Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Ohio man charged with drunken driving on bar stool

[From SFGate]
Authorities in Ohio say a man has been charged with drunken driving after crashing his motorized bar stool. Police in Newark, 30 miles east of Columbus, say when they responded to a report of a crash with injuries on March 4, they found a man who had wrecked a bar stool powered by a deconstructed lawn mower.

Twenty-eight-year Kile Wygle was hospitalized for minor injuries. Police say he was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he told an officer at the hospital that he had consumed 15 beers. Wygle told police his motorized bar stool can go up to 38 mph.

Wygle has pleaded not guilty and has requested a jury trial.

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer



Where the Wild Things Are is an upcoming 2009 film adaptation of the Maurice Sendak children's book of the same name. The film is directed by Spike Jonze and written by Jonze and Dave Eggers.

The film combines live action, suitmation, animatronics, and CGI. Its release is currently scheduled for October 16, 2009

Chester the Incredible

This could be the pinnacle of stupid animal tricks.

Enjoy Chester in all his glory.

Twouble with Twitter

I have a love/hate relationship with Twitter. I think it's pretty awesome to see real time updates of Lance Armstrong's broken collar bone or to find Shaq in your city and win free tickets to a Suns game. I also think it's pretty annoying and sometimes creepy how some people have let Twitter take over their lives. For now, I will participate in a half-assed manner and only time will tell if Twitter can make a true believer out of me.


A young man struggles against the pressure to Twitter his life away.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Did You Know?

Awesome video. Now if only all these did you know facts had a cited source...

Random Links You Should See

Here are some random links that I think are worth sharing but not worth a post dedicated to each:

Earth Hour 2009 Pictures - these are really cool, i guess Earth Hour was a success?

Mister Nice Hands - this is an all around great website when you are bored

Periodic Table of Awesome - Modern day awesominers know there are actually 118 fundamental "awesoments" that compose all good things. The Periodic table of Awesoments can be a very useful tool. It's designed to show the relationships between awesoments, and often one can even predict how awesoments interact simply by their positions on the table.

Prostitute Paid in Chicken Nuggets - ummm wow, her parents must be proud

Funny Exam Papers - when you don't know the answer you might as well get creative

Hot Chicks with Douchebags
- the site name says it all

Lebron James on 60 Minutes

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar forward LeBron James was on 60 Minutes last night. Check out the video below.


Pretty much this clip right here was the reason I watched the show. Underhanded, half court...no problem.


Is LeBron James the best player in the NBA? He's only 24 years and promises his best years are still ahead. Steve Kroft hits the hardwood with "King James.


Jimmy Kimmel Matches Lebron’s Hollywood High School Half Court Shot

Twitter Hiring A Concierge To Pamper Celebrities. Requires Schmoozing.

Twitter Hiring A Concierge To Pamper Celebrities. Requires Schmoozing.

IAB Reports Internet Advertising Grew 10 Percent Last Year; Outpacing TV

IAB Reports Internet Advertising Grew 10 Percent Last Year; Outpacing TV

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Military Laser Hits Battlefield Strength

[via Wired.com]

Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time -- paving the way for energy weapons to go to war.

In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser -- past the "100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for 'weapons grade' power levels for high-energy lasers," Northrop's vice president of directed energy systems, Dan Wildt, said in a statement.

That much power won't get you a Star Wars-style blaster. But it should be more than enough to zap the mortars and rockets that insurgents have used to pound American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The battlefield-strength breakthrough is just one part in a larger military push to finally make laser weapons a reality, after decades of unfulfilled promises. The Army recently gave Boeing a $36 million contract to build a laser-equipped truck. Raytheon is set to start test-firing a mortar-zapper of its own. Darpa is funding a 150 kilowatt laser project that is meant to be fitted onto "tactical aircraft."

Does that mean energy weapons are a done deal? Hardly. There are still all sorts of technical issues -- thermal management and miniaturization, to name two -- that have to be handled first. Then, the ray gunners have to find the money. The National Academies figure it'll take another $100 million to get battlefield lasers right.

Still, clearing the 100 kilowatt hurdle is a big deal. For the longest time, the military research community concentrated on developing chemical-powered lasers. The ray guns produced massively powerful laser blasts. But the noxious stuff needed to produce all that power makes the weapons all-but-impractical in a war zone. (One ray gun took as many as eight shipping containers' worth of chemicals and electronics to power a single blaster.) So the Defense Department shifted gears, and poured money into electric lasers. They're much less hassle to operate. And, given a steady supply of power, they should be able to fire away, almost indefinitely.

At first, these electric lasers were weak. When the military started its Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program in 2003, these easy-to-maintain lasters could barely produce more than 10 kilowatts of coherent light. Now, Northrop believes, going way past 100 kilowatts should be pretty simple.

In its lab, south of Los Angeles, Northrop combines 32 garnet crystal "modules" into a "laser amplifier chains." Shine light-emitting diodes into 'em, and they start the laser chain-reaction, shooting out as much as 15 kilowatts of focused light. Combine all those beams into one, and you've got yourself a battlefield-strength ray. Northrop's JHPSSL lasers used seven chains to get to 105 kilowatts. But there's room, at least, for an eighth. Which means an even stronger blaster.

The next step is to start trying out the ray gun, outside of the lab. The Army is planning to move the device to its High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range. Testing is supposed to begin by this time, next year.

Yelp Accused of Extortion


Very interesting articles about Yelp. I personally know some people at Yelp and they vehemently deny that this happens but it does make you wonder when so many people step forward with the same story.

February 18, 2009 - Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0

March 18, 2009 - Yelp Extortion Allegations Stack Up

Best Dunk Ever? Check out the Backflip!

Thanks to THE_REAL_SHAQ for putting this on Twitter. We had a good laugh.

This alone gives you a reason to watch the CBI. In the second half of Wyoming’s opening round loss to Northeastern, Adam Waddell gets the ball in transition and takes it to the hole. Unfotunately, he hangs on to the rim a little too long and does a back flip.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Trailer for Mike Tyson Documentary "Tyson"

Tyson is a 2008 documentary film about boxer Mike Tyson. It was directed by American filmmaker James Toback, and produced by Nicholas Jarecki. It was publicly screened for the first time at the 2008 Cannes film festival. Tyson is scheduled for a 24 April 2009 release date, distributed by Sony Classics.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

All About Google

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Google!

Lance Armstrong: Natural Born Twitterer

Lance Armstrong: Natural Born Twitterer

Posted using ShareThis

Top Billionaire Losers 2009

I think their extra billions will be enough to get them through their remaining years.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Earth Hour 2009


Earth Hour is coming up on just a few weeks. I heard about this last year but can't remember if I ended up doing it or not, think I'll do my part this year.


Saturday, March 14, 2009

Daily Show's Jon Stewart Takes on CNBC's Jim Cramer

Jon Stewart really takes it to him.

The “week-long feud of the century” kicked off The Daily Show’s March 12 episode with host Jon Stewart flexing his muscles and concluded with a conciliatory friendly handshake with CNBC’s Mad Money host James Cramer. But if this was a friendly make-good appearance intended to follow up on Stewart’s unusually lengthy (8 minutes) and vitriolic take-down of CNBC on March 4 and his follow-up show that focused on Cramer on March 10, there were plenty of hard punches by Stewart, leaving Cramer scrambling to explain himself and his network’s ways.

[Read rest of article at Business Week]

March 12 Episode of The Daily Show


March 4 Episode


March 10 Episode

Friday, March 13, 2009

Stuff Unemployed People Like

Taken from their website:

"Stuff Unemployed People Like is a blog intended to bring some humor into the lives of those affected by “this global economy” mostly by poking fun at them. It is updated on weekdays to give the unemployed some semblance of structure and to remind them of their employed days when they would check their favorite blogs first before starting to work."

Some recent headlines include:
  • #34 Scouring the Internet for Free Things to Do
  • #33 Putting Off Their Taxes Because They Owe Money
  • #32 Failing at Plans to Succeed at Leaving the House
  • #31 Claiming It’s Not Cold Enough to Turn on the Heater
  • #30 Gloating Every Time Their Former Company Screws Up


Site Link: Here
Twitter: Here
Facebook: Here

If you like this website you may also enjoy this one

The Daft Punk Keyboard

Remember the Daft Punk song Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (info)? Well here's you opportunity to remake the song with the Daft Punk Keyboard.

Some other Daft Punk UGC:

Daft Hands


Daft Bodies

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Catalyst:SF Site Updated

Hey everyone we made some changes to the Catalyst:SF main site. Go check it out and come back here and comment to tell me what you think. Same look and feel but updated a lot of things.

Donovann Toatley, The Next NBA Superstar?

Check these videos of Donovann Toatley, could these be the earliest videos of the next NBA superstar?

Donovann at 6 years old


Donovann now at 8 years old


According to this one, he founded a social networking site: MyHoopsLink

Valley Exec Tweets Home Burglary

Haha WOW! I don't even know what to say about this except that if some random guy walked into my house I definitely wouldn't Tweet about it.

A strange man broke into Revision3 COO David Prager's home last night.

Did David call the police? No, he updated Twitter and turned on a live video stream at Ustream. [via BusinessInsider]


Federal Trade Commission parodies the FreeCreditReport.com ads

Check this out, saw it on AdFreak and had to share.

With the Democrats back in power, we should have known it would come to this. The Federal Trade Commission has released several parodies of the FreeCreditReport.com ads. The goal: to remind consumers that AnnualCreditReport.com is the only site where they can truly get their scores for free, without having to sign up for trial memberships or pay "hidden fees." The spoofs mimic FreeCredit's popular musical spots, which follow a band that gets lousy gigs because their credit is bad. Actually, rockin' out at the Renaissance Fair seems cool to me (lots of comely wenches and ale on hand), but my credit score is about a 12, so what do I know? The bands in both campaigns exude that so-lame-it's-cool vibe, not unlike Beck or Moby. (Sorry, my interest in popular music pretty much ended in 1995.)


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

'Watchmen' Tops in the Box Office this Weekend

'Watchmen' takes box office lead
[via EW.com]

After all the anticipation and hubbub, the weekend is coming to an end and the box office results are here: "Watchmen" (No. 1) grossed $55.7 million during its first frame, according to early estimates from Media by Numbers.

That's a solid sum, to be sure, although it's certainly on the low end of most projections. "Watchmen" premiered in more theaters (3,611) than any other R-rated movie in history, and it averaged an impressive $15,413 per venue, despite a potentially problematic long running time.

It also scored the biggest debut of 2009 so far. Nonetheless, the movie's $55.7 million take (including $5.5 million from 124 IMAX screens) is substantially smaller than the $70.9 million that 300, the last R-rated graphic-novel movie from director Zack Snyder, earned on its opening weekend two years ago.

And aside from that theater-count statistic (which almost any film could break at any time, really), there will be no major records to report on this weekend (for example, "Watchmen's" debut was just the fifth-best opening ever for an R-rated movie).

I'd argue, in fact, that this opening is a bit soft, considering the great expectations that came with Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's landmark comic book -- not to mention "Watchmen's" hefty grosses from screenings at midnight on Friday and throughout its first day. After attracting some major initial interest, banking $25.1 million on Friday, the film's audience dropped off dramatically during the weekend: It grossed $19 million on Saturday and is expected to bring in just $11.5 million on Sunday.

These are all big numbers, don't get me wrong, but, when combined with the fact that the film got a lukewarm CinemaScore grade of B from an audience that was largely comprised of older men, it all points to a rapid downward trend that may be difficult to reverse in the weeks to come.


First 5 Minutes of Watchmen

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Bizkit the Sleepwalking Dog

This has been a pretty popular video online this week, even making it onto the FailBlog. Definitely good for a laugh. Enjoy.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Giants' pitcher Tim Lincecum featured in MLB 2K9 Commercial

Check out Giants' Cy Young award winning pitcher Tim Lincecum in this commercial for MLB 2K9. He's also featured on the cover of the game (see above).

Sunday, March 8, 2009

You May Have Been Waiting a Long Time for This...

You may have been waiting since 1990 to finally get an apology for Vanilla Ice. Well here's Vanilla Ice himself (Robert Van Winkle) apologizing.



You know I couldn't have a post about Vanilla Ice and not put some solid retro videos up.

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby



Vanilla Ice - Ninja Rap

Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Hangover Trailer

This post seems pretty appropriate for a Saturday morning post. This is the trailer for the newest film by Todd Phillips (Old School & Road Trip) called The Hangover.

Joey Chestnut: The Pride of San Jose

Saw this interview randomly on YouTube. A native of the South Bay, this is an interview with Joey Chestnut after eating 10+ pounds of mac & cheese at a San Jose Stealth game. I'm still very confused how the hell that could all possibly fit in his stomach. The video comes from Joey Chestnut's blog (literally everyone has a blog now).

Friday, March 6, 2009

Weekend MMA Post

There some interesting stuff going on this weekend. Just a few videos for you.

ESPN'S MMA Live Previews UFC 96, Reviews WEC 39


UFC 96: Jackson vs Jardin Preview


UFC Video Game Preview: Jardin vs Jackson


Pro Picks: Jackson vs Jardine - Sherdog
Performity's Picks for UFC 96 - MMAJunkie

Monday, March 2, 2009

iPhone apps give rise to iPhone-based cover bands

iPhone apps give rise to iPhone-based cover bands
[via TechCrunch]

There are plenty of people trying to make the musical instruments applications on the iPhone sound like real music, but one of the more credible is that by unsigned all-female band called The Mentalists here in London.

They’ve done an unusual cover of MGMT’s “Kids” entirely using their iPhones and iPod Touches, using apps from the application store. The result is actually quite impressive.

The apps used were Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth and DigiDrummer Lite (yes, not event the paid-for version). However, as usual, drummers who can keep time remain in short supply. The same was true of The Beatles, and still is today…

The Mentalists - Kids (cover)


MGMT - Kids (Original)

Luckiest Guys Ever!

A compilation put together of some of the luckiest guys caught on tape.
[via eGuiders]

A Look at Gatorade Through the Ages

I thought this was a really cool post by Jim @ OldestLiving