links to sexy centerfold type models, many of which were overtly sexual and disgusting to Vee.
Somehow, these pariahs of the Internet (the sex site owners) had picked up on Kellie Waymire’s name as being a popular search term, and they were using it (and any slightly sexy photo they could find) as bait to draw people into their sites. Why? Money, of course. Once Kellie’s good name had lured the visitor to the site, it’s easy to assume that people likely to click on “nude photos” in the first place, are likely to pay for a subscription to the porn site. Or maybe they will buy a DVD instead. Maybe both. All an Internet marketer is hoping for is that once they pull some visitor into their site, the visitor will stay and spend money.
Imagine for a moment that you are Vee. Your relative was such a sweet, humble, and unpretentious girl. Then you see these sites linking her with porn and disgusting sex acts. It would be almost too much to bear. At first, you probably try to ignore it. Then you start to get mad. Then you decide it’s time to take action. You look in the yellow pages. You call me. (Well, that’s what Vee did. I’m still not sure why she picked my company.)
Unfortunately, there is little I can do for Vee. I listened to her story, of course. I visited some of the websites she had visited. I helped her to download some of the touching memorial videos that had been made. I also tried to help Vee feel a little better about the situation.
I pointed out that the only reason these site owners are using Kellie’s name is because she was so popular. The fact that so many fans loved her, so many of them still search for her, so many fans still care for her, makes her name a very popular search term. The porn sites simply look at search terms for celebrities, and the more popular the celebrities’ names, the more likely their names will appear on unsavory Internet pages.
I mentioned that I… [Continue reading]
Imagine you are a proud citizen of the glorious empire. Unfortunately, the Emperor was found guilty of war crimes (authorizing the torture of war detainees, launching preemptive strikes against other countries, toppling foreign heads of state, maintaining secret prisons holding unidentified persons of interest in countries with less strict human rights practices, etc.) and then knowingly giving false information to the empire’s citizens to justify his actions. Not being much of a muckraker, you try to avoid the organized peace march planned for the capital plaza. Sure, you don’t agree with the Emperor’s policies, but you’re no Jedi Knight–you’re not even a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Rosa Parks. You’re just an ordinary person trying to make your way through the growing crowd to your car so you can attend your little niece’s birthday party.
Someone from the crowd steps onto the edge of a fountain in the square. You try not to listen as the guy makes a few good points about the state of the Empire and the wrongdoings of the Emperor. You continue moving quickly through the crowd to where your car is parked. The crowd starts cheering, applauding, and even stamping their feet to signify their approval of what the speaker is saying. You reach your car, as a helicopter appears overhead. You fumble for your keys as a voice booming from overhead informs the crowd that their “unruly behavior is in violation of the Emperor’s emergency domestic terror prevention plan”. The voice is so loud you drop your keys as you clap your hands over your ears to protect your hearing. After the voice stops, a piercing noise louder than a jet engine replaces it. People scream (not that you can hear them) and start running from the square. An old man raises his cane, shaking it at the helicopter to express his anger. A moment later, he collapses. Then, you feel the air suddenly prickling like there is about to be a lightning storm nearby. Next thing you know, a 50,000-volt charge of electricity jolts you to the ground. All around you, people are stunned and in pain, though most are starting to pick themselves up to hobble away.
Amazingly, your keys are still on the ground beside your car. You open the door, slouch painfully into the seat, and turn the key in the ignition. Nothing. You try again, and again. Dead. Your less than a month old $32,000 car was completely disabled in the electrical blast. You grab your $200 cell phone with all the latest gadgets to call your sister and let her know you will not be able to attend your niece’s birthday. Unfortunately, the cell phone is fried, too. So is your watch, your PDA, your calculator, your iPod, and your laptop computer. Nearly $35,000 of loss from that one “nonlethal” weapon burst, and you were just innocent “collateral damage”.
Obviously sitting in the car is not going to help. Worst of all, you see an anti-terror squad goon walking your direction. You know you don’t want to be anywhere near him. He’s carrying one of those “nonlethal” microwave emitters. As you get out of the car, you notice the old man with the cane is still crumpled, unmoving on the ground where he fell–a surprised look frozen on his face. Poor guy probably had a pacemaker that got fried. Didn’t he know better than to be near a demonstration these days? You stared at the guy for too long. A searing pain rakes across your back and side. You scream in pain as it feels like your body is suddenly on fire. A second later, the pain is gone (but certainly not the memory or your still-screaming nerve endings). You look behind you. Yeah. It was the anti-terror squad goon with his “nonlethal” microwave. Somehow, the fact that the thing is “nonlethal” doesn’t make you feel any better. You quickly sneak away, trying to avoid the other goons in the area.
Several hours later (no car after all), you walk up to your front door. There is an official looking envelope stuck to it. You break into a cold sweat as you tear it open. Inside is a warrant demanding you to turn yourself in to any nearby Office of Empire Security for questioning and possible arrest within the next three days. Not only that, a closed circuit camera photo of you in the crowded square falls out. The photo also shows a positive biometric scan confirmation, which means that all your documents (driver’s license, passport, credit cards, transit pass, library card, and probably your work ID) are probably already flagged with your “violation.” What are you going to do? You don’t have enough money to hire an attorney–not the kind that actually has a chance to keep you from being questioned (a politically correct term for interrogation with more of the same type of “nonlethal” weapons you just faced). Moreover, once you’re questioned, it’s only a matter of time before you confess to whatever they want you to confess to, just to get them to stop the torture. You irrationally curse your niece for having a birthday so that you had to enter that square today. Then you curse yourself for having parked there in the first place. You decide to fix something to eat before you go turn yourself in. It might be the last good meal you get for a long, long time.
The story above is, fortunately, a work of fiction. If it sounds eerily familiar, though, it’s probably because that is the future many people around the world are sensing might be the future just around the corner if we continue down the path we are walking, no — running, toward.
The current Bush administration (or “Bush Regime” as the World Can’t Wait movement1 calls it) is guilty of everything of which the evil Emperor in this story is guilty. As I have already blogged, “Benjamin Ferenccz, a chief war crimes… [Continue reading]
It seems people swap cell phones, smart phones, and PDAs about as frequently as they change their smoke detector batteries. These miniaturized devices hold a large amount of personal data inside their tiny silicon brains. So what happens to all that data when you trade in your cellular phone for a new one? Or what if you sell it on eBay to help offset the cost of your replacement device?
If you’re like a lot of technologically challenged people, you don’t even think about purging the memory before you hand it over, and if you do think about it, you might not know how to erase the data.
If you are a bit more tech savvy, you might delve into the manual (you didn’t throw it away or lose it, did you?) or search the Web for instructions. It’s not like most devices have a big red “ERASE ME” button on them. It’s kinda tough to delete all your data. And for good reason (I’m referring to the technologically challenged button pushers that can’t resist big red buttons).
The scary thing is that after finding out how to delete the data and pushing the right menu options, the data still might not be completely gone! According to an AP story reported in the Dallas Morning News, secrets often stay on cell phones even after the data is supposedly deleted. That might be good news if you accidentally erased everything, but it would be bad news if you are a government official, a cheating spouse, or just someone who doesn’t like people snooping through their personal information.
Read the article. It’s a bit shocking, has a touch of humor, and it just might help people to “decide whether to auction their used equipment for a few hundred dollars – and risk revealing their secrets – or effectively toss their old phones under a large truck to dispose of them.”
Reprinted with permission by the author (me) from my company’s website at Allogro.com.
Tags: cell phones, eBay.com, PDAs, personal information, privacy, private information, smart phones
There sure are a lot of websites springing up all asking (well, demanding really) the same thing: that the House of Representatives start impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the rest of the Bush administration involved in all sorts of alleged misconduct. In case you don’t remember from the Clinton era what impeachment is all about, it’s essentially where the House of Representatives files charges against the President (or any high government official), and then a trial is held by the Senate to determine if there was any wrong doings or not.
The points and cases in favor are many and seem very strong. See for yourself. This is a list of several of the most effective and informative sites I found after only a little surfing. Note: each hyperlink should open in a single new window. Did I miss your favorite site? Add it in the comments below.
Charges and Evidence: Impeachment of George W. Bush
The best site I’ve found presenting evidence of “impeachable offenses” committed by Bush and his administration is found at this site. Since all an impeachment really is is a trial, there certainly are enough questions raised in this one page to convince me (and probably any logical person) that Bush–at the very least–should explain his actions under oath before the Senate and in full view of the American public.
Impeach Bush: Do-It-Yourself Style
This site refers to the impeachable offenses listed above and provides a way for you, the average citizen, to attempt to initiate Bush’s impeachment process using a largely unknown, but apparently valid and legal method by directly requesting it of the House. The ImpeachForPeace.org site is also calling for a “National Day of Awareness and Resistance” on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 11:30 AM in cities throughout the USA.
World Can’t Wait: Drive Out the Bush Regime
This organization appears to be the one driving the “day of mass resistance” planned for Thursday, October 5, 2006 around the country. Their vision statement is posted online along with a lot of resources for people interested. Since there is a local (Sacramento) chapter, it looks like we might get to see or even be a part of the action. This video explains the cause well:
ImpeachPAC
This political action committee (PAC) is attempting to elect “a Congress to Impeach Bush and Cheney”. More interesting (to me) is their handy list of resolutions for impeachment passed around the country. They also offer a 2-page and 10-page guide on impeachment, explaining what it is and how to make it happen.
The Million Phone March to Impeach President Bush
This handy little site makes it super easy for your to write to your Congressional Representative and both your Senators AND also your local newspaper editor. You don’t even have to know who these people are. Just enter your address, and it looks up the information for you. You enter your personal message, submit it, and the site takes care of sending out your messages. Truly an Internet-era method of democracy.
Impeach Bush
Well, the name pretty much states the organization’s goals pretty clearly. They have been running ads trying to educate the public. They also have a referendum calling for impeachment. They are hoping for one-million signatures, and they are about 3/4 of the way to their goal.
Democrats.com
This site is an independent community of Democratic Party activists. They have a lovely liberal, anti-Bush blogroll and a link to another automatic submission engine for sending your comments to Congress. They have links to supporting evidence for at least four different impeachable offenses committed by the Bush administration.
BushOccupation
Too bad this site seems to be pretty much inactive these days. They have a good list of websites, columnists, and blogs in a similar vein (scroll down the page to read the list). It makes some very good points about these click-to-submit message generating sites. It is one reason why I always try to include as uniquely personal a message as I can and also why I do pay for a stamp or a phone call and let my representatives know that REAL humans are standing behind all these semi-automated messages they receive.
Punching a “submit” button under a form letter actually doesn’t accomplish much. Because it’s so easy, editors and politicians dismiss cookie-cutter web activism. At its worst, it’s a kind of junk food activism, satisfying a natural need with an unhealthy, synthetic substitute. We promote real activism.
Spammers and marketers devalued email as a medium. Increasingly, email is an inhuman, automated, database-produced product. Most on-line activism is either simple marketing in disguise or easily mistaken for spam.
This is the bottom line: you must speak out in your own voice, to friends, co-workers, and families. You must write and call the media, your Senators and representative to make a real difference. A form letter automatically sent in your name isn’t going to do it.
U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)
This Congressman is asking for your help in sending a message to the President and the people that we will not stand for an imperial presidency any longer:
I recently completed a thorough review of this administration’s misconduct and have produced a 250-page report that provides evidence suggesting further steps to be taken.
It is time to take bolder measures in our pursuit of justice. This White House has responded to questions about its conduct with misleading statements, obfuscation, and vicious attacks against their critics. We must take the next step towards restoring accountability in our federal government.
To this end I have I am calling upon Congress to create a select committee similar to the Ervin Committee, which investigated President Nixon’s Watergate crimes. This select committee would investigate the Administration and its intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, and retaliating against critics.
… [Continue reading]
Californians are very creative when it comes to all sorts of things (naturally, being a Californian, I’m somewhat prejudiced). It looks like politics are no exception (though I’m not sure if Cali came up with the idea first).
The State legislature passed a law that, if a similar law is passed by enough other states, would throw all of California’s electoral votes in with the winner of the national popular election. If you aren’t very familiar with the whole Electoral College thing, I’m probably not the best person to explain it. Basically, when you vote in an election for the President of the USA, you aren’t really voting for the President. You are voting for a panel of people who have promised to vote (at least the first time around) for the person you voted for. This generally translates your vote for President into an actual vote for the President, and usually the President elected is the President whom the majority of people in the country voted for.
Not so, obviously, in the case of the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Al won the popular vote (i.e., more people voted for him than did for George), but George won in states with higher Electoral College votes. Since more panelists voted for George than voted for Al, George became Emperor, er, President, and Al became a regular on the lecture circuits. The fact that the people chose Al made no difference. This was not the first time this happened, either. It’s just the one that is most recent.
If California’s new law, and that of the other states slowly passing the same law, gets enough support from other states, then we might finally see the actual votes of the people elect the President. Here’s how things would play out the new way. If Al won the popular vote (i.e., the people in the U.S. vote for Al to be the President), then California will have it’s Electoral College representatives vote the way the majority of the country voted, even if that is the opposite of the way the people in California voted. Whoah! That seems odd, right?
If California were the only state to do that, it would be odd, and really rather pointless. That’s why the law doesn’t kick in until enough other states (technically enough total Electoral College votes) also agree to do this. When enough states with enough votes all agree to this, then there will be enough Electoral College votes (a majority) to cause the popularly elected President to automatically become the Electoral College elected President. So, even if California votes Democrat, but the majority of the USA voted Republican, California will see to it that the majority decision is upheld.
It seems a bit crazy, and it seems a bit questionable Constitutionally, but I think I could live with it. The Electoral College is just a silly hold-over from a time long ago when the average man (only free men could vote) was not particularly educated. The world is a different place, and the USA is vastly different than it was in the 1800s.
For more on this story (and probably a better worded explanation), see Popular vote gets thumbs up in Calif. on Yahoo! news.
Tags: Al Gore, California, Electoral College, George W. Bush, politics, President, voting
I really had not intended to post another blog entry showcasing more YouTube videos so soon after my last one, but I saw this and just had to share.
Noah Kalina, a photographer living and working in New York City, created this video by taking a photograph of his face, every day for six years. Then he put all the videos together, added some original piano music, and now we are treated to an amazing piece of art. Simply watching the video, it is difficult to sense the subtle changes in his face, much like we cannot see the changes in our own faces on a daily basis. But, if you look away for a while (or use the rewind and fast forward feature), you can easily see that more than just Noah’s hair and clothing changes. It’s art, but it’s also biology and sociology, all wrapped up in music. His website is overwhelmed with traffic right now. I guess that’s the price you pay for your 15-minutes of fame. That and 6 years of dedication to taking your photo each day.
Tags: art, changes, cool stuff, design, music, Noah Kalina, photographers, photography, photos, videos, YouTube
I have a confession to make… I’m not very good at folding t-shirts (well, any type of shirts for that matter). Unless I spend about 3-5 minutes, folding and unfolding the shirt (and who wants to spend that kind of time on a dumb shirt!), I always end up with wrinkles, puckers, and other imperfections. I don’t obsess over it, and I didn’t even realize that I was rather pathetic at it, until I saw Martha Stewart on Conan O’Brian’s show one night. She performed this amazing feat of t-shirt origami that created a perfectly folded t-shirt in all of about 2 seconds. Both Conan and I were in shock. I rushed to get the recorder going, hoping to study this amazing technique, but they didn’t show it again closeup. Bummer.
Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I have found other people know of this technique (especially the Japanese), and I am happy to share the secrets of Ninja-fast t-shirt folding.
And here is another look from a different vantage point.
This fellow claims to be a Genius when it comes to t-shirt folding. I think, given the style of the video, he’s more of a magician.
Boring day at the office? Now that you are a guru at folding shirts, have a t-shirt folding contest on your office floor. These guys did.
If your inner-Ninja is still earning its first belt, you might find this alternate method using simple cardboard cutouts to be more your style. I love the silly musical theme they used.
These labor-saving tips are my Labor Day gift to you. Enjoy!
Tags: clothing, Conan O'Brian, contests, cool stuff, folding, Labor Day, Martha Stewart, origami, t-shirts, tips, tricks, videos, YouTube
Happy Labor Day! For those of you with gainful employment, I hope you enjoy a well-deserved day off! For those of you still looking for that perfect job, rest assured that many others before you have had similarly difficult job searches! Take my job history for example…
1. My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I was canned: couldn’t concentrate.
2. Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.
3. After that, I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it. Mainly because it was a so-so job.
4. Next, I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.
5. I worked as a pilot but eventually was grounded for taking off too much.
6. Then I tried teaching but I couldn’t make the grade.
7. I spent a few years as a Psychiatrist but everyone’s problems drove me crazy.
8. I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn’t cut it.
9. Then I tried to be a chef–figured it would add a little spice to my life but I just didn’t have the thyme.
10. I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it, I couldn’t cut the mustard.
11. My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found I wasn’t noteworthy.
12. I was a pretty good eye doctor, but I could not stay focused on the job.
13. I worked a long time as a doctor. I gave it my best shot, but I didn’t have enough patients.
14. Next was a job in a shoe factory; but it never touched my sole.
15. The Energizer Battery Company hired me but then expected me to keep going, and going, and going…
16. I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income.
17. I thought about becoming a witch, so I tried that for a spell.
18. I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.
19. I got a job at a zoo feeding giraffes but I was fired because I wasn’t up to it.
20. So then, I got a job in a gymnasium (work-out-center), but they said I wasn’t fit for the job.
21. Of course, I tried being a secretary, but it turned out not to be my type of work.
22. My years as an exterminator were pretty good, but I got tired of the rat race.
23. Next, I found being an electrician interesting, but the work was shocking even though it kind of turned me on.
24. I was a gardener for a while, but I didn’t grow with the job even though I was raking in the money.
25. My career as a comedian was a stand-up success, but the critics thought I was a big joke.
26. After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.
27. My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.
You got any other ideas. I’m open for suggestions! Maybe you have something that WORKS…because I don’t!
[Thanks to James for sending me these.]
Most people know of Steve Irwin as the Crocodile Hunter—the somewhat zany, highly animated environmentalist from Australia. His television show, The Crocodile Hunter is a perennial favorite among both children and parents.
While filming a new special on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Irwin, age 44, was apparently struck in the chest by a stingray (the local news stated that the stingray’s barb entered Irwin’s heart, but that is not confirmed in AP’s account). Irwin’s body was transported by ambulance and then helicopter, but nothing could be done to save him.
Irwin travelled the globe seeking mysterious and rare creatures, along with dangerous and scary ones. He didn’t do it to mount these unique animals’ heads on his walls (in fact, he told the Australian television program A Current Affair that “killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.”). He did it to entertain and educate the world about the wonder of animals great and small.
He was not a man without controversy, either. He received admonishments for carrying his, then, one-year old son into an alligator pen under one arm while feeding the gator raw meat with the other. He was also accused of disturbing penguins, a seal, and humpback whales by coming too close while making a documentary in Antarctica.
Despite these events, his love for animals was very obvious. I remember watching him as a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno several times, often sticking around to watch just because Irwin was the guest. Despite appearing as though he’d had one too many espressos, he was always charming, funny, and extremely concerned with the well-being of the animals he brought on to the show. I will miss seeing his cheerful face and hearing his famous expression, “Crikey!”
My sense of loss and that of his fans is very slight, indeed, compared to that of his American wife Terri, from Oregon, and their daughter Bindi Sue, 8, and son Bob, who will turn 3 in December. After seeing their husband/father face death so many times, I doubt that will have numbed them to the pain they will be feeling. My sympathies and prayers go out to them, and also to the animals who have lost a friend and protector.
[Sources: KCRA TV, Yahoo AP News, and MSNBC]
Tags: actors, animals, Australia, celebrities, death, deaths, environment, Great Barrier Reef, stingrays, television, tribute, zoo
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