I check my bank accounts online almost every day. I check in more often then I use to, but mostly cause I go online to pay business bills and check deposits. In the old days, I mailed checks and I never received direct deposits from clients. Now, I pay virtually all my bills online and receive some payments via wire or direct deposit.

Recently, someone I know had their bank account broken into. Someone was withdrawing funds. He was so paranoid, until he got things switched, that he checked his bank account several times per day. Understandable!

How often do you check your bank accounts online?

Posted at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

My Dad sent me an article from JPost named Tefillin causes bomb scare on US flight (FYI, my dad uses the email this to a friend feature). The story is interesting.

A 17 year old boy took out his Tefillin on a flight, in order to pray the morning Jewish services. The thing was, he wasn't flying to a destination that has many Jews. Typically, when you fly at certain times (Jewish holidays) and to certain places (places with lots of Jews) you are bound to see a Jewish person putting on Tefillin in the morning to pray.

You would see this all the time if you flew to Israel or into New York or Los Angeles. In this case, he was flying out from New York but to Louisville, Kentucky. I don't think there is that big of a Jewish population in Louisville. Wikipedia says:

There is a Jewish population of around 8,500 in the city served by five synagogues. Most Jewish families emigrated from Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century; around 800 Soviet Jews have moved to Louisville since 1991.[56] Jewish immigrants founded Jewish Hospital, which was once the center of the city's Jewish district. Jewish Hospital recently merged with the Catholic healthcare system CARITAS. On one corner near Bowman field are located the one orthodox temple, Shalom Towers, the Jewish Community Center and Jewish Family and Vocational Service.

So not huge, at all.

I am honestly surprised this doesn't come up more often. Whenever I go through security with my Tefillin, I wonder if someone will question me. They are strange black boxes with paper in them. Just seems weird, I would think.

This boy took a 7:30am flight and the flight duration was 90 minutes. I am not sure why he could not have prayed before or after the flight. I guess the 90 minute flight is a good time to do that, but still.

Read more at JPost.com.

Posted at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting , Religion , Travels | Comments (3)

Over the past few weeks and especially this week, a bunch of CNBC documentaries on companies like Apple, Google, AOL and others are airing. I watched the Inside the Mind of Google a few weeks back, it was interesting. Last night, I watched Welcome to the Macintosh - that documentary was awesome (my wife kept saying, you guys are such geeks).

Here is a look at my DVR:

Anyway, take a look at the "Tech Week" schedule at the CNBC TV web site and make sure you don't miss these shows. I am sure you can catch repeats.

Posted at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

The big local news over the New Years was that Cablevision and Scripps Networks, the network behind HGTV and Food Network, did not come up with a deal to make both sides happy. So now, if you have Cablevision, you no longer get HGTV and the Food Network. Unfortunately, I have Verizon FiOS, so I get HGTV and Food Network (more on that later).

I was reading my own blog, actually, I was just making sure there were not formatting issues and I saw an ad from the Food Network on my blog. I guess they were geo-targeting people in my area and showing this ad:

The ad takes you to ilovefoodnetwork.com, a site devoted to convincing Cablevision to poney up more money for HGTV and the Food Network. Of course, Cablevision has their own story at cablevision.com/scripps. Love how the war was taken to search ads and contextual ads.

I still get HGTV and the Food Network because I have FiOS. This is the one time I am upset I don't have Cablevision. If I had Cablevision, I would no longer have to watch these shows due to my wife enjoying them. I really am not into watching TV about other people's homes or cooking shows - I rather watch shows about sports or death.

Posted at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (3)

I met a wonderful, funny, kind and nice person recently. But this person also turned out to be an incredibly loud laugher.

There are soft talkers, loud talkers, close talkers - but I honestly never met a loud laugher before. The thing is, the person talked at a very normal volume, but when he laughed - bam - it was loud.

Again, this was a cool, nice guy. It was just a interesting to meet such a loud laugher.

Did you ever meet such a person? Again, the person's normal volume was just fine but when a laugh came out, the volume went on max.

I should add, the horse picture is just what came up in Flickr for [laugh]. It in no way depicts the person I met with that I described as a loud laugher. :)

Posted at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Parents of three children in Canada have sued their children's school to stop them from having to do homework. CBC News reports the parents, who are both lawyers, felt the homework being sent home to their kids was just a "lot of it was busy work."

The article said the family and school signed a "differentiated homework plan with their children's Catholic school." That means they no longer have to do homework, instead their kids are graded based on work done in the class.

On the radio I was listening to this morning, they said the parents showed how homework did not help kids with their grades. I don't see this in the report above, so maybe they exaggerated on the radio.

Homework, from what I understand, keeps not just the kids busy at night, but also parents. I assume these busy parents didn't feel it was worth their time, nor their kid's time, so they did what they do best, and sued the school.

This takes the meaning of we don't need no education to a whole new level.

Posted at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

The past several packages of products I received that included twist ties for the cords made me a bit upset.

If you used the twist ties, it felt like they were made for one time use only. They are pur plastic, flimsy and don't really secure the cables like the old ones.

The picture above shows a quality twist tie. It is made with a piece of thin wire, covered by a strongish piece of paper. The wire typically lasts for dozens of twists over the course of months.

But these days, manufacturers are even cutting back on the quality of those twist ties. You use them once and then you throw them away.

Can't a man get a quality twist tie somewhere?

Posted at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

I catch myself saying terms that people sometimes do not understand. Not big words, just new words. The latest word is Augmented Reality. Augmented Reality is a fancy way of saying using computer driven technology on top of real world elements. Got that?

Urbanspoon recently updated their iPhone app to include a "scope" feature. You click on the "Scope" and your iPhone's camera turns on (note, this only works with the 3GS). The point is, you are to go outside, open up the app, turn on the scope feature and look at the world in front of you with the camera. Then, Urbanspoon overlays their restaurant data on top of what you see through the camera.

Here are two pictures:

The device knows where I am and using the compass, it knows which direction I am pointing. So Urbanspoon is able to overlay their restaurant data to show me nearby places to eat, how much people like those places (based on their reviews) and how far the place is to my exact location.

People have asked me if we will add this to our iPhone Kosher Restaurant database. It would be cool, but I am not sure how many people would appreciate it.

So if you see someone walking down the street, looking through their iPhone or other mobile device - they are not crazy, they are using Augmented Reality. Walk over to the person and yell, "AR!!!"

Posted at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting , iPhone | Comments (0)

I called my sister last night to ask her a questions about Costco. She didn't answer her home phone, so I decided to send her a text message. I gave her about two hours to reply, but she did not. So I called her at home again and she answered.

When I questioned her as to why she didn't answer her cell. She said that at night, she keeps her cell phone in the kitchen. In the kitchen. I found that to be a bit weird.

I personally keep my cell phone on, all night, charging, near my bed (on my iHome). Even before my iHome, I have always left my cell phone on my dresser near my bed. The only time I turn it off is on Shabbos and Jewish Holidays (simply cause if I get a call, I will freak out the whole time and not be able to do anything about it anyway).

My sister is about ten years older than me. I was thinking, maybe she doesn't put her cell phone near her bed because she is still tied to the landline and the old way of talking on the phone. I believe she did just get into texting, a couple months ago. But I would be surprised if other people her age don't put their cell phone near their dressers.

Take my poll, read all the choices before submitting...

Posted at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (9)

I just love this commercial, the Intel commercials, but the one with Ajay Bhatt as the "Intel Star."

How can you not love this?

Posted at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

This is both funny and interesting...

I was in the 7/11 last week and some guy was holding the New York Post. On the cover was a funny picture of Jews in a synagogue with fake guns. It looked like some type of play or movie. The story is named Gun-Toting God Squad: Rabbis Pack Heat, CBS News.

In short, these people are running a group named "International Security Coalition of Clergy." Basically, they teach synagogues and churches how to prepare themselves in case of someone coming in to the synagogue or church as a threat.

There are other funny titles from other papers, such as Go ahead, make my high holiday from the NY Post, Kick-ass rabbis team up to defend synagogues from Y-Net, What Chutzpah! Rambo Rabbis Gun for Terrorists from NBC NY, and Tough Jews: Revenge of the Nebbish? from Politics Daily.

If you haven't see You Don't Mess with the Zohan and you know Israeli culture, you should check it out, it is funny - to say the least.

Here is a news clip of the Rabbi's in action:

Posted at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Yea, I was in the very exciting local pizza shop and there was a lady there with a bird on her head. I kid you not. Here is a picture:

Why a person has a bird on their head in a pizza store, I don't get. Maybe she was hopping to catch a streak of good luck and get bird poop on her head (they say it is good luck, don't they?). Speaking of bird poop, don't forget to check out my best (worst) bird poop cars post, if you missed it. I actually got nailed by bird poop at least twice - I didn't feel lucky afterwards.

I have blogged about this pizza store at least twice prior. One, there was a Big accident at the corner of the store and the whole pizza store was broken at one point.

I also have a history with dead birds. They continue to fly into my windows and due to the window accident they need crack cocaine to relieve the stress, but ultimately die on an overhang due to the addiction.

Posted at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Really, random people (well, sometimes not random folks) trust me. I cannot tell you how many times I get calls and emails from people who trust me with information they wouldn't even tell a family member of theirs. This is both on a personal level and on a professional level.

Some people feel like they can tell me stuff in their lives, as a person they can vent to - and know (or feel that they know) that I won't tell anyone else. Some people feel like they have an important project coming up and they want my opinion and trust I won't tell anyone (without signing an NDA). Some people have their projects and won't trust anyone else with them, outside of my company - because of that trust.

People just feel comfortable with me on that level. From people I know personally all the way to people I have never met or spoken to before.

Why is this?

Well, for one, I am really a trustworthy person. You tell me not to tell anyone something, even if I don't know you from a hole in the wall, I won't tell anyone. You got my word, and my word is important to me. Just don't tell me you did something incredibly illegal.

But most people don't know that or won't believe others when they say they will keep a secret. For some reason people just assume I will, without even meeting me. I think it has to do with my blogging and what I share about myself and my business both here and my other professional blogs. Maybe it is the way I write things or what I write - I am not sure.

Maybe it is also something that is known about me in the SEM (search marketing) industry. I get a lot of information from lots of diverse people, either from dark SEOs and from search companies like Google. I have a strict set of blogging ethics I wrote down in 2005 which I stick to.

But honestly, it might not be about being a truly trustworthy person or sharing what I do here or having a written set of guidelines. It might be something else - I am not sure...

Posted at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

I got to many conferences and have access to some of the largest names that speak at those conferences. I often see them in press or speaker rooms, I am invited for Q&A sessions after keynotes, I am often asked to meet one on one or in groups with them for additional questions, and so on. But yet, I never have my picture taken with them.

Many people I know, show off being photographed with famous people in our industry. Such as taking a picture with the founders of Google, being photographed with Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, or Barry Diller of IAC and so on. I just have not done that myself and people sometimes ask me why.

A few reasons:

(1) I am a bit shy.
(2) I am too cool for school and don't want to be the kid that kisses up to get a photograph.
(3) I am always in a rush and rarely have time at conference to wait to get a picture.

Back in 2007, I snapped a picture with me and the founder of Teoma (now owned by Ask.com), Apostolos Gerasoulis. Why, well, only uber-geeks in our industry would recognize the face and name.

But maybe I should spend the time and get over my fear of asking to take a photo with these people? I often hear that having a picture with you and a famous person on your blog or web site leads to more credibility for your name and helps you close leads. So maybe going forward, I should take advantage of this opportunity... What do you think?

Posted at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

This morning, I took a bag of M&Ms to snack on. The interesting part, outside of my wife who will scold me later for eating them, is that when I poured some out, only orange ones came out.

I promise, I did not make this up. The bag was mixed with all colors, but when I looked down to eat one, I saw that they were all orange, at least the ones that came out of the bag. I snapped a picture, cause it was interesting.

No, I did not make this up and separate out only orange ones, simply to blog about something. I am not that type of desperate blogger.

In any event, what does this mean? Some type of sign from G0d? Should I be worried? :)

Posted at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Category: Food , Just Interesting , Just Weird | Comments (6)

Inbal from the Google News team sent me a cool new Google News t-shirt today. The Google News T-Shirt has a robot reading a newspaper and says, "Google News (delivered by robots)."

Here is a picture:

Why did I get it? Well, because I help out here and there at the Google News Forum as part of my Search Engine Roundtable research and discovery morning routine.

Posted at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

I recently got myself the Country Codes of the World poster. In my opinion, this is a must have for any internet company, be it SEO, internet dev/design shop, marketing, etc. Must have.

Hope to hang it up in our conference room soon.

Thanks Byte Level Research!

Posted at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (3)

Acupuncture, real or fake, helps aching back: study from Reuters reports on a study that showed using needles or toothpicks have the same effect on people.

Acupuncture brought more relief to people with back pain than standard treatments, whether it was done with a toothpick or a real needle, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that raises new questions about how acupuncture works.

There are some people who say that piercing the skin is not required. Well, if anything, this study kind of proves it.

After eight weeks, 60 percent of the patients who got any type of acupuncture reported significant improvement in their ability to function compared with those who got standard medical care alone.

But there was no significant difference in the pain relief people got from the acupuncture using needles or from toothpicks.

I have never personally received or seen an acupuncture procedure.

Posted at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Swine Flu, Swine Flue, Swine Flu! Scary stuff, indeed. There are several cases in New York, but all on the other side of the Hudson. I certainly hope it doesn't cross over the bridge.

Here is a map:

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

Posted at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (3)

I have been seeing a ton of twittering going on about my name. But this Twittering, has nothing to do with me, it has to do with my nemesis giving an outstanding and extremely thought-provoking speech at the TED conference.

His speech was named The real crisis? We stopped being wise and it is a must watch, about 20 minutes long. Here it is:

Barry Schwartz, the psychologist is extremely well known, mostly for his book named The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. People talk about this book every day, guaranteed. But now, he may have outdone his book with his TED speech.

Why is he my nemesis? Not because he has about 35 years on me, but because he outranks me for my own name barry schwartz in Google. I guess if I changed my title tag to Barry Schwartz on any of those sites, I would do better, but I won't be doing that.

Plus, he owns the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Schwartz URL at Wikipedia, where I own en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Schwartz_(technologist).

Anyway, this Barry Schwartz is way smarter than yours truly. Watch the video and you will see why.

Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

This morning, I was in a 7/11 to pick up a packed lunch and I saw an old colleague. I paid for my food and then when I left, I heard him say to the nice checkout guy, "Lottery ticket please."

Tangent, I love the 7/11 checkout guys, btw. Okay, back on topic.

I then thought to myself... I would never have pictured him as a lottery man or gambling man. Then I thought, why not? Why couldn't he buy a lottery ticket? I then thought, what makes one buy a lottery ticket? Is it their personality? Is it their financial needs? Is it just boredom? Is it tradition? Is it a sense of hope?

I personally have never purchased a lottery ticket. Really, I never in my life bought a lottery ticket. When I was a kid, I may have bought one of those scratch and wins. But that was purely for boredom.

I then thought, why won't I buy a lottery ticket. What is so bad about the lottery. Is it something I would be embarrassed buying? Does buying a lottery ticket show a sign of desperation or of not being self-sufficient?

I then wondered, did that guy in 7/11 this morning try to wait for me to leave before asking for the ticket. He is normally a loud guy but he seemed to have asked for the lottery ticket, in a quiet tone, possibly as to stop me from hearing his request. Was he embarrassed for me to hear he was buying a lottery ticket? Do I think of him as different now? Should I?

Am I just looking into lottery tickets a bit too much?

Posted at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (4)

Last night, the list of the Madoff scandal victims were released. For many, the actual dollars lost were included in the report.

The Wall Street Journal has a copy of the 162 page madoff client list in PDF format. You can download it and see if any of your rich friends are on this list. Well, I guess they might not be rich anymore. There is a Barry Schwartz on the list, but it is a Barry A. Schwartz in Merrick, New York - which I think is in Long Island. Anyway, it is not me.

WSJ also has a clean list of the most exposed victims of Madoff. Too many names on that list look familiar, including many charities, non-profits and schools.

I keep thinking, "what a shame... what a shame..."

Posted at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Via CNN.com, here is an arial view:

Not sure how or what....

Posted at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Curious, take my anonymous poll and let me know who you voted for. I want to poll my audience on this, as opposed to looking at the other polls out there:

Posted at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

I track a lot of news and I am seeing a sharp influx of news stories and blog posts about companies laying off not just a few employees but a substantial percentage of their workforce.

Yes, most, if not all, cite the economic pressures as the cause for layoffs.

paidContent.org lists some of the layoffs, including layoffs at:

• Sirius
• Zillow
• SearchMe
• Hi5
• Seesmic
• Lulu
• Zivity
• SkyRider

But there are plenty more to blog or write about.

It is a shame to see. I don't think that is in the future at RustyBrick, in fact, I hope to hire some more employees right now. In any event, I cannot imagine having to let go a percent of my company. Firing one person is hard enough, firing 10, 20, 50, 100 - must be crazy - or maybe it gets easier?

Posted at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (3)

So the market and economy is doing pretty bad, to say the least. Heck, even Wall Street Journal's new design is more black that ever. :)

So I decided to ask my Twitter buddies, "Are you taking your money out of the bank?" The responses were pretty funny:

Skizzlizzit
@rustybrick If I had money to take out, I would. :)

ophirc
@rustybrick I In high school economics they told us to fear the day when all will ask banks for their money...

jimhedger
@rustybrick my CND commodities heavy portfolio is being slammed!

NeOBlog
@rustybrick I like to keep most of my money tied up in jelly beans... because they're always of value...

SEOHolicc
@rustybrick what money?

DavideDiCillo
@rustybrick as WaMu customer i've been thinking about it

cyandle
@rustybrick uhhh...what money..? :)

JeremyLuebke
@rustybrick I'm not that paranoid yet, or should I say I'm not that rich to not be covered by FED yet :D

Posted at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Remember when I cut down my tree? Well, I wasn't there to watch it. But my office building people had to cut down a big tree, and they used the same company I used.

Here is a video of some of the process:

Posted at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Last night, I saw this poster hanging in the elevator of my office building. Yea, this cat owner wants to get rid of his/her cat. Clearly, he/she is looking for a great new home for his/her cat.

I wonder if she is targeting our building for a reason or if this sign is all over the place.

I have never seen a sign like this in any elevator I have ever been in, in my whole life. So I figured it would make for a blog post.

Posted at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (3)

This woman got struck by lightening while on camera. Watch it:

Now, she explained:

Because you insisted, here's the unedited screaming version. I also added video from a minute before the lightning struck so you can get an idea of how hard it was raining. From what i understand, it went through my left hand holding the camera, crossed my back and exited out of my right hand holding onto the metal railing. No entry or exit wounds, as i was not directly struck, i got just a really good zap from one of the "finger arcs" that happen when lightning hits.

Wow!

Posted at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting , Just Weird | Comments (1)

TechCrunch blogged about a new beta tool named Flowgram. It basically allows you to create demos of things you do on the web, on your browser, via your browser. It is very cool. Here is a demo of how I used it to describe my profiles across the web.

Click on it to see my demo:

Neat!

Posted at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

If you check out News3Online.com, you may notice that a mysterious Barry Schwartz is running for president. Here is the news coverage:

Would you vote for me?

FYI- I'll upload a better video soon, this is a bit choppy as you can see.

Posted at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (4)

Sitting at this conference and the women in front of me is handling the AV (audio/video) stuff. Check out her console:

I am so tempted to turn some of those knobs...

Be nice Barry...

Posted at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

I didn't know he took pictures. Here are pictures of the bear in my brother's driveway and back yard, followed by one of the articles of garbage.

Posted at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (5)

Friday afternoon, a bear paid a visit to my brother's home, about a mile from my home. The bear was having lunch, which consisted of my brother's left-over garbage from his garbage baskets. The cops came, and threw rocks at the bear until the bear left through his backyard and into the woods.

My reaction to that was, how did that help? Won't it wander back to a home and possibly be a threat to someone else?

Sunday, the local paper reported that a bear was found just a couple blocks from where I grew up. Reportedly, hundreds of kids began looking for the bear and chasing it with the police and other emergency services. The bear climbed up a tree to get away from the crowds. Finally the Department of Environmental Conservation came and shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun and packed it into a cylindrical metal container.

Here is a video from a bystander:

Posted at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (3)

Survival International has posted a new stories and pictures of rare photographs of one of the world's last uncontacted tribes. Here is one photo:

All in red. Now I understand why the smurfs are blue:

In all seriousness, I find these pictures very interesting. This tribe is near the Brazil-Peru border and they were taken from aircraft.

Posted at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (3)

Everyone has their perceptions of large companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Lexus, GMC, and so on. One of my employees friends created this neat site named Brand Tags. In short, the site shows you a logo of the brand and then you type what first comes to mind directly under the logo.

What this does is generate a list of brand perceptions, via tagging, quickly. Kind of reminds me of Google Image Labeler but very marketable. :)

For example, lets compare the tag clouds for brands such as Google and Apple and Yahoo:

Yes, that is the coolest part, you can browse the data by tag cloud, for all the brands in the system. All for free!

Feature Wish List:
- Filter Tags Results by Date Range
- Filter Tags Results by Geo Location
- Filter Tags Results by ISP Connection

But date range and geolocation would be most interesting for me at this time.

Posted at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Seriously, I met a real live typewriter repair man just a few minutes ago.

My office neighbor came in with a computer question (yes, I am their free tech support man). So I went in to the adjacent office to help them with the computer issue. As I am playing computer technician, a man walks in. He announces that he is here to repair the typewriter.

I look up and say... Where do you find a typewriter repair man these days? The office people laughed and then one showed them to the typewriter that needed repair. The office is a law office and they use a typewriter to make quick adjustments to faxed over contracts (like they white things out and then use the typewriter over the whiteout).

In any event, I wanted to see if people actually used such services. So my first instinct was to conduct a search at Google on typewriter repair to see if ads come up. And guess what, they do! Heck, a shop in California even owns www.typewriterrepair.org!

My next step was to try to see if people search on the term. I head over to SEOBook's tool and see it returns estimates from various databases, one says 9 searches, one says 11, another says 3 and the last says 1. Overall, about 16 searches per day from the various engines, based on that tool.

But would those in need of typewriter repair use Google to find a repair man or open the Yellow Pages? :-)

Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Wanted to wish Israel a happy 60th birthday.

Technically, it started last night - since Jewish dates start at stars up and go through sundown or so. As HebCal says, Yom HaAtzma'ut or Israel's Independence Day, is today. Ask.com says it was yesterday, which can be right - kind of.

Remember when I wished Israel a happy 59th, that was on April 23, 2007 and some guy left a comment there...

It normally falls out on the 5th day of the month of Iyar. But this year that falls out on the Jewish Shabbath, Saturday, so they moved it forward. So this year it is on the 3rd day of Iyar.

For more on the day, I guess see Wikipedia. Also, here is an article from the AFP on the day...

Israel is marking its 60th Independence Day, which began at sundown Wednesday, with a great sense of pride but also uncertainty about its future and doubts about prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Six decades after rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, the Jewish state is still plagued by existential threats from abroad and an identity crisis at home.

Posted at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

This afternoon, the bathrooms on my floor were closed for construction. Just a few minutes ago, I decided to stop by and take care of business.

When I opened the bathroom door, I noticed the lights automatically turned on. In addition, I also noticed the bathroom light switched was removed. It seems like they installed a light sensor, that turns off the light after X minutes of motionless observation and then turns the light back on when the sensor detects motion.

I looked around for the location of the motion detector, but I wasn't able to quickly find it.

Then I thought... How funny would it be if someone was taking care of business and the bathroom went dark on him or her. Yea, these things make me laugh - pretty sad. I have heard of situations where the lights go out while people are at their desk 'working,' due to inactivity. But while you are taking care of business? I guess anything is possible.

Honestly, if circumstances allowed - I would likely install these things in my house.

Posted at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (5)

Watch GOOG slide down that slope. Wow...

December 24, 2007 through January 22, 2007 down $117.

Posted at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Think this is real? Check out these birds fly into the airplane engine and blow up. The plane supposedly did not crash. Many people feel the video is fake...

I suspect is it fake also, but who am I to say.

Posted at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Starting last week, the management of my building began installing dozens of these security cameras throughout the building.

They can be found at the building entrances, the elevators, I believe on several floors.

I believe the reason they are installing them is because of some vandalism issues. It is nice to know that they are there for security issues as well. But now I feel like I am being watched and followed.

Of course, then you have those that just install the camera and it isn't really recording anything. I doubt this is the case, since I saw them wiring the thing together. But I know a lot of places just put it up for show.

The dome security cameras are fairly cheap, so why not put them up.

Posted at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Yesterday, I posted a detailed review of Flickr Stats, a new way to see incredibly detailed statistics on your Flickr images. To see them, if you have a Flickr Pro account, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/me/stats/. Here are my most popular images (note, flickr only can track traffic on Flickr, so viewing the images here, won't count as a view or metric on Flickr's side).

Most Popular by Impressions:

With 24,355 views

With 8,316 views

With 6,257 views

With 3,265 views

With 3,133 views

Most Popular by Favorites (People Who Favorite them on Flickr):

With 73 people favoring the image

With 8 people favoring the image

With 3 people favoring the image

With 2 people favoring the image

With 2 people favoring the image

Most Popular by Number of Comments at Flickr:

With 20 comments

With 5 comments

With 4 comments

With 4 comments

And we had three images tied with three comments, here they are:

Would love for other Flickr Pro users to share their most popular images. I would tag people, but I am not sure which users are Pro users and I don't have time this second to find out... So please follow suit if you are!

Posted at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Remember my F The Big Three? post? Well, the site is now live at http://www.fthebigthree.com/.

As I thought, they are a social media company.

Oh, but originally, I wasn't sure what the "F" stood for in FTheBigThree, I see how it is "Forget."

Whether you are selling products or services, a well planned and executed social media campaign is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention, conversions and traffic.

Other reasons why you should use social media in your online marketing mix:

Unlike PPC programs, social media allows you to introduce your website to large groups of people in an organic fashion.

Social communities can provide you with new visitors on top of any traffic you are already receiving from your natural search engine efforts. While you can't easily or quickly increase your natural search engine traffic, you can see massive increases in social media traffic through creative strategic marketing.

High returns.

Viral marketing utilizing community-specific strategies is complimentary of all other marketing efforts - online and offline. Social media doesn't compete with other methods of website traffic generation. Further, it fits perfectly with other campaigns that target other websites, affiliate programs and search engines.

Posted at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Look at the cop in his cop car driving. Now look at what he is holding... A cell phone...

New York State has a Cell Phone Law that says:

What is the law on cell phone use while you operate a vehicle in NYS?

New York State has passed a law that does not allow you to use a hand-held mobile telephone while you drive. If you use a hand-held mobile telephone while you drive, except to call 911 or to contact medical, fire or police personnel about an emergency, you can receive a traffic ticket and pay a maximum fine of $100 and mandatory surcharges of $50.

This violation is not a probationary license violation, and the DMV does not assign any driver violation points.

For complete information on this traffic safety issue and a copy of the law, see Car Cell Phones at the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee web site.

So I guess he was on the phone with a fellow police officer talking about an emergency. I'll assume that.

In any event, I am a strong believer by teach by example. I just expect a NYPD cop to use a headset of some sort when chatting on his cell, even if its an emergency. I also get annoyed when I see cops turn without using a signal - no excuse for that, imo.

A larger image can be seen here.

Posted at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Giant Israeli Flag Breaks World Record from the AP reports Israel now has the world's largest flag.

The Israeli flag measures 2,165 feet long and 330 feet wide and weighs 5.7 tons has broken the world's record. The flag is now in Masada, a Jewish desert and was created by a Filipino evangelical Christian named Grace Galindez-Gupana.

She explained she created it "as a testament to her love for Israel and the Jewish people and as a celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Israel."

"This flag expresses the friendship between the Philippines and the state of Israel, and also the friendship between Jewish and Christian communities," said Shaul Zemach, director of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.

Posted at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Well, if you put this helmet on, you can't see through the guys head. But the guy wearing the helmet might be able to see through yours!

New jet fighter helmet 'sees' through floors from News.com reports on a new helmet being tested by F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The "Helmet Mounted Display System will superimpose a binocular-wide field-of-view, infrared image of the world below."

The helmet was designed by Vision Systems International and Helmet Integrated Systems Limited. It is being tested by MOD’s DE&S Joint Combat Aircraft Integrated Project Team along with the RAF’s Centre for Aviation Medicine.

Scary looking helmet, isn't it?

Posted at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

When I have a problem working something or doing something, I often do what I can to figure it out myself. Google and search is often a major help. I often laugh when I hear someone struggle through something.

The conversation may go like this. How do you do X? I am trying to get it to do X. Why isn't it working! Stupid thing! Work already!!!!! Ah, there it goes. :)

Here is some one's convo via an IRC room, won't disclose the name of the person, which I found funny.

IM: anybody know how excel uses time
IM: this is so confusing
IM: I know that it uses 1 for day so 1 am is 1/24
IM: when I format it to time I get 1:00:00 AM
IM: never mind I got it

I would have done a search at Google to find this page from Microsoft on How to use dates and times in Excel.

Posted at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (4)

I was chatting with Gary Price when he told me he updated his post named Early Web Search Engine Announcements. In that post is a link to an old USENET post by Sergey Brin, the founder of Google.

The post can be found here and reads:

I need to travel round-trip from SFO to BWI in about 10 days and stay for about 2 weeks. In the light of the recent air fare wars, I suspect my just taking United as usual is not the smart way to go. Anyone have any suggestions. Continental seems to have pretty low fares.

ADVthanxANCE
--sergey

If you review the post, you can even find some old school spam or link drops, without the link drops. A guy named Pat Michaels from AirTravel.com wanted to book the tickets for Sergey and listed all the details of the flight. It was relevant, just funny to see.

But why did he need to leave to Baltimore in ten days for a two week period? Can we related this post to a more recent post by Sergey, where he complained of the "terrible dryness" in his house?

Nah, Gary figured it was to visit his parents house for the Jewish New Year which feel out on September 5th of that year. Fun looking at old posts.

I doubt he has to worry about cheap flights anymore, since he owns his own 747.

Posted at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Remember my post on Is GoodBarry Trying to Steal my Brand?

So this guy named Brett stopped by to comment:

Hi Barry!

It's cool that you found us! Love the little cartoon guy you've got going up the top there.

Hey don't you think brown is just such a comfortable, warm color? We all really like coffee and chocolates over here, so you know... must be that great minds think a like =)

I hope you signed up for an invite!

Cheers,
Brett

Not sure what to make of that. No, I didn't sign up for an invite. But thanks for the offer.

Posted at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

My sister calls my house last night and immediately asks for my wife. She says its extremely important, blah blah blah. I find out that on Dancing with the Stars, Marie Osmond fainted on live TV. Check it out, the video is on YouTube:

I don't know if you have ever seen anyone faint in real life. It is scary.

She is OK, I hear.

Posted at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Last night I saw the premier of Kid Nation, a new show on CBS. It is basically about 40 kids who are put in some old ghost town from the old western days and set off to fend for themselves. No adults, no real assistance, just 8 to 15 year olds making a go at living on their own for 40 days.

This is very intriguing to me. So I decided to DVR it and watch it a bit later. Glad I did. Although some kids I find annoying, it is very interesting to see how they interact with each other. Some really surprised me, while others did not.

Here is the Kid Nation promo:

Now, I checked Google Hot Trends, and yesterday, Kid Nation was number 10 on the hot list. Check out the chart over here. Heck, there is even a Wikipedia entry on how the structure classes work.

Posted at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Evidence suggests that people who attend synagogue live longer from Haaretz reports on a recent study released by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The study showed that "the death rate was 75 percent higher among the group that did not attend synagogue than it was among the group that attended synagogue regularly."

In 1997 the Bureau of Statistics conducted a survey of 5,000 Israeli men and women aged 60. They were interviewed about their way of life. In 2004, 38 percent had passed away.

Those with depression had a 80 percent higher rate of death. But it also showed that those who did not go to synagogue regularly had a 75 percent higher rate of death.

Of course, attending synagogue regularly provides an individual with more social stimulates.

Litwin said that there is no clear-cut explanation for the synagogue attendance effect, but outlined two main possibilities.

"One explanation is spiritual, that is, the individual faith factor," he said. "A series of studies that have been conducted in recent years, especially in the United States, argue that faith helps people deal with psychological pressure. People who believe and pray apparently survive longer," said Litwin.

"Another explanation is the connection between attending synagogue and belonging to a supportive community," he added.

So there you go. You pray and the heavens let you live longer. It is now science.

Posted at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting , Religion | Comments (1)

This guy is a genius!

A bluetooth ring that allows you to control your iPhone!

Now, I know I told you I would wear a binary ring or a reminder ring, but I didn't have a strong desire to wear those.

This one, well, it is Apple!

Need I say more?

I found this via My iTablet.

Posted at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Just Interesting | Comments (4)

Starting a few weeks ago, I started noticing a floater in my right eye. It was extremely annoying. It is tiny and most of the time I don't notice it. But as I type, I am noticing it, because it is against a white background.

It looks like a transparent grayish tiny dot on the page. Sometimes I play with it, by scrolling my eyes left and right, to watch the floater "float" across the screen or the sky.

I have read a lot of material on it since I have seen it. Most cases say that they are harmless, in most cases. The Mayo Clinic writes:

Most of the interior of your eye is filled with vitreous, a clear, jelly-like substance. Eye floaters are small bits of debris floating in the vitreous. They may appear as spots, hair or bits of string that dart into your field of vision. Although they can be bothersome, eye floaters in your eye are usually not a serious problem and don't require treatment. Most people learn to ignore them.

Now, not all floaters are harmless. They recommend that you see an eye doctor if you see an "increase in floaters, especially if associated with flashing lights or hazy vision." That may be a sign of a Retinal Detachment, which is not fun.

Can they be treated? Dr. Bill Lloyd's Make My Floaters Disappear at WebMD says no! They may go away by themselves, overtime. But treatment simply doesn't work, even-though there are plenty of treatments advertised.

Speaking of eyes problems... I feel so bad for Ian... He has apparently lost his eye sight. His dry eyes scratched off some of his skin from his eye ball, when he woke up. He said this one is a serious problem and he is hoping it heals itself, but is obviously concerned. I hope it works out Ian, sounds very scary.

Posted at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (32)

Well, I have pre-ordered the Pleo.

No idea when it will come. I am in no rush. But when it gets here, I will be excited.

What the heck is a Pleo? Well, I blogged about it several times in the past. But in short...

Pleo is a robotic dinosaur, made for all ages, designed to emulate the appearance and behavior of a week-old baby Camarasaurus. It was designed by Caleb Chung, the co-creator of the Furby, and manufactured by Ugobe. Chung selected this species of dinosaur because its body shape, stocky head, and relatively large cranium made it ideal for concealing the sensors and motors needed for lifelike animation. According to Ugobe, each Pleo will "learn" from its experiences and environment through artificial intelligence and develop an individual personality.

Maybe we will code it to run after our programmers who have been slacking off. I hear it has an API. :-)

Posted at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting , RustyBrick , Shopping | Comments (6)

Major geek factor here.

A teen hacked the iPhone so that it is now unlocked and working on a non-AT&T network. The teen is 17-years-old and Glen Rock, N.J. Which is not too far from me.

Teen Trades Hacked IPhone for New Car from the AP writes:

The 17-year-old Hotz said he will be sending the three new iPhones to the three online collaborators who helped him divorce Apple Inc's popular product from AT&T's network. The job took 500 hours, or about 8 hours a day since the iPhone's June 29 launch.

View Larger Map

His name is George Hotz.

George made a deal with CertiCell. CertiCell is giving George a Nissan 350Z plus three 8GB iPhones, in exchange for the unlocked iPhone.

He unlocked the iPhone on Friday, Aug. 24, 2007.

Now that is one killer summer gig.

Posted at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Computers , Just Interesting , iPhone | Comments (3)

The Search Engine Roundtable is sporting this look for the next hour or so. Yesterday, we went live with the theme, in commemoration of Women's Equality Day.

Women's Equality Day takes place annually on August 26th. It was instituted by Rep. Bella Abzug and first established in 1971.

It is to acknowledge the Woman Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, aka the 19th amendment was passed. This gave woman rights to vote in 1920.

Posted at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

This video shows a shooting that took place right outside of the old city, in Jerusalem, Friday.

It is actually right near a police station. I personally have walked this way hundreds of times when I spent a school year in Israel.

It makes it all so much crazier, knowing that I have walked this way hundreds of times.

Yes, this place has dozens of security cameras - it is a main corridor between the various quarters.

Posted at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Did you know that in 2000, death and nonfatal injuries cost $70 billion in the United States?

Gary Price pointed me to a CDC report on the The Cost of Violence in the United States.

The reality of the $70 billion figure is that most of it is productivity cost. The CDC said, "an estimated $5.6 billion was spent on medical care for the more than 2.5 million injuries due to interpersonal and self-directed violence."

I love the run down on these figures... Here are ones that stand out, but pretty much, all of them stand out to me.

• Hospital emergency departments treat an average 55 people for injuries every minute
• Homicides cost $37 billion
• The average cost per homicide was $1.3 million in lost productivity and $4,906 in medical costs.
• Violence causes approximately 50,000 deaths each year and results in over 2.5 million injuries.

Makes you think...

Posted at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Tiger Time Lawn Care mows your lawn. But they add a premium to the price. Why? Well, they have young woman mow your lawn in their swim suits.

They call it the "Bikini Cut." Here is some news coverage:

Nuts...

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Today is Moon Day, the day Armstrong and Aldrin land on moon in 1969.

None of the search engines have a logo, but we have one at the Search Engine Roundtable...

Happy Moon Day!

Posted at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

The July 2007 edition of Wired Magazine has me on the cover. No Kidding... Here is a scan of the front page.

Still don't believe me? Here is a picture from an angle on my camera.

Now you believe me?

To be honest, it is no big deal at all. Why? Remember the Make Wired Your Own campaign I mentioned back in March? No? Well, they had a promo, for the first 5,000 people to send in a picture and had a subscription, they would put your picture on the cover of Wired.

So, I am one of 5,000 people.

The picture I sent them was a cropped version of me visiting Mini Israel.

Posted at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging , Just Interesting | Comments (9)

Check out http://www.pleoworld.com/.

Now, it is pushed back again until October 15, 2007!

It was suppose to be December 24, 2006 and then some time in March and now it is October 15th.

I want one of these little dinosaur creatures to room the RustyBrick office already. Possibly two!

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

I am a fairly public person, but I do have limits. Wired had a sweet article named The Visible Man: An FBI Target Puts His Whole Life Online.

The article describes how Hasan Elahi was once on the FBI's target list decided to make it easier for the FBI to know what he is doing, at all times. He figured that it would be easier to inform the FBI before he went on a trip, that he will be going on a trip. This way, when he gets to the airport, they know to expect him.

So what is available about this guy? Everything!

Yes, his current live location, his credit card receipts, pictures of all his travels, his breakfast, etc.

Wired said, he has "documented nearly every waking hour of his life during that time."

What I found funny is that Elahi said, "It's really weird watching the government watch me."

Posted at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Internet could help encourage exercise from Reuters reports that Internet users actually do exercise during the week!

Researchers found that Internet-based exercise programs worked as well as printed advice in getting sedentary adults to take up regular physical activity. One year into the study, the Internet users were getting 80 to 90 minutes of exercise each week.

Ground breaking!

The study was of "249 sedentary adults who were randomly assigned to one of three groups."

Let's see, I am a heavy Internet user and I play basketball on average 200 to 300 minutes per week. Sometimes I walk, but not often. Sunday, I played a bit of Tennis.

Reminds me of the Geek A Cycle...

Posted at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Yesterday, I happened to stumble upon news that the USPS first class stamp rate was being increased from $0.39 to $0.41.

I thought to myself, didn't they just increase the rates almost a year ago. So then I went looking and found a great site that tracks the The History of Postage Rates in the United States. In fact, they changed the rate from 37 cents to 39 cents on January 8, 2006, about 486 days ago. On average, they change the rate every 1,534 days. If you start tracking rate changes from 1958, the average time they change the rate is every 975 days, which is about every two and a half years.

The increase from 39 cents to 41 cents is 5.13%, the average increase in stamp prices since 1917 throughout today is 14.54%, but in the past ten years or so the average increase is 5.10%. The increase from 1917 to today is now at 1,266.67%.

Here is chart showing the increase from 1917 throughout today:

The average dollar change since 1917 is 1.81 cents.

But in reality, prices have gone down. What would cost $0.03 in 1917 would now cost $0.54 in 2006. So since our stamp price is $0.41, we are actually making out here.

I estimate, the next price increase will be around January 13, 2010. I hope not sooner!

Posted at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (8)

One mistake, one little mistake, then they have to do it all over again!

Or not.

Posted at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Someone sent this to Judah who sent it to me, but we don't know where it came from. Check out how this TV comes out from under the bed and is in the optimal viewing location for both you and your wife.

Too cool.

Posted at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Judah showed me this blog post on having a wind shower. Check out this box.

How To Take an Air Shower:

1. Step inside


2. Press big red (might be green or blue) button


3. Let air hit you


4. Let device suck up the bad air

The device will remove about 90% of pollen and dust from your body.

Cost: ~$16,000

And I thought I would never talk about showering on this blog again!

Posted at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

PC World published the The 20 Most Annoying Tech Products and I totally agree with number 1.

1. AOL CDs, who didn't get one of these each week?
2. Windows Me (2000), remember PCs that came with this preinstalled, horror!
3. Apple iTunes, Microsoft Windows Media Player, Microsoft Zune, Napster - I am not too sure about that, they complain about the DRM stuff
4. McAfee Internet Security, Symantec Norton Internet Security - I am a Mac guy, no worries here
5. Real Networks (Progressive Networks) RealPlayer - agreed
6. Bonzi Buddy - what?
7. MySpace - lol
8. Microsoft Windows Vista - have yet to use
9. Microsoft Windows Update - true but necessary
10. Apple QuickTime for Windows - no comment
11. Microsoft Office 97 - Mr Paper Clip!!!!
12. and more...

But what about a high tech alarm clock? All alarm clocks are set to annoy. But this one is set to kill! (thanks Judah.

Posted at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

I was listening to the radio this morning and Jim Kerr said that there was a report out that car accidents are more likely on Friday the 13ths. He said 13% more likely.

Pretty interesting....

So I tracked down a recent article on this to get more info...

Norwich Union researched claims over a five-year period, during which time there were six Friday the 13ths, and discovered that the number of claims on these days was significantly higher (13%) when compared to other days of the month. Conversely, all other 13ths had less than the average number of claims.

"Our analysis on dangerous days for driving has given some credence to people's superstitions regarding Friday the 13th," says Norwich Union's Nigel Bartram said. "Though it's difficult to say for certain why this is, one reason could be that people alter their driving behaviour in response to a perceived 'unlucky' day.

Probably because some people are more nervous on these days. Nervous drivers are dangerous drivers. So if more than 13% of those drivers are superstitious, then that kinda makes sense.

Posted at 8:35 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

I received the April issue of Wired this weekend and on the back cover was a promotion saying "Make Wired Your Own."

You can actually get your face on the cover of Wired. Pretty cool.

There are conditions of course:

(1) You must be a subscriber to Wired (I am)
(2) You must upload an image of someone 13 years old or higher
(3) The image must be a jpg format and minimum 1200 x 1200 in size

The first 5,000 usable and approved submissions will get a copy of the July issue with their picture on the cover.

How do you do this? Well, if you get Wired, you probably already know about this...

If you lost the promo, just go to http://www.wired.com/promo/xerox.

Probably the easiest way to make it on the cover of such a popular magazine. Unfortunately Fortunately, you will be the only one seeing this cover. :-)

Posted at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

Judah from Diamond Vues showed me a post at BornRich.org describing the Tryane II. The Tryane II is a car made of wood, completely by hand.

The car took 2000 hours of work, it is 900 lbs, 13' 7" long, 5' 4" wide and 4' 4" tall. It can drive up to a 100 miles per hour and gets between 55-70 miles per gallon. It is made of gaboon marine ply and mahogany veneers bonded with epoxy resin.

How crazy is that? Imagine seeing someone drive by you in that. Imagine this car crashing into yours. Ouch!

Posted at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny , Just Interesting , Motor Vehicle | Comments (1)

Ever jump out of a plane? I didn't either. Ever want to? Never really thought about it.

British skydiver Michael Holmes almost died after his parachute did not deploy. His friend caught it all on tape. The video above is the one from YouTube but this video is way more intense, of the same accident.

12,000ft to earth after both his parachutes failed, saying goodbye to the world... and hitting the ground with a sickening thud at 80mph.

Now, do you want to go skydiving?

Posted at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

I was driving to the bank a couple hours ago and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw this car. I looked closer and it was a Red Bull promotional truck.

I pulled out my treo and attempted to take some pictures of it. They aren't great, because I was driving and the Red Bull Truck was behind me.

I looked up some past Red Bull Cars and found this but that is a totally different car.

I spotted this while driving on Airmont Road, towards College Road, in Suffern, NY.

Anyway, thought this was interesting and would make a good personal blog post.

More pictures at Flickr.

Posted at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny , Just Interesting , Just Weird , Motor Vehicle | Comments (1)

Diamond Vues points to a Binary Wedding Band from GreenKarat.com.

The ring in the picture reads "A Marriage of Values."

But you can have almost any message you want on your ring, well - in Binary.

I would wear one of these puppies, just like I would wear the anniversary reminding ring.

But honestly, I would prefer the binary ring, if I had to wear a ring. Which I do not.

Funny, because I just came back from the bank. The banker asked me if I was married. I said yes. He asked, you don't wear a ring? I said, correct.

Posted at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Category: Family , Just Interesting , Shopping | Comments (2)

Crunchgear mocks AOL's list of Top 5ive Gadgets You Shouldn't Buy.

You have to love the picture on the right from Crunchgear!

No, AOL doesn't say don't buy Dog Dirt. They say don't buy:

• High Definition DVD Players
• PlayStation 3
• Draft N Wireless Routers
• Windows Vista
• 10 Megapixel Digital Camera

I agree, don't buy those things yet, as they said.

But what should you buy?

No, not dog dirt...

PC Magazine's Top Ten Unusual Auto Add-Ons:

• 7-inch Sun Visor DVD Monitor
• Portable Car Shower
• RoadPro 12-Volt Portable Frying Pan
• SmartHome 6-Liter Personal Cooler/Warmer
• Kumho ECSTA DX Aroma
• PimpStar
• Accutire Talking Programmable Tire Gauge
• Programmable LED Car Plate Billboard
• Retro Motion Lamp For Auto
• Flashing Gear Knob

What is sad is that I actually own one of these things and would love to own at least 9 of the other things on this list. ;-)

Thanks Dad for the tip.

Posted at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

The PleoBot blog spotted that Ugobe, the makers of the Pleo, is giving away 10 free Pleos.

How do you win?

Well, they are throwing an essay contest and 10 lucky, skilled, creative writers will win a new friend.

In 250 words or less, write an essay on the topic of “How do you envision robotic life forms influencing or touching your life in the next five years?”

The contest starts now and runs until March 3, 2007. You can submit your essays here and some more contest rules here.

My past blog entry on the Pleo is here.

Posted at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Winter, snow, cold and wind remind me of ChapStick. So how does a computer guy geek-out his used ChapStick?

Yes, he converts his ChapStick into a USB Drive.

Andrew from The Machinist describes how you can make this happen.

I just bought a new 2GB USB flash drive, and it happened to be sitting on the desk the other day next to a tube of ChapStick.

Spotted via Crunchgear.com.

Posted at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers , Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Now it will be in style to sleep at work. I know a lot of the world takes afternoon naps. Yea, they close their doors in the middle of the day to take a nap or do miscellaneous work. But now there are companies selling what are called Sleep Pods.

The news is buzzing about this, over 600 stories currently, on how sleeping during the day can help reduce heart attacks.

I saw a thing on CBS news last night, On-The-Job Naps Lower Heart Risk. They showed off this company named Metro Naps. Metro Naps sells a Sleep Pod and has dozens of locations around the world for workers to stop in and take a quick cat nap during the day.

Why am I blogging this? Because one of my employees asked when RustyBrick will be installing one of these puppies in the office. I did not answer him.

I wonder who paid for the study stating:

A six-year study of nearly 24,000 Greek adults found those who regularly took midday naps lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by more than a third.

Those who made it a practice of napping at least three times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease compared to non-nappers.

SEOs, currently no one is sleep pods or work naps -- do they have an affiliate business?

Posted at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (1)

John Chow wrote that he was written up in the Vancouver Sun, which has a reader base of 500,000 people, because of his blogging. He posted a picture of the article and after reading it, I was amazed.

A paper spent the time to write up a blogger who pulls in $3,500 per month? That is about $40,000 per year!

I know many bloggers that bring in way more than that from just their blogs, so why choose him?

In any event, the article is interesting, in that he discloses the actual figures he makes from Google (is that allowed), Text Link Ads, and other networks.

Big kudos for him for getting into the press, I am just surprised by the premise.

Shawn Hogan was also written up in the New York Times but that was more focused on Google AdSense's new program (article here).

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

I love Wall Street.

As Danny reports; Google Reports Revenues Up 19 Percent From Previous Quarter.

Revenues - Google reported revenues of $3.21 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2006, representing a 67% increase over fourth quarter 2005 revenues of $1.92 billion and a 19% increase over third quarter 2006 revenues of $2.69 billion. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. Net Income - GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2006 was $1.03 billion as compared to $733 million in the third quarter. Non-GAAP net income was $997 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $812 million in the third quarter. GAAP EPS for the fourth quarter was $3.29 on 313 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $2.36 for the third quarter, on 311 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS for the fourth quarter was $3.18, compared to $2.62 in the third quarter.

But stock falls 3% in After Hours trading to $484.83.

Via Yahoo News:

Google shares fell more than 3 percent to $484.83 after the company reported total revenue growth that was largely in line with Wall Street expectations, despite some investor hopes of an upside surprise.

The stock seems to be bobbing up and down right now. Track it at Google.

Posted at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

I thought I was a geek by proposing via Ask Jeeves, but this guy totally geeked me out!

On a Mac, if you press the F12 key, it opens up Dashboard. He somehow got onto his girlfriend's Mac, and customized the dashboard to look like this:

I guess this is a similar concept. I sat my wife down, asked her to search her name on Ask.com, and up came a Smart Answer. Here, he asked his girlfriend to press F12 and up came a widget.

Nice touch man!

Posted at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Not much I can say, just be careful!

Posted at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Last night I saw a bit of ABC News, a story named How to Solve a Rubik's Cube, which highlighted 8 steps to solve the rubik's cube at rubkis.com.

My recent increased interest in the Rubki's Cube came when I watched the The Pursuit of Happyness a month or so ago.

In any event, if you want to figure out how to beat the cube, you can learn the steps above or look up other solutions.

All I need now is a Rubik's Cube to practice. I may pick one up at Toys R Us.

Posted at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

More info at http://www.mysuperproposal.com/.

Also see Wanted: $2.5 Million Super Bowl Spot -- For Free.

Guys, go to the poll over here, and vote yes, take the time to register if you have not, the site has great content.

Should a marketer with a Super Bowl spot turn over the time, or part of it, to "J.P.," who says he wants to propose to his girlfriend during the Big Game?

Heck, support this because, I First Ever Wedding Proposal via Search Engine.

Posted at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Jon Mendez blog tagged me, but honestly, I do not know five things I did not say that is so earth shattering that will make a difference. So keep reading this blog, and you will learn new things about me, if you care about that. But one thing I found incredibly - um, WOW, to me was ShoeMoney's blog tag.

I never knew he used to weigh 420 lbs. I never suspected it. Shoe wrote a very thoughtful story about it that really made me go wow.

I took some pictures from Shoe's gallery, hope he doesn't mind, for the before and after shot.

Shoe, huge respect from me. I am amazed.

Posted at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

There is something about Super Mario Brothers that interests me... Remember I posted about the guy who beat Super Mario Brothers in five minutes? Well, I believe it was rigged, in any event, still cool.

Here is a kid playing the theme song of Super Mario Brothers on his acoustic guitar, with the help of his computer. Still pretty sweet...

Posted at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (4)

What were you doing between the ages of 15 and 17? Well, a kid in Rochester Hills, MI named Thiago Olson spent those years creating a Nuclear Fusion Reactor.

The Detroit Free Press reports;

In the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion -- when atoms are combined to create energy -- is "kind of like the holy grail of physics," he said.

Wikipedia has a ton of details on Nuclear Fusion and explains;

The only fusion reactions thus far produced by humans to achieve ignition are those which have been created in hydrogen bombs.

OK!

Posted at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (4)

Aaron Wall spotted the announcement of a new scholarship for students who do blogging. It is called the Blogging Scholarship and they give $1,000 to four students over the year.

Criteria?

• Your blog must contain unique and interesting information about you and/or things you are passionate about. No spam bloggers please!!!
  
• U.S. citizen;
  
• 3.0 GPA;
  
• Enrolled full-time in post-secondary education; and
  
• If you win, you must be willing to allow us to list your name and blog on this page. We want to be able to say we knew you before you became a well educated, rich, and famous blogging legend.
  

The scholarships are awarded on April 30th, July 30th, October 30th and January 30th.

If you meet those requirements, then you can apply here.

Also, give it a digg.

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Ronnie told me that he was looking at Firefox's schwag the other day and he noticed that Firefox has bags for sale, the same ones we are going to be getting soon.

Right now we are in the process of getting a sample so that we can order about a 100 of them.

I do not plan on selling them, unless you think people will buy them, in that case, I would order more.

Firefox sells them for $60 a piece, I bet they bought a huge quantity and they make about $20 per bag.

This gadget-friendly backpack features a padded laptop sleeve, and a handy drop-in audio pocket with a headphone exit port. Other features include power supply pockets, file folder and cell phone pockets. For those intrepid travelers, there is a cool airline ticket sleeve built into the back of the bag. Roomy enough to comfortably fit a 17" laptop and still hold all of your documents and bric-a brac. Firefox logo and text embroidered on the front.

But I am much happier buying them now knowing that Firefox decided to go with them.

Posted at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting , RustyBrick | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Here is my poll...

Outstanding find on the poll software Andy, it rocks!

Posted at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting , Polls | Comments (0)

On 10/11 a small aircraft slammed into the Belaire Apartments on the Upper East Side of NYC.

MSNBC reports;

NEW YORK - A small plane crashed into a high-rise condominium Wednesday on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, touching off a raging fire and stirring fears reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Local affiliate WNBC reported four bodies had been found.

As I write this more info is coming in. "New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was the pilot of a small airplane that crashed into a 50-story condominium in Manhattan, and Lidle is one of two confirmed dead."

CNN reports more right now;

• NEW: Plane registered to Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle
• NEW: Emergency call from plane indicated a possible fuel problem
• FDNY confirms at least one person was killed
• NORAD scrambles fighter aircraft though terrorism isn't suspected

Keep watching those sources and Yahoo! News.

Wow!

Posted at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2)

I am truly amazed. Speechless. A relatively old YouTube video demonstrates this individual beating Super Mario Bros in about five minutes!

Posted at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

Anyone with a wife or a girlfriend goes through this routine...

Your wife/girlfriend's cell phone rings. She rushes to open her bag and sifts through the papers, makeup, note pads, and war chest of items that she never uses to find her phone. She keeps going, confident she will find the phone that is ringing really soon. The ringing stops. Either she found the phone and starts talking or there is silence and a sense of defeat, in not finding the phone.

The solution for such a problem? A pretty watch that has built in bluetooth features to show you the caller id of the person calling you. This way you can determine if you should go through all that effort in finding the phone in your bag. With a quick glance at your watch, you can tell who is calling and make an informed decision on how you want to spend your next sixty-seconds.

News came out today that Fossil is releasing such a watch this month. The watch is currently available at Fossile.com for presale at $249.00. It is not a pretty watch, there is no way my wife would wear it, but I am hoping they come out with nicer ones - where it may become an option.

Some other bluetooth watches:

• Seiko CPC TR-006
  
• Citizen VIRT
  
• PDT
  Sony Ericsson MBW-100
  

Posted at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers , Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Did you happen to read Danny's post about a new job opening from Google for a Webmaster Trends Analyst?

Sounds like a perfect job for Barry Schwartz! Of course, if I lose yet another news editor to a search engine, oh vey!

Hmmmm....

Posted at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1)

Richard Bell left a comment here the other day, asking me to take a look at his game named TagMan. TagMan is a pretty neat idea, it is hangman, but it pulls from a database of words from Technorati, Squidoo, del.icio.us or Flickr. It looks at the most popular tags from Technorati, Squidoo, del.icio.us or Flickr and randomly selects them for the hangman game. If you win, you "jump directly to that tag's page on Technorati or Squidoo or del.icio.us" or in Flickr's case "you'll see 4 photos." More details at the FAQ, one request, make this Web 2.0 game look more Web 2.0. :)

I played and won the second game.

So give TagMan a try.

Posted at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)

The NY Post has an article by Mandy Stadtmiller with a survey of 850 New Yorkers asking them various questions on various question on their morning wake up rituals. I found them pretty interesting, especially the wake up times by region of New York and by profession.

Those in Queens and Staten Island wake up the earliest at 6:34 a.m., the Bronx wakes up on average at 6:40 a.m and Brooklyn folks tend to wake up at 6:44 a.m. New York on average gets up at 6:39 a.m. I believe (even though it is not published here) that if you live in Manhattan the average wake up time is 7:01 a.m., since they have less time required for travel.

Firefighters are the earliest to rise at 5:42, then taxi drivers & Wall Street guys at 5:50, followed by bodega workers at 6:03 and then doormen at 6:24 in the morning.

A lot more interesting stats on New Yorker's morning rituals at the NY Post.

Posted at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0)