Ten Words You Need To Stop Misspelling

A great New Year's Resolution for the spelling impaired.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

The True Odds of Airborne Terror Chart

What are the odds of you being involved in a terrorist incident on an airplane? Click on the image to see it larger (when the new window opens click on the image again to magnify).




Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Blue Moon On New Year's Eve

While a blue moon consistently gives poets fodder and feeds the imagination of stargazers, its presence is a scientific marker for a rotating earth that by its own clock, ignores the Julian calendar.
And only once in every 20 years, the blue moon appears on New Year’s Eve, as it will this year.

Click the picture to read the article.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

From service dog to SURFice dog

Surf dog Ricochet’s inspirational video highlighting her journey from service dog training, to turning disappointment into a joyful new direction, to surfing with quadriplegic surfer, Patrick Ivison, to fundraising for charitable causes.

Click the image above to go to Ricochet's website.



Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Big Picture: Five years since the Tsunami

Five years ago, on Boxing Day, December 26th, 2004, a magnitude 9.3 earthquake hit the seafloor of the Indian Ocean, causing tremendous waves of seawater to rush ashore as devastating tsunamis that left 230,000 people dead across 13 different countries - the fifth deadliest natural disaster in recorded history. Over 45,000 of the dead were never found. Five years later now, reconstruction moves apace, as multiple aid groups have built more than 140,000 homes, 1,700 schools, 3,800 houses of worship and 3,700 km of roads. On this anniversary of the catastrophe, we have collected here photographs of survivors, some rebuilding, some remembering, and seven sets of "before and after" photos (numbers 4-10, be sure to click them to see the transition effect). I'd also like to direct your attention to a fantastic multimedia presentation on this subject from Thomson/Reuters called Surviving the Tsunami. (25 photos total)

Click the picture to see the full collection.

Relative prices of different liquids

Think Crude Oil is expensive? What if your car ran on the black ink used in your printer? Click on the image above to see a larger version.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Every Person In New York

An artist is trying to "draw every person in New York". Click on the picture above to go to this site.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

2009 Blizzard #2

Twice in one month we have had snow in Fort Worth. Did you hear me, I said FORT WORTH...as in Texas...TEXAS! We are not supposed to get these blizzard conditions here.

The neighborhood.

Looking off our back patio.

Another view off the back patio.

Ray Stevens: We The People

A little right leaning humor.

Room at the inn: Hyatt in downtown Dallas welcomes the homeless

Last Christmas, Mack Choice was among the homeless people treated to a free meal and room on Christmas Eve at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. This year, he was among those rolling out the red carpet for the homeless at the hotel.

Click the picture above to read the article.

Watch the Dallas Morning News video here.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Growing Up Heroes

"Growing Up Heroes brings back vivid memories of our own attempts to be heroes when we were uncomplicated, over-imaginative, nerdy kids."

Click the picture to see the collection.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

12 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade

We're entering 2010 with all kinds of new gadgets, gizmos, and tech tools, but let's not forget that we've lost a few things this decade, too.

HuffPostTech took a look back at 12 things that became obsolete this decade.

From fax machines to landline phones check them out (and get nostalgic) in the slideshow below!

Vote for the gadgets you'll miss -- and those you think we're better off without.

Click the picture to see the list.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Big Picture: Christmas 2009

Friday, the 25th, was Christmas Day, the Christian commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated in many places around the world with prayers, singing, gift-giving and charity. Modern Christmas traditions originate from many backgrounds, combining several historic holidays and celebrations into one, the most well-known traditional story being Santa Claus, a jolly old elf who brings gifts to good children all over the world. Collected here are a handful of photographs of people observing the Christmas season this year. (34 photos total)

Click the picture to see the full collection.

Big Picture: Snowy Scenes

Last Monday was December 21st - the Winter Solstice, or the shortest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere). The 21st would also have also been the first day of Nivôse, the first winter month of the long-abandoned French Republican Calendar, named after the Latin word nivosus, which, appropriately means "snow or snowy". Collected here are a handful of recent photographs of these snowy days for those of us in the north. (42 photos total)

Click the picture to see the full collection.

Christmas message from General Petraeus

Michael Yon posted this note from General Petraeus to the US Troops around the world. I thought I would share it here.

Michael:

As you know, our troopers are doing magnificent work in Afghanistan, Iraq, and a host of other places throughout the Central Command area and, indeed, throughout the world. Many of them will celebrate the holidays while deployed on combat and contingency operations, defending our nation's freedoms far from home and far from loved ones. They - and their families - have made enormous sacrifices in recent years, in many cases deploying multiple times and enduring long separations from those at home while carrying out important missions in challenging conditions against tough enemies.

As we all remember our many personal blessings this holiday season, we should also take a moment to remember how truly fortunate our country is to have the remarkable men and women of our armed forces who serve so courageously and so selflessly. They truly are America's new greatest generation.

To our troopers overseas and to those here at home: thank you for all that you have done to help keep America safe and to protect the values for which generations of Americans have fought in the past. We are deeply grateful for your extraordinary service in recent years and we are equally thankful for all that we know you will do in the years ahead. It remains the greatest of privileges to serve with each of you.

Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful holiday season and a great year in 2010. May God bless our great country and each and every one of you, and may God bless our troopers serving around the world and their families at home. Thank you very much!

GEN David H. Petraeus
Commander, US Central Command

Click the picture to see the actual post.

Nobel Prize with every oil change

In Rockwall County, a place known for its conservative politics, one mechanic is getting a lot of attention for his latest promotion: a Nobel Peace Prize, free with every oil change.

The offer, which pokes fun at President Barack Obama’s recent Nobel Prize win, sits on a 4-by-10-foot sign in front of Horizon Auto Center on the outskirts of Rockwall.

Owner Ken Sterling says that since he put it there, response has been overwhelming. A photo of the sign was posted online and has gone viral, appearing on blogs, conservative Web sites and Twitter feeds.

“We’ve had more than 400 calls and e-mails,” Sterling said, adding that only two callers thought the sign was in poor taste.

Conservatives and others have been critical of Obama’s winning the award, saying he won it in his first year of office before he accomplished anything substantial. (In Oslo, Norway, Obama said he accepted the award as a call to action.)

In Rockwall County, Obama critics are easy to find.

The county is home to some of North Texas’ most ardent Tea Party Patriots, and it was home to multiple Tea Party events the last several months.

Click the image to read the article.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

From Uruguay to Hollywood

Here's a fairy tale that could only happen in the movies. Man makes YouTube video. Goes to Hollywood. Gets pots of money and a movie deal. Except this story is true.

An unknown producer from Uruguay, Fede Alvarez, shelled out about $300 to create a cool video of a robot invasion in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The four-minute short, "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack) features ginormous (but slow-moving) weapon-wielding robots that blow stuff up.

Click the image to read the article.



Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Kim Peek, the original Rain Man, dies

For those youngsters out there, there was a movie in 1988 titled Rain Man.

Rain Man is a 1988 comedy-drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, a savant, of whose existence Charlie was unaware.

I did not know that Rain Main was based on a real person, Kim Peek. Mr. Peek passed away on December 19, 2009.

The blog BagOfNothing posted a series of five videos about Mr. Peek. I am posting video one below, along with links to videos 2-5.


Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man [2/5]

Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man [3/5]

Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man [4/5]

Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man [5/5]

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Are You This Good With A Tape Measure

This is probably fake, but it is impressive nonetheless.


Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Reason # 1098 Why You Shouldn't Share A Stage With Children

Thanks to Lee Ann

KooKoo, the GPS-Enabled Kitty

I am not a fan of cats, but I am a fan of creative uses of technology. Click on the picture to watch the video.

To track his wandering cat, Mark Spezio rigged up a cat collar with a lightweight GPS logger. Here's what he discovered about KooKoo's secret habits

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Some in $4.6B Christian industry copy designs, logos

American retailers sell about $4.6 billion worth of Christian products annually, and some are spoofs or spinoffs of commercial logos or brand names. Many such goods are illegal, trademark attorneys say, but companies often are unaware their names are being copied or don’t put up a fight for fear of being labeled anti-faith.

Click the image to read the article.







Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

2009 News Wrap-up In Christmas Carol Form

Helping small minds understand big news.

Last year's Singing Review went viral, in a GOOD way (not like H1N1). Re-live the year's news and sing along with Uncle Jay! Oh wait, you can't he changed all the words. See you in January!

Solar Powered Camels?

Kenya’s camels recently started sporting some unusual apparel: eco-friendly refrigerators! Some of the African country’s camels are carrying the solar-powered mini fridges on their backs as part of a test project that uses camels as mobile health clinics. Organizers hope the eco-friendly transport system will provide a cheap, reliable way of getting much-needed medicines and vaccines to rural communities in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Big Picture: The decade in news photographs

Call it what you will, "the noughties", "the two-thousands" or something else, the first decade of the 21st century (2000-2009) is now over. Looking back on the past ten years through news photographs, it becomes clear that it was a dramatic, often brutal decade. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks and wars were by far the most dominant theme. Ten years ago, Bill Clinton was ending his final term in office, very few had ever heard of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein still ruled Iraq - all that and much more has changed in the intervening time. It's really an impossible task to sum up ten years in a handful of photographs, but below is my best attempt at a look back at the last decade - feel free to let me know what I missed in the comments below. (50 photos total)

Click the picture above to see the full collection. Warning: Some images are graphic.

Jack Bauer Interrogates Santa Claus

For the fans of 24.

Mild Language Warning.



Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

20 Best Gadgets of the Decade (2000-2009)

The new Millennium got off to a great start where the world of gadgetry was concerned. For our 20 best we selected only actual gadgets—no websites like YouTube or Facebook, no software programs and no innovative companies like Netflix. From listening to music to trips to the lavatory, each of these gadgets has made life a little more enjoyable. Congrats to the inventors—now quit dawdling on the video-camera watch and the personal jetpack.

Click the image above to read the article.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Big Picture: 2009 in photos (part 3 of 3)

The year 2009 is now coming to a close, and it's time to take a look back over the past 12 months through photographs. Historic elections were held in Iran, India and the United States, some wars wound down while others escalated, China turned 60, and the Berlin Wall was remembered 20 years after it came down. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2009. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Please see also part 1 and part 2. (40 photos total)

Click the picture above to see the full collection. Warning: Some images are graphic.

Poinsettias are poisonous! Not!!

From the Houston Chronicle Science Blog.

Holiday warning! Poinsettias are poisonous!

Oh wait, they're not. That's a myth. The plants really aren't toxic at all.

But people, as it turns out, are poisonous to the plants, which could live for years with a little tender love and care instead of post-holiday neglect.

Click the image to read the post.

"Santa" Reunites Girl With Missing English Bulldog

A 7-year-old girl in the Parker County city of Hudson Oaks will have trouble NOT believing in Santa Claus.

As NBC5 reported, Brooke Botello wrote a letter to Santa asking for the return of her 6-month-old English bulldog puppy, which was stolen from in front of her home.

Someone -- an elf, perhaps? -- turned in the dog to police, and Brooke and her buddy were reunited.

Now's there's a Christmas Story we can all believe in.

Click the picture to read the article.

Interesting Stories From Real Bearded Santas

The Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas is more than 300 Santas strong. CNN's Ted Rowlands tracked down a handful of them in California to hear the stories behind the men in the red velvet suits. Click on the image to read the stories.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Behind The Scenes At Netflix

From the Dallas Morning News Technology Blog

I got a tour yesterday of Netflix's distribution center in Irving -- one of four in Texas, and 58 nationwide -- and it was a fascinating peek behind the curtains of a company that has shipped about two billion DVDs since it was founded in 1997 and is gearing up for a future where online viewing will eventually make DVDs as quaint as VHS tapes.

The Irving distribution center handles about 47,000 DVD (and now Blu-ray) discs on a typical day, using U.S. Post Office machines that can scan 30,000 discs in an hour, insert 4,200 outbound discs into envelopes, and sort by zip code more than 17,000 envelopes per hour.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Big Picture: 2009 in photos (part 2 of 3)

The year 2009 is now coming to a close, and it's time to take a look back over the past 12 months through photographs. Historic elections were held in Iran, India and the United States, some wars wound down while others escalated, China turned 60, and the Berlin Wall was remembered 20 years after it came down. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2009. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Please watch for part 3 tomorrow and have a look back at part 1 from yesterday. (40 photos total)

Click the picture above to see the full collection. Warning: Some images are graphic.

Funny Dear God Notes

Everyone needs encouragement as they are growing up. God is some kind of way to understand the world around us. While we are growing up EVERYTHING – but really everything can gets on our minds. For example is it true my father will not get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house? Or God, it’s o.k. that you made different religions but don’t you get mixed up sometimes? Or did they really talk that fancy in the bible? Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t You keep the ones You already have… Millions of questions are going through that little heads and there is just one cool way to find the answer: DEAR GOD NOTES. This is one small collection. Enjoy.

Click the image above to see other notes.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Raining Teddy Bears

Click the picture to read the article.


Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

An Interesting Take On A Christmas Billboard

Are we putting too many words in Jesus' mouth?

Big Picture: 2009 in photos (part 1 of 3)

The year 2009 is now coming to a close, and it's time to take a look back over the past 12 months through photographs. Historic elections were held in Iran, India and the United States, some wars wound down while others escalated, China turned 60, and the Berlin Wall was remembered 20 years after it came down. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2009. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Please watch for part 2 and part 3 tomorrow and the next day. (40 photos total)

Click the picture to see the full collection.

How Would You Like To Wake Up In This Bed?

Your kid is a special human being to you and therefore you should ensure that your kids bedroom designs are also that much special. We all adore our kids and love them very much and it is exactly for the same reason that to make them feel special we should always go for the best things; especially their bedroom because it is their own space. Designing a kids bedroom can be an ultimately fun and enjoyable process. The hardest part of the decision making is to choose what type of theme to opt for, with choices such as boating, castles, football, fairytale and history the choices are literally endless. But have you ever tought at a Jurassic Park themed bedroom ? The bottom jaw of the dinosaur is hinged to reveal a built in toy box, and the murals in the bedroom reflect the dinosaur theme.

Click the image to see other pictures.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

The Pancake Project

I’ve been creating pancake art for my family for 10 years and the time has come to reveal my madness.

Welcome my fellow pancake pioneers. I know you're out there. Send in your pancake pictures, comments and even suggestions for pancakes you'd like to see.

Click the image to see the other pictures.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Couple Lives In 175-Square-Foot New York Apartment

If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere.

Zaarath and Christopher Prokop -- and their two cats -- live in the smallest apartment in the city, a 175-square-foot "microstudio" in Morningside Heights the couple bought three months ago for $150,000.

At 14.9 feet long and 10 feet wide, it's about as narrow as a subway car and as claustrophobic as a jail cell. But to the Prokops, it's a castle.

"When you first see it, the first thing you say is, 'Holy crap, this place is small,' " said Zaarath, 37, an accountant for liquor company Remy Martin. "But when I saw it, all I could think of is, I can do something with this. This is perfect for us. We love it."

Click the picture to read the article.

Christmas Cards For The "Needy"

Okay, he isn't really needy. I just thought that title would get your attention. If you follow this blog at all you know that I am a big fan of BagOfNothing. Well, the author of BON has been doing a Christmas Card experiment for the last couple of years. This year he is asking people to send him a card with a random coupon (he has already received coupons for Marlboro Cigarettes and Boudreaux’s Butt Paste). If you want to help make this guys Christmas read about the project and then send him a card and coupon. He even offers you a way to send him a free Google card. Click on the link below to read about the project.

Christmas Card Experiment

Real life 'Edward Scissorhands'

A stylist has emulated Edward Scissorhands by inventing a set of razor sharp 'clawz' which he claims will revolutionise hair cutting.

Click the image to read the article.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

The Top 10 Everything of 2009

Includes top ten Albums, Awkward Moments, Crime Stories, Editorial Cartoons, iPhone Apps, TV Episodes, and many more. Click the image above to see the list of lists.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Massive Grapevine Road Work Begins Feb. 15

Commuters who travel through Grapevine during the workweek should brace themselves for about four years of dodging orange barrels, beginning Feb. 15.

A massive reconstruction of seven Grapevine highways — a project known as the DFW Connector — is scheduled to begin on that date, officials said Tuesday night. The project includes the reconstruction and expansion of 114/121 on the north end of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, one of the busiest freeways in the region.

“They’ve opened the floodgates and said all our plans are approved,” said Selma Stockstill, spokeswoman for NorthGate Contractors, the developer hired by the state to fast-track the nearly $1 billion project. “It is a pretty firm date.”

Click the picture to read about the project.

Portraits of Power

In 1976, Richard Avedon went to Washington to photograph Henry Kissinger. As Avedon was leading him to his mark, Kissinger said, “Be kind to me.”

Artists have been making portraits of the mighty for centuries—from Velázquez’s Philip IV to Lucian Freud’s Elizabeth II—and the act of portrait-making can leave the royal or the tyrant, the President or the diplomat with a sudden feeling of disequilibrium, of a transfer of power. Avedon knew that Kissinger was trying to manipulate him, but what, exactly, did he want? “Did Kissinger want to look wiser, warmer, more sincere than he suspected he was?” Avedon wrote later. “Isn’t it trivializing and demeaning to make someone look wise, noble (which is easy to do), or even conventionally beautiful when the thing itself is so much more complicated, contradictory, and, therefore, fascinating?”

This past September, when nearly all the world’s leaders were in New York for a meeting of the United Nations, Platon, a staff photographer for this magazine, set up a tiny studio off the floor of the General Assembly, and tried to hustle as many of them in front of his lens as possible. For months, members of the magazine’s staff had been writing letters to various governments and embassies, but the project was a five-day-long improvisation, with Platon doing his best to lure the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chávez, and Muammar Qaddafi to his camera.

And so what did the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ask the photographer before the shutter clicked? “Platon,” he said, “make me look good.”

History is full of leaders who cannot bear the result of their sittings. Winston Churchill publicly praised a portrait of him by Graham Sutherland, but soon decided that it made him look senile. His wife, Clementine, destroyed it. Usually, it seems, politicians seek out a portrait artist at the beginning of their career. On February 27, 1860, the day he delivered his career-defining speech at Cooper Union, Abraham Lincoln walked over to Mathew Brady’s studio and had his picture taken. The greatest of American political lives had begun.

But the anxiety persists. While political theatre went on inside the General Assembly, Netanyahu kept stopping by Platon’s makeshift studio and repeated his request: “Make me look good.”

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/multimedia/2009/12/07/091207_audioslideshow_platon#ixzz0Z9WqCiMd

Click the image above to see the photos.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Why Your Favorite University Should Want The BCS To Go Away

BCS bowl games are the single worst business arrangement in American sports. College football’s continued willingness to be fleeced by outside businessmen, who gleefully cut themselves in on millions in profits, makes even conference commissioners blush when confronted with the raw facts.

What other business outsources its most profitable and easily sold product – in this case postseason football?

The bowls were needed back in the 1950s. These days they are nothing but leeches on the system. I happen to like watching bowl games – or any games, but outside of nostalgia they offer no value to a playoff system.

It’ll never make sense to allow businesses outside college football to determine how college football does its business.

College football could stage the 15 playoff games itself, cut out the middle men, and pockets hundreds of millions of extra revenue.

Click the image to read the article.

World’s Ugliest Dog Sings You a Christmas Carol

Click the image to be serenaded.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Popular Mechanics – The World’s 18 Strangest Roadways

The most direct path between two points is a straight line, but roads are rarely straight, and the ones that are can be terminally boring. Engineers around the world must calculate the most efficient routes over massive mountains, through densely populated cities and around unavoidable bodies of water, all while accounting for the ecological and financial cost of such projects. The results can be astonishing. Here are some of the world's most notable roads and why they stand out.

This includes the 'High Five' in Dallas. Click the image to see the gallery.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing