Courtesy of the Daily Mail. Check ‘em out!

What if you could set up a little booth within Starbucks, then sell the same coffee for 1/5th the price?

That’s obviously crazy. But here’s the next best thing, courtesy of my co-worker Phil Ramunno’s blog – offering the same wireless internet service Starbucks sells for $10/day for a lowly $2.

If you live within router distance from a Starbucks – and really, who doesn’t? – the geniuses at FON are making you an offer:

If you live above or next to a Starbucks (or any cafe/coffee shop for that matter!), you are eligible for a free wireless router that will earn you cash from the minute you plug it in. By installing your FON router, you let others share your broadband for a daily fee. A savvy patron of Starbucks need only pay $2 a day for your WiFi. They’d have to be a grande drip to pay the $10 Starbucks charges.

Of that $2, you get half.  I’d imagine that could really add up.  Plus, if you’re concerned about privacy or speed, the people at FON say your router has two settings, walling you off from the coffee-drinking elite.

What a country.

Wow! As someone who struggles with peeling eggs, I think I’m going to have to race home and spend my night perfecting this. By the way, how great is the guy’s grin after he’s done his trick? (Answer: pretty great.)

Have you ever taken a photo, only to find that it mirrored an existing image?

Portland, Oregon photographer Lyza Gardner snapped this photo of grocery store aisles in an enormous Fred Meyer grocery store. The photo was later featured on Boing Boing and added to the Wikipedia entry on supermarkets. I heard about this because Gardner happens to be my neighbor and coworker, and this is just one of the many amazing images captured on her Flickr photostream.

Some viewers have compared Gardner’s image to a famous photo called 99 Cent by Andreas Gursky (read more about Gursky’s MoMA exhibit). They have a similar subject — rows of groceries in a supermarket — but have a surprisingly different effect on the viewer. One major difference is the use of color: Gardner’s image is warm and yellow, while Gursky’s is cool and blue. At their core, they’re very similar photos, but separated in time and space.

Have you ever noticed striking similarities between two images? Similar convergences are explored in Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences by Lawrence Weschler (read a sample, with sample images).

This morning was the day after the tenth anniversary of Dolly’s unveiling as celebrity cloned mammal, so consider this post a Bloody Mary to the grandiose hangover of Dollydom. She was sprung golem-like from the mammary gland (yes) of a Finn Dorset ewe & was yanked from the world by a lung virus…or very much would have been, if she hadn’t been given The Shot. She now holds somber court at the National Museum of Scotland; not quite Dollywood but give it some time…

Before you set “Jolene” on repeat and slip into a nice, depressing bubble bath (like David, Dolly’s Welsh mountain ram widower), here’s what her namesake has to say about the vicissitudes of flattery & the frustration of not being recognized as the parent cell:  

Q: Is it true that the world’s first cloned animal was named after you?

A: True. It was a sheep! There was a cow named Dolly once, but I lost all that weight! (laughs) So this was a sheep. They made the clones from a mammary gland and so the scientists said, ‘Well, we made this from the mammary glands so we got to call it Dolly.’ Yes, I was honored. I absolutely was. There’s no such thing as baaaaaaa–d publicity.

Q: Is it true that you lost a Dolly Parton look alike contest?

A: Yes! On Halloween. I don’t know if they knew it or not but I just went to be fun because they had all these Dollys down on Santa Monica Blvd. in L.A. I thought, ‘Well, this would be a great night for me to go out because everybody’s going to look like me.’ And they had the contest and I just got in line and somebody else won.

Make that, the only live-action Mary Worth adaptation. Famously awkward and slow-moving Worth, for those of you who’ve been living in a cave, is one of America’s longest-running comic strips. Started in 1942, it chronicles the life and times of Mary, the strip’s titular advice-dispensing adventure magnet, a 60-something, affluent widow of a Wall Street power player who’s retired to a suburban California apartment complex. If that sounds strange, it most certainly kind of is. Stranger yet is this downright David Lynchian adaptation of a month’s worth of Worth from 1988, which adheres strictly to all the original “camera angles” used in the strip. The inexplicable howling wind sound effect in the background is merely the icing on this profoundly weird cake.

If Momma refuses to let you spend your allowance at the tattoo parlor, maybe you should drop some history, and let her know just how “useful” a tattoo can be.

Tattoos as Telegraphs
The Tattoo: secret messages
The Tattooed: slaves
The Reason: It beats paying for postage
According to Greek Historians, back in 312 BC, Greeks used to shave the hair off their slaves, tattoo a message into the back of their heads, and then wait for the locks to grow back. Once the message was all covered in hair, they’d pack the slave off, and send him running.

Tattoos for Mercy
The Tattoo: a crucifixion scene
The Tattooed: troublemakers in the British Navy
The Reason: To get out of being whipped
There’s a reason Eminem and Snoop both suited up for their court appearances. Similarly, British mischief-makers used to get “Jesus on the cross” inked onto their shoulders to make themselves seem like upstanding citizens. That way, if a religious captain was somehow moved by the WWJD message, he might drop the whip in favor of a lesser punishment.

Tattoos to Intimidate Boxers
The Tattoo: A tribal-looking thing
The Tattooed: Mike Tyson’s face
The Reason: To honor the Mayans?
Claiming he was into history, Iron Mike made the unfortunate mistake of telling reporters that his new face tattoo was a Mayan New Zealand symbol. The fact that Mayans aren’t really from New Zealand didn’t stop his enthusiasm. Of course, history is the least of Mike’s concerns. According to Sports Illustrated, the former heavyweight is currently trying to fight women in the ring. (more…)

I really like the phrase “helicopter parents.” While it’s been around for a while, it’s new to me.

My first job after college involved answering the phone in my alma mater’s Office of Student Development.* During orientation, students and parents were given pens with my phone number beside the words “Need Help?” I did not realize this for months.

“We’re planning a trip over fall break,” a concerned parent told me early in my tenure. “Does my son have a lot of studying to do around then?” After politely explaining my limited psychic powers, she turned it up a notch. “Well, can’t you call his professors and find out?”

“Get out a pad and write this down,” an angry dad once ordered. “I’m giving you instructions for installing an air conditioner in my daughter’s window.”

One mother asked for her daughter’s mailing address. Armed with a phone book and aiming to please, I filled her in. “What are you doing?” she scolded. “How do you know I’m really her mother?” She had called to test me.

I can’t believe the term “helicopter parent” never came up. But now it’s everywhere. And not just on campus.

According to a recent survey of the young and employed, “25% said their parents were involved in their jobs ‘to the point that it was either annoying or embarrassing.’” The Times’ Lisa Belkin wrote about a mom who contacted the CEO of the PR firm that employs her daughter. She wanted his help planning her a surprise sushi lunch.

This area is rich with anecdotes. Since it’s Friday, I thought we could all share our own stories of getting buzzed by helicopter parents.

*This statement is not true. My first actual job after college was power washing, staining and painting decks. I spilled an inordinate amount of paint in my hair and was quite happy to accept a job behind a desk.

Recently I’ve been thinking it would be cool to create a TV show version of Mad Libs, which I adored so much as a kid I think if I added up the cumulative hours spent playing, it might be like an entire year of my adolescence. In doing some research, I discovered there’s already been a rather successful children’s show, but never a grown-up version.

And while I’m still not entirely sure what the show would be like, I’m getting closer. So if you have words of wisdom - suggestions and such - drop me a comment. In the meantime, after the jump, check out Mad Libs co-inventor Leonard Stern’s eloquent musings on the creation of the original. First word-geek to spot the misspelling gets braggin rights! (And yes, the typo comes from Penguin’s own website! I didn’t add it. — Oh, and no spell checks, please.)

(more…)

(Edison’s Last Breath, as bequeathed to Henry Ford)

There’s ample consideration given to the meaningful last zingers of notables, and to the preservation of that final CO2…but here are suggestions from a few science heavyweights on what our first words on Mars should be, via NewMars:

Terry Pratchett
Award-winning science fiction and fantasy author of the bestselling Discworld series

“This time, let’s do it right.”

Dr. David Brin
Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction author and physicist

“That’s one small step for a… what the hell? Who’s THAT?”
(followed by static)

“I claim this planet for Disneycorp.”

“Oooooh…. diamonds!”

But really: why not do it right and sic Sergey Brin on this…He was way ahead, even before those pattern extraction papers.

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