Humour – Page 4 – Something Odd!

Fair use of photos on Youtube?

You probably remember the Web 2.0 bubble video that did the rounds recently. Funny wasn’t it? Unfortunately the authors of that video never asked for permission to use many of the photos featured in it. Jim asks if that was fair? Lane Hartwell is one of those photographers. She wrote of her frustration with people stealing her work. The video is viral in nature, and features the website of the creators at the end so it’s got commercial value for them.

Unfortunately the video is not available any more. Doesn’t that suck? If only they had respected the rights of the photographers involved.

Links …

I finally upgraded Blogs.linux.ie to the very latest WordPress MU, with caching by WP Super Cache. The version that was on there was so old the table names still used blognames, rather than blog_ids. A small shell script I wrote and a database backup made it easy to script the upgrade. Registration is disabled for the moment, and email me if you have problems logging in. On another note, if you use Tribby Board, add a few indexes to the board table. That app dragged the whole of linux.ie down with all the spam that was going into it.
Movabletype went GPL yesterday! That’s great news for the MT community!
Did you know that RTE Radio 1 is for sale? Going cheap at a 1 Euro. (via Kae)
Oh oh. mbr love note. Thanks nikolay!
The WordPress Podcast gave my super cache plugin a glowing review. Charles did murder my surname, but I’ll forgive him. Must put an mp3 of me saying my name on the about page or something.
Two amazing photos from flak photo: Moving—Eric and Many Shades of Pink

The US Dollar is now worth

The US Dollar has been steadily falling in value against practically every other currency for the last few years. This is the 5 year chart for the Euro vs US Dollar. Depressing isn’t it? If you’re selling into the US you would have to raise your prices by 30% just to make the same income you did in 2003, and that’s ignoring inflation. That Google Adsense cheque is worth less and less every month!

In preparation for the day when the US Dollar is worth practically nothing, a new bill will be introduced. The Zero Dollar bill will make it easier for US residents to realise how much buying power their currency has.

It’s the perfect currency really. The Fed can print billions of these bills and it won’t affect the Forex markets. It is expected that the US will attempt to adopt the Euro as it’s primary currency shortly afterwards but will be rejected because their national deficit is above the 3% required for membership. (via)

Busted at work

(via AJ)

Stunning photo of the Eiffel Tower.
How to photograph a rainbow. Some of the images are a bit over saturated but still nice.
B&W adjustment layers and blending ideas. Photoshop specific but they’re applicable to the GIMP too. I’d love to see the GIMP support adjustment layers.
Scott’s legendary station wagon desert safari. Remote control drive a car into the desert and shoot it up! Slightly disturbing comment though:

Goddammit, I miss everything cool!! Well, not everything but Goddammit I want to ridearound at breakneck speeds shooting at another car and not go to jail again.
Some dogs learn quickly and don’t let size intimidate them! 🙂

Where have all the Wispas gone?

wispa-display It’s crisis time here in Blarney. The local SuperValu has run out of Wispa Bars!

To console myself I looked at this photo of the Wispa Bar display from a few weeks back. Oh that lovely crumbly chocolate.. I still want one.

If that title above doesn’t get you thinking of a certain Bonnie Tyler song, clicking here will. That’s song will be going through my head for the rest of the day. I need a cup of tea. Sorry.

The end of the world

How will it end? I watched Earthstorm last night in which the moon was hit by a huge asteroid causing a gigantic split in the surface of our closest neighbour and potentially slicing off a bit that falls into the Earth killing everyone. Luckily, demolition expert John Redding (played by Stephen Baldwin who’s the spit of his brother) saves the day and everyone lives happily ever after. Well probably. I didn’t bother watching the last few minutes.

I can’t believe Dirk Benedict appeared in this awful film.

Anyway, here’s another way for the world to end. Thanks Alex for the link! WTF?^^

The first mention of “youtube Earthstorm” took me to this television commercial for NicoDerm. Guess there are more fans of Anna Silk than of the movie!

PS. First Christmas advert of the season spotted while I fast forwarded through this film on Sky+!

Boycott Star Wars, not Ewan McGregor

A recent comment urged the boycotting of Ewan McGregor on the grounds that he has insulted Star Wars fans. I don’t know what he did to make them mad but I think Star Wars should be boycotted on the premise that they were crap films and the sooner the whole merchandising juggernaut disappears the better. Even Grandad thinks they’re rather strange. How long is your lightsaber Grandad?

‘Course I’m probably alone in thinking this but I should start an online petiton. Who’ll sign?

PS. Only joking Conor, about the boycott part anyway!

The biggest Backstreet Boys fan

All bow before the dance sensation that is Snowball the Cockatoo. Watch him move to the rhythm of “Everybody” by Backstreet Boys. If you like that, you might like As Long As You Love Me too!

There is a serious side to this however. From the original Youtube description:

Not my video but I felt that it had to be posted on youtube to draw attention to an important issue, Bird rescues and sanctuaries.This is a video of a medium sulphur crested Eleanora cockatoo named Snowball living at the Bird Lovers Only Rescue in Schererville, Indiana. Snowball loves the Back Street boys and has taught himself to dance to their song “Everybody.” Bird Lovers Only Rescue needs reliable volunteers to help on Tuesday and/or Friday evenings. They are a donation-based not for profit bird rescue. There is tons of useful information about parrots on their blog. To see their Website, Blog and birds ready for adoption go to:

http://www.birdloversonly.org/

http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/

http://www.birdloversonly.org/bladopt.shtml

I hope this draws attention to their cause. Fortunately there are some really great people running these rescues. As we all know, all to often parrots are abused. There is also another wonderful Youtuber OverTheRaynbow who also runs a sanctuary. To view her videos click here: http://www.youtube.com/user/OverTheRaynbow

Killinaskully: The Order of the Stoat

I’m a sort-of fan of Killinaskully. Some episodes are great while others are yawn inducing boring affairs. Last year’s Halloween episode was great fun and the first episode of the new season opened with the depiction of a secret society called the Ancient Order of the Stoat. I almost fell out of my seat when I heard the initiation phrases uttered by Willy when he discovered where the society met. Some people are not going to be impressed!

Everything I Do, I do It For You

Think back to what you were doing 16 years ago in 1991. Can’t remember? Surely you haven’t forgotten “Everything I Do, I do It For You” by Bryan Adam from the Robin Hood soundtrack already? It was number 1 in many countries all over the world for several weeks. It was played off the air in Ireland where it stayed in the number 1 position for 9 weeks if I recall correctly.

How do I know this? I know it was 1991 because a music channel played this song last night, and I remember it because I was working in a bookshop for a few weeks at the end of August that year. We used to have the radio on, and Larry Gogan’s “Number 1 at 1” slot played this song every single day. Thankfully my hatred for “Everything I Do” has been dulled with time, but the memory of sorting through Leaving Cert exam papers in a dusty attic accompanied by the rough voice of Mr Bryan Adam will never leave me ..

When columnists go bad

It’s a wonder sometimes why some bloggers hold journalists to such high standards. Quite often what appears in our newspapers is ripped entirely from press releases, or is poorly researched. Case in point are the two columns by Jeremy Clarkson and India Knight in last week’s Sunday Times (I’ve been away, catching up on my blogging!)

Jeremy Clarkson may be a funny guy, but is he a little thick? In Biggles, you’re a crashing bore he says,

Then you have to spend more months learning how to use a radio. Why? I know already. You just stab away at various buttons until someone comes over the speaker. Then you tell him what you want.

Oh no you don’t. You have to talk in a stupid code, saying “over” when you’ve finished speaking for the moment and “out” when you’ve finished altogether. Why? When I ring the plumber or the local Indian restaurant, I am able to convey the nature of my request perfectly well using English. So why when I’m in a plane do I have to talk in gibberish?

“Hello, it’s Jeremy. Is it all right to land?” is a much easier way of saying, “Weston Tower, this is Charlie Victor Tango on 8453.113 requesting a westerly approach to runway 27.”

That’s not sarcastic and witty. That’s plain dumb.

On the same page India Knight states that many people suffering from allergies and food intolerances really don’t have allergies at all and are simply rude. Try telling that to me after I’ve had a cheese covered pizza.

Millions of people have imaginary allergies and food intolerances, according to a survey last week. Many of them have diagnosed themselves online; one in 50 says they only noticed their “problem” when a friend had similar symptoms; and 39% of people questioned think it is “trendy” to claim a food allergy. Twelve million people claim to suffer from allergy or intolerance, of which less than a quarter are medically diagnosed.

The mind boggles. I love cheese and milk. I would love nothing better than to drink a cool glass of milk with a spicy curry, or homemade brown bread with a thick slice of cheese on top. It’s not bloody trendy to have a stuffed up nose and phlemmy throat a few hours later. Poor Ms. Knight lives in a very black and white world.

Good to know I’m not the only one to think this way about India Knight’s article. Actually, India Knight was never good so she couldn’t go bad. At least Clarkson’s articles are mildly entertaining!