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mary jane martin: Have fun shopping at Walgreens! ...

mary jane martin: Walgreens has nice displays and often causes me to buy more ...

mary jane martin: Shopping at Walgreen's is an enjoyable experience. It doesn't matter what ...

john webb: the walgreen store in northlake il. is a very friendly place ...

Freya: Why can you not make your one joke ...

Drew: Sláinte (slán-jah) It's an Irish toast. Means "to your health," basically. ...

Carolyn Seaborn: WE love walgreen because they have just about everything that you ...

Carol Mailho: I enjoy Walgreen's especially due to a young lady by the ...

cindy: i like dunkin donuts coffee ...

HI: (__-){ Whale! ...


The blog filled with creative thoughts

Archives: August 2010

Interpreting 50cent's tweet about Gunnar sunglasses

50cent recently tweeted this nonsense:

Tweetin with my gunnar glasses on trick! u aint got these suckas. get ur money right ima get like 50 new hoes wit http://twitpic.com/2jrqrfMon Aug 30 21:38:50 via Twitpic



His tweet doesn't really make much sense. Let's break it down:

-- Tweetin with my gunnar glasses on trick!
He's got Gunnar sunglasses on. He's tweeting. He puts in "trick" cuz he's especially excited. Or I'm assuming that's what "trick" means.

--u aint got these suckas.
He's bragging that nobody else has these sunglasses. Oh, aren't you special. You get to have sunglasses that other people don't have. Oh, i'm so jealous.

-- get ur money right
He's telling us to get our money right. So I'm supposed to get my money in order. He's telling us if you only had a better money software managing system, then you would have enough money to afford Gunnar sunglasses. Get ur mint.com ons to git yr Gunnars and yo hoes.

-- ima get like 50 new hoes wit these
Apparently women will date a man because he has cool sunglasses. Hmmm. And not only will women go after a man just because of his sunglasses, but he will get 50, that's right, FIFTY women. But if there are fifty women in one room, they won't all be able to see his sunglasses. There will be too many women. Will he sit them all on a bus, and then he'll walk up and down the aisle with his Gunnars?

3 comments | | Tuesday, August 31, 2010
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Andy Rooney calls modern public art "pretentious nonsense"



I love Andy Rooney for his straightforward honest opinions. In this Youtube video Andy critiques modern art for being "pretentious nonsense." However, the thing Andy has to understand about modern art is that it's meant to be simple. Don't overthink it.


The sculpture "Two Indeterminate Lines" is about two lines. And what can two lines do? Here you have two lines forming a tunnel. Rather simple. Andy is a man who can enjoy the simple things in life. So you'd think he'd understand simple artwork.

I think perhaps he has a very high expectation for art. He wants art to simply show talent and craft. And so be it. I'd rather someone have a high expectation for art than none. Or at the very least he wants to know the artist has some talent. He asks that artists be able to produce something tradition first before making some crazy stuff. Good point. You should be able to master your tools before showing some crap to the public.

What do you think of Andy Rooney's comments on modern public art?

[full disclosure, I work for Tribune Media Services where we syndicate Andy Rooney's column. BTW, I love reading his column. I do. As I said before, I like his honest, simple insights. Plus the man is just really funny.]

4 comments | | Monday, August 30, 2010
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A smiley face takes two pinky fingers to type :)



:) the smiley emoticon. It's fun to think that it takes the simultaneous effort of both your pinky fingers to type a smiley face. The left pinky holds down the shift key, while the right pinky finger presses the colon eyeballs and right parentheses smile. :)

And speaking of typing, did you know that Spongebob Squarepants can teach you how to type?

I love how of he's typing out the TOP SECRET Krabby Patty recipe. Of all things to type. If Plankton only knew he had to spend $14.95 to get this DVD, and he would have his hands on the Krabby Patty recipe. Then again, does plankton even have ten fingers? I think he's just got two pointy hands.

7 comments | | Friday, August 27, 2010
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Official websites for every country in the world



It would be cool to see a gallery of every official country website. I'm thinking of every year I'll take a screenshot of these websites. Ten, twenty years from now it would be interesting to see how they evolve.

Can anyone find a list of all the official government websites for each country? If possible, I only want THE one official website for each country. Right now i'm using Yahoo's Directory for Regional Countries. But that's not a handy list of the main government website for every country on the planet.

2 comments | | Wednesday, August 25, 2010
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Etsy allows obscene seller to remain online



A shop named "sexoffender" has been on Etsy since 2009. It's clearly wrong to have a store with this name. Etsy is not taking the store down. Please please please report this store to Etsy. If enough people complain, then hopefully, they will take the store down.
------------------------------------------------
HOW TO REPORT THIS STORE:
  1. Go to: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sexoffender
  2. Click on the link "Report this shop to Etsy"
  3. In the drop-down menu, select "Username or avatar have mature, profane or racist content
  4. In the text box it says, "Type a brief note if you'd like..." In this box, I suggest telling Etsy that this store is in violation of 5.7 of their Terms of Use.
  5. Click Submit.
------------------------------------------------
ETSY SAYS SEXOFFENDER IS OK

It's shocking that Etsy thinks having a sexoffender on their website is ok. On the Etsy bulletin board today an Etsy admin said:
Please avoid discussing specific sellers in the Forums in less than positive lights. It is not ours to police anything other than our terms of use, we do not moderate content based on taste (or lack thereof).

If you find any items on the site that are not in keeping with our Terms of Use, please flag them for review. Thanks.

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6609014&page=11
(Those are the words of an Etsy admin.)

Sexoffender is not just a lack of taste it is obscene. Sex offenders are obscene. It Etsy thinks sex offenders are not obscene, then they welcome sex offenders on their website. It's a clear violation of #5.7 in Etsy's own Terms of Use.
5. Prohibited, Questionable and Infringing Items and Activities
Restricted Activities: Your Content and your use of Etsy shall not:
(7) Be obscene or contain child pornography

http://www.etsy.com/terms_of_use.php
------------------------------------------------
PLEASE REPORT THIS STORE

Please help set Etsy straight and report this store.

I hesistated in giving out the link to the store, because I do not wish to promote it in any way. But the store must be reported. I used to love Etsy. I really hate seeing that Etsy has allowed this store to remain online for this long. It really makes me question if ever want to use Etsy again. If Etsy gets enough feedback, they should start thinking clearly and take this violation down.

Please share this post on facebook.

0 comments | | Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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The median Twifficiency score is 41%

Average twifficiency scores of 1000 users

You may have seen a bunch of people tweeting their Twifficiency score.
twifficiency.com explains:
--------------
In a nut shell, Twifficiency calculates your twitter efficiency based upon your twitter activity. This includes how many people you follow, how many people follow you, how often you tweet and how many tweets you read.
--------------
It gives you just one number for your twitter account. @spudart my twitter account got 39%. What in the world does that mean? I would like them to break that number down. How did I get 39? What is inside that number?

In a quest to see what 39 is, I took 1,000 tweets that mention twifficiency and made the above graph. The median is 41%. Ok, so i'm just a bit below average. But to make the twifficiency score more effective, it would be nice to know what specific areas I could be doing better. Do I need to retweet more?

2 comments | | Monday, August 23, 2010
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Philip Johnson destroys Mies van der Rohe

Unlikelymoose has pitted pinnacle architects Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson against each other in a Faceoff Friday. Who will win? My choice is Philip Johnson. To prove my point, I made a collage of all his menacing photos.



For the full details on how and why Philip Johnson will completely crush Mies van der Rohe, head on over to see their battle unfold at Faceoff Friday: Old man modern architect style

2 comments | | Friday, August 20, 2010
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Flickr firsts, your flickr birthday, flickrversary

What is your first photo posted to flickr? Here's all the first flickr photos of my flickr contacts:

hirsch7-R2-057-27 by wlownmookie closeup by whatsmichaelbuildingintherewedding_02 by wendyyalasGuitar b/w by vivagirlconot art class by veltaleeTower of London 7007 by unlikelymooseMacchu Picchu by underscorebleachUnderground Art School Magazine by Underground Art SchoolTropical Floral 1.jpg by tom saaristorevised web layout by timschraederRight field pole from bleachers by thehotironYes by TheeErinanguish/sadness by thecurtisTeam Tin Man by The Chicago Tin ManIMG_1727.JPG by The Changeshe ponders by tessakoncThree Aliens by Tammy Green (aka Zesmerelda)Bad Salzuflen (js) by tallllcathyGEK_CAK_hat by stephani.bIMG_4994 by staceycookieapt002cert by srhbthReference collection by uwwlibraryAngel as a kitten - in my hand by sparxDSC00874 by sockergirl9palm trees in Phoenix by sipper5@sbcglobal.netBahai Gardens by scutterbugme by Scribbling DesdemonaMichigan Avenue on a Hazy Winter Day - No Banners by rjseg1Mac by rjlgraphicstudioRebel Art by Rebel RemedyBlue Burano House by rebeccaplotnickLittle Maria by RearVieWmiRRrStephanie's Kindergarten Pic by rachelleb by Rach ♥Windy City Comic Con by Quimbys BookstoreIMG_8459 by Public Phenomena2007_001e by pd rearickDSCF0103 by orbitalone76goatie goats by obviously i am not creativeTiger Pantry by notashamedHugging a sailor by Needs a hugJimbo's Place... by Ms Katie616831-R1-019-8_006 by Miss NiedbalecBusse Woods by Mike-ChicagoMen playing board games. Lijiang, China. March 1993 by mfiorittoDianthis by MerlinsManclermont from above by Maureen QuinlanTim's by Matthew Shultzfirst day of school by MATAMEDIAPritzker Pavilion by Marco_1968mean lion thing with wings Caesar's Palace Las Vegas by maldreccobb lip by longeye33Mr. Supermite robot by Lockwasherbabyfactory1 by lazlozianIMG_4720.JPG by Lakewood Croquet ClubLife Imitates Art by Kurt KramerThe view from the timeshare by KulaDimaDay 1 / 365 by kriegsSt. Mary's Cathedral Basilica, Galveston by kellyhafermann[2004.11.11] View from hotel, Chicago by Katie ScullyTrain tracks by Jovi Girl Jbrookdalecherry by johnleesandiegoMallard (anas platyrhynchos) by jessica.christinaThe Sleepwalkers by jenrosenthalIMG_1053 by jennshurkusbackonboard by jean fitzOur Location by Headstand MediaPedicure by hamboxCampbell steers the fishes! by Gamasutra PodcastFoodDepository1 by foronechicagoHipster Foreplay by emscaldwellEzekiel by elianadbr75Brad Salmon's Day Off by ekh75daffodils-35 by efreak78Lake Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, USA by Dima Msleepy matt curled up like a cat by digi-catclouds at dusk by dietcokeaddict04Mom? by Diamond FarahU2 United Center by designhawgJack and Matt by crispyteriyakiTasting Room  Chicago by chitownabs2005PhotoContest-TNC09 by chicagotarraNorth Milwaukee Avenue by chi_cowboySeagrass Abstract by Cathie StahlHalloween2006 12 by Catherine Clarkspecials by captaincinemaPicture013.jpg by cameraphoneart by blueparkLoon Lake by baconinthesunSimple Snowfall by art school girl by Art Institute of ChicagoDisapproval by anti_murmurIMG_5696 by anneglistarusty + rustina by Angie O'NealAndyRegina---1.jpg by AndyNWells100_5156.jpg by Andy & HollyBHG.jpg by andertoonsMarina Fiesta by allieosmarBuried by alforque01 Snapshot.png by aarhughes5.27.07 BBQ by .oO  beth  Oo.

And my first photo on flickr:
Painter on Chicago's Wacker Drive stairs
I like that it's a set of stairs that I climb every day. To think those stairs have not been painted for five years. I should do a series on this set of stairs outside the Tribune Tower at Michigan Avenue and Illinois Avenue.

7 comments | | Thursday, August 19, 2010
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Wrigley Field rooftop club discounted tickets



The Wrigley Field rooftops are struggling financially as the Cubs suck. "There's a lot of money going out and only some coming in," said Rich Zasiebida (in a Tribune interview), managing partner of the Skybox on Sheffield, 3627 N. Sheffield Ave. "People have got hefty mortgages. We're busting our (hump) over here." The Chicagoist also reported on Wrigley rooftop clubs are striking out. Here's a comment I left on that post:

It's about time that the prices go down on the rooftops. Pure logic would say that a rooftop ticket should be cheaper than a Wrigley Field ticket. I love the idea of rooftops. They are great. Don't get me wrong. Rooftops. Fantastic. Neighborhoods. Fantastic. It's part of Wrigley's charm. But spending over $100 for a ticket to sit on the rooftop outside the ballpark? I always thought it was crazy. But corporations can be crazy with how they spend money for their top executives. I'm happy to see that corporations are being a little more wise with their money.

I'd like to see the rooftops go back to the day when they were simple and innocent. Of course, those days are long gone and I should accept the commercialization of the rooftops. I wish the rooftop owners well, but I'm sorry, things have gotten out of hand with the price. It's kinda like the housing market. Things totally exploded like crazy. And now people are struggling now that prices are starting to come back to reality.

Welcome to reality.

3 comments | | Wednesday, August 18, 2010
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Urban dictionary rejected my word submission for noodlefoamtubeannihilate



Urbandictionary.com is the alternative dictionary for slang, subculture words, phrases, and phenomena not found in standard dictionaries. I love the site, because users submit totally crazy definitions for words--both existing words and totally new words. All my submissions for new words in the past have been approved. Words such as super-fragglistic, amehzing, IHYDM, whoat!, and doublerainbow.

Urbandictionary silly words
To give you an idea of the range of silly words urbandictionary.com has accepted in the past, here's some words that come up when you search for spud:
-- spudarnold: A case of spudarnold is someone that improvises novels and converts them into untold myths.
-- spuderromany: a spud is someone who is a potato headed frizz ball with stups for legs and who often falls over due to a smal surface area in the feet.
-- spudonkulous: whatever you want it to mean, with a positive interpretation. it could mean exciting, interesting, fabulous, etc.
-- spudunkle: A way of describing something.
I'm not even going to include the definitions or links for the words Spudwank and spudenda. They are definitely rated R.

Rejection letter
Urbandictionary, land filled with crazy words has DENIED my word of noodlefoamtubeannihilate. They emailed me a rejection letter stating, "Editors reviewed your entry and have decided to not publish it." Here's what I submitted:
noodlefoamtubeannihilate

Definition: to utterly destroy (or annihiliate) someone in a duel using noodle foam tubes

Usage: Whoat!? This guy overthrew me as mayor of Walgreens? If I ever, EVER see him in Walgreens, I'm gonna challenge him to a duel. I will so noodlefoamtubeannihilate him.
THE authority
I'm still a huge fan of urbandictionary.com, I just never knew they had such high standards for words. Apparently noodlefoamtubeannihilate is just too crazy. I know, I know; the word is too long. But that's part of what makes it so fun. It's rather funny that the New York Times reports, One of the first definitions on the site was "the man", referring to "the head of the establishment put in place to 'bring us down.'"

Urbandictionary has now become "the man." But I will continue to noodlefoamtubeannihilate anyone who thinks it's not a word. C'mon, I dare you to tell me it's not a word, I'll totally noodlefoamtubeannihilate you with some noodle foam tubes from Walgreens.

9 comments | | Tuesday, August 17, 2010
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My first tweet

Curious about what your first tweet is? Just head over to mytweet16.com and they'll show your first 16 tweets. (However, if you have over 3,200 tweets, they won't be able to retrieve your first 16 tweets.)

Signing up for twitter, duh.Mon Apr 09 09:07:03 via web



Just for fun, here's a few of the first tweets by some of my friends. Click the comments to view all 37.

Has decided to create a twitter, yes I am following the trend.Sun Jun 21 19:06:51 via web


Hello cruel world! This is my first tweet! Right now: Drinking a General Foods International On The Go Vanilla Latte.Tue Mar 03 17:52:15 via web


slicing meatWed Mar 28 20:45:51 via web


9 comments | | Monday, August 16, 2010
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Ewoks home of Endor discovered on Earth



Ewoks have been known to live on the forest moon of Endor. But it was only until recently that Google Maps has discovered that Endor is actually a small town in South Africa. According to this satellite imagery, you can see the village where ewoks live on earth. There's even a road to get to their village--Highway S469.

One of the ewoks tweets regularly on twitter, you can read his antics at twitter.com/ewoklumat.

Now that we know ewoks live on planet earth, do you think ewoks should be in a zoo? Or should they be given equal rights as humans?

0 comments | | Friday, August 13, 2010
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Dr. Suess, Walt Whitman, Matt Maldre


It's really cool when one of your quotes appears alongside quotes from people such as Dr. Seuss and Walt Whitman. Quotesdaddy.com so far has published 22 of my quotations.

1 comments | | Thursday, August 12, 2010
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Angels can wear Buerhle jerseys


Today is the second day in a row that I saw someone walk by and then the EXACT same person walked by a minute later.

The first experience was sitting at the first floor cafe outside Nordstorms on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. I saw some college kid with his parents walk by. That guy made me specifically think about memories of walking in the mall with my mom. Then a minute later the same guy walks by again. Going the same direction.

The second experience involved a girl wearing a 56 BUEHRLE White Sox jersey on the red line. She stood by the doors waiting to get off the next stop. It's a bit unusual to see someone wearing a White Sox jersey on the north side of Chicago. As she stood there, it made me think about how people follow sports like a religion. Granted sports are good, because it gives us common ground to have something to talk about. Conversation is good.

But sometimes people find their true identity in their sports team. c'mon, it's a bunch of guys playing baseball. What if the conversation was about something more important? What if instead of the game last sunday, we talked about the sermon last sunday? Instead of stats, what if we talked about verses?

All these thoughts crossed my mind as the girl with the 56 BUEHRLE jersey stood waiting to exit the train. Wanting to tweet these ideas, it would be nice to have a photo of the girl wearing the 56 BUEHRLE jersey. The photo app on my phone took literally about 30 seconds for it start up. Very strange. As soon as the doors open at North and Clybourn, she gets off the train and I miss my photo.

Oh well. Then two stops later at Chicago Avenue, who do I see get off the train? The EXACT same girl wearing the 56 BUEHRLE jersey. I just saw her get off the previous stop. Literally. I saw her get off and the doors close. How in the world was she on the train again getting off at the previous stop?

Factor in that my phone couldn't start up the photo app to take a photo of the girl, and it makes me think that maybe, just maybe, this person was an angel. We are told angels are in our midst. Maybe this angel was wearing a 56 BUEHRLE jersey. (And after all, Buehrle did throw a PERFECT game)

3 comments | | Wednesday, August 11, 2010
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What would an ewok trade to get the Death Star's laser pointer?



The commanding officer of the first Death Star has a laser pointer. He's willing to trade it to you. What would you offer to the Death Star Commander?

Now, let's add another layer to this. Let's say you are an ewok. And you really want the Death Star Commander's laser pointer. What would you trade to get his laser pointer? Right now this is happening in real life on twitter.

I'm tweet as Ewok Lumat (the woodsmith of the ewok community). Wilhuff Tarkin (aka "The_Managment" on twitter) has been talking all about his super cool laser pointer. Now me as an ewok is extremely intrigued by this laser pointer.

Five reasons why an ewok would want the Death Star commander's laser pointer:
1) Ewoks, like cats, go crazy for laser pointers
2) The Death Star does hang out by the moon where the ewoks live
3) Seeing that the Death Star is essentially one really big laser pointer, it would be really cool to have the commander's laser pointer.
4) An ewok could pretend he is blowing up planets with the laser pointer
5) An ewok could build some McGyver-like contraption with mirrors and stuff to magnify the laser pointer's power and destroy the Death Star

Now, please answer in the comments the following question: If you were an ewok, what would you offer as a trade to get the Death Star commander's laser pointer?

6 comments | | Monday, August 09, 2010
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Give birthday greetings in ewokese



Ever draw a blank for what to write on someone's facebook wall for a birthday wish? Draw a blank no more! Why not wish your friend a happy birthday in ewokese!? It's a real language with a dictionary on the Star Wars wikia. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ewokese.

Here's a greeting that I just left on a friend's wall today:
==========
I've summoned the ewok named Lumat to give you brithday greetings. Ready? Ok, you can go now, Lumat...

Allayloo Allayloo! [Celebrate celebrate!] May your birthday be full of Lulalar [singing] and Chiutatals [moons] and Drik [happy]. :)
==========
Feel free to just copy and paste that greeting. Or use the ewokese dictionary to craft your own. Oh, and while you're at it, I tweet as an ewok on twitter. Please follow ewoklumat.

3 comments | | Friday, August 06, 2010
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New Music Tuesdays Podcast

Apple used to produce a weekly podcast called "New Music Tuesday." It was a nice 15-minute show that gave a quick overview of new music coming out. They played song clips and gave brief commentary about each clip. It was a great show, but Apple stopped producing the show in September last year.

I'm a total music moron, does anyone have any suggestions for podcasts that provide a nice weekly music overview?

0 comments | | Thursday, August 05, 2010
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Top four tweets of July 2010: paws, capris, cereal, laptops

For July's top tweets, I picked the one tweet from each account that I use regularly in the past month.

@DepressedDarth who needs chopsticks? me eat with paws. or just dunk my face into the plate.
http://twitter.com/EwokLumat/status/19670390993

When you roll up your sleeves, do you ever feel like you are wearing capris on your arms?
http://twitter.com/spudart/status/19690364728

Carrying home 4 boxes of cereal sans bag & foursquaring is trickier than I thought (@ Walgreens) http://4sq.com/bg7aLP
http://twitter.com/fourspudart/status/18569999865

Laptop rule: Every laptop has an 18-inch perimeter where no drinks are allowed to stand.
http://twitter.com/tribunematt/status/19859619454

0 comments | twitter | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
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Spudart.org has lots of fun stuff by Matt Maldre, a 35-year-old Chicago Christian, artist, designer, illustrator, photographer, webmaster, entrepreneur, curator, goofball, and croquet player. Read more about Matt on the about page.

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