The longest non-stop flight ever measured. Yes, it was a bird! A bar-tailed godwit flew 7,145 miles from Alaska to New Zealand—without taking a break for food or drink.

Salmonella germs taken to space come back deadlier. Anyone with a malfunctioning refrigerator can tell you they become deadlier over time on earth, too.

Ten full-length classic movies available online, ranging from the chilling Nosferatu to the heartwarming It’s A Wonderful Life. All worth watching!

12 examples of Smart Furniture. Cool or creepy? The glowing tablecloth is nice, but the bench that fights with you is tres creepy.

Conan O`Brien takes a tour of ILM/Lucas Films to see how movie magic is made. The jokes are funny, but Conan’s pure joy makes this segment a classic.

NAME: G. Kelner
OCCUPATION: Cajon Maker
LOCATION OF SALE: Victoria, BC
FAVORITE BOOK: The Grapes of Wrath
FAVORITE COLOR: Green
FAVORITE ANIMAL: Yellow Lab
FAVORITE ELEMENT ON THE PERIODIC TABLE: Magnesium

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When did your garage sale take place?

Sat, 22 Sept, 9 am-3 pm

What was the weather like?

Beautiful and sunny, then it rained so I made a quick run to grab a couple of slices of pizza, leaving a little sign saying I’d be right back, then it cleared up and was sunny again.

There are so many different genres of mass sales–garage, yard, stoop–but the spirit seems to be the same. Was your sale actually held in your garage, or did it spill out into the yard?

Sale was held in back yard facing onto a park with a lot of walking traffic, front of house is on a busy road, which also brings in a lot of traffic.

In your opinion, was your sale a success?

Yes, I got rid of a load of crap and made a couple hundred dollars.

About what percentage of your inventory sold & what do you plan to do with the rest?

About 70% sold, rest to charity.

What was an object that was a long shot to sell & did it sell?

I had a big box of well-used test tubes (where they came from is another story). This gigantic ogre-like guy with long stringy hair bought the lot. “They’re handy when you need to do some experiments” he says as he’s bungee tying them to the rat-trap on his bicycle. The same fellow had been to one of my previous garage sales and had agonized for quite some time over whether or not to buy, for a quarter, some piece of computer hardware that he really wanted. In the end he decided to give it a pass as it was his last quarter and “you never know when you might need to make a phone call.” (more…)

Over the years, I feel like I’ve seen Marcel Marceau around a lot. On PBS, in movies (he had the only speaking role in Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie, and also starred in Barbarella), and generally whenever the word mime is accompanied with a photo. Yet, it was only in reading about the 84 year old entertainer’s death last night that I realized what a strange and wonderful life he led. Here are a few snippets pulled from other stories, on things I didn’t know about Marcel Marceau:

1. He cracked weird jokes about magicians. (from salon.com)
“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards,” Marceau once said, “for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”

2. He had some pretty big fans. (from salon.com)
“To ensure his legacy, Marceau, after gentle prodding from colleagues, agreed to form the Marcel Marceau Foundation for the Advancement of Mime in New York. Foundation board members are an eclectic mix of stars that include Michael Jackson, Placido Domingo, Barbara Hendricks and Dustin Hoffman — all devoted fans.”

3. He’s responsible for the greatest dance move of all-time. (from cnn.com)
“Michael Jackson borrowed his famous “moonwalk” from a Marceau sketch, “Walking Against the Wind.”” According to Wikipedia (which seems to support the cnn quote here), in 1995, the pair were working on a concert for HBO together, but the project fell through.

4. He survived the Holocaust, was active in the French Resistance, saved Jewish children’s lives, and worked with Patton’s army. (cnn)
“With his brother Alain, Marceau became active in the French Resistance. Marceau altered children’s identity cards, changing their birth dates to trick the Germans into thinking they were too young to be deported. Because he spoke English, he was recruited to be a liaison officer with Gen. George S. Patton’s army.”

5. He was famously chatty. (cnn)
“Never get a mime talking. He won’t stop,” he once said.”
6. He was incredibly eloquent. (cnn)
“In 1944, Marceau’s father was sent to Auschwitz, where he died. Later, he reflected on his father’s death: “Yes, I cried for him.” But he also thought of all the others killed: “Among those kids was maybe an Einstein, a Mozart, somebody who (would have) found a cancer drug,” he told reporters in 2000. “That is why we have a great responsibility. Let us love one another.”"

7. He’s won a lot of things. (bbc and wikipedia)
He’s been declared a National Treasure by Japan, received honorary doctorates from Princeton, University of Michigan and Ohio State, won countless grants and awards from the French government, and was chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations (for their Assembly on Aging).

8. And while there’s plenty of reference to his vinyl “Marcel Marceau: Greatest Hits” on the internet…
Kara and I couldn’t find any real evidence of it. Supposedly, it’s 20 minutes of silence on either side followed by clapping. Anyone have a copy of it?

Rest in peace, Marcel.

I was recently reminded how much I hate laugh tracks when I downloaded the free pilot of Big Bang Theory from iTunes, on a tip from Pop Candy. I should have listened to Whitney’s advice, though — the show is awful, and what makes it so much worse is the constant canned laughter. It’s like an insult to the viewer: unfunny joke? LAUGH TRACK! Vaguely offensive sexual innuendo? OOHING and AAHING! Ugh. In the wake of my completely laugh-free viewing, I came across a lovely history of the laugh track from Slate magazine. (Be sure to click the little ‘launch’ thing to actually view the core of the article — a slideshow.)

Slate’s history is engaging, and discusses a current trend away from laugh tracks on TV — which I applaud (with my real hands, not a recording of them). Though I was a bit surprised that Slate didn’t mention A Face in the Crowd, the 1957 Elia Kazan film in which Andy Griffith’s character (a comedian) builds a “reaction machine” which can play back canned laughs, applause, and more — and eventually goes a bit nuts using the machine as a form of instant validation. Although I didn’t know this when I saw the film, Slate convinced me that this machine is a reference to Charley Douglass’s Laff Box — a similar reference appears in Annie Hall, shown in a video clip closing Slate’s piece. Read the full article from Slate for more, or consult the surprisingly detailed laugh track page from Wikipedia.

(Obligatory LOL Cat courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger.)

Parking can be high drama in big cities like mine, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to have witnessed two parking-related near-beatings in recent weeks, both misguided attempts to answer this enduring riddle: can you save a parking space for a friend by standing in it?

The first time I saw this drama play itself out, I was walking down the street in Culver City, talking on my cell phone, head in the clouds. I was quickly yanked out of my cellular reverie, however, when I heard shouting: “Go ahead, asshole, run me over!” There was a petite-but-feisty woman standing in a parking space, hands on hips, while an old man in a weathered Corolla inched toward her, ever further into the spot. “I’m saving this spot for my boyfriend, so get outta here!” she screamed, pointing behind her for added effect. The man continued to inch forward, bumper almost touching her knees, assuming that she would soon realize the folly of trying to challenge his right to the spot without a car of her own.

Soon enough, however, the boyfriend in question showed up. He was a big guy. He leaned down to the crack in the guy’s driver-side window, and shouted “If you run my girlfriend over, I’ll pull you out of that car and beat the s#!^ out of you!” At this point, I had passed the scene and didn’t want to rubberneck too badly or risk getting pulled into the debate. (Plus, I was still on the phone, vainly trying to describe what was unfolding before my eyes to the person on the other end.) I kept walking. When I looked back again, the situation had somehow resolved itself: amazingly, the couple had left, and the unflappable old man had taken the spot.

I saw a similar fight just a week later, this one between two young women. The one behind the wheel had actually bumper-tapped her space-standing rival in the leg while attempting to force her out, prompting her to wave her cell phone in the air, shouting “This bitch just ran me over! I’m calling the cops!” Somehow, this worked itself out too, and minutes later all was quiet again in Santa Monica.

These things don’t always work out so well in the end, however. Earlier this year in San Francisco, a man trying to hold a spot for a friend was shot dead by some guys in a van who disagreed with his parking etiquette. But so far as I can tell, there’s no law on the books against space standing — at least not in California. (There is in New York, however; you can get a $65 fine for holding a parking spot with anything other than a car.) In most places, though, it seems to be an open question — heck, even Yahoo Answers couldn’t settle the debate — and the price of this legal ambiguity has been a uptick in “parking rage,” and in some unfortunate cases, motorists’ blood.

So what’s the answer? Can you reserve a space by standing in it? Should a parker faced with an enraged space-stander back down?

From our last Rat-A-Tat on typos, we move to lifted office supplies, or, as one of my colleagues likes to call them, “office perks.” I’d be surprised if you told me you’ve never taken anything from your office for your own, personal use. We all do it. The real question is: where do you draw the line? Surely bringing in your receipts around tax-time and making a couple photocopies isn’t real theft, is it? Or how about stapling those receipts together before you bring them back home? Is one staple reason enough to put you behind bars–one, little, eensy weensy staple?

But what about those who take home packets of Post-Its? Or a ream of paper for their home printers? Are these part of the perk-package? After all, what if everyone in the office took half-a-box of padded envelopes home every year? What would that cost the firm? Does management just assume this is going on and work it into the cost of doing business? Any senior managers care to chime in?

I have an especial affinity for office supplies. Love them when they’re new and crisp, and unused, especially. One of my favorite days at work is the last thursday of every other month when our office manager arrives with all the goodies we’ve ordered. Just the smell of those supplies makes me smile. Do I have a favorite supply, I hear you wondering? I sure do! A new box of the best red pens on the market: the PaperMate FlexGrip “Ultra” (med. point).

More office rat-a-tat: for those enthusiasts, The Office starts up again on Thursday this week! Anyone care to guess what’s going to happen this season between Jim and Pam?

(more…)

The New York Times archives were in the news last week, with The Times announcing the elimination of TimesSelect. Not everything is free, but it’s a start. And once they start swimming in ad revenue from the newly accessible material, I’d imagine we’ll see even more free stuff.

So, I figured this was a good time to look back at a few interesting first mentions from our running feature, “The First Time News Was Fit To Print.” The Walkman is still my favorite, especially when compared to the lack of enthusiasm for the iPod twenty-one years later.

Walkman

July 7, 1980

Stereo-to-Go – And Only You Can Hear It
Josh Lansing and the young blonde woman had never even met before, but as they passed each other on Madison Avenue the other afternoon, she waved and smiled and he tipped his headphones in salute….What the two well-dressed strangers first noticed about each other was that they were both possessors of the newest status symbol around town: the Walkman, a portable stereo unit (priced in most stores at $200), consisting of an ultra-light headphone set plugged into a cassette player that weighs in at less than 14 ounces, batteries included. “It’s just like Mercedes-Benz owners honking when they pass each other on the road,” explained Mr. Lansing, whose cassette hung from his Gucci belt.

Donald Trump

January 28, 1973

Builder Looks Back But Moves Ahead
The big change in Fred Trump’s operations in recent years is the advent of his son, Donald….Donald, who was graduated first in his class from the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, joined his father about five years ago. He has what his father calls “drive.” He also possesses, in his father’s judgment, business acumen. “Donald is the smartest person I know,” he remarked admirably. “Everything he touches turns to gold.”

iPod

October 24, 2001

Apple Introduces What It Calls an Easier to Use Portable Music Player

Apple Computer introduced a portable music player today and declared that the new gadget, called the iPod, was so much easier to use that it would broaden a nascent market in the way the Macintosh once helped make the personal computer accessible to a more general audience. But while industry analysts said the device appeared to be as consumer friendly as the company said it was, they also pointed to its relatively limited potential audience, around seven million owners of the latest Macintosh computers. Apple said it had not yet decided whether to introduce a version of the music player for computers with the Windows operating system, which is used by more than 90 percent of personal computer users.

Continue reading for Hillary Clinton, JFK, Gatorade, Times Square, Marijuana and more.
(more…)

MTV has gone web 2.0 with an online community named Think. You can play with it as soon as you’ve updated your profile on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Twitter, etc etc etc.

College students: Don’t be too hard on yourself -your friends aren’t having a lot of sex, either. Parents, relax. College has changed since you attended.

The 100 best foreign films, as determined by votes. Judging from the few of these I’ve seen, this is a good collection. I need to get NetFlix.

What do you mean, unemployable? Inked, Inc. has profiles of heavily tattooed doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. You never know what can be under those sleeves!

Donkey Kong in real life is a whole lot harder than the video game. Jumping barrels and dodging cannonballs is only fun if you’re watching someone else do it!

The San Francisco Giants are calling it an era. Barry Bonds won’t be returning next season, ending his 15-year stint by the Bay. Although Bonds became a star in Pittsburgh, it’ll be strange to see him in a different uniform next year (though I’m not sure he’ll have many suitors.)

Here are fifteen twenty-four other superstars who ended their careers in super-strange uniforms, courtesy of GameKult, The Sporting News and The Fowl Line:

O.J. Simpson, San Francisco 49ers; Patrick Ewing, Orlando Magic; Joe Namath, Los Angeles Rams.
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Sometimes, a city will grow so large that some neighboring town will glom on by plopping “East” or perhaps “North” in front of its name in an attempt to cash in. (Do you hear me, East Lansing?)

Here’s a quiz about ten real and fictional American cities. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to mark each city’s name with the proper prefix: North, East, South or West. Sorry, Upper Sandusky, this leaves you out.