“groovy mother...”

Entries for week beginning February 25, 2007

March 3, 2007

Dogbeard’s Bathtub Battle

Dogbeard’s Bathtub Battle

Screw Second Life... the *real* leader in massively-multiplayer virtual worlds is clearly Webkinz. You may not be able to campaign for John Edwards, or purchase spunking cocks, but it's actually, y'know, fun!

Here we see my Webkinz (Russell the Pig) takes on Joy's (Barnaby the Lion) at "Dogbeard's Bathtub Battle".

March 2, 2007

LateNightTales: Air

CD Purchase: Various Artists - LateNightTales: Air

Brand New By Tomorrow

CD Purchase: Money Mark - Brand New By Tomorrow

The PopWatch Interview: Controversy on ‘South Park,’ what-what-what?!?

Trey Parker and Matt Stone hint that the season premiere of South Park is so controversy-prone, they can’t reveal its topic in case it gets pulled. Also coming soon: Cartman as Jack Bauer in a 24 spoof.

BBC NEWS | BBC strikes Google-YouTube deal

Um… The BBC is going to put promotional clips on YouTube. Explain to me why this is “news”?

YouTube - Chicken chicken chicken

Everything a Powerpoint presentation *should* be. (http://isotropic.org/papers/chicken.pdf if you want to see the scientific paper on which this talk is based)

The Boring Store: A Tour of 826CHI’s Chicago Spy Shop

Chicago’s answer to SanFran’s pirate shop and New York’s superhero store opens, and it’s just as brilliant.

A faster way to speed up Mail.app

Since Apple Mail uses the opensource sqlite for its data repository, you can speed up Mail by running a SQL vacuum on the index file.

Excited Red Sox Fans Eagerly Await Debut Of Matsuzaka’s ‘Ultimate Galactic Dragon Gyroball Pitch Power Explosion’ | The Onion

“His Ultimate Galactic Dragon Gyroball Pitch Power Explosion breaks three feet inside before cutting sharply toward the dugout, where falsehood and cowardice are forced to shrink before it!”

March 1, 2007

This ATM is NOT A BOMB

This ATM is NOT A BOMB

explanation

This parking meter is NOT A BOMB

This parking meter is NOT A BOMB

explanation

This cone is NOT A BOMB

This cone is NOT A BOMB

explanation

The phone is NOT A BOMB

The phone is NOT A BOMB

explanation

The box is NOT A BOMB

The box is NOT A BOMB

explanation

Sprout

Relaxed, attractive Flash logic puzzle. A lovely way to fill five minutes.

February 28, 2007

Jaiku | Rod Begbie

I’m taking a look at Jaiku — a Twitter-a-like status-sharer, but with deep integration into Series 60 cellphones. It can tell people when I’m on my cellphone, warn them that I’ve put it on silent mode, or tell them my location based upon the cell tower I’m connected to.

Welcome to Webkinz

The big craze with some friends’ kids — A kind-of cross between Beanie Babies, The Sims and Second Life. Buy a cheap cuddly toy, register with the site, and bring it to life in a virtual world where you can play with it, buy it treats with pretend-money you have to “earn” and interact with your friends. Think I’ll buy one for Joy.

February 27, 2007

Philip Greenspun’s Weblog : Free helicopter rides for programmers

Stonking prize for the BarCampBoston2 programming contest — A free helicopter tour of Boston with PhilG as your pilot!

unconference the book

Wiki-based attempt to write a book about BarCamp and co.

code slate: you don’t bury survivors

“What was your contribution to the team?” “Light both ends of fuse one and one end of fuse two. When fuse one burns out, light the other end of fuse two.”

The Impossible Quiz Deluxe by =Splapp-me-do on deviantART

Trick questions, logical traps, and just general evilness. Takes an age to download and get going, but it’s plenty of fun.

‘Beyond Tetris’ - Minesweeper

History of everyone’s favourite Windows feature.

swfIR: swf Image Replacement

Cunning use of Flash and Javascript to enable “special effects” (borders, rotation and shadows) on images in web pages cleanly.

February 26, 2007

hackdiary: Taking automated webpage screenshots with embedded Mozilla

Now in place on groovymother.com — My links should now be illustrated with dinky thumbnails.

Christopher Guest Jumps Into ‘The Thick of It’ - ‘Best in Show’ director helming ABC pilot - Zap2it

Christopher Guest is to direct the pilot of the US version of “The Thick of It”. Very cool.

iLap Laptop Stand

Picked one of these up over the weekend to stop my MacBook from frying my intimate areas when I’m working on the couch. Initial reaction: Very comfortable.

February 25, 2007

saute-swinish