An Expected Level of Quality

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

The just-released iPad version of VLC presented this gem upon first launching in portrait mode:

VLC's Startup Screen in Portrait

Zoomed-in on that text:

VLC's Startup Screen in Portrait

Fantastic1.

Of course, one might expect this sort of thing from an app whose desktop version has a toggle between “Basic” and “All” in its Preferences:

VLC's Desktop prefs
As seen in VLC on Mac OS X

At least the text displays correctly in landscape mode. Now if only the app would actually play a video file.

Footnotes:

  1. VLC is a free and open-source video player for multiple platforms, providing support for many, many video formats. While it’s far from great, it will play almost anything you can throw at it, and one shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Still, here we are. ↩︎

OK Go With Friends

Monday, September 20th, 2010

If you’ve been on the Internet in the past five years, you’ve probably seen some of OK Go’s videos. From the simple backyard dance video for “A Million Ways” to the treadmill video for “Here It Goes Again”, they’ve been viewed tens (possibly hundreds) of millions of times. The videos are simple, they’re fun, and they’re incredibly popular.

With their latest album “Of The Blue Colour of the Sky”, OK Go seems to have kicked things into overdrive. Their first official video for “This Too Shall Pass” used the entire Notre Dame marching band, while a second video for the same song created a massive Rube Goldberg device. Most recently, the insane time-lapse video for “End Love” distorted reality.

Today, they’ve unveiled their latest video. It’s for the song “White Knuckles”, and it’s just about guaranteed to brighten your day.

OK Go Video Still
Watch the video on YouTube

Once you’ve smiled and laughed at it the first time, go back and watch again. Some of the best parts are the little things, like the near-screwup at 0:30 or the perfect on-the-beat move at 2:30. Don’t miss the strange cameo at 2:51 either. Then, you can read about how the video was created over at NYMag.com, and learn just how much of a dick that guest star apparently was.

The Sign of a Good Toy

Friday, September 17th, 2010

These are Buckyballs1:

BuckyBalls in their case

While they may sound like some sort of disgusting STD, Buckyballs are actually a fun magnetic desk toy. If you’ve played with them, you know this for yourself, but if you’re skeptical, just check out the warning label2:

BuckyBalls Warning

WARNING
Do not put in nose or mouth.
Swallowed magnets can stick to intestines causing serious injury or death.
Seek immediate medical attention if magnets are swallowed or inhaled.

You know it’s good toy when it can cause serious injury or death.

Footnotes:

  1. Four questions:
    Do they come in that cube shape? Yes.
    Is that the original cube? No.
    Did you spend a lot of time getting them back into that shape? Oh yes.
    Do you wonder how the heck they get them into the cube at the factory? I very much do. ↩︎

  2. That’s not a sticker, either, it’s painted onto the box itself. ↩︎

Luck of the Irish ∞

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Apparently, everything you’ve ever heard about the Irish curse is true. 5 weeks after Claire Robson gave birth to a baby girl, doctors realized she had, in fact, actually given birth to a baby boy. Whoops.

In the doctors’ defense, Dylan (née Olivia) was born 11 weeks prematurely and also has a genital abnormality known as hypospadias, complicating the gender identification. However, it’s difficult to fathom why parents Claire and Andrew made this public. How will Dylan fare in later life?

“We’ll all be able to have a laugh about it when he’s older, but I’m sure he won’t like the fact that people though he was a girl when he’s a teenager.”

“We’ll also be keeping the pink cards for when Dylan gets older so he can have a look at them all.”

While the parents have obviously come to terms with this unexpected switch, it all seems like a recipe for years of therapy and mental health problems for young Dylan.

“It’s a story to tell the grandchildren.”

Or to prevent yourself from ever having any.

By The Numbers: Amazon Shipping

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

The product box
Oooh, a package from Amazon!

ZipIt drain cleaner
Ah! A disgusting-but-effective drain cleaning tool, perfect for the hirsute gentleman, has arrived!

ZipIt and the box
Wait, that was the only thing in the box?

Calculations

Box dimensions: 6.5 inches x 8 inches x 26.5 inches
Product dimensions: 2 inches x 0.375 inches x 23.5 inches

Box volume: 1378 cubic inches
Product volume: 17.625 cubic inches

Approximate percentage of box volume used by the product: 1.28%
Approximate percentage of box volume left unused: 98.72%

Epilogue

Incidentally, the Zip-It works horrifyingly well. Unfortunately, I was too nauseated to capture pictures of all that it brought back from the deepest depths of hell and my plumbing. If you want to see it in action, go ahead and visit the Zip-It site. You will absolutely regret it.

Think of the Miners ∞

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Over at Newsweek, there’s a great, terrifying post showing the size of the hole leading down to the trapped Chilean miners, as well as listing what they’ll receive.

The Chilean Miners

Visit Newsweek for the full image.

The Shaq Came Back ∞

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Shaquille O’Neal has long been a source of great amusement. Recently, he’s been making quite a splash in his new hometown of Boston. Back in August, Shaq even crashed a wedding at the Four Seasons downtown. That’s great enough, but the capper?

The Big Crasher even showed up at brunch the following morning, after a night of posing for some photos with the couple and bridesmaids…

He came back for brunch!

The Big, Self-Absorbed Apple

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Recently, a man did what so many people who find themselves in New York City feel like doing: he tried to kill himself. Tom Magill jumped from the roof of a 39-story building and plunged to earth, where his fall was stopped by a Dodge Charger. The car was totaled but Magill wasn’t. Though badly hurt, he should survive.

Crushed Dodge Charger
Photo via thesun.co.uk

The survival of my own faith in humanity, however, is more in question:

“I want to meet him and say, ‘Why? Why my car out of all the cars in the city?’…I wonder how he feels now that he made it. Does he feel like an idiot?”

These were comments from Maria McCormack, the unfortunate owner of the car which saved Magill’s life. While she’s actually from New Jersey, McCormack exhibits exactly the kind of sensitivity and caring one would expect from a native New Yorker. With compassion like this, it’s no wonder so many people are leaving the city.

The Onion’s 2010 NFL Preview ∞

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Since 1996, The Onion has featured some of the best comedy writing on the web and in recent years, their sports coverage has simply killed it. Opening weekend for football seems like the perfect time to link to this year’s full 32-team NFL preview, which will have you laughing the entire way through.

The Seahawks preview

Pavement Patty ∞

Friday, September 10th, 2010

At a school in West Vancouver, a painting on the road is being used to slow down drivers. The inartfully named “Pavement Patty” is a trompe l’oeil, an optical illusion which looks like a real child in the road as cars approach. The intended effect is that drivers will slow down before proceeding.

Picture of Pavement Patty
Pavement Patty and her pink ball.

Of course for anyone who wants to mow down small children, this tease may cause more speeding, not less. While no one who’s actually seen it has weighed in, reactions from the peanut gallery have been fairly negative, as seen in the comments on the Discoblog post. On the Internet, everyone’s got an opinion and they’re all experts.

Do note, the linked article (and many others) show the illusion placed non-sensically in a parking garage. The image above is from the actual school, and was found on the preventable.ca website, which also shows a illustrative video of the effect.

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