Posts tagged Humor

I will survive – Violin version

The disco classic ‘I will survive’ performed by a violin and a piano.
It’s pretty funny too.

'Frightening' XP hack

VistaAs I was listening to Dvorak’s 5 minute rant this morning (Tech5 at PodShow) he mentioned this article. He stabbed the life out of it and he was right too. It’s an amusing read, certainly if you keep one word in the back of your mind: FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt — as quoted by Michael Horowitz); utter gibberish spread to lure people away from XP in order to sell more Vista copies. I’m not saying moving to Vista isn’t a good thing (I, for one haven’t seen too many bad things about it, not more than I’ve experienced with XP), but it’s obvious they’re pulling the whole thing out of context here, as an advertising stunt.

First of all, running an XP machine with SP1 deserves death penalty. Second: who the heck doesn’t run any form of security app on this kind of machine?! This is beyond me, really. Nonetheless, it’s worth a read, even if it’s just for the sake of a good laugh.

From ZDNET.com:

… Connected a machine running Windows XP with Service Pack 1 to an unsecured wireless network. The machine was running no antivirus, firewall, or anti-spyware software …

“You can download attack tools from the Internet, and even script kiddies can use this one,” said Mick.

And blah blah blah. Funny. Ignorant.

Fun Distraction: Hearts for Vista

Hearts for Vista

I’ve added the card-game ‘Hearts’ to my ‘fun distractions’ page.
Read all about it there.

Idealist

IdeaList is a wacky website where average Joes – like you and me – can post prototype ideas or inventions. Of course there’s voting involved and I must say I’ve seen some remarkably smart ideas. Silly ones aren’t lacking either, but who doesn’t like a good laugh?

The MAgazine Chair

 The Idealist Website

Are you a Yankee or a Rebel?

I must’ve encountered this link before, because it struck me as very familiar, yet still made the effort to fill out the questionnaire in order to find out what kind of accent I have.

While filling out the questions, it makes you think about how you pronounce certain words and based on that it gives you an approximation of how Yankee or Rebel you may be. Makes you realize some people say some words in some pretty weird ways ;-)

Take the test at AlphaDictionary.com

Vista Reliability Monitor

My reliability monitor

Click image above for a bigger view of my Reliability Monitor

A few days ago I remembered Paul Thurrott mentioning the Vista Reliability and Performance monitor and since I had purchased a new laptop a month earlier, I was curious to see how things we’re holding up.

The result in the image above is mainly a downhill graph, starting at 10 out of ten and dropped to as low as 1.82 on October 7th. Vista’s running on a new Dell XPS M1710, so it’s pretty astonishing. As of late, the graph has gone up again and is currently at 5.5.

Is it Christmas?

Find out at isitchristmas.com.

Parodies on Ubuntu forks

The ever growing list of Linux distributions is staggering, if not ridiculous. More and more distros are also based off OTHER distros. Linux has always been blamed for not being particularly original, if you haven’t found out why this is so, I recommend you to Google for “linux” or just throw a quick glance at the list below. Some of the following parodies are pretty funny too.

clipped from chris.pirillo.com

  • Fugubuntu = Linux for Poisonous (Yet Tasty) Fish
  • Stewbuntu = Edible Linux Compiled with Gigantic Meat Chunks
  • Eschewbuntu = Linux Designed to be Tossed Aside
  • Flubuntu = Linux for Sick People
  • Shoebuntu = Linux My Wife Keeps Buying More Of (Even Though She Has A Million Other Shoebuntus)
  • Moobuntu = Linux for the Lactose Tolerant
  • Gluebuntu = Sticky Linux
  • Woohoobuntu = Linux Designed by Homer Simpson
  • Tutubuntu = Linux Optimized for Pirouettes
  • Lieubuntu = Linux Alternative to Linux
  • Shmoobuntu = Fictional Linux
  • Ewwwwbuntu = Linux Built on Open Sores
  • Cluebuntu = Linux that Did it In the Conservatory with the Wrench
  • Ruebuntu = Despicable Linux
  • Suebuntu = [Distribution Removed Due to SCO Copyright Violation]
  •   blog it

    Lost in Translation

    tashian.com:

    “What happens when an English phrase is translated (by computer) back and forth between 5 different languages? The authors of the Systran translation software probably never intended this application of their program. As of September 2007, translation software is almost good enough to turn grammatically correct, slang-free text from one language into grammatically incorrect, barely readable approximations in another. But the software is not equipped for 10 consecutive translations of the same piece of text. The resulting half-English, half-foreign, and totally non sequitur response bears almost no resemblance to the original.”

    The principle is to feed a perfectly normal English sentence into the automated translation, which in turn will process it through ten languages and every time back to English. The result roughly corresponds to the aforementioned description. Some apt examples:

    •  ”When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”
      becomes “If the moon fixes its eye like a great vector of Fleischpie of the vector of Pizzapie, is the lover.
    • “A cookie is just a cookie, but fig newtons are fruit and cake.”
      becomes “Biskuit has expert of biskuit, but Newton von Fig is fruit and hardens.” [Hilarious!]
    • “This machine talks gibberish, more than I do!”
      becomes “The word says more when queerer than this preoccupation in the unit of me.”

    Try it out yourself.

    Wi-Fi Detector Shirt

    Now THIS would be the ultimate geek gift!

    clipped from www.thinkgeek.com

     

    But now thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates. Finally you can get the attention you deserve as others bow to you as their reverential wi-fi god, while geeky chicks swoon at your presence.

  • Glowing animated shirt dynamically displays the current wi-fi signal strength.
  • Shows signal strength for 802.11b or 802.11g
  • Animated Decal is Removable (with hook and loop fasteners) for Easy Washing
  • Runs for hours off three AAA Batteries (not included)
  •   blog it