I noticed a little t-shirt icon next to the CNN headlines today, upon further clicking I learned that CNN is selling custom t-shirts with dated headlines as of today… Come on now!! Why can’t the headlines just be the headlines? It’s bad enough that the deliverers (those reading the teleprompter and offering their personal “spin” on what’s happening) have become a-list celebrities, but now we’re expected to cover our bodies with headlines! I imagine the shirts are geared to be collectibles someday, like an old McDonald’s Star Wars cup or Rolling Stones ‘72 Tour poster, but since when is Ted Turner in the business of selling collectibles? This is just another step in the evolution of news becoming entertainment and not a practical source of information.
As a footnote, if anybody wants to buy a Max the Millennium Beanie Baby, I have one for sale for $3700.
Ok so everyone said they wanted to hear about my wedding planning, and since it’s taken over my life it’s about the only thing I have to write about!
The wedding is on November 1, 2008 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on Pleasant Street in Portland. The reception is to follow at Val Hall Golf Club in Cumberland. We are inviting about 140 people, which usually means about 120 or so will attend! I have purchased my dress, and the bridesmaid dresses have also been purchased. I am doing an apple red for their colors, which will go along with the fall/leave theme of the wedding. I am moving right along with all the other planning, which is nice!
We are going to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for our honeymoon and we’re staying at the Punta Cana Princess All-Suites and Spa Resort, which is an All-Inclusive resort (necessary due to the amount of food Slava eats!). There is a video of the resort on YouTube, and a description, pictures and traveler reviews on TripAdvisor…the actual site is horrible! We are going on Monday, November 3rd until Monday, November 10th.
If you are interested we have created a wedding website that has information about the wedding, family photos and other great stuff! It is still being updated, so keep checking back for additional information!
I just finished Assassin’s Creed last night. Not sure what all the bitching was about. This game featured great graphics, great voice acting, and a much better than average story.
Yes, the random things people in the crowd did get repetitive–you would think that for the 36 villagers I saved, they would have more than 4 standard responses–”my sons will hear of your bravery!” And, the tasks you perform can get repetitive as well. Save a villager, pick a pocket, hide in some hay, eavesdrop, beat the crap out of someone.
Still, the utter joy of leaping from rooftop to rooftop, scrambling up walls and sneaking up on rooftop guards (and gutting them) never got old. Nor did the free fall jumps from the towers into the ominipotent piles of hay. I, for one, will be looking forward to the sequel.
Google released the latest version of their geographic playground last week. The imagery-rich Google Earth 4.3 seems more deserving of a full version number update, but it leaves one to wonder just how much more sophisticated a full version 5.0 could really be.
Having cut my teeth in business at a mapping company, I have an appreciation for where GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology is coming from and where it’s going to. It wasn’t 5 years ago that very low-resolution painfully out of date satellite and terrestrial imagery (often in indecipherable shades of black and white) was available on only a very limited basis, and a respectable company could still charge several thousand dollars for enormous, awkward images of a select few locations. When the company called Keyhole released their EarthViewer product about 4 years ago as a paid service, heads turned throughout the GIS industry. The product was revolutionary in its simplicity and in typical Mountain View style, “gussied up” and ready to be purchased by a certain search company. Google did just that and in June 2005, released the product as Google Earth at no cost.
Today, just 3 years later, Google Earth is a household term and used by a hugely diverse array of industries. Thousands of layers are available documenting everything from crime statistics to dolphin migratory routes. Arguably, Google Earth has become the official map of the world (a costly feat that many government agencies failed miserably at).
With Google Earth 4.3, viewers can access the amazing, yet still somewhat unknown, database of oblique images known as Google Streetview. These images are available in a growing grid across major population hubs. It will only be a matter of time before the images are available for every street in the country, maybe the world.
Check it out!
If you think this is cool, wait a year for Photosynth to make a splash.
Ogy today mentioned that the email newsletter tool for Joomla is called Letterman, bringing back a rush of memories that only YouTube could satisfy…
I didn’t know that Joan Rivers, Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel were involved! I also wonder if Spellbinder was the first Arab terrorist archetype? I doubt you could use him today, any more than you’ll catch Song of the South in your local megaplex.
StumbledUpon Interaction Design Pattern Library just now. Interesting collection of navigation types, search options and more for usability. Perhaps a little too much classification there, but some good stuff.
If you haven’t seen Juno yet I highly recommend it. Not only is it a great movie, it has a near perfect soundtrack. An amazing collection of songs that seem like they were written just for the movie. The soundtrack contains an eclectic blend of songs from a wide variety of artists such as The Moldy Peaches, Cat Power, Sonic Youth, Barry Louis Polisar, Kimya Dawson, The Kinks, Buddy Holly, Belle & Sebastian and The Velvet Underground. A few of the standout tracks include Barry Louis Polisar’s “All I Want Is You”, Sonic Youth’s amazing cover of the Carpenters “Superstar”, The Moldy Peaches “Anyone Else But You” and my children’s favorite “Tree Hugger” by Kimya Dawson. Enjoy. (flyte crew: it’s on my iTunes)
You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how many times my kids watched this over the weekend. Apologies if you’ve seen it before, it’s spawning a few re-makes and some of them are almost as funny as the original. It has to be a you tube classic.
Having trouble coming up with that perfect Web2.0 sounding company name? Well worry not, for the Web2.0 Company Name Generator has arrived!! Some of my favorite results (so far)
Ainoodle
Twidel
Wikimba
Gexo
Jabbercube
Quible
Once you’ve got your name picked out, just toss it in the Web2.0 Logo Generator (with optional “BETA” crest).
If you haven’t seen 
