Free Clocks for All !

Oh wow, a double-goody! Lots of hosted clock scripts for a blog or website and they're free!

One of my personal favs:

Many more at their clock gallery.

Visit CSalim.com

And I Thought it Was Worthless

I've checked this blog's "worth" several other times in the past, but found this new website that evaluates a site's worth: How Much is My Website Worth?

As much as I enjoy my blog - even though I'm not so good about keeping it updated - I'd sure as hell sell it for that.  I'd sell just about anything I got for 800 bucks ...except for the Beej.

Earthball

Saw this on a website earlier and thought it a cool counter. I'm happy with my counters, so I doubt I'll add it. There are several options - background color, different globe types and java or flash variations.

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Learn Chinese Everyday

Learn Chinese — Learn a Chinese Character a Day

I stumbled across this website the other day and immediately subscribed to the feed. The site's premise/purpose is to provide all the information and tools to learn a single Chinese character each day. Seeing as how the Chinese pretty much own America - or its GDP for the next hundred years - I thought it prudent to learn how to communicate with our future overlords.

For example, today's word is pronounced - mén - meaning:

1. door. (n)
2. valve; switch. (n)
3. knack. (n)
4. school of thought. (n)
5. (measure word) used for subjects of study, cannons, marriage, relatives. (n)

They even show how to draw the character with a nifty little animation:



The site also has sound files to listen to the word, plus gives examples in translated-to-English sentences such as these:

Open the door, please.

That's the least of what we'll have to do for our Chinese bosses.

How many courses did you select?

I don't think this will mean anything to do with education. No, I think it will be pertaining to food. "How many courses...?" will be a subtle (in the Chinese way) but stern reminder that we Americans don't need all that protein we're accustomed to. One small bowl of rice, two or three dehydrated minnows and a half-cup of pickled frog intestines will be three courses.

I just hope they don't insist upon me using those damn chopsticks. I always get splinters in my lips when I've use those.

He finally got the hang of repairing computers.

That's what I might hear my own personal master say to his boss while pleading that my life should be spared. I've earned the death sentence by insolence, laziness and possession of a banned firearm as well as a prohibited radio found tuned to decadent Western rock and roll .

He has already converted to Buddhism.

Again, he's arguing my case. I haven't converted, I just shave my head in hopes they'll think I'm a monk. (the celibate part is in my favor, too)

The first thing we shall do is to turn on the switch.

That's probably one of the last things I'll hear as they strap me into the electric chair.

(just kidding on that last...everybody knows the Chinese just shoot you in the head)

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Sorry, couldn't help but crack wise on this site, even though it's very informative and useful and I DO plan on trying to learn a little bit of Chinese. (I recently read it's much, much easier learn than is Polish)

Still, there's a grain of truth to what I wrote, the hyperbole regarding the US and China and our future relations. I'd like to take this time to point out that Ron Paul has been warning us of this for years.

Regardless, this site is still worth featuring.

Learn Chinese Everyday

What would you do for five bucks?

What would you do for five bucks?

Find out at Fiverr.com ^TM. Join the site, then post what you'd do OR like done for $5.

Among the many entries are offers to alter a photo in Photoshop, create and host a blog for a month and writing some erotic fiction.

Heck, I'll write some erotic fiction for five dollars.

I'll have to get ten if I can't use the word "throbbing", though.

Fiverr.com ^TM

ScribblerTwo

Create your own Scribbler artwork with this nifty application. Select the canvas, brush settings and color and if you like, upload your own graphic to scribble upon.

(This reminds me of the glitzer/grappa applets )

ScribblerTwo

Comfortable Ways of Sleeping in a Box

From Damn Cool Pics



Follow the above link to see over 20 other photos of cats in boxes. I picked this particular one because it looks a lot like the Beej. When he gets comfortable on my lap or lying beside me, he tucks his head under like that cat is doing.

Somewhere out there is a pic of me as a young boy lying on my bed with my head in a box. My family always laughed about it, but it was an effective way of blocking off noise in our small and crowded house. I could hold my book on my chest and escape into the story and not be distracted. It was also comforting in a way.

It's not-so-strange to admit to liking cats. It's a fairly strange thing to confess I've always been fascinated by boxes.

Comfortable Ways of Sleeping in a Box

Ear Wiggling

From the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders website:

Secret Talents: Justine Phillips

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Pffft, I can wiggle my big ol' LBJ ears much better than that. I can wiggle my ears so rapidly that, if I've got a good headwind and lean into the hearty Panhandle breeze plus flap my arms some, I can lift off the ground a little bit.

If you look at the menu below the vid, there are a few other "talents" demonstrated, such as touching tongue to nose, wiggling eyes and juggling.

I can juggle too, and can spell "M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I".

That's probably enough braggin'.

letters to dead people

letters to dead people is a simple but brilliant idea: write a letter to the deceased and let them know how you feel. Most of the letters are written by the site's owner, but she also takes reader submissions. Some are silly, some are poignant and others are laugh-out-loud funny.

For example, one of the latest letters is to Princess Diana:

Dear Princess Diana,
Even in death we did not leave you alone.

Another recent entry:

Dear Marquis De Sade,
You won't find love in the crack of a whip, but I guess you were never looking for love in the first place.

One of my personal favorites:

Dear Isaac Newton,
Heavy, man, heavy.

My very favorite, however, is my own selected for publication.

Rate My Turban

A hilarious parody of Hot or Not



Rate My Turban

New Trivia Games

Earlier today I received an email from FunTrivia.com, the website that hosts our daily trivia game:

Hello ToTG,

FunTrivia.com, the World's Largest Trivia Site, has grown enormously over the past year to include over 1.5 million trivia questions and 90,000 quizzes. Here are some of the NEW things at FunTrivia:

- We are happy to announce the opening of a new game, Mind Melt! Can you match definitions, opposites, and relationships between words faster than your opponents? Come try it out:

http://www.funtrivia.com/mindmelt

- Over 150 Challenges, each with unique goals and awards. Enough here to keep you entertained for a decade!

- "Who's the Expert" - A new topic is chosen each hour and the best scorer crowned.

- "Fill me In" - new hourly game that asks you to fill in the blank.

- "Who Am I?" - new daily game that tests your knowledge of famous people.

- Create a team and play team trivia every day!

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That sounds interesting, and I will probably check out the new games, but it was another bit of info. in the email that threw me for a loop:

Your achievements to date have advanced you to Trivia Level 1.
So far you have played 1 of 90,000 quizzes and scored 130 points.
You are ranked #5510 of the 10,000 players in your class (class 168).

That means I'm just a little bit above average. That's all I really want out of life, to be just a little bit above average.

GOP Valentine's Day Cards

Send your favorite right-winger a Valentine e-card with GOP Valentine's Day Cards.

Some are very clever; here's one of my favorites:



(I couldn't use the Al Franken one as an example; it makes me nauseous to think of him or hear him, much less look at his ugly mug)

I suppose the recipient doesn't necessarily have to be a right-winger; you could send one to a liberal you want to infuriate.

GOP Valentine's Day Cards

Amazing Origami

From Izismile.com:

The amazingly small but perfect paper creations in these photos are the work of Origami artist Mui-Ling. They are so tiny that they can only be appreciated through close up photography. She is truly a genius at what she does.



Any mention of origami reminds me of our dear, departed friend Brad. He would've liked this.

View the rest of the amazing art.

Rainy Mood

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me I can hear music as well as a chorus singing in bits of the loop. I know there's some birds singing, but I don't think I've ever heard birds singing in the rain. (maybe it's the genekelly bird?)

I hope it's not those voices in my head.

Rainy Mood

Singin' in the Rain

We're (hic) #1!!!

From USA Today comes lists of the most/least drunkest cities in the US.

Fresno tops the list of the drunkest cities, but since Texas has three in the top ten, that should put us in the lead, at least in the "team" portion of the competition.

Here's the list of most drunk cities in the US:

1. Fresno, Calif.
2. Reno, Nev.
3. Billings, Mont.
4. Riverside, Calif.
5. Austin
6. St. Louis
7. San Antonio
8. Lubbock, Texas
9. Tucson
10. Bakersfield, Calif.

Read the rest

More to the Story

What did you think when you saw the above photo?

I bet it wasn't what really happened.

Funny Money

From Dark Roasted Blend, this fascinating article:

Funny Money: Unusual and Fascinating Currency

Graphical Marvels, Forged Notes, Hyperinflation "Riches" and Propaganda Bed Sheets

"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero."
(Voltaire, 1694-1778)

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For years I've been collecting foreign coins. Thanks to one of my Brit friends I met online, I have one of these coins:

50 pence or "p".

It was also fascinating to me to learn that they also have no one pound paper note. Several times we (Americans) have tried with little success to convert to dollar coins. I like the idea and would use them, DID use them when they came out.

I once worked in a convenience store and during the shift change, when the register was being counted, the girl I was relieving proudly showed me three Mexican coins she had taken in payment for one of the store's specials, 3 burritos for a dollar. She took them as fifty cent pieces, which they resembled. but were 20 peso pieces. She took $1.50 of her own money and told me she was taking the coins home, she now had "60 Mexican dollars!". I took a quarter out of my own pocket, walked outside to the newspaper vending machine, purchased an Amarillo paper (75 cents now!!!), took it inside and opened to the paper's financial pages where I showed her that a peso - at the time- was worth something like one-fourth of a US cent, which made her investment come to the sum total of about fifteen cents. (she gave out more change with the burritos than that)

She looked so distressed that I put the buck and a half in the register and took the coins. Checking today's rate, my 60 pesos are now worth $4.58. I also have quite a few other Mexican and South American country coins, plus some from various European nations. I've researched them and found that a few are worth more than face value because they have become collector's items.

gelid

gelid \JEL-id\ , adjective;
1. Extremely cold; icy.

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My online friends Alison and Chester would say a picture is worth a thousand words.

16,000 word's worth

MyLifeIsAverage

"Life is pretty normal today." says MyLifeIsAverage, a collection of people's thoughts about their life, ending with the abbrev. MLIA. Some of the contributions strike me as anything BUT average, however.

Yesterday, at my friend's 18th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, I realized that it's a casino for little kids. MLIA.

OK, so they might not be ROFL funny, but some will make you smile.

My favorite so far:

A few days ago, I taught the little girl I babysit how to do the Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Today, I found out that she got her entire playground to do it at school yesterday. I'm so proud of her. MLIA.

MyLifeIsAverage

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EDIT: Thought I'd posted this already and was just going to link to it, but what the heck, I'll go ahead and include the video in this post.

Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show

Bin Laden Found!

According to the Drudge Report, he must be in Australia.

(click for larger view)

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UPDATE: Others noticed/commented, too