Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Dept. of Wicked-Collections


What's on your list, man?



You know that there is strange ways to still the gene of collect. Soda-cans, badges and stuff. But the very surreal collections is those and one of the most stupid is The Grocery List Collection. And he is sort of using it as a sociologicaly test (what is people of S:t Louis, Missouri shopping) and his findings is: "More people than I thought like onions. Mayonnaise is difficult to spell. So is banana, apparently. And anchovies. And yogurt. There are a lot of notepads out there touting the greatness of numerous bizarrely-named pharmaceuticals. I used to think my handwriting was lame. Now I don't. And lastly, very few people leave their grocery lists in the cart like they should!"

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Dept. of Name-That-Matters

Pretty woman as a crack-dealer?


There's a trouble with having a name that are recognizable. Julia Roberts, crack-dealer - but hey, calm down. You won't have to kick all your copies of Pretty Woman or Runaway Bride.

This Julia is 96 year old. And not making movies but making grands on selling rocks.


Friday, March 26, 2004

Dept. of Gadgetery-Gizmo-Lovers


Cory - the gizmoplayer #1



Cory Doctorow is the gadget-king. He is one of the editors of the blog deluxe BoingBoing.net and is on his feet a good deal of the time and in this Gizmodoflic he's is listing his gadget bag. Is it interesting. I don't know. Is it strange. Yes.

Do I get envious? Of course.

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Dept. of Sim-The-Reality


Presidential election in the virtual



Everything that happens is reflected in the simulated reality of The Sims as Wired News tells. And 2004 is the Big Election Year and of course some strange Sim-o-holic have made a electional play.

Of course it's damn stupid but man, The Sims is somewhat a creative meltdown. The ability to make new scenarios is huge and people is using them.

Me myself I wonder when the "Sim Terrorist"-expansion pack is released, of course with the choice to play Usama bin Laden.

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Dept. of Democratic-Glitches

Ooops...

That's no mathematic mystery. When Boone County was in for election the software of the e-votingsystem running havoc and it turned out to be 144,000 votes but only 19,000 Voters. The old cry "One man, one vote" was truly obsolet in this election.

The story at Slashdot don't mention who really won but who really cares - I mean: Boone County in Indiana - there's a stupid, a wicked and their son in the election...

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Dept. of Stuff-You-Don't-Knew-You-Need


Don't let your socks get away



One of the most serious mysteries is where the one sock is going when washing a pair. Because everyone can tell about the socks that never comes out of the washer as a pair. But of course have someone found out the way to force the mystery to be solved. Hanse is selling a little clip that hold the pair of socks together.

I think it's cheating... man - what horrible punishments will the Washer-God put us up when not getting the sock as an offering?

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Dept. of Useful-Things

What do you need on a Swiss Army-knife


The computerworld is coming in every aspect of our life. The latest is a Swiss Army Knife with a USB-memory as one of the tools. Is this crazy? Well... my simple question is: why? What's the use since the 9/11 have made it impossible to take anything sharp aboard on a Boeing and early adopters is always having mp3-players with huge memories. The hunter probably doesn't need it since there is no electric in the woods and if it was - hey: you need at least two computers to make the stuff useful.

Friday, March 19, 2004

Dept. of Design

10 worst album covers of all time


What's the most ugly record you have seen? At Mental Drippings you have the chance to see ten of the worst thinkable.

When talking to my friends who is art directors and such they always tells that a record sleeve is the dream to make. That makes me wonder how it´s possible to create as many tasteless sleeves and covers as this. And now the coverdesign is dead after the cd's beaten the vinyl-records.

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Dept. of Celeb-Odontology

Winning whites


His smile is white (as every politician - the teeth whitening technologies is probably a big expense before election) and now the voters can see the how the presidential mouth is inside since the discussion of Bushy's whereabouts during his service in the military have made them to open up the secret file of soldiers teeth. All to save the Commander in Chief.

What the record of his jaw proves beats me but hey - it's funny!

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Dept. of Collectors-Guild

The mouse-pad guy

This is Jimmy's mouse-pads. He owns when this is written 336 pieces. The site is mainly in Swedish but you can see the mouse-pads.

Why collecting mouse-pads? Nobody knows but that's no news when talking about collectors. The idea of collecting things seem to be some hidden connections made inside the brain. I mean - there are stuff people is collecting that I didn't know existed. At Strange Foreign Objects in Dog Feces one guy is collecting stories about... yes - feces from dogs or as Thomas Basey from Ontario who collects AOL CD:s. Other odd museums you find at Unusual Museums and Strange Weird Bizarre Collections and on the site of What A Collection!.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Dept. of Secret-Services

Boggling around


One can wonder if it's this tool the Homeland Security-guys is using? The Cryptographever is a tool where you cut+paste an innocent websajt and then you get whatever strange hidden messages.

On a short message I tested I got the hidden code "hit target".

(I think they want to show that people who believes in the bible-code)

It looks a lot like the game of boggling where one should make words out of a bunch of letters.

Monday, March 15, 2004

Dept. of Literacy-Celebs

Blondes with books

Both Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson have sent out book-proposals. The former is planning to write a book about the jet-setlife but the latter is proposing a book called: "Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey's Secrets for a Happy (and Sexy!) Marriage"... good Lord - that must overturn the stands when released.

And the blonde singer is getting the wisdom out: "Now that I am 23, I realize that I cannot help feed every hungry kid or find every lost one. However, there is one way that I know I can help people: by sharing the secrets of my successful marriage.". Yeah, right.

I have some other proposals: why not let Britney share her best drinks with the world? Or Xtina to share her rollercoasterways in weighting.

[The people at the picture have not wrote any books - it's Jimmy Sommerville and two anonymous blondes]

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Dept. of Stupid-And-Stoned

911? My boyfriend stole my pot!


This girl ain´t blonde but surely one of the most stupid broads around.

She was calling her local police and report that her boyfriend had stolen her marijuana stash. The police thought it was a joke but she was really eager to get the pot back.

Shane Walker had to spend her 25th birthday in the slammer instead of getting her pot back.

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Dept. of Name-Of-The-Game

My name is Ass, Jack Ass

$10 million is what Jack Ass want from Viacom since he thinks that the daredevil show on MTV is "liable for injury to a reputation I have built and defamation of character I have created.".

Mr Ass was three years ago changing his name to Jack Ass and have created a cartoon and after Knoxvilles big time success Mr Ass thinks his brand have been injured.

I can wonder how his wife can hold her laughter saying: "Oh my darling Ass"...


Friday, March 12, 2004

Dept. of Funny-Reflections

Don't drive and dive

from the Slashdot news-letter:

"Most amusing is all the comments about how TV in cars is for passengers, because as we know, the drivers are too busy talking on their cell phones." and the article is a piece from San Fransisco Chronicle where they show the "revolutionary" new sat-TV dish for SUVs... kinda big...

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Dept. of Wage-List

10 most overpaid jobs

Man, this is fun! I just steal the list:

10) Wedding photographers
Photographers earn a national average of $1,900 for a wedding, though many charge $2,500 to $5,000 for a one-day shoot, client meeting and processing time that runs up to 20 hours or more, and the cost of materials. The overpaid ones are the many who admit they only do weddings for the income, while quietly complaining about the hassle of dealing with hysterical brides and drunken reception guests. They mope through the job with the attitude: "I'm just doing this for the money until Time or National Geographic calls."
Much of their work is mediocre as a result. How often have you really been wowed flipping the pages of a wedding album handed you by recent newlyweds? Photographers who long for the day they can say "I don't do weddings" should leave the work to the dedicated ones who do.

9) Major airline pilots
While American and United pilots recently took pay cuts, senior captains earn as much as $250,000 a year at Delta, and their counterparts at other major airlines still earn about $150,000 to $215,000 - several times pilot pay at regional carriers - for a job that technology has made almost fully automated. By comparison, senior pilots make up to 40 percent less at low-fare carriers like Jet Blue and Southwest, though some enjoy favorable perks like stock options. That helps explain why their employers are profitable while several of the majors are still teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The pilot's unions are the most powerful in the industry. They demand premium pay as if still in the glory days of long-gone Pan Am and TWA, rather than the cutthroat, deregulated market of under-$200 coast-to-coast roundtrips. In what amounts to a per-passenger commission, the larger the plane, the more they earn - even though it takes little more skill to pilot a jumbo jet. It's as much the airplane mechanics who hold our fate in their hands.

8) West Coast longshoremen
In early 2002, West Coast ports shut down as the longshoremen's union fought to preserve generous health-care benefits that would make most Americans drool. The union didn't demand much in wage hikes for good reason: Its members already were making a boatload of money. Next year, West Coast dockworkers will earn an average of $112,000 for handling cargo, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, their employer. Office clerks who log shipping records into computers will earn $136,000. And unionized foremen who oversee the rank-and-file will pull down an average $177,000. Unlike their East Coast union brethren who compete with non-union ports in the South and Gulf of Mexico, the West Coast stevedores have an ironfisted lock on Pacific ports. Given their rare monopoly, they can disrupt U.S. commerce -- as they did during the FDR years -- and command exorbitant wages, even though their work is more automated and less hazardous than in the days of "On the Waterfront."

7) Skycaps at major airports
Many of the uniformed baggage handlers who check in luggage at curbside at the busiest metro airports pull in $70,000 to $100,000 a year -- most of it in cash. On top of their salaries, peak earners can take in $300 or more a day in tips. Sound implausible? That amounts to a $2 tip from 18 travelers an hour on average. Many tip more than that. While most skycaps are cordial, a good many treat customers with blank indifference, knowing harried travelers don't want to brave counter check-ins, especially in the post 9/11 age.

6) Real estate agents selling high-end homes
Anyone who puts in a little effort can pass the test to get a real estate agent's license, which makes the vast sums that luxury-home agents earn stupefying. While most agents hustle tail to earn $60,000 a year, those in affluent areas can pull down $200,000-plus for half the effort, courtesy of the fatter commissions on pricier listings. Luxury home agents live off the economy's fat, yet many put on airs as if they're members of the class whose homes they're selling, and eye underdressed open-house visitors as if they're casing the joint.

5) Motivational speakers and ex-politicians on the lecture circuit
Whether it's for knighted ex-Mayor Rudy Guiliani or Tom "In Search of Excellence" Peters, corporate trade groups pay astronomical sums to celebrity-types and political has-beens to address their convention audiences. Former President Reagan raised the bar back in 1989 when he took $2 million from Japanese business groups for making two speeches. Bill Clinton earned $9.5 million on 60 speeches last year, though most of those earnings went to charity and to fund his presidential library. The national convention circuit's shame is that it blows trade-group members' money on orators whose speeches often have been warmed over a dozen times.

4) Orthodontists
For a 35-hour workweek, orthodontists earn a median $350,000 a year, according to the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. General dentists, meanwhile, earn about half as much working 39 hours a week on average, in a much dirtier job. The difference in their training isn't like that of a heart surgeon vs. a family-practice doctor. It's a mere two years, and a vastly rewarding investment if you're among the chosen: U.S. dental schools have long been criticized for keeping orthodontists in artificially low supply to keep their income up. This isn't brain surgery: Orthodontists simply manipulate teeth in a growing child's mouth -- and often leave adjustment work to assistants whose handiwork they merely sign off on. What makes their windfall egregious is that they stick parents with most of the inflated bill, since orthodontia insurance benefits cover nowhere near as large a percentage as for general dentistry.

3) CEOs of poorly performing companies
Most U.S. chief executives are vastly overpaid, but if their company is rewarding shareholders and employees, producing quality products of good value and being a responsible corporate citizen, it's hard to take issue with their compensation. CEOs at chronically unprofitable companies and those forever lagging industry peers stand as the most grossly overpaid. Most know they should resign -- in shareholders' and employees' interest -- but they survive because corporate boards that oversee them remain stacked with friends and family members. The ultimate excess comes after they're finally forced out, usually by insiders tired of seeing their own stock holdings plummet. These long-time losers draw multimillion-dollar severance packages as a reward for their failed stewardship.

2) Washed-up pro athletes in long-term contracts
Pro athletes at the top of their game deserve what they earn for being the best in their business. It's those who sign whopping, long-term contracts after a few strong years, and then find their talents vanish, who reap unconscionable sums of money. NBA player Shawn Kemp, for instance, earned $10 million in a year he averaged a pathetic 6.1 points and 3.8 rebounds a game. Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Hampton earned $9.5 million -- in the second year of an eight-year, $121 million contract -- while compiling a 7-15 won-loss record for the Colorado Rockies with a pitiful earned-run average of 6.15. Thank the players' unions for refusing to negotiate contracts based on performance -- and driving up the cost of tickets to levels unaffordable for a family of four, especially for football and basketball. They point to owners as the culprits, yet golf star Tiger Woods and tennis champ Serena Williams earn their keep based on their performance in each tournament.

And the winner is *drumroll*

1) Mutual-fund managers
Everyone on Wall Street makes far too much for the backbreaking work of moving money around, but mutual fund managers are emerging as among the most reprehensible. This isn't kicking 'em when they're down, given the growing fund-industry scandal. They've been long overpaid. Stock-fund managers can easily earn $500,000 to $1 million a year including bonuses -- even though only 3 in 10 beat the market in the last 10 years. Now we discover an untold number enriched themselves and favored clients with illegally timed trades of fund shares. That's a worse betrayal of trust than the corporate scandals of recent years, since they're supposed to be on the little person's side. Put aside what fund managers earn and consider their bosses. Putnam's ex-CEO Lawrence J. Lasser's income rivals the bloated pay package that sparked New York Stock Exchange President Dick Grasso's ouster. Lasser's take: An estimated total of $163 million over the last five years.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Dept. of Re-Branding-Stuff

12th Turkmenbashi

"When are you born? A at the twelfth of Turkmenbashi...

The president of Turkmenistan is taking the branding biz serious and seeking to rename the month of January after himself. Turkmenbashi means 'head of Turkmenistan'.

How's about that? Well, not only that he is having his presidency for life - he have cities, airports, and a meteorite named after him, and other months of the year have been named after his mother, after a poet, and after a book that he wrote (the poet I hope).

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Dept. of A-Mouthful-Of-Art

Chewing the art

What is art?

That question is maybe eternal and here is an artist who really re-lives the question: his "paintings" are made out of chewing gum.

I mean - this is rather peculiar and strange. Imagine the way that guy is working... looking like a cow chewing and chewing on and on.

And when the red color is out he have to get down the candy store to get some new packets of gum.

Monday, March 08, 2004

Dept. of Lettuce-Violence

The brawl around the salad bar

The guys at The Smoking Gun have dug up a truly anti-vegetarian story when they posting the policereport on the big brawl around the salad bar down in Retirements-Paradise Florida.

62 year old Hooker was giving the 86 year old the menu of boxing.

And they say that the older have something to learn young people... the perfect hook?

Sunday, March 07, 2004

Dept. of Apples-In-Redmond

Behind enemyline

"as if they were working for a division of General Motors making parts for Volkswagens."

They might be the aliens of the Big Software Co, or like putting Usama as vice-POTUS. The Mac lovers of Microsoft is a strange part of the company, like soldiers not on any side or on both. They are coding the Mac-versions of popular Microsoft-applications and they are the only ones with a Mac in their lap. Sometimes they forced to show their badges when putting up their computers in the conference-rooms. Tough man.

Saturday, March 06, 2004

Dept. of Children-With-Strange-Names

Branding the child


"U.S. Census Bureau reports that over a thousand babies born in the year 2000 were named after luxury goods."

Isn't this strange? Some more new age-inflicted theorists are seeing this to be a way to convey status and power to the children through their names, something that seem to be almost archetyphical since naming a child should be correlated to the child's personality (example Native American names).

"These attempts to cash in on corporate cachet on behalf of the just-born seem a bit short-sighted because of all the baggage these names carry. What if young Timberland is spooked by the woods? What if Guinness can't hold his beer? How will Porsche feel driving a Neon? And what if the namesake of your brand name baby tanks big time? Just explain to your kid why you named him Parmalat."

My thought is: what if the young homie Lexus Chanel Anderson is jailed for a killing - should the companies owning the brands sue his parents on brand inflicting?

Friday, March 05, 2004

Dept. of Scary-Gadgets

Sweet dreams are made of this

Don't you sometimes wish you could decide what to dream about when sleeping those few hours that is needed to be as functional as expected?

"The dream machine comes equipped with a voice recorder, array of lights, picture frame, fragrance dispenser, selection of internally stored background music, two speakers and a timer.
Working in conjunction, these components allow users to design their dreams through multisensory stimuli of scents, sounds and more.
we're told by Wired News.

And of course, it made in Japan. The home of The Divine Gizmo.

But who can be happy ever after reading about the Deep Sleep of Reality? No, cause real scientists in the dreary area of sleep says that noone can tell when REM is occurring (well - why don't you call Michael Stipe? *arr-arr*) and then this timing idea of set more stimuli to the dreamer is a setback.

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Dept. of State-Of-The-Ass

Painting with your butt

One never stops to be fascinated by the fantasy people are able to develop when coming to nudity. This is Joe Gallant and his hired porn-stars that paints pictures through squirting...

I wonder if the paintings is for sale... I mean "Weeeh! I have a painting made by Sydney Moon!"

But(t) it´s just a evolution of the sixties artist Yves Klein who let nude women make paintings using their own bodies.

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Dept. of Work-Force

Not that bad being between jobs

Dvorkin is putting up a story about the benefits of being unemployed and this is all from getting rid of telemarketers and other solicitors to being more close to his spouse...

Other surprising benefits is that the cluttered house got cleaned and learned the Free Enterprise Hurrah! system.

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Dept. of ESP

Feel the pain

This is somewhat a classic. There's lot of journalists who been revealed to report from places but themselves sitting at some hotel far away.

The weatherman Gary LaPierre WBZ Radio was talking about the cold weather and, as usual, got the listeners to feel that he was in Boston looking out the window. But he wasn't.

The report of one of the coldest mornings in Boston was sent from his condo down in Florida. And this story did uncover that LaPierre did this often. He had furnitured a studio in his house and with the help of Internet and other communication tools he could paint the picture of the weather.

That's a new way - think about the highway-reporter who reporting from the Boeing on his way to Bali: "Well, at the interstate there is a huge caravan of... camels...".

Monday, March 01, 2004

Dept. of Childrens-Treat

This candy isn't childrens finest

Every saturday my kids is starving for candy.

I wonder where I could find this sorted goods which the guys making Bad-Candy.com is testing.

Yes - it is a site dedicated to candy that tastes bad and/or are looking more like dog-feces.