Hateful "Tsunami Song" Aired on the Radio

Why anyone would approve of this Tsunami Song is beyond me. I'm unfamiliar with the Miss Jones in the Morning radio show, but they definately crossed the line. Jones admits her mistake, but I wouldn't be surprised if the show was axed because of it.

Update
Sorry about the link not working. Shabooty didn't want people hotlinking to it anyways. This version of the song was down before, but it should work now. Notice how Miss Jones vents on Miss Info in the beginning for stating her objection to the song. Here are the lyrics to the song. I wish Miss Jones was taken off the air instead of being suspended, only to quietly return when people forgot.

Does Your Weatherman Act Like This?

Mark Mathis has been fired from Charlotte's Fox affiliate for three months, but somebody was kind enough to put together a nice video of his antics on the air. Ironically, it wasn't his goofing off while forecasting the weather that got him fired. Admitting publicly that he was in rehab for alcoholism was too much for WCCB-TV, Fox, and his boss. Maybe Mathis will show up in your town to jazz up the weather. Newscasters are a little stiff anyways.

via BoingBoing.

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water Movie

The novel A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is going to be made into a movie this year. I read this book three years ago around this time and wasn't impressed much by it. Maybe it was too realistic and too many characters weren't likeable, but I can't remember much about it. All that I can recall is that Rayona's mom drank too much and her dad left her. Probably not the impression the Michael Dorris wanted his readers to have. This is not the book to read if you're stressed out or don't want to feel stressed out. I want to give it another chance, but it made me feel bad. After reading Yellow Raft I took a needed month off from school, but came back to read another equally as depressing book called In Dubious Battle.

Dorris led a troubled life anyways, so it's not a surprise that he could incorporate pain and suffering so well into Yellow Raft. Now I'm unsure if I should see the movie to compare it to the book. It wouldn't bother me if the filmmakers decide on a Hollywood ending, although that's bad news for students required to read the book who want to cheat by watching the movie.

New Macintosh Operating System

Images of the new OS, name not mentioned here.

EZMP3s.com

EZMP3s.com says it offers millions of mp3s for free, but it doesn't say what you have to pay for. It's for the Mac and PC, there's no spyware, a 30-day trial, no per download or monthly fee, iPod compatible, and has computer and video games. Is this all free? They've got all these badges pasted on their site for awards they've won and TV networks featuring their product, but no prices! Has somebody tried this? What do you pay for?

Another Blog?

After Six Apart bought LiveJournal I started thinking about the differences between blogs and online diaries, again. Six Apart makes Movable Type and Typepad which is used by many serious bloggers. I've never used it, but I'm told it offers more flexibility and features than Blogger. LiveJournal is also a blogging tool, but it's users don't consider themselves bloggers. They're diarists connected to each other through communities, rather than with links on the first page. Danah goes into all this stuff in greater detail than I want to, but it's clear that LiveJournal is a big community of several smaller communities of diarists.

I've been debating on whether I should start another blog, but make it more like a public diary, like a lot of bloggers do. It's easy to create a new blog with Blogger, but I want to try something new. LiveJournal's become very appealing after being acquired by Six Apart, but it looks ugly, and LJ knows that. I'm waiting for them to update their styles and themes, but I've never kept a diary before, so I'm a little apprehensive. Also I don't want to be attacked by strangers or have something like this happen. I'm still not sure about what I want, but I'll think it over later...

Business Blogging Guide

Debbie Weil is offering her Beginner's Guide to Business Blogging for free until January 25. You should check it out if you want to start a blog for your business.

via Bingfeng Tea House.

Resin Identification Codes

Most plastic products are labeled with three arrows in a triangle shape with a number in the center and some letters on the bottom. These are recycling codes, or resin identification codes, determined by the Society of the Plastics Industry. You learn something new everyday.

Bill Gates Teen Idol

Maybe, but they should have dressed him in something else...

via BoingBoing.

"Lost in Translation" Translation

I've seen bits and parts of Lost in Translation playing on Starz and always wondered what that Japanese commercial director was saying to Mr. Harris. Since there's no subtitles, the viewer is as confused as Harris, but knows as well as he does that the translator isn't telling him everything that the director is saying. Here's an English transcript of the scene. Anyone who's seen America's Next Top Model cycle 3's first episode in Japan knows Japanese commercial directors aren't really like that.

Stacking Planes in the Air

I don't think it's just me, but this sounds like a bad idea. All these spokesmen seem too assured that nothing will go wrong, ever. The airlines should spend the money on decreasing America's ever-expanding waistlines instead.

Classes Reloaded

I haven't updated in a few days because I was mourning the end of my winter break and planning out my new schedule. Last semester didn't go so well during the middle of November, so I'm doing almost everything over this semester. By mid-March things will have wound down, so I'll get to relax and post more.

This first day of the semester didn't distress me like past first days, probably because I got enough sleep. But reading chapters on theories and histories of psychology and sociology saddends me because I'd rather be learning HTML, CSS, Photoshop, or Dreamweaver instead. I'll keep these things in mind when it's time to sign up for summer school...

Apple Media Center?

Does Apple want to break into the home media market with the iHome, or is this just a hoax? The device doesn't have any A/V ports for connecting to a television or stereo or any media card ports. In the photo that DVD/CD drive doesn't look real anyways, so it's either a hoax or a non-working prototype.

via Daypop

Socialist Hair and Dress

North Korea is waging an anti-long hair and sloppy clothes campaign to get people to live "in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle." Men should wear their hair short and everybody should wear neat clothes. Long hair in men is detrimental because it "consumes a great deal of nutrition," apparently this doesn't affect women. People also shouldn't wear foreign styles because, "People who wear other's style of dress and live in other's style will become fools and that nation will come to ruin."

Lose Weight Playing Video Games

Want to exercise, lose weight, and have fun? Who doesn't? For people like me who don't want to go to the gym there's Dance Dance Revolution. I've heard of it before, but paid little attention to it because I didn't have a game console. Now I'm listening up since people are actually losing tons of weight playing this game. Maybe I should forget about the gym membership and buy this game instead.

via Popgadget

Update:

CES had an "exergaming" tent up featuring DDR and other exercise video games.

Glophone

Glophone is a Skype-like internet telephony program that lets you make calls to other Glophone users for free and land lines for a small price. Other features include voice mall, call waiting, and call forwarding. These features sound nice, but the company will find some way to charge you. The major difference between Glophone and Skype is that Glophone gives you a real phone number. Give this phone number to family and friends and they can call you from a regular phone, and you can pay for those calls for more than it costs on your land line. Glophone's a waste of money, stay away from it.

Gamer Reborn

Years ago I used to play video games in all my spare time. When I got my first console I would spend hours playing Super Mario and Duck Hunt. Then came Super Nintendo and it was hours with Super Mario 3 and Donkey Kong. Finally, I convinced my mom that there was a revolution in gaming and I had to have a Nintendo 64 for Christmas to be part of it. After a few years of playing Mario 64, I got tired of playing those kind of games.

I shifted more toward RPG and strategy computer games like the Dagger of Amon Ra, King's Quest, and Sim City. But I spent less time playing games overall, focusing on reading, homework, and surfing online instead of playing games. Games just weren't part of my life anymore and I didn't care when new consoles came out.

I thought it would be that way for forever, but this past Christmas that changed. I got a Playstation 2 and five games, so now I'm a gamer again. It's been a long time and I'm pretty rusty with the controller so I'm getting killed a lot in Ghost Recon 2 or giving the Ring of Power to the Nazgul in Lord of the Rings Return of the King. The Sims is more my kind of game, but it's different from the computer version because my character is stuck living with his mom. The most stimulating game I have is Katamary Damacy, where the Prince has to roll up items to make a big Katamari, but I'm stuck on Star 7. I haven't played much of ESPN College Hoops 2K5 because better with another player and everybody here's on vacation.

Now instead of spending a ton of time surfing the Web I can hone my skills on the Playstation 2. It may pay off some day.

Handy Mouse

JVC offers an ergonomic Handy Mouse that fits nicely in the hand and is controlled by the thumb. Looks pretty useful for laptops, but it only works with Windows 98. What kind of mouse is this, a stick mouse? I want one for the Mac (of course). Any good stick mice out there?