Reviews

What the Duck on watermarks

Aaron Johnson, the creator of What the Duck, has apparently seen this post of mine, where I talk about image theft. He’s just sent me an email to let me know of today’s WTD, which handles the issue of watermarks and image theft in that wonderful, funny way that I’ve come to love.

Here’s the strip in question, reproduced with Aaron’s permission. Click through to view it at full size on WTD. And if you haven’t already, bookmark the site or subscribe to the RSS feed. If you like photography, then you’ll love WTD.

WTD on watermarks and copyright

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Lists

Funny videos

Here’s the classic “Who’s on first?” routine from Abbot and Costello. Must-see comedy — still funny after all these years. It’s interesting to see how they distilled bits and pieces from their earlier routines into this.

Graham Chapman was part of that seminal group of British comedians known for “The Monty Python”, and other wonderful pieces of comedy. He died in 1989. Here is a segment from his funeral service. (Yes, it’s funny.)

Richard Pryor, on kids telling lies.

Have a look at how authorities respond to perceived terrorist threats in Australia. Not much different from the US, really.

Weird Al Yankovic’s “eBay” song, mashed up with a user-made video:

Here’s Bill Cosby on dentists (absolutely hilarious):

… and on natural childbirth:

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Funny videos

A college professor reviews funny comments from his students on a class survey. Great fun!

This is a stop-motion “seduction” dance, performed by two camcorders.

Want to learn how to speak “body”? Look no further than this hilarious instructional video.

When Bill Gates announced his retirement as CEO, David Letterman wanted to put together a tribute. Here’s the result.

I love the Mah-Nah song, and naturally I enjoyed this Star Wars mash-up.

Michel Gondry, the French director, solves a Rubik’s cube with his nose.

Have you ever wondered what the Chartered Accountant Dance looks like? Wonder no more, here it is!

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Condensed knowledge for 2007-05-08

Here’s the good stuff:

  • XKCD put together a hilarious map of the online communities. 🙂
  • Steve Jobs published an open letter to Apple users outlining the progress Apple is making toward being a completely “green” company. From the looks of it, Apple is ahead of most other folks in the technology field. Then again, it could also seem this way because of his reality distortion field.
  • A man traveling on a plane from Vietnam to Australia vomited a small bag containing something that looked like drugs. The plane promptly turned back, and meanwhile, the man vomited up two more bags. Apparently, this is quite common, and these people are called “drug mules”. Doctors found 30 more bags containing drugs in his stomach.
  • A flavoring agent used in microwave popcorn, by the name diacetyl, is blamed for bronchiolitis obliterans, an obstructive lung disease that affects popcorn workers. It’s also called “popcorn workers’ lung”, and there is no cure. A transplant is the only solution. Something to think about the next time you eat popcorn…
  • Want to see living conditions for coal miners back in 1938?
  • A remote-controlled robot uses thermal imaging to locate and destroy termites.
  • ProBlogger’s put together a post called “9 attitudes of highly creative people“.
  • Packet Garden is a really cool application that constructs 3D maps of your internet traffic.
  • Mental Floss is running a feature called “8 smooches that shook the world“.
  • Who holds the record for being arrested the most times? It turns out to be a man named Henry Earl.
  • Back in 1946, Mike the Headless Chicken roamed the countryside. Looks like Mike was going to be dinner, but the farmer cut too high, and left just enough brain stem for the chicken to still be a chicken. Although it couldn’t feed, it could walk and “socialize” with the other chickens just fine, and even managed to earn the farmer the equivalent of current-day $50K/week.
  • A Japanese firm has developed special packaging that contains an exothermic agent. Pre-cooked rice placed inside can be warmed up simply by pouring cold water inside the packaging. The reaction with the agent creates steam that warms the rice and gets it ready to eat in about 15 minutes.
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A Guide To A Good Life, Reviews

The Awful Truth (1937)

The Awful Truth (1937)Ligia and I just watched The Awful Truth (1937) for the second time. We love it! The cast was perfect for the roles, the script was witty, and the direction was wonderful. Cary Grant plays Jerry Warriner, a husband who finds his wife Lucy’s tale (Irene Dunne) of car trouble hard to swallow when she tells him she spent an innocent night at her father’s cabin with her music instructor. He, of course, has his own tall tale to tell — or rather, avoid telling.

They argue, and they divorce, but there’s a 90-day grace period. And of course, there’s Mr. Smith, the dog — Jerry uses him as a pretext to visit Lucy. During that time, each does his and her best to split their rebound romances through all sorts of wacky shenanigans. It’s a pleasure to watch them dog it out, each motivated by the love they still bear for the other. There’s a wonderful conclusion to the film, driven home eloquently by the director’s use of a grandfather clock and his/her figurines, animated by Cary and Irene. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

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