Rent or Buy?

This handy tool from NYT via Apartment Therapy helps you calculate when it's better to rent or buy.
Very useful tool for those of us that are thinking about this currently.


Link

Teen figures out how to decompose plastic bags in 3 months

It's not often I write about local advances, but this had me stunned.

Go Canada!

Ontario high school junior Daniel Burd wanted to try to figure out if there was a way to get plastic bags to decompose faster. As it stands, it takes thousands of years for the wasteful objects to disintegrate. But by using bacteria, he figured out how to make it happen in a mere three months

Article

PC Tool Round-up

I think I'm going to start posting tech tools in single posts for nerds like me, while keeping everything else running smooth, lol

Without further a due:

Automate Windows Tasks like virus/spyware scans
HomeCamera Turns Your Webcam into a Surveillance Camera
Easily rip DVDs to Xvid/Divx or with this tool
Clean up misc/dead files on your PC w/ CC
WildCard File Renamer - batch file name writer **
Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software

Paul McCartney’s Lexus Hybrid Gets 4 MPG

for us on the metric system, that's.... well, still terrible, lol

Great example of how people don't see the whole picture

Article

4 Most Harmful Ingredients in Packaged Foods

Planning a frozen dinner tonight? Think again.
Ninety percent of Americans' household food budget is spent on processed foods, the majority of which are filled with additives and stripped of nutrients. Discover which common ingredients in the foods you eat pose the greatest risk to your health.

Short List:
TRANS FATS
REFINED GRAINS
SALT
HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP


Just a friendly heads up.
Eating natural keeps sounding better and better.



Article

Photographer speared by javelin at meet

PROVO, Utah (AP) - A newspaper photographer got a little too close to the action at the state high school track championships — and was speared through the leg by a javelin.

Article

lol

Apartmenttherapy.com - Small Cool Spaces 2008

Some great use of space in here.
Above are a couple of my favourites

More at
Apartmenttherapy.com

Regulators want answers from Bell Canada on P2P throttling

...interrogation is exactly what the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has in mind for Bell Canada. Late last week, the regulator issued a detailed set of "interrogatories" (PDF) complete with chart that must be filled in by May 29. The goal is to find out exactly how Bell's deep packet inspection technology throttles traffic and the justifications for using it on all Bell traffic, even that sold at wholesale rates to smaller ISPs. Anyone interested in these matters stands to learn plenty of interesting information 10 days from now.

wow, the government is acting more mature than the private sector for once.

kudos

Article

New Light Source Lasts 15 Years Without a Recharge

Non-toxic and cheap?
Go science!

Article

40 Hours of Illustrator Time-Lapsed

Science Machine from Chad Pugh on Vimeo.

Up Your Lifestyle Game

If you like nice things like me, but unlike me, have the funds to cop them, this site has a couple nice items that would make for a lovely addition to your materialistic life.

scoute.org

Explaining Web 1.0, Web 2.0 & Web 3.0

Stop saying everything is 'web 2.0' and get educated.
Here is the best available definition:

...After all this data was posted online with the Web 1.0 movement, the online community began to look for ways to share all of this data. The main question that drove this movement, “How can I take this data and share it with other people?”

Article

Lil Wayne Kanye West - Lollipop Remix [OFFICIAL REMIX]

Will Smith Opens Scientology School

No longer the prince of Bel-Air, but rather a slave hubbard.

We Lost Good ol' Will :(


Article

The Pirate's Dilemma

Matt Mason's fascinating view on the affect technology can have on a particular business ecosystem.

Anyone even remotely interested in music, business or economics will find this video very interesting. I do warn you that it is just over half an hour long.

Referencing Mason's book, The Pirates Dilemma, an article in Ars talks about How Viacom can sink the pirates

Sex And The American Mom: 1 In 3 Report Getting Action On The Side

The survey, "Sex and the American Mom," revealed that 34% of these married moms is in the midst of, or has already had, an affair. Think of three married moms you know and ask yourself, "Which one is cheating?"

The great world we live in.
Article

See The Dress That Got A High-School Senior Arrested

Madison High's prom took place at the Sugar Land Marriot. But Taylor only got as far as the lobby because when she tried to enter the ballroom an official stopped her.

She was told her dress violated a school dress code.

Video Link

Article

Man says JetBlue made him sit on toilet

A New York City man is suing JetBlue Airways for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California.

only in America.... lol
Article

Teenagers to take embarrassing ailments to Second Life doctors

Spanish health authorities launched a virtual portal through the Second Life website yesterday designed to help young people too embarrassed to speak to a doctor about sexually transmitted disease or a drug problem.

Good Idea .

Article

Translate Text

Translate anything from plain old text, to an entire website.
Nice little gold nugget this is.

Link

UPDATE: to aggregate more engines, try this app http://translateclient.googlepages.com/index.en.html

‘Air Tree’ Structures in Madrid produce Oxygen and Energy

A little ugly, but with some Logically Creative designing, this concept could be all the rage in urban centers around the world.
lol

The city of Madrid soon plans to add a striking new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture. Designed by Urban Ecosystems, the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Using photovoltaic cells, the Air Tree produces a substantial amount of energy, which is then sold back to the local electric companies, the profits being used for maintenance of the structure. The second byproduct is of course oxygen - hence the name ‘Air Tree’!

Article

25 Rejected Ideas From Grand Theft Auto IV

Posts have been getting a little slow lately, for I am working a little more and trying to figure out what I'm doing with my life.... lol

Until then, here are some more great ways to waste time:



Link for rest

Audio from Youtube

My brother asked me to get an audio clip from a Youtube video to make him a ringtone (no, it was not copy protected material)

After doing it the hard way, I found this nice little service.

Takes the audio from the video.

http://www.vidtomp3.com/

Disclaimer: don't do illegal stuff, ya heard?

YELLE @ The Opera House

Wednesday April 30th, 2008

Great show, very high energy. She sure is a performer.

Note: my flash batteries died as YELLE came on... so needless to say, the shots are subpar....










It seems that my image hosting system is seriously flawed.
For the time being I'll just put the pics on fb. If you want a copy, feel free to PM/leave a comment and I'll get back to you.