Rebecca..

It got so cold they closed the schools.

Detroit’s WJR News/Talk Radio had the fastidious task of reading the excruciatingly long list of educational facilities (a majority of the 194 Public and 92 Private schools)  that would close their doors to the delight of kiddies everywhere due to record sub-zero temps.  This list was so long that it took not one, but TWO newscasters to read it from beginning to end.

I have a 20 minute ride into work.  This list was read twice on my commute.  My question:  Why can’t they read the SHORT list of schools that are OPEN? For instance…

See how much simpler?

Two Internet movers and shakers have recently updated their favicons.   Geakz.com opted for a newly stylized ditty, moving away from the previous profile pic.  Google.com countered with yet another in their endless arsenal of 16×16 alpha characters .  Both heavy hitters opted for sticking with a lower case ‘g’.   Google laid down a splash of romper room color, with Geakz aiming for the timeless, classic, black and white, ‘you can’t touch this’ version.

The burning question remains:  Which is YOUR favicon?  (It’s the little graphic thingy to the left of the URL)

or

In an effort to perpetuate an objective survey, please direct your clicker to the  SurveyMonkey.com survey below.

Click Here to take survey

(And don’t let me sway your verdict one way or the other.)

You may also vote in the Comments section.

 quinn.anya

I ran a quick errand to the local drug store today, and upon returning home I found I couldn’t remove my car key from the ignition. I tried restarting the car, switching gears, backing up, going forward, turning the radio off, putting my visor down, sticking my right hand in the glove box while reclining my seat and all to no avail.  (Milton Bradley would be proud.)  A quick Google search turned up this thread at About.com- which doesn’t look promising. It looks like another trip to the dealership is in order. I put my big, fat, ‘keyless’ fob back on my keyring so I can at least lock up the car.  (This is in addition to our built in, anti-theft mechanism called: “Baby-seat-filled-with-Gold-Fish-cracker-crumbs-and-Matchbox-cars-strewn-about.”) 

If they made car ignition switches like they made door nob locks, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.  But nooo, automobiles contain all this inter-related circuitry and cross wiring.  Somewhere a young engineer decided that:  The ignition switch connects to the shif-ter,  the shif-ter connects to the air-bag, the air-bag connects to the door-lock, the door-lock connects to hip-bone, etc.   From here on in there would be no more ‘stick it and click it’.

I’ll report my findings soon.

What recent car episode have left you hoodwinked?

I came across this nice WordPress plugin today that will add some classy bling to otherwise bland looking, in-line notes.

For instance, a ‘normal’ tip here at Geakz.com would look like this:

Tip:  Don’t Eat Yellow Snow.

But through the magic of WP-Notes, this tip looks like this:

But in actuality this should be a WARNING, so I’ll draw your attention to it thusly:

redjar

I love James Yeang’s Blog.  I always learn something new.  Not *just* something new, but something that I end up bookmarking in my favorites.  Websites that I go back to.

His latest entry shares a website that converts a measurable unit into something we might find more familiar.  Like how many Olympic sized swimming pools fill an acre (3.2),  or how many male giraffes make up 200 meters (40) .

For instance, if I told you my son is 3.5 feet tall, you might wonder if he reached your knee cap.  But if I told you he was 8.9 CD disks laid end-to-end, it might help you better visualize his height.   Or, if wanted to lose 15 lbs in 2009,   SensibleUnits.com would convert this to an equivalent of 45 human kidneys.

Kidneys and Fava Beans.   Silence of the Lambs be damned.

What sizeable conversion are you investigating?

Table Tilt

And I mean a SHORT update.   To the tune of about 3.5 feet tall.  Apparently the Wii Fit is for everyone.  Here, my son shows the proper some semblance of form for playing the “Table Tilt” balance game (his favorite).

small wii update

For this game think ‘Labyrnth‘.

But instead of two wooden knobs to move the ball bearing through it’s course, you use your whole body to steer the balls into holes by shifting your weight via the Wii Fit balance board.  It ain’t easy.

ColKorn1982

Like many this season, I’ve been looking for the Nintendo Wii system at all of the big box stores but to no avail.  This was going to be the Christmas gift my wife and I were going to share in this year.  We received some nice accessory gifts like the Wii Fit, an extended battery and a couple of games.  We just needed the box to plug everything into.  Off from work for the holidays I was hoping I could get in a game of tennis right in the living room.  But no luck – until today!

My quick thinking wife said, “Why don’t you try the local Pamida store?” The do have some electronics and it was worth a shot.  An often overlooked destination for the main stream gadget shoppers, as they immediately gravitate toward the  Best Buy, Target, K-Mart and Circuit City stores to name a few.  Well low and frigging behold Pamida had them in stock!  The woman at the service desk mentioned they had received around 50 before Christmas and the stock-dude who brought mine to the register mentioned there were about eight units left.

Pamida has stores in 17 states, primarily the Mid-West and the Upper Plains.  So if you are still jonesin’ for your Wii, get thee to a Pamida – quick!

[editorial note:  I don't have a cat.  I don't even like cats.  But my four year old will probably look like this after playing it for the first time.]