Check It Out

Links to cool places or things.

There are 1,524 posts filed in Check It Out (this is page 125 of 153).

Cookie Judge

cookie_big

As part of my service on the board of the Mordecai Historic Park, I’ve been asked to be a “cookie judge” for Saturday’s Baking Contest. There are over 40 entries in this year’s baking contest, so I’m not so sure I won’t have a stomachache when we go to the They Might Be Giants concert later that afternoon. My fellow Parks board members sounded jealous of this assignment when I mentioned it last night, but I’m thinking the only recipe I’ll be interested in is a recipe for a ton of extra exercise the next day!

Come out and visit Mordecai Historic Park if you can. Once the judges have a taste, the contest entries will be distributed to the public. Dig in!

I’m on a Boat

Navy-Im_On_A_Boat

My friend Jamie sent a link today to a music video made by officers of the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53). It’s set to the parody rap song I’m on a Boat by The Lonely Island (YouTube). The John Paul Jones version is a pretty good copy, considering the guys were limited in their props.

This video and another version of I’m on a Boat made by different sailors goes to show you what pulling six months worth of 12-hour shifts can do to one’s sanity. It’s a long way back from the Persian Gulf to California and sailors get a little slap happy. This is the kind of thing I would’ve put together on the end of a deployment if I’d had a MacBook back then.

Check out this version of Pump It by the VAW-116 Sunkings and the British Royal Navy doing Bohemian Rhapsody. Good times.

Warning: some videos contain explicit language.

Update 7 Oct 2009: The John Paul Jones video is also available here.

No evil genius’s lair is complete without one

pipeorgan3

Check out this unbelievable pipe organ built in the house across the street of my friend and fellow Wikipedia contributor Ken Thomas.

Says Ken:

Apparently the guy was a dentist and a fairly high-ranking officer in the Army. He retired after 30 years, and moved to Lenoir. I gather he had both money and time on his hands, and according to my tour guide “He just really liked pipe organs.” She didn’t come right out and say it, but I could tell from her responses that he may have been a little bit eccentric too. Considering what I was looking at, that little data nugget wasn’t exactly a shocking revelation.

I’ve seen pipe organs before, such as the one at the Rosario Resort on Orcas Island and this one appears to have homemade pipes.

I’d consider patching those hoses myself just to hear it play!

Zombies pose a threat

Canadian scientists conclude that zombies could concievably destroy civilization. That is, if they actually existed:

If zombies actually existed, an attack by them would lead to the collapse of civilisation unless dealt with quickly and aggressively.

That is the conclusion of a mathematical exercise carried out by researchers in Canada.

They say only frequent counter-attacks with increasing force would eradicate the fictional creatures.

The scientific paper is published in a book – Infectious Diseases Modelling Research Progress.

Hrmf. If they actually existed. They don’t … right?

North Carolina telephone solicitation law

Article 4.
Telephone Solicitations.

§ 75-100. Findings.

The General Assembly finds all of the following:

(1) The use of the telephone to market goods and services to the home is now pervasive due to the increased use of cost?effective telephone solicitation technologies and techniques.

(2) While some consumers enjoy and benefit from telephone solicitations from legitimate telephone solicitors, many others object to these telephone solicitations as an intrusive invasion of their privacy in the home.

(3) In addition, the proliferation of telephone solicitations, especially during the evening hours, creates a nuisance and a disturbance upon the home and family life of telephone subscribers during a time of day used by many families for traditional family activities.

(4) North Carolina residents should have the freedom to choose whether or not to permit telephone solicitors to contact them.
Continue reading →

Netflix’s corporate culture

200px-Netflix_Logo.svg

Yesterday the Hacking Netflix website featured a publicly-posted set of presentation slides that describes Netflix’s corporate culture. It is a smart, eye-opening way to run a business: eschewing rules in favor of empowering people to do the right thing. This large, publicly-traded company can be nimble as the startup it once was because it doesn’t have bureaucracy tying everyone down.

If only other companies did this.