Waking Badger » Miscellanea

Google's Geeky Halloween robots.txt

bill — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:15:40 +0000

Marissa Mayer (Google’s Vice President, Search Products & User Experience) tweeted about this the other day and I really thought it was cute:

User-agent: Kids
Disallow: /tricks
Allow: /treats

Cue the crash and burn sounds…

bill — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:54:58 +0000

[youtube width="480" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xwYBBpHg1I[/youtube]

Yes, in a lot of ways, we live in a “nanny” state that wants to ensure that nothing we do or ever could do could harm us, even if by choice. However, all that being said, crash tests and the resulting changes in car design are amazing. This video is a great example of just how far automobiles have come in the past 50 years…

Princesses in today's world?

bill — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:04:11 +0000

Let me first say that I have no issue with the Disney Princess line of videos, toys, etc. I think it is probably enjoyable for young girls to imagine themselves with a fairy godmother and a handsome prince, but I would say if it were my daughter I would hope she would hold off on the wedding until after college, get an engineering degree and proceed to turn some faction of the scientific world on it’s ear with her brilliance. But that would be her choice.

That all being said, I found this photographic series titled “Fallen Princesses” via Pixar’s Andrew Stanton’s twitter feed. The photos are simple, to the point, and compelling. I’d suggest looking at all of them. The photographer explains that the photos show Disney’esque princesses in real-life situations affecting women she knows.

It’s at least an interesting idea…

Must watch LEGO stop-motion video

bill — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:15:10 +0000

[youtube width="480" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhkR-vHXO28[/youtube]

I loved this video as it’s really well done and the original sound/music makes it.

Also, if you haven’t noticed, I find many of my videos through Laughing Squid, just like this one, so I HIGHLY recommend you follow their site…

He had me at Kwisatz Haderach…

bill — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:18:43 +0000

[youtube width="425" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW7OPByRGDY[/youtube]

I loved this roast, but I’m not sure the subject matter entirely engaged the whole crowd at the Radio & TV Correspondents’ Dinner, but I found it engaging and hilarious. Anyone who can spend time with the President’s attention discussing Dune is great by me

Large Corporation focuses on gamers…shock!

bill — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:55:16 +0000

I find the concept of Mountain Dew Game Fuel to be somewhat pathetic and patronizing, but it is advertising. The idea that gamers are somehow so different from the average cola drinker is ridiculous, but they obviously feel there is a market segment here dying to be pandered to. So normally this wouldn’t even be of any interest to me, but I found the commercial interesting as I enjoyed the image of two women changing into WoW characters and battling it out in a supermarket.

All that said, I doubt I will be purchasing this…

[youtube width="480" height="295"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iioJ0UY4JHM[/youtube]

Megan Fox isn't real!!!

bill — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:28:07 +0000

I thought this was somewhat funny (found via @CaliLewis)…

[youtube width="480" height="295"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXsd5aw8oas[/youtube]

New Credit Card Rules Coming?

bill — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:15:05 +0000

The Senate has now passed credit reforms that are similar to what the house passed in April. Hopefully, now the bill will go to conference and then upon passage, on to Obama for signature. The bill doesn’t do everything I want, but many of the points seem to be good common sense first steps in fixing the consumer credit industries practices. Consumer Reports Money blog runs down the main points, but the main points attempt to insure interest rates are applied in a fair way and that consumers receive adequate notification. One big point in my opinion is no over the limit fees unless notified and accepted first (purchase can be declined rather than receiving the fine).

We’ll have to wait to see what comes from a combined bill to see if it gets neutered any further…

Blow that theme song

bill — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:53:36 +0000

Tetris is an awesome game and playing the theme song with glass bottles would be I imagine … challenging. No real world value here, but really cool.

[youtube width="425" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkDBlEvfbgg[/youtube]

Palin decends on Twitter

bill — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:50:51 +0000

I don’t know how I missed it, but Sarah Palin started tweeting under the account, AKGovSarahPalin, on April 29th. I have no idea if it is actually her or not and I have NO intention of following her, but I thought it was a topic to mention. Remember, if you want the same brilliant nuggets of genius she gave during the campaign, then please by all means head over and click the follow button. Personally, I think you’d be better off following Ashton Kutcher and believe me, that is a scary thought