Insight into Japanese Culture

As you may know, Apple has been running a terrific series of ads known as the Get a Mac ads. These ads feature Justin Long and the amazing John Hodgman and have been a great mechanism for educating the masses about some of the differences between Macs and PCs.

Now, an executive for an advertising agency that designs ads for the Japan market has analyzed how Apple changed this series of ads for a Japanese audience. Its very interesting reading and provides insight into the Japanese culture that I didn't have before! (Not that I ever had much insight into Japanese culture!!!)

Enjoy,

Ken

Lilja's Third Birthday!

We celebrated Lilja's third birthday yesterday with a party at our house with 15 or so of her friends. Follow this link to see pictures and read more about what happened at the party: Lilja's Third Birthday Photo Set

(Note: If you follow the link and you can't see the pictures, you need to become my "Flickr Friend"... send me e-mail and we'll start the process of getting you access to the pictures.)

Enjoy!

Ken

Star Wars, again

Another post for Star Wars geeks... Here is a YouTube Video showing the final scene from the original star wars movie recreated using only human hands. The performers in this clip are wearing entirely black costumes against a black background with only their hands exposed. I know what you're thinking, how could they possibly recreate a scene from Star Wars... but they do. Click and be amazed:

Star Wars Recreation

Ken

For Star Wars Geeks Only

Here's a pointer to an essay that explains the events of the original Star Wars movie (episode 4) in light of what we learned in the first three movies:

A New Sith or Revenge of the Hope

(For non-Star Wars geeks, episode 4 was subtitled "A New Hope")

Being a Star Wars geek, I can say honestly that this essay is absolutely hilarious!!

Enjoy,

Ken

It's time for BOR to go!

Recently Bill O'Reilly made comments on the recent discovery of two kidnapped boys in Missouri by blaming the victim and saying that the reason he (in this case, Shawn Hornbeck, who was kidnapped 4 years ago when he was 11) didn't escape was because his new life was so much better than his old life: he didn't have to go to school, he could do whatever he wanted, etc. O'Reilly apparently thinks that the terror and sexual abuse that Hornbeck suffered during his captivity were bonuses too, that or he thinks they are only minor inconveniences.

Anyway, Keith Olbermann does his usual good job of vivisecting O'Reilly's (non-)arguments.

Ken

Iran: Don't Go There

Here's a post documenting the hidden danger of escalating the Iraq situation to include Iran.

I stare in disbelief at people who think engaging Iran in war is a good idea. After the disaster in Iraq, its amazing to me that anyone would want to have a second helping of disaster!

Ken

Up To Old Tricks

Despite the Democrats handing the Republicans a major defeat last November (not a single Democrat incumbent lost a race, the Democrats only gained seats, the Republicans only lost seats), the White House is still up to its old tricks.

Here's a post documenting how the White House is replacing skilled US Attorneys and replacing them with unskilled political hacks (Its FEMA and Hurricane Katrina all over again).

Unbelievable!

Ken

Tokyo Nightscape

Fantastic high-def picture of Tokyo at night.

For best effect, click on the "All Sizes" button that appears above the image, and then click on the link to see the picture in its original size.

Enjoy!

Ken

Person Merging

Here's a great post on person merging, a term for the situation when you suddenly realize that a stranger you see every so often around town is a person you've been corresponding with on-line.

Ken

The Museum of Unworkable Devices

Here's a cool website that features (among other things) all the different ways people have tried creating perpetual motion machines.

The Museum of Unworkable Devices

I haven't looked at the whole site, but its got some interesting information in there!

Ken

God Awful Promotional Video for Microsoft Windows 386

Here's an old promotional video for Microsoft Windows 386.

Its boring, bizarre, and hilarious, all in one!

Its hilarious for all of its old technical references (640KB memory for each running application! OS/2! Lotus 1-2-3!), boring during the first six minutes, and extremely bizarre (and painful to watch) starting at the 7th minute.

Microsoft Windows 386 Promotional Video

Enjoy!

Ken

Two Teeth Lost, One Gained

Just a quick update to my previous post about Max losing his first tooth. As predicted, he lost his second one, well actually, it came out on the day we thought it would, just not in the WAY we thought it would. Max got on the school bus that morning and shows his lose tooth to his friend David, who promptly reached over and ripped it out of Max's mouth!!!

In a disturbing move, the tooth fairy was extra nice and gave Max two quarters for his second lost tooth. Lets hope that doesn't establish a trend.

So, after losing two teeth last week, our family gained a tooth when Miles cut his first tooth this weekend!

Oh, and Max now has a very nice gap-tooth smile! (He lost one on the top and one on the bottom both in the very front of his mouth!)

Ken

Max Lost His First Tooth!

Max lost his first tooth yesterday and I'm happy to report that the tooth fairy showed up right on schedule. Max was very excited this morning to show me the quarter that the tooth fairy had left behind!

He has a second loose tooth on the way, so Max may be another 25 cents richer by the end of the week! :-)

Ken

A Periodic Table of What??!?

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods!

This is very cool, but I think the periodic table of visualization methods forgot to include the use of periodic tables as a visualization method!

Ken