Category: Web

retardeder

Who has less of a clue, the author, or the subject of this article: Sony buys video-sharing site by Gary Gentile

“Media companies, including Sony, have begun to offer content side by side with videos shot by amateurs on sites such as MySpace, Guba and BitTorrent.”

Say whaaaaat?

“…allows people to place those videos on social networking sites such as MySpace and Friendster using its peer-to-peer network.”

And if that doesn’t work out, they can always try getting bundled on an AOL software CD…
This is my favorite bit, though:

“Sony could also discover new talent on the site, Lynton said.”

Maybe they can find a whole new board of directors!
..
UPDATE: Robert Cringely thinks this is a good market research opportunity for Sony

Damn Interesting

If you haven’t seen Damn Interesting blog yet, you should go check it out – it’s one of my favorite reads at the moment. Recent updating has been slow, but there are a few real gems in the archives.
Today’s post on Operation Acoustic Kitty was sad, and awesome, and hilarious:

“They slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up. The tail was used as an antenna. They made a monstrosity. They tested him and tested him. They found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that. Finally, they’re ready. They took it out to a park bench and said, “Listen to those two guys. Don’t listen to anything else – not the birds, no cat or dog – just those two guys!”

That’s not just a cat – that’s Doraemon!
Go read the entire post: Operation Acoustic Kitty

Necromania

This is perhaps the most interesting Wikipedia entry I have ever seen: List of Unusual Deaths
Most Notable:

  • 892: Sigurd I of Orkney. Sigurd the Mighty conquered much of northern Scotland, which brought him into conflict with Maelbrigte of Moray. Sigurd defeated Maelbrigte in 892, killed him, cut off his head and strapped it to his saddle as a sign of triumph. As he rode, however, Maelbrigte’s tooth rubbed against Sigurd’s leg causing a wound which turned septic and Sigurd died of the poison.
  • 1063: King Béla I of Hungary died when his tall wooden throne collapsed due to sabotage.
  • 1327: King Edward II of England (to be later reincarnated as the Big Hominid), after being deposed and imprisoned by his Queen consort Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, was rumored to have been murdered by having a red-hot iron inserted into his anus.
  • 1514: György Dózsa, leader of a peasants’ revolt in the Kingdom of Hungary, was roasted alive on a white hot iron chair. His captured companions were forced to eat his flesh.
  • 1834: David Douglas, Scottish botanist, who fell in a pit trap, was crushed by a bull that fell in the same pit.
  • 1927: J.G. Parry-Thomas, a British racing driver, was decapitated by his car’s drive chain which, under duress, snapped and whipped into the cockpit. He was attempting to break his own Land speed record which he had set the previous year. Despite being killed in the attempt, he succeeded in setting a new record of 171 mph.
  • 1940: Leon Trotsky, the Soviet revolutionary leader in exile, was assassinated with an ice axe in his Mexico home. His killer, spanish born soviet agent Ramon Mercader, acquired the ice axe in Trotsky’s own office after being invited in. After receiving a brutal blow to the head, Trotsky fought and literally took a bite out of his murderer.

There seems to be a disproportionately large number of unusual deaths in ancient Hungary – sounds like it sucked to be a prominent figure then & there.

You say tomato…

The most confusing terminology discussion I’ve ever read to the very end (because it has to do with food, of course!): If an English biscuit is an American cookie, what is an American biscuit called in England?
Hint: It’s neither a lorry, a brolly, nor a faggot.
……………….
BONUS BAKED GOODS RECIPE: LINK

“Fanny would never have a Spotted Dick unless it had a nice big blob of nice hot custard on it”

Run, Dick, run!