4/15/2009 - Man Survives After Getting Hit by Truck & Train

Being a geek, my first thought after watching this video was how Mr. Glass engineered this accident:



Yes, that was an "Unbreakable" reference.

3/7/2009 - Prison Escape Fail

Like Jay Leno, I like hearing stories of stupid criminals. It seems like there are more criminals that are stupid than not. Of course, one could argue that being a criminal is stupid in the first place. Then there are those cases that make you scratch your head and make you wonder what they were thinking. This attempted prison escape is one of those cases:



Yes, they were escaping with handcuffs and tried to go on opposite sides of a light pole. Brilliant. It is such slapstick nonsense that you wouldn't even expect to see that in a Pink Panther movie. Then again, the new Pink Panther movies are pretty bad.

2/24/2009 - Diane Sawyer Drunk

Alcohol is another thing that has little logical appeal for me. Yes, I see it as some kind of relaxant for social inhibitions, and bars that serve alcohol are places of adult congregation, but for something that has so many negative consequences for health and for safety, it's a phenomenon that can only be explained by man's imperfections. Plus, I just think it tastes bad.

Being drunk, however, is a sensation that under controlled conditions I wouldn't mind experiencing. And when I say "under controlled conditions", that means no video cameras. Otherwise I'd look like this clearly toasted Diane Sawyer:

11/9/2008 - Bacon Salt recent press montage

I just realized that one of the great things about having a blog is that I can promote products that I really like and sort of advertise these products to an audience that may not be aware of them. Such is the case with Bacon Salt. I heard about Bacon Salt through an "As Seen on TV" news segment even though it doesn't have its own infomercial.

Bacon Salt is exactly what it sounds like: it's a seasoning that tastes like bacon. Bacon is probably universally liked by everyone, including myself. The concept of Bacon Salt is that it makes things taste like bacon... brilliant, no? Well, it was so appealing to me that I made it a mission to try to find it in stores. In Tucson, Arizona it's not an easy thing to find these niche items, but I was able to find it after a few tries. So I gave it a try and I really, really like it! I've been putting it on everything to hamburgers (why pay more for bacon?), corn, popcorn, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It doesn't taste EXACTLY like bacon, but it's really close and it's pretty darned good.

Even though I think this product will take off and eventually be found in every store's spice isle, I'm not taking anything to chance and will do my part to promote it on this blog. Here's a montage of press segments about Bacon Salt:

7/20/2008 - Unfortunately Placed Hotels.com Ad

Some people say that there are no coincidences in life... that everything is ruled by fate. If that is so, then the advertisers of Hotels.com got dealt a cruel hand by fate:

3/30/2008 - Impressive car move

When you see a car chase on TV, you probably think "what kind of idiot thinks they can outrun the cops?" After all, the helicopter is there following the car as well and filming everything. The thing you might be forgetting is that the perpetrator in question got caught with whatever crime he/she committed in the first place. Any "advanced" criminal mind would have avoided such a predicament in the first place, I would think. Anyway, if you're going to be stupid enough to get in a car chase, you'd better be a damn good driver. It so happens there is one out there whose footage is on YouTube:



I have to admit... that's pretty impressive. If the felon ever gets out of jail, I think there's a career as a stunt driver waiting. And the use of the "Dukes of Hazzard" theme song? Perfect.

3/24/2008 - "Magneto Man"

During my young career as a PC tech, I've already seen it all. Frozen startup screens, blue screens galore, computers not being able to shut down, bad hard drives, bad memory, and even bad capacitors! It's never the same thing twice and it's always a bit of a challenge. While it's never the same problem twice, some people are more "problematic" than others. It seems inexplicable sometimes how computer problems can crop up for particular individuals at a higher frequency than the rest of the population. It's nothing in particular that they're doing wrong (although some pet owners forget that fur gets caught in the fan intakes of power supplies)... some people just aren't meant to be around a keyboard and mouse, and they'll be the first to admit it. What's funny is that when I try to reproduce the problem on their computer, a lot of times the problem disappears. I know it's not because I'm some super-guru with computers, so is there something with them being a sort of jinx with electronics? Or maybe there is some other explanation, as this video shows:



Now, I don't know whether or not such people with high electrostatic discharges exist (although it would make a good comic book plot). And this video doesn't really convince me that this kid is anything out of the ordinary. The explanation as to how the computers he uses always produce all-caps text without the caps lock button activated? StickyKeys. Google it.

2/20/2008 - NBC Today Show: Apple MacBook Air

You probably have all seen Apple's MacBook Air commercials... you know, the one with the laptop coming out of a manila envelope. It's all cool and shows how remarkably thin the laptop is and everything, but the commercial is so minimalistic, not giving specifications or pricing. But everything that's not mentioned in Apple's commercial is all neatly laid out in this segment of the Today Show:



Wow, talk about "pimping" a product. Just listen to Al Roker's reaction! I mean, why even go through all the trouble of producing a commercial and paying for airtime when a major morning news program will sing praises for the laptop all for free? They practically recounted Steve Job's keynote address down to the pro-environmental aspects of the MacBook Air. You wanna know the ironic thing? NBC's cable news channel is MSNBC, a joint venture with Microsoft. I'm sure Bill Gates is asking Steve Capus, "What were you thinking?"

2/19/2008 - Spooky photo proves life on Mars?

Back when I was in grade school, I read all the pseudo-science books. You know, the stuff about UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, psychic powers, spontaneous human combustion... all the stuff they showed on the X-Files. I guess that's why it was my favorite TV show when it was on. Anyway, I used to believe in this stuff. I always thought that you couldn't disprove the photographs... in fact, I thought the graininess showed that it wouldn't be from someone who was trying to perpetuate a hoax.

Boy, was I naive. I know they didn't have Photoshop back then, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be too hard to doctor a "Nessie" photo. Jeez, I think I did a lot of book reports and science papers on this stuff. I mean, it's not that I don't believe there are aliens out there... in fact I do... but I just don't think that they have had televised autopsies. I may be naive again, but when there's finally proof of this stuff, I think we'd really know it... especially with the internet now.

I had to chuckle when I saw this news story a couple of weeks ago, though. Has there been life on Mars? Primitive "life", maybe. Is there life there now? Probably not. But then again, there's this photo:



I just love how this "alien" looks like the famous picture of Bigfoot:

2/11/2008 - Man Turns Dark BLUE !

I think I've mentioned before that horror movies don't scare me much anymore. I mean, I may be grossed out by some of the torture stuff that is coming out now, and the jump scenes may give me a brief jolt, but none of that gives me the creeps. For some reason though, I don't know why... THIS guy scares me:



Talk about strange... it's amazing that he didn't realize he was turning blue because it was such a gradual change. Man, if I have such a reaction to this guy, I can imagine the reaction of others, especially kids. Now that I think about it, I used to be scared of Lou Ferrigno's Hulk, even though the Hulk was (and is) my favorite superhero when I was a kid. They've had a green Hulk, and grey Hulk, and now a red Hulk. It will only be a matter of time until there's a blue Hulk, I guess.

10/9/2007 - Mixed-up Sports Video

Just to set up this next video... Kevin Everett is a Buffalo Bills tight end who recently fractured his cervical spine in a football game against the Denver Broncos. He was temporarily paralyzed and there was fear that he would not walk again. Fortunately, he soon regained movement in his arms and legs and it appears he will be able to walk again in time.

Now, if you're a sportscaster trying to show video of this story, you'd probably show past video of Kevin Everett in a football game or perhaps footage of him in recovery, but check out what happens when something goes wrong in the editing room:



Ha! You know, what makes this so funny is that whoever that is that the cops are bringing into court HAPPENS to be in a wheelchair. And when the sportscaster says that Everett is moving his arms and legs, the guy in the wheelchair HAPPENS to start flailing and kicking his attorney. It would be hard to create a funnier news blooper even if you tried.