Year: 2013

iPhone App Notifies Viewers When TV Ads Finish By Andrew Dodson TVNewsCheck – 07/31/13 As broadcasters continue to fight the ad-skipping technology found in Dish Network‚Äôs Hopper, a new iPhone app was released today that notifies viewers in real time…

The E-11 BlasTech rifle. It’s the standard rifle for Stormtroppers. But why is it called E-11? Is there an E-10? Or an E-9? A look on the official Star Wars Wiki reveals that there is: E-5 blaster rifle E-9 is…

What’s your favorite car ever? The Chicago Tribune asked this question on Google Plus. My favorite car ever is the traditional 3200-series CTA train cars. I’m not even joking. There’s plenty of room. Lots of headroom, you can even stand!…

What if we took another planet’s surface and grafted it onto part of Earth’s? Mars would make quite an impact. It would be like dunking the Earth in some powered chocolate. We’d have a ton more iron. I’d imagine with…

A friend recently asked online: How do i be persuasive at work without being seen as “difficult”, “uppity”, or “stubborn”? Is it the old “trick them into thinking it’s their idea” thing? Here’s my response: 1) Listen first. Always listen.…

Paramount Pictures released official photos of the Autobots vehicle forms. Seven out of the eight are sleek vehicles. Hound is the only one that is a pure utility vehicle being a Medium Tactical Vehicle from Oshkosh Defense. Even Optimus Prime…

(Photo courtesy microlawns tumblr) Everywhere you look in an urban environment you are bound to see a microlawn. Small patches of grass create a microlawn delight. The blog urbanplants posted a microlawn in Berlin. She also posted a link to…

If your company is desperate for new customers, you would probably respond to customer inquiries, right? Quark was the king of the design layout world in the 1990s. Every single professional designer used QuarkXPress for layouts. However, in 1999 Adobe…

(clipping from the Chicago Tribune) Twinkies are being produced again. I love how the new Twinkie factory workers look like Twinkies! Look at their white shirts matching the creme and their yellow hard hats matching the yellow cake. Twinkies making…

A movie-filming helicopter floated above my head while walking home tonight. Memories of Transformers filming in Chicago rushed through my head. Having downtown Chicago taken over by Transformers made the summer of 2010 much fun. Hearing gunshots outside my window.…

Waking up to a hot humid summer morning. Walking to work in the dense humidity. The weatherman often reports the record high for the day. But what about the record highest low? I’d like to know what was Chicago’s hottest…

How would you fill in the blank to this sentence? I visit museums because ______________. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago asked this on their Facebook Page. Here’s some of the 40+ responses: They make me dream and fly (by…

Happy 30th birthday for the 8th time! Perhaps you’ve heard this joke. But what if this was really true? Perhaps there could be a number system that counts that way. Instead of counting on 1s, you count on 10s. What…

Don’t you love it when your age is a prime number? I do. Currently I’m 37, a prime number! That only happens twice in your thirties (the other age being 31). Which decade of your life has the most prime…

Be who you want to be.

Photo courtesy theatregirl25 via flickr Sports celebrations are fun. I love a good celebration and gathering of people. But when protestors gather, why do we see them in a different light? Monica Reid of Chicago’s Gapers Block wrote an excellent…

(Front page of the Chicago Tribune on June 29, 2013; courtesy Assignment Chicago) What are you more proud of: Your local team winning a sports championship or your city’s photographers? Our city’s photographers work is more outstanding than the achievement…

(photo courtesy uncustomary, see more photos of this sticker-bombed street pole on her blog post, “Street Pole“) Street artist uncustomary in Baltimore did a little sticker bombing on a pole. Most artists will put their stickers on multiple poles, but…

Translate some lyrics in English and translate them into Japanese and back into English. You end up with some pretty funny results. The Pledge of Allegiance ends up becoming: “United States of America of flag to and that I swears…

Connected cars talking to each other through tail lights? Engadget reports: Smarter headlights could guide you out of a rainstorm, but intelligent tail lights could enable communication between vehicles. At least, that’s the idea behind a collaborative Connected Vehicle Safety…

With all the praising and glorifying of a metal object going on with the Stanley Cup, I wonder how much people realize our activities are rather like glorifying the golden calf in Exodus 32. Are there more searches for “Golden…

Imagine arriving to another world in the morning. The planet is inhabited with creatures carrying open containers filled with liquid. That would be kinda strange, right? There are no other creatures on planet earth that carry around containers of liquid…

From “Principles of composition” 1915 by Percy Holmes Boynton: A hundred years ago it took so long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worth while to put some time and thought into writing it. Now…

Diagonal crosswalks are being tested in Chicago at Jackson and State. While waiting for Barnes & Noble to open at the corner, I cross this intersection diagonally seven times, taking photos from the center each time. When the diagonal light…

Doesn’t it look like the pigeons on this book cover are doing a line dance? There should be a line dance called The Pigeon. Here’s how the lyrics to the Pigeon Dance song would go: Every. Body. Do. The. Pigeon.…

(Calvin and Hobbes comic strip courtesy of Gocomics.) I love how Calvin and Hobbes reruns bring back the past. Take a look at the first line, “I think we should get an answering machine.” Oh, the days of deciding to…

Interesting that nobody from the graduating class of the Illinois College of Optometry wears glasses. Very interesting indeed.

K-mart sells the Scout Walker from Return of the Jedi!? No way. How much does the Scout Walker sell for on K-mart? A search on kmart.com for scout walker doesn’t show the Star Wars Scout Walker. Instead it shows walkers…

The 15-year-old blogging platform Xanga is about to shut down. To revive the site, they are asking users for $48/year. However, Xanga demonstrated three things not to do when asking for money. 1) Don’t use two spaces after periods. My…

To enhance the 3D effect of the James Earle Fraser’sculpture relief, the base of the tower extends out. The tower could have simply been a flat wall, but the multiple levels of the protruding wall makes the sculpture seem like…

The climatic duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi is performed on this Pepsi can featured by BevReview’s post, “Can Holiday: Star Wars Day‚ May 4.” The clashing of lightsabers. The intense stare. The competitive dance. The obscure language. Is…