Rules:
The name of the puzzle is significant.
Thats it, a simple puzzle, I got it in a couple of minutes, but I can see how it might take some folks a lot more time to figure it out. Its actually an interesting psychological experiment.
I hate this band and this is just further proof why these guys suck.
http://www.thewebshite.net/nickelback.htm
So as you may have guessed from the mini flood of recent posts, things have slowed down at work and I now have some time on my hands to surf the net and work on my blog. Probably won’t last long, but I’m still pretending to be super busy so the bosses will leave me alone. I’ve gotten pretty good at switching screens whenever they come around (I always keep an Excel spreadsheet opened in the background).
Finally gave up on my trusty old Tivo on Saturday when I replaced it with the Comcast DVR, which had features that Tivo isn’t going to have any time soon. The Comcast DVR has two tuners, which means you can record two shows at once, and it can record HDTV, so it’ll be ready when my new Plasma TV is delivered. On the sound front, the Comcast DVR has digital sound outputs so it can record and play back Dobly Digital 5.1 surround sound! Also you don’t need a separate cable box as the DVR has a built in digital cable tuner. Is so nice to be able to clean up my stereo cabinet. I use to have the Tivo, the cable box, and an external wireless network box (I had hacked my Tivo to get the program guide from the internet) in my cabinet with wires running all over the place. You also don’t need to plug the Comcase DVR into a phone line as the programming info comes from the cable.
The interface and programming guide isn’t as good as Tivo, but I can live with that for the time being. Since Comcast and Motorola (the manufacturer of the DVR) isn’t going out of business anytime soon, its safe to assume that they will continue to make improvements. Tivo, on the other hand, may go out of business. The best part is that the Comcast DVR is $10 a month, thats it, no other costs, don’t need to buy the box. Tivo is still charging $200 for the box and there’s still the monthly charge or the $300 lifetime fee for the programming info. Whenever Tivo figures out how to put out a competing box, I’ll be happy to go back.
I can’t believe Star Trek: Enterprise has been cancelled. Its been a sad day since I heard the news. After 15 years, or almost half my life, there will no longer be any new Star Trek episodes. Can’t believe the producers of Enterprise screwed things up so badly given the things they could have done with the premise of Enterprise. Instead of focusing on how the Federation was formed and the sticking to the history of the Trek universe, they decided they needed to carve out their own story line that had nothing to do with Trek history. Two seasons were wasted on the Xindi BS. This season, they finally gave up on that losing plot line and got back to showing how the Federation was formed. This season was actually getting pretty good. But it wasn’t enough to save the show. The writers got lazy and were using stale plot devices like time travel and old rehashed stories too much.
Dar Williams, The Beautry of Rain
If you like Natalie Merchant or 10,000 Maniacs, you’ll definately like this. Just good folk-pop music here.
Rachael Yamagata, Happenstance
Something of a cross between Fiona Apple and Macy Gray, but definately doesn’t fall far from the Fiona Apple tree (okay bad pun). This is a pretty good substitute for the next Fiona Apple album that probably won’t be available anytime soon.
Le Tigre, This Island
This is an interesting mix of New Wave, Techno, and Punk Attitudes, not too different from the B-52s in terms of the making music thats fun and cool.
Tift Merrit, Tambourine
Okay, many of you have heard me say that I can’t stand country music, but I can’t help but to like this album. But in my defense, this is not straight-ahead country music. It belongs in that somewhat new alt-country category, kinda like Wilco. Anyway, she’s a got the country twang going on, but the music combines gospel, soul, and a good dose of rock, so the country underpinnings are hidden quite well, at least enough so I don’t care.
You have to check this out. Its one of the weirdest and coolest optical illusions I’ve ever seen. Check out the video first, then download the paper cut out and make one yourself. You’ll waste too much time trying to figure out the illusion, but trust me its worth it. Make sure you follow the directions carefully, one mistake and the illusion won’t work.
Check out smarterchild if you are on AOL IM or MSN Messenger. Add “smarterchild” to your contacts and you can ask the bot for information like stock quotes, the weather, and what movies are playing in your area. It even has reference tools like a dictionary, theasarus, and encyclopledia. Its actually a lot of fun trying to figure out how to ask smarterchild the right questions for the info that you want. If you don’t you get funny answers, kinda like that fake AI program that use to go around back in the Apple // days. You can even ask it to remind you of appointments and meetings. The only thing I wished it had was a phonebook. This is a pretty cool tool whenever you need quick info