Bob's House: Deaf Pepsi Commercial for 2008 Super Bowl

The commercial "Bob's House" is a Pepsi Ad for the 2008 Super Bowl that was leaked online before it's official air-date. This story has roots deep in Deaf culture as a joke that's been around for decades.

Amazon Says I'm Having a Baby

Today I got the following email:







Dear ____ and ______,
A Baby Registry gift will be arriving soon! We thought you might like to know that an item was recently purchased from your Amazon.com Baby Registry. If you can't wait to know what it is and who it's from, and want to send a thank-you note, visit your Thank-You List. All necessary details are available, including the gift-giver's address.

Congratulations and Best Wishes,
Your friends at Amazon.com's Baby Registry

Why is this odd? Because as far as I know... we're not having a baby within the next year. After calling Amazon, I learned that everyone who ever had an Amazon wedding registry received this email. Ha Ha! Could've been traumatizing. What if this is how I learned that we were pregnant?

Yo Yo Yo

If you're at all into the changing linguistic patterns of America, this may be of interest. English has both masculine (he) and feminine (she) singular pronouns.. but no gender-neutral one. Until Now... and Yo's the word.
I always found it odd that our singular pronouns (he, she) were gender-specific but our plural pronoun (they) is gender non-specific. Perhaps someday there'll be a new group of kids using gender-specific plural pronouns (hims, hers ??).

Browser Wars Get Dirty

This is an all-time low, as far as anticompetitive policy decisions go. Microsoft has officially labeled Firefox as a security threat. It just so happens that Microsoft offers an alternative browser... which is conveniently already installed on your machine. In all fairness, this image appears to be from an early version of Microsoft's Anti Spyware product (now Windows Defender).

Casa Vlad is on the market

It appears that the sub-prime mortgage crisis knows no limits. Dracula's castle is officially on the market. The asking price? $78 million. If you're thinking about this, I did some of the math for you. With a 30 year fixed interest mortgage at 6% you'd have a monthly mortgage payment of $565,229.41

Of course that doesn't include your property taxes (perhaps 1.7 mil a year) and taxes (which if in the US would be approx $97,500). Roll those pennies!

If You Think You're Cold

And I thought it was cold here! Not compared to a beach in Newfoundland where apparently it gets so cold that the waves freeze as they crash on the shore.

SUV or Minivan? A Question of Psychology

Interesting article shows that drivers of SUVs are more paranoid about crime and others' perception of them than minivan drivers are. Interesting for me because i have driven both. Just sold my Ford Explorer Sport and got a Honda Odyssey EX-L. According to the article, I traded in my interest in others' perception of me for practicality. The article also mentions the switch is a sign of my comfort with being married. What would Freud say?

Overheard

Sometimes you overhear something that's just too funny not to share. I stumbled upon this site that literally made me laugh til i cried. Okay... not all of them are funny, but many are.
Overheard

Supermarket Puts Ideals Over Profits

I just read about this on Graham's blog...

My favorite grocery store, Wegman's, has done the unthinkable. And I couldn't possibly respect them more for it. They decided to stop carrying tobacco products. Remember, this is an extremely profitable product for retailers. Then why are they doing it? According to Wegman's CEO Danny Wegman, it's "the destructive role smoking plays in health".

It's inspiring when a company does the right thing... even if it puts them at a competitive disadvantage. But Wegman's is not new to this. I guess that's why they've been named one of the '100 Best Companies to Work For' by FORTUNE magazine for ten consecutive years. (ranking #1 in 2005 and #3 in 2007). And that's why I drive past 15 other supermarkets on my way to Wegman's.

Project: iPod Integration

The little Car Audio shop down the street offer the best in digital music integration, LCD displays everywhere from the passenger seat to the gas-tank cap... They do a hell of a sales job explaining everything they can do. But, should you ever wish to get something actually installed, they're too disorganized to find the parts. My neighbor SL says this confirms his belief that the shop is really just a drug front. I have been trying for 3 months to pay these guys to install an ipod jack to my 2003 Honda Odyssey factory stereo system. Anyway, with a quick trip to eBay and a little help from SL, I completed this entire project in about 30 minutes for less than $50. I really could've used this back in December when i traveled the entirety of i-95.

Project: Backup Camera

SL has a problem. He can't go to Costco without buying electronics every time. Call it a compusion, an addiction, or a skill. But this time he came back with something I objectively consider relatively unnecessary: a backup camera. Yes, a camera mounted to the rear license plate of a vehicle to aid in parking and backing-up. But, never to shun from an electronics project, I prepared to assist with the automotive surgical enhancement. Opening the package, I realize the device is completely wireless and transmits to the front-seat LCD wirelessly. Still cool, but this endeavor was far from surgical. All we had to do was stick the camera on the license plate with included mount, splice it to power source (license plate light), and plug the LCD into a power source up front. Believe it or not, this installation was as easy as my License Plate LED Frame. I may even considering getting one for the van.